I want to read from verse 30. And we're going to read from
verse 30 through 35. And then we're also going to go back to
John chapter 13. And we're going to look at these
verses together. But first we're going to consider
Matthew 26 verse 30. He says, And when they had sung
a hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives. Then saith Jesus
to them, all ye shall be offended because of me this night. For it is written, I will smite
the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered
abroad. But after I am risen again, I
will go before you into Galilee. Peter answered and said to him,
though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never
be offended. Jesus said to him, Verily I say
unto thee, that this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny
me thrice." Three times. Peter said to him, Though I should
die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said
all the disciples. If you look over in verse 56
of the same chapter, It says, but all this was done
that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled, in verse
56, then all the disciples forsook him and fled. So you can see
that the Lord Jesus fulfilled, that word was fulfilled that
Jesus spoke of. I've entitled this message, Peter's
Denial, and it's really an account of pride and grace. Pride and grace is the subtitle.
But I want you to go with me now for a short review of what
is happening here, what the context is. This woman pours out tears
on the feet and dries his feet with her hair, the feet of Jesus. And she anoints his head with
ointment. And then, in complete contrast
to that, Judas plots to betray the Lord Jesus Christ, the one
who had befriended him, the one who had entrusted Judas with
so much. And then we see the Lord's table
where Jesus gives to His disciples the bread and the wine and tells
them, take, eat, this is my body broken for you. And this cup
is the New Testament in my blood shed for you. And then they all
took part of that. those things that pointed to
what the Lord Jesus would do for His disciples in a way that
could not be compared. So, we have Judas, we have the
woman who poured out her love upon Christ, we have Judas and
the dark knight that he represents, and then we have this intimate,
joyous time of the Lord Jesus with His disciples. where He's
given to them Himself, revealing Himself to them in intimacy and
promising that soon after this, He will rise again. And he doesn't
say rise again in that particular context, but he says it in so
many words when he says, I will not drink of this cup, the fruit
of the vine, until after it is fulfilled in the kingdom of heaven.
So he's telling them, not only am I going to give my body, pour
out my blood for you, and you to take it and eat it and drink
it, but afterward it will be fulfilled and then I will drink
it again with you. and eat it again. So that's,
there's that. And then we immediately see,
after they sing this song, Jesus tells them, this night, this
very night, all of you are going to be offended because of me.
And the word offended really means to become disloyal to Him. To forsake Him in a great time
of need. To be untrue to the Master. To doubt Him. To doubt what He
said. And to forsake Him. To desert
Him. And they all, they were shocked. And Peter speaks up
first here, and he says, though all men shall be offended because
of thee, yet will I never be offended. And so then we see that. We see the dark. prophecy of Christ, telling his
beloved disciples, with whom he had just shared this dinner,
this joyous time, even singing a song, he tells them, you're
all going to forsake me tonight. And Peter denies it. He strongly
denies it. He says, I'm never going to forsake
you. And Jesus said, no, barely. I truly, I most solemnly declare,
tonight, even before the cock crows, you'll deny me three times. And so then they go out, and
Jesus goes to the Garden of Gethsemane. But before He goes to the Garden
of Gethsemane, on the way, He tells them all that's recorded
in John chapter 14, 15, 16, and 17. Those chapters, if you read them,
they are probably, I don't think anyone could deny they are the
most intimate words of the Lord Jesus Christ to His people. John
14, 15, 16, and 17. In those chapters, we are going
to look at that in a minute. In those chapters, Jesus starts
out chapter 14 and He says, let not your heart be troubled. He
had just told them they were all going to forsake him. And
told Peter, you surely are going to forsake me even this night.
And the next words he says are, but let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me. Isn't that amazing? They're going to forsake him
because they doubt him. And yet he says, you believe
in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many
mansions. I go This is why they were going
to forsake Him, because now He was going to be taken from them.
I go to prepare a place for you. A place in His Father's house
for them. At the cross, He was preparing
that place through His atoning blood. And while He's doing that,
He says, And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come
again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may
be also. In My Father's house are many
mansions. One house, many mansions in this one house. the house
of his father. And they question him, where
are you going? And I go to my father. He didn't
say it in quite those terms, but in John 14 they basically
have this Jesus talking to them. And they're all standing around
wondering, what is he saying? I'm going here and you'll know
the way and we don't know the way. And how do we know the way?
