Peter's Denial

[0:00] Go ahead and take your Bibles, turn over to Mark chapter 14 this morning. Mark chapter 14 as we continue on in our series through the book of Mark here this morning.

[0:11] As we have been looking here as Jesus has been taken here to the high priest's palace and interrogated and falsely accused. And this was the first of his trials along the pathway to the cross as he went.

[0:27] And while Jesus was facing the accusations, two of his disciples this morning we're going to find and expressly talk about one and that's Peter. But John and Peter had followed the mob to Caiaphas' house.

[0:42] And we're going to see here this morning that Peter here becomes the central focus as he would soon engage in the very thing that Jesus had revealed to him that he would deny that he ever knew Jesus.

[0:55] And so as we're going to look here this morning, if you found Mark chapter 14, let's stand together in honor of the reading of the Word of God. And we'll have kind of a broken reading here this morning.

[1:06] We're going to read verse 54 and then jump over to verse 66 because these two kind of tie together about Peter here. And so we see here in verse 54 it says, And Peter followed him afar off, even under the palace of the high priest.

[1:21] And he sat with the servants and warmed himself at the fire. And as Peter was beneath in the palace, there cometh one of the maids of the high priest.

[1:32] And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked upon him and said, And thou also was with Jesus of Nazareth. But he denied, saying, I know not, neither understand I what thou sayest.

[1:43] And he went out into the porch and the cock crew. And the maids saw him again and began to say to them that stood by, This is one of them. And he denied it again.

[1:55] And a little after, when they stood by again, said to Peter, Surely thou art one of them, for thou art a Galilean, and thy speech agreeeth thereto. But he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not this man of whom ye speak.

[2:10] And the second time the cock crew and Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crowed twice, thou shalt deny me thrice.

[2:22] And when he thought thereon, he wept. Let's pray. Heavenly Fathers, we come before you this morning, Lord. We're thankful for your word. We're thankful for even the reality.

[2:33] As we're going to look at Peter here this morning, Lord, A man that did many things similar to what we do oftentimes, Lord. Even get caught up in ourselves.

[2:46] Lord, to not rely upon you. Lord, we can learn so much from even this incident with Peter And how he even grew through it. Lord, help us to grow also in you through these things, even here today.

[3:00] And Lord, we just love you and thank you. In Jesus' name, amen. May we be seated. You know, as we find here, Jesus here has told his disciples beforehand what was going to transpire.

[3:13] You know, and that's one of those things that oftentimes we can get information but not want to do anything with it. You know, if we don't like the information, oftentimes we ignore it. You know, sometimes we put it off to the side.

[3:26] Sometimes we exempt ourselves from it, as we're going to see here with Peter. And we're going to see here as he told his disciples that they were going to be offended and they were going to run away.

[3:36] If you remember earlier here that Peter took offense to what Jesus said. When Jesus looked at Peter and said, Peter, hey, I know who you are. I know what you're going to do.

[3:47] I know how you're going to respond. I know because it's been foretold how these things are going to come about. And we're going to look here this morning and Jesus is telling Peter.

[3:57] And Peter's response is he looks at Jesus and says, Jesus, I've been faithful and there's no way I would deny you. You know, you know, it's very easy to see Peter in ourselves sometimes.

[4:09] Because sometimes we can have that same idea in our minds, you know, even about our service to Christ. But we need to be careful because we're going to see here as Peter learned also, we have to be there's some dangers.

[4:23] There's some things that led him here that can cause a problem in our life also. And we know that Jesus made it very clear to him in Peter's response in Mark 14 and verse 31.

[4:37] It tells us there, but when he spake more vehemently, if I should die with you, I will not deny thee in any wise like also said they all. You know, it's interesting in that passage there in Mark 14, when you consider that Peter stood up and was very vehement.

[4:54] He's very aggressively stating, Jesus, I will never forsake you. Now, that's interesting because Peter was the one who always got up and got going, right?

[5:05] That word vehemently, I want to remind you, it's almost like Peter got in Jesus' face and told him, I don't believe you. I will be faithful even unto death. That's how confident Peter was of how he would respond to a situation.

