It's a great text and such a beautiful, almost haunting melody, but I think fittingly depicts the message of the text there. May we never outlive our love for him. Let me ask you please this morning, take your Bibles and turn with me to the gospel of Matthew, the 26th chapter, Matthew, Chapter 26, it's page 693 of the Pew Bible in front of you, if you would like that. So good to have our college students home, at least for a short time. And good to see them back. Pray for them for a good summer, ministry opportunities, service for the Lord, personal spiritual growth, jobs, all those kind of things. But it's good to see them this morning. Matthew chapter 26, we're going to jump in our reading, really right in the middle of this account. This is of course the night before Christ was to die. They are leaving the upper room, verse 30 tells us that they sang a hymn. And they went out into the Mount of Olives. And we're going to begin our reading now in verse 31. Then saith Jesus unto them, all ye shall be offended because of me this night. For it is written, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee. Peter answered and said unto him, though all men should be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. Jesus said to him, verily I say to thee, that this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. Peter said unto him, though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples. He jumped down now to verse 57. We fast forward, Christ has now been arrested, and his trials begin. In verse 57, when they had laid hold on Jesus, they led him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. But Peter followed him afar off unto the high priest's palace and went in and sat with the servants to see the end. Now the chief priests and elders and all the council sought false witness against Jesus to put him to death, but found none. Yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses and said, this fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days. And the high priest arose and said unto him, answerest thou nothing? What is it which these witness against thee? And Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the son of God. Jesus saith unto him, thou has said, nevertheless, I say unto you, hereafter shall ye see the son of man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy. What further need have we of witnesses? Behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy. What think ye? They answered and said, He is guilty of death. Then did they spit in his face and buffeted him, and others smote him with the palms of their hands, saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, who is he that smote thee? Now Peter sat without in the palace, and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee. But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest. And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him and said unto them that were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth. And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man. And after a while came unto him they that stood by and said to Peter, surely thou also art one of them, for thy speech bereath thee. Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out and wept bitterly. The Gospel writers devote much attention to the final week of the earthly life of our Lord. And even beyond that, they focus specifically on the final night and the death of Christ. The point of the Gospel writers was not just to give biographical information about who Jesus was, though they did some of that. The point of the Gospel writers was to draw our attention to who Christ was and what Christ did. Their focus was not on his miracles. Their focus was not on his good teachings. It was not on his healings. It was not on his exorcism, his casting out of demons. The gospel writers all have purposes and they all lead to the same purpose. They're drawing the reader's attention to this culminating night. and eventually the ultimate day. And everything that they depict of Christ is meant to focus our hearts on these last three days, his death and his resurrection. His death seemed contradictory though to who he was. Yet toward the end of his public ministry, he began to clue his disciples in on the fact that he would be betrayed. and he would go on trial and he would even die, but that he would also rise again the third day. Our text gives us insight into that night of Christ's arrest and trials. Jesus spent much time teaching his disciples about things that were to come to pass. But now there's this one more lesson, really, that they needed to learn, especially through the life of Peter, who was the unquestioned leader of the group of apostles. We're gonna look this morning at Peter's denial of Christ, which is why we read Verses 31 to 35 where Christ prophesies about this. And then the fuller account at the end of the chapter where Peter actually does it. As we consider this aspect, I'm gonna categorize what Peter went through in really four specific words. Confidence, contradiction, cowardice, and then conviction. I think those four words give us the panorama of the scene of these few hours of Peter's life. So first we see Peter declaring a faulty confidence in himself. If you go back with me now to verses 31 and following, we see Christ's words that he spoke to them that all of these disciples would be offended, he says. And he even quotes a verse, Christ uses a verse, he says, for it is written, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep will scatter. Maybe you've got a little cross reference or a little marginal note there to tell you where that reference is, but if you don't, that is from the book of Zechariah, chapter 13, verse seven. And Christ pulls in that text, speaking prophetically of him, and of this particular moment that he, as the shepherd, he would be smitten and his followers, his disciples, would scatter. They would be offended, is the word that Christ used, and that word really means to be scandalized. It's the Greek word skandalizo, which is where we get our word scandal or scandalized from. The word communicates that something would take place with regards to Jesus that would cause them to stumble and to fall. And Jesus confronts