Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Matthew is weaving his story together masterfully.

As Jesus has been taken away to Caiaphas the High Priest he tells us that Peter is following behind at a distance.

And, he’s telling us this because he wants us to know that there’s a comparison of trials coming for the reader.

Jesus is going to stand before his judge, and Peter before his.

Jesus’ character and claims will be tested, and so will Peter’s.

And so, warning us of Peter’s impending trial, Matthew gives us Jesus’ first for comparison.

Jesus is spat upon and beaten.

He is condemned by the verdict of blasphemy and mocked by men that black his eyes and swell his face with their fists, shouting at him to tell them who is striking him if he is really the Messiah.

And yet, Jesus stays true, not responding back to those seeking to humiliate him and not backing down from what He’s just taught that He is the true Messiah that will return in power and glory to judge the earth.

It will cost him everything, but Jesus’ character will not allow him to change no matter how high the costs.

Jesus’ faithfulness shines through no matter how painful the blows.

This morning, Matthew brings us back to Peter to see how he will stack up.

Like Joe Namath before the Super Bowl, Peter had predicted of himself that when trial and tribulation came that he would triumph impressively.

He had even been so bold as to say in verse 33 that everybody else may fail, but he would never fail.

Even if he had to die, he would gladly die, he would gladly lay down his life for the sake of Christ.

Peter simply could not believe that it was within his character to turn on the Christ that he loved so much.

So, the question that comes to bear in our passage today is whether or not Peter is who he thinks he is.

God’s Word

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Peter’s First Test

“And a servant girl came up to him...” Jesus’ arresting party has taken him to the palace of Caiaphas the High Priest, where they will hold an improper and sudden trial against Jesus.

And, Matthew tells us that Peter had followed Jesus all the way to the courtyard where the guards were so that he could ‘see the end.’

And, you can imagine that as Peter is sitting there in the courtyard, he’s playing the night’s events through in his mind.

And, the longer that he plays them and the tireder he gets the worse the potential outcome gets in his mind.

Likely within earshot of what is transpiring, he hears the uproars in the crowds and charges against Jesus.

He hears as lying witnesses come forward to say that Jesus said what he really didn’t say.

He hears as Caiaphas utters the most condemning word of all, “Blasphemy!”

He could’ve heard Jesus grunt as the air was knocked out of him or the slap of a hand across his face.

Peter’s mind must’ve went back to the Garden that night.

What was he thinking?

He had actually swung a sword and struck the servant of the High Priest, and everybody knew he was the spokesmen of the group.

After they were finished with Jesus, certainly they would be coming after him.

So, you can imagine the paranoia that might be setting in for Peter, when a servant girl recognizes him as being one of the men that traveled with Jesus.

“I do not know what you mean” He doesn’t respond with any of the great conviction or self-assurance that we are accustomed to seeing in Peter.

In fact, he hardly gives this servant girl an answer at all.

He’s evasive with her, saying, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

It’s a noncommittal response.

One that doesn’t inspire any confidence one way or the other.

This is the first real glimpse we have of Peter away from Jesus.

This is the first real test of his faith apart without the cover of Jesus’ wing.

And, Peter soon learns just how hollow much of his speech has been.

This is the first real glimpse we have of Peter away from Jesus.

This is the first real test of his faith apart without the cover of Jesus’ wing.

And, Peter soon learns just how hollow much of his speech has been.

With Jesus, Peter would said that he was ready to die.

With Jesus, Peter said that everyone may forsake but that he would fight until the death.

With Jesus, the arresting party came with soldiers and clubs and swords, and Peter cut the ear off of the Malchus the servant of the chief priest.

But now, alone, in the presence of the of a mere slave girl, there is no valor to be found.

There is no conviction and no bravery to be mustered.

Now, that Peter is standing on his own he is realizing just how exposed he really is.

Before he believed himself ready to take on 100 soldiers but now he is overcome by the simple question of a slave girl.

