Let us open our Bibles today
to Mark chapter 14. Mark chapter 14 and verse 27. And Jesus saith unto them, All
ye shall be offended because of me this night. For it is written,
I will smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered. We've come now in studying through
the book of Mark to this place, this place in scripture which
records the fall and the conversion of Peter. You know when you look
at a systematic theology book or a body of divinity like John
Gill, the very first chapter usually, as far as I know, always
deals with the scriptures, the inspiration of the scriptures. The Apostle Paul said all scripture,
not most of it, but all scripture is given by inspiration of God
and is profitable, first for doctrine, for correction, for
reproof, and for instruction in righteousness, that the man
of God may be mature, thoroughly furnished unto all good works,
that the preacher may be furnished with the word of God, enabling
to teach those who listen, those who come to hear the scripture. But in the first chapter of most
theology books, which speak about the inspiration of the scripture,
there's a number of arguments given. Of course, the unity of
the scripture would be given that you have a book here that
was written over the space of, I think, 1500 years. I forget
how many authors, and yet it has one message. It has one message,
and that message is Christ. We know that the author has to
be the Holy Spirit. The inspiration of the scripture
simply means that it is God-inspired, God-breathed. And that's such
a blessing. All of us should be so appreciative
today, much more than probably we are, that we have God's word. in our hands, in our language,
that we can read what God has to say to man. Another argument
would be, of course, the fulfillment of prophecies. How many prophecies
in the Old Testament are fulfilled in the New Testament? To the
letter, exactly. And another argument that's usually
given is that the Word of God does not gloss over the sins,
the faults, and the failures of those who would normally be
called leading characters in the Word of God. For instance,
it records the drunkenness of Noah. Noah found grace in the
eyes of the Lord. He and his family alone were
saved in the flood, and yet When he came out of the ark, we know
he planted a vineyard and eventually was drunk from the wine. We think
about Abraham, how he prevaricated because of the fear of man and
told Pharaoh one time that Sarah was not his wife, but his sister.
And I know technically she was his sister, but that's not what
he was saying. He wanted Pharaoh to leave his
wife, or he was afraid for himself. And then we go on, Moses. Moses was guilty, we know, of
unbelief. He asked God, said, if you, you
know, if you open up the windows of heaven, can you supply this
great multitude with food, with flesh? God said, is there anything
too hard for me? Anything? Think about David,
and I guess of all these Old Testament characters, David is
the one that is most known and talked about because of his sin
of adultery with Bathsheba, which also led to him being involved
in the murder of her husband. And then we have Elijah. What
a man. facing off 950 false prophets,
and then running from one woman, Jezebel, fleeing for his life. And now we've come to the place,
and each one, it's important, I think, to point out that each
one of the gospel narratives, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
each one records the fall and the conversion of Peter. Now,
Peter, in all the list of the apostles, he's always the first
one named. So, the scriptures do not gloss
over his fall nor his conversion. And when I say conversion, you
know, a believer may be converted because Peter was a believer.
Believers have conversions. I know we have an initial conversion
when we are regenerated by the Spirit of God and turned to Christ. But as we go through life, we
fall, we make mistakes, no one is exempt, and we are converted. You say, how do you know he was
saved? Don't you believe he was saved and then he lost his salvation?
No, I don't believe that at all. I know he was saved because the
Lord Jesus Christ said, ìI prayed for thee that thy faith,î he
had faith, ìthat thy faith fail not, Peter.î Well, this morning
I want us to consider his fall, and really itís not to point
out his fault or his weakness really, but these things are
given unto us to teach us. And the first lesson I believe
they teach us is simply this, there's only been one sinless
man. One man who came into this world
without sin, lived through this world and died, and he never
himself personally committed one sin. Oh, he was charged with
sin, I understand that, the sins of his people, but he did not
die to pay for his own sins, he had none. He took upon him
the sins of his people. There's only been one man who's
lived in this world without sin. Another lesson it teaches us
is that Christ, when we say he's a savior, we believe this. We
believe, I believe, as the Apostle Paul said, this is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to do what? To save sinners. To save sinners. But I want us to look at three
points here. First of all, the weakness of
man. Now none of us, no men, Now,
men do not like to hear about our weakness. We'd rather hear
about our strength and our ability. But what we see here, of course,
is the weakness of Peter. And I have four things I want
to point out, the Lord willing, in this passage. First of all,
and let's read on, let's begin again in verse 27. And Jesus
saith unto them, all you shall be offended because of me this
night. For it is written, I will smite
the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. But after that
I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee. But Peter said
unto him, although all shall be offended, yet will not I. And Jesus saith unto him, Verily
I say unto thee, that this night, even in this night, before the
rooster crow three times, thou shalt deny me thrice. But he spake the more vehemently,
if I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise. Likewise also said they all. And then look down to verse 66. And as Peter was beneath in the
palace, Lord Jesus Christ had been arrested and brought into
the judgment hall, and Peter was allowed to go in there. 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 rooster crowed. 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 said unto him, before the cock crow thrice, twice rather,
thou shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon,
he wept. And then turn over to chapter
16, Mark chapter 16. And verses 6 and 7, this is the day of our
Lord's resurrection and the women out there to the tomb early in
the morning. And he that is an angel saith
unto them, be not afraid. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, which
was crucified. He is risen. He is not here. Behold the place where they laid
him. But go your way. Tell his disciples and Peter.
