Peter’s Denial
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2021 · 12 September 2021
As we come to John 13, we are in the Passion Week, the week our Lord died and rose again. And all the way through John 16, we hear the promises of the Savior given to His disciples and all who would believe after them, including us, the legacy of Christ to His own. These are the glorious promises of all spiritual blessings. And later He confirmed this in a prayer for all believers in John 17.
All of these promises came on Thursday night as He gathered in the Upper Room for the Passover, which He transformed into the Lord’s Supper, and then the next day He was crucified as the Lamb of God. So this is the last time with His own as He pours out His love to them. As we come to verse 31, Judas is gone. Our Lord knew that Satan had entered into him to do the betraying of Jesus.
Verse 30 says, “Judas then went out immediately and it was night.” It was night in the spiritual sense, and it would be night in eternal sense because he would hang himself and be dashed on the rocks in just a few hours. Judas is gone now. So Jesus starting in verse 31, turns to the true disciples and embraces all who would follow right down to this age until He comes and makes these incredible promises.
Verse 32, “And since God receives glory because of the Son, he will give his own glory to the Son, and he will do so at once. 33 Dear children, I will be with you only a little longer. And as I told the Jewish leaders, you will search for me, but you can’t come where I am going. 34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.”
35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” 36 Peter asked, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replied, “You can’t go with me now, but you will follow me later.” 37 “But why can’t I come now, Lord?” he asked. “I’m ready to die for you.” 38 Jesus answered, “Die for me? I tell you the truth, Peter, before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.”
Scripture is clear that the world is full of false Christians. We know that Satan is going to sow tares among the wheat. The kingdom of God is going to be full of it as the parables of Matthew 13 tell us, “Many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and I will say to them, ‘Depart from Me, I never knew you.’” There are people who profess openly Jesus as their Lord, but have no relationship with Him.
Satan’s strategy is to be an angel of light. His devils also are disguised as angels of light. Counterfeiting Christianity is a very important enterprise. False religions don’t need to falsify themselves. You don’t have heretical Muslims or heretical Buddhists or heretical Hindus. They are already false to start with. It’s already a deception, so it doesn’t need to be formed into something that will not save you.
But Christianity has many false forms of Christianity. We can barely recognize all of them, because Satan is spending all of his time falsifying Christianity. You hear this kinds of discussion all the time. Well, there were Christians a thousand years ago who slaughtered Muslims. But those were not Christians, those were false Christians who belonged to a false Christian system.
Christianity seems to be the most counterfeited of all. So how do we know who the true Christians are? Who are the true followers of Christ? Well, it isn’t by what they say. It isn’t by belonging to some religious organization that calls itself Christian. It isn’t because we live a certain Christian ethic or morality. It’s not about outward symbols or outward behavior or outward professions of faith.
You know someone is a Christian by their heart. Ezekiel 36:25-27 says, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and obey my regulations.”
That is the definition of regeneration, of a new birth, of being born again, of conversion. It is to be given a new heart, a new spirit; and that is the home of the Holy Spirit who causes us to walk according to the statues of God and to obey His ordinances. In John 3, Jesus talked to Nicodemus and He said eternal life and entrance into the kingdom comes to those who are, “Born from above.”
It is a spiritual birth that is internal. It is a work of God. The Holy Spirit moves and does this to whom He will when He will. Paul said it this way, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. New things have come.” Paul in Titus 3 calls it, “The washing of regeneration.” And that’s Ezekiel 36. It is a washing from sin. It is a cleansing from filthiness and idols.
What is the heart? The heart is the inner person. Out of this new life come all the spiritual graces: love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and self-control. Out of this new life come all of the spiritual glories that are deposited in us, but the evidence of this transformation can be summed up in one word, love. It is love that demonstrates a new heart. Love can do what the law could not do.
Now, that love in our text goes in three directions. It goes toward our Lord. It goes toward others, and it has a personal component. All the promises of John 13 to John 16 and the prayer of John 17 are just loaded with love. All of the promises of the Lord flow from His love to us and produce in us love in return. He sheds His love abroad in our hearts, Romans 5:5, and we are known by our love.
Now, let’s study these three aspects of love. Number one, a true believer is identified by love for his Lord’s glory. We saw that in verses 31-32. We looked at that in detail. The Lord looks at these arguing disciples. Who is going to be the greatest in the kingdom? They’re just full of selfish pride and personal promotional ambition, and it’s been going on for a long time.
Our Lord wants to give them a statement in verse 31, “Now, is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately.” Change your focus away from your positions in this kingdom to My glory. “Now is the Son of Man glorified,” looks at the cross. He is glorified on the cross.
God is glorified in the cross because God puts all of His attributes on display. Everything from God’s love to God’s justice; everything from God’s mercy and grace to God’s righteousness; everything from His forgiveness to His wrath, it’s all there. Further, another thing, God will glorify Jesus immediately by His resurrection, ascension, exaltation, glorification and coronation.
