All right, brethren, if you will,
let's turn to John 13. John chapter 13. I was struggling for a title and
I'm just in complete denial. Peter's gonna deny the Lord three
times. He perfectly denied him. I can't see real good with these
glasses. I gotta get some new ones. I wanna look at you. Have
you completely denied him? Have you completely denied the
Lord? I mean, in totality. I hope you say, if you say yes,
I got a message for you. If you say no, you still think
you're righteous, and you'll die and go to hell thinking that.
Time's short, I won't be as plain as I can be. You'll die in your
sins in eternal fire and brimstone and the worm that never dies,
thinking you did something good. I pray he shows us that we've
completely and teetotally denied him. I wanna get to, we used to call
this the bluff, B-L-U-F, bottom line up front, in case I miss
it, in case I forget to tell you. You will deny the Lord,
and He will be faithful to that He promised. You're going to
deny Him. If you ain't denied Him already,
you're going to, and I'm going to. In the next 12 months, you're
going to deny Him. You're going to deny His Word.
You will deny His preachers, the words that they bring to
you. You're going to dismiss it. Or in the next 12 days, or
the next 12 minutes, or the next 12 seconds, me too. We're going
to deny Him. We have denied Him. We came in
this world denying Him. We went to a thousand different
churches denying Him. And if we're His, If he died because of our denial,
because of our unbelief, he's going to prove himself to be
faithful to the things that he promised us. And he's going to give us something
to do. We'll see it in a couple of weeks. Hebrews 10, 23 says, let us hold
fast the profession of our faith without wavering. How are you
going to do that? How are you going to walk by
faith? Everybody talks about bumper stickers and birthday
cards and everything else. How are you going to do that?
Why are you going to do that? Why are you going to hold fast
to the profession of our faith without wavering? Without. Four,
that means because he is faithful that promised. I'm going to deny him. How can
I hold fast to thee? How am I going to persevere and
be preserved? He's faithful. Don't come a day. I pray I'll
say that and someone said Kevin. I never heard you say that that's
marvelous. He is faithful That'd be a good
day be sweet. I want to look at Peter's denial
tonight He denies three different times to three different people.
He denies to the damsel a young teenage girl We don't have any
in here tonight But a young teenage girl, he denies knowing the Lord
to his peers, good old fashioned religious folks, just like he
used to be there in the palace. And he denies to one specifically
that knows his guilt. But what did the Lord promise
Peter? He's the one that's gonna be faithful, right? Peter's gonna
deny him. Christ's gonna be faithful. What did he promise him? Remember
this whole night? This is all one night. Chapters 13, 14, 15,
16, 17, 18. One night. We've been in this
a long time. It didn't take long to play out.
They're gonna have to remember a lot, because the Lord said
a lot to them that night, didn't he? You're in John 13. Look at verse 36.
John 13, 36. Simon Peter said unto the Lord,
Whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I
go, thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me
afterwards. Peter said unto him, Lord, why
cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy
sake. I'll die for you. I'll die for this gospel. I'll
give it everything I got. Jesus answered, verse 38 says,
will thou lay down thy life for my sake? Will you? Barely, barely. Truly, truly. That means of a truth, of a truth.
That means the Lord says you better pay attention. I say unto
thee, the cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me thrice. That's the end of a chapter,
but it's not the end of a paragraph. paragraph goes on. We just have
this so we can look it up real quick. Turn to John 14 verse
1. We can get there real fast. It's
the same paragraph, the same breath the Lord's speaking to
him. He says in verse 38, I say unto thee, the cock shall not
crow till thou hast denied me thrice. Let not your heart be
troubled. That's gonna happen. You're gonna
deny me imperfection. Don't let your heart be troubled.
Ye 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. I go to prepare a place for you." Do you remember what
that place was? I told you what it was. We looked at it a couple
times. A place of reconciliation. That's what we need. That's what I'm gonna go make
for you, Peter. You believe in God, believe in me, don't be
troubled. Everybody else got a reason their heart needs to
be troubled. Some people said, my heart's troubled. It ought
to be good. We'll sit a little bit. Good to be cold. Good. Lord speaks to his people. He
can say that, I can't. Don't let your heart be troubled.
