Page number 797 in the few Bible. John chapter number 18. We'll begin reading this morning in verse number 13. You remember last week we ended upon Peter and sword and cutting off the. right ear of the high priest servant and. I'm sorry the start of a twelve percent thirteen is twelve. Then the band in the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus and bound him. And let him away to Anna's first for he was father-in-law the Caiaphas which was the high priest that same year. Now Caiaphas was he which gave counsel to the Jews back in John chapter eleven. I'll go ahead and read that to you. John 11 verses 46 through 54. It says, But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees and told them what things Jesus had done, then gathered the chief priests and Pharisees of counsel and said, What do we for this man do with many miracles? If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation. And one of them named Caiaphas, being high priest that same year, said unto them, You know nothing at all. nor consider that is expedient is expedient for us that one man should die for the people that the whole nation parish not and this making out of himself being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation and not for that nation only but also or but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad Then from that day forth, they took counsel together for to put him to death. So that's what scripture is referring to here. And John chapter 18 or what John's referring to that happened back in John chapter number 11. But verse number 14 says Caiaphas was he which gave counsel to the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people. We just read that in John 11. We know he didn't save himself, but he prophesied being high priest that year. Verse number 15 and Simon Peter. Follow Jesus. It's not always that we find Peter's name, Simon Peter. But here's. Not just Peter's name, but Simon Peter, and I think that reflects towards what we'll be looking at this morning, what we've already discussed somewhat in the the earlier Bible study time or devotion time, the fact that Peter was standing here upon his own strength. Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. I'm not going to get into this later, so I'll just go ahead and mention here. A lot of times we've found this sort of thing before in John, and it's John referring to himself. He doesn't call himself by name, but in this instance, it could be John. But because of what's said here about this man letting Peter in or speaking for Peter at the door to allow Peter to be let in, It could not be John. It could be somebody like Joseph of Arimathea. He was the one that came and spoke for the Lord's body after he was crucified, that it might be prepared for burial. He was a rich man, but he was a disciple of the Lord's secretly. Scripture says so. He very well could have been being a rich man, could have been a part of this Um, that was happening, you know, here secretly in the midst of them. Um, and, but he was secretly for fear of the Jews. Scripture says it could have been him, or it could have been, you know, someone that could be Nicodemus, you know, who knows? We don't know what Nicodemus end was. The Lord told him you must be born again, um, necessarily, but it could have been someone else. Um, but it says here that Simon Peter followed Jesus. And so did another disciple. That disciple was known under the high priest. and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest. He just passed right through the door. They didn't question the fact that he was in their company at all. So he must have been someone who was familiar with the company of the high council of the Jews. But Peter stood at the door. Peter didn't go any further. Peter stood at the door without. Then went out that other disciple, which was known under the high priest, and spake unto her that kept the door and brought in Peter. Then, sayeth the damsel that kept the door, the girl that kept the door, unto Peter, Art not thou also one of this man's disciples? And Peter answers, He saith, I am not. And the servants and officers stood there, who made a fire of coals, for it was cold, and they warmed themselves. And Peter stood with them and warmed himself. The high priest then asked Jesus of his disciples and of his doctrine, And Jesus answered him, I speak openly to the world. I ever taught in the synagogue and in the temple. Whether the Jews always resort and in secret, have I said nothing? Why ask it? Tell me, ask them which heard me what I have said unto them. Behold, they know what I said. And when he had spoken, one of the officers who stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, answer style, the high priest, so Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil, but if well, why smitest thou me? Now, Annas had sent him bound in the Caiaphas, the high priest, and Simon Peter stood and warmed himself, and they said, therefore, unto him, Art not thou also one of his disciples? He denied it and said, I am not. One of the servants, verse twenty six of the high priest, being his kinsman, who whose ear Peter cut off, sayeth, Did not I see thee in the garden with him? Peter then did not again, and immediately the cock crew, or the rooster, crowed. So we'll stop there. We won't get any further than that this morning. Let's go once again, though, to the Lord in prayer. Father, we just ask that you would bless this time that we would spend together this morning in your Word, Father, that you would make these things manifest unto us, open them unto us, that we might gain, Father, from them principles by which, Father, we're called to live and to glorify you in. I just ask that you would glorify the Lord Jesus Christ this morning. Help me, help us all, Father, to hear your word and to be doers of it. