Peter's Denials John 18:12-18, 25-27

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1 Peter's Denials John 18:12-18, All of us as children of God are weak in our own strength and we all have the capacity to fail our God. -Abraham failed God when he lied about Sarah, his wife, saying that she was his sister. The Messianic line could have been defiled had the grace of God not acted in the situation. -Moses, in anger, struck the rock that God told him to speak to to provide water in the wilderness. The result of his display of anger was that he was unable to enter the Promised Land. -David, Israel's great king, sinned greatly when he committed adultery with Bathsheba and tried to cover his sin by having her husband killed in battle. No matter who we are and how much we love the Lord, we all have the capacity to fail our Lord. Mention the name, Simon Peter, and it brings to mind the disciple who was the first to stand and to confess, You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. He would be the first disciple to go into the empty tomb after our Lord's resurrection. He was the courageous leader of the disciples. -Mention Peter's name and you picture a victorious disciple who was the preacher at Pentecost and the spokesman for the church. But in our text for today, we get a different picture of Peter altogether: Here, he is not courageous, but cowardly; not impetuous, but withdrawn; not victorious, but defeated. Peter is going to deny his Lord, not once, but three times in one night. -What we see in Peter's life teaches every believer something about himself. Lurking in the shadows of every soul is the capacity for denying Jesus Christ. -Peter would caution each of us to Guard your heart. We must give attention to the deceitfulness of our hearts if we would stand for Him each day. An account of Peter's failure is repeated in all four Gospels to remind us that, if Peter could fail his Lord, so can each of us. Three things I want to share with you from this text: I. The Reality of Failure Dwight L. Moody was once asked by a man who was in personal, financial, and domestic trouble, Mr. Moody, what would you do if you were in my place? Moody responded, I wouldn't have gotten in your place in the first place. -With all due respect to Mr. Moody, I believe he is wrong. His statement sounds too much like Simon Peter's bold declaration, Lord, though all others may forsake you, I never will. How we need to learn the truth of the old phrase, There, but for the grace of God, go I. We need to sense deep in the inner recesses of our soul the truth that failure is a possibility for all of us. Peter THOUGHT he was ready to face anything for Jesus Christ. 279

2 -With determination and plenty of grit, he followed behind Jesus Christ after His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. He had impulsively drawn his sword and lopped off the ear of the high priest's servant. None of the other disciples had acted that courageously! Peter stood alone! -No doubt Peter felt good about his courageous act in the garden, so now he would follow Jesus to the courtyard of the high priest's home. He was so sure he would display his courage again. Don't miss this: Jesus had warned Peter of his weakness, but Peter had an inflated opinion of himself. I want you to note this because what got Peter in trouble and caused his failure is the same thing that often gets us in trouble and causes our failure. -John 13:33, 36-38; Matt. 26:31a Peter listened to the warning of Jesus, but he didn't think our Lord's words applied to him. They may apply to the other disciples, but Peter would never do such a thing. He was too tough, too determined and too loyal to falter in the time of difficulty. He loved Jesus too much to fail Him! Matt. 26:41 But Peter slept and trusted in his own ability to handle the difficulties ahead. -The Bible warns us about ourselves: 1 Cor. 10:12; 1 Tim. 4:16a ( Pay close attention to yourselves. ); Heb. 3:12; Rom. 12:3 It is sometime after midnight when Peter comes to the gate of the courtyard and waits to be admitted. -John 18:15-17 tells us that John was known to the high priest, but Peter was not. John goes back to the servant girl who kept the door and persuades the girl to let Peter in. -Peter enters the courtyard. He is now in enemy territory, but he thinks he is perfectly safe. There are fifty people in the courtyard, maybe more; it is after midnight, and no one there knows him he thinks! Strange! Peter had delighted in being one of Christ's disciples; now, he wanted to be unnoticed. He did not want anyone to know he was a disciple of Jesus. -Notice John 18:17 The word also has reference to John who was already present and know by the high-priest's family. The servant girl knew John was a follower of Jesus and it didn't matter to her, but Peter chose to be unnoticed as His follower. He said, I am not. The same danger of wanting to be an unnoticed Christian comes in our lives. How often have we been with some new friends, perhaps at school or on the job or while playing some sport, when the matter of Jesus or Christianity comes up and we say nothing, hoping that no one will recognize us as being a Christian? We fail to declare that we belong to Jesus. Peter told the Lord that he would die for Him, but that he would never leave Him. Our Lord seldom asks us to die for him, but He does ask us to live for Him; to stay committed to Him; to stay in close fellowship with Him; to take our stand for Him. -Why didn't Peter witness to the girl? The devil was able to use that little girl when someone is following the Lord afar off, like Matthew described Peter, for they are easy to catch off guard. The Gospel of Mark points out something the other Gospel writers do not. Remember that Mark got much of his information from Peter. -Mark 14:30 tells us that before the rooster crows TWICE that Peter will deny the Lord three times. Mark 14:68 tells us that when the servant girl let Peter in, she said, You were also with 280

