Peters Denial

John 18: The Arrest and Peter’s First Denials

Well, good morning, everybody.

Good morning.

I bring greetings to you once again from Bethany Baptist Church in Stockton, California. We're thankful for our partnership together. We pray for your congregation often and that the Lord would bless your good works and your endeavors to bring Christ to this part of the world.

And I thank you for the invitation to be with you morning and evening and bring the preaching of the word of God to you. And I invite you for this morning to turn with me to John 18. John 18, the focus of our text will be 12 -27, but for context, I want to read from verse 1 -27.

John 18, and we will begin in verse 1. And when you arrive there, let us stand for the reading of God's word. I'll be reading from the New King James Version. John chapter 18, beginning in verse 1. When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples over the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered.

And Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples. Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.

Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon him went forward and said to them, whom are you seeking? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said to them, I am he. And Judas, who betrayed him, also stood with them.

Now when he said to them, I am he, they drew back and fell to the ground. Then he asked them again, whom are you seeking? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he.

Therefore, if you seek me, let these go their way, that the saying might be fulfilled which he spoke. Of those whom you gave me, I have lost none. Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear.

The servant's name was Malchus. So Jesus said to Peter, put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which my father has given me? 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 had 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 the 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 that? Jesus answered him, if I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil.

But if well, why do you strike me? Then Anna 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. And 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? Peter then denied again. And immediately, a rooster crowed.

Amen.

You may be seated. May God bless the reading of his word. Let's unite our hearts and pray together that God would meet with us. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for Jesus Christ, our Lord, who made the good confession before Pontius Pilate.

We thank you for the active obedience of our Lord, who never wavered, never faltered, never was ashamed of his words, of your words, Father, that you sent him to speak. We thank you that we stand in your presence, justified on the basis of Christ's perfect, active and passive obedience offered in our stead.

And Father, we see ourselves in faltering Peter here, Lord, a true saint of the Lord, and yet one who overestimated his own strength, one who thought more highly of himself than he ought to have thought.

And Father, you humbled him and taught him an unforgettable lesson. And Father, we pray as we meditate on your word, may we learn the lesson. May we not think more highly of our own strength and our courage and our bravery.

May we know ourselves, may we know our abilities and our strengths, and may we abide in Jesus Christ, our Lord, for the strength that we need to bear witness for his name. We pray, Father, now for the ministry of your Holy Spirit in our hearts, that he would be with us in our gathering as we have gathered in the name of our Lord, that the Spirit would work, that he would renew the hearts of your people, that we would be refreshed in the gospel, that we would be strengthened in further grace to serve Christ.

And Father, we pray that he would work to open the eyes of those who do not yet see the glory of Jesus Christ. Cause them to see the grace and love and glory that is in Christ, our Lord, and may they flee to him for refuge.

Bless our time now in your word, we pray. We ask in Jesus' name, amen. Well, the way I want to approach this passage this morning is we will consider the exposition of verses 12 through 17, briefly making comments so that we understand.

And then lastly, instead of turning to doctrine and then application, I'm summarizing those two in what I'm calling three lessons from the text. Okay, so exposition and then three lessons. Let's begin in verse 12.

Then the detachment of troops and the captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him. Now the reason I wanted to read from verse one is so that you see that just moments before this, this battalion found themselves bewildered, fallen backward on their backsides because of the sovereign word of Jesus Christ.

I am.

And they are blown backwards at the word of his power, showing Christ is in control. Christ could have destroyed them if he had wanted. Christ could have escaped their seeking to arrest him if he wanted.

And yet now, like the lamb as was prophesied in Isaiah, this lamb is now bound willingly. The Son of God is willingly bound for our sake and for our freedom. Verse 13, they lead him away to Annas first.

Annas is the father-in-law of Caiaphas who was high priest that year. Now, according to Old Testament law, there should have only been one high priest. But, and he would hold that position until his death.

