Three Denials
Journey with Jesus • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 2 viewsPeter’s denial of knowing Christ and the demonstration of Christ’s love for Peter.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
In Luke chapter 22, we are confronted with the harsh reality of Jesus’ betrayal.
From the Passover in Jerusalem and the prayer of agony at Gethsemani in the Mount of Olives east of the city, we now experience the site of the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders who have come to arrest Jesus.
At the head of the crowd is Judas—the betrayer.
Text: Luke 22:54
54 Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house, and Peter was following at a distance.
The First Movement:
Following at a Distance
Following at a Distance
The disciples, including Peter, were ready to wage war.
Luke 22:49–51 “49 And when those who were around him saw what would follow, they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” 50 And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. 51 But Jesus said, “No more of this!” And he touched his ear and healed him.”
According the John’s Gospel, it was Peter who wilded the sword (John 18:10).
Jesus responded:
11 So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”
This was not the first time Peter seemed to get in the way of God’s plan.
In Matthews Gospel chapter 16:
21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.
22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.”
23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
Peter’s view of Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, was a view which held that the Christ, the Messiah would come as the Glorious King, not as a Suffering Servant.
What Jesus said of Himself, Peter could not accept.
So, Peter followed at a distance.
He was close enough to satisfy his curiosity, but far enough away from being committed.
How did Peter find himself distant from Jesus?
He made assumptions about Jesus rather than striving to really get to know Jesus.
Application: It is easy to make assumptions about Jesus.
We assume that Jesus will do what we want him to do.
We assume that Jesus wants us to live a problem-free, happy-filled life.
We assume that Jesus does the heavy lifting, and we don’t need to do anything.
And when we assume, when our relationship with Jesus is more about curiosity than living the transformed life, when push comes to shove, we keep our distance too.
But what did Paul declare?
10 that I may know Christ and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Know Christ (a personal relationship).
Know the power of his resurrection (the power Christ exerts now from the right hand of God).
Share in his sufferings and become like him in his death (the power made known as the believer shares the same kind of sufferings Jesus faced—the sufferings that attend faithful witness in a fallen world).
Attain resurrection (The good news is that those who suffer with and for Christ will attain the resurrection from the dead, even as he did).
This is the activity of a genuine believer, an authentic follower of Jesus Christ.
Otherwise we keep our distance!
Transition: Peter’s growing distance from Jesus robbed him of confidence, courage, and commitment.
It created an atmosphere that made denying Him was made possible
The Second Movement.
Denying at a Distance
Denying at a Distance
The first denial.
55 And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them.
56 Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with him.”
57 But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.”
It was cold in Jerusalem that evening (John 18:18).
As the trial commenced with Jesus, Peter waited outside.
The servant girl, seeing Peter illuminated by the fire, said “This man also was with Jesus.” As many commentators have observed, the girls words were relatively harmless.
But Peter, realizing that many ears were listening, responded rather forcefully: “I don’t know him!”
The word “deny” (from the Greek word arneomai) is used in the New Testament as the polar opposite of the word “confess.”
We are to confess (acknowledge) Christ but deny ourselves (disown our private interests for the sake of Christ).
Peter does the reverse. He denies Christ in order to serve his own interests.
The second denial.
58 And a little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not.”
Peter again is confronted with someone who identifies him as being connected with Jesus.
Once again Peter distances himself from Jesus.
“Man, I am not!” Peter moves away from Jesus and toward the crowd.
His defensive reaction changed his identity without him being aware of the immensity of what he had said and done.
The third denial.
59 And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, “Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.”
60 But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed.
Peter was completely distant from Jesus.
He had denied three times any knowledge of or relationship to the man.
Theologian Trent Butler wrote that Peter now belonged to the crowd and to the devil. Satan had sifted him and found him wanting.” (Trent C. Butler, Luke, vol. 3, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 375.)
Remember what Jesus told Peter after Passover (The Lord’s Supper)?
31 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat,
32 but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”
33 Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.”
34 Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.”
Jesus knew the heart of Peter.
Jesus interceded for him—reminding him that even in failure there is hope.
Three times now Peter denied anything to do with Jesus.
And then, the rooster crowed.
Application
It does not take much effort to drift away from faith in Christ.
Life is filled with opportunities to push Jesus to the margins of our existence.
Trusting Jesus and his words can become an inconvenience.
And when Jesus conflicts with our desire for the easer life—for self-preservation—denying him becomes as natural as breathing.
Is there any hope for us? Is denying Christ the end of the story?
Transition
What Jesus prophesied just hours before has now come to past.
What happened next changed everything.
The Third Movement
Closing the Distance
Closing the Distance
As Peter emphatically and forcefully declared that he had nothing to do with that man Jesus, his whole life came crashing down.
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.”
62 And he went out and wept bitterly.
The brashly self-confident man disappeared.
Now he distanced himself from the crowd.
Outside by himself, he wept bitter tears.
Grief overwhelmed him.
Follow Jesus to prison and to death? He could not even follow him to a mockery of a trial.
In telling how the Lord looked at Peter (v. 61), Luke uses the word John used (John 1:42) to describe the way Jesus looked at Peter when they first met—emblepō. It “usually signifies a look of interest, love or concern.”
Jesus looked at Peter with the look of love, of grace, and compassion.
Jesus closed the distance.
Peter’s efforts at self-preservation only brought to him pain, emptiness, sorry, and separation.
Jesus and His love brought to Peter the reality of God’s goodness and grace.
Application
The Scripture reminds us of Christ’s mission—his rescue mission.
10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Christ’s seeks us out. Even in our sin and denials, Jesus looks at us with love, grace, and compassion.
And what he prophesied to Peter he gives hope to us.
32 but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”
34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The key to this incredible, amazing grace of God is that we believe—we have faith in Christ and what He has done for us!
Closing
Time is filled with swift transition,
naught of earth unmoved can stand;
Build your hopes on things eternal,
hold to God’s unchanging hand!
Hold to God’s unchanging hand!
Hold to God’s unchanging hand!
Build your hopes on things eternal,
hold to God’s unchanging hand!
