Mark 14:66-72

Please do grab your Bibles again and turn to Mark chapter 14, starting verse 66.

Mark 14 · chapter mention

We'll be looking at these six verses.

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Lord God, we pray for Christ to be known this evening.

Would we know his grace and the forgiveness there is in Christ, and would your Spirit work

in us faith to receive that.

And we pray all this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

We are watching a red carpet tonight.

We stand on the sidelines as we watch a red carpet.

So you know when there's a big celebrity event like the Oscars, and they have a red carpet,

and you have all these actors walking down the red carpet toward a fancy building, and

the red carpet tells you about what kind of event they're heading to, doesn't it?

You see the red carpet, and you know that they're heading toward champagne and awards and glamour

and money.

The red carpet tells you about the kind of event coming up.

Well, today, Mark is showing us a red carpet.

It is the red carpet that Jesus walked on toward his death.

We are deep into Jesus' journey to the cross.

It is the night before he dies.

And as we see him walk there, we begin to see exactly what he's heading towards.

The journey there tells you about the main event itself.

This passage, in fact, all these events leading up to Jesus' crucifixion, they all tell us about

what's going to happen at the cross.

And we're going to look at these events, this night before the crucifixion, or the lead up

to the crucifixion.

We're going to look at these over the next few weeks.

And just like a red carpet before the main event, this shows us what's going to happen

on the cross.

But this red carpet, it's not fun.

It's not full of flashing lights.

No, it's dark.

And it's lonely.

And it involves Jesus' closest companion turning his back on Jesus.

So things will be dark this evening.

This red carpet is not leading to anything glamorous, but it is glorious.

Because we're going to see something in particular about the cross tonight.

We're going to see what kind of people Jesus died for.

As Jesus walks this red carpet to the cross, there's a question in the air.

Who is Jesus going to the cross for?

He's already said the Son of Man came to give his life as a ransom for many.

But who are the many?

What are they like?

Who did Jesus die for?

Well, today, as we see the story of Peter, we see exactly who he's dying for.

It is a very vivid and personal glimpse into the kind of person Jesus saves.

So let's watch Jesus walk the red carpet tonight and see who he died for.

And this is the first thing we see.

Jesus died for very bad sinners.

This story, as Paul read it earlier, it leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth, doesn't it?

And it should.

That is the point.

This is meant to be shocking.

And we need to appreciate how shocking it is.

This is the night before the crucifixion.

Jesus is currently arrested.

He's being tried by the Sanhedrin.

That's the Jewish court.

And tensions are high.

It's not a safe thing to be one of Jesus' disciples.

That is why only a few verses before, Mark writes that as soon as Jesus is arrested,

all his disciples left him and fled.

Jesus had no one.

But in verse 66, we see Peter.

He's below in the courtyard.

He's outside while Jesus is inside being condemned by the Jewish leaders.

Peter, he's kind of still following Jesus at this point.

But he's at a distance.

He's not too close, not too open.

He's laying low, trying not to draw attention to himself.

So he just stays outside, warming himself by the fire.

And why Peter?

Of all the disciples, why Peter?

Well, Peter is Jesus' closest companion.

When you read the Gospels, Peter, he's kind of like the go-to disciple.

We get to hear Jesus' conversations, private conversations with Peter.

For example, we don't hear much about Simon the Zealot.

But Peter is different.

Peter is, he's the loud disciple.

He's the one who shouts about how much he loves Jesus.

Back in verse 25, Jesus tells all his disciples,

you will all fall away.

And Peter, he's the only one to respond.

And he blurts out and he says,

even though they all fall away, I will not.

Peter, he's the big, keen disciple.

So just think of, for a moment, who followed Jesus?

Jesus.

So when we read the Gospels, Jesus had crowds following him.

They were kind of just the mass of people that were interested in Jesus.

And those people came and went.

And then within that big crowd, he had a large group of disciples,

people who really followed him.

Luke mentions the 72 disciples.

And within that larger group, you have the 12 disciples.

They're Jesus' closest group.

And within that, Jesus often picked out three.

It was Peter, James, and John.

He would kind of sometimes take them in just to a room to perform a miracle.

