Well, Christians are those who have been forgiven for their sins and been saved by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ. And so the question this morning is, what does it mean to exercise such faith in Christ? Well, among many things, saving faith involves believing the truthfulness of God regarding his holy character, believing the wickedness of sin, the reality of judgment and hell, but also believing in the promise of the gospel. Saving faith trusts in God's promises. It believes in the finished work of Christ. It holds to God's forgiveness and it places one's whole life into his capable hands. In doing all this, however, saving faith also bears witness to Jesus Christ. That's what we want to focus on today. It unashamedly declares love and his love for the goodness of God and to save sinners. Jesus himself promises in Matthew 10.32, everyone who shall confess me before men, I will also confess him before my father who is in heaven. In other words, if you make me your own, I'll make you my own. That's what he's saying. But he adds, whoever shall deny me before men, I will also deny him before my father who is in heaven. Here is the disastrous danger of denying Christ. To receive the blessing of knowing God and having a relationship with Jesus Christ, and then to deny that connection of fellowship is the height of betrayal. And yet, so many times, professing believers have stumbled in their faith and denied the Lord before others. And the question for us to consider is, well, why does this happen? What does this mean when people do this and is it forgivable? We're going to explore these things today. And so if you have your copy of scripture, turn to Matthew chapter 26. We're going to go to the very end of this chapter, Matthew chapter 26. The end of Matthew 26 brings us into the midnight hours of Thursday evening into Friday morning. of Passover week in Jerusalem. In looking to rid themselves of Jesus, the religious leaders of Israel, the Sanhedrin, have conspired together with the help of Judas Iscariot to seize Jesus and to haul him in for a trumped-up trial that will eventually lead in his execution. By the time of his arrest outside the garden of Gethsemane, all the disciples have fled into hiding and Jesus is brought into the residential complex of the high priest Annas and his son-in-law Caiaphas. It is there that Jesus is falsely apprehended, falsely accused, falsely charged, and wrongly beaten. However, as all of this is taking place, one of the disciples makes his way back to see the results of the trial. Verse 58, we looked at this last week, verse 58 says, but Peter was following him at a distance as far as the courtyard of the high priest and entered in and sat down with the officers to see the outcome. And at that point, things begin to heat up. And so we look at Matthew chapter 26 starting in verse 69. Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard and a servant girl came to him and said, you too were with Jesus the Galilean. But he denied it before them all saying, I do not know what you're talking about. When he had gone out to the gateway, another servant girl saw him and said to those who were there, this man was with Jesus of Nazareth. And again, he denied it with an oath, I do not know the man. A little later, the bystanders came up and said to Peter, surely you too are one of them, for even the way you talk gives you away. Then he began to curse and swear, I do not know the man, and immediately a rooster crowed, But Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said, before a rooster crows, you will deny me three times. And he went out and wept bitterly. Now according to John chapter 18, we know that Peter was able to gain access to this complex here because of a connection that the apostle John himself had had. So John was connected somehow to the family of the high priest, and so he himself, he gets himself and Peter in to this residential complex. I don't know where John goes at this point, the text doesn't say. Both of these men get in, but it's really Peter here who remains in the courtyard. And it's hard to say how big of a courtyard this is, how big the house is, but certainly it's spacious enough for Peter to move around and sort of hide in the shadows. And so Jesus is inside Caiaphas' home at this point. He's being interrogated by the Sanhedrin. And at this point, this is where Peter begins to move around. He's standing outside in the courtyard. He's warming himself by a small fire. And then as he's standing there waiting around to see what's going to happen, somebody notices him. Again, verse 69 says, a servant girl. Some translations say a maid, but a servant girl came to him and said, you too were with Jesus the Galilean. Now at first, Peter is blending into this group of bystanders. He's certainly not making friends with the people that are there, but he's sort of mingling in this small crowd that is there. And Luke tells us here that this