[5:21] You know, I want you to consider something when you're judging things and you're looking at other people, never look and say, I would never do something. Because sometimes you don't know how you'll respond until that moment.

[5:36] We need to just look and say, Lord, help me to be faithful, increase my faith. Lord, help me to trust you in those situations. Help me to move forward through them.

[5:47] And so Peter here, he was very adamant. They got the others on board. You ever know somebody gets excited and has a lot of energy? Everybody else jumps on board too? You know? But you know, you realize even all the other disciples also all ran away.

[6:00] They all went their own direction. You know? And we see here, he was ready to give everything for the Lord, even his life. And he was close to that happening here.

[6:11] Just a little bit before this, you remember when the mob came out to arrest Jesus. And what's Peter do? He takes the sword and he lops off the ear of Malchus, the high priest's servant.

[6:23] He literally could have lost his own life if it weren't for Jesus intervening. Because remember, what did Jesus do, you know? And, you know, that whole account just still fascinates me.

[6:36] Here's Peter doing something really dumb. And Jesus steps in and makes a difference. You know, I just imagine Jesus taking the ear and putting it back on and Malchus is going, Whoa.

[6:51] How do you charge somebody when there's no offense? You know? I always laugh and think about that. You know, how good a witness would Malchus have been against Peter? Well, he cut my ear off, but Jesus put it back on.

[7:01] It's working just fine. Matter of fact, I hear better than I did before. That wouldn't work too good, would it? But we realize here as Peter is here and Jesus is telling Peter, he says, Peter, I know.

[7:13] And I think Jesus appreciated Peter's fervency and his energy. But we need to understand Jesus also knew the heart. He knew how Peter was going to respond. He knows how we're going to respond.

[7:25] He knows what we're made of. But I want you to see the importance of this moment here that we're going to look at here this morning, because this is one of the few events you'll find in all four Gospels.

[7:37] All four of the Gospel writers write about this. From a little different perspective, give us different details. As we'll see here in a little bit, John even informs us that people who knew Malchus was one of them that were accusing Peter.

[7:53] I know you're one of them. You know, maybe he pointed them out and said, that's the dude who cut my ear off. You know, we don't have all that information, but we know the Bible tells us that there were those who knew him and connected that with Peter.

[8:07] But we find here that Peter denies Christ. Yet the fact is that it's just a snapshot into Peter's life. You know, the one thing is we talk about this because oftentimes you can look at this and say, it's very negative what Peter did.

[8:22] But I think this is recorded, it's important in all four Gospels because it's something important for us to note. That what happens in a moment does not define you for the rest of your life.

[8:34] God can take and forgive and move forward with your life. Peter's a testimony to that.

[8:48] Because I don't know about you, when you read about Peter denying Christ and how he does it here as we're going to look at it, you would think that would be unrecoverable. That Peter would be down and out and Jesus would just write him off.

[9:00] But Jesus already knew as we're going to look and understand what happens here this morning. Because Peter learned much through the event because, you know what made the difference between living in failure and being restored?

[9:19] Was we're going to see here that Peter's repentance, realizing what he had done, and coming back to the Lord made all the difference. Oftentimes when we get caught in events in life, it's because we want to stay there.

[9:32] We're not willing to say, Lord, I was wrong. Lord, I need your forgiveness. I need you. And oftentimes we're going to see people can get caught there when they're not willing to turn to the Lord for forgiveness and restoration.

[9:51] And so Peter's story is important to us because, you know, we will experience that sometime in our life you're going to fail. Sometime in your life if you say, I'm going to serve the Lord, you're going to fail the Lord.

[10:05] But Peter's account gives us hope to say we know God can put things back together. That God can restore in lives and through Him that we can experience forgiveness and restoration.

[10:21] You know, just the fact that we have failed the Lord and sinned against Him doesn't mean that we're doomed to end our lives in that condition. You know, I want you to know that there's hope in the midst of crisis we have a Savior.

