Jesus' Trial and Peters Denial
John 18:12-27
In this passage we have read today John does an interesting thing that you may have never noticed just reading over this before . He goes from talking about the trial of Jesus to Peters denial and then switches back to the trial of Jesus. I believe that he does this for a purpose. The reason John wrote the book was to show the Glory of God in Christ so that we might believe. And here you have Jesus going from one trial to the next and right in the middle of it John wants us to see why- it was for the sinfulness of man that Jesus was dying.
You have two fundamental truths found here- the glory of Christ and the sinfulness of man
so John exalts Jesus in contrast to Peter
This week we have been bombarded in the news with everything we have ever wanted to know or not know about Mel Gibson. In 2004 Gibson produced the move the Passion of Christ which many theologians felt was an accurate portray of the crucification of Christ yet as we have found out this week Gibson is still a man, and because of that has a fallen nature. Christ alone stands in glory, not John or Matthew or even Peter
The night of his arrest, which we looked at last week Jesus ends up going through a religious trial and a civil trial
each trial had three phases so he ends up going through six trials
To understand what was taking place here it is necessary to know that the political scene looked like in Jesus' day.
-Rome was in control, but Rome had no interest in the Jews religion so they allowed the Jewish religious leaders to keep that control but they were more or less just puppets on a string and the position of High priest was one that could go to the highest bidder.
The Jewish religious leaders were suppose to take care of religious matters, but they had no power to put a person to death, only Rome could do that. In order for the Jews to put Jesus to death they had to come up with a civil charge
Biblical there was to be only one high priest and they were to serve for life, but things were such a mess that the law was not being followed during this time in history
The first person they took Jesus to was Annas, there was a reason for this.
They knew that Annas hated Jesus.
Annas was powerful and rich, that's how he bought the office. The high priest had the job of inspecting the sacrifices that were brought into the temple and Annas had a monopoly on this. The Old testament required that a sacrifice be without spot or blemish. He would find a flaw with their sacrifice and then the people would have to buy one from the merchants that had set up in the temple. Also when you came to pay your temple tax and had to change your money the moneychangers took your money and gave you about 1/5 of what it was worth
The common man who wanted to follow the law and obey God found himself in quite a predicament and the money was flowing right to Annas who not only allowed sacrifices to be sold in the outer court but made profit from it
Now you can understand what took place when Jesus cleaned out the temple
Mat 21:12 ¶ And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
Mat 21:13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
History tells us that during one passover some ¼ million sacrifices were brought to the temple. History also tells us that the Jews hated Annas and referred to the temple as Anna's bizarre
But this night they needed Annas and they knew he hated Jesus and they knew he was powerful, so powerful as a matter of fact that he had already put his son in law in power as high priest also and the next seven high priest were all related to Annas
Then they took Jesus to Caiaphas to be tried who was the acting high priest at the time
Caiaphas already it in for Jesus When the religious leaders got worried that Rome would take away they power because of the miracles that Jesus was performing they had a meeting in which Caiaphas determined that Jesus had to die
Jhn 11:48 If we let him thus alone, all [men] will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.
Jhn 11:49 And one of them, [named] Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all,
Jhn 11:50 Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.
Jhn 11:51 And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation;
There were a lot of rules and laws that the court system was suppose to follow in Jesus' time
Burden of proof on the court, the accused was not allowed to testify they had to be proven guilty by the evidence
couldn't have a trial at night, no striking of a prisoner, no display of emotion before the judge
suppose to wait two days before having a trial
none of these were followed that night
When Caiaphas asked about his teaching in verse 19 Jesus answered, “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in the synagogues and in the temple where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them, they know what I said
Caiphasas had no legal right to ask Jesus this question. If Jesus was on trial the burden of proof was on the Caiphasas not Jesus
Jesus' question back was “where are your witnesses”
So you have Jesus who is calm, cool and in control taking a stand for the Father and all of humanity speaking truth
and you have Peter who is falling all over himself. Weak and telling one lie after another trying to protect his own life
Peter was ready to lie to the high priest or the guards but it was a simply servant girl that he was unprepared for she asked, “You also are one of this man's disciples are you?” He said, “I am not” and then he even warmed himself over their fire and was asked again and then again and all three times Peter denied that he knew the Lord.
Luke tells us one little detail that is really important to us this morning he says, “And the Lord turned and looked at Peter and Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today you will deny me three times. And he went out and wept bitterly.” Luke 22:61-62
Peter remember a conversation that he had with Jesus prior to this night
Mat 26:33 Peter answered him, "Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away."
Mat 26:34 Jesus said to him, "Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times."
