Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / A Crack in the Rock │ Msg 1016 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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A Crack in the Rock │ Msg 1016 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: What we have before us today is Peter's denial of Jesus.
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Speaker 1: We read of it here in this eighteenth chapter of John.
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Speaker 1: At the most crucial moment, Jesus' most loyal disciple, whom
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Speaker 1: he had nicknamed the Rock, cracked under pressure. This tragic
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Speaker 1: scene of Peter's denial rivets our attention to how very
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Speaker 1: alone our Savior was on his way to the cross.
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Speaker 1: Not even Peter stood with him. We learned some valuable
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Speaker 1: lessons for ourselves from Peter's heartbreaking desertion of the Master,
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Speaker 1: But the greatest lesson of his life is yet to come.
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Speaker 1: For in the final chapter of John's Gospel, Jesus will
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Speaker 1: gently and graciously put the broken pieces of Peter's heart
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Speaker 1: back together as he calls him into service. Still, there
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Speaker 1: is great value for us in looking intently into the
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Speaker 1: mirror of God's word today and finding ourselves. Our broken, sinful,
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Speaker 1: selfish lives are all over this story. Join me in
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Speaker 1: your Bibles as I read from John chapter eighteen, first
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Speaker 1: verses ten through eighteen, then will drop to verse twenty
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Speaker 1: five down through twenty seven. I'll be reading this from
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Speaker 1: the New Living Translation. Join me now as I read
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Speaker 1: John eighteen beginning at verse ten. Then Simon Peter drew
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Speaker 1: a sword and slashed off the right ear of Malchus,
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Speaker 1: the High priest slave. But Jesus said to Peter, put
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Speaker 1: your sword back into its sheath. Shall I not drink
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Speaker 1: from the cup of suffering the father has given me?
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Speaker 1: So the soldiers, their commanding officer and the temple guards
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Speaker 1: arrested Jesus and tied him up. First, they took him
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Speaker 1: to Annas, since he was the father in law of Caiaphas,
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Speaker 1: the High priest at that time. Caiaphas was the one
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Speaker 1: who had told the other Jewish leaders it's better that
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Speaker 1: one man should die for the people. Simon Peter followed Jesus,
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Speaker 1: as did another of the disciples. That other disciple was
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Speaker 1: acquainted with the high priest, so he was allowed to
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Speaker 1: enter the High priest courtyard with Jesus. Peter had to
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Speaker 1: stay outside the gate. Then the disciple who knew the
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Speaker 1: High priest, spoke to the woman watching at the gate,
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Speaker 1: and she let Peter in. The woman asked, Peter, you're
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Speaker 1: not one of that man's disciples, are you? No, he said,
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Speaker 1: I am not. Because it was cold, the household servants
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Speaker 1: and the guards had made a charcoal fire. They stood
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Speaker 1: around it, warming themselves, and Peter stood with them, warming himself.
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Speaker 1: Now we'll drop to verse twenty five. Meanwhile, as Simon
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Speaker 1: Peter was standing by the fire warming himself, they asked
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Speaker 1: him again. You're not one of his disciples, are you.
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Speaker 1: He denied it, saying no, I am not, but one
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Speaker 1: of the household slaves of the High Priest. A relative
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Speaker 1: of the man whose ear Peter had cut off asked,
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Speaker 1: didn't I see you out there in the olive grove
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Speaker 1: with Jesus. Again, Peter denied it, and immediately a rooster crowed.
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Speaker 2: For the next few minutes, I would like for you
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Speaker 2: to do something that is very unusual and could prove
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Speaker 2: to be rather painful. I have never asked a congregation
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Speaker 2: to do this before, and perhaps I never will again. Frankly,
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Speaker 2: I warn you ahead of time. It will not be easy,
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Speaker 2: nor will it be encouraging. What I would like for
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Speaker 2: you to do is to go back into your past
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Speaker 2: and call to mind the blackest spot of your life.
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Speaker 2: I will do that too. It may be a word
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Speaker 2: that you said that resulted in terrible ramifications. It may
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Speaker 2: be the probably will be the best kept secret of
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Speaker 2: your life, hopefully never to be exposed, because as a
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Speaker 2: Christian it's forgiven. I know that, but just think on it.
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Speaker 2: Quite possibly it is a moral act or something that
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Speaker 2: pertained to a habit in which you gave in, and
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Speaker 2: it marks your record in your life as in fact
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Speaker 2: a sinner. I can feel some of you resisting doing that,
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Speaker 2: and I understand, especially if you are Christians, because we
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Speaker 2: are forgiven l of the Christian truth is as far
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Speaker 2: as the east is from the west, so far has
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Speaker 2: He removed our transgressions from us, buried him in the
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Speaker 2: deepest sea. I understand the reluctance to bring that back
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Speaker 2: up again, but I have a reason. Let's go a
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Speaker 2: step further. Let us say that we would lower the
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Speaker 2: screen above me, and suddenly on that screen would flash
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Speaker 2: two things, your name, asking you to stand and identify yourself,
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Speaker 2: and then, beneath the name, in rather careful detail, the
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Speaker 2: act with the sin, and you stand as it is
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Speaker 2: read and as opinions are formed regarding you. As I
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Speaker 2: think about that, very strange feelings occur inside of me.