[10:34] When we look at Peter here this morning, I don't want you to look and say, well, what a bum. I want you to look at it and say, what can I learn? What can I learn from Peter's life that I can apply to my own?

[10:49] What things do I need to do in my life when I'm in the position Peter was in? Because the reality is all of us are going to sin. All of us have sinned. All of us will sin.

[11:01] But what's done with that sin is what's important. And so we're going to look here this morning for a few moments here into this passage here.

[11:11] But look together. We're going to look at Peter's fear. Because, you know, one thing I think you're going to find is fear drives a lot of things. How you perceive what's going on around you drives a lot of things in our life.

[11:25] And we're going to look at this this morning because while all of Peter's, all the disciples ran away from Jesus when he was arrested, we learn that two of them, and in Mark he just makes note of the one, because notice in verse 54 it says, And Peter followed him afar off, even into the palace of the high priest.

[11:45] And we see this, but I want you to understand, John, look over to John chapter 18. John chapter 18 in verse 15. We're going to see here that John records, And Simon Peter followed Jesus and did it, and so did another disciple.

[12:00] And that disciple was known unto the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest. And so, in other words, we find here that John, we know that John has a connection somehow with the high priest.

[12:13] Now, the Bible doesn't tell us in detail what that connection is. But we know that he was in a position enough that he was allowed into the palace.

[12:24] He was recognized as somebody that was familiar around where the high priest was. And so we're going to see here this morning that we find John here is into the palace, and Peter is outside.

[12:38] He's warming himself by the fire. And we find that John speaks to the maid that's watching the door and convinces her to go get Peter. You know, this is where Mark picks up. Peter's sitting by the fire with the servants.

[12:51] Now, that's interesting because he just cut off one of the ears of one of the servants. So he goes and he's trying to hide himself amongst them. And we find here that Peter there was even in the palace of the high priest, and he sat with the servants and warmed himself by the fire.

[13:08] You know, it was here that the maid found Peter. We see here in verse 66 here in our text, it says, As Peter was beneath the palace, there cometh one of the maids of the high priest.

[13:20] You know, why was she coming out? Well, if you read John's gospel, you'll find that John was the one who sent her out to get Peter, to get Peter on inside also.

[13:32] You know, but notice how Peter responded to her. She comes out and Peter, and when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked upon him and said, And thou also was with Jesus of Nazareth.

[13:47] Now, that's interesting that she says thou also. What's that tell you? She knows there's another one. You know, that there was another one. John was already in and she was sent out to get Peter.

[13:57] And how does Peter respond? You know, Peter here does the first denial that comes. He's nervous about what's happening. And you look in verse 68 and it says, But he denied, saying, I know not, neither understand I what thou sayest.

[14:14] And he went out into the porch and the cock crew. In other words, we see here that here's Peter. He says, I know not. And then he uses another best excuse. No comprende.

[14:26] You know, I don't understand. You know, that's like a universal thing. If somebody wants to get out of trouble, if people, because you've got to remember, in biblical times, people spoke multiple languages. In other words, Peter was sitting there and he goes, Well, I don't understand.

[14:40] You know, it was a tool that he used to try to deny. You know, I want you to understand that it's no different today. A lot of people do that.

[14:52] You know, well, I just don't understand. Understand. But the thing is, when it comes to the things of God, you better pay attention. Because there's things in life you cannot understand and get by.

[15:04] But if you fail to understand what Christ has done for you, it devastates eternity. One misunderstanding about what Christ has done for you will devastate eternity for you. It's something that you better figure out because God made it simple.

[15:19] Amen? You know, well, I appreciate that God made it simple. It's not complex. But we find here that the rooster crows in the background, just as Jesus had warned Peter that he would deny him three times before, that old rooster crowed two times.

[15:38] You know? So we know that this happened pretty quickly in the sequence of things because he didn't even consider what he had just heard and wanting to avert attention from himself.

[15:51] He moves into the porch area. In other words, his fear of being recognized. He was scared of what was going to happen. And he tries to avert. He tries to get away. You know, sometimes we'll do the same thing.

