 Here we go. We're looking at Matthew 26, and we're going to be looking from verse 57 to the end of the chapter. I should introduce, as you're opening in your Bibles and becoming ready to study with me, I should let you know that originally I actually took two weeks to do the two studies that we're doing here. And in some ways these studies are very different, very different studies. I am really inclined just from a very, just because the passage connects with me, I'm very inclined towards the second portion of our study, which will begin in verse 69. The first portion of the studies begins in verse 57, and we're going to be looking at Jesus before Caiaphas. But then we're going to move into, I think, a very practical aspect of the Gospel of Matthew, and we're going to be looking at steps to denial. We're going to be looking at how Peter ended up denying the Lord. And I want to share, and I'm going to be sharing details in both of those studies. You can get ready if you take notes, take some notes and all. But my heart is really, really inclined towards the exhortation that we find in this scripture, a warning to us, an encouragement to us to be aware of the fact that denial is only a step away. And I'm not teaching you this passage to teach you how to deny Jesus. I think by nature we already know how. What I want to do is share about how easy it is to move into that direction, especially in the era that we live in today, which it seems to be an atmosphere of rejection of Christ in an unprecedented way in my lifetime. So I'll be sharing with you verses 57 to verse 68. Then it's like a second study from verse 69 to the conclusion of the chapter. So let's begin reading together here in verse 57. I'll read to verse 68. I'll give you that study, then we'll move into the second one. So Matthew chapter 26, beginning at verse 57. And those who had laid hold of Jesus led him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. But Peter followed him at a distance to the high priest's courtyard, and he went in and sat with the servants to see the end. Now the chief priest, the elders, and all the counsel sought false testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but found none. Even though many false witnesses came forward, they found none. But at last two false witnesses came forward and said, this fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days. And the high priest rose and said to him, do you answer nothing? What is it these men testify against you? But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to him, I put you under oath by the living God. Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus said to him, it is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of the power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest tore his clothes saying he has spoken blasphemy. What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard his blasphemy. What do you think? They answered and said, he's deserving of death. Then they spat in his face and beat him. Others struck him with the palms of their hands saying, prophesy to us Christ, who is the one who struck you. And so what we have here is we have Jesus Christ who is being led away to Caiaphas. We need to remember that he had been taken into custody by the soldiers and officers that had been sent to arrest him. Jesus had been in what was called the Garden of Gethsemane. And Judas had set him up to be arrested. Now I wanted to make a point that I didn't make to you when we went through that in the first studies concerning Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. I wanted to point something out to you when you're in Israel and say you're on, if you've been to Jerusalem, if you're in the city of Jerusalem and you're in an area called the Temple Mount, the Temple Mount is where they have the Dome of the Rock. Now it's where the temple at one time had been. If you were standing on the Temple Mount where the western wall is and if you're on inside there and you walk to the north, you're going to go to an area there past the Dome of the Rock that is called the Dome of the Spirit or the Dome of the Tablets. We do Bible studies there. When you stand there at the Dome of the Spirits, when you stand there and you look to the east, when you look to the east you see the Mount of Olives. And so as you're there looking across to the Mount of Olives, there is an area there called the Kidron Valley. The Kidron Valley runs from that area always southeast and empties into the Dead Sea. And I'm giving you that geography so that you'll know something about it, because during the time of Christ there were lambs that were slaughtered for Passover. And when the people would slaughter the lambs at Passover, they would have the lamb's blood poured into a basin and the basin would empty into the Brook Kidron, which was just to the east. The Brook Kidron would be filled with the blood of lambs and sacrificial offerings. The word Kidron means dark or murky. And part of the reason why it would be called dark or murky is it became dark through the blood of the lambs of bulls and goats. And so during Passover it was recorded 30 years after the events we find here in Matthew, but 30 years later it was recorded that 256,000 lambs had been slaughtered. So when you consider a quarter million lambs that have been slaughtered and their blood poured into the altar and the blood coming running from the altar into the Brook Kidron, that gives you a picture because Jesus is crossing and crossed over the Brook Kidron, dark or murky. And as he crossed over that would still be dark and murky from all the blood of the lambs that had been slaughtered. Then when you consider the fact that the blood of bulls and goats do not take away sin, it gives you a better emphasis or understanding of how precious and valuable the life and the death of Jesus Christ is. In Hebrews 10-4 it says it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. That's why every year they celebrated Passover. Every year they had offerings and all. There was a reminder yearly for centuries that this blood wasn't sufficient and yet we're told in the book of Ephesians chapter 1 verse 7 concerning Jesus Christ, in him we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins. And so as Jesus is crossing