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Speaker 2: There's a part of me that wants to say God
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Speaker 2: would never do that, but he did. When Abraham lied
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Speaker 2: the blackest part of his life. In fact, when he
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Speaker 2: did it twice, God recorded it for centuries of eyes
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Speaker 2: to study. When Acin stole that garment and lives were
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Speaker 2: lost by the hundreds in Israel in that battle at Ai,
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Speaker 2: God put it down in the record and said, let
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Speaker 2: it be written, let it be read. When Moses murdered
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Speaker 2: that Egyptian, he put it in both Old and New Testament,
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Speaker 2: that it might remain on his record forever, in written form,
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Speaker 2: Moses was a murderer. When David and Gomer, Josea's wife
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Speaker 2: and Samson involved themselves in the lustful activities of the flesh,
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Speaker 2: it was put on the screen for everybody to read. Jonah,
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Speaker 2: just the mention of his name reminds you of the
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Speaker 2: blackest part of his life. And I must add I
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Speaker 2: am grateful. God no longer writes scripture, aren't you. There
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Speaker 2: is no place for pride, absolutely none. When you study
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Speaker 2: the life of Peter and you come to this scene
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Speaker 2: you don't want to read, and you study events you
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Speaker 2: don't want to believe, and you see cracks in the
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Speaker 2: rock that you wish were never there. But you see
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Speaker 2: when God paints his heroes there are with warts and all,
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Speaker 2: there's nothing hidden, forgiven, but not hidden. You see. I
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Speaker 2: have a reason for beginning the message on Peter's denials
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Speaker 2: like this because I have seen a rather presumptuous approach
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Speaker 2: used by both books and preachers in almost a superiority attitude. Aha.
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Speaker 2: See there he failed, as if it could not have
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Speaker 2: been written about himself. Who does the speaking. I want
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Speaker 2: you to know that if you're name or mine, we're
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Speaker 2: in the book, it would be far more scandalous than
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Speaker 2: if it were Peter's. And may we never forget it.
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Speaker 2: I want us to identify not simply with the failure,
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Speaker 2: but with the humiliation that accompanies the failure, because it
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Speaker 2: is part of the timeless truth of the Bible. Now
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Speaker 2: you're saying, as I am thinking, and as F. B.
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Speaker 2: Meyer wrote, no person suddenly becomes base. There's a process.
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Speaker 2: Lust doesn't suddenly take place in tangible form, a lie
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Speaker 2: doesn't suddenly come out. Groundwork is laid. There's a period
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Speaker 2: of significant events in which certain things occur that bring
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Speaker 2: about the stage, the backdrop, the setting for that to happen.
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Speaker 2: And so I think it is not a complete study
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Speaker 2: if we do not look at that first. And I
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Speaker 2: find four significant events in Peter's life. First is in
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Speaker 2: John chapter one, beginning at verse forty, where Jesus gave
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Speaker 2: him a nickname. That may seem to be a strange
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Speaker 2: event that we're calling significant, but it wasn't insignificant to Peter.
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Speaker 2: His name had not always been Peter. We know him
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Speaker 2: as Peter, but his peers knew him as Simon. I
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Speaker 2: doubt that his colleagues in the fisherman trade would even
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Speaker 2: know him if you would call him Peter. He was Simon.
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Speaker 2: Jesus gave him a surname once he began to walk
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Speaker 2: with Christ, and it was Peter. And that's why it's
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Speaker 2: significant verse forty. One of the two who heard John
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Speaker 2: speak and follow Jesus was Andrew, Simon, Peter's brother. He
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Speaker 2: first found his own brother, Simon. There's the real name, Simon.
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Speaker 2: And Andrew said to Simon, we have found the Messiah.
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Speaker 2: He that is Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked
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Speaker 2: at him. Now, this is the first time that the
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Speaker 2: Messiah and the fisherman are eyeball to eyeball. They've never
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Speaker 2: laid eyes on each other before. Simon, with a background
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Speaker 2: of vacillation and moodiness and impetuosity, impulsive rash acts, even profanity.
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Speaker 2: Here's Simon, born and raised in the fisherman's trade, running
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Speaker 2: wild with fishermen, as it were, and suddenly he is
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Speaker 2: caught in the trance, as it were, as the spirit
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Speaker 2: of God does an end depth work to draw him
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Speaker 2: and to link him with the Messiah. And the Messiah
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Speaker 2: looks at Simon and he says, you are Simon. You
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Speaker 2: shall be called rock. That's what cephas means stone. What
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Speaker 2: does that mean? Well, the Lord Jesus, when he called
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Speaker 2: me in, saw them not as what they were, but
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Speaker 2: as what they were to become. That happened in your
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Speaker 2: life when Christ found you, saved you, He gave you hope,
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Speaker 2: He forgave you, and he reminded you that there are
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Speaker 2: certain qualities within you that he is committed to developing.
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Speaker 2: And he tells you in his word that you are
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Speaker 2: his handiwork. You are his piece of clay, and he
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Speaker 2: is shaping and molding and making you into the rock
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Speaker 2: you are to become. Now that's a thrilling thought. Peter
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Speaker 2: had probably never had anyone point out the rock like
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Speaker 2: character traits in him, because there were not many on
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Speaker 2: the surface, and so the Lord Jesus gave him a nickname.
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Speaker 2: That was a very significant event. And I'm convinced in
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Speaker 2: my mind that Simon began to think in terms of
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Speaker 2: those Peter qualities that were to be emerging. Look at
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Speaker 2: chapter six, the second event. It's what I would call
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Speaker 2: Peter's declaration of faith. That's the second significant event when
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Speaker 2: he declared in chapter six, verse sixty six, in following
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Speaker 2: his faith his creed. Now surprising to say, people, the
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Speaker 2: band of disciples did not simply number twelve. That number
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Speaker 2: has to do with the inner core, the basic band
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Speaker 2: that became apostles. But there were many, many more disciples, followers, learners.
