The Denial

Mark 14:66–72 ESV

66 And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, 67 and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” 68 But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you mean.” And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed. 69 And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.” 70 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.” 71 But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak.” 72 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.

How will we respond when our sin comes to light?

Growing up, I can remember reading this book in elementary school that was well known then and has since become even more well know. That book is The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.

In this book, there is a young boy named Edmund. He had 3 siblings and they found this magical wardrobe that took them to another world. Edmund goes to this other world and he is drawn in by this character called the White Witch. Drawn in by the White Witch’s lies and the promise of something sweet, he turns his back on those who love him most. His betrayal brings hurt, shame, and danger—not just for himself, but for everyone around him.

But when Edmund is finally rescued, he expects punishment. There is another character in the story named Aslan. Aslan is the true ruler of Narnia. He is depicted as this talking lion and is the King of Beasts. Edmund expects Aslan to punish him. Instead, Aslan meets him with mercy. The great Lion doesn’t scold or shame him; He forgives him and restores him to his family. From that moment on, Edmund is a changed person—humbled, grateful, and faithful.

When we know someone who commits a sin that we think is really bad, we often just write them off. We tend to think that people cannot change. I am thankful that Jesus did not look at me and think that I could not change.

Main Point: Although we sin, we can be restored!!!

I am going to be working our way through our passage here in Mark.

Mark 14:66 ESV

66 And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came,

So, as we saw in the verses prior to this, Peter followed Jesus after he was arrested and taken to the high priest. But he followed at a distance. He disguised himself as one of the mob who had taken Jesus so that he would go unnoticed. He tries his hardest to fit in.

We often try to fit in but are called out on it. And there are tell tale signs that give us away. I think of the story back in Judges 12 of the conflict between Jephthah and the Ephraimites. After Jephthah’s victory over the Ammonites, the tribe of Ephraim became angry. A conflict broke out between the Gileadites (Jephthah’s people) and the Ephraimites. When the Gileadites gained the upper hand, they controlled the crossing points of the Jordan River to prevent Ephraimites from escaping.

To identify their enemies, they used a linguistic test. The Ephraimites could not pronounce the Hebrew word “Shibboleth” (which means “stream”) correctly; instead, they said “Sibboleth.” This mispronunciation exposed them, and they were captured and killed. In total, about 42,000 Ephraimites died in that civil conflict.

Peter is trying to hide, but will get found out. He first gets recognized by a young girl.

Mark 14:67 ESV

67 and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.”

Hey, I know you. You were with Jesus.

He gets made. The cat seems to be out of the bag now. This young servant girl knows who Jesus is. She probably even saw them escort him into the home of the high priest. But this wasn’t the first time she had seen him. She recognizes Peter as one of the disciples. So she had more than likely seen Jesus in and around the temple for the 4 days leading up to this.

Peter is trying to hide and disguise himself, but is not doing a great job at it. He gets spotted and recognized. So what does he do?

Mark 14:68 ESV

68 But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you mean.” And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed.

Peter responds to this little girl. He is trying to deny that he can even understand the question.

“I don’t even know who you are talking about! What do you mean that I was with this person that I don’t know!”

Such a bold face lie, such a bold denial for Peter to make. I try to imagine that if we were in the shoes of Peter, that we would have been strong enough to stand for the truth. But in reality, for myself, I probably would not have even tried to disguise myself to follow them there. I would have continued running away.

What is happening is exactly what Jesus said would happen. When we just go a few verses backwards, we see this interaction between Jesus and Peter where Jesus tells Peter that he is going to deny him 3 times before the rooster crows twice. And this is his first denial and the first crow of the rooster.

But if you remember, Peter vowed that this would not happen. He assured Jesus that he was wrong and that he would stand by Jesus’s side all the way. Mark 14:31 “31 But he said emphatically, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And they all said the same.”

The words that he spoke to Jesus were so strong that he promised that he would be willing to die instead of denying him. I can imagine that in his mind, he was thinking of facing these military figures where he would have to fight against them for Jesus. And that he would be the one who would die because they would want him to recant any declaration of allegiance he has made towards Jesus. But in reality, he is not attacked by a military but rather approached by a little girl. And he did not stand for his faith but rather denied that he even knew who Jesus was.

Have you ever made a bad choice or had a lapse in judgment? What we absolutely need to see when we look at this is that the Peter that we are seeing in the moment is not who Peter truly is. When we continue in scripture, the Peter that we see is not a coward. He does not fold when confronted about his faith. He does not run away from persecution. NO. The Peter that we see is the one who boldly proclaims the message of hope through Jesus Christ at Pentecost in front of the town of Jerusalem. The Peter we see is the one who will stand in front of this very same council that just condemned Jesus to death, and proclaim the message of Jesus and tell them that there is no way that he will stop proclaiming this message.