But because of Roman occupation, in this day, the Romans would appoint one and remove one prior to his death, mostly as they thought one would serve their interests more than the other. But in the eyes of the Jews, all of them would still be regarded as high priest as long as they lived.

And so in the middle of the night, they bring him, the Lord, not to a prison to await a just hearing and a just trial after the Sabbath, but instead, they break the law and they begin their joke of a trial right in the middle of the night.

They bring him to Annas for a preliminary trial, probably while Caiaphas is already gathering the Sanhedrin for a more formal, though still illegal, judicial trial. And to summarize for the reader what kind of kangaroo court we are to expect, John includes this detail in verse 14.

It was Caiaphas who advised the Jews that it was expedient for one man to die for the people. He's referring back to the end of John chapter 11 when Caiaphas said, do you not understand that if this man keeps going, we are gonna lose both our place and our nation, and therefore, this man needs to die rather than the whole nation perish.

And what John is doing is he's reminding us these rulers are the most pragmatic of men. This is not a fair trial. This is not a genuine peering into the facts and seeking to understand what this man teaches and does.

These are men who have already decided this man must be gotten rid of, no matter how we must do it, lest we perish and lose our place. And then verse 15 introduces this thread. Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple.

Now, it's fascinating. We have two themes that kind of run side by side in the remainder of this passage. The Lord's steadfastness under trial versus Peter's crumbling courage. Sandwiched right in between Peter's denials, John inserts the Lord's unwavering, unflinching testimony before the world.

Now, it's important that we remember, as we read earlier in the chapter, the Lord has dismissed his disciples from this hour of trial. Verse eight, he said to the Roman battalion, he said, therefore, if you seek me, let these, my disciples, go their way.

And yet Peter, no doubt from love for his Lord, but also from a naive underestimation of his own strength, Peter is out of duty here. He is venturing into something the Lord already told him he doesn't have the strength to face right now.

Back in chapter 13, 36, Jesus told Peter, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow me after. So Peter follows, and this other disciple, who we're not told who he is, my opinion is that it's probably not the apostle John.

John is from Galilee. This other disciple is known by the high priest such that he's granted access into the courtyard, but Peter is left outside the door. Whoever he is, this other disciple has a word with the servant girl who kept the door, and he brings Peter in.

And immediately, Peter's courage is tested. Just hours before this, Peter announced boldly to the Lord, Lord, even if they all forsake you, talking about the other disciples, even if I must die with you, I will not forsake you.

And verse 17 says, then the servant girl who kept the door said to Peter, you are not also one of this man's disciples, are you? Just a little servant girl, curious servant girl. The way the question is phrased in Greek, she expected a negative answer.

You're not one of his disciples. The pressure is low here on Peter, and yet he says, I am not. Matthew Henry says, the first step of a slide is the most dangerous. What Peter should have done is he should have planted his flag.

Quivering voice, shaking, whatever it takes, he should have planted his flag. Yes, I am one of this man's disciples and I've come to stand by him. It only gets easier to compromise after you've compromised.

As one of the Puritans said, little sins are like primer that help the paint of bigger sins to stick. And verse 18, now the servants and the officers who had made a fire of coal stood there for it was cold and they warmed themselves.

Now, picture it. Peter shouldn't even be in this courtyard. He shouldn't be in this circumstance. He should either be outside with the other disciples, out of temptation's way like the Lord had made provision for, or he should be bound right next to his Lord.

But instead, he's playing this in-between game. The secret Christian. And his enemies have a fire going. To distance himself from them would seem suspicious, but to draw near to them would risk further exposure.

But Peter is cold. And I think in some ways, that's an analogy of how his faith and his courage are growing cold. And John writes, Peter stood with them and warmed himself. Just a little compromise. I don't know him.

I'm not his disciple. Leads to him now huddled, literally next to the Lord's enemies. No doubt conflicted in his heart. No doubt torn in his conscience. Scared, regretting probably his decision. But before his second and third final denial, John then sandwiches this scene of our Lord.

