Matthew Pt. 102 - Peter Denies Jesus

You can turn in your Bible to Matthew chapter 26.

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

What? Oh, Matthew 26?

I'm going to give my recap. I want like 90 seconds this

time. So the recap is here we are.

We're still in the night of Jesus's crucifixion.

We're in Holy Week. We've been really crawling

through it. It takes us week after week

after week after week after week, and we're going through

just these tiny portions of what happened on that whole week.

We saw that he came in with a triumphal entry and it was Palm

Sunday, which is actually next Sunday.

Don't you wish it would have lined up perfectly for us?

I know everybody's like, man, we've been preaching through

this for two years now. It would have been nice Joe

Michael, if you could have sorry, I didn't.

So you know, Natalie was like, could you chop it up maybe and

do this? And I'm like, no, we're going to

take it as it comes. But we we came in on the

triumphal entry. Be blessed is he who comes in

the name of the Lord. Everybody's worshipping.

Some people seem to understand. They kind of believe.

Maybe they kind of don't believe.

Maybe they're caught up in the hype.

Maybe they're excited about Jesus because he thinks finally

he's going to stick it to the Romans and we're not going to be

experiencing the Roman oppression anymore.

Judas is probably super excited doing the triumphal entry.

He's like, look at the crowd. Finally, maybe Jesus won't scare

this crowd off like he always does by saying something

offensive and bad news for Judas.

Jesus continue to say things offensive all week long.

He got even more and more and more strong in his rebuke and

his objections to the Pharisees and he put them on blast in

front of everybody in front of the temple, hundreds of

thousands of people in Jerusalem, and Jesus is yelling

and preaching and shaming and condemning.

Does Jesus shame and condemn? He does he's he does the right

thing at the right time. He doesn't always do one thing.

Some people pretend that Jesus only had one gear.

The only gear Jesus had is he would pick up barnyard animals

and he would just pet them gently and he would just look

whimsically into the heavens. You don't have any scripture

that paints that Jesus for you, but you've got plenty of

paintings who have painted that Jesus for you.

But what is Jesus? Jesus is the right thing at the

right time. If you're a humble and

repentant, wow, it's going to be really good for you.

It's going to be super, super sweet and wonderful you

wonderful for you. If you're really prideful and

self-righteous, it's going to be really really bad for you.

Jesus has no tolerance for pride.

He has 0 tolerance for it and especially when you're

misleading others. So that's why he was putting the

religious leaders on blast all week long.

A lot of times people say Jesus, he went hard after the religious

people. We should clarify that he went

hard after the religious people not because they were religious

people. That is a common ignorant thing

that people misunderstand. You'll hear non believers be

like well you know who we really went after?

Like I know what you're about to say but let me help you don't

say it because it's stupid. They're going to say he he went

after it was the church folk. It was after the self-righteous

people that was the issue. He didn't hate religious people

because they were religious. He was mad at religious people

because they were hypocritical. Flagrantly hypocritical,

monstrously hypocritical. Not like they had a bad day or

not like they loved the Lord faithfully, faithfully,

faithfully. And then they snapped at their

kids one day and it's a hypocrite.

Everyone in that sense is a hypocrite, right?

We say that sin is bad and then still we sin.

So in that sense everyone is a hypocrite.

The the hypocrisy that was taking place with the Jewish

leadership is on a level that's beyond beyond most of our

comprehension. That's why we took our time to

really look at it and examine it and go, these guys are deeply,

deeply wicked. The Messiah is standing in front

of them, the one they're supposed to be preparing for,

they're rejecting. And of course now they're

crucifying it. So we've come through this week.

We came through, it's the Passover week.

People have come all into Jerusalem to celebrate the

Passover. Remember the Passover, we had

Egypt, we had Moses, and the Lord said, put the blood on the

doorposts and the death Angel will what he will Passover if

the blood is applied to your home.

So the Jews have always celebrated this Passover meal,

this Passover meal, this Passover meal.

And now here we are in the middle of the night.

Just a few hours ago, Jesus said, hey boys, let's take the

Passover meal together again. And they're saying, yeah, we're

going to do it again. We've done this past couple

years of Jesus. But on this night, Jesus said,

this is the new covenant and they're going, what?

And he said, in my blood, they're going, this is different

from every other Passover meal we've ever had.

And he gives them the bread and they're like, yeah, yeah, this

is the lamb that was slain. He goes, this is my body.

They're going, What? I still don't fully get it.

Jesus is saying, I am the Passover lamb.

When you apply my blood to your life, the wrath of God will pass

over you. You will be spared, you will be

restored. You will be taken out of Egypt,

out of the land of your oppression, out of the land of

your sin, out of the land of your devastation.

And you will can go out with wealth, you will go out with

blessing, you will go out with a promised land.

You see how the the Jews leaving Egypt was always a picture for

the church and for the future. It was a picture, but it wasn't

the full fulfillment of it. Jesus and the church is the

fulfillment of all of it. So that's what was happening.

In a little bit over 90 seconds. That's what was happening.

Yeah. Thank you.

Let him cook. That's what was happening that

night. Earlier when Jesus had

reestablished, he said, this is the new covenant in my blood.

He's teaching his disciples I'm about to be the true Passover

lamb. It was always about me.

And now I'm going to fulfill it all, and I will be the Passover

lamb, and I will take away the sins of the whole of the whole

world. Jesus was the Lamb of God that

was slain before the foundation of the world, not in the sense

of time, but in the sense of God's heart.

So now we've come into the garden and Jesus prays and his

disciples are with him. Judas the betrayer leads the

massive crowd, the massive mob coming with swords and clubs to

get Jesus in the night. They've just taken him to his

first false trial with Caiaphas the high priest.

They're not even supposed to be having trials at night, but

they've just done so because they're so desperate to get

Jesus. Jesus puts them on blast again.

