1249. The Fall And Restoration Of Peter, Part 1

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. The school was founded in 1927 by the evangelist Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. His intent was to make a school where Christ would be the center of everything so he established daily chapel services. Today, that tradition continues with fervent biblical preaching from The University Chapel platform. Today's sermon is the first part of an evangelistic message preached by Dr. Steve Pettit, President of Bob Jones University. The title of his message is The Fall and Restoration of Peter. Would you take your Bibles and turn with me please tonight to the 22nd chapter of the Gospel of Luke. Luke's Gospel, chapter 22. Tonight we're going to begin reading in verse 54.

We're going to read down to verse 62 and in most of the evening our focal point will be primarily on what is taking place in verses 61 and 62. We have the story here of Jesus being arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, taken to the home of the high priest Caiaphas. It was a large mansion. There was a courtyard outside. There were guards and servants that were there.

They kept a fire going at night to stay warm. And it is here that we see the events that lead to the fall of the Apostle Peter. But it is also here that we see the steps that God takes in restoring this one who falls away from him in God's divine restoration. Tonight my message is entitled The Fall and the Restoration of Peter.

Let's hear God's Word tonight, verse 54. Then took they him and led him and brought him into the high priest's house and Peter followed afar off. And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall and were set down together, Peter sat down among them. But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire and earnestly looked upon him and said, this man was also with them.

And he denied him saying, woman, I know him not. And after a little while, another saw him and said, thou art also of them. And Peter said, man, I am not.

And about the space of one hour after another confidently affirmed saying of a truth, this fellow also was with him for he is a Galilean. And Peter said, man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately while he yet spake the cock crew or the rooster crowed and the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.

And Peter went out and wept bitterly. And may God add his blessing to the reading of his word and may God bless tonight. The word of God is preached to our hearts. Let's bow our heads together for prayer. Father, I pray tonight that you will do a mighty work in this building, a work of revealing and a work of restoration. Lord, I pray that for every Peter in this room that has fallen, that tonight you would as a great and good shepherd, restore them by your providence and by your grace and by your power so that we may Lord walk in obedience to you and honor you with our lives. And we pray and ask these things in Jesus name.

Amen. There's perhaps nobody in the Bible who so clearly fell away from the Lord and so clearly returned back to the Lord as the apostle Peter. Peter's fall was clear because Jesus had prophesied that he would fall. Jesus said he was going to fall. And his restoration was also clear because Jesus in the same manner prophesied that Peter would come back to the Lord. And therefore I believe God wants us all to carefully think about Peter's fall and Peter's restoration because I believe it becomes an example for all of us how the Lord restores us when we fall.

This story is very interesting. It's one of the ten events found in all four gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

There are only ten events found in all four. Events like Jesus beginning his ministry in Galilee, the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus foretelling his betrayal and his crucifixion, Pilate pronouncing Jesus' death, the crucifixion, the death of Jesus, the burial of Jesus, the resurrection, and the denial of Peter. Now there are many reasons why the story could be found in all four gospels but surely one of them must stand as a clear example for us. That every one of us are in a present real danger of falling away from the Lord. I was preaching a number of years ago in another state and after the end of the service the pastor said, hey could I take you out to lunch tomorrow? And I said sure I'd love to.

I'd love to go out to eat lunch when somebody else pays for it. And so on our way out to lunch the pastor turned to me as he was driving in his car and he said I want you to know that I disagreed with what you preached on last night. Now honestly in all of my ministry I've rarely had that happen and I thought it was kind of interesting. I said so what is it that I said that you disagreed with? You said well there's such a thing as a carnal Christian. He said what I believe is either you're saved and you're spiritual or you're not saved at all but you can't be carnal and be a Christian. I said well I said probably then the issue is not with me the issue is with God. Because I preached from 1 Corinthians chapter 2 where Paul said to the church of Corinth that you are carnal. Now I don't say this tonight out of spite.

