Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Mark chapter 14 and reading
for our text, verse 72, particularly the latter part, the words, and
when he thought they're on, he wept. But reading for our text,
the whole verse and the second time, the cock crew and Peter
called to mind The word that Jesus said unto him, before the
cock crowed twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought
that on, he wept. Mark 14 and the last verse, verse
72. In these chapters we have recorded
the taking of our Lord Jesus Christ is being brought before
the council, is being then led to be crucified, and the one
sacrifice that God had appointed from the beginning of the world
was to be brought about at this time, and these are all the circumstances
surrounding it. Our Lord, they all forsook Him
and fled. We have here Peter denying Him
these three times. We have the false accusations
that are made against him. We have the agonies of the cross
and the mocking that went along with that. Everything that was
surrounding and round about, the offering being made at this
time, it seems so contrary to the great work that was being
done. the redemption of all the people
of God, the blotting out of their sins, the great work that had
been promised, the seed of the woman bruising the serpent's
head. If your sins are mine, I'll blot
it out. They were by our Lord at Calvary. And yet all the things that surround
it, It seems so, so contrary. You think of when our Lord came
as well to this world. The Lord didn't choose, God didn't
choose to send his beloved son into the world when there was
a nice, peaceful ruler, but a ruler like Herod, a ruler that sought
all he could do to kill the Lord and slew all the young children
in Bethlehem. And yet the Lord's protection,
the Lord's care was over his beloved son. And these great
things were done. The Son of God was come. He came
to this world. He fulfilled the work that his
father gave him to do. And it's all in these surroundings. And we are to remember this because
in this world it is as the Lord has said in John 17. They are
not of the world, that is the people of God, even as I am not
of the world. Father, keep them from the evil. In the midst of this world, however
tumultuous it is, however much evils there are, Whatever is
going on and many things happening and going on, the Lord is carrying
on a work of grace in sinners' hearts. His purposes are ripening
fast. His work is being done. Sinners
are being plucked out of nature's darkness and out of Satan's hand
and brought into his kingdom. in spite of all these things
that seem to be so adverse and so against it, yet it is being
carried on. And we think of the early church,
when the church just began, the persecution so severe in those
first 300 years, 10 terrible persecutions, what was done to
those early believers and saints, you would think that those hearing
of it would have nothing to do with Christianity. It had the
opposite effect. And under God's blessing, many
saw the fortitude of those suffering and saw that faith that they
had that stood such terrible things. And it was used of God
that they should also desire the same. And we need to bear
this in mind because you and I are not bystanders. Yes, we
read in the accounts here, but as for the Day of Grace, we are
in it. And as Peter and the disciples
here, they had all of these things all happening round about them,
we have all things happening about us as well. And yet in
the midst of that, some, some will be saved. Some it will work
for good, but some it won't. And maybe be amongst those that
it does work together for good, to them that are called according
to his purpose. Well, here is Peter and the specific
path that he is walking a path that brings him to think on these
things and to really weep over these things. And I want to look
with the Lord's help at really three exercises of a living soul
that is set forth here. The first is this Calling to
mind. We read in Peter, call to mind
the word that Jesus said unto him. Before the cock crow twice,
thou shalt deny me thrice. And there is a right calling
to mind. Then secondly, there is what
we do with what is called to mind, thinking they're on. Peter, he thought they're on. And then thirdly, there are the
reasons to weep. When he thought they're on, he
wept. That really, it touched his heart. So firstly, calling to mind. There is a contrast in this chapter. We have the chief priests seeking
for those to witness against the Lord Jesus Christ and to
put him to death. At first they found none, but
then they found Some witnesses and their witness did not agree
one to another, but nevertheless they seemed to be accepted. But they are calling to mind. In verse 58, we heard him say,
they're calling to mind what the Lord said, I will destroy
this temple that is made with hands Within three days I'll
build another made without hands." Slightly different than our Lord
has said, but nevertheless in substance and remember it is
said that they thought he was talking about the literal temple,
but the scriptures say he spake the temple of his body. But there are those here that
we're calling that a mind, and yet we don't hear anything that
follows on from that. But then we have Peter, and we
might say even before Peter, we have a maid, and she says
to them, This is one of them, or one that testified that she
saw him. There was also a Jesus of Nazareth. They're calling things to mind
that they have seen in the things that are set before Peter, which
he then denied. It was because people were calling
these things to mind. And then Peter, he calls to mind. And it goes right back, goes
right back to verse 30. Jesus saith unto him, verily
I say unto thee, that this day, even in this night, before the
cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. Peter calls that to
mind. No doubt, also called to mind
what he had said, that he said that, if I should die with thee,
I will not deny thee in any wise. Peter said, although all shall
be offended, yet will not I. He's making great assent that
he shall not deny the law. And no doubt also he called to
mind what had exactly just happened now, how that he had said these
three times. Not just that he didn't know,
but then with us that he did not know the man at all. There's a lot that had happened
