Turn with me if you will to Matthew
26:30-35: “And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this
night, for it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, And the sheep of the
flock will be scattered.’ But after I have been raised, I will go before you to
Galilee.” Peter answered and said to Him, “Even if all are made to stumble
because of You, I will never be made to stumble.” Jesus said to him,
“Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will
deny Me three times.” Peter said to Him, “Even if I have to die with You, I
will not deny You!” And so said all the disciples.”
Here's the groundwork for this
story…The disciples had just finished the last meal they would share with their
beloved Lord before He was to be crucified. And even though He had told them of
His impending death many times before…I still don’t think they fully understood
what was about to happen that night. They had gone to the Mount of Olives to
pray as I am sure they had done so many times before. But Jesus had been saying
some things and doing some things, and if they had been paying attention they
would have realized that this was no ordinary night. And I am sure they all
wondered about what He had said back at the house…that they would all be made
to stumble? How could this be? What could He have meant?
But Jesus seemed really sad that
night and He seemed to be carrying an especially heavy burden. What did He know
that they didn’t understand?
And I’m sure that it weighed
extra heavy on Peter’s heart…because Jesus had just told him that he would deny
his Master 3 times before the rooster crowed in the morning? I can imagine
Peter’s thoughts, “No way! I’ll show Him how loyal I am. He will know that He
can depend on me.”
And I wonder how many of us have
said or thought the same thing? “I would do anything for Jesus. I would give my
life for the Lord. I would never deny Him.” Haven’t we all said it or at least
thought it?
And so there they were in the
Garden, at the place called Gethsemane, and Jesus had asked the disciples to
sit and wait until He came back. Obviously He had some serious praying to
do…and so He took with Him the 3 closest friends He had in the world…Peter and
James and John…and when He had gone a little farther, He asked them to stay and
watch with Him as He walked away from them to pray. But as He was pouring His
heart out in prayer on the most crucial night of His life…three times He came
back and found His dearest companions asleep…uncaring about the deepest grief
that their Lord was feeling in His heart.
And finally, when He knew the
time had come and He was just about to be handed over to the soldiers and
arrested, Peter realized what was happening, and he was determined to make good
on his promise to Jesus…“Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!”
as he slashed off the soldier’s ear. And then even after Jesus healed the ear
and they took Him away…even then Peter was determined that he would stand with
Jesus no matter what may happen. And so he followed Him…never expecting the
atrocity that would take place later that night.
It had been a very long night as
Jesus had been falsely accused and convicted in a mockery of a trial. How could
they have found Him guilty? Jesus had never committed a crime in His life. But
yet, here He was being sentenced to death…and Peter stood close enough so that
he could watch everything that happened. How sad he must have felt in his
heart…how terribly confused and frightened he must have been. He saw it all and
his heart was filled with unbelief.
But then came the accusations.
Please read Matthew 26:69-75: “Now Peter sat outside in the courtyard. And
a servant girl came to him, saying, “You also were with Jesus of Galilee.” But
he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you are saying.” And
when he had gone out to the gateway, another girl saw him and said to those who
were there, “This fellow also was with Jesus of Nazareth.” But again he denied
with an oath, “I do not know the Man!” And a little later those who stood by
came up and said to Peter, “Surely you also are one of them, for your speech
betrays you.” Then he began to curse and swear, saying, “I do not know the
Man!” Immediately a rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus who
had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” So
he went out and wept bitterly.”
What a devastating time it must
have been for Peter. He never intended to do it…He never wanted to deny his
Lord. He would have given his very own life for his Master…but there when the
pressure was on and in the heat of all the emotions and anguish, Peter did the
unthinkable…just like Jesus told him he would do.
And the truth is that it can also
happen to you and to me. We can be with some people who don’t know the Lord and
even though we never meant to, we find that we too have denied Him when we
don’t speak up for Christ when people come against Him. We can disobey Him in
our hearts, we can deny Him in our thoughts…we can deny Him in a thousand and
one ways…and just like Peter our words and our actions say out loud to those
around us, “I do not know the Man!” “I
never met this Man named Jesus!” It may have happened to you already. I know it
has to me…and I have done just like Peter…I have wept bitterly at the thought
of denying my Lord.
And so, knowing that it can
happen, what do we do when we find ourselves in a place that we know in our
hearts we have denied Jesus…when we have disobeyed our Master…when we have not
stood up for our Jesus when people were coming against Him? How do we handle
times like these?
1. We need
to realize that our God already knows. Just as He knew with Peter, He
also knows what we are going to do or what we are going to say long before we
ever said it. He is aware of our hearts…He has already seen it and heard it,
and so we need not try to hide our sin. When we realize that we have denied our
Lord in word or in deed, we need to do just like Peter did, we need to weep and
repent of our sin. 1 John 2:1 tells us, “My little children, these things I write
to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” Jesus is ready and waiting to
forgive us when we deny Him and sin against Him. We just need to repent in our
hearts.
2. We need
to learn from our mistakes. There will most likely be other
opportunities to deny Christ in our lives, and we need to remember how it felt
when we turned our backs on Him in disobedience and we need to be careful never
to allow ourselves to do that again. I
remember a time when I had personally strayed away from the Lord…I didn’t mean
for it to happen…in fact I didn’t even know it was happening. It was a very
difficult and confusing time in my life and I thought I was doing the right
thing, but now I know that the Holy Spirit was trying to warn me of the wrong
direction I had taken. It took a long time, but Jesus restored me to the right
place with Him just as He did with Peter. And when the opportunity came again
years later for me to deny Him in a way that was very similar, I remembered
what I had done in the past, and I was determined I would not allow Satan to
tempt me in that way again. So I had gained victory in that area of my life.
3. We need
to let Him lead us and teach us the right path to take so that we can boldly stand on His Word and in obedience to Him.
Sometimes, the hardest thing for us to do is to wait for direction from the
Holy Spirit. We want to do something and we want to do it now…and many times
when we do, it’s the wrong thing and we end up going in the wrong direction…and
we find that once again we have been disobedient to our Lord. He has a perfect
plan…and we need to seek Him and wait for Him so that He can lead us to fulfill
His desires for our lives…and when we do that, then we will not fail.
Remember…Jesus had told the disciples, “But after I have been raised, I will go
before you to Galilee.” He already had the plan…all Peter and the rest of the
disciples had to do was to seek their Lord and wait for Him…and follow the
directions that He gave to them.
Friends, I want to encourage you
today…Jesus is faithful! And He is Worthy! And if you have failed Him in the
past, He is ready and willing to forgive and to restore you to the place where
you need to be with Him. He will teach you and help you to find His plan for
your life. Don’t try to hide it from
Him…He already knows. Just repent and give it to Jesus…and then seek Him with
all your heart and walk in obedience.
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