Jesus Denied

Good morning. If you're new with us, we've been studying the Gospel of John for some time. We're in chapter 19, and it's important to kind of walk through where we've been, because we're coming to the end. John chapter 1 is the great prologue. It establishes Jesus is God. He's the Creator. He's the one that God has sent to become like us in every way. God's with us. Jesus has been sent on a mission. The first 11 chapters are really about Jesus, not just being God, but being the Son of God who was sent by the Father to save sinners. Then we transition to chapter 12, where the triumphal entry takes place. This is the beginning of the Passion Week. Half of the Gospel of John is one week. Jesus is coming to Jerusalem. He's had the praise of men, and we just finished the final discourse. Jesus' final teaching, chapters 13 through 17, well then 17, it really is a prayer. He concludes this time of teaching with a prayer for his disciples, for his own glory, for those who have believed because of the disciples. Here we are, John chapter 18. A drastic, painful, difficult turn in the story. Jesus' betrayal. As we look to this turn in the story, the last few days of Jesus' life and then his resurrection, I invite you to look at it. If you're here for the first time, come back because the story, well, you need to see how it changes and turns still. This morning we're going to be looking at the betrayal of Jesus by Judas. I want to turn to a classic Christian work as we begin to think about this betrayal. It's Dante's Inferno. Dante wrote this allegory for evangelistic purposes. It starts on Monday, Thursday. It starts on the day that Judas betrayed Jesus. And it takes you through the gospel and it's most known for the nine circles or levels of hell. The first level is Limbo. This is for unbaptized Christians and virtuous non-Christians. We'll have a little bit of a discrepancy with Dante there, but that's fine. In terms of that being the top level, or what that even means. The next levels, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Anger, Heresy, Violence, Fraud, and Treachery. Now, we're not in agreement with everything Dante says, and it really isn't written as a handbook and manual for what hell is really like. It really was an evangelistic piece of literature that presents the gospel clearly, while there's some confusing parts to it. But what I want you to see is that the deeper you go down into hell, the worse the sinner is that's there in the depths, and the worse the punishment. The last circle is treachery, treason, betrayal. That's where Satan sits. And it's really interesting, the way Dante chose to present hell and sin in this way is that it's frozen. It's frozen. And Satan is there as a big, fat, stupid, impotent being with three heads and three mouths. In each mouth, there's a traitor. Judas, Brutus, Cassius. It's an amazing picture. Satan's at the bottom. It's ice cold. There's no movement. He's just forever chewing and gnawing on these betrayers. There Satan is at the bottom. Cold, dark, impotent, and stupid. And the farthest thing from Satan is God, whose light, love, power, and omnipotence. It's a beautiful picture to see how our sin separates us from God. And the more we get into sin, the farther we go into darkness and distance from God, which takes away life and love and power. It's interesting he chose Judas. and the other betrayers to be there with Satan in the lowest level of hell. We know Judas is an infamous betrayer. We see here that bottom layer of hell, it's painful, it's dark. Judas, he betrayed, who we know is the best friend of sinners. We know he betrayed the most loving human being who ever existed, Jesus Christ. he handed over God to be falsely accused and murdered. That's why he was placed at that lowest level of hell with Satan. Now, if you think about Judas and what he does, he betrays the Son of God, he betrays someone who was sinless, he betrays someone who was his friend, who washed his feet, he betrays him for 30 pieces of silver. It's easy for us, on this side of history, knowing who Jesus is, knowing what happened, to look at Judas and say, how could you? We need to be careful of doing that this morning. We need to be careful of making a very quick judgment, while it was absolutely sinful of Judas, we need to be careful of our own self-righteousness in looking over Judas so quickly. What we're studying this morning is this betrayal. We're really looking at the darkest 24 hours of human history. Jesus' betrayal, his false trial, his false accusations, and being mocked, beaten, spat upon, hung on a cross. What we need to see in this story is that it reflects our own sin. And unless we see our own sin, we will not see the Savior who died for sinners. This morning, simple message that isn't very specific to the text. It's the gospel. God saves sinners. Let's look back to our text. Let me look at John 18. It's on page 904. If you're visiting with us and you don't have a Bible, please take that with you. You can turn to page 904 this morning. John 18. He is just finished the great prayer in scripture, Jesus' own prayer to the Father, and John continues his gospel. When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place where Jesus often met there with his disciples. So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, Whom do you seek? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said to them, I am he. Judas, who betrayed Him, was standing with them. When Jesus said to them, I am He, they drew back and fell to the ground. So He asked them again, Whom do you seek? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I told you that I am He. So if you seek Me, let these men go. This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken, of those whom you gave me I have lost not one. Then summoned Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus. So Jesus said to Peter, put your sword into its sheath. Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me? So the band of soldiers and their captain, the officers of the Jews, arrested Jesus and bound him. First, they led him to Annas, where he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year. It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people. Simon Peter followed Jesus and so did another disciple. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest. But Peter stood outside of the door. So the other disciples, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watch at the door and brought Peter in. The servant girl at the door said to Peter, You also are not one of this man's disciples, are you? He said, I am not. Now the servants and the officers had made a charcoal fire because it was cold and they were standing and warming themselves. Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself. The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. Jesus answered him, I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them. They know what I said. When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, is that how you answer the high priest? Jesus answered him, if what I say is wrong, bear witness about the wrong. But if what I said is right, why do you strike me? Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest. Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself, so they said to him, You also are not one of his disciples, are you? He denied it and said, I am not. One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, did I not see you in the garden with him? Peter again denied it, and at once a rooster crowed. Will you pray with me? Father, as we have already sung this morning, we come to You, having denied You, having resisted You, not wanting to worship You the way You deserve and the way You are worthy. We come to You, thankful that we can come in the name of Jesus Christ, who gives us a new standing, who, while weeping, for our sins still loves us. Thank you, God. Thank you that you love us while we are still sinners. Help us now to see our sin, not just so we can repent of it, in turn, to glorify you more, so that we can recognize and understand how great your love is for us. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. Next week we will look at the different trials of Jesus with more focus. This morning we'll be looking at the betrayal and the denial. Again, the setting. He's washed his disciples' feet. He's instituted the Lord's Supper. He's provided the most essential teaching for the church. This is a new commandment. Love one another. If we can think about this for a second. Think about these 60 days. From the triumphal entry to him having to hunker down to teach the final discourse in a hidden location, to his betrayal, his arrest, his trial, his death, the resurrection, Pentecost. Think about the emotional highs and lows these disciples are going on. He's marching into Jerusalem and everybody's crying out, Hosanna to the son of David. Then they start to question him. They start to seek to arrest him, the officials. He then had this teaching. They have the prayer. He's betrayed and arrested. He dies. He rises again and then he ascends. An amazing 60 days. Since chapter 12, we look back. There's been a pressing tension with Judas. Remember, the woman comes in and she uses the expensive ointment to worship Jesus. And the disciples are saying, well, that could have been used for the poor. No, it's being used for something much greater. It's used for worship of God. And in there, John tells us, Judas was wanting to pretend to sell it to the poor, for the poor, and he was going to take the money for himself. He was a thief. It was a treasure of the money that the disciples lived off of. He was a thief and he would help himself to that money. John is already presenting, even in chapter 12, at the end of the change of the last week, that Judas is not one of them. He's different. Then, remember, after Jesus washes all of their feet, He hands