all of the disciples. He's grouping them all together here. He's confronting their allegiance and even their courage in the face of some kind of danger or difficulty that will come. It's unclear as at this point what that would be. But he's telling them, something's gonna happen tonight, and you're gonna be scandalized because of it. Their own courage, their own allegiance will be put under scrutiny. But notice Peter's response in verse 33. Peter answered and said to him, though all men should be offended, yet will I never be offended. And by making that statement, Peter comes across as if he is assuming all the others would, but he wouldn't. There was a confidence in him, a self-confidence in Peter's life. When Jesus then responds to that, verse 34, Jesus said unto him. Now Jesus goes from the broader group of the disciples, now he's speaking directly to Peter in response to Peter's statement. Jesus now says to Peter, truly I say to you, this night, it's gonna be very specific, this night before the cock or the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. And Peter has expressed his self-confidence, I'll never be offended, I'll never be scandalized. They will, but not me. And Jesus says, well, Peter, before this night is done, the rooster crowed. There was two times the rooster crowed. The one was at the beginning, like the middle of the night, about 12 or so. And the other gospels tell us the cock crowed the second time. And that was just before dawn. And Christ said, before that second rooster crow, you will deny me three times. But notice then Peter's response in verse 35, though I should die with you, yet will I not deny you. I don't think we should think that Peter is saying these words in any way that is meant with any kind of animosity toward the Lord. I think Peter's motives here were honorable. He was motivated to stick up for his Lord. He believed his own emotions and he believed his own intentions. But do we realize that even our pure motives are a poor excuse for our self-confidence, especially as we see Peter display that self-confidence with the Lord. You can mean well And you can believe in yourself and believe in your own emotions and in your own intentions and your own motives. But that does not excuse dishonoring the Lord. And what Peter was doing here is he was, in essence, throwing all the other disciples into a place of dishonor. Essentially saying, yeah, Lord, I can see how they would all run away, stumble, and fall. I would not be surprised at that at all. Remember a couple weeks ago, we looked at John 21, and Jesus asked Peter the question, do you love me more than these? And I made the argument that probably the best idea there is Jesus confronting Peter's own confidence, his own allegiance. Peter, do you love me more than these others love me? Well, here he's saying, yes, I do. They'll all stumble, they'll all fall. I will never do that. He's elevating himself above his own friends. But the other disciples, then not to be left on their own, they eagerly joined Peter in their proclamation of allegiance as well, as the end of verse 35 says. Likewise, also said all the disciples. They're not gonna be left out. They're not gonna stay under the bus. People today will often make a claim of self-confidence and believe it to be their great strength. But our faulty confidence in ourselves, in our strength, in our abilities, in our intentions, is often what gets us into trouble. Jesus' words that he spoke to the disciples as a whole, and to Peter specifically, were not hypothetical in nature. They were prophetic in nature. Jesus was not saying, well, you know, if this happens, it might be a problem for you, so just avoid that. He was saying, this is gonna take place. This will happen. But Peter didn't like Jesus's words, which leads then to the second aspect, that Peter defiantly contradicted Christ. And by this, I don't believe Peter got in Christ's face necessarily and yelled at him. But though he was well-intentioned in his proclamation of loyalty, Peter did show a defiance when he contradicted the clear words of Christ, and that is rebellion. I mean, Peter, like I said, Peter was well-meaning when he said, look, Lord, though all deny you, I never will. I'd die for you. I think he meant that with all sincere motivation in his heart. And he believed in his own emotion at that point. But by putting all of his stock in his own emotional response to Christ, and refusing to believe the word of Christ, He defied Christ. And he was exhibiting rebellion against his Lord. Peter had contradicted Christ before. Matthew 16, Jesus told his disciples that he would die, but Peter contradicted him then too, saying that that would not be. And remember Jesus' words to Peter at that point? Remember what he said? Get behind me, Satan." Those were satanic words that Peter spoke. Again, Peter was well-intentioned in saying those words. He was trying to express, Lord, I'm going to defend you. But in his own belief, in putting his stock in his own self-confidence, rather than in Christ and his word, He spoke satanic words. And here he openly defies his Lord. Peter says in verse 33, I will never stumble. And the emphasis there in the text is on the word never. Jesus may have been right about the other 10, but Peter is saying that Jesus is wrong about him. And again in verse 35, Peter says, I will not deny you. There is great emphasis and dogma in Peter's words. He is categorically rejecting Christ's words to his face. Now think of the irony of that. Peter was the one who, when Christ asked, who do you say that I am? Peter was the one who piped and said, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. That the heavenly father revealed that to him. And now, he turns around and contradicts this one whom he has already expressed to be Messiah. I know you're Messiah, I know you're the son of God, God himself, but you're wrong. That's a complete contradiction. God cannot lie. As some of our young people are learning from Titus 1, God cannot lie. Christ cannot lie. But that's exactly what Peter was accusing him of. Lord, you're not telling the truth here, you are lying. That may be true for them, that's not true of me. Multiple times here, Peter clearly contradicts his master