Matthew 26, 69 through 74. Now Peter sat out in the palace, and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee. But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest. And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them that were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth. And again, he denied with an oath, I do not know the man. And after a while came into, and after a while came into him, they that stood by and said, Peter, surely thou also art one of them for thy speech bereath thee, or we would say betrays thee. Then began he to curse and to swear saying, I know not the man, and immediately the cock crew. So we have here that he makes an oath and then he curses and swears and this is a man that we know by the word of God is saved. He's going to heaven. So a lot of times people say, I just don't think that if you're saved you could ever do that. Well, that goes against the word of God. Because what we do does not save us. What we do does not keep us from being saved. What we do after we're saved does not cause us to lose our salvation. Because our salvation is just like Peter's salvation. He was trusting in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And if that's what your salvation is in, then it is secure. But what this lesson is about is to learn from Peter's mistakes. He did make a mistake. He was wrong. He shouldn't have done that. And we've made mistakes, things that were wrong, things that we shouldn't have done. But the main thing we need to learn in this lesson, and hopefully we'll cover a little bit more about it, is to realize that we will make mistakes, but God will always forgive us if we ask forgiveness, and He can still use us after we make mistakes. So we need to go on for the cause of Christ even though we will make mistakes. Now what's interesting here, one thing is that the people recognize Peter for having been with Jesus. And so the Bible makes it very clear that they knew that. So every time people saw Jesus, they saw Peter. For three and a half years, they saw Peter almost every time they saw Jesus. And that's a wonderful testimony to be said that he's been with Jesus. It's wonderful when the world recognizes us as associates us with being a believer with Christ and with the things of the Lord. That is a great compliment. Most of the time that it's being said is not meant for a compliment. But that's why we need to take it. If I did something right for Christ, and I don't care what superlatives you use, but you recognize that it's because of Christ, I'm okay with it. This is what happened in Acts 4.13. So, turn your Bible to Acts 4.1. Acts 4.1. Of course, this is after the crucifixion, after the resurrection, after Pentecost, early in the early church, Acts 4.1. And as they spake unto the people, now pay attention to the list of people that we're going to say. And as they spake unto the people, the priest and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, being grieved that they taught the people and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them and put them in hold unto the next day, for it was now eventide. And it came to pass on the morrow that their rulers, and elders, and scribes, and again these people, verse 6, and Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priests were gathered together at Jerusalem. And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, by what power or by what name have ye done this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man by what means he is made whole, be it known unto you all and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole." Now notice that he uses the name Jesus Christ of Nazareth because when he says Christ he means Redeemer. They didn't recognize him as Redeemer. but they knew the name Jesus and they knew that he was from Nazareth. So Peter here is making sure they know who he's talking about. And that's very important that we get that across when we're talking to people about Christ, that we're not talking about us, we're not talking about Currytown Baptist Church, we're not talking about Baptists, but we're talking about Jesus Christ. And then he goes on to say, this is the stone which was set at naught of you builders which has become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John they perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men They marveled and they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus." So they recognized that they had been with Jesus. I believe there's two reasons they recognized that they had been, at least two, I'm sure more than two. But first let's cover the unlearned and ignorant. Now then, it doesn't necessarily mean that they couldn't read and write. Now, maybe they could, maybe they couldn't. We know that later they could. But what it's talking about here is they were unlearned in the Scriptures because only the elders and the scribes and so forth were taught the Scriptures and the writing of the Word of God and so forth. They were not taught anything but the basic things about the Old Testament. They weren't taking in privileged people to get to read the Word of God. They didn't have a copy of the Word of God. So that's what I mean by unlearned and ignorant. And then it says again, they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. Now here it's ironic that they were the same two disciples that had followed Jesus into the palace. Remember, we're studying about Peter's denial of Christ. Well, who went in to the judgment of Jesus, Peter and John? And now Peter and John are the two men here that were used by God to heal this impotent man. So, John 18-15, and Simon Peter followed Jesus and so did another disciple. That disciple was known as the high priest and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest. So, we read those names. Remember I told you to pay attention to those names? That's who saw them at the judgment of Christ. Now then, I'm sorry, the names we just read were those that were present when they were judging them for healing the impotent man. Now then, let's go back over the people that were there when Christ was judged, John 18, 13. and led him, that is Jesus, away to Annas first for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas which was the high priest that same year and then Matthew 26, 57 and they that had laid hold on Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest where the scribes and the elders were assembled. These are the same men right here that later saw Peter and John healed this man and had arrested them and now was judging them. Of course now the judgment of course when they saw Jesus being judged those men over there was before the crucifixion. So how long after these men were judging Jesus was it before they arrested Peter and John? Of course, there was the crucifixion after the judgment. There was the three days and then the resurrection. And then you had the 50 days until Pentecost where 3,000 were saved. Acts 2, 46, and they continue in daily with one accord in the temple. Now, this is after the 3,000 were saved. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. And in Acts 3, 6, then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. So that is what they were being judged for, was this infinite man being healed. And Acts 4 forward said, Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed, and the number of the men was about five thousand. So at this point when the impotent man was healed was at least two months but probably not more than three months after Christ was judged. So you have the judgment of Christ and now you're having the judgment of Peter and John. And we've already said it's the same people that are there and it's less than three months later. So not only did they recognize Him for what they were doing for the cause of Christ, they recognized Him because they were at the judgment of Christ. So they took marvel and said, these men have been with Jesus, but they knew they had been with Jesus, they saw them in the judgment hall with Christ. So they marveled that they saw what they did to Christ, and now they're out here doing the same thing. Because it's not them, it's Christ that is the reason they are doing it. But there's, in the Bible, in the Old Testament, we have examples of the same thing, that people recognize when somebody has been with God. They recognize when Moses had went up on the mount, and he received the Ten Commandments, and he come back down, and his face was glowing, and they couldn't look on him, he had to put a veil over his face. They recognized that he had been with God. It said that the followers of John Wesley could always tell when he spent lengthy times in prayer. I thought I had another one there, but I don't. Okay. So, when we spend time with God, we're different. Right? Time with God will change us. But unfortunately, in time of crisis, When Jesus had been arrested, Peter found himself not ready to be associated with Jesus. Yes, he did follow him, but he didn't follow him like John. He followed him afar off. And we're all followers of Christ, right? If we're saved. But are we right there with Jesus? As close as they let us get? As close as we can get? Or are we back afar off following Jesus? Well, Peter did learn from that and he tells us in 1 Peter 3.15, But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. So that's what we're to do. Well, we have to be bold. What's the word that's used? in meekness and in fear of God, but we had to be bold toward people. Why was Charlie Kirk assassinated? Because he was ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh a reason for his hope. He wasn't killed because he was Republican. He wasn't killed because he voted for the president. That made people angry. But he was killed because he was a Christian. Had Peter stayed as close to the Lord as he originally intended, he would almost certainly not have denied Christ. But because Peter had strayed from the presence of Christ, his self-reliance, and that's what we're talking about in this lesson, that we cannot depend on ourself. He could not depend on his self-reliance to enable himself to keep the vow that he had made. He had just vowed to Jesus that he would never leave him. But not only did he walk away from him, he cursed, he sinned and denied and denied and denied. This brings us to Three, Peter's weeping bitterness. And you know, we do that at times when we don't follow Christ the way that we should. And we have a sorrowful feeling and that is what is needed. Peter was right in weeping because he was repenting of what he had done. We're going to read the occurrence of the denial of Christ in John now. We haven't read that book yet of what it said. But John 3, 36 through 38, Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither thou goest, wait a minute, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me, but thou shalt follow me afterwards. Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake. Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, or truly, truly, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me thrice. Now don't let the words of one of the books throw you off. Well that says that it shall not crow and then you read another book of the Gospels and it says it crowed and then he denied him again and then he crowed again. You have to put them all together So yes, the cock did crow, and then Peter did his last denial, and then the cock crowed again. Then Simon Peter, jumping to chapter 18, verse 10, then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it, and spoke to the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus. Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath, The cup which my father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" So Peter here was doing what he thought Christ needed him to do. Now, man, I'll ask you a question. Did you ever do something for someone even though they asked you not to because you were sure that's what they needed you to do, but you still met with their disapproval? Now, I don't know which way you answered that. I didn't ask you to answer that. How many has done that? All right. Well, if you've been married, you have. You try to fix it, right? That's what men do. They try to fix it. And what was Peter doing? He was going to fix it. Jesus couldn't do it. Right? But Peter could. But Jesus said, no, that's not going to work. So how many times has your wife fixed the mess that you did trying to take care of her? So remember that next time. Me too. Remember in Lesson 5 when Jesus told the disciples of his coming death in Jerusalem? So he had told them it was already coming and Peter disagreed then. No, not you Lord. So he's done it again. And then verse 15 says, And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. That disciple was known to the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest. But Peter stood at the door without, then went out that other disciple, which was known unto the high priest, and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter." Now again, reading the other Gospels, we understand that this disciple is John. Now let's remember, all of the disciples fled Jesus in the garden. They all left. But John and Peter were the only two that followed Jesus afterwards. Jesus followed John followed closely, but again Peter followed afar off. And in verse 17, Then saith the damsel that kept the door unto Peter, Art not thou also one of this man's disciples? He saith, I am not. And the servants and the officers stood there who had made a fire of coals, for it was cold, and they warmed themselves, and Peter stood with them and warmed himself. Now, I think right here we need to understand who is around this fire. Well, it's other Jews. There's other Jews that are there. It's servants and officers of the high priest and the Sadducees. So, Peter knows them, right? They might not agree with