We don't even know where you're going. He says, I'm the way,
the truth and the life. He says, well then they say,
well just show us the Father and it's enough for us. If you've
seen me, you've seen the Father. And then it goes on in John chapter
16. He talks about how he's going to go. He came into the world.
He came from the Father, He came into the world, and now He leaves
the world and He returns to His Father. And He tells them that
even though He's done this, they're going to be with Him. John 17,
He prays to His Father as the mediator. He asks His Father
to keep them while He goes to the cross. He says, Father, Holy
Father, keep them. Keep them. I have kept them while
I was in the world. Keep them. And he's going to
the cross and he prays these things. Intimate words to them
and then prayers for them to his father. That's the context. But in this little part here,
the Lord Jesus tells his disciples, you're all going to be offended
because of me. And none of them could believe
that they would be offended. And so the Lord spreads the table
for his disciples. This is my body, broken for you.
My blood, the blood of the New Testament, shed for you. The
greatest intimacy of love and union and communion with the
Lord Jesus Christ. He gave himself for us. It implies we're sinners, doesn't
it? How could the Lord Jesus give Himself for us in this way
if we weren't already joined to Him in union with Him by God's
divine election and His love for His people? This bond of
love brings us into union with Christ so that when God sent
Him into the world, He laid our sins on Him. We were one with
Him. Our sins couldn't have been made His. We were one with Him. And so eating His body and drinking
His blood indicates that we're taking Him into ourselves. Jesus
says in John 6.56, He says, "...he that eats my flesh and drinks
my blood dwells in me and I in him." Indicating that when we
eat and drink of the Lord's table, we're indicating our union with
Christ. We depend on Him for our life.
He's all of our life. He's all of our salvation. And
it is by virtue of our union with Him, who took our sins and
bore them too, and bore the punishment of them, and rose again. And
His death was our death, His burial our burial. We suffered
judgment in His judgment. And we rose victorious and were
justified in His resurrection. And we reign with Him because
of His being seated on the right hand of God the Father. And we
will be with Him because we are in Him. We're one with Him. This
is all indicated in this. And Jesus... sent Judas to do
what was in his heart, and then he enters into that lengthy,
comforting, intimate account of his departure out of his world,
out of this world, going to his father, sending his spirit, the
comforter, and all the troubles that the disciples would experience
after he left this world, and they would be in this world.
And he gives them his words and comforts them. He sends his own
spirit to comfort them and to remind them of all that he told
them. But before all this, He has to go through this section
here where we just read. They sing a hymn. They go out
and he tells them, this night you're going to be offended because
of me. Because this is what was written.
Zechariah 13, 7. God says, I will smite the shepherd
and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. Jesus is the shepherd. The one who smote the shepherd
is God the Father. He smote him when he judged him
for our sins. When he turned the enemies of
our soul loose against him. They accused him falsely. He
himself was not guilty in himself, but he was guilty of our sins.
And so he suffered the wrath of God against himself because
of our sins. But he, the shepherd, was smitten. And when he was smitten, the
sheep were scattered. But the amazing thing here is
that even though the sheep were scattered, not one of them perished. Not one of them was lost. How
was that? How did that happen? Well, because
even Jesus knew that they would all be offended, and yet He prays
for them. He prays for them. So we're going
to see this as we look at this in a little more care here. He
says, In verse 31, Jesus said to them, all ye shall be offended
because of me this night. As I said, offended there means
to become disloyal to Him, to leave Him, to desert Him. It
means to fail to believe Him. In Luke
chapter 24, if you remember what happened, the women returned
from the sepulcher, from the tomb, in Luke 24, after Jesus
had risen from the dead. And the women come to the disciples,
the 11 disciples, and they said, He's risen from the dead. And
this is what it says in Luke chapter 24, that these disciples,
their reaction to the news of the fulfillment of what Christ
had told them. It says in verse 11, "...and
their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed
them not." So there you have it. The disciples
were in this state of scattered sheep, like scattered sheep,
and the Lord had to regather them. And that's what He did
after He rose from the dead. But here He says, you're all
going to be offended. Matthew 26, 31. All you shall
be offended because of Me this night, for it is written, I will
smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered
abroad. The only reason we're kept is
because we're kept by the Shepherd. But the Lord Jesus, in order
to keep us unto life eternal, had to be smitten. He had to
suffer the punishment we suffered. And so He says in verse 32, "...but
after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee."
