The saints of God in this world
are on a journey, a journey ordained and appointed by God. And for
those who know the Lord, and the Lord has made himself known
to them, they know that the journey is one of tossing upside down
and tossing around And there is a wrestling and a fighting
and the children of God are like Jacob, they lay hold of the Lord
Jesus Christ who comes to them and made promises to them. Then
they say to him, I'm not going to let you go unless you bless
me. But the saints of God know what it is to have that fight
that only they know of, the fight between the flesh and the spirit. And Peter's journey, particularly
here in John chapter 18 if you turn there, is a journey which
typifies the Lord's hand of grace and mercy above and beyond all
of the fallings and failings of Peter. Our God says, I'll
build my church, I'll build my church, I'll gather my people,
I'll humble them, I'll allow them a certain amount of rope
in which they will cause themselves to be embarrassed and put to
shame by their activities. And then I'll come again, and
I'll come again, and I'll come again, and I'll pick them up,
and I'll dust them off, and I'll cause them to lean upon me. So turn with me in your Bibles,
and we'll read from verse 10 of chapter 18. I want us to be
reminded of the verse in verse eight. The Lord says, I have told you that I am He. If you therefore seek me, let
these go their way. This is this crowd of at least
500 people, maybe 700, maybe more people came there with torches
and lanterns and at the very word of God revealed. This crowd of people, this small
army, fell to the ground as dead men and Judas with them. And
I think one of the most remarkable miracles in this particular story
is the fact that they got up again and they were allowed to
speak again. And whom seek ye? Jesus of Nazareth.
And he says in verse 8, Jesus rebukes them. Jesus answered,
I have told you that I am. The He is in italics. Leave it
out. It's much, much better. If therefore you seek me, let
these go their way, that the saying might be fulfilled, that
the scriptures might be fulfilled. This is a scripture that He had
just spoken maybe 15 or 20 minutes or an hour before this. Of them
which thou hast given gavest me, I have lost none. There was one gone, but none
of his bride can be lost. The body of the Lord Jesus Christ
was perfect before the foundation of the world. It will be perfect
in all the exercises of his grace in the lives of his people here,
and it will be perfect when all things are consummated. The body
of the Lord Jesus Christ will be a perfect body. members will
be perfectly fitted together and perfectly made to be conformable
to his image." What a wonderful prospect we have. I've lost none.
He says I've lost none. Then Simon Peter, having a sword,
drew it and smote the high priest's servant, cut off his right ear.
The servant's name was Malchus. Then said Jesus unto Peter, put
up thy sword into the sheath. The cup which my father hath
given me, shall I not drink it? Then the band and the captain
and officers of the Jews took Jesus and bound him. and led him away to Annas first
for he was the father-in-law to Caiaphas which was the high
priest that same year. Now Caiaphas was he which gave
counsel to the Jews that it was expedient that one man should
die for the people. Caiaphas had absolutely no idea
that he was preaching the gospel. Caiaphas' mouth like Balaam's
mouth was actually led and instructed. The king's heart's in the hands
of the lord, he does as he wills. This is a passage that I want
us to spend a little bit of time looking at this morning. And
Simon Peter followed Jesus and so did another disciple. And
that disciple was known under the high priest and went in with
Jesus into the palace of the high priest. But Peter stood
at the door without. Then went out that other disciple,
which was known unto the high priest, and spake unto her that
kept the door, and brought in Peter. Then saith the damsel
that kept the door unto Peter, Art thou, art not thou also one
of this man's disciples? And he saith, I am not. And the servants in the offices
stood there who had made a fire of coals. For it was cold, and
they warmed themselves, and Peter stood with them and warmed himself. Go down with me to verse 25. And Simon Peter stood and warmed
himself. They said therefore unto him,
Art thou not also one of his disciples? He denied it and said,
I am not, one of the servants of the high priest being his
kinsman, whose ear Peter cut off, saith, Did I not see thee
in the garden with him? Then Peter denied again and immediately
the cock crew crowed. And the other gospel accounts
say to us that Peter went out and he wept bitterly. He wept bitterly. I want us to contemplate what
it is for Peter to have gone from a place of remarkable humility
at the Lord's Supper to a place of extraordinary pride and arrogance,
extraordinary denial of the Lord Jesus Christ, and then be brought
to a place of humility where he is stripped of everything
that he is and everything that he has. taken back to the place
of being a mercy beggar. And I put it to you that that's
the journey that the Lord's children have in this world and it's been
my experience on a weekly and daily and sometime hourly and
sometime minutely basis for all of these years that the Lord's
been at work with me. And the main point I want us
to see is that the Lord is absolutely sovereign over all these things,
and He knows how far. We are to fall from our place
of pride and self-righteousness. He knows exactly how far we are
to fall and He knows exactly why we are to fall that way.