I don't say this to be unkind. I'm just saying the reality the truth of it is that pastor ended up leaving the ministry and eventually became a transvestite. So was he carnal? Was he lost?

I don't know. All I know is this that believers fall away from the Lord. How many of you have fallen away from the Lord? And yet I also want you to know that because of God's commitment to his own people as a good shepherd is to his own sheep the Lord graciously restores those who are his own because falling away from God as a believer is not to be a permanent condition. Because it is the Lord who took Peter and when he fell the Lord took the steps to eventually bring him back in restoration. So tonight let's look at Peter's fall in detail.

And then let's look at the gracious restoration the goodness of God the mercy of God in our lives and that he will bring us back to himself. Let's consider Peter's fall. What exactly did Peter really do? And Jesus tells us when he promises here in verse 61 where he said before the rooster crows today you will deny me three times. Peter's sin was essentially a denial of the Lord Jesus Christ openly in public before both the presence of Jesus and before his own enemies. Now I want you to think about that tonight.

I want you to think about how terrible that is. I mean this is Peter of all people Peter was highly favored by Christ. I mean he was specially chosen he was one of the chosen twelve. He was also one of the inner disciples of the inner circle of Jesus where there was Peter, James, and John and those three men got to go to three events where the other disciples were excluded. What were those events? The raising of Jairus' daughter from the dead, the transfiguration of Jesus on the mount, and the prayer of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane.

Only those three men were able to be with him. And this man Peter was obviously in a deep close relationship with Jesus. And Peter was specially blessed to the Lord because it was Peter who made the announcement that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and the Son of God and Jesus said to him that this is revealed to you from God.

God has given you a revelation, God's opened your eyes. And of course Peter was unique in that out of all the disciples it was Peter who got out of the boat in the midst of the storm and he walked on the Sea of Galilee. So I think you would agree with me tonight that Peter was a highly favored man and for him to deny that he even knows Jesus, what kind of terrible sin is this?

And I want to remind you tonight, the higher your privilege, the greater your responsibility. And the more horrible is the sin if we walk away from the Lord. So Peter was highly favored, but let me also say that this was truly a terrible sin because Peter was highly warned by Jesus. In the upper room Jesus said to the 11, you will all fall away because of me this night. And what did Peter do?

He replied with a protest. He said though all fall away because of you, I will never fall away. By the way, have you ever heard anybody ever say this? I would never. When I've heard that throughout my life and I've heard it many times, I want to say shut up Peter.

Because you are making a mistake to think that you would never. And what was Jesus' response to Peter? He said Peter you're not going to deny me one time, you're going to deny me three times. How often does the Bible warn us against self-confidence? Pride. Pride goes before destruction. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

God resisteth the proud. And Peter was not only warned in the upper room, but Peter was actually warned in the Garden of Gethsemane three times. For as Jesus prayed in the garden in agony, what did the disciples do at that time?

They fell asleep, they took a nap. And Jesus came back to them three times and he said watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. And then he made this statement, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. He warned him.

And Peter was warned of the exposure to danger. He was not ignorant and the trap of temptation was set before him, but sadly he ran into it. And what makes his denial so deplorable is it happened so fast. You see, it wasn't years later after the warning that Peter denied the Lord. It wasn't weeks later. It wasn't days later.

It was just a few hours later. In just a short period of time he denied the Lord so quickly. So truly what Peter did was a terrible sin. So let's take that denial of the Lord.

And let's expand it. What is it that made it such a terrible sin? And what is it when often times we commit the same sin?

How do we do that? What does it mean to deny Jesus? Well it means to say that you, as he said, you don't know the person or you don't know anything about the person or you don't have a relationship with the person. So if you deny the Lord you say, I don't know him. I don't know anything about him. I have no relationship with him. And when Peter did that, obviously the fact is he did know him.

He did have a relationship with him. And the denial of Jesus is the ultimate sin of someone who is called an apostate. You ever heard that word apostate? What is an apostate?

