Let's turn now to the word of God. John 18, I'd like to pick up this morning in verse 15. John 18 and verse 15, please stand together with me and let's read from God's word concerning the trial of Jesus, our Savior. John 18, verse 12. Then the detachment of troops and the captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him, and they led him away to Annas first, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. Now it was Caiaphas who advised the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people. And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest and went with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest. But Peter stood at the door outside. Then the other disciple who was known to the high priest went out and spoke to her who kept the door and brought Peter in. Then the servant girl who kept the door said to Peter, you are not also one of this man's disciples, are you? He said, I am not. Now the servants and officers who had made a fire of coal stood there for it was cold and they warmed themselves and Peter stood with them and warmed himself. The high priest then asked Jesus about his disciples and his doctrine. Jesus answered him, I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple where the Jews always meet. And in secret, I have said nothing. Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them. Indeed, they know what I said. And when he had said these things, one of the officers who stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, Do you answer the high priest like this? Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil. But if well, why do you strike me? Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest. Now Simon Peter stood and warmed himself, therefore they said to him, you are not also one of his disciples, are you? He denied it and said, I am not. 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? And Peter then denied again and immediately a rooster crowed. And everybody said, amen. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we pray that you would bring your spirit to us, open our eyes that we might see the truth. Indeed, for some in this room this morning, this may be the difference between life and death, heaven and hell. Father, we pray that your spirit would make the difference, and that eyes would be opened, ears would be opened, and We would see spiritual life come by the word of God and by the Holy Spirit's outpouring in this building today. We look to you, Father, we don't look to ourselves. We're not reliant on the arm of the flesh today, but entirely upon you to apply this word and apply your redemption in our lives here. In Jesus' name, amen. Please be seated. The big question that surrounds this message this morning, and that surrounded the entire scenario that is playing out in Jesus's trials, is this question, who is Jesus? Who is this one? Every person needs to grapple with that question. Who is Jesus to you? Who is Jesus to me? Obviously, Jesus was not a savior for Annas, for Caiaphas, for these Jews, who, by the way, were the most righteous and the most moral people on earth. At least, that's the way they viewed themselves. They'd received God's word. They'd received the Old Testament. They had some access to the word of God and to the law of God, and so they had some moral direction. So here is Annas judging Jesus. And Annas, as we said last week, was an extremely wicked man. He was very rich, very powerful. His favorite hobby was putting people to death. And because he had tried to put some people to death without the approval of the Roman authorities, the end result was his dismissal from the position of high priest, the Romans appointed Caiaphas in his stead. So these were extremely wicked men, and Annas and his sons and grandsons turned out to be the source of all of the persecutions against Jesus and his disciples until Nero. So if you're asking yourself, you know, where was the source of all the troubles that was facing the Christians for that first century, it would have been Annas. He was indeed one of the most significant villains in all of history. He was a political operative, and you see, He wanted to toss one person into the fire to keep the Romans happy. And now, you need to understand, as we get into the trial of Jesus, there'll be multiple references to the kingship of Christ. And that's really the question that Caiaphas is going to ask, and Pilate certainly is going to ask Jesus whether he is the king of the Jews. That's the question. That's the matter at hand. That's the accusation that is raised against Jesus, that he came into Jerusalem as a king, he was received as a king, as he came in on the donkey, and the Jews did not want this king. And the Romans didn't want him because the Romans would appoint their own king over Judea, over Jews. And so, Annas said, okay, here's the deal. We Jews don't want this king. You Romans don't want this king. So why don't we just execute him? See, now everybody's happy. That was Annas' perspective here. That's why he's saying one man should die for the nation. It made perfect sense. The Jews didn't want this raggedy king from Nazareth. The Romans hadn't appointed him. Why not just execute Jesus? That would have made everybody happy. So that was the reasoning behind Annas and Caiaphas pressing Jesus towards execution. One man must die for the people. As we mentioned last week, the prophecy was a prophecy from God. He spoke the words that God wanted him to speak. The only problem is he didn't understand the interpretation of the prophecy. Indeed, Jesus had to die for the people, but in the end, he had to die for the world. He had to die for us. And the blessing came as Jesus took our sins upon himself on the cross, and the Father's agenda was accomplished. Praise be to God. Hallelujah. Amen. Well, let's move on into the trial of Jesus at the house of Annas. Jesus comes to the house of Annas, and asks him this question, what is it that you're saying? Who are you disciples and what is your message? And I think he's asking what is the secret knowledge that you have to share with your people? That seems to be the question he's asking. Jesus responds by saying that his message was obvious. You see that in verses 20 and 21. Jesus answered him. I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple where the Jews always meet. There's a fancy word for this, and that is that the word of God is perspicuous. Now, If I