John 18:15-27 | Pastor Jerry Sander | The Cost of Denial

Rejection. Something that all of us have experienced

in life. Some of us, maybe a little bit. Some

of us, maybe a lot. The word rejection, I looked

it up in the dictionary, and it's this. To refuse

to take, agree, use, or believe. To discard or

to throw out as worthless, useless, or substandard.

To pass over or to skip. To deny acceptance.

Now as I start to talk about the definitions

of the word rejection, maybe there's a handful

of you in here today that it starts to kind of

sting a little bit. It starts to hit home a little

bit. And you go, you know, I've had moments and

I've had times in my life where I have been rejected.

Arguably one of the greater pains that we can

feel. I have a saying, and I use it with our

staff, and I use it at home, and it's this. We

expect the attack from without. What we don't

expect is the attack from within. You go, what

do you mean? We have our circles, right? Could

be our family, could be our workplace, could

be our neighbors, could be our friends, could

be our dormitory. Whatever it is, we have the

circle of people that we just kind of typically

travel in and do life with. And when you have

that circle, you don't expect anything to come

toward you from them. Outside of that, yeah,

it makes sense. The world's going to say what

it's going to say. The world's going to do what

it's going to do. And sometimes you expect that,

and hopefully it doesn't impact you. But when

it comes from within, it's a little more difficult.

And maybe even now, as I start to say that, you're

starting to think through, yeah, there was somebody

in my life that I trusted, and I should have

trusted, and they rejected me. They turned on

me to some degree. You see, God has wired us,

church, for relationship. He's wired us to belong.

And if someone that we know, that we love, has

at some point said, you know what, I just don't

think I want to go there with you. I don't think

I want to do that type of life with you. It can

be a very, very difficult thing. Exhibit A, if

you're on social media. It's all about the clicks,

right? It's all about the likes. It's all about

how many followers I have. I don't know if you

know this, but Meta, Zuckerberg, Facebook, I

don't know what they're called these days, they

did a deep dive into Instagram because they wanted

to just know the algorithm. They wanted to know

just kind of feedback. And here's what they discovered.

Amongst young girls that were on Facebook. Their

suicidal thoughts, their suicidal tendencies,

their suicidal attempts, and sadly, their suicidal

successes went through the roof. Why? Because

I've tried to belong to something. I tried to

put something out there to get likes, and people

didn't like me, and I feel like I can't measure

up. I don't compare to all of those people that

I'm looking at, all those fake profiles, by the

way. Girls, just don't compare yourself. But

I get it. It's just kind of the world that we

live in. I have a really, really good buddy of

mine, and he always says this, just quit the

gram. Hashtag quit the gram. Unless you're following

Town Center Church, then that's fine. So today

we're going to look at what could be ultimately

the greatest form of denial. It's been a couple

weeks. By the way, if you were with us last week,

wasn't that just fantastic? Amazing. I can still

feel kind of the, from the pulpit here, it's

just. We're going to pick it up again in verse

15. Last week, or two weeks ago, I should say,

we left off, and it was this. It was in verse

14. It says, now Caiaphas, it was Caiaphas who

advised the Jews that it was expedient that one

man should die for the people. He said something

that was very profound, and I don't even think

he understood how profound it was. He basically

said it's really, really good. And the word expedient

means advantageous. It's to our advantage that

one man should die for the people. I think that's

just the gospel in a nutshell. That one man,

the Son of God, Jesus, would go to the cross

and die for the entire world. That is basically

John 3 .16. And so he utters this statement.

Again, I don't think fully understanding the

depth of what it was that he said. And that's

where we left off two weeks ago. We pick it up,

verse 15, and Simon Peter followed Jesus. Now

at first read, you read that and you go, good.

Right? I mean, it's a good thing to follow Jesus.

As a matter of fact, when you look at Peter's

life, the bookends of Peter's life was the exact

same thing. The first time that Jesus saw Peter,

he said, follow me. The very last thing that

he said to Peter was follow me. In other words,

Jesus was, I think, telling us something as well

as telling Peter something. That is something

very important. In the midst of that, in between

those two bookends, two and a half to three years

of a lot of things that Jesus taught Peter. And

of course, through the word taught us. But I

love how he just goes, listen, Peter, this is

what you need to keep in mind, right? It's the

main thing is to keep the main thing, the main

thing. We can complicate the Christian life to

its nth degree, church. But Jesus said to Peter,

follow me in the very beginning and at the very

end, follow me. He kept it very, very simple.