[16:02] You know, even believers sometimes will let fear overcome wanting to be associated with Christ. Peter, the one who had walked with him, wanted to disavow for his own means.

[16:16] For preservation. We find here it was only a brief while before another maid recognizes him and begins to tell others who he was. And Peter overhears the accusation and begins to deny.

[16:28] Look here as we say in verse 69, And a maid saw him and began to say to them that stood by, This is one of them. And he had denied it again.

[16:40] And a little after, they that stood by said again to Peter, Surely thou art one of them. For thou art a Galilean, and thy speech agreeeth thereto. So we find here that there's a brief while and a maid recognizing.

[16:53] He quickly hears the conversation. I mean, I can see her over there. That's Peter. He was one of them. And the crowd's looking at Peter, and Peter's going, Man, I've got to say something.

[17:04] Once again, fear overcomes what's taking place. And we see here as Peter is there, and he quickly overhears, and he denies that he ever was with Jesus.

[17:19] You know, John gives us a little insight. John 18, 26 says this, One of the servants of the high priest being his kinsman, whose ear Peter cutteth off. In other words, Malchus, somebody related to Malchus.

[17:31] I imagine if they were both there together, they'd already had a conversation about what happened. You say, preacher, how do you know that? I don't know how anybody, if you had your ear cut off and somebody miraculously put it back on, you wouldn't tell somebody.

[17:44] You know? It's kind of like the lame man in the book of Acts. He says, I don't know, but all I know is, you know, I couldn't walk, now I can walk. You know, you have the same account with people who couldn't see.

[17:57] I was blind, but now I see. You know, I can't explain it. I can't tell you what happened. I imagine Malchus was the same way. He says, he cut my ear. I don't know what happened, but Jesus healed it. He was going to be telling people.

[18:12] And we see here that these, cut it off. He says, did not I see thee in the garden with him? You know, in other words, he was there. He says, I recognize you from the garden.

[18:22] So here's Peter, and he's kind of feeling pushed in from the things around him. And we find here that as he stood there, we find in verse 7, he denied it again.

[18:33] And a little after that, stood by him again, said to Peter, surely thou art one of them, for thou art a Galilean, and thy speech agreeeth thereto. You know, surely thou art, it's a matter of fact.

[18:45] He said, look at him. And they looked at Peter and said, well, we've got a couple of clues going on here. One, you look like somebody that's from Galilee, but your speech betrayeth you too.

[18:57] Now, let's put this into a common thing, because we do this all the time with people, don't we? Have you ever met somebody and you looked at how they're dressed and you heard their accent and you said, I have a real good idea where you're from.

[19:13] They might not identify it, but they'll say things like this, you're not from around here, are you? You know, have you ever noticed how those things come up? You recognize pretty quickly, hey, this person is not from around here.

[19:26] And what's the big indicator is what? Their language, even an accent or things associated, identifies that quickly, doesn't it? In other words, Peter didn't speak like they spoke in Jerusalem.

[19:41] They had a little difference. You know, we might put today, you know, some of the things that we have that identify those things. You know, you have that Bostonian accent.

[19:53] Have you ever known somebody from Boston in that area? It's just like you pinpoint them right away. You know, because they forget parts of words. Then you got the Jerseyites.

[20:08] You know, that's a whole different lingo from the Bostonians. You know, and then you have, you know, that's also different from the Carolina accent, which is different from the Texas accent, which is different from the Virginia accent.

[20:21] You know, and if you get in some place, you know, people can tell whether you're from Virginia or Carolina or West Virginia or Tennessee. I mean, all those places you can pick up little nuances of difference.

[20:36] And so, it's very easy that sometimes we see and hear the same thing happened with Peter. You know, it was very evident that Peter here responds, though.

[20:48] He says, I've been outed. I've been, everybody knows and notice in verse 71, he says this, he says, but he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not this man of whom you speak.

[21:01] Now, I want you to understand what takes place here because when it talks about Peter swearing here, it doesn't mean Peter used vulgar language. What Peter did here is far worse than vulgar language.

