In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the moment when Peter denies knowing Jesus three times. He highlights the gravity and persistence of Peter's denial, which includes swearing and cursing. The preacher emphasizes that Peter's denial was not due to cowardice, but rather a lack of understanding and recognition of his own weakness. Jesus uses Peter's sin to teach him the lesson that without God's grace, he is playing with fire. The preacher also warns the audience that Satan is still active and seeking to devour believers, just as he desired to sift Peter like wheat.

Please be seated. Now will you kindly turn with me to the Gospel recorded by St. Mark and to the passage that was read earlier in the service. In chapter 14, particularly looking at verses 66 to 72. This is the passage that describes the disowning of his lord by Simon Peter. And it is doubtless a familiar passage to most of us. And for that reason alone we need special grace as we come to meditate upon it this morning. Inwardly then in our hearts let us be asking the Lord to direct the thrust of this toward each of our hearts and lives that we may know its application to ourselves as well as understand what it meant here to Simon Peter. Now the whole passage here revolves around, in the first place, the identification of Simon as a disciple of Jesus Christ. You remember that by this time we have moved away from Gethsemane into the hall of the high priest. And Simon Peter along with one other disciple have followed in the train of that group who arrested Jesus and took him there. First of all to Annas, then to Caiaphas. Now as the night was cold and people were a little edgy, it was necessary to have some way, some means whereby they could be kept warm. And in the courtyard probably there was lit a fire, a fire of charcoal. And there in that setting Simon Peter was almost if not completely identified as a follower of Jesus. Identified in an alien atmosphere where he didn't want to be identified as such. And the whole record, the whole passage revolves around this. The identification of Simon as a follower of Jesus Christ. Before we come to it, may I ask you this very pertinent question. Have you ever been identified in an alien atmosphere as a follower of Jesus Christ? It's not a very comforting question. You have stood in alien settings too. You have been in awkward places too. But has there been a strange man or woman that's come up to you and said, ah, you're a follower of Jesus Christ with a little streak of cynicism. Simon was identified three times over in measure at any rate. Partly there was no real certainty about it, but he was almost entirely, almost completely identified as a disciple of Jesus. Now you see that this identification took place on three different levels. The first is very general. Mark 14, 66 and 67. While Peter was below in the courtyard, it seemed that the hall of the high priest was elevated a little, perhaps at the end of the courtyard. And Peter was down around this coal fire, this charcoal fire. While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came by. When she saw Peter warming himself, that is, saw him in the glow of the fire, she looked closely at him. You also were with a Nazarene Jesus, she said. Now, you remember that when John, who was the other disciple who went into the high priest's courtyard, when John arrived, he found that there was a young girl doing the work of a porter. John knew her. Now, don't ask us to explain why. I don't think the Scriptures tell us. But John knew this young girl, and this young girl knew John, and John slipped in quite happily. A few moments later, John looked back, and he saw his old mate, Simon Peter, still outside, either refused entry or afraid to come in, I can't tell you. John, thinking of his mate, immediately went to the young girl who was a porteress and said, let my chum come in, and he passed in. Now, if we are right in putting two and two together, just a little time later, that same girl, seeing Simon's face in the glow of the fire, and knowing that John was a disciple of Jesus, turns to him and says, ah, it's not only John, but you too, you too, eh? You're one of his followers. Now, she wasn't sure, but she had a hunch, and she expressed it. And it made Simon, as we shall see in a moment, most uncomfortable at that moment to be associated with the one who is being arraigned before the highest ecclesiastical court, and whose life is in the balances. Then the second point, or the second way in which he was identified is brought out very clearly by John, in chapter 18 and verse 26. Let me read. One of the high priest's servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, didn't I see you with him in the olive grove? Now, you see, we're moving on a little bit. This is more definite. It had been a real exciting moment in the garden of Gethsemane when quick-tempered Simon got hold of his spear, and do you remember what happened? The man lost his ear. E-A-R. He lost his ear. But the blessed Savior, in a moment, replaced it and healed the wound. This man, who's now talking to Simon Peter, was a relative of the man who lost his ear, and had it replaced. And he looks at