So we look at that, we go, good, Peter's doing

his job. This is why we use the Bible to study

the Bible. Matthew 26 verse 58. Matthew adds

Matthew 26:58

a little something in there that John does not.

He puts this, but Peter followed him, Jesus,

at a distance. Here's my first question to you,

church, and I'm going to throw a bunch of them

out this morning. Are you following Jesus at

a distance? Are you at a place in life right

now where you go, yeah, absolutely, I'm a Christian,

but am I going to be a zealot for Jesus like

you are, pastor? No, no, no, that's why you get

paid. I'll go to church on Sunday morning. I

ain't going to join one of these groups. Are

you kidding me? Once a week is enough. I love

Jesus. I love calling myself a Christian. I love

going to church on Sunday morning, but I've got

to keep a little bit of buffer between he and

I because I don't know that I'm ready to be that

kind of Christian. Do you know that the rabbis

had a thought back in the day, and it was this,

let the dust of your rabbi cover you. In other

words, there were students, they would pick a

rabbi, they would follow that rabbi, and the

whole idea was you follow that rabbi so closely

so that when they walk through the dust -covered

streets of Jerusalem or wherever it is, that

their sandals would kick up dust and it would

actually get dust on you. You should follow your

rabbi so closely that there's no daylight. Which

brings the natural question, are we following

Jesus that closely? Let me tell you, I look around

a lot and I see a lot of cautious Christianity.

I see a lot of casual Christianity. I even see

a lot of carnal Christianity. Church, we live

in a day and age where there needs to be some

courageous Christianity right now. We're living

in a time where there is only one form of Christianity.

We're going to dig in a little bit deeper into

that in just a few moments. But it said in Simon

Peter, follow Jesus and so did another. Now,

that disciple was known to the high priest and

went with Jesus into the courtyard of the high

priest. Now, real quick, for those of you that

have been reading the Bible for a long time,

you know that whenever John talks about the other

disciple, he's referring to himself. Okay, he's

just always kind of in the third person. You

know, if you remember Bo Jackson, Bo Jackson

would always talk about Bo. Bo knows baseball.

Bo knows football. That's kind of what John is

doing here. He's always talking about himself

in kind of the third person. For whatever reason,

he doesn't want to mention his name. I'm just,

and notice what it says, another disciple. But

what it really says in the Greek is the other

disciple. So it could have been Nicodemus. It

could have been Joseph of Arimathea. But most

commentators believe that this is John talking

about himself. And he says this. Now that disciple

was known to the high priest and went with Jesus

into the courtyard of the high priest. Now how

was he known to the high priest? We don't fully

know. But chances are it's because of who John

was before he started to follow Jesus. John's

father Zebedee owned Zebedee's high end. fishing

company right he was known to be kind of he had

like a fishing empire he would catch a lot of

fish and and he would sell fish priests especially

high priests were known for having a kind of

elaborate appetite they wouldn't go to Long John

Silver's They're going to like chop steakhouse.

They're going to the place where they can get

the finer meals in life. And chances are that

could have been where the priest would have known

who John was because he was a part of the Zebedee

fish empire for a long time, possibly. But little

tidbit there, we pick it up in verse 16. But

Peter stood at the door outside. Then the other

disciple, who was known to the high priest, and

of course that's John, went out and spoke to

her who kept the door and brought Peter in. My

second question to you is this. Are you on the

outside looking in? Are you on the outside looking

in? I'm going to do something right now that

I don't typically do. Typically, we will kind

of wait toward the end of the service and just

try to unpack and talk about the gospel a little

bit. But I want to take a moment right now and

talk to that person who may be visiting us today

for the first or second time. You're kind of

curious about your faith or you're curious about

Jesus or just uncertain. And so you are somebody

who I would say you're seeking, you're searching,

you're open to the gospel. Maybe right now you

just feel like you're kind of on the outside

looking in. You look and you go, I'm curious

about this whole Christianity thing. And I'll

never forget the first time I walked into a church.

I'm 25 years old. And, man, I felt like an outsider.