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Speaker 2: Some came out of interest, some came simply to get
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Speaker 2: their stomachs filled, others came out of curiosity. Now as
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Speaker 2: to whether they were believers, as we know that word
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Speaker 2: or not is up to the Lord, I'm not able
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Speaker 2: to say on some occasions. But the peripheral band that
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Speaker 2: gathered suddenly when the when the screws were tightened and
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Speaker 2: Jesus made demands on them that would mark disciples, they
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Speaker 2: began to leave like rats running off a sinking ship.
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Speaker 2: And so in verse sixty six of John six. That's
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Speaker 2: what happened. That's what's happening. The ranks are thinning. As
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Speaker 2: a result of this, many of his disciples withdrew and
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Speaker 2: were not walking with him anymore. Jesus said, therefore to
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Speaker 2: the twelve, you do not want to go away? Also?
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Speaker 2: Do you? There's a longing in his voice. He asks
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Speaker 2: it with an affirmative answer, desired. You want to stay,
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Speaker 2: don't you? You don't want to go now? Simon Peter
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Speaker 2: answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have
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Speaker 2: the words of eternal life, and we have believed and
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Speaker 2: have come to know that you are the Holy One
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Speaker 2: of God. What a moment. First of all, Simon takes
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Speaker 2: the place of a spokesman, and he says, we I
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Speaker 2: never find a place where Simon was appointed the spokesmanship
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Speaker 2: or the moderator role, but he took it. That's like
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Speaker 2: Simon to do that. But I find that in that
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Speaker 2: moment when he took that position, he made a declaration
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Speaker 2: that was just marvelous. In fact, Matthew says that Jesus answered,
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Speaker 2: flesh and blood has not revealed that unto you, that's
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Speaker 2: come from heaven, And all of a sudden Simon showed
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Speaker 2: signs of rock. Must have been encouraging, must have been
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Speaker 2: marvelous when Jesus expressed that word of acceptance to Simon
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Speaker 2: and he said, Ah, that came from heaven. Now, all
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Speaker 2: of a sudden, Simon begins to emerge as Peter, and
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Speaker 2: the surname becomes part of his character, just as is
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Speaker 2: true in your life, Christians, when out of the embryo
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Speaker 2: of faith you began your steps, your walk in in
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Speaker 2: the Christian life. Suddenly there are breakthrough where you endure
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Speaker 2: a test victoriously, or you face the situation precisely as
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Speaker 2: God would have you face it, and He blesses you
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Speaker 2: for it. There is a sense of grateful delight. Now
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Speaker 2: that's the way it is with Simon. Here, flesh and
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Speaker 2: blood didn't reveal that to you, Simon when you said
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Speaker 2: you're the Holy One of God. There's no one else
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Speaker 2: like you. Lord. Now Chapter thirteen John thirteen is the
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Speaker 2: next focus on Peter, and now we have boasting from
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Speaker 2: his lips. Suddenly, the impulsive, impetuous, rash, adventurous Peter reveals
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Speaker 2: his Simon like character. Thirteen thirty three. Little Children says Jesus,
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Speaker 2: I'm with you, a little while longer, you shall seek me.
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Speaker 2: And as I said to the Jews, where I am going,
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Speaker 2: you cannot come now, I say to you also this
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Speaker 2: took place the last night Jesus was with his disciples.
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Speaker 2: The cross looms large. In a matter of hours, he'll
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Speaker 2: be nailed to it. In less than twenty four hours,
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Speaker 2: he'll be dead. So at the last Supper he revealed
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Speaker 2: to his disciples, I'm leaving you, and you cannot go.
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Speaker 2: Peter heard that, and he responded in words of boasting.
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Speaker 2: Verse thirty six Simon. Peter said to him, Lord, where
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Speaker 2: are you going? Jesus answered, where I go. You cannot
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Speaker 2: follow me now, but you shall follow later. Peter said
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Speaker 2: to him, Lord, why can I not follow you? Right now?
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Speaker 2: I will lay down my life for you. Let's don't
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Speaker 2: be too critical with Peter. However, it is a statement
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Speaker 2: that goes too far. Peter was suddenly relying upon his flesh.
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Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, one of the writers says
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Speaker 2: that he insistently said that to Jesus, you don't realize
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Speaker 2: the Lord, but I though all the others deny, I
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Speaker 2: won't deny you. I'll stay by you. I'm your man.
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Speaker 2: All of these they may not, but I'll be there.
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Speaker 2: There's boasting in this. The Talmud says of the Galileans,
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Speaker 2: they were ever more anxious for honor than for gain.
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Speaker 2: Barkley ads quick tempered, emotional, easily aroused by an appeal
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Speaker 2: to adventure, loyal to the end. Peter was a tip
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Speaker 2: old man of Galilee. Let's put things in proper perspective.
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Speaker 2: Hold your finger here and turn to one proverb Proverb sixteen,
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Speaker 2: verse eighteen. And I especially would have those of us
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Speaker 2: who reveal our simon natures take note of this verse.