They think Jesus is on trial. He reveals that they're on

trial, that he is judging them. Jesus judges people.

The Bible says he's coming to judge the living and the dead.

My Jesus would never judge anybody.

Your Jesus isn't the real Jesus. The Jesus of the Bible is the

only Jesus. Jesus does judge.

The good news about Jesus is he does not condemn.

So to judge is to just say that is right, that is wrong.

You all judge by the way, always all the time.

You cannot function in life without making judgments.

Every non Christians favorite verse in the Bible, Matthew 71,

judge not. They don't know anything else

that comes next, but they got that.

That's on the refrigerators. So the point that Jesus is

making there is to not judge with hypocrisy.

So I should not condemn is the issue.

So I can still judge and say that's right, that's wrong,

that's good, that's bad. The issue though is I should not

condemn and say Matt did the bad thing, therefore Matt is forever

lost. There's no hope for you, Matt.

And I condemn Matt, but I can still say, hey Matt, that was

wrong. What you did.

You shouldn't have run that person over in the street.

I think it was a really mean thing to do.

But what I shouldn't do is condemn Matt and say there's no

hope and there's no restoration and there's no redemption for

you. Didn't was it wrong for Matt to

run that person over? What a bunch of judgmental

Christians. This whole church is full of

judgmental people. Wow.

Who are you to judge? You see how stupid that is, how

stupid that argument is? It's completely idiotic.

It's demonic. Frankly, Satan came up with it.

So we can still judge right and wrong and and yet we don't

condemn others. We go, oh, that was wrong.

Lord help them. Lord bless them.

Lord save them. Lord redeem them.

Lord forgive them like Stephen did for those killing him.

He's like, Lord, don't even count the sin against them as

they stoned him to death. Let's get into this sermon.

So that was what just happened. This false trial took place.

But during this false trial, why Caiaphas is dealing with Jesus

and they're saying we brought these false witnesses and they

said, I heard him say this and I heard him say that.

And Jesus doesn't answer for any of it because Jesus doesn't

answer for lies. But then they finally get him on

the truth and he goes, oh, I'll answer for the truth.

It was for that purpose that I came, I came to testify to the

truth. And they said, tell us if you

are the Son of God, he said, you say that I am.

So he was essentially saying, of course I am.

And he says, and you will see the Son of man coming on the

clouds, which for them again was mind blowing because that was

him saying coming on the clouds is always a sign of judgement.

So that was his way of saying, and I'm coming back for you and

this night will be reminded. You'll be reminded of this night

when I come back for you in this moment.

So they think they're judging Jesus and really they're just

helping to prepare the Passover lamb as he gives his life.

He's not a victim. He's not a hostage.

He is a willing sacrifice who gives himself because he loves

you so much. So now during all of that, here

we are in the same middle of the night, verse 69.

Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard and a servant girl

came up to him and said, you also were with Jesus the

Galilean. But he denied it before them

all, saying I don't know what you mean.

And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl

saw him, and she said to the bystanders, This man was with

Jesus of Nazareth. And again he denied it with an

oath, I do not know the man. After a little while the

bystanders came up and said to Peter, certainly you 2 are one

of them, for your accent betrays you.

Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, I do

not know the man. And immediately the rooster

crowed, and Peter remembered the saying of Jesus before the

rooster crows, You will deny me three times.

And he went out and wept bitterly.

Lord, open the eyes of our hearts that we would see and

behold the treasures of your word.

That we would recognize where you want to protect us, where

You want to help us, where you want to grow us, where you want

to train US. Lord, I pray You would bring us

closer to Jesus. That we would not look at Peter

with condemnation, although we can judge his wrong actions.

That we would not look at him or any others with condemnation or

self righteousness, but that we would be drawn even more deeply

and desperately into the presence of Jesus.

When we feel afraid, draw us closer to Jesus.

When we feel bold, draw us closer to Jesus.

When we feel faithless, draw us closer to Jesus.

When we feel faithful, draw us closer to Jesus and everything

And in every way, Lord, just bring us closer to Jesus, Keep

us safe in him, bragging in him and glorifying Him.

We thank you for Your word and your instruction this morning in

Jesus name, Amen. Peter is sitting outside in the

courtyard. So I don't know the exact

breakdown of of what this look like in Caiaphas's house where

they're meeting and the courtyard outside of his place.

It's likely that Peter was maybe in the same courtyard where the

judgment was taking place of Jesus.

But it's a big crowd, lots of people, hundreds of soldiers

came, remember, and maybe some other people who are up late in

the middle of the night. Remember, people are in camping,

people have filled the city. So what's going on over there?

Let me, let me just see what's going on.

Let me put my cloak on. And you know, they got a fire

lit over there. So they're, they're checking out

with what's the hubbub, what's the busyness in the middle of

the but Peter's out there and he's sitting among the enemies

of Christ. We know that he's sitting with

the soldiers. We said that he's close enough

to see what's happening, but he's far away enough to avoid

being identified with Jesus. And this is a tragic warning to

all lukewarm Christians. This is a tragic warning to all

of us. On any day of the week, I want

to be close enough to Jesus that I feel like I'm comfortable.

I feel like I could claim association if I wanted it, but

I'm also far enough away from Jesus that I could disassociate

if the need arises. This is a tragic and awful place

to be, and Peter is living it out.

Like physically, literally, in real time.

It seems like a good analogy, when really it's exactly what's

taking place here. He's following, but he's

following at a distance. He might feel some affection for

Jesus, but he does not feel enough for Jesus to identify

with him, not to suffer with him, not to stand with him.

And this compromise is what leads to Peter's denial.

It's called backsliding. It's not called back jumping.

We typically don't make giant leaps backwards.

We typically just go eventually, how did I get here?

And it started with the warning that Jesus gave.

And Peter, pray. Pray that you will not fall into

temptation. Mistake number one.