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. So, we begin this section of scripture and a lot of historical narrative that's in here. There's not anything to gain by it, but we're taking kind of a larger chunk of scripture than I normally do this morning, but there's a lot of verses in here that are of a historical nature, and so it allows for us to be able to take a few more things together, not to mention the fact that the bulk of what we'll have to say this morning has to do with Peter, and the narrative concerning Peter and denying the Lord three times takes us from where we ended last week there in verse number 11, beginning here in verse number 12, takes us all the way, you know, to verse number 27. So we'll, the Lord willing, look at all of these verses somewhat this morning. We begin, though, in verse number 12, where it tells us that they took the Lord and bound him and led him away. We've already made this a point of saying that the Lord gave himself, you know, he willingly gave himself unto them. They didn't drag him. They didn't force him. Yesterday, we were at mom and dad's house and the kids were watching TV and What was playing was one of the Narnia movies, which is a set of books that C.S. Lewis wrote, which he said that if they were ever made into a movie would be absurd. And there are some things that are in there. But the part that caught my attention yesterday as we were watching it was whenever the character in the book, Aslan, which is a lion and depicts Christ, gave himself for Mankind really was for one of the children in the story, but it was for it was called the son of Adam and we're all you know sons of Adam, but as He gave himself and they got this part, you know, right when they he actually left the the camp and went to the enemy's camp and Gave himself they bound him and put him up on the altar and And they sacrificed him, but the part where him giving himself and them, you know, binding him, I could as I was watching that yesterday, I was thinking about this, you know, and where we're going to be, you know, in John chapter 18, they didn't they didn't drag him or didn't go kicking and screaming. They didn't force him. You know, he willingly gave himself and we've made that that point already. But. You think about the fact that what the Lord's just done and they've asked him who they were seeking. They tell him Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I am. They all fall backwards, you know. And then later, Peter takes out the sword, cuts off the ear of the of the high priest, a servant knock us in the Lord. I don't know. Did he pick up the ear and put it back on? Does he put his hand there and it grows another ear? I don't know exactly what took place, but the man's ear was made whole. Scripture tells us. So these people have seen this. They witnessed this, and yet they are silly enough to think that binding him is somehow going to restrict him. Isn't that remarkable? But again, Like we were talking about Judas, I mean, that is the place that sin brings a person into. In the broader spectrum of things, when a person gets to the end of their life and they stand before the judgment seat of Christ, I mean, it's this sort of a revelation that's going to come to them. You know, we look at that instance in Scripture and we see this narrative here and we see these people binding the Lord. We think, how silly, if he didn't give himself, there's no way you could bind him. You know, and so, you know, we remark and say, well, that's just the place that sin brings a person to. Well, a person standing before the judgment seat of Christ is going to see the folly, you know, of their ways. They're going to see the folly of their doing. And they're going to wonder why, you know, why did I ever think that I could escape judgment? Why did I ever think, you know, that that I could live my life the way that I wanted to and not repent and not confess my sin and not call upon the Lord that I might be saved. How did I ever think that I would escape this judgment? How did I ever think that I would escape hell? How did I ever think that I would escape condemnation? That's what it makes me think of when I think about them binding the Lord. I mean, we're talking about omnipotence. We're talking about speaking the worlds into existence, let there be life that was light, you know, forming man out of the dust of the earth and breathing life into them. And yet they they've bounded, you know, in chains. And that's just incredible to think about, but he gave himself at the same time. We say you can't bind omnipotence. There's no way you can bind God. You can't bind God's hands if he doesn't willfully do something or do something according to his own will. It's not going to be done. We