Let's take our Bibles now and
turn to Mark chapter 14. Mark chapter 14. I want to read verses 66 through the end of the chapter.
Mark chapter 14. Mark chapter 14, beginning with
verse 66. And as Peter was beneath in the
palace, there cometh one of the maids of the high priest. And when she saw Peter warming
himself, she looked upon him and said, and thou also was with
Jesus of Nazareth. But he denied, saying, I know
not, neither understand I what thou sayest. And he went out
into the porch and the cock crew. And a maid saw him again and
began to say to them that stood by, this is one of them. And
he denied it again, and a little after, they that stood by said
again to Peter, surely thou art one of them, for thou art a Galilean,
and thy speech agreeth thereto. But he began to curse and to
swear, saying, I know not this man of whom you speak. And the
second time, the cock crew. And Peter called to mind the
word that Jesus had said unto him before the cock crowed twice,
thou shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon,
he wept. Now the history of men in the
Bible, we're talking about God's inspired word. We don't have a lot of history
of men, but what history we have, even the best of men in the Bible
has very little to say to commend them. I think they had some things
that if I were here and I know some of you and that you just
really go out of your way to do certain things and I commend
you for it. I commend you for your generosity,
and so on. So there were things, naturally
speaking, men to men, that we might commend one another on.
A caring attitude, kindness, so on. But the Bible records
not so much the commendable things of men, but the very opposite. Scriptures are very detailed
as to the faults and falls of men. One writer said, the best
of men are only men at best. And I agree with that. We're
just men. We need to remind ourselves of
it often. We're just men. So why would
the Holy Ghost inspire all four gospel writers to record in detail
Peter's denial of Christ? I thought about this, he's writing
here, he's inspiring these gospel writers, he's inspiring them
to record the life, the birth, the life, the death, and the
resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's what these four gospels
are all about, they're recording these things. And right, we're
getting now right to the essential, point of his death. He's going
to the cross. He's under judgment. And right
in the middle of this, he records the fall of one of these great
men. Well, I believe, first of all,
he records these things because it's something that the very
best of men are going to do. The very best. Those ones that
we highly esteem. I asked Brother Mahan one time.
I held him as high as any man I've ever known. The Lord had
given him such a character and such a clear ability to teach
and preach the gospel, and I really respected him. I said to him
one time, having said some things in the pulpit that I wanted to
take back, I said, if you ever said anything in your past that
you'd like to go take back, he said, I said some things this
morning I'd like to take back. So even the best of men, even
the best of men, are just men at best. Catholic Church would
have us to believe that Peter was the infallible bishop of
Rome. That's how they portray him.
That's how they justify their potpourri and so on. They'd have
you believe that Peter was the first and infallible bishop of
Rome and when in fact he was just a frail, fallible, sinful
man. And I don't wish to take anything
away from this apostle. I'm not fit to carry his shoes. He was a great man. He was used
of God. He wrote several of the books
of the Bible. And I don't want to take anything
away from this apostle of Christ. But his whole life was full of
failures and faults. And God records them. He recorded
them. You remember the disciples were
told after his death to go to Jerusalem. He said, now, you
go to Jerusalem, and you stay put. You go there. You all go there. You sit there
in that room, and you stay put till you be endued with power
from on high. So they all went there. They
gathered in an upper room. The Bible said they continued
with one accord and prayer and supplications. Acts 1 verse 15. And in those days, Peter stood
up in the midst of the disciples and said, basically, that Judas
had to be replaced because the psalmist said his bishopric let
another take. So Peter took it upon himself
having read that psalm, to say, we need to get another fellow
to take his place. He wasn't told to do anything.
He was told to stay put and do nothing. That's what he was taught.
But Peter wasn't a sitting steel kind. And he stood up and he
said, this is what this psalmist is talking about. And he calls
all 120 that were gathered in that room to select and ordain
a man that the Lord had not chosen and afterward absolutely refused
to use. On another occasion, he was visiting
the church at Antioch, and quite a few of the Jews came down there,
and when Peter saw them, he withdrew himself from the Gentiles and
even took Paul's fellow preacher with him. Even he was drawn away
with Peter. And Paul was just sitting here
watching this thing. Peter was, well, he was right
in there with them eating pork chops or whatever they were eating,
you know, things offensive to Jews, but they were all in there
and he was right there with them. And then when he saw the bigwigs
from the main church come down, he just kinda, you know, went
over here to the side. And Paul's watching all this.