And He sovereignly controls absolutely everything. And He who humbled
us at the beginning of our Christian walk is able to humble us again
and again and again. And what a wonderful place to
be. Because when you are stripped
of everything, You are then a mercy beggar, and that's the best place
you can ever be in this world, when you have nothing in your
hands to bring, simply to the cross we cling. May the Lord
help us see what it is for us to fall and for us to be restored. We're going to sing, it's a great
song. Thank you so much, Norm, for
choosing, or Beth, for choosing this. Number seven, great is
thy faithfulness. Oh God, my Father, there is no
shadow of turning. Number seven. you. Cold and warming yourself. That's what Peter was doing.
Have you felt cold? I'm embarrassed by the coldness
and deadness of my heart. I want to confess it because
it's just exactly what it is, and I have weeks where things
are just extraordinarily tough, and I'm thankful that Newton
wrote a hymn a long, long time ago saying, "'Tis a point I long
to know, oft it causes anxious thought, "'Do I love the Lord
or no? "'Am I his or am I not?' If I love, why am I thus? Why this dull and lifeless frame? Hardly sure can they be worse
who have never heard his name. Could my heart so hard remain
a prayer, a task and burden prove? Every trifle give me pain if
I knew a Saviour's love. When I turn my eyes within, all
is dark and vain and wild, filled with unbelief and sin. Can I
deem myself a child? If I pray or hear or read, sin
is mixed with all I do. You that love the Lord indeed,
tell me, Is it thus with you? Yet I mourn my stubborn will,
Find my sin a grief and thrall. Should I grieve for what I feel
If I did not love at all? Could I joy his saints to meet,
choose the ways I once abhorred, find at times a promise sweet,
if I did not love the Lord? Lord, decide the doubtful case. Thou who art thy people's son,
shine upon thy work of grace, if it be indeed begun. Let me love thee more and more,
and if I love at all, I pray, if I have not loved before, help
me to begin today. Is that something of your journey? Have you cried out, O wretched
man, that I am, that I am? The heir of heaven walks in darkness
and has no light is the testimony of scripture. And here we have
in Peter a wonderful, wonderful description and declaration of
the operations of the grace of God in the lives of people who
feel like that. And that is their experience.
I want us to see how Peter went from a place of great humility
and great self-awareness to a place of great pride, great denial
of the Lord Jesus Christ, a shameful and wicked association with the
enemies of God. lies and deceit, and then the
glorious restoration to a place of humility. Don't you love the
fact that after the resurrection, when Mary is told, you go and
tell the disciples and you make sure you tell Peter. Peter was sifted by Satan. Now Satan sifts you and I, We
will go on Peter's journey in one way or another, spiritually
we'll go on Peter's journey. Sifting, when something is sifted
you get right up close to it and the sieve takes the grain
and it throws it in the air and the wind blows all the dross
away. But it's a violent action, otherwise it doesn't work. It's
a violent action. And so, Peter is here being sifted
by Satan. And the Lord prayed for him.
