Dear congregation, they say a look is worth a thousand words. And tonight we hope to hear of a look that was worth far more than a thousand words. The disciple Peter had heard many sermons during the three years that he had been with Christ. But this one look in Caiaphas' hall that he received from his master touched him more deeply in his heart than any sermon ever had. And it is our prayer with the help of the Lord that the Lord would do so, could it be for many even tonight, that from heaven through his word and by his spirit he would look at us as he alone can do. Our text tonight can be found in Luke 22 verse 61a. These words, and the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. Our theme with God's help tonight is a one look sermon. We'll see first of all the setting of this sermon, secondly the content of this sermon, and thirdly the fruit of this sermon, a one-look sermon, the setting, the content, and the fruit. Well, shall we go tonight, friends, to the Hall of Caiaphas? We can learn something from each of the main characters in this hall on this particular evening, and perhaps you'll find yourself there. First, there's Caiaphas. Caiaphas, a respectable religious man. He's the high priest, a descendant of Aaron's line, and from the tribe of Levi. And it's Caiaphas who's going to issue a judgment concerning Christ. There he sits. The balances of justice are before him, and he's weighing Christ. Where will he place Christ? False witnesses have accused Christ and he hears them. And in the end, Caiaphas will pervert justice and judge unrighteously. And like all of us by nature, Caiaphas will misjudge Christ, pushing him away. and denying Christ's rightful claim. This man, says Caiaphas, deserves to die, for he has blasphemed. That's what he says. And he has Jesus moved on. to Pilate to be condemned to death. You see, Caiaphas, friends, prefers the lie to the truth because, as Christ says elsewhere, his deeds are evil. Is there anyone here tonight who recognizes himself or herself in Caiaphas, respectable, religious, and yet rejecting Christ? The second main character in this hall of Caiaphas is Peter. Peter, one of Jesus' closest and dearest disciples, he too is here. After all, he promised Christ loyalty to death. Though all men forsake thee, yet will not I, he said. And it was Peter who had confessed, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. The congregation tonight, Peter is a disciple in danger. It seems that while the interrogation of Christ is taking place at some elevated area, down below Peter has his own interrogation. There he stands around a fire. and other people are standing around him, servants and others. And Peter doesn't mind being part of this crowd, at least from all appearances. Maybe he thinks he can hide in this crowd. Why, Peter, have you followed Christ here? I want to die with him. But didn't you hear your master's warning, Peter? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. You see, Peter doesn't realize how weak he truly is. He hasn't yet learned the lesson that he cannot stand in his strength for a moment. And he doesn't understand either what the Lord Jesus is doing here tonight. That he has come to tread the winepress of the wrath of God alone. and of the children of men. There's none who can share that with him. A congregation besides Caiaphas and Peter, there's someone else walking through this hall of Caiaphas. Maybe I could better say prowling around this hall. He's busy. He's very busy. It's Satan. Where do you see Satan, you ask? Well, the Lord himself announced it. He had said, Satan hath desire to sift you, Peter, as wheat. And there he goes. He's busy putting Simon Peter into the sieve of temptation. You see, Satan has been watching Peter. He's seen him quarreling with the other disciples about which one of them is the greatest. He's heard Peter's bold claims about never leaving the Lord Jesus. And he has one aim in mind. If he can get this disciple to fall, this first of the disciples to fall, if he can pluck him out of his Savior's hand. Oh, what a victory he will score. Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as weeds. And sadly, Satan is doing a lot of damage. Three times, three different people come up to Peter and mention his connection with Christ. You also were with him. You also were one of them. of the truth, this one was with him because he is a Galilean. And here, Peter, here's your chance to confess Christ boldly before the world. But listen to Peter. Woman, I know him not. Man, I am not. Man, I know not what thou sayest. The parallel passage in Mark, which is probably Peter's own testimony, recorded by Mark, tells us that Peter even began to curse and to swear, taking God's name to cover for the lie that he's speaking. Satan must have been so pleased to hear what came out of Peter's mouth. Oh, congregation, what a dismal group of characters, don't you think? Have you yet seen yourself ever so little? You see, by nature, we're all like Caiaphas. Even religious people, they're like Caiaphas. Caiaphas did many religious things. He knew the scriptures up to a point. He was about religious ceremony and religious actions. And yet in his heart, he denied Christ. He