He tells them in advance, I'm going to rise again. They're
going to see Him taken And treated like everyone is going to be
against Him. Literally, everyone is going to be against Him. And
they are going to forsake Him. And He tells them, before it
happens, but I'm going to rise again. And when I do, I'm going
to go before you into Galilee, where they were with Him. In
verse 33, we see what happens now. Peter answered, and he spoke
up first. He said to them, to Him, Jesus,
He said, Though all men shall be offended because of thee,
yet will I never be offended. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
all record Peter's denial. How would you like to have your
name put right here in Scripture, four times over, for your sin? It's a humbling thing, isn't
it? What a humbling thing that is. Jesus, listen to the way
Peter says this, "...though all men shall be offended because
of thee." What is Peter saying here? Who is he talking about? All men. Well, he's talking about
Matthew the Publican. Matthew the Publican, Peter is
suggesting, yeah, I mean, he might sink to that level, but
not me. Or James and John, my fishermen
brothers in fishing, in trade, they might deny, or they might
deny you, might be offended, but not me. Even my brother Andrew
and all the others, which he didn't name here, none of which
he named, he says all, though all might be offended, yet will
I never be offended. What is he saying? Peter is doing
something that we're all prone to do. He doubted the word, the
testimony of Christ against himself. He doubted that he could really
be that bad. the only difference between Judas
and us? What's the only difference between
Judas and us? It's Christ and Him crucified, isn't it? It's
what God has done by His grace. It's the electing grace of God
the Father It's the redeeming blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and it's the love of the Spirit of God who quickened us when
we were His enemies, when we were dead in sins. God makes
the difference between us and Judas. That's the only difference.
And here the disciples, every one of them are going to be offended.
Peter says, not me, not me. It's not going to happen. What
is he saying here? Well, first of all, he's denying
what Jesus said. He doesn't believe Jesus. Jesus
said you're going to and he says no. No, it's not going to happen.
That's a flat denial of Christ's words. Could Jesus ever say anything
that wasn't true? Not about me. He might say something
about me. I mean, he whose word divides
the thoughts and intents of our heart says you're going to be
offended and deny me tonight. Peter says, no, it's not me.
Because he couldn't believe like we saw with Hazael in the Old
Testament. It can't happen to me. It's a
shocking thing. It's a shameful thing. Because
the shame is so great, that's one of the reasons we can't tolerate
the thought that we would be so perverse. But I think there's
something else that motivated Peter to speak this way. And
I want to see that in John chapter 13. Look at John chapter 13.
Why would Peter be so determined not to deny the Lord Jesus Christ? Because there's a mixture here
of of good and evil in what Peter
says. In John chapter 13, if you remember,
we looked at this a couple weeks ago. Jesus starts out in this
chapter. It's important that we see this.
I'm not going to read the whole chapter here, but remember what
happened here? The Feast of the Passover, the
one they ate just before they had the Last Supper, was at hand.
