Grace Bigger Than Failure: The Restoration of Peter

• Ordinary Sin [00:25:30 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes his own tendency toward 'boring' and 'vanilla' sins, such as avoiding difficult conversations or failing to witness, rather than dramatic moral failures.
• Peter's Denial [00:30:38 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor analyzes the biblical account of Peter denying Jesus three times, highlighting the pain of the moment and the contrast between Peter's bold promises and his subsequent failure.
• Historical Context of Annas and Caiaphas [00:32:27 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor provides a historical anecdote about the high priestly family of Annas to explain why Jesus was taken to Annas first, using a 'family business' analogy.
• The Political Structure of the High Priesthood [00:32:39 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains the familial power dynamics of Annas and Caiaphas, using a 'family business' analogy to describe how Annas pulled the strings despite not holding the official title.
• Discipleship and Autopilot Behavior [00:34:59 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor analyzes why Peter followed Jesus, suggesting it was an act of 'autopilot' driven by trauma and habit rather than clear-headed decision-making, leading to a growing spiritual distance.
• Intercalation and Narrative Contrast [00:37:54 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor introduces the literary device of 'intercalation' (weaving two stories together) to highlight the contrast between Jesus standing firm inside and Peter shrinking back outside.
• The Nature of Failure and Compromise [00:40:47 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that failure rarely starts with dramatic sin but with small hesitations, quiet compromises, and choosing the path of least resistance, as seen in Peter's denial to a servant girl.
• Symbolism of Location and Association [00:42:40 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor highlights the significance of Peter standing with the servants and guards by the fire, noting that he is physically and spiritually aligning himself with the people who arrested Jesus.
• Peter's Denial and Human Frailty [00:50:17 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts Peter's deep faith and commitment with his spectacular failure to deny Jesus, arguing that even the most committed followers can experience profound failure due to fear.
• Jesus' Calm Authority [00:47:05 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor highlights Jesus' calm response to the high priest and the servant's slap, noting that Jesus knew the trial was out of bounds but chose to stand firmly in the truth without defensiveness.
• Restoration and Redemption [00:53:24 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor previews the post-resurrection encounter where Jesus restores Peter, using the parallel of the charcoal fires to show that Jesus does not discard believers for their failures but offers redemption.
• The Nature of Betrayal vs. Denial [00:52:28 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor distinguishes between Judas's clear betrayal and Peter's denial, suggesting that denial is a more relatable 'gray area' where fear and self-protection take over, which many believers experience.
• Redemption and Restoration [00:56:33 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that Jesus redeems failure and restores the man, rather than leaving him in his worst moment or defining him by it.
• The Nature of Discipleship and Failure [00:56:45 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor clarifies that while holiness is the goal, failure is part of the disciple's story; failing makes one a 'disciple who has failed,' not a 'failed disciple.'
• Spiritual Distance [00:57:30 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor identifies gradual spiritual distance from Jesus as a primary cause of failure, manifested in optional worship and creeping doubt.
• Grace vs. Effort [00:59:58 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that the gospel is not about trying harder or doing better, but about the incredible grace of Jesus that gives another chance regardless of past actions.

• Sermon Illustration [00:27:19 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about hiding behind a computer in the Welcome Center to avoid a stranger asking about the church, illustrating his tendency to avoid faith-related conversations.
• Sermon Illustration [00:33:10 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses an analogy of a 'family business' where the father (Annas) remains in the corner office pulling strings even after handing the title to the son-in-law (Caiaphas), to explain the political dynamics of the high priesthood.
• Sermon Illustration [00:33:10 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses a 'family business' analogy to explain the relationship between Annas and Caiaphas, describing how parents build a business and hand it to adult children while the father remains in the corner office pulling strings.
• Sermon Illustration [00:39:36 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a hypothetical personal anecdote about people playing basketball in his kitchen and breaking a plate to illustrate the linguistic differences between neutral, positive, and negative questions.
• Sermon Illustration [00:45:05 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts the parallel narrative of Peter warming himself outside while Jesus is questioned inside, highlighting the irony that the star witness (Peter) is denying Jesus while Jesus calmly invites witnesses to testify to his public teaching.
• Sermon Illustration [00:48:15 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the specific detail of the relative of Malchus (whose ear Peter cut off) recognizing Peter, emphasizing the immediacy of the event and the pressure Peter faced.