here, and all that had happened in the garden, And these things
then are now being remembered. Why didn't he call that to mind? When the first maid was asking
him these things, did he not jog his memory and say, this
is what the Lord has said, this is what I said I would not deny,
and now I've just denied. Why did he have to wait till
three times? Why did not the first cock crowing? making call to mind then, and
stop his denying then. And it didn't happen then. But then it comes to this time,
and then it comes, a calling to mind. Now we're reminded in
this that this calling to mind, and we know in the other accounts,
we have accounts also in Mark and in Luke, and we have that
the Lord turned and looked upon Peter, and when he thought thereon,
he went out and went bitterly. You have the other accounts bring
in different aspects of it, but we see that there is a time that
God causes these things to be brought into our minds. Now this is not a reason to excuse
our forgetfulness, or that we have just blanked some things
out, but there is a reason appointed for it. There's been many times
in the ministry where I have in the study, meditated, and
sometimes even with my headings in the pulpit, that I have intended
to speak in a certain way and certain points. And when I got
in the car or got to go home, I suddenly thought, you never
mentioned that. You did not mention that at all. It just completely
went from my mind. And I felt there was a purpose,
that that was not brought to my mind, that I completely forgot
it. And there's been several times
through my life where there's been that side of it, where things
have not come to my mind, and when they have, I've been thankful
that at that time they didn't, or at first I have been ashamed
that they didn't, but then realized that that was in the purpose
of God, that I should not remember that, that that should be blotted
out, that that should not come, to my mind. And so when we have
a calling to mind, maybe think of this, the timing of it, the
appointment of it, that our Lord said, the Holy Spirit shall bring
all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. And what Peter is calling to
mind here is what the Lord had said unto him. He is remembering
that. How many times we may have heard
a sermon or heard the word preached or read the word, and later on,
that word has come back to mind. We've recalled that. There's
one very important time in the exercise of coming over here. that the Lord used that. And
it was in the morning reading we had read as a family with
Satan's temptations. And I explained to my dear one
and the children what was being said before the Lord, especially
that all of the world he could have if only our Lord would worship
Satan. In the evening, we met again. But in the meantime, I had been
around the supermarket and met one of the salesmen from our
firm. And he told what a wonderful
prospect I had. I was a chief mechanical engineer
in Australia. wonderful prospect and job before
me and there was me praying the Lord would show us what to do
and looking at giving up that job and coming over here. And
I was so perplexed. I didn't know what it meant.
I thought surely if we'd come over here the job would come
to nothing but here it seemed highlighted by the world at my
feet. When I sat on that bed in the
evening Lord brought so powerfully to my mind what I had said those
hours before in the morning. And it was as if the Lord came
to me and said, now, what will you have? Will you have all what's
been set before you just now, and all of your job, and all
the prospects here in Australia? Or will you have that small flock
over in England? Which will you take? And I knew
exactly then, the very next day I resigned from that firm. Three
days later, he said, you're going to a small pastorate, would you
still like to work some days a week for us? And I had a three-year
contract given me, which enabled us to start over here. That was
25 years ago. And that coming to mind, that
laying up, as it were, things that were said, I'd said, we'd
had around the family altar. Then the things that happened
in the day, they didn't come to mind in the supermarket. Wait
until we're in that family altar situation again, then all that
came to mind. the timing of it, and may we
notice those things when they are brought to our minds. May
they then lead to actually thinking on those things, not just brushing
them off. And so with Peter here, the first thing he
called to mind, or it was brought into his He was impressed on
him, he remembered it, it was there. Now, our second point is that
thinking thereon. Thinking thereon. Are we guilty perhaps of having
things come to mind and we just brush them off. We don't profit,
we don't meditate upon it, we don't think upon it at all. How many of these psalms, it
speaks of remembering not against us the sins of our youth. My
hymn speaks of past offences, pain my eyes, a singer in the
last hymn. Those things that we have done,
that when we think of them, cause us a lot of pain. I have many
things that sometimes I might go months and not think of them,
then suddenly they come to mind and then I think on them. Those things I said and did in
days of unregeneracy, those things that maybe 40, 50 years ago, are not erased and those times
they come back. What we have said, what we have
done, where we have been deceitful, where we have lied, where we
walked in a contrary and wrong way. Well dear Peter here, he thinks
on these things, he thinks on what the Lord has said. He had
been forewarned And yet still he'd fallen. He had made profession,
he would never fall, he'd never deny the Lord, and yet he did
deny the Lord. What things to think upon. To think upon his swearing, his
cursing, his denying the Lord before a maid. You might think,
well, If we were brought before a grand jury and before a great
nobility, we would stand, we would not deny the Lord, but
not really consider that we could be in a very private situation
and be even with a child, and yet deny the Lord. No, in one
sense the Lord was right here, He heard Peter, That the Lord
sees all that we do. He hears all that we do. Not
only what we do outwardly, but he knows the motive. He knows
everything. All present, and that is what
Peter would have thought on as well. The Lord had seen all of
this. Been all before him. What things do we think upon?
