Good evening. We'll be a second. I deleted the last three pages
of my notes as I packed my computer up. I had to go home early today.
And it started snowing pretty heavy at the house and free.
right when Karen was right close to the house, right when she's
coming home, Jared made it underneath it. And so me and a bunch of
neighbors went in our chainsaws trying to cut the tree up and
I wasn't going to work out today and I was out there carrying
me along. Did a lot of squats. Then I forgot
my notes over there, but I just, maybe I'll just throw them away.
One old preacher got up to preach one time and went blind, stark
blind. And he preached anyway. And then after he got through
preaching, he sat down and his sight come back to him and he's
apologizing to the brethren as they walked out and a little
old woman come up to him and he said, I'm sorry. She said,
I ain't. She said, I wish you went blind
10 years ago. Maybe the Lord will make me go
blind. Just a reminder, I was gonna send out an email 10 times,
but those that are here, let them hear. No meal Sunday, no
meal. but we're gonna have a work day
back there and paint. That's gonna be round one of
painting. And then we might knock out round two just when we can,
but everybody's invited that's able and willing to come. We're
gonna begin about 8 a.m. We're gonna let y'all sleep in
all the way till 8 a.m. Huh? No, Saturday, I'm sorry. Saturday, Saturday, Saturday. No meal Sunday, we're painting
Saturday, this Saturday, 8 a.m. I'll email it. The title of my
message, if you will, turn to John 13. The title of my message
is those that deny God, those that deny God, those that don't hold fast their
profession of faith without laboring. There's a lot of people. I'll cut to the chase, what's
the difference? Brother Mike just read it. He is faithful
that promised. He is faithful. How are we going
to hold out to the end? I'll never leave you. I'll never
go away from this gospel. I'll never stop going to church
and this, that, and when you just, I don't know, list it.
How? If that be, if you sustain to
the end, if you're kept all the way to the end, Judas was kept
a long way, wasn't he? Then he left the assembly of
the saints, killed himself. If we sustain, if we're kept
to the end, it's cause he is faith, cause Christ is faith.
He's gonna teach Peter this through some very hard lessons. Some
very hard lessons. I quoted that Sunday, remember?
From Proverbs, Solomon, the wisest man born of Adam. He knows what
he's talking about. He said, if you beat your son
with a rod, did that say whip him with a switch real good?
Beat him with a rod, he ain't gonna die. He ain't gonna kill
him, he'll be all right. Does that mean go beat your kids
with a rod? No, it's whenever we get chasing, we think we are
beat with a rod. Like, I'm just going to crumble.
I'm going to crush. My bones are going to break. I can't take
no more. This is abuse. This is egregious. Yeah, you
ain't going to die. If he's giving you life, it ain't
going to go away. You'll be all right. He's teaching you something.
He's teaching you something. And then you can smile ear to
ear. That's probably, I'll probably make the news. You'll smile ear
to ear when you move a big old hunk's tree out of the road.
Wow, the Lord made that tree fall down. That's all right. Anyway, title, Those That Deny
God. We've been looking these last
few weeks at this chapter. Here in John chapter 13, the
Lord washed the feet of the disciples, didn't he? And then he ate with
them. And he said, one of you shall
betray me. One of y'all is going to betray
me. And he told John, it was laying on the Lord's bosom. John
was right up next to me, whispered to him. He's the pen in this
gospel we're reading right now. And he said, it's the one I give
the sop to. And then the Lord gave the sop
to Judas, didn't he? There in verse 27, John 13, 27.
It says, after the sop, Satan entered into him and Jesus said
unto him, that thou doest, do quickly. Now, no man at the table
knew for what intent he spake this unto him. They didn't know
why they said that to Judas. They didn't hear him say it was
who he was going to give the sop to. They thought Judas was going
to do something important, buy some things they needed or go
give something to the poor. He's going to do something important.