use that word suddenly, you have no idea what I'm saying. And that's why erudite, very intelligent, college-educated people like to speak in long words and hard words so that you won't have a clue as to what we're saying. But the word perspicuous means clear. It's just the word perspicuous isn't always clear. But see, Jesus is saying that my teaching is clear, it's open, it's obvious. I've spoken to the marketplace, I've spoken openly, and so there really is no secret as to the things that I have been preaching and teaching throughout Judea and then up in Galilee. So now let me give you several examples of the teachings of Jesus so you understand that the substance of the message of Christ is really clear. Now we need to come back to this again and again because don't you all want to know what Jesus said? Don't you all want to know if you're on Jesus's team? Don't you all want to know whether you have received Christ? I think we do. You get into the words, what was it that he said? What exactly was it that Christ has brought to us and perhaps why was it such a turn off to some and a message that was accepted by others? I think what you'll find is that Jesus is bold, he is clear, and he is convicting in his message. That's one reason why preaching needs to be this way as well. It needs to be bold. It needs to be clear. It needs to be convicting, but it also needs to be somewhat simple. Preaching that isn't simple should be rejected, you know, or at least on an ongoing basis. If we're not preaching in a simple way, if not coming back to the simple truths of Christ, then we're missing the message. We're missing the way that Jesus brings the message. So look at Luke chapter 20 and verse 45 ever so briefly here. Listen to the teachings of Christ. He says in Luke 20, 45, then in the hearing, of all the people, that is, everybody is listening. He said to his disciples, beware of the scribes who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplace, the best seats in the synagogues, the best places at feasts, who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive the greater condemnation. Now let me ask you this, is that clear? He's saying that to everybody. Beware of the scribes. Beware of the rulers. Effectively, beware of Annas. Beware of Canthas. He's laying it out in a clear way that these people who claim to be the most religious. See, the people themselves, they're like, we're not worthy to be in the presence of these guys. But Jesus said, snakes, vipers. Wicked, proud people crawling around Jerusalem. Be careful with these guys. The most religious, the most moral people in the world are rotten to the core. Is that a message that you're getting this morning? There's nobody righteous, no not one. All of us are undone by our sin. We have this issue of pride and hypocrisy. Are you ever worried about your hypocrisy? Are you ever concerned about, am I faking it when I raise my hands in worship? Am I faking it when I speak of Christ, when I witness about Him to others or something like that? Are you ever concerned that there may be some hypocrisy in your life? Well, I've got news for you, there is some. Now, that's the message, and that's why they crucified Him. Just another reason why they crucified Jesus. They rejected Him. John 8, 23, let me read this as well. I realize this is somewhat reviewed to those of you who've been through John with me, but listen to John 8. And Jesus said to them, that is the Jews, you are from beneath, I am from above, you are of this world, I am not of this world, therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins. Now, the next verse, 31, note the audience here. Then Jesus said to them, to those Jews who believed him. See, talking to people who believed him, this is much like John 6, where he had all this following. And John 8, something similar, is this following. So Jesus has this way of turning around people who are following him and saying, now, let me test you for a moment with this message. Let me press on your consciences again. And so he says, if you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. And they answered him, we are Abraham's descendants and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can you say you will be made free? And Jesus answered them, most assuredly they say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore, if the son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. I know that you are Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill me." Now remember, he's talking to his disciples. He's pressing on his disciples. People who act like they follow Jesus. People who give you the impression that they're on board with the message. But Jesus is testing you as well this morning. You know, who is this Jesus? Do I receive the words of Jesus this morning myself? Jesus is pressing on them. If God were your Father, you would love me, for I proceeded forth and came from God. Nor have I come of myself, but he sent me. Why do you not understand my speech? Because you are not able to listen to my word. You are of your father, the devil, the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. So now, it seems to me that this is fairly straightforward. Jesus is saying, you know, by nature, you're all slaves of sin. You can't hardly help but sin. Your mind is constantly afflicted by that pride and that envy and that hatred towards God and towards your brothers and sisters. You know your mind. He's pushing on you this morning. He's pushing on all of us this morning. You are slaves of sin. And you must believe in Christ or you will die in your sins. That's what he's saying. It's clear. He spoke this openly. He spoke to everybody. He spoke to those who did not agree with him. And what was their reaction? Verse 59, these disciples of Jesus picked up stones to stone him. What a serious radical reaction to the teachings of Christ. In John 10, then two chapters later, many said he had a devil. He's insane. And then Luke 4, where he brings out that clear message of the gospel in Nazareth. Remember, it's his own country. He brings that word out in the synagogue there in Nazareth. It's the most beautiful message ever, quoting from the Old Testament, reading from Isaiah. He spoke these words, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and then He closes the book and says, today this is fulfilled in your eyes. And what is their reaction? The audience is dead cold to it. Dead cold. The words