Judas that piece of bread. He says, go, do what you intend to do. He tells the disciples, one of you is going to betray me. He sends Judas out to do it. Then he gives us this new command to love one another, and then right after that, he tells Peter, you're going to deny me. Peter says, no, I'll lay down my life for you, which is true. Peter was crucified upside down according to the Fox's Book of Martyrs. He did lay down his life for Jesus, but he first denied him at the moment when he needed to be faithful. And the rooster crowed, as we just heard. So this is important to remember the context here of Judas and Peter. In John 17, 12, Jesus is praying, I have lost none of them except the Son of Destruction. Judas has not been given the grace to be a disciple. He has been handed over. God has allowed Satan to fill him. God has given him over to his own sin, and he is the betrayer. He is not a true disciple. Now, another kind of big picture stepping back since it's been a while since we've been in John. Well, it's been a while. We've been in John for a while as well, so there's things we need to remember. Much of what Jesus does through the gospel is He continues to intensify and make the teaching more and more difficult to hear, believe, and obey. He's constantly raising the bar of what you must believe about Him and what He's doing so that those who are just there to entertain themselves watching Jesus do miracles, those who are just there for the food, John 6, They leave eventually because Jesus makes it clear, you only follow Me if you realize you need a Savior and you're going to deny yourself. He's constantly moving the false disciples out. And here in His last days of life, His last day, He is removing that final false disciple. If you want to look more about what that looks like, that raising the bar, John 6 is the easiest and best place to look. Look to verse 1. When Jesus spoke in these words, he went out. Now, notice what it says here. He went to a specific place. He was in the Garden of Gethsemane. It doesn't mention it here, but this is where he is. We know from the other Gospels. Gethsemane was far enough away that they had a quiet place to rest and prepare for the Passover. But it was also close enough to be one of the boundaries that were marked off for those who would participate in the Passover. Jesus had been here before. Most likely this is where Jesus would come and camp. There was somebody who set up a camp for Jesus at this specific place every time he came. And Judas knew where he'd be. As a good friend would, he knew where Jesus was going to be and Jesus intentionally goes there to be found. Now, it gets kind of weird here. Judas procured a band of soldiers, and they had with them lanterns, torches, and weapons. This is what you do when you go after a monster, right? The band of soldiers could have been 200 people. I don't know that's how many people they had, but here Judas is. He's been walking around with this man of peace. Jesus never struck or harmed anybody, but he gets a band of soldiers who have torches, lanterns, and weapons to arrest him. I don't know if they think they're going to be having to chase him around the mountain all night long, as if he's going to run away. They think he's some kind of hardened criminal that they're going to have to take by force. But it's kind of comical. All of the gospel, why do you need to approach Jesus in this way? It's amazing what happens in the gospel next. Look at verse 4. They went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. Then Jesus. This is actually pretty amazing. Those two words. Then Jesus. Man has a certain intention of what they're going to try to accomplish with weapons and torches and lanterns, but Jesus Jesus is in absolute control. Jesus went there intentionally. He knows what's going to happen. Look what he says next, knowing all that would happen to him. Jesus is in complete control. The other Gospels, as they talk about the Garden of Gethsemane and this betrayal, it looks, Jesus is presented as a sheep being led to the slaughter silently. He certainly is. But John helps us to see he is in absolute control of being sent to the slaughter. He knows what's going to happen to him. He submits himself to it. He even approaches them. He doesn't wait for that band of soldiers to come knocking on the door. He goes out. Then Jesus says, who do you seek? They say, Jesus the Nazarene. What happens next is even more amazing. It is I. Immediately, the band of soldiers with their lanterns and torches and weapons, coming to apply force, they fall back and they fall down. Picture this. This big band of tough soldiers, ready to go to battle, ready to apply force. They come. Here's meek Jesus. He comes out. Who do you seek? Jesus and Nazarene? It is I. And they all fall down. What happened? How did that happen? I think what happened is that in that little moment, Jesus revealed His glory. That's what happened. And these sinners who are