Ain't got no reason for it to be. If I go to prepare a place
for you, it gets better than that. This ain't just some place
you got to get to. I will come again and receive you unto myself
that where I am, there ye may be also. What a promise. You're going to deny me. I ain't
going to deny you. I'm going to keep you. You're
mine. Your words can't describe it.
The mind can't think it. It's going to be better than
that because you're going to be like me and be with me. It's going to
be good. If he says it's good, it's real
good. A lot happened that night. All the same night, isn't it?
Before this denial stuff come up, turn over to John 18. This
will be our text. John 18. We remember Judas brought a battalion
of men armed to the teeth and they were going to bind and lead
away the Lord, put him on trial. And the Lord Jesus Christ got
to them first. And he asked them who he was looking for. And he
says in verse five, they answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. John
18, five. And Jesus saith unto them, I
am. And they fell to the ground. He asked him a second time, they
said, Jesus of Nazareth, verse eight. Jesus answered, I've told
you that I am. Won't you tell us plainly? I
told you. He walked this earth three and
a third years. Telling them plainly. I've told
you, I am. But there's conditions to that.
There's a commandment with it. If therefore you seek me, here's
a condition. If you want me, let these go their way. And that's what happened. Right now, do you think if the
Israelis captured that head, Hamas guy, and he said, now you
can take me, but you let all these other ones go away. They'd
laugh and kill every one of them. I would too. They'd come into
my house and did that to them. That's the Lord speaking. Peter's heart burned in him.
His heart was on fire. He loved his Lord, but it burned
a little too much. Sometimes young believers and
old believers, they get a little too anxious. As we used to say,
they lean a little too far forward in the saddle. And we have a
burning heart to serve the Lord, but we just don't have the wisdom
in ourselves to do it right yet. And the heart's in the right
place, but we're making terrible decisions. Practically and spiritually
what what Peter was doing was just a horrible idea Practically,
they're 60 to 1 to him It's battalion size element. They got two swords
between the 12 Saying a good idea He's ready to die for his
life. I'll deny you watch this. I don't
know what was inside of him But the Lord had just said let these
go their way The battles done You're just trying to start a
war now, Peter. You're trying to get us all killed. What are
you thinking? It ain't logical. But Peter was not going to deny
his Lord, was he? He was ready to die for his master.
Verse 10 says, Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and smote
the high priest's servant and 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? At another time, he said, get
behind me, Satan. What a scary thing. Try to stop
him, wouldn't you? Stop this stuff. Well, Peter's
going to get to the nine. The Lord heals Malchus's ear.
We'll see it, hopefully, in a little bit, too. But Peter denies to
a damsel, a young girl. Look here in verse 15. And Simon
Peter followed Jesus. They were free, free to go. And
so did another disciple. That disciple was known unto
the high priest and went in with Jesus into the palace of the
high priest. When they took the Lord Jesus into that palace to
interrogate him, this disciple had enough credentials to walk
right in with them. Nobody questioned him. The gate
guards didn't get a hold of him. He walked right in. A lot of
the commentators, they say, likely this was Nicodemus because he
was a secret disciple for a while, wasn't he? Let me tell you something.
They ain't going to be no closet Christians. If God's done a work
in somebody, they're going to declare him publicly and they're
going to identify with his people. And it hadn't happened yet with
Nicodemus. But he's going to, he's going to take a hundred
pounds of aloe. How much is a hundred pounds of aloe? What's that?