He said, I pray that your faith fail not. Peter's faith didn't
fail. It's remarkable to think about,
isn't it? In the midst of all of this, Peter's faith didn't
fail. So let's turn back to John chapter
18. And I want us to go a bit earlier
than we did in John 18. John 18 began with Peter. John
18.10 began with Peter drawing that sword to cut off the high
priest's ear. And we'll look at that a bit
later on this morning, Lord willing. And I want us to look at Peter
following afar off and Peter going into this court, into this
place where it was cold and he was warming himself. All of the
descriptions of all the things in the scriptures and particularly
in John's Gospel have a significant spiritual meaning. You might
recall that Nicodemus came out from among men and he came out
from the darkness of that night and he came into the light of
the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Judas went out and it
was night. It's talking about much, much
more than the time of day and the absence of sunlight. He left
the light of this world and he walked into darkness, the darkness
of evil and sin, the darkness that ultimately is the darkness
of hell, the darkness that can be felt, that outer darkness. Everything in the scriptures
is intensely, insignificantly important. I want us to chart
Peter's fall briefly with you. So turn back with me. The other
Gospel accounts give us wonderful colour to the descriptions that
John gives and John and the other Gospel writers have a particular
purpose in writing and John's purpose in writing is to prove
and show again and again that the Lord Jesus Christ is God
Almighty in human flesh. And Matthew's Gospel shows him
to be the son of David. The others show him to be the
suffering servant and the son of man. But I want us to go back
to Matthew 26 and at the Passover meal in verse 21. They sat down to eat, and as
they did eat, he said, the Lord Jesus Christ said, truly, verily,
I say unto you that one of you shall betray me. And they were
exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto
him, Lord, is it I? Lord, is it I? Lord is it I? It's a great place
to be, isn't it? He's exceedingly sorrowful. He
has no confidence in his own flesh and he has an awareness
of his frailty, the awareness of his possibility of the one
who could be the one who betrays the Lord. That was solved pretty
quickly but he was humbled, wasn't he, at this point. Lord is it
I? It's possible it might be me. But he went on a path. from humility to pride. And if you have journeyed the
path from humility to pride, you know how quickly and how
short the journey is and how often you tread that journey.
How common. I want us to see in Peter, us,
or you. I certainly see me in Peter,
and if you can't see yourself in him, I pray that the Lord
might open your eyes to see what you are. Let's go on down in
Matthew's Gospel. He says in verse 31, Jesus then
saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this
night, for it is written, The scriptures must be full. I will
smite the shepherd, that's Zechariah 13 verse 7, and the sheep of
the flock shall be scattered. But after I am risen, I will
go before you into Galilee. So he's told them what's happening,
he's told them again and again and again. He's going to Jerusalem,
he's going to the cross, he's going to be crucified, he's going
to die, he's going to be buried, He's going to rise again. Peter answered. It's amazing,
isn't it? Peter wasn't asked a question.
Have you ever had foot and mouth disease? I've got foot and mouth
disease so often it's embarrassing, isn't it really? We just say
things. He just always has to talk when
the silence would be so much more edifying. Peter answered
and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because
of thee, yet will I never be offended and you know from the
scriptures and you know from so much experience that every
time in all of the Word of God when a man says I will God says
no you won't. Every time if you want to see
someone about to fall you just listen to someone say I will
or I can. Jesus saith unto me, Verily I
say unto thee, that this night, before the croc crow, thou shalt
deny me thrice. Now listen to Peter getting even
more bold. Though I should die with thee,
yet I will not deny thee. I will not deny thee. And so said all the other disciples. Peter goes from a place of humility
and self-realisation of who he is in the presence of God, and
in a heartbeat he goes to pride. But listen to where we find him. The Lord Jesus Christ said to
them in verse 28, My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto
death, tarry ye here and watch with me. And he went a little
further and fell on his face and prayed, saying, O Father,
if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not
as I will, but as thou wilt. And he cometh unto the disciples,
and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What? Could
you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that ye enter
not into temptation. And here's the Lord's diagnosis