Peter didn't pray. And now his second step is this

compromise. I'm, I'm, I'm going to kind of

follow. I'm going to kind of not follow,

which leads to the tragic third thing that happens, the outright

flagrant denial of the Lord Jesus Christ really to his face,

because other gospel accounts tell us that when he denied him

the third time, Jesus looks up and sees Peter and the rooster

crows. What a painful betrayal for the

Lord. It's one thing for him to be

have his enemies constantly spit in his face and mock him.

He's like, I know these guys hate me and I love them.

Father, forgive them. Remember, he cried out on the

cross so they don't know what they're doing.

He could say that for his enemies, but for Peter, he's

done it all with Peter. Remember, Peter has walked on

water with Jesus Christ. Peter has been on top of a

mountain with Jesus Christ when Moses and Elijah came from

heaven and Jesus was transfigured before Peter's

eyeballs. You and I think if I'd

experienced that stuff, I would never go back.

But if Peter can do it, you can do it.

And if Peter can do it, I can do it.

Pastor, are you just trying to terrify us?

Well, yeah, kind of. And also give you the solution,

which is stay close to Jesus and don't be prideful, which was

Peter's error. I will never deny you, Lord.

They might. This whole church might.

But I want Lord, not me. That's what Peter told Jesus.

He goes, boys, you're all going to fall away on account of me

tonight. He told them that at the supper.

And they go, oh, no, no, no, no. Peter goes, hey, hey, they

probably will, I'll give you that.

But I won't. And he goes, Peter and his

pride. Not only will you do what

they're going to do now, you're actually going to deny me three

times. They're just going to scatter.

When the soldiers come and I get arrested, that's one thing.

But you're going to deliberately say I don't know him, you don't

know me? Remember when I filled your fit

your boat with fish? Peter?

Did you know me that day? Remember the mountain?

Remember walking on water that night?

Remember when I calmed the storm?

Remember when I raised Lazarus? Remember when I raised your

mother-in-law? Maybe Peter's mad at him about

that. Just a little preacher, Joe.

Little mother-in-law joke, everybody.

Do you remember all that, Peter? And Peter denies him.

Have you been in those situations where you steered the

conversation away cleverly, subtly, gently, and no one knew

except you, but you steered it away from spiritual things?

I'm not saying every conversation that happens, you

need to be pounding your Bible and and showing everyone its

contents. That's not the claim that I'm

trying to make. I think that would be weird.

I think that would be strange. But have there been times where

you saw an opportunity? Have there been times where you

saw the doorway opening and you were the actually the one who

closed it in the conversation? You know, I don't know if I want

that association right now. I don't know how that would be

received with this potential Co worker, employer, friend, family

member, vendor, whatever. I don't want to rock the boat or

not here to rock the boat. But we are here to associate

with Christ and testify to who he is and what he's done in our

lives. That's for sure.

So our motive isn't boat rocking.

And yet if the boat gets rocked, all right, well, that's, that's

out of my jurisdiction. But my responsibility is to keep

saying I am with him, I am with him, I am with him, I am with

him. We want to be the person who's

so close to Jesus that that the story would read differently and

said in the one disciple, they had to continue pulling him away

from Christ so that they could beat Christ savagely.

And the disciple also took some blows in the process.

That'd have been a different story, wouldn't it?

You know that for the rest of his life, Peter would have

wished that that had been the story.

What I would give to go back and be with him on that night.

Good news. Spoiler alert, Peter is totally

restored later, totally and completely restored to become a

pillar in the church, but not to become a perfect man because he

does not become a perfect man. And even in the book of Acts, we

have more record of his errors and his sins as he's called out

by the apostle Paul. This is good news for you.

This is good news for me. Jesus calls some backwater boy

named Peter because that's what Galileans were, by the way.

They were like Guinea Bubba's. We can make fun of getting, you

know, by from getting in here. We're safe.

Jordan's not here this morning. So we can make fun of West

Virginia. It's like West Virginia, you

know, West Virginia tells you when I love her.

But you know, the West Virginian jokes that we would make and

like, that's what Galilee was to these people.

This is kind of the backwater, folks.

She goes, you're with Jesus the Galilean.

She doesn't say Jesus the Christ.

She doesn't say Jesus the Messiah.

She wants him to be named lowly. You're with Jesus the Galilean.

Judas's betrayal gets the attention that it deserves.

But this is Peter. And on this night, because of

pride, because of prayerlessness, because of

failure to defeat temptation, he commits A horrific sin and

denies the Lord. And now it's a servant girl who

calls him out, who intimidates him.

A servant girl came up to him, said you were with Jesus, the

Galilean. She recognizes Peter, who knows

from where, maybe from the temple.

Throughout the week, she's picked up on what's going on

here. Peter denies it before them all.

I do not know what you mean. He knows exactly what she means.

We've all used this lie. This is a lie that all of us

have used. Somebody catches us with the

truth. Somebody asks us a direct

question in the moment. And you're so put off and you're

so caught off guard. You need to stall and you need

to buy time. You go.

What are you talking about? Maybe I'm the only one who's

ever done that. No, nobody else ever has.

What are you talking about? Their question wasn't confusing.

It wasn't unclear. It wasn't muddy.

But in your sin, you're going. What are you talking about?

What do you even mean? Where were you last night?

What kind of question is that? A plain spoken one.

What do you mean? What I mean is, what was your

geographical location between 8:00 PM and 11:00 PM?

What's going on? Stalling.

Stalling. I'm stuttering.

I'm sidestepping. What can I do to pivot out of

the situation? That's all Peter's doing here.

It feels like I'm not lying, except that I am lying.

It's still deception. It's still sin.

And this is where Peter starts. He doesn't start with, I don't

know him. He starts with what?

This is so confusing. Oh, it's a crazy night out here.