3 Jesus. When Peter denied it, he went out on the porch and the rooster crowed after the first denial. Roosters often crow before the sun comes up as a kind of rehearsal for the louder crowing after the sun comes up. For Peter, this first crowing was a warning. John 18:18 tells us that Peter then stood and warmed himself around the fire with the enemies of Jesus. Now he is in the place of real temptation. -Before, Peter didn't distinguish himself as a Christian; now he's trying to blend in with them, to act like them, to adopt their way of thinking. -When we are in a worldly setting and desire to change colors like a chameleon so that we don't stand out or appear different, we are guilty of the same unguarded heart that Peter exemplified in the denial. -We should never try to hide our Christianity when among this crooked and perverse generation. The world needs to see Christians boldly being salt and light. John 18 reveals something else to us. As Jesus was answering the high priest, one came and struck the face of Jesus. -Peter simply stood there. That one, who only a few minutes before had cut a man's ear off, just stood there and would not stand and be counted for his Lord. -How could he watch the face of Jesus being slapped and do nothing? How can those of us who claim to love Jesus stand with the devil's crowd and listen to them use the Lord's precious name in vain and not take our stand for Him? -No doubt, while Peter warmed his hands at the enemy's fire, he felt cold and uncomfortable in his very soul. The comfortable place is seldom the committed place. Now comes the third denial. What should Peter have done when he denied the Lord the first time? He should have stopped, recognized that he had sinned against the Lord, confessed it, repented of it, sought out the girl and righted the wrong. Instead, his first sin went unchecked. Then the second sin went unchecked. -Sin is relentless. It is never satisfied until it wraps itself around us and crushes us. Sin wants all of us. -Now a relative of the man Peter had struck with the sword said, I saw you in the Garden with Jesus. Peter cursed and denied it for the third time, and rooster crowed again. Once Peter cursed, they never asked him again about being a follower of Jesus. The crowing of the rooster that morning went unnoticed to the majority of the people in Jerusalem. It was a common sound to most. There was nothing out of the ordinary about it. It brought to them no significant message, other than the birth of a new day. But for Peter, the crowing of that rooster was like a blare of a bugle. The rooster was the messenger of God to Peter's heart and it's familiar sound brought to him a message of his failure and sin.-i think every time from that day forward, when he heard a roaster crow, he was reminded that he denied his Lord. II. The Reasons For Failure What possessed Peter to deny knowing Jesus? 281

4 -Peter was scared, tired, and the case of Jesus appeared to be hopeless. That doesn't excuse his conduct, but it does make it understandable. Then, Peter never expected to be questioned by a servant girl. Her question caught him totally off-guard, and he blurted out an answer almost without thinking. Once he had denied Jesus, he thought there was no turning back. He had to play the situation out. What happened to Peter was no fluke. He set himself up by a long string of bad choices that night. We often follow the same shameful pattern. 1.We ignored the warnings of Jesus. How often has our Lord given us preventive measures to keep us from sinning and we do not heed His counsel. We still go to the places we should not go. We watch and hear things that we know are harmful to us and know will lead us to sin. We fail to read God's word and commune with Him in prayer; then we act surprised when we fall into sin! 2.We don't admit our own weakness. We see others being trapped in sin, but somehow we think we are stronger than others or have more will power than others or we are more disciplined than others, so if we get in sinful situations, we are strong enough to withstand temptation. No we're not!! 3.We follow Christ, but at a distance; far off. 4.We try to blend in with the world. 5.We are unprepared when the attack comes. It's interesting that Peter only fooled himself. The others never really believed him. They sensed he was lying. Something in his face and tone of voice gave him away. -Look again at I Cor. 10:12 III. The Recovery from Failure The greatest tragedy is not that we fail our Lord; the greatest tragedy is that we fail our Lord and then fail to seek His mercy, grace, and forgiveness. -Our Lord is not surprised that we would fall into sin. In fact, He makes a way for us to be reconciled and forgiven. I John 1:9. When Peter denied his Lord the third time and the Lord turned and looked at Peter, it was: 1.A Convicting Look Peter, you said that you didn't know me. Look at me, Peter. Look at me. Do you not know me? -There is a little rooster inside all of God's children. When we do wrong it convicts us and causes great guilt. 282

5 2.A Compassionate Look It was not a look of condemnation, but of love, mercy, and grace. 3.A Commissioning Look Weep, Peter. Repent, Peter. When you are reconciled to Me, go and strengthen your brothers. -He replaced failure with faith, defeat with dedication, sorrow with service, profanity with preaching. He moved past failure to victory. Brownwell North was a capable evangelist used of God in several evangelist circles to preach the gospel. But he left his interest in spiritual things and went into a life of shameful activity for a couple of months. Some of it was done in secret but some of it made the headlines and he felt he was ruined for life. When he finally decided what a fool he had been, he came back like the prodigal from the pit. The Lord received him back and blessed him. After a period of time he felt pressed back into the ministry. Brownwell feared the possibility of his straying being found out. Finally, when he thought it was hidden away in the sands of time, he was back in the pulpit. One night in a revival service he was given a letter unsigned. Just before the service began he took the letter and read it. The letter described a series of shameful events he had engaged in and his stomach turned and the letter concluded: If you have the guile to preach tonight, I will stand and expose you. North took the letter and went to his knees. A few minutes later he was in the pulpit. He began his message by reading the letter from start to finish. And he said, I want to make it clear that this letter is perfectly true. I am ashamed of what I have read and what I have done. I come tonight, not as one who is perfect, but as one who is forgiven. God used that letter and the balance of his ministry to help bring spiritual failures back to fellowship with Christ. Just so, God used Peter: He denied his Lord, but God used him at Pentecost. Something Beautiful...Something Good All my confusion (shame, rebellion), He understood All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife But He made something beautiful of my life. Not perfect, but forgiven: You can know the joy of that truth. This message is : You can be forgiven...blessed...used of God!