[21:14] You know, when we talk about curse and swearing today, you know, we have a certain association of words and dynamics, but I want you to understand what Peter did here when we understand what's being said is far worse because Peter swears by the very one he denies.

[21:32] I want you to know that Peter was there. He may have said something like this, and if he was speaking today, he may say, I swear before God that I don't know Jesus of Nazareth.

[21:44] He literally swore an oath to God that he didn't know Jesus. That's what it's speaking about. It's the same dynamic. That word curse, let me just give you, so I can validate what I'm telling you as you can understand even from the Scripture.

[21:57] Turn over to Acts 23 for a moment because this same word is used over in Acts 23 and verse 12. This idea of curse, it's a vow that he's making before them.

[22:08] Here in Acts 23 and verse 12, it says, And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together and bound themselves under a curse, under a vow before God.

[22:19] That's how that term is expressed in the Scripture, okay? I want you to understand that connection because we're not talking about Peter using language that we might say was a little colorful here trying to break away.

[22:34] He did something far worse when you think about it. He swore by the very one he was denying. Peter had fallen a long way. Consider what he was just a few hours previous. He was in Jesus' face basically saying, Lord, I don't believe you.

[22:49] I'm going to be faithful to you no matter what. And within a few hours, Peter has denied Christ three times even to the point of swearing by the name of the Lord that he didn't know him.

[22:59] That's a long ways. Lord, I will never deny you to I'll swear by God I don't know you. That's about as far as the extreme you can get. He went from both ends.

[23:10] He moved both ends of the spectrum from one I will never I will never give up. I will not always hold on to you to I don't even want to know you. He literally blasphemed the name of the one that he swore that he would follow.

[23:22] I think Peter's fear of this situation and his fear led to his failure. When he got there he found out that his faith wasn't focused on the right things.

[23:34] And we'll see here this morning because Peter's failures that come here because we need to talk about this. What got Peter to this point? What are the things that we see in Peter's life that got him caught up into this?

[23:49] You know? What caused Peter from going from a close walk with the Lord to openly denying him? How did Peter fail? One that was so focused upon the Lord.

[24:00] He said, Lord, I've given everything up for you. But we can look at Peter's life and identify some problems in our own lives too. Because one of the things I see first in Peter's life is a problem with self-confidence instead of confidence in God.

[24:13] When Peter was talking to Jesus he says, I, I, I, I will never forsake you. The reality is there's only one that will never forsake you and that's God. You know?

[24:23] After the Passover meal early that evening Jesus revealed to them that all would forsake him that very night. You know, all would do there.

[24:33] and Peter quickly responded if you remember and informed Jesus that the rest might leave but he never would. Self-confidence in what I can do, how good I can hold on, how much my ability is.

[24:53] The problem is Peter believed he reached a place in his spiritual life where failure was impossible. I want you to understand that you never reach a point where failure is impossible.

[25:05] I want you to understand the Bible warns us it's a dangerous place to be when you think your ability and who you are is above failure before God.

[25:18] Look over to Proverbs chapter 29. Proverbs 29 and verse 23. You find here in the book of Proverbs it says this. It says, A man's pride shall bring him low but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit.

[25:35] You know, you'll find many verses talking about the contrast between pride and humility. A high self-confidence in what we're talking about here in Peter is pride.

[25:47] Pride in your life saying, I know my ability who I am gets us in trouble pretty quick, doesn't it? Because we need to realize you never think that you are above the same situation where you would deny the Lord.

[26:02] I want you to understand the fact is that you're prone, just as prone to sin as anyone else. You're just as prone to sin as Peter was. If you let self-confidence and pride take the place of faith and trust and walking with the Lord.

[26:17] I want you to understand that you're only one thought, one act, one word from being right where Peter was. Look how quickly Peter's life changed. Peter went from one everybody would look at to say that's Jesus' most faithful servant to openly deny him.