• Sermon Illustration [00:54:35 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor summarizes the biblical narrative from Acts 4, describing how Peter, once a denier, boldly preaches to the same rulers who condemned Jesus, resulting in 5,000 believers and astonishing the religious leaders with his courage.
• Sermon Illustration [00:58:15 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the biblical narrative of Peter's denial and subsequent restoration to illustrate how Jesus redeems failure. He also employs the analogy of standing 'in the wrong camp around the wrong fire with the wrong people' to describe the gradual process of spiritual drift and the realization of having failed.

• Pastoral Charge [00:31:06 ▶️ 📄]
  > Open Bibles or Bible apps to follow along with the scripture reading in John 18.
• Pastoral Charge [00:53:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > Attend the upcoming service on April 19th to hear the conclusion of Peter's story.
• Pastoral Charge [00:59:42 ▶️ 📄]
  > To choose to follow Jesus and pursue holiness, starting immediately from their current location.

[00:02:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:02:39] To proclaim and worship Jesus as Lord, we are so happy that you're here to do that with us today.
[00:02:43] If we haven't met yet, I'm Amy. I'm one of the pastors on staff here, and I've got just a couple of announcements to put before you before we dive into our worship set. The first is you might see
[00:02:52] a black folder near you at the end of your aisle. We'd love for you to sign that. That helps us to know who's here, but it also helps us to follow up with folks if they stop showing up for some
[00:03:00] reason. If you're new to Corinth, in there there's a blue Visitor Connect card. You can fill that out in hard copy, or you can scan the QR code and do that online for us. If you've been around Corinth
[00:03:09] for a while, you know that whenever you see a rose, it means we're celebrating. This week, we're celebrating the birth of Miles Carter Bragg, who was born to Jonathan and Kaylin.
[00:03:17] Mom and baby are home and happy and healthy, but if you know Jonathan, Kaylin, or baby Miles, do reach out to them and congratulate them. This week on Wednesday, we've got Refresh for Moms.
[00:03:27] That's for ladies in all ages and stages of life. We would love to see you there. Dr. Diana Williams is going to be our speaker. Diana is one of our own. We know her. We love her. We can't
[00:03:35] wait to hear her Wednesday at 9.30 right here in Boston. One week from this coming Saturday, that's, let me start over, that's an awkward way to talk about time. Two weeks from yesterday is March 21st. That is going to be mulch madness here at Corinth. So there's a men's breakfast on
[00:03:52] the 21st, followed by a workday. Now this flyer that's up there says men's workday, but I'm given to understand that even women can spread mulch. So if you want to bring your lady along with you
[00:04:02] to spread mulch, that's probably fine. Ladies, if you'd rather send the men out of the house, have them practice mulching here and then come mulch at home, also a totally fine way to handle mulch madness. We'd love to see you there. Then the following day on the 22nd, two big things are
[00:04:16] happening. We're going to have our Easter eggstravaganza, which is for our kiddos, like birth up through fifth grade. We need a bunch of volunteers to make that happen, so there's a volunteer link if you want to help us with that. On the same day, I don't think we have a slide for
[00:04:28] this yet, we're going to do a baptism service by immersion. So if you or someone you love are interested in baptism by immersion, Pastor Kevin's information is in your bulletin, and we would love for you to reach out to him at some point in the next two weeks so we can include you in that
[00:04:41] service. Thanks for being here to worship with us today. Good morning, church. 1 Thessalonians

[00:04:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:04:48] chapter 5 verses 16 through 18 says this, rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. So will you stand with me
[00:05:01] and pray, and then we're going to sing and rejoice and give thanks together. Heavenly Father, thank you that you are our reason to rejoice. Thank you, God, that even when our situations or circumstances are not good, God, you are good. We thank you that we can come to you and pray to you
[00:05:19] in all things and at all times. Father, we hand over our worries and our distractions to you this morning, help us to focus entirely on your glory. Be glorified, oh God, as we rejoice in you and
[00:05:29] give you thanks for who you are. And all God's people said, amen. Let's sing together.