Oh, look over there, he knows exactly what she means.

But he does this quick shuffle, buying time, preparing for more

lies. Unfortunately, he's got nothing

better. So then he starts to double

down. But we've all done the same

thing. Instead of the truth, you

attempt to delay or distract. And yes, it's all still

deception. I do not know what you mean.

Verse 71. And he went out to the entrance.

Another serving girl saw him and she said to the bystander,

bystanders, this man was with Jesus of Nazareth.

Peter moves to the entrance, the entrance of the courtyard, also

known as the exit of the courtyard.

What is he doing? He's literally showing us what

sin does. It puts you farther and farther

away from Jesus, and he is preparing his exit.

The pressures are getting too great.

Jesus is over there. Well, then I'm going to be over

there. I don't even know what you're

talking about. Let me move over here so if

things get crazy, I'm right here at the door.

I can make my break for it. I can get away from this

pressure. He's not running from

temptation. He's running from the presence

of Jesus, which is what we could be tempted to do in our sin,

which is what Adam did in his sin.

Hiding, covering with fig leaves.

It's not enough. It never was.

He's putting distance between himself and Jesus, distance

between himself and the group, preparing an escape.

Sin always moves us away from Christ.

Every step deeper into sin is another step away from the

presence of Jesus. And it makes it easier and

easier to sin because I get farther and farther away from

Jesus. So it becomes it becomes a

vicious cycle. It becomes a momentum builder.

Anytime you think you're in control of your sin, you're

already deceived. Anytime you think I'll just have

this bite, no one will know about this bite.

I keep this thing in the closet and I can just take a bite

whenever I want because I have it like it's it's controlled.

It's not true, it's a lie, and it's a deception.

It's having a pet lion. And when he's a little cub,

you'll hate this guy's so much fun, and you can toy around with

him in your hands. But sin keeps growing because

you keep feeding it and you keep feeding it.

And eventually it becomes the lion that toys around with you,

and it can fling you around and it devours you.

That's what sin always does. I used to hear Pastor Chris.

He would always say, sin will take you farther than you want

to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more

than you could ever pay. And for any of us who have

walked in any season of backsliding or just any season

outside of Christ, for sure we can go, Yeah, it's just

devastating. Life is hard enough when you're

walking with Christ. Like life still gets a vote.

Life still punches us in the face.

There's still difficulties and challenges.

But praise God, like in the middle of all that, I go, but I

still have Jesus. So it's like, I'm going to be

OK. But outside of that, I'm like,

man, it gives me compassion for people because I'm going like,

how do you make it through a day without Christ?

How do you make it through a day when you're just being the heap

in the heap, in the heap of your sin and your shame and the

brokenness and the discouragement and the

disappointments and the fear and the chaotic world and the

deception. And but at the end of all of

that, when you're freaking out, you don't get to come back to

the place of but I have Jesus and Jesus as me.

What a tragedy, what a terror. But we think it it's worth it.

The Scripture tells us that that there's pleasure in sin for a

season. Of course there is.

If there wasn't, we wouldn't do it.

If sin just hurt and it was only painful.

Oh, there's nothing good about sin.

Well, I mean, it does taste sweet like that Candy's not good

for you. But it it does taste good.

That's why we're eating it. That cake isn't going to help

us. Natalie's pound cake is here

today. So you know I love you when I

share my wife's pound cake with you.

So it's good. So try some.

It's good for your soul. I can't speak.

I can't speak for your body, but I can tell you it's good for

your soul. But there's pleasure in sin for

a season, but that season runs out.

And when it runs out, it can leave people in devastating

places. This other servant girl, she

calls out to the crowd. So she's a bit of a busy body.

This is the drama queen, right? The first one just called him

out directly. The other one was like, this is

about to get juicy. Hey, everybody.

No, no, he was with Jesus. He's with Jesus.

The pressure's building, the environment, the environment is

closing in. Peter is publicly identified.

And now in verse 72, in verse 71, he went out to the entrance.

Another serving girl saw him. She said to the bystanders, this

man was with Jesus of Nazareth. And again he denied it with an

oath. I do not know the man.

So he escalates. He brings an oath into it.

We don't know what the oath was. We don't know how he pledged.

We don't know what the what the swear was, but he supposedly was

bringing himself underoath. Remember what Jesus has taught

Peter. He's forgotten that lesson.

Let your yes be yes. Let your no be no.

Anything more than that comes from the evil 1.

I promise. You don't need a promise.

Be a man of your word, Just say, just tell me yes.

You don't need a promise, just be a woman of your word.

Just say yes. Just say no.

Don't get into the strangeness, don't get into the deceptions.

Just keep it plain. Plain spoken.

People are not comfortable with plain spoken speech, but we

should be as Christians. We don't intend to be jarring,

but we intend to be full of integrity and honest.

Peter says I'll prove it to you. He's using all of his verbal

judo that he can find. I'll make an oath.

I do not know the man. This should make us humble,

watchful, and dependent on Jesus.

If Peter can do this, we could do this.

Peter wasn't destined to do this.

You're not destined to do this. Good news, Peter could have

overcome temptation by obeying Jesus and praying in the garden.

Pray that you do not fall into temptation.

That was Jesus's will for Peter. And yet the prophetic warning

also came. This is what you're going to do,

Peter. It wasn't an enforcement of

Peter's will. Peter's will was still fully

involved in everything that he did.

But think about it. If anybody could rely on their

past experiences to make them confident, it would be Peter.

He also heard the voice of the father saying, This is my son

with whom I'm well pleased. And he also heard the voice of

the father say, this is my son. Listen to him on the

mountaintop. But Peter's past faithfulness is

not the same thing as present faithfulness.

Your past faithfulness does not equate to present faithfulness.

Does that alarm you? Nothing from your past

determines your future. Christians in church we often

say that and everybody goes praise God.