All these kids, they were all 25, you know, 30

years old, all my age. And I remember walking

in and just looking at them and studying them.

And they all had this smile on their face. But

I could tell it was authentic. I could tell it

was real. It wasn't fake or plastic. They had

something I didn't. They had a peace. They had

a joy. They had a contentment. They had something

that I was searching for and I was looking for,

and I remember thinking, what are they on? This

is probably not right to say, but they were high

on Jesus, man. I remember just walking in and

just going, this is just different. Maybe you

come in here today and you go, I kind of know

what you're talking about, Pastor. I've been

coming and just don't know that I fit into kind

of this, you know, churchy kind of group. I'm

just not sure. Can I just remind you? There were

several times, several I am statements that Jesus

made in the book of John. And one of them was,

he said in John chapter 10, verse 9, I am the

John 10:9

door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved.

And go in and come out and find pasture. So I

find it fascinating, right? Here's Peter. He's

still not baptized with the Holy Spirit. We're

going to see him as a man later on down the road

who is fearless in all areas. But Peter is standing

outside the door, and he can't get in. Why? Because

there's a bouncer there, and it's not just a

bouncer. It's a female bouncer, and it's a little

girl. Verse 17. And the servant girl who kept

the door, so she's keeping the door, and she's

not letting Peter go in. Church, are you following

this? Peter is keeping his distance from following

Jesus, and he gets to the door to go into the

courtyard, and a little girl goes, no, no, no,

you can't. You need to see your ID. You're not

qualified to go in. So I love how John once again

reminds us that he has to come to Peter's rescue.

He goes out and he talks to the girl and he begins

to bring her in. But she asks him a question.

You are not also one of this man's disciples,

are you? And Peter responds, I am not. Strike

one. It's interesting. There are certain circles

where I think it's a little bit easier. to stand

up and proclaim our faith. There are some which

I think are a little bit more difficult. I would

think if Peter was standing there talking to

a young girl and she asks him about his faith,

that he would be a little more bold to say, yeah,

I'm one of his followers. But yet in the face

of that, he does not. He denies it. Verse 18.

Quickly, my third question, guys, listen. Are

you warming yourself by the enemy's fire? So

here's Peter, right? He doesn't necessarily want

to go in through the door. He finally walks in

through the door, and now he finds a group of

people, and we know it's cold outside, right?

They're looking to warm themselves, and so they're

standing around the fire, and Peter does his

best just to kind of come in and blend in and

pretend like he's one of them and just, yeah,

I'm just going to warm myself here by the fire.

I will tell you, I think that this is a problem

within the modern Christian church these days.

I think we're trying too hard to blend in with

the world and become like the world as if we

don't want the world to know who we are. And

I think it's a huge problem and a huge issue.

We are supposed to stand apart from the world.

The Bible says that you and I are sanctified

as believers. The word sanctified literally means

set apart. The world should be able to look at

us and go, you're different. You're different,

right? Not that we need to be these zealot beating

people over the head with the Bible. I'm not

saying that. But living our lives in such a way

that the world's just going to look on and go,

there's something different about you. In a good

way. I think we've tried so hard to blend in

with the world that we've actually lost our witness.

Listen to what Luke chapter 22 says. Luke 22,

Luke 22 · chapter mention

55. Again, we're going back to... The synoptic

gospels, which are Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they're

adding context to some things that John is not

putting in here. So we already looked at one

from Matthew. We're going to look at one now

with Luke chapter 22, verse 55. Look at what

Luke 22:55

it says. Now, when they had kindled a fire and

in the midst of the courtyard and sat down together,

Peter sat among them. Now, why do I bring that

up? Because John just told us that he was standing

next to him. He's standing next to him, cooling

himself by the fire. But Luke says, no, no, no.

He went a step further and he sat down. And it

made me think of this verse. Listen. Psalm chapter

Psalms 1:1

1, verse 1. Blessed is the man who walks not

in the counsel of the ungodly or the wicked,

nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in

the seat of the scornful. So when we first see

Peter, he's walking. Next we see him, he's standing.