over the Brook Kidron to go into the Garden of Gethsemane it must have been on his mind that this is about to take place, that he's going to die as the sacrificial lamb. And the Bible tells us he entered the Garden. He had commanded his men to watch and to pray, but instead of praying they had fallen asleep. And Judas had led men to take Jesus. As we were looking at this last time we noticed how Peter attempted to defend the Lord and attacked a man by the name of Malchus and how he had struck him in the ear and a portion of his ear had come off and Jesus had healed him and then commanded Peter to put away that sword. And was telling as we looked last time he was telling him that the apostles he doesn't need their help. He has angels at his disposal. I don't need you to protect me. And after all that's how Scripture will be fulfilled. And so we had looked at verse 56 where it concluded by simply saying all the disciples forsook him and fled. And so that had fulfilled what Jesus had said in verse 31 when he had said all of you will be made to stumble because of me this night. And so that's what we've been looking at at this point. John tells us in chapter 18 verse 12 the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. And then that's what we're seeing here in verse 57 when it says those who had laid hold of Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest where the scribes and the elders were assembled. So the temple police the soldiers and others led Jesus away. Matthew does not give us the chronological order of the following events. And John makes it clear that Jesus was first taken to Caiaphas' father-in-law, a man by the name of Annas. In John 1813 it says they led him away to Annas first for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas which was the high priest the same year. And so when you look into John's account you get more information. If you take notes you could look at John 18 verses 19 through 24. That speaks concerning Annas' meeting with Jesus. But in a nutshell he tried to get Jesus to incriminate himself, was unable to do so and therefore Jesus is taken as it says here in verse 57 to Caiaphas. Now what's taking place here and we're going to look at this for a moment in verse 58 Peter followed him at a distance to the high priest's courtyard. He went in and sat with the servants to see the end. And so there he is in the courtyard. He wants to see how things turn out for the Lord. He's motivated by sorrow more than curiosity and that was commendable compared to the others who were not there. Somebody said Peter rallied from the panic and followed afar off more courageous than the rest and yet not courageous enough. And notice how he sat there with the servants to see and to hear hoping to escape notice. So as this is taking place verse 59 the chief priests and elders and all the council sought false testimony against Jesus to put him to death but found none. Even though many false witnesses came forward they found none. But at last two false witnesses came forward and said this fellow said I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days. And so they're trying to get people to testify against the Lord Jesus Christ. But their testimony is not in agreement. They actually misquoted Jesus. Jesus had said something at the beginning of his ministry that they remembered and they brought up as a charge against him. You see when you read your Bible you discover that Jesus cleansed the temple but he did it on two occasions. He didn't do it at the end of his ministry alone. He actually did it at the beginning of his ministry. And so about three years earlier Jesus had first cleansed the temple. People had asked him what gives you the authority to do the things that you're doing and all. And in John chapter 2 verses 19 through 21 Jesus answered them and said destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days. The Jews replied it has taken 46 years to build this temple and you're going to raise it in three days. But the temple he had spoken of was his body. And so they remembered what he had said in the earlier portion of his ministry but they misquoted him concerning that. Jesus was not speaking of the temple made with human hands. He was speaking concerning his body how that he would be crucified. He would die he'd be buried but he would be raised the third day. And that's the point that he had been making. So as this is taking place in verse 62 the high priest arose and said to him do you answer nothing? What is it these men testify against you? But Jesus kept silent. The high priest answered and said to him I put you under oath by the living God. Tell us if you are the Christ the Son of God. So he says do you answer nothing? See Caiaphas is frustrated. The testimonies are inconsistent. The night is drawn closer to the dawn. People are going to be in the streets soon. He wants to end this trial as quickly as possible. And so he's speaking to him but notice with me in verse 63 how it says Jesus kept silent. And you can almost imagine for a moment how tense that would have been where this man is speaking to Christ and Christ is looking him in the eye. He's not saying a word just looking him in the eye and as he's looking at him in that way there has to be something going on in the heart of Caiaphas in that kind of moment there. He's just staring at him and it must have unnerved Caiaphas. In Psalm 38 12 through 14 it says those also who seek my life lay snares for me. Those who seek my hurt speak of destruction and planned deception all the day long but I like a deaf man do not hear and I am like a mute who does not open his mouth. Thus I am like a man who does not hear and in whose mouth is no response. You see Jesus is innocent so to answer false charges is unnecessary and I've discovered something you might want to note this as a practical application. Sometimes silence is the best method of dealing with accusations and lies. Sometimes not responding and letting the Lord simply do what the Lord can do is the best thing and I can tell you that from from many years of experience. People will believe what they want to believe but if you get up and you're always defending yourself against things that have been said people eventually begin to ask questions concerning why you say that. Why