SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
1/24/2013 12:10 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Peter’s
Denial
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Mark
14:66-72
Message of the
verses: In Today’s Spiritual Diary
we will look at the last few verses of Mark chapter fourteen which tells the
familiar story of Peter denying that he even knows the Lord Jesus, which
fulfills the prophecy that Jesus spoke of just hours before. Many have heard or
read this story many times and so it is not a new story, but as we dig into it
perhaps we will see some things in it that we may have missed in the earlier
times in which we have read or heard it in the past.
The following is the main text from which we get our
story of Peter: “66 As Peter was below in the courtyard, one of
the servant-girls of the high priest came, 67 and seeing Peter warming himself,
she looked at him and said, "You also were with Jesus the Nazarene." 68
But he denied it, saying, "I neither know nor understand what you are
talking about." And he went out onto the porch, and a rooster crowed. 69
The servant-girl saw him, and began once more to say to the bystanders,
"This is one of them!" 70 But again he denied it. And after a little
while the bystanders were again saying to Peter, "Surely you are one of
them, for you are a Galilean too." 71 But he began to curse and swear,
"I do not know this man you are talking about!" 72 Immediately a
rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had made the
remark to him, "Before a rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three
times." And he began to weep.”
In Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on this section of Mark he
gives the sequence of this story, “First, one of the high priest’s servant
girls spoke to Peter, and he denied knowing anything about Jesus. Then the cock crowed. Another servant girl pointed Peter out to
some of the bystanders, and again Peter denied knowing Jesus. Finally, a man accused him of being one of
the disciples, and some of the bystanders joined in; but Peter vehemently
denied knowing Jesus, and even put himself under a curse. Then the cock crowed for the second time and
the Lord’s prediction was fulfilled (see Mark 14:30).” I first want to comment on the man that is
spoken of in this commentary, for we know who this man is. “John 18:26
One of the slaves of the high priest, being a relative of the one whose
ear Peter cut off, said, ‘Did I not see you in the garden with Him?’” This got me to wondering what kind of
reaction Malchus had once Jesus had healed his ear. We see hear that he must have told other what
happened to him. We do know that this is
the only time that Jesus healed a fresh wound, but how did this affect his life
afterwards? The Scripture is silent as
to what happened to him. Another thing
we need to remember from this story is that as soon as the cock crowed the
second time after Peter had denied Jesus the third time Jesus looked at him. “Lu 22:61 The Lord turned and looked at Peter.
And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, ‘Before a
rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.’” A few weeks back on our Wednesday evening
prayer service our Pastor did a short sermon, as he always does on Wednesday
nights, on “The eyes of the Lord,” which is seen in the OT at different
times. This saying, “The Eyes of the
Lord,” speaks of the omnipresence of the Lord, for God is indeed
everywhere. Just asked Jonah about that
as he thought he could run away from the Lord.
The point here is that just as Jesus looked at Peter, and Dr Wiersbe
states that “It was a look of love, to be sure, but injured love (Luke 22:61), that He can see all of us when we sin
and his heart is surely broken over our sin.
I want to now draw some
conclusions as to why Peter did what he did and get them from John MacArthur’s
sermon on this section of Scripture. “How
does this happen? How does this happen? What leads to this? Let me give you the
lessons, okay? Number one, he boasted too much…he boasted too much.
Self-confidence. He was strong. He was the man. He could handle anything,
follow Christ anywhere. And he had that bolstered by warm affectionate feelings
toward Christ. He boasted too much. Too much confidence in his strength, too much
confidence in his flesh.
“Secondly, he listened
too little…he listened too little. Jesus told him and told him and told him.
This is great danger waiting for you, Satan wants to sift you. You will deny
Me. And he spurned all those warnings. He did not take the word of the Lord
seriously. He ignored the word of Christ. He rejected warnings and reproof,
dangerous. He boasted too much. He listened too little.
“And thirdly, he
prayed too little. He slept through the prayer meeting. The Lord said in the
garden, “Watch and pray unless you enter into temptation.” He had taught him in
the disciple’s prayer, “Pray this way, Lead us not into temptation, but deliver
us from evil.” He should have been awake and praying that, instead of sleeping.
He prayed too little. He omitted the spiritual duty. He omitted the drawing on
divine power and a downward impulse of his own flesh dragged him into the pit
of cowardice. Boasted too much, listened too little, prayed too little,
fourthly, he acted too fast. He reacted on his own without considering the
Lord’s will, grabbed a sword, started swinging it around. He was out of sync
with the plan of God, he was out of sync with the purpose of God. He was driven
by his own fleshly impulses. He wanted to make a hero out of himself. He wanted
to increase his reputation. He wanted to affirm his self-confidence.
