Matthew, Matthew chapter 26. Peter was one of the apostles. This man was one of the apostles. He was one of the favored ones
that the Lord always took with Him on special occasions. Peter, James, and John. Peter
got to go to the Mount of Transfiguration to see Elijah, Moses, hear God
speak from heaven. He's the one who first stood
up and said, Yet will I not deny thee. I will die for you before I deny
you." And Peter was truly a child of God. What a painful
experience this was for Peter. What a needful experience it
was for Peter, but what a painful experience. And I cannot be too
hard on Peter because under lesser circumstances, I have denied
the Lord. Not standing up, not standing
up when his name is being butchered. When he's being lied on and keeping
quiet. That's denying Him. That has
a real element of denying Him in it. The setting here is this. The Lord has been taken captive. He's been led, as it said, as
a sheep to the slaughter. As I said last week, that's just
what it was, the slaughter. He's standing before the high
priest. He's being lied on. by false witnesses. And then
they began to slap him. They began to spit in his face. They began to mock him and say,
prophesy. If you're the Christ, prophesy
and tell us who did it, who slapped you. And Peter sees this. He knows what's going on. He
hears all this tumult because after the rooster crows, and
Peter has denied it three times, the Lord looks at him. So he's
within looking distance. The Lord looks at him. So Peter
is standing at a distance, but he knows all this. He sees all
this. He hears all these charges, and
he sees the anger of the mob and the crowd, and fear takes
over. Fear takes over. He becomes afraid, scared, scared. Now Peter makes his first blunder
back in verse 59 or 58. But Peter followed him
afar off into the high priest's palace and he went in and he
sat with the servants. That's the servants of the high
priest. That's his first blunder. He goes in and he sits with the
servants of darkness. Nothing, nothing good ever comes
out of mixing with the ungodly. The Word of God says in Psalm
1.1, Blessed is the man who walks not, who stands not, who sitteth not
in the counsel, the way, or the seat of the ungodly. And Peter goes in, and over in
the other Gospels you can find that they built a fire, and he
goes over and warms himself and stands with these men. Nothing
good ever comes out of that, ever. The Word of God said, Be
ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers. Don't cuddle up to them. How
shall two walk together except they agree? And there are no
exceptions. There are no exceptions in the
Word of God. As I told you last week, you
have what they have, the old nature. See, they are able to
reach in and grab ahold of something in you. But they do not have
what you have, the new nature. They don't have it. I have never seen in my lifetime,
I've never seen a good apple make a bad apple good. When I
was growing up on the farm, we would put potatoes in this one
cellar and some of them would start to go bad and dad would
make us, me and James, go in and separate those rotten potatoes. Oh, the day smell. But we had
to go in and get those and throw them away, and then wipe off
the ones that were contaminated, you know, the ones that would
lay beside of them. We'd have to clean them off. If not, they
would go rotten. But all those potatoes, I mean,
we would have enough to last for a winter of nine people.
Take us through all winter. But all those good potatoes that
we kept, I never saw one of them make a bad one good. And you
won't. You won't do it. Now someone's
going to ask, what's the difference? What's the difference between
what Judas did and what Peter did? What's the difference? Well, first of all, both. Both
were evil. Both were wicked. Judas betraying
Christ and Peter standing there swearing with an oath cursing,
saying, I know not the man, to the ungodly, to the enemy. He's standing there saying, that's,
he said, I don't know this man. That's evil. It's wicked. It's
wicked. But now listen, what Judas did
was premeditated. Judas thought about this one.
Judas was nothing more than premeditated murder. How he could betray the
Lord and make some money on Him at
the same time. The Lord Jesus Christ is big
business to false religion. He's big business. They make
a lot of money off of Him every day. And Judas never loved Christ.
He did not love the Lord Jesus Christ one iota at all. And we know that Peter did love
the Lord. We know that he loved Him. Our
Lord asked him three times. Peter denied the Lord three times,
and three times the Lord made Peter to confess I love you. Peter, do you love me? I love
you. Peter, do you love me? I love you. Peter, do you love
me? Lord, you know all things. You know I love you. Judas never
loved him. Judas never loved him. And then
Judas was a son of perdition. The Scripture tells us he was
a son of perdition. Peter was a son of God and was
allowed to fall. He was allowed to deny the Lord
Jesus Christ to humble him with the services that he was going
to render down the road. God's not going to use any man,
anyone, without humbling them. Or be humbled. And so he lets
Peter deny him. And Peter realizes what he is.
He realizes this. And it humbles him. You see,
motive is everything. Motive is everything. Peter did
it because he was afraid. It was a spur of the moment thing.
