Denial

Introduction

As we travel through the last moments of Jesus’s life we have just left the scene of Jesus with the council of Jewish leaders and they have condemned him to death. Now they just need the government to enact their decision because they do not have the power to do it. As all of this is going on we have what we will look at tonight.

Tonight we will look at the denial by Peter. In Mark 14:31 Peter says “But he said emphatically, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And they all said the same.” but just before this Jesus said in Mark 14:30 “And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.”” Now we will see that it is Jesus that was correct here and that Peter did not live up to what he said.

Tonight we are going to look at this failure on Peters part and see the cost of following Jesus as well as how devastating failure is. Let’s begin by reading our passage.

Mark 14:66–72 ESV

And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you mean.” And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed. And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.” But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.” But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak.” And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept.

So Peter was in the courtyard of the high priest when he was spotted by a young servant girl. Peter was there standing by a fire to keep warm and in that light she recognized him. She says that he was one of the men that was with Jesus. This is when the denial begins. Peter denies so much as to say that he has no clue who the girl is even talking about. It is now early morning as the rooster begins to crow. Peter begins to go closer into the gate and this girl insist but he keeps denying. Then another person says that he has to be with Jesus because he is a Galilean, given away by his accent. He then invokes a curse upon himself saying that he does not know Jesus. After this third time Peter realizes what he has done and he broke down and wept. He was deeply sorrowful for what he had done.

This story of denial is a sad story. Peter must be given some credit as he did stay nearby but he still fell into denial. Peter is often regarded as one of the most devout apostles and now even he is denying Jesus, through all of this it is possible that Peter is beginning to see just how weak his flesh really is.

This occurence is a warning to disciples then and now that being a witness to Jesus is the most important thing that we can do. We can be honest about Peters failure because of our belief of grace, not even the lead apostle is immune to extreme failure.

Today we are going to look at two things, the first is the cost of following Jesus and the second is the devastation of our failure. Let’s pray then we can begin to look at the cost.

The cost is real

The cost of following Jesus is real. Jesus says in Matthew 10:25 “It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.” Look how they have treated Jesus this whole time, look at how they are about to treat Jesus. If they treat him in this way then how much worse will we be treated.

Peter is faced with this cost right now. Why would he deny Christ all of these times? Because there was a lot of danger for him if he didn’t. If he didn’t deny Christ he too would probably be faced with death. The cost of following Jesus is real.

Peter was eventually killed for his faith. Many people throughout history have been killed for their faith. I heard a man say a while back that reading biographies make a young man old and I took that to heart and have been reading biographies ever since. One particular book had many small biographies in it and I am not finished with it but have read a little over half of it. Many of the men that the book talks about are pastors and Christian leaders, each one of them faced difficulties and some death for their faith. The theme in them is that they all stood firm in those moments and held to their faith.

Here where we live right now I think that the likelihood that we face death for our faith is very low. But the chances that we face difficulties for our faith is guaranteed. Peter was faced with the chance of death in this moment and he crumbled, later he stood strong. We might not be in that situation exactly but what if we are being bullied for our faith? Do you deny Christ or do you stand for him? When things do not go well do you deny him or do you hold fast to the faith?

Salvation is free but in a way it will cost you everything. There can be nothing that you do not give to the Lord. When you make him boss it is all his to do what he wants. You are not to run from this cost or argue with what God wants, you are to follow in faithful obedience.

The cost of following Jesus is real. Peter knows that, do you?

The failure is devastating

Mark 14:72 ESV

And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept.

Failure is devastating. Failure is not what any of us want but when it happens it can crush us. When Peter realized his failure he broke down and wept. This is a deep remorse that he felt. We should fight against failing to live for Christ but there will be times where we fail. If Peter the great apostle can fail then so can you.

When this happens though we cannot let the devastation be forever. We should have remorse, we should break down and weep over our sins and failures to live for Christ. We should also begin to live for him like we are supposed to immediately after we realize what we have done.

One thing that we can do now though it to fight against failure. How could so many through history follow Christ even to their own death? It is because of their faith that had been strengthened all that time leading up to their death. You want to avoid failure? strengthen your faith now. How can you do this?

1. prayer

Prayer is our communication with God. Through prayer we can take all of our issues and anxieties to him. We can and should do this at all times, good or bad. If we have a healthy habit of praying during the good times then we can be assured that we will in the difficult times. This relationship you have through prayer will shape you in more ways than I can even describe to you, chiefly it will grow your faith.

2. Bible reading

The second thing I have for you to grow your faith is to read your Bible regularly. I know I say this a lot, I do this because the word of God is such a powerful thing. It is profitable for so many things but one thing is to see what God has done and through that you can know what he is able to do. This will build our faith by building our trust in him.

Reading your Bible also helps you see more of who God is. The more you know who God is, the more you would be willing to do anything for him.

3. resisting temptation

Finally is to resist temptation. It says in James 1:2–3 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”

Steadfastness is endurance, it is the ability to continually face these challenges without wavering. Through enduring these trials, resisting these temptations, your faith is strengthened.

Think about it this way, if you want to bench press 200 lbs what do you do? Do you try 200 lbs until you finally get it? No you will do more reps wit a smaller weight, maybe 150 for 10 right. Through this you will build the ability to do more, to the point where that smaller stuff is to easy and it doesn’t even face you. It is through the resistance and withstanding these temptations and trials that our faith is strengthened and we can resist failure.

Failure is devastating and will happen. We should fight to strengthen our faith so that we can avoid it.

Conclusion

In the end this is a sad day for Peter. He has denied Christ more than anyone else. This was devastating for him. This story is not without hope though. We read this in John 21.15-19

John 21:15–19 ESV

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”

This is moment that what Peter had done was forgiven. He can now stand with full confidence, knowing he is weak but Christ is strong.

Even through the most intense failures forgiveness is possible. Peter went on to do so much work for Christ. He went on missionary journeys, he wrote books that are in the New Testament, his story is the one that Mark wrote down in this book. Peter is the rock on which Christ built his church. Even after this failure forgiveness is possible.

Maybe tonight you realize that you have been denying Jesus and you want to repent of that. Maybe tonight you are afraid that your faith is weak and would give in, begin the journey towards stronger faith today. Maybe today you realize that you do not have faith at all, you do not trust in Jesus as your Lord and savior, change that today. Come talk to me or one of the other adults, grab a friend, whatever it takes.

Salvation is free but the cost of following Jesus is real.