He was important. He's the only one that held an
office out of the 12. Will we give him double honor? Verse 31. Therefore, when he
was gone out, that one was gone. Jesus said, now is the son of
man glorified, and God is glorified in him. And if God be glorified
in him, God shall also glorify him in himself and shall straightway
glorify him. That hour he talked about for
so long. My hour has not yet come. It's
began now. Everything that's going to take
place is just over a few hours. I'm going to spend the rest of
Many chapters, several chapters looking at just the next few
hours. And the Lord gave him instruction. He said, here we
go. God be glorified in him. He shall also glorify him and
himself and shall straightway glorify him. Little children,
yet a little while am I with you. ye shall seek me. And as I said unto the Jews,
whether I go, ye cannot come. So now I'm gonna say something
to you. I'm gonna go where you can't come to. He was explaining
to them that in order for their sins to be put away, he must
go and bear it. He must be lifted up. He must
go and bear that sin and the shame and the guilt and the punishment
for all those sheep this good shepherd came to lay down his
life for. He's gotta be separated from the Father for us. God's gonna have to turn his
back on God for you. And he's gonna have to be laid
in a grave. He's going to give up the ghost and lay in the grave,
and he's going to rise again to bring us into new life. He
said, I must do this alone. I must do it alone. He says there,
whether I go, ye cannot come. You can't do it. So I say this
to you, a new commandment I give unto you. It's a commandment. that ye love one another. How? As I have loved you, that ye
also love one another. By this shall all men know that
you are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. This evidence of the love of
the Lord is shed abroad in our hearts, and it's gonna make its
way to the outside. It's an internal heart work,
and it's gonna come out. Now, you can feign it. Paul said
you can fake it. for a while. You can fool people
for a while, but true love don't go away. True love lasts. Faith, hope, and love. The greatest
thing is love. Why? Well, faith's going to be
made sight one day. Our expected end, we're going
to come to an end. We're made like Christ. The thing
that's going to endure for eternity, if he's put it in you, forever
is love. He said, this is how everybody's
gonna know you're my disciples. Not if you go to the right church, not if
you got your creeds in a row, not if you got your right doctrine,
not if you know this, not if you go to church every Sunday
and you read your Bible five times a day and you got a curriculum
of reading twice as long as your pastors. No, he said, they're
gonna know you're mine if you love one another. If you love
one another. Verse 36, Simon Peter said unto
him, Lord, where thou thou goest? Where you going? What's this
talk you're going somewhere? How many times has the Lord talked? What are you talking about? I
don't remember that. Where are you going? And he said, where
do I go? Thou canst not follow me now. You can't go where I'm
going now. You can't bear what I'm going
to bear. But thou shalt follow me afterwards. You're going to
be where I am. Because I'm going to go where
you can't go, then you can be where I am and you shalt be.
You shall be. Peter said to him, Lord, why
can I not follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy
sake. Jesus answered, will thou lay down thy life for my sake?
Oh yeah? Is that what you're gonna do? Verily, verily, of a truth, of
a truth, truly, truly, I say unto you, the cock shall not
crow till thou hast denied me thrice. Peter was so sure of
himself, wasn't he? Peter was so confident in his
conviction. Everyone looked at this, they
were around that table, and they thought, well, the Lord said
one of us is going to deny him. And that one left to go do something
important. He's been kind of important anyway, and he's real
zealous about the church's money. He wants to, you know, I mean,
how much poorer we could, that's what I said this past weekend,
I got that job offer. What's our old mindset? Well,
if I'd have done that, you know, I could have gave to the church.
