Falling From Grace

Maybe you’ve heard the term before, I’ve seen it on television before, the term “falling from grace.” It actually is a Christian concept. It’s the idea to sin and get on the wrong side of God or to revert back to bad behavior after a period of good behavior. Maybe there’s a star on tv that gets pulled over for a DUI, then they have an altercation with the police, and you’ll hear the statement, “Boy, so-and-so sure has fallen from grace.”

Falling from grace and failure is a bitter pill to swallow. Let me tell you what makes failure even more bitter, when we fail in an area that we seem to be so gifted in. That’s when failure really hurts. For instance, Peter. Peter was a strong man. He was a fisherman. For him to deny the Lord three times is really in a sense out of his character. That’s not his thing. He was a strong man. You know, all four gospels record the fall of Peter. Many believe that the information that we’re looking at this evening came from Peter himself. I think it was God wanting us to know that every time you read the gospels, you will read the account of Peter being restored. You’ll see that Peter fell—he fell big time—but at the same time God restored him.

The first time is recorded in Matthew 26:69-75; Mark records it in Mark 14:66-72; Luke records it in Luke 22:54-62; even the gospel of John records it in John 18:25-27. I believe that the night of Peter’s failure is probably the most instructive night of his entire life because we learn some things from Peter—what we are not to do. I think all of us like the positive examples of what we should do, but sometimes we have to learn from the negatives. We have to learn of what we should not do. As hard as failure is, as difficult as failure is, there’s two things that failure can produce. First of all, it can get our attention. Sometimes it takes a failure to get us to pay attention and to wake up. The second thing that a failure does is it can make us teachable. Once we’ve fallen we say, “Okay, God, You got my attention. Now, what should I do?” You see, the lesson on failure is failure is never ever the end of the story.

When I teach a passage, I like to look at the passage and give a thought of the passage, so here’s the thought tonight of our passage: Falling from grace can be traced back to an ignorance or a disregard for what God has said. What I want to do tonight is look at two areas. I want to look at verses 27-54, and I want to look at Peter’s errors. I want to look at the sins that Peter commits, the errors that Peter commits, and then I want to finish in verses 66-72, which is Peter’s fall. Peter’s errors led to Peter’s fall.

Let’s look at Peter’s errors, and I want to share with you that there are six errors that commonly lead to failure. Now, it’s going to be interesting tonight as you’re taking notes and we’re working through this, you may find yourself saying, “Wow, I’ve done three of them today.” It’s a good possibility. Or, maybe you’ll look over last week and you say, “Wow! I did almost all six last week, wow!” You’ll be kind of surprised at what these sins are. They are things that we see every single day we see these, and if we fall into them, we’re going to end up like Peter in a fall, we’re going to fall. Someone once said, “The only thing we learn from history is we don’t learn from history.” That’s true.

Let’s look at the very first error of Peter. It’s in verses 27-29, Peter’s self-confidence. We have a society that says, “Put confidence in yourself. Where’s your confidence?” Our society pushes this. In verse 27, “And Jesus said to them, ‘You will all fall away, because it is written, I WILL STRIKE DOWN THE SHEPHERD, AND THE SHEEP SHALL BE SCATTERED. 28 But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.’ 29 But Peter said to Him, 'Even though all may fall away, yet I will not.’” Notice Peter’s self-confidence led him to actually look down on his fellow disciples. He saw himself better than them. They would probably do it, he assumes they are going to do it, but he himself would not do it. Verse 29, “Even though all may fall away, yet I will not.” I would even stop at this point and tell you, Peter’s worse than them, the reason being is none of them will deny Jesus three times, but Peter will. Peter’s self-confidence was false confidence. He was not as strong as he thought he was. He did not follow through on what he’s claiming and bragging about here. He actually, for all practical purposes, is worse than the others.