[26:33] Why? Because his confidence was in himself. You know, confidence in himself gets us in trouble. How about defiance? The second thing here, there was some defiance in Peter's life because self-confidence leads to some defiance because you get centered off what you need to focus upon and upon ourselves and what we can do.

[26:56] I want you to think, how was Peter defiant? Well, consider what took place even though Peter was told very clearly by the Lord what was going to happen. Peter got the biggest problem with self-reliance as he denied what God's word said.

[27:11] He denied what the Lord said. He heard Jesus say, all of you are going to be scattered. You will all run away. And Peter says, what? I don't believe you. Peter rejected the word of God.

[27:23] Look back in this passage. Look in verse 31 of chapter 14. It says, but he spake the more vehemently. If I would die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise. Likewise also said they all.

[27:36] What did Jesus say before that? He said, before Peter, before the cock crows twice, you're going to deny me three times. And Peter said, there's no way. Earlier, Jesus had quoted even from the Old Testament in Zechariah chapter 13 and verse 7 to prove what he was saying was going to happen, that the disciples were going to go away.

[28:00] They were going to deny him. They were going to run away. You know what this is? Peter's problem was he was defiant and openly opposed to the word of God.

[28:12] Jesus' own words were authoritative enough. Jesus quoted from his word. And Peter says, Lord, I know what you said and I know what's written, but I don't care.

[28:26] You know, dangerous place to be when you know what God says and you openly ignore it because you think you know better. Peter got himself in trouble just as quickly as we can when we become defiant to the word of God.

[28:41] To say, Lord, I know what you say, but that doesn't include me. You know, one of the things of self-confidence and defiance is the fact that it's like I'm exempt. That's going to happen to everybody else but me.

[28:52] That's really what Peter's saying. Lord, that might be true of everybody else, but not me. You know what? There's a lot of times in life that people do the same thing, that we do the same thing. Lord, I know what you say in your word.

[29:04] I know what even the consequences of those choices are, but not me. Lord, I'm above that. You know, on Wednesday nights we're learning about old King Jehoshaphat, you know, and he went off into battle and almost lost his life because he didn't believe what God said.

[29:20] The only thing that saved his life, I believe, is he cried out to God and said, Lord, I'm in trouble. I made a big mistake because I didn't obey what you said. Peter got in trouble because he was self-confident and he defied the word of God.

[29:34] You know, people today do the exact same thing. We can do the exact same thing. Know what God says about it, but ignore it. A believer is always headed for trouble when they refuse to listen to the word of God.

[29:47] You know, sometimes we think, well, unbelievers need to hear the word of God and pay attention because I've got it handled. I want you to understand whether you need to understand what salvation is, how Christ came and paid the price for your sin on the cross and how that whosoever will call upon him will be saved if they recognize, yes, I'm a sinner, I'm drowning in my sin, I'm going to die in my sin and only Christ can rescue me.

[30:11] I want you to understand that's the beginning of your walk in understanding the word of God. I'll put it this way, until you understand who Christ is as your Savior, the rest of the word of God is really irrelevant because if you miss that one point, the Bible says there's two places you're going to go.

[30:27] That's a pivotal point. It's a difference between heaven and hell. Total opposite contrast. You know, contrary to popular belief, you don't get second chances past this life.

[30:41] Be thankful in this life you get more than second chances usually because while you're still drawing breath you have a chance. You have an opportunity to call upon the Savior.

[30:52] I want you to understand that the word of God is just as important for salvation as it is for daily living. Peter here denied and defied the word of God.

[31:04] You know, Christians can defy God's word. The Bible says he that knoweth to do good and doeth it not to him it is sin. You know, if you want to fall into trouble stand in defiance to God's word.

[31:17] It's a dangerous place for us to be because anybody's in trouble when they refuse to obey the word of God. Peter was defiant. He was self-confident.

[31:29] He was defiant. But you know, Peter also was indifferent and had prayerlessness. He didn't want that connection. You know, if you remember back in verses 33 through 38 Jesus went to pray and told his disciples to pray with him.

