Let's open our Bibles to Mark 14 again this morning. Gospel of Mark, chapter 14. Let me begin by reading a harmony of the Gospels, their account of these events, and then we'll walk through Mark's account. This harmony begins after the first denial of Peter. where Luke writes, and after a little while, when Peter had gone out to the gateway, the servant girl saw him again and began to say to those who stood by, this is one of them. Another girl saw him and said to those who were there, this fellow also was with Jesus of Nazareth. And another saw him and said, you also are one of them. Now Simon Peter stood and warmed himself. Therefore they said to him, you are not also one of his disciples, are you? But Peter denied it again with an oath and said, man, I am not. I do not know the man. A little later, after about an hour had passed, Those who stood by came up and said to Peter, Surely you also are one of them, for you are a Galilean, and your speech shows it, and it betrays you. Another confidently affirmed, saying, Surely this fellow also was with him, for he is a Galilean. One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of him whose ear Peter cut off, said, did I not see you in the garden with him? Then he denied again and began to curse and swear. Man, I do not know what you are saying. I do not know this man of whom you speak. Immediately, while he was still speaking, The rooster crowed a second time. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times. And when he thought about it, Peter went out and wept bitterly. Fear causes us to do things we never imagined we would do. Fear can prevent us from doing the things that we should do. But so often, like Peter, fear causes us to do things we never imagined we would do. We never imagined we would minimize our witness for Christ, but fear of rejection from others caused us to cave in and remain silent when truth should have been spoken. We never imagined we would live much of our lives wearing a mask to cover our past, but fear of humiliation and shame led to living in the safety of isolation. We never imagined we would choose a path of sin, knowing it was contrary to what God commands, but fear of not being accepted by our friend group was more powerful than our determination to follow Christ faithfully. We never imagined becoming cold and distant from other people, but fear of ridicule caused us to spend our lives building walls to keep people at bay, to be safe. We never imagined we would make a major life decision based upon our own wisdom and not God's. But the fear of hearing, I told you so, prevented us from humbling ourselves to admit that we were wrong and that we need to get back on track with the Lord. Fear causes us to do things we never imagined we would do. Scripture contains numerous examples of the fears and failures of common people like you and me. Take Aaron, for example. When Moses was up on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments, Aaron caved into the pressure of the people to want a God that they could see. They didn't want to continue to follow this God who was not visible to them, and so they gave all of their jewelry and threw it into the fire and made a golden calf. And when confronted by Moses, Aaron said, you know the people that they are set on doing evil. Blame shifting. common response. Or take Saul, the first king of Israel who was commanded to kill the wicked Amalekites and destroy all of their livestock and instead Saul kept the king alive and plundered the livestock. And when he finally owned up to what he had done, he said to Samuel the prophet, I have sinned for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words because I feared the people. And I obeyed their voice. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians that these events were recorded for our instruction. that we can learn from these fears and failures of others. So what can we learn from Peter's denial of Jesus the morning before his crucifixion? Only hours earlier, Peter had boldly confessed to Jesus, even though all the others might fall away, I will never And yet here we see him, a matter of hours later, denying Jesus three times. And lest we be judgmental and come down hard on Peter, let me jog your memory a bit. Let me remind you that we are cut out of the same bolt of cloth that Peter was. We have often been ashamed of Jesus. So what can we learn from this heart-wrenching account of Peter and his denial of the Lord Jesus? There are two admonitions that we can draw from this passage. Number one, learn from Peter how deceit and denial often result from fearing people more than God. From Peter's denial, we learn that fear of other people may powerfully persuade us to not be fully honest with others and to be disloyal to the Lord Jesus. You might wonder, why do we fear people? It's such a common experience for us. Well, there are many reasons, but biblical counselor Ed Welch summarizes them really well in his excellent book, When People are Big and God is Small. He says, we fear people because they can expose and humiliate us. And so we come under their power. We fear people because they can reject, ridicule, or