servant girl was a servant of the high priest. And according to Mark, she began to look intently at him. It's almost as if she's standing there and she's sort of looking against at him and sort of just analyzing, who is this guy? I don't recognize him, I don't know who this man is and where he came from. And something doesn't seem quite right to her. And then it sort of dawns on her who he probably is. And she says, you too were with Jesus the Galilean. Now this designation was less common for Jesus. He's normally called Jesus of Nazareth or the Nazarene. Galilean really would have been sort of a derogatory term. It's sort of a pejorative reference. Why do we say that? Well, Jerusalem at this time is filled with lots of rich and wealthy and educated people, people of high social status. the central city, the capital of all of Israel. And then you have these surrounding towns, these outskirt towns. And Galilee was the region of the north, and there were lots of podunk towns. It's almost as if Galilean is Gilmantonian. I mean, really out there, okay, in the middle of nowhere. And so he's a country folk, and so that's the idea. Aren't you one of those country folk that lives up in Galilee? And so that's the implication here, that they're looked down upon by the city folk. And so that's the judgment that the slave girl has to offer. Aren't you one of the Galileans? Aren't you with Jesus, the Galilean? And so she makes this judgment of Peter and he says, you too were with him, Jesus, the Galilean. But what does Peter say? Look at verse 70. This is the first of three denials that Peter gives here. Only just a few hours earlier, Jesus had told all the disciples in verse 31 that they were all going to flee. They're all going to run away and fall away that very night, to which Peter rejected that. Basically calls Jesus a liar without realizing what he's saying here. And he says, even though all may fall away because of you, I will never fall away. But already within a couple of hours, Peter has already fled into the night, and now he's denying his connection to the Lord. This word for deny, he denies being with the Lord, arneomai in the Greek, it refers to a denial or a refusal to acknowledge or even to disown. In the most extreme use of the word, it could be disown. At this point, really he's just denying knowledge here. He's evading the question, that's what he's doing. It's clear that this girl is asking in front of a group of people and he says to her, I do not know what you're talking about. This is the common tactic, and we know this tactic very well. It's a way to dodge an accusation. You want to make it seem so out of the blue or so out of context or out of reality that you can't even process it. Someone makes an accusation, you say, I don't even know what you're talking about. What are the words you're using? What are you even saying? It's a way to deflect. It's saying, I have no idea what you're talking about, and it makes the person who's asking the question second guess their question. Well, maybe I'm not being very clear with my question. Maybe I'm the one who's crazy. It's gaslighting, that's what it is. It's evasion. So that's Peter's first tactic. He doesn't want to say anything outright. He just says, I don't know what you're talking about. What do you mean? Now Peter, he's put on notice now. Now he realizes that someone is on his tail and he begins to move around. He's been trying to blend in with the crowd. He doesn't want to be identified. And so he leaves now the interior of the courtyard, however big it may be. He leaves and he huddles himself a little bit closer to the entrance of the gate of the compound. He's now moved toward the entrance, still probably with an ear shot or eye shot of where the trial is taking place. Verse 71. When he had gone out to the gateway, another servant girl saw him and said to those who were there, this man was with Jesus of Nazareth. A similar encounter now, and now we have a different servant girl, someone else. Again, she may also have been sort of a housemaid, a servant of this high priest. She sees Peter, perhaps she saw him with John on the way in because she might have been standing there, we don't know. But either way, she calls him out in front of this group of people. It's clear that there's somebody else there, and they're sort of standing in maybe like a semi-circle, and she speaks to him, but she's speaking to him in front of them, and the implication is that she wants to say this to get their attention. She says, this man was with Jesus of Nazareth. Again, this is a little bit different. It's the more common designation. Jesus of Nazareth was very common. Again, Nazareth was not a big town. It's Jesus' hometown. And it's hardly notable for being a reputable place. If you remember back when Nathaniel first hears that the Messiah was found in Nazareth, he replies to Philip in John 1 46, can anything good come out of Nazareth? The idea that the Messiah