Now what does Judas say? Why don't you break out on your
feet, Lord? We could have fed the poor. He looked zealous towards
the Lord's money, didn't he? He had an extra job, and he was
the one who had to do something important, and everybody's sitting
around trying to figure out which one of them is going to deny God. And Peter, The outcast, one popping
off at the mouth, won't shut up. Just stop talking, son. Everything
comes out your mouth wrong, and you're always taking these bold,
grandiose stands. I'll never do this. I'll always
do that. And the Lord said, you are going
to deny me imperfection. three times before the cock crows. Does that mean it's sun up? No,
that's normally before that. I had a rooster that wouldn't
quit crowing at 3 a.m. every morning. It quit crowing
and we had dinner. So it's a couple hours, couple
hours. Turn over to Matthew 26. Let's
look how it's recorded here, Matthew. Each of these things
are recorded slightly different for our benefit, for our learning. Matthew 26. Verse 31, Matthew 26, 31. And saith Jesus unto them, all
ye shall be offended because of me this night. For it's written,
I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall
be scattered abroad, and will fulfill the scriptures. But after
I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee. You'll see
me. Peter answered and said unto
him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, I will
never be offended because of you. I ain't ever gonna lay it
down. Jesus saith unto him, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee that this night before the cock crow,
thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter said unto him, Though
I should die with thee, Yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also
said all the disciples. What's that mean? They went around
a room, all 11 of them took their turn and said, these other ones,
they might leave you, not this one. I'll never leave you. I'll die with you. I'll never
deny you. I'll never be offended by you.
Every one of them did. There's something learned there. Didn't say apostles said disciples,
didn't it? All of God's disciples will experience this. If you're
his, you'll say, I'll never leave you. And then you're going to
deny him. Each one of them took a turn saying these other ones
may carry our way, but not me. Doesn't sound like love one towards
another, does it? They don't believe like I do. They just ain't as strong as
believers as I am. They just ain't grown in faith as I'm grown.
They're not matured in grace as I'm matured in grace. They
might leave you, not me. That's not maturity and grace
and love, is it? That's not counting one above yourself. That sounds
like pride. That sounds like haughtiness, doesn't it? That
sounds like arrogance. What comes after that? Pride goeth before destruction
and a haughty spirit before a fall. We point the finger at Peter
so often, don't we? But it says all the disciples.
What if I said all the children of God? Could you say amen? Or is that
a doctrine you'd agree with? Do I think I'd be any different
than them? If the Lord looked at a room and said, one of y'all
is a devil. But I said, they might be devils. I ain't. I'll
never leave you. I'll never, I preach, man. How can I leave this? Of course,
I'm, I gotta be serious about that. They were apostles. God
ordained Judas to be an apostle. What a frightening thing. We
need to sort out our salvation with fear and trembling, don't
we? James said, we talk about doing
this or that, and this life's a vapor. He said, we ought to
say, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. But
now you rejoice in your boastings, don't you? All such rejoicing
is evil. Therefore, to him that knoweth
to do good, and to doeth not to him is sin. You know better.
We know better than that, don't we? I know I'll not say these
things. I know I'll not say I'll never leave you. If the Lord
keeps me, I won't leave you. That's hit me a lot this last
six months. I've noticed that every one of God's faithful ministers
in this generation that's alive right now, they say out loud,
well, if I'm the Lord's minister. One of them has been preaching
40 some years since I was born. I was three years old when he
started preaching and he said, well, if I'm God's man, I said,
well, I think you are by now. Don't you think that? He said,
if the Lord is pleased to keep me, if he keeps me preaching
the truth, that's all the difference between me and anybody else.
His grace, His faithfulness, wasn't it? Peter was popping
off at the mouth again, and here's what the Lord said to him. You
still in Luke 22? Let's turn to Luke 22. We're
not there, we're in Matthew. Luke 22. Luke 22, 22. And the Lord speaks, it says,
and truly the son of man goeth as it was determined. This ain't
all accident, is it? You think it surprised him? It
didn't surprise the Lord. He's ordained all things. He
controls it all, don't he, buddy? As it was determined, but woe
unto that man by whom he is betrayed. And they began to inquire among
themselves which of them it was that should do this thing. That's
when I was going around, Lord is it I, Lord is it I, Lord is it I? And
look what immediately the next verse says. They got over it
pretty quick, didn't they? And there was also strife among
them. Which of them should be accounted the greatest? The wisdom that the Lord used
in making Paul pin that to the church at Corinth, when he said,
y'all suing one another? You stop that. You're children
of God. Don't you do that. And they said, if you got a matter
that you can't solve, instead of going to this court system
that Satan rules, and it's wicked and evil, you go to your brethren
and you pick the one that's the least among you and let them
sort it. Inside your heart right now,
did you think of who the least in this room was? Is it you? If it ain't me, I ain't in the
right spirit. I ought to know better, don't
I? That's what James said. You know better. That's just sin.
