about Christ being led away,
bound and led away. Today I want to talk about Simon
Peter and his denial of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, it tells us how that
Simon Peter stood with them, but when our Lord took the cup
that the Father had given him, God, he said, the cup which my
father hath given me, shall I not drink it? And some of the things
that were in that cup was to be taken and to be bound. How
are you going to bind the Son of God? How are you going to
bind him? How do you bind God who is eternal? But as a man, he was willingly
to do that. Gave himself up to that. to be
bound, to be taken. We are bound by sin. Our Lord
Jesus Christ became bound by men to save us from our sin. And not only some of the things
in that cup was to be led away as the lamb to the swan. They
didn't have to drag him, didn't have to push him, he was led
away. And another thing it says there in the last part of verse
14 is that one man should die for the people. Death was in
that cup for the Lord Jesus Christ. Not for just anybody. He said
in another place, for the children of God scattered abroad. And
some of the bitterest part of his cup was how all of his people
fled. All of his disciples fled. But
one of the bitterest parts of his cup was The denial of Simon
Peter. Our Lord Jesus told him that
he was going to do it. But look what it says here in
verse 15. We're going to go down through these verses and just
deal with these as we come to them. And Simon Peter, Simon Peter, you know who he is? He's mentioned
so many times in the New Testament. Got two books with his names
on them. Simon Peter, one of the apostles.
He was one of the inner circle, him, James, and John. They were
the inner circle of our Lord Jesus Christ. Simon Peter, Our
Lord, when he was walking on the water, Simon Peter said,
if it's you, Lord, tell me to come to you. And Simon Peter
stepped off that boat, stepped on the water, and walked on the
water. Here's a man who actually walked on the water. Walked on
water. But he's also the same man in
Luke 5 when our Lord Jesus Christ told him after he'd fished all
night, he hadn't caught nothing, to cast his net on the right
side of the boat and he'd take in a great draft of fishes. And
when he did, he said, Lord, depart from me. I'm a sinful man that
I would doubt you, that I would question you. Depart from me,
you sinful man. And then in Matthew 16, The Lord
Jesus asked his disciples, who do men say that I, the Son of
Man am? They said, well, some say you're
Jeremiah, some say you're Elijah, some say you're one of the prophets.
But then he said, but who do you say that I am? Simon Peter
answered and said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God. And he said, Oh, Simon, you're
so blessed. You're so blessed because flesh
and blood did not reveal this unto you, but my father, which
is in heaven. But right immediately after that,
our Lord Jesus Christ was telling them what he's going to have
to go through when he went to Jerusalem. and what he would
have to go through and then there in Matthew 16 after our Lord
told him he was blessed he turned around and began to rebuke it
says there he rebuked began to rebuke the Lord Jesus Christ
oh be it far from you and our Lord Jesus said get you behind
me Satan so I tell you Simon Peter was a man well known in
the scriptures And he'd be in so many different situations. But the scripture says here then
again in verse 15, and Simon Peter, listen to this, followed
Jesus. Followed Jesus. We say that we
followed the Lord Jesus Christ. But here in Matthew, Matthew
26 and 58, it says that he followed the Lord Jesus afar off. Afar
off. Now he loved the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no doubt about that.
He loved Christ. And he followed him and went
in there and followed the Lord Jesus Christ out of the garden,
wanted to see what was done to him. And yet he wasn't bold enough
to keep near to him as one of his disciples, to walk in there
with him, to stay right by his side and own him as his Savior. He was bold enough to follow
him, bold enough to go in there and see what was done to him,
yet not bold enough to keep near to him as his disciples. J.C. Ryle said, love made him ashamed
to run away and hide himself. Cowardice made him ashamed to
show his colors and stand with the Lord Jesus Christ by his
side. What he did, he chose the middle
ground. He chose the middle ground. I'm
not going to run away and hide because I'm ashamed. I'm not
going to stand by Christ's side and own Him. I'm going to take
the middle ground. I'm going to be close enough
to see what's going on, but I'm not going to own Him. Not going
to own Him. And then that's the worst thing he could have done.
And then look what else it says there. And Simon Peter followed
Jesus and so did another disciple. So did another disciple that
was known under the high priest. Now I don't know who this was.