would come from this tiny little town with nothing in it, what do you mean he's coming from Nazareth? Why wouldn't he come from Jerusalem or somewhere else? So this idea that the Messiah, that Jesus is from this little tiny one-horse town of Nazareth, that's where he's from. And aren't you with Jesus of Nazareth? But she presses in on Peter. This man was with Jesus the Nazarene, verse 72. Again, he denied it, this time with an oath. I do not know the man. You see, he's intensifying the denial now. This is his second denial. This one's different. It's not evasion anymore. He's not trying to just dodge and sort of hide and sort of put the blame back on the person. He actually starts to defend himself against the accusation that he was, in fact, with Jesus. Matthew says that Peter denied it with an oath. He's pledging honesty now, even though he's lying. Even though he's lying. He makes this solemn oath. Not that he doesn't understand the implication. He's not saying, I don't know what you're talking about anymore. But now he goes so far as to say, I swear to you, I do not know the man. I don't know him. Now he's just digging himself deeper and deeper. Not only is he denying Christ, he's denying it with an oath. This is a solemn vow. But Scripture says in James 5.12, above all, my brethren, do not swear either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no no so that you will not fall into judgment. There's a danger when you swear an oath. It's one thing to just lie, but when you double down on the lie and you say, no, I swear to you, I am telling the truth, it intensifies it. It makes the lie worse. And that's what he's doing. This is beyond lying. Peter is placing himself in the danger of judgment by lying under oath. And so the night here progresses. Jesus' trial, which is happening off in the distance, continuing. And Luke tells us that about an hour later, Peter is confronted yet again for a third time. Verse 73, a little later, the bystanders came up and said to Peter, surely you too are one of them, for even the way you talk gives you away. At this point, there's a buzz going on in the courtyard. People are starting to talk now, because you can only go so far. There's only so much space in this little courtyard you can walk to, and the buzz is this. One of Jesus' disciples is here. He's somewhere in this space. We're trying to figure out where he is. I keep on hearing rumors, and now there's a group of bystanders that's sort of gathering around him, and they say to him, surely you too are one of them. You've gotta be. They don't connect with him, connect him to Jesus per se, but rather they're grouping him in with Jesus' followers now. If you notice that, he says, they say, you too are one of them. one of them. Well, how do they say this or why do they believe this? Well, it has to do with his accent. It has to do with the way he talks. And scholars have noted that they were speaking Aramaic, most likely. All these people would have been fluent in Hebrew. They would have known Greek because of the Roman occupation. But they also most likely all knew a third language, most of them spoke in Aramaic. But all the different accents of Aramaic, the pronunciations and the dialects of Aramaic would have been slightly different depending on where you were. And so the Galileans in the north would have pronounced Aramaic differently than the Judeans in the south. It's kind of like our version of north and south. When you meet a person up in New Hampshire who's got somewhat of a twang, you know that they're not from New Hampshire. They're probably from somewhere else. So that's what they're saying. Even the way that you're talking is giving you away. You're not from here. You have to be from up north. And so they're putting the pieces together now. They know that Peter is one of the Galilean followers. They're not just connecting to Jesus, they're connecting him to the entire group of followers now. You're with them, you're one of them, the followers of Jesus Christ. And now John's account helps us to understand why this is escalating the way it is. Because again, you have to read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John together synoptically. Even though John's account is slightly different, it gives us more information. John is filling in more gaps here. And according to John, which is written several decades even after Matthew here, John 18-26 records that one of the people in the crowd was a slave of the high priest and it says he was related to the one whose ear Peter had cut off. And that was, his name was Malchus, the slave that had his ear cut off, his name was Malchus. So one of Malchus's relatives is in the courtyard and he's working for the high priest. And somehow he knows what's going on and he says, he says to Peter, did I not see you in the garden with him, with Jesus? So one of these slaves was there when the arrest happens. One of the slaves was there witnessing the action, and