I'm guessing three or four, five gallon buckets. How much would
that be? And walked through town. You
think they mocked that fella? What are you doing with that? I'm
going to anoint the Lord's body. Well, you're a fool. I'll just
be a fool. Then I'm his fool. But they walked in. Could have
been Joseph of Theramathaea. He was in the same boat with
them. But Peter stood at the door without, he couldn't go
in. Then went out that other disciple, which was known unto
the high priest, and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought
Peter in. There was a girl there, a damsel,
that kept the door. She was, that was the bouncer. You get the picture here. There's
a 75 pound girl, that's the doorkeeper. Peter couldn't go in. He had to be let in. Didn't he? Someone else had to
command it. But this other disciple talked to that girl that kept
the door and brought Peter in. Then saith the damsel that kept
the door unto Peter, Art not thou also one of this man's disciples? Wait a second. If it's Nicodemus
or whoever, hey, let him in. OK, but ain't you one of that
guy's disciples who just walked in here? I think I recognize
you. And he saith, I am not. Why a damsel? I thought about
that all week. Why a damsel? Why is this? This is what the Lord has described.
He's going to do it three times. And he tells us in all four gospels,
this took place. Peter's denial. This first one
was a damsel. That's somebody I could conquer.
You think about that? That's easy, isn't it? Some little
girls, you can't go through that door. Move, child. I know this
is odd in this day. Grownups tell kids what to do,
okay? That's the norm for 6,000 years
on this earth. Now it's got flip-flop. Now the
children tell the adults what to do. I don't know what's going
on, but used to back in the good old days. What are you doing? I can handle this, can't I? Just
a little maiden. How easy would it be? Not just
moving physically, but spiritually. How easy would it be for me to
tell a 14-year-old the gospel? Little teenage girl. That's easy,
right? What if they laugh at you? Who cares? You got. About everybody's got more gray
hair than I do. Care what a teenager thinks of
you? That's easy, isn't it? Easy in the beginning. And I
thought, you know what that damsel equals? That fruit of Adam. Think about that. All you gotta
do is not eat the fruit. Easy. Easy. What if it was you in that garden
instead of Adam? I'd be fine. What about you? Using that garden
instead of Adam? Instead of Eve? I could resist. It's just, it's a little girl.
It's a little apple. A little pomegranate or whatever.
Fruit. I can do that. No, you can't. Not without the
almighty God's providence intervening. You're no match. This big commercial
fisherman that smelled like fish and had scars all over him and
cussed and spit. Probably shoot the back if they
had tobacco back then. Stuck his head down and just waited.
And he said, I'm not. I'm not. Verse 18. And the servants and the officer
stood there, who had made a fire of coals, for it was cold. And
they weren't, you remember that article I wrote in a bulletin
last week? That caught me. I hope it made sense to you all.
It was cold. They made a fire. This is the
same night. What was the Lord doing? Sweating
great drops of blood. That ought to give us a little
insight about sin. It's about that punishment, huh? For it
was cold and they warmed themselves and Peter stood with them. Who'd
he stand with? Them. Peter stood with them and
he warmed himself. Peter was cold. He was cold. It was cold. He was real cold,
wasn't he? denying the Lord, denying who
he loved from a little girl, an unknown little damsel. Much
could be said about the fellowship with those who do not know the
Lord, and calling fellowship when you ain't in the same boat
with them. Maybe you are, I don't know. Much can be said about that,
being unequally yoked, but seeing the warmth of this world, and
trying to find, seeking that warmth in family, and seeking
that warmth in things, and seeking that warmth in experiences, and
seeking that warmth in our own good works. That's called iniquity. He's cold. And he's not looking
to his Lord, he's looking at that fire. With them. With them. But it was good Peter was cold.
It was good that commercial fisherman that used to stay out nights
on that boat and that spray coming over. It gets cold on the water,
don't it? Some of y'all get out on boats, been by the water,
been by a lake, that sea foam coming up hitting him. He's a
little chilly. He'd have been fine. You'd have
been fine, wouldn't you? No, he is cold, and that's good.
The Lord said in Revelation 3, I know thy works, and thou art
neither cold nor hot. I would thou wert cold or hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm,
neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth. What's
that mean? Well, we got the gospel, and
we like it pretty good. Well, it ain't There's gonna
be some adversity to that. Oh, well, you know, maybe next
week we can go. That's lukewarm. You know what lukewarm is? Room
temperature. When a body gets room temperature, what's that?