[31:47] Instead, what did they do? Fell asleep. They were exhausted. You know, we talked about the reality of that as we studied that. But I want you to see the application here and the implication of what happens.

[32:01] They showed indifference to the warning of the Lord. What did Jesus say? Hey, to watch and pray. And they fell asleep. Refusing to pray and seek God would have served them well. Or refusing to pray and seek God the very thing that would have served them well when the attack of the devil and the flesh came was to pray.

[32:23] You know, Peter was self-confident. He defied the word of God. He didn't want to pray. He was indifferent. Then we find Peter's impulsiveness. You know, just going out on his own, you know.

[32:38] Jesus told his men that he was going to be arrested and that it was the will of God that it was going to happen. What was Peter's response? He drew his sword and tried to lop somebody's head off and he only got an ear.

[32:50] Jesus told them what was going to take place. Why do you think Jesus told his disciples what was going to take place? So they could be prepared for what was going to happen. You know what?

[33:00] God tells us what we need to know for this life and his word so we can be prepared for when the things and challenges of life happen. The question is are we going to listen? Because we're going to find here Peter, he strikes out impulsively and strikes with his sword cutting an ear off of a man by the name of Malchus who we learn later comes back to haunt him because Malchus' kin recognizes him and says, hey, I know you from the garden.

[33:28] But you know what impulsiveness does? It helps us, it makes us operate outside the revealed will of God. When Jesus told the disciples what was going to happen, he said, hey, here is God's will for this moment.

[33:43] You know, stop and consider something for us. How many of us would really like sometimes for God to step in and say, let me tell you what's going to happen here. Let me tell you how all this is going to be processed. Let me tell you how all this is going to come together.

[33:54] You know, wouldn't it be good to have that kind of revelation in our life? Jesus told the disciples exactly what was going to take place. They're going to come, they're going to arrest me, they're going to wrongly convict me, they're going to put me on a cross.

[34:11] You know what Jesus said too? He said, hey, I'm not going to stay dead, guys. Don't get distraught over what I'm going to tell you because on the third day I'm going to rise again. Jesus revealed the will of God going in the next three days, he revealed the will of God to them what was going to happen.

[34:30] But yet Peter acted impulsively in the moment knowing what God had already said. He said, I want to take my own course, I want to do my own action, I want to do my own thing.

[34:42] You know, Peter was impulsive, he operated outside of the revealed will of God. He was doing what he thought was right with no thought for what God thought was right.

[34:53] You know, it's a danger that we have in our life because Peter was out of sync with God and with God's plan for what was going to happen with his only begotten son, Jesus Christ.

[35:04] I want you to understand, you've got to remind yourself, did Jesus need Peter to defend him? No. I mean, they came to arrest him and Jesus said, I am, and they all go, they all got to pick themselves back up off the ground.

[35:15] I don't know what Peter thought he was doing, except being impulsive, thinking his own thing and wanting to do his own thing. It's one of the attitudes that contributed to his fall when he denied the Lord.

[35:29] You know, we're all headed to a fall when we walk impulsively, when we take no thought for the will of God, we're headed for trouble. When we take no thought for what God is doing around us, we're heading for trouble.

[35:41] When we walk like we want to walk, we're heading for trouble. When we do the things we want to do, we're out of sync with God's plan, we're heading for trouble. When we're not walking with him, and when we're not walking with God, we're headed for trouble.

[35:54] You know, impulsiveness says, I can do this on my own, I don't need the Lord's help. Prayerfulness and reliance on the Lord says, Lord, I need your help to find your way through life.

[36:05] And ultimately, that's only the two things you can choose. I'm either going to do life my way impulsively, or I'm going to do life God's way. Being obedient to what he says. You know, Peter failed because he allowed these things to live in his life, to take root.

[36:23] You know, the thing is, it doesn't have to be true of your life or my life. You know, we can learn also from Peter, it's time to make a change if you have identified a problem where you're not walking with the Lord, to step up and say, Lord, I repent, I turn to you, Lord, I want to have you in charge.

[36:42] Because notice here, as we finish the passage here, notice here in verse 72, it says, the second time the cock crew and Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice, and when he thought thereon, he wept.