in the very quick drama of the moment when Peter pulls out the sword, goes for the guy's head, misses and slices his ear off, and Jesus puts it back on and heals him, in all the craziness of that, one of these slaves is watching this happen. Wasn't that you? Didn't I see you in the garden? Isn't that what's happening here? And so not only had Peter been identified, but now he's starting to get hot under the collar because he believes he's been found out. Now one of the relatives of the guy that I attacked is on to me. So you see the pressure is beginning to mount here for Peter. And so will he admit to being with Jesus in the garden? Verse 74, then he began to curse and swear, I do not know the man. He is so insistent that he begins to pronounce a curse with an oath. To curse and swear here, it doesn't mean he's using profanity, that's not the sense of it. It's not that he's using profanity even though some renderings have seen it that he's just cursing and swearing and saying bad words. But really more of the sense of it is that he's now pronouncing a curse on himself. This is the sense of it. May God strike me dead if I'm lying. He's doubled down, he's tripled down now on his deception. May God strike me dead. He's cursing and he's swearing. I don't know the man. I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know Jesus. I wasn't there. I don't know. Now at this point we have to ask, why is Peter so insistent? Because again, just a couple hours before, he was ready to go. I mean, he pulled out a sword to defend Jesus. I mean, if that's not bravery, it's at least foolhardy. It's at least a little bit of courage somewhere, right? How did he go from Peter with a sword to I will never deny you, I will go to death for you, to now this? In a word, it's this. It is the fear of man. The fear of man. Because Peter here, he's fearing persecution. It's easy to talk a big game from your armchair. It's easy to be a hero of the faith from your computer, from your laptop. That's very easy. And people do it all the time. But once persecution is in your face, once the actual trial comes to you, it's very easy to be afraid. And that's where he was. He feared persecution. He feared retaliation from the religious leaders. He feared punishment for what he'd done in the garden. He feared pain. He feared loss. Why else would he run away? Why else would anybody run away? They were afraid. They were afraid. See, as believers, we need to fear God more than we fear man. In fact, I've heard it said that if you fear God, you will not fear man. But the problem is that we don't fear God enough. Furthermore, I would even add to that, we need to love God more than we love the praise of man. Because we all want to be liked. We all want someone else to think well of us. We want people to pat us on the back. We don't want to have any enemies, especially when it comes to Christianity, our religion. We don't want people to be angry with us. We don't want people yelling in our face and calling us bad names. We love the praise of man. But the Apostle Paul talks about this with regard to faithfulness to the gospel. He writes in Galatians 1.10, because again, the gospel is at stake, and Paul says this, am I now seeking the favor of man or of God? Or am I striving to please men? He says this, if I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. You can't have it both ways. You can't be man's best friend and then be God's best friend. You can't please man and please God. Now sometimes maybe you won't be persecuted for your faith and sometimes you'll get away scot-free, but when push comes to shove, when you really take a stand for what God teaches about himself, sin, judgment, gospel, life, death, morality, when you take a stand for truth, you will be persecuted. It's inevitable. You can't have it both ways. If you are seeking approval from the world, you will not be approved by God. You just won't. But if you seek to honor God, yes, maybe you will be hated and persecuted. Didn't Jesus say, if they persecute me, they will persecute you? He promised, even before he went to the cross, he told the disciples, they're gonna persecute me, therefore they'll persecute you. It's gonna happen. And so therefore, we must be ready, not just to suffer for the cause of Christ, but also to be prepared to confess Him before the screams and the curses of the crowd. Have you ever had that happen to you before where someone asks you point blank, are you a Christian? And how do you feel in those moments? When someone just blindsides you with it, do you get nervous? Do you get excited? How do you respond? What's happening in your heart? What takes place in your heart when your faith is right in front of you? That's a good way to test whether your allegiance is really to God or to man. Now, it is difficult because you know that as soon as someone asks you that or finds you out, there's a possibility they're gonna come after you. Oh, you're one of