And they ate this together, and Jesus rose up after dinner. It
says here in verse 1, "...having loved His own which were in the
world, He loved them unto the end." So, the whole chapter here,
and what follows, is set, it's anchored in the love of Christ
for His own. Remember that. The love of Christ
for His own. "...having loved his own which
were in the world, he loved them unto the end." And the other
thing that's pointed out here is the love of Christ is a love
that never fails. His love is faithful. He loved
them in the beginning, he loved them now, and he loved them to
the end. Remember that. The whole chapter is about the
love of Christ for his own. And then what does he do? He
who is the master, he who is the Lord, lays aside all of his
garments and he takes a towel and he serves his disciples by
taking the lowest place and washing their feet. And so, Peter again,
he was, oh man, I cannot allow you to wash my feet. That's way,
that's too low for your dignity. I can't allow that. So Peter
rejects it first, and then Jesus says, if I don't wash your feet,
you don't have any part with me. And Peter, the thought of
him not having any part with Jesus, he says, Huh! Not my feet
only, but my head and my hands! And Jesus says, No. It's not
necessary for me to wash you all over, because you're already
clean, but just your feet. I need to wash your feet. And
he says, and you're all clean. I mean, you're clean, but not
all, because he referred to Judas in verse 10. Not all of you are
clean. You are all clean, except Judas,
is what he's saying there. Because He knew that He would
betray Him. And so then, what does Jesus say? He teaches them,
He takes that example of His washing their feet. In verse
11, He says, So after He had washed their feet, and had taken
His garments, and was set down again, He said to them, Know
ye what I have done to you? You call Me Master and Lord,
and you say, Well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master,
have washed your feet, You also ought to wash one another's feet. Okay, so there's the love of
Christ, and now we see the servitude of Christ. Serving his disciples
in the lowest place. And why does he do that? Well, because he served them
all the time. He came into the world serving
them. He went to the cross serving them. He served them throughout
His life. He went to glory. He sits in
glory now, living for His people. It says in Romans 5, verse 10,
If when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death
of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. Now, His life in heaven is for
us. He's able to save us to the uttermost
who come to God by Him. He lives for us. But He who came
and served, giving Himself, body and soul, all of Himself for
His people, He says, now, you see what I've done? You also
ought to wash one another's feet. Why did they wash the feet? Because
they were filthy and dirty and shameful. The love of Christ
for His own, stooping to wash their feet, and now we see that's
the context. In which we see the disciples
about to be offended in Christ and what he does for them. And
he goes on in John 13, he says, I've given you an example that
you should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say
unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord, neither
he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If you know
these things, happy are ye if you do them. Did you see what
I did here? Do you know why I did it? Then
happy are you if you follow me as my disciples in this." In
Luke chapter 22, turn back to Luke chapter 22. It's the same
time it says here when Jesus in verse 20 Let's pick it up at verse 19.
It says, And he took bread, and gave thanks, and break it. Luke
22, 19. And gave to them, saying, This
is my body, which is given for you, this do in remembrance of
me. Likewise also the cup after supper,
saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for
you. Oh, the apex of history is here.
The everlasting covenant of God is being fulfilled in the blood
of Christ. Every condition met. By him laying
his life down for us. But behold, he says, the hand
of him that betrays me is with me on the table. And truly the
son of man goeth 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 be to do this thing.
And then, immediately in verse 24, And there was also a strife
among them. Which of them should be accounted
the greatest? And he said to them, the kings
of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and they that exercise
authority upon them are called benefactors, but you shall not
be so. But he that is greatest among
you, let him be as the younger, and he that is chief as he that
doth serve. For whether is greater he that
sits at meat, or he that serveth, is not he that sits at meat,
but I am among you as he that serveth. And then he goes back
to John chapter 13. You see, it's the same setting. He stoops, he serves, he tells
them, what are you arguing about? Who's the greatest? And he gives
them this example. Wash one another's feet, they're
filthy. And then if we look on a little
further, in John 13, where we were, he says, After he speaks to them about
Judas, he says in verse 20, he says, "...verily, verily, I say
to you, he that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me, and he that
receiveth me receives him that sent me." When Jesus had thus
said, he was troubled in spirit. Indicating that when Judas betrayed
him, it was troubling to him. A heavy load for him. And he
testified and said, "...verily, verily, I say to you, that one
of you shall betray me." Then the disciples looked one on another,
doubting of whom he spake. Now, there was leaning on Jesus'
bosom one of his disciples whom Jesus loved. One of the eleven
that he loved. He loved all of the 11. He says
in verse 1, didn't he? "...having loved his own which
were in the world, he loved them unto the end." So how many did
he love? His own. The 11. But not Judas. But one of those whom he loved
was leaning on his bosom. And we mentioned this the last
time we looked at this verse. Why did John love Christ? Two
reasons. First, John saw Christ as altogether
lovely because Christ loved him as a sinner. He was a great sinner
and having been loved by one so great and so holy. And having
been forgiven his own sins, he loved Christ. And he knew his
love for him. And so he laid his head on his
bosom. Comfortable on the bosom of the Lord of Glory. Because
he knew Christ loved him. Resting there. Content. Intimately content. Listening
to his words. Just admiring his person. And there he lies on his bosom. That's the place where all of
God's people lie, content on the bosom of Christ. Just listening
to His words, knowing that He loves them. Remember, the chapter
is about His love for His own. And He shows them, now I want
you to do this. And so here's John leaning on
his bosom. And Peter, he says, hey, hey.