But it applies in both ways. Nothing from your past, all the

negative, all the all the awful, none of that determines your

future. Hallelujah, all your previous

faithfulness, none of that determines your future.

What determines my future? Jesus's accomplishment for you

and your present trust in Him. That's what determines your

future. We can't look back on our old

mountaintop experiences. Peter literally had the

mountaintop experience, and maybe that's what gave him all

this false confidence. Maybe that's what gave him all

this bravado of like, man, I ain't going anywhere.

I've seen too much, I've been too far, I know too much.

I love him, I'm with him. I know who he is.

I would never deny him. But Peter changes his tune.

Only what Jesus has done for you secures you, and you must keep

walking with him. It's like a wedding.

A wedding is a wonderful moment. It is a lifetime high, but a

marriage must be sustained with daily faithfulness, with

repentance and with love. Not remember our wedding,

remember our wedding. We had 1000 people there.

Remember the decor like that's not going to help you and you're

17. The wedding was a special day.

It was good. It was a it was a beautiful

moment. Praise God for weddings.

Jesus love weddings. We should love weddings, but a

marriage is sustained day by day by day by day, over and over,

over time. A sports championship is a

glorious moment. It's an exceptional high.

But continued success requires continued training to show up

again, over and over and over. You cannot live off of

yesterday's victory. You must stay close to Jesus

today. You must stay close to Jesus

tomorrow. You must stay close to Jesus the

next day. Talking a big game about the

past is also not a great indicator of where someone is

even in the present. Somebody's got great testimonies

that are legitimately even truthful man, this happened and

this happened and this happened and this happened.

First of all, praise the Lord for those for those for those

beautiful memories and what the Lord has done, the Scripture

command, God commanded the Israelites to make markers and

to build altars in the wilderness and to say like we're

going to mark the moment. You're going to tell your

children about this, and they'll always know that this altar

remembers that thing. Mark the moments.

Celebrate the past. Celebrate anniversaries of God's

answered prayers in your lives for cats, for children, and for

everything. Wherever the Lord has come

through, open up your journal and go.

He is so faithful. Look, it was On this date, this

many years that we're all about celebrating and honoring what

the Lord has done. But don't think that you can

live off of yesterday's manna. You need fresh food today.

You want to walk with him today? What does your relationship look

like today? Oh, me and Natalie.

You should have seen our honeymoon.

Was amazing. Cool.

We were so in love. You were so in love.

Yeah. We were so in love on our

honeymoon. It was just a beautiful,

beautiful time. Cancun, the sun, the water.

It was just amazing. It was wonderful.

We were so in love. First year of our marriage was

just incredible. Uh huh.

What about what about now? Oh, now.

Well, I mean, I'm a reminder about our honeymoon, a reminder

about our first year marriage and how amazing it was.

That's what I do. I'm like, babe, anytime she's

mad, anytime she's frustrated, anytime she doesn't do right,

you know what? Whatever.

I just go, hey, remember our honeymoon?

Don't forget. And that should, that should

sustain us. That should carry us in the

future because we had a mountaintop.

Remember, Remember Cancun? Remember zip lining in the

jungle? Yeah, So like, get over

everything else because we had that.

It's stupid. Obviously.

It's it's ridiculous to point out that way.

And yet as believers, right. And I remember when I got filled

with the Holy Spirit at 16 years old, I remember walking up a

youth group and the and the and the old building, you know, the

new, old building, whatever the old facility, the new building

at the old facility. And I remember Pastor Chris

laying hands on me. And I remember the power of the

Holy Spirit coming upon me. I remember being a little boy

and Dad had a guest pastor in to preach.

His name was Dallas Plemons, and I wasn't even paying attention,

just sitting there minding my own business, maybe picking my

nose, and a sweet old grandfatherly preacher.

He's sitting on the stage. He's just tired of preaching, I

guess. And he goes, Joe Michael, come

up here, called me up there. I've got no idea what he's

doing. I love him.

I know him, I like him. And he just just did this in

front of me with his hand. He didn't cast a magic spell on

me. He was just being obedient to

what the Holy Spirit told him to do.

But when he did this, the Holy Spirit came upon me and I just

fell back and hit the ground. Nobody caught me.

We didn't have an usher ministry.

That was back in the day when if you fell down, you better be

falling down on the power of the Holy Ghost because your head's

going to get cracked otherwise. I've got sweet memories and

sweet testimonies throughout my childhood, throughout my teen

years, throughout adulthood, all the way up until this year.

I've got stuff that I can look back on just a couple of months

ago and go, man, that was good. Man, that was rich.

Praise the Lord for that. And I can't, and I'm not trying

to live off of it. I'm not trying to live off that

old bread. You find a piece of bread in the

toaster oven from like a few days ago, Try eating it.

It's rough, cut your mouth, it's not good.

But can you rejoice over a great piece of toast you had earlier

in the week? Sure had some honey butter, had

some jam on it, that was good. But you.

But you can't eat it again today.

You need a fresh testimony. You need a fresh walk.

You need a fresh experience of him.

You need a fresh word from him. I want to continue to grow with

my wife. I want to continue to bless her.

I want to continue to have an incredible marriage.

I got the best marriage I know of and I have for a long time.

Are you bragging? I don't intend to.

I'm just being honest. I genuinely have the best

marriage I know of. We've worked hard at it and I'm

not just going well. We win.

I'm not comparing to anybody else in that sense.

I'm just going, Lord, take us to the next level, whatever that

looks like. More faithfulness, more love,

more respect, more glory for you, more of a picture of Christ

in the church. That's whatever that looks like.

Lord, take us there. I don't know how to do it, but

God, you can. We should want more in our

relationships with friends and family and spouse and children.

Of course, more than anything, we should want more in our

relationship with Jesus. Many of you have wonderful

experiences with the Lord. Beautiful testimonies.