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Speaker 2: Proverbs sixteen eighteen. Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty
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Speaker 2: spirit before stumbling. Will you mark that verse. When you
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Speaker 2: walk in pride, you are closer to a fall than
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Speaker 2: at any other time. Anxious for honor, anxious for a
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Speaker 2: place in the sun, desirous of being known for your loyalty.
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Speaker 2: Watch out, a fall is near. That's where Peter was
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Speaker 2: in chapter thirteen of John, in verse thirty seven. And
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Speaker 2: that is why Jesus comes right back with this boasting
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Speaker 2: word that Peter gave him, and Jesus gives a prediction.
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Speaker 2: Look at verse thirty eight. Now, John thirteen thirty eight
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Speaker 2: The fourth significant event is the prediction of Jesus. Jesus answered,
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Speaker 2: will you lay down your life for me? Truly? Truly,
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Speaker 2: I say to you, a cock shall not crow until
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Speaker 2: you deny me three times. Those are haunting words, aren't they.
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Speaker 2: I suppose those of us are this generation who have
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Speaker 2: been raised in the church, have read those words too
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Speaker 2: many times, more often than we like to think. They're haunting.
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Speaker 2: How Peter felt, How Simon, before the cock crows twice,
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Speaker 2: you will have denied me thrice. An interesting thought, by
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Speaker 2: the way, comes from a regulation in the Jewish law
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Speaker 2: that there was not allowed in the city of Zion,
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Speaker 2: either roosters or hens. They were in the words of
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Speaker 2: the record the document, they were the ones that defiled
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Speaker 2: holy things. Therefore they were not allowed in Jerusalem. Then
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Speaker 2: how could there be a cock crowing? A little background helps.
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Speaker 2: In the days of Peter, the night was divided not
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Speaker 2: into hours, but into watches. There were four of them,
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Speaker 2: three hours each. From six to nine was the first watch,
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Speaker 2: from nine to midnight was the second watch, From midnight
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Speaker 2: to three am was the third, and three am to
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Speaker 2: six was the fourth watch. If you awakened, for example,
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Speaker 2: at four o'clock in the morning. You awakened at the
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Speaker 2: fourth watch or during the fourth watch. You didn't say
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Speaker 2: you awoke at four. You awoke in the fourth watch
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Speaker 2: from three to six. If you worked until midnight, you
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Speaker 2: said to others you worked until the end of the
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Speaker 2: second watch. In between these watches there were interesting comments
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Speaker 2: made by the Jews and the Romans. As a matter
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Speaker 2: of fact, there was a changing of the guard between
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Speaker 2: the third and fourth watch of the night in a
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Speaker 2: place called Antonia's Castle when the guard changed, and by
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Speaker 2: the way, it was in that place in the dungeon
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Speaker 2: where Barabbas was kept. Remember last Sunday night we spoke
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Speaker 2: of that particular event where it was within a matter
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Speaker 2: of feet from where Jesus was being tried and the
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Speaker 2: uh in the dungeon of Antonio there was a maximum
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Speaker 2: security prison, and so naturally they had a guard. When
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Speaker 2: the guard changed between the third and fourth watch in
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Speaker 2: the night. The Romans had the word for it called galasinium.
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Speaker 2: There were two blasts from the trumpet, from the herald's trumpet.
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Speaker 2: The word gallasinium means cock crowing. Interesting, isn't it. Instead
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Speaker 2: of roosters, they had trumpets, And if you awakened. In
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Speaker 2: the end of the third watch, you would hear cock
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Speaker 2: crowing was a name they gave to that particular time.
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Speaker 2: Jesus pinpointed the hour you see a cock. Normal rooster
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Speaker 2: doesn't crow at a precise time, but this particular event
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Speaker 2: it was pinned down to the hour Peter before Gallacinium
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Speaker 2: three times. You will have denied me. Before I go
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Speaker 2: any further, I want to apply through a couple of
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Speaker 2: practical principles what we have learned thus far. First is this,
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Speaker 2: No one, not even a spiritual rock, is immune from failure.
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Speaker 2: There is no such thing as being so mature you're
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Speaker 2: no longer liable to failure. There is no such thing
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Speaker 2: as being such a rock that it will no longer
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Speaker 2: affect you. Failure is a characteristic of the human flesh,
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Speaker 2: and as long as we have it, we will do it.
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Speaker 2: There is a verse of scripture that I would like
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Speaker 2: for you to at least write in the margin of
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Speaker 2: your Bible, or on the sheet if you wish. First
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Speaker 2: Corinthians ten twelve, let him who thinks he stands take
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Speaker 2: heed lest he fall. That verse is addressed to modern
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Speaker 2: day peters, those of us who think with almost an
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Speaker 2: attitude of surly pride. We have come to that place
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Speaker 2: where we will no longer yield. That verse is addressed
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Speaker 2: as a reminder there's no such thing as that point.
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Speaker 2: Robert Robinson was an eighteenth century rock. He was saved
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Speaker 2: out of a background that was gross and godless through
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Speaker 2: the preaching of George Whitfield. Whitfield was one of those
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Speaker 2: dynamic preachers who never needed a public address system. They
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Speaker 2: just those kind of men were able to stand and
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Speaker 2: address a group of several thousand with no address assistance electronically.
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Speaker 2: They simply had that kind of voice and dynamic. Under
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Speaker 2: the ministry of Whitfield came Robinson, who was gloriously saved.
