If you turn back with me again
to Mark chapter 14, let me say in way of introduction that by
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, the purpose of God, the
time had now come when the perfect Son of God would be delivered
into the hands of wicked men. And he'd be crucified and he'd
be slain for all the sins of all God's people throughout all
time. For this very purpose, God the
Son came into the world. And how faithful is that saying,
and worthy of acceptance are the words of the Apostle Paul
who said that Christ came into the world to save sinners. He came to save sinners. And
Paul adds, of whom I am chief. Now I believe that there may
be one thing that every believing child of God would probably never
agree upon, And you say, well, what could that be? I would say
that would be who's the chief of sinners. I would argue that
it was me, and you would say that it was you. And that may
be the one thing we'd never agree upon. Why, we live with ourselves. We know something of our own
hearts, the thoughts that go through our minds. And with Paul,
we say, oh, wretched man, oh, wretched woman that I am. We
don't know ourselves in the fullness that God does, but we know enough
to know what we are. Oh, what mercy it is for God
to show sinners their sin and their need of Christ. Our love
for Christ is inspired and it's stimulated by the forgiveness
of God. Now let's just for a moment enter
in our mind into Simon the Pharisee's house. You remember that story
well. Can you see her? There she is at the feet of Christ,
tears flowing from her eyes. washing his feet, kissing his
feet, drying his feet with the hairs of her head. Scripture
refers to her only as a woman in the city, which was a sinner. Can you see her there? Oh, I
can just see her. Then can you see the disgust?
upon the Pharisee named Simon, upon his face. Can you see the
disgust? And he said within himself, the
Scripture says, not out loud, this man, speaking of Christ,
if he was truly a prophet, he would have known who and what
kind of woman this is. This woman that touches him,
she is a sinner. She's a sinner. Oh, let me ask
you that no cry, aren't you glad that you're a sinner? You say,
well, that's a strange thing to say. Well, it's not when you
consider the fact that when we were yet without strength and
due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Aren't you glad that
God commended His love toward us in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us? Now, I hate my sin. I detest
it. Isaiah, when he saw the Lord
high and lifted up and saw something of himself, he said, woe is me,
I'm undone. And all of us, by God's grace,
who trust in Christ, who have been shown this wonderful revelation
of God, we say, woe is me, I'm undone. If I don't have Christ,
I'm going to perish. If I don't have a substitute
who paid the debt of sin for me, I'm in trouble. I'm in big
trouble. As you know from that story,
our Lord who knows the secret thoughts of all said to the Pharisees,
he said, Simon, I've got some what to say unto you. He said,
there's a certain creditor which had two debtors, two men that
owed him money. One of them owed 500 pence and
the other 50. He said, and both of them had
nothing to pay. Oh, doesn't that picture you
and I. We owe a great debt that we cannot pay. We don't have
the means, we don't have the way of paying the debt. And yet,
this gracious creditor is said to have frankly forgiven them
both. So he asks the Pharisee, he says,
tell me therefore, Simon, which of them will love that creditor
most? And I can see the self-righteous
Pharisee, as he swells up with pride and arrogance, say, I suppose
he to whom he forgave most." And the Lord said, you've judged
rightly. You're right, Simon. You're exactly right. The one
that the creditor forgave the most is going to love him most. And the scriptures say then at
that time the Lord turned to the woman, but he spoke to Simon.
And he said, Simon, you see this woman? You look at her. He said,
let me tell you something. I entered into your house and
you gave me no water for my feet, but she's washed my feet with
her tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head. You didn't
give me a kiss. That was a customary thing in
our Lord's day. It was a sign of honor and respect. But this woman, since the time
I got here, has not stopped kissing my feet. He said, you didn't
anoint my head with oil, but this woman hath anointed my feet
with ointment. Wherefore, I say unto you, in
other words, you better listen and listen good, Simon, her sins,
her sins which are many." Oh, isn't that a comfort to us who
are sins are so many? Her sins which are many are forgiven. For she loved much, but to whom
little is forgiven, the same loveth little." Now beloved,
her great love for Christ, we need to understand this, her
love for Christ was not the cause of her forgiveness. Her great
honor, her great respect and love of Christ was the effect. You see what I'm saying? We love
God because He first loved us. Now, I know that goes against
the popular belief of modern-day believism, but Christ did not
forgive us because we first decided to love Him. Sadly, that's what
the great majority of so-called preachers are preaching at this
very hour. They're telling people that God loves them because they've
made a choice, they've made a decision, they've exercised their will.
