Matthew 26:30-35; Matthew 26:69-75; John 21:15-19; I Peter 1:3-6
One hot afternoon on a beach, people noticed a young
girl drowning. They quickly rescued her. The little girl
was unconscious. An old man from a nearby cottage
hurriedly reached for the girl laid down on the seashore.
As the old man was about to hold the girl, a furious guy
warned the people surrounding the girl to step aside,
including the old man.
“I was trained to do CPR. Stay out of this! Let me do it!”
the guy exclaimed.
The old man stood up and stepped behind the guy and
watched quietly while the latter was performing CPR for
the girl.
After almost a minute, the little girl regained
consciousness. The people around them felt relieved and
began applauding the guy. The old man, who looks very
happy, gratefully congratulated the guy as well.
After two hours, however, the guy who saved the girl
suddenly felt too much fatigue, experienced difficulty in
breathing and became unconscious. A few minutes later,
he woke up in an ambulance rushing him to the nearest
hospital. Beside him was the old man he saw earlier at
the beach now checking his pulse rate. The old man did
the CPR on him while he was unconscious. This time he
learned that the old man is a doctor.
“Why didn’t you tell me you’re a doctor?” he asked.
The doctor just smiled and answered: “It doesn’t matter
to me whether you call me a doctor or not. A precious
life is in danger. I became a doctor, not for fame, but to
save lives. We had the same goal, and that was to save
the girl. Nothing can surpass the feeling that you have
just saved another life. There’s a lot of things to be
protected other than our ego.”
The teary-eyed man humbly said: “Well, you have just
saved two more lives today.”
Last week we looked at the three times Jesus predicted
His death and resurrection to His disciples.
You may remember that Peter rebuked Jesus for saying
that He must die and then be raised on the third day.
You may also remember that Jesus rebuked him right
back and called him satan because he was getting in the
way of God’s plan.
You may also remember that right before the first
prediction Peter had confessed Jesus as Lord.
Today we are going to talk about Peter’s triple denial of
Jesus.
Similar to Jesus predicting His own passion, Jesus also
predicted that Peter, and in fact all the disciples, would
deny Him.
Matthew 26:30-35
Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial
For context, Jesus and the 12 have just left the upper
room after having eaten the last supper with Jesus.
They are now at the Mount of Olives.
At the supper He gave them the bread and the cup as a
symbol of His death on the cross.
The bread represents His body and the wine represents
His blood that would be shed at Calvary in a matter of
days.
Even though I’m focusing on Peter’s denial here, let’s
make certain to note Jesus’ words in verse 31, “You will
all fall away because of me this night.”
Skip down to the end of verse 56, “then all the disciples
left him and fled.”
They all denied Him by leaving Him right before He was
about to go to the cross for them. He was about to fulfill
God’s perfect plan of salvation and not one of them stays
to support Him.
Back to Jesus’ words.
He quotes Zechariah 13:7 when He mentions striking the
shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.
Jesus also mentions His resurrection here but Peter nor
the disciples catch it. Jesus tells them that after He is
raised up He will go before them to Galilee.
Do you remember when the women went to the tomb,
the angel told them to go and tell the disciples that Jesus
would meet them in Galilee.
Peter tells Jesus that he will never fall away.
These other guys may, but not Peter.
He is confident in his faith in Jesus.
Then Jesus breaks the bad news to Peter.
Not only will he deny Jesus, but he will deny Him 3 times
before the rooster crows.
Peter then throws down the gauntlet and tells Jesus that
he will die before denying Jesus.
Peter believes with all of his heart that he is steadfast in
his faith in Christ. But Jesus knows the truth.
Isn’t it encouraging to see Peter, one who was in Jesus’
inner circle, mess things up?
Rather than look down our noses at Peter for what he
does, we should find solace in the fact that God can use
imperfect people to accomplish His plan.
Matthew 26:69-75
Peter Denies Jesus
For context, Peter is now outside the courtyard where
Jesus would stand trial before Caiaphas the high priest.
We know this from verse 58 “And Peter was following him
at a distance, as far as the courtyard of the high priest,
and going inside he sat with the guards to see the end.”
And also verse 69 tells his location.