despise us. None of us like to be rejected. None of us like to be despised, of course. And we fear people because they can attack or threaten us. What is the fear of man? Well, Welch gives a good concise definition. He says, we replace God with people. That's a summary of the fear of man. We replace God with people. Instead of a biblically guided fear of the Lord, we fear others. And as Proverbs says, the fear of man is a snare. It's a trap. We end up being trapped and living our lives based upon what we want to get out of people in regard to approval and affirmation and don't do the things that we should do because we fear being rejected by others. How often we fear other people. As adults, we can sometimes look at teenagers and say, oh, they give into peer pressure all the time. And you know why teens struggle with peer pressure? It's because they're becoming adults. Becoming more like us. We fear people. We just call it other things. People-pleasing. The world calls it codependency. It's all the same. It's regarding people more than you regard God. Regarding people and their opinion of you more than what God thinks of you. So often we spend so much of our lives pleasing people rather than pleasing God. So this tendency to replace the approval of God with the acceptance of people is what we see fleshed out here in Peter's failure. Look at the passage with me, Mark 14, beginning in 66. And as Peter was below in the courtyard, so other things were happening upstairs, okay, in regard to the illegal trial of the Lord Jesus, but Peter was below outside in the courtyard, it was a cold night, and so he was warming himself around the fire And one of the servant girls of the high priest came, and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, you also were with the Nazarene Jesus. But he denied it, saying, I neither know nor understand what you mean. And he went out into the gateway, and the rooster crowed. And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, this man is one of them. But again, he denied it. And after a little while, the bystanders again said to Peter, certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean. but he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, I do not know this man of whom you speak. You see how fear of people caused Peter to be deceitful and then to deny the Lord Jesus himself? The cure for fear of people, of course, is fear of God. A greater fear of the Lord than we have of the fear of people. A greater desire to be pleasing and approved by God than we have to please other people and be accepted by them. When we fear God, we don't go around acting in such a way that we are asking for people to reject us and ridicule us and despise us. That would be absurd, that would be a false kind of prideful means of lifting yourself up above others. But what Scripture does say is as we quietly live for the Lord in our lives in godliness, and we then verbally testify of our faith in the Savior, that we're ready, we're willing to receive the rejection of other people. to accept that it's part of what it means to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said, if they hated me, they'll hate you too. And so this understanding of the fear of man being squelched by a greater fear of God is so important for us. Thankfully, the story of Peter's failures and fears does not end here. I'm so thankful that it doesn't end here. It didn't end here for him, it doesn't end here for us. Which brings us to the second admonition that we can draw from this passage, and that is, look to Jesus for compassion and the grace to move past your regrets and redeem your failures. Now look at verse 72. Really a painful verse in Scripture, isn't it? And immediately, so immediately after Peter spoke that third denial and actually brought a curse down upon himself in swearing before God. In a sense he was saying, may God damn me if this is true. That's how deeply he denied Jesus. And immediately the rooster crowed a second time, and Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times. And he broke down and wept. And another of the gospel writers tells us that When the rooster crowed, Peter looked up at Jesus and Jesus looked at him. What a look that must have been. Scripture doesn't describe the look, but I can imagine there was some hurt in Jesus's eyes. pain he felt for his beloved disciple. And yet, I also imagine Peter singing compassion. Compassion in the eyes of the Savior and grace And the reason I can believe that and see that in my mind's eye is because of other scriptures that testify of how Jesus didn't leave Peter in this spot. Jesus didn't leave Peter in his failure. But he drew near to him, he restored him, And he used him for his purposes and for his glory. And are we not glad for that? How often we have failed our Savior who has never failed us. And he draws near and he forgives and he restores. And so instead of Peter's story ending with his sins and failures, Scripture shows how Jesus graciously restores Peter to usefulness in ministry. I want you to look with me at some places where we see this evident. Turn first to the Gospel of John in verse, excuse