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Speaker 2: He was in his young twenties. In fact, at the
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Speaker 2: age of twenty three, he was led of God to
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Speaker 2: put into print his testimony, which we know today as
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Speaker 2: the words. Come, Thou fount of every blessing. Tune my
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Speaker 2: heart to sing Thy grace, streams of mercy, never ceasing,
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Speaker 2: call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious
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Speaker 2: sonnet sung by flaming tongues of uve. Praise the mount
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Speaker 2: I'm fixed upon it, Mount of Thy redeeming love. Robinson defected.
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Speaker 2: He left the claims of Jesus Christ in the dust,
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Speaker 2: and he lived like a carnal godless man, until one
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Speaker 2: day he stepped into a stagecoach occupied by a woman
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Speaker 2: whose face was buried in a book. Was a book
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Speaker 2: of verse, and she did not know him, nor he her,
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Speaker 2: But she began to read this particular poem, and she
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Speaker 2: said to him, the stranger, listen to this, Come thou
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Speaker 2: fount of every blessing. Tune my heart to sing thy grace,
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Speaker 2: streams of mercy, never ceasing. Called for songs of loudest praise,
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Speaker 2: he said, quietly, surrounded by guilt. And then she got
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Speaker 2: to that stanza, prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it,
30:07
Speaker 2: prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart
30:11
Speaker 2: taking seal it. He said, stop, Stop, and I quote
30:19
Speaker 2: I am the poor, unhappy man who composed that verse
30:27
Speaker 2: many years ago. I would give a thousand worlds to
30:33
Speaker 2: enjoy the feelings. I then head. The testimony of Robert
30:40
Speaker 2: Robinson is just a quiet reminder that even the peters
30:47
Speaker 2: fail Take heed. Take heed. There's a second lesson on
30:57
Speaker 2: how the mighty are fallen. God knows our precise breaking point.
31:04
Speaker 2: We all have our own gallicinium, don't we There's a
31:11
Speaker 2: verse that says Psalm one hundred three fourteen, but he
31:16
Speaker 2: knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust. I
31:20
Speaker 2: love that verse. The marvel of God, our loving Father,
31:26
Speaker 2: the Trinity, father, son and Spirit is that the Godhead
31:31
Speaker 2: knows you and me absolutely. There are no locked closets,
31:38
Speaker 2: nothing under the rug, and the Trinity, the Godhead knowing
31:45
Speaker 2: me and knowing you completely accepts us in the Beloved,
31:54
Speaker 2: knowing our precise breaking point. Now, let me add, at
31:57
Speaker 2: this point, just as Peter knew it, you and I
32:01
Speaker 2: know ours, we aren't that naive. You know, when you
32:07
Speaker 2: go so far, you've gone too far, And from then
32:12
Speaker 2: on it's just a matter of time until something carnal
32:17
Speaker 2: and even scandalous will occur. You know, that moment where
32:23
Speaker 2: you cannot withstand, and yours will be different from mine,
32:28
Speaker 2: And one woman's different from another woman's, one businessman's different
32:33
Speaker 2: from another, one preacher from another. But we all have
32:38
Speaker 2: a gallacinium. And the Lord graciously says to you that's it.
32:46
Speaker 2: Be wise. Don't flirt with that cock crows. At that point,
32:53
Speaker 2: you see Peter acted willfully, so it coming went right
33:02
Speaker 2: on into it, carried it out to the ultimate. And
33:05
Speaker 2: I'll tell you I don't have a moment of condemnation
33:10
Speaker 2: against Peter. I've done the same thing so of you.
33:17
Speaker 2: The only difference, in God's grace, it happens to be
33:20
Speaker 2: Peter that we're studying this morning. It's the only difference. Now,
33:26
Speaker 2: then I find in the process of denial sort of
33:33
Speaker 2: four slopes downward slopes. They are not abrupt, they're not steps.
33:38
Speaker 2: They are they are not that distinct. One flows into
33:45
Speaker 2: the next, and yet the next I find four in
33:48
Speaker 2: the case of Peter, and we'll put them in the
33:51
Speaker 2: form of a principle. Chapter eighteen, Verse ten, and verse
33:59
Speaker 2: eleven is the first of the four. Now, with no
34:04
Speaker 2: sense of pride, no sense of condemnation, we simply examined
34:08
Speaker 2: the record and examine it in light of first gaining
34:12
Speaker 2: hope and strength from it, and second learning from that
34:18
Speaker 2: experience how to stand against the same evil in our day.
34:23
Speaker 2: Verse ten Simon Peter, therefore, having a sword, drew it
34:29
Speaker 2: and struck the high priest slave and cut off his
34:32
Speaker 2: right ear. And the slave's name was Malchus. Jesus therefore
34:37
Speaker 2: said to Peter put the sword into the sheath the
34:40
Speaker 2: cup which the Father has given me, shall I not
34:43
Speaker 2: drink it? Slope Number one reliance on the flesh when
34:52
Speaker 2: faced with opposition, when a denial process thats is underway,
35:02
Speaker 2: that which prompts the beginning of it is reliance on
35:04
Speaker 2: the flesh. I want to ask a question I have
35:08
Speaker 2: never heard ask by anyone, either verbally in a sermon
35:12
Speaker 2: or in a book. What was Peter doing with a sword?
35:21
Speaker 2: Jesus says in verse thirty six of this chapter that
35:23
Speaker 2: his disciples are not known by fighting. His disciples were
35:28
Speaker 2: of a kingdom, not of this age. They didn't carry swords. Well,
35:35
Speaker 2: why did Peter have a sword? That's like carrying a
35:39
Speaker 2: pistol to work tomorrow, dragging a cannon to church? Why
35:45
Speaker 2: do you do that? It's inappropriate, doesn't fit.