of all of Peter's problems and all of ours. The spirit indeed
is willing, but the flesh is weak. We're about to see how
weak the flesh of man is here. So Peter has gone from a place
of humility to a place of pride. He's now gone to a place of lethargy
and slothfulness. He was asleep. It's the only
time the Lord had asked him to do anything for him. In all of
his life, these earthly ministry, and what do they do? They just
find themselves asleep. The heaviness of the situation
was more than they could bear, but that's not an excuse, isn't
it? People who are asleep are unaware of where you are and
what you're doing. You're unaware of what's going
on around you. I love sleeping. I love, love sleeping. You're
unaware of the dangers and snares. You're unaware of who you are
and what's happening around you. Pride opens the door to every
other sin. Listen to some of the words of
the wise man in Proverbs about pride. Proverbs 8 verse 13. The fear of the Lord is to hate
evil, pride and arrogancy. Listen to how they're all put
together. Pride and arrogancy and evil. And the evil way and
the froward mouth do I hate. That means the twisted and perverted
mouth. Chapter 11 verse 2. When pride
cometh, then cometh shame, but with the lowly there is wisdom. Verse 10 of Chapter 13 of Proverbs
is an amazing verse, isn't it? Only by pride cometh contention. Only. Every time there's contention,
you write it down according to God, there is pride. But with the well advised is
wisdom. Pride goeth before, Proverbs
16, 18. Pride goeth before destruction,
and a haughty spirit before a fall. A man's pride shall bring him
low, but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit, Proverbs 29,
verse 23. Pride and self-righteousness
always go hand in hand, don't they? They're close bedfellows
all the time. And then we have Peter going
from that to what he did in the garden when he took out that
sword that we looked at a couple of weeks ago and we'll look at
again, Lord willing, later on. And the Lord says to him in verse
52 of Matthew 26, Put up again thy sword into his place, For all that take the sword shall
perish with the sword. And listen to what the Lord says
in verse 53. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father,
and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels. A legion is six thousand. He
could just pray to his father, and 72,000 angels were standing
on guard, anxiously waiting to intervene. One angel outside
of Jerusalem killed the army of Sennacherib. 184,000 people
died at the hand of one angel. The Lord is not short of power. He is not short of power. But
now then, the scriptures How then shall the scriptures
be fulfilled? Thus it must be. So here we went. Peter's pride
rose up and it turned into lethargy and slothfulness. And now he
was trying to help the Lord out by fleshly means, following the
unbelief of fleshly, carnal thinking. And now Peter goes on this journey. Mark 14.54 says, and another
Gospel says, Peter followed a far-off. After he'd been arrested he followed
a far-off. Peter followed the Lord a far-off.
He didn't want to be identified with the Lord now. No doubt,
given the extraordinary events of this night, there was much
distress and uncertainty. No doubt he was sad and he was
miserable and he was confused and he didn't know what to do
and he didn't know what was happening. Why? Unbelief. The Lord had told him what was
going to happen. Again and again he told him what was going to
happen. And here we find Peter. entering into this courtyard. The high priests in those days
were political officers and they were economic. social offices
as well you could buy and sell. The priesthood was inherited
and it had almost nothing to do with anything other than power
and money. And Annas had a huge house and he was the high priest
and he was disposed and the high priesthood and all the trappings
that went with it, they were in charge of the temple tax. They were in charge of buying
and selling the lands and all of those things. You imagine
how much profit you made. Those days they were extraordinarily
wealthy. Annas had a huge house and possibly
when you read the other accounts and read the fact that the Lord
was in that same yard with Peter in that same courtyard, Annas
probably had a huge house with several wings and the wing that
the Lord Jesus Christ was taken to was Annas' house while Caiaphas
was gathering all the Sanhedrin together to conduct the other
trial. But in this courtyard is where Peter comes and he comes
to a place where he finds himself sitting with the enemies of God
beside a fire. He followed the Lord afar off. Go back to John Chapter 18 and
verse 17 and we'll see how the Lord in his sovereign control and
rule of all things allowed Peter to go down this path. How do you enter in to the place of the Lord's enemies
and get to sit with them by a fire? How did he enter in? Verse 17,
John Chapter 18. Then the damsel that kept the
door said unto Peter, Art not thou also one of this man's disciples? And he saith, I am not. Now we find Peter in the courtyard