[00:06:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:06:45] This next song is new for us in here. It is not a new song. You have heard it on the radio,

[00:10:10] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:10:10] I am sure. It's a few years old. And it was actually inspired by the heavenly worship scene that unfolds in Revelation 4. And the song just invites us in to join in to this endless
[00:10:22] song of praise, just praising God for who he is. So join with us in singing a new song to the Lord this morning.

[00:11:35] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:11:35] We're going to be reading from Hebrews 4, verses 14 through 16.

[00:15:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:15:46] It says, Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.
[00:15:56] For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet he did not sin.
[00:16:05] Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
[00:16:13] Let's pray.
[00:16:14] Dear Lord, thank you so much for this day.
[00:16:16] Thank you for all that you've given us.
[00:16:18] Thank you for allowing us to come into your home and worship you, Lord.
[00:16:21] I pray that in this time of worship that we not think of ourselves, but we think of you and we worship you with all of our hearts.
[00:16:27] Lord, I pray that during this sermon that we will listen and that we will take in what Pastor Amy has to preach.
[00:16:32] In your name I pray. Amen.

[00:17:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:17:27] God hands into his everlasting arms.
[00:17:34] Vision grips my heart, and Satan tempts me to despair.
[00:17:51] I hear the voice that scatters fear.
[00:18:02] The great I am, the Lord is here.
[00:18:11] Who fights for me, and shields my soul each day.
[00:18:18] In this world, face to face, with love Himself.
[00:19:20] Big spotless righteousness.

[00:22:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:22:11] Gracious God, we praise you for your endless grace and mercy.
[00:22:15] Father, you are so faithful. Your mercies are new every morning.
[00:22:18] As we bring our tithes and offerings today, God, we acknowledge that every good and perfect gift comes from you.
[00:22:23] Lord, you are the reason that we even have anything to give.
[00:22:26] God, we pray you would accept these offerings and multiply them to spread your grace and mercy to those in need.
[00:22:32] In Jesus' name we pray.
[00:22:34] You can bring forward your tithes and offerings at this time.

[00:23:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:23:15] Our scripture reading for today is John 18, 15 through 27.
[00:23:22] Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus.
[00:23:26] Because this disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest's courtyard.
[00:23:33] But Peter had to wait outside the door.
[00:23:36] The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, came back, spoke to the servant girl on duty there, and brought Peter in. You aren't one of this man's disciples, too, are you? She asked Peter.
[00:23:50] He replied, I am not. It was cold, and the servants and officials stood around the fire they had made to keep warm. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself. Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. I have spoken
[00:24:10] obly to the world, Jesus replied. I always taught in synagogues or at the temple where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. Why question me, asked those who heard me. Surely they will know what I said. When Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby slapped him in the
[00:24:32] face. Is this the way you answer the high priest, he demanded. If I said something wrong, Jesus replied, testify as to what is wrong, but if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me? Then Annas
[00:24:46] sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest. Meanwhile, Simon Peter was still standing there warming himself, so they asked him, you aren't one of his disciples too, are you? He denied it, saying, I am not. One of the high priest's servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off,
[00:25:06] challenged him, didn't I see you with them in the garden? Again, Peter denied it, and at that moment a rooster began to crow. The word of God for the people of God. So now it's my job to talk about

[00:25:30] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:25:30] sin for a while, and I'm going to start by telling you a little bit of something about myself, and it's a bit of a confession, and that confession is that sometimes I know exactly the right thing
[00:25:41] that I ought to do, and I choose not to do that thing. Now, I do not live this crazy double life that you're going to be shocked to hear about. It's not like on weekends I'm a pastor at a church
[00:25:53] and Monday through Friday I'm running a drug cartel. It's not sexy, big, exciting sinning to tell you about. It's little boring stuff. So if you know me, you know kind of boring is sort of my baseline. That's where I live most of my life is in the pretty boring, pretty vanilla
[00:26:09] territory and even my sinning looks that way too. In my world, it's rarely stuff that's going to get me on the front page of the news or the pastor Nick's going to call me and be like, look, we
[00:26:18] got to talk about some stuff. It's usually stuff that is small and it's ordinary. It's like maybe somebody says something that I know is untrue or it's unkind and there's like a little bell going
[00:26:30] off in my head that's like, you ought to say something about that. And I go, nah, not this time. Or it could be that somebody asks me for help and I'm like, I'm probably not going to do
[00:26:39] that. That's not super convenient for me right now. Or sometimes, and this one is especially embarrassing for a pastor, there are times when I'm having a conversation with somebody, and it starts drifting into matters of faith, and I realize, I went to school for 87 years to talk
[00:26:53] about Jesus, and I should probably say something about Jesus right now. And I find any other detail in the conversation where I'm like, no, but tell me again. Oh, your gutters are getting cleaned this
[00:27:03] week? Say more about the gutters. That's cool. Let's talk about it, because it's just not what I'm interested in doing. I had a particularly embarrassing moment of this earlier this week while I was writing this sermon, in fact. When I found myself out in the Welcome Center working on
[00:27:19] a computer out there trying to fix it, I was the only person in the Welcome Center, and a delivery guy walks in, and he walks directly past me, because we're the only two people in the room.