That's pride. That's all it is welling up in
me, thinking that I ain't the least. That same night, verse 31, Luke
22, 31. The Lord said, Simon, Simon,
behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you
as wheat. It said Satan went into Judas.
Imagine that line just circling around all of them. He didn't
know which one was going to be. And the second the Lord took the
heads down, he entered him. Satan's desired you too, Simon,
but I've prayed for you. You ain't faithful. That's what
he's saying. I am. I prayed for you that thy
faith fail not." Remember when we looked through Hebrews last
time, we said, by Christ and that hall of fame of faith, that
hall of fame of Christ, what that is, that's his trophies.
Peter, I prayed that your Christ fail not. He ain't going to. He's going to go do something,
isn't he? He's going to pay for that sin of all that denial that
Peter's about to commit. He's going to take it to that
cross and just bear it. He said, I've prayed for thee
that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted, you
mean to tell me I ain't saved right now? No, you're washed. You got some dirt on you. When
you had your pure mind stirred up, when you're turned back to
looking at Christ instead of your big self, strengthen your
brethren. Does that mean going back? We're
going to do some spiritual pushups. No. That'd be a meek attitude,
isn't it? when he's brought down a pig
or two. And he said to him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee both
into prison and to death. And he said, I tell thee, Peter,
the cock shall not crow this day before thou shalt thrice
deny that thou knowest me. What are we supposed to take
from all this? When a person boasts about their strength in
the gospel, when they boast about their faithfulness, when they
boast about their commitment to the Lord, I want to be that,
don't you? I want to be strong in the faith.
I want to be committed to Him. I want to be unshakable and Him
to do that in me. I want that. But the one that
speaks so boldly of themselves, if they are the Lord's, they're
about to fall hard and they're going to bust their nose on the
ground. Face first, it's going to hurt. I don't know those other
people, but I love the Lord. They may not stick around too
long, but I ain't going anywhere. I know the truth, and that's
what I'm gonna... That sounds so good to the ear,
though, doesn't it? Sounds so good to this natural ear. God
says Satan's desired you to sift you. That's what God says about
it. Sounds like the devil's working
in you. All that self-confidence, the I, I, I, I, I, it's dangerous,
isn't it? Paul told the church at Philippi,
he said, we're the circumcision which worship God in the spirit
and we rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the
flesh. I can't stay, he's got to keep me. It is painfully obvious to me,
I wrote that today and words don't describe it. You just have
to take my word for it. It's painfully obvious to me
that I would not worship God if he left me alone. That's why
I've said that before. He's made, I was talking to my
pastor about this the other day. He made me a preacher because
I'm the least likely out of anybody in this room or on this earth
or throughout time to read his word. I'm the least likely to
pray. I'm the least likely to study. I'm the least likely to
think on him. And so he put me exactly where
I have to because he's mercy. That's gracious. That's good. I would not rejoice in Christ.
