Peter

Today, we're going to look at Peter and his denial of Jesus. Unfortunately, that is one thing that Peter is famous for. That was a sad moment in his life, but it also provides a reason for you to be optimistic. That's my goal for this sermon: to help you to be optimistic. Our text is John 13.36-38. Please listen as I read it.

Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.” Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.

So, what happened? Peter is responding to something that Jesus said. And part of his response is his bold assertion, 'I will lay down my life for you.' What is that? It's just another example of Peter's boldness. In this he once again reminds us that his personality was nothing like that of timid Timothy. I'm sure that whatever the topic under discussion no one had to guess what Peter was thinking. Peter was a man with decided opinions, boldly stated which often got him into trouble.

And that's where many stop. But let's not stop. Let's pursue this further. Let's consider his very bold statement, 'I will lay down my life for you.' How shall we understand this? Is Peter lying? Is this some empty boast that Peter uttered just to show off? No, it is neither of those. What we have here is a declaration of love. Peter loved Jesus. This love was something that Peter sincerely felt and was sincerely - and boldly - expressing. Peter had a deep affection for Jesus, and like everything else with Peter, no one had to guess about this.

The reasons for this affection should be clear. For Peter, Jesus wasn't just an interesting teacher. He was much more. There was something about Jesus' personality that just drew Peter in. A bond had been formed. He was someone that Peter looked up to and respected. And that's why he quickly declared his willingness to do whatever for Jesus - even die for Him. So, instead of snickering at what seems to be another situation where Peter is setting himself up for a fall, we should be impressed with what is going on in Peter's soul. He loved Jesus.

However, we do know what happened later that night. When confronted by some strangers Peter denied that he ever knew Jesus. So, what went wrong? Why did Peter fail so miserably?

I want to hold on to the thought that Peter's love for Jesus was sincere. He was not just showing off when he spoke his willingness to die for Jesus. So, what's left to explain what happened? How's this? Peter's love was real, but it needed to be refined, purified. His love was real, but it was damaged, polluted by his sin. And so, he could honestly declare his love, but he was not able to follow through on that declaration. His sin tripped him up. I think that explains what happened.

Let's fast forward. What happened to Peter after Jesus' resurrection? It is clear that his love changed. It was purified. The sin that poisoned his love had been dealt with. A quick read through the book of Acts will show that. But it is important for you to see how that happened. There was a process to this purification. And part of that process was that he was allowed to fail. His denial was an important step in his love becoming something better than what it had been. Because of what had happened that night, Peter could see the quality of his love for Jesus more clearly. He could see its weakness. His love was fine when it came to wandering around the countryside listening to and watching Jesus. But what was called for that night cost too much. To declare his love in front of those strangers might have cost him his life. He was not willing to pay that price. Peter saw the quality of his love more clearly.

And the moment of truth came with a look. Listen.

And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, “Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.” But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.

Peter responds quite strongly to the accusation that he had been with Jesus. At the same moment he hears the rooster. But then, his eyes meet Jesus' eyes, and he remembers. And Peter's world comes crashing down. I have always been moved by the simple sentence, 'And he went out and wept bitterly.' Peter saw himself and his love with utter clarity. Seeing reality, he wept bitterly. It was that moment that made the difference in Peter's life and in Peter's love. Sometimes the Spirit lets us fail so that we can see reality, so that we can see ourselves more clearly, so that we can see what our sin has done to us. Sometimes hitting the wall is the first step in purifying who we are. But it all depends on what we do next.

We live in a culture that does not want to take responsibility for who we are and what we do. So, there's always an excuse ready at hand. The problem is low self-esteem, some biological imbalance, a mental health issue, a dysfunctional family. There are lots of causes for the things that happen, but it's not my fault. It's never my fault. And so, when I hit the wall the temptation is to opt for one of these excuses or some other that fits better. And what makes it more tempting is that each of those excuses holds a little bit of truth. That's how Satan works. A little truth hides the bigger lie. But most of the time the reason, or at least the biggest reason, for some failure has to do with me. It really is my fault. I have sinned. And in the moment when Peter locked his eyes on Jesus, he could see that. And so, instead of offering up some excuse, he wept bitterly. He understood what he had done. He saw his love more clearly than ever before. He saw himself more clearly than ever before. He understood how his own sin had done such evil. The first step in repentance is honesty. It's acknowledging your own sin. No excuses. Peter took the first step of repentance. His bitter tears are evidence.

Later, Peter had other opportunities to deny Jesus. There were those times recorded in Acts when he was confronted by the ruling authorities. 'Stop this preaching, or bad things will happen to you.' But Peter did not back down. He didn't back down even when some of those promised bad things did happen to him. He did not deny Jesus again. And Peter didn't flinch in the end either. He was martyred for Jesus' sake. His love, at that point purified, stood the test. That's proof that Peter's repentance was real.

