Will You Deny Me?

Scripture Reading

Well, you turn over in your Bibles with me to the Gospel of Mark. Gospel of Mark, we'll be looking at verses 66, chapter 14, verses 66 through the end of that chapter. If you're looking for the Gospel of Mark, chapter 14, you'll find that on page 900 of the provided New King James Pew Bibles. Mark chapter 14, beginning at verse 66. Hear now God's perfect word. Now as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came. And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, You also were with Jesus of Nazareth.

Prayer for Illumination

But he denied it, saying, I neither know nor understand what you are saying. And he went out on the porch and a rooster crowed. And the servant girl saw him again and began to say to those who stood by, this is one of them. But he denied it again. And a little later, those who stood by said to Peter, surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean and your speech shows it. Then he began to curse and swear, I do not know this man of whom you speak. A second time the rooster crowed. Then Peter called to mind the word that Jesus had said to him. Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times. And when he thought about it, he wept. Let's pray.

Sermon

Lord, we thank you so much for the vulnerability that Peter would have even in preaching this passage of his failure. We thank you for the Gospels, each and every one of them recording this story. But Father, we pray that we would both understand the historical truths of these stories, but that your spirit would work in our hearts in such a way that this story, this historical narrative would breathe life into our souls. that your spirit would work in us to give us strength and courage that would come from you. Lord, please help today. Help me, Lord, a sinful man to speak your word clearly and help each one of us to have hearts to discern what is true and what is right and that we might receive strength from you. We pray in Jesus's name. Amen. We live in a land that's growing darker and darker. Seems as every news channel shows and every year goes by, that you will be given ample opportunity in your life to deny Jesus Christ. You can even pay former evangelicals who have deconstructed their faith, that they will teach you how to do that same apostatizing.

Will you deny Jesus? Will you deny Jesus when the alphabet mafia comes knocking at your door? Will you deny Jesus when the thought police, whether they're on the right or on the left, demand that you come in line with today's orthodoxy or be quiet? Will you deny Jesus when your family members Tell you that the positions you hold or the scriptures you believe are bigoted and backwards and hateful. Will you deny the words of Christ? Will you turn your back upon the Lord?

When all the world tells us what we believe is wrong. This passage puts us right in Peter's shoes and demands of us what would we have done and what will we do? Will I be ashamed of Jesus? Well the question I have for us today is how do we prepare ourselves to stand for Jesus? How do we prepare ourselves to take a stand for Jesus? And so first we need to look at the historical narrative that God preserved for us.

I mentioned in the prayer that this was preserved in Matthew, in Mark, in Luke, and in John, in every single one of the Gospels, a form of this historical narrative. I hate to call these things stories, right? Because it's not make-believe. These are historical narratives. And so as we look at this historical narrative, there are things to point out here in Peter's denial.

And notice verse 30, before we even get to verse 66, Jesus had told Peter that this was going to happen. All right, Mark chapter 14, verse 30. Assuredly I say to you today that even this night before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times. But he, this is Peter speaking here, but he spoke more vehemently, if I have to die with you, I will not deny you.

That was at 10 o'clock or 11 o'clock at night. It's not more than six hours later, and we're at verse 66. And notice who the first person who puts Peter on his heels is. Now as Peter, verse 66, now as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came. This is Ipediski. This is like a little girl. The type of person who would carry around the bread, or would take people's coats at the door. This is a little girl.

She sees Peter there, he's warming himself by the fire, that's what Mark had told us earlier, and as the light is there shining on his face, it says in verse 67, and when she saw Peter, this is not just a normal seeing him, it's like she's studying his face.

She's gazing at him, she looks at him intently, and she said, you also were with Jesus of Nazareth. Now how did she know that? She's a servant in the house. I think she knows who should be there, who shouldn't be there, but this is kind of a semi-public, quasi-spectacle, so there's different people. But I'm guessing at some point she had been in Jerusalem, or even in the temple, and had seen Jesus teaching and His disciples around Him. And this little girl makes the connection.

And Peter is put on his heels. He's either got one of three choices. Fight. flight or freeze. He's caught in a dangerous position and he both fights and freezes in verse 68. But he denied it. Peter denied it saying, notice it's a two-part answer here, I neither know nor understand what you are saying. Peter denies it, the truth that he's one of Jesus' followers, and in a sense he's denying Jesus himself, Right? Jesus is on trial. He doesn't want to be associated with Jesus.

And he says two things to her. One is himself, right? I don't know what you're talking about. But then the second is actually an insult against her. Almost like, shut up little girl, be quiet. He pats her on the head. Nor do I understand it. Right? You're talking babble. I don't know what you're talking about, kid. Just go away.