do you say that? One of my friends his name is Bill. Bill listens to me on the radio. He's been my friend since we were in kindergarten together so it's been over 20 years and we meet. I'll be meeting him this upcoming Thursday. I've been mentoring him for a number of years since he got his life right with the Lord and so he and one of my other friends will come in and I spend some time with them and mentor them and answer questions and minister to them and I've been doing that for a long time now but when he first started coming and asking his questions when he first started coming he says he said to me you know I listened to you on on the radio and I said you do and he goes yeah I said that's great that makes two you and Marie but he says I listened to you on the radio he says he says now Bill retired out of the Los Angeles police department he was a training officer he was a detective he was undercover he's got 32 years of police experience and so he says you know as a police officer he says I can't help but wonder about you I said really he goes yeah he says the way you've mentioned your wife so many times are you hiding something are you going out on her you know and he's playing with me but sometimes people will they'll hear you they'll see something they'll they'll wonder about something and and they may accuse you of something and I've discovered over the years and maybe you can learn this too that sometimes silence is the best answer especially when it's a false accusation because the more you defend yourself the more guilty you look and there are just times when you don't have to say a word just leave it in the hands of the Lord because the more you say the more people say well there must be something wrong because look at them defend themselves constantly many years ago now back in 1992 it's been a while there was somebody sowing seeds of discord who came out of our fellowship and was personally responsible for for hundreds of people leaving our church because he was lying about me and I never stood up and spoke and said anything I never respond to it responded to it openly and I have to tell you that for a long time I had wanted to stand up and I wanted to say what he's saying isn't true hundreds of people left in one summer we saw about 500 people leave because they thought for sure the things that were being said about me were true and they weren't they were fabrications but I never stood up and said anything and one day I was in a mall you know mall purgatory you guys know what I mean I was getting purged and I was in a mall in Montclair and a lady walks up to me and says pastor David I want to apologize and I had never met her and I said okay about what she says so-and-so spoke to me and I believed what he said and I left the church and I just want to apologize for judging you and I looked at her and I said may I ask you a question and she said yes I said do you honestly believe that I can stand up there and preach the way that I do when in fact all of those things that he's saying if those things were true do you think I could preach the way I do she said I didn't really know whether you could or couldn't I figured why couldn't you do that I said really she goes yeah may I ask you a second question she said yes I said why did you believe that what have I done that would make you believe that I'd like to know she said I can't I can't answer that other than to say this she said I knew him but I really didn't know you isn't that the way it usually is the first person who comes and says something to us we believe but the prophets say until somebody comes and examines in other words there's a second side to that many people are quick to take the first thing especially if it looks or sounds believable there was a while in even in this fellowship again many years ago where somebody and always comes back to me said David Rosales can't possibly love his wife the way that he seems to you watch he's going to commit adultery there were people who were on a David Rosales watch to see whether I would fail in ministry I am telling you and you don't have to go up and share all those things if you knew the amount of things that the average pastor hears about himself every week that are so vile and it's coming out of the body of Christ there's such a vile heart and so many people who want to believe the evil over the good you would be surprised and Jesus is there and Caiaphas is saying answering you're answering nothing but when you're not guilty you don't have to answer and Jesus is not answering a thing so as it continues here he says in verse 63 the high priest answered and said to him I put you under oath by the living God tell us if you are the Christ the Son of God and Jesus said to him it is as you said nevertheless I say to you here after you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the power and coming on the clouds of heaven and so the high priest says I adjure you by the living God when he says I adjure you by the living God that is the most sacred oath any Jew could make to swear by the name of God well in Jesus's case any answer is unnecessary because if he answers that results in what is called self-incrimination he had Jesus responds in verse 64 it is as you said and then he goes on and says I say to you here after you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the power and coming on the clouds of heaven in other words you can judge me now Caiaphas but I will judge you later and that's the point he's making well when he says that verse 65 the high priest tore his clothes saying he's spoken blasphemy what further need do we have of witnesses look now you have heard his blasphemy what do you think and they answered and said he is deserving of death and so he tears his clothing that's a sign of mourning grief or indignation he's pretending to be outraged but in reality it was his design all along to see Jesus die when he asked in verse 66 what do you think they said he is deserving of death so they're all on the same page as this is taking place verse 67 they spat in his face and beat him others struck him with the palms of their hands saying prophesy to us Christ who is the one who struck you imagine that they mocked him Luke tells us and they beat him they blindfolded him they struck him