those, aren't you? You're one of those born-agains. You're one of those evangelicals. You're one of those Bible-thumpers. Yes, I am, right? There's a temptation, though, to want a coward to back away. But Peter wasn't ready to stand. The fear of man had led him to deny Christ, and not just once, and not just twice, but three times he denied the Lord Jesus Christ. And as soon as that third denial happens, the text says immediately, rooster crowed. It's almost the text reads as if as soon as he says, I do not know the man, the rooster crows immediately. Luke 22 61 tells us that no sooner did the rooster crow that Jesus turned and looked at Peter. Now, we don't know the scenario. We don't know how far away Peter is to Jesus. We don't know if he was being led out of one of the rooms to go to the other side of the courtroom. And as he's passing, he looks at Peter. We don't know the situation, but somewhere they're in eyesight of each other. And as soon as the rooster crows, Jesus hears it. He knows where Peter is. He looks at him with a laser in his eye, so to speak. And as soon as that happens, as soon as Jesus locks eyes with Peter, the text says, Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said only hours before. And what is it that Jesus said? Verse 34, truly I say to you that this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. Jesus' words have been fulfilled. And suddenly, it hits Peter. He realizes what he's done. And here's the kicker, here's the hardest part of the whole thing. Despite the fact that Peter was called to follow, Peter didn't sign up. Jesus called him to follow. Despite walking with Jesus for three years, despite being drawn into Jesus's inner circle, I mean, Peter was on the Mount of Transfiguration. He saw things that no one else has ever seen, despite walking on water. Remember that? Peter walks on water by faith, and even when he starts to slip and drown, Jesus grabs him and pulls him into the boat. He witnessed that, he was part of that. Despite receiving Jesus' love and friendship and teaching, despite being chosen for a salvation, Peter denied his Lord, his Master, he denied his best friend. And then once he realized what he had done, the text says, he went out and wept bitterly. Bitterly. This idea of weeping bitterly, the Greek, it's loud crying, sobbing, lament. It's when a person just becomes absolutely unhinged and they cannot stop the tears and they're just pouring out sorrow upon sorrow. His heart caved in at the thought of what he'd done. He went out and wept bitterly. Now, at face value, when you just look at the text cold, only here, it looks like this is the end for Peter, doesn't it? Because if you were to read ahead the next 10 verses, the very next account is Judas realizing his betrayal and how it ends for him. So if you're a casual reader of scripture, you're thinking, oh no, Peter's done for. His end is sure. Because remember Jesus' words, if you deny me before men, I will deny you before my Father who is in heaven. It would appear that Peter had committed some sort of unpardonable sin. That is until we consider verses like 2 Timothy 2, verses 12 and 13. Sort of a minor hymn, sort of a hymn structure inside of Paul's letter to Timothy. And it goes something like this. If we endure, we will also reign with him. Then Paul says this. If we deny him, he will also deny us. That was Jesus' sentiment. But then he says this. If we are faithless, he remains faithful. because he cannot deny himself. So often, Peter acts as though his faith and his ministry are based only on his faithfulness. Haven't we seen that pattern from Peter over and over again? Oh Lord, I'm gonna follow you to death. Oh, Lord, I'm gonna take up a sword for you. Oh, I'll go to prison for you, Lord. Oh, I'm gonna walk out on the boat after you. Where are you going? We'll follow. Peter was all about sort of charging the hill with Jesus, very man-centered. He, remember the arguments between the disciples, Peter, he wanted to be regarded as the greatest in the kingdom. He was gonna follow Christ to prison and death. He was gonna defend Christ with the sword. He was never going to deny him. But what Peter failed to realize is that it had only and ever been Jesus holding him up. It wasn't ever Peter at all. The only reason Peter was able to stand is because of Christ. I mean, case in point, on the water. That can't be Peter, can it? No. Jesus is the faithful one, not Peter. Jesus. And here's the thing, Jesus wasn't done with him yet. In fact, it's quite the opposite. But here's the thing, Peter, like all of us, would need to be humbled before he could be useful to the Lord. And what was it that Peter's betrayal did? What did Peter have to offer at that point? Did Peter have to offer any gifts? Devotion? Courage? Sword? What did he have to offer the Lord? Nothing. You know what he offered the Lord here? His tears. That's all he had. Psalm 51 verses 16 and 17. For you, O