But then notice what happens in verse 68 after he says this. And he went out on the porch and a rooster crowed. He runs out of there, right? He tries to get away from this situation. He's almost been found out. This is a dangerous place. I mean, what happens if he gets drugged upstairs? What happens if he gets drugged out of the courtyard and now into Caiaphas' house? Will he put on trial too? Well, he's not going to wait for it. He leaves. He goes out to the archway, he goes to the gate of the house, the doorway of the house, the porch. And this little girl follows him even out there.

But notice that the scene escalates, right? It doesn't just stay with her telling Peter. Notice what she does next in verse 69. And the servant girl saw him again and began to say, not to him, and began to say to those who stood by, this is one of them. Now this is a whole other level of danger, right? Before it was kind of like people might overhear this, but it was mainly between him and her. Now she's convinced he is one of Jesus' followers, and she's going to start telling other people, because she knows she's not crazy.

So she's going to start telling other people, and Jesus denies it again. Arneomai. This is the same word that Jesus told him he would do. You will deny me three times. And here, for the second time, he denies Jesus. He thought maybe there was an uneasy peace. Maybe he got away with it, right? But he's still around there. But now it escalates to another level. Now it's not a little girl confronting him. Notice what happens next. Verse 70, but after he denied it again, and a little later, this is a microsecond, a micron away, those who stood by said to Peter again, surely you are one of them. You can hear the suspicion and the sneer in their voice. For you are a Galilean and your speech shows it.

Have you ever met somebody from the South? You know somebody who's from the South. Have you ever met somebody from the hills of West Virginia? You know they're from the hills of West Virginia. Because of the way they talk. It's the same way. Up in Galilee, right? In Hebrew and Aramaic, there's two letters. A chet and a chay. Or a chet and a chaf. And both of them are gutturals. They both have a ch, ch, ch, right?

Up in Galilee, there was more influence with Greek people than down in Jerusalem. And so those H's became more H's. And so they smoothed out those gutturals as they talked with more and more Greek people. So as they're sitting there around the fire, they must have been talking to Peter and they realize, you don't talk like us.

Actually, we can tell where you come from. And it ain't from here. You're from up there. That's the... That's a backwards country. That's a redneck area. No, no, no, no. You must be one of them. Notice what Peter does. He's backed into a corner. This is an existential threat to him.

And he does something in verse 71, far deeper than I think we understand. Then he began to curse and swear, saying, I do not know this man of whom you speak. This idea of cursing and swearing, he's putting himself under oath. He is saying, I swear to God that I don't know this man, and if I am lying, may God do to me such and such and such. He is giving a legal oath to these guys. I don't know him.

And immediately as these words are passing from his lips, the book of Luke chapter 22 says, And the Lord looked at him. Then the Lord looked at him and Peter remembered Jesus' words. That he would deny him three times and guess what happens? The rooster crows. My question as I came to this passage was, and did Peter commit the unpardonable sin? Did Peter deny Jesus? And is denying Jesus, the unpardonable sin here, is he condemned forever? And then I had to ask myself, what if I've failed Jesus?

At times, right? And I think each of us have those moments in our lives, right? I'm sure there's some time in many of your lives in which you know that you ought to have spoken up for God and His Word, and yet you've kind of swallowed it down. You didn't have the courage to say what you knew you ought to have said. Will He cast me away forever?

A beautiful thing is that As we'll continue on in the story, when Jesus is raised again from the dead, it's not a small thing that he tells the ladies at his empty tomb, go get Peter. And it's in the heart of this story that after the resurrection, when Jesus is talking to Peter, just before the Great Commission, he asked him three times, Peter, do you love me? One question for each denial. Jesus knew even in this moment of Peter's weakness and cowardice, that he would die even for those sins. That Jesus' sacrifice would cover even for this. But again, another question I have to ask myself is, why did God even allow this to happen?

Right? We believe in a God who is sovereign and a God who is provident. Why did He even allow Peter to be in that court? Right? Why would he even be there? And this is where it was interesting to me that this passage, 66 through the end of the passage, is cited as a proof text for the Westminster Confession of Faith on Providence.

Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 5, Paragraph 5 says, The most wise, righteous, and gracious God doth oftentimes leave for a season his own children to manifold temptations. and to the corruption of their own hearts. Why does He do that? Why does the Lord sometimes allow us to go into situations where He lets us do what our hearts would desire?

Oh, to chastise them for their former sins, or to discover upon them the hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness of their own hearts, that they may be humbled. But it's not just so they stay humbled. God doesn't do this even when He put Peter in that situation. He didn't do it just to humble Peter. But also to raise them to a more close and constant, dependent for their support upon Him. And to make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin. And for sundry other just and holy ends. Do you see?