on the face and asked him saying prophesy who is the one who struck you many other things they blasphemously spoke against him and so this is taking place he's got a blindfold on and they're hitting him from different directions with the palms of their hands and as they're doing that they mock him and they spit upon him Isaiah chapter 50 verse 6 it gives to us a scripture where the Messiah said I gave my back to those who struck me my cheeks to those who plucked out the beard I did not hide my face from shame spitting spitting on someone's face is the greatest of insults somebody said this face was the face that would break into a smile at the approach of a child it had been in the habit of beaming graciously upon publicans who became penitents it was a face that could glow with righteous indignation when the father's house was being desecrated above all it was a face that mirrored the heart of the heavenly father and all his holiness displeasure with sin and last but not least love and tenderness it was into this face that these men were spitting it was this face that they slapped as they're mocking him and treating him in this way prophesy to us Christ who's the one who struck you verse 69 Peter sat outside in the courtyard and a servant girl came to him saying you also were with Jesus of Galilee but he denied it before them all saying I do not know what you were saying and when he had gone out to the gateway another girl saw him and said to those who were there this fellow also was with Jesus of Nazareth but again he denied with an oath I do not know the man and a little later those who stood stood by came up and said to Peter surely you also are one of them for your speech betrays you then he began to curse and swear saying I do not know the man immediately a rooster crowed and Peter remembered the words of Jesus who had said to him before the rooster crows you will deny me three times so he went out and he wept bitterly this is a second sermon different but gives to us some insight into what's taking place here he's in a courtyard the apostle Peter he's sitting outside at that time the homes were built facing in towards what would be called a common courtyard which were shared anus and chyophus shared the same family dwelling they had separate wings and all and Jesus is in the courtyard in John 18 verses 15 and 16 Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus because this disciple was known to the high priest he went with Jesus into the high priest courtyard but Peter had to wait outside at the door the other disciple who was known to the high priest came back spoke to the girl in duty there and brought Peter in Mark 1454 says Peter followed him at a distance right into the courtyard of the high priest and there he sat with the guards warmed himself at the fire and so Peter has his first opportunity to deny and it came through this questioning that's taking place he's saying no in verse 72 he's making it very clear verse 70 rather he denied it before them all saying I do not know what you're saying so he's in his first denial and I'm going to be developing this with you I'm going to give you steps to denial in just a moment that's the first in verses 69 and 70 it says a serving girl came to him saying you were with Jesus of Nazareth he denied it I don't know him now as I look at this Peter was one of Jesus's closest disciples when you look at the life of the apostle Peter and I want to develop this with you just for a moment he had given up everything everything when Jesus called him he was there with his brother they were in the boat he left it all and followed Christ he gave up everything and then he began to walk with the Lord Jesus Christ and he did so for around three years so Peter had opportunities I mean he saw miracles that were performed he actually was given opportunity to perform them himself he saw Jesus heal the sick cleanse the leper raise the dead to life he saw Jesus when he when he made the water into wine when he multiplied the fish in the loaves he saw Jesus do some fantastic things he walked on water he saw so much there were so many life experiences that the apostle Peter had he would he would be there with Jesus on camping trips where Jesus and he would have conversations they would they would take long walks sometimes it would take two three days of walking and you know that the master was instructing them along the way he'd be sharing things that are not even recorded in scripture and he heard things that nobody else heard he saw things that aren't even recorded for us to even know about this is a man a tremendous experience with the Lord Jesus Christ he heard the words and he saw the works of Christ this is somebody had great relationship with him he heard him teaching he lived next to him he even went so far as to be willing to to lay his life down he fought for Jesus Christ yet only a few hours earlier he had been vowing that he would die for him and yet now he's denying him how'd that happen how'd that happen you know there are many Christians who know scripture they're experiencing some of the things of the Lord they even are active in the church but under pressure they can fold we're going to see that in just a moment you see in verse 71 there's a second denial it says in verse 71 when he had gone out to the gateway another girl saw him said to those who were there this fellow also was with Jesus and others but again he denied with an oath I do not know the man so Peter has left the fire that he was thereby he drifts towards Caiaphas his wing of the house he's trying to avoid being noticed but somebody is saying you are also one of them and so Peter is trying to hide he doesn't want to completely abandon the Lord but he's already denied him once and it's easier to do so the second time there are sins that we have committed that the first time you ever ever committed that sin the shame and the sorrow of such a sin might have really really just torn your soul you did what you weren't supposed to do you did it it was wrong but did you discover that it's easier to do it the second time than it was the first the apostle Peter denied the first time it's going to be a little bit easier to deny him the second time but this time he denied with an oath I do not know the man an oath he swore