The First Trial and the Denial by Peter part 2

I enjoyed that last song. It's a new one. Brother Keith has been teaching us. I know I sound like a broken record, I always say. If the music, the songs bless you, you make sure you acquire them for your own worship, your own time of family worship, as you have Christ-centered music in your home. Sometimes just one line will seize my spiritual attention. I was reminded this weekend and reminded even in that song that youth and beauty hurry by. Life goes faster and faster. And I think we need to be faithful to be good stewards of God's Word.

That's why we come this morning because we want to be taught by God's Word so we can be God's people, holy and pleasing to Him and used in our neighborhoods and even around the world. So thank you for that worship, Brother Keith. I'll take your Bible and turn back with me to John chapter 18. John chapter 18. Now it's been two weeks since we have been in our study through John. Last week we took a break and we were in the letter to the Hebrews. Remember we had a sermon that was titled "A Warning from the Letter to the Hebrews." I shared with you that this was one of the messages that we had together at our student camp.

It was the closing message, the last morning message that we brought before these young people. I think it speaks to where we are and where any church would be. And to be honest with you, it's been on my mind for some two weeks. It's been in my thoughts and in my prayers and I believe it is a message that we will revisit in the future. I really do encourage you to make sure you've listened to that message. Write down those six concerns. They become warnings for us and we can never move away into the area that some of those Hebrews, those Christians, they moved into. They were a drifting church. May we never be that type of people.

Now back here in John 18, we know that we are in a major transition in the earthly ministry of Jesus. I stated several times before that Jesus has turned the corner in his ministry. He prepared his disciples for his departure in the upper room. We studied at length the farewell discourses. Now he is entered into the Garden of Gethsemane and in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus went to pray. He was being fully obedient to the will of the Father and then he also went to be betrayed into the hands of sinful men. We learned that traitor Judas led this mob of Romans and Jews to arrest Jesus.

Now in chapter 18, we are in these events surrounding the cross. Everything has been set into motion and we're taking one step closer and closer as we progress through our verses. Now in our message in John last week, we covered verses 12 to 18 and in dividing these passages, we saw Jesus come before the Jewish authorities and then we saw Peter in his first denial of Jesus. This was a part one I believe I shared with you. This is one block of Scripture. If you would look at your copy of God's Word, really and truly, verses 12 to 27 is one block of Scripture. Most of the Bible commentators that I consult put these verses together.

As a matter of fact, some treat them as one sermon but I wanted to divide them for the sake of time because I want us to have plenty of time to just go verse by verse through these verses. Now I want to revisit a challenge that I set before you when we started chapter 18. I challenged us to read all of the events surrounding the cross not just in John but in the other Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Call us to do this because I want us to get the full picture, the full picture of what's going on with the events surrounding the cross. Now this will take you a little more time.

You will have to take the time and discipline yourself to read the other accounts. This will be a little more work for your study because you will find yourself going back and forth from John to the other accounts. Now this is a challenge because this can be confusing. Now we should never run away from verses that can be confusing. Our blocks of Scripture, they all fit together perfectly and when we are diligent we can get all that the Lord wants us to get. Now I've already shared with us some information that will help us. I won't go into all of those details again but we need to remember that Jesus had three trials.

There's a lot of going back and forth, back and forth in these verses. There were three trials before the Jews, those were the religious trials, there were three trials before the Romans, those are what commentators call the civil trials. Now these verses before us, verse 12 to 27, these are the some of the trials or one of the trials before the Jewish officials. Now again I tied last week's message to the first trial and denial by Peter. We saw Jesus before Annas. Remember Annas was the former high priest but yet he is still called the high priest much like our American presidents.

After they are out of office people continuously refer to them as Mr. President and then we also saw Peter's first denial and I'll bring that attention that to your attention because we will see this language again as we continue. Let me give you the title of a message. This is a part two, the first trial and the denial by Peter. Our major truths will be very similar to last week's. Don't let them confuse you. This is a continuation of the same story and the same message. You see how we will divide the verses. Jesus is examined by the Jewish authorities. Verses 19 to 24 and then Peter's second and third denials in verses 25 to 27.

We really have two stories going on. Jesus and his arrest and Peter's reaction, his reactions to everything that is going on. I think one of the Bible commentators that I referred to, he referred to this as two dramas going on at the same time. So let's go back to our verses. We read them earlier together but let's wade through them again and then we will divide them. Verse 19, "The high priest," this is Annas, "therefore questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching. Jesus answered him, 'I have spoken openly to the world.