And now we see him and he's sitting. He has just

fulfilled Psalm chapter 1 in something we were

Psalms 1 · chapter mention

called not to do. And it's fascinating, church,

right? Because if we, again, if we try to mingle

in with the world, if we try to just ease our

way into the world and try to blend in with the

world, it shouldn't and it cannot work. The world

should look at us and go, you shouldn't be sitting

in this circle because you're different than

me. And yet Peter does himself, does his best,

excuse me, to blend in. with the world in that

regard. I wrote it down this way. Beware of the

false flames of fellowship. Trying to warm ourselves

at the flames of the world. I'm going to illustrate

it to you this way, and I need help. Matt Gambino,

thank you for volunteering. Everybody give Matt

a hand. All right. Matt, here's what I need you

to do. I need you to stand. Right there. Okay.

I need you to turn this way. You're going to

shine your light here. Closer. Higher. Okay.

Can you guys see that? On the paper. There we

go. Okay. This might be an epic fail, but it

might work. Okay. Watch this. Do you guys see

anything? I'm going to try not to light this

thing on fire. Flame does not have a shadow.

Did you guys know that? Thank you very much,

Matt. Matt, where is Jesus? Love you, sweatshirt,

today, because he knew. I may or may not use

that next service. We'll see. What's my point?

But flame, scientifically, flame does not have

a shadow. Where are you going with that? Listen

to what 1 John 1, 5 says. The exact same author

who wrote the book that we're going through right

now. Listen to what he says. This is the message

which we have heard from him. So John tells us

this is firsthand information. I didn't hear

it second, third, or fourth. Jesus himself told

me this. This is the message that we heard from

him. And declare it to you that God is light

and in him is no darkness at all. And so here's

Peter, right? I want to be kind of halfway in

and halfway out. I don't want to be so zealous

that people look at me and go, you're nuts. But

I also don't want to be so part of the world

that they question whether or not I'm a believer.

Church, you and I do not have that luxury to

straddle the friends. It doesn't work. We can't.

Because you won't be a good heathen and you won't

be a good Christian. You'll just be right there

in the middle, failing on both sides. So Peter's

doing his best just to kind of go undercover

and not, you know, kind of tip his hand to anybody.

And we're going to see a blow up in his face

in just a moment. He tries to warm himself at

the enemy's fire. Look at verse 19. And here's

where we're going to park and spend some more

time. And the high priest then asked Jesus about,

listen, church, his disciples and his doctrine,

his doctrine, his doctrine. This is so important.

The word doctrine literally means, listen, it

means teaching, instruction, or information.

It is crucial that we as a church, we hold dear

to the doctrine that is from God's word. It's

the apostles' doctrine, right? If you remember

all the way back in the beginning of Acts chapter

Acts 2:42

2, verse 42, the disciples and the apostles,

they stuck to this simple game plan. The apostles'

doctrine, prayer, communion, and breaking of

bread, they just simply did everything around

those four things. They didn't try to add ingredients

to it, and they didn't try to take ingredients

away. It is crucial that we as a church stick

to the doctrine that is the word of God. We do

not have the luxury of deviating from this at

all. Matter of fact, listen to what the author

of Hebrews in chapter 13, verse 8 and 9 says.

Listen, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today,

and forever. He doesn't change. He can't change.

Why? Because he's perfect. You cannot improve

on who he is. He is perfect from the beginning.

He will never get better. He can't get better.

He goes, I don't change. I'm the same yesterday,

today, and forever. Now, for your own personal

life, I pray that that is just, thank you, God,

because I know that I struggle to stay who I

am, and I'm thankful that you don't change. And

so if I continue to look to you and come to you,

you're going to keep me on that straight and

narrow. He does not change. But then listen to

what the author says. Do not be carried about

by various and strange doctrines. The author

of Hebrews knows there's going to be some things

that the enemy's going to throw at us. He's going

to throw it in front of us in hopes that you

and I will be curious about it. We'll start to

look into it. Man, maybe this is something I

should follow. Maybe this is something I should

like. Maybe this is something I should apply.