And these are people converted under Paul. These are people
he loved. And he withstood Peter to the face. My point is, he was a man. He held the highest office in
the church. Yet he was influenced by Satan
to deny the Lord. And the Lord told him that. He
told him this. Long before this happened, he
told him, he said, Satan hath desired to sift thee as wheat. Peter was a big man. He was a
bold man. He was a brave man. And he began to think, and he, you mean I'm gonna deny you? Though they all deny you, I won't.
Get thee behind me, Satan. Huh? He told him what he was
going to do, and he did it anyway. He did it anyway. The Holy Ghost tells us about
this because even the best of men are subject to do these things. And then secondly, He preserves
these things to show us that Every wit of our salvation is
by grace. By grace. We can't walk a single
second in pure righteousness. Not a single second. I can't
pray a prayer without I can't have a thought. I sit in my study,
and I study these precious things, and the Lord's given me these
things, and I'm writing them down. Sometimes I'll break the
lid out of the pencil. I'm trying to get it down before
it leaves, and I'm just writing these things, and writing these
things, and boom, out of nowhere. Awful thoughts. We can't go a second. without
him, not one second. We need him every second, every
minute, every hour, every day, saved by grace. Saved by grace. There's no other way to be saved.
No other way. God has to just give and give
and give and give. And he's showing us this. Salvation means just what it
says, we're being saved. We're being saved. A vital point
of that salvation began in eternity past as God made provision for
us in his son. That's where it began. He appointed
a divine mediator. He made on our behalf an eternal
covenant of grace, appointed for us a covenant surety to keep
that covenant. appointed for us a substitute
and redeemer, a high priest and king. And who in the fullness
of time, He came and accomplished our redemption, justified us
freely by His grace, and then ascended into glory where He
now intercedes for us continually. And then God saved us by the
precious gift of faith. He come to us at an appointed
time, an ordained time, and through his minister preached the gospel
to us, and we heard it and believed it. Why? Nobody else does. I preached that funeral up in
Pine Bluff Friday afternoon. And there was some girls gathered
there on a bench. And I was making some statements,
and when I made them, they just Yeah, doing that. And I said,
you might ask, well, why preach such a message as this at a funeral? Because I don't have anything
to comfort you or console you apart from this. If you're not
saved this way, you're not saved. Huh? Is that so? That's absolutely
so. We're being saved. And he came
and accomplished this for us. And then he gave us this precious
gift of faith. I don't know if you even think
about it, but what a precious gift this is. Just look around. Go down to Walmart. Go down to
Kroger's. Go anywhere, any store. Just
go out there and listen to men talk. Talk to any one of them. Walk up to a stranger on the
street. Start talking to them about it.
You'll find out in about 30 seconds what they believe. And it ain't
this. It ain't this. I'm telling you
this is a precious, precious thing when God sends his gospel
to you and enables you, makes you meet to be a partaker with
the enlightened saints. This is your inheritance. You
didn't earn it. You didn't bring it to to be,
it wasn't your agreement that gave it to you, it's his grace.
It's his grace. Saved us by this precious gift
of faith. By his spirit, we're born again. enlightened by the Holy Ghost.
I have not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man the things that God hath prepared for them that
love him, but he hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. We're being saved, Peter said,
and we're being saved according as his divine power hath given
unto us all things. that pertain unto life and godliness
through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory
and virtue. And then Peter said, we're kept
by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
at the last time. We're being saved. And there's real temptations,
there's real pitfalls, there's real dangers every day of our
lives. Don't take this for granted.