I have always taught in the synagogues and in the temple where all of the Jews come together and I spoke nothing in secret. Why do you question me? Question those who have heard what I have spoke to them. Behold, these know what I have said.' And when he had said this, one of the officers standing by, he gave a blow or he struck Jesus saying, 'Is that the way that you answer the high priest?' Jesus answered him, 'If I've spoken wrongly, bear witness of the wrong, but if rightly why do you strike me?' And it's therefore sent him bound to Caiaphas. This is the ruling high priest." Now Simon Peter, he was standing warming himself.

They said, "Therefore to him, you are not also one of the disciples, are you?" Now he denied it and he said, "I am not." And then one of the slaves of the high priest being a relative of the one whose ear Peter cut off, he said, "Did I not see you in the garden with him?" Peter therefore denied it again and immediately the cock or the rooster crowed. Now you see our first major truth, number one in our outline. Jesus was examined by the Jewish authority. Jesus, he is examined by the Jewish authorities. Now we have already established the fact that this was a rigged court. We know this was a witch hunt.

There's lots of wording we can use to describe what is taking place here. Now we saw back in John chapter 11 that the Jewish council, they were under the leadership of Caiaphas, who was the ruling high priest, they had already determined to put Jesus to death. Now I call this the great manipulation. I think that helps us get this in our minds. Here we will see more specifically how Annas sought to manipulate these circumstances. Now there are four ways I want to break down this examination. This is just an unfolding of everything that is taking place. Now our first observation, Annas and his questioning. We see Annas and his questioning.

One verse, verse 19, "The high priest therefore questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching." Now at a glance we might not see a problem with this approach by Annas. Even though this was considered an informal hearing, this questioning revealed the intentions of Annas and the other leaders, the Jewish leaders who are involved. There are two things that need to be noticed here in this approach by Annas. First, Annas was breaking the Jewish law. It was his responsibility to bring the charges before Jesus and witnesses to verify the charges. Instead he brought vague accusations against him.

And then second, Annas' goal was to trick Jesus. He was desiring to get Jesus to incriminate himself. Simply, Annas broke the Jewish law as a part of the great manipulation. He is manipulating the Jewish legal system. And the Jewish law provided strict safeguards to protect the accused. And he and the other leaders, they were trying to manipulate the system for their own purposes that we examine back in John 11. Now our second observation is Jesus' response. Verse 20, Jesus answered to him, "I have spoken openly to the world.

I have always taught in the synagogues." And then Jesus goes on to down to explain that he had taught in the synagogues and in the temple where so many could hear. And in verse 21 he says, "Why do you question me? Why don't you question them?" Now unlike the Jewish leaders, Jesus did not break the Jewish law, nor did he have a secret agenda. Now something interesting to notice here, not only did Jesus not break the Jewish law in his actions, he did not even have a rebellious spirit or attitude. Notice here that Jesus uses the word "I." Go back to the verses. "I spoke openly to the world.

I always taught in the synagogue and in the temple where the Jews come together. I spoke nothing in secret." He is not being defiant, but he is pointing out to the fact that all he had done and taught had been done before so many. And then notice verse 21. What does he say? "Why do you question me? Question those who have heard all that I have spoken." Jesus is simply calling Anna's, the high priest, to obey the demands of the written law. Jesus' response exposes the motives of Anna. Jesus is calling him back to the Jewish law, therefore he is revealing their great manipulation of the system and the law.

Then notice third, the officials abuse. The abuse by the officials. Verse 22. "And when he had said this, one of the officers standing by gave Jesus a blow and rebuking him verbally." Again we have someone breaking the Jewish law here. It was against the law to strike a prisoner. This was the same situation that arises later with the Apostle Paul. In Acts 23 32, when he is before the Sanhedrin, he was struck in the same way. This was illegal, but unlike Jesus, Paul, he lashed out at those who struck him. Not in a sinful way, but he defended himself, but not Jesus.

First Peter 2 verse 23 says that although they reviled Jesus, Jesus did not revile them. And so the officials, they abused Jesus. And then verse 23. Here again Jesus appeals on behalf of the law. Go back to the verse. "If I have spoken wrongly, bear witness of the wrong." Again, he is coming back to the word, the Old Testament law. And he calls them to bring evidence of any wrongdoing. In every way, Jesus is using the law, the Jewish law, to prove his innocence as well as demand for a fair trial. And of course, this does not happen. And this is part of exposing these men for who they are. So in summary, we see a lot in this informal hearing.