would not have Christ to rule over him. He was content to interface with Christ. He was content to have Christ at a distance. But in the end of the day, Caiaphas does what every person, man, woman, child does apart from grace. He pushes Christ away from him. He says, away with him. away with him. I will not have this man to rule over him. And we can do that in refined ways. We can do that in man-pleasing ways. We can do that in subtle ways. We are oblivious to what we're doing, yet all the while we're holding Christ at a distance. Caiaphas, the picture of a religious man without Christ. And Peter, Peter is a picture of the believer, strong in himself, but weak, so weak, because his strength is not in the Lord. Well-intentioned, and yet, in the end of the day, failing the charge and the task and the calling wherewith God has called him. Well, congregation, Caiaphas, Peter, and Satan, don't you agree this place would be hell if there weren't a fourth one here? He doesn't look like much from all appearances. He's bound. He's beaten. He's mocked. He's suffering. He's despised. He's left alone. Especially here at the end of his life, he's sustaining in body and soul the wrath of God against sinners as a propitiatory sacrifice. He's betrayed into the hands of sinners and he's being denied by his disciple Simon Peter. But don't, congregation, pity our substitute. For he stands there resolute and unshakable. For neither Satan nor Caiaphas nor even Peter will be able to keep him from accomplishing that which he has set out to do. For he has set his face like a flint, and he will not turn back from the work that he has set himself to do. In congregation, he stands there in Caiaphas' hall where you and I deserve to stand. How desperately we need him to be exactly where he is. There's such an irony in this situation because Peter doesn't want to be with a suffering master. If Christ had been this strong leader, A strong, respectable, powerful leader. Oh, Peter would be right at his hand. He doesn't want to be associated with a scorned Messiah, a crucified master. And yet, that's what Peter needed most of all, and that's what you and I need most of all. And this is exactly what the Lord was trying to teach Peter for so many years, even from the very beginning. Peter, blessed are the poor. in spirit. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are they that mourn Peter. When will you learn it? It's not those who are strong in themselves. It's those who lose. the battle to sovereign grace and need a suffering surety, someone to stand in their place in the tribunal of God. You see, Peter had to learn so much as do you and me. Peter hadn't learned yet that there's nothing that he can add or do for his own salvation. He wants to stitch, as it were, the robe of righteousness at least even partially by himself. Yes, Christ, he needs Christ at some level, but he also wants to do something himself, and he needs to be cut off from that. My friend, have you learned that? Do you need a high priest who stands by himself in your place without you to prop him up, without you to hold him up? but someone before whom you bow and you say, Lord, thou must save and thou alone. Do you need a lamb in your place? The question tonight is, have you submitted to the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ? Because if that, if you haven't, that's your first problem. That's what Paul says in Romans 10 about the Jews, that they have not submitted to the righteousness of God. They are ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness. And this is the fundamental problem of each and every one of us by nature. Unbelievers, that's your problem today. You're seeking to establish your own righteousness. You think you can do it. You think somehow with some church attendance, with some right living, with saying orthodox things, that you can stitch together this garment of salvation instead of losing it all and saying, Lord, thou for me alone, Lord, take my place. I fall on grace and on mercy alone. But believers, we too need to learn this lesson again and again, don't we? So often, even after grace has been shown to us, even if, after we learned that lesson once in our life, in a fundamental way like Peter had, we still find ourselves creeping up, don't we? To that place where we think we can manage on our own, or God needs our help, or Christ needs us to do part as well. And this congregation is the setting for the sermon of Christ's look. Christ's look that will bore into Peter's heart this lesson in a fundamental way once and for all. Peter, I for you, lest you should have perished everlasting. Oh, congregation, this is the setting of the sermon, but let's turn next and quickly to the content of the sermon. What a preacher stands here in the judgment hall, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he is about to preach a wordless sermon. He who was the Word of God from all eternity in the bosom of the Father, here he simply looks. And his look, his eyes, they say it all. Jesus turned and looked. You see, Peter had denied Christ two times and the rooster had crowed already. But now, after the third denial, the rooster crows one more time. And as just before it does, Jesus