Starting in verse 19. It cuts to his interrogation. The high priest, Annas, then asks Jesus about his disciples and his doctrine. By the way, this is unlawful. Jewish law had strict laws protecting the innocent.

It is the accuser's job to establish his guilt with witnesses. It's not his job to defend his innocence. But Annas interrogates him on his disciples and his teaching, trying to see if he will incriminate himself.

Verse 20. Jesus, our Lord, answered him. I spoke openly to the world. I think of Paul in Ephesians 6 .19 when he tells the church, pray for me that utterance may be given me and that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel as I ought to speak.

Christ, I spoke openly to the world. Christian, praise God for Christ's perfect act of obedience in our behalf. He, unlike Peter, unlike us, never wavered, never was ashamed of his father's words.

He goes on, he says,.

I taught in synagogues and in the temple where the Jews always meet, and in secret I have said nothing. Why do you ask me what I said? Ask those who have heard me. Indeed, they know what I said. And that statement, ask those who heard me, is an ironic statement considering Peter, the rock, is standing right outside, warming himself with Christ's enemies, keeping silent.

And I doubt Peter could hear this conversation, but if he could, it would have been like heaping coals on his head. Verse 22, 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 that?

The Lord had done nothing wrong. The Lord was simply calling the court to order and justice to establish his guilt if they indeed could with witnesses. But anything is taken as disrespect when you're dealing with underhanded men as these men were.

And Jesus answered him, if I have spoken evil, bear witness to the evil. But if I have spoken well, why do you strike me? And apparently it seems that Anna sees he will get nowhere with the Lord. No one will speak for or against Christ.

They won't speak against him because they can't. They know his words, his testimony has been consistent. Everyone heard him. But also ironically, the one who could speak for him and defend him can't because of his own fear.

And his own weakness. So verse 24, Anna sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest. So again, picture the scene in your mind's eye. They now are moving the Lord to the next step. What that means is that Peter can see him.

Peter can see they're moving my Lord. And for Peter, this is his second chance. Here you go, Peter. Cut your losses before obedience gets even harder. Repent of your compromise and run to the Lord. Fling yourself before these soldiers and confess Jesus Christ before them.

Tell them I was wrong before to deny him. I do know him. I am his disciple and I will tell you what he spoke because he's the son of God. Tell them I would rather die than deny my Lord again. If only that were what happened.

Verse 25, 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. Verse 26, 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?

They're closing in on Peter. He's feeling the pressure and Luke's gospel tells us that Peter began to curse and to swear. I do not know this man nor of what you speak. That is, he began to call down a curse upon himself and to swear that he does not know his Lord.

John simply writes in verse 27, Peter then denied again and immediately a rooster crowed. And as the other gospels fill in the gaps, we are told that immediately upon that rooster crowing, the Lord looks at Peter and it is a look that sends Peter out weeping bitterly.

Three Lessons from Peter’s Denial

Let's turn to our three lessons from this text. Three lessons that I think we should draw out to take warning of and to take encouragement from. Number one, Christian. One lesson that we are taught from this passage is that there are temptations that not every Christian is ready for.

And I don't mean to pick on Peter. I'm gonna say later that's the last thing we should do when we read this account. We should not look down on him and as though Peter's so much more foolish and fearful than we would ever be.

But the text is here for our instruction to learn from Peter. Peter put himself in temptation's way even against the Lord's explicit warning against it and the Lord making provision for Peter to escape it.

You're not ready, Peter. And so when they come for me, I'm gonna say take me and let these go. But Peter runs headlong anyway. Again, I know his good intentions. I know he loved his Lord. But he thought too highly of himself.

He thought too high of his courage. And he winds up humiliated. We have to have a category for that, brothers and sisters. We don't wanna be egalitarian and act like just everyone is at the same maturity level.

Everyone can handle anything anyone else can handle. That's not true. And it's unloving when we treat more immature believers that way. Let me give you some examples. First thing that comes to my mind.

Parents, is there not a clear principle here for Christian parents who willingly put their children in ungodly, anti-Christ environments as though they are going to be ready to handle the greatest onslaughts of Satan?

