As we approach Easter, I want us to focus on the passage Graham just read to you, John 18 verses 15 through to 27.
Please do keep your Bible open and look at it with me.
That will help you check that what I'm saying actually is not from me, but ultimately from the Bible, from God.
And it is God speaking to us.
As we pick up here in John chapter 18, Jesus has just been arrested and faces his first trial before the Jewish religious leaders.
Meanwhile, Peter, who's out in the courtyard, again he's just sliced the ear off some of it when Jesus was being arrested,
actually faces a rather more informal trial of his own.
And throughout the entire chapter, more than just what we're looking at this lunchtime,
John switches our attention back and forth between Jesus and Peter.
He starts with Jesus, then he goes to Peter, then back to Jesus, then back to Peter, then back to Jesus.
It says John is deliberately putting up these two characters, more than characters of course,
so that we might compare and contrast them together.
And just over the next 20 minutes or so, I just want to look at this little instant as we really begin to remember
the events of Easter over the week and the weekend ahead.
And I want to do that by asking you a particular question this lunchtime.
That question is this one.
Who are you willing to die for?
Now I know it's a rather blunt question.
It's perhaps you think it's a very surprising question.
And anybody would ask that question today.
But actually if we were an evening 70 years ago, as the Second World War was coming to an end,
that would not have been a surprising question.
It would have been a question that everybody back then would have had to come to terms with.
Today I suspect it's a question that's rarely asked.
Perhaps only if you're planning to join the army, perhaps.
But that's what we're looking at.
This lunchtime we're going to look at Peter first and then Jesus.
And as we start with Peter, we're really looking at who is Peter willing to die for?
Because the answer actually turns out to be nobody.
Peter turns out to be the faithless disciple who bottled his own witness so that he could save his own skin.
Look with me in verse 15.
Simon, Peter and another disciple.
That's in all likelihood John, our author.
They're following Jesus after he's arrested.
John is somehow known to the high priest.
And so John can get into the courtyard, the high priest's courtyard where Jesus is under trial.
But Peter has to stay outside.
He's obviously not allowed in.
Look again at verse 16.
Look at the second half of verse 16.
So the other disciple who was known to the high priest,
again John chooses to tell us twice.
That the other disciple, that's presumably himself, he's known to the high priest.
The implication I trust is that Peter wasn't.
And that's why John was allowed in.
But Peter wasn't.
And whenever a gospel writer tells us something twice in two verses,
it's always a good idea to ask ourselves why.
Why is that so important?
Which we'll be looking at as well.
Anyway, John comes back and speaks to the girl on duty so that he can bring Peter inside.
She knows that John is one of Jesus' disciples.
And as she observes John's relationship with Peter,
she's putting two and two together and asks Peter that question there in verse 17.
You also are not one of his disciples, are you?
This is Peter's test.
Right here.
Now he may not have been expecting it.
He may have thought he'd been watching somebody else's test and trial.
But this has turned out to be his trial.
But instead of being a faithful witness to his relationship with Jesus,
he bottles it.
There he replies at the end of verse 17.
He said,
I am not.
Now remember, we've just been told that John is known to the high priest.
The girl on the door knows that John is one of Jesus' disciples.
If it's safe for John to be inside and to be known as one of Jesus' disciples,
then I think it's a pretty fair assumption that at this point at least,
it would have been safe for Peter to have actually confessed that he was a disciple of Jesus.
But then, if you've ever been in a similar situation to Peter,
frozen like him as a rabbit, say, caught in the headlights of a car,
then you know as well as I do that rational thinking often gives way to panic
in those situations.
And it's panic that leads us not to being the faithful disciple we should be.
And to missing the opportunities we've given to witness to others about Jesus.
And I don't know about you this lunchtime,
but all too often, for my own liking,
I find myself more or less like Peter here.
Well, John's narrative there at the end of verse 18
leaves Peter warming himself by the open fire.
And John wants to switch her attention to Jesus,
but we're going to stick on with Peter just for another minute or two.
And before, as we jump ahead to verse 25,
and as you see there at the beginning of the verse 25,
John picks up the scene again with Simon Peter still standing there and warming himself.
John's account of Peter's second denial.