It's important to see another step in the purification of Peter's love. There was repentance. But there was more. After the resurrection, Jesus confronted Peter. Over breakfast Jesus asked him, 'Peter, do you love Me?' And what did Peter say? 'Lord, you know that I love You.' And how did Jesus respond? 'Come on, Peter. We both know that isn't true. Don't you remember the other night?' Is that what He said? Though so many would have responded to Peter in that way, Jesus didn't. No, instead He said, 'Peter, feed my sheep.' What does that mean? During that breakfast Jesus accepted as true Peter's declaration of love. So, He gave him work to do. Peter was forgiven, and Jesus took up with him where He had left off. He was once again instructing Peter, the Apostle.

Please notice that Jesus didn't inform Peter that he would have to start all over. Jesus didn't tell Peter that his love had been shown to be less than perfect so everything had to be torn down and rebuilt from the ground up. No. Actually, it's as if nothing had happened between Peter's declaration of love during dinner before Jesus' death and this declaration of love during breakfast after His resurrection. But, of course, much had happened in between. Peter was allowed to fail and hit the wall. He was allowed to see the weakness, the impurity of his love. But by the work of the Spirit, using Peter's repentance, his love was purified. And that's why he could say, 'Lord, you know that I love you', and have Jesus accept that as truth. It wasn't a matter of going back to square one and starting all over again. Peter's love was exposed, purified and then built upon.

So, let me pull this together. I've talked about three things. I've told you that Peter's love, expressed in that bold declaration in our text, was sincere. I've told you that his love didn't pass the test. It was tainted, impure. The evidence of that was his denial, and he was allowed to see that. I've told you that Peter was restored to his place as an apostle but not by having to start all over. He repented of his sin and again declared his love and Jesus took that at face value and went on from there. That's what I've told you. And here's why it's important.

Peter's life is an example to us. There are lessons here. So, for one thing, you're not as bad as you might think. Yes, your sin has twisted up so many things about you, but there is still good in there. Peter really did love Jesus when he made his bold declaration. To be sure, it was a love that needed to be purified. But it was a real love, a love that Jesus built on. The same is true of you. You have been told through the years that you are so bad. You’ve been told that there is so much wrong with you. And you've believed that. And I have to admit that I have contributed to that problem. But hasn't the Spirit changed you? Isn't that at the heart of what it means to be a Christian? Isn't that why Peter could honestly declare his love for Jesus? There is much good in who you are, much good that the Spirit has brought about. So, when you think about yourself, the stress should not be on what's wrong with you. That would be buying into Satan's lie. The stress should be on what is right with you, what's good. After all, you're one of God's saints, one of His holy ones, right? You have been made into good people because of Jesus. So, don't accept Satan's lie and tell yourself that you are such a terrible person, such an awful sinner. That would be true if you weren't a Christian. But you are a Christian. So, there is good in you because of Jesus. That's the Gospel. Believe it.

Now, there still is sin. We all know that. But the Spirit is at work dealing with that sin. And one way that He deals with it is by letting us fail. He puts us in situations where some idol that we have cherished doesn't come through. Peter's idol was his high opinion of himself. And when an idol fails life suddenly gets hard. But that's also a peek at reality. Idols don't work. They never do. They will all fail at some point, usually at the worst time. It's the Spirit's blessing to us when He causes an idol to fail, when He lets us fail. What's key, though, is what you do next. What's needed next is some honesty. While we should never minimize the evil that comes at us from the outside, we need to take full responsibilities for the evil that comes from within. We need to take full responsibility for our sins. We have acted or thought or felt in ways that are just wrong. We need to acknowledge that. It's the first step in repentance. You may never hit a wall as hard as Peter did, but you will hit the wall from time to time. You have. Life doesn't work as well as it might. Respond wisely. What happened? What was my responsibility? And then, repent and believe so you can be forgiven and changed.

And as you do that please bear in mind what that change is. The problem is not that you've made no progress in that area of living. No. Like Peter you have true and sincere Christian virtues. There are things in you that are good. So, change isn't a matter of the Spirit starting all over with you in that area. He's going to purify that trait and build on what is good. And on you go from there.

Here is one result that I expect to follow from all of this: optimism, an optimism about life. You can be so very optimistic. And why not? Jesus has come and given you life. The Spirit is busy purifying the good within you so that it would become even better. So, to quote Paul, you are going 'from one degree of glory to another.' You are good and getting better. Life is good and getting better. And because of that, more is being done to advance Jesus' cause in the world. Optimism. And the church word for optimism is joy.