and his Messiah. And we can look at Peter with some amount of amazement and think to ourselves, how could he do that? But lest we get too busy pointing the finger, let us remember how many times we do this. How many times do we put stock in our own emotions, in our own motivations, in our own self-confidence? We put stock in ourselves, and then when we're confronted with the word of God, no, that's not right. God's word is not right here. That may be the case for someone else, but it's not the case for me. We do the exact same thing. Our self-confidence, we boast in ourselves. Our self-worth, our own abilities, our own intellect, our own whatever you want to put there. We trust in that rather than the very word of God. Our faulty self-confidence leads us to believe the lies within our own heart rather than believe the truth of God. And even though we may be well-meaning in our confidence, our contradiction of God and his word is still a form of rebellion. You can deny God's word all you want, but that doesn't make it any less true. And you can seek to believe your own faulty emotions all you want, but that doesn't make them any more true. They're still wrong when confronted with the word of God. Peter chose to disbelieve Christ's words spoken directly to him and rather believe what his own heart was telling him, what his own emotions were leading him to say. But Peter failed to remember the scriptures that his heart was deceitful above all things, Jeremiah the prophet wrote. Peter's self-confidence and subsequent contradiction of Christ were not rebuked here by the Lord. It's interesting, Jesus just kinda lets the conversation go. Because Christ has said all he needed to say. He told Peter what would happen. Peter could reject that all he wanted to, but that didn't mean it wasn't gonna happen. He said all he needed to say, and Peter would soon enough realize Christ was right. So we've seen Peter's confidence and his contradiction of Christ. And thirdly, we see then Peter display a cowardice under pressure. We come now to the end of the chapter. Jesus is now in the midst of his trials. Other disciples fled into the darkness. We're told that only John and Peter followed the Lord to where they took him. And Peter is more at the distance, kind of trying to blend in with the crowd, probably in the courtyard, near where Christ was. And Christ's words were already coming true. His arrest led the disciples to scatter, and even Peter followed behind at a distance. We approach the scene of Christ's trials which began before the religious leaders and Peter is outside amidst now a crowd of people. And we're told here now in verse 69 that this young damsel, this young girl, comes to him and says, you also were with Jesus of Galilee. She associates Peter with Jesus. And Peter immediately sensing a certain amount of danger that could come to him because of this, In being associated with Christ, he denies Christ before them all in verse 70. I know not what you say. Then leaving there, seeking anonymity elsewhere, someone else approaches him in verse 71 and says, this fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth. And this time, Peter raises the stakes a bit. The pressure is mounting. It's getting a little bit more uncomfortable for him. And he says now with an oath, it tells us, I do not know the man. And with each passing minute, you can almost sense and read between the lines here, Peter is squirming. He knows the pressure is mounting upon him. And you could probably sense the struggle inside his own soul. He's already now denied Christ two times. but the pressure keeps mounting. Verse 73, after a while, someone comes to him and said to Peter, surely you also are one of them. And that's an idea of associating him with a them, them who are following Christ. And notice how they say it, for your speech betrays you. It's an interesting phrase. We often like to think of accents even here that people in America have in different parts of our country. New Englanders have a certain accent or can. Southerners can have a certain accent. Different people from different areas of the nation speak the same language, a little bit different brogue. Well, that's basically what they were saying about Peter. Peter, you talk like a Galilean. You have that brogue to you, you have that accent in how you talk. And they're linking him with Christ because of that. Now Peter, under the great pressure here, verse 74, Peter began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. What Peter was doing is essentially pronouncing a curse on himself and swore an oath that if what he was saying was not true, then God could condemn him to death. That's what that phrase means. That was an incredibly heightened way of denying these accusations that were being made against him, linking him to Christ. And with each passing account, there is a growing and heightening of the denial. One commentator writes this, he is ready to resort to anything to save himself from discovery. Peter was no longer a man of even ordinary manhood. He was a groveling coward who was too pitiful to look upon. You know how often Do we put stock and boast in our own confidence, but when the pressures and the temptations of life come upon us, we cower. We cower so easily and so quickly. We crumble and we deny the very Lord whom we claim to serve. That's exactly what happened to Peter here. Confidence in himself, this overconfidence, will very often lead to cowardice before others. You see at the end of verse 74, it says then, and immediately, the cock crew, the rooster crowed. And that was the second time. This crowing would occur just before dawn. It would have been heard by Peter. Luke 2261 tells us that when the cock crowed, that Jesus apparently being moved from one place to another, or at least out in some kind of visible spot, that his eyes, he looked upon Peter. Can you imagine that gaze? Can you imagine Peter looking upon Christ? Peter, who had boasted in himself, contradicted his Lord, and now cowered under relatively minimal pressure, is able to see his Lord, who has already been beaten and bloodied, spit upon, bruised, who never boasted and never cowered. under the most intense pressure that any human being could go through. I don't