Church, if it's not in the Bible, we have no

business looking at it. Things such as Jehovah's

Witness. Islam, Mormonism, Hinduism, Buddhism,

Don Lemonism. You go, what? First off, Jehovah's

Witness, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Mormonism,

every single one of those, they acknowledge that

Jesus is real. They acknowledge that at some

point he was here and he was either a good teacher

or he was a prophet. Why? Because this is what

the enemy does. He always takes a lie and wraps

it in the truth so that you and I look on the

outside and we go, that looks fine. So you drive

by a Mormon church and on the outside it says

what? The church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day

Saints. Right? So if you don't know any better,

if you don't know your doctrine, you drive by

and you go, they're great. No, they're not. Their

doctrine is a mess. But we wouldn't know that

unless we dig in and we study the word. You go,

Don Lemonism. I don't know if you caught what

happened last Sunday in Minneapolis. A group

of people sitting just like we are. And the doors

fly open and a whole group of people come in.

And they start to peacefully protest their church

service. Now I had several thoughts that went

through my mind when I watched this. Number one.

I would love to see them try to do that here.

I'm just saying. The result would be just a little

bit different. Just saying. But number two, I

actually got heartbroken. Because I thought to

myself, here's a group of people that are so,

they're going to walk into God's house on God's

day in the midst of God's people. on God's time

and think that it's okay that they were going

to do what they did? But that's not even the

bad part, church. It's what I heard afterward

that disturbed me because, yes, Don Lemon was

interviewed afterward, and here's what he said.

Listen, quote, Jesus Christ, if that's who you

believe, if that's who you believe in, admittedly

was not perfect when he was here on the earth.

Wait, what? I've read this book over 50 times,

cover to cover. 30. Let me back up. Because some

of you are going, where did you? I've read the

New Testament over 50 times, the Old Testament

over 30. There we go. Okay, clarification. Why

do I say that? Not one time did I ever read anywhere

where Jesus said, oops. Not one time. He never

admittedly was not perfect. But you see, that's

what worldly doctrine will do. Because if someone

doesn't know their Bible any better, they're

going to listen to something like that and go,

see, that's why I don't do the whole Christian

thing. Because Jesus, he did. He made mistakes,

right? No. So here's what I will say. Pray for

that man. He needs Jesus. I'm not up here to

bash him as if I don't like him. No, my heart

actually breaks for him because he's in darkness

right now thinking. And here's what he said.

Here's the crazy part what he said. Ready? My

Christianity is different than theirs. Hello.

There is no my Christianity and your Christianity.

There's just Christianity and it's found right

here in the word. That's it. Am I yelling at

you guys? I feel like I'm really yelling. I don't.

I think it's the leftover from last week. I'm

kind of... Verse 20. And Jesus answered, I spoke

openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues

and in the temple where the Jews always meet.

And in secret, I have said nothing. Now quickly,

this is what Jesus means by this. He's not saying

I never said anything secretly. Here's what he's

saying. I never said anything in secret that

I did not say open and publicly. Everything I

said publicly I've said in quiet. So there's

no, it's not like I said different things over

here. I didn't do that. I said the exact same

thing in quiet to the disciples as I said publicly

from the pulpits of the synagogues and the temple.

It's all the same. But then he follows up with

this. Why did you ask me? Ask those who heard

me that I said to them, indeed, they know what

I said. So here's what he's saying. Ready? Ask

those who are my disciples. Ask those who follow

me. Who is that church? Thank you, Courtney.

Courtney's the only one who raised her hand in

the entire congregation. Who is that church?

It's us. So if God decides he wants to send somebody

across our path so that they can hear about who

he is, we're the disciples where he says, go

ahead and ask them. They know what I've said.

We are those who are called to be, and it's interesting

because Peter, later on, again, after he's baptized

in the Spirit, would say in his letter in chapter

3, verse 15, 1 Peter 3, 15, but sanctify the

Lord your God in your hearts and always be ready

to give a defense to everyone who asks the reason

for the hope that is in you with meekness and

fear. I think that Peter, looking back to this

moment, knows, and he's going to, we haven't

even seen church, he's going to fall quickly

in here in just a minute. He goes, you've got

to be ready for someone that walks up to you

and goes, what is it? What's this hope that you

have? I'm looking for it. I'm searching for it.

I just, I can't quite put my finger on it. What

is it? And he goes, be ready, be ready, because

when I send them to you, you're going to need

to give a defense. You're going to need to give

an answer. This doctrine that we have, which,

by the way, let me just clarify something. Doctrine

within the church, right, there are some things

that we within the church, it's okay for us to

disagree on. For example, the rapture. Every

single mainline denomination, Baptist, Presbyterian,

Methodist. Help me out, church. Not Catholic.