before God that he didn't know Jesus notice he said I do not know the man as if Jesus was nothing but a stranger to him he refused to acknowledge his relationship to the Lord and then in verse 73 a little later those who stood by came up and said to Peter surely you all saw one of them for your speech betrays you now that's interesting your speech betrays you in John 18 26 and 27 one of the high priest servants a relative of the man whose ear Peter I cut off challenged him didn't I see you with him in the olive grove again Peter denied it and at that moment a rooster began to crow so he was visibly recognizable but here's something for you and let me develop this for just a moment your speech betrays you now what wait a minute what are you talking about when you look at the nation of Israel the nation of Israel is a very small nation how come someone would say your speech betrays you the answer to that is the apostle Peter had an accent that was different than the southern accent that you had in the city of Jerusalem and surrounding areas even in a small area like that there are dialects even in small areas like that there are accents I was in I was in Europe I forget where I think it may have been Greece but I'm not sure and as many years ago 1975 and a friend of mine and I were traveling together and and we encountered somebody who began to speak to us and he he was a native of the land that we were in could have been Greek and he's speaking to us and he says you know he goes while he was speaking English and I said you speak a very very very proficient English he said yeah he said I studied for a long time and all he says and I am very interested in language he says and I can tell people's languages he said and I can tell things about where they're from and all and he says and you too have different accents he said you must come from different portions of the United States and we started laughing I said I don't think so I come from Norwalk he's from Downey we don't have different accents to my knowledge here's a little trivia for you that you don't care about but I'm going to say it anyway but the fact is you do have regional accents yes of course you do go to Brooklyn go south go into certain portions of Texas are going to Louisiana trying to understand what's being said in Louisiana I was stationed on in North Carolina for 18 months and you go into some of the smaller towns and they have some very strong regional accents of course we understand regional accents now Dennis Agagianian one of our friends who comes in and leads in worship and song it was talking to me not that long ago and as we were speaking and I'm real relaxed with him I've known him for a long time and we're visiting Dennis says to me David do you know you have an accent as hot dog are you kidding me I say I do I know that he says yeah you have an accent and I said yeah I know we all have one form of accent or another my mom and my dad their first language was Spanish my father and mother did not speak Spanish to us unless they were speaking it amongst themselves hiding things from us so I learned enough Spanish to know what they were talking about without them knowing it I got away with a lot but my father had an accent of sorts I'll give you an example my my mom told me how my dad she walked up to my dad and she said honey I want a Porsche so he went out and built her one on the side of the house so my dad had had a little bit of an accent and there were times there were times that he would say that you know going to the front Porsche you know that's what he would say and my mom thought it was very cute and very humorous but what happened when I grew up my dad didn't want to speak Spanish to us because he didn't want us to have accents because he had a difficult time when he was a kid that that was what his story was to me the problem is that he's the one who spoke English to me so there are words there are words if you if you and I were sitting down and I was real relaxed you could hear that there are words that I use that are very definitely an accented word and I know it I just am very controlled when I speak I'm actually thinking of my words before I speak when I teach but if you get me around my family I'm talking to my uncles and aunts and people my accent begins to come out because that's how I learned to speak English and I'm in a comfortable area where I'm not quite sure how to say things that's just a fact so when I say that to you you have accents too we all have some but some regional accents are stronger than others now when you look at the 12 apostles remember with me that 11 of them were from the north they were from Galilee the Galileans had an accent when you look at the 12 only one of them was from the south his name was Judas when you see the name Judas his name is Judas Iscariot right that's what his name is in scripture Judas Iscariot some of you may not know that his name his last name wasn't Iscariot when I first got saved and I'm not being silly I when I first got saved I thought Jesus was his first name and Christ was his last name I thought Al Capone the Italian was a rooster because Capone is a rooster so I said why would they call this Italian guy a rooster my mom said no his name was Al Al Capone oh see so and I don't know why I told you that I was just thinking of it because my mind is like that it just floats it'll come back it'll come back and so Judas Iscariot you may think Iscariot is his last name it's not it's Iscariot ish is Hebrew for man cariat is the name of a village so his name is Judas Iscariot Judas the man from cariat cariat was by Jerusalem and that's why we know that the 11 were from the north but one was from the south gives you some insight and so when Jesus is there and rather Peter is there and he's denying someone says your your speech betrays you your speech betrays you is like Raul telling me he's from Germany I'm sorry he's one of my dearest friends some people get insulted if I say but let me tell you something he and I were together in India years ago Raul Raul Reese and I we traveled to India did ministry for two weeks together he was speaking to an Indian fellow a man from India Indian fella and the Indian man says to him you have an accent and Raul goes well my last name is Reese and he goes and