trying to come to apply force, they fall down. It lets you know He's in control. With two words, the band of soldiers falls down. Unless you know, he could have said more words and they could have been destroyed completely. But no. He keeps the action moving. Who do you seek? Again, he asks. They say Jesus, the Nazarene. I told you that I am He. So, if you seek me, let these men go." Again, he's proactively moving the conversation, but here, John lets us know. John, the evangelist, who's there as a disciple, he's letting us know, Jesus was keeping us. What he just referenced is that prayer Jesus just prayed in John 17. I have not lost one of them. Keep them, Father. They're protected by Jesus. It's a powerful picture. Jesus is guiding and directing this entire arrest, submitting himself. Now, enter Peter. Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant. Of course, Peter responds in a very Peter way, the wrong way. Jesus is approaching the band of soldiers to give himself over to them and he knows it's God's will. He's trusting God. He's submitted to God. He's listening to God. Peter can't. Peter has to take action. Peter has to take things into his own hands. So, having a sword, he cuts off his ears. We know from the Gospel of Luke that Jesus actually heals this ear. He puts the ear back on Malchus. What Peter's not doing, he's not following his master. Peter is not following his master. Listen to how Jesus responds. He corrects him. Put your sword into its sheath. Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me? Jesus is submitted to God's will. Jesus is submitted to do what God has sent him to do, and that is to die for sinners. Peter doesn't get that yet. As Sam mentioned a couple sermons ago, Peter's constantly got some gospel confusion. But the great thing about Peter, he's constantly teachable. God teaches him, and he's corrected, and he's constantly renewed in the gospel clarity. Jesus knows he must go to the cross. If he does not, these disciples he loves, these disciples God's given him, these disciples, they're going to die in the sin. He must drink the cup of God's wrath. that He doesn't deserve, He has to drink the cup of wrath that we deserve. This is why we're gathered. This is why we were singing earlier. We come because we need the mercy of God. We come because we're all identified together in Christ, having received that mercy, and now we sing His praise. We gather because we sing the praise of Him who died for our sins. so that we can be forgiven, we can be declared justified and righteous, and it's because He chose to drink the Father's cup. Now, let's do a simple character analysis up to this point. We have Judas and Peter, they're tied together. We have to see that in chapter 13 when Judas is sent out to betray Him, Judas immediately says, Peter, you're going to deny me. They're tied together. They're both part of the Twelve Disciples. They both walked with Jesus for three years. They knew Him. They heard Him. They spoke with Him. They shared meals with Him. They shared the Passover meal with Him. He washed their feet. They both had specific roles. Judas, the treasurer. Peter, the spokesperson. They both had a unique privilege of walking with Jesus. However, there's a great difference. between the two of them. The one clearly in our text, Peter is standing next to Jesus and he's going to try to defend Jesus. Peter is a responder. Judas has proactively walked up with a band of soldiers to betray Jesus and hand him over to be arrested. Peter, I believe he's sinning when he takes out his sword, he doesn't get the plan of God but he's a responder. If we actually go back a little further, I think we could summarize Judas as someone who loves money. He's a treasurer. He's a thief. He wants to pretend to sell the ointment for his own gain. He sells Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Over and over again, we see a wrong relationship to money. We also see in John 13, 27, Judas was filled by Satan. In John 17, 12, he is the son of destruction, not kept by God. He betrays Jesus. And his end, as we know from Matthew 26, is that he commits suicide. Take Peter. I believe Peter's biggest problem is fear, as we'll see a little later on. As Judas was filled by Satan, Jesus tells Peter that Satan has demanded you to sift you. And then Jesus says, but I've prayed for you. I've kept you. Peter stands out, especially in the Gospels, because he's the first to declare Jesus is the Messiah. That's been revealed to him from heaven, Matthew 16. Peter denies Jesus three times, the rooster crows. The other big difference between Judas and Peter, Judas commits suicide. Peter preaches the first Christian sermon. He is there to see the resurrection. There's a third character, Jesus. He sent out Judas to do what Judas wanted to do. He walks to the place where he knows Judas will find him. He speaks, here I am. He keeps his disciples. He corrects his disciples from fighting for him and He gladly