I think last week I said maybe it was John. But it couldn't
have been John. Couldn't have been John. It says another place
that he ran off and they going after him in wretched and he
pulled his garments off. But he was known to the high
priest. Don't know who this was. But in Acts chapter 4, the high
priest didn't know who James and John was. And Peter and John
was. He said he noticed that they,
boy one thing he did notice about them, they were ignorant and
unlearned men. And that they followed the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so the high priest didn't
know John and Peter. It might have been Nicodemus.
It might have been Joseph of Arimathea. But it says here that
that disciple was known under the high priest. And watch this.
And when the Lord Jesus Christ went into the palace of the high
priest, he went in with Jesus. He went in with Jesus into the
palace of the high priest. So the high priest knew him,
and when Christ walked through the door, he went right in with
him. He walked through there with the Lord Jesus Christ. But
now look what Simon Peter did. Verse 16. But Peter stood at
the door without. He didn't go in. After that,
they took the Lord Jesus in. This disciple walked in. They
shut the door. They shut the door. Peter's left
standing outside the door. Standing there. God, in His blessed
providence, had shut this door. Shut this door. thank God that
he shuts doors on us and don't let us walk through certain doors
but God in his providence had shut this door and it takes some
effort on Peter's part to get in to get in that room where
the Lord Jesus Christ get in there where they had Christ if
he had only stayed outside and not walk through that door if
he had just stayed outside And our Lord Jesus had just told
him plainly over there in the garden and told him so many different
times, watch and pray that you not enter into temptations. He
said, the spirit indeed is willing, but Peter the flesh is weak.
Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation. Our Lord told
him that. But he ignores the warning that
Christ gave him. He ignores the obstacles that
Christ put in his way. He ignores this closed door and
he begins to knock on the door. Begins to knock on the door.
And he wants to be let in. Well, this woman that's keeping
the door, this other disciple came out and said, she said,
somebody's knocking at the door. And she opened the door and there
stood Simon Peter. And this other disciple come
and said, he vouched for him and said, well, let him in. Let
him in. Let him in. Paul would have just
stayed outside that door. If he just hadn't walked through
that door. But that other disciple came out and that's for him.
Now you're talking about a lesson for us. A lesson for us here. The Lord put obstacles in Simon
Peter's way. He put a door in his way. to
stop him from going on and grieving and sinning so grievously and
denying the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ had warned him, told him
what he would do, and he went ahead, headlong,
and went right through that door. Huh? And oh, may God do us this
way. May He shut a door for us and
not let us walk through it. Look with me over here in Psalm
19. Look in Psalm 19, what the Scriptures,
how David prayed one time. Oh my! There's one thing about
the Scriptures. We have these wonderful promises,
wonderful things on one side of the Scriptures, and then we
have warnings on the other side. And over here, lest we presume,
over here, lest we despair, And so we have the two. But look
what it says here in verse 12. Psalm 19. Who can understand his errors?
Who can understand his errors? Anybody in this room understand
their errors? I'll tell you something how we
can tell whether we understand our errors. How hard is it to
say you're sorry? How hard is it to say you're
wrong? How hard is it to say I did the wrong thing? How hard
is it to say I shouldn't have done that? How hard is it to
say oh my, I'm so sorry I did that. I'm so sorry I acted that
way. Who can understand his errors? We can understand how to justify
them. We can understand how to clear
ourselves from them. We can understand how to stand
up for ourselves. But who can understand them?
Who can understand these errors? And then look what he says. Cleanse
thou me from secret faults. Secret faults. Secret to everybody
but you. Oh Lord, secret to everybody
but you. You know my secrets of my heart. You know the thoughts and intents
of my heart. And oh, cleanse thou me. Purify me from my secret thoughts. And listen to this. Keep back
thy servant also from presumptuous sins. That's what Simon Peter's
doing here. He's presumptuously sinning.
David presumptuously sinned. Noah presumptuously sinned. Abraham
presumptuously sinned. And when you presumptuously sin,
that means that you think that you can do it and get by with
it. And you presume that God's going
to forgive you and God's going to watch over you and God's going
to just let you do whatever you want to do. And you see somebody
else do something, you say, well, you presume if they do it, well,
I can do it too. But a man's got to do according
to what his own heart, his own conscience tells him he can do. Don't go any farther than your
heart and conscience will let you go. No matter what anybody
else does, no matter what anybody else says, no matter where anyone
else goes, you do what your conscience and your heart will let you get
by with. Don't ever go farther than past that. Have you ever stepped over
that line? I hate to say this, but I've
stepped over it more times than I can count. And I'm sorry for
it. Oh God. When I see things like
this, first thing I think of, Simon Peter, I hate it for you. But I can see
me in him so vividly, so vividly. And oh my, and he goes on to
say, not only keep thy servant back from presumptuous sins,
let them not have dominion over me. Don't let them rule over
me. Don't let them have power over
me. Don't let them keep bringing me into the same thing over and
over and over again. And oh Lord, keep us. Keep us,
keep us, keep us. direct our paths, direct our
steps. And there's three questions that
were asked Simon Peter. He was asked three questions.