what kind of name is that he said that's a German name the man says well you have an accent again and Raul turns to me and said see he knows I'm German I said yes yes indeed you sound just like Arnold but anyway we have accents I get back to it and so what's going on here is he is being identified physically they recognize him I saw you I know who you are you're the one who who who hit Malchus in John 1826 again one of the high priests servants are relative of the man who's here Peter had cut off challenged him didn't I see you in the olive grove so as an eyewitness no I saw you and you have an accent well when this takes place versus 74 and 75 he began to curse and swear saying I do not know the man immediately a rooster crowed curse and swear when I first got saved I thought well he was a he was a sailor he was a fisherman he must have been cussing no he's not a profane prophet when it says that he cursed and swear what this what this literally speaking of is he began calling down the death penalty upon himself he was saying may god kill me and send me to hell if I am lying that's what he was saying he wasn't cussing he was calling curses upon himself may I go to hell for this and that's what he is doing that's how serious he is well immediately verse 74 a rooster crowed now something else happens and I want to develop this with you and this is the heart of why not what I wanted to share with you today as a rooster crows something else happens in Luke 22 61 and 62 the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him before the rooster crows today you will disown me three times and he went outside and wept bitterly somehow the apostle Peter and Jesus somehow their eyes locked and when he looks at him and I want to develop this with you steps to backsliding steps to denial Peter is in that progressively emotional momentum denied denied finally may god send me to hell that emotion where his where he finally just it all spills out and when he cries that out and he says I do not know the man you have to have it in your mind's eye for a moment when he says that the rooster crows and he looks and there's Jesus looking at him eye to eye what would that do what what would that do to you he didn't even have a moment to prepare for that experience not even a moment to prepare just a shock of it I when our church was young many years ago now maybe two years three years old I got a phone call there was a man in our fellowship his name was George George had recently actually had driven by my home and saw me standing in the front yard and he stopped and he walked up to me George he was older than me I was in my early 30s at the time and he walks up to me as I was standing in the front yard he says pastor David I said hi George how are you he said I just wanted to stop and say hello for a moment I saw you standing here just wanted to say hi I said what's nice nice to see you and he goes you know and I'll never forget this he says you know how much you love pastor Chuck I said yeah he said let me tell you something I love you the way you loved him love him and I looked at him and I thought well that's kind of you to say that but you can't imagine how much I love my pastor but that's nice and one of those moments like thank you but that this man was older than me he was a number of years older than me and he said I want you to know I love you like that George is dear to me I get a phone call George is in the hospital can you see him and he was in West Covina and I said I'll find a moment yes I'll go and see him and so I call my wife and I say honey I'm gonna go see George he's in the hospital you want to go with me so she did Marie and I get in our car we drive to the hospital and as I enter in I ask where he is what floor is he on they tell me a particular floor we climb in an elevator and we go up two three flights and all and the door opens and when the door opens to the elevator it's a dark area it's all dark and I Marie and I stand you there and as we stepped out of the elevator is it's all there's no light in the place and and a doctor comes around a corner and acts startled and what are you doing here and I look at him and I say my name is David Rosales I'm a I'm a pastor one of the members of my church George has been brought into the hospital and I came to see him and he says the doctor I'll never forget this says to me you haven't heard and I said heard what George just died when he said George just died the sound of the word died hadn't faded in there when his wife George's wife came around the corner the word died and the wife you don't have a second to prepare for that you don't have a second it will always be in my heart I will always remember that how do you respond I didn't even have a moment have you been there some of you have some of you have I know you have that's a shared moment many of us go through you don't have a second to prepare sometimes it life just seems to happen suddenly and then you wake up and you say to yourself come to yourself and you say how this the apostle Peter was so caught up with the I don't know him I don't know him I don't know him and then he sees Jesus can you imagine how did the Lord look at him what do you think Jesus did do you think Jesus had looked at him and said pig denier I told you so you didn't do any of that you know what will break a person quickly is compassion love love love will very often break a person see if you if somebody speaks to you across words says something to you I knew you would then you just get all proud and you just start fighting for your rights but what happens when somebody doesn't do that to you what happens when someone looks at you with a compassion and a love and even a disappointment it breaks you the apostle Peter had been warned Jesus said Satan has desired to obtain you and to sift you even as wheat is sifted but I've prayed for you and when you're converted you strengthen your brethren how did this happen you see he realizes his sin he begins to weep notice verse 75 he went out and he wept bitterly I wonder if you've been there have you ever been broken so deeply that you have to find a hole to climb in and just cry your eye out to the Lord God forgive me a sinner God forgive me I never thought I could get there how how did I end up here how I