I. PETER’S STATE OF MIND AND SPIRIT.
A. HE HAD BOASTED AND HAD BOLDLY AVOWED HIS UNFAILING ALLEGIANCE TO CHRIST.
1. MATTHEW 26:33, 35 "PETER ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO HIM, THOUGH ALL MEN SHALL BE OFFENDED BECAUSE OF THEE, YET WILL I NEVER BE OFFENDED... PETER SAID UNTO HIM, THOUGH I SHOULD DIE WITH THEE, YET WILL I NOT DENY THEE."
2. PROVERBS 16:18 "PRIDE GOES BEFORE DESTRUCTION, AND AN HAUGHTY SPIRIT BEFORE A FALL."
3. THE GREATEST BARRIER BETWEEN SOME CHRISTIANS AND GOD’S OMNIPOTENT POWER IS THEIR OWN SUPPOSED STRENGTH.
B. HE FAILED TO WALK THE TALK.
1. HE TURNED AWAY FROM CHRIST - MATTHEW 26:56 "BUT ALL THIS WAS DONE, THAT THE SCRIPTURES OF THE PROPHETS MIGHT BE FULFILLED. THEN ALL THE DISCIPLES FORSOOK HIM, AND FLED."
TO SIN BY SILENCE WHEN THEY SHOULD PROTEST MAKES COWARDS OUT OF MEN.
2. HE DISTANCED HIMSELF FROM CHRIST - MATTHEW 26:58 "BUT PETER FOLLOWED HIM AFAR OFF UNTO THE HIGH PRIEST’S PALACE,"
a. HE SAT WITH THE CROWD - MATTHEW 26:58B, "HE... WENT IN, AND SAT WITH THE SERVANTS, TO SEE THE END."
b. CONFORMITY IS ONE OF THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL DISHONESTIES OF ALL. WHEN WE REJECT OUR SPECIALNESS, WATER DOWN OUR GOD-GIVEN INDIVIDUALITY AND UNIQUENESS, WE BEGIN TO LOSE OUR FREEDOM. THE CONFORMIST IS IN NO WAY A FREE MAN. HE HAS TO FOLLOW THE HERD. - NORMAN VINCENT PEALE (1898- )
3. HE DENIED BY PLAYING DUMB AND AVOIDING THE SUBJECT TO AN INDIVIDUAL.
a. MATTHEW 26:69-75 "NOW PETER SAT WITHOUT IN THE PALACE: AND A DAMSEL CAME UNTO HIM, SAYING THOU ALSO WAST WITH JESUS OF GALILEE. BUT HE DENIED BEFORE THEM ALL, SAYING I KNOW NOT WHAT THOU SAYEST
b. THIS WAS A DENIAL OF PRETENSE.
c. TWO FOLD - PRETENDING WE ARE SOMETHING WE’RE NOT AND SHYING AWAY FROM REVEALING WHO OR WHAT WE ARE.
d. IT IS EASIER TO WEAR A MASK. AN UGLY FACE IS SOMETIMES BETTER THAN A REAL ONE. THUS ARE WE AFRAID TO SHOW EACH OTHER WHO WE REALLY ARE. - CALVIN MILLER
e. WE ARE SPLIT SPIRITUAL PERSONALITIES. WE SWEAR ALLEGIANCE TO ONE SET OF PRINCIPLES AND LIVE BY ANOTHER.