Peter may have been called by Jesus, Rock. Petros means rock. But nobody would want to build their house of faith upon Peter. No. God allowed this to happen so Peter's self-strength would evaporate. God providentially put Peter in this situation because he was taking him to the school of humility. God was leading Peter to see that his own strength was really just weakness. God put Peter by his providence in this situation to see his inner corruption, and as he failed this test, That he would be left with nothing more than tears and a hope that Jesus would somehow be able to receive him and forgive him. Is that not the same reason God puts us in every trial? So we are humbled and we have only one hope.

But what about deniers? I mean, Jesus specifically said in Matthew chapter 10, Verses 32 and 33, if you deny me in front of others, what's Jesus going to do? If you deny me before men, I'll deny you before my Father. So, does Jesus talk out of both sides of his mouth? Because he seems to not deny Peter. After the resurrection, he doesn't seem to deny Peter later in life. So how does this happen?

Well, I was really helped by D.A. Carson on this passage when he writes about, it is necessary to publicly acknowledge Jesus as our Lord. However, we will each have shades of boldness, fluency, wisdom, sensitivity, and even frequency to make that public profession.

However, to consistently disown Christ is to be disowned by Christ. The question is not, you know, you have this one moment, you only have one opportunity your entire life, and in that one opportunity, man, if you blow it, your salvation's gone. No, the question is, what is the pattern of your life? Every time you're faced with this challenge, do you disown Christ? Every time that you're faced with, am I going to speak up? Do you disown Him? If so, then Jesus is saying, you're not one of my own.

Right? Because if it's dependent just upon that one moment, right? If God has like this litmus test, I'm going to, in my providence, give you just one time, and if you pass the test that one time, then what's your salvation dependent on? On your work. On your strength. On your courage.

But that's not how we're saved. That's not how we're redeemed. See, it's not that we deny Him once, but it's if we disown Him again and again and again. But God doesn't want us to stay in this spot that we find Peter here. God does not want us to be in this spot. And we know that's true because God didn't leave Peter in that spot.

Right? We do not find Peter cowering forever in the upper room. After the death of Jesus, they're just going to be afraid, right? They're afraid of the Jewish people, they lock all the doors, they stay in the upper room, they don't want to go anywhere.

So how do we move from Peter denying Jesus, scared in the upper room, to the Peter in Acts chapter 2, who is preaching the gospel to thousands of people, and how do we get to the Peter who's standing in the temple, who will proclaim Jesus to the high priests themselves? Where's the bridge? How do we get from Mark chapter 14 to Acts chapter 2? What's the change in Peter? Because it's not his courage, it's not his strength. That's gone. So here I'm going to give you a whole bunch of stuff. I think I've got it listed out, like 15 different steps here. So how do we not disown Christ?

Well, number one, how we get from Mark 14 to Acts chapter 2 is you must have the Holy Spirit. Peter did not rely on his own strength the rest of the book of Acts. Actually, every time he does, he falls on his face. You go read through the book of Acts, and you read through the book of Galatians, there's multiple times where Peter ain't perfect. But He's a person just like we are, but yet we see Him doing bold and amazing things because He's filled with the Holy Spirit. He believes in the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ and He professes Him with His mouth.

Now, I'm telling you this and I want to point out to you, go read the rest of the book of Acts, because I'm not promising you. I've given you point number one, I'm about to give you 14 more applications. I'm not guaranteeing that you're never going to fail. Hear me out. You may follow every single thing that I'm about to point out from Matthew 10 and 1 Peter 3, and you may still fail at times.

But your strength is in the Lord, and your assurance of salvation is not in your own courage, but in the finished work of Jesus. So with that said, how do you find your strength to not disown Christ? Number two is you find your strength in God alone. This is what the saints have told us from of old. Psalm chapter 18, verses 1 and 2. I will love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock. and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength in whom I trust, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

What is your strength? Is your strength in your courage? Is your strength in your moral fidelity? Is your strength in your integrity? What are you holding on to in and of yourself that's your strength? I'm telling you that will become your weakness. That'll be exactly where Satan wants to latch on to and show you. Oh yeah, you think you're that strong? I'll come in from that angle.

The Lord must be our strength. And then here's 8 different principles from Matthew chapter 10. This is the chapter where Jesus says, if you deny me, I will deny you before my Father in heaven. So, 8 principles from Matthew chapter 10. So, number 3. Know that trials of faith and persecution will come. Peter didn't understand this. Peter didn't think that this was real. Peter thought Jesus was the Messiah. He's coming.

