is found in Mark 14, verses 66
through 72. The paragraph before us records
the terrible, terrible denial of the Lord Jesus by his faithful,
faithful servant, the Apostle Peter. Let's begin reading at
verse 66. And as Peter was beneath in the
palace, there cometh one of the maids of the high priest. And
when she saw him warming himself, she looked upon him and said,
And thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth. But he denied and said, I know
not, neither understand what thou sayest." And when 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 of Galilee, and
thy speech agreeth thereto.' But he began to curse and to
swear, saying, I know not this man of whom thou speakest.' And
the second time the cock crew. And Peter called to mind the
word that Jesus said unto before the cock crowed twice, thou shalt
deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon,
he went." Such a solemn story as this,
I think, probably is best handled without any introduction, though
I have prepared a considerably lengthy introduction. Let me
just show you three things in this text of scripture and seek
to show you some lessons to be drawn from it. First, let's look
at the circumstances of Peter's fall. How did such a great man come
to commit such a horrible sin? We're not talking about a lost
man, we're not talking about a religious hypocrite, we're
not talking about an apostate. Our text is talking about a man
who is a child of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ, sanctified
by his Spirit, a man who is chosen of God, kept by his grace, a
saint, a genuine saint. In the tenor of his life, Peter
was a faithful giant among faithful giants. Very few before him or
after could stand shoulder to shoulder with this man. He was
a man strong in faith, firm in conviction, bold in preaching,
unrelenting in his zeal for Christ. This man was imminent even among
the apostles, a leader among leaders, an example among examples,
a preacher among preachers. But this man, great as he was,
was just a man. Like you and like me, he was
a man whose heart by nature was full of sin, whose flesh was
weak. On that dark, dark night in the
high priest's palace, this man's evil heart broke out in a terrible
display of ungodliness. He did something that is as horrible
and evil as any act I know of ever committed in the history
of the human race. Now I thought about that a long
time before I wrote it down. Peter's denial of the Lord Jesus
here is as horrible, as hideous, as ungodly, as vile, as reprehensible
as any act committed by any man in the history of humanity. The
godly apostle Peter blasphemously denied three times in the matter
of an hour the Son of God, and he did so with foul oaths. Now, when I read that, I want
to know how can we account for that. As we look at the circumstances
of Peter's fall, let me remind you that there are no extenuating
circumstances recorded to excuse or to in any way mitigate his
guilt. But everything recorded, and
it's recorded four times, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, all inspired
by the Spirit of God, record the details of Peter's fall. And there's not one single word
of mitigation in the text, not one. Those men were his friends,
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, his companions, his fellow servants. If we had been writing that,
if you were writing it about me or I were writing it about
one of my preacher friends and they had in some way messed up
somewhere, I'd do my best to try to mitigate the circumstances.
But you've got to understand. You've got to recognize the circumstances.
This is just out of character. But not one word is spoken to
in any way excuse Peter's guilt, because God the Holy Spirit deals
honestly with things. And this is God's word we're
reading. Peter's fall was a very strange thing, because this man
Peter was one of the Lord's most highly favored, most greatly
blessed. most richly honored disciples. The Lord had done so much for
Peter. He had done so much for him. Peter, if you read John chapter
1, verses 40 through 42, Peter was one of the very first in
this world to whom the Lord Jesus Christ came in human flesh and
made himself known as the Christ of God, the Son of the living
God. The Lord Jesus came to Andrew and showed himself to Andrew.
