Peter's Denial

Our passage this morning comes from the Gospel of John chapter 18 verse 15 to 27 John 18 15 to 27 and if you have a pew Bible which you can find in front of you and the scene in front of you it can be found on page 850 John chapter 18 verses 15 to 27 and when you have found it please rise in reverence for the reading of God's holy word. Here not the word of the Lord. Simon Peter followed Jesus and so did another disciple. Since that disciple was known to the high priest he entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest but Peter stood outside at the door. So the other disciple who was known to the high priest went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watch at the door and brought Peter in. The servant girl at the door sat at Peter you also are not one of this man's disciples are you? He said I am not. Now the servants and officers made a charcoal fire because it was cold and they were standing and warming themselves Peter also was with them standing and warming himself. The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. Jesus answered him I have spoken openly to the world I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret why do you ask me ask those who have heard me what I said to them they know what I said. When he had said these things one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand saying is that how you answer the high priest. Jesus answered him if what I said is wrong bear witness about the wrong but if what I said is right why do you strike me? And it's then sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest. Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself so they said to him you also are not one of his disciples are you? He denied it and said I am not. One of the servants of the high priest a relative of the men whose ear Peter had cut off asked did I not see you in the garden with him. Peter again denied it and at once a rooster crowed this is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God please be seated. We continue on with our sermon series in the Gospel of John. We come to this section on Peter's denial of Christ. However the denial isn't so much the focal point of this passage as what it ultimately point to the sermon is about betrayal betrayal of all the things that we experience in life betrayal may be the worst of them all. My daughter has recently been telling me that her mom is her favorite person. I know this is the natural thing to think and say perhaps but every time she says it feels like a stab in the heart but one a more serious note in his play Julius Caesar William Shakespeare wrote the most famous line at two Brute you two Brudas it's the only line in the entire play that's written in Latin which made that line at two Brute unforgettable the rest of the play was written in Elizabethan English but Englishmen at the time would have already been heavily trained in Latin and would have easily understood the phrase. At two Brute are the last words of Julius Caesar the last words that he would utter before he would die from 23 literal stab wounds with one of them being from the hand of Brutus himself. Once Caesar crossed the Rubicon in 49 AD the dime was cast and there was a civil war in the Roman Republic that lasted five years of course we all know that Julius Caesar is the one that came out on top and in 44 AD he became the most powerful man in Rome and quite possibly the world. One of those men that fought against him in that civil war was a man named Marcus Jr.'s Brutus but Caesar would pardon him after the civil war and he would start to elevate Brutus he liked him Caesar would appoint him governor and he would treat Brutus with public favor but then when some people started to believe that Caesar was becoming a dictator 60 senators formed the conspiracy to kill Julius Caesar and among them was Marcus Jr.'s Brutus and on the Iads of March they would present Caesar with a petition as a distraction while they was surround him and assassinate him. Caesar's final words point to that fact of all the pain and agony that he would have gone through all that suffering what stood out among them all was the betrayal of someone he believed that he could trust. What we read this morning is not just another example of any betrayal however it is an example of the ultimate betrayal so much so that the denial of Peter has been the subject of numerous works of art and music throughout the ages and so to help us along with the passage I do have three points for us to remember and the three points are the cold the cover up and the crow the cold the cover up and the crow let's get to the first point the crow from verses 15 to 18 I'll just read that passage once again Simon Peter followed Jesus and so did another disciple since that disciple was known to the high priest he entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest a Peter stood outside at the door so the other disciple who was known to the high priest went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watch at the door and brought Peter in the servant girl at the door set to Peter you also are not one of this man's disciples are you he said I am not now the servants and officers made a charcoal fire because it was cold and they were standing and warming themselves Peter also was with them standing and warming himself after Jesus is arrested he's taken to the high priest the high priest we later find out is not Caiaphas but anus Caiaphas's father-in-law and more on this later the scene takes place in the courtyard of the high priest it says and if it was Caiaphas's courtyard then it would have probably been connected to the temple but this is most likely not the case because the one that opens the door or the gate to the courtyard is a servant girl in temple precincts only men had assignments this would have been impossible if the courtyard was at the temple grounds so this courtyard is probably the backyard of Anis's house and this is the scenario that we are shown from the very beginning Peter standing outside then and we are told that another disciple was also with him when Peter followed Jesus the other disciple isn't named but many scholars believe that this is John that he and he is talking about himself John the disciple John who wrote this gospel they believe that he is talking about himself in every other instance of this gospel of his gospel John refers to himself as the one whom Jesus loved and so this is a little different here instead of saying the one or the disciple that Jesus loved he just says another disciple so some scholars also believe that maybe it's just an entirely different disciple not John but I'll say that's probably unlikely because John in his