just drop like a stone balloon right in front of everybody. And the audience picks up the stones again. Verse 29, they got up, they drove him out of town, and this time they led him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built in order to throw him off the cliff. He's giving them this message. I'm here. It's the year of Jubilee. It's the time of the release of the captives. We're coming to mend the brokenhearted. And they say, this is not good news. Why the rage? Does this sound odd to you? You would think that somebody would say, well, I guess that's the way he thinks about things. I'm just going to go and have some coffee, grab a donut. That's not the way they reacted to it. They wanted to kill him. He said, I'm here to set the captives free. Let's kill him. That's the response. Why the response? That's the question. Why the response? Well, first, you know that this is human nature. Be honest with you. Be honest with yourself. This is what we do by nature. This is how we respond by nature. This is how man responds. God comes with His salvation. Man says, I don't want it. He's offended by it. So offended. The words of Jesus are clear. That's number one. Absolutely clear. I don't believe there's any riddle to it here. It's not a Gnostic gospel or some weird message. This is simply Jesus is here to save us. The words of Jesus are also polarizing. But why are these words so polarizing? Because He makes radical claims. That's why. Jesus claims to be the Son of God. Come to earth to rescue us from hell. In that, our sins are so bad, they demand an eternal fire where the fire is never quenched and the burning on the flesh is never subsided, and the worm that eats on the inside of the body, that causes pain on the inside of the body, never dies. The tapeworm just continues to eat and to eat, and the fire continues to burn and to burn, and Jesus says, I have come from God to deliver you from your sins and hell forever. And people say, that's just too intense. And they want to throw him off the cliff of a hill or stone him in response. The words of Jesus are polarizing because our captivity to the devil that has brought about this death and has brought about these addictions and brought about this incessant desire to envy and to hate and to be doubtful about God and to worship other idols and to worship ourselves instead of worshiping God. This captivity to sin and the devil is a thousand times stronger than the tyranny of Rome or any other tyranny we whine about in our Republican circles. Jesus is making radical claims. And the question this morning is, will you receive this radical message? The words are polarizing because our redemption must be in His blood. And this is the only way to be saved, by drinking His blood and eating His flesh. and you simply cannot rescue yourself and all of your works in the world cannot possibly save you. But the life of Jesus is the only thing for us, the blood of Christ and the flesh of Christ broken for us and then fed to us by the Holy Spirit, by faith. is the only salvation possible for us. It's a radical salvation. It's a radical Savior. It demands a radical faith of you to lean in and say, Jesus is for me. So folks will either lean into that or lean out of it. They will either love Him or hate Him. He's just the most polarizing person in the world. That's who Jesus is. But the answer to so many is that, well, that's just too intense. That's just too much for me. I just can't appreciate the intensity of that word, of that person, that sin that he describes, that judgment that he describes for me, that redemption. It's all too intense. And so the churches of the last 200 years have done everything they can to water down the atoning work of Jesus, water down the law of God, water down sin, water down judgment. Hell's not forever, and on and on and on it goes. People are doing their utmost. to water down this message, but why? Because they're saying, it's too intense for me. I can't receive it. I've got to reject it. I want to reject Jesus because I can't receive his message. There are only two positions to take. Either we are in a lot of trouble, and Jesus, the Son of God, came to save us, or we're really not in very much trouble, and we can save ourselves. Isn't that pretty much it? It's one or the other, it's one side or the other here. Either it will take God to save us, and only Jesus, the Son of God, will save us, or we can become Mormons, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, or whatever, humanists. Right? Doesn't it come? Either it's gonna take God to save us. We're in so much trouble that the Son of God, the eternally begotten Son of God must come down to save us. Or, hey, let's just be humanists or Muslims or Buddhists or Hindus or fill in the blank of the tens of thousands of other humanist religions around. Either we're in deep trouble and we need the Son of God to save us. Or forget it, all bets are off. I know there are those who claim to be Christian churches that mask the message and sugarcoat the word and water it down and such. But we need to be the ones who say amen to the real Jesus. Not to the false Jesus, but to the real Jesus. So Jesus stands there before Annas in this courtyard of Annas' home, which by the way was one of the richest places in all of Jerusalem. So Jesus standing there before Annas, and before all of us this morning, and he demands a commitment. You see, you've gotta take one side or the other. And you will, and you do, and everybody does. We choose one side or the other. God demands a commitment. Listen to John 3.35, the Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life, and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. Some want to create these various categories of believers, but the Bible really doesn't lay that out. We don't have multiple categories of believers. We might have different degrees of fruit, but when it comes down to it, brothers and sisters, there's only one side or the other on this. The Father loves the Son. He has sent His Son, and He's challenging all of us this morning, will you receive My Son? Let me put it this way. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. God looked at this world and said, man, they need help. I'm sending my son. Now, what he's saying to you now is I've sent my son. Will you receive him or will you reject him? If you receive him, you'll have everlasting life. If you reject him, you will be condemned and the wrath of God will abide on you forever. The Father commands us to faith and to believe. So this is the scenario that Peter faces in the courtyard. We're getting to Peter. Just a moment here, we'll be at Peter. But first, Jesus just standing there in front of us demands a commitment. God demands a commitment. But you know the world demands a commitment too. So what's interesting here in this passage, we find the world is pressing in on us as well. Pressing in on us. What's your position? What's your relationship with this Jesus? That's the question that has been posed to Peter here by these three people. They want to know. They're pushing on you. The world is forcing us to take a position concerning Jesus, one way or the other. See, the world doesn't like you sitting on the fence either. The world is gonna push on you as well, and that's what we find with Peter as he stands there in the courtyard and what, three persons come up to him and challenge him on whether he's with Jesus or not. The world asks you the question, are you with Jesus? Aren't you one of his disciples? The world doesn't gonna just let you sit there. The world is gonna push on you on this. The world asks the question of you when they purposefully schedule activities on Sunday. Are you going to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus? Are you going to absent yourself from the convocation of the saints, the assembly of the saints, as the manner of some is? The world will purposefully schedule sporting events on Sunday, and they are pushing on you, Christian. They're asking you, are you going to be on Jesus' side on this one or not? The world wants an answer. Whose side are you on? The world is asking us. The world asks the question as well when they take Jesus' name in vain, and they do it all the time. Yes, they're testing you. Yes, they do it in your presence because they're testing you. Brother and sister, John G. Payton on that ship. Remember that missionary to New Hebrides caught a ship down into, towards Australia, I believe it was, and he was meeting with the crew and the pilot of the ship for meals, and they started out taking God's name in vain. And he knew he was going to be on that ship for the next two to three months, but he brought up the issue and he said, I don't want you taking the name of my Savior in vain in my presence. Now they could have thrown him off the ship. Some of you might lose a job, I don't know. But are you going to stand up for Jesus or not? These are important questions. They're tests. The world is testing you. And yes, the world may water it down to a minstrel, quote, unquote, geez. They just don't add the us at the end. You know. My wife told me if somebody was preaching, took God's name in vain, said, excuse me, I should have used the word gosh. Preachers. We need understanding, I'm saying, don't you dare take my God's name in vain! Don't say, gosh, darn it all to heck. Those are just minstos for God damn it all to hell. Come on, let's be strong here, brothers and sisters. Let's not deny our God. Let's not deny Christ, amen? I mean, these are the tests. We get tests, too. Peter isn't the only one. The world is pressing on us. The world is pressing on us. The world is asking the question when they mock Christians to take a stand for righteousness. And then they stand by and they watch as Christians reject their fellow believers and refuse to stand with them in the fire. The world is pressuring. I was a manager in the corporate world as well. So I know what it's like when the VP comes down hard on a sister who's witnessing during the lunch hour. Will the middle manager stand up for his fellow believer or not? Will he lay his career down on the line for his sister in Christ? Will he tell the VP, back off of that woman, she's a good employee. You back off of her. Would he do that? Will you deny Jesus or will you stand for him? These questions are applicable questions for all of us, brothers and sisters. Peter's not the only one that gets the opportunity to stand for Jesus. We do, too. Surely, Peter's denial was egregious. It was. It was horrific. And there are multiple aggravations here, as well. You know, he did it in the presence of Jesus. The Word says, I believe it was in Luke, that Jesus was watching him. And at the end, his eyes met the eyes of Christ. And you remember he went out and he wept bitterly. We'll get there in just a moment. But consider that he did it in the presence of Jesus. Jesus was standing right there and he denied his Lord. after he committed to die for Jesus. Remember that? All that male machismo just surging up into his body, not faith, not true spiritual presence of the Holy Spirit of God in him, but this male machismo. And he was out there swinging the sword for Jesus, cutting off ears and all this. He lied three times. He didn't just deny Christ three times. He lied three times. And the book of Matthew and the book of Mark say that he swore and he cursed As he said, I don't have anything to do with the man. And remember, he denied the one who was unjustly arrested, unjustly accused, the perfect, spotless, most moral Son of God. It's the most villainous act in all of history, the most wicked act in all of history. This is happening right before Peter's eyes, and he's taking the other side of this? It was a cowardly, dishonest, wicked act. Perhaps one of the most shameful acts recorded in all of Scripture, recorded in all four Gospels. And on top of this, you know, this is an important matter. Jesus himself issued a severe warning in Luke 9, 26, whoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the son of man be ashamed when he shall come in his own glory and in his father's and of the holy angels. Jesus says, you're ashamed of me before men, I will be ashamed of you before my father on judgment day. Again, here's the question this morning. Whose side are you on? Who are you with? Are you with Jesus? That's the question that they're asking this morning. Are you with Jesus? Now, before you get too proud and say, I'd never do that. I don't want you to minimize the pressures that were on Peter in this day of trial. I want to lay out several aggravating factors. Obviously, Peter denied Jesus because of a lapse of faith. It was fear, not faith. In an absence of the Spirit of God, because we do read that some 40 days later, Peter is preaching before the Sanhedrin. He is telling them to repent. He is not filled with the Spirit as he was