He was Simon Peter's brother. Andrew went home and said, Brother
Peter, let me tell you, I found the Christ. Peter said, Where
is he? And he went and showed him. And the Lord showed himself
to Peter as well. Peter was in the inner circle
of the Master's friends. I don't mean to suggest by any
way that there are some believers who are more and some believers
who are less accepted of God in Christ. But remember, our
Lord Jesus was a man. And as a man he walked in this
world with men, and there were men whose company he most intimately
enjoyed, other men whom he loved dearly, but their company as
men may not have been quite so pleasant to him. Peter was one
of those, along with James and John, who went everywhere with
the Master for three and a half years. Where he prayed, they
prayed. Where he ate, they ate. Where
he slept, they slept. Where he preached, they either
listened or they preached as well. The Lord Jesus made Peter
to be one of his most intimate companions, and he seems to have
been the chief spokesman for the early church. Now, I said
that because I want you to understand. The greater our privileges, the
higher our honors, the greater our responsibilities, and the
more horrible our offenses. You say, well, we don't want
to put anybody up on a pedestal. We're all up on some kind of
pedestal. And God put us there. God put us there. I just caught
Charlotte's eye. That little girl there, you're
her mother. And what you do, good or bad,
has a much more profound effect than what she does. I'm your
pastor. What I do, good or bad, has a
much more profound effect in many ways than what you do, because
God has put us in positions of responsibility. And the greater
our privileges, the greater our responsibilities, the greater
are our falls and the consequences of them. Peter's fall is especially
sad because he was plainly, faithfully warned of his great danger. We read in Luke 22 Now that our
Lord Jesus told Peter in the plainest terms possible exactly
what was going to happen to him, he even gave him the details.
Peter was told the danger he was in, and he was told what
he must do to preserve himself from the temptation. Satan, our
Lord said, desires to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. Your faith is about to be severely
attacked, Peter, and you must watch and pray that you enter
not into temptation. But Peter just stuck his fingers
in his ears. Isn't that amazing? Not too amazing. We do the same thing. He ignored the word of God. He
ignored the revelation of God's word. He ignored that which God
the Son spoke plainly, directly to him. Peter's guilt is aggravated also
by the fact that it came so soon after he had so confidently declared
his loyalty to, love for, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Turn over to Matthew's account in Matthew chapter 26. Matthew
26. Look at verse 31. Then Jesus saith unto them, All
of 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. But after I am risen again, I will go before
you into Galilee. And Peter answered," and this
is what They might sure enough do it. They might sure enough
do it. I've always been kind of suspicious
of them anyhow. They might sure enough deny you.
Though all, and notice the word men is in italics, that means
it's added by translators, and I think it was added by mistake.
He's saying, these, my companions, these other disciples, these
other apostles, Though they all shall be offended because of
you, yet will I never be offended. Nothing can cause me to forsake
you. Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night
before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me three times. And Peter
said unto him," Now, listen, the Lord said to Peter, this
is what's going to happen to you. And Peter said, You're mistaken.
You're wrong, buddy. He said, Should I die with thee? Yet will I not deny thee. In
Luke's gospel, Luke records these words. Peter said to him, Lord,
I'm ready. I'm ready to go with you both to prison and to death. And then just a few hours after
this proud, confident boast, we see Peter cussing, saying, I don't know that man.
I don't know him. Oh, Ron Wood, how fickle we are! How fickle! Peter's fall didn't come at once,
but by degrees. And I hope you're listening to
this Peter followed the Lord afar
off. I heard a story once about a
man who was seeking to hire a chauffeur. And when he called me and Ian
for an interview, he would take them out and have them drive.
And he said, I want to see how you drive. And he would take
them out along a terribly, terribly winding road in the mountains,
and no guardrails or anything, just real, real steep fall-off
And he said, I want to see how good a driver you are. And this
fellow would get in the car, and he'd start to drive, and
he'd get over just as close to the edge as he could, just as
close to the edge as he could, and drive around that road just
as close to the edge as he could get. And one after the other,
he'd get just as close to the edge as he could. It wanted to
impress him how good they could handle that car, and how good
they could handle the road. And finally he got a fellow in there,
and he was interviewing him, and he said, I want to take you out and see
how well you can drive. And that fellow got on that mountain
road, and he hugged up just as close to the side of the mountain
as he could hug up. Stayed just as tight as he could
stay. The fellow hired him. He said, I don't want to run
with anybody who plays dangerously. Children of God, don't play dangerously
with your souls. Hug up just as tight as you can
to the Son of God. Peter sat in the seat of scorners. I realize that somehow we've
got to recognize a clear line of distinction and responsibility.
We live in this world, we have sons and daughters and mothers
and fathers and brothers and sisters who are lost, husbands
and wives who are lost, We don't isolate ourselves from them.
We don't cut ourselves off from them. We don't live like hermits.