and go over how much is written again in the word of God about
those things that we are to think upon. Paul, when he writes to
the Philippians, he says in his closing chapter there that whatsoever
things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things
are just, whatsoever things are pure, Whatsoever things are lovely,
whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue
and if there be any praise, think on these things. But when we come to the context
here, this is that which is true. He really has walked in this
path. And you know as sinners. It is,
everyone shall give an account of the deeds done in the body,
whether they are good or bad. We have a judgment that is before
us. And it's right that we think
on these things and go over them and not just brush them off,
but really own up to them, the reality of them. And believe
us, we think on these things The spirit that gave the remembrance
in the first place will give the thinking and give the meditation. You know, when we think of the
angel that came and showed to Manoa and his wife that they
would have a son, Samson. And Manoa, he says, because we
have seen an angel, then we shall die. They were thinking on what
had happened and thinking of the implications of it, but his
wife thinks differently. She's thinking about the same
thing, but she sees some signs of hope. Would the Lord, if he
intended to kill us, would he show us such things as this?
Would he tell us such things as this? And she sees a ray of
hope. in these same things. And maybe
with you tonight, the Lord has brought things to your remembrance.
Maybe you have been thinking of them and going over them in
your mind. And may the Spirit direct it
in a way that brings hope, because I believe this, the Holy Spirit
will not bring things to mind, not in a day of grace, not in
a time when the Lord is to be found, just to cast the sinner
down and to show him there is no hope and no way of escape. Dear Peter, he couldn't excuse
himself. His very effect, as we speak
in a moment, shows this. If you and I are to have a proper
pardon, a real blotting out of our sins, then it is really thinking
and meditating and facing up and going over these things. The Lord direct your meditation
and mine and thoughts upon those things that are brought to mind. The Lord knows how necessary
or timely or needful it is for any of us tonight. By the last point, the reasons
to weep. God's people are not to be stoics
or unmovable. There are many times, there are
a few or so, and they'll mourn over a hard heart. And no doubt Peter had that hard
heart all the while he was denying. that there came a time when he
was softened and he wept. And this was the steps to the
softening, the steps to his weeping. Core to mind, thinking thereon,
and then his weeping. Why was he weeping? Well, one
reason would be his sorrow. Sorrow, and as he thinks of these
things, that he should do this, to his Lord and Master, treat
him in this way. The sorrow, our Lord, in the
other account, he turned and looked upon him to feel that
he had so dealt so with one that he truly loved. Godly sorrow, not the sorrow
of the world that worketh death, But godly sorrow, it worketh
repentance that needeth not to be repented of. Dear friend,
if your things that you call to mind and think on are your
sins and they cause godly sorrow, and weeping for sorrow, that
godly sorrow brings repentance, and you'll never repent of that.
You won't be sorry that you ever were sorry in that way. is a beautiful, real token that
the Lord gives his dear people, that they mourn. Blessed are
they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Against thee, the
only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight. Dear
David, he mourned in Psalm 51, He would have wept also in shame. How many times have we thought
on our ways and been so filled with shame? How shall we lift
up our head? The Lord humbles his people in
this way. Remember, Peter had said, though
all men forsake thee, yet will not I. We are all proud by nature,
but God will not have his children proud. you'll have them each
esteem other better than themselves. And the way that he deals with
pride and the way that he humbles, we might think, oh, it is good
if the Lord gave me a gracious, humble spirit. But the way the
Lord humbles is to bring us to have these things like Peter
had, that every time we think of it, it stops our mouth. It makes us feel ashamed, makes
us to feel like we could hide under a rock and that we look
upon every other brother and think, they would never do that.
Or how can I lift up my head? How can I join in a prayer meeting?
How can I go amongst the Lord's dear people when I have these
things that I remember I've done and what I've said, and that
shame, but the Lord uses it to bring us low and humbled. Peter
needed humbling. Paul had the thorn in the flesh,
the messenger of Satan, so that he was humbled. And the Lord
knows how to humble and stone our pride. And yet it's painful,
painful to us. And yet it's good, it's needful.