Notice that Jesus foretells Peter’s denial. In verse 30, “And Jesus said to him, ‘Truly I say to you, that this very night, before a rooster crows twice, you yourself will deny Me three times.’ 31 But Peter kept saying insistently, ‘Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny you!’ And they all were saying the same thing also.” Possibly a few hours even before this statement of Jesus, Jesus had said in Luke 22:31, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat.” Now, when He said, “Simon, Simon…” growing up when my mom said, “Terry, Terry,” I was dead, basically, trying to get my attention.

Simon was the name given by his parents. That’s his worldly name, his fleshly name. So, Jesus is saying, “Fleshly, Fleshly, um pay attention. Peter, pay attention to what I’m about to say.” Verse 32 says, “but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Peter was going to fall. Peter was going to be restored, but also Peter was going to be used by the Lord to help restore others as he himself has been restored. In John 13:38 also adds, “Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times.”

Here’s the great lesson. This is the first lesson we need to get down: Don’t trust in yourself. How many gifted athletes have to sit on the bench because they won’t listen to the coach. I read an article this morning. It said, “Of all the sports that we play,” and I’m like a sports fanatic—I love Super Bowl Sunday with the Lakers and the Dodgers. I am like a sports guy…not! I read this article. It said, “Of all the different sports that one would attempt to coach, baseball is the hardest.” People just don’t want to listen. They know better than the coach, they know better than the owner of the team, they know if they could just get in tune with that player, the player knows everything! Unfortunately, there are times in which these gifted, gifted individuals have to sit it out. They’ve gotta sit.

I tell you, as a pastor, and I’m sure John would agree with this, there are so many folks that just have to sit the bench. They’re not teachable. They think they know better than the Lord. They know more than the Scriptures. They know better than their pastor. They know everything! Unfortunately, even though they’re gifted, they can’t really be used because they’re not teachable. They’re just not willing. They just are so full of themselves.

You see, Peter loved Jesus so much, and he just couldn’t see letting Jesus down. We find this, that as a Christian, that our weaknesses are really our strengths because when we realize that we’re weak, we (what?) depend upon the Lord. We find ourselves praying. We find ourselves seeking counsel. We find ourselves spending more time with the Lord knowing that, “I can’t do it, Lord. I need Your help. This is just above me. It’s beyond me. I can’t do it.” Isaiah 40:30-31 says, “Thou youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, 31 Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.”

Vance Havner, I love Vance Havner. He’s an old Baptist preacher, and I have quite a few of his books. He also has quite a few illustration books. Well, he made this statement. He says, “The Lord had the strength, I had the weakness, and we teamed up. It was an unbeatable combination.” Isn’t that a great quote? He’s got the strength, I got the weakness; we teamed up, it was unbeatable. Why? Because my faith and trust was in the Lord. I acknowledged my weakness, and God came through me.

Which brings us now to the second error of Peter in verses 30-31, Peter’s disregard for the Word of God. Verse 30, “And Jesus said to him, ‘Truly I say to you, that this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you yourself will deny Me three times.’ 31 But Peter kept saying insistently, ‘Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!’ And they all were saying the same thing also.” When it says that Peter said this insistently, exceeding vehemently. He was moving his hands. He was doing the, ”No! No! No!” He was trying to get everybody’s attention that this is the real deal. “I know what You’re saying, Jesus, but not here. This does not apply to me what You’re saying. It’s not so.” If Peter had humbled himself at this point and said, “Well, Jesus, what is it that I’m going to do? What is it that I need to learn? What is it that You want me to do?” What a different outcome this could’ve been. Oh, he would’ve fled from Jesus, but he wouldn’t have denied Jesus. He would’ve been just like the others, he would’ve fled as Jesus foretold but he wouldn’t have denied Jesus.

Notice it says, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” Peter ignored what Jesus said in Mark 14:27, Zechariah 3:7. Instead of looking to Scripture, Peter looked to the eye problem. You know, Peter had an eye problem that an ophthalmologist couldn’t fix, “I, I, I, I, I.” That was his problem. He was looking at himself. So, here’s the great lesson: Don’t argue with the Word of God. Don’t argue with the Scriptures. When the Scriptures warn us, we need to take it as a warning. When the Scriptures speak about the blessings of the Lord, we need to take them as the blessings of the Lord.