He did it. All this commotion was going on, and the Lord allowed
him to do it. Judas did it premeditatedly. He wanted to do it. He wanted
to make some money off of him. He never loved the Lord, and
he was never a child of God. Never a child of God. And then
here's the reason, and I'm going to give you a reason why Peter
denied Christ. Turn over to Proverbs 29. Here's the reason Peter denied
Him. We know the Lord led him. We
know the Lord allowed him to do this. To bring him down to
humbling. And I know Peter never got over
this. He never forgot it. In Proverbs
29, and look in verse 25. Here's what happened. Peter went
over, stood with the servants, heard, seen all this stuff going
on. The fear of man bringeth a snare. It will shut you up. But whoso puts his trust in the
Lord shall be safe. He shall be safe. Peter lost
his confidence in Christ and began to fear those men. He began to fear those men. He let the fear of man take the
place of the fear of God. That's what happened. This is
the same person who walked on water. This is the same person who walked
on water. But the same thing happened then
as happens here. You remember when he walked on
water? He saw the wind and the waves. They were boisterous and
he began to sink. Here in this situation, he sees
the tumult. He hears the threats. He sees
them beating on his Lord. He sees them spitting in his
face. He takes his eyes off Christ. And he looks at this crowd and
he begins to sink. The fear of man bringeth a snare. It will stifle your witness. It will shut you up like it did
Peter. Now let's look at his pain. Oh,
what pain. And Peter remembered the word
of Jesus. which said unto him, Before the
cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out and he
wept bitterly. I wrote out by that verse in
verse 75 the power of his word. See, Judas didn't remember anything
about his word. Peter remembered the word. He
remembered the word of the Lord. And he went out and he wept bitterly. It says over in the Gospel of
Mark, and the second time the cock crowed, and Peter called
to mind the word that Jesus said unto him before the cock crowed
twice, Thou shalt deny me thrice. Listen, and when he thought thereon,
when he thought on the word of God, on the word of his Lord,
he wept. He wept. He remembered He thought. He thought of the one he just
denied. He thought of his Lord. He thought
of the most loving, the most caring, the most giving person
who ever lived, and he just denied him. He thought, this is my Lord,
this is my God, this is my Redeemer, this is my Savior, and I just denied Him. Just denied
Him. He thought of what the Lord had
done for him. He called to mind the grace of
God. He called to mind that he was
made an apostle. The Lord said to him, whenever
Peter said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, he
said, upon this rock I'll build my church. The gates of hell
shall not prevail against it. Peter, you are one of the pillars. You are one of the pillars of
the church. He thought of what the Lord had
made him. And it hurts. It hurts. He thought of the special
favors that he was given. Peter, James, and John were given
these special favors, took them to the Mount of Transfiguration
in the Garden of Gethsemane. Peter, James, and John took those
three with him. He always pointed and picked
out those three and took them with him. They were always granted
these special Insights, you might say. He thought of the special
favors. He thought of his position the
Lord had given him. And then he was given a special
warning. Remember, he said in one place, the Lord says, Peter,
Satan hath desired to have you and sift you as wheat. But I
prayed for you that your faith fell not. And then he was warned
here. that he would deny him. He said,
before the cock crows, you're going to deny me three times.
He was warned. He was warned by his Lord of
this. And then he was given, Peter
was given one of the greatest opportunities to take a stand
for his master I mean, here's the greatest opportunity, one
of the greatest opportunities to take a stand for the gospel,
for Christ, and with an oath, cursing, swearing, I do not know
the man. This is how frail we are. This
is how frail we are, that the Lord just pulls his hand back
just a little, every one of us, every last one of us will deny
Him. But you know what? He cannot deny us. He will not
deny His own. We may deny Him, and I'm telling
you this, before we die, we'll deny Him more times than we'll
ever realize, but not one time. Not one time will He ever deny
His own. Not one time. And then I think
this is one of the most painful. He denied this person who's Lord,
his master. He denied the one who made him
an apostle. He denied the one who gave him special favors.
He was given a special warning. He was given a special opportunity. that this had to be one of the
most painful part of it, he realized he wasn't any better than Judas. Judas had just betrayed him in
the garden, and they took him to the palace hall, and there
they are spitting in his face and slapping him, and Peter denied
him. And Peter realizes, and I believe
every child of God truly realizes this, except by the grace of
God I'm not one ounce better than anyone else. The worst. The worst of men. I'm not any
bit better. I'm not. But let's see here the
power of His Word. And Peter, it says here, remembered
the Word of Jesus which said unto him, Before the cock crow,
thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out and wept bitterly. Turn over to Hebrews chapter
4. We'll look at this the next time we're in Hebrews. Hebrews
chapter 4 in verse 12. For the word of God is quick,
it's quick and it's powerful and sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. and of the joints and marrow,
and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither
is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but
all things are naked." This is what he felt. Here he stood before his Lord
stripped. He stood there naked. He just
denied Him. No excuse. No covering. He stood there naked. But all
things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we
have to do. And when the Lord looked at him,
Peter stood before him and he felt his nakedness. He felt it. Anyone who's ever experienced
true repentance experiences this nakedness. The Word of God, when it comes
in power, it cuts to the heart. Listen to this. Listen to this. In Acts chapter 2. Well, turn
over to Acts chapter 2. Just read it. In Acts chapter 2. Let me get there. In verse 36, look here. Therefore, let all the house
of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus
whom he hath crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they
heard this, They were pricked in their heart and they said
unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what
shall we do? What shall we do? And Peter said
unto them, repent and be baptized. And this is what Peter is experiencing
back over here in Matthew 26, repentance. He's experiencing
the pain of repentance. And he says to this crowd, I
can tell you what to do. Here's a man who's experienced
it. I can tell you what to do. Repent. Sue for mercy. Go to Him. Repent and be baptized. That's how we confess Christ.