Peter again in the glow of the fire, and he says, haven't I seen you somewhere before? Weren't you in the garden with him? Now again, you see, he wasn't sure. And we can understand why he wasn't sure. It was dark. And in the shade of the groves, it was impossible to see distinctly. And in any case, his eyes would not have been on Simon Peter so much as on the one who healed what had happened in the twinkling of an eye. Peter took little time to get rid of the ear. The time was taken, if anywhere, in replacing that ear. So that this man's eyes would have been concentrated more upon the Lord Jesus' act of healing than upon Simon's quick action of dismembering his kinsman's ear. So you see, he's not sure either, but he's almost. He said, haven't I seen your face somewhere before? Weren't you in the garden with him? The paschal moon was blazing. It was blazing in full force. And so it was possible to see, but there were shadows, and he wasn't sure. And then we come to the next. Luke gives us the best picture of that, I believe. Luke 22 and verse 59. About an hour later. Luke is very accurate with timing. About an hour later, another asserted, certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean. This identification of Peter as a follower of Jesus was made on the basis of their common Galilean accent. See, there was such a difference between the accent of the Galileans in the north and the Judeans in the south. The other day I was shaking hands with folk leaving from the morning service here, and I was greeted with a lovely Highland, Scots Highland accent, and it sounded so beautiful. Two or three behind, I'm sure, the good man who shook my hand hadn't long been out of East London, and he was almost a pure Cockney. They made such a contrast. I'm not telling you which was the best, of course, but they made such a contrast, and they all live in the little few islands over there comprising the United Kingdom. Now, I'm not saying that the contrast was quite as great in this situation. It wasn't. That's exaggerated. But it was definite. It was certain. It was clear, and if you lived in the country, you'd have recognized it anywhere. Your speech betrays you, says one of the other Gospels, of course. You've been living in Galilee, and you speak the same accent as Jesus, and therefore there aren't many of you around here just now. They linked him. The identification of Simon as a follower. Now, it all begins there, and you notice it isn't foolproof. It isn't conclusive. So really, had Simon been composed and had his wits about him, there really was no need for him to have got all this excited, because the case is not clear yet. But you see, Simon was agitated for many, many reasons. We can't go into them all this morning, and so we come to look at what I'm going to speak of next as the reaction of a traitor. Now, I take no pleasure in saying that. I want to assure you of that. And I don't think any of us should take any pleasure in speaking of one of the greatest, if not the greatest of the twelve, as a traitor. A traitor is one who betrays his trust. And the fact of the matter is this. Minimize it if you like. You can't ultimately get away from the fact that Simon Peter here betrayed the trust placed in him by our Lord Jesus Christ. And the immensity of that betrayal is brought out by a number of issues. First of all, it is brought out on account of the privileged position which Simon had enjoyed in the company of Jesus. Simon was not an ordinary, distant disciple. In the first place, Simon had been called to be one of the twelve. And we may miss the privilege of that. May the Lord enable us to recapture a sense of the glory of it, to have been one of the twelve apostles who accompanied our Lord for three to three and a half years, watched Him, saw Him at close quarters, heard Him pray, sat at His feet, saw Him die and rise again from the dead, and were commissioned by Him to be the heralds of His gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth. I say to you, this is privilege indeed. Simon was one of the twelve, and there were only twelve. More than that, Simon was one of the three from among the twelve who, on a few precious, a few special occasions, sacred occasions, Jesus chose to go away and apart with him for something that was unusual. You remember, for example, on the Mount of Transfiguration. I don't need to go into the details. But He chose three, Peter, James and John, to go with Him to that place and to see for themselves something of the glory that had always been resident in His soul, now irradiated through His physical body. Simon saw that. Simon was one of the three. But just recently, Simon along with the same two, James and John, had been with Jesus in Gethsemane. All the others were there, but the others were somewhere near the entrance to the grove. Jesus told them to stay there. Peter, Judas apart. He's already gone. And Jesus took the three with Him further on into the garden and had them watch with Him a while. And they apparently were within the range of His voice and they could see what was happening. He went still a little further ahead, but they were there. They were closer to Him. Peter had been identified