Another reason to weep here is the repentance. This is the Godly
sorrow. You can't in this situation here,
can you say, well, let me have another opportunity. Let me have
some more people come and ask me, and I won't deny this time,
give me another chance. Usually repentance we'd associate
with a change of heart, of life, that we won't do what we were
doing before. But when we get something like
this, that we can We can never take it back. David couldn't
give Uriah's life back to him. He couldn't undo his adultery. But he could have that repentance
in godly sorrow, in weeping, and yes, in seeking to cleave
to the Lord and walk dependent upon his grace from there on. But that repentance, sometimes
it evidences itself in these times of weeping. I know what
it is to sit at my desk and to be reading the Word and suddenly
I feel my heart begin to soften and things will come into mind
one after another and I will suddenly start to weep and weep
as these things are set before me. and the Lord gives it, I
cannot command it. And it doesn't happen every day
or even every year, but there's been sacred times when that is
so. Those making up times when we
really are sorry for our sin, we weep over our sins, we confess
our sins, we bring them all up, we lay them all before the Lord
and weep before the Lord. There's a sense of real relief
of being able to do that and to really repent and really be
sorry over those things that we've done. But there's also
that sense of thankfulness. You know, Peter would have, in
thinking of these things, his Lord had forewarned him And yes,
the aggravated thing, even then, it hadn't kept him from it, but
not only forewarned him, but said, I prayed for thee that
thy faith fail not. The Lord knew his path before
he went into it. The Lord had made a provision.
The Lord had held out that ray of hope for dear Peter at this
very time. And if you have things called
to mind and thinking of things, you think, what has the Lord
given you? that is a ray of hope, a ray of expectation. We wonder with our Lord's mother,
Mary, when he was born and these shepherds told what they had
heard, we read that Mary pondered these things over in her heart. She thought about them. Later
on, when he was at 12 years of age Wished ye not that I must
be about my father's business? And again she pondered these
things in her heart. Now it comes here and her son
is brought before the judgment and crucified and slain. Is she thinking still of those
things laid up in her heart? What these things meant? Peter
only was recalling the things back a matter of hours, but Mary
would have been going back 30 years. And very soon, along with
the other disciples, she'd had the interpretation and knew what
these things meant, or not Christ to have suffered these things
and to enter into his glory. And there's that. Thanks where
the Lord has said I tell you beforehand that when it come
to pass ye may know that I am he. Now those things that the
Lord tells his people and that his disciples who said they understood
not what he said unto them. And they didn't understand it.
until afterwards and then we read they remembered that he
had said these things and that they had done these things unto
him and that then there was a bringing that together. You think of Joseph's
brothers, the way Joseph dealt with them They were remembering
back 20 years, they didn't know you understood them, but they
were saying we heard his cries, we didn't take any notice, we
saw the sorrow of his soul. All of these things now are painting
their eyes and searching their hearts. The Lord goes back many years. when he exercises his people,
that when we see that the Lord goes back many years, and he's
ordered this and that, and he's done these things, and he's brought
them to remembrance, and there rises up this, who can tell?
I am in the Lord's hand. He is ordering my life. He is
ordering my ways, showing confusion to me, but honour and glory to
Him, and thanks to Him that He should so work these things.
The better thing to see, the Lord has a plan, has a purpose,
He does for His people, and they'll be able to have those times when
they look back and they see it. Thou shalt remember all the way,
the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness,
to try thee, to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart,
whether thou wouldst serve him or no. And painful, you think
back of the 40 years in the wilderness for the children of Israel. What
shame, what pain, and yet what thanks. The Lord's mercies and
goodness in spite of our sin, in spite of our shame. Another
reason. would be love. Dear Peter, later
on the Lord drew that forth from him. Lord, thou knowest all things,
thou knowest that I love thee. The look that our Lord gave to
Peter was a look of love. And you know, we can weep in
sorrow and we can weep in love and it'd be all mingled together.
You know what that is? If you perhaps haven't seen someone
for a long while, And then you meet them, and you see them again,
and you embrace them, and the tears flow. Well, that's not
sorrow, is it? There's joy, you're glad to see
them again. And that can be with the people
of God as well. And there's sorrow over us, and
joy when the Lord returns, and he blesses the word, and draws
the soul after him. Well, dear friends, may we have
those things that we think upon. And may we think upon these,
the very context here. Our Lord's sufferings and death,
not that we have seen that, but we have it recorded in the Word.
And the Holy Spirit will bring to remembrance and lay to our
hearts that it is our sins that pierced Him, that He is crucified,
that He suffered in our place. and to put away our sin. And when we think on that, and
that is laid to our heart, that will bring that mixture of sorrow
and joy that the Lord should do it for us. Maybe then be a
people that have called to mind, that think on these things and
meditate on them, and are a feeling people, a people Let weep, and
have a softened heart, as dear Job, or the psalmist that says,
he maketh my heart soft. Well, dear Peter, good say that,
and may we be able to say the same. May the Lord bless the
word, and apply it as he sees fit. Amen.