That's irresponsible, that's contrary to scripture. We must
never, never even entertain such thoughts. The idea of living
in convents or monasteries or in communes, that's totally foreign
to the scripture. Nothing but self-righteousness
involved in it. Yet at the same time, Bobby Estes,
you and I are fools if we choose for our companions our constant
friends, our intimate acquaintances, men and women who don't know
our God. You're just fools. You're asking for trouble. Peter
sought to comfort himself with the warmth of the fire that the
Lord's enemies had provided. And he denied the Lord Jesus
by degrees. At first, when the maid said,
He said, I don't understand you. What are you talking about? And
then another came, and he said, I don't know him. I don't know
that man. Now, this is what he said. This
is what he said. This is not written, just thrown in there,
written for a reason. He said, I don't know the man.
This same apostle who said, Thou art the Christ! The Son of the
Living God. Thou art the Son of God. Now, when the chips are down,
he said, I don't know that man. He's just what you said he was.
He's a man. He's a man. And another came along and said,
but your speech betrays you. You sound like one of his disciples.
He said, they saw you with him. I saw you there. They saw you
there. And besides that, your speech betrays you. He said,
well, I can fix that. And he begins to cuss like a sailor.
He said, I don't know him. I don't know him. He took the
language of a base, ungodly, vile man to prove that he was
no follower of the Holy Lamb of God. I said, well, that was
a great trial. Shoot. He's gone through more
than this many times. The fact is, Bob, it takes very,
very little to catch us trip us and bring us down, if God
just leaves us to ourselves for a minute. Peter was in the garden, facing
a band of Roman soldiers, and single-handedly he whips out
his sword and goes to war. That's bold. I wouldn't have been there. I'm
a scrapper, but I wouldn't have been there. I'd have been out
there somewhere way outnumbered. Let's get out of here. But Peter
boldly stands for Christ. Now, there's a little young girl,
a young woman. She seems to have no power, no
influence. The Word of God doesn't suggest
that she had any authority of any kind. She was just a servant
of the high priest. And she said, I saw you down
there." So it took. How come? Because the Lord purposefully
left Peter to stand alone for just a little bit. Because he's
determined. He's determined, one way or another,
we're going to find out what we're made of. One way or But generally, these falls don't
come suddenly. I've been pastoring for nearly
30 years, and I've seen a lot of people
fall. Fall horribly. Some fall into
utter apostasy, never to return. Some fall into some grievous
error, some sin, which they wallow for a long time, for which they
suffer. But I'll tell you what I have never seen. I've never
seen it happen, buddy, but what there weren't signs to indicate
this is where it's going. I've never seen it happen. Here's another great aggravation
of Peter's sin. All this time, the Lord Jesus is standing right
in front of him. bearing his reproach, beginning
to suffer in his stead, hearing every word. What was the reason for Peter's
fall? What happened to him? Hath he made count for his terrible
sin? Pride cometh before the fall,
and a haughty spirit before destruction. Now then, let me not leave it
there. Let me show you the means of
Peter's recovery. Peter fell, but he didn't perish. His faith weakened, but it didn't
die. He sinned, but he wasn't cast
off. He forsook Christ, but Christ
didn't forsake him. He denied the Lord, but the Lord
refused to deny him. You see, Peter belonged to Christ. And Christ can never lose one
of his own. The good shepherd can never lose
one of his sheep. Peter fell, but the Lord Jesus
graciously raised him up. As the wise man says in Proverbs
24, 16, the righteous fall seven times in a day, and the Lord
raises him up. The righteous fall seven times
in a day, that is, there is a completion about falling in us continually
every day, seven times a day, and the Lord continually raises
us up. How did the Lord Jesus raise
this fallen servant up? There are four things clearly
revealed in the gospel narratives. First, there was a work of providence. Oh, God's good providence. Oh, thank God for his good providence. Pastor, what's so evident here
about God's providence? There was a rooster crowed on
cue. On cue. You see, our God, when he's determined
to speak, when he's determined to make a man hear, The Lord
God can just as easily speak through an ass's mouth as speak
through a prophet's mouth. He can just as easily speak through
the crowing of a rooster as to speak through the words of an
apostle. Peter, now you're going to deny me, but before the rooster
crows the second time, before the sun rises and the rooster
crows the second time, You're going to deny me three times.
Looks like first time he heard that rooster crow, he'd have
just shook. Looks like he'd have just shivered. And then there's a work of grace.