Dead. Peter was cold. Good. Good. That's called needy. Needy. Some people sleep clean
through the gospel. Did you know that? Not care one
lick for it. It's just another Wednesday. Lord said, I'll spit you out
of his mouth. I have compassion for people's souls. Almost like
I have to give an account or something. I care. In the verse 18, Peter stood
with them and he warmed himself. Now for this first denial, This
part of the events is given to us. It's very important. Peter
denies, and then you could take this whole next piece and kind
of remove it and keep reading clean through. We'll see that
in a second. But this is real important. The Holy Ghost put
this in John to write. Verse 19, and the high priest
then asked Jesus of his disciples and of his doctrine. Who's your
people and what do you preach? The high priest asked him, didn't
he? Which one? There were two in office, right?
And very likely, there were many former ones around. Well, they
used to be high priests, and that one used to be high priest,
and that one's going to be high priest next year. I just know it. He's
on the ballot. That's the one I'm voting for. This is still Annas, but it's
Caiaphas' father-in-law. What a shame. Throughout the
Old Testament, the high priest was in the high priest's office
forever, until they died, and then their son, not their son-in-law,
or not their cousin, not their nephew, or somebody else, everybody
just likes a whole lot. I think he'd do a good job, took
the place of the high priest. How did they get to this? How
did these changes come about? I'll tell you. From Malachi to
John the Baptist, What do you want to call that? Do you remember
Deanne? 400 years of silence. 400 years
of silence. And you know what the end state
of that 400 years of silence was? They got two high priests. They'd vote one in, they'd vote
one out. They wouldn't have to be related. This was all for
profit. Did you read anything about them having blood sacrifices?
There must be blood. I didn't say nothing about that.
It's a drive-thru thing. You can just hire somebody else
to do it. You don't have to see those things. It smells funny.
It gets real slippery. No blood sacrifices mentioned.
They were observing what? What's the scripture say? The
Jews Passover. It used to be the Lord's Passover.
And they were about to kill God's Messiah because he's getting
in their way of religion to play in church. And they're doing this whole
thing as we go through it, like they got the instruction manual. You know
how you get, you buy something, you unfold it and unfold it and
unfold it, and then you find where it says it in English, and you
go ahead and start reading? And it's like somebody was standing
there and say, all right, now take his coat, all right, now
get a thorn, okay, now we're gonna have to, don't break his
bones, hold on a sec. It's like they're reading the
instruction manual. You reckon they have enough sense to do
it, to do it right? Oh, and Caiaphas too. He's the one that said,
one man has to die that the rest of us may live. He said a little
bit of good, didn't he? Would you sell out everything
you've got and go sit underneath calves? Would you want, 99% of rat poison's
good food, isn't it? Well, he says some good things.
Just a little bit of living. God warned of that, didn't he?
Did God warn about it? It's what his word says, isn't
it? He warned it. That's what happens when the
Lord doesn't have a voice in a place. When the Lord quiets
a voice or doesn't give an ear, That's what happened. I put it
in bold and I underlined it for me to hear too. That's what happens
when the Lord doesn't have a voice in a place, when he removes it.
Verse 19, the high priest then asked Jesus of his disciples
and of his doctrine. Jesus answered him, I speak openly
to the world. I ever taught in the synagogue
and in the temple, whether the Jews always resort. He was there. And in secret,
have I said nothing. This gospel is not hid. The Lord
don't save somebody and they tuck it up deep down inside and
go hide underneath the basket and I'm gonna go get in a cave
somewhere. And I ain't gonna never tell nobody. I ain't gonna
be a lot in this world. And I'm just gonna make all my
neighbors mad. And then I'm gonna say, I'm a good Christian. Ain't
nothing hid. It's gonna come out. Like that
little fella said, if Christ is in me, ain't he gonna stick
out? Yeah, he is, son. He will. You're gonna talk like
him, you're gonna walk like him, because he's walking in you. He said, I've said nothing in
private, in secret. Verse 21, why ask thou me? Why
are you asking me? Ask them which heard me. How
many people listened to him? Thousands upon thousands upon
thousands upon thousands. How many people heard him? A
remnant. He said, go ask one that heard
me. They'll tell you everything I've
told you. It ain't gonna be complicated, neither. Go ask them which heard
me, what I have said unto them. Behold, they know what I said. We'll look at this next week.
