03 - Peter's Denial And Restoration By Pastor Jeff Wickwire Note

Moment of Truth

Part 3

"Peter's Denial"

Mark 14: 66-72 "While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came by. 67 When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him.

“You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus,” she said.

68 But he denied it. “I don’t know or understand what you’re talking about,” he said, and went out into the entryway.

69 When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing around, “This fellow is one of them.” 70 Again he denied it.

After a little while, those standing near said to Peter, “Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.”

71 He began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know this man you’re talking about.”

72 Immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: 'Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times.' And he broke down and wept."

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This is the story of Peter's denial of Christ.

Jesus' resurrection is looming, He has been arrested, is already being mistreated physically....

And Peter and John have followed Him from a distance as He is being subjected to these things.

It might be noted that this is the first time we ever find it said of either John or Peter that they "followed from a distance."

It was when following from a distance that they made their biggest mistakes!

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Peter, true to form, had already sworn to Jesus that he would never deny Him:

"Even if all are made to stumble," he had said, "yet I will not be" (Mark 14:29).

Jesus replied, "Assuredly I say to you that today, even this night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times" (Mark 14: 30).

And Peter did just that, and he did it spectacularly...

He denied The Lord 3 times just as Jesus had predicted, and on the third time he did it with swearing and cursing.

Luke alone points out that just after his third denial, "The Lord turned and looked at Peter" (Luke 22:61).

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Things happened fast after that...

Jesus was subjected to the equivalent of a kangaroo court, and ultimately sentenced to the harshest death sentence available in that day--crucifixion.

We see that at one point John was at least in close proximity to The Lord while He hung on the Cross, because Jesus turned over the care of His mother, Mary, to him.

But Peter was nowhere to be found.

The outspoken, swashbuckling, water walking, type A Simon Peter was off somewhere "weeping bitterly" over what he had done.

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This was the worst failure of Peter's life!

It was he who had blurted out the revelatory words, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God!" (Matt. 16:16)

It was he who had been told by Jesus that he would become like a rock in his personal stability.

It was Peter who had dared to walk on water with Jesus.

It was Peter who was amongst the select three that had seen The Lord transformed on the mountain...

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Peter would have told anyone prior to Jesus' arrest that he was "all in" with The Lord, and would follow Him to the end.

This is what he believed about himself, about his own heart, about the level of his own affections for Jesus.

For Peter it was impossible to imagine he would do what he did, would walk away from Jesus in his greatest hour of need...

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In denying The Lord, Peter came face to face with himself---his own human weakness and frailties....and it crushed him.

And this is where Peter reminds us of ourselves!

We've all failed The Lord when we didn't think we could...

We've all done something, have fallen short, in our own way have denied Him...

When the pressure was on we distanced ourselves from Him...

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Peter's world at this point in the story crashed in around him...

Was The Lord done with him? he wondered.

Had he thrown away his calling in a moment of weakness?

Keep in mind that Peter at this time wasn't clear about the resurrection...

So...for all he knew, the last interaction he would ever have with The Lord was that awful moment of denial and THE LOOK Jesus had given him!

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The question here for us is---what do you do when you have failed The Lord?

How do you recover from a bad fall where you do something, go somewhere, slip into a time when you seem to lose touch with your faith....

And the whole experience leaves you wondering if your life and walk with God can ever be salvaged?

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Now---If we had asked Peter after his denial what he thought his future held he might have said something like:

"I'm totally confused, heartbroken, and disappointed in myself."

"Everything was going so well when suddenly, circumstances and events went crazy and now everything is upside down..."

"And during that awful time of confusion and uncertainty I denied my Lord."

"Was my failure fatal or final? I don't know."

"To tell you the truth, I don't see much of a future for myself right now."

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That was likely Peter's view.

But what was Jesus' view of his fallen disciple?

What did Jesus think about his painful denials?

Well, we know that Jesus had foreseen Peter's fall and had prayed for him...

"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers" (Luke 22:31-32).

So the question became, what was stronger, Peter's fall or Jesus' prayers for him?

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Actually, we see in the story that Jesus was far from finished with him!

