Jesus and Peter on Trial

Shaun

John • Sermon • Submitted 6 months ago • Presented 6 months ago

John 18:25–27

John 18:12–24

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Peter and Jesus both on trial. We see our weakness apart from Gods grace

Notes

Transcript

Jesus and Peter enter the courtyard

Notice as they enter the courtyard Jesus is chained and escorted by guards

Peter is only allowed to enter because the disciple with him is known by the high priest

Jesus questioning

They asked Him concerning His disciples and His doctrine

Jesus did not have secret teachings that He taught His disciples in private

Jesus preached openly and not to be kept secretive but to be proclaimed from the rooftops at the appointed time.

What He taught in private was also what He taught in the synagogues and crowded temple

Annas has condemned Jesus before he found anything to make accusation or anyone to testify concerning His teachings

This is what the godless do. The condemn what they dont understand and refuse to hear . Jeremiah 18:18 Then they said, “Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words.”

His answers frustrated an officer so that he struck Him. They are frustrated because once again they can find no wrong

Jesus response to it was if i have spoken evil then bare witness of it. They couldn’t, they just want Him killed

Peters questioning

John lays out this scene different from the other three gospels.

You also are not one of His disciples are you? This seems to have the same tone and wickedness of the question asked in the garden.

Consider who is questioning Peter vs Jesus. Jesus had wicked Jewish leaders and armed officers, who struck him and questioned him. Peter had a mere servant girl ask him

Peter is asked this question three different times and each time he does the unthinkable. He denies Jesus

Peters sin and situation

This is no small sin but a great sin

Some of you may say this was excusable. This is a small sin compared to the sin of David. That would be a wrong mindset to have. This was a great sin. Also no other sin described and depicted the way Peters is. Sin is rebellion against God and that’s what Peter did.

Lets read John 13:36–38 “Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.” Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.”

Luke 22:54 tells us that Peter followed him at a distance, after Jesus told him he couldnt follow him. The time is coming but it wasn’t at that time.

Peters confidence in himself and disobedience to the words of Jesus is the what set this in motion.

Lets see how it was set into motion. How could one of the greatest Apostles who was just boasting of how he would die with Jesus , crumble under the voice of a servant girl

First Peter is overconfident and self-confident. Your going to deny me. Know i’m not. He was prayerless where in the garden he should have been watching and praying, he was asleep. Then all of a sudden hes in the presences of unbelievers and hes compromised. They begin to challenge him and he folds. Every Christian has to be watched and prayed up constantly relying on the grace of Christ or we’ll fall into sin

Peter had been warned, but he failed to realize the dangers of taking to heed to Jesus’ words. No threats or violence were used against him but merely questions asked by servant girls

The pain of Peters sin

You may say well Christ forgave Peter just like He did David and will us. No christian should have that mindset.

J.C. Ryle has some wise words for us. “Let no man flatter himself that he may sin with impunity because David committed adultery, or because Peter denied Christ. No doubt these holy men sinned greatly, but they did not continue in their sins. And they repented greatly, they mourned over their falls, they loathed and abhorred their own wickedness.” The bitter tears of Peter, or the picture of a Christian soul recoiling at its own sin. The true Christian can never be glib about sin again.

If your a follower of Jesus you can never look at sin in you life like its no big deal.

Mark said Peter “broke down and wept”

The effect of sin toward Christ and our testimony of Him

Luke 22 says after the third time Jesus turned and looked at Peter. Jesus wept over Jerusalem, Lazarus, suffered in prayer in the garden. He often groaned in His spirit. What did he feel knowing that His friend and follower was denying Him, swearing oaths and curses.

Peter who once professed “you are the Holy One of God” in Math 16 “you are the Christ the son of the living God.

Now Peter shouts and swears “ I dont know Him”. How this must have made Him weep and groan

Psalm 55:12–14 “For it is not an enemy who taunts me— then I could bear it; it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me— then I could hide from him. But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend. We used to take sweet counsel together; within God’s house we walked in the throng.”

The leverage it gave satan. Peters cowardly act gives an opportunity for the enemies of Jesus to reject and discount Him. He must not have been much of a messiah. Look how His disciples crumble in the face of a couple servant girls. Some Messiah He is. Where is the rest of His disciples? They deserted Him. How this must have fueled there claims

The rooster crows . The early church fathers said that from day forth Peter couldn’t hear a rooster crow without his eyes waling up with tears. What a constant reminder

The inspiration and encouragement of this

Four gospels give very extensive detail to Peters failure. How does speaking of all this sin and failure wickedness encourage us.

Why would God in bringing about His Holy Word, mention in such detail Peters failures. If I was promoting Christianity to make it appealing to others why would i tell of this story, of how one of Jesus top followers abandoned Him in His time of need? You would leave it out, much less repeat it four times. Why? Because God is showing us the weakness in Peter, one of Great Apostles, and in the end you’re going to see the glory and the strength of Christ because of it. Why? Because in the religion its not about us but about Him and what Hes done for us and them. We must never forget our weakness apart from the grace of God or the sinfulness of sin.

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