In fact, right here we see Peter leave the fire pit to get away from someone accusing him of knowing Jesus. After the resurrection, when they are on the sea fishing and Jesus appears on the shore cooking on a fire pit, Peter runs to that fire pit. Just think about the memories that Peter would have had smelling the fire that Jesus was cooking on while he was thinking back to the smell of the fire around this little girl. Peter may flee the name of Jesus in the courtyard, but he will run to Jesus after the resurrection.

This is the true Peter. And just as I said a couple of weeks ago, we must look to Peter and understand that who we are today can change. We may have failed many of times, but that doesn’t have to be who we continue to be.

That was the first denial. So we continue on and see the second.

Mark 14:69 ESV

69 And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.”

Peter is confronted by this girl one time. He denies her accusation of him being a follower of Jesus. He then leaves. What happens is that she follows him. He is trying to run from her(or rather from God) and he can’t get away. And she confronts him again. This time though, she doesn’t just ask him a question. She points out to everyone around that he is a follower of Jesus.

Mark 14:70 ESV

70 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.”

He is trying to hide the fact that he is actually a follower of Jesus. And he can’t even hide the fact that he is a Galilean. There are some important cultural details here. He is in Jerusalem and they looked at people from Galilee as second class citizens when it came to religion.

Also, the reason it is important that they pointed out that he was a Galilean was the fact that it directly ties him to Jesus. Jesus, himself, was from Nazareth of Galilee. So they would have identified anyone from Galilee as being with Jesus. And the reason that he could not hide the fact that he was Galilean was because of his accent. In the gospel of Matthew’s recording of these events, this detail is added in. Matthew 26:73 “73 After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you.””

He tries to disguise his body by fitting in with the crowd and cannot. He tries to deny it verbally, and his accent is recognized. This is twice that he has tried to escape the fact that he is one of the disciples, and is not able to.

Mark 14:71 ESV

71 But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak.”

He invokes a curse on himself. When we study the Greek here, this word curse actually means to bind with an oath. And we also have that he swears that he didn’t know who Jesus is. He is adamantly promising that he is telling the truth and doesn’t follow or even know who Jesus is.

Three times now Peter has denied Jesus. Three times he could have declared who Jesus was and stood for his faith, and he fails. Just as he had failed Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane 3 times by sleeping instead of keeping watch, he fails Jesus 3 times here by cowering from who he truly was.

Here is where I want us to look at Luke’s account of these events. Because he chronicles something that we need to see.

Luke 22:61 ESV

61 And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.”

In his attempt to run from this little girl, he has actually gotten closer to where Jesus was at. Jesus actually witnessed Peter denying him. And turns and locks eyes with Peter. And when this happens, Peter remembers that Jesus had told him that he would do this.

In our Wednesday bible study, we looked at Genesis 3 this week when Adam and Eve ate from the tree after God had told them not to. And when they did, it says that they saw that they were naked and covered themselves. Then, they heard God coming in the garden so they hid. They were ashamed of their nakedness and they knew that they sinned against God. God didn’t just go straight to them and confront them. No, he calls to them. He wanted Adam to admit that he realized his sin and confront it face to face.

Peter is having to confront his sin face to face when he is looking face to face with Jesus. And his reaction shows that his heart is truly for Jesus. Because he came face to face with his own sin, the sin of denying Jesus, and it makes him weep.

Mark 14:72 ESV

72 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.

He faces his sin and he grieves his sin. He sees what it does to God just as David saw what his sin did to God when he slept with Bathsheba and had her husband killed.

Psalm 51:4 ESV

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.

In our passage, Peter’s sin finds him out and it causes him to grieve and weep. And we will see that he turns to Jesus and repents.

(Gospel presentation with repentance emphasis)

In the book of Mark here towards the end, we have 2 examples of what happens when our sins confronts us. Peter here is confronted by his sin and he repents and turns to Jesus. Judas, on the other hand, is confronted with his sin and it eats him up to the point where he takes his own life.

How will we respond to our sin when it comes to light?

The response of a follower of Christ must be one of grief over sin. We must be like Peter and when we see our sin, it causes us to see that our sin is an offense to a holy God.

When we do not grieve over our sin, it will only grow. The small offense will grow into a big one. It is like a snowball. The longer it rolls, the bigger it gets. And the sin only gets easier.

So how do we fight this? How do we make sure that we respond to our sin like Peter and not like Judas?

Be Actively Growing in Your Identity in Jesus

If you are a Christian, you should find your whole identity in Jesus. Not in a job, not in school, not in a ministry, but only in Jesus. Listen, it is really great for us to feel good about what we do. I love when people ask me about being the pastor here. But it is so easy to get lost in that and that alone. Because in an instant, I can lose it. It takes only one mistake and I can lose everything in this world that I find brings me personal value. This is why, ultimately, I must find my identity in Jesus Christ and in him alone.

I want to give us 3 very practical ways to grow in our identity in Jesus

1 - Be active in reading God’s word

You cannot love and serve a God you do not know. The way that we know God is through the word that he has given us. I know how hard it is to put off being in the bible. I would argue that for pastors, it can be even easier to not have a personal time in God’s word because we can use the excuse of bible study and sermon preparation to seem like we are in it.