That would mean that undeserving, wretched, depraved sinners have
somehow merited earned or deserve salvation, and that cannot be. We're saved by grace through
faith, and that's not of ourselves. It's not of ourselves. It's the
gift of God. Not by works unless any man should
bow. Thank God He's been pleased to
show some of you here that salvation is the free gift of God in the
Lord Jesus Christ. When Christ, who is our salvation,
came unto Galilee, He came preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of
God. What were His words? The first words out of His mouth
were, repent and believe the Gospel. The salvation of our
souls, dear friends, has something to do with repenting and believing. So this morning, by the grace
of God, I want to speak to you a few minutes, if God enabled
me, about true repentance. True repentance. Here in Mark
chapter 14, as I said, we have a most familiar story. I pray
that you who are yet without Christ might see something of
true repentance. That you might see something
of genuine conviction. That you might see something
of the sorrow for sin. And believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ who was made to be sin for us that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. That's what I want you to see.
to those of you who know Christ. I pray that you will once again
be comforted by Him whom you have committed the safekeeping
of your soul." You know, it's the same message. It's the same
message that convicts the lost and comforts the saved. So again,
look at v. 72 of Mark 14 with me. And the
second time the cock crew Peter called to mind the word
that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt
deny me three times. And when he thought thereon,
he wept." When he thought thereon, he wept. You see, true repentance
is always the gift of God. and the work of the Holy Spirit
in the soul, men and women left to themselves will continue in
sin. Unless God divinely intervenes
in the life of a sinner, he'll never truly repent. He'll never
see his need of repentance. If a sinner turns from their
iniquity, dear friends, it'll always be God that turns them,
every time. That repentance which a man tries
to work in himself without the Spirit of God will every time
turn out to be a repentance that needs to be repented of. Yet
that godly sorrow for sin that the Holy Spirit works in the
hearts of men and women, let me tell you something, it's a
sure indication of spiritual life. And it's the cause of saving
faith. It's what causes a man to trust
in the Lord Jesus Christ as his only substitute and Savior. Now,
in most cases, if not every case, God uses something as a means
to cause us to think and ponder our sin, especially when He crosses
our path with the gospel. And I'm sure each of you can
think back on your conversion and remember a providential act
of the mercy and the grace of God that caused you to give serious
thought to your sin, to your rebellion, and to your disobedience. And this was the case with Peter.
And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus had said unto
him. And before the cock crow twice,
thou shalt deny me three times. Now the details of this sad story,
as I said, is very familiar to us. We've heard it many times.
We've read it with our own eyes. Yet in order that we may see
just in how many ways we've been like Peter, let us consider them
again this morning. Now Peter heard that rooster
crow the second time. He began to think that he had
actually done what Christ said he would do. As he thought thereon,
he began to weep." You see, that which seemed absolutely impossible
to Peter had been done three times. He had denied his Lord. He did not believe the Lord when
the Lord told him this was going to happen. Look at verse 27 of
chapter 14. You're still there with me, aren't
you? Verse 27, Jesus said unto them, All ye shall be offended
because of Me this night, this very night. For it is written,
I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. Look at verse 29 and 30, But
Peter said unto Him, Although all shall be offended, yet will
not I. And Jesus said unto him, Peter,
I'm telling you the truth. That this day, even this night,
before the cock crows twice, you're going to deny me three
different times. Look at verse 31. He spake the
more vehemently. He got angry. He said, if I should
die with you, I will not deny thee in any wise. And it wasn't
Peter only. Look at the next word. Likewise,
also said they all. We wouldn't deny you, Lord. There's
no way. Peter wasn't the only one that
denied the Lord. Likewise also said they all.