that he goeth before you into Galilee. There shall you see
him as he said unto you. Tell his disciples and Peter. First of all, the weakness of
man. I see four things here in Peter's
fall. First of all, his failure to
recognize the truthfulness of the scriptures. Notice again
in chapter 14 in verse 27, the Lord Jesus quoted to him a verse
of scripture. Jesus saith unto them and you
shall be offended because of me this night for it is written.
Now he's quoting a verse of scripture from the prophecy of Zechariah.
So here we have the living word the Lord Jesus Christ, he's the
living word, right? In the beginning was the word,
and the word was with God, and the word was God, and the word
became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory as
of the only begotten of the Father. We have the living word, the
Lord Jesus Christ, and he's quoting the written word. And Peter seems
not to recognize the truthfulness of the scripture. Peter said,
it's not so. It's not so, verse 29. But Peter
said unto him, although all shall be offended, yet will not I.
It's not so. I don't care what the Bible says.
I don't care what the word of God said. I don't care what verse
you quote. That's not going to happen. His failure to recognize the
truthfulness of the word of God. We must always remember when
we read the scriptures that this is God's word. This is the word
of him who cannot change, who cannot lie. This is the truth
and it is recorded for us or written for our admonition, for
our learning. This kind of reminds me of another
Old Testament man by the name of Haziel. Haziel was to be the
king of Syria. And Elisha, the prophet of God,
was to anoint him to be the king of Syria. And he did anoint him,
and when Elisha anointed him, he fixed his glaze on this man,
and he began to weep. He began to weep. And Haziel
said, what's going on here? What's happening here? Why are
you weeping? Why are you looking at me so
intensely and tears are flowing out of your eyes? And Elisha responded, I know
the evil that thou will do to the children of Israel. I know
the evil. You're going to be king of Syria,
and you're going to attack the nation of Israel, and I know
the evil that you're going to do, the atrocities that you're
going to commit. You're going to slay infants.
You're not going to spare any. You're going to slay infants,
and you're going to take pregnant women and rip them apart, rip
their babies out of their bodies. You know what Hazel said? He
said, am I a dog? Is that what you think of me?
Am I a dog? A person who would do something
like that? Am I a dog that he should do
this great thing? But he did. The scriptures reveal
he did exactly what Elisha told him he was going to do. Our Lord
said the scriptures cannot be broken. The scriptures are a unit, aren't
they? They all go together. And one of the problems sometimes
people have, they take a scripture over here and a scripture over
here and they come up with something that's certainly not the teaching
of the Word of God. There's an analogy of faith. We recognize that. In Isaiah chapter 55 in verse
11, the Lord told Isaiah this wonderful truth about his word.