And here's the first question now here. In verse 17, then saith
the damsel, now this is a damsel that kept the door unto Peter.
She stands on the inside, she's not on the outside, she's standing
inside. She lets people in and out. Then saith the damsel that
kept the door, Art thou not also one of his disciples? Huh? Art thou not one of his disciples? And this is just a woman, a young
woman, a damsel, a young woman, a maid, a servant. She was the doorkeeper. This
wasn't a man, wasn't a big tough Roman soldier. it was not one
of the Jewish officers it was not somebody that the high priest
had some big burly man standing there at the door but just a young woman and in
the presence of this young woman very young woman he was afraid
to owe his allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ in the face
of this young woman. Why? Why? Well, to humble his pride. To
humble his pride. To show how his weakness stands
out as a warning against self-confidence. This is an amazing thing to me.
When we're standing before God, how a person can have self-confidence. Now we ought to have self-confidence
about our work, about our jobs, about what we do in certain areas. Yes, I believe I can deal with
that. I believe I can do that. But when it comes to standing
before God and owning our allegiance before Christ, oh my, what a
warning against self-confidence. Elijah, Elijah. Do you all know where 1 Kings
is? Go to 1 Kings. Go to 1 Kings and look in chapter
19. 1 Kings chapter 19. Here is your perfect illustration
of what happened to Simon Peter and what happens to men. How
weak and frail we are. And all my God let him have this
happen to him to humble his pride To stand as a warning against
self-confidence and being able to stand on your own and and
then do that how frail we are But look what happens here in
verse 1 of chapter 19 of first kings Ahab told Jezebel all that
Elijah had done Remember he slew all those false prophets cause
the fire to cause fall down from heaven and said it did that Who
is God who is the Lord let him speak with fire? And oh my and
they have told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had
slain all the prophets with the sword then Jezebel Sent a messenger
unto Elijah saying so let the gods do to me and more also if
I make not thy life as life of one of them by tomorrow about
this time and when he saw that he arose now listen to this and
went for his life run for his life and came to Beersheba which
belonged to Judah and left his servant there but he himself
when a day's journey into the wilderness And came and sat down
under a juniper tree. Sat down. And when he sat down
under that juniper tree, listen to what he said. And he requested
for himself that he might die. Oh Lord. I faced 450 false prophets. I've seen fire come down from
heaven. Consume the sacrifice. Consume
the water. Consume everything. And this
woman said, I'm going to kill you, Jen. I'm going to get you,
Elijah. He went to running like a scared
dog. Went to running like a, oh, he
was terrified. And he sat down under a juniper
tree and requested for himself that he might die. And said,
Lord, it is enough. Now, oh Lord, take away my life,
for am I not better than my father's? In other words, Lord, you kill
me before Jezebel gets here. That's what he said. He got so
down and got so discouraged after seeing all these wonderful things.
And Simon Peter was a disciple of Christ. He followed Christ.
He was in the circle of Christ. And then a young woman Said,
ain't you one of his disciples? What does he say? And I tell
you, her question wasn't asked in a harsh manner. Go back over
to John 18. She didn't ask in a harsh, mean, hateful way. She didn't say, are you a follower
of this insurrectionist? She didn't say, are you a follower
of this enemy of Judaism? She didn't say this, you're not
a follower of him who claims to be God, are you? You're not
a follower of this blasphemer. But you know what she said? Are
you not also one of this man's? That's all she said about him.
This man. That's all she knew about Christ.
This man. Are you not a follower of this
man? This man. And Peter lied. He lied. He just flat out lied. And he
said, I am not. I am not. You think all the people that
knew him would have ever thought he would have done this thing? Do you think John and James who
knew him so well would have thought he would have done such a thing?