can't force God to do anything. You can't bind omnipotence and lead him away. He went of his own accord. So they took him to Annas first and scripture tells us that Annas was the father-in-law of Caiaphas and yet Scripture telling us that Caiaphas of the high priest, we see that that Ennis did retain much power and influence. I was reading John MacArthur this morning, and he went on for a little while about Ennis. He was talking about how much power that Ennis had, even though he wasn't in Rome's eyes high priest. He had made himself. You know, kind of over the things that were happening on the temple grounds. I mean, the things amongst the money changers and the sacrifices and he got a cut, you know, and all that that was happening. He was a very rich and powerful man, and he didn't like the Lord. Two times the Lord had gone through and cleansed the temple and upset the money changers tables. You can he kind of gives a picture as I was reading the message that he preached on this He's kind of giving the picture of here comes this man. That's that's got his sacrifice He's come and he's come to Jerusalem to offer sacrifice the Lord brought the very best sheep that he had But you know and it's had this whole thing, you know wired It was all rigged and when you get there the people that he had employed there would look at that lamb and say no It's not good enough It's not perfect. It's not spotless. But we have pre-approved, you know, sacrificial lambs over here. And they would cost like five times, you know, what they should have. And when they got there to pay for them, they came from somewhere else. And Andrew, you and I were talking about that this week, about how the Jews, you know, have been dispersed and they were in different places and they spoke different languages. So they came with different currency. You know, it'd be like people from Germany, Christians from Germany coming over here to to offer sacrifice. And they have, you know, German money. They don't have American currency, so it was like that. They would come with currency from the nation that they had come from, that they lived in, and so they couldn't buy a sacrifice because they didn't have the right currency to buy the sacrifice. They had to go to the money changers. Well, guess who else took advantage of them? You had five times the price of the sheep over here. Well, over there, the exchange rate was horrible, and so it cost them a great deal in order to sacrifice, and Annas was over all of that. And he was, when the Lord cleansed the temple twice and upset all that, he didn't make a friend out of Annas. He wasn't intending to, but Annas certainly had personal reasons. Other than just what we see as we read there in John chapter 11 this morning and we see how the Pharisees were afraid that the Romans would come and take away their place in nation, that was a concern too. But Annas also had something on top of that. But beyond that, he was father-in-law to Caiaphas, who was the high priest, and he exercised his authority even through Caiaphas, which is a puppet, not only in Rome's eyes, but he was a puppet, I think, in Annas' eyes as well. That was his father-in-law. He did what his father-in-law wanted. And we can see this man's importance because the Lord was brought to him first, before he went to the high priest, Caiaphas. And I'm not going to get into a lot of... I think most all of you probably have. I mean, we may get into it later. I don't know, but I haven't intended to. I didn't feel the Lord to really get into Much of it will get some of it, but as far as the way that the Jewish judicial system worked. And most of you have, I think, Matthew Henry's commentary, he's got some good things to say in regards to how their judicial system worked. If you want to go back and read that later, you certainly can. But. We have this this picture here of the Lord being brought to Annas. And then he's brought to Caiaphas. And then later on, we didn't read it this morning, but later on, he's taken to Pilate and Pilate sends him to Herod and he comes back to Pilate again. So all of this exchanging that took place and this examining that took place, you can't help but think about We're talking about that man with a little lamb that he brought that was sacrificed, you know, and that gets up there and, no, he's not approved. There's pre-approved sacrifices over here. But all the examination that took place at my point of the Lord. Here was the spotless Lamb of God. Here's where we started back in the beginning of John. And we have John the Baptist saying, behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world. So here's all this examination that's taking place. And then you get down to the end. And what does Pilate say of it? I find no fault with this man. I washed my hands of him, he's innocent. So here's the spotless Lamb of God that's being offered as a sacrifice and here's all his examination. It's going on of him and they can find no fault with him. He finds fault with them, but they can find no fault with him. But as we're reading this narrative here in these verses, we find ourselves going back and forth between The Lord being bound and led away. And then Peter comes in and then we go back to the Lord again, then we go back to Peter. So we kind of weave