4. HE DENIED BY WITH AN OATH TO A CROWD.
a. MATTHEW 26:71-72 AND WHEN HE WAS GONE OUT INTO THE PORCH, ANOTHER MAID SAW HIM, AND SAID UNTO THEM THAT WERE THERE, THIS FELLOW WAS ALSO WITH JESUS OF NAZARETH. AND AGAIN HE DENIED WITH AN OATH, I DO NOT KNOW THE MAN.
b. PROVERBS 29:25 "THE FEAR OF MAN BRINGETH A SNARE: BUT WHOSO PUTTETH HIS TRUST IN THE LORD SHALL BE SAFE."
c. MATTHEW 10:33 "BUT WHOSOEVER SHALL DENY ME BEFORE MEN, HIM WILL I ALSO DENY BEFORE MY FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN."
d. WE CAN NEVER TALK ABOUT GOD BEHIND HIS BACK. WE CANNOT SPEAK OF GOD IN HIS ABSENCE... THE GOD WHO IS BEING DISCUSSED IS ALSO THERE. THE ATTITUDE PEOPLE TAKE TO HIM CAN NEVER BE MERELY THEORETICAL. TO DENY HIM IS TO SPITE HIM TO HIS FACE.
5. ONE HOUR LATER HE DENIED BY CURSING AND SEARING
a. MATTHEW 26:73-74A AND AFTER A WHILE CAME UNTO HIM THEY THAT STOOD BY, AND SAID TO PETER, SURELY THOU ALSO ART ONE OF THEM; FOR THY SPEECH BETRAYS THEE. THEN BEGAN HE TO CURSE AND TO SWEAR, SAYING I KNOW NOT THE MAN.
b.
C. PETER WAS CRUSHED, DEVASTATED BY THE REALITY OF HIS DENIAL.
1. MATTHEW 26:74B-75 "IMMEDIATELY THE COCK CREW. AND PETER REMEMBERED THE WORD OF JESUS, WHICH SAID UNTO HIM, BEFORE THE COCKCROW, THOU SHALT DENY ME THRICE. AND HE WENT OUT, AND WEPT BITTERLY."
2. HE HAD FAILED MISERABLY.
II. CHRIST’S WORDS OF COMPASSION, UNDERSTANDING AND FORGIVENESS
A. WHEN PETER NEEDED IT MOST, CHRIST GIVES PETER WITH WORDS OF REASSURANCE AND ENCOURAGEMENT. - MARK 16:6-7 "AND HE SAITH UNTO THEM, BE NOT AFFRIGHTED: YE SEEK JESUS OF NAZARETH, WHICH WAS CRUCIFIED: HE IS RISEN; HE IS NOT HERE: BEHOLD THE PLACE WHERE THEY LAID HIM. BUT GO YOUR WAY, TELL HIS DISCIPLES AND PETER THAT HE GOES BEFORE YOU INTO GALILEE: THERE SHALL YE SEE HIM, AS HE SAID UNTO YOU."
B. CHRIST WAS LETTING PETER KNOW THAT HE WAS STILL WANTED AND LOVED.
C. GOD IS CLOSEST TO THOSE WHOSE HEARTS ARE BROKEN. JEWISH PROVERB
D. PETER HAD REPENTED OF HIS ACTIONS. - MATTHEW 26:75 "AND PETER REMEMBERED THE WORD OF JESUS, WHICH SAID UNTO HIM, BEFORE THE COCK CROW, THOU SHALT DENY ME THRICE. AND HE WENT OUT, AND WEPT BITTERLY." HIS HEART WAS BROKEN OVER THE SIN HE HAD COMMITTED.
E. GOD USES BROKEN THINGS. BROKEN SOIL TO PRODUCE A CROP, BROKEN CLOUDS TO GIVE RAIN, BROKEN GRAIN TO GIVE BREAD, BROKEN BREAD TO GIVE STRENGTH. IT IS THE BROKEN ALABASTER BOX THAT GIVES FORTH PERFUME. IT IS PETER, WEEPING BITTERLY, WHO RETURNS TO GREATER POWER THAN EVER. -- VANCE HAVNER, LEADERSHIP, VOL. 4, NO. 1.