I'd rejoice in anything else if he left me alone. I wouldn't
have confidence in him. I'd have confidence in myself
and my decision and my salvation when I was a teenager or whatever
garbage, and I would endure in that all the way to hell if he
left me alone. I know that. I don't read. I
don't pray. I don't sing. I don't anything like I ought,
like I want to. and everything I don't want to
do, I'm doubling down. Romans 7 is not just a passage
of scripture we can read out loud. That's a life of a believer. That's a warfare. Thanks be to Christ that he's
faithful. Thanks be to God he's faithful. We know this story, Peter goes
on to deny the Lord. Look down at verse 54, Luke 22,
54. It says, then they took him and took the Lord and led him
and brought him into the high priest's house. And Peter followed
afar off. I'll get there later. Lot's wife
started trailing a bit behind too, didn't she? And when they had kindled a fire
in the midst of the hall, they were sitting down together and
Peter sat down among them. He wanted to keep an eye on what
was going on. He wanted to see where the Lord was going because he
thought he was entitled to go there too. But a certain maid beheld
him as he sat by the fire. That's a young teenage girl,
an entry-level position of a female servant. A young teenage girl
saw this big, strong fisherman and earnestly looked upon him
and said, this man was also with him. I know you. He denied, saying,
woman, I know him not. And I've thought of that a lot.
He said, woman, as a young girl, he was giving her honor and respect. Young ladies, women, that's uplifting. He was being respectful of that
woman. He was giving position to her. And he said, woman, I
know him not. And after a little while, another saw him and said,
thou art also of them. And Peter said, man, I am not.
I don't know him and I don't have no part of him. What are
you talking about? And about the space of an hour after another
confidently affirmed, there's three witnesses. In the mouth
of two or three witnesses, three witnesses said, you're with him.
Said of a truth, this fellow also was with him for he's a
Galilean. I don't just know he was with
him, I know where he's from. And Peter said, man, I know not
what thou sayest. Now he's getting mad, he's starting
to cuss him a little bit. And immediately, while he yet spake,
the cock crew. Like that wasn't bad enough.
Verse 61, and the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. Imagine that look. He looked him in the eye. I've
said that to you a bunch of times in five years, four years. I
look people in the eye when I preach to them. The Lord looked him in the eye.
Who cares if I look you in the eye? The Lord looked him in the eye
and looked upon Peter and Peter remembered the word of the Lord.
How he'd said in him before the cock crow that I shall deny me
thrice. You imagine that. I don't ever want to see that
look. You know that? All of my boastings, all of my
denial. And to hear that rooster crowing
and lock eyes with the Lord. He's right. He's right. Peter wasn't right. The Lord's
right. Peter was a liar. And God's true. What he said's
true. That's what's going on. Boy,
it hurts, don't it? What would you do? And Peter
went out and wept bitterly. Here's a strong fisherman. I
thought that one time they caught 157 fish, 158 fish or something.
They didn't have windlasses, electric winches and all those
things, did they? They cast a net, got all them fish. Say they weighed
a pound apiece, 158 pounds swimming against you, away from you, and
he drew it in. Imagine forearms. calluses all
over his hands, and strong man, tough, wind blowing in his face,
mountain of a man, commercial fisherman, what, vulgar, tough,
strong tongue, what, cussing, big old burly commercial fisherman,
wept like a little baby. He wept bitterly. What was he
listening to while he wept so hard? Verse 63, and the men that
held Jesus mocked him and smoked him. And when they had blindfolded
him, they struck him on the face. They took a reed and whipped
him in the face hard that no one has ever been marred like
his face was marred. I've seen some people beat up
pretty bad. I don't know what that looks like, but I know it's
so. No one's ever been marred like he's marred. And ask him,
say, and prophesy, who is it that smote thee? and
many other blasphemous things, blasphemy, spake they against
him. Peter knew that's what I deserved. The earth hadn't turned dark
for three hours yet. This is just foretaste. That's what I
earned. And he's bearing it for me. I
think just Peter was wrong. A child that gets caught doing
something, there's some remorse there. There is soul trouble.
He wept bitterly. Those are facts, ain't they?