As soon as Peter is away from Jesus, as soon as Peter is out from under the cover of Jesus’ wing, he fails.

Just hours before he was willing to fight, but now he was was collapsing at an alarming rate.

When You’re Too Strong to Fail, You’re too Weak to Stand

APPLICATION: There’s a comparison that I think Matthew wants us to have in our minds as we consider this passage as we consider.

He’s laying these two people in crisis, Jesus and Peter, side-by-side so that we might compare their character.

Jesus is the Son of God, and Peter is the leader, the strongest of the disciples.

So, we’re left here to compare them so that we can see the difference between God’s Son and the very best of men.

And, as we look at Peter’s testing here, I want to bring into your mind what happened in .

In , Jesus is tempted by Satan in the wilderness, and you’ll remember that each temptation was more difficult and more intense than the first.

And, Jesus resisted Satan’s attacks each time and quoted to him the word of God, by saying, “For it is written, man shall not live by bread alone....you shall not put the Lord your God to the test....you shall worship the Lord your God.” And, here you have Peter under duress and being tempted three different times to deny Jesus for his own personal benefit, and as we read, each time, it gets more and more intense.

What does he do?

He caves the very first time under the very lightest pressure.

This young slave girl isn’t exactly pinning Peter to the wall with a sword against his neck.

And, Peter thought this was impossible.

Over the hours, Peter had continually reasserted his own loyalty and resolve to remain committed to Jesus, even above that of every disciple.

He believed of himself that he was incapable of failing Jesus in this way, which mean that he fundamentally misunderstood his own vulnerability.

In 1907, Edward Smith said that he could not "imagine any condition which would cause a ship to founder.

Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that."

And, within 5 years, he would captain the mighty, unsinkable Titanic all the way to the floor of the Atlantic.

You see, what Smith could tell us and what Peter has learned is that when you’re too strong to fail, you’re too weak to stand.

Smith believed that no modern ship could sink, and yet he was the captain of the self-proclaimed unsinkable ship that sank.

Peter believed that he was the disciple that would follow Jesus all the way to the point of death, and yet he caves beneath the question asked of him by a girl probably no older than 12. And, this condition is not unique to Smith or unique to Peter, it is true of every sinner that is here this morning.

If this morning, you are aghast at the sin of someone else or if you find yourself believing that you could never __________ or would never ______________, if you believe that you are far too spiritual or too old or too saved or too strong, then brothers and sisters, you are too weak to really take a stand for Jesus.

You are just the type of person that God is please to humble.

You are just the type of person that Jesus is please to look back at and say, “Before the rooster crows in the morning, you will deny my three times.”

For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

When you’re too strong to fail, you’re too weak to stand.

Denial Without Speaking

APPLICATION: And, I want you to notice what Peter says for it to be considered a denial.

He says absolutely nothing the first time, doesn’t he?

He says, “I don’t know what you mean.”

It’s a diplomatic, politically correct, socially acceptable answer.

It’s answer that allows plausible deniability.

And, Jesus calls it denial.

He doesn’t say, “I reject Jesus, or I don’t love Jesus, or I don’t accept Jesus.”

He say, “I don’t know what you mean.”

There has never been a generation of people greater at saying nothing than us.

But, we should be warned by this memory of Peter.

We deny Jesus as much with silence and as much with socially acceptable, diplomatic speech as we can blasphemous, atheistic rants.

When you’re at work and religion comes up, do you look for a corner to hide in?

When you’re at school and Jesus becomes the subject of conversation, do you find your way out?

You are publically denying Christ so that you are more socially accepted.

Brothers and sisters, let not us be condemned by our silence, but rather may our King be glorified by our speech!

Escalating Denial

“And again he denied it with an oath: ‘I do not know the man’” One disadvantage to being loud is that you always stand out.

Ask me how I know.

And so, as Peter heads out of the courtyard and into the entrance, he’s cornered by yet another young servant girl.

Now, these servant girls seem to be especially bold, but it seems apparent that God is using them to drive home his point with Peter.