This is one verse, but behold, they know what I said. Because
he taught them. They're taught to God. And that
doesn't matter what continent. I was saying this the other day.
If you got two believers that have absolutely nothing in common. I got kids, they don't have kids.
I'm married, they're single. I like basketball, they can't
walk. I don't know. They come from a whole nother
culture and their whole outlook on everything in life and raising
kids and how to work at a, get a buggy at a grocery store. Everything's
different. That's good. Because we ain't
got to talk about all the nonsense, we got one thing in common. We're
going to have good conversations. That's what we're going to have.
That's a good thing, isn't it? What did Paul say? Kevin, but,
but, but, no. What did scripture say? I want
to know nothing of you, say Christ him crucified. That's a good
thing, isn't it? We know, he's taught us. It says,
why askest thou me, verse 21, ask them which heard me. What
I've said unto them, behold, they know what I said. And when
he had thus spoken, one of the officers which stood by struck
Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, Answerest thou the high
priest so? Well, they had some respect for the preachers then,
didn't they? For that elected office. You going to talk to
the priest that way? Don't you dare talk to him that
way. Who you think you're talking
to? It says with the palm of his hand, doesn't it? If you
have a marginal reference Bible, you got a little one there. It'll
say or with the rod. That's a big difference, isn't
it? I'll tell y'all some other time,
but there's a difference between stop and slow down, ain't there? There's
a difference between can and won't, or can't and won't. There's a difference between
a hand and a rod. I'd rather get slapped in the head than get hit with
a rod. How could that be both? You know, that's a stumbling
stone that Pharisees go chew on for a week and just miss Christ,
isn't it? They pistol whipped him. He had it in his hand. That just hurt. I'd rather get
hit with a rod, I think. Does that make it burn within you?
The Lord was sitting there. He told them, he said, go ask
my people. And they smacked him and said, you know who you're
talking to? I want to cut some ears off now. Do you? over Micah 5.1. It says, Now
gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops. He hath laid siege
against us. They shall smite the judge of
Israel with a rod upon the cheek. He said, Ask my people. I've
taught them. That troop hit him in the face. This was the scriptures
being fulfilled according to the Verse 22, When he had spoken,
one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm
of his hand, saying, Answerest thou the high priest so? And
Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of
the evil. But if well, why smitest thou me? Now Annas had sent him
bound to Caiaphas the high priest. Why was that in there? Here's
Peter's denial to the peers. This is after the pistol whipping.
Remember verse 18 there at the end, it said, and Peter stood
with them and warmed himself. Verse 25. And Simon Peter stood
and warmed himself. So you keep on reading. This
was important. They said, therefore unto him,
art not thou also one of his disciples? And he denied it and
said, I am not. Right then when the Lord is Taking
that beat, he probably heard that. You ever seen somebody
get hit or heard somebody get hit? Just flesh on flesh, but
you can hear it. A good thump, you can hear it
a long way, can't you? Right then, as this was taking place,
he was the only one getting hit. He knew his Lord had just been
struck in the face and appeared, just another human, just another
guy around a fire, just another guy that puts his pants on the
same way I put my pants on. He knows just as much Bible as
I know. That fellow sitting there asking him, he believed in election.
He's a Pharisee, wasn't he? He was a Jew of the national
Israel. Peter said no. That's so sad,
isn't it? The denial of the Lord in action. I tell people what the Lord says
sometimes and I get a lot of butts. I do. The scriptures say this. Yeah,
but. Well, if you don't believe me, don't listen to me. Go chew
on somebody else's leg. I got studying to do. If you
want to pick a fight, go get in a ring. It's what the Lord
says. Well, maybe I know better. That's
the problem. I get a lot of butts. I'm encouraged when I don't.