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall
not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which
I please. It shall accomplish that which
I please, and the thing whereto I sent it. The Lord Jesus Christ
said, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall
not pass away. One of the repercussions, I believe,
that we see in our country today, the wickedness and the evil multiplying
is because men, and yes, preachers, and this didn't happen yesterday,
it happened over a period of time, but men who claim to be
representatives of God have turned their backs upon the written
word of God, as though man knows more than God, as though man
is more intelligent and smarter and knows more than God knows. No, our Lord said heaven and
earth will pass away before my words pass away. And I would just say this to
all of us here today, we never, ever outgrow the Word of God. You say, well, that's for the
children and Sundays. No, that's for all of us. Day by day, we never outgrow
the need of the Word of God. A second thing that I see here
is Peter's failure to recognize the power of Satan. And I say
this because in Luke's account of this same incident, the Lord
told Peter, Satan hath desired to have you that he might sift
you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee that
thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted, That's the
reason I said Peter's fall and conversion. Our Lord told Peter,
when thou are converted, strengthen thy brethren. Now, it is true
that Satan is a mighty being. He's not all powerful, we know
that. And we know that he cannot possess
a child of God. He can a lost person. The scripture
says they are taken captive by him at his will. And the scripture tells us in
Ephesians 2 that we all walked according to the course of this
world under the power, the dominion, the leadership of Satan. But
when a person is saved by the grace of God, we're delivered
out from under that possibility because now the Holy Spirit comes
to live in us. And greater is he that is in
you than he that is in the world. Satan cannot possess a believer,
but he sure can harass a believer if, now listen, if God gives
him permission. One of the reasons we have the
book of Job in the Bible is to show us, isn't it, that Satan
cannot touch a child of God or anything that the child of God
possesses without God's permission. I was on a plane several years
ago going to preach. in Montana, I believe it was,
and this man sitting next to me, he had the strangest idea
of what the book of Job was talking about. And he put it out like
it was a contest, a contest between God and Satan. I said, there's
no contest between God and Satan. There never is a contest. There
never is a question who's going to win. When it's between Satan
and God, Satan is God's creature. God has all power. Satan only
has the power that God lends him or gives him. But Satan is
a powerful being. And we should not forget that
the New Testament epistles For instance, the Apostle Paul, he
warns, and he's warning believers here, not lost people, but he's
warning believers against the wiles, the wiles of the devil. He's very sly, very sly, very
deceptive. And not only that, but he tells
us, Paul does it, these fiery darts of Satan. I know that There's
different thoughts on that, but I've always believed that these
fiery darts are thoughts that just come into your head out
of seemingly nowhere, and sometimes blasphemous thoughts. Sometimes
even when you're praying and calling upon God, some awful
thought will come into your mind. the fiery darts of Satan. And he speaks about the snare
of the devil, the tricks, the traps that he's able to lay. What's that proverb tell us?
That a net spread in the side of a bird's not going to catch
any birds? No, the net's not spread in the
side of the bird. The hunter, the fowler, he spreads
that net out of the sight of the bird. So when the bird comes
along, he's caught in the net. Well, I'm thankful this morning
that our Lord is praying for us. Aren't you? We do live in
a dangerous world. We have a great enemy, there's
no question about it, but I tell you what, we've got a great savior
and a great advocate with the Father who ever lives to make
intercession for us. I could give you some examples
of how the Lord in his providence has delivered various believers
that I have known over the world when Satan had laid a snare,
a trap for them, and how that God in his providence delivered
them. Amazing. Remember in that book
by John Flavel, The Mystery of Providence, that one believer
was running from those who would who would take his life, this
is back during the Reformation, and he climbed into an oven,
he got into an oven, and here comes the persecutors. Here comes
a spider. Here comes a spider that weaves
his net over the entrance to that oven. And so when they got
there, they don't investigate. They don't look in. Well, he
couldn't be in there. He'd have to break that web to
get in there. We serve a great God, don't we?
He's able to, and all of creation is at his disposal, all creation. Another thing I see here is Peter's
failure to recognize that pride goes before a fall. Pride goeth before destruction
and a haughty spirit before a fall. In Matthew's account and here
in Mark also, Peter says though all men, these other guys over
here, James and John and Philip, Thomas. Now, maybe you can't
count on them, but I tell you what, I'm not going to deny you. I'll go even to death with you. What pride. You know, man at
his best state is altogether vanity. That's what the scripture
said. And all of us, I think, are like
Jacob said about his oldest son, Reuben, he's as weak as water.
And the right situation, the right situation. And the fourth
thing, Peter's failure to recognize the bad influence of evil company. He goes into this judgment hall,
and he is there with the enemies of Christ, really, warming himself
at their fire. Proverbs 13 says, he that walketh
with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall
be destroyed. You don't have control over who
you work with. You don't do the hiring and firing
that's your company. And you don't have a whole lot
of control over the people you do business with when you go
to the grocery store or something like that. But listen, all of
us have control over the free time that we spend with others. And evil companions, the scripture
says, perverts, evil communications, which means evil companions,
corrupt good manners. Well, let's go on to the second
point, God's grace. Now I said four things that I
can see there about Peter's fall. Here's four things that I see
about the grace of God in Peter's conversion. First of all, the
Lord Jesus looked on him with a look of grace. In our text
here, in Mark's gospel, in verse 72, it tells us And Peter called to mind the
word that Jesus said unto him. But Luke tells us the Lord looked
on Peter. Can you imagine that? Here he's
just denied his Lord. He loved Christ. I don't question
that, do you? He loved the Lord. One time he
said, we've left everything to follow you. He left his fishing
boats and the way he'd made a living all of his life. I believe he
loved Christ. When the Lord turned and looked
on him, Peter remembered that word. And the scripture says
that he began to weep, and he wept bitterly. Now, tears are
not necessarily A sign of repentance, but many times repentance is
accompanied with tears. There's no doubt about that.