But within those three, Peter stands out.

He's the most eager one.

He's the close one.

Peter is Jesus' closest and most loyal companion.

Which makes what happens next all the more tragic.

Verse 66.

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.

A young girl approaches Peter.

And she says, Hey, you're with that Jesus guy, aren't you?

And how does Peter respond?

Verse 68.

But he denied it.

Saying, I neither know nor understand what you mean.

How the mighty have fallen.

He's happy to follow Jesus from a distance.

But as soon as following Jesus means something,

Peter, the eager one,

he gives up Jesus in an instant.

And did you notice what makes Peter abandon the one he so proudly loved?

Look who makes him fold.

It's not a big bouncer coming along.

It's not a guy with a gun threatening him.

It's not a mob like they had for Jesus.

No, it's a little question from a servant girl

that makes Jesus' closest companion crumble.

He realizes what it means to be associated with Jesus.

It means maybe getting arrested.

It means danger.

It means trouble.

And he makes up his mind.

Jesus is not worth that.

And did you see how slippery his response was?

He doesn't say at first,

oh no, I don't know him.

He's not as blatant as that.

Instead he says,

no, I don't know what you mean.

He's cowardly about it.

He's trying to worm his way out.

He does what he can to kind of dodge

and worm his way out of the situation.

But Mark is clear what he's doing.

He denied knowing Jesus.

And this is just the beginning

because from here on in,

we see a shameful downward spiral of sin.

Peter moves away from the fire

and it says he goes into the gateway.

So away from the fire,

into the shadows.

And that says a lot about the nature of sin.

Sin is shameful.

It doesn't want to be seen.

Sin loves darkness.

Sin loves to stay secret and hide.

Sin loves to stay secret.

Peter heads into the darkness of sin.

But things get more public from here.

In verse 69,

the servant girl saw him

and began saying to the bystanders around,

this man is one of them.

But again,

he denied it.

Now,

Peter doesn't just deny Christ to one girl,

but he denies Christ to a crowd nearby.

His sin is clearer,

more public.

It's sharper.

And then comes the final nail in the coffin.

Maybe Peter was being slippery or vague about Christ before,

but now look in verse 70.

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.

Remember who this is.

This is Peter.

This is the keenest of the disciples.

Only a few verses back in verse 31,

Peter said to Jesus,

even if it means dying with you,

I will not deny you.

Now listen again.

I do not know this man.

Peter's sin is on display here.

And it's ugly.

It's really ugly.

He's denied the Lord Jesus.

And it's not just a single slip up.

No, it's repeated,

thoughtful,

willful sin.

And he even does it with such force and aggression,

doesn't he?

He invokes a curse on himself.

He swears.

He says,

I swear on my life.

I don't know him.

I'm not interested in him.

I'm telling you,

I have nothing to do with Jesus.

And actually,

he can't even say his name.

He just calls Jesus this man.

He's a nobody to me.

What we have here are the details of a shocking and appalling sin.

Peter is a very bad sinner.

And it's written down for all of us to see.

And why do we see this?

As Jesus walks to the cross,

why is this on the red carpet?

Well, because it's showing us what Jesus is heading towards.

What the main event is all about.

We see here what kind of people Jesus died for.

Jesus is going to the cross to die for Peter.

To suffer for this very sin.

And he went to the cross for sinners just like Peter.

Jesus died for very bad sinners.

We have on display a particularly terrible sin

to show the sheer depths of sin that Christ died for.

Christ died for blatant, public,

repeated, spiralling down,

caught in the web of it,

painfully shocking sin.

And Jesus is on his way to die for this sin.

So Jesus didn't go to the cross

only just for small sins

or sins that we don't mind people knowing about that much.

No, Jesus went to the cross

even for the most shocking sins.

Sins that make us want to retreat into the shadows.

We have this passage in front of us

so that we know

there is no sin too shocking for Christ to save you.

He forgave Peter and he can forgive you.

So it needs to be said

there is no sin too shocking to confess.

If there's a sin in your life right now

and you're needing to talk about it

and you're wanting to confess it to Paul

or one of the elders

and you're needing help with it

but you're worried that maybe it's too shocking.