Ask Him, who's going to betray Him? Peter's always interested
in what someone else is going to do, huh? I'm not going to
be offended, but Judas, I believe he could. And then he, lying
on Jesus' breast, said to him, Lord, who is it? John asked Jesus.
Jesus answered, He it is to whom I shall give a sop when I have
dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas
Iscariot, the son of Simon. And after the sop, Satan entered
into him. Then Jesus said to Judas, That
thou doest, do quickly. Everything Jesus was going to
do, he did to fulfill scripture. And he did it by his word. He
who called heaven, and he who called the worlds into existence.
And upholds him by his word, now sends Judas out to betray
him. To fulfill scripture. Now, no
man at the table knew for what intent he spake this to him,
for some of them thought because Judas had the bag that Jesus
had said to him, buy those things that we have need of against
the feast, or that he should give something to the poor. He,
Judas, then having received the sop, went immediately out, and
it was night. Listen carefully. Therefore when
he was gone out, Jesus said, now is the Son of Man glorified,
and God is glorified in him. It was about to be the most greatest
humiliation, and he was going to be the object of betrayal
and accusation and beating and spitting and all kinds of humiliation. And he says, now. Now is the
Son of God glorified, and God is glorified in Him. Because
He came to do the will of God, and He would endure all things
in pursuit of that goal, to do His Father's will in order to
glorify His Father. He says, Now the Son of Man is
glorified and God is glorified in Him because He's going to
destroy, He's going to defeat, He's going to bruise the head
of the serpent. If God be glorified in Him, God
shall also glorify Him in Himself and shall straightway glorify
Him. When He rose from the dead and
sat Him on His own right hand, He glorified Him. Verse 33. Now He turns back to His disciples
and He calls them by an endearing name. He says, Yet a little while
I am with you, you shall seek me. And as I said to the Jews,
whither I go you cannot come, so now I say to you, this little
while..." What was that little while? "...a little while I am
with you." He's about to go to the cross. It's just a few hours.
That's how little the while was. And you'll seek me. He's going
to die. He's going to be in the tomb. They'll seek for him. But
they can't follow him. He's gone to his father. He's
gone to his father. He's going to his father to present
his own blood in glory. To make atonement for our sins.
And to be received there and receive all the blessings of
that covenant. And then to return, to rise from
the dead. He told the thief on the cross,
today you'll be with me in paradise. He was going to be glorified
when he went to the cross and died. The moment he died he went
to his father. And then in verse 34, if you
pick it back up now, the context, look at carefully this. He says,
"...now a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another
as I have loved you, that you also love one another." Peter, I'm not going to be offended.
These guys might be, but I'm not. They're arguing, who's the
greatest? That's the opposite of love, isn't it? And they're
about to see what love truly means here. And so, he says, "...by this
shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love
one to another." Simon Peter said to him, Whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I
go, thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me
hereafter." He'll follow him not only in obedience to be the
apostle to the Jews and to preach the gospel after Jesus went back
to heaven, but he's going to follow him in death and be with
him in glory. And Peter said to him, Lord,
why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy
sake. Jesus answered him, will thou
lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say to thee,
the cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me three times. Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in Me." That's where we were.
You need to read this, John 14, 15, 16, 17 and see how this unfolds. Now with that context, go back
to Matthew 26. You see what's happening here?
Peter boasts in self-conceit, has no idea that he's incapable
of doing this. But at the same time, Peter dearly,
ardently loves the Lord Jesus Christ. Because Peter knows,
like John, that the Lord Jesus Christ loves him. He loves him. And Peter loves him so much.
Peter is determined not to forsake his Lord. And yet, we see here
the weakness of a believer. The weakness of a believer in
Peter. And Peter couldn't accept the testimony of Christ against
himself. Isn't it hard to accept when
you receive the testimony of God against ourself that He's
recorded for us? When he says in Isaiah 64, 6,
when he says, we are all as an unclean thing. And all of our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags. There's none righteous. No, not one. They've all gone
astray. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. They're all together unprofitable. If we are saved, we're going
to be saved just like those Israelites, as I mentioned, I think, last
week. Bitten, dying, helplessly and deservedly under the wrath
of God. Had nothing to bring, no remedy.