It is a person who professes to believe in Jesus at one time but they come out and they say they no longer believe in Jesus and they walk away from him forever. I don't know if you have heard of a book that was written back in the 90s. It was written by a pastor of a mega church. His name was Joshua Harris.

The name of the book was I Kissed Dating Goodbye. He sold 1.2 million copies. He was very well known for his ministry and for his writing. Well later on he came out and he actually repudiated the book. He ended up divorcing his wife and he made a public announcement about it. And then he wrote something very significant. He said, the information that was left out of our announcement is that I have undergone a massive shift regarding my faith in Jesus.

The popular phrase for this is deconstruction. The biblical phrase is falling away. He knows his Bible. By all the measurements that I have for defining a Christian, he said, I am not a Christian. What is an apostate? It's someone who says they believe and later they say they no longer believe and they walk away from the Lord forever.

I would hate to say this. I'm not the Lord. I'm not a prophet. But there's no doubt apostates sitting in this building tonight. That at some point in your life you're going to walk away from the Lord and you're going to deny the faith. And it is right for me to say that tonight because the New Testament warns about that.

It warns about people who come to know the truth of God and acknowledge the truth of God and then they turn and they walk away from it forever. Of course the argument has always been were they saved and they lost their salvation or were they never really saved and the truth of the matter is the end result is the same. Because to deny the Lord is to walk away from the Lord and this is what Peter did. But Peter was not a complete apostate and how do we know that? Because he came back to the Lord. And essentially what I want you to understand that when we deny the Lord, any denial of Jesus is a form of apostasy. It doesn't mean that you will become an apostate because those that are his, he brings them back. He knows his sheep and he brings them back to himself but to deny the Lord is a form of apostasy. And I want you to notice tonight these three denials that Peter made because they were definitely different.

They were what we call degrees of denial. Notice Peter's first denial. Jesus is arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. He's brought to the palace of the high priest and Peter follows him.

He is allowed to enter into the courtyard of the palace and the one that lets him in through the gate was a servant girl. As Peter is sitting around the fire with the servants and the officers outside, the young lady comes up to him and she looks at his face and she says, you were with Jesus of Galilee. And what did Peter say?

I want you to listen to what he said because you can go back and read it in all four gospels and you put it all together. Essentially, here's what he said. He said, I don't know what you mean. I don't understand.

What are you talking about? His response was worded in such a way as to avoid giving a direct answer. We say he evaded the question or the statement. Now question, did Peter understand? Did he know what she was talking about? Did he know what she meant? Of course he knew. And Peter thought that he could escape from being identified with Jesus.

That's the issue. You were with him and he was to identify with Jesus and he failed to do so. The first form of denying Jesus is always trying to avoid being identified with Jesus when it costs you something. There's no question that identity today is a huge deal. What is your identity? Paul said, here's my identity. I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me and the life that I now live in the flesh.

I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself with me. He said, everywhere I go, I want people to not think of Paul. I want people to think of Christ. He identified himself as a believer.

I'm going to ask you a question tonight. Do you publicly identify yourself as a Jesus follower? Do you acknowledge that you know him? Or do you try to hide the fact that you're a Christian if it may cost you? And what is your true identity? Your true identity as a believer is that Christ is in you the hope of glory. To identify with Jesus as a believer is simply to acknowledge what is true about you. If you've been born again, then you have a new life.

You have a new nature. You are a new man in Christ. You are simply saying to people what you are. God wants us to publicly acknowledge who we are in Christ everywhere we go. If you join the army, identify yourself as a Christian.

If you get a job working in an accounting firm, identify yourself as a Christian. Wherever you go, you are to be what you are. That's what a Christian is to do. But what happens when a person backslides? Well, they begin to live out what they were, not what they are. Because what you were before you were saved is this. You had an old life, an old nature. You are the old man in sin. Backsliding is essentially going back to what you were before Christ.