does the Father's will. Now, one of the key questions that we have to ask in a narrative like this, if we're going to understand it well, is, who do I identify with? How do I fit myself into this story to interpret it and apply it correctly? Now, I think most of us, or many of us, are going to actually first naturally Identify with Jesus at some level. We're going to feel the pain of some betrayal, some treason against us. Maybe it's that we were a child and our parents abandoned us. Maybe it's a spouse, they cheated on you. Maybe it's a spouse, they turned against you. Maybe it's a child, they've run away from you. We all can have this kind of sense of pain of being turned against by someone we trusted. Someone we love and someone we thought loved us. Now, I think that's an easy, natural application to first think about. Because that kind of pain is real and difficult. But I want to first give us a warning about going there first. If that's where we go first, we have to then see our sinful response to how we've been betrayed. Jesus gives a godly response. Jesus trusts God. We have to first think, have I responded the way Jesus has taught us to respond? One of the things that happens when we sin, we then continue further in our sin. When we've been sinned against, it's too easy to respond with our own sinfulness. So, there's two applications for those who are wrestling with this particular burden. First, we have to see our sin in light of, we have to see that we have sinfully responded to the sin against us. It's our vengeance, it's our anger. We have to recognize that. And the second and most important application is this. You have a great high priest who stands on your behalf, who is able to sympathize with you in your betrayal, to comfort you, to care for you, and to love you. Jesus was betrayed. If you feel betrayed, do not let your sin of anger, your sin of wanting to have vengeance, your sin of having to justify the way you've been sinned against and make them feel it. Don't let that control you. Look to Jesus, who's the Great High Priest, who is able to sympathize with you. In your pain, in your betrayal, He's able to comfort you. He's able to care for you. He's able to give you the grace to respond appropriately. He's able to give you the grace to heal you. He's able to give you the grace to see there's new life. When you see your sin, and He's the one who's able to reconcile you with whoever has betrayed you. I want to encourage us to not first look to Jesus, even though I think that's the way many of us will naturally look. One of the keys to the rules in reading stories, we're not Jesus. He's God, we're not. So let's ask, how can we be like Judas? In what way could we be like Judas? And something that is extremely scary for me as a pastor, it needs to be extremely scary for everyone who regularly comes to Jefferson Park Baptist Church. Judas walked with Jesus for three years and never knew Him. That has to sink in. You can be around the holy things of God your entire life. You can do your daily devotions every day. You can be at church every time the doors are open. You can give faithfully. You can serve faithfully. You can be involved in every possible way and yet never know Him. That's terrifying. It's terrifying. We see here Judas. He heard Judas himself. He spent time walking and talking with God and never knew Him. I want to challenge you. If you are asked, for what reason do you give that you will be spared hell, judgment, and brought into heaven? If your answer in any way begins with, I have done. If your answer in any way boasts of what you've given, what you've done, how long you've done it, you need to be afraid that you're like Judas. Because it has nothing to do with what you've done. I want to also give you another warning. If your answer focuses on what Jesus has done for you, but yet demands nothing of your own life. I believe in Jesus. I just don't want to change anything about my life. You have the opposite problem. The first problem is we can be self-righteous. We can say, I'm going to go to heaven because I gave Jesus my weekly talk. I am going to be in heaven because I was in the church and with the church and I did all these things. That's what we boast about. That's self-righteousness. And we boast of what Christ has done for us. However, the opposite problem is equally dangerous. For say, Jesus died for me, now I don't have to worry about my sin. I can freely sin. That is equally dangerous. It's another lie. Jesus alone is the reason that you are forgiven. What He did for you, we have to realize, it demands our life. We are saved as sinners and they are called to walk worthy as saints. The next way we can think about the way we are like Judas. Again, we get a bit of a glimpse of a specific sin that Judas has. He wants to sell the ointment. He lies about it being for the poor. He's going to use it for himself. He's a thief, John says. He sells Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. He's got a wrong relationship with money. He loves money. Maybe God has a desire for security and satisfaction that He thinks money is going to bring. 