And God lifts up this serpent on the pole and He says, Look
at the one who was crucified, bearing the curse of God for
your sins. Look and live. That's all you
can do as a sinner. Look to Him. You'll never get
beyond that if you do. Then you'll be like Peter here.
You won't believe that you're a sinner. You won't really understand
the love of Christ. And so Peter says, they'll all
be offended. We're back in Matthew 26 now.
He says in verse 33, though all men shall be offended, all shall
be offended because of thee, yet will I never. He didn't even
allow himself one fall. Not even one. He didn't say,
I might fall once, but I'll never fall again. He said, I will never
be offended. Never be offended. Look at Psalm. Chapter 94, see how the psalmist
views himself. Psalm 94, he says in verse 17,
Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence. When I said, My foot slippeth,
thy mercy, O Lord, held me up. That's the attitude. When the
Word of God comes to us and cuts us, and experience shows us that
God's Word is true, like Paul, he says, Oh, wretched man that
I am! In my flesh dwelleth no good
thing, the good that I would I do not. The carnal mind is
enmity against God. It's not subject to the Law of
God, neither indeed can be. And yet, the disciples like us,
we look at one another in the church even, and we say, I could
see how that poor brother or sister could fall like that.
They're weak. They're ignorant. They're prone
to that. We think that in our heart, and
as soon as we begin to think those thoughts, the Lord corrects
us. But still, we think that, right? Because of our pride.
And when someone falls, yeah, they should have done this more
or done that more. That's the whole point of the passage. The
Lord Jesus stoops and He washes the feet of the disciples and
He says, now you do exactly what I did. And then He tells the
disciples, you're about to fall. You're about to get your feet
really dirty here. But notice how the Lord anticipates
this in advance. He says, after He says they're
going to be offended, He says, Why? Because it's written, I'll
smite the shepherd, the sheep shall be scattered. But He says,
after I'm risen, I will go before you into Galilee. He's going
to recover them. And in verse 30, 34, Jesus said
to Peter, Verily I say to thee, except that this night before
the cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice. The cock, the rooster,
would crow in the very wee hours of the morning. After midnight.
Maybe, according to history, the cock crowing time is between
12am and 3am in the morning. They're rudely and unnecessarily
making noise way before it gets light. Now, at this time that
supper had ended, they're already going out to Gethsemane. It's
probably 10 or 11 p.m. at night. So Peter is going to
deny, after he vociferously says, I am not going to deny you, never.
Jesus says, no, actually, this very night, in just a couple,
three or four hours, you're going to deny me three times. And so, And so, he didn't just
say that, he just said, verily I say to you. Now, Peter, Jesus
says one thing, you're all going to be offended. Peter says another,
no I'm not. And Jesus says, most solemnly
I tell you, you are, three times. And what is Peter's response?
Oh, no he didn't say, oh. He said, he said, Peter said,
though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise,
also, said all the disciples. Peter first didn't believe it.
Jesus said, no, this is really going to happen. You can count
on it. And Peter says, no, I am not. He denies Jesus twice. He denied
the word of Jesus here twice. It's not going to happen. Never.
No. It's arguing with the Lord. And when you get in an argument
with somebody, it says in the Psalms, answer a fool according
to his folly. Jesus didn't respond to Peter
with another argument. He decided... He didn't decide.