Lutheran, thank you. All the mainline denominations

believe that there is a rapture. Now, we may

differ on when it's going to happen. Some churches

believe we're a non -denominational church that

believes it's going to be pre -trib. It's going

to happen before the tribulation. We're a pre

-trib church. But the rapture happens at the

front. Some believe it's going to happen mid.

Some believe it's going to happen post. But at

the end of the day, we believe there's going

to be a rapture. We may differ on when it's going

to happen. You've heard me say this before. Wouldn't

it be interesting if God decided to come based

upon our belief? That right there is a reason

to make sure you're a pre -trib believer. I want

out of here. Baptism. Every mainline denomination

believes that we should be baptized. Now, some

believe it's okay to be sprinkled. Some believe

you gotta be dunked. We happen to believe that

the word baptism, it's baptismo, it's where we

get the Greek word for immerse. We believe that

you should be dunked. Now listen, what if you're

here and you go, I can't, I'm paralyzed, I can't

walk down to the water. No problem, we'll get

some water, we'll bring it up to you, we'll sprinkle

you, you'll get baptized. It's not a matter of

the water, it's a matter of the heart. So we

can agree to disagree on certain pieces. But

we all agree, yes, you should get baptized. But

there are certain parts of our faith that you

cannot negotiate those. That Jesus was the one

and only Son of God. That he was born a virgin.

That he lived a sinless life. That he died and

he was buried and he rose on the third day. If

you take any one of those pillars out, our faith

crumbles. Those are crucial and essential for

who we are as believers. It's so important, church,

that we stay true to the doctrine. That is in

the word of God. It's interesting at this point

right now, I find it very fascinating because

I'm talking to a man before service this morning

came up to me and he said, listen, I've been

out evangelizing lately and it's not necessarily

something that I normally do. And I absolutely

love it. What happened? He goes, I'm just going

to go and take a step of faith. He didn't wait

to go through theology school or seminary or

anything like that. He goes, you know what, Lord?

I'm going to take a step, and if you want to

use me, you'll meet me there, and I'll have some

life -changing conversations with people. That

is so crucial. Why? Did you catch what just happened?

Jesus just pointed Caiaphas to his disciples

that at this point, Peter can't even acknowledge

that he's a follower of Jesus. And we may be

here today going, I feel like that. I ain't ready

to answer any of those hard questions. Isn't

it fascinating? In Acts chapter 4, verse 13,

Acts 4:13

listen to what it says. The Pharisees were talking

about, of all people, Peter and John, the two

very main characters of our text here. Now, when

they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived

that they were uneducated and untrained men,

they marveled. And they realized that they had

spent time with Jesus. Isn't it interesting,

right? They look at Peter and John and they go,

these guys don't know anything. Matter of fact,

they're kind of morons. But they spent time with

Jesus. I think that should be like the life verse

for our pastoral team in the church here. Like,

these guys don't know anything, but they spent

time with Jesus. That's good. Pick it up in verse

22. And when he had said these things, one of

the officers who stood by struck Jesus with the

palm of his hand, saying, Do you answer the high

priest that way? And Jesus answered him, If I

have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil. But

if well, why do you strike me? Then Annas sent

him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest. And here's

where we dig in, and we're going to pause in

this last section here at church as we have a

chance to unpack Peter's, probably his darkest

moment in his entire life. Now, when Simon Peter

stood and warmed himself, so there he is still

hanging out at the enemy's fire. Therefore, they

said to him, you are not also one of his disciples,

are you? And he denied it and said, I am not.

Now, I want to draw your attention back to verse

17 and see if you notice the difference between

the two statements that he just made. In verse

17, he said, I am not. In verse 25, he said,

I am not! Peter's starting to get a little more

passionate in his denial of the Lord. I'm not

one of his followers. And he brazenly expresses

that to those that are questioning him. Again,

we're going to go back to Matthew 26, and he's

going to give us a little more context. Matthew

Matthew 26:73

26, verse 73, look at what it says. And a little

later, those who stood by came up and said to

Peter, surely you are one of them for your speech

betrays you. That's my fourth and final question,

church. Are you being betrayed by your speech?