on the day of Pentecost and his lapsing in faith. But here are the aggravating factors. I want you perhaps to write these things down because you may confront experiences like this sometime in your Christian life. So here they are, aggravating factors that make it hard to stand. Number one, sometimes, in fact most of the time, we are severely outnumbered. and just the way it is. I think the average corporate scene in America, I worked in the corporate world, as I mentioned, I think it's, you know, or in the university or wherever it is, even the Christian university, oftentimes the ratio is like 20 non-Christians to one Christian. It's hard. It's really hard. It's hard to be a Christian. In the corporate world, it's hard to be a Christian in the university. Hard to be Christian in your neighborhood. I get it. I get it. The ratio is, at least in Colorado, in my experience in the corporate world, I don't know what your experience is. You might be in a slightly different company than I was. Mine was probably average. I would say there was about 20 non-Christians to one Christian. So the ratio, very, very high. And the enemy can look formidable at times when you are heavily outnumbered. and you begin to look like the most politically incorrect person in the world. It's very hard. And here's another thing about this. Even as we are so outnumbered, it's so hard for us to stand in the world around us. People are like sheep. They tend to move in flocks, just the way people are. When you're almost alone and everybody else is saying A, it's really, really hard to say not A. It's just really hard. I'm amazed at how even the conservatives and the Christians are increasingly using the word gay for the sodomite or the homosexual. Even the word homosexual is kind of a clinical, psychological term that came up in just the last 40, 50 years. It's never used, it's never used in scripture. No, no, no, you were using wrong words. We tend to use wrong words. But see, the reason why Christians do this is because everybody else is doing it. It's very hard not to use the term LGBT, which stands for gay. What's wrong with the word gay? Here's what's wrong. They're completely missing the message. The people that use this word are completely missing the message. You say, what is the message? Blessed are they who mourn. And I include Christians here. It's not gay. There isn't mourning. There is so precious little mourning going on in American churches. It breaks my heart, brothers and sisters. It breaks my heart. There's so little mourning, and thus, there is so little comfort. They just miss it. Blessed are those who mourn. It's not blessed are the gay. It's a complete undermining of the message of Jesus. It's 100% undermining of what Jesus brought to us. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now what we see is a breakdown of the gospel all around us. And people are moving like lemmings, moving like the sheep, and this is what they do. People move in groups, and it's very, very hard to stand alone. I could give you many other examples of this. But people do this because they conform. People conform, they move together. When they start to run, everybody runs. Natural man has one commandment, one first commandment, one basic commandment. Don't. Be weird. I'm telling you, if it's not the first commandment, which love yourself with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, that's really the first commandment for the natural man, love yourself. Maybe this is the second commandment, don't be weird. You understand how powerful that commandment is in the mind of the average unbeliever? The one who has no faith, they, will not be weird. They will not be different. They refuse to be different. Because that's a violation of the second greatest commandment of man. Don't be different. You've got to understand how powerful that command works in the minds of natural man. He doesn't want to be different. He's got to conform to the world. Okay, that's the number one aggravating factor is that sometimes we're so incredibly outnumbered it's hard to take a stand. Secondly, other Christians are fearful and unbelieving. And that's exactly what happened at this time, too. Remember, the disciples scattered when Jesus was arrested. It was evidently Peter and John, probably John, that was the other disciple that made it into the courtyard of Annas. But the others had splits. Peter was doing pretty well, chopped off the ear, following Jesus, I'm not gonna let you down, Jesus, here I'm going with you. And he gets into the temple of Annas and he folds like a cheap suit. But see, when Christians are fearful and unbelieving, You realize how easy it is for people to scatter. Just leave the church. Fear, I think, in this church has been the major enemy that we have confronted as a church. Fear. It is incredibly infectious. You talk about one of the most infectious diseases that I know of. is fear. The minute there's somebody who's a little fearful about the outcome of something, or a little fearful about a little persecution that might come upon the church, or a little violence that might be wrought upon our mortal bodies, or something like that, there's a little bit of scary right there, and pretty soon everybody else is going, and the whole room is just filled with people who are just, It's true, fear is amazingly infectious and it has wrought all kinds of damage to the body, including this little body here in Elizabeth. Oh yes, it's hard to stand when people are fearful and when other people are acting in an unbelieving fearful way. Thirdly, it's difficult to be judged by an earthly authority. Very difficult. Again, these aggravating factors make it very, very difficult for Peter. You may say, well, I would stand in situations like this, I would stand, but let me introduce the third possibility here that perhaps you will be confronted with an earthly authority. Magistrates, judges, teachers in your universities, professors, pastors even, priests, they're supposed to be your moral authorities. They're supposed to be advocates for morality. When they turn against us, sometimes we wonder if we're really doing the right thing. I'm telling you, this is hard, this is tough. I can say this from personal experience, very, very difficult. Fourthly, the threat of pain and shame and punishment is hard. Most people want to avoid pain. They'll go to great lengths to avoid it. And it can be such a shock to the system