Huh? Here's bold and petulant Peter
that walked on the water, now being so timidly, now being so
cowardly, not one friend that he had, not his wife even, because
he was married, not his wife would have thought, oh Peter
won't do that. Peter wouldn't do that. But I
tell you what, any man thanketh he standeth take heed lest he
fall and then look what it says here now in verse 18 and the
servants and officers stood there who had made a fire of coals
for it was cold it was cold and listen to what it says here
and Peter stood with them Peter stood with them. Who's
them? The same people that came and
laid hold on the Lord Jesus Christ and bound him. The same people
that came out there with all the weapons. The same people
who bound him and led him away. Oh, he stood with them, those
who had apprehended his master, those who hated his master, those
who plotted his death, those who plotted to apprehend him.
Oh my. And over it says there that Judas,
when he went out in the garden, he stood with them. Simon Peter's
doing the same thing. He stood with them, the enemies
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then look what it said, he
stood with them and warmed himself. He warmed himself because he
was cold. Let me tell you something and
I know this from experience. I'm not saying you do this. I
hope you don't do it. God help us all never to do it.
But he warmed himself for he was cold. You follow Christ afar
off and you know what will happen to you? You'll get cold too. You follow Christ afar off and
you'll get cold too. Get cold. Oh my. That's why it's so desperately
needful for us to hear the gospel. To have fellowship with one another.
To be able to get together and enjoy one another. Because we,
iron sharpens iron. And boy when we can spend some
time together. and enjoy one another and you
know the scriptures tells us that two are better than one
because if one stands alone he'll get cold if two are together
they lay down they can warm one another and then if you got a
third person involved in it then a three-fold court is easier
hard to be broken so you get a wife that's a believer you
get a husband that's a believer Then they lay down together,
they keep one another warm. Then you put Christ in it, and
you can't break that, can you? You can't break that, can you? And oh my, and that's why. Let's don't stand with them.
And now he warmed himself. Oh, let's follow Christ close.
Keep coming close to Christ. Keep following Christ. Keep calling
on Christ. Keep looking to Christ. And he
warmed himself at the fire. And whoa, you know he warmed
himself at the fire of the enemies of his Lord. At the enemies of
his Savior. At the enemies of his Redeemer. And I'll tell you what, the enemies
of Christ, I'll tell you something about the enemies of Christ.
They'll always have a fire for us if we're willing to stand
at it. if we're willing to stand. I don't want to stand at the
end of this fire. And if we don't stay near to our Savior, we'll
find ourselves warming at the fire of this world. Job told me Wednesday night,
last Wednesday night, he says, boy, this world don't have no
glitter, no glamour for us. And it don't have no glitter,
no glamour. We do know about everything that we have to deal
with in this world is aggravation and vexation. It really is. You watch the news, it aggravates
you. You have to go deal with the
bank, it aggravates you. You spend too much money on something,
it aggravates you. You run short on money, it aggravates
you. Is there anything in this world
that ain't got trouble and vanity and vexation with it? It's just as sure as we find
ourselves warming at the fire of the world. If we don't stay
near to our Savior, we'll find ourselves warming ourselves at
the fire of our flesh and at the fire of the devil. But here's
the second question down verse 25. Here's the second question. Listen to this. And Simon Peter stood and warmed
himself. He's warming himself, more concerned
for his body than he is for his soul. And he sat here and said, what?
And then they said, art thou unto him, art thou not also one
of his disciples? He denied. And said, I am not,
I am not. Here he is warming himself, more
concerned about the comfort of his body than he is the comfort
of his soul. And you go back through here
and you listen to what's going on. You read, you read verses
19 down here in verse 25, and you read what's going on there.
And Simon Peter's standing there listening to this. He's listening
to this high priest. He watches that soldier reach
up and slap the Lord Jesus Christ for the way he answered the high
priest. He was listening to the awful
blasphemous talk about his master. But he was too timid to stand
up and speak up for and witness for him. You don't know what
you're doing, who you're dealing with here. He didn't do that.