It's a true story. It's a true story. We all have the same reason
to weep bitterly. I have the same reason to weep
bitterly. We all have denied Christ. We all have been ashamed
of him. And if you ain't, you're lying
to yourself and God needs to convince you of sin. We've all
been the reason and we all are the cause of his suffering of
pain and anguish. I put him on that cross. My sin,
my willful disobedience and hatred of God that I was at war with
put Christ on that cross. He had to bear it. But God's
merciful, isn't he? That does not lessen what we've
done, but it makes it all the more heavy, doesn't you? I didn't know if I could talk
through this. I'm gonna get me a bucket and
mark nine inches deep. I've got my rain gauge. Soak
the floor in that office in there. In spite of everything that Peter
was and did, in spite of everything that I am and everything I do,
the Lord preached the gospel to me. The Lord was faithful. Turn back in our text here at
the end of John 13. I got to hurry. Here at the end of John
13, the Lord tells the truth of the gospel. Right after that,
Peter tells him the mind of Adam's race, the heresy of religion. I didn't say error, I said heresy. It's flat wrong. It is. This life and death, I mean this,
and we need to be, we need to hate it. Then the Lord tells
the truth of the gospel. Peter denies him. gives what
he thinks the way of death, then the Lord tells the deadly works
of man, and then the glorious work he's about to perform in
spite of ourselves. This is majestic. Verse 36, and
Simon Peter said to him, Lord, whether thou goest? And Jesus
answered him, whether I go, thou canst not follow me now, but
thou shalt follow me afterwards. He was going to a place that
no man could return from. He was going to a place that
no human being could withstand. He was going to death and hell
and suffer it for his people. He said it, and it still gives
me goosebumps. For thou will not leave my soul in hell. Psalm
16, 10. I can't say that. I'll tell you
what he says, and it frightens me. That's what he bore for his
people. You can't bear this, Peter, so
I'm going to take your sin there, and I'm going to put it away,
and I'm going to satisfy the father you have offended. The
sin you're going to commit this very night and everything the
rest of your life, that's what I'm going to bear. I'm going
to take it, put it away. Later, the Lord Jesus Christ
is going to rise from that grave. He's going to give up his life.
He's going to rise from that grave, and no one could ascend
except the one that descended, right? Isn't that what he taught
us throughout John? We can't do that. We can't give
up the ghost. Many people, mankind's tried
to kill themselves and they can't do it. Jump off a big building
and live. We banged up all the pieces and
we can't give up our ghost and we can't make ourselves rise.
He told those men sitting right there, those 11, he said, follow
me, didn't he? He went to them individually,
he said, follow me, follow me, follow me. And now he says, I'm
going somewhere you can't follow me. So you love one another. Now
once my work's done, once it's finished, afterwards, you shout,
follow me. That means you're gonna follow,
Matt. You kicking and screaming, it don't matter. He'll yank you
up and take you. You're going to follow him. He'll not lose
one. Verse 36, I'm Peter said unto
him, Lord, whither goest thou? And Jesus said, whither I go,
thou canst follow me from now. Follow me now, but thou shalt
follow me afterwards. And Peter said unto him, oh,
that's a gospel, and I'm going to do something you can't do,
and you shall follow me. That's good news. And Peter said
unto him, Lord, why can't I follow you? Why not? Ain't I good enough? Ain't I
smart enough? Ain't I memorized enough scriptures?
Ain't I read Isaiah enough? I've been a good boy. Three and
a half years I've done everything you've told me to do. Not really.
Why can't I follow thee? I'll lay down my life for thy
sake. That sounds so committed and good on the outside, doesn't
it? It tickles the ear. But the Lord knows all. That's religion.
I'm just as worthy to go anywhere you can go. and I will do the
laying down of my life for you. You get that? I don't wanna kill
myself for you. I'll lay down my life for you.
No matter the denomination. I put that in all caps so I can
see it real good. No matter the denomination or
lack thereof, it's all the same. Mankind's gotta die a death for
God. Christ laid down his life and
it's finished. He did something we can't do and it's plum done.