Verses 34 – 35, “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” Wasn’t there a commandment to love back in the Pentateuch? “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And love your neighbor as yourself.”
Why is it a new command? First, the Jews didn’t do it. They were full of animosity, bitterness, jealousy and rivalry. Secondly, the disciples didn’t exhibit it. They were arguing about which of them would be the greatest in the kingdom. Thirdly, the Lord had just set a new example that demonstrated a kind of love that had never been demonstrated before and “No man has greater love than that.”
They would have a new capacity to love because the Holy Spirit would come and shed that love abroad in their hearts. For all those reasons, this is new. So He says, “I’m giving you what is essentially a new commandment that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this, all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
You want to demonstrate that you are a truly a born-again, redeemed soul, and your love will make that testimony clear. That’s how the world will know. We talk about a Savior. We talk about transformation. We talk about a new birth. We talk about being literally given new life. We talk about how the Lord totally transforms us. How do we show that? We demonstrate it in our love to one another.
Yes we love our enemies, Matthew 5. Only humble people love. Only broken people love. The world is full of hate. Unregenerate people are full of selfishness, self-centeredness, and that leads to hate, animosity, anger, vengeance and violence. The humble are the meek, they are the spiritually bankrupt, who cry out to God for merciful salvation they don’t deserve.
One, we have to love to serve. But secondly, we also love enough to sanctify. What does that mean? We all have to be sanctifying influences, not sources of temptation. How would I cause another Christian to stumble? If you lead them into sin or tolerate their gossip, or tempt them to do something that isn’t right. You could also do it by setting a pattern that if followed, they’ll fall into sin.
You could do it by failing to instruct them on the righteous path. You could do it by failing to warn them and admonish them. Our world is full of people who temp people to sin, creating lies, deception, corruption, immorality at every possible level. We don’t expect that in the church. We are to have a sanctifying influence. We have to counter the culture. You better take drastic action against sin.
And we must love enough to suffer. By suffering, I don’t mean whips on your back or chains necessarily in our world, but there are some pretty dire prices to pay for being a faithful lover of the people of God. In 2 Corinthians 12: 15 Paul says, “I will most gladly spend and be expended for your souls. I will give up my life for your souls.” He’s talking about how the weakness of the church tore at his heart.
His love cost him massive suffering: physical, emotional, and even spiritual suffering. There was a thorn in his flesh, a messenger of Satan, in verse 7, to humble him, keep him from exalting himself because he had so many revelations. He asked the Lord three times to take it away. And the Lord said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”
There’s a third point with this kind of love, and it’s personal. It’s love as defined by my own loyalty. Go back to John 13:36-37, “Simon Peter asked, “Lord, where are you going?” And Jesus replied, “You can’t go with me now, but you will follow me later.” 37 “But why can’t I come now, Lord?” he asked. “I’m ready to die for you.” Discipleship is more than promised loyalty. It is permanently practiced loyalty.
Peter made this promise repeatedly. In fact, he made the same promise several more times this evening as recorded by Luke and Matthew. He was convinced of his unflinching loyalty. “I am ready to die for you now.” Verse 38, “Jesus answered, “Die for me? I tell you the truth, Peter—before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.”
What does the rooster crow mean? They didn’t have clocks so they segmented the night. Sundown to three hours or so later, maybe 9:00 PM was called evening. Then from then to, say midnight was called midnight. Then from midnight to 3:00 AM was called the rooster crow because about 3 o’clock, the roosters began to crow. Then morning followed from 3:00 AM to 6:00 AM.
Before 3 o’clock tomorrow morning, you’re going to deny Me three times, and he did, didn’t he? In three separate locations, multiple times. Luke points out that Peter boasted too much, prayed too little, acted too fast, followed too far, and ended up denying his Lord. When he realized what had happened, Luke 22:62 says, “And Peter left the courtyard, weeping bitterly.”
The Lord finds him in Galilee in John 21:15, and what did the Lord say to him? “Peter do you love Me?” “Yes, Lord I love You.” “Peter, do you love Me?” “Yes, Lord, I love You.” “Peter, do you love Me?” “Lord, you know I love You.” “Then feed My sheep.” Peter never flinched after that. He preached that great Pentecost sermon. And he finally went to a cross where he was crucified upside down.
What was the difference? The Holy Spirit came, and shed that love abroad in his heart, to give him the power to love and it never waned. A loyal love. How do you know when someone is a true Christian? Their love focus is on the glory of their Lord, on the well-being of their brothers and sisters in Christ, and it evidences itself in an undying, enduring, and loving loyalty to Christ.
In other words, our heart may condemn us. Doubt and insecurity may come at us as temptations and our own failures may cause doubts to rise, but manifest love in all these directions removes that condemnation and gives us, “confidence before God.” It’s the simple, lovely grace of love. Grace from a humble heart, looking toward heaven, and reaching toward each other, and stabilizing our loyalty to Christ, Amen? Let us pray.