Well, whatever it is

and I mean whatever it is

it's not as shocking as this.

You can talk about it with Paul.

You can talk about it with the elders.

They won't be shocked.

They won't be shocked that someone could do

whatever sin that may be

because just look at Peter here.

Jesus died for very bad sinners.

Sinners just like you and me.

And as he walked this red carpet

as he approached the cross

this wasn't a surprise to Jesus either.

He knew how bad our sin was.

And this is my second point.

Jesus knew he would die for very bad sinners.

Jesus knew he would die for very bad sinners.

Just look at verse 72.

Verse 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.

Now we need to see a point here.

Not just that

Jesus did die for very bad sinners

but he knew that he was

to die for very bad sinners beforehand.

Did you notice

Jesus predicted this whole event.

You can read it in verse 30.

Jesus knew what Peter was going to do

and yet

Jesus still went to the cross for Peter.

He knew the very sin he was going to carry.

He knew the price that had to be paid.

And he still went there.

As Jesus approached the cross

he knew that he was to pay the penalty

for his people's sins.

And it wasn't vague sin.

It wasn't kind of a mystery punishment

that he was heading towards.

He knew who he was dying for

and he knew that their sin would be shocking.

He knew how bad it was.

He looked at the sin of his people

and he said

that sin

I need to die for that sin.

Jesus knew he would die for very bad sinners.

And just like Peter's sin

he knew it was sin against him.

We don't need to think

Peter's sin is so unique here

because we need to understand

that all our sin

is against Christ

and a denial of him.

We sung Psalm 51 earlier

and it's a prayer of confession to God

and it says

against you

you only

have I sinned.

So yes

we definitely sin against other people

all the time

but ultimately

all our sin

is against God.

All our sin

is a rejection of God.

All our sin

is a denial

of the Son of God.

the Apostle John

says this about Jesus

the world was made through him

yet the world

did not know him.

They rejected him

they denied him.

So even if this is

tonight

the first time

that you've heard about Jesus

all your sin

up to this point

has been a denial of him.

All our sin

is a denial of him.

That is what sin is.

And as Jesus

walked the road

to the cross

he knew

our sin

is shocking

and he knew

it was sin

against him.

So it wasn't just

generally bad things

that he knew

he would pay for

it wasn't just

wrong things

done out there

in the ether

no it was sin

against the Son of God

and the Son of God

came to die for it.

Jesus knew

he would die

for very bad sinners

which means

your sin

is not a shock

to the elders here

and it's not a shock

to Jesus either.

When we commit sin

in our shame

we want to hide

in the shadows

don't we?

We don't want to

come to Christ with it

almost as if

in our minds

we think that Christ

would somehow

be shocked

by it

or he didn't know

that we would do that

but don't think

that your sin

is a surprise

to Jesus.

He knew about it

as he walked

to the cross

and he's already

paid for it.

But let's ask

what about denying

Jesus like Peter did?

Can we say

Jesus died

for those who

deny him?

Well let's look

how this story ends.

This story is ending

it's a bit

ambiguous isn't it?

So end of verse 72

these last few words

and he broke down

and wept.

This short paragraph

it doesn't tell us

about Peter's fate.

We have to read on

to the resurrection

in chapter 16

where we see

that Jesus

he wants to meet

with Peter

and we see

Peter does not

deny him anymore

he's restored to Jesus

and if you come

on a Tuesday lunchtime

you can hear

Peter's own words

of the greatness

of his salvation

as we preach

to one Peter.

So it's looking ahead

that we can know

and we can say

that Christ died

for Peter's sin.

Peter denies Christ

but he doesn't

keep denying Christ.

There is no salvation

for those who deny

Jesus forever.

there needs to be repentance

and we see

this glimmer

of hope

at the end.

And he broke down

and wept.

Peter weeps

over his sin

and he weeps

over the words

of Jesus.

So it's not just

sadness in general

he weeps

over the words

of Jesus.

This is a glimmer

of repentance.

It is a Jesus

centered weeping.