when we're introduced to some kind of an arrest. If you're not expecting to be arrested, tortured, and killed, when the police come and put the handcuffs on you, you may go into shock. Brothers and sisters, I'm telling you, don't. Don't be shocked. That's how they treated Jesus. Are they gonna treat you any better? Are you greater than your master? No, no, no. We're to expect it. We're to expect rejection and occasional stoning and arrest. Yes, we should expect it. Jesus received it. Why shouldn't we? And then fifthly, the devil blinds us and deceives us. He's an expert at inspiring doubt and fear. We talked about this yesterday. in our lesson on the demon world. But you see, the devil is powerful. He ranges about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He certainly has some strength and some power about him. He's not to be minimized or marginalized. He can increase the force of the temptation, I would say about tenfold. Again, he is not omnipotent. He's not omniscient. He's not omnipresent. None of that, but he's powerful. And so if you go into an, you know, I can handle your average temptation, you know. I've learned how to handle this. You know, you kind of cruise in. The devil can crank it up tenfold just at that moment. And I think we need to respect that. We need to realize that. We can't be babies in the woods here. We got to be prepared, brothers and sisters, prepared for this. And of course, concomitant with this, number six was a failure to watch and to pray. This is exactly the problem Peter had. What, a half an hour earlier? Do you remember Peter in the garden of Gethsemane, asleep, and Jesus said to him, what, Peter, couldn't you stay awake for a single hour in prayer meeting? Couldn't watch, couldn't pray. And then finally, the seventh aggravating factor for Peter and for us as we face the temptations of our lives. What is it? What's the seventh? Pride and self-confidence. Wow, if there's anybody who is proud of self-confidence, it was like Mr. Peter. Going in, Lord, I'm willing to lay down my life for you. I will go to the umpteenth degree. The rest of them will deny you, not me. And the three of them, James and John and Peter and the other disciples, were arguing over who gets to be on the left and on the right of Jesus. This was, what, two days earlier? Not a good scene. If the church is in this, you know, one upping each other and trying to see if I can't be the guy preaching and I gotta be the guy doing the keynote and I gotta be this and I gotta be that and it's sort of this inner struggle between political forces and the church. Dead meat to Satan. Amen. Come on, you leaders. Say it with me. You know, I relate to this. I think there has been pride in myself, in our body at points, at which point we've opened ourselves up. And yes, the devil takes advantage of pride. And he's all over it. That's why we don't ordain young men, lest they be proud and fall into the snare of the devil. That's a warning given to us in 1 Timothy chapter three. So pride and self-confidence is the seventh aggravating factor. But let me just end here, and that is, now I want you to pretend that you're in the garden. That is, you're not there in the courtyard yet. You're still in the garden. I want you to put yourself in the garden of Gethsemane next to Peter. You can hear the snoring. You can hear James and John, they're snoring too. You can see Jesus over there, sweating great drops of blood and crying out a prayer to his father to help him. The angels have come, they're ministering to him now. Here's what I want you to consider. Are you battle ready? Are you battle ready? That's the question. Are you ready? Are you ready for the courtyard? You're heading out to the courtyard, are you ready for it? Well, here are some questions to ask before the battle is on and the conflict is joined. Here's the question to ask. Are you asleep in the garden now? Are you asleep? What is your spiritual life like right now? And what has it been like over the last two months? Would you characterize this as in a lifetime, a spiritually alive time in your life like right now? Are you awake? Are you alive? Are you watchful? Are you sensitized to the spiritual attacks? Are your personal prayer times rich with spiritual sensitivity to your own sin and what the Spirit is saying to you in your personal times? Are you truly engaging God in crying out to Him and seeking the Holy Spirit in your prayer life? What about your public prayer life? Are the public prayer meetings humdrum to you? They just kind of drag on? Do you sense a spiritual engagement in the public prayer? And when you come out of the public prayer, you sense that you've been to a God's gym and you just feel a little bit stronger for being there, you know what I'm saying? Is that the way you feel as you leave? Or are the public prayer times just sort of humdrum and spiritually dead in this body? These are the sorts of questions we need to be asking. That is, are we ready for battle? Where are we now? We may not be in serious temptation and battle right now, but are we ready? Are we awake? Have you been asleep in the light? Do you spiritually ache? Do you hurt? Are you pained by the wickedness all around you, in your own heart, the desperate need for a savior for yourself and for your relatives and for all those in your workplace? Is there a spiritual sensitivity about you? Or are you just this sort of deadened nerve ending, numb to anything spiritual? Where are you right now? Are you? Asleep. Give yourself a spiritual pinch for just a moment. I don't know how you do that. I've been trying to encourage you to do that. Spiritual pinch yourself. Am I awake? Am I alive? Second question, are you prepared? Are you strong right now? Are you strong in the Lord, in the power of His might? Are you ready for battle? Where's your faith? Where's your shield of faith? Who are you depending on? Are your eyes fixed on Christ, consistently, intently, gripping onto Christ? Or is it kind of a weak thing? Where's your prayer life? Do you have the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God? Are you bringing every scripture to bear? Are you memorizing it? Are you studying it? Are you going over it in your mind? Do you have ready access? Is there quick draw on the scriptures? Where you're dealing with a doubt, but quick draw, bring the truth, bring the scriptures in. Truth, the belt of truth. Are you a truth fanatic? I mean, a truth fanatic, you