Lord, do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it. You are not pleased with burnt offering. What does the Lord want then? The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, oh God, you will not despise. Yes, Peter had denied the Lord, but he bore the fruit of repentance. That's what we see here. His own sin broke his heart, it ruined him. He went out and he wept bitterly. He became unglued by his own sin. He couldn't stand to remain in the Lord's sight anymore in such shame, so he fled again. This time, not out of cowardice. He didn't run away because he was in trouble anymore. He ran away because he knew what he'd done. And he just couldn't stand anymore. And so he flees into the night, choking on his own tears out the door. Now, if you were only reading Matthew's Gospel, you would notice something, that Peter's name never mentions ever again in this gospel. We know he's there in the disciples, but he's never mentioned again by name. However, we know that he's there, we know he appears, and we know that Peter's story is not done. Turn over to John chapter 21 in your copy of scripture. John 21. Again, John is writing several decades after the other gospel writers and he's filling out more information for us. And John is recording here the events that are taking place not too long after the resurrection. Jesus at this point begins appearing again to the disciples. And not only did he appear to validate his truth claims, but he's also there to prove that he truly did rise again. He shows himself to the disciples to be a flesh and blood proof that everything I told you about my resurrection is true, I'm here with you. I told you I would die, I told you I'd be buried, I told you I would rise and here I am. And so he appears to the disciples. But in doing this, in appearing to the disciples, he also has marching orders for them. He's also preparing them for gospel ministry. And on this specific day in John 21, the Lord appears to the disciples who are on the shore after they've been out fishing. He calls them out of the boat. They come to shore after this trip. He sits them down on the beach and they have breakfast together. I love accounts like this where Jesus just does very normal things with his disciples. And so they're gathered around a small fire, they're eating some fish, and now at some point in the course of the morning, Jesus turns his attention back to Simon Peter, and we read about this in John 21, verse 15. So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, tend my lambs. He said to him again a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, shepherd my sheep. He said to him a third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. Jesus said to him, tend my sheep. Three times, Peter had denied the Lord. He denied even knowing Him, let alone loving Him. Three times here, Jesus gives him an opportunity to recommit his love. Three times, however, Jesus also charged him with the responsibility now of caring for other people. It's amazing, and I could spend a lot more time on this today, and maybe someday I will again, But what's happening here is not only is Peter forgiven, not only does he have an opportunity to declare his love, but he's also given an opportunity for ministry. Jesus wraps all this together. Forgiveness, restoration, call to ministry, all at one time. See, Jesus didn't let Peter wallow in the despair. He didn't let him just suffer from these feelings of guilt and shame over unforgiveness. Instead, Jesus restores and He forgives him. We know that this is how this is because at this point, Peter keeps on moving. We know he serves the Lord. He's restored. He has something to do now. And so, yes, denying Christ is damnable. And sadly, it's happened to many Christians. Not too many weeks ago, we talked about the story of Thomas Cranmer. the reformer in England who denied his faith and then later recanted, and when he was burned at the stake, he held out the hand that signed his recantation so it would burn first. I mean, this happens in the course of human history. This happens in church history where people struggling in the flesh, struggling in sin and doubt, they deny Christ. But here's the thing. Yes, denying Jesus is damnable, but it is not unforgivable. Because God's grace, if we confess our sins, even the sins of denying Him, if we confess our sins, the Bible says He is faithful and just. 1 John 1-9 does not say that if we confess our sins, if it's good enough for Him, He might respond. No. The Bible says God is the one who is faithful. God is the one who is just. And God is the one who forgives. And He promises to forgive. What is the only sin that cannot be forgiven? That's the sin of hardened unbelief. When a person says, I will not believe, and they go to their grave with a hardened heart and a stubborn hand and they will not confess Christ, that is unforgivable. Because there's no faith there, there's no love there, there's no submission there. But when a person is