He's extremely brief.
But for the second time, Peter replies,
I am not.
When he's asked if he's also one of Jesus' disciples.
But the focus there in verse 26 is to one individual,
in particular to the one guy who challenges Peter for the third time.
John tells us that it's another of the servants of the high priest.
It's a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off
while Jesus was being arrested there in verse 10 earlier on in the chapter.
And what's worse from Peter's perspective
is that this man thinks he saw Peter in the olive grove.
So I think at this time,
it's probably fair to say Peter might well be in genuine trouble.
If I were Peter there and then,
or if you were Peter there now,
we wouldn't be pretty sure to be wondering,
what else did this guy see in that olive grove?
Did he see Peter brandishing the sword?
Did he see the blue?
Did he see the blood and hear the screams of his relative?
As his ear fell off and landed on the ground and the blood spurted out.
What else did this man see?
I'm sure Peter is wondering at this point.
And if Peter was not yet panicking by this stage,
I'm pretty sure he would be right now.
I, speaking here, have a lot of sympathy for Peter.
I suspect if I was in the same situation as he was,
I probably would have denied Jesus just as much as he did.
Nevertheless, he still is a faithless disciple.
He still is a disciple who bottled his witness to save his own skin.
And it's all the more significant because earlier on in the same night,
Peter pledged his life to Jesus.
John recorded it earlier in chapter 13 and verse 37.
There, earlier on in the same night,
Peter insists that he will lay down his life for Jesus.
Jesus, though, was fully aware back then that Peter,
actually this would happen.
Peter would bottle it.
Immediately after Jesus, sorry, Peter,
says that to Jesus, Jesus replies,
and I quote from verse 38 of chapter 13,
just a few pages earlier.
Then Jesus answered,
Will you lay down your life for me?
Truly, truly, I say to you,
the cock will not grow till you have denied me three times.
Well, back in chapter 18 and verse 37,
what happens after Peter's third denial?
John records there in verse 27,
Peter again denied it.
And at once, a cock grew.
See, Jesus was right about Peter.
His disciple Peter,
so apparently committed earlier on the same evening,
would later on bottled.
Simply to save each of the skin.
Well, in contrast to Peter,
here is Jesus.
And as we've asked earlier,
who was Peter willing to die for?
And the answer was nobody.
We ask the same question of Jesus.
Who was Jesus
willing to die for?
We're in verses 19 to 24.
The Jewish religious leaders
have put Jesus on trial before him.
And there in verse 19,
they question Jesus
to try and find some secret,
incriminating evidence against him.
But Jesus will have none of it.
His replies to point to his public witness
in the synagogues and in the temple,
rather than some sort of secret conspiracy.
Everybody knows what Jesus has been saying.
Everybody knows
how Jesus has been witnessing to God's truth.
Look with me there at verse 21,
is Jesus' reply.
Why do you ask me?
Ask those who heard me what I said to them.
They know what I said.
Let them see that here in John's
a kind piece,
actually what Jesus did say.
It's about Jesus' faithful witness
to his God.
That actually these religious leaders
are actually far from God.
Jesus' faithful witness
that their religion,
well, it's only for sure.
And Jesus' faithful witness
that unless these religious leaders repent,
they too will face God's judgment
for their own sins.
And that is precisely why
they had Jesus arrested.
It wasn't because he was doing
some sort of secret conspiracy.
It's because he was standing out
in the open,
in the public presses,
telling them that they need to repent
and change their lives.
That's why instead of debating with Jesus,
they resort to violence
as one of them strikes Jesus in the face.
But look with me
at how Jesus challenges them next
in verse 23.
Jesus answered him,
If I said what is wrong,
bear witness about the wrong.
But if what I said is right,
why do you strike me?
See, if they could demonstrate
that Jesus has done something wrong,
this is their opportunity
to justify what they're doing.
But actually,
it's their silence
reveals here that they couldn't.
They couldn't pin anything on Jesus.
Later on,
if we were to continue the story
when Jesus was in front of Pilate,
we see actually three times
Pilate telling people,
I find no basis for a charge
against this guy.
He's innocent.
Yet here he is under trial.