Look at this. The scripture tells us in Luke
22, 61, the Lord turned and looked on Peter. Looked at him, skipped, like
I'm looking at you. not with eyes of scorn, not with eyes
of anger, not with eyes of disdain, but with eyes of tenderness, love, mercy. What a Savior He is. Silently
He spoke through His eyes. directly to Peter's heart. I
can almost hear him speak. He looked at him, he said, I
have loved you with everlasting love. He said, greater love has no
man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. He looked at him, he said, I'll
never leave you. I'll never forsake you. I am the Lord, I change
not, therefore you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed. Even I am he that plotteth out
thy transgressions." He said, Peter, I give you eternal life,
and you'll never perish. In me is thy righteousness found,
I have redeemed thee, so fear not, neither be afraid. I am
thy return unto me, return unto me,
and I will pardon." And then there's a work of the Word. A work of providence with the
crowing of the rooster, a work of grace with the look of the
Master. But God's work is always done in conjunction with his
Word. The Lord said to Peter, he said, this is what's going
to happen. And when the crop grew, Peter remembered the Word. He thought on the Word. But there
was more than that. There was also the work of our
Advocate. You remember what the Lord said
to Peter? We read it earlier. He said, Simon, Satan has desired
to have you that he may run you through his rough, rough seal.
Nevertheless, I have prayed for thee. He prayed for him. before he
fell. He's his great high priest, and
he prayed for him. Oh, children of God, listen to
me. The Lord of glory, the Son of
God, our great high priest, is our advocate in heaven. And if
any man sin, the scripture says, we have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. and he is the propitiation for
our sins. Oh, what security then is ours.
If you're a believer, if you're truly born of God, if truly you
trust the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm telling you something I want
you to hear. I want you to hear. If you just got a profession
of faith, if you're just a religious hypocrite, if you just, you know,
you got a You've got a name to wear, but it's not real. God
just may let you live forever until you die in your sins and
go to hell, presuming everything is all right with your soul.
But I want to tell you this. If you're his, if genuinely you're
born of God, he's going to keep you. Nothing will ever separate you
from his grace. Nothing will ever pry you from
his hand. Nothing will ever tear you from the heart of his love.
Nothing. Not even your sin. So you can't tell that to men.
I just did. I'd like to shout it from the
house to house. Not even your sin. Blessed is the man to whom
the Lord will not impute iniquity. So that'll cause men to just
want to live like hell. Only folks who are children of
hell. That's all. That's all. I can do what I want
to, the Lord won't deal with me, because he won't deal with
me with sin. I'll still stay in his grace.
I've got news for you. You listen to me. If that notion
is in you, your religion's a joke. It's a hoax of hell fixed in
your heart. That's just not the spirit of
Christ. Well, what are the signs of Peter's restoration? This
trial in this fall was no accident. Oh, no. Satan ran God's child through
his rough sifter, and a rough sifter it was. But Peter lost
nothing in the process but chaff. He came out on the other side
of this thing a better man than he was before. That's right. There's no accident. The Lord
God, our Savior, deliberately, according to his purpose of grace
in his sovereign providence, used the devil, the fiend of
hell, as a vessel to his own purpose, to accomplish his good
pleasure toward his apostle Peter. And Peter could never, I don't
hesitate for a moment to tell you this, Peter could never have
preached like he did on day Pentecost. He could never have spoken as
he did to the Sanhedrin in Acts chapter 4 if he hadn't been here
and experienced this. Oh, thank God for his absolute
overruling providence. Here are the evidences, the signs
of his restoration. Peter went out of the place.
As soon as grace had rekindled a fire in his soul, he didn't
need that fire which the high priest servants warmed themselves
by. He went out and wept bitterly. The word of God, the grace of
God, the providence of God, worked repentance in his heart. Let me ask you something. Do
you know anything about repentance? Really? Believers constantly
experience it. I have repented. I am repenting
and I shall repent. And except you repent, you shall
likewise perish. But what do we learn from all
this? Let's learn something about ourselves. Don't be presumptuous. We're all too much like Peter. We're all fickle, sinful wretches
by nature. So don't think too highly of
yourself. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed
lest he fall. Amen. Amen.