When Judas betrayed our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane and
the soldiers came with weapons to take him by force. The Scriptures
say in verse 50, look at that with me. In verse 50 it says,
And they all forsook him and fled. Every true child of God
knows that they would have done the same. I remember a man one
time who took such great pride that he had faithfully attended
Sunday school for almost 60 some years. Of course, it was a church
that didn't preach the Gospel. He didn't know the God of the
Bible. But he said one time, he said, If I'd have been there
the day that they crucified the Lord of glory, I would have stopped
them. No, you wouldn't have. Let me
tell you what a child of God will say. If I'd have been there
the day they crucified the Lord, I would have been shouting at
the top of my lungs with the rest of the throng of people,
crucify Him! Crucify Him! And you know in
your heart that's so, those of you that know Christ. Oh, it's
the grace and mercy of God. It's the goodness of God that
leads us to repentance. When Peter thought thereon, he
wept. All his self-confidence was swept
away. And this man among men, this
man that us men would call a man's man, and he wept like a small
child. True repentance, true sorrow
will flow from the heart and eyes of a true sinner whom God
has shown their sin. Now in Luke's account of this
same story, we're told that after Peter's third denial of his master,
it says, immediately the cock crew and the Lord turned and
looked upon Peter. Can you imagine how he must have
felt? The Lord had said, you're going to do this. Peter said,
there ain't no way. If they bring me with you and
they kill me alongside you, I'll never deny you. And he did it
three times. And the last time he did it,
he cursed. I don't know the blankety blank.
He got very verbal about it. And Peter looked upon his master,
and he must have thought upon the excellency of his Lord that
he had denied, oh, Peter. What have you done? You've denied
the most loving, the most lovely, the most tender, the most generous,
the most compassionate, the most self-denying, the most pure. To turn your back on such a gracious
and loving Lord as the Lord Jesus Christ? You remember the time
that our Lord told His followers, frankly, who He was. He said,
I am the bread of life. Many followed Him no more. And
He turned to His disciples and He said, will you lead me also?
And what did Peter say? Where else would we go? Thou
hast the words to eternal life. And the same man now betrays
Him three times. To deny such a Savior, you do
well to weep and cover your face in shame. He who is perfection
permitted you, Peter, to follow Him. You who are such a poor,
untrustworthy friend. How could you say, I'm not His
disciple? and say it three times so positively
and so plainly, I don't know the man. Just a short while ago,
it was your joy, it was your pleasure, your delight to humbly
follow in His footsteps and to call Him your Master and your
Lord. God's people won't pronounce
any judgment on Peter. No, we won't, for we know that
we are capable of the same or even worse, don't we? And when
we think they're on, we too weep and are ashamed. We know what
we are. God's revealed to us what we
are. We're wicked. We're depraved. Our hearts are
deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. We're capable
of the most horrific things. We are unfaithful. And in our
best state, David said, we're altogether vain. We're altogether
vanity. And we're taught of God to take
sides with Him against ourselves. That's what God's people do.
Like that woman that came to the Lord whose daughter was in
bad shape. He said, it's not right. It's not for me to give bread
unto dogs. She said, yea, Lord. That's what
I am. I'm a dog. I'm a dog. I know
what I am. I'm undeserving of your mercy.