In other words, when you talk, does the world

take notice? Is it different? I don't know about

you, but it was probably about two. or three

months into my faith, into my walk with Jesus,

that all of a sudden it just dawned on me that

I had stopped cursing. I didn't even look to

do it intentionally. It just, one day I was like,

you know what? I haven't said in a long time.

And I was actually kind of surprised by it. And

throughout the course of my walk, I would have

conversations because I still played sports.

And if you know anything about sports, sometimes

there's some language there. And I remember guys

would say to me, like, dude, you don't curse.

I'm like, yeah, I don't. God's touched me and

changed my life. It just gave opportunity to

be able to declare who God was and how he had

changed my life. So they look at Peter and they

go, surely your speech betrays you. Matthew 26

Matthew 26:74

verse 74, the very next verse. Then he began

to curse and to swear saying, I do not know the

man. Now for the longest time I thought. That

what that meant was that when Peter was having

this interaction with them, that he cursed like

you do when you're driving down the 95. Okay?

That's what I thought. Actually, the more I thought

about it, I think it might be something different.

I think maybe what Peter was actually saying

was, if I am not telling the truth, may I be

cursed? Ooh. That's a little different. That

has a little more weight to it, right? Now all

of a sudden Peter is saying, if I'm being dishonest

here, may I be, I'll be honest with you, that

makes more sense to me and here's why. You and

I, we just, let's be transparent here. Okay,

we're in church. Every once in a while, we just

kind of let a word and you're like, right? Thank

you. Leave me up here by myself. It happens.

There's a cost to denial. I think this is starting

to come. Clear to Peter, excuse me, because Jesus

in Matthew chapter 10, verses 32 and 33, listen

Matthew 10:32

to what he says. Therefore, whoever confesses

me before men, him I will also confess before

my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies

me before men, him I will also deny before my

Father who is in heaven. Think about what Peter

just did, church. This is no small thing. Peter

given the opportunity. Would it have cost him

in front of all those people to say, yes, I'm

a follower of Jesus? Absolutely it would have.

To what degree? We don't know. I mean, he would

later on pay with his life. Peter would get to

a place later on where he actually said to those

who were getting ready to crucify him, crucify

me upside down. I'm not even worthy to be crucified

like my Savior. So a radical shift happened in

Peter's heart. Obviously, the baptism of the

Holy Spirit took him to a place where he had

a holy boldness that was absolutely amazing.

He doesn't have it at this point. He says, I

am not, strike two. One of the servants of the

high priest, a relative of him whose ear Peter

cut off, said, did I not see you in the garden

with him? And Peter denied again. a third time.

Now I opened up in the very beginning and I talked

about rejection and just how difficult it can

actually be. That is literally the Greek word

of the word deny here that we just saw twice.

Peter denied him back to back. In a matter of

moments, he denied his Savior. He ultimately

rejected his Savior. Now, if you've ever been

rejected or you've been that person, there could

be a variety of different emotions that you may

go through. It may be hurt, and I'm sure it is.

But there also might be a point where you get

angry. You shouldn't have done that to me. You

were trusted. Your role in my life, whatever

it is, you were supposed to protect me, love

me. Whatever it might be, you look on and you

go, that hurt and now I'm angry. Some of us probably

wonder, like, I'm sure Jesus went through those

same emotions as well. Because notice, again,

we're going to look to another. Another passage

to get a little more context here in Luke chapter

Luke 22:62

22, verse 62. It says, so Peter went out and

wept bitterly. This is not just a couple of tears

rolling down the face. This is convulsing where

you can't breathe. This is how hard he. is weeping

now what what triggered that was it his own conscience

you know i just oh that's right jesus told me

something remember in john chapter 13 verse 38

John 13:38

we looked at it a few months ago will you lay

down your life for my sake peter jesus asked

peter Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster

shall not crow till you have denied me three

times. Did it just click right then in Peter's

heart and in his mind the third time he denied

Jesus that all of a sudden those words came rushing

back to him and all of a sudden he started to

weep bitterly? Possibly. But I believe it was

also something else. Because before Luke 22,

62, In Luke 22, 61, it says, and the Lord turned

and looked at Peter. And then Peter remembered

the word that the Lord said. Here's my question.

What was that look? Was it the look that you

and I give our sons and our daughters when we're

so fed up with them? I can't believe you're mine.