[00:27:27] He goes up to our front desk where Katie is working. She's great. If you haven't met Katie, you should meet Katie. And I hear a question I've heard a million times before, and the guy looks
[00:27:37] around and he goes, Corinth, Corinth Reformed. What kind of church is this anyway? And you know, that's a, it's a reasonable question. We get it a couple times a week. I have really good answers
[00:27:47] about that. I have a long one that's all about church history and denominations and how the church flows together. I've got a short one that's nice and canned if we're in an elevator together.
[00:27:56] But for whatever reason, on this particular afternoon, when I heard Corinth Reformed, What kind of church is that anyway? I swear to you for all the world, in my brain, it sounded like a gunshot. And I panicked and I looked around going, how do I get out of here? I'm the only
[00:28:13] other person in the room. There's no getting out of it. So I do the next most mature thing and I stand at the computer and I stare straight ahead and I pretend I'm invisible. I'm just going to
[00:28:23] fix the computer invisibly. I didn't say it was good. I'm talking about sin. So the guy's kind behind me. He's talking to Katie. Katie, for her great credit, we've hired a staff that's far better
[00:28:34] than me. Katie is telling him this wonderful explanation of, oh, here's what our worship services look like. And, you know, we're here Sunday mornings. We'd love for you to come back and worship with us. And he's talking about he has a church. And she says, well, Wednesday nights
[00:28:45] we've got programs. Come on, join us. Have a Bible study. You can come to dinner. She's doing everything right. And just as I'm breathing a sigh of relief of, I don't have to people with
[00:28:56] the strangers. I can stay on task. I hear these words, but that's one of our pastors over there.
[00:29:03] She could probably tell you more if you want to hear more. Y'all, it's not that I don't like people, but on this particular day, I had a really important list. I was really overbooked already,
[00:29:14] and I just needed to get my next thing done. It was not my best moment, and I knew that right away because I never turned away from the computer, but out of the corner of my eye, I see the guy look at
[00:29:25] me look at Katie and go, that lady shaking her head over there is one of your pastors? Okay, I tried to recover. I turned around. I said something about, no, it's the computer. Katie was right. That was a
[00:29:36] really good answer. I think I said something about the Presbyterians. I don't know. Like, words just came out, and he kind of smiles at me. He goes, all right, thanks, and left. And just as quickly as that
[00:29:46] insane moment started, it was gone, and I realized, oh, I did not, I didn't do that right at all. That's not my job. Like, if you think your pastor should be able to talk about faith in Jesus and church
[00:29:58] anytime, anywhere, especially in the church, you are not wrong. That's a reasonable expectation.
[00:30:06] But that's kind of how these moments of failure tend to happen, right? We tend to imagine that faithfulness and failure are these two wildly different things that are separated by a huge chasm. But in reality, faithfulness and failure tend to live in the same person, and they tend
[00:30:22] to be so muddled up that we can scarcely pull them apart. Because failure has absolutely no respect for what kind of a faithful person you might otherwise be. And nowhere, I don't think, do we see that more clearly than in today's reading that Bill read for us from John 18.
[00:30:38] See, in John 18, we are going to encounter one of the most painful moments in one of Jesus' closest friends. This is the apostle Peter that we're talking about. Peter is this bold fisherman who
[00:30:50] has left everything. He's been an outspoken disciple. He's fought for Jesus. He's promised that he is going to die before he ever leaves Jesus. And he's going to deny that he even knows Jesus. And he's not going to get it wrong once and then go, man, I should have had another chance.