35:49
Speaker 1: You.
35:49
Speaker 2: Come to learn how to withstand the world, how to
35:52
Speaker 2: stand against it in a lifestyle that's different from the world.
35:57
Speaker 2: The world solves its problems with the sword. What's Peter
36:02
Speaker 2: doing with the sword? And it's interesting, isn't it that
36:05
Speaker 2: Peter with the sword handles it just like a fishing pole.
36:10
Speaker 2: That's what happens when fishermen get a hold of swords.
36:14
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, the word used by John
36:17
Speaker 2: here is not the word for that great massive weapon
36:22
Speaker 2: that would come down like a blow on the head
36:24
Speaker 2: and it would sever the helmet and head and everything
36:27
Speaker 2: else as deep as it may cut. He uses the
36:31
Speaker 2: word for a little sort of a lengthy dagger that
36:35
Speaker 2: was in a sheath, and he pulled it out, and
36:37
Speaker 2: he just, you know, don't we do stupid things when
36:42
Speaker 2: we rely on the flesh. Just think back before you
36:48
Speaker 2: cluck your tongue at Peter, Just think of a recent day.
36:56
Speaker 2: I I find that when I rely on the flesh,
37:00
Speaker 2: my tongue becomes a sword, and I say the most cutting,
37:04
Speaker 2: ugly things. My motives become like a sword, and I destroy,
37:10
Speaker 2: I don't build. As a matter of fact, our actions
37:15
Speaker 2: become sword like, and we react rashly. A reliance on
37:23
Speaker 2: the flesh creates destruction. That's the first step down, reliance
37:33
Speaker 2: on the flesh. When we are faced with opposition, first
37:38
Speaker 2: tendency is to defend ourselves and or fight back. Second
37:45
Speaker 2: verse fifteen, Simon Peter was following Jesus. Verse sixteen, Peter
37:54
Speaker 2: was standing at the door outside, so the other disciple,
37:58
Speaker 2: who was known to the high pri went out and
38:00
Speaker 2: spoke to the doorkeeper and brought in Peter. Now where
38:05
Speaker 2: is he? He is among now the courtyard, with those
38:09
Speaker 2: who have just arrested Jesus a couple hours ago. He
38:14
Speaker 2: is now with the company of people who were engaged
38:18
Speaker 2: in bringing Jesus under arrest. He is out of the
38:21
Speaker 2: group that was his own. He is now with a
38:26
Speaker 2: group of enemies, spiritually speaking. Seventeen. The slave girl therefore,
38:33
Speaker 2: who kept the door, said to Peter, you're not also
38:37
Speaker 2: one of this man's disciples, are you? He said, I
38:43
Speaker 2: am not. The slaves and the officers were standing there,
38:48
Speaker 2: having made a charcoal fire, for it was cold, and
38:50
Speaker 2: they were warming themselves. Peter was also with them, marked
38:55
Speaker 2: that standing and warming himself. The second slope is a
39:03
Speaker 2: reluctance to stand alone when in the wrong company. Some
39:07
Speaker 2: of you already anticipated that first a reliance on the
39:12
Speaker 2: flesh when faced with opposition, and then when that opposition
39:16
Speaker 2: surrounds you, there's a reluctance to stand alone when in
39:23
Speaker 2: that wrong company. I picture Peter is mingling among those
39:28
Speaker 2: people who took Jesus under arrest. He is on their territory.
39:33
Speaker 2: He's running with the wrong bunch. All of a sudden,
39:36
Speaker 2: the threatening question is asked, You're not one of those disciples,
39:39
Speaker 2: are you? He's got a put up or shut up,
39:45
Speaker 2: and he says, I'm not. Don't you condemn Peter for that?
39:52
Speaker 2: You see, that's just a revelation of the old nature
39:56
Speaker 2: when you're in the wrong crowd. I want to address
40:02
Speaker 2: not just the young, but all of us. The one thing,
40:06
Speaker 2: humanly speaking, that shapes our character more than any other
40:12
Speaker 2: pressure is those with whom we spend our time. You
40:19
Speaker 2: have a child that ran wild, No doubt, the child
40:23
Speaker 2: ran with a wild bunch. You have a girl who
40:27
Speaker 2: is given to compromise. Quite possibly, quite probably, the girl
40:33
Speaker 2: runs with those in that stripe First Corinthians, fifteen thirty three. Parents,
40:41
Speaker 2: put that down. Don't be deceived. Bad company corrupts good morals.