Kids are given guardians for a reason. We don't put children in battle for a reason. Grown men go to battle. The strong go to battle. Parents, dwell with your kids in an understanding way. Care for them.

And I have heard, this is so common in our day, I have heard parents say things like, well, if the Bible is true and consistent, then they will be able to hold their own. The question is not whether the Bible is consistent.

The issue is that the devil, our enemy, is a good liar and a good tempter and underminer of truth and twister of truth. He makes plausible arguments. Let me give you a second application from this. I want to speak to young men, okay?

I'm not as young as I used to be, but I was a young man at one time, newly converted. This is more common with young men than it is with young women. Young men have a tendency to get converted, and praise God, they are zealous and on fire for the Lord, but they naively think, I am ready to take on the world.

In apologetics, and they get online and they say, bring in all the atheists into the room, bring in all the best apologists from all the cult, I'm ready, and it's zeal without knowledge. It's zeal without maturity, when in reality, oftentimes what we need before we do battle for the Lord is we need to sit at the Lord's feet and learn from the Lord and grow.

Zeal without knowledge often ends in humiliation, similar to how Peter ended up humiliated. And even if it's not a failure in your arguments, it will very likely be a failure in your attitude and your character.

I look back on some of the things I did. I was this man, and I think by God's grace, some of those rough edges have been sanded off of me. But I see it, it's funny how God often gives pastors, men who are just like they used to be, so that now I have to be patient with men just like my pastor was patient with me.

But they get online and they think I demolished them and I won, but mature Christians are standing by looking on and they're thinking to themselves, no, you didn't win, you lost, you think you won. And it's not that you have nothing to say, even the woman at the well had something to say, come and see a man who told me all the things I ever did.

But you have to know your limits, you have to know your maturity, your strength, your courage, your patience. Hebrews five, the preacher says, you all ought to be teachers by now, but you're not. Right, not everyone's ready to be a teacher.

Not everyone's ready to be an apologist or a martyr. So don't rush headlong into things the Lord has not yet equipped you for. It's one thing if the Lord in his providence nudges you into those things and you have no choice but to face them even though you feel I'm not ready.

In that case, you need to pray, Lord, you have ordained this, give me utterance, give me, bring to my mind the word of God, give me the influence of your Holy Spirit and grant me to bear witness to Jesus Christ.

But that's an entirely different thing from us just rushing headlong, hyping up our own supposed game and seeking to be something that we're not. That's the first thing. There are certain temptations and trials that not every Christian is ready for.

Second thing that I want us to draw out from this passage, when it does come time to bear witness for Christ, Christian, okay, when God in his providence brings you into a situation where I need to tell this person about Jesus Christ, it is best to resolve in your heart to plant your flag as a Christian right away.

Early on, first thing, just try to get it out there. Here's the principle, one of the principles we learned from Peter. Even though Peter put himself in a situation he should not have been in, his second fault was that he made obedience and courage even harder than it had to be by his delayed obedience.

For him to own Christ as his Lord when he was asked the second time, now he has to own that awkward fact that just a few minutes ago, he was afraid to own Christ as Lord to just a little servant girl.

Not to mention that's not exactly the greatest testimony, Christian, when people are all of a sudden caught by surprise and say, oh, I had no idea you were a Christian. We've been talking for a year and I had no clue.

Not because necessarily you explicitly said you weren't or implied that you weren't, but just because you didn't stand up for Christ. You were silent, you tried to play the secret Christian game. Young people especially.

The fear of man is a snare. Do you try to play the secret Christian game? Are you in that world right now? Maybe no one else knows it, but you've been wrestling. I'm in the midst of the Lord's enemies and I should be a shining light, but I'm just warming myself by this fire of sin with them.

We laugh at jokes we shouldn't laugh at. We participate in gossip. We get involved with unequal weights and measures. We talk badly about other people. Whether that's at work, whether you're a student.