get these wayward ideas coming from your friends or weirdo kind of messages that are coming off the internet or some stray thought that's filled with doubt about God or whatever. Can you quench every fear with the truth of God? His promises, His nature, His sovereignty, His mighty works, and you shove that back into the face of the devils that are whispering these falsehoods in your mind. How's the truth with you, brothers, sisters? Where is your faith? Where's the Word? And your helmet of salvation, the hope of salvation, where's your hope? Are you headed towards glory? Are you like that little creature in the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, where that little creature, what is he, a bunny or whatever it was? He's heading towards glory. He says, I'm going to go there in my ship, my ship breaks down, take the little rowboat, and I'm going from the rowboat, and once I get dumped out of the rowboat, I'll be floating. I'll just float. I'm floating to heaven. Is that who you are? Are you focused on heaven? Are you focused on glory? Do you have a hope to glory? See, this is the equipment of your faith. This is the equipment for the battle, amen. Hallelujah. And then as you engage the battle, let me encourage you to fight hard, stand fast. In faith, when you fall down in the battle, you get back up, confess your sins, get back in the race, reenter the battle, and fight harder again. And then continue to stand. Stand steadfastly in the face, having done all to stand. Don't be discouraged. Empty your magazines. Those of you who have guns, you don't talk about here, don't you? Empty your magazines. Go get more. Do it some more. Be relentless in the battle. Stay in it. Stay with it. Empty your magazines. Fight to sit in your own life some more and some more and some more. Be relentless, intentional, aggressive, and intense. Make these battles count for all that you are worth. Keep speaking the truth in love. Speak the truth out loud. Pray out loud. Testify to your love and your honor and your praise for your Savior King out loud. Say the name of Jesus out loud. Tell the world you believe in Jesus. Tell the devils He's already crushed you at the cross. And say it with faith. And say hallelujah afterwards. And bless the name of Jesus as you do so. Because this is your faith. This is the name in which you will conquer. Engage the battle, brothers and sisters. And whether it's the devil or your own stray thoughts or anything else that minimizes the gospel or minimizes Jesus or His sacrifice, His salvation, you take the stand against it. See, I cannot deny my Lord and my Savior. I do not want anybody to minimize or marginalize, or ignore, or not mention enough the power of the gospel of Jesus, His work at the cross, and the efficaciousness of that salvation. I don't want to minimize any of it. I speak for Jesus, I stand up for Jesus, and I testify and confess the Lord Jesus Christ. As Philip Doddridge wrote, awake my soul, stretch every nerve, and press with vigor on. A heavenly race demands thy zeal and an immortal crown. Whenever I'm discouraged, I think of the Apostle Paul's last words. This mighty man of God had accomplished more for the kingdom of God than perhaps any other mere human in all of history. At the end of his race, in 2 Timothy 4, he says, No man stood with me. This is what I'm talking about. There may come a point in your life at which nobody will stand with you as you stand for Jesus. The Apostle Paul, the greatest of Christian heroes that I know of, the Apostle Paul, who's bigger and more influential, more important in the kingdom of God than the Apostle Paul? Paul says, no man stood with me, but he says, I have finished the fight. I have finished the course. I have fought the good fight. And what's waiting me is that award in heaven. The Lord did not forsake me. Well, I promised I would mention this at the end because this is really crucial. There's something very remarkable here about the Apostle Peter. It's a heartbreaking scene, yes. But in Matthew 26, you know, Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard and a servant girl came up to him saying, you also were with Jesus of Galilee, but he denied it. before them all saying, I do not know what you're saying. And when he had gone out to the gateway, another girl saw him and said to those who were there, this fellow also is with Jesus of Nazareth. But again, he denied with an oath. I do not know the man. And a little while those who stood by came up and said to Peter, surely you also are one of them, for your speech betrays you. Then he began to curse and swear and said, I do not know the man. Immediately. The rooster crowed, and Peter remembered the word of Jesus, who had said to him before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. So he went out and wept bitterly. It was a blatant sin. It was a horrific sin. But his repentance was immediate and heart deep. His repentance was immediate and heart deep. Peter wept bitterly in true heart contrition before God. He was also just about the first at the grave and restored to Jesus in John 21. Peter immediately turned back to Jesus and Jesus restored him. You see the difference between Judas and Peter. Judas went and hanged himself. Peter wept bitterly. So which will it be? For you and for me? Will you hang yourself? Or will you weep bitterly? Repent of your sin and come to Jesus and He's there to welcome you. His arms are wide open. They were there at the cross for Peter, wide open, still receiving Peter. As Peter turned back to Him and ran back to his cross and embraced the Lord Jesus. Jesus will embrace you if you run to Him. Do you repent of your rejection of Him and say, no, I need Jesus, I want Jesus, I need the salvation, the blood of Jesus that will cleanse me from my sin and save me from all of these horrible things that are with me now and will be with me forever, but by the grace of God in the blood of Jesus. There is a strong sadness, a heart-wrenching grief over being embarrassed of Jesus. minimizing Jesus, denying Him. If you have denied Jesus, if you've been ashamed of Jesus, if you've been ashamed of being persecuted with Jesus and His people, just come back to Him. Come back to Him. Embrace His cross. And when He hands you your cross, take up your cross gladly and follow Him. There's still time to repent. Repentance is just turning away from sin and turning back to Jesus. Let me ask you this question. Why