knew better I was raised better I steps to denial one Peter estimated his overestimated his own strength and he placed confidence in his flesh Peter had a higher regard for his own loyalty to Jesus than he had for Jesus's warnings Proverbs 29 23 says a man's pride brings him low but a man of lowly spirit will gain honor in Romans 7 18 Paul said I know that nothing good lives in me that is in my sinful nature I have the desire to do what is good but I cannot carry it out one he overestimated his own strength and underestimated his carnality be careful you're not as strong as you think you are you just aren't any man think he stand let him take heed Paul said in 1st Corinthians 10 12 lest he fall keep that in mind it's a very good thing to remember where you came from it's a good thing not to want to go back to it but to remember it's a good thing I know what I was washed from and I don't want to go back and I need Christ every day second Peter followed at a distance he was afraid of being identified with the Lord he didn't walk close by him he followed at a distance the scripture tells us you get saved and the first thing you do as a brand new believer perhaps if you're anything like me as you go to Bible studies you get involved you're told when you got saved the the follow-up counselor may have said to you read the word he may have said to you or she may have said to you pray have fellowship with other Christians and and go tell somebody what Jesus did in your life those are the four basic things every new believer hears when when you're followed up you know get in the word of God and so what do you do you start going to Bible studies you get involved when I was 20 years old I went to Bible studies as fervently as I used to go to parties I want to know Jesus Christ I want to know what he's done in my life I want to be equipped for works of service I want to be a follower of Jesus Christ my life is completely changed I'm going to follow him with everything within me and that's how it was in my early days and it's pretty much remained that way to this point now but for some they start following Jesus at a distance where they used to go to Bible studies they did until they got a boyfriend when they got a boyfriend or a girlfriend at that point well there are other things to do they did until they got married after they got married there are things we have to do on Sunday after all we work on Saturday and Sunday well you know sometimes we just need to get away and then they did until they had their kids they used to go to Wednesday nights used to go to Sunday nights they go they went all the time that's what they did they served together but now we have kids we can't do that and then the kids grow up oh no we really can't be that involved because they're in soccer they're in in softball they're in and you name the sport that takes them away on a Sunday and that's what they do and then when the kids 18 and doesn't want to follow the Lord then the parents come crying and saying I don't know what happened we took him to church we went at least once every three months I am telling you common story common story following at a distance following at a distance identifying but not identifying a third thing he tried to blend in with the world he actually was standing near the fire when he was first identified he tried to blend in but trying to blend in put himself in a position of compromise listen we are in the world but we are not of the world and our lives are intended by God to be a stark contrast to those who don't know Jesus Christ in 1 Peter 4 3 and 4 we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles when we walked in lewdness lust drunkenness revelries drinking parties abominable idolatries in regard to these they think it's strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation speaking evil of you you're not running with them anymore you're not doing the things that they did anymore and the people think you're weird for that so what happens while the church has such a love affair with the world that we don't really have a distinguishing characteristic anymore when you encounter Christians who are living with the boyfriends or the girlfriends just the way that the world does when you encounter married couples who are got married in church because they professed the love for Christ and they're divorced now we're going out on one another and now what's the difference between them and the world there's nothing any different when you have Christians who divorce at a greater rate than atheists do there's something wrong there's something wrong when you have to give seminars to teach men and women to dress modestly there's something wrong there is something wrong that you actually have to have people and say listen you can't do that years ago years ago we had a young woman who was serving in our tape ministry it was a warm summer day like it is today and I happened to walk in to the tape dispensing area it's when we were at Ontario Christian elementary school and I walked in to where we used to have a sliding door where we could sell the tapes after the service and when I walked in I had like oh my she was wearing a crop they used to call it a crop top I don't know what they call it now it's one of these things here and daisy dukes now I know what daisy dukes are because I saw it with my eyes and I walked in and I go oh man oh no we sold more tapes than when he ever did before all these men they're coming back I need another one for my brother embarrassing I had to walk up to one of the ladies in our church and I said would you do me a favor would you please tell her that that isn't appropriate you don't dress like that one in public but two you're in church do you know that was over 30 years ago and it hasn't gotten better in our society it's gotten worse and the funny thing about it is you got men who are dressing weird too now it's true I had guys wearing those bicycle shorts you know the little bicycle shorts they're in the front row and say man why don't you ride your bike home what's wrong with you I don't get it so we're living in a time when we have blended in so much to the world we act like them we think like them well you've got to watch out for that we are in the world but we're not to be of the world we need