40:50
Speaker 2: And let me add, at least for the sake of
40:52
Speaker 2: those here who have preteen kiddos, the very best principles
40:59
Speaker 2: you can build into the life of those kiddos is
41:02
Speaker 2: how to stand alone without looking like a freak. I
41:08
Speaker 2: don't mean that to be funny. It isn't funny. How
41:12
Speaker 2: do you expect your young man who graduates with a
41:15
Speaker 2: bachelor's or masters in business and runs now in a
41:19
Speaker 2: company that's given to a carnal lifestyle, either women or
41:25
Speaker 2: drink or the whole scene of the world. How do
41:28
Speaker 2: you expect that boy to make it if he's never
41:32
Speaker 2: learned the techniques of standing alone? Well, I had him
41:35
Speaker 2: in church. No, he'll never learn it in church. It
41:42
Speaker 2: happens in the home, where you build those principles, those
41:46
Speaker 2: helpful techniques, the practical way of saying no, thanks, say well,
41:53
Speaker 2: I just would think that associating with the right group
41:56
Speaker 2: would do it. Peter had been with Jesus three years,
42:01
Speaker 2: and he said, I don't know him. Hey, let's wake
42:06
Speaker 2: up parents. That's our job, feeding them, clothing them, churching them,
42:16
Speaker 2: schooling them. Yeah, that's important, But what about that one
42:20
Speaker 2: on one That's stuff that must happen between the two
42:24
Speaker 2: of you. Or you help the girl know how to
42:28
Speaker 2: say no, I don't do that, How to choose a friend,
42:35
Speaker 2: how to stand alone and still be respected not laughed at. Now,
42:49
Speaker 2: James Dobson, in his splendid book Hide or Seek, describes
42:52
Speaker 2: peer pressure in these words, there is tyranny in this pressure. Wow,
43:05
Speaker 2: you bet there is. A high school is shot through
43:11
Speaker 2: with tyrannical pressure. Junior High is filled with it. The clubs,
43:20
Speaker 2: the lifestyle, the whole scene is built to tear down,
43:27
Speaker 2: not build up. And I'll tell you the group will
43:31
Speaker 2: require allegiance and it'll fight for it until your child
43:37
Speaker 2: stands alone or gives. And I'll tell you it isn't easy.
43:43
Speaker 2: I'm engaged in it right now to know how to
43:47
Speaker 2: do that God to come from God, just the wisdom
43:52
Speaker 2: of it. And man, what an illustration, Peter, verse twenty five.
43:59
Speaker 2: Step number here it is. And then we'll look at
44:01
Speaker 2: the verse resistance to be identified with Christ when threatened
44:10
Speaker 2: by the outcome. First there's a reliance on the flesh,
44:18
Speaker 2: and then there's reluctance to stand alone. And then suddenly
44:22
Speaker 2: there is this resistance to be identified with Christ when
44:26
Speaker 2: threatened by the outcome. And they weren't playing tittlely winks.
44:31
Speaker 2: They were killing people. There was a cross ready when
44:36
Speaker 2: they looked at Peter and said, hey, you one of
44:38
Speaker 2: the group. No, I'm not. I can understand that. I can't.
44:46
Speaker 2: I can't condone it, not understand it. See the verse
44:50
Speaker 2: twenty five Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They
44:54
Speaker 2: said to him, you're not also one of the disciples,
44:57
Speaker 2: are you? He denied it and said I'm not. As
45:00
Speaker 2: a matter of fact, Matthew adds, this man was with
45:05
Speaker 2: Jesus of Nazareth and Peter answers. I don't know the man.
45:15
Speaker 2: The word used by Matthew for no k and ow
45:18
Speaker 2: is a word that means theoretical knowledge. I don't even
45:24
Speaker 2: know who he is. He was threatened by the outcome
45:32
Speaker 2: and the rock cracks. The rock cracks hang around the
45:42
Speaker 2: wrong crowd long enough, It's only a matter of time.
45:47
Speaker 2: Some of you ought to make a decision this very
45:50
Speaker 2: day to break with the bunch that's dragging you down.
45:57
Speaker 2: And that's not just for the young people. That includes
46:01
Speaker 2: some of you who are my senior. And you haven't
46:04
Speaker 2: got any business hanging around that group that's tearing your character.
46:12
Speaker 2: You're caught in it. You have a choice to make,
46:14
Speaker 2: and you won't make it. And you wonder, how come
46:17
Speaker 2: I'm not growing? How come things of Christ just don't
46:24
Speaker 2: have that zing anymore? Look, some of you hang around
46:32
Speaker 2: apartment groups and social groups and clubs and certain lifestyles,
46:37
Speaker 2: and you know in your heart that is the worst
46:39
Speaker 2: thing in the world for you. That's your galacinium. But
46:44
Speaker 2: you haven't come to the place to say it's gonna stop.
46:48
Speaker 2: I don't care what it takes. If that means changing jobs,
46:51
Speaker 2: I'm gonna change now. There's a fourth and final verse
46:59
Speaker 2: twenty six. Rejection of the truth, regardless of the consequences. Man,
47:07
Speaker 2: rejection of the truth now, regardless of the consequences. One
47:13
Speaker 2: of the slaves of the High Priest being a relative
47:16
Speaker 2: of the one whose ear Peter cut off said, did
47:18
Speaker 2: I not see you in the garden with him? Peter
47:22
Speaker 2: denied it again. Matthew adds in chapter twenty six, verse
47:27
Speaker 2: seventy three, someone said, the way you talk gives you away.
47:32
Speaker 2: You sound like a Galilean. My wife and I enjoyed
47:39
Speaker 2: in another city eating at a restaurant called La Tunisia.