And another gospel, who's bewitched you? Another gospel says you
need to lay down your life. What? Well, you need to start
this and stop that and don't touch this and don't taste that
and something, right? Give more, do this less and die to your old friends or whatever
it is. Peter said, I don't need you
dying for me. I'll die for myself. You do what you're going to do
and I'll do my own thing. I always hated that. Or, you
know, how about this? We'll do it together. A little
bit from you and a little bit from me. We'll go in buddy style. Or how about this for modern
times? Same as old, ain't no different. That's what John was
writing first, John. How about you do the saving and I'll do
the sanctifying? I gotta help out a little bit, right? I'll
die for you. Peter said unto him, Lord, why
cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy
sake. I'm gonna do this to help you
out. Falsehoods always say you gotta do something for God. And
the good news says God in human flesh did everything for you. What's left to do? Love? Thank
him? Worship him in spirit? Truly?
That's wonderful. Thank you, Lord. Some people are known for how
much they've done for the Lord, ain't they? It's prevalent. It's
all over. And it's in people I know and
care for. They build shelters for the Lord. They build houses
for the Lord. They dig whales for the Lord.
They hand out Bibles for Jesus. They do artwork for the gospel
sake. They're known for these things,
what they've done, isn't it? Now, don't get me wrong, we work
as unto the Lord, but it's not of our doing. It's not of our
doing. I was telling a brother today,
a man doesn't have to tell anybody he's a man. He just does man
stuff. I don't tell anybody I'm a pastor
when somebody comes visit. Give them about 10 minutes, they'll
figure it out. I'm the guy up here talking. They'll get a good handle on
it. I don't have to tell nobody those things. A child of God
does not go around, I'm a Christian, I'm a Christian, I'm a Christian.
No, they don't. They don't do that. If the Lord's pleased to
save me, I'm his. I know I'm a sinner and I need
grace. They start saying stuff like that. They talk about the
Lord's love, what he's done for them. If one aspect of anything
is dependent on you, it's all dependent on you. I mean, T total. If anything's dependent on me,
the whole kit and caboodle is dependent on me. If you can take
one step, you can take them all. If you can die a little bit,
you can do all the dying. The Lord's reply to the will
and ideas of men. Verse 38, Jesus answered him,
wilt thou lay down my life for my sake? Oh yeah. Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, that the cock shall not crow till thou hast
died in me thrice. All the Peters. I, you, us, anyone. All we're able to do and capable
of doing is denying the Lord in perfection. That's what I'm
fully equipped, born of this earth, is to deny God and be
at war with him. That's all this old wretched
man's able to do. If we stopped at that chapter
division and went home, that's a sad state of affairs, isn't
it? I'm thankful we have chapter divisions. I'm thankful we have
verses. I think the Lord used those translators to have that
so we can turn real quick and look at it. And we can compare
scripture with scripture. And I said, right, that's what
that says, isn't it? And you can say, yep, that's what that says.
We can see the context of something quickly, swiftly to there. But
if we left those chapter divisions, we're in trouble. We're in trouble. We go home sad. We need to be
sad sometimes. We need to be brought down first.
that primes the pump. We need to be brought down first.
We need to have our ground has to be plowed. I mean, something
sharp's gonna have to, that two-edged sword had to go through this
old dirt, plow us up. The voice said, cry, and he said,
what shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and the goodness
thereof is the flower of the field. Grass withers, the flower
fadeth, because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely
the people's grass. Ain't nothing, tell them that
first. That's what the Old Testament stuff was. What about the New
Testament? Our Lord said in John 16, when that Holy Spirit comes,
when the Holy Ghost comes, he's going to reprove the world of
sin. All his people, Jew, Gentile, don't matter. If they're mine,
I'm going to save them. The first thing they're going
to do is be reproved of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.