back and forth through these verses with our Lord and with Peter. So what we find is as we as we come and approach that portion of scripture where the Lord has gone through and being examined by Annas and Caiaphas, the scripture kind of does a takeaway over to to Peter. And we're flashing over to what's happening with Peter at the same time with this that's happening to the Lord. Now, Peter, let me remind you what we were saying last week and the other disciples weren't they weren't. They weren't ready to drink from this cup, we talked about drinking from a cup and we're not going to have that cup given to us until we're ready for it. Well, Peter wasn't ready for that cup. We understand that he wasn't able to drink from the cup of the Lord. had been given to drink from, the Father had given the Lord to drink from. On one hand, we could say only the Lord could drink from that cup, as far as that cup was concerned. And the cup that the Lord was given to drink from for our salvation, only He could drink from that cup. Only He could offer Himself a sacrifice for many. Peter couldn't offer himself a sacrifice for any, you know, so in that sense, that's as far as the cups concern that the Lord had to drink from. Nobody else could drink from it. You know, at any point in our Christian experience, Peter could have drank from it later when he was strengthened and he strengthened the brethren. You know, he stood before people who had crucified the Lord and accused them of crucifying him and of betraying innocent blood. You know, Peter never could have drank from that cup because he couldn't offer himself. None of us could offer ourselves a sacrifice for sin. Only the Lord could drink, you know, from that cup. But as far as that cup contained within it, persecution. Peter and other disciples and we ourselves would drink from that cup, not before ready. Peter and the other disciples apparently weren't ready for that now. But. We find. Peter here following the Lord. At a distance, we don't have those words used in John's account of the gospel, but in the other gospel writers, we find Peter following You know, at a distance from the mob, then you can imagine why. But here's a man, though, you think about it. Here's a man who's just drawn a sword. He's standing beside the Lord and he's just drawn a sword in the face of a huge mob. We talked about how big it could be. We don't know how big it was, but draws a sword in the face of a huge mob is going to take them all on more or less. and cuts the ear off of the high priest servant though I don't think he was aiming for the year we talked about that before too. I think he was aiming to take off his head. You know he just the guy ducked or whatever and all Peter got was his ear. But. Peter's face the mob and now he's following a distance. So keep keep that in mind as we as we go through this. The Lord had Provided Peter and the other disciples protection from the mob and that was the title of last week's message If you're seeking me let these go their way. I let these go you know free But Peter it seems wasn't content with that he would follow and And we can only imagine the feelings we get and we're gonna fall Peter and a lot of preachers that I'm I I hear they continually faulting Peter, talking about Peter having this foot in his mouth, and Peter this, Peter that. Peter was impetuous. Peter did a lot of things without thinking, but Peter was bold. And Peter did love the Lord. There's no doubt about that. And I think that's what's just compelling Peter to follow the Lord. It's just his love for Him. Not that the disciples didn't love Him. But, you know, Peter was was bold enough to venture to take that sword out, you know, and try to defend the Lord, though the Lord says, you know, you put your sword up. Shall I not drink the cup that the father's given me to drink from? You know, but Peter is bold enough to to follow. We can we can imagine some of the feelings that fill Peter's hearts or his heart and feelings of love and dedication, devotion, as well as uncertainty and fear. You know, on one hand, he was just taking on the mob. On the other hand, now he's afraid, you know, of them. fearful of them. Why? I don't know exactly all the thought that Peter may have had, but, you know, Peter didn't see things going down the way they did. Peter didn't see things happening the way they did. You know, Peter's thoughts of things were he saw the Lord say, I am and all of them fall backwards. He's like, you know, this is a done deal. You know, they've never been able to take him before. They're not going to take him down. Look at that. You know, and Peter was emboldened, you know, with that. But then when he saw the Lord chained and led away, You can imagine how how he he quickly his countenance must have fallen his heart was full of fear and Even though it's also, you know filled with with love and devotion He surely was afraid and it's evident as we read the other verses of Scripture when he's asked Are you not one of this man's disciples and he says no, but he was afraid and any of us would be but you know Peter does does follow along. The problem is not Peter's following. The problem is, like we're talking about this morning already, in the devotion time, Peter's problem is that he's standing in his own