of the murderers of the Lord Jesus Christ. These men who may
well have been part of the group that went down into the garden
to arrest the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter entered into the camp of
God's enemies. He went into the camp of God's
enemies by lying about himself. By not believing the word of
God. and immediately so by seeking
to aid the Lord by the arm of flesh. Verse 18. Then the servants and the officer
stood there and made a fire of coals, for it was cold. And they
warmed themselves, and Peter stood with them and warmed himself. Peter stood with them. According to the, if you put
the gospel accounts together, it seems that there were two
denials almost immediately, and Peter then spent a whole hour
there in the presence of these men, and finally denied a third
time, and then the Lord looked at him. But Peter stood with
these men, these men who were the enemies of God, the enemies
of his gospel, and he was silent. while these men spoke. What was
the conversation about? He was warming himself with them
by their fire, but denying the Lord by his silence. Have you
been there and done that? We think that we gain peace by
friendship with the world, And there are lots of times when
silence is more wise than speaking out, but there are many, many
times when we should be just speaking up and saying a word
on behalf of the Lord. Especially when we're in the
company, these are religious people. Let's remember that these
are religious people. Peter goes into their company
by lying. He goes into their company with
a pride about his own abilities and flesh. What on earth he thought
he was going to do in there, I have absolutely no idea. And
no doubt, no doubt, so much of what he was doing was done out
of love and affection for the Lord Jesus Christ. The motives
were incredibly sincere, I think. But Peter stood and warned himself
He warned himself. What a great picture of us, a
man in religion, trying to work something up within ourselves,
entering into that place where the enemies of God are. Peter
stood and warmed himself. He was confused and guilty and
he was now trapped by the circumstances he couldn't change, except at
great personal cost. He had to put his life on the
line again. How pride and unbelief brings
trials upon the children of God. Peter stood and warmed himself. Later on we'll see that Peter
actually journey in Psalm 1, blessed is the man who does not.
The rest of mankind, there's only one man that does not and
the rest of mankind do. Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of God. He doesn't walk in their counsel,
their wisdom and their ways. Nor standeth in their way, nor
sitteth in the seat of the scornful. Peter was there in this courtyard
sitting with these people by their fire. So, how did he get there? Why did the Lord allow him to
walk this path? Did he hear any of the words
of warning from the Lord God? So many people are deaf to the
word of God. The Lord had made it abundantly
clear that this is what was going to happen and was going to happen
to Peter that night. I wonder what happened. Mark's
Gospel says that he would deny the Lord three times before the
cock had crowed twice. What happened when the first
cock crowing came? If you're in the camp of the
enemy and you have joined with them around their fire and you've
entered into that camp and you've snuggled up next to them and
you've remained there in silence, you can become just deaf to the
very word of God. What a shocking place to be,
to be deaf to the words of God. The scripture must be fulfilled
again and again in these Gospels accounts. The Lord says the scriptures
are going to be fulfilled. The scriptures are the words
he speaks, the promises he makes, but the scriptures of the Old
Testament must be fulfilled. The warnings and promises were
rejected and overlooked. It was pride. It was pride, wasn't
it, that began all of this? I will, I will, I will and I
will not. I want us, before we close, to
look at the wonder of the solution to this. How are we brought back? from a place like Peter is in. You know what it's like. You
know, I certainly know, but you know what it's like when things,
when you're cold and you start, and you feel like you have to
sort of do something to work up. You feel cold towards God,
and you feel cold towards his word, and you feel cold towards
his assembly, and you feel cold. And the first thing that you
do so often is you think, well, I've got to do something. I've
got to work something up. I've got to get these sparks
flying higher again. And what does the Lord reveal to
us about how Peter is rescued from this place? I do love, I do love the fact
that the Lord was in the very presence of Peter as he sat by
the fire and was in the presence of Peter when he denied him the
third time. There is just one solution. There is just one solution to
spiritual coldness and spiritual darkness and spiritual lethargy
and spiritual pride, and that is the Lord has to do something.
Don't you love Luke's Gospel? Turn with me to Luke's Gospel.