as a foundation, the foundation member of the Christian church, in the sense in which no one else can be thus identified. Jesus said to him in Caesarea Philippi, following His epical confession of faith, Jesus said, Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by My Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it or prevail against it. Simon Peter was the foundation member. Jesus said to him, It's upon a faith like yours that I'm going to build the whole of My church, and that church will be such a mighty, militant power in the world that the very gates of Hades shall not withstand it. Moreover, and I have no time to dwell with these, but I must add this, the same Simon was the first to be given what we normally refer to as the power of the keys. That power was given to the whole twelve a little later on in chapter 18. But in this same chapter 16, Simon was told, I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. And Simon used the power of the keys to introduce men into the kingdom of God. Now, you add these up and you come to some amazing conclusion concerning the high privileges of this man. We're not talking about a young stripling that has only made a profession of faith yesterday and is just one of the multitude. Here is Simon Peter. Here is the highly privileged Simon. I have heard people comparing Peter with Judas and asking which is the most tragic. And you know, some things perhaps we shouldn't try, we shouldn't attempt to study or explain. I don't know that we ought to do what some people are trying to do in this context. But let me say one thing. Judas' fall took him deeper into the abysmal depths of outer darkness than Peter fell. But Peter's fall was from a higher elevation altogether. Peter fell from a place of prominence and preeminence among the twelve. He was one of the three, if not the leader of the three as well as of the twelve. The privileged position Peter occupied. But now that brings us right into the teeth of the main thrust of this passage. The persistency and the vehemence with which Peter denied his Lord. Take the accumulated testimony of the four Gospels and you have a graphic portrayal of what took place. And we need them, by the way, to supplement each other. Sorry. Will you look at the first challenge that came to Peter and how he met it? The first challenge, which we've already referred to, concerning his relation to Jesus, Peter rebutted with the assertion that it made no rational sense. Mark 14, verses 66-68. While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came by and she saw Peter warming himself and looked closely at him. You also were with that Nazarene Jesus, she said. But he denied it. I don't know or understand what you're talking about, he said. Now, there you have a man who is taken suddenly, unaware, he wasn't expecting this. Suddenly this girl comes upon him and she just throws out the question, Surely you were, and yet there's no certainty about it. But Peter is evidently taken aback, but he's set on his course. And this is the point I want you to notice. It is inexplicable, but it is as tragic as it is inexplicable. Peter seemed already all set on the downhill course toward outright denial, even at that point. He was clearly unnerved, even though by nature he was not a coward. I think it is necessary for us to see that, and to remember that Peter was not a coward. You can call him anything, but you can't call Peter a coward. On the night, for example, when Jesus saw the disciples in a storm, caught in a storm, and they were about to lose all hope of ever getting to land again, you remember Jesus walked on the waves to come to them. It was dark and they didn't quite recognize him. You remember Simon Peter blurting out, only a man with courage would do this, Lord, he says, if it really is you, bid me come to you on the water. And when Jesus said, Come, Peter was out of the boat like a shark. And he was walking towards his Lord. Now, only a man of courage would do that. But, not to go after other illustrations, take this most recent in the Garden of Gethsemane. We're not justifying Peter's action, but let it be noted that he was the only one among the whole group who was prepared to put up a battle for his Lord's life. And he was foolish enough to put his hand to his spear and to start a fight, though he was single-handed. But the point is, you see, he didn't lack courage. That's what I'm getting at. Not justifying him, but he didn't lack courage. He was willing to do anything at that point. And then I noticed this too, and it's staggering, I can't explain it. Having got into the courtyard and this young girl having come on to him and said, weren't you one of his, one of his followers? Peter didn't make for the door. Peter didn't go backwards. Peter didn't strike retreat and run away. Couldn't he? Was the gate locked? I don't know. But it's very significant, it seems to me, that Peter didn't run away at that point. And yet, you see, this is the problem. He was determined from the word go to say that he did not know what the girl was talking about. In other words, he says, it just doesn't make sense. It's so new to me. It's so out of this world that you associate