Today we have a rather lengthy text to read, and some of this may be a revisiting of what we've previously looked at. However, I want to try and cover a lot of ground today. And some of this we may revisit next week, but I want to cover this morning the subject of Peter's fall, Peter's fall. And so in order to gather it all up in the context, I want to begin reading the verse 27. And I'm gonna read all the way down to the end of the chapter. Mark chapter 14, begin in verse 27. Jesus saith unto them, all ye shall be offended because of me. We looked at last time that all you shall be offended, all you shall fall away or stumble because of me this night. For it is written, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered. But after that I am risen. I will go before you into Galilee. But Peter said unto him, although all shall be offended, yet will not I. Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, that this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. But he spake the more vehemently, if I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise. Likewise also said they all. And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane. And he saith to his disciples, sit ye here while I shall pray. And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed and to be very heavy. And saith unto them, my soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death, tarry ye here and watch. And he went forward a little and fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee. Take away this cup from me, nevertheless, not what I will, but what thou wilt. And he cometh and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? Couldst not thou watch one hour? Watch ye and pray, Lest ye enter into temptation, the spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak. And again, he went away and prayed and spake the same words. When he returned, he found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy, neither wist they what to answer him. He cometh the third time and saith unto them, sleep on now, take your rest, it is enough. The hour is come, behold, the son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise up. Let us go, lo, he that betrayeth me is at hand. And immediately, while he yet spake, cometh Judas, one of the twelve, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders, He that betrayed him had given him a token, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, the same as he, take him, lead him away safely. And as soon as he was come, he goeth straightway to him and saith, Master, master, and kissed him. They laid their hands on him and took him. And one of them that stood by drew a sword, and smote a servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear. And Jesus answered and said unto them, Are ye come out as against a thief, with swords and with staves to take me? I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and you took me not. But the scriptures must be fulfilled, and they all forsook him and fled. There followed him a certain young man having a linen cloth cast about his naked body and the young men laid hold on him. He left the linen cloth and fled from them naked. They led Jesus away to the high priest and with him were assembled all the chief priests, the elders and the scribes. Peter followed him afar off even into the palace of the high priest. And he sat with the servants and warmed himself at the fire. And the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put him to death and found none. For many bear false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together. And there arose certain and bear false witness against him saying, we heard him say, I will destroy this temple. that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands, but neither so did their witness agree together. The high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest thou nothing? What is it which these witness against thee? But he held his peace and answered nothing against the high priest, asked him and said unto him, art thou the Christ, the son of the blessed? And Jesus said, I am. And you shall see the son of man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest ran his clothes and saith, what need we yet any further witness? You've heard the blasphemy, what thinking, and they all condemned him to be guilty of death. And some began to spit on him and to cover his face, to buffet him and to say to him, prophesy, and the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands. And as Peter was beneath in the palace, there cometh one of the maids of the high priest. And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked upon him and said, art thou, and thou wast with Jesus of Nazareth. But he denied, saying, I know not, neither understand I what thou sayest. He went out into the porch and caught crew, and a maid saw him again and began to say to them that stood by, this is one of them. And he denied it again. And a little after they that stood by said again to Peter, surely thou art one of them for thou art a Galilean. Thy speech agreeth thereto, and he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not this man of whom you speak. And the second time the cock crew, Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him before the cock crowed twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon, he wept. Let's again pray. Our Father in heaven, how thankful we are for this time that we have to be able to open your word and to look at the scriptures which have been recorded for us, Lord. How thankful we are for the fact that we have a Savior who endured so much for us. Lord, even as we consider the lesson before us in the life of Peter, Lord, let us also consider the joy of our Savior in it all. Our Father, Lord, I thank you that we have life and we have it more abundantly even at this hour. Lord, help us. How thankful we are that we serve a risen savior who conquered death, hell, and the grave. Use us for thy name's honor and glory and keep us faithful until that time comes that you call us home to be with you. where it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. In this text, we read of much, actually. And as you, who are students of the scriptures, you take and you parallel the gospels. You know that much happened the night that our Lord was betrayed. Tonight, or this morning, We will consider sampling Mark's account of it. And for this message, I want us to narrow in on Peter's fall, Peter's