should you be embarrassed of Jesus? Give me a reason. Why should you be embarrassed of Jesus? Huh? Brothers and sisters, we should be ashamed and embarrassed of ourselves. Oh, ourselves. If we took all of your thoughts over the last year, all of your words, all of your actions over the last 25 years of your life, we put it on the screen behind me, and we all sat here and watched. We'll sort it out for the most sordid details of your life. Let's put your life, let's put your thoughts, let's put the wickedness of your life up here on the screen, and let's ask, who should we be embarrassed of? Who should we be ashamed of? Ourselves. Ourselves. We are all guilty sinners, naked and guilty before God. But here's the good news. Jesus took all that shame and all that guilt upon himself so that now we shouldn't be ashamed of Jesus at all, but we should glory in his shame and glory in his victory. We have every reason in the world to be ashamed of ourselves. Come on, be honest with yourself. Absolutely. Absolutely. We have every reason to be ashamed of ourselves, but he took that shame and that guilt upon himself and now we can glory in him, we can love him, we can shout his praises and honor his name more and more into eternity. Amen. Father, oh God, we need Jesus. We need Jesus. Father, we are not ashamed to call Him our Savior. We're not ashamed to call Him the great Redeemer. We're not ashamed to call Him the great victor. We're not ashamed to call Him the great Redeemer of mankind, the glorious King of kings and Lord of lords. Oh, Jesus, receive our honor and our praise and our love this morning. And Jesus, we confess, we confess that we have denied You, We have been embarrassed of you at points, but Father this morning, Jesus this morning, we come by the merits of your blood and we say, Jesus, you suffered on that cross for us, and we receive that forgiveness. We receive that sacrifice. We call you our glorious Savior and Redeemer, and we glory in your name, Jesus. And we will say it. with honor and praise and glory on our lips, now and into eternity. Amen. You may be seated. I trust you are equipped for battle this morning. Boy, that's a tremendous hymn that goes back over a thousand years because these spiritual battles have been going on a very long time. We're not the first church to face this. I'm going to come from Galatians 3.13 as we come to the table this morning. Listen to Galatians 3, beginning with verse 10. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for the just shall live by faith. Yet the law is not of faith, but the man who does them shall live by them." But here's the good news. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. We talked about how we viewed Christ in the courtyard. Now we're coming to the table, and my question for all of us is how do we view Him on the cross? How do we view Jesus on the cross? Behold your Messiah. If you had said that to the Jews, behold your Messiah, as Jesus hung there on the cross with blood coming down his face, the crown of thorns on his head, the nails in his feet, in his hands, the Jews would have been horrified to think that this Savior was so humbled that this would have been their Savior, that this would have been their Messiah. Here was a carpenter from Galilee hanging on a Roman cross, effectively powerless as far as they could see. It was a scandal to their eyes, to their minds. So who is this? This on the cross is our Savior. He is a blessing, but also a curse. Because you see, Jesus became a curse for us as a fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. He was a worm and no man. He was the serpent lifted up in the wilderness, signifying the curse of sin, the mark of the devil. He was the scapegoat driven outside the camp. He was the bearer of sin and the one upon whom the curse of God fell. What is it to receive the curse of God? He received the curse of God upon Himself. He became a curse for us. Imagine all the curses in Scripture thundering down upon His shoulders on the cross. Think of all of the curses from Deuteronomy 28. enumerated against the children of Israel who would abandon the laws of God. All of those curses, the horrible, horrible curses, to the horrible extent of people having to consume their own children as their cities were being invaded by these foreign invaders and all these curses, they come thundering down upon our Lord Jesus Christ at the cross. As he cried out those words, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? The judge responded, you are condemned. You are cursed. You are damned to a cursed death on the cross for the sins of the world. Jesus received the verdict. Jesus suffered the curse on the cross, and the curse of Deuteronomy 21 comes down upon him as well. The Lord would not spare him, for then the anger of the Lord with his jealousy would burn against that man, and every curse that is written in this book would settle on him. Jesus received the curse that was due our sin upon himself on the cross. But you see, many passed by the cross and they saw nothing but a degraded, humiliated carpenter from Galilee. But what we see is the Savior who takes our curse upon Himself and buys our redemption for us at the cross. And so, brothers and sisters, for us, He did this. And so for us, we don't turn our face from Him. We receive this. We glory in this. We remember it. We declare it. As we come to the table, we are to declare. We are to preach it. We are to proudly announce this great redemption that Jesus brought for us on the cross. We do this at the table. We remember it. We declare it at the table. We don't back away from it. We embrace it. We say, Jesus died on that cross for me and for my redemption. So there He is, our Savior on the cross, bearing the curse and loving us. And now we love Him. Father, what a sight. to see the horrific curse, the judgment of God rest upon your only begotten Son, whom you love. Father, what a sight to see where such justice and wrath is poured out, but such love is represented by one who would step in our place and love us so much he would give himself for us and bear the curse for us upon himself. Father, we can only respond this morning in love, in thanksgiving, in praise. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for administering the blood of Jesus to us through this sacrament, that we'd have life and we've had it more Abundantly, Father, bless this food to our spiritual needs now. In Jesus' name, amen.