I don’t know how many times the pastor, I’ve had to deal with this, “Well, I know that he’s a Philistine, but if he goes to kiss me, I’ll put my New Testament on his lips, and I’ll be a witness to him.” No, you won’t. You’ll be a nitwit, that’s what you’ll be. You won’t be a witness, you’ll be a nitwit because you are going against Scripture. You are not to be unequally yoked or bound to a nonbeliever. You are not to do that. In 1 Corinthians 6:9, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.”

I had a person come up to me a couple of years back. He said, “Pastor, I wanted to tell you, I’m a Christian alcoholic.” I said, “What is that? What is a Christian drunkard? I don’t know what that is.” I felt like saying to him, “Well, I’m a Christian bank robber, I don’t do it on Sundays, you know, I’m kind of busy.”

Here he gives a list of sins, and he makes it clear that if you’re practicing these sins, you’re not entering the Kingdom of God. That is a person that has deceived themself, “I’m a Christian adulterer.” There is no such thing. You can’t have it both ways. That’s why the Bible again, and again, and again says, “Do not be deceived,” 1 Corinthians 15:33, “Bad company corrupts good morals.” You hear, “Oh, I know that that’s a general principle in the Bible, but I’m a lot stronger than a lot of people.” You hear that. “I know that that’s a good principle, but in my case it really doesn’t apply because I am a very, very strong, strong committed Christian and in this case it just doesn’t apply to me. It applies to others, but it just doesn’t apply to me.” Here’s what Galatians 6:7 says, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.” Oh, I love this one, “God knows my heart.” Oh, please. “God knows my heart.” You’re arguing with Scripture. You’re arguing with the Word of God. James 1:16, “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.” Again, sin will control us. We yield to it, it takes control. Again, and again, the Bible warns us, “Don’t be deceived.”

If Peter had listened to Jesus, he wouldn’t have denied Jesus three times. Oh, he would’ve fled like the rest, but he wouldn’t have denied Jesus three times.

Notice this other little statement here I find interesting, “And they all were saying the same thing also.” Notice how the leaven is leavening the loaf. Do you notice this? Because of Peter’s disregard for the Scriptures, arguing with Jesus, now the others are piping in and are saying, “Yeah, you’re right, Peter. Yeah, you’re right.” That’s what happens. It’s a fact.

The other day we bought some oranges. You get these big bags of oranges, you know, and then you open them up and you find one that’s bad, and the one next to it now is becoming bad. You would think that all of the good ones would make the bad one, good, right? But it doesn’t work that way. So, you’ve got this leaven that starts to permeate, this leaven that starts to go to the next, go to the next, go to the next, go to the next, and that’s what we see here with Peter regarding the Scriptures.

It brings us to our third, again, act of behavior that’s so typical, verses 32-41, Peter’s prayerlessness. Verse 32 says, “They came to a place named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, ‘Sit here until I have prayed.’ 33 And He took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be very distressed and troubled. 34 And He said to them, ‘My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch.’” As you read the Scriptures, it was about an hour. Jesus is saying, “Can’t you keep watch for one hour?” Here’s Jesus now in Gethsemane, which means olive press. He’s literally being pressed. He’s preparing His heart to receive all that God is going to pour out on Him, the wrath of God of Isaiah 53 is going to be poured out on Jesus. If there’s ever a time Jesus needs prayer and Jesus needs support, it’s right here in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Verse 37 says, “And He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, ‘Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour?’” Here’s the first time Peter’s caught. Peter’s caught three times, but this is the first time that he is prayerless. Again, notice what He calls him. He doesn’t call him, Peter; He calls him, Simon. Simon was his earthly name. It’s kind of like when you read through the Old Testament and you see Jacob versus Israel. You know the name Jacob means rip off. How do you like that name, rip off? Supplanter. Trickster. One of my favorite ones is Abigail, who is married to Nabal. His name means, fool. “I’d like to introduce you to my husband, the fool.” That’s a great one. Again, Peter means rock, but He doesn’t call him that, He refers to him as Simon. That’s his earthly name. When you read this, when He says, “Simon,” He’s referring to, “You know, you’re acting like the flesh. You’re acting like a mere man.” Just like Jacob is acting like the flesh instead of being governed by God, Israel. So, it’s not really a mix-up of words, God is saying something here. Jesus is exposing the pride and self-confidence of Peter, which we can all fall prey to. He should’ve been praying instead of sleeping.