Peer pressure is real and suddenly we find ourselves surrounded by the very people we're supposed to be winning with the gospel of purity and of grace and instead they don't even know that we differ from them.

And what happens?

We find it very difficult and hypocritical to all of a sudden try to reverse that and all of a sudden say, hey, by the way, I'm an ambassador of the king and I want to tell you about holiness and grace and purity.

Why?

Because we've spoiled our testimony. Now, don't get me wrong, it is better, if that's you, if you're like Peter at this second stage, it is better, delayed obedience is better than never obedience and it is better to say in that moment and confess, I was wrong and I have been acting wrong and I haven't been honoring my Lord and I need to tell you what, as a Christian, I should have been doing.

But it's best to obey the Lord right away. Plant that flag. Seriously, just get in the habit. There are easier ways to let it be known that you're a Christian. Just get in the habit of starting off conversations when someone asks you about something.

Well, I am a Christian and, and they know from the start, this is a man or a woman who is starting from a biblical perspective. And if you think that's awkward, and I understand, sure, there's a level of awkwardness.

The world doesn't know how to respond to that.

You follow what?

But if you think that's awkward, it's not nearly as awkward as it is to hide your Lord and then be found out later. Because in that case, you're not just blushing before men, you're blushing before the Lord who loved you and gave himself for you.

Young people, dare to be a Daniel. We need more Daniels in our age of compromisers. Daniel was not afraid of the edict. Daniel prayed to the Lord his God with his windows wide open. What if you were as resolved to be an influence on others for Christ as much as the world is resolved to be an influence on you for sin?

They're proud of who they are. They're proud of sin. Shouldn't we be proud of the one who lived and died for me and rose again and now reigns and rules heaven and earth? Do they speak unashamedly and proudly of sin?

I will speak unashamedly and proudly of grace. The blood of Jesus Christ, his cross, because he loved me and gave himself for me and he is kind to sinners like me and you also need to hear about his grace and be saved.

That brings us to the third and final lesson. The third thing I wanna hit home is that we are Peter. I alluded to this earlier. The point of this passage is not for us to gloat and look at Peter and say, what a loser that guy is.

Is he even a Christian? That's exactly the attitude Peter had towards his fellow apostles. Lord, even though they might deny you, I will never deny you. That kind of haughty, proud spirit was the beginning of his fall and Peter had to eat those words.

He fell farther and harder than any of them. And so, believer, it would be a very ironic way for us to look at this passage and to turn our noses up at him and to fail to take heed to ourselves and think we stand, lest we fall like Peter.

What Peter represents here is the church. He is the rock and yet even the rock faltered. Praise God, the rock of ages never faltered even though he was bound and interrogated and condemned to death, he never recanted for our sakes.

And yet, our Lord in heaven has ordained that he will fetch his bride through a bunch of imperfect, doubtful, fearful, at times faltering sinners like us. And what this passage is, is a striking lesson, brothers and sisters, that we cannot stand on our own.

We cannot, going alone, apart from dependence upon Jesus Christ and the impulses of his spirit, we cannot stand against the world's hatred. This is the living experience of Peter learning John 15 when Jesus says, abide in me, for apart from me you can do nothing.

And Peter, if you try, you will fall on your face. He took his gaze off of Jesus Christ and his word. Reminds me of Matthew 14, you know it well, when Peter steps out of the boat, Lord, let me come with you and walk on the water.

And for a moment, he's doing fine, he's got his eyes on the Lord, and suddenly his eyes get diverted onto the severity of the storm and he begins to doubt and he begins to sink because he took his eyes off of the power of Jesus Christ, his Lord, to do for Peter what Peter cannot do for himself.

Brothers and sisters, our power and ability to bring the gospel to our neighbors and this secular society and the nations cannot come from our own strength. We will falter. It must come from a close communion with Jesus Christ and knowing the help of his Holy Spirit to speak his word with boldness.

Think of Pentecost. The Spirit descends and Peter is an entirely new man speaking to the very ones who crucified his Lord, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.