fall. Every word that is given to us is for our learning. It's for our growth. It's given for a reason. And as I considered the message for today, I wanted to consider Peter's fall. And I thought about dividing it up. taking one section like I normally do and then going to the next and then the next, but I know it might be a week or two weeks or maybe a few weeks before we get to the end. And so I wanna just gather up everything that's in this passage. I also wanted to read this entire text with the understanding that this doesn't happen over several weeks. This is all together. Consider the weight of it all. My outline comes from an old book. I borrowed the outline. An old book that you may be familiar with. I am a as avid of a reader as I can be, working a full-time job, trying to raise a family and pastor a church. But this is a book that's been around for quite a while, a set of books called Handfuls on Purpose. And I'm sure Brother Reggie had a set of them. I know my grandfather had a set of them. Just about every preacher I know had a set of these books. They've been around for a long, long time. In fact, several of these sets have passed through my hands. I've given away several of them, and some of them I've sold. You know, times are tough. I've had to sell several of them, but they're just a set of outlines from different scriptures, and they're very handy. I'd forgotten about them. But I was just kind of looking through some things, dealing with Mark chapter 14. I came across this outline and thought, well, this is a good outline. And so if you want to jot down the outline, I'll go ahead and give it to you out front. Peter's Fall is the title. And number one, we're going to look at self-confidence. from verse 29, number two, proud boasting from verse 31, unwatchfulness from verse 37, cowardliness from verses 50 to 54, number five, ungodly company, excuse me, from verse 54, denying the Lord, verse 71, and then weeping, verse 72. And so, as you can see, that's the reason why I read the whole text, because there's a lot to cover dealing with his fall. And so, first of all, we notice Peter's self-confidence. Peter was very outspoken of the apostles. He was very self-confident. We're there, verse 29. In Mark chapter 14, verse 29, But Peter said unto him, although all shall be offended, although all shall fall away, although all shall stumble. You know, that's what that word offended means. Though all shall stumble, though all shall fall away, yet will not I. They might, others might, but not me, not me. That's Peter. Peter is very self-confident. Self-confident. Listen, beloved. It doesn't matter how great of a history you may have. It doesn't matter how well you may think you are. how mature you may think you are. Peter was a very mature kind of a apostle. He had seen some great things, no doubt. Been able to walk with the Lord and all of those things. But don't take confidence in yourself. Don't take confidence in yourself. These are the famous last words of many before a great fall. We all need to learn great humility. Over in Proverbs chapter 16, I love the book of Proverbs and you know, I often, maybe one of these days I'll be brave enough to try to preach through Proverbs, but it's a harder book to preach through verse by verse. But I tell you what, I tell you what, you take Proverbs and there's 31 Chapters in Proverbs. You take a chapter a day. Chapter a day. In your private devotions or as a family. Go through it in a month. It'll change your life. It'll change your family's life. Proverbs chapter 16. Proverbs chapter 16 and verse 18. Look what he says here. He says, pride goeth before destruction and in haughty spirit before a fall. Pride goeth before destruction and in haughty spirit before a fall. commenting on our text, J.C. Ryle and his excellent commentary, expository thoughts on Mark. I highly recommend, it's a part of a set, expository thoughts on the gospel. Recommended to me several years ago by Sam Wilson. He says, there is far more wickedness in all our hearts than what we know. We can never tell how far we might fall if once placed in temptation. There is no degree of sin into which the greatest saint may not run if he's not held up by the grace of God and if he does not watch and pray. The seeds of every wickedness lie hidden in our hearts, but they only need the convenient season to spring forth into a mischievous vitality. Oh, beloved, do not read of Peter or hear of the children of Israel or read about David or hear of some preacher or hear of some fallen saint and think, I'll never do that. Don't ever rejoice when someone falls. Don't ever say, they might, but I won't. Again, in Proverbs chapter 28, In verse 26, Proverbs 28, verse 26, says, he that trusteth in his own heart is a fool, but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered. He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. But whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered. Paul wrote about the Old Testament saints in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. 1 Corinthians chapter 10, beginning verse one, He says, moreover, brethren, I would not, that you should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea, were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted, neither be idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in one day three in 20,000, neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents, neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for in samples, and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore, he says, wherefore, Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed, lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. You see, we can't think more highly of ourselves than what we ought to think. And so we must be careful about this, about this self-confidence that Peter fell into. Secondly, Secondly, there was proud boasting, wasn't there? As Peter fell into this self-confidence, he had this proud boasting. And if you go back to our text there in Mark chapter 14 and verse 31, He spake the more vehemently, if I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise. If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise. But you know what? It wasn't just Peter. Maybe the others were encouraged by Peter, but the Bible records here, likewise also said they all. Now remember, this wasn't just supposition of what was going to happen. Jesus told them, all of you, in verse 27, If he were in