So what he did, he lied again. He denied that I am not. Evil
communications. When you start these evil communications,
listening to evil communications, being partaker of evil communications,
your manners, your good manners, the manners after Christ, the
manners after grace, the manners after love, the manners after
righteousness, when you listen to this evil corrupt with evil
communications, all the manners of Christ and grace and love
and kindness and all that, it'll go out the window. Go out the window. Oh, but being
among his enemies, the enemies of Christ, his Lord, he was challenged,
challenged about his relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh! And being challenged, aren't
that not one of his disciples? One of his followers? And he said so greatly. Now I
want you to notice something he didn't say. Peter didn't deny
that Jesus was the Christ. He didn't deny that. He didn't
deny that Christ was the Son of God. He did deny that He was
the Savior of sinners and the only Savior of sinners. But you
know what He denied? Not one of His. Now I'll tell
you something. Our Lord Himself told a group
one time, He says, Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity,
I never knew you. That'd be an awful thing, four
words, I never knew you. And here's one of Christ's disciples
saying, I'm not one of His. Christ will never say that about
one of His people. He's not one of mine. Every one
of the sheep for whom He died, He'll own them. He's not ashamed
to call us brethren. God's not ashamed to be our God. God's not ashamed to say, but
you know, yes, He's mine. Well, he just watered in the
mud. He's mine. He just said the awfulest
thing. He's mine. I can't believe he did that.
He's mine. But here's Simon Peter. Are thou
not one of his disciples? He denied. I am not. I am not. Oh my. Lord have mercy on us and here's
the third question down there in verse 26 third question one
of the servants of the high priest being kinsman of Malchus whose
ear Peter cut off saith did not I see you in the garden did not
see you over there in that garden Weren't you the one that had
that sword? Don't I remember seeing you over there in the
garden? When we come to get you? He was kins to Malchus, the one
that Simon Peter cut his ear off. Did not I see thee in the garden? With him! With him! What a rebuke this was. Peter
was standing with them. Now, Warren reminds him when
he says this, didn't I see you over there in the garden? Somebody
that's there said, didn't I just see you just a little while ago,
an hour or so ago, standing over there in the garden and stood
with him? But God left him to himself. Why? Why would God leave a man
to himself? To show him, and to show us,
and teach us, that except God's omnipotent grace holds us up,
we are certain to fall as a martin is to go to his Lord. He was
bold enough and courageous enough to cut off a man's ear and stand
with Christ. And then turn around and lie
and deny Christ in just a few short hours. No wonder David
said, what is man? That you're mindful of him. Man
at his best escape, man at his best escape is altogether vanity. You say, I wouldn't do that.
I've done it more than three times. I've done it more than
three times. And to my shame, to my shame,
to my shame, he has asked three questions
and he told three lies. And it says there in verse 27,
Peter then denied again. And immediately that rooster
crowed. That rooster crowed turn back
over here to keep John 18 and look back over here to John 13
38 With me, let's look at this together So I'm verse 37 Peter said unto
him Lord Why cannot I follow thee now? I'll lay down my life
for thy sake. Jesus answered him, Wilt thou
lay down thy life for my sake? Will you, Simon Peter? Truly,
truly, or verily, verily, I say unto you, the cock shall not
crow, right before daylight, till you deny me three times. And the third time you deny me,
that rooster is going to crow. And he denied him the third time
and that rooster began to crow. Huh? If you would have asked
any who knew Simon Peter, you ask anybody that knew him, what
is his weakness? What is Simon Peter's weakness?
What would cause him to fall? Not one of them would have said
cowardice, or timidity, or fear of man. Not one of them would
have said that. He did cut off Malchus's ear. He was willing to fight there
in the garden. He had great, great courage.
He had courage to follow him into the palace. But he was like
Naaman. He was like them and when the
prophet told him to go down to the river Jordan and duck himself
in there seven times and his leprosy would leave him. And
he got mad about it and said, I ain't gonna do that. And they
said, master, if they'd give you something great to do, you'd
have done that. And if they'd have gave Simon Peter some great
big task to do, to fight, he would have done it. But here's the thing, beloved,
we don't get to choose our fights. We don't get to choose our trials.
We don't get to choose our days. We don't get to choose what we
have to face. And our Lord Jesus told him,
Satan desired to sift you as wheat. Wheat. Then the devil sifted him. And
here's the thing, the whole trial is over before he knew he was
being tried. The minute he heard that rooster
crow, he remembered what Christ said. His trial started, three
questions, three lies, three denials, and his trial was over. Just like that. And he knew he had failed. But we don't get to choose our
fights, we don't get to choose our trials. And our trials sometimes
come this way. They come on so quickly. Just
so quick. You may be out taking care of
business on a day and something will happen in that situation
where you're put, well, what am I going to do? Am I going
to do what's right? Am I going to do what's just?