The first denial comes when a servant girl declares that
he was with Jesus the Galilean.
Here he claims no knowledge of what she is talking
about.
Peter moves from the courtyard to the entrance where
another girl states to the bystanders “this man was with
Jesus of Nazareth.”
This time Peter doesn’t just deny it, he denies it with an
oath.
In Jewish culture this was basically saying may God curse
me if I’m lying. And he refers to Jesus as the man, not
even willing to say His name.
Then, some bystanders come up to Peter and accuse him
of being with Jesus because they noticed his accent.
Again he invoked a curse and this time he swore that he
did not know the man.
Peter confessed Jesus as the Christ.
He promised that he was willing to die with Christ before
denying him.
Now he has just denied Him 3 times.
Do you remember earlier when Jesus predicts Peter’s
denial?
Peter vehemently denied that he would ever do that.
He even claimed that he would die before denying Jesus.
It’s best for us to remain humble in regards to our
faith.
None of us is perfect. We all fall short of God’s glory.
We tend to look down on Peter for denying Christ, but
how many times have we failed to acknowledge Him
when we have the chance?
Then Peter hears the rooster crow.
And immediately he remembers Jesus’ words.
How could he have denied Jesus not once, not twice, but
three times?
It was exactly as Jesus said.
Peter’s response…he went out and wept bitterly.
I believe these to be tears of repentance, unlike Judas
who hung himself.
Here’s why I think that.
John 21:15-19
Jesus Restores Peter
Now Jesus has been crucified, and God has raised Him
from the dead. And Jesus appears to His disciples at the
Sea of Tiberias.
Isn’t the grace of God amazing here?
Jesus allows Peter to confess his love for Him three
times, just like he denied Him three times.
Jesus also restores Peter’s ministry.
Jesus tells him to feed His lambs, Tend to His sheep, and
Feed His sheep.
Shepherds are to protect and provide for the sheep.
That is what Jesus wants Peter to do, shepherd His flock.
Can a pastor who has failed be restored to the ministry?
Jesus restored Peter, because He knew his heart and that
he had truly repented.
I believe pastors who fail can be restored to the ministry
so long as they can show that they have repented of their
sin and show fruit.
Peter failed, but Jesus forgave him.
Jesus forgives all who come to Him with a sincere
heart.
I Peter 1:3-6
Did you notice Peter’s reference to the mercy of God?
We deserve death because of our sin, but God has mercy
on us.
Jesus gives us a living hope and causes us to be born
again because of His resurrection. It is not because of
anything we have done, it is all because of the completed
work of Jesus on the cross.
The cross that Peter didn’t want Jesus to have to endure.
The cross that would provide salvation for all who
believe.
Remember, nothing we do can thwart God’s plan.
It is perfect and He will accomplish it with or without us.
But, how much better if we allow Him to work through
us!!
Were it not for the death and resurrection of Jesus, we
would still be in our sin. Later you can read I Corinthians
15 to see what Paul writes about the importance of the
resurrection.
Peter also writes about the inheritance that we have
because of Jesus.
Believers share in the inheritance of eternal life with God
in heaven.
This world is fading away and one day God will judge it
fully and destroy it and make a new heaven and a new
earth.
But our inheritance is set, nothing can change it.
We are in His hand and no one can snatch us out!!
Before we give Peter a hard time for his failures, let’s
take a hard look at our own selves. Only Jesus is perfect.
APPLICATION
The lesson from our text today is one of humility.
Follow Christ Humbly
We have to remember that before we were saved we
were helpless and hopeless destined for hell. Lost like
sheep without a shepherd.
We don’t want to be like the Pharisee who went to the
temple and prayed thanking God that he wasn’t like the
tax collector that was also praying.
The tax collector had a humble attitude and truly
repented of his sin. The Pharisee was playing church,
self-righteous rather than truly righteous.
If we desire to lead folks to the Lord, we must do it from
a place of love and humility. Just like Jesus.
“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in
humility count others more significant than
yourselves.” Philippians 2:3
“With all humility and gentleness, with patience,
bearing with one another in love,” Ephesians 4:2
Jesus modeled humility perfectly.
What can you do to be more humble like Christ?