I'm sure we could just testify right now.

Man, I remember, I remember where I was.

It was 1989, this happened that we rejoice in it.

We're not belittling it, but we're saying, well, we don't

live there, We're not building. We're not living there and just

building a monument and staying there.

We build the monuments. I praise the Lord and we move

on. What's next?

Lord, leave me from glory to glory so that I can't just stay

in the past. The most experienced in life are

often the most humble. We noticed this in martial arts,

in jiu jitsu, The guys who have rolled with her black belts,

they're like the most calm guy in the room.

Meanwhile, as white belts were like spastically trying to do

all the things, freaking out. I was rolling with a purple belt

one time. So it was white, blue, purple,

brown, black. So a purple belt is way better

than a white belt. They might sound like they're

not a big deal and the purple doesn't, that might not sound

that intimidating, but they're a big deal.

So I was rolling with a purple belt.

This was a coach when we lived in West Virginia.

And, and I was rolling with him one night and I'm just trying to

do all the things. And I don't think I'm spazzing

out. I don't think I'm having a freak

attack. I just think I'm trying to win.

And at one point he just, like, stops me and, like, pins me down

like a child. And he's like, hey, I'm like,

yeah, I'm all like, huffing and puffing out of breath.

He's like, just. And I was like, OK, like lesson,

like message received. He was just like, chill out.

He didn't say it, but he was like, hey, I was like, yes, Sir,

Sorry, Sir. And then, you know, he proceeded

to fold me up like a, you know, piece of laundry.

But those who those who don't, those who don't have anything to

prove are oftentimes the most calm and the most relaxed in any

given situation. But those who have a lot to

prove, the lowly white belt is fighting for his life,

scrapping, trying to make something happen.

This is this is oftentimes in all areas of life.

If I'm really insecure, then I'm tempted to run my mouth and I'm

tempted to present and I'm tempted to posture and I'm

tempted to impress you instead of having a humble life where

I'm just like, Lord, help me shut up because I am insecure.

And but more importantly, like bring me into security.

Bring me into security in Christ so that it has nothing to do

with my jiu jitsu belt, so it has nothing to do with my skill

at work or anywhere else. Help me to just be secure in

Jesus and that is a place of true security.

Then I can truly be at rest. Not to talk a big game about

what I did or what I'm doing even, but to just be hungry to

stay close to you. Pride looks backwards and it

boasts. Humility is happy to just stay

close to Jesus right now and stay silent.

Humility is happy that Jesus gets the glory and Jesus gets

the credit. Verse 73 after a little while,

the bystanders came up to Peter and said certainly you 2 are one

of them for your accent betrays you.

So he's like, they're like, man, you sound like you're from

Guinea. We know what Guinea sounds like.

You're a Guinea Bubba and you sound like 1.

So this is interesting because the pressure mounts on him, but

the pressure does not come where we thought it would have come

from. You thought if Peter was going

to fold, it would have been in the garden, hundreds of

soldiers, clubs and swords. And I wonder if Peter thought

that he passed the test that Jesus warned him about in the

garden. I wonder that because he says

you're going to deny me and he's like never.

So he's like on edge. I will not deny Jesus.

And here comes the city. He's like don't deny him, don't

deny him, don't deny him, don't deny him.

He disobeys him, does what he's not supposed to do.

And Jesus is not in the killing ministry, not yet.

But he pulls out the sword and he tries to kill the servant of

the high priest, cuts off his ear.

And Jesus said, Peter, I don't need your help.

I could certainly defend myself if I wanted to, But I wonder if

Peter thought I passed the test because I tried to kill a man

for him, so I'm safe there because he thought that's where

the temptation and the testing would come from.

You don't get to pick though. You're testing your trial.

And Peter is being tested by a servant girl and then a servant

girl. People who do not have authority

to kill him, people who do not have the power to kill him.

And now just regular civilians are going.

Yeah, you are with. You are with Jesus.

Your accent, man. It's obvious where you're from.

You sound like you're from Hartfield.

You sound like you're from Deltaville.

We know you're from Deltaville. You sound like Jesus from

Deltaville. You're obviously with him.

Just own up to it, man. That's what you're doing here.

But he's denying it. He's panicked.

Maybe he thought he passed the test in the garden.

But you don't get to pick where your test comes from.

You don't get to pick the day of your trial.

It will be unexpected. And if you do not prepare to

succeed, then you are preparing to fail it.

Verse 74 Once they they really caught him in his lie, then he

began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear.

The ESV adds he began to invoke a curse on himself.

The original language does not say that he invoked the curse

unto himself. Your English translations are

very, very, very, very, very good.

They're very stable. They're very trustworthy.

So in a moment like this, I don't want anyone to think, oh,

no, it's all, it's all unpredictable.

No, they're very subtle things at times that we can point out

and realize that the English translators, they were trying to

be helpful, but in moments like this, they went a little too far

with their helpfulness. He began to invoke a curse, but

the original language does not say who he invoked the curse on.

And that has LED theologians to speculate and go, dear God, who

did he invoke the curse on? Because there's three

possibilities. Did he invoke the curse on

himself and say, you know, if I'm lying, God strike me dead

kind of thing? Did he invoke the curse on the

people who are accusing him of being with Jesus?

Is saying whatever curse you all for your lie and your slander

about me or the worst of all the possibilities, did he refer to

Christ as the one being a cursed and as an effort to separate

himself from him even more and to say I'm not with him, I'm not

with him, I don't love him, I don't care about him.

That's just some guy who's clearly a cursed by God under

the judgment of the high priest. That's the most tragic one to

imagine. We don't know because the

scripture doesn't tell us, but we know it called down curses

and then began to swear. I do not know the man.

This is how far sin can go. It progresses, it escalates,

James says in chapter 1, verse 14 through 15 in the book of

James. But each person is tempted when

he is lured and enticed by his own desire.

Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin,

and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death.

So it's that lion cup I told you about first.

It's born. Oh, this is manageable.

I'm in control of this thing. That's the deception.

But when it's full grown, it will get, it will bring forth

death, but that's the temptation.

It hasn't brought forth death yet.

I've been living with this sin all these years, this continued

habitual, ongoing sin like all these years.

I think I kind of have it under control.

It's there's nothing worse coming from it.

That is the deception. That is how you know you're

ensnared in sin. That's how you know you're a

slave. If you think like that about any

particular sin in your life, you got Jim Michael.

I think you're right about some stuff.

Prep preacher, I'll give you I'm I'm with you.

I can think of a lot of sins where that's true, but this

other one, I assure you, I assure you, is different.

That's how you can guarantee that you're a slave to sin.

Peter has experienced this awful progression, though he is now

effectively saying I am not Jesus's, I do not belong to

Jesus, I am not a Christian, I do not love Jesus.

That's wild, that's wild. Hours earlier, I love you, I'll

die for you, hours not like you. See over his life how he walked

away from the Lord. He separated from fellowship

with the church and all this other stuff.

Ours. Immediately the rooster crows.

This is actually the mercy of God.

I'm so thankful that Jesus put this here and that that Jesus

prophesied that it would be this way, that Jesus saw ahead, that

it would happen this way, because this is mercy and this

is an alarm for Peter. This is God interrupting him and

calling him back. God warns people.

God has warned you and your sin. He has warned me and my sin.

He's given us warning lights. He's given us red flags.

He's given us all kinds of things.

The Scripture tells us that with every temptation that comes, not

to say that it's provided by the Lord.

James makes that very clear as well.

The Lord doesn't give us temptations.

The Lord gives us tests. It's a different category.

I don't have time to teach them out.

Temptation to send, though, is what we're referring to here.

When we're tempted to send, the scripture says that with every

temptation, the Lord provides along with it a way out, a way

of escape. That means every single time

I've ever sinned in my entire life, I wanted to.

That means every single time you've ever sinned in your

entire life, you willed to sin. Because in that same room where

the sin was, where the temptation was, the Lord stood

over here and said this is the way.

There's a way out. Every time we sinned and we

thought it was inevitable, I was set up for failure.

I was set up for success. Well, yes, you were set up by

the enemy, most likely by your own stupidity.

In addition to that, mine as well.

But the Lord has always provided a way of escape.

Every sin I've ever committed, I didn't have to commit, but I

wanted to, and I willed to, so I did.

Hallelujah. God is rich in mercy and he

brings alarm bells and he brings Roosters and he brings anything

else to snap us to attention, to warn his people.

He warned Cain ahead of time. He said sin is crouching at the

door and he wants to devour you, but you must master it.

And then Cain murdered his brother.

He sent Nathan to David after David had sinned.

David commits adultery with Bathsheba.

He murders Uriah. The man who loved David and was

faithful to David murders him, and he sends Nathan to the king.

And Nathan tells the story. There was a man who had many

sheep, but he took the poor. The poor man who only had one

took his sheep and slaughtered it.

What should we do with that man? David said, and bring him here,

he should be killed. And Nathan said, you are that

man, which is a very wise and clever and respectful way to

rebuke a king. But God brought that warning and

David was crushed by it. Unfortunately, David still had a

lot of consequence for that sin. Forgiveness is real.

God gives these merciful callbacks.

The rooster brings Peter back. He remembers the words of Jesus.

God does this through through all kinds of means for us.

He's done it for you through sermons.

He's done it through you for for you through conversations.

He's done it through conviction. Maybe it was a launchpad.

Maybe it was a ladies night. Maybe it was a prayer group.

He calls you back. He does not abandon you.

He is the God who pursues you. He's the God who loves you.

He's the guy who keeps giving you opportunities because he is

faithful and kind, because he's good, not because you're good,

but because he's good. That's so loving, that's so

faithful. I can't imagine the betrayal

that Jesus felt in that moment from Peter looking over at him,

knowing it was coming, but still the hurt.

Like, man, I got nobody here for me.

Nobody, you know, nobody's here for me.

Peter's here. And then Peter denies him.

Peter denies him. Now Peter's calling down curses

and Jesus looks at him. Peter denies him again.

Peter goes out and he weeps bitterly.

We're closing. Peter's crushed by his sin.

I think he's crushed by his betrayal.

I think he's crushed by his shame.

But I don't think Peter is repentant in this moment.

Why not? Well, because repentance is a

change of direction and a change of action.

I think Peter feels remorse and there is a massive difference

between remorse and repentance. Oh, he was so sad and he was

crying that whoever the preacher on TV, he was crying and he was

sad and he was crying and he was sad and he was so sorry that he

had stolen, you know, $400,000 from the church and he was

apologetic about it. I'm waiting to hear the

repayment plan with interest. I'm waiting to hear it.

His tear tears are you're ashamed, you feel sad, you got

caught, you're ostracized by the community.

All right and appropriate things for your preacher.

I'm waiting to hear the restitution plan so you can

actually pay it back like Zacchaeus did.

Jesus said Zacchaeus, I'm coming to your house today and

Zacchaeus was so blessed by the presence of Jesus.

When the presence of Jesus came into Zacchaeus his life, He says

I'm going to pay back everything I've ever stolen from anyone and

I'm going to repay it back seven times.

That's repentance. That's saying I got Jesus.

I care about nothing else instead of I feel so sad.

Everyone be nice to me again. Now Jim Michael commits some

catastrophic sin and I come in here.

I'm so sorry we forgive you. We're Christians.

We love to forgive. We love to pour the grace of God

on you pastor. Also, let's talk about what

repentance looks like. Let's talk about what making

this thing right would look like for you to the degree that

you're able instead of I'm really sorry, guys.