Not because he's objectively guilty
of any crime,
not because he's somehow sinful,
but actually because these chief priests
were offended that he would dare
proclaim God's witness against them
as he tells them about what God thinks of them
and God's indictment against them.
I hope you see just briefly
in our time together
that Jesus here is standing
in stark contrast
to Peter.
Jesus' faithful witness to God
actually would cost Jesus his life.
Jesus was willing to die
for his witness to God.
Whereas Peter,
where he bottled his own witness to Jesus
to save his own skin.
As we approach Easter
at the weekend,
we rightly remember
that central gospel truth
that Jesus died to save us
from our sins.
The Savior sweeps
by swapping places with us.
The innocent one,
Jesus,
took the sins and the guilt
of the guilty one
you,
me,
and the like of Peter here.
And what I find striking here,
and I hope you do
as well this lunchtime,
is that Jesus knew
that Peter would fail him
long before he's at rest.
What's striking is
at the very moment
when Peter is failing Jesus,
the faithful Jesus
is going to the cross
to pay for that failure.
And what's striking here
is that
Jesus' faithful witness,
in essence,
he's wiping out
Peter's failure
to witness
as he should here.
I don't know,
I think I only know
one or two of you here
this lunchtime.
Perhaps you're here
this lunchtime
and you're already
a disciple of Jesus.
You know that his death
has purchased
your forgiveness.
And yet perhaps
you're still feeling
guilty
for those times
that you know
you've let Jesus die.
You know that you've
bottled your witness
in the workplace
or with your neighbours
and feel to take
the opportunities
that have come your way
to speak with Jesus.
That's you.
And actually
you're in the same position
as Peter here.
Actually you're in the same position
as probably all of us.
Because we're all like Peter.
As Jesus
is dying here
for Peter,
for Peter's
faithlessness
in witnessing
so is Jesus
dying for our others
as well.
In John
chapter 21
we don't have time
to return to it.
Jesus,
the resurrected
Jesus wonderfully
forgives
all of Peter's
faithlessness here.
Wonderfully
recommissions him
for a life
of service.
Wonderfully
tells him
that he's going
to be his witness
to the ends
of the earth.
And it's
these events
as Peter's
denial
as he's
experienced
of the cross
of Jesus
on the cross
as experience
of resurrection
Sunday.
As experience
of being
forgiven
that actually
transforms
Peter.
From being
the guy
who bottled
his witness
to the guy
in the rest
of his life
who would be
a faithful witness
for Jesus.
The guy
who ultimately
church history
for his
paid his own
life
for his
witness
to Jesus.
But actually
as I close
this lunchtime
John chapter
18
is not
primarily
about
Peter.
It's
primarily
about
Jesus.
It would
be wrong
if I
were to
leave you
here
this
lunchtime
if you
just thought
about
Peter
and didn't
think even
more
about
Jesus
here.
Because the
most important
question this
passage asks
is not
who are you
willing to
die for
which is
what I
began with
but ultimately
who was
Jesus Christ
willing to
die for.
That's the
question we
need to be
asking
this Easter
time.
Here in
this part of
John chapter
18 we
see afresh
Jesus
willing to
die for
his father
God.
To keep
proclaiming
who God
is in
God's
character
to these
religious
leaders.
And here
in this
part of
John 18
we see
afresh
Jesus
willing to
die for
people like
Peter.
His
faithless
disciple
who is
good at
promising
to do
things for
Jesus
but
struggles
to put
them
into
practice.
He was
Jesus
Christ
willing to
die for.
Well it
was for
God
and it
was for
still flawed
disciples
like Peter
those who
have bottled
it in
the past
those who
have been
out to
sea of
their own
skins in
the past
so that
he might
forgive
them and
transform
them and
make them
more like
Jesus here.
This
Easter time
who was
Jesus
willing to
die for?
Can you
put your
name on
in the
answer to
that
question?
For
still
flawed
disciples
maybe
you're
not
even
a
disciple
yet
because
he
came to
die for
you
and for
me
to rescue
us from
our sins
and to
transform
our
witness
for him
so that
we might
live for
him
for the
rest of
our lives
hallelujah
let's
pray
and
him
and
he
!
he
!