to be aware of the days that we live in and so be careful don't blend in with the world I'm not saying dress all weird and this and that I'm not saying that women shouldn't wear makeup and men should wear suits I'm not saying that I'm saying be aware just be aware don't blend in with the world a fourth thing he was not prepared for a subtle challenge you see the first questions were posed in a way that made it easy for him to say no he was actually given an easy route to denial but the last question was like a trap John 1826 did I not see you in the garden with him so when a direct challenge occurred he completely forgot the Lord that's why verse 74 says he began to curse since we're saying I do not know the man when this takes place he went out and he wept bitterly he failed his heart was broken he cried he was broken he forgot that he had been warned here's something to remember sin results in devastation ruin pain and sorrow it can never produce what it promises to produce on a permanent basis there is enjoying sin for a season there is an enjoyment to it if you didn't like it you wouldn't do it but the repercussions that come later are not worth the thrill that you have at that moment keep that in mind because what you want right now and you want to have right now it promises you it promises you that sin promises you that if you do this you will be happy forever that's a lie that's a lie listen I I've been around for a while I've ministered for a long time now and I've seen a lot of broken hearts ministered to a lot of broken people can't imagine how many over the years how many broken hearts I've tried to help patch how many broken marriages how many broken children how many broken women how many broken families and friendships how many losses I've conducted funerals for for for men who died of AIDS I've I've tried to minister to people whose whose lives went in the wrong direction and I'm telling you sin seems to be something you want and it promises you you that it can make you happy it does but the end is destruction it always is it always is I remember a guy who came to my office he had actually called the church and said I need to see the pastor immediately have an emergency I need to see him I was preparing an evening service and I I can't meet with it's an emergency I need to see him now this is again in the early days of our church and my secretary says he's insisting he says he only needs a few minutes of your time it's an emergency I said listen I don't take lunch have him come at lunch and I'll talk to him so he came I'll never forget the conversation he came to my office he entered didn't thank you pastor for seeing me I said of course how can I help you it's just I have a question I need an answer for and I need it today and I said how can I help you I want to ask if God is a forgiving God and I said of course he is of course he is does God forgive every sin pastor I said God forgives every sin I said God is compassionate long suffering if confess your sin he washes away every sin every sin why even the sin of adultery I said the sin of adultery is the sin that God can wash and cleanse you from of course I'll never forget the conversation because he said that's all I needed to know because he had an affair going with a woman at work he left his wife ran off with this woman and did so thinking he had permission because God forgives every sin you can't do that to God you can't plan your sin out and then say well he's gracious but that's in the church today the mentality like that today if God is truly gracious why wouldn't he forgive because you have planned out sin with no concern whatsoever for the repercussion sin will take you down it'll tear your life up it destroys your family it destroys you it's destructive and you see me so many times when I come up and I tear up you don't know why I do let me tell you why I do can you imagine now I'm out of pain I have heard since 1973 how many tears I have cried with people people say where's your joy I have joined the Lord but my heart breaks for sin because when I see children I'll never forget the little boy who is six years old standing with his little slump shoulders while mama is holding holding her her little boy she says to me pastor can you please pray for my son I said of course she said his father told him yesterday he doesn't love him and I'm looking at this little boy and he took him with my arms and I held him sin destroys guys it destroys it destroys and you do not sin just oh you take steps towards it you over you overthink your strength you walk at a distance you aren't prepared for the subtle things that can happen they'll step you right to the path and then bang and you wake up and you weep bitterly and that's what he did because after he failed Jesus looks at him he looks back at Jesus the rooster is crying and it hits him I did exactly what I said I'd never do I said I would die for him and I just denied him even as he said I would and he went out and he wept bitterly he failed but I'm not I'm not going to close with the apostle Peter remaining in sin because one of the most beautiful things we know about our God is he is rich in mercy and he is forgiving he is Micah 718 who is a god like you who pardons sin and forgives the transgressions of the remnant of his inheritance you do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy if we confess our sin he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness he went out and wept bitterly but the Lord Jesus Christ had plans for this man and he restores him and he uses him to expand the kingdom and later Peter writes and says in 2 Peter 3 17 and 18 dear friends since you already know this be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position growing grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to him be glory both now and forever amen hold fast don't let go follow Jesus as much as you have within you every day be aware that the enemy wants to take you down hold fast and when you fail which we all do remember that God is merciful and he forgives us our sin he cleanses us and delivers us and he can use us for his glory don't plan on sinning but thank God that God can even use the worst things that we've ever done turn it around and make our life a testimony of his grace amen