At a glance, it appears that Jesus and Annas were at the center of this hearing, but that's not the case. I want you to think about that. It was the Jewish law that was at the center of the hearing. Annas is disregarding the law for his evil purposes, while Jesus is using the law to demand justice and a fair trial. But we know the whole story. This was part of the predetermined plan of God, for it was God's will for the Son to be betrayed, to be abused, and to be crucified. Now, I want to take a couple more steps back. I want us to notice some things.

Back in verses 12 to 24, we learned that the Jewish leaders were holding on to their power and their position and their prestige. They rejected Jesus, his message and his ministry. They rejected him in his totality. They wanted their own Messiah. Here this morning, we see another layer. This is like a bitter onion. The more layers you pull back, the worse it gets. Here in verses 19 to 24, the Jewish leaders under Annas leadership, they are abusing God's Word for their own purposes. They're ignoring God's Word for their own agenda. They tried to do what they thought was God's work totally disregarding and abusing God's Word.

Now, you know, we always apply. We look at these verses, we divide them, we look at what's taking place in God's Word in that day, but we apply principles out of God's Word. In application, I want to make two statements and then give an example. First, beware of men who try to do God's work without God's Word. You might not realize it, but there are men today in the life of the church, they will try to do God's work without God's Word. But I'll take it one step further, beware of men who try to do God's work in their own way.

But look, those two are related because if you try to do God's work without God's Word, you're always going to do God's work in man's way and it is never, never God's work. You think it is, but it's not. I'll give you an example. This is out of my life. It's one that I've not mentioned in a long time. I mean, if you know this story, but years ago I was involved in a bad church discipline situation. Now, I began to study church discipline when I went through church discipline, which really was not church discipline. They called it church discipline.

But as I began to study, I realized that they ignored God's Word, black and white text on white paper, verses that were brought before them, and they ignored God's Word. They didn't twist it, they didn't alter it, they literally ignored it and they had purposes of their own. And that is a real life example. But I want to bring that further into our laps in the life of our church. We must always operate in the life of the church under the authority of God's Word. God's Word is authoritative in all matters of life and in church life. And that's why we must be faithful to be students of God's Word.

And in what we do in the life of the church, we do this chapter and verse under the authority of God's Word proclaimed in God's Word. And you might say, "Pastor, we've always done that. That's not a trap for us. Listen, if we relax for one moment, our flesh will pull us away from God's Word." Now, our second major truth in our outline, number two, Peter's second in his third denial. Peter's second in his third denials. Like I said, we really have two dramas going on, the trial of Jesus and then Peter in his denials. Let's look back at our verses, verse 25. "Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself.

They said, 'Therefore to him, you are not also one of the disciples, are you?' Well, he denied it. And he said, 'I am not.' Then one of the slaves of the high priest, being a relative of the one whose ear Peter cut off, he said, 'Did I not see you in the garden with him?' Peter therefore denied it again and immediately a cock or a rooster crowed." Now here in verse 25, we find Peter right where we left him in verse 18. Look back at verse 18. This was after the first denial and what does it say?

"Now the slaves and the officers were standing there, having made a charcoal fire, for it was cold and they were warming themselves." And what does it say? "Peter also was with them standing and warming himself." See, he stepped away from the slave girl who questioned him to this charcoal fire with this group of individuals. He seems to have sulked off. I envision it like this. He sulks off into the corner after his first denial. Now I called his first denial a spineless denial and I did this on purpose. He was afraid of a mere slave girl who was just a doorkeeper. She had no power over him and he was afraid of a simple slave girl.

Now the story of Peter's denial just continues starting in verse 25. But I want to show us again Peter and his actions. Peter is hot and Peter is cold. Peter is hot in his loyalty to Christ and then he is cold in his loyalty to Christ. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter was bold enough to be this self-appointed bodyguard of Jesus. What does he do? He lashes out to defend Jesus, cutting off the ear of the slave of the high priest. And then after Jesus' arrest, he slips back into the shadows. Jesus stepped out of the shadows and he presented himself to the mob. Then after the arrest, Peter just steps back into the shadows in fear.

But to his defense, unlike the other disciples, Peter does not venture too far. He musters up enough courage and strength to follow Jesus at a distance. And then he gets even more courageous. He gets brave and he goes into the courtyard of the high priest. But this courage soon vanishes. When a simple slave girl asks him one question, he turns into a coward. Now I want to examine Peter's continued denials. First Peter's second denial. You can tell the verse just jumps right back into the story. Simon Peter was standing and warming himself and they said therefore to him, see this is the group, you are not also one of the disciples are you.