Mat 26:35 Peter said to him, "Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!" And all the disciples said the same
He realized right here that he had failed himself he wasn't able to do what he had promised the Lord he would do
That night Peter was weak, but Jesus was strong
Peter was afraid and Jesus was confident and powerful
Peter was crushed but Jesus was composed
When we look into the face of Jesus is when we see ourselves for who we really are
That night the turning point for Peter was when he looked into the face of Jesus and remembered what he had said, what he had promised.
In a lot of ways we are lot like Peter. We are proud, strong, confident that we can do whatever we want to do.
We can live a holy life, we can stop out addictions, we can be faithful to the Lord and his church, we can keep our family together, we can provide for ourselves
and whenever we get knocked down or feeling insecure all we have to do is find someone worse off than us and we build ourselves back up by comparing ourselves to someone who is struggling in sin and maybe someone who doesn't attend church at all or read their Bible or pray and then we start feeling really good about ourselves again
But the Bible calls us to do what Peter did that night and look into the face of Jesus, compare ourselves to him, because until we do we will never see our sinfulness and need for a savior
Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
What did Peter see in Jesus' face that night? Not judgment or hatred, not a see I told you so.
What Peter saw was the love and grace of God. A savior that was on his way to the cross to die but still reaching out to Peter with love, that's what made Peter weep that night
There is a Christian hymn that we sing from time to time that explains it well
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
When we look to Christ we do see our sin because of his holiness but at the same time we see his love and forgiveness
In order to be able to live a Christian life you have to understand that Peter did not let God down that night he let himself down. He didn't let God down because God already knew that Peter would fall as he tried to stand in his own strength
remember that conversation that Peter and Jesus had before his arrest it was Peter who said I will never do that I will die for you. It was Jesus who said no, you will deny me three times
you can't fail God because God does not have unrealistic expectations on us, we put those on ourselves.
We say things like I'm going to not miss church for the next year, I'm going to stop smoking, I'm going start reading my Bible an hour a day, I'm going to clean up my language, I'm going to spend more time with my family, I'm going to quit using drugs
Whatever promise you might make and then when you mess up and fail what happens all the feeling of guilt and shame and and unworthinesses come in and you want to give up even trying.
But you didn't let God down because God already knew what you were capable of doing and sometimes those trials and failures are God's way of helping us get to where we need to be
if you can't stand in your own strength you need to come to the end of yourself and turn your life all over to God.
told Peter that he was praying for him, not that the trial would be removed but that during the trial his faith would not fail.
After this experience with Peter Jesus came to him and sent him to feed his sheeps
Jhn 21:16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, [son] of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
Sometimes we are even guilty of placing unreal expectations on other people and when they don't live up to them we give up on that person.
The reality is none of us are perfect and we are all capable of doing what peter did this night and even worse. Which is why we need to make sure that we stay looking into the face of Jesus
Don't be comparing yourself with one another but stand looking into the face of Jesus where there is love and forgiveness and a God who even after we fall down helps us get right back up. See the Lord has promised us that he will never leave us.
Hbr 13:5 [Let your] conversation [be] without covetousness; [and be] content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
We can't stand on our own strength
This night Peter learned that he couldn't stand in his own strength. Remember back to that conversation that Jesus and Peter had that night before his arrest listen again closely to what Peter said
Mat 26:33 Peter answered him, "Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away."
Mat 26:34 Jesus said to him, "Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times."
Mat 26:35 Peter said to him, "Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!" And all the disciples said the same
I will never fall away. Even if I must die with you I will not deny you
Peter was planning on standing by his own strength
Now counter that with what the Apostle Paul said, having a good understanding of the Grace of God
Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but [how] to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Doesn't that sound like many of us? When we come to that point where we learn we can't do it
When you set out to say I am going to be righteous, I'm going to be faithful in my church attendance., I'm going to be faithful in my bible reading I'm going to overcome my addiction, I will never deny Christ... You are setting yourself up for failure
That's why religious people always look so discouraged and frustrated. Because they are. They can't live up to the all the rules and regulations. They even get more frustrated when they sit under preaching on Gods grace, because it removes them from the equation.
We are only made righteous through Christ
We can only overcome our weakness through Christ
2Cr 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
2Cr 12:10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
in our weakness his strength comes through
and the reason for all of this is so that God gets the Glory and Praise
If God used the most educated, the noble and strong than those men would get the praise. But God uses the simple things to confound the wise
1Cr 1:26 ¶ For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, [are called]:
1Cr 1:27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1Cr 1:28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, [yea], and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
1Cr 1:29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
In closing
John intertwined the account of Jesus' arrest and Peter's denial so that we might see the weakness and sinfulness of man in contrast to the Glory of Christ
Jesus stayed calm, cool and in control before his accusers doing the will of the Father
Peter was crushed trying to stand in his own strength
If we want to stand we must stand in Christ
In Christ we are victorious over sin, and over our weaknesses whatever they may be
but you have to give up the fight and let God have control. You have to quit saying I and start saying Lord