Peter just thought about himself and he thought about his strength
and he thought he knew himself. When a man thinks that he can
stand, what happens? Scripture said that's when you're
gonna fall. Peter thought he could stand. preserves these things. He preserves
these accounts to show us and assure us that salvation is all
by grace. And then thirdly, he records
these things to show us and warn us of the powerful working of
Satan in this world. He's powerful. Paul wrote Timothy
and said, he's able to take men captive at his will. At his will. anybody, anytime, that God doesn't
have heads to bow. He said of Job, he said, yeah, but Satan said, you got
him heads to bow. I can't touch him. You got him
heads to bow. And that's what he told Peter,
he said, You're gonna deny me three times. And he said, Satan
desired to shift you like wheat, but I prayed for you. Now listen,
that your faith fail not. You're gonna deny me three times.
And so he did. And then fourthly, he records
these things to show us our Lord's faithfulness and immutability
toward chosen sinners. It was his hand holding you.
That's what keeps the enemy from taking you away. It's not your
hand holding his, it's his hand holding yours. He said to the Jews, they said,
if thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. He said, I told you.
And you believe not, because you're not of my sheep. As I
told you, my sheep hear my voice. And I know them, and they follow
me. And I give unto them eternal
life. And none of them are ever gonna
perish. And no man gonna pull up them
out of my hand. Huh? It's not your hand in here. My soul, this little old hand
reaching up. We dwell in him. This universe
dwells in God. God's not floating around in
the universe. The universe is floating around in him. His hand holding us, Russell,
not ours. His. That's what keeps the enemy from
taking us away. And no man, he said, going to
pluck you out of my hand. And even if they could, no man
going to pluck you out of my father's hand. And I and my father
are one. He lets these things come to
pass to show us Who's holding who? Without doubt, he preserves
these things for us so that we can read them, so that we will
walk the walk of faith and humility, trusting in him and not trusting
in ourselves. Paul said, when I'm weak, when
I'm at my weakest, then that's where my strength is. because
God's gonna step in and I'm gonna see my true strength is Him.
It's Him, it ain't me, it's Him. When you gonna see that? When
you're at your weak point. Now this being said, there'll
probably be more like Peter than like Paul. I can constantly identify
better with Peter than I can with Paul. So let's look at Peter's recovery
and see if we can't rejoice in it. It is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit
of Christ, that moves within exactly when he needs to, exactly
when he needs to, and he leads us to repentance, a repentance
not to be repented of. When Peter was cursing by the
fire, he wasn't hurting very much, was he? No. And when the cock crowed
the first time, it was just another rooster singing his song. He
didn't think anything about it. But as he denied the Lord the
third time, and he heard the cock crow, he remembered what
the Lord told him. And as he thought on it, it broke
his heart. And he began to weep. He began
to weep. What pitiful creatures we are.
The scripture said man at his best state is altogether vanity. In the book of Job it said the
Lord, the heavens are not clean in his sight. The sun, the moon,
the stars, the heavens are not clean in his sight. And he putteth
no trust in his saints. How much trust does he put in?
None. He knows us, he knows what we're
made of. Man, that is the best state.
It's altogether vanity. When Peter was a big man, he
was able to draw in a fully loaded net full of fishes by himself. He was a brave man. Without hesitation,
he drew his sword in the middle of that lynch mob and swung,
trying to cut that servant of the high priest's head off, and
missed his neck and hit his ear. He was a brave man. He was a
man unafraid to speak his mind. He stood up many times and just
spoke his mind, right or wrong. But none of these things are
of any value to your soul. His grace alone is sufficient. I don't care how big you are,
I don't care how mean you are, how tough you are, how ready
you are, how willing you are. His grace alone. is sufficient. And let's look at the circumstances
just for a minute, leading up to his denial of Christ. It didn't
happen all at once. Happened in degrees. He first
disagreed with the Lord's assessment of him. The Lord said, you're
gonna deny me. Him pointing at the rest of them,
of course, they all were gonna deny him. They all were gonna
forsake him that night. He did tell them that. But he
told Peter, he said, you're going to deny me twice or three times
before the cock crows twice. You're going to deny me three
times. Peter just out and out didn't believe that. He said,
not me. How many times have you said
that to the Lord? Tells us to walk in humility. Well, not me. Tells you to go there. Not me. He was in immediate disagreement
with the Lord. He didn't think about it. Had
he thought about it, he wouldn't have done it. But he was impulsive,
and he just, he went with his heart and his mind, and he said,
no, they'll all deny you, but I'm not. He couldn't see himself
alone denying Christ. He saw himself to be the last
one after everybody else had done so. And then look at this, here's
another degree. He followed the Lord afar off,
so as not to be identified. Far off, where nobody could see
him. No association to what was taking place. And then when they took the Lord
into the chambers, the enemies of Christ, these servants that
had taken him, were all gathered around a little fire. Evidently
they had some kind of little pit or something there that they
built a fire in, and they all gathered around there. Peter
gathered around there with them. He's sitting down there warming
himself by the fire. It's cold. He's sitting there
just watching, see what's going on. What do you see in this, preacher?