[00:31:06] He's going to get it wrong a second time, and then he's going to get it wrong a third time.
[00:31:11] Now, if you haven't already, open up your Bibles, open your Bible apps, open whatever you use. We're in John 18, you can follow along with me. So what we're reading today takes place on, you know, by
[00:31:22] our way of talking about Jesus last week, Maundy Thursday. It's just a few days before the crucifixion. In John's gospel, we've been talking about Maundy Thursday since chapter 13. So we are well into this, but everything we've talked about here in church over the last couple weeks is all
[00:31:36] happening on the same night. So just a few hours before what we read today, Jesus has had that last supper with his disciples. Judas has gone out. Judas has brought the soldiers to the garden to
[00:31:48] meet Jesus. They've arrested Jesus. We had that kind of wild scene that we talked about last week where Peter, probably trying to defend Jesus, pulls out his sword. He cuts off the ear of this
[00:31:59] servant named Malchus. Jesus tells him, put away your sword. Jesus also reassures Peter and the other disciples that everything that's happening is part of God's plan. The words that Jesus uses in verse 11 are, shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me? And then Jesus allows himself
[00:32:17] to be arrested. And what happens right before this scene ends with this note that the soldiers bring Jesus to the house of Annas, who is the former high priest. And if that seems weird to you,
[00:32:27] that they might take Jesus to the former high priest, this is just a fun added historical note because, again, I started by telling you I'm kind of boring, plain. I think history is fun. And so
[00:32:39] a fun historical note for you. Annas was the high priest for a number of years. By the time Jesus was arrested, he was no longer the high priest. But the priesthood stayed in his family. So we
[00:32:52] know from a bunch of different sources that from Annas' family, he had at least four sons and one grandson who succeeded him as high priest. And Caiaphas, who is the high priest when Jesus is
[00:33:02] arrested, was his son-in-law. So the way I like to think of it is, if you imagine a family business, Mom and dad build the business.
[00:33:10] They grow the business.
[00:33:11] The children grow up, and they're ready to hand the business over to the adult children.
[00:33:15] The adult children are running the business now, right?
[00:33:18] But if dad's still in the corner office, he's not in charge, but he's kind of in charge, right?
[00:33:25] It's complicated.
[00:33:26] Annis is no longer the guy with the title, but he's the guy pulling the strings.
[00:33:30] He knows how to get his way.
[00:33:32] It's a complicated situation.
[00:33:33] And that's where they take Jesus first, first to the guy who's really in charge whether or not he has the title. So meanwhile, John tells us that Peter and his other disciple follow along behind him. And that's also an interesting note
[00:33:46] because if you go back a couple of verses up to verse 8, when Jesus is being arrested, he looks at the soldiers and he says, hey, if you're here for me, let all these other people go. And as far
[00:33:59] as we can tell, the soldiers do that. They don't arrest anybody other than Jesus. And everybody else has the option to do something. They can go home. They can follow Jesus. Best we can tell,
[00:34:09] Peter and one other guy who's never named follow Jesus. The rest of them go, you know what? This has been a crazy night. I'm going to head home for now. We'll see how things go tomorrow.
[00:34:19] John doesn't tell us why Peter behaves differently. He doesn't tell us why the other guy behaves differently. My best guess, and it's just a guess, so take it for whatever it is, is like maybe there
[00:34:29] was some part of them that was just curious, right? Jesus has been arrested. What's going to happen?
[00:34:34] I don't know. We don't have Twitter. We're going to follow along and find out.
[00:34:38] Could have been Peter has just shown us that he's a little bit of a hothead and he's got a sword and he's ready to fight. It could be that Peter was like, I got the guy's ear last time. If I get
[00:34:46] another chance, he is going down and Jesus is leaving with me. Or I think this is maybe the most likely. Peter has been following Jesus for the last three years. His whole life is defined
[00:34:59] by the fact that he's been following Jesus. And when it's late and you've been through some traumatic, insane event. Your brain is not always thinking, what's the next right thing I should do?
[00:35:10] Sometimes you're just on autopilot, and following Jesus is autopilot for Peter. That's what he does.