1 Timothy 6.10 gives us this warning. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. Now notice it doesn't say money is the root of all kinds of evil. The love of money. It's setting your heart to a wrong relationship with money. It's wanting to have for security or for gain or for selfishness. It's wanting to have too much. And think about what it is. If you have a craving for more money, if you have a love for money, And you want more of it. What you're telling God is, you can do better. You're not giving me what I deserve. I'm not satisfied with what you've decided I should have. That reveals a heart that lacks gratitude. That reveals a heart that is going to be easily entangled and wander away from the faith, as Paul says to Timothy. Friends, if you are here and you're not a Christian, there's only one thing that's keeping you from Jesus. If you're not a Christian here this morning, there's only one thing that's keeping you from Jesus. It's your sin. Our love for sin is what keeps us from loving God. Our love for sin is what keeps us in our darkness so we do not see the light. There's only one thing that's really keeping you from believing in Jesus, and it's your love for sin. There's only one reason you should come to Jesus, and it's because you realize you love your sin, and you're going to love that sin as it takes you straight to hell, to be judged and suffer an eternity of God's wrath. Turn from your sin. Turn to Jesus, who died for you, not a sinner, but was punished as if a sinner, so that the wrath of God that we deserve was poured out upon Him. We will believe in Him. We're forgiven. And now we can begin to live for Him. Let's turn to Peter. Most of us relate to Peter and identify with him more. There's kind of two general pictures I want to paint of Peter because he has two different sins in this story. First, we can relate to Peter because we can see how we can be foolish in our zeal. We can misplace our zeal in a way that is not in line with God's will. This is what Peter does when he brings up the sword. He doesn't know God's will. He's more ready to act than to pray. He's full of zeal. He wants to act quickly, which is never courageous. The second thing with James Peter, we can relate to him because we can see how we can deny God in the midst of our trials and temptations. No doubt, Peter is confused. Peter is full of fear as he's warming himself. And he continues to be asked, are you one of his disciples? And out of fear and confusion and sin, he denies Jesus. There's a cowardice, there's a steer. And actually, John draws this out very clearly, if we're reading well. Listen. Listen to the way John presents Peter's denial. Simon Peter followed Jesus, said to another disciple, since these disciples had known, was known to the high priest, he entered, I'm sorry, I'm in verse 15. with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest, but Peter stood outside of the door, so the other disciple who was known to the high priest went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watch at the door and brought Peter in. The servant girl at the door said to Peter, you also are not one of the disciples, are you? He said, I am not. Now the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire because it was cold and they were standing and warming themselves, Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself. Now, John changes scenes in verse 19, but I want to jump now to 25. Listen to how John will connect verse 18 to 25. Remember, 18, or verse 17, he was just asked, you also are not one of this man's disciples, and then we leave Peter warming himself. Verse 25, turn back to scene, we'll go back to the scene we were, he changes to, go back to the scene, now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. He's still there, we've just gone back to the scene. So they said to him, you also are not one of his disciples are you? Same exact question almost. Almost the exact same question. He denied it, I am not. Again, somebody asked him, he denies it. So we see here Peter, denying Jesus. And I think the way he sets this up with the transition of scene from the question that's the same and him still warming, we're supposed to contrast Peter with Jesus. Listen how Jesus responds. I have spoken openly to the world. I have also taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me, what I said to them. They know what I said. The answer is again, if what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong. But if what I said is right, why do you strike me? Peter's failure, Peter's failure of fear, Jesus' confidence in who he is, his mission and message. We see Peter being contrasted with Jesus. Now, Peter's supposed to be the one who's the mouthpiece for the church. He's the one who's supposed to go and continue