turns and looks at Peter. And Peter must have looked at that moment. And he sees the Lord Jesus Christ turning. And their eyes meet. And they're locked together. For ever so little, or ever so long, And in that instant, there is everything that Peter needed in that moment. You see, congregation, eyes, they say, are the window of the soul. You look into someone's eyes, you can learn a lot. Shifty eyes. People are trying to run from something. They're unwilling to stare at you, to look at you. Eyes tell so much about us. So, too, the Lord Jesus' eyes on this occasion, they speak volumes. They speak three things we want to see here specifically under our second point. First of all, this look of the Lord Jesus is a look of light. A look of light. A look of omniscience, if you will. These eyes of Christ, they look deep into Peter's soul. They're saying, I know, I know you. I know your thoughts are far off. Before you said them, I knew them. Remember, I warned you. You will deny me thrice and don't you see now, I know your thoughts are far off. I know you're down sitting and you're uprising. I see what's in your heart. I see those recesses in your heart. And how that trips you up, the pride, the self-sufficiency. Peter, I see, I know it. These eyes of Christ, they bore into Peter's heart prophetically. This is, first of all, a prophetic look. Christ knows Peter through and through. John Calvin says, in looking at Peter, he added to his eyes the secret efficacy or the secret power of the spirit. And thus, by the rays of his grace, he penetrated into Peter's heart. He looks with a look that knows Peter through and through. Has the Lord ever looked like that at you? Do you feel like your heart and your mind is turned inside out? And you say, Lord, thou seest. And this look, this prophetic look of the Lord Jesus, it brought something to remembrance. That's what we read in our text. This look of the Lord Jesus brings God's word to remembrance. Have you ever had that in your life? You've listened to countless sermons. Your parents poured truth into your heart and into your soul. But then at one time in your life, In some or other providence or somewhere on their sermon, the Lord looked at you and it brought everything into remembrance. The floodgates were opened and everything or many things that you had been taught, they reach your memory in a way that they never did before. And God's word is brought to remembrance. You remember it all in a way that affects you and turns you upside down. And Peter remembered. The Word of the Lord. That's what we want. is when the Spirit witnesses with our spirit, when the Lord, by His Spirit, attaches His power to His Word. And it's not just Word only. We come here and we sit here and we leave this place and the Word has gone through our ears, but nothing more. We want that Word sealed to our hearts by that look of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you've had the Lord look into your soul, You know what I'm speaking about. We need that again and again. This convicting, prophetic, omniscient look of light. But secondly, this look of the Lord Jesus Christ is not just a prophetic, convicting look. It is, at the same time, a look of love. It's a look of light, yes, but it's also a look of love. It's what you might call a priestly look. Because a priest, according to the Bible, was to have compassion on those who were out of the way. Hebrews 5 verse 2. Compassion on the ignorant and them that are out of the way. And Peter here is out of the way, clearly out of the way. He is a sheep that has gone astray. And here this look is the look of the Good Shepherd, who looks so lovingly and tenderly and compassionately at Peter. Here is someone, the Lord Jesus, whose heart is filled with an abiding and an enduring love, for this is wayward disciple. Here in this look of the Lord Jesus is a love which many waters cannot quench. For here is a love that is stronger than death. And if we just unpack this Just a little, there is a depth to this love. For this love reaches deeper than Peter has fallen by his sin in these moments. This is a deep love that comes underneath Peter and keeps him from falling utterly. If you ask me, what was the difference between Peter and Judas? It's not ultimately in them. It was ultimately in the look of the Lord which came underneath Peter and held him up and kept him from sinking down where he otherwise would have sank. It was a deep love. It was a bottomless love. It was an infinite love. It was not just a deep love, it was a high love because who can bring a sinner from the misery into which he's cast himself here like Peter? But the Lord Jesus Christ, whose look of love not only gets underneath Peter, but it raises him up from the pit. It's as if he's saying here, Peter, left to yourself, you'll sink down in the mire and you'll succumb. But my love will raise you up once again. So high is my love. There's depth in the love of Christ. There's height in the love of Christ. But there's also a breadth here. It's a breadth that is so great that it's wider than the ocean. It's as far as east is from west. So far the Lord puts Peter's iniquities from him. It's an embracing look. It embraces Peter and holds on to him and won't let this Peter It's an eternal look of Christ, an eternal love. It's as if Christ in these moments, in this look, is saying what the Lord says in Hosea 11. How can I give thee up, O Ephraim? Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight, though I often speak against him? I remember him still, therefore my heart yearns for him. I have great compassion for him, declares the Lord. I will heal his backslidings. Peter, I've loved you with an everlasting love. And even when from my side you're tearing apart, you're bond with me, and you're saying, I'm not connected to this Christ, I'm holding on to you, Peter, the love that will not let you go. And I'll heal you. I'll heal your backslidings. I'll love you freely. Friends, this love of the Lord Jesus Christ is in a certain sense the cross already before the cross. Here, the night before the Lord Jesus Christ would be crucified with a vertical beam and a horizontal beam stretching out his arms in love to needy and poor sinners like Peter. The Lord's look is essentially that, Peter. I for you, you thought you could encroach on this place. You thought you could take my place and die with me and next to me. Do you know it now, Peter? It's I who must stand in your place. You know, we need this congregation. We need not only that look of light that uncovers us to our sins, but we need that look of love poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit of promise. We need it for this look of light just by itself, it would terrorize us. This look of love comes underneath us. Whereas this look of light might push us away in a certain sense, this look of love holds on to us and draws us to the Savior. Did Peter understand in these moments all that was contained in this look? Most likely not. He could never have said it, at least at that time. But for the rest of his life, he remembered that look of the Lord Jesus Christ. And more and more, he comprehended it better. Paul prays something for the Ephesian believers. And this I pray for you as well, children of God, that you might know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge. That you would have that look of love even tonight. That you'd understand that it is everlasting love, wherewith the Lord has loved you. That you can't add anything to it, and that ultimately you can't subtract anything from it either. Yes, we grieve the Lord. And in these moments, Peter grieved his master. The Lord humbled him to see that. But love so amazing, so divine, demands are all a look of love. Congregation, it's not till eternity that will understand how much you and I, children of God, owe to this love of the Lord. Then, Lord, shall I fully know, not till then, how much I owe. Till there was this look of light, there was this look of love, but there was also this look of Lordship. in this moment. It was not only a prophetic look, a priestly look, but also a kingly look. Parents, you sometimes look at your children in such a way that you don't need to say anything. They know in an instant what you mean. It's a commanding look. It's an authoritative look. And your eyes can speak volumes, and your children can know it. And so in these moments, there was in the Lord Jesus Christ, not just light, not just love, but there was lordship. There was this authority in that moment directed towards Simon Peter. It had a divinely controlling character about it. It was as if this Lord Jesus Christ, whose hands were bound, through his eyes, he reached out to his disciples and held on to him. By his kingly power, he bound Peter to himself. And Peter, later on, would have a phrase for it. In his second epistle general, this is what he says. He says, by the power of God unto salvation. And I don't doubt that Peter understood that if the Lord had not in that moment kept him by that look of lordship, then Peter would have destroyed himself. Well, friends, I don't know about you, but I need this look of Christ's lordship in my life. that you would hold on to me and keep me from falling and hold me back from going down into the pit. This is what I need, and this is what you need as well. Friends, have you had this look of Christ? I'm not asking you here how much you know of it, how deeply you've been led into it. That can all come later, but do you know something of what I'm saying? Have the eyes of the Savior gripped you in a way that they never did before and in a way that they would not let you go. If they did, there will have been this fruit in a measure that we see also in Peter's life, as we see now in our third and final point, not just the setting and not just the content, but the fruit of this sermon. Congregation, sometimes we imagine that the love of God and Jesus Christ is just a warm, peaceful, calming feeling that floods over our souls and we're just in happy, happy land. And there are certainly times in the lives of God's people when he floods us with that kind of love. But the love of Christ can come to us in different ways. And Peter may not have given the word love to what had just happened, but it was love. And this love had a fruit in his life. This fruit is really remarkable because we read in our text, and Peter, it says, went out and wept