strength. He's not standing in the strength of the Lord. He's not dependent upon the Lord. He's dependent upon himself, because we know what he told the Lord. He said, I will die with you if necessary. So here Peter is. He's following You know, at a distance, we talked last week about how impetuous Peter was often thought or acted without forethought, acted without consideration of his actions, boldly stating that he would go with the Lord to the death. And so we have to ask ourselves as we begin looking at this this morning, we have to ask ourselves how much. Ask yourself this, how much can you accomplish in your own strength? How much can you accomplish in your own strength? How much can you do? How much can you get done? Well, of course, we know we can answer from scripture. We know the scripture says the Lord says without me, you can do how much? Nothing, nothing whatsoever. We can do nothing. Peter following in a distance. His actions doing nothing but Proving what we've already stated, that without him, without the Lord, we can do nothing. We possess not even the strength to stand with him whom we love and our own strength. We at best follow the distance. And let me just tell you, the devil loves to have it so. The devil loves for that to be the thing. Think about Peter following the distance. Think about Peter's answer when he's asked, are you a disciple? Think about that. What kind of what kind of position is Peter in? We know he's he's he's acting in his own strength, you know, but he's defeated. I mean, he's what what should the answer have been to the girl at the door if he was if he was standing in the strength of the Lord, the Lord told him, Peter, come on, you follow me. What should his answer have been to the little girl at the door who kept the door, not that I don't know him, but He should have witnessed, you know, she needed to know she didn't know who the Lord was. Peter can't answer that way. He's standing in his own strength and he's full of fear. He's full of doubt. He's full of uncertainty. He doesn't answer even we can't even give an answer in our own strength that that that we know and love him. You know, we see that with Peter here. So without him, we can do nothing. We possess not even the strength to stand with him whom we love. At best, we can follow at a distance. And the devil loves for us to think. The devil loves for us to be filled with the thought that we can do things on our own, that we can get it done. Well, you know, I've been a Christian a long time. I've walked with the Lord a long time. I can do that. And we fail to watch. We fail to pray. We fail to seek the Lord over it. And we go forward in our own strength. We charge ahead. And we find ourselves failing, as Peter does here. And the devil loves for us to be in that position. And we wonder, what is wrong? Why am I not succeeding here? I've done this, I've done that. And yet we've done it all in our own strength. We've done it all by our own resources. We've not sought the Lord. The devil loves that. Loves for us to be in a place that we're defeated. Loves for us to be in a place where we're really not affecting the people around us. We're even doubting ourselves. And we're wondering why. It's all because we're not trusting the Lord. That's one reason why I chose that hymn this morning. Simply trusting every day. Trusting Jesus, that's all. That's what it's all about. Everything that we do, whether it be a great thing or a small thing, it's trusting in Him. And that's the problem, isn't it? We think about the big things and we think, well, I need the Lord for that. We think about the small things. No, I can handle that. And that's where we get caught all the time. It's the small things that get us. It's the little things that get us. So, Lord, help us to seek Him in the small things, too. Lord, help us to not think that we can handle the small things, that we think that we can handle the small matters. Well, I can lead my young children to the Lord. I can tell you some of the most difficult people that I've ever tried to witness to and explain the gospel to are my little kids and help them to understand. I can't give them an understanding. The Lord's going to have to open their hearts and their eyes and their ears for them to be able to understand what I'm telling them. You think, oh, I can handle that. They're my kids. They trust me. They know me. They'll listen to me. No. It's going to take the strength and the power of God with them as it will. If I had a chance to witness to the President of the United States, I'd better pray about that. I'd better pray about my kids. I'd better pray about that closest friend that I may have, that we are completely honest and open with one another. I can't save them. Little or great, it doesn't matter. what area it's in, what it is that we're doing. That's the small things that will get us into trouble that we think that we can handle. So we find in verse number 17 that there's the maid at the door. And she asked, Peter, are you not one of this man's disciples? And Peter says. I am not. I am not. He's afraid. He was going into where Jesus was on trial. And he was afraid. He wasn't ready for that. How do you get ready for something like that? How do you get ready to walk into a place where the Lord's on trial? Last