the ministry of Jesus. He's going to be a martyr for Jesus. But here, he's in fear over against the Savior who is confident in who He is and what He has said. We see over and over again, I believe, Peter is a coward because he has misplaced fear. We can even go back to the cutting off of the ear. There's a number of times that we could go back to the final discourse over and over again. Jesus says this in the final discourse, I'm going away, I'm going away, I'm going away. Do not lose heart. I'm going away. Let your hearts be troubled. I'm going away. He's constantly reminding them. teaching them, it's about to come, I'm going away. And then within 24 hours, as Jesus is being taken away, Peter can't trust God's plan. That's what it comes down to here. Peter does not trust God's plan. See, Peter's problem isn't that he has fear. His problem is that he has it misplaced. He does not fear God. Jesus is able to hand himself over to the soldiers because he's confident. God has a plan. I'm going to submit to it. I trust God's plan. When Jesus is being questioned, he is confident. I trust God's plan. Peter is full of fear because he does not trust God's plan. So, there's nothing wrong with having fear. It's about having fear the right way. We're supposed to fear God and trust Him. See, when Peter lost that reverence of God, he lost that trust in God, it led him to fight. It led him to lie. It led him to deny Jesus. Peter challenges us this morning. When we do not have a right reverence for God, our fear leads us to sin. When we do not have a right reverence for God, our fear leads us to sin. There's one other application I want us to hear this morning. I want to challenge you this morning with one last thing. Every time we are tempted to sin, we are being tempted to deny Christ. Every time we sin, We are denying Christ. Every outburst of anger, every pursuit of lust, every grumble and complaint, every insistence they're on our way. Every time we sin, we're denying Christ because what we're saying is, I think I know what's better for my life. I want to do it my way. We have to remember He's chosen us. He's kept us. He's loved us. He has set us free from slavery and sin. He's called us to Himself to walk worthy of the calling. The way we live our lives is a way of glorifying God or denying Christ still. We have to recognize every time we sin, we're denying Christ. Judas and Peter, their sins are very different, but they actually have a lot in common. They both deny and betray Jesus Messiah. Judas ends in suicide. Peter, well, he continues to preach the gospel. How come Peter was spared? What was so different about Peter that he didn't end his life in suicide after denying Jesus? What was so different? Well, it had nothing to do with Peter. because he was a fearful sinner. If we look to see what's different, it's grace. God gave Peter to Jesus. God said, this one is mine, no matter how much he sins, I'm going to love him. I'm going to keep him. I'm going to send my sons and die for him. When we think about the difference between Peter and Judas, we think about ourselves and those outside. The difference isn't that we're smarter, better, or more righteous. The difference is grace. That's why we boast only of Jesus Christ. As we wrestle with how often we deny Christ, as we wrestle with, have I denied Him to the point of losing salvation? It's all about Christ and what He's done for you. You are sealed by the Spirit, because of the blood of Christ, in God. But now we're called to walk worthy of the call. When we sin, we deny Christ. We have to trust and praise Him for His grace. Let me conclude with 2 Timothy 3. What Paul calls a trustworthy saying, what I'm going to say is worthy of your meditation the rest of the day. If we have died with Him, we will also live with Him. If we endure, we will also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He will also deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. Those last two declarations, if we deny Him, He will deny us. We need to be careful in how we're living and rejecting God, but then that beautiful promise really should be a win. When we're faithless, He remains faithful. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank You for Your Gospel that allows us to see the depth of sin The consequence of sin. Help us to see the depth of our own sin so that we can see greater how much You have loved us. How great Your love is. Father, we thank You that while we were still sinners, You sent Your Son to die for us. We thank You, Jesus, that even while Your disciples were denying You, foolish in their actions, you continue to pursue the cross to die for them. We thank you and pray that while, that when, and as often as we do fail, as often as we do deny you by pursuing our own sin, that you would constantly remind us of the grace that you have nailed our sin to the cross. We are no longer counted guilty, but we are yours. Thank you, Jesus. In your name we pray. Amen.