bitterly. You see, love. had the fruit of tears flowing from Peter's eyes. He went out and wept bitterly. That's how Peter experienced the love of Christ in his heart. This may seem very strange to you. Some of you may say, this seems hopeless. I don't want the love of Christ like that to make me to weep bitterly. But friends, you've got it wrong. Because this is not a hopeless weeping. Not at all. Some people look at Peter here and he says, spare me, please. Spare me this pit of bitter weeping that Peter is falling into. But you've got it wrong. You've got it wrong. Because Peter here is not falling into a pit. He did that by his sin. That's when he fell. But this bitter weeping is Christ pulling him up out of the pit. Old Simeon, when Christ was born, he said, this one is set for the falling and rising again of many in Israel. And this is exactly what is happening here to Peter. You know, Peter had to fall from the height of his pride. And he did so in his sin, trusting in his own self-sufficiency. That's when he fell. But the look of the Lord Jesus Christ came underneath him. And as he weeps these bitter tears of lamentations, Peter's not falling, he's rising. He's rising through the power of love in his heart and in his life. through tears of repentance. Because, friends, these are not worldly tears. This is not a worldly sorrow that's evidenced in Peter's life. No, this is the fulfillment of the promise of the Lord that you can read in Zechariah 12, verse 10. They shall look on me and they shall mourn. They shall look on me and they shall mourn. Peter's tears, congregation, are blood-bought tears. Their spirit worked tears in Peter's heart and in Peter's life. So often we get it wrong. We see worldly sorrow and we say, oh, that's what I need. But friends, there is a world of difference between worldly sorrow and evangelical repentance. And I want you to see that tonight, just for a moment, because this is so critical for each and every one of us to know. When we truly repent with that heartfelt repentance that God works in our heart and in our life, the fundamental characteristic of it is this, brokenness before God. and utter humility before God, where our hearts are crushed in the sense that we can't put our lives back together again by ourselves. We need this divine physician. We need this divine healing in our lives. Brokenness is what you and I need. It's so important because many mistake this. These are not tears that Peter has worked up himself. these are tears that the love of Christ has brought about in his soul perhaps you wonder tonight what is the difference between legal repentance worked by the law like Judas you know that Judas wept tears because of his sin but his was a legal repentance just an outward just a worldly Just a law-worked repentance, whereas here with Peter, there is an evangelical, a gospel repentance. Borrowing here from one of the Puritans, let me give you the differences between a legal repentance and an evangelical repentance. I pray that God would help you discern in your own life which of the two it is. Legal repentance grieves over the consequences and the punishment of sin, especially sins whereby we've been found out and external sins, whereas evangelical repentance grieves over having grieved the Lord by our sin. Legal repentance doesn't embrace Christ in the gospel. It can still do without Christ. But in evangelical repentance, we cease from ourselves and we need the Lord Jesus Christ. We're not content until we have Him. Legal repentance results in despondency and discouragement, whereas evangelical repentance gives hope in the soul. Legal repentance hates God and His law. Whereas evangelical repentance loves God and loves His law. Legal repentance only wants an outward and a partial reformation. Evangelical repentance involves the turning of the whole soul to God in principle to be saved from all sin. Legal repentance, you know who likes that? Satan loves legal repentance. Because it looks like repentance, but you're shielded from God. You hold out from God. Satan hates evangelical repentance. Legal repentance is temporary. Evangelical repentance follows on to know the Lord daily. Legal repentance shuns the look of the Lord that breaks us to pieces. But evangelical repentance craves the look of the Lord. It says with the psalmist, look on my afflicted state freely. All my sins forgive. Mark my foes with cruel hate. Keep my soul and let it live. It needs that look of the Lord. It looks for grace in the eyes of the Lord. We read of Noah that he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This is how I picture it. And Noah went everywhere looking for grace. And finally one day he looked up and there in the eyes of the Lord he found grace. Grace in the look from the Savior to him. I'm not asking you tonight how deep your repentance is. It varies. The Lord leads us through different ways and to different degrees. My question to you tonight is, do you know this brokenness because of your sin? A broken spirit is to God a pleasing sacrifice. A broken and a contrite heart thou will not despise. I knew a man in this congregation years ago. He's gone on to glory. I visited him a number of times and the last few times