Of sin, because they believe not on me. Of righteousness,
because I go to my father and he see me no more. Of judgment,
because the prince of this world is judged. Jesus answered, said,
wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily I say unto thee,
the cock shall not crow, for thou hast denied me thrice. Peter,
you will not come to me that you might have life. That's what
you are, you're grass. You cannot come to me unless
the Father which hath sent me draw you. You can't do it. What do you say to that? What
do I say? Not me, not me. If the Lord convicts you of sin,
you'll say, you're right, Lord. You're right, I'm the dog. I'm
a dead dog Gentile. That's all I am. Have mercy on
me. Let me have a cry from your table. You're the master. Immediately,
the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God
shall stand forever. All flesh is grass, behold your
God. Come and reprove the world of sin, and Christ is righteousness,
the Lord our righteousness. And it's done, judgment's settled.
Peter, you're gonna deny me three times,
that's what you are. Chapter 14, verse one. Let not
your heart be troubled. He ain't troubled yet, is he?
I mean, that'd be a little sticker shock, but he ain't done it yet.
He was troubled when he wept bitterly. Let not your heart
be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my father's house are many mansions, many dwelling
places. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare
a place. We quote these all the time,
don't we? I go to prepare a place for you. Who's he talking to?
Peter, I go to prepare a place for you. You are going to deny
me three times for the cockroach. And I'm going to go take care
of everything. I'm going to rise again and I'm going to prepare
a place for you, Peter. The very one that's fighting against me.
And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again. I'm
not just going to make a place ready and you got to find your
way there. And I'll receive you unto myself that where I am there,
you may be also Peter. And whether I go, you know, and
you know the way. I shut him up. Thomas said, what's
the way? Lord said, I'm the way Thomas. That's me. It's a person. I'll do everything for you. Those
that deny God. Remember the outside world assumed
Judas was the head one and Peter was the devil. And that angel
told the two Marys at the tomb when the Lord had risen, said,
go your way, tell his disciples. And Peter. that he goes before
you to Galilee. You think they forgot one? Like,
well, tell the 10 and then what was that? Oh, yeah, Peter. No,
no. And Peter and Peter. He went
back to fishing, hadn't he? He quit. I'm gonna go back to
fishing. I can't do this no more. How could I go back to stand
up and tell them? What a hypocrite I am. Those
that know me best, how could I stand up and tell you these
things? Well, I deny His faith. You get that? Those that deny
God, they have been made to know that the Lord's faithful. So
what are we to do with them? Love them, pray for them, be
tender to them. That one that wept over his sins
was converted, wasn't he? The one that looked so important
ended up killing himself. And the one that looked like
he was the one that was going to kill everybody, he was strengthened
and he strengthened his brethren. And that day of Pentecost, he
strengthened 3000 of his brethren that day by telling them Christ
is faith. You meant this for evil. He meant it for good. You,
by wicked hands, slew him. This is God's predetermined counsel
before time ever was. It's his doing. You better bow
to him. He goes on later and he says,
Simon, you love me? He said, Lord, you know I love
you. He said, feed my lambs, the itty bitty ones. He said,
Simon, you love me? He said, Lord, you know I love
you. He said, feed my sheep. He said,
Simon, you love me? Lord, you know all things. You know my love and you know
how fickle that love is and how strong the denial and the embarrassment
that old man is. You know everything. and utter
submission. He said, Lord, you know all.
And if I love you, you made me love you and you know it because
it's your love you put in me. And he said, go feed my sheep.
Go feed my sheep. I pray the Lord feeds us. Shows
us we're sheep. Puts our head down low. That's
where the grass is. That's where the grass is. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for this word
you've preserved for us. Lord, we're so prone to wonder.
We're so weak and of ourselves and so ashamed of this old flesh
and we're wretches, Lord. But Christ has saved us, sent
his spirit to us, convicted us of that. We know it. He's righteous. We know that. and all judgment's been satisfied.
Lord, allow us to see these things often, daily, throughout the
day. Let your mercy be known to us
new every morning, early in the day. We may dwell on these things,
stir up our pure mind often. We're so sleepy, awaken us. Thank
you for your mercy. Thank you for the blood of your
son. Lord, make us love one another as you've commanded. Forgive
us for what we are. Be with those that aren't with
us tonight. Convict them and convince them, Lord. It's in
Christ's name that we ask it. Amen.