“This is just more of
his pride. He boasted too much. He listened too little, prayed too little,
acted too fast, and he followed too far. He would have been a lot better off if
he had gone all the way across the courtyard and stood right with the Lord.
That was always the safest place to be. He fled with the rest. He followed far
off. He is curious but not courageous. He is a compromiser. He’s mingled around
the fire and now he’s stuck. He mingled long enough; he sat with the men at the
fire wanting to blend in so nobody would know who he was. And it was his desire
to blend in that was the compromise. He followed too far.
“Well the practical implications of that are so
important. You want to follow close. You want to stay close. Boasted too much,
listened too little, prayed too little, acted too fast, followed too far, and
as a result, he fell too low. Darkest hour in human history, hell’s hour, Jesus
on trial about to be executed, and Peter is no match for the forces of hell. He
reached the top, called by Christ, commissioned by Christ, set apart by Christ,
loved by Christ, taught by Christ, given the keys to the Kingdom, granted, delegated,
miraculous power to heal the sick and cast out demons, leader of the Twelve,
privileged preacher and here he lands in the pit of profanity, denying the very
Lord he confessed.”
Peter did something similar to what Judas did, but
the difference is that Peter is a true believer and Judas was not. Judas felt remorse, but Peter repented. Judas hung himself after his denial of Jesus,
Peter went out and was alone and cried, but also repented and was useful to the
Lord again. Perhaps that is why he and
John Mark became good friends for they both had failed in ministry, but both
came back strong. When we look at three
different men from the Bible we see Job, Peter, and Paul who all were given
permission from God to be tempted by Satan, and they all successfully, by the
power of the Holy Spirit came back stronger proving that once you are a true
believer in Jesus Christ you cannot lose what was given to you as a gift, and
this is your salvation.
Dr. Wiersbe concludes his commentary on this section
with some encouraging words: “Before we
judge Peter too severely, we need to examine our own lives. How many times have we denied the Lord and
lost opportunities to share the Gospel with others? Do we, like Peter, talk when we should
listen, argue when we should obey, sleep when we should pray, and fight when we
should submit? Peter at least was sorry
for his sins and wept over them, and the Lord did forgive him. After His resurrection, Jesus had a private
meeting with Peter (Luke 24:34); then Jesus helped Peter make a public
confession when He met the disciples in Galilee (John 21).”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: As a believer I am tempted every day of my
life because I am still in the body that I was born with. My soul has been reborn on the 26th
or January 1974 but I still have that old flesh to content with each and every
day. When I think like Peter, that I am
strong enough to live the Christian life on my own and not in the power of the
Spirit of God, I will fail. Like Peter I
need to listen to the Lord, not argue with Him, stay awake and pray and
remember to allow the fighting to be done in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Paul writes the seventh chapter of the book of
Romans, and also the fifth chapter of the book of Galatians to show us that we
do have two natures in us if we are true believers. I heard a story by a well known Pastor who
gave a good illustration on how we can walk in the power of the Holy
Spirit. This Pastor was formerly in the
British Army and he had a Sergeant Major who must have been pretty tough on
him. He had to make sure that his hands
were not in his pockets or else he would get yelled at and other things he had
to also do so he would not get yelled at.
On the day that he was discharged from the army he saw the Sergeant
Major and he immediately stiffened up and made sure that his hands were not in
his pockets, and then he begin to think about the fact that he was not in the
army anymore and that Sergeant Major had no power over him at all. I have been born from above on the 26th
of January, 1974 and my flesh has no power over me at all as long as I
recognize it and live by the power of the Spirit. Steward Briscoe is the Pastor’s
name.
My Steps of Faith for
Today:
Continue to trust the Lord to walk in His power and not in my own power.
Memory verses for the week:
Psalm 121:1-8
1 I lift up my eyes to
the mountains; from where shall my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not allow my foot to slip; He who
keeps me will not slumber. 4 Behold, He
who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; the LORD is your
shade on your right hand. 6 The sun will
not smite you by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. 8 The LORD will guard your coming out and
your going in from this time forth and forever.
Turning Points Wisdom for Today:
“Success is never final failure is never fatal; it is courage that
counts” (Winston Churchill) “Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid
nor dismayed…but with us is the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our
battles.” (2Chronicles 32:7a-8b)
1/24/2013 1:18 PM
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