me with him. There's no sense to it. The second time he was challenged about his association with Jesus, he was equally adamant in his denial. This time, perhaps, he didn't use as many words. It was a case of overkill in the first, in relation to the first charge. But he added something very significantly the second time. It sounds like a case of sheer determination to let these people know, as he would say, that he does not belong to Jesus. Matthew puts it very, very strikingly in chapter 26 and verse 72. He denied it again, says Matthew, with an oath. With an oath. I don't know the man. Jesus. He doesn't know Jesus. Peter says he doesn't know Jesus. One of the three that was with him on the mount. One of the three that was with him in the garden. Peter, to whom Jesus said, upon this rock I will build my church. I don't know him, says Peter, with an oath. Now there is cunning here. And I am only bringing it out because, my friends, I am quite sure of this, that if you and I examine our own hearts, we find that there is cunning very often employed. Cunning, cunning to get away from our Christian responsibility. Cunning in order to avoid the challenge of the cross and of the Christ. It is here in Peter. You notice what he does. He doesn't simply repeat, I don't know the man, but he uses an oath. He thus attempts to put folk off the scent of truth by a mode of speech that was recognizably unlike that of Jesus and his following. And thereby to show that there was no moral affinity whatsoever between him and Jesus. He is a man who can strike an oath. He is a man who can swear. Now this speaks voluminously, of course, by the way, incidentally, this speaks voluminously of the quality of life among the disciples of Jesus. That's the whole thrust of this. That's the whole raison d'etre. You see, Peter knew Jesus and his disciples don't swear. There is no oath taking here. Their yea is yea. Their nay is nay. Their word is their bond. And the people knew that. Otherwise, there would be no reason in Peter doing what he did. And so he struck an oath. In order, you see, for the people to say, oh well, we can't associate him with Jesus because Jesus wouldn't do things like that. He wouldn't talk like that. He doesn't use that kind of language. On being challenged a third time, an hour later, according to Luke 22, 59, Simon now behaves like a thoroughly frightened and unnerved person. He's like a man caged, demented. We read in Matthew 26, 73, and 74, After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, Surely you are one of them, for your accent gives you away. Then he began to call down curses on himself. And he swore to them, I don't know the man. Now you see the climax. You see the gravity. You see the persistence. Three times over, he says, I don't know the man. And he adds something each time. Once, just a swear word or an oath. But now cursing and swearing. A kind of persistent swearing and cursing. I'm sure it must have sounded so odd on Simon's ears. Because he's been away from that kind of thing for a long time now. Now, why is it? What is it that brings this climax? Brings Peter to this climax in his determination to disavow any association with Jesus. What's really frightened him? What's shaken the bottom out of his life? What is it? Now, I have a suggestion to make. I may be wrong. I may be right. I give it to you. Just before the second denial. Just immediately before it. Immediately before he was challenged and had to reply. This is what we read according to John. Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. I have spoken openly to the world, Jesus replied. I have always taught in synagogues or at the temple. Where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said. Now, have you got the point? Somewhere at the end of the courtyard there somewhere is the room where Jesus is being arraigned and being questioned. Now, the big question as far as interpretation is concerned. Did Peter overhear what was going on? Was he near enough to overhear some of the questions that were being asked his Lord? And I suggest to you that probably he was. If he was, then he overheard the high priest asking Jesus. Tell us something about your disciples. And tell us something about your teaching. And Jesus said, no, no. He said, I have been teaching all out in the open. I have said nothing in secret. And it is your part. It is your responsibility. It is part of the proceedings of the Jewish legal court. You must provide the witnesses. And there are plenty of witnesses of what I have said and what I have done right in the open. And there was one witness warming himself by the fireside right down there in the courtyard. He knew what Jesus had taught. He knew that he could disprove the charges brought against him. He knew the evidence which proved him to be the Son of God. He had seen him in his glory. He had heard him with his authority. He knew that he was the Savior of the Messiah according to the Scriptures. He had all the answers. But he was afraid now. When faced with this third query then as to his relation to Jesus, he was the more firmly set and determined as to his tactics. He would in principle do exactly what he did the second time, but