[00:35:16] He is a follower, and he is following. But whatever is happening, Jesus and Peter and this other disciple get to the high priest's house. Jesus is taken in by the soldiers. The other disciple somehow knows the high priest, so he also goes right in, and Peter is left out at the door to
[00:35:34] the courtyard for a little while. It's kind of like being left at the gate. Now, this is another point where Peter has a choice, right? He's been denied entrance right away. He could say, you know
[00:35:43] what? That's enough for me. I'm going home, but he stays. Eventually, this other disciple comes out.
[00:35:48] He vouches for Peter, says, this guy's with me. He's okay, and then Peter gets to go into the courtyard, but he never goes into the house. So we're actually seeing two things happening as we
[00:35:59] get to this part of the scene where Jesus is inside, Peter is outside. And the first is we see that Peter has decided he is going to follow Jesus, and that's a conscious choice. Remember, he had an
[00:36:10] escape route at the garden where Jesus said you can go. He had an escape option at the courtyard where he was denied entrance, and he could have just left, but he's chosen to be here in the middle
[00:36:20] of the night to follow Jesus. But the other thing we're going to see is that even though Peter's still following Jesus, he's not following him quite as closely as he used to. As the story goes on,
[00:36:31] as the night goes on, we're going to see this distance between Peter and Jesus is going to keep growing and growing and growing. So watch for that as we go along. And I think that matters
[00:36:43] because what we see in Peter is maybe the most brutally honest picture of discipleship that I find anywhere in the Bible. Because sometimes we do try to follow Jesus, but we kind of drift a
[00:36:56] little farther away from him as we go on. Or sometimes we realize like we're still part of the story, but we're not really in the middle of the story of what Jesus is up to. We're kind of
[00:37:05] hanging out on the edges. And sometimes we find like, I still use the name Christian. I want people to know that I'm a Christian. But secretly we're like, but I really hope you don't ask me too many
[00:37:14] questions about what that means exactly. Peter's in that murky area where he hasn't turned and run like the other disciples, but he's not really standing right beside Jesus anymore. So the way John tells this story is different than the other gospel writers. Instead of just telling us what
[00:37:31] happens with Peter and then what happens with Jesus, Peter is going to weave those two stories into one another. If you are watching this on TV, you'd have these cut shots where you're going from
[00:37:40] inside to outside to inside to outside. If you're doing this in written form, this is a fun seminary word for you. It's called intercalation. And what intercalation means is that you're telling two stories at one time, and they're all wrapped up in each other. And the reason that the gospel
[00:37:54] writer does that is because he wants us to see and to feel and to hear those two stories at the same time, and he wants us to see the contrast. So what's going to happen as we look at these
[00:38:06] two stories is we are going to see inside the house, Jesus is going to stand firm, he is going to speak truth to power, and he's going to meet every confrontation head-on. Outside, Peter is
[00:38:18] going to shrink back. He is going to deny the truth. Jesus is going to be courageous, and Peter's afraid. Jesus is going to speak openly and boldly, and Peter is going to hide anywhere he can find.
[00:38:30] You can look at this as two ways of how you handle adversity. One model that we see is the faithfulness of Jesus. And the other model is the failure of one of his closest disciples.
[00:38:44] So Peter's first denial is actually going to come from an unexpected source. This picks up in verse 17. It's not a soldier. It's not a priest. It is a servant girl. She is simply guarding the gate.
[00:38:55] She's no one of influence. She's just watching the door. When Peter enters the courtyard and she asks him a question, she says, you aren't one of this man's disciples too, are you? And Peter responds in three simple words. He says, I am not. Now, the way she asked this question actually
[00:39:12] tells us she is expecting or kind of guiding him towards a negative answer. There are super dorky linguistic things we can talk about later if you want to talk super dorky linguistic things with me. But there are, in most languages, three ways of phrasing questions. You can have a neutral,
[00:39:29] a positive, or a negative phrasing. So, recently, people were playing basketball in my kitchen.
[00:39:36] Now, this didn't happen, but imagine a plate got broken while people who shall remain unnamed were playing basketball in my kitchen.
[00:39:44] Okay, if I have no idea what happened, I might go in and say, who broke this plate?
[00:39:49] That's a neutral question.
[00:39:50] If I'm pretty sure Josh did it, I'd go, you broke this plate, didn't you?
[00:39:56] Right, we know the answer's supposed to be yes.
[00:39:58] If I'm pretty sure the baby broke it, it was the baby who was playing basketball, it was super cute, I have a video I'll show you later.