I'm encouraged when I don't. A friend of mine, he preached
his first message recently, and I'm happy. But there's a lady
there, and she was on drugs, and she was asking him about
a wedding, and she said, he's gonna preach a wedding, and she
said, are you gonna get up and ask if anybody has any objections
to this union? I'm guessing she's gonna object.
And he said, nowhere in the scriptures is there room for objecting to
cross-wedding his bride. That ain't in the Bible. They said, do you want to have
a traditional wedding? I laughed out loud whenever I
was told that question. I was like, this is as traditional
as it gets. And he said, it's older in time.
And you know what that woman did? She didn't say, yeah, but
it says this. Well, but it says that. Well,
but so-and-so did this. She shut her mouth and walked
away. Didn't have nothing else to say. I'm encouraged by that. I'm encouraged by that. Lord
may teach that woman something, I don't know. I'd like to go
talk to her. That's a good thing, isn't it? Peter denied to his peers, to
those sitting right there next to him. He just said no and was
quiet, wasn't he? We've denied the Lord from the
very onset. And at the moment he was being beaten in our stead,
and he did that alone, all by himself. And our denial is what
put him on that cross. Our denial is why that man hit
him in the face. to a damsel, to a peer, now to
Malchus. Many say, you'll see how it's
worded. I can only read it one way. It's what stood out to me
all week. Next time we go through John, I may see it the other
way. I don't know. But many say this is one of Malchus'
relatives, the one that got his ear cut off, and maybe so. Then
it's a personal accusation, and it's true, isn't it? Just like
that Avenger of Blood. Remember that Avenger of Blood? There's a manslayer. They'd seek
them, and as long as they get in there, that city of refuge
was for the manslayer, and that was for those avenger of blood,
to protect them from committing murder, wasn't it? What'd you
have to do? You had to go in that city of refuge. You had
to seek refuge. Did Peter seek refuge? Look here in verse 26. And one of the servants of the
high priest, being his kinsman, whose ear Peter cut off, saith,
Did not I see thee in the garden with him? Now if that's the kinsman
of Malchus, who Peter cut his ear off. Wait, that was my family
member. Hold on. I was paying attention
to him because I heard him squall. I know his sounds. That was you,
wasn't it? This could be Malchus too, wouldn't
it? So much confusion. It was so
dark. That's Peter's relation. Peter was a Jew. That was his
kinsman. Peter cut his ear off. Malchus was used and named, lost
an ear, couldn't hear. And the Lord stopped everything
and put his ear back on. He could hear. My opinion don't mean nothing,
but I'm encouraged by that. Are you? I may get asked Malchus
about this one day and he'll say, Lord did it. He did good,
didn't he? For the child of God that we
wounded. or one that's already been defeated and conquered by
Christ, or like Paul said, I persecuted the church, what made me think
of that? How many times have you and I denied the work of
the Lord that know him? There's no way I'm his child.
Have you ever said that? You ever looked in the mirror
and said, there's no way that person looking back at me in
the mirror is a child of God. I'm a sinner. Isn't that who he came
to seek and save? That's denied his work, isn't
it? My brother Todd says, the righteous always declare themselves
to be wicked and the wicked always declare themselves to be righteous.
That's so, isn't it? That's so. But this, I think
this was Malchus, potentially, but because the Lord's first
public miracle, what'd he do? In his public ministry, he turned
water into wine. Blood. A lot, a lot of gallons. 150 gallons of blood. Wine. Red wine. What was his last public
miracle? Not the resurrection and those
things, but when he physically did something, it was stopping
the bleeding of Malchus. How? He was about to go shed
his own blood for him. You don't need to bleed no more.
Stop that. It's my job. Verse 26, one of
the servants of the high priest being Kinsman, whose ear Peter
cut off, saith, Did not I see thee in the garden with him?