he would go further. He would so curse and swear that the people listening would say, no, no. He can't be related to the Lord Jesus. What a victory. What a price for release from death and danger. But his blasphemy got him free. And yet the moment of freedom was scarcely, scarcely 60 seconds. I'll tell you why. Because immediately after it seemed that he had freed himself and people were no longer associating him with Jesus, the cock crowed the second time. And he remembered the words of Jesus which said, Before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times. And inwardly there erupts in the soul of this big man the awareness of his guilt and of his shame and of his misery. And he literally wept and went on weeping. The identification of a disciple, the reaction of a traitor, aggravated by his privileged position and his persistent denial. There is one thing else here I want to leave with you. It would be wrong of us this morning if we had just looked at Simon Peter in his folly. Even though we have reminded ourselves that there is a great side to the character of Simon Peter and that he will yet be the leader of the church in the book of the Acts of the Apostles, there is one other thing that I want to leave with you because it is right here and we need to see it. I need to see it for my own soul's sake. And I believe likewise you need to see it. And that is the vindication of the Savior. The episode before us brings out the hidden depths of sin and weakness and failure in the disciples. But it brings out the greatness and the grace and the glory of the Savior. Just take a brief look at it. First of all, this episode vindicates the wisdom of Jesus in the commands he gave to his disciples and in the prohibitions he uttered particularly to Peter. If you go back to John chapter 13, passage beginning with verse 31, you will remember that right at that point this conversation went on. Jesus said, My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me and just as I told you, just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now, where I am going, you cannot come. And that's as clear as clear can be. You cannot come. Then he goes on to speak of the new commandment and Peter is ready. Simon Peter asked him, Lord, where are you going? Jesus replied, where I'm going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow me afterwards or later. Peter, he says, don't ask questions about this because it doesn't belong to you. You can't follow me now. I'm not expecting you to. I don't want you to. I'm telling you it isn't safe for you to follow me now. Take me at my word. Says Peter, not on your life. Why can't I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you. The others may not, but I will and I'm prepared to die. And I'm quite sure he meant every word of it, you see. But our Lord knew what was ahead when Peter did not. And what I want you to see is this, that our Lord's wisdom and our Lord's prohibitions were vindicated by the things that happened to Peter here in the courtyard of the high priest. And I stress this for this solitary reason. You see, you and I so often quarrel with the prohibitions of our Lord. You and I so often quarrel with some of the commands of Scripture and we say all this is out of date. This doesn't apply to me. Jesus was living 2,000 years ago. Well, he may have been the Son of God, but does this apply to me today? And not until we get into the very abysmal depths of having disgraced ourselves and disgraced our Lord do we realize that he's wiser than we are. He knows what's ahead of you. He knows what's around the corner. He knows that Satan is abroad and mark you. Just as Jesus told Simon, Simon, Simon, Satan must desire to have you that he may sift you as wheat. Just as Jesus told Simon that. I want you to notice that Simon in his first epistle in chapter 5 preaches the same message to his fellow Christians. Satan is roaming around the place, he says, seeking whom he may devour. Watch out for him. Be very careful, he says, he's still around and he may want to get hold of you and maul you as he mauled me. So be careful. What I want you to notice is our Lord's wisdom was vindicated. His prohibitions were vindicated. And so was His grace and power. Now listen. Would you permit a thing like this to happen to the one whom you have appointed to be the leader of the church? Here is our Lord Jesus Christ and He's called Simon Peter and He's given him the power of the keys and humanly speaking He's going to depend upon this group of men with Peter at the helm and He Himself is going back to be with the Father. And He's allowing this to happen. What a dangerous thing. Now I don't know what you make of that word dangerous. But God acts dangerously sometimes. And He lets Simon Peter go. Oh, He's warned him. And He's told him not to. But when Peter is adamant and Peter willfully goes where he was told not to go, Jesus lets him go and lets him sin. Oh, my friend, but don't miss this. Jesus is able to make use of the very sin and of the very denial of Simon Peter to teach him a lesson without which he could not be the leader he is in the book of the Acts of the Apostles. You say, what is that lesson? Well, there