[00:40:04] If I'm pretty sure the baby did it, I would say, you didn't break this plate, did you, Josh?
[00:40:08] Right, because I'm expecting a negative answer.
[00:40:10] Super dorky linguistic lesson over, except to say, when this servant girl asks Peter the question, it's that last kind.
[00:40:17] She's asking it in a way that she's expecting the answer to be no.
[00:40:21] She's saying, you're not one of them, right?
[00:40:24] So Peter just has to nod along and say nothing.
[00:40:27] And that's basically what he does.
[00:40:28] He's like, yeah, no, that's fine.
[00:40:31] And what's hard about that, that's hard to see, and it's hard to understand, and it's hard to even admit to is that that's how most failure starts. It's rare that we start our failure with huge dramatic sinning like Judas going out selling out Jesus. That's the kind of
[00:40:47] thing you normally work up to. Failure usually starts with something a lot smaller. It's a moment of hesitation or it's a quiet compromise or it's just one sentence we should have said that we didn't quite say. It's choosing the path of least resistance just because it's easiest in that
[00:41:04] moment. And that's what Peter does. Peter has a choice when the servant girl asks him, and it is a choice, hear me well, that has no stakes attached to it. This servant girl at the door can do
[00:41:18] absolutely nothing to Peter. She can do nothing to Jesus. She is a character of no consequence in this story. In this moment, it would have cost Peter exactly nothing to do the right thing and
[00:41:30] just say, yeah, I belong to Jesus. I'm one of his. And yet, faced with this question that is not that hard of a question in an environment where there is nothing that could go wrong, he denies that he
[00:41:45] has any connection to Jesus. And then John gives us a detail about this night that kind of seems like a throwaway detail at first, but ends up being really important to the story. And John
[00:41:57] tells us that it's cold. Now, you might think of Israel as being in the desert, and deserts being hot, and in the daytime, you are right. But at night, deserts can get bitterly cold, and this
[00:42:08] is one of those nights in the desert where it's cold, and everybody is outside in the courtyard waiting to see what's going to happen. So the servants and the guards at the high priest's house, they build this charcoal fire and they stand around it to keep warm. And Peter was standing
[00:42:24] with them, warming himself by the fire. So just imagine this scene for me. There are two things happening at the same time. Inside the house, Jesus is being questioned by the high priest about who he is and who his disciples are and what he's taught. And outside the house, Peter is warming
[00:42:40] himself by a fire. John even tells us that Peter is standing with the servants and officials back in verse 18, he is shoulder to shoulder with some of the people who are responsible for Jesus being
[00:42:51] arrested and the fact that Jesus is on trial inside. He is huddled up trying to keep warm with the same crowd who believes that Caiaphas was right when Caiaphas said, hey, we should pick one person to die for all these people. Peter, who started his night right by Jesus' side at the
[00:43:10] Last Supper, is no longer standing with Jesus. He's gone over and he is standing with them.
[00:43:18] And that phrase carries some weight because John used the exact same language when he talks about Judas standing with them, being the soldiers who came to arrest Jesus. It's a little phrase, it's a subtle detail, but it matters because it tells us what's going on in the hearts of the
[00:43:34] disciples. Peter is now standing among the very people who arrested Jesus. He is still following Jesus, but he is at a distance, and that distance is growing. He's near the action. He's not in the
[00:43:48] action. He is actually warming himself with the very people who hate Jesus, and he's doing his darndest to pass as one of them. Now, while Peter is outside doing all of this, Jesus is inside being
[00:44:01] question by the high priest. And we don't get the exact questions. Verse 19 just tells us that he asks Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. Now there's something interesting here, and that's in ancient Jewish law. The proper way to have a trial is actually not to go to the person who's
[00:44:16] on trial and ask questions. What you are supposed to do is bring in witnesses and have those witnesses speak to what had happened. So Jesus knows this. He knows this trial's out of bounds.
[00:44:27] It's a sham. Nothing's going right. But Jesus stays very calm. And Jesus in verse 20 says, I've spoken openly to the world. I always taught in the synagogues or at the temple where all the
[00:44:37] Jews come together. I've said nothing in secret. In other words, Jesus is saying, I've not been in hiding. I've got nothing that's not public. Everything I've done has been out in the open.