Southeast Georgia, he would have said, all y'all, all y'all. Peter, James, John. All y'all have a problem with loyalty. All of y'all gonna fall away. All y'all are gonna stumble because of me this night. It's written, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered. Peter says, although that's gonna happen, it's not gonna happen to me. And he spoke the more vehemently. John Brodess pointed out in the Greek, he said, and he wrote this in the 1800s, he said that the Greek here indicates both frequent repetition and vehement utterance. It could be said that he kept saying insistently, Peter's like, look, this ain't gonna happen. I don't know, whatever you think's gonna happen, it ain't gonna happen. And the others were following right along with him. This goes along with self-confidence. They'd been warned by Jesus, but they trusted their hearts and their mouths more than they did him. Kind of reminds me of the modern-day atheist. Even though the evidence is to the contrary, the modern-day atheist is convinced that his heart is right. Paul said, in his heart, there's no God. And with his mouth, he's going about almost as a missionary, trying to convince other people that he's right. Thinking that if he keeps repeating it, when all the while he's trying to convince himself, trying to keep himself, thinking that if he says it often enough, that the evidence will be clear. Well, Jesus done said, all of you, all of you, Peter, and especially you, Peter, this day, even this night, before the cock crows twice, you're gonna deny me. And so, he's got this proud boasting going on. Thirdly, verse 37, he cometh, findeth them sleeping. So Jesus comes and He finds them sleeping, but He says to Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? Couldst not thou watch one hour? Unwatchfulness, unwatchfulness. Again, they were sleeping, but He singles out Peter because Peter has been specifically told this night before the cock crows twice, you're going to deny me three times. Peter's the one who with his mouth says, I'll die for you. I'm not going to deny you. So he's willing to die, he says, but he's not able to even watch with the Lord. Jesus says, couldn't you even watch for one hour? One hour. Again, you say you're going to die, but will you not live? Will you not watch? Will you not stand? It's easy to boast of something. It's easy to... Indeed. I believe as we go through this, reality begins to sink in in our hearts. our minds as we reflect on not only the life of Peter here, but also in our own hearts, in our own lives. Dying for the Lord is easy. If someone were to come in here and take us, if someone were to come in here and shoot the place up, we've died for the Lord. That's easy. The harder, the harder is living for the Lord. That's the harder. It takes work and sacrifice. It takes a denial of self, you see. Peter was willing to do the easy, I'll die with you. But he found the other to be harder, to deny the self, and indeed, do not we the same? Fourthly, when we find His cowardliness, verses 50 to 54, just as Jesus said, it says there in verse 50, they all forsook Him and fled. They all forsook Him. Where was their proud boasting? Where was their willingness to die. No, they forsook Him and fled. They all did. There followed a certain young man having a linen cloth cast about his naked body and the young man laid hold on him and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked and they led Jesus away to the high priest and with him were assembled all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes and Peter followed him afar off even into the palace of the high priest and he sat with the servants and warmed himself at the fire. This is a cowardly scene. Now, you and I, we could speculate on who the young man is, but the Bible doesn't give us his name. What we do know is this, that those who should have stuck close to the Lord didn't. You and I, we could speculate as well where we would have been in that scene. But again, we cannot trust our hearts. In spite of Peter and the others repeated in vehement utterance to the contrary, Jesus had told them that this would happen. They all forsook him and fled. If you and I were in that terrible scene that night, understand our own hearts. Over in Galatians chapter 6 and verse 1, Galatians 6 and verse 1, Going down to verse three, he says, Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, you which are spiritual, restore such in one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. You and I, we sit here and we read this, and we kind of say, well, those apostles, those disciples, they were terrible. They should have never done that. We shouldn't think too harshly about them. We ought not to think that we would be any different either. We're no better than them. In fact, the reality is we're not for the grace of God. You or me may not even have been following Him to begin with. God's grace is amazing. None of us can trust our own hearts, that is for sure. There are lessons to be learned in all of this. You say, well, but they have something that we don't have, and that is that he warned them. He told them that this would happen, that that night, they would be offended. That night, they would fall away. That night, they would stumble. And we don't have him here with us to tell us when we're going to fall and when we're going to stumble and all of that. And that is true. He's not here with us to audibly tell us, to warn us of the danger. But you know what? He has left us his word. And we know not to trust our hearts. We know the dangers. And indeed, each step in all of this, we see Peter going further and further, slipping. We go back to our text there in Mark chapter 14. I believe that's why this is recorded for us, so that we can learn and apply these things to our own lives and consider Certainly not meant for us to sit in judgment of Peter, to think that we're any better. But in verse 54, Peter followed him afar off, even into the palace of the high priest. He sat with the servants and warmed himself at the fire. Peter followed at a far distance. Peter followed at a distance. There are times in the Christian life when you don't feel as close to the Lord as what you once were. Remember, my grandfather used to have a sign hanging in his study. I often wondered where that sign went. I often looked at it as a child and wondered at it, but it said, not as close to the Lord as you once were. Reckon who moved? You see? He's not moved. But