think this was a look of anger upon Christ's eyes. I don't think it was a look of, I told you so. I think it was a look of love, that Jesus loved his disciples to the very end, even when they failed him, even when they denied him. even when Peter completely blew it. Jesus loved his own disciples to the very end. And then it tells us that after this took place, verse 75, Peter remembers the words of Christ, which he said unto him before the cock crow, you will deny me three times, and he goes out and he weeps bitterly. I think this is one of the most heart-wrenching scenes on a human level in all the New Testament. Here is Peter, our beloved apostolic leader, who completely blows it. He cannot even claim an allegiance to the Lord when under pressure. And now we finally see Peter demonstrate a conviction of his sin. He weeps bitterly. This is a loud, audible kind of sobbing that is depicted there. He is stricken with deep conviction of his own self-confidence, his own contradiction of his Lord, and his own cowardice before people. He is convicted of his sin. He who proclaimed that he would die for the Lord while in the company and safety of his friends could not even stand up to minimal pressure and temptation around others. And he weeps bitterly. Perhaps he went back to the Garden of Gethsemane. We're not told where he goes. But he's an utter conviction of sin. Understand that what happened to Peter is not uncommon in the life of every believer today. I think he really, in a sense, he represents all of us, what we do, this cycle. Know that your confidence in yourself will never produce a righteous response to God. Confidence in yourself, in your own strength, in your own abilities will not produce in you safety in light of God's word. God's word must prevail. Know that your contradictions of God's word will never produce a righteous outcome in your walk with the Lord. When you choose to believe your own ideas rather than God's word, you're placing yourself against all of history, and you're positioning yourself as God's enemy. God will deal with that in different ways. For Peter, he allowed Peter to discover his own foolishness. Know also that the strength of your faith is really only seen when it is put under the pressures of life. You can look at creation and see this. Diamonds are formed under intense pressure. The tea in the tea bag, the essence of that comes out when it's under the pressure of the hot water, then it comes out. You only tell what's in the bag, what can really be in the bag, when the hot water comes. And that reveals it to us. The strength and value of your faith and allegiance to God is really seen when it is under great pressure. Even Abraham went through this. God tested his faith, put him under intense pressure to offer his own son, the promised child on the altar, to test his faith. Not so that God could see, because he didn't know, but so that Abraham could see. Peter was also put under this test and he failed. He saw his own weakness. And that's exactly where Christ wanted him. Because there is grace given to the humble. And Christ, even back at the beginning of our passage this morning, when he told them this is what would happen, but he says in verse 32, but after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee. Christ, even when he's prophesying of what these disciples would do and even what Peter would do, he already knows that there's gonna be a good outcome after this, including Peter. I'm gonna meet you again. And he even tells Peter, and other gospels tell us this, that Peter, when you turn, you encourage the other disciples. He's telling Peter, you'll do this, but then you'll turn, you'll be convicted, you'll humble yourself, and now things will change. That's exactly where God wants us. As you look upon the Christ, who endured all of the pressure, all of the suffering, and never denied his Father, May we rejoice, but may we also be sobered by Peter's example, knowing that we are not much different than Peter. May we learn from him and be warned by him, and in turn learn to humble ourselves in contrition with a humble and contrite heart. and see this Christ who will forgive us. And then we saw, of course, in John 21, Christ does restore him. You know, there is forgiveness with God so that he may be feared, revered more in our own eyes, more than we esteem ourselves. And Peter found that forgiveness and was restored to fellowship and sent out as an ambassador for Christ. We all struggle with our sinful flesh. We all think we're stronger than what we really are. We all are prone to put our confidence in ourself rather than in God and his very word. But realize, folks, we can do that all we want to, but it doesn't make the scriptures any less true. God's word will prevail. and how the sooner we submit to God's truth and repent of our own self confidence and contradiction of God and his word, the easier it will be for us. And as we even this morning partake of these elements, we can rejoice in the fact that our Christ never crumbled. He never crumbled. He took it all. Though he of anyone could have received the help and the escape, they were at his disposal, but he bore it. He submitted himself to the will of the Father to bruise him. and to take upon himself our sin, the very kind of sin that Peter committed. Christ was in process of suffering for that. And may we rejoice today that our Savior bore it all, drank the cup in full, and never cowered once. As we approach the table this morning, let me encourage you to to think of some things, to approach it with a certain sense of humility, of contrition, of love, of gratitude, devotion, and of expectation. You know, the scriptures say we do this not just in remembrance of what he has done, but also looking forward to his coming again. And we look to the Christ who will come again but take the time in the quietness of the moments to really clean out your slate before God, to humble yourself, to confess your sin anew, and find that free and full forgiveness that he promises us, even as believers, in the book of 1 John 1, and give thanks for providing this forgiveness of sin. As our men come this morning to prepare, let us take a moment to quiet our hearts in silent prayer and devotion to our God.