Or I'm going to do something else. A baby with a child. You got a child and all of a
sudden, Something dramatic happens to them They get real sick. I Remember. Oh, I remember so
many the first funeral I had in the state of Tennessee when
I moved down here was a six-year-old girl beautiful little blonde-headed
girl She got leukemia And she died when she's six years old
as the first funeral ever had I Her mother and daddy and grandma
and grandpa devastated her. Beautiful girl. Little Oshbau
girl. Man stood and wept and wept and
wept. His only son was killed the other day and he stood there
and cried like a baby. What about our children, our
grandchildren? Oh my. We get a phone call. so-and-so just died, so-and-so
is in the hospital and they're not going to make it would you
go up there a few minutes talk with somebody
an evening with friends can turn into a trial just like that and
I tell you something if we knew a trial was coming we'd prepare
for it but I tell you something about even preparing for a trial
you can't prepare for them the only thing you can do is trust
God in them That's all you can do. Just trust the Lord in them. We as God's people are as weak
as water. Look at all of Peter's privileges. He got to hear the Lord Jesus
before they crossed Seddon and went into the garden. The Lord
Jesus Christ took His disciples apart to Himself, starting in
John 13, and began to teach them. Then He washed their feet. He
washed Simon Peter's feet. And Simon said, Lord, wash me
all over, not just my feet, wash me everywhere. And then he heard
Him say, when He's going away, let not your heart be troubled,
You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are
many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. And I go to prepare a place for you. And Peter, and
James, and John, and Bonnie, Kyle, Peggy, I will come again and take you. where I am that
you may be with me. He heard the Lord Jesus Christ
telling that. And then in John 17 he heard
Christ pray for him. He heard Christ pray for them
personally. All the privileges he had. oh before and he had just taken
the Lord's supper and that's when they got up and went across
the room and yet after all these privileges down he went down
he went oh the dangerous self-confidence
the dangerous self-confidence the consequences of failing to
pray watch and pray our Lord said Lest ye enter into temptation. Lord, deliver us from temptation.
You know why we say, Lord, deliver us from temptation? Because we're
so easy to get into it. So save us from it. Deliver us
from it. And then, oh my, here's the thing. It should prepare us, things
like this, against anybody being surprised when our familiar friends
or anybody else fail us in a critical, crucial situation. Anything ought
to make us fall back on Him more. And thank God that we have a
merciful and faithful high priest, Jesus, the Son of God, that's
passed into the heavens. So let us come boldly unto a
throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find help, help, help,
help, Lord, help in time of need. Huh? Look over here in Luke 22,
and I'll close this thing down. Luke 22, verse 31. Peter, no doubt, was ashamed.
Over in Matthew and Luke it says he went out and wept bitterly.
Yes, he fell, but he did rise again. He arose a wiser man,
a more cautious man, He's the one that said grow in the grace
and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ But look what he said
here in verse 31 Luke 22 and the Lord said Simon Simon Behold
Satan has desired you You That he may sift you as wheat But
listen to it, but I have prayed for thee bless his holy name. I I have prayed for thee, that
thy faith fail not. And when you're converted, you
go straight to the breath. No doubt he was ashamed, but
you remember when he was walking on that water, a big wave got
in front of him, and he went to sinking. And he reached out
his hand and said, Lord, save me! And the Lord Jesus Christ
reached out and saved him. The same hand that saved him
off the water, is the same hand that wretched saved him here. Christ got to be our all. Simon Peter denied him, but I
tell you something Christ didn't do. He never denied Simon Peter. Our Father in the precious name,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh Lord, we're so thankful that
you're never ashamed of us. You're not ashamed to call us
brethren. God, you're not ashamed to be called our God. And help
us never to be ashamed of you. We're ashamed of ourselves, but
never to be ashamed of you. Never be ashamed of your grace,
and your love, and your blood, and your righteousness, and your
precious, precious person. Help us to honor you and glorify
you. Forgive us. Oh God, forgive us of everything
that's so unlike you. Hold us up, Lord. If you don't
hold us up, we'll certainly fall. Yea, the righteous fall seven
times, but Lord, you pick him up. And we bless you for saving
us. And Lord keep us, preserve us,
and perfect that which concerns us. We ask these things in Christ's
name. Amen. Amen. Let's sing that hymn.