[37:00] You know, it's amazing what Peter was feeling. Peter was denied, had just denied the Lord three times. The one that he loved, the one he had committed himself to serve, and now he sees Jesus looking at him.

[37:12] You know, Luke, each of the gospel writers says something, Luke 22 says at this point Jesus made eye contact with Peter. Jesus has all this going on, and he makes eye contact with Peter.

[37:27] Luke 22 61, it says, the Lord turned and looked upon Peter, and Peter remembered the words of the Lord. When Peter saw him looking, the Lord's word came to mind. He recalled the conversation, he recalled his response, and it says he ran and he wept.

[37:44] Now, I want you to understand, repentance isn't just weeping, but you know what? True repentance sometimes involves that coming out. The phrase here is more than weeping. You know, people can put on a good show crying.

[37:58] The term here for wept is he was broken. Peter's life, his heart was broken because of what just happened.

[38:10] He broke down. He lost control of his emotions. He was a broken man and he fell before the Lord tearfully. You know, sincere repentance isn't tears.

[38:21] Sincere repentance is saying, Lord, I'm broken from my sin and I need you. He broke down. You know, the good thing is, if you remember God's promises, you know, consider 1 John 1, verse 9.

[38:37] Now, this verse is talking expressly to believers because it tells us if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

[38:47] You know, it's amazing. Some people think, well, that's for somebody else. You know, what the thing is for us? Because if you think you have not sinned, you already have a problem because you just denied what God's word said. You can go back and read 1 John 1.

[38:58] Jesus makes it very clear. If you say you have no sin, you're already in trouble. We're going to deal with sin in this life. The question is, are you going to continue down the road that you're on or are you going to come back to Jesus?

[39:14] Peter made a decision for the Lord. Peter took some things away as he grew through this. You know, if you read Peter's epistles, you know, consider 2 Peter chapter 3, look at verse 17.

[39:26] It says this, he therefore beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.

[39:36] Did Peter fall from his own steadfastness? He says this in verse 18, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever.

[39:49] You know, I think when you read Peter, you find out Peter learned a lot from this. Peter grew a lot as we're going to see how God uses him later. God was working. Peter learned his lesson.

[40:00] He repented. He was restored. The question is, have you learned your lesson? You know, sometimes we're just as hard headed, but we have a decision to make what we're going to do with the Lord. You know, today, can you see the dangers, the signs in your life today that are leading you away from God instead of towards him?

[40:19] The fact is, some of you are headed for trouble and you don't seem to realize the danger because you're self-confident and defying. You're walking in the path Peter was that led him where Jesus told him he didn't have to go, but Jesus knew he was going to go because he knew Peter's heart.

[40:40] He knew what Peter was relying on. But you'll find Peter differently later on. Everything that he did was focused on what Christ had done, just as it ought to be in our life.

[40:55] As heads are bowed and eyes are closed this morning, maybe you're here today and the Lord has spoke to you about some things in your life. It may be things nobody else knows about, challenges or thoughts, things that you need to say, Lord, I need to follow your word.

[41:13] I need to trust your word. Maybe you're here today and you're not sure where you stand with Christ. Maybe there's never been a moment in time when you can look back and say, I know this is the point, this is the time, this is the place that I called upon Christ as my Savior.

[41:31] Because I want you to know that you don't become a Christian over a course of time. You grow and mature as a Christian over a course of time, but you become a child of God in a moment.

[41:41] It's an instant change of position before God. Has your position changed or does it need to? What about you today? Heavenly Father, as we come before you today, Lord, we just thank you and praise you for your word.

[41:56] Lord, as we learn these things from Peter, Lord, that we might know that we can come to you. Lord, we know that if we confess our sins, you're faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

[42:11] Lord, help us to rely upon you as we walk each day. Lord, we just commit this time of invitation to you, Lord, that we might look at ourselves through the lens of your word, even here this morning.

[42:26] Lord, we just ask it all in your precious name. As the piano plays, words,