He denied it. I am not. So Peter, he's warming himself and it appears it's obvious that he is questioned by the group who was sharing the fire. Now I call this a group because it appears to be more than one questioning him. Now this is where we can get information from the other Gospels. Matthew and Mark mention a girl questioning Jesus or questioning Peter. Excuse me. Luke mentions a man questioning Peter. Now we must not see this as a contradiction. This is a group of individuals who are talking around the fire and then Peter he comes and he joins them and then they simply begin to question him.

Each Gospel writer is pointing out those who question Peter. And we see that this questioning is really a group effort. A group effort. But notice Peter's response. Instead of admitting the truth, he denied it a second time. He could have redeemed himself but no he expresses cowardice and he is becoming deeper and deeper in this behavior of denial. Now notice second the Peter's third denial. Second Peter and his third denial. One of the slaves, verse 26 of the high priest being a relative of the one whose ear Peter cut off. He said, "Did I not see you in the garden with him?" Peter therefore denied it again and immediately the rooster crowed.

Now here in verse 26 this question is in two ways. First the construction of the language indicates that the one questioning Peter he expected an affirmative answer. Then second the one questioning is identified. Now John gives us specifics. This is a relative of the slave who was assaulted earlier by Peter. This was that violent attack. But notice Peter's response. John does not tell us what Peter says only that he denied Jesus again. This cowardice is running deeper and deeper. And then notice how significant this third denial is. This was a man who saw him there in the garden. But then third notice the prophecies fulfilled.

Here we see a fulfillment of what Jesus had previously said what happened. Now this was earlier in the night. Remember all of these things took place in one night. The farewell discourses there in the upper room, everything in the garden. This is happening in one night. So possibly two or three hours before Jesus had told Peter that he would deny him three times. Jesus told him that he would deny him before the dawn of the day. And that is just what is happening here. I have to imagine it this way. The teaching was still fresh on Peter's mind when he is denying Jesus. So in summary notice what we see.

Peter denied Jesus at the door of the courtyard with the slave girl. This was spineless. Peter denies Jesus after repeated questioning. This second and third denials are repeated denials when he could have redeemed himself. To make matters worse, one of those questioning Peter, they had seen him with Jesus. And of course Jesus predicted these denials what happened. This was a fulfillment of Scripture. Now a question. What do we see going on here with Peter? What is the problem? This is the exposure of self which is alive and well in Peter. There was a lot of Peter that needed to be brought to the surface.

There was a lot of Peter that needed to be revealed to Peter and a lot of Peter that needed to die. Peter struggled with Christ's purposes for his life and kingdom work. Peter struggled with loyalty to his Lord. We learned that last week. And Peter is struggling with Peter. I think it needs to be repeated. Peter is struggling with the purposes of Christ. No, you will not die on the cross. Peter struggle with loyalty. The cowardice is bringing that out. And Peter is struggling with Peter, his old sinful self. Now an application. This morning's application builds off last week's application. We can struggle with kingdom purposes ourselves.

Much like Peter. We can struggle with the purpose of the gospel. The gospel isn't just for you and me. The gospel is for lost sinners around the world. I can't tell you how many times I hear people make comments limiting where the gospel should go. Jesus went into the highways and byways. He was called a friend of sinners. And the purpose of the gospel is to bring lost sinners to Christ. Now we do not know whom God is going to bring into the church, into a right relationship with him. That's his business. And then we can also lose sight of the purposes of the church. So many people today, they want this small little group.

They all look alike, talk alike, and believe the same things. And they want to sit around and be pious and talk about how they have everything just right. No, the church is to reach lost sinners and to grow the saints. Many times I think we fail or we forget where we have come from. And what am I showing you? Just like Peter struggled with kingdom purposes, we can struggle with kingdom purposes. But Peter struggled with his lawyer to Christ. And we can do the very same thing.

Listen, when these things come between us and our relationship with the Lord, when our jobs or our families or our children or anything that would come in our life that would pull us away from our loyalty to Christ, we are just like Peter. But this morning we see that we all struggle with self. At times God puts circumstances in our life where we are squeezed. Is it Peter being squeezed here? I mean, he is being squeezed. And at times the Lord puts us in circumstances where we are squeezed and he's not doing that to see what's going to come out of us. He already knows how we're going to react.