F. THE SONGWRITER PENNED THESE WORDS: "I SHALL FOREVER LIFT MINE EYES TO CALVARY, TO VIEW THE CROSS WHERE JESUS DIED FOR ME. HOW MARVELOUS THE GRACE THAT CAUGHT MY FALLING SOUL, HE LOOKED BEYOND MY FAULT AND SAW MY NEED." (© 1968 JOHN T. BENSON PUBLISHING COMPANY (ADMIN. BY BRENTWOOD-BENSON MUSIC PUBLISHING, INC., 741 COOLSPRINGS BLVD., FRANKLIN TN 37067) CCLI LICENSE NO. 754427
G. ISAIAH 1:18 "COME NOW, AND LET US REASON TOGETHER, SAITH THE LORD: THOUGH YOUR SINS BE AS SCARLET, THEY SHALL BE AS WHITE AS SNOW; THOUGH THEY BE RED LIKE CRIMSON, THEY SHALL BE AS WOOL."
H. THOMAS WATSON (C. 1557-1592) - WHEN GOD CALLS A MAN, HE DOES NOT REPENT OF IT. GOD DOES NOT, AS MANY FRIENDS DO, LOVE ONE DAY, AND HATE ANOTHER; OR AS PRINCES, WHO MAKE THEIR SUBJECTS FAVORITES, AND AFTERWARDS THROW THEM INTO PRISON. THIS IS THE BLESSEDNESS OF A SAINT; HIS CONDITION ADMITS OF NO ALTERNATION. GOD’S CALL IS FOUNDED UPON HIS DECREE, AND HIS DECREE IS IMMUTABLE. ACTS OF GRACE CANNOT BE REVERSED. GOD BLOTS OUT HIS PEOPLE’S SINS, BUT NOT THEIR NAMES.
I. Lamentations 3:22-23 "It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not CONSUMED, BECAUSE HIS COMPASSIONS FAIL NOT. [23] THEY ARE NEW EVERY MORNING: GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS."
III. CHRIST’S ABSOLUTE ASSURANCE
A. MARK 16:7 "BUT GO YOUR WAY, TELL HIS DISCIPLES AND PETER THAT HE GOES BEFORE YOU INTO GALILEE: THERE SHALL YE SEE HIM, AS HE SAID UNTO YOU."
B. CHRIST ALWAYS KEEPS HIS WORD AND HIS PROMISES.
C. 2 PETER 3:9 "THE LORD IS NOT SLACK CONCERNING HIS PROMISE, AS SOME MEN COUNT SLACKNESS; BUT IS LONG-SUFFERING TO US-WARD, NOT WILLING THAT ANY SHOULD PERISH, BUT THAT ALL SHOULD COME TO REPENTANCE."
D. GOD IS THE GOD OF PROMISE. HE KEEPS HIS WORD, EVEN WHEN THAT SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE; EVEN WHEN THE CIRCUMSTANCES SEEM TO POINT TO THE OPPOSITE. COLIN URQUHART (1940- )
E. John 6:37 "ALL THAT THE FATHER GIVES ME SHALL COME TO ME; AND HIM THAT COMETH TO ME I WILL IN NO WISE CAST OUT."
F. NO MATTER HOW BAD YOU ARE, HOW EVIL YOU ARE, OR HOW SINFUL YOU ARE GOD LOVES YOU. GOD IS CRYING OUT TO YOUR SOUL AND HEART. "I LOVE YOU. I LOVE YOU. I LOVE YOU." WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE TO THE LOVE OF GOD? WILL YOU SAY NO AND LAUGH IN THE FACE OF GOD? WILL YOU REFUSE GOD’S LOVE AND SPIT INTO HIS FACE? OR WILL YOU SAY YES TO GOD, YES TO JESUS, AND YES TO THE HOLY SPIRIT? ACCEPT JESUS CHRIST AS YOUR LORD AND SAVIOR. TRUST JESUS TO SAVE YOU AND LET HIM BE THE BOSS OF YOU LIFE. WHAT WILL IT BE? THE DECISION IS YOURS! ARE YOU ON THE SIDE OF GOD OR ARE YOU HIS ENEMY? - BILLY GRAHAM SBC 1982