So how do I recover from backsliding? It always starts with me coming out and identifying myself as a Christian and saying I want to be what I am. I want to live out in reality what I am in my heart. That's Christian living.

Living out in experience what God has done in your life. And the first step to backsliding is always the fear of identifying with Jesus. But then notice the second denial. The second denial comes when Peter becomes uncomfortable around the fire. So he gets up from the fire and he goes out to a porch and then he's there for a little bit and then he comes back. And this time he stands in the crowd around the fire but he's not at the very front of the fire.

He's sort of behind in the back. And there's another servant girl who speaks to Peter and says I know that he's one of them. I'm sure that he is. And then she and another girl both start saying you were with him.

We are sure you were with him. And Matthew tells us that Peter denies Jesus again but this time it's very different than the first time. The first time was sort of an evasion of the truth.

In this case it was much more direct because he did it with an oath. He said it this way I swear I do not know the man. I swear I do not know this man Jesus Christ. Now think about that.

How amazing is this? Here's the man that declared Jesus is the son of God and now he swears he doesn't even know who Jesus is. What does it mean to swear? What does it mean to make an avowal?

It's an open confession. Let me put it in modern terminology. It's like saying he or she came out.

You ever heard that statement? It means that you clearly have crossed a line. Whereas the first denial Peter may have saved his conscience now Peter clearly violates his conscience. He turns away decisively from what he knows is true.

Backsliding will always lead you to turn away from what you know is true. You walk away from his clear commands. You violate your conscience by your choices and your actions and in thus doing you are denying the Lord in your life. The Lord who bought you.

What? Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which you have of God for you are not your own. You are a bought with a price therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which your Christ.

So let me just stop here and ask you. Have you been violating clear commands that you know are rights and wrongs and in your own conscience you are going against them? Then I want to say to you that is a denial of the Lord. It is a step away from God.

It is a form of falling away from the Lord to violate the conscience in a direct command. And that leads to the third denial. And this is the final denial. We read here in Luke's Gospel tonight that about an hour passed and during that time Peter said nothing. But then he came back to the crowd.

And this time he started talking. And someone spoke up and let me put it in modern English. They said dude you are one of them because your accent gives it away. You're not from Jerusalem. Man you we know exactly where you're from.

You're from Galilee and that's where Jesus is from. And then all of a sudden the servant of the high priest recognizes Peter as the one who cut off his cousin's ear. For he was there just a few hours before where Peter pulled out a sword and cut off a man's ear. By the way I think that was an accident. I don't think he was going for the ear.

I think he was going for the head. And either the guy moved his head or Peter's a really bad shot and he whacked the dude's ear off. And what did Peter do in his response? He did something to prove that he could not have possibly been a believer. He responded in such a way that it would have been confirmed he can't be a Christ follower because of what he just did.

And what did Peter do? The Bible tells us his mouth exploded with profanity. If there's such a thing as an F bomb in Hebrew he said it.

He began to curse. He began to swear a string of the most awful expletives came flowing out of his mouth so much so that no one accused him of being a Christ follower after his rant. He proved to everyone by his actions that he must not be a disciple of Jesus. So how do we deny the Lord?

Number one, we just don't want to be identified. Number two, we clearly violate his laws. And number three, we begin to live in such a manner as you think how can you possibly be a follower of Jesus by the lifestyle and the way that you're living. And here's the thing that is so sad that all of this happened within the ear of Jesus and Jesus heard it all. And how it must have grieved his heart. So question, I mean how did Peter get here? You ever wonder that? I mean we look at his life, we look at his fervency, his vibrancy. I mean let's be honest, how can people be a vibrant Christian and then a year later it's like what in the world happened? Unfortunately that's where we'll have to end this sermon preached by BJU President Dr. Steve Pettit. Join us again tomorrow when we'll hear the conclusion of this sermon about the fall and restoration of Peter here on The Daily Platform.