The best way to keep in check with this is to have a plan. Maybe you struggle with a bible reading plan. I understand. We are nearing the end of the year and I know people like to try to read the bible in a year and stuff like that. I would encourage you to just find a book in the New Testament and just start reading consistently.

I want to challenge you to spend 10 minutes a day, 5 days a week, from now till the end of the year. I promise you that your life will change. You will know the God who saved you on a deeper level. But not only that, you will want to love God on a deeper level. And that is what happens when we respond to God’s word.

2 - Be active in responding to God’s word

It is great to read the bible, but if we never let the bible change us, we are wasting our time. I have heard so many people talk about how they have read the bible cover to cover and they come away still not believing the bible.

For us who are saved, we cannot read God’s word and walk away from it not letting it work in us. So we respond. We read it, we try to understand what it meant when it was written, we try to take it and understand what it means for us today, and we respond to it in that manner.

The bible is like a mirror for us.

Do you remember going outside and playing in the mud as a kid? It would be like a little boy who came in from playing outside, covered in mud. He walked into the bathroom, looked in the mirror, and saw how dirty he was. Then he smiled, turned off the light, and walked out without ever washing up.

Looking in the mirror showed him the problem, but it didn’t change him—because he didn’t act on what he saw.

God’s Word is the same way. Reading it shows us what’s wrong, what needs to change, and where we need to grow. But if we only look into it and never respond, we walk away just as dirty as before. Our response to reading God’s word is just as important as reading it.

3 - Be active in Godly relationships (local church)

I am not saying this because I am the pastor. Long before I became a pastor, I dedicated myself to being at church each and every week. Me and Brittany have served the church in so many different ways. When we weren’t playing music or singing, we were teaching Sunday school or teaching the youth. We served on committees. Before we got married, I ran sound and computer for a church and then went and helped start a new church. We love the church and being a pastor is not the reason that I come.

We must dedicate ourselves to the local family of believers that God has given us. I am not saying that having a bible study with friends from other churches should be avoided. But God has placed us in a community of believers and we should be actively growing in relationships with each other right here in the body so that we are pushing each other to grow in our relationships with Jesus.

We spur on each other to develop in our identities that are found in Jesus Christ. We are not lone ranger Christians. This is why we should be coming and being apart of our Sunday School and our Wednesday bible study. I am not saying that because I want us to have some massive ministry here and have wonderful numbers that we can brag about. No, I want us to be in close relationships with each other. And I am afraid that many of us are missing out on that. So dedicate yourself to the relationships that we have here in the local church.

When we have the opportunity to grow in our identity in Jesus, we need to lean into that. We need to look at the life of Peter and see how we can grow. Yes, he failed and yes, we fail. But we get up, run to Jesus, and grow in our identity that is found in him.

Be Actively Open about Your Faith

If our identity is found in Jesus, then our whole lives should revolve around what he has done for us. It should be so prominent, that we cannot hide it from others. We should be wearing it on ourselves so that others can see it.

1 - Be actively sharing the message of hope with others

I like to say that the gospel came to you when it was on its way to someone else. That means that it is our duty to take to others the message of hope that was shared with us. You don’t have to do something elaborate. Just share hope.

Maybe you are talking with someone who is having a really hard time. And you just say, “I know that life is not easy. Sin has come and infected all of us, even me. But Jesus came and died for our sins so that when we turn from our sins and put our hope in him, we begin to understand that what we think is bad, is not bad at all.”

See. Simple, to the point, and in an everyday conversation.

2 - Be actively sharing what Jesus is doing in your life

Not only do we share the gospel, but we should also be sharing the things that God is doing in us personally. If we are in scripture and in prayer and in the church, God is working in us. So we share that with people. Maybe you are having that same conversation. Maybe they are a believer or maybe they aren’t. We can share what God is doing in us.

“Hey, I know you said you are struggling with this. I want you to know that this is something I have went through too. Someone told me that if I would dedicate myself to consistent bible reading and prayer, that I would notice a difference. And you know, they were right. Maybe that is something that you could do too. Or even better, why don’t we do it together.”

This is taking an every day conversation and using it to encourage others with your story. With what God is doing in your life.

3 - Be actively sharing with others what God is doing in your church

But we also have a life together here with our church family. If we truly love our church family, we should be inviting others to come and be part of this. Now, don’t see this as a way out of sharing the gospel with others. But we can see this as a step in that journey.

It is a wonderful thing to share the gospel. But you have the opportunity each and every week to invite someone to come and witness what the gospel does in someones life. We are instruments of the gospel who come together and live out the gospel in a family. And we get the opportunity to invite others into this, to witness this each and every week.

We need to be inviting people all of the time to come and see this.

This week, I want you to be challenged to invite 1 person to come to church with us next Sunday.

These are all indicators that we truly believe that…

We all sin, but we can be restored!

Just like Peter sinned and was restored, I sinned and have been restored. You sin and can be restored. There is no one who is too far from restoration. All it takes is them confronting their sin and repenting and believing in Jesus.