Well, I see in this that it's easy to justify ourselves in
the wrong place at the wrong time. Well, my kids are going down
there to Baptist Church, and I want to encourage them to come,
not necessarily there, but I want to encourage them, so I'm gonna
go down there with them. Don't do that. Don't do that. Don't do that. You encourage
them to come where you are. When you go down there, you're
not going to influence them. They're going to influence you. Huh? Not just so. It's easy to sit in the seat
of the corners when the circumstances present themselves at the right
time. You'll give in. Every time, you'll
give in. Well, you might not if you think
about it. And that's why the Lord records
these things for us to learn. And very seldom do great men
fall all at once. Generally, it's little by little. And it's always because of compromise
and neglect. So if you put yourself into these
situations, you're gonna wind up being the one influenced,
not the ones that you're sitting with. And the Lord told Peter that
they all would be offended in him that night, but Peter didn't
believe that. He didn't believe that either.
He didn't base his thinking on the word of God or on what his
master was telling him, but on his fickle heart. I don't know
how many times I've said, if I know my heart, Well, you don't. That's the point. The heart is
deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know
it? You don't know your heart. He
does. If he tells you what you're gonna
do out of your heart, you better listen, because that's what you're
gonna do. If he tells you what you are, you better listen. Even if it goes sideways with
your heart, you better listen, because you don't know your heart.
He does. He does. The scripture said he's
a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. God is. He knows what you're going to
do before you do it. And he knows why. Peter's guilt when he heard the
cock crow was no doubt aggravated because it comes so soon. after
his public declaration of his loyalty. He just told the Lord
and everybody around, they will deny you, but not me. And now
here he is, denying the Lord. Oh. And I said all that to say
this, it doesn't take much for us to fall. All the Lord has
to do is leave us alone just for a minute. And from time to time, he may
do that. He may do that. He told his disciples, and here's why he does it. He
does it to show our absolute dependence on him. He told his
disciples, he said, without me, you can do nothing. Wow. Nothing, nothing. That ain't much, is it? Nothing. Oh. He said, I'm the vine. You're the branches. He that
abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much
fruit. Or, without me, you can do nothing. Another thing that may have aggravated
Peter's guilt was the fact that he was so near to the Lord when
he was suffering. And he was suffering for Him.
He was being tortured for Him. He was standing there in his
room, in his stead, before these judges. He was silent before
them for Peter's sake and for his elect's sake. And Peter was
standing down there, and when he denied and cursed the Lord,
he cursed. He said, I don't know the man.
I told you that, and the cock crowed. He began to think on
it, and in one of the other gospel narratives, it says this, the
Lord turned and looked at him. He looked at him, and Peter just
fell apart. He just fell apart. Peter fell, and many of us, as
he did, have fallen since. But Peter didn't perish. He denied the Lord, but the Lord
didn't deny him. You see, this is where it's at.
I'm telling you. You don't ever take your eyes
off of him. The minute you take your eyes off of him, you're
in trouble. You're in trouble. He denied the Lord. He said,
I don't know him. He even cursed and said, but the Lord didn't deny him. His faith grew weak, but it didn't
disappear. How did Christ retrieve his fallen
brother? With a look. With a look. I tell you, all he has to do
is have us to call to memory by his spirit what the Lord had
told us. And in our minds and in our hearts,
we see him looking at us. And it just breaks our heart.
Don't it? See, sin against law is one thing. Man, sin against law, he just
keeps on sinning against law. But when you sin against love,
it'll break your heart. And that's what Peter did. And
when the Lord looked at him, he knew it.