are many aspects to it. I just simply want to mention this. Up until this point, Peter is full of arrogance, self-sufficiency, and pride. He's a man who's wiser than his Lord. He was at the beginning. He tried to dissuade his Lord from going to the cross. He's wiser than his Lord at this point. He thinks he can go where his Lord has told him he can't. Are you like that? You see, there was one lesson that Simon Peter had to learn before the Spirit of God could come to his life in fullness. And that was this, that however strong he was or he thought he was physically or intellectually or in any other way, he must recognize his own weakness and he must see it. And if he can only learn his own weakness by falling into such a miserable condition as this, then he must be allowed to go his way. But Jesus, in infinite grace and compassion, takes hold of the very sin of Peter to teach him the lesson that without his grace and contrary to his word, he's playing with fire. And had Peter not learned that lesson, I want to tell you that he could not have been a candidate for Pentecost. No man, no woman will be filled with the power of the Spirit of God save in the imagination until he or she knows that he or she cannot do the work of God in the power of the flesh. And whilst you think you're strong enough without the Holy One resting in power within you and controlling you, I tell you, you'll know nothing about the might and the fullness of the Pentecostal effusion. The man who thinks he can carry on in the power of his own flesh is a man whom the Lord will let go to reap his own harvest. And finally, we see here the vindication of our Lord's own example as to how to face trial and face death. It's such a contrast, that between Jesus and the disciple, isn't it? Here is the blessed Savior standing alone, princely, lordly, sovereignly, wisely, in control of Himself and of His words. It seems that He is under arrest, don't you believe it? Physically, He may have allowed that to happen, but He's as free as the bird. He's in total control of circumstances and of everything, and He's not bullied against His will. He is willing what is happening, and He's in control. But poor old Peter, he's like a cork in the ocean. He's being kicked about by everybody's little whispers about himself, and he's worried and he doesn't know where he is. He's less than a man not simply less than a disciple ought to be. Where did our Lord get that courage and that wisdom and that poise from, I tell you? He always had it, because He always communed with His Father, and He allowed nothing to break that. And when He saw the cross imminent, He arranged a vigil in the garden of Gethsemane to pray. And the Jesus who prayed, and there were great drops of blood that marked the ground where He prayed in Gethsemane, the Jesus who prayed in Gethsemane was able to stand in the courtyard, and the Simon who slept in Gethsemane slid in the courtyard. He who sleeps when he ought to be praying will slide when he ought to be standing. Still true. Our Lord's method is vindicated. How did He gain such a marvelous victory as a man in the flesh? Well, in this way. He was wholly in tune with His Father, and He went on to finish the work the Father gave Him to do in fellowship with, in dependence upon, and to the glory of the one true God, the Father Himself. It may be that some of us here this morning have got many wounds, for we've walked Simon's way. I want you to look as you leave at Simon's Savior too. The very sin and fall of His servant vindicates His wisdom, and the principles that He proclaims and would have you and me practice. And He is able to come down to the very depths of His disciples' shame, and in due course we shall read that Simon has got his wounds healed and is renewed, and is again about his Master's business. But that may mean repentance, and that may mean the heartbreak of turning away and acknowledging things that are wrong. Oh, my friends, we are living in a blaspheming world. Are you a blasphemer? Turn from your sin then. Come to the feet of the Christ who is faithful to serve to the uttermost those who come to God by Him. Take His word as final and don't argue with Him. Walk in His way and you'll be saved. Many unnecessary miseries, but what is more, you will be a praise to Him and to His glory. Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, we acknowledge this morning that in one sense we have been sitting in judgment upon this, your great servant, Peter. Forgive us if there has been any wrong spirit in our doing so, because our denials have far outnumbered Peter's, when we have not been in such dangerous situations as he, but simply concerned for our own comforts, and we have acted arrogantly and persistently, and you know the consequences in our lives. God of all grace, draw near to us, to each one of us, speak to us by name, and enable us, if we have walked this way, enable us, we pray, to come to the risen, crucified Lord and find pardon in His wounds afresh this morning. Lead us on our way, then, lead us on our way, enabling us to be faithful where we have been faithless and obedient where we have disobeyed. We ask it in our Master's worthy name. Amen.