You're not mine. You're my wife's daughter. That's

who you are. Right? And you give him just like

the stink eye. I don't think that's what it was.

I think Jesus turned and looked at Peter with

a look of, I still love you. Even with all of

this, I still love you. I absolutely believe

that was the look that he gave him. And I think

that's what broke Peter. Peter's a tough dude,

right? Remember, he was the one who said, Lord,

I'll go die with you. There was no fear with

him. Well, there was fear. He feared a little

girl at the outside of the door. I'll have to

rethink that for second service. What about you?

You ever blow it and think? There's a line in

a 10th Avenue North song, if I have this correctly,

I'll verify it with Pastor Andrew after service.

I think they say, am I one sin away from you

leaving me this way? And I would imagine for

Peter, this was such a difficult moment. But

we're going to see Jesus do something so profound

in his life. when we get to John chapter 21,

John 21 · chapter mention

that it is unbelievable. But as we start to bring

it to a close this morning, maybe you're here

and you go, man, I just keep messing up. I want

to read a passage to you. This is from Paul wrote

this in 2 Corinthians chapter 7, verses 9 and

2 Corinthians 7:9

10. He said, now I rejoice. Not that you were

made sorrow, sorry, excuse me, but that your

sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorrow

in a godly manner that you might suffer loss

from us is nothing. For godly sorrow produces

repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted,

but the sorrow of the world produces death. What

is Paul saying? There's a difference between

being sorry that you did something and sorry

you got caught. Right? I mean, when you get caught

doing something and you go, man, I really wish

I wouldn't have done that because I didn't want

to get caught, that's worldly sorrow. And Paul

goes, that's going to lead to death. The other

sorrow is godly sorrow, where your heart is so

broken and you're so crushed because you go,

I cannot believe that I did that to my Savior

for something that he would go and allow his

body to be whipped and broken and beaten and

pierced on the cross for me, and yet I chose

to do something. And prayerfully, if that's us,

there is a work that the Spirit is doing within

our hearts. that just leads us to that place

where there's godly repentance. Paul says in

Romans 8, 1, there is therefore now no condemnation

for those who are in Christ Jesus. If you are

in Christ, listen, he does not condemn you. Now

the Holy Spirit will convict us, praise God,

and that's a good thing. So that when you and

I start to warm our hands at the fires of the

world and the enemy's fire, and he will whisper

and go, no, no, no, that's not who you are anymore.

I grabbed ahold of you and I changed you and

you belong to me. We don't do that anymore. That

is a glorious thing. Condemnation is from the

enemy. Conviction is from the Lord. And if you

have been, had one of those weeks, and maybe

you got involved in something or you did something,

just know he loves you. He loves you. And I want

to take a moment if I can and just speak to the

person maybe you're visiting for the first or

second time today. Maybe you have for the longest

time just kind of been on the outside looking

in. And you're going, is there a place for me

in this church? Or is there a place for me in

Christianity? Is there a place for me within

the family of God? And the Bible says absolutely.

To those who receive him, he gives the right

to become a child of God. It's not based upon

our goodness. It's not based upon our works.

It's not based upon our position in life. It's

not based upon any of those things. It is a free

gift, the grace of God, that he loves the world

so much that he sent his son to the cross to

pay the penalty for the entire world. world.

And if anyone would put their faith and trust

in him, we will be saved and we will be forgiven.

Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you, God. We

thank you for your unending grace that just you

continue to lavish upon us, Lord. It's hard to

even wrap our minds around. It's hard to even

explain. But yet we know it to be true because

we see it in your word every time we read. Your

love, your mercy, your grace. Your word says

that your mercies are new every single day. Today

we woke up and your mercies were new. A new day.

A clean slate. I believe actually represented

in the crow of the rooster. Rooster's crow in

the morning. That's when Peter heard that and

I pray for him. It was just that sign of a new

day, a fresh start, a clean slate, a new opportunity.

Father, I pray that we're reminded the same thing

awaits us. if we would just look unto you. Lord,

maybe today, maybe we've been looking in other

places. Please draw our attention back to you

and back to the cross so that we can be reminded

of your love that is so great. Father, we pray

that you would speak to the heart of the person

here today that is searching, seeking, wondering,

questioning. Lord, that you would draw them to

yourself. That's our prayer, Lord, please. And

we pray this in Jesus' name.