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This is a very well-known story. Peter, despite his loud and insistent promise that he would die with Jesus if necessary, and that he would never deny him, does in fact deny Jesus three times. Peter in Matthew 26 said, even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you. In Luke 22, Jesus said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan is demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail. But when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. Peter said, Lord, I'm ready to go with you both to prison and to death. And Jesus said, I tell you, Peter, the roost will not crow this day until you deny me three times that you know me. This loud declaration of loyalty is not new for Peter. Do you remember how they met? Because the account of it is in Luke chapter 5. They were fishing. They had just finished fishing. And it says, on one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land and he sat down and taught the people from the boat. You see, they were crushing in on him so much that he needed to create some space between him and them. So he taught them from the boat. And when he finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into the deep, let down your nets for a catch. Simon answered, Master, we toiled all night and took nothing, but at your word I will let down the nets. And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boats to come and help them. And when they came, they filled both boats so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus knees to part for me. For I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken. And so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid. From now on, you will be catching men. When they brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed them. See, Jesus had called them. He called them. They were the three main disciples with Jesus along with the other nine initially. And they were told they would be fishers of men. Remember the three of them, they were the ones who were with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration when Elijah and Moses appeared. And God said, This is my son in whom I am well pleased. Peter in his astonishment said, Lord, it's good that we're here. Really Peter, it's good that we're here. Let's make a tent or a tabernacle. One for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. Later Jesus had asked, Who do the people say that I am? And Peter responded or the disciples did. Some say you're the prophet Elijah. Some say you're another prophet. Some say who do you say I am? And Peter replied, You are the Christ, the son of the living God. It goes on to say that Jesus began to teach that the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by elders and chief priests of the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. This didn't please Peter. And he took him aside and he began to rebuke him. This is Peter now is rebuking the Lord. Turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, Get behind me, Satan. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. Peter had said to him in another gospel account, he had said, May these things never happen to you. Later when Jesus told the story about the rich man and how it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into heaven. We're all rich, by the way, compared to the rest of the world. Peter said, we've left everything to follow you. And Jesus told him, anyone who's left me or left, excuse me, anyone who's left family, homes will get 50 times as much in this life and the next. Then when Peter saw Jesus be arrested in John 17, after the high priestly prayer, and then in John 18 at the beginning of the chapter, which we looked at last week, we see that Peter was the one who drew his sword, which seems like an act of bravery. And he sliced off the ear of the slave Malchus. While it looks brave, notice that Peter didn't attack one of the Roman soldiers, for which I'm sure he would have been properly executed. But you see, Peter isn't that different than us. At least I don't think he is. Seems that Peter is a mixture of contradictions and inconsistencies. Sometimes he demonstrates bravery. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. I will die for you if necessary. He'll draw a sword in defense of Jesus. Sometimes he displays uninformed rash outbursts. And in this case, that we're looking at this morning, cowardice and the threats of danger, both real and imagined. The situation, as we saw last week, is that Jesus has been betrayed by Judas and arrested. And now he's being taken to the high priest. John, the other disciple that was with him, is known to the high priest and he goes right in. Then he sends for the servant girl to let Peter in. And she says, you are not one of this man's disciples also, are you? And this is Peter's first denial. He said, I am not. Now, when she says also, that can only mean that she knew that John was the disciple of Jesus. Otherwise, she would not have said also. And yet, Peter denies being his disciple. Two more times he's questioned. And two more times he denies even knowing Jesus. Now, John's version is true. This is what happened. But there are some details in the other accounts that aren't included in this account. In Matthew 26, the servant girl said, you were with Jesus the Galilean, but he denied it before them all saying, I do not know what you mean. And he went out to the entrance and another servant girl saw him and said to the bystanders, this man was with Jesus of Nazareth. And he denied it with an oath. I do not know the man. After a while, the bystanders came up and said to