A bold, evangelistic life flows from a heart inflamed with daily communion with Jesus Christ. That is just how God has ordained us to live. Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

We live physically off of physical bread. We live spiritually off of feeding from Jesus Christ, the fountain of all blessing and grace. And the moment we turn away from him, our resources very, very quickly deplete.

Are you Christian living in the strength that God supplies in Jesus Christ? Just honest, judgment day honesty question. Think about your life. Has it been a long time since you have dared to be a Daniel and just spoken unashamedly, I'm a Christian and I wanna tell you about the Lord of heaven and earth and I don't care if you think that's a fable or what, but it's true and you need to know it.

Has that been a long, long time since you've done that? If so, is it not because you have left off daily close communion with Christ in his word and prayer? Those tend to go hand in hand. The psalmist says early in the morning will I seek thee.

Early in the morning will I feed from the bread of heaven, seeking to come face to face with the glory of the Lord so that I can be transformed into his image so that I see him first so that whenever I see a human face I am filled with Christ and Christ will overflow.

I think it was George Mueller who said the first thing I do every day is seek to get my heart happy in Jesus. If we neglect that, communion with God and bolstering our hearts with all the attributes of God, his power, his sovereignty, his rule, Christ's kingship, his glory, all these things, if we get our hearts saturated with that, suddenly men who used to seem big in our eyes become very small.

But also a second thing from this third point, the glory of the grace of God in the gospel. What about when I fail? Because we're all in Peter's boat. How good is God to us that there is a gospel for failing sinners like us?

And that the gospel does not just cover sins prior to when I came to Christ, but it even covers the very sins I commit against saving grace and love. That there is restoration and help in Jesus Christ.

He is my high priest who sits in heaven in my time of need to give me help and forgiveness. When Peter denied the Lord this third time, Luke says that when the rooster crowed, the Lord looked at Peter and Peter breaks down weeping.

And I want you to know why Peter broke down weeping. It wasn't because the Lord's look was a look of hatred and that Peter was just frightened, thinking I'm a reprobate, that's it, I have failed, I had one chance, I had to be perfectly faithful and if I failed, I'm cut off from the love of God.

That would be living under the bondage of the law, not the grace of the gospel. Rather, Peter wept because when the Lord looked at him, Peter knew it was still a look of love from his Lord. It was grace that made him weep.

That sense of I have, how, how did I sin again against the one who so loved me and gave himself for me? And still, even now, he's on his way to the cross to bear my sins. How did I again go the way of the world and fear men?

After all he's done for me. Christian, doesn't that motivate you to want to serve Christ more faithfully? Not this shuddering fear of I'm gonna go to hell if I don't perfectly obey the Lord, but rather the fear of I don't want to offend my father who loved me in giving his son and my elder brother who willingly gave himself and his spirit whom he has put within me, I want to honor them.

I want my life to be an overture of praise to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And I never want to feel that feeling again of sinning against such divine love. And therefore, Lord, be my help to be faithful next time.

It's amazing, in John 20, when Jesus restores Peter, he doesn't scold him, he doesn't threaten him. He asked Peter three times, do you love me? And after Peter says, Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you, even though I failed to love you in this instance, Jesus says to Peter, feed my sheep.

He restores him, that's us. When we fail, Christ, his heart in heaven towards sinners on earth is this, Christian, get up again by my grace, believe the gospel, and go and serve me. Don't get so hung up on your sin that it just leaves you absolutely useless for the rest of your life.

I have nailed your sin to the cross, your guilt is taken away. Learn the lesson and get on with the work. Let grace empower you. Last thing, if you're here and you're an unbeliever, I want to speak to you.

If you're here and you don't know Jesus Christ, one thing I want to make very plain to you if it's not plain already is that we as Christians are not perfect people, we are sinful wretches saved by the grace of an infinitely gracious God.

And though his church is not all that she should be, and though it is very possible you might be here in this room and we have even failed to speak of Christ to you as we ought, maybe we faltered when we should have faithfully ministered Jesus Christ and his grace to you.