Sunday after we went home, Rebecca was looking through on television for something to watch. and she found the movie The End of the Spear. Y'all ever seen that movie? How do those men go into the jungle and face natives with spears and resolve that they're, you know, Nate Saint and some of those other guys, how do they resolve that they're not going to fire a gun to defend themselves? How do they go and meet a people that have never heard the gospel before. How do they go and confront them and lose their lives trying to preach the gospel unto these people? How do they do that? How do you go into the courtroom where the Lord's on trial and not fear for your own life? How do you go to some of these places? How do you get there when you don't get there like Peter did? You don't get there like we oftentimes do. I'm not just saying it's just the small things that we never pray about. There's there's sometimes that we we so bold and of ourselves, we think that we can handle anything. You know, even big things will go into without prayer, without looking into the Lord, without watching and waiting. And that's where Peter is. This wasn't a small thing. This was a big thing that Peter finds himself in. How do you how do you get there? And go into such a place and respond in the way that you ought to. How do you how do you give an answer to anyone that asks you of of the hope that lies within you? Small or great person, you know, one person or a mob of people. How do you do that? Peter had preparation time in the garden. Remember what the Lord You know, he's in the garden, he's praying, sweating, as it were, great drops of blood. And here's the bulk of the disciples are out here. And here's the three, Peter being one of them. That the Lord had bring had them come a little closer, stones thrown from where he was. I don't know how far they could throw a stone. I don't know how far I could throw one. It depends on how big the stone is. It was a shorter distance, I suppose, than the others were from the Lord. He'd come back and find them asleep. They were sleeping instead of praying. The Lord knew what hour was upon Him. He spent much time in prayer. He told them, watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. That is where we lose the battle. That's where Peter lost the battle. You know, Peter lost it thinking he'd go forward in his own strength and he could he could conquer in his own strength when what he should have been doing back there in the garden was watching and praying that he got into temptation. The Lord warned him, said, Peter, Satan has sought to sift you as wheat. But I prayed for you that your faith fell not. The Lord knew what was going to happen with Peter. He knew what Peter was going to endure. He knew that Peter was going to go forth in his own strength. He knew that Peter was going to utterly fall on his face and fail and deny him three times. He prayed for Peter that Peter's faith wouldn't fail, because when Peter denied the Lord that third time and he was within eyesight of the Lord and the Lord looked upon him, Peter's heart melted and he went out and wept bitterly. You could see how someone's faith would fail. He denied the Lord three times. He's heard the Lord saying. He who confesses me before me will also confess before my heavenly father, he who doesn't confess me before me. I'll deny. And you imagine that feeling Peter's heart and mind. As he's just denied the Lord three separate times in the same night, granted, but on three separate occasions, he's denied the Lord. Can you imagine the doubt and the fear and the worry and the fretting and the wondering whether or not I'm even a disciple? You know, that must have been going through Peter's heart and mind. It must have been incredible. The wrestling match that Peter was in at that point. But the Lord allowed Peter to stumble. The Lord allowed Peter to fall. But he also picked Peter back up. He picked him back up. And Peter learned, just as we must learn, that we cannot go forward in our own strength. We must go forward in his. We must be standing upon, that's what we talked about this morning, right? Standing upon the foundation, which is Christ. Standing upon the rock. Or we're going to fall, we're going to fail, so. We're not able in our own strength. To do this thing that we think about who was Peter standing before when he denied the Lord the first time. As far as we can tell in Scripture, the narrative here, it was one little servant girl. Cancer, a girl. Be bold enough in your faith, Peter, to answer a girl? A servant girl at that? No, in our own strength we can't. We can't. We are not able in our own strength. What an enemy self-confidence is to our trust in the Lord. Self-confidence is an enemy to your trusting in God. A little servant girl can thwart our best intentions. You know, besides standing beside the Lord, Peter takes out his sword and he's bold. He's using the wrong weapon. We understand that. We said that last week, the weapon of our warfare. You know, it's not the weapons of our warfare are carnal, the things of this world, not swords, but they're mighty through God. But Peter here, he's not using a sword, but he's using the wrong weapon again. Just like he was when the Lord was taken in the garden. He used the wrong weapon. He