I tell you, you start praying, you start bringing your request before the Lord and sometimes the thought of sleep dissipates because you’re in prayer. You’re fervently in prayer, and that’s what Jesus was asking.

Verse 38, “Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” So, keep watching. A mind that is alert, and praying, stay spiritually awake that you may not come into temptation, 1 Corinthians 10:13. Notice this statement, “ . . . the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” By the way, this is not a pass to sin. This is not a pass…and I’ve had people say, “Well, you know, Pastor, the Bible says that we’re flesh. We’re just flesh and blood. We’re just sinners by nature and by choice—we just don’t really have any choice. That’s just what we are.”

Jesus is not giving us a pass here. He’s saying, “Here’s a heads-up. Because you are fleshly, you have to get prayed up.” That’s what He’s saying. “Because you have a tendency to be lax and to think of the flesh and the things that are of this world, the anecdote to that is to be prayed up.” So, it’s not a pass, it’s a heads-up. You need to be prayed up.

Paul said in Romans 7:18, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.” When we fall, we can’t fall back, “Oh, I’m just the flesh. It’s just the old nature, you know. It’s just the way it is.” We need to be prayed up. If we can be in prayer, we can escape temptation. That’s His point. If you’re prayed up, you’ll be able to withstand the temptation.

Verse 40, “And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they did not know what to answer Him.” Here’s the second time now that Peter’s caught. It’s probably two or three in the morning, and I want to kind of give him a little bit of grace here because they’ve been up for almost an entire day. They have gone through the Last Supper, Jesus has announced that one of them is a traitor, they’ve been through a whole lot. Here now, they’re exhausted, and I’m not diminishing it. I’m not laying that aside and saying it doesn’t go to the account, it does; but still the answer remains to pray, to be alert, to pray, to ask God for help. Their eyes were very heavy. They were weighed down.

Verse 41, “And He came the third time, and said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough; the hour has come; behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.’” Now, the third time Jesus catches Peter sleeping. Luke 22:45 says, “When He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow.” Many of us in here have ever gone through the grieving process, you have a loved one that has died, a best friend that has died, someone that was very close to you. There’s two effects that grieving and sorrow can have upon us, we can either forget about sleep, we can’t sleep no matter what we do, we don’t want to eat. The other extreme is we want to eat everything that’s in front of us and we want to sleep all the time. In this case of Peter, he’s opted out for the other one, “Give me something to eat, and I’m taking a snooze.” That’s kind of where he was at, and that’s kind of just his physical makeup. I understand all that, but still the answer is (what?) prayer. That’s what Jesus asked them. He asked of them to pray, which brings us now to the fourth mistake that Peter made, verses 46-47, Peter fought when he should have surrendered.

Verse 46, “They laid hands on Him and seized Him. 47 But one of those who stood by drew his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear.” According to Luke 22:49, some of them said, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” We don’t know if all of them said it or a few, but a few of them said, “Lord, do You want us to use the sword?” John tells us who it is. Who, pray tell, do you think it would be? Old Zorro Peter, is what it was. Look what it says in John 18:10, “Simon Peter then, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear; and the slave’s name was Malchus.” Luke 22:49, “Lord, shall we strike…” Peter doesn’t even wait for the answer. He goes, “Oh, this is it!” What we have here is zeal without knowledge. We have persons responding in the flesh instead of the Spirit. Second Corinthians 10:4 says, “for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.”