He knew he wasn't going to convince him at this time with just his
word. It was going to take Peter's own fall, and then he would recall
to mind what Jesus had said. And when he did, then he would
be converted. Look at Luke chapter 22 again. Luke 22. We see here so much
about how we are. How we are. Luke 22, he says,
in verse 31, Jesus tells Peter, before this part, and he says,
Simon, verse 31, the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has
desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. Now you
can see a great thing here. Obviously, Satan couldn't do
anything unless he first got permission. Either he was seeking
permission in heaven to go and sift Peter like wheat. Or he had thought it in his heart,
and Christ knew that Satan thought that in his heart. Either way,
before Satan's plea entered heaven, Christ had already prayed for
Peter. He says, What? That He might not deny
Him? That He might not fall? The things that he could do right,
upheld, so that he would continue to look righteous, his sanctification
wouldn't get dirtied or something like that? No. He says, I have
prayed for you that your faith fail not. Now, such an important
truth here. He not only prayed for Peter,
but all the disciples in John 17. Read that. He had already
prayed for Peter, that his faith would not fail. Because you see,
Faith is the one thing God gives us by which we lay hold on eternal
life. Like the serpent-bitten people
in the wilderness. They had nothing, but God gave
them faith to see Christ. And it was that faith that brought
from Christ all the virtue of His blood and righteousness.
So that they can come to God, obviously sinners, but in spite
of their sin, because they were received by God for Christ's
sake. That's what faith does. Faith
sees the sacrifice of Christ offered in heaven, and received
by God in heaven, and trusts that God will receive me in Him.
That's what faith does. And so the Lord says, I prayed
for your faith. And that's what he did. He prayed
for his faith, and his faith didn't fall. Then look over a
little more in Luke 22, in verse 61. After Peter denied, it says,
in verse 60, Peter said, this is the third time, Man, I know
not what thou sayest. He's denying that he knows anything
about Jesus. And immediately, while he yet
spake, the cock crew. And he heard it. And the Lord
turned. He heard Peter's denial three
times. And the Lord turned and looked
upon Peter. And there was that look of tender
love. There was the look of the one who stooped to wash his feet,
who had gone to the cross, that's what he was going to do, to wash
him all over. And he turned and he looked upon
Peter, and it was that look of his Lord who loved him, and whom
he loved, that caused Peter, it says, and Peter remembered
the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, before the cock
crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out and wept bitterly. Judas betrayed Christ and went
out and hanged himself. Peter denied Christ and went
out and wept bitterly. You see the difference that the
grace makes? Christ prayed for Peter's faith
and his faith didn't fail. Judas never had that grace given
to him. And hear the Lord. He's teaching
us in this how that he bears the burdens of his disciples.
Isn't it a burden for Christ to be betrayed by Judas? Certainly
it was. Scripture says so. In fact, look
at a couple of scriptures. Look at Psalm, just to substantiate
that, to remind you what this did. When we read these accounts,
don't get hung up on Peter and Judas. Remember, what did it
mean to Christ? What is He teaching His disciples?
What does it demonstrate of His love and faithfulness? What did
He suffer? Psalm 55 and verse 12. He says,
for it was not an enemy. that reproached me, speaking
of Judas, then I could have borne it. Neither was it he that hated
me that did magnify himself against me, then I would have hid myself
from him. But it was thou, a man, mine
equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together
and walked to the house of God in company." You see that? Look
at another verse here in Psalm, so that's speaking of Judas in
prophecy, but look at Psalm 31. Psalm 31 is another psalm of
Christ, a prayer he prayed. The psalm is prophetic. The prayer
was fulfilled when he prayed it in his life on this earth. But in Psalm 38, 11 it says,
I'm sorry, 31, 11. I was looking at another reference.
Psalm 3111, it says, "...I was a reproach among all mine enemies,
but especially among my neighbors, and a fear to mine acquaintance. They that did see me without
fled from me." Here the Lord is bemoaning the sufferings under
the weight of our sin, and the weight on his conscience, and
the wrath of God against him. And part of that suffering, he
says here, is that he was a reproach among all his enemies, especially
among his neighbors, those who were the closest, his Jews and
his family. His own family didn't believe
him. And he was a fear to his acquaintance. They that saw him
without fled from him. And then look over at Psalm 38.