Peter, certainly you are one of them. Your accent betrays you. Then he began to invoke a curse on himself. And to swear, I do not know the man. Could you imagine? Here's Peter who's followed Jesus since Jesus told him he would be a fisher of men. He's followed Jesus. He's been with Jesus when he performed miracles, when he healed the sick, when he raised the dead. And yet he's invoking a curse on himself and saying, I don't know him. I don't know him. And immediately the rooster crowed. Luke 22 gives another detail. And while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed and the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Can you imagine? There's your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. There he is. The one you followed, the one you've been devoted to, the one you said you would die for. And when the cock crows, Peter realizes it because Jesus turns and looks at him. Peter remembered the saying of the Lord. How he said to him, before the rooster crows, today you will deny me three times. And he went out and wept bitterly. It's a sad story. Why did Peter deny Jesus and deny him so emphatically? Now, there might be many reasons, but there are two I would like to focus on in particular. The first is that Peter seemed to put a lot of confidence in himself. It's not that he didn't have any confidence in Jesus, but he had a lot of self-confidence. At least he had the appearance of self-confidence. He was confident in his loyalty to Jesus. He was confident in his strength to stand with Jesus. He was confident in his lack of fear in the face of danger. We can see it in statements like, when he rebuked Jesus, far be it from you, O Lord, this shall never happen to you. Or when Peter, wishing to make himself look extremely merciful, said, Lord, how many times are we to forgive a brother for sin as many as seven times? See, Peter thought he was going the extra mile because the Pharisees had taught three times. You have to forgive three times. So Peter doubled it and added one. But what did Jesus say? Jesus said, 70 times seven. In other words, there's no limit to the number of times that you have to forgive for sin, which is a good thing because that's what Jesus does for us. When Peter, as we talked about, was told that he would deny him, he said, if they all fall away, I will never fall away. Even if I must die, I will not deny you. Peter was expressing not only confidence in himself, but he was expressing confidence that he was better, more loyal, more trustworthy than the other disciples. Even if they all fall away, I won't. When Jesus taught that it was easier to go through the, for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, as we've already said, than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God, Peter said, who could be saved? And then in the upper room when Jesus was washing the feet of the disciples, Peter said, you shall never wash my feet. Jesus said, if I don't wash your feet, you'd have no share with me. And then Peter, again, with his bluster and pompous statement, said, then wash my head also in my hands. Peter's full of bold assertions about his faith and even about his humility. And this led to his failure when asked about his own relationship to Jesus. Before we get to the second reason that Peter didn't stand for Jesus and the pressure of the moment, I want to ask how we might fall prey to the same weakness that Peter displayed. So ask yourself, do you have a lot of confidence in your faith in Jesus? Do you think you have the same issue as Peter seemed to? Is your conversation about faith in Christ about Jesus or is it about you? Are you telling others all that you're doing for the gospel or the church or the ministry? Is there a note of derision toward others when you think of your own walk with Christ? I do this, why don't they? Are you comparing yourself to others and always coming out on top? See, that's what Peter did. Even if they all fall away, I won't. I, I, I statements are not expressing hope in Christ, they're expressing hope in yourself. Remember this dory of the Pharisee and the tax collectors from Luke chapter 18. Jesus told the parable about someone who trusted in themselves and were righteous and treated others with contempt that they were righteous. Two men came into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other tax-collector of the Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus God, I thank you, I am not like this tax collector. I'm not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers or even this tax collector. Tax collector is the worst, it's the worst in their eyes. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all I get. See, he was confident in his own righteousness, he was confident in his own behavior before God and he was able then to compare himself to this tax collector who he viewed with derision. But the tax collector was standing far off and would not even lift up his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and said God be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. Now we know that Peter eventually understood this because of what he wrote in chapter 5 of his first epistle where he says, clothe yourselves, all of you with humility toward one another, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. If you find yourself looking down on other believers or on others, especially fellow believers, you need to check yourself. If you find yourself not understanding why they're not as me. Being concerned for your fellow believers is a good thing, Paul says so in Galatians chapter 6, if any man is caught in a transgression, you who are spiritual should restore such