We confess Christ by following him in baptism. He said, he that
believes and is baptized shall be saved. It's submitting. It shows submission to his command. It shows identification to the
Lord Jesus Christ, wanting to be identified with him. Peter,
standing there by the fire, wouldn't be identified with him. But now
he says to these men, because he's experienced He says, 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. Now last of all, how was he restored? He denied the Lord. How was he
restored? First of all, by grace. By grace. Not working his way back into
the favor of God. by grace. He was restored by
grace. Secondly, he was restored by
God's Word. Peter remembered the Lord's Word. He remembered the Word. The Word
had effect on him. The Lord sent His Word in power
to Peter's heart. And that brought repentance.
That brought repentance. There is no repentance without
the Word of God working in the heart. There is none. No such thing. And then He restored
him with a look. Look over in Luke chapter 22. Luke 22 and verse 61. Look in verse 60. And Peter said,
Man, I know not what thou sayest, and immediately while he yet
spake the cock crew. And the Lord turned So Peter
is there. He sees what's going on. He sees
what's spitting, slapping, mocking. He sees all this. And the Lord
turned after that rooster crowed and He looked upon Peter. He did not look with anger. There was no anger in it. He turned and He looked upon
Peter. It was a look of pity. The Scripture
says, He remembers our frame. That is dust. It's dust. It was a look of love. Do you
know what can be said in a look? Parents have perfected this.
You can look at your child. My dad, I'm telling you. My dad,
you know, he pastored a church years ago. And I was just little
like these kids. And if I started acting up, it
was just a look. He didn't have to say a word.
One time he did, he called me down. Right there in front of
everybody. But most of the time, 99.9% of
the time, it was a look. It was a look. And I could tell
by that look whether I was in trouble or whether I was not
in trouble. If I got the look of trouble,
he had a memory like an elephant. Never forgot it. We could go
somewhere, eat with somebody, and come home six hours later.
And as soon as we got out of the car, cut that switch. Never forgot it. I could read
a look. And our Lord looked at Peter. And it was not a look of anger. I mean, it was a look of love,
of pity, It was a look of a loving father to his son, his fallen
son. It was like that prodigal son.
Remember when his father saw him far off and he ran and he
kissed him? The Lord looked at him with such
mercy, grace, pity, love. And when he looked, and I'll
tell you this, it was a piercing look. He looked right into the
heart. right into the soul of Peter. He looked right into his heart
and Peter felt the burn of it. He felt it. This is repentance.
This is true repentance right here. He felt it and he went
out and he wept. It says here, bitterly. Bitterly. I'm sure Peter went off to his
self. If he was on the other side of
this building, I bet you could hear him weeping. He just wept bitterly. It entered into his soul what
he had just done. He stood there three times. He
had three opportunities to confess Christ, to stand up for his Lord
like he said he would. And all three times, he denied
Him even to the point of cussing and swearing. Boy, you know that when the Lord
looked at him, He melted like wax in the sun. But it was a look of mercy, grace,
and love. That's what it was. And Peter
went out and he wept bitterly. Oh, the pain. The pain of true
repentance. It's not an easy matter. I think for the first time, the
Lord saved Peter. When he called him, he saved
him. When he called him, he saved him. But I think for the first
time, Peter really saw himself. I think he really got a real
view of himself and of the Lord's goodness to him. Because when the Lord rose from
the dead, He sent for His disciples and He said, and you tell Peter
also. He said, you tell Peter also.
You make it a special effort to tell Peter. And Peter's the one, when they're
sitting by that fire, he says, Peter, do you love me? Peter denied him three times,
and he gave Peter the opportunity to confess him three times in
love. Lord, you know I love you. You know all things. Even though I fall, Lord, You
know I love You. You know it. But the Lord allows
these things. He allows them to humble us,
to show us how weak we are, to show us our need of Him, and
to really make us fit for service. Paul was given a thorn in the
flesh. has to be lifted up with pride.