I visited him, he just complained that his life seems such a dry wilderness. And he never seemed to be able to get over that. We prayed one day for a tear. He said, just pray for a tear. I said, Lord, our brother needs a look from Thee. Please, Lord, one tear, one tear. A few days later, two or three days later, I was having dinner with my family, and the phone rang, and the man was on the other side. He didn't even say his name. He was weeping on the other end. And he said, the most wonderful thing happened to me. He said, the Lord gave me a tear. He's given me more than a tear. This man was so joyful in the Lord. It was as if he was telling me he had a new son, a new grandchild. The Lord had given him a tear and the floodgates opened and the Lord was with him. Oh, what joy there is in the heart. when the Lord comes close, when He gives you this true brokenness. Because where there is a broken heart, the Lord pours His love into our hearts. Congregations, we close tonight. I want to speak to you, my unconverted friends, here tonight. I pray God that he would show you who you are. Some of you know you're not right with God. Some of you know that you're walking on the broad way that leads to destruction. You have religion. You come here. Most of you come here every week, twice a week, and yet you're not right with God. You don't love God. You love sin, and you're bound to sin. And in the moment, I do not know this man. I will not have this man rule over me. You can manage. You can manage without the Lord. You don't know this brokenness. Your life has never been torn up. You lie before the Lord and you say, Lord, there's no more hope for my side. Thou must save and thou alone. My friend, you can't blame God for that. You're holding out to the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. You've not submitted to the righteousness which you hear about every Lord's day from this pulpit. You love your sin and you think somehow there's a way of escape, but not now, not yet. Leave me alone. My friend, the Lord Jesus Christ from Calvary in the gospel, he's looking. He's looking at sinners. My prayer tonight is that you would see His look, boring into your soul, uncovering you to who you are, so that you see yourself for who you are, your sin for what it is, this holiness of the Lord's eyes, that He is of pure eyes and to behold iniquity and cannot look upon sin. And yet at the same time, in the gospel he would say, sinner, poor and needy, lost and ruined by the fall, in me is your help found. Oh, my friend, pour out your heart before the Lord. He is a refuge in trouble. With Him, there is plenteous redemption. There are sinners here greater than yourself who have found life in a look at the Savior. They can testify that, oh, that the Spirit would break your heart tonight, that you'd not be able to go on, that you couldn't leave this place without that cry born in your heart, men and brethren, what must I do? to be saved. Friends, if in the Spirit we could have seen Peter enter Caiaphas' hall, we could have just looked on top of him, just from above, just from the skies down at Peter, marching there into this hall of Caiaphas. A confident, self-sufficient man, strong in himself, And we could stay around just long enough so that we could see him leave Caiaphas's hall with his head bowed, his eyes covered, his breast heaving, and tears streaming down his face. I wonder if we could have seen both these men. Which one do you think the Lord could better use in his cause and in his kingdom? It's legend, but it tells us something. We're told that Peter, decades later, when he was traveling through the cities and villages of Asia Minor, and while he was preaching, if it ever happened, in the middle of his sermon, from the nearby fields, a rooster would crow. Peter would always stop and pause his sermon. And minutes later, he would begin again. And the congregation could always tell the difference. Because there was a tenderness back. There was a brokenness that was back. There was this usability. Because it's not as self-sufficient men that God can use us. It was when we're broken. before the Lord, that's when he can pour his love into our hearts and he can constrain us by love. And just 50 days later, and Peter didn't know it then, but just 50 days later, this Peter, who had been broken by love, could stand up and he could preach to 3,000 men. And he could set forth the glories of Christ and the love of Christ, of this Savior who had looked on him. Congregation, this message tonight is not a dour message. It's not a sad message at all. It's the message of the triumph of grace. Because where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Because as Peter leaves Caiaphas' hall, there is rejoicing in heaven over one sinner that repents. And hell congregation is moaning and groaning. Hell is closed to this Peter now, and Satan, he is defeated. You see, the love of Christ has been poured out in his soul, and it saved him. Oh, congregation, this is what you and I need. Oh, that we would pray for this, that the look of Christ would break us. That's how we'll win souls. That's how we'll bring glory to Christ. That's how heaven will rejoice and hell will be shut. Amen.