When we try to do God’s will in our flesh, people get hurt. “Oh, Lord, I got this.” People are going to get hurt. Peter thought, This is my big test to prove that I’m loyal to Jesus. This is my test to show Him that His words to me do not apply to me. This is my opportunity to show that I trust in myself and I’m strong and I’m able to do that. Mark 14:31, “But Peter kept saying insistently, ‘Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!’ And they all were saying the same thing also.” This is so classic of a person that’s not in prayer and not in the Word. I wonder how many times Jesus has followed me putting ears on people, “Oh, I got this one,” or “I’m going to fix this person,” and “I’m going to tell them what I think. This person here, I’m going to clear this up.” There is Jesus behind just picking up ears, you know. Just lopping them off, “Oh, I’m going to do this for the Lord!” “Oh, this guy’s a Mormon? Watch this!” “Oh, a Jehovah’s Witness, this is going to be great!” and you come out with your New American Standard shotgun and you blast ‘em with the Word.

Luke 22:51 says, “But Jesus answered and said, ‘Stop! No more of this.’ And He touched his ear and healed him.” This might be the beginning of Mr. Potato Head, I don’t know. He just goes over and just pops the ear right back on his head. I wonder how many times we’ve done that. Instead of being in prayer, being in tune with the Lord, we say, “Lord, I’m gonna do this,” and we operate in the flesh without the power of the Holy Spirit directing us, and in the process, people lose ears. Thank You, Jesus, for walking behind us and always picking up the ears. Always putting ‘em back on the right way, thank You for that. Oh, that we would be led by God, that we would be men and women of prayer that wait for the Lord, that pour our hearts out to the Lord and wait for His directions.

This brings us to number five in verse 54, Peter had followed when he should have fled for safety. Verse 54 says, “Peter had followed Him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest; and he was sitting with the officers and warming himself at the fire.” Jesus went through a total of six different trials, three of them were ecclesiastical, they were religious trials, and the others were civil. This now is the second trial that Jesus went through. This is an ecclesiastical trial that Jesus went through. Jesus had already told the disciples, He had quoted Zechariah 13:7, that they would, “Strike the Shepherd that the sheep may be scattered,” Jesus had said in John 18:8, “ . . . let these go their way.” It was already predicted what was supposed to happen, what was going to happen, what the Bible had already said regarding this. But notice Peter followed Jesus at a distance.

Do you know it’s impossible to be a Christian and follow Jesus at a distance? Marginal is dangerous. A Christian is a follower of the Teacher and His Teaching, that’s what a Christian is. How can you possibly be a follower of Jesus at a distance? That doesn’t even make sense. But this is what Peter attempted to do. Really, it’s a theological oxymoron to follow Jesus at a distance. You can’t do it! But that’s what Peter was doing, “I’m gonna play it safe. I’m just going to stay at a distance, but I still want to follow You. Yeah, I know what Jesus said, I know what the Word said, I know all that, but I’m still going to be there, but I’m just not going to be in there. I’m just going to kind of stay back just a little bit.”

This brings us to number six in verse 54, Peter sat with the wrong crowd. Verse 54, “Peter had followed Him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest; and he was sitting with the officers and warming himself at the fire.” Oh, I wish at this point I could say, “Peter, look where you’re at. Could you ever imagine that you’d be sitting with the enemy? Have you ever thought that you would be at this religious, ecclesiastical hearing where Jesus is on trial and you’re right there with the arresting party and you’re sitting with them? How did you get here? Look where you’re at.”

Psalm 1 gives us some great instruction, “Blessed is the man, Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful.” Notice the progression: You walk, you stand, then you’ll sit. That’s the progression, and that’s where Peter brought himself. He’s now sitting, literally, with the enemy.