each other, but he's comfortable with being around the fire with them. But just like here, just say you go into a convenience store and start up a conversation with somebody, they don't know who you are, you don't know who they are, but you're comfortable being around them. So he knew who they were. It wasn't like he was butting into the Roman soldiers. And there could have been some of them there too, but he was comfortable there. So we had to be careful when we become too comfortable around the people that we were comfortable with before we were saved. Does that make sense? I didn't say don't go around them. I didn't say don't talk to them. I didn't say don't be friends with them. But you shouldn't be as comfortable with them as you were before you got saved. Peter is warming himself by the fire with the enemy. He's following Jesus, but he's closer to the enemy. Where was John during the crucifixion? John 19, 26. When Jesus before, therefore saw his mother and disciples standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son. John was right there. Now he fled in the garden, but during the crucifixion, at some point, he come up there close enough to Jesus for Jesus to talk to him from the cross. Where was Peter? We don't know. So don't go home and say, I'm going to study my Bible and find out where Peter was. You're not going to do it, OK? It's not in there. He just wasn't there. John 19, 26, and when Jesus, therefore, saw, or just read that, sorry. So where's Peter? I don't know. So then approximately for 1,200 days, Peter is right there with Jesus every day. Three and a half years, 1,200 days. But these three crucial times, he is not. When he really, really, really needed to stay with Jesus, he wasn't there. These three times, then he was there, but after the resurrection, Jesus showed himself to the disciples, Thomas not present, then again with Thomas, then the Bible tells us in John 20, 30, and many other signs, truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. So there was many times that he was there. Luke tells us that Jesus appeared to Peter before these appearances. So he appeared to Peter of the disciples, he appeared to Peter first and by himself. What happened when Peter was where he was supposed to be on the day of Pentecost? Now, we've established what happened when Peter wasn't where he was supposed to be. He denied Christ, he denied Christ, he swore and he cursed. But what happened when he was where he was supposed to be? Acts 2, 1, and when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. Acts chapter 4, or Acts 2-4, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. 2-14, but Peter standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and said unto them, you men of Judea, and all you that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken unto my words. Then verse 41, then they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day were added unto them about three thousand souls. God's people need to be where God's people are supposed to be. You see what a difference it made in Peter's life? It makes a difference in our life. I'm not going to say if you come to church every service one day you're going to say something and 3,000 people are going to be saved. But you will be doing what God wants you to do. And if you stay far off, you're human, you're flesh, you will be doing what God does not want you to do. Hebrews 10.25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much some more as ye see the day approaching. The day is approaching. However much yesterday that you saw yourself being around the Lord, today you need to be around the Lord more, not less. Then we're going on with the verse 25, I think Matthew 26. And Peter stood and warned himself. They said, therefore, unto him, art thou not one of his disciples? He denied it and said, I am not. One of the servants of the high priest, being his kinsman, whose ear Peter cut off, said, did I not see thee in the garden with him? He knew it was Peter. He saw him there. The only reason he couldn't, I'm absolutely sure, because it was dark. It's dark there and all of you just, well, He didn't have a good vision, but it was him. And he said, wasn't that you? And Peter denied again, and immediately the cock crowed. And then Matthew 26, 75, Peter remembered the words of Jesus and said unto him, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out and wept bitterly. Now, like Peter, we will all stumble and fall. Proverbs 24, 16, for a just man falls seven times and rises up again. What is imperative for the Christians to realize is that when we fall, we can get up again. Christ will help us get up and God will still be able to use us. I'm going to finish this lesson today I'll give you the, again the, so 3A is remembrance and you have the scriptures there. Of course it talks about when he, in the scriptures it also gives us the time, it tells us that Jesus looked at Peter. How many of you remember growing up and your dad gave you that look? Right? He didn't have to say anything. My dad did say something, but he didn't have to. Once you knew you were his attention, you knew you were in trouble. And Christ looked. Here, Christ was being judged, but He took that moment to let Peter know, I know what you've done. I want to get done, so I'm going to skip that part. All right. Scripture tells us that he wept bitterly. Of course, he was a tough fisherman. He, for sure, didn't cry that much. But he remembered with great sorrow his boasting of how far he would go before the Lord contrasted with what he actually did. Now, when Peter was with those men warming around the fire, those men weren't doing anything wrong. They were just warming by the fire. Now, we all have friends that are lost, or you should have friends that are lost. I mean, if you're around people, you probably know people that's lost. But those guys around the fire weren't doing anything wrong, but what did Peter do? He cursed. When you're around lost friends, you have to be careful what you do. We have to be careful of what we are not doing because we are around them. How many times we don't do certain things, certain Christian things, we don't act certain Christian ways because we're around lost friends. We shouldn't do that. We shouldn't change our behavior away from being Christ-like because we're around lost friends. That is when our Christ-likeness should shine the most. I'm not saying you should try to ram it down their throat but you certainly should not change your attitude and your personality because you feel like you're going to offend them. You should be who you are and that is a Christian. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for this opportunity to come. Lord, help us, Lord, not to warm around the fire with the enemy. Lord, help us to stand for your word. Help us, Lord, to be Christ-like whoever we are around. And Lord, help us to honor and glorify your name. In Jesus' name we pray.