a one in a spirit of meekness, watching yourselves lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burden and so fulfill the law of Christ. For someone thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. See Peter was full of himself. It's not that he didn't love Jesus and didn't want to follow him and didn't trust in him, but he had too much of himself. The second reason that Peter might have failed so dramatically is something that we see in Mark's gospel. Now many of you know that Mark was Peter's scribe. So a lot of people refer to Mark's gospel as Peter's gospel because it's thought that Peter told Mark all that had happened and Mark recorded it. And if that's true, it makes this passage even more poignant. In Mark chapter 14, they led Jesus to the high priest and all the chief priests and elders and the scribes came together and Peter followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the guards warming himself at the fire. See Peter had gone from a man declaring that I will never leave you even if I have to die for you to a man keeping his distance. John was with Jesus the entire way. When they went in, he went in with him. He was declaring whether he intended to or not, he was declaring that he was with Jesus. That's why the servant says you're not with him also, are you? Because she already knew that John was. You see, John was with Jesus. Peter was at a distance. He had gone from being hot to lukewarm. The other disciples were cold. They'd all fled. Remember what Jesus says in Revelation to the church of Laodicea, he said, I wish that you were hot or cold, but because you were lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth. Peter was following Jesus at a distance. So he had, he could have what modern people call plausible deniability. If he had immediately identified with Jesus that John apparently had, there would be no temptation to deny being with Jesus. Because he followed at a distance, he had one eye on an escape route. All of his bravado, all of his declaration, all of his promises of being with Jesus to death, if necessary, all of his self-confidence shriveled up under the white hot interrogation of the slave girl. So before we get to the last point, I want to ask you, ask us, are we following at a distance? Are we? Tracy and I have a family that we visit every year on our circuit around the US to visit our kids, and we stop and see some friends in Virginia. Barney and Bill Deaton and their nine kids, although one of them doesn't live with them, or a couple don't. And the first time we went to visit them, in the front of their yard, they have a fairly nice house, in the front of the yard was a big sign that said, thank you, Jesus. There's no mistaking them identifying with Jesus. None at all. And I'm not saying that we should all put signs in our lawn. But ask yourself if you're looking for plausible deniability. How can you tell if you're following at a distance? Here's one way. Do you have opportunities to witness and you don't take them? What would be your reason to have the opportunity to tell somebody about the gospel, to tell somebody about the eternal life and death of heaven and hell, to tell somebody about how all of their sins can be forgiven if they put their faith in Jesus Christ? What would stop you from doing that? I've talked to some of you and I know that you have your reasons. One that I've heard is everybody I know has a church. 90% of Haligonians don't attend any worship service at all. So how is it possible that everybody you know has a church? It's not. If that's the case, if that's a true statistic, and I think it is, there's an abundance of opportunities. But another way you can tell if you're following at a distance is that you do not regularly spend time reading the Bible. Do you have a regular Bible reading habit? I mean like 15 minutes, half an hour, an hour every day. Are you reading other Christian writing? There's a wide variety of great spiritual works available and maybe you're thinking, you know, I don't know which ones, I don't know which ones to trust, I don't know if I should read this or this, that or that. Or there's a website called Monergism.com, that's a good place to start. And if you don't start there, ask an elder or a deacon or the pastor and I'm sure they'll be willing to help you. Now you might be thinking, you know all of this is true of me or some of it. You might be thinking, I am boastful, especially in comparison to others about who I am and how I conduct myself and my belief in Jesus. Or you might realize that I've been following Jesus at such a distance I don't even know if I'm following at all. You might ask, is there any encouragement for me? The answer is yes. I want you to consider what Mark chapter 14 says. After the Passover, when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives and Jesus said to them, you will all fall away for it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. And he says this, but after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee. Think about that. Jesus knew they would fall away. He knew they would deny him. He knew they were weak. But after you fall away, when I am raised up, I'll meet you in Galilee. Even though they failed, Jesus still loved them. Even though they denied him, Jesus still wanted them. And the same is true of us. If you have followed at a distance, if you have placed too much confidence in yourself, if you feel like you have failed Jesus, and you probably have because all of us do at some point or another, he still loves you. He still wants you. He still died for you. After I am raised up, and he was, I will meet you in Galilee. Let's pray.