For some tonight, maybe you would say, “Well, you know, Pastor, I’ve never known anyone but the enemy. I don’t really have any close Christian friends. I’ve never built relationships with other Christians, I just have never done so.” I hear that excuse, but then I watch the service and some flee the service like they’re fleeing the West Bank or something, I mean, they’re just running for their lives out the doors. Somehow they’re waiting for someone to come up to them and go, “You know what? I’m here to be your BFF forever!” You know, that’s what they’re waiting for. As if that’s gonna happen.

So, I was just glancing at some of the opportunities that you have here in the fellowship, and I was amazed at the opportunities we have to build the right relationships, to build relationships that will last, relationships that would be pleasing to the Lord. So, you’ve got this Connection Class. If you’ve not been through the Connection Class, you outta go to the Connection Class. They’ll give an overview of all the ministries, everything that’s going on here. It would be a great, great class to meet other folks and to find out together what actually takes place here. What about the Young Adults. What about the Men’s and Women’s. What about the small groups. What about Widow’s Might? That would be a great one to get into, especially if you’ve just recently become a widow. That would be a great, great class or study to get into. How about Single Women’s Fellowship? You see, all of these are opportunities that we have to mingle and to build relationships with the right crowd. That’s what you do.

Actually, over the years I would suggest to you that the closest relationships that I have built has been a result of ministering. It’s being in the trenches. It’s serving with other believers. You build the richest and most wonderful relationships in all of the world through ministry. Jesus said it was more blessed to give than it is to receive, and it’s absolutely true. You will build those relationships. So, don’t leave here tonight saying, “Well, I don’t have any Christian friends.” Well, tonight’s the night of new beginnings. You want to quit sitting with the wrong crowd. You want to start building those relationships.

Which brings us now to Peter’s fall. Now, who would think that Peter would fall? Well, I knew he would fall, so after those six errors that Peter committed, this leads now to his fall. Peter’s denial of Jesus was the result of a series of errors. What Peter does now is he denies Jesus three times. Let’s look at each one of these denials of Jesus. The first denial was a dodging of Jesus. He dodges the question, and he dodges the very Person of Christ. In verse 66, “As Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant-girls of the high priest came.” Here is this servant of the high priest that comes, and here is Peter now before…he’s sitting in the courtyard of Caiaphas.

Really, Annas was the high priest, but during this time the high priest was now up for the highest bidder. It was a yearly thing where you would bid on the position of high priest. Of course, in the Scripture, the high priest was for life. Caiaphas was the son-in-law of Annas, but Annas, for all practical purposes, was like the Godfather of the priesthood, he really was. They had taken Jesus first over to Annas to get the blessings for having Him arrested. Now, this is the second trial before Caiaphas, and this is his son-in-law. Again, the Bible makes it clear when you read the accounts of these trials, you talk about injustice, you talk about a kangaroo court, that’s what was practiced during these trials. All of the very rules of Rome, and even the rules of the priesthood, were broken.

Verse 67, “and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, ‘You also were with Jesus the Nazarene.’ 68 But he denied it saying, ‘I neither know nor understand what you are talking about.’ And he went out onto the porch.” By the way, I have to say this, this is called a lie. Some of you are looking at me like, “Whoa! What?” Now, today, what would we call this? A misunderstanding. This is a classic misunderstanding. No, it’s a classic lie is what it is, and we need to call it what it is. Peter is lying here. He’s dodging the question. He understands clearly what he’s being asked, and he’s dodging that he knows Jesus Christ. That’s what he’s doing. We just have to be honest. This is what’s taking place.

The second is a denial was a disassociation with Jesus, verses 69-70. “The servant-girl saw him, and began once more to say to the bystanders, ‘This is one of them!’ 70 But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders were again saying to Peter, ‘Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean too.’” Again, he was denying it. Do you know what I find amazing about this? It’s not the soldiers that get Peter to compromise, it’s a couple of girls with towels that get him to do it. I mean, this is embarrassing, it really is. I mean, here is strong fisherman, Peter, that’s buckling to some servant girls that are questioning him about Jesus in the courtyard. Why would he be so fearful? Because he’s in the wrong place. He’s in a place he shouldn’t be. He wouldn’t have been there if he would’ve listened to the Word of God and wouldn’t have trusted in himself. He wouldn’t even be here, but because he was in the wrong place, he disregarded God’s Word, he now found himself and now he’s buckling to a couple girls carrying towels around. That’s what he’s buckling to—not swords, but towels is what it is.