47:44
Speaker 2: Is a lovely setting. It looked like a great vast
47:48
Speaker 2: tent in the Tunisian area, Moroccan style, and very delectable
47:55
Speaker 2: shish kebobs and you know, really neat foods. And just
47:59
Speaker 2: before we were waited on one evening, I saw the
48:01
Speaker 2: waitress coming and she had dark hair and olive colored
48:04
Speaker 2: skin and dark eyes, and I thought, wow, I bet
48:08
Speaker 2: she's from North Africa. She walked up and said, hi,
48:13
Speaker 2: y'all ordered y'all's drinkshet maybe Southern Moroccan, but not She's
48:23
Speaker 2: clearly she told us letters she's from Tyler. There has
48:26
Speaker 2: nothing to do with the North African area. You could
48:28
Speaker 2: tell by her speech. My sister was going to buy
48:32
Speaker 2: a lovely handkerchief at a very sophisticated place, and the
48:36
Speaker 2: girl behind the counter had selling these imported handkerchiefs, and wow,
48:41
Speaker 2: I just looked like she would just miss sophistication. And
48:45
Speaker 2: Lucille looked in the counter and she said that one
48:49
Speaker 2: is beautiful. It's lovely. I'd like to see it. And
48:52
Speaker 2: the girl reached in there and pulled it out and
48:54
Speaker 2: she said, yeah, and it's hand dead. She's not sophisticated.
49:03
Speaker 2: Her speech gives it away. You're a Galileia. How do
49:10
Speaker 2: you know you sound like one? And so he cursed,
49:14
Speaker 2: and the amazing thing is they never question him again
49:18
Speaker 2: once he swore he sounds like us. He's not a disciple.
49:26
Speaker 2: I'll tell you. When a Christian operates in the flesh,
49:30
Speaker 2: you can't tell he's a non Christian or a Christian.
49:34
Speaker 2: You just can't tell. Two final principles. When surrounded by wrongdoers,
49:40
Speaker 2: doing wrong comes easy, man does it? Ever, when surrounded
49:47
Speaker 2: by wrongdoers, doing wrong comes easy, and second recovery begins
49:55
Speaker 2: not when you act like you're strong, but when you
49:57
Speaker 2: admit you're week. No one recovers from a life of
50:02
Speaker 2: carnality strutting around as though he's strong, flexing his hypocritical muscles.
50:12
Speaker 2: You come back to the Lord by saying I grabbed
50:16
Speaker 2: that sword and cut that ear off in the flesh.
50:19
Speaker 2: I walked in the courtyard and I said, I don't
50:22
Speaker 2: even know you because I was threatened by the results.
50:25
Speaker 2: And finally I've rejected the truth like a prodigal lord.
50:30
Speaker 2: I come back and I love you. I'm desperately weak.
50:39
Speaker 2: Not a person in this church today can look with
50:42
Speaker 2: condemnation on Peter Brownlow North was a very capable evangelist,
50:51
Speaker 2: used of God in several evangelistic circles of preaching the
50:56
Speaker 2: gospel on the aisles. Brownlow North left his interest in
51:04
Speaker 2: spiritual things and drifted into a life of shameful activity,
51:09
Speaker 2: according to his biographer, for a number of months. Some
51:14
Speaker 2: of it was done in secrecy, but it finally made
51:16
Speaker 2: the headlines and he felt he was ruined for life.
51:20
Speaker 2: When he finally decided what a fool he had been,
51:24
Speaker 2: came back like a prodigal from the pit, from the
51:28
Speaker 2: pink pin. The Lord received him back and blessed him
51:32
Speaker 2: and strengthened him, and over a period of waiting he
51:35
Speaker 2: felt pressed back into the ministry Brownlow. North feared the
51:42
Speaker 2: possibility of its ever being found out. Finally, after sufficient
51:48
Speaker 2: time he thought it was hidden and tucked away into
51:51
Speaker 2: the sands of time. He was back in the pulpit.
51:56
Speaker 2: One night in Aberdeen, he was given a letter unsigned
52:03
Speaker 2: just before the service began. He took the letter and
52:06
Speaker 2: he read it, and the letter described a shameful series
52:15
Speaker 2: of events he had been engaged in, and his stomach turned,
52:20
Speaker 2: and it concluded by saying, if you have the gall
52:23
Speaker 2: to preach tonight, I'll stand and expose you. North took
52:30
Speaker 2: that letter and went to his knees. A few minutes
52:35
Speaker 2: lator was in the pulp. He began his message by
52:40
Speaker 2: reading the letter. I'm starting to finish, and he said,
52:47
Speaker 2: I want to make it clear that this letter is
52:51
Speaker 2: perfectly true. I am ashamed of what I've read and
52:56
Speaker 2: what I have done. I come tonight not as one
53:01
Speaker 2: who is perfect, but as one who is forgiven. And
53:08
Speaker 2: God used that letter and the balance of his ministry
53:12
Speaker 2: almost as a magnet to bring people to Jesus Christ.
53:19
Speaker 2: It's like that bumper sticker I saw at Fullerton College
53:22
Speaker 2: last Friday. Christians are not perfect, just forgiven something beautiful,
53:32
Speaker 2: something good. All my confusion, shame, rebellion. He understood. All
53:44
Speaker 2: I had to offer him was brokennessing strife. He made
53:50
Speaker 2: something beautiful of my life. Isn't that marvelous?
53:59
Speaker 1: Not per.
54:02
Speaker 2: Forgive saying you can know the joy of that truth.
54:13
Speaker 2: Christians sitting around you are not perfect. Oh listen. If
54:20
Speaker 2: I could have told the story of my life or
54:22
Speaker 2: choose anyone else, would have been worse than the case
54:26
Speaker 2: of Peter. But the message of this is you can
54:30
Speaker 2: be forgiven and used and blessed. You can become.
54:39
Speaker 1: Rock.
54:42
Speaker 2: Now let's pray that's about together, shall we? Some of
54:49
Speaker 2: you right this moment are just wrestling with this whole