gospel is not afraid to name names of any other gospel any other disciple excuse me he names Nicodemus he names Joseph of Arimathea later and so this is most likely John referring to himself and so you have to start to wonder why of all the places in this section here he just says another disciple apparently though this other disciple had an inn with the high priest he had an inn with the high priest so he talks to the people he needs to talk to and the servant girl who opens the door opens it lets Peter in but seeing Peter it looks like she kind of recognized him at least a little bit and she asks the question but in a negative form you also are not one of this man's disciples are you so all Peter had to do was answer in the form that was easiest since it was presented in a negative form he answers in the negative as well I am not and so Peter denies Jesus for the first time then we are told that because it was cold the officers and the servants made a charcoal fire that's a very specific detail suggesting an eyewitness recollection again probably pointing to John saying that he was there and he saw that this fire was a charcoal fire but why is this detail important then well yes the fire would have illuminated Peter's face a little bit more but there is a more basic detail that this is showing it's cold because it's nighttime it's cold because it's nighttime there's more to that there's a fire that was actually kept burning to keep the priests warm if this was in the high priests abode if this was in Caiaphas's courtyard and that place was called the chamber of immersion and outsiders like Peter would not have had access to it so this means that this courtyard is actually a private courtyard and the only time you would have needed a fire to keep warm during this time would have been at night there is no way during Passover season it would have been this cold that you needed to burn a fire during the day so there are two major details that John is showing us now this is not taking place in an official courtyard and this is not done during the day when you would normally have court proceedings it's done during the night but before we see anything further happen to Peter there's a scene break like when a movie has a scene break and you suddenly switch to another scene and it cuts to Jesus and that leads to my second point the cover up the cover up from verses 19 to 24 excuse me I'll just reverse 19 for us the high priest then question Jesus about his disciples and his teaching it's clear then that Jesus is in the private residence of Annas but he is also called the high priest later on we see that Caiaphas is called the high priest and if you know your Bible you know your Torah then you know that there can only really be one high priest so what's going on also you would have known that only Aaron's line could be high priest again what's going on because remember you saw that this was the father-in-law so it's not even a blood relation couldn't have been Aaron's line what's going on well the high priest this the high pre-ship drastically changed after the second temple period and so by the time we get to Annas he was the high priest from 6 AD to 15 AD he was appointed by the Roman governor Kerenius and served until Caiaphas was appointed and Annas marked the first time the Romans would be directly involved with high priest appointments and these high priests would serve for short terms to ensure loyalty and to prevent power consolidation it effectively then became a political position that the Roman governors would control so while Caiaphas was the official high priest that year people will still call Annas high priest because he was one before and apparently they still respected him as one and so once again the backdrop is to show you that all of this is taking place in the residence of Annas and he questions Jesus about two things here in John his disciples and his teachings that's what Annas questions him on his disciples and his teachings that's what it just said his disciples presumably because Annas wanted to know how deep Jesus's following really was and his teachings because he wanted to test his theology and if you'll notice what we've read Jesus says nothing about his disciples he says nothing about his disciples again protecting them you know Jesus was left alone everyone abandoned him everybody abandoned him but he was faithful to his disciples protecting them to the end even though everyone abandoned him Jesus was always faithful but he does respond to the theological questions from Annas let me just read for us the rest of this from 20 to 24 in this section Jesus answered him I have spoken openly to the world I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple where all Jews come together I have said nothing in secret why do you ask me ask those who have heard me what I said to them they know what I said when he has said these things one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hands saying is that how you answer the high priest Jesus answered him if what I said is wrong bear witness about the wrong but if what I said is right why do you strike me Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest so Jesus tells Annas that he has always spoken openly and that to the world meaning it was for all people to hear but then in verse 21 he asks this to Annas why do you ask me and he points to all those that would have heard him speak he says why do you ask me ask all those people that heard me and so Jesus is doing something is sounding here he knows that this is a farce trial they're covering something up he knows that they are being shady as possible he knows that for a trial to even be a trial you need witnesses in fact Jewish trials would have demanded that you wouldn't have the defended speak at all you wouldn't question the defendant you would have witnesses against the defendant and witnesses for the defendant if there were any what was happening here then was incredibly out of the norm for this trial then to have any legitimacy at all they would need witnesses and Jesus is pointing that out that's when an official strikes Jesus because he thought that Jesus was disrespecting the high priest the words used here for strike with his hand means to strike with an open palm but Jesus was challenging the high priest's procedures and because Jesus was challenging the high priest's procedures this minor official takes umbridge the word for official here is translated from Huperetes Huperetes is translated as official here but literally Huperetes means subordinate it means servant as many of you may know so this lowly official puts his hands on Jesus that's what we're seeing here Jesus however doesn't back down from his