And all that had really happened here was that the headstrong, self-confident, cocky Simon Peter had all those "self oriented" things knocked out of him.

He was humbled in the presence of his spectacular fall.

Peter saw himself as a failure, but Jesus saw a man who could now be more useful in kingdom work!

We no longer sense that self-confident strut so familiar before now.

Gone is the braggadocios attitude, the self-assured swagger, the impulsive, over-confident personality...

Nope, the air has been knocked out of Simon Peter!

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One thing that has always blessed me is that, after Jesus' resurrection, Mary Magdalene and the other women had encountered an Angel in the empty tomb who said to them...

"You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen!....But go, tell His disciples--and Peter--that He is going before you into Galilee" (Mark 16: 6-7).

Why would the Angel single out Peter?

Because Peter's fall was known in all of heaven, and his state of mind, his sense of defeat, his discouragement was known as well....

Clearly this word from the angel was designed to let Peter know he was still in the game!

He had not been rejected of The Lord!

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But the fact still remained that Peter needed to be restored in His relationship with The Lord and in his calling.

In denying Christ, he had wounded his own soul.

How could he ever stand up and preach about the One he had so dismally denied!

He needed his conscience to be cleared, and Jesus knew it.

So a beautiful drama unfolds where Peter and some of the other disciples have gone fishing all night long...

I believe he had tried returning to what was familiar....to his old life, what he did before meeting Jesus.

After catching nothing all night long, a lone stranger appeared on the seashore and said,

"Friends, have you caught any fish?"

They replied flatly, "No."

Then He said, "Cast on the right side of the boat and you will find some."

They did so and caught so many fish they couldn't pull them in.

John connected the dots and said, "It is The Lord!"

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Now at this point Peter doesn't even wait for the boat to get to shore.

He jumps into the water and swims to shore where Jesus is waiting for his fallen disciple around a crackling fire and a fish breakfast.

Something happens at this point that is a beautiful picture of restoration.

Peter had denied Jesus three times, and Jesus in turn is going to ask him a question three times:

In verse 15 He asks, "Simon Peter, Simon son of John, do you love Me more than these?"

Some think "these" means "these fish, nets, boats," this whole thing of fishing which you seem to be so in love with and have such an affinity for, do you love Me more than these?

Others think He meant these other disciples......of whom Peter had said:

"Though everyone else forsakes you, I won't."

So Jesus could well have meant..."Is it really true that you love Me more than these men love Me?"

Whichever of the two, He is saying to Peter, "Do you love Me supremely?"

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Then He said to him a second time, "Simon, son of Jonas, do you love Me?"

He said, "Yes, Lord, You know that I love You." He said to him, "Then shepherd My sheep."

Now these first two times, Jesus used the word "Agape" for love.

Agape is the God kind of love, it is the highest form of love.

And both times Peter had responded, not with Agape, but with the word "Phileo" which means "to have affection for."

Then Jesus asked Peter a third time---three denials and three opportunities to undo that denial with positive affirmations.

But with the third question Jesus came down to Peter's level and said, "Simon...do you phileo me, meaning "do you have affection for me?"

The Bible says this grieved Peter, for The Lord seemed to be asking, "Do you truly have even affection for me?"

The Lord is essentially saying, "Peter, based on your conduct I'm not sure you can claim affection for me!"

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Now here is what this interaction between Jesus and Peter comes down to....

Did he and do we love Jesus Christ more than anything else?

That's the question Jesus was asking Peter.

Peter tried to claim that he did, and Jesus questioned his claim.

This required some tough self-examination on Peter's part...!

Loving Him more than anything else is the bottom line characteristic of a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Do we love Him more than anything else?

Or anyone else?

More than father? More than mother? More than family?

More than education? More than fame and fortune? More than ourselves?

We know that Peter's spiritual maturity grew to that place, for he wrote in 1Peter 2:7, "To those who believe, Christ is precious."

The story ends with Peter's full restoration....

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Summary:

If you have fallen and failed The Lord, He wants to restore you.

Restoration might require some tough personal honesty.

Great things wait on the other side of your restoration---Peter became the first preacher of the risen Christ on the Day of Pentecost!

LET'S PRAY