we do, don't we? We do. We drift. Peter was not where he should have been. And oftentimes, we're not where we're supposed to be either. Peter followed Jesus from a distance. Peter was still a follower of Jesus, but he was at a distance. Peter was following in with the wrong crowd. Don't that happen with us sometimes, too? Now, it may feel nice and cozy at the fire of the ungodly, but that's not where we should be hanging out. Sure, we need to get there sometimes Take the gospel. We can't be like the monks and the nuns and the whatever, you know, hold up, away from everybody else. We're not supposed to be like that, in solitary confinement, just surrounded by Christians. That time will come, but not until heaven. We're supposed to be separate from the world, but we're in the world. And so that means that we're gonna be around ungodly people. In fact, the Bible kind of gives us some direction about that. Over in the book of Psalms chapter one, Psalms chapter one. In verses one through three. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. So the psalmist says here, there's blessings. of being godly. Now, those blessings are, you don't walk into council the ungodly, you know, be careful, be careful, be careful who you take advice from, and don't stand in the way of sinners, sit and see the scornful, your delight is in the word of God, the law of the Lord. And in his word, his law, meditate day and night. To put it another way, over in 2 Corinthians 6, 2 Corinthians 6. Verse 14. being unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? What communion hath light with darkness? What concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God. As God has said, I will dwell in them, walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore, Come out from among them and be separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. And so we are told to go out into the world to witness, to preach the gospel. We're told to not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. What was Peter doing? Well, he was following the Lord at a distance, and he was sitting at the enemy's fire. It's a bad scene. In fact, what did that lead to? Well, look there in Mark chapter 14, it led to the sixth point there, denying the Lord. denying the Lord. You get unequally yoked together with unbelievers, you fall in the wrong camp, you follow the Lord at a distance, it's not too long until there's some compromise, falling into sin, denying the Lord, and that's exactly what happened with Peter. Even though he knew what the Lord had said was gonna happen, even though he knew he had been warned about this, in Mark chapter 14, verses 66 through 71. Look there. And as Peter was beneath in the palace, there cometh one of the maids of the high priest. When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked upon him and said, thou wast with Jesus of Nazareth. He denied, saying, I knew not, neither understand what thou sayest, and went out into the porch. And the cock crew, there's one. And the maid saw him again and began to say to them that stood by, this is one of them. Denied it again. A little after, they that stood by said again to Peter, surely thou art one of them, for thou art a Galilean and thy speech agreeth thereto. But he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not this man of whom you speak. And the second time the cock crowed, Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him before the cock crowed twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon, he wept." Well, once in the wrong crowd, only following Jesus at a distance, it wasn't long before he was denying the Lord. Oh, what a sad scene this was. Solomon had warned his son in Proverbs one, Proverbs chapter one beginning verse 10. Said my son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. If they say come with us, let us wait for blood. Let us lurk privately for the innocent without cause. Let us swallow them up alive as the grave and whole as those that go down into the pit. We shall find all precious substance. We shall fill our houses with spoil. Cast in thy lot among us, let us all have one purse. My son, walk not thou in the way with them. Refrain thy foot from their path. You see, he warned them for their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood. Be careful who your friends are. Be careful of the crowd that you hang out with. And lastly, as we consider Peter's fall, we see that there was weeping. When he thought about what the Lord had said, he heard that rooster crow. He thought about it and he wept. Peter's reflection on this, his bitter weeping, was the beginning, I believe, of a new upward movement By God's grace, the fallen apostle afterward rose again. Praise God! This was not the last time that we see of Peter. But you know, that next morning, there were two very miserable people in Jerusalem. And I want to point this out today, because this makes all the difference in the world. There were two very miserable men in Jerusalem. One was Peter and the other was Judas. Judas had betrayed the Lord and Peter had denied him. But how different was the result? Judas was suicidal. Peter was repentant. What was the difference? Peter knew the Lord. Peter trusted the Lord. Judas did not. And so, this morning, As we've considered Peter, I ask you, where are you today? Are you a follower of Jesus? Even if you're following at a distance, there's opportunity to draw near to him. There's so much that we can glean from this. We can learn from Peter. You know, Peter messed up. He sinned. He did wrong. But you read the rest of the book and you find out that wasn't the end of Peter. And even for Judas, since I mentioned him, you know, Judas didn't have to go out and hang himself. He was an imposter. There was still time for him to repent, but he didn't. He took the coward's way out. He could have repented, but he didn't. Time's up for Judas. I guarantee you, over the course of the last A couple thousand years, Judas has regretted every action that he did, including that terrible, terrible betrayal and suicide. Oh, repent, believe in Jesus. God's grace is great. even for the worst of sinners, He can save. Believe in Him. Trust Him. He died for fallen man, and I'm thankful that Even through all of those terrible things that happened to Jesus on that day, He still willingly went to the cross to die for sinners, including me, and you, and all of His people. May God hand a blessing to the preaching of His Word.