Then Peter denied. Peter then denied again, and
immediately the cock crew. In Mark's account, it says he
began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not this man of
whom you speak. I don't know. curse and swear. Could a believer
do that? That one did. Turn over Luke
22. Luke 22. Verse 58. Luke 22, 58. It says, And after
a little while another saw him and said, Thou art also of them?
And Peter said, Man, I am not. And about the space of one hour
after another, confidently affirmed, saying, Of a truth, this fellow
also is with him, for he's a Galilean. Peter said, Man, I know not what
thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet
spake, the cock crew. And the Lord turned and looked
upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word
of the Lord, how he had said in him before the cock crow,
thou shalt deny me thrice. Verse 62, look at it with me.
And Peter went out and wept bitterly. What was that look I wonder?
What was said by that look? It's okay, Peter. Doesn't the
Lord always come to his people and say, fear not, calm down.
It's all right, don't be troubled. Let not your heart be troubled
is what he told Peter in chapter 13, wasn't it? He looked at him.
Your sin is why I must lay down my life. This denial that I told
you was gonna happen, this is why I'm laying down my life.
This is why I'm going to the cross. I'm going to the cross,
Peter, because you didn't believe me. You thought you'd done a
good work cutting off Malchus's ear. You thought that was good.
He didn't believe me and I got to die. Same night, the Lord told Peter
of this there in John 16, it says the Holy Spirit is going
to convict of sin. You know why? Because they believe
not on me. They don't believe me. of righteousness,
because I go to my father and you see me no more, of judgment,
because the prince of this world is judged." Right then, Peter
knew. He wept bitterly, and he said, I didn't believe him. Right
there is my righteousness, looking at me. And when this is done,
it's done. It's D-U-N done. It's finished. It's over. Nothing can be added
to it. Nothing can be taken away. I know it. And he wept bitterly. I had a big space of my notes
there. I thought I meant to write something. In my head, I was
like, I wish somebody would weep over that. Couldn't that bring
a tear to somebody's eye? Somebody! Out of 3.8 million
people that live in this county, ain't somebody affected by this?
And then I had this wrote down. Now I know why. Does the tears
make it real? No. Tears don't make it real,
but the reality will make tears. The tears don't make it real.
Tears ain't gonna do you nothing. Well, I cried real good at that
message. Who cares? I don't mean nothing. But the
reality of the Lord saving somebody and working in them and making
them see that he's all, that's gonna produce some tears here
and there. He keeps them in a bottle. That means he applies them when
he sees fit. He catches them, he puts them back on you. Scriptures
say that. Others cried too, didn't they?
Others wept bitterly because of guilt. Didn't do them no good,
to no avail. Hebrews 12 says, lest they be
any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of
meat sold his birthright. For ye know how the afterward,
whenever he could have adhered to the blessing, he was rejected.
He found no place for repentance, though he sought it carefully
with tears. They're going to cry for the
rocks and the mountains and I want to tell them now before that
day of judgment comes. Don't you? The Lord told me, at least
I can go tell somebody else. Matthew 27 says, when Judas,
which had betrayed him, he saw that he was condemned and he
repented himself. That was a big problem. We'll
touch on that one day. He didn't repent to the Lord
and cry out to the Lord that he sinned against. He's like,
man, I made a bad decision. I had to pick the wrong side. He rebelled himself and brought
again the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priest and elder
saying I've sinned and that I have betrayed the innocent blood.