pulled out a sword. Well, this time he doesn't pull out a sword in front of the servant girl and say, aha, you know, I'm going to take my lord back. But he pulls out self-confidence. Confidence in himself. Wrong weapon again. We can't fight with that either. We can't fight with that weapon. A little servant girl will thwart our best intentions. But he's he's bold before the mob with a sword. But now before a servant girl, he cowers. in his own strength. It's unthinkable. It's unthinkable to Peter. I'm sure Peter thought, how in the world did I ever say that? I didn't know more. And yet he does it twice more. So, go ahead and boast, if you will. But your boasting will get you nowhere. Self-confidence will get you nowhere. You'll find yourself failing in your own strength, even in the smallest matters. And without a doubt, we'll find yourself here with Peter. We must be looking continually unto him who is the author and finisher of our faith. Take your eyes off him and you'll fail in the smallest matters. Peter had lied about knowing the Lord and it just snowballed, you know, from there. Till the chickens came home to roost, as we say, you know, here in Texas. They did. It was in the form of a rooster crowing. But, you know, depending on his own strength, the chickens are going to come home to roost. You're going to find yourself denying the Lord by your own self-confidence and pride. And we've already said, how did Peter get there? Well, he got there by not heeding what the Lord had said. Unto him, not heeding what the Lord has said unto us, watch and pray, watch and pray, watch and pray. The problem with self-confidence is that we'll find ourselves saying, I don't need to pray. I'm OK. I prayed once about that thing or or or I've been down this road before. You know, and I prayed about it then. Yeah, it's Bill Katkin. I can go on. You know, I can handle this. We'll find ourself not praying. We'll find ourself not watching. We'll find ourself not spending daily time with God and daily time in his word. Self-confidence, that's where we'll find ourselves. We won't be seeking after trusting in the Lord. But we'll follow the temptation of doing things the way the world does them. I'm sure you have found yourself there before. Acting and reacting the way the world does. Using the world's weapons in our warfare instead of prayer. Instead of meditation, spending time with God. Instead of seeking His face and His presence. Instead of asking Him to go before us and with us. We find ourselves falling prey to the very thing that Peter does here. Using the weapons of their warfare. Lying, that's a weapon of the world. It's a weapon of the ungodly use. It's a weapon that Peter found himself using. The weapon of Peter's warfare here was not mighty in God. He was full of himself. And he was destined, as we will be, for failure if we do the same or when we do the same. So while Peter's being questioned here by the little servant girl and denies the Lord and goes and warms himself by the fire, we find our Lord in this narrative being detained and questioned by really what amounts to a kangaroo court. What that means is, it's the reason it's called a kangaroo court because it does things by leaps. It jumps over and through a lot of hoops and processes, or over hoops I should say, to get to where it wants to get without doing things the way they should be done. It just kind of pushes things through and that's what was happening here. They were disregarding the law instead of justice, they were interested in rather rushing the Lord through the proceedings by leaps and bounds to bring him to death by the hands of the Romans. And so in verse number 19, we find them questioning the Lord about his disciples and his doctrine. And they were trying to indict him, but the way that the Jewish court system ran. They had to have witnesses to witness against what you had done or for what you had done You know, the witnesses were necessary But there though there were witnesses all of their if you go and read the accounts of the Gospels and compare them What they said what they testified to was even different from one to the other, you know They weren't even on the same page. This was all just rushed and hurried, you know through it wasn't even a legitimate trial And they were they were asking the Lord to testify for himself. And we wonder as we read, you know, this we see in verse number 19, the high priest then asked Jesus of his disciples and his doctrine. Jesus answered and said, I speak openly to the world. I taught in synagogue, the temple where the Jews always are in secret. I said nothing. Why do you ask me? Ask them which heard me what I have said unto them. Behold, they know what I said. So I read that we think, why doesn't the Lord tell them? Well, regards to a fair trial. If you read how the judicial system worked, there were to be witnesses. That's why the Lord saying what he's saying. You know, they were to produce witnesses to say what he had said. If I said something evil, you know, produce a witness to say that I said it, you know, show that I said something evil, said something wrong, said something blasphemous, you know. In fact, one of their Jewish scholars that are true law does not inflict the penalty of death upon a sinner by his own confession. They