I've got a sword. We're going to take the kingdom by force, boys. I'm never going to deny you. I will die for you. He didn't expect that Jesus would say, put away your sword. Pick up your cross instead. Understand that trials of faith and persecutions will come.

Application number four, do not worry though what you will speak. When that time comes, Don't worry about what you will speak, because your defense of the faith and its effectiveness will not be based upon some imaginary speech you have prepared for that time and occasion. Don't worry about what you will speak. Point number five, recognize that you are not greater than your master.

If they persecuted Jesus, they will also persecute you. This is why the disciples, once they were filled with the Holy Spirit, when they suffered persecution, do you know what they said? They thanked God that they were worthy to suffer for the name of Christ.

My point here of comfort, number six, rest assured that they cannot kill your soul. The enemies of the flesh cannot kill your soul. They cannot destroy you utterly. They're but mere men. This is the courage that Peter would later have when he would stand face to face with Nero, the emperor, the strongest man in the known world at that time, and would give profession of faith in his old age to Jesus Christ. Number seven, take comfort in God's care for you. From Matthew chapter 10, take comfort in God's care for you. This is the chapter in which Jesus is talking about their persecution, don't deny Him.

And He says He counts the hairs on your head. Jesus counts every hair upon your head. Take comfort in God's care for you because He numbers all the different sparrows. He knows every single one of them and you are more valuable than any sparrow who has ever flown. Take comfort in God's care for you. Number eight, love Jesus more than anyone or anything. This is the same passage of what Jesus will say, right? You're going to have to hate your mother and your father, your brother and your sister. Now that's hyperbole. Jesus isn't saying you literally have to hate them. Jesus is saying, you got to love me more than them. Some of you know how hard that is because you deeply love your children. You deeply care for your grandchildren. You love your brothers and sisters.

But if they come between you and Jesus Christ, who will win? Who will win? Who has your ultimate loyalty? Number nine, receive the prophets and the righteous as you open up God's word. Do you hear it as true? Do you receive it as the word of God? Does it take root in your life and guide your steps?

Lastly, from Jesus in Matthew chapter 10, point number 10, fill your life with good deeds. If you are going to not deny Christ, when those times of trouble and persecution come, don't deny the good works that He's created you for. For by grace you were saved through faith, and that not of works lest anyone should boast.

We have been saved by grace through faith, but Ephesians 2.10, you were saved for good works. And as your life, as you are continually doing good works for God's glory, You will have Christ in your mind. And He will give you strength.

But then the next place I want us to look at for how do we not deny Christ is four principles that come from Peter's own lips. See, Peter isn't just mentioned in the Gospels, but he wrote us epistles. And in 1 Peter chapter 3, he specifically talks about what do we do when trials come. 1 Peter chapter 3 verses 13 through 17. Four principles from 1 Peter chapter 3.

Number 11. You are blessed to suffer for righteousness. You are blessed if you suffer for righteousness. This is Peter writing these words later, after he's already suffered, After he's already denied Jesus, and he knows when he suffers for Jesus' sake, it is good for him. Point 12 from 1 Peter chapter 3 is, sanctify God in your heart.

Right? In your mind, regard God as holy. Right? Don't treat God as common. Don't treat God as ordinary. This is what Peter had to learn. He was treating Jesus as ordinary. He was treating Jesus like any other political leader, but he had to sanctify God in his heart. God had to take the throne, and he had to be humbled. So in your life, sanctify God in your heart. The more and more you think upon His holiness, the more and more you will be driven toward loving holiness in your life, and wanting to tell others about that holiness that you find in God.

Application 13, the third one from 1 Peter 3, be ready to give a defense, a reason of hope. Now by this I don't mean, right, we're going to contradict what Jesus just said, right? Don't worry about what you're saying. This is saying you need to have the gospel so wrapped up in your heart, so clear in your mind, that the good news of Jesus Christ is for you, that you know who Jesus is, you know the heart of the good news of Jesus, and you know the hope of salvation, that if somebody was to come to you, you could, on the spot, be ready to give a defense. Because it's buried in your heart. You don't need to worry about it, you don't need to anticipate it, but you can, from the overflow of your heart, your mouth can speak. So have the gospel buried in your heart.

But when you do this, and I love that Peter puts this, right? You need to have a right attitude. At this last application, I think only Peter could give us. Have the right attitude. Notice the three points that he gives for our attitude as we give a reason for the hope in us.

The first is meekness. If you're going to give a defense for your faith, it cannot be out of your pride and your own strength, but it must be from meekness. It must be from that place of humility. It must be coming from a place of gentleness and not of just your own, well, I'm going to win the argument. No, our apologetics are met with meekness.