I'm undeserving of your grace. But even the dogs get the crumbs
that fall from the Master's hand. Throw me but a crumb and my daughter
will be made whole. Just a crumb. Just a crumb of
grace. The child of God hates the sin
that so easily besets him. Peter must have remembered that
the Lord had favored him with such personal fellowship. Christ
took only three of his followers into the room where the daughter
of Jairus lay dead. Then upon the mountain of transfiguration,
when the glory of the Lord shined upon the Lord Jesus Christ, there
were only three disciples who were permitted to be there. Peter
was one of those that heard God's voice thunder from heaven saying,
this is my beloved Son, hear Him. In the garden of Gethsemane,
eight of the disciples were left to watch at the gate. And there
were three who accompanied the Savior within a stone throw of
where the Son of God agonized and suffered, and as it were,
sweat great drops of blood falling to the ground. And Peter, once
again, was one of the three. Do we wonder as he thought there
on these things that he wept? Is it any wonder that when our
Lord walked the path to Calvary's mountain, and a great company
of people and of women, the Scripture says, wept and mourned and lamented
for Him, that He turned to them and said, Oh, I speak to those of you who
are yet without Christ this morning. There is quickly coming a day
that if you remain Unrepentant you will say blessed are the
barren and the wombs that never bear and you'll pray that the
mountains fall on you and cover you because Terrible will be
that day of wrath and judgment No wonder the Apostle Paul wrote
knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade man God's
never begged anyone to believe. That's what men would have you
think. Me and the man upstairs, we've got a good thing going.
He's up there, he's wringing his hands, he's begging sinners
to just come home. No, sir, he's not. You've got
the wrong God. You've got a little G-God, not
the God of this Bible. God's never begged anyone to
believe on Him. But let me tell you right now,
I will. I'll beg you. Oh, He's not softly
and tenderly calling for sinners to give their hearts to Him.
I beg you, bow to Christ. Look and live. I beg and persuade
you to kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you perish from
the way. For blessed are they that put their trust in Him.
Oh, dear sinner, you've been warned. This was something that
must have been on Peter's mind as he thought thereon and wept. The Lord Jesus had said to Peter,
Simon, Simon, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift
you as wheat. But I prayed. Oh, when the Lord
prays for us, He said, I prayed for thee that thy faith fail
not. And He also said unto him, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, as we have read in this passage, that
this day, even this night, before that rooster crows two times,
you're going to deny Me three times." No warning could be more
clear, more straightforward, more direct than that. If a man
plunges into a ditch when he's been told where it is, or if
he puts his foot in a trap when it's been pointed out to him
where the trap is, he's without excuse. Those of you who still
remain indifferent to God's gospel have been warned. Why, even the
creation pronounces you inexcusable. Did you know that? You look at
the beauty of God's creation. You look at the stars in the
sky at night, the planets, and how all things are perfectly
revolving and held in the hands of God Almighty, for the invisible
things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen.
We see them very clearly being understood by things that are
made, even His eternal power in Godhead, so that they are
without excuse. Oh, how sobering is that thought! When you've been warned of your
weakness, and yet you remain in rebellion, you really double
the guilt of your offense because you've sinned against special
light. Oh, how I wish! I wish I had
the power to cause you to think on your life of sin. I wish I
had the power to cause you to repent, to change. But I don't. Only God does. But I'd have you
know this. The Lord, through the prophet
Ezekiel, said, As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure,
no pleasure at all in the death of the wicked. but that the wicked
turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil
ways, for why will you die? I ask you this morning, why will
you die? Why will you die, O house of Israel? Paul said in Romans
2, Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness, and forbearance,
and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God, as
I said a moment ago, leadeth thee to repentance? This sovereign
God of the Bible, who has mercy on whom He'll have mercy, He
who has compassion upon whom He has compassion. He says to
those that are lost and dead in their sins in Isaiah 1.18,
He said, Come now. Oh, how tender, how loving, how
compassionate. He said, Let us reason together,
saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be, what, as white as snow. Though they be red like
crimson, they shall be as wool. Oh, what mercy! Oh, what grace! The old hymn writer Joseph Hart
wrote, Let not conscience make you linger, not a fitness fondly
dream. All the fitness that he requires,
all that God requires of you, dear sinner, is to feel your
need of him. Do you feel your need of Him?
Do you see it? Do you know that without Him, you're going to
perish in eternal wrath and condemnation? Now, true repentance is to think
thereon on your state and condition before God and weep, as Peter
did. But I'll tell you this, true
repentance is much more than just weeping. It is to change. That's what the word repent means.
The word repentance basically means reversal. I found that
very interesting. Repentance is a change of mind.