In Matthew's gospel

we hear

about Judas

after Judas

betrayed Jesus

it only says

that he changed

his mind

and he felt

bad about it

but he didn't

weep.

There was no

seeking after Jesus

after his sin.

You know

Judas

hangs himself.

That isn't

seeking Jesus

that's seeking

to escape Jesus.

But Peter

weeps

and that is

the right way

to react to sin.

It's to recall

the words of Jesus

and weep.

Not in despair

not to be

hopelessly crushed

but to hate

our sin

and to turn

to Jesus.

And that is

what happens

with Peter.

There is hope

for this man.

There is hope

for Peter.

And so as we

see the story

of Peter

this very bad

sinner

and as we

as we watch

this red carpet

we see one

final thing.

There is hope

for failed

Christians.

There is hope

for failed

Christians.

Peter

isn't just

a very bad

sinner.

Peter was

a backslider.

A backslider

is someone

who's walked

with Jesus

but who's

fallen away.

So

not completely

just fallen

away for a time

and in this

moment

Peter

is a lapsed

Christian.

Someone who

confessed Jesus

and then denied

Jesus.

Peter was a

backslider

and here

in this passage

we see

that is very

much a possibility

for Christians.

It's a warning

for us.

A sobering

warning.

This moment

of the red

carpet

tells about

what the cross

will be like.

we learn

the cross

is something

we will be

tempted to

be ashamed

of,

to deny,

to walk

away from

and that

might be

like you

this evening.

You might

be like

Peter

and you

grew up

as a Christian

and you

confessed

Jesus as the

Christ

but you've

now walked

away

or you're

living in

sin and

you're not

willing to

return.

People may

ask you

if you

know

Jesus

and you

would

deny

it

even

though

you

might

have

before

but you

are here

tonight

in church

like Peter

you're

still in

the courtyard

and you

can't let

go of

Jesus

entirely.

Well learn

from Peter

tonight

there is

still hope

for you.

There's

forgiveness

for those

who have

denied

Christ

or maybe

you know

someone like

that

and they're

on your

heart

and you

pray for

them

and you

long for

them to

return

this is

all the

more reason

to pray

for them.

We don't

know the

Lord's

will

but we

see even

with someone

like Peter

someone who

has denied

Christ this

publicly

and aggressively

they can

return

and if that

is you

tonight

you can

come back

to Christ

he knows

your sin

and he

wants you

to return

it may

feel shameful

coming back

to church

and you

might be

worried about

what people

think

but we

won't be

shocked

we will

rejoice

forgiveness

was for

Peter

and it

can be

for you

too

but this

also goes

for all

those in

Christ

any

Christian

here today

there is

great

hope

and forgiveness

for the

failed

Christian

for any

believer

here tonight

we can

so easily

feel like

Peter

can't we

we look

at our

sin

we look

how we've

fallen

and maybe

you have

a particular

sin in

mind

when I

say that

and we

think about

it

and we

think

how could

I have

done that

how could

I have

done that

to Christ

and we

weep

over what

we've done

and it

pains us

well there

is astounding

forgiveness

for you

you're not

some sort

of lost

cause

no the

cross

is still

and always

will be

your salvation

the cross

is salvation

for sinners

exactly like

you

as we

stand by

this red

carpet

we see

that Jesus

is heading

to the

cross

for failed

Christians

not perfect

Christians

not sinless

Christians

no Jesus

went to

the cross

for Peter

he went

to the cross

for Christians

like me

and you

failed

Christians

and there

is astounding

forgiveness

for us

Jesus

carried the

weight of

shocking sins

on his

shoulders

even the

sin of

denial

and he

did it

knowing how

bad our

sin is

so yes

this is an

ugly passage

but in so

many ways

it is

beautiful

there is

hope

for

failed

Christians

a few

years after

this scene

in the

courtyard

the apostle

Peter

this man

in the

courtyard

he wrote

these words

he himself

bore our

sins in

his body

on the

tree

what sin

did he

bear on

that tree

it was

this sin

and it

was our

sin

those words

were written

by a very

bad sinner

but praise

God

Jesus died

for very

bad sinners

amen

let me pray

to

to

to

to

to