Here’s number three denial was a defense against Jesus. It gets worse, verse 70, “And after a little while the bystanders were again saying to Peter, ‘Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean too.’ 71 But he began to curse and swear, ‘I do not know this man you are talking about!’” When it says cursing, he wasn’t using vulgarity or four-letter words. He wasn’t doing that. What he was doing is he would say, “I swear to god. I swear on my mother’s grave. I swear on the Torah that I am not lying.” That’s what he’s doing. He’s making oaths. He’s making vows is what he’s doing, and he’s lying as he’s making the vows. Verse 72 says, “Immediately a rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had made the remark to him, ‘Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.’ And he began to weep.”

Back in verse 30, Jesus had said, “Truly I say to you, that this very night, before a rooster crows twice, you yourself will deny Me three times.” Jesus had predicted this. Peter said that word didn’t apply to him, and he believed that they would do so but he wouldn’t do it because he was stronger than them. Luke 22:61, “The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, ‘Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.’ 62 And he went out and wept bitterly.”

When we get to heaven, I have reserved so many heavenly Blu-rays, you just have to wait when I get done watching them. I’m going to watch this one. I want to see the expression of Jesus’ face when He makes eye contact with Peter. I want to then see Peter’s expression when he makes eye contact with the Lord. Oh, he was a broken man. This broke him. I think with Jesus, His heart over warning and warning and warning, and Peter disregarding it.

You see, we must fail in order to succeed. I don’t know how many times I’ve had to learn this lesson that I’ve gotta fail in order to succeed. I love what Jesus said in Luke 22:32, “but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail: and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” God was going to use Peter’s failure to make him a spiritual man. He was not only going to repent and be restored, but Peter was going to strengthen others that had fallen, too. This failure was going to be reversed in a very, very useful way in which now Peter would restore others that had fallen, too.

Again, when you look at the book of Acts, Peter’s a different man. Oh, the first twelve chapters of the book of Acts is all about Peter. What a giant Peter is! How did all of that happen? Well, he was restored. John 21 tells us that he was restored—there, he went back to fishing, and Jesus met him. He asked Peter three times if he loved Him, and Peter said, “You know all things. You know that I love You.” In 1Peter 5:10 Peter said these words, “After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.” Now, who better to say those words than Peter himself? He knew what it was like to be broken, but he also knew what it was like to be restored. Second Corinthians 7:9 says, “I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us.”

I want to read this to you. Many are acquainted with their fall, but not with their recovery. Many sin like David and Peter but have not repented like David and Peter. It’s always amazing to me when you’re witnessing to someone, you’re sharing with them, what’s the first thing? “Oh, I did this. I went against the Lord,” and they bring up their old dirty laundry. That’s what they do, they bring it up. And you say, “Well, okay, that’s fine that you told me all of that, but what about your restoration?” “Ohhhh,” no restoration. Oh, they know about their fall, it’s ever before them and they can repeat to you in detail how they fell, but what about their restoration?

Tonight I want to close with just five little things that we looked at tonight that we’re going to use by way of application, five things. 1) God’s Word applies to me. 2) Guard against prayerlessness. 3) Beware of confidence in our own strength. 4) Build relationships with the right crowd. 5) Many are acquainted with their fall but not with their recovery.

We’re going to pray, and after we pray, I understand you’ll have some folks that will come up here that will pray for you. Maybe tonight you need a recovery, you need to be cleansed of your sins, you need to confess your sins. Be honest about it. Confession just means agrees with, that’s all it means. You’re agreeing with God. You sinned. You’re agreeing with God you’ve fallen short of the glory of God, and God will forgive us. God will cleanse us of our sins tonight. God loves us. Let’s pray.