I want you to read it. Peter had been there an hour
and he denied and he denied and he denied in the face of a maid. And then in verse 59 of Luke
22, and about the space of one hour, after another confidently
affirmed, saying, Of a truth this fellow also was with him
in the garden, for he is a Galilean. John's Gospel tells us that this
was the relative of the man, Malchus, whose ear Peter had
cut off, so they knew exactly who he was. And Peter said, Man, I know not
what thou sayest, And immediately, while he yet spake, the cock
crew. As the words came out of his
mouth, the promise of God was fulfilled. But I love this next
verse. It's just wonderful, isn't it?
How do we go, how do we turn? The Lord turned and looked upon
Peter. What is the solution to spiritual
pride and lethargy? and self-confidence and activities
of the arm of the flesh of men trying to achieve the works of
God. What is the solution to men in
religion camping themselves by the fire of those who kindle
sparks for themselves and mourn themselves? There is just one
solution, and it's a beautiful solution if the Lord turned And
he looked upon Peter, Lord turn me and I shall be turned. The
precious look of the Lord Jesus Christ, the precious revealing
of the countenance of the Lord. He didn't have to say a word,
did he? He just looked, he didn't have to say a word. He didn't
expose Peter's sin to others. He didn't put him in danger of
arrest. The Lord must go alone, but also
he must set the prisoners free. There are lots of prisons in
this world, physical ones, but a spiritual prison is worse than
all, isn't it? To be trapped in a place where
only the Lord can rescue you. This is the worst place in the
world. Because you've been put there by yourself and it's all
your fault. All your fault. It's also the best place in the
world. It's the place where only mercy
can save you. When you've been stripped of
all your self-righteousness and pride before the Lord. Lord, The Lord looked upon His people
in Egypt and saw all the travail that were under. Lord, look upon
us in mercy. You can't look upon us and reward
us for what we are or what we've done. Lord, have mercy. Lord,
have mercy. I love what Peter said in his
epistle in chapter 5. He says, Humble yourselves therefore
under the mighty hand of God. 1 Peter 5, chapter 5, verse 6. The mighty hand of God. That
He may exalt you in due time, in His time, but how do you humble
yourself when He looks upon you? How do you humble yourself when
you're made made to see that you've been stripped of your
wisdom, you've been stripped of your works, you've been stripped
of your efforts to achieve what you think is righteousness before
God, and now you're a fit subject for mercy. Peter in the garden
had brought a death sentence upon himself. You attack a Roman
garrison with a sword and there's just one place for you to go
and that is to death. And what did the Lord do? He
took Malchus's ear and he healed it so perfectly that there was
no evidence left against Peter. The crime had gone. The crime
which had genuinely really been committed had gone. Here in this
courtyard with the enemies of God, Peter had brought a death
sentence upon himself before God. He'd denied God, hadn't
he? He had lied. He had denied the
Lord, denied the name of the Lord. He had cursed and sworn
to prove that he had no association with the Lord Jesus Christ. What
a place to be brought. Don't you love that that next
day the Lord Jesus Christ is going to take all of that sin.
He was bearing it in that cup, and when they bound his hands,
they bound the cup in his hands, and when he got to Calvary's
tree, and as he was lifted up from the earth, and God says,
he was made a curse. Cursed is everyone that hangeth
on a tree. That's why they put him there,
without even a thought. that in him being made a curse,
he took all of the sins of all of God's people into himself
and he drank them and they became one with him. And Peter and everyone
else has been humbled like him. will find themselves hearing
the words of the Lord, you go in peace. The Lord has put away
your sins. All of them have been put away
completely and perfectly and forever. And as you go on in
your journey with the Lord, you will find again and again and
again, you'll be like Peter. in a place of humility and instantly
in a place of pride. And then the amazing grace of
God comes and he reveals himself to us. That's what happens when
he looks at us, isn't it? us and God meeting together,
but us and God meeting together when there is no sin, perfectly
accepted in the Beloved, declared by God Almighty to be perfectly
righteous in His sight. All that sin taken away and the
robe that the Lord Jesus Christ was weaving in His righteousness
and His faithfulness to all of the Scriptures was being fulfilled. May the Lord bless his word to
the hearts of his children.