Peter's Denial Foretold

Foretelling

Today we have a message about:

Jesus Knowing Us

Jesus Understanding Us

Jesus Foretelling or better said --- HIS PLANS for US

We have had the announcement to John about Judas

Jesus announcing to the closest humans in His life

that the command is not obeying the Law,

or imposing that on others

BUT LOVING ONE ANOTHER

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There is a lot of emotion and the mood

at the table is likely become sober.

— remember Jesus is troubled

I am reminded of so many emotional moments in my own life

whereas

i made myself or others promises that were never going to be fulfilled.

We get caught up in the emotion

John 13:36–38 (ESV)

36 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.”

37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”

38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.

many years ago i was having a troubled time

understanding why friends leave or abandon me

was it me?

what do i need to change?

i was depressed and reached out to a close friend

I shared with him my heart felt hurt

and that it causes me to not trust people

and especially not

their “empty words”

mind you i was very sad and mournful at the time.

I made the statement that i would simply

look at people as character in my book of life

some for a sentence, some for a paragraph,

or a chapter, or even a recurring presence through out my story.

i shared with him that i hope that he and i would be close and friends for a long time

He actually got angry that i would doubt his friendship forever

Look at the emotions!!

he moved out of the area, we planned for a time to visit, to even do a vacation together in Florida and that fell through --- we drifted

His emotional response was something like Peter in this verses

“how dare you think we would ever not be friends”

YET today he became a wonderful chapter in my life

Today… we are connected still via facebook and exchange happy birthday etc...

Friends we are emotional creatures

you know that ,

I know that

and JESUS knows that....

So here we are at the Lord’s table at the last supper

Peter is aside of Jesus at this moment......

Lets remind ourself about Peter for a moment

PETER

Peter was a Jew

a fisherman

a husband

a follower

and eventually one of Jesus’s inner circle

We have the wonderful ability today to see the life of Peter with the help of

commentaries and the Scriptures

We see early Peter as impetuous

We see later Peter as a writer of Epistles, calm, people hearted, full of the Wisdom of Christ

It would be easy for me to see that Peter followed

the command of Christ

and LOVED OTHERS

Peter is a Great example of the Redemption and Change

that we talk about weekly and daily at Horizon

Who you were

is not

Who you are in HIM

Redemption even though He Knows

let that sink in a moment

I want to read our verses again this morning

John 13:36–38 (ESV)

36 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?”

Jesus answered him,

“Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.”

37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now?

I will lay down my life for you.”

38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me?

Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.

I see three things here:

A mention of a Destination - where are you going - and Peter doesn’t yet understand

Determination - i will lay down my life --- Boldness and Bravado

Denial - you are human and bold, but uninformed - Jesus exposing a human condition

A Destination that is unknown

A Determination of a man to Follow his LORD

A Denial Foretold

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We make bold statements also

Don’t we?

Peter is an example of our GROWING FAITH

A young Christian can more easily fall away

but walking with Christ daily

changes you

Once you are changed it is impossible to fall back

into the exact same old you

Surely we have moments of backsliding in our walk

We say we will stand by someone

We say we will love unconditionally

We promise to never repeat an action

we make statements in the EMOTION of the TIME

I some times think of our walk in Christ

as a hill of loose rocks

are goal is to reach the top

we start out cautious and place our feet knowing the top is far away

Yet as we start to steadily move our confidence rises

and we start to go faster

and get sloppy and slide back

Peter is experiencing this exact thing

in His changed life he is assuming a posture of BOLDNESS.

He is changed

walking with Christ

Learning to walk in faith

and falling deeply in love with the LORD

He is bold and i believe His intention is good

He is CONFRONTED WITH JESUS LEAVING HIM

CONFRONTED with not understanding

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He is like us.

We can all relate

we are walking in Jesus and our live is a certain way

Wake up, read our Bibles ( before or after getting coffee)

maybe we journal

Then we are off on our Day

returning from our earthly chores

Dinner, maybe a little TV and bed to start all over.

Can you relate?

it can feel like that movie --- Ground Hog Day

then BOOM!!!!!!

LIFE throws a CHANGE at US

I want you to move to New Mexico — TRUST ME

I want you to become a PASTOR — OBEY ME

I want you to focus on me FIRST IN ALL THINGS

so i will allow you to lose connection with family and friends

I will teach you - Jesus first and above all things

you get it ---- DON’T you

we have all had these moments

We all like change that we like

BUT the truth is that change is not always welcome by us

Health

lose of loved one

lose of income or job

We like our NOW — We like to sit on our understanding

what is know is easier than trusting the unknown

and in that is the secret to Godly living

to trust in GOD ALONE

but Jesus died for our HERE< NOW < and FUTURE

We must understand that Jesus is not

going to negotiate with us

We live in Him and FOR HIM

We want OUR RELIGION or TRADITIONS

We want OUR WAY

We want JESUS, but on our terms

Peter is struggling with UNDERSTANDING --- as our we

In the last hours Peter

came to a dinner

washes feet

one of the disciples leaves and i would assume Peter senses it was not in a good way

Then you tell us to LOVE one ANOTHER

JESUS drops the TRUTH

I am going away --- and you can not come

BUT JESUS

---------we are living with you, doing life with YOU

we need more help,

we need to learn more,

we need your strength,

your guidance your power

you are GOD ,

we put our faith our trust, our life in you

WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU ARE LEAVING???????

________________________________________________________

Emotions are high

Peter is emotional

Peter is confused, lost in understanding

and wants to do the right thing.

HAVE you had a moment or time with God where you made a BOLD statement

I will love you forever

I will never doubt you

I will obey you

I will never doubt you

Come on!!!

In some form----------------- you understand Peter

all this emotion and happening

Judas gets up and leaves and

Peter who inquired of John to ASK JESUS ---- WHO?

inquiring minds want to know ---right?

apparently Peter moves closer to Jesus

and asks Jesus

Lord where are you going?

That is a question we have all ask

Jesus i cannot see the future,

I don’t know where to go on my own

Where are you going Jesus

i want to follow

Jesus --- I cannot do this on my own

(spoiler alert for the coming weeks — YOU DON’T have to and JESUS doesn’t want you to)

Denial

Just like Peter

we will deny Jesus

Interesting what was your first thought --- OH NOT ME PASTOR

we have all been in Peter’s shoes

Jesus knows we will all deny HIM in some way during our walk

HE KNOWS, and still loves us

We come to Jesus, we accept Him and vow to follow HIM

no matter what

Peter is announcing that commitment

But Jesus knows that it is NOT HIS TIME or HIS current nature

Read ahead in ACTS this week

Peter will do amazing things in GOD’s perfect Timing

Peter will be changed, transformed, and MIGHTY for the LORD

Peter will lay down his own life for the LORD

Peter will go where Jesus is going

Peter will die on this earth, as Christ did

Jesus knows Peter’s Strengths and HIS weaknesses

and Jesus knows yours!!!

Conclusion

Jesus knows you

Jesus loves you

Jesus has a use, a purpose, a plan for you

and He knows your weakness

Jesus know our False bravado

Jesus loves you

We will like Peter be confused and off base in our thinking

We will proclaim to follow Jesus any where

We will speak to Jesus and tell him that we will lay our life down for HIM

This morning HEAR THIS

Jesus know that YOU WILL DENY HIM at TIMES

Jesus know exactly when you will Disobey Him

Jesus know when you will back slide or drift side ways

But next week we will hear

words from Jesus that should ring LOUDER than all others in our emotions our humanity

LET NOT YOUR HEART BY TROUBLED

lets Pray.