We should also have an attitude of fear. We have an attitude of reverence for who God is, for where we are in his place. And lastly, we must have an attitude that is marked by a good conscience. That we are not those given over to lustful passions, to the fruits of the flesh, who revel in anger and debauchery, gluttony and drunkenness, but that we long for the fruits of the Spirit, that we might have a clean conscience marked by the work of God in our lives.

So I've given you a lot of different applications. I want to leave you with just a few illustrations here. At first, there's a story I heard a while ago about a dad and his son. They go to New York City, some big city like that. I don't remember exactly where.

They got across a busy street. And the dad is going to walk the boy across the street and says, we need to get from here to there. And so he tells his son, he says, I need you to hold on to my hand as tight as you can, okay? And so they go across the crosswalk, and it's a yellow light, so they gotta get over there fast before the oncoming traffic starts coming. And so as they're going, the little boy is running his legs, running his legs, running his legs. They get to the other side, and he looks up at his dad, and he says, I'm sure glad I held onto you tight, Dad. Who do you think was holding on tight? The father or the boy? Your father's holding your hand as you do this. Your strength is not from how quickly your legs can run or how tightly you can hold on to your father's hand, but your success in this life is based upon how tightly your father holds on to you. And he says nobody can snatch you from his hand.

A story from church history is an old man named Polycarp, Bishop of, I think, Smyrna. And Polycarp was convinced, right, as the Romans were coming and they were persecuting the church, Polycarp Listen to the people in the church. They came to search for him. The Romans were trying to find him so they could arrest him and put him on trial. And they convinced him, no, no, Polycarp, you should leave and go into hiding.

And so he did that. And he struggled with that, right? Have I denied Christ by seeking my own safety rather than going away? He wrestled with that for a long time. And then it happened again when he was old. And Polycarp then, when he was in his old years, The Romans came for him again. And when the soldiers came to his door, he said, I'll go with you, but can you please wait? I want to pray first. And so the Roman guards stood at his door, and as they stood at his door, he prayed to God out loud for God to keep his soul, for God to watch over the people, and even for the soldiers who were to arrest him. And in his old age, Polycarp walked into that theater where he would face death.

And the judge told him, just denounce atheism. Just denounce this Christianity that you hold to, that you say there are no other gods. And Polycarp in his old age, I could imagine some of you who have the gray hair giving us courage, right? He stood up in the midst of those people, this man who had once cowered, and he looked at the crowd and he said, he pointed at them and he said, away with the atheists. He said, My Lord has watched me these eighty and four years. How shall now I turn my back upon Him? It's not always the men who stand up.

I remember a story of a, this is the last illustration and we'll end here, a story of a young woman. She was a nurse in a hospital and they tried, as she was trying to care for patients, they would put her in situations where she could not, in conscience, ethically work. She was assigned to a post-op unit. And after these surgeries, she was assigned to care for people who were going through gender transition surgeries.

And she said, I can't do that. And so they tried to assign her different roles, but eventually those roles ended and somebody said, this is discriminatory behavior and you're making a problem for all the other nurses. You have to do this. She said, well, I can't. And eventually this became such a problem, she said, no, I have a conscientious objection to this. And eventually they said, no, you do have to do this. And they called together a meeting with different leaders of the hospital and set this poor girl in the midst of these leaders. And they told her, we'll assign you to a different unit, but you have to do this if you're going to keep working.

And she said, OK, do you want to send me home today? Will you deny him? Or will you have the lion's courage of that young woman? Will you stand for Jesus Christ? Even when they may say, you're unloving. Even when they may have looked at Peter and said, don't you understand? This one guy has to die so the rest of the Jewish nation will be safe. Will you deny him? And where will you find the courage? We find it in the Holy Spirit. and by walking that faith out every day in our lives. You may be tried, you may be tempted, you may be tested, but if your strength is in the Lord, you will not fail.

Closing Prayer

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for those heroes and heroines of the faith who have shown us what it looks like to suffer with glory. Lord, we pray that you would not fill us with our own courage or with the thoughts of grandeur from our own strength. But Lord, in our weakness, you are proved strong. So Father, we pray that you would be working in and through and amongst us. We pray that we might, by your spirit, be a congregation of people who would encourage one another every week more and more for the good works that you have prepared for us beforehand to do. Lord, we pray that you would please care for each one of us. Give us the strength that comes not from within, but from you. As we find in you our strong tower, our refuge, our strength, and our hope. Please help us, Lord, we pray in Jesus's name. Amen. Let's stand together now and we'll sing Psalm 66, Selection C. Let's stand together if you're able.