It's a display of godly sorrow. Some people can cry and go to
a movie and see some sad story and come out weeping. Tears are
not proof of repentance. I understand that. But I do believe
that many times when God grants repentance and it is something
he grants, he gives. that repentance is accompanied
with tears. The second thing, Peter was singled
out by God's grace. We read that in Mark chapter
16. I tried to point that out when the angels told the women,
go and tell my disciples and Peter. Why was he singled out? He didn't say, go and tell my
disciples and John and my disciples and Thomas. No, tell my disciples
and Peter. Don't you imagine, don't you
just imagine that Peter over those three days had thought,
that's over with me. I've blown it. It's all over
now. Oh no, it's not. You go tell
my disciples and Peter that I will appear to them in Galilee. A
third thing, of all the disciples who are named, now on the day
of Pentecost, the scripture does tell us that with Peter stood
up all the other disciples. But it was Peter, as far as we
know, God used that day on the day of Pentecost to cast that
gospel net, and 3,000 souls were brought in. That's grace, isn't
it? God would use you, use me, in
the conversion of any sinner. What a blessing. What a blessing. And then fourth, Peter was the
man that God used to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, and he
tells us that. He said, God made choice among
us, talking to the believers, that by my mouth the Gentiles
might hear the gospel. That's when he went into the
house of Cornelius. Now, I want you to go with me
in conclusion, almost, to 1 Peter, if you will, 1 Peter. Now, Peter wrote this letter,
of course, years later. And I want us to think about
those four things that I pointed out that we can see in his failure,
his fall. And the first one I mentioned
was to recognize the importance of the Word of God. But notice
now in his first chapter of 1 Peter, verse 22, he's writing. And he
writes, seeing you have purified your souls and obeying the truth
through the spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that
you love one another with a pure heart fervently, being born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word
of God, which liveth and abideth forever. Seems to me now is,
His understanding of the importance of the word of God is a little
bit different. The word of God lives and it
abides forever. Second thing, if you're looking
in chapter five, first Peter chapter five, I mentioned that he failed to
recognize the power of Satan. Here he's writing in chapter
5, verse 8, he says, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary
the devil has a roaring lion walking about, seeking whom he
may devour, whom resists steadfast in the faith, knowing that the
same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in
the world. And then a third thing again
in chapter five of first Peter, this this matter of pride. Pride
is a wicked sin. And I think it was Augustine
said pride is a flower that can grow on a dunghill. Let that
sink in. Pride is a flower that can grow
on a dunghill. That's a sin that has all sin,
but especially we should be on our watch and mortify as soon
as we see it in our lives. Don't you want to be able always
to say, I am what I am by the grace of God. That's the
only thing. If I'm made to differ, Not because
of anything good in me. I am what I am by the grace of
God. Verses five and six. Likewise,
you younger. And he's writing to especially
preachers and preachers are given to pride. You know, that's one
of the requirements that Paul mentions about ordaining man
to the ministry, not a novice, lest he be lifted up with pride
and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Likewise, you younger,
submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one
to another, and be clothed with humility. For God resisteth the
proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore
under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due
time. And one last thing, chapter four,
1 Peter chapter four. Failure to recognize the bad
influence that evil company may have upon us. Chapter four, Peter
tells these believers, verse three, for the time past of our
life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles. When
we walked in lasciviousness, lust, excessive wine, revelings,
banquets, and abominable idolatries, That's the way we lived in time
past, Peter says. And that was sufficient. That
was sufficient. In other words, we don't need
to live that way anymore. We don't want to live that way
anymore. Now, those people with whom you
accompanied and spent time with, they think it's strange. They
think you are an oddball. They think you are a speckled
chicken, speckled chicken, different. And they should. And they should. Wherein they think it's strange.
Something happened to you. Something about you is different.
That you run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking
evil of you. I pray that the Lord would bless
this word, make it a message. You know, I don't want to want
to just preach sermons. I want to preach messages. I
want to come into this pulpit with a message. That's my prayer,
a message for all of us. I pray the Lord will bless this
message to us and help us. We're going to sing hymn number
509. We'll be dismissed in prayer. Number 509.