You can tell by my tears. My tears have to be evidence for

you enough, right? Maybe I'm a great actor.

Maybe I'm super manipulative. Repentance looks like something

and Peter doesn't look like anything.

He runs from the presence of Jesus, not into it.

He doesn't run to Jesus and say I'm with him, I'm sorry.

I'm his. You can't take my Lord, or you

can take my Lord, but my heart's ripped out.

That would have been repentance, but Peter's just remorseful

right now. Praise God.

The Lord doesn't leave him there.

What a blessing. But there is a difference

between remorse and repentance. Remorse is sorrow or shame over

being caught. Repentance turns back to God.

You continue to wrong your spouse.

You continue to wrong your spouse.

I said I'm sorry. I said I'm sorry.

I said I'm sorry. You're sorry means nothing

anymore. Your sorry is worthless.

Why? Because there's no repentance.

I offended you, I offended you. I offended you.

Oh, I'm sorry I offended you. And I'm still going in the same

direction. Here's how I'm going to fix it

here, my wife. Here's how I'm going to love you

better. Here's the deliberate loving

actions I would take the disrespectful wife.

Disrespectful to her husband. Disrespectful to her husband.

I'm sorry, but you're still going in the disrespectful

direction. Repentance would be honor and

respect your husband. I'm disobedient to my parents.

I'm disobedient to my parents. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

No, you're sorry. It's worthless.

Your repentance, though, Here's how I'm going to obey.

Here's how I'm going to honor my father and mother appropriately.

Here's what I'll do to make that look right.

I'm sorry I haven't been doing my job at work.

OK, so fix it. That's what repentance looks

like. I said I'm sorry.

Nobody cares. It's just a word.

Action matters. And if you couple them together,

that's beautiful. I'm not cynical.

I'll accept an apology, and I'll give you some time to make

things right. I'm not harsh or unfair or

unkind, But I do understand words, and I do understand

definitions, and I do understand people, and I do understand how

my own flesh works. Jesus is so faithful.

He's so kind. When Jesus is resurrected, he's

walking with Peter along the seashore.

Do you remember what he does? Peter, do you love me?

Lord, I love you. That was one.

Peter, do you love me? Lord, you know that I love you.

That's two. Peter, do you love me?

Lord, you know that I love you. That's three.

Jesus restored Peter, and he gave him the chance to give 3

affirmative I love you. Jesus's to counteract the three

denials that Peter had to live with.

So that's Jesus's sweetness to Peter as he walked along the

beach with him. He says, Peter, feed my sheep.

That's what I want you to do. Do you love me?

I love you so much. Feed my sheep, take care of my

church. I'm going to heaven and I need

you to keep working. I need you to keep building the

Kingdom. It will look like something.

These words on this beach today, they're they bless me, Peter.

They really do. And also here's the action that

you're going to walk out to show your love for me.

You're going to feed my lambs. God is so kind.

He wants to restore you. He doesn't want to condemn you.

When you hear that rooster call, when you hear those warnings

from the Holy Spirit, that is your moment.

That is your opportunity. When you hear of someone else's

fall, what happens in your heart?

Do you think I could never do that?

Do you feel nothing? You feel relief that it wasn't

you? Do you have a smug sense that

they got caught because they don't play the game as well of

you? The right response is humility

and compassion for those who are caught in sin.

Lord, keep me close to you. When I hear pastors and

ministers who've fallen into scandal, I don't go.

How could you I go? Dear Jesus, please, please,

please, please. I got, I'm not even thinking

about them honestly. I immediately go to me selfishly

and I go, God, please, please, Lord, keep me close to you.

Just keep me close to You. We should grieve for the fallen,

and then we should examine ourselves and pray.

Lord, please keep me close. Then when we pray that we must

also obey the warnings and the promptings that He will give us

to keep us close. When he tells you to stop

watching that show, when he tells you to stop listening to

that music, when he tells you to stop fellowshipping with that

person, those are mercies. Peter was given those.

He was given all the opportunities to win.

And when he failed again, Jesus restored him.

That's what Jesus does. That's what he did through the

cross. Be encouraged.

Jesus uses imperfect Peter. He uses imperfect you.

He uses imperfect me, still imperfect Peter, still imperfect

later. But he still wrote two books in

the New Testament. He preached on the day of

Pentecost with power. He was used by the Lord.

He is one of the 12 apostles of the Lamb who will be an eternity

judging the 12 tribes of Israel. Where does that leave us?

Lord, keep us close. Lord, we trust you.

We need you for everything. We need you to even help us to

love you more. We need you to even help us to

care. God, I pray for all these

precious people, the men, the women, the young men, the young

women, the boys and the girls, the babies.

God, I pray for your preserving power.

God, I pray for power to obey, that you would fill us with

strength and a desire to receive all the power that you make

available. With every sin and temptation

that comes against us, You also provide a way of escape.

There is always a door that you hold open.

Lord, You're revealing that door to people right now, people who

have been ensnared and sinned, people who have thought that

they had their lion cub tamed and well trained.

Lord, you're going to bring them such a mercy and a deliverance

from that thing that they would kill it.

Kill it when they still think it's cute.

Kill it when they still think it's precious.

Kill it when they still think it brings comfort and joy into

their lives. You'll give them the strength,

the wisdom, and the holiness to do it.

Lord Jesus, we thank you for your cross, the perfect Passover

lamb whose blood can be applied to our hearts so we can be

saved. Your innocence given to us, our

guilt given to you. We thank you for your love and

your kindness towards us. Bless and strengthen your people

today as we go and feast together, as we enjoy the

beautiful weather that you've provided.

We thank you for this fellowship.

We thank you for one another in Jesus name.

We love you now. The Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make his face shine down upon you and be gracious to

you. The Lord lift up his countenance

upon you and give you great peace in Jesus name, Amen.