statement if his response to the high priest was illegal or inappropriate then you should file charges against him if he was wrong then you need to bear witness about the wrong Jesus is then asking for a fair trial and by asking in this manner he is exposing their cover up he is exposing their foul play but the judgment had already been decided long before Jesus got there so Anna sends Jesus to Caiaphas who would have had the legal authority to bring accusations to pilot let's get to our final point the crow the crow from verse 25 to 27 now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself so they said to him you also are not one of his disciples are you he denied it and said I am not one of the servants of the high priest a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off asked did I not see you in the garden with him Peter again denied it and at once a rooster crowed the scene turns back to Peter now and he's warming himself by the fire even though scenes John is very brief with his descriptions and the account of Peter's denial here there's something to notice that we ought not to miss again I'll remind you that John may be brief in certain aspects that we saw in the synoptic gospels but he has details that some synoptics do not the people around him ask him if he was wasn't one of Jesus's disciples which again he says no to but then here is this third person this third person asks Peter his identity but this person was a relative of Melchus remember John names him in verse 10 John's not afraid to name names so John names him in verse 10 of this chapter he was the relative of Melchus the guy whose ear was cut off by Peter if anyone saw everything that happened it would have been this relative of the person who had his ear cut off at the garden of Gethsemane but Peter even in the face of someone who definitely would have seen his face denies Jesus this time then being the third that's when the rooster would crow now after reading all this that's that's the end of the passage after reading all this you might be wondering why didn't John put all of Peter's denial in one section why the account of Anis's examination in the middle you see Peter and John followed Jesus into the courtyard of Anis they would have seen or at least known of the things going on with Jesus in the other gospel accounts we see once that Peter denies or ask is asked the third time he would start throwing curses down on himself swearing that he does not know this man he doesn't even name Jesus I do not know this man he starts throwing curses down on himself but that isn't in John's account what's in it is Anis Peter being there he would have seen the sham this court was that Jesus was being put through he would have noticed that this was being done at night and that they didn't even bring in witness to testify Peter would have seen it all he would have seen the high priest question Jesus directly trying to trap him and Peter would have actually seen this lowly official open-pom strike Jesus in the face all this was happening and Peter just stood there he was just warming himself by the fire even after Jesus was bound and sent to Caiaphas Peter just stood there he was warming himself by the fire imagine reading this passage you might have been screaming what are you doing man do something you know Peter earlier swore he would lay down his life for Jesus this is in John 1337 he was swear I will lay down my life for you but when it came to the moment of truth Peter failed he denied Jesus not just once but three times that's when the rooster crowed Matthew's account will further tell us that Peter would go out and weep bitterly you know when we think about the betrayal of Christ a lot of people just only think about Judas as bad as that was and is Judas isn't the only one that betrayed Jesus he was left alone you know it's really fascinating is that when we do the Lord's Supper when we have communion here the words of institution is from the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and the words of the institution of the Lord's Supper you know what we don't say or I don't say I don't say that in the night in which our Lord washed the disciples feet because that's what happened that night and that was a big event I don't say in the night our Lord broke bread with this disciples but that also happened that night in fact that's why we have communion you know we don't also don't say we don't say and Paul doesn't say the night in which our Lord was arrested or the night in which our Lord was put on trial for his life instead this is what it says the same night in which he was betrayed the hideous betrayal of Jesus by those that are closest to him is a major part of redemptive history that we are shown here this is a passage on Peter's betrayal his denial yes but if we look closely I believe it teaches us something about ourselves too it teaches us about the true nature of our heart it shows us the true darkness of the human heart we can make these glorious professions and confessions we can go to church on Sundays even and recite the time old confessions of faith standing alongside the great people of faith that have come before us but when the moment of truth comes how many times have we failed and I would venture to guess it was way more than three Peter's denial shows us our heart and how is how it is impossible to give full allegiance to Christ even if you are the most zealous what's made clear then is that Peter cannot follow Jesus he cannot follow Jesus that is until Jesus dies for him and then we know that this is not Peter's final scene in the book of John it's not there is grace there is hope there is restoration for Peter as great as his denial was the grace that forgave him and the grace that restored him was greater it was grace that would restore him not only to the fellowship but it was the grace of Christ that would restore him to service if you remember Jesus says feed my sheep and that means that for both Peter and for us now there is this great hope and this great hope lies then in the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ we cannot follow him without his help we cannot follow him without his help doesn't matter how zealous you are how committed you think you are you cannot follow him without his help but once we follow him we know that it is because he has embraced us first it is because he has first given us his grace it is because we are marked for his love and Jesus loves his disciples to the very end and so my admonition to you my brothers and sisters is that because you are marked for his love know that he has empowered you to finish the race to finish what he has started to follow him all the days of your life let's pray