broken down, And they bow the knee to Christ. And they say, Lord, I've lived my life apart from you. I've rebelled against you. I've failed to keep your law. I've failed to obey you. I've failed to love others the way that you have loved me. I've failed to forgive others. I've been prideful. I've been arrogant. I've been self-serving. Whatever it is, when they bow the knee with a humble and contrite heart, the Bible teaches that that is actually beautiful in the sight of God. A sinner who is humbled. Does not Jesus say in Matthew 5, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven? When we humble ourselves before God and we confess to him, not just that he is the Christ, but we confess that we desperately need him and we need salvation by him, he receives us with open arms. regardless of what you've done. And you might say, my sins are too great. Pastor, you don't even know what I've done. You have no idea what I've done. I don't. And frankly, I don't care to, but he knows. And the Bible says he is faithful to forgive. So whatever your past, whatever your sins, whatever the hardness that you have had in your own heart, confess that. The problem is that we're too proud to repent. We're too proud. That was Judas' problem. Judas would rather die than repent to the Lord. But not Peter. Peter didn't go out and drink himself into oblivion and take his own life. That's not what he did. He went out and he went inward. He confessed. He wept bitterly. He knew what he'd done. And so I want to make my personal entreaty to you. What have you done? And you might say, if only people knew my past, what's going on inside my heart, I would not be forgiven. It's wrong. God will, can and will forgive any and every sin that is confessed. He is faithful and he is just. He will not deny himself, even when we're faithless. And so come to Christ. and even believers who are still wrestling. Yes, I believe in Jesus for salvation, but there's this little pet sin over here. There's something I just can't quite bring to the table. I can't bring it to the cross. Bring it. Cleanse your hearts before the Lord. Don't deny him by your deeds. Repent and return to the Lord. Renew your love for him. Have an opportunity, take the opportunity to tell him, Lord, I love you, and I confess to you, and I don't wanna deny you, and be merciful to me, Lord, help me not to deny you. Again, not just by your words, but by your deeds as well. Again, if we are faithless, he remains faithful. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we're grateful to you. Lord, these kinds of texts are challenging, Because, Lord, all we see in the text is sin. All we see is denial of Christ, denial of Christ, denial of Christ. All we see is the guilt and the shame and the bitterness of sin. And yet, Lord, when we look at this passage and we look through the lens of Scripture to behold all that is present here, In this gospel and in all the scriptures, we see that this text, these verses are dripping with your grace. That even though Peter denied you, and Lord, dare we not think ourselves any better that we would not deny you because isn't that what Peter said to you, oh Lord? And yet we have the same propensity in our own hearts to deny you. And yet we know that you are the faithful one, that you glorify yourself in redeeming and rescuing lost people. And so, Lord, I pray that you would soften our hearts, humble us, O Lord. And we know, just as Christians, that so often the humbling that we need comes through trials and afflictions. And Lord, even standing here this morning, I know that there are so many in this church who are in seasons of trial and affliction. Lord, some of them are sick and hurting. Some of them are stuck in immorality and besetting sins that are just eating them alive. Some of them are in relational struggles where they're warring with people. Some of them are struggling in financial woes and don't know how they're going to pay their next bill. Some of them are struggling with spiritual depression. They can't even get out of their bed in the morning. Lord, your people are at times afflicted, but Lord, will you please use these afflictions and trials and difficulties as chastening, as beloved chastening to bring us into stronger faith and trust in you. Lord, will you, by this chastening, humble us, remove pride and pretension, soften our stony hearts, O Lord, and draw us to you by your grace. Lord, help us not to deny you again by words, by heart, by deeds, but let us, Lord, run to you with faith and with endurance. Let us love you, O Lord. You are our heart's desire. And Lord, we know, bought by you through your precious blood on the cross, that our hearts do not deny you. You are the one who redeemed us, oh Lord, and you are the one who will bring us home. We praise you, almighty God, and we thank you for the love and the salvation and the forgiveness of sins that we have through the cross of Jesus Christ. We praise you in his name, amen.