He wants to show us what's going to come out of us. Remember I refer to that bad church discipline situation that I went through? One of the greatest things that God did in my life for me at that time was He showed me that there was a lot more of Chris alive than I thought was dead. He taught me that I was not near as spear-filled as I thought I was because when I was squeezed, Chris came to the surface. Sin came to the surface. Selfishness came to the surface. I did not deal with much of that adequately. Why? Because the Lord was trying to get Chris out of Chris. My question for you is this. Is there more of you in you than you know of?

We'll deal with that a little more when we move to the conclusion of the message. Now I want to step away from the verses that we're dividing this morning and look at this block of Scripture. I asked you earlier to note verse 12 to verse 27. These verses all belong together. This is the first of the Jewish trials. The first of the Jewish trials. Jesus is before Annas and then we see these denials. Now as we conclude the first trial of Jesus, what must we learn? What must we take away from this? For not careful, we can see this as information. Yes, I see the historicity of what's going on here.

I even see the nuts and bolts of who's doing what, when, where, and how. But I believe they're spiritual truths that conform us into the people in the church that God wants us to be. Now there are two points of application I'm going to make here in this conclusion and then there are a series of questions that I'm going to pose for you and for me. Now first we must see the Jewish leaders, their actions and their motives. They had determined to kill Jesus as soon as they got the chance. They wanted to hold on to power, they wanted to hold on to their position, and they wanted to hold on to their prestige.

They abused, they manipulated, and they ignored God's Word for their plans. And sadly, these men would have told you they were doing God's work. They would have died knowing they were doing God's work, but they were sadly mistaken. Now question here. Why is it good to see that men can seek to operate churches like this in our day? We might not realize it, but they're men just like Annas and just like Caiaphas. They are alive today and they are trying and are successfully governing many churches. Now why is it good for us to see that these kinds of things go on today?

Why did I say last week that it is good for us to see the corruption in churches? It is because it can happen to us here at Nola Baptist Church. That's why. The diatrophies, he can slip into the side door. Remember diatrophies in our study in 1st John? Diatrophies, he came in and he opposed God's men, he opposed God's work, and he was trying to manipulate and control the church of God. But what am I trying to show you? The diatrophies can slip into the side door of our church. Now what did the Apostle Paul say to the elders at the church at Ephesus when he is departing for Rome? He says be careful, wolves will rise up among you.

I'm afraid that the day will come when we will see the diatrophies slip in the side door and a wolf could rise up among us. What am I trying to show you? That could happen to us. People could try to assert power and influence and do exactly what we've seen in the life of Annas and Caiaphas. Now the second point of application, we must see Peter and his actions. Now before I'm too rough on Peter, I want to say that he was a truly saved man. We know that. He was just in a tough spot in his sanctification. Sanctification is a process. But we are seeing Peter wrangle with himself. He has this bold streak.

He has this great courage and he has these leadership qualities that we will see come to the surface in a great way. Yet there is a lot of Peter that needed to die. There's just a lot of self that needed to be crucified. Jesus ordained these circumstances for Peter to see Peter. He was squeezed and then he had to deal with what came out. We will see this work come full circle in John chapter 21. Now two questions here. Why is it good for us to spend so much time with Peter in his denials? You know there's some that would say well pastor, take all these verses and put them together. Touch on the denials and move on.

Why is it good for us to really break down these denials? We need to see the trials that are brought into our lives are brought by God on purpose to squeeze us. We needed to examine every little detail about this trial. This is ordained of God and the trials that are in our life they're ordained of God to show us what self is alive and what needs to be crucified. We learned in our study back in James that trials can be positive and negative and they are ordained of God and many will come and we should welcome them. I would venture to say that Peter had a hard time welcoming this trial.

Oh but maybe when he got on the backside of it he was sure happy God had brought this trial into his life. Now the other question and application, what trials have you faced in your life? What is taking place in your life right now? What current trial is enveloped you and what is coming out of you in your trial? What fleshly behavior? What sinful thoughts? How much woe is me? How many thoughts have given up quitting? How many times have you said why me Lord why me? You see where I'm going? And the trials that you have faced and the trial maybe that you're a neck deep in what is coming out of you. So what do we see?

The Jewish leaders their actions and their motives. We need to be equipped in the life of the church. Peter his actions and what the Lord was doing. Really two sermons right beside each other. They're interwoven in these verses. Jesus on trial and Peter's reactions. But I believe two sermons brought together so the Lord would work in our life. May the Lord help us take these lessons to our heart and may we grow from what we have learned this morning and then our previous message in John. Let's pray.