me, chapter 21, so John 21, This is another powerful passage of Scripture which we are all so thankful the Holy Spirit included in the pages of God's Word. But Jesus has risen from the dead at this point. So I know we're chronologically getting ahead of the story, but John's the only one who records this and this is so important for us to see on the heels of Peter's failure. But Jesus has risen from the dead and he has appeared now to some of the disciples. They were fishing and they didn't get anything and so he then caused their nets to be filled with fish and Peter being so excited about what was happening and knowing that it was Jesus just jumped off the boat into the water and was so thrilled to see the Lord Jesus. And yet Like us, Peter probably had a little bit of fear and anxiety in him, wondering how would Jesus now speak to him since he hadn't seen him since the denial. And so Jesus invites Peter to breakfast, a breakfast on the beach with Jesus. Our men's breakfast is really good, but I kind of think nothing measures up to breakfast with Jesus on the shore of the sea. When they had finished breakfast, verse 15 says, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? very significant question. Do you love me more than these? Remember? Fear of man is loving people more than we love God, and then being influenced by what we think they think of us, and what approval and acceptance we want from them. And Jesus says to Peter, Do you love me more than these? Do you fear me more than people?" He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, feed my lambs. He said to him 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, tend my sheep. And he said to him the 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 everything. You know that I love you. Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. Why did Jesus ask Peter this question three times? Well, surely it was to demonstrate the depth of his forgiveness Peter denying him three times and to demonstrate the fullness of his restoration to usefulness that that the grace of Jesus was sufficient for Peter and overflowed to such an extent that Christ could redeem Peter's failures and restore him to the walk of discipleship. Isn't this just one of the greatest truths about the God whom we love and serve, that he is able to take anything in our lives, any level of brokenness, whether we brought it upon ourselves or if it was brought upon us by the world or the evil of other people, and he can restore us and he can redeem it. He is the God who specializes in bringing beauty out of ashes. And so I don't know what levels of brokenness you have experienced, even those failures, and use them for His glory and His purposes. I mean, surely when Peter saw Jesus again, surely he must have wondered whether or not his failures had rendered him useless to the Savior. And yet, what does Jesus say to him? Follow me. He predicts his death in verse 18, that is, Peter's death is predicted by Jesus. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go. And Mark says, this he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God. Jesus sang to Peter, you're going to have many more years, and you're going to walk with me, and you're going to serve me, and you're going to die for me. You're going to stretch out your hands. And church history says that Peter was crucified, but he insisted that he'd be crucified upside down. because he did not consider himself worthy to die the same way Jesus died. And after saying this, he said to him, verse 19, what? Follow me. See what Jesus says to him? Follow me. He doesn't say, you're a loser, Peter, Three times you failed me, I'm just gonna have to find someone else. It's not how the Lord Jesus works. He looks at us, he asks, do you love me? And we of course should respond, yes, Lord, I love you. And he says, then let me redeem all of your failures and use them for my glory. Let me take all of your brokenness. Let me take the ways in which you feel your life has been a disaster. And let me redeem them. Let my grace flood over you and use you. So instead of rejecting Peter, what does Jesus do? He fully accepts him, he restores him. The book of Acts tells us that the Lord Jesus sent his spirit and the spirit of God empowered Peter to preach on the day of Pentecost. 3,000 people were saved and baptized and added to the church. Our flesh says, yes, excellent, great, Peter must have never struggled again with the fear of man. Wrong. Because then we read in the book of Galatians how the Apostle Paul had to confront Peter because he gave into fear of the Judaizers and he was willing to compromise the gospel of grace because he feared people more than God. And yet, the Lord continued to use him. For 30 years after his denial, Peter was used by God. And Peter learned his lesson. Doesn't mean he was perfect after that, but it does mean that he learned his lesson, so much so that near the end of his life, he never forgot his failures and how God was working in him through his grace. And this is really an important principle for us to remember. We may feel fully forgiven and restored by the Lord, but we might still remember our failures. Forgiveness doesn't mean that our memory is erased. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. So remembering our past failures is not a sin, but it may be used by the Lord to cause us to grow in grace. Greater love for Jesus and the receiving of the forgiveness that he offers to us, but also I think a greater level of grace toward other people. Why is it sometimes we are so impatient and judgmental with other people in their failures? Perhaps it is because we have forgotten how many times we have failed and need grace. Remembering our failures can be healthy if and only if we look back to God in gratitude and we don't allow our past to imprison us. So we don't remember our failures to be crippled by them, but we remember them to rejoice in the grace of God. and to learn to be increasingly dependent upon him in order to be faithful. We see this in Peter's two letters, if you'll turn there to the right, 1 Peter and 2 Peter. I just want to show you two examples of why I'm convinced that Peter continued to remember the grace that Jesus had shown to him. In 1 Peter 3, verse 13, he writes, Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled. He exhorts these suffering believers to not fear people more than they fear God. But instead, in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy. That's another way of saying, fear him, elevate him, reverence him, adore him, Always being ready to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect. Having a good conscience so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. Fear God more than you fear people, is what he's saying. Look at 2 Peter. Second letter. Turn to the right, page or two in your Bible. Chapter 1. He has been spending most of chapter 1 basically saying, be steadfast, keep growing in grace, And in verse 12 he says, Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. Peter knows his life will soon be over, and as he's writing this final letter, he says, I want to place these things before you for your reminder. Be steadfast, grow in grace. In fact, if you turn to the very end of the book, what is the very last thing Peter writes before he dies? Verse 18, but grow in the grace and knowledge. of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Keep growing in both grace and knowledge. Don't only grow in knowledge of Christ, but also grow in grace. And this is where I believe memory of our past failures that God preserves in our minds can be redeemed and used to help us to become more gracious with one another, to be more accepting of one another. and accepting of the forgiveness that God offers to us. So keep growing in the depth of your understanding of just how gracious our Savior is and how he returns to us repeatedly saying, I know you have failed me, return, follow me. He's saying that to us as he said it to Peter. As I prepared this sermon, I was reminded of the words of Robert Murray McShane, a pastor in the Church of Scotland who died at the young age of 30. And in his memoirs, these words are preserved. Listen to this. Learn much of the Lord Jesus. For every look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ. Think of that, okay? Don't dwell on yourself, don't dwell on your failures, don't dwell on your past, don't dwell on your sins, but every time your memory causes you to take a look at yourself, then take 10 looks at Jesus. Why does he say this? He goes on, he is altogether lovely. such infinite majesty, and yet such meekness and grace, and all for sinners, even the chief, live much in the smiles of God, bask in his beams, feel his all-seeing eye settled on you in love, and repose, that is rest, in his almighty arms. How you may have failed him, return, return, acknowledge your sin, repent, and take 10 looks at Christ. He is altogether lovely and filled with grace towards sinners. sinners like you and sinners like me. And so as we prepare for communion this morning, let me ask you a few questions. How has the Spirit of God pricked your heart this morning? How will you respond to the Lord Jesus and Him saying, In what ways have you been ashamed, embarrassed, perhaps, to be associated with Jesus? In what ways have you been hiding from God and others, too ashamed to return in humility to the fullness of fellowship? In what ways have you not received the Lord's forgiveness or been embraced by his restorative grace. Think about these as we approach the Lord's table. Father, help us as we take part in the Lord's Supper together. We thank you for reminding us of the abundance of your grace toward us as sinners. sinners who so desperately need you, the Savior. And then even after you call us to yourself, we so often fail you. We so often fear other people more than we fear you. We long for their acceptance, despising their rejection. forgetting that we already are accepted fully by the Father because of you, Jesus, because of what you have done for us. Teach us, Lord, to fear you more than we fear others, to love you more than we love others, to never place people in your place. As we remember your death on our behalf this morning, Father, overwhelm us with your grace, we pray in Jesus' name.