Danger in the Series
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Danger in the Distance
Now Peter sat without 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 unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee. Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew.
There’s quite a bit that y’all don’t know about me and rightly so because I’ve only interacted with you for about two weeks. But one thing you might not now is that I am a huge adrenaline junky. I mean if there is anything that you wanted to do that had the possibility of us getting hurt and it sounded like fun I would most likely do it. For me roller coasters are great, I love thrill of being on a ride and the rushing feeling that seems to linger afterwards. I remember the anticipation of “Falcons Fury” grand opening and really was going to be a ride like none other. I mean a tower reaching 335 feet tall with a 90-degree angle dropping with speeds as fast as 60mph. What they didn’t tell you is that the original grand opening date which was supposed to be in the spring of 2014 got pushed back 4 months. When asked the reason for the delay Busch Gardens responded by saying “we noticed as the distance increased between the test dummies and the ground the greater the danger lied. While that peak my curiosity I decided to do some further investigating and I came across this video of test dummies falling out as they were testing out the ride. You would think I would change my mind but I didn’t! I was determined more than anything to ride it. But that phrase “the greater the danger lied” has stuck with me and in a message I’ve entitled “Danger is in the Distance” I want to look at the life of Peter and some unfortunate decisions that created distance that brought much danger.
Peter’s Renouncement (v.69-74)
Peter’s Renouncement (v.69-74)
Private Denial (v.69)
Socially
She was hired as the maid of the high priest to keep the doors
Physically
Most likely with the layout of this palace
She would have only been maybe 10-12 feet away from Peter
She’s standing at the door
Peter’s standing at the foot of the palace
He’s warming himself
She begins to earnestly look on him (Luke 22:56)
She earnestly studies him
Her proclamation
She just says it
You too were with Jesus
This accusation was not of rebellion, blasphemy
Simply that she was with Jesus
And he just flat out denies it (v.70)
Says I have no idea what your talking about
Public Denial (v.71)
Trying to leave the situation
He gets further from where Jesus is. Scholars believe that he is now in the gateway
He’s probably walking briskly at this point
To avoid any further problems
Distance from the Light and light and further into darkness
He comes to the point where he is recognized again
And denies it again for the second time
But this is with others present
Profane Denial
Probably not wanting to leave the courtyard
He is lingering around and others come to him
At this point it’s a huge crowd
They say YOU HAVE TO BE WITH HIM
Look at the way you speak
So he curses to try to fit in
I think it’s interesting that too many times we try to cover our testimony but in the process we actually ruin our testimony.
Peter’s Recognition (v.75)
Peter’s Recognition (v.75)
Peter’s Desperation
Peter is here and he is acting by any means of self-preservation.
He is doing and saying what he thinks is best for the time
He really is sacrificing tomorrow his future self on the altar of today or the person he is now.
Don’t you agree that too often we find ourselves in the situation where we make decisions today without any regard for tomorrow?
Often times this is what leads to us doing things that we will regret for the rest of our lives.
It wasn’t until the crewing of the cock that made peter realize what he had done
He made the decision to deny Christ
From there it just became a snowball effect
If were not careful we often get involved with things that really don’t benefit us spiritually and physically and then we become too deeply involved
Often it isn’t until we are too deeply involved that it takes something startling like the cock crowing
Peter’s Restoration (John 21:15)
Peter’s Restoration (John 21:15)
His present state
He had gone back to what he had known
They all had gone back to fishing
I mean really in their minds what else is there left to do.
The Passover had come and they were really waiting for Christ to appear again.
John spots Jesus
Peter jumps out of the boat and he’s not allowing anything to stop him
Granted its not the deepest of water but it was enough that they had to take a dingy in
Peter needed to be the first person to Jesus
For himself
His spiritual state
Some have said that it was at the moment of denial that he lost his apostasy. Some have even taken it to say to the extent that he had lost his position in Christ
But understand that there is no record of that ever found in the scripture.
I find that to be actually the opposite case and these verses tell us why
If Peter’s denial caused him to lose his apostasy and even his position
That would mean that he was saved by his works and by the things that he could do to benefit God
I am grateful that it is not up to me to keep my salvation. Because if it was, if every time I woke up and didn’t feel saved life would be pretty bad.
His personal state
Christ had already forgiven Peter at this time
This time was used for Peter to forgive himself
Application: if I was to be honest with you. Growing up it was harder for me to forgive myself even after I asked God to forgive me.
The story is told of a young woman by the name of Christina who grew up in a single parent home after the tragic death of her father. Her mother, having worked multiple jobs to support Christina, instilled at a young age the importance of independence. Christina often spoke of going to the city and the life that it brought. Her mother warned her when she said “People don’t know you there. Jobs are scarce and the life is cruel. And besides, if you went there, what would you do for a living?” But her mother knew what she would have to for a living. Her heart broke to find that her daughter’s bed was empty. Taking just a few pairs of clothes and some last minute portrait pictures, Christina’s mother knew she must find her daughter immediately.
After searching every known bars, hotels, nightclubs that had a reputation for streetwalkers she would leave a picture of herself with a note to her precious daughter. It wasn’t long that both the money and pictures ran out and her mother was forced to go home. A few weeks later, Christina descended the hotel stairs and noticed a familiar face. She walked across the room and removed the small photo. Written on the back was this invitation: “Whatever you have done, whatever you have become, it doesn’t matter. Please come home.
Jesus is God’s picture taped to a Roman cross, inviting us to come home. “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person”. When you look at Jesus, you can’t help but see the Father who loves you. No matter what you’ve done, no matter what you’ve become, God invites you to come home. Matthew 11:28 says “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”