It's a change of masters. And it's a change of motives.
Change of mind concerning ourselves in Christ. God's shown us what
we are and shown us who He is. And we see that we must have
Him. It's a change of masters. We are no longer our own master,
but Christ becomes our master. And it's a change of motives
from self-glory to the glory of God in Christ. Repentance
means to change. Now, let me begin wrapping this
up by having you look at verse 28 of our text in Mark 14. Now,
this is the Lord Himself speaking, knowing what all was to become
of Him. It was for this purpose that
He came. But after that I am risen. They're going to crucify
Me, they're going to lay Me in a tomb, but I'm going to rise
again. But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee."
Now turn over a couple pages to Mark chapter 16. I want you
to look at verse 5. And entering into the sepulcher
where they had laid the Lord Jesus, they saw a young man sitting
on the right side, clothed in a long white garment, and they
were Afraid and he said unto them be not afraid you seek Jesus
of Nazareth, which was crucified He's risen. He's not here behold
the place where they laid him and notice verse 7, but go your
way Tell his disciples and Peter." Tell His disciples and Peter,
that He goeth before you unto Galilee, just as He had promised. There shall you see Him as He
what said unto you. Now consider with me this. Had the angel of the Lord only
said, tell His disciples, Peter would have truly sighed. Because
of his denial of his Lord, he no longer saw himself as one
of them. Why, he had with his own words
said, I'm not his disciple. I don't know him. He had denied
him. But how gracious is the Lord. Tell his disciples and Peter. Be sure you tell Peter. You tell
Peter that I'm going to do what I said I'd do. Tell Peter to
be there. Tell him to be there. He had
disowned the Lord and he felt that he had deserved to be disowned
by Him. And these words, tell his disciples
and Peter would be most welcome for him for he was truly sorrowful
of his sin. Tell his disciples and Peter
that he goeth before you just as he promised. Brothers and
sisters, let us hold fast the profession of our faith without
wavering for he is faithful that promised. My salvation, I am
so glad my salvation doesn't depend upon my faithfulness.
Oh, I ought to be faithful. But how often are we not? He's
faithful, they promise. That's my hope. That's my confidence,
Linda. He's faithful. He promised that
I'd see Him again. And He's faithful. Oh, you go
tell your people, and you tell David. You tell old David Edmondson
who's denied me, who's turned his back on me, who hadn't believed
me. You tell him too! You tell God's
people, and you tell Eddie, and you tell Linda, and you tell
Christie, and you tell Sharon, and you tell Clarice, and Bill,
and Roe, and Perry. Tell them! Tell all who've repented
and believed that He goeth before you, and there you shall see. Now, let me take you to another
scene in closing. Can you see Peter now on the
seashore? Peter now stands before the Lord
that he denied three times, and he's asked by the same Lord three
times, Peter, lovest thou me? And Peter this time, with tears
of love and adoration, says with complete confidence, Lord, thou
knowest all things. You know everything. You knew
that I'd deny You, even though I didn't believe You. You told
me that Satan had desired to sift me as weed, but that You
prayed that my faith wouldn't fail me. And he sifted me, Lord. He would have me, but I came
through it because You prayed for me. You know I love You because
You know everything. That's where our confidence is.
He knows everything. You know that I love you. You know that I love you. Within
a short time of his great fall, his master gave Peter a work
to do. He said, feed my sheep. And that
same Peter, who had shamefully denied the Lord, was standing
up in Jerusalem, filled with the Holy Spirit, preaching to
the multitudes, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And thousands
were converted. And Peter's life ended by dying
for his Master, as Christ had foretold. that he would, by being
crucified, head downwards, unworthy to die in the same position as
the Lord who had forgiven him his great sin." It's the same
Lord that we're talking about, that spoke of in Nehemiah 9,
verse 17, that says, He stands ready to pardon. He stands ready
to pardon. He's a merciful God. His mercy
endures forever. He delights to show mercy. Come
to Christ. Come to Christ. He stands ready
to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness. May God enable you right now
to trust in Christ. Only He can. Only He can.