A similar thing is said there. The Lord suffered because his
disciples forsook him. It added to his sufferings. In
Psalm 38 he says, verse 11, well verse 10 he says, My heart panteth,
my strength faileth me, as for the light of mine eyes, it is
also gone from me. My lovers and my friends stand
aloof from my sore, and my kinsmen stand afar off. In Psalm 69,
20 it says, "...reproach has broken my heart, I'm full of
heaviness, and I look for some to take pity, but there was none,
and for comforters, but I found none." It was painful to Christ
to be forsaken by His disciples. But He bore that, too, in fulfillment
of Scriptures and for them. He bore the animosity and the
distrust of friends and family, even His own disciples, against
Himself, knowing that all that He did was for them, to save
them. It's like when someone you dearly love comes against
you, and they're angry, and they shout at you, or they do something
to hurt you. And you hold your peace because
you know that because you love them, you don't want to flare
back at them. The Lord certainly did much more
than that here. But He's teaching us here also
how He was going to recover Peter, and that this was part of His
humiliation. Part of His humbling Himself
in order to save us. He not only bore our sins, but
He put up with our stupidity, and our pride, and the foolishness. And He does not just for His
disciples then, but for us. All of His disciples forsook
Him. And so we see that in Peter here.
And then it's, like I said, it's as if the Lord didn't respond
to Peter this last time when Peter finally said, I will never
forsake you. I'll die for you before I forsake
you. And Jesus, He just waited. He let the experience go through
its course so that Peter would, so his words would be fulfilled
and then Peter, it would resonate in his ears and then he remembered
the words of Christ and remembered that. And then later on they
would remember too what Jesus said here in John 13. Where we
read a minute ago where he says, "...what I've done to you there,
I've done as an example that you should wash one another's
feet." And then in verse 34 of John 13, "...a new commandment
I give to you, that you should love one another as I have loved
you." Now look at Galatians. The book of Galatians chapter
6. See this, I think this is pointing to what this is all
about. He says in Galatians chapter 6, verse 1, Brethren, if a man
be overtaken in a fault Ye which are spiritual, restore such in
one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou
also be tempted." And verse 2, "...bear ye one another's burdens,
and so fulfill the law of Christ." Isn't that what Jesus commanded
him? "...bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."
When the Lord stooped and washed the disciples' feet, It was a
lowly thing to wash their filthy feet. But it was a representation
of what he would do throughout the lives of all of his people
as he puts up in patience with our sin. He knows what we're
going to do in advance. He knew what Peter was going
to do before he did it. He knew he was going to deny
him three times. And yet he loved Peter. He bore
his sins and bore the pain and suffering that denial had on
him at that time. And he did it with an eye to
his recovery. He says, when you are converted,
then strengthen your brethren. In Luke 22. So when Peter was
recovered, it was with this knowledge that he was a sinner, that he
fell because of his sins. Even though he loved the Lord,
he fell. And when he was recovered, he
could strengthen his brethren by the same comfort that he received
from the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And I think that has something
to do with the whole context of John 13 and Matthew 26 and
Mark 14 and Luke 22, where the Lord says, you're all going to
deny me. You're all going to be offended. And yet when I come
again, then I'll gather you together. The scattered sheep were gathered.
The Lord would not only forgive them, but receive them as his
people with the greatest delight And so we are to receive one
another. Romans chapter 15, we'll read verse 1 through verse 7.
We then that are strong are to bear the infirmities of the weak,
and not to please ourselves, let every one of us please his
neighbor for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not himself,
but as it is written, the reproaches of them that reproach thee fell
on me. for whatsoever things were written
aforetime were written for our learning, that we, through patience
and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. Now the God
of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward
another according to Christ Jesus that you may with one mind and
one mouth glorify God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
for his glorify him for his salvation for his love to us wherefore
receive ye one another as Christ also received us to the glory
of God forgive one another as Christ also has forgiven you
let's pray Father, we thank you for your mercy. Thank you for
the Lord Jesus Christ. We see Him and know your heart.
We see His ways towards us. He tells us before what we are.
We can't believe it. We even deny it. We don't want
to offend our Lord, but we're weak. Our sin causes us to do
things we do not want to do. And yet the Lord tells us that
after we're recovered, we're to receive the comfort from Him,
and strengthen our brethren, and bear one another's burdens,
and wash their feet, and help us, Lord, to love as He loved
us. Help us to see what the Lord Jesus has done for us, to receive
His body broken for us, His blood shed for us, and know that He
is all of our life and all of our salvation, and that we would
be as comfortable as John, laying our head on his bosom, receiving
his words and receiving that love of his, that love of humility
and love of condescension of one so high and so great that
he would love us with a love everlastingly. In Jesus' name
we pray, amen.