He was sad, so sad he went and hung himself. He committed suicide. That do any good for him? What's
the difference? What's the difference between
Peter, who the one that hit the Lord in the face and Peter denying
him, what's the difference? One hit him in the face, the
other one spit in his face. Between Esau weeping bitterly because
there's no room for repentance and Peter out there saying, Lord
told me I was going to do this and I did it. This is my fault
he's over there. What's the difference? The faithfulness
of Christ. That's the difference. Him being
faithful to what he promised and applying his blood to people
that he bought and his thoughts to usward. He said, I know the
thoughts I thought of you. How shameful I know the thoughts
I thought of him. And he said, I had thoughts of
peace and love for a good end for you, an expected end. That's
good, isn't it? Turn over to Mark 16. Mark 16,
I'll go quick. Mark 16, verse one. Peter went back to fishing. I know the feeling. Mark 16, verse one. And when
the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother
of James and Salome had bought sweet spices that they might
come and anoint him, anoint the Lord. And very early in the morning,
the first day of the week, they came into the sepulcher at the
rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, who shall roll
us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they
had looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away, for it
was very great. And entered into the sepulchre,
they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in
a long white garment, and they were affrightened. And he saith
unto them, be not affrightened. Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which
was crucified. He is risen. All that wrath that
had to be endured, that cup that had to be drunk, him being made
his people and us being made him. The father's satisfied. Payment's been accepted. That
place has been made, been prepared. Atonement, atonement has been
made. Reconciliation. He is risen.
He's not here. Behold the place where they laid
him. Go over and look right there. That's where he was. He ain't
there. He's risen. But go your way. Tell his disciples,
what's it say right there? I am Peter. You reckon that angel
was just cavalier and was like, well, you tell the disciples,
but I think you probably ought to tell Peter too. Tell especially Peter. Especially Peter. Tell his disciples
and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee. There shall
ye see him as he said unto you. What's predict, what is this
all based on? As he said unto you. Lord told you. He's going to do what he said.
Go remind Peter, those that denied him in perfection, in totality,
that they cry and weep and say, I've denied him, I ain't faithful.
And I said, no, you ain't, but Christ is. He's faithful. That's good news. Last one, turn to Acts 2. Acts
chapter 2 will be done. This was necessary. Peter had
to go through this. The Lord said it, yes, and that's
it, but Peter needed this. He was ready to cut somebody's
ear off, but that was foolish. He wasn't supposed to go womb,
he was supposed to go preach the message of reconciliation.
Be reconciled to God. Not, I'm gonna cut your head
off. And he needed to be made meek for Pentecost. I'm learning something about
meekness. That ain't just, well, I'm gonna sit down and keep my
mouth shut. Moses was the meekest man that walked the face of the
earth. Somebody thinks that's weak, go ask Pharaoh. He walked into the
king's house, said, hey, Lord said, let my people go, now do
it. That meek? Speaking what God says and God's
laid on somebody's heart and nothing else, that's called meekness.
Peter had to be made meek for Pentecost. Look here in Acts
2. Now Peter doesn't have a sword in his hand, but he's got one
in his mouth. Acts 2 36. Therefore, let all the house
of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus
whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. He didn't think
these were people coming with bad intentions. He knew they
were killers. Acts 2 36. Now therefore let all the house
of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus
whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Is that sweet and tender and
I want to feel warm and fuzzy on the inside? He's preaching
the truth to them because he cared for their souls. He told
them the truth. Now when they had heard this,
they were pricked in their heart. They didn't say, but Peter, now
hold on Peter. They were pricked, Lord did that.
Lord worked in their hearts. Speak ye comfortably, speak to
their hearts. They were pricked in their heart and said unto
Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall
we do? And Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized every
one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins
and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise,
the promise is unto you. unto you, and to your children,
and to all that are far off, even as many as the Lord our
God shall call." This promise. You pricked in your heart? Repent
and be baptized. Take that pilgrimage of the mind
from the mind of flesh to the mind of Christ. How am I going
to do that? He's about to walk in me. Be
baptized. Profess Him publicly. And that's
to you, for the promise is to you. Who's the promise to? You. You. You that crucified
Christ. I didn't do that. That ain't
for you, then. I killed him. If I was standing there, I'd
have killed him. And it's my sin that killed him, and he died
because of me. The promise is to you. And that
night and day, that ain't like any... What man do you think come up
with something like that? No man did. God did. That's his salvation. And it's
just, and it's right, and it's holy, and it's good. What a thought. All that the
Lord would make us cold. We'd see what we are, and that
he's our only one. That'd be a good day, wouldn't
it? I pray so. Let's pray together. Father, forgive us our...