[00:44:48] So just go ahead, get some witnesses. Let's get the thing over with. Now remember, in the way that John is telling this story, we're supposed to be seeing and hearing and feeling Peter's storyline and Jesus' storyline all at the same time. So I don't know. I can't prove it. There's no way to
[00:45:05] prove it or disprove it. But I imagine that it's possible that at the very moment where Jesus is inside saying to the high priest, hey, nothing I've done has been a secret. Go find witnesses
[00:45:17] who saw me. Let's bring them in and ask them what I said. I think it's possible that even as that's happening, just outside the door, Peter, who's one of Jesus' closest followers. He's one of the people
[00:45:30] on earth best capable of testifying to what Jesus did and what Jesus said. That same guy, who should be the star witness of this case, is standing right now in the courtyard going, wait, Jesus who now?
[00:45:45] No, I never met the guy. The high priest doesn't take the bait. He doesn't respond to Jesus, but one of his servants gets worked up, slaps him, maybe hits him with a weapon. We're not really sure.
[00:45:55] And it's a weird response because of all the things Jesus could have said to the high priest saying, why are you asking me? Ask the people who heard me, is a pretty innocuous answer, right? It's
[00:46:07] not particularly combative. It's not defensive. It's not disrespectful. And you and I know, Sidney read this for us a few minutes ago, you and I have the benefit of Hebrews 4, right? We know Jesus is the great high priest. Jesus has this incredible line of argument that he could
[00:46:24] take up to say, hey, you think you're a high priest? You're a joke. I'm the real high priest.
[00:46:30] We are not having this argument because you're not in charge of this thing. I'm in charge of this thing. Jesus is standing there as God himself, knowing he's got all authority on heaven and earth, and he doesn't go down that road. He just says, let's do this. Let's bring in some
[00:46:46] witnesses. We'll do this, but bring in the witnesses. But even that mild reaction sparks this insane response from the official. And Jesus knows that it's out of bounds for him to be physically hit during a trial as well. And so Jesus' response to this is just another calm,
[00:47:05] simple sentence. He says, if I said something wrong, testify about what's wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why do you strike me? Even under pressure, even under violence, even while his closest friends are falling apart right outside the door, Jesus is going to stand firmly in the
[00:47:25] truth with calm, steady truth. Now if we go back outside to the fire, Peter is still warming himself with all of these folks and there are going to be two more questions. And every time Peter gets a
[00:47:38] question, the stakes get a little higher and the intensity ratchets up a little bit. The second person who's going to ask him about who he is is some unnamed soldier or guard or servant or
[00:47:49] official, somebody from that crowd. And that person just says, you aren't one of his disciples too, are you? It's almost the exact same question the girl asked him. And Peter denies it in verse 25
[00:47:59] in the exact same way. He says, I'm not. But then a third voice speaks up and this person, we find out really quickly, has a reason to remember Jesus. It's not going to be one of these negative
[00:48:11] questions of, oh, it's not you, right? You're not them. You don't know what this is about.
[00:48:15] The third person to ask Peter about who he is is a relative of the guy whose ear Peter had just cut off. Now remember, that guy's name is Malchus, the servant whose ear was cut off. This has just
[00:48:28] happened before they got to the house. I have to imagine the blood's not even dry on Malchus's clothing yet. Peter has just lopped an ear off. The relative looks at him and says, hey, didn't I see
[00:48:38] you with him in the garden? They were all there. It just happened. And again, Peter denies it.
[00:48:48] And here, John tells us very simply, without any of the extra pomp and circumstance the other gospel writers give us, that immediately a rooster crowed. Just a few hours earlier, Jesus predicted that this exact thing was going to happen. If you flip back in your Bible to John 13,
[00:49:04] you'll find the Last Supper. Judas has just left, and in verse 33, Jesus starts to tell the remaining disciples some unsettling and unexplainable news. Jesus says to the disciples who are still at the table, I'll be with you only a little longer. You'll look for me, but where I'm
[00:49:23] going, you cannot come. Peter asks him where he's going, and Jesus doubles down on this, and he says where I'm going. You cannot follow now, but you will follow later. And Peter does not like this.
[00:49:35] He balks at that answer. He says, Lord, why can't I follow you now? I'll lay down my life for you.
[00:49:41