were one more than that himself by his own confession. A true Jewish court would not do that. They would not indict a person upon their own confession. There had to be witnesses. So this is the reason why we read this in verses 19 through 21 there. So instead of. Replying to their questions, he rather indicts them. He's really indicting them here by telling them, you're not even running a just trial here. You're not even running a true judicial process here, even according to your own laws. You're not. You know, where are the witnesses? This isn't even a legal trial. In essence, this is what's being said here. Did the Lord think he was going to get, expect to get a legal trial from him? No, he knew. what was going to happen, but in saying what he said, it was really an indictment against them. So the whole thing was the big plot. There was no evidence and saying what the Lord said. I mean, it was an indictment against Annas. He had egg on his face because he wasn't even running the court proceedings the way that they should have been run. Can you imagine? Being in. Such a place. In the midst of so many enemies, there's the one guy who takes and strikes the Lord in verse number 22, when the Lord answers, strikes him across the face. I told you I was going to read that passage to you in the Old Testament. It's in Micah five verse one. It says they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek. So here's this whole court proceedings and is presiding as judge over this. And there's the true judge of Israel. And they're smiting him upon the cheek. They shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek, fulfilling prophecy. The Lord says, if I've spoken evil, bear witness of the evil, but if well, why smitest thou me? How would you react? If we were standing there in the power of our own strength, we'd probably lash out and we'd at least be, you know, very upset and angry because they've hit us, you know, even though we didn't hit them back. But, you know, the Lord just calmly replies, Why smitest thou me? How would we respond? Well, if we didn't spend time in prayer and supplication, seeking the Lord and knowing that through seeking Him that He is in utter and complete control of this process, we'd respond quite differently than the Lord did. If we didn't spend time and we were standing there in our own strength as Peter, we would have responded and used the wrong weapon. If we're going to be able to answer, like Paul, I've lived in all good conscience before God until this day. We're going to have to spend some time in prayer. Seeking the Lord that we might use the proper weapons. Proper weapon of our warfare, mighty through God, pulling down strongholds. So Anniston, verse number 24, sends the Lord down to Caiaphas. The trial was a as we said a mockery the Lord indicted Annas himself Sends him to Caiaphas to carry on the mock trial so that he could be brought before you know pilot, but you know back to back to Peter He denies the Lord before the little servant girl verse 25 he denies the Lord and before those that he's. Warming himself by the fire. Verse number. Eighteen we we left him. With the service law officers are stood there and made a fire coals that was it was cold outside the temperature of cold. They warm themselves and Peter stood with him and one himself and we pick him back up. Their personal twenty five and stood by warm himself they said unto him are you not also one of his disciples. He denied it, and said, I am not. Verse 26, one of the servants of the high priest, being his kinsman, whose ear Peter cut off, said, Did I not see thee in the garden with him? Peter denied again, and immediately the cock crew. Three times Peter denies the Lord. If we stand where Peter's standing, upon his own strength, we're going to deny the Lord. Not just once, multiple times. We must stand upon the rock and we're going to find ourselves using the wrong weapon. We're going to find ourselves responding in the wrong way. We're going to find ourselves using the weapons of the world in our warfare. The Lord says, put that back in its sheath. That belongs to the world. That's not for you. Don't think that you can handle it. Peter couldn't handle it. Don't think that I can handle it. Peter couldn't handle it. We can't handle it on our own. We must look unto the Lord. Or we're going to live before others in a way that denies Christ. Anytime you pick up a weapon of the world's warfare, you're denying Christ. Anytime we do anything other than look unto him, who's the author and finisher of our faith. Anytime we do anything other than pray and watch and pray that we not enter into temptation, we're going to find ourselves using the wrong weapon. We find ourselves denying the Lord, maybe not denying the Lord in the way that Peter does in saying, I know him not. But our actions are saying that before men, if we respond to men the wrong way, our actions are saying, I deny him, I deny him, I deny him, just as Peter did. And we'll find ourselves responding the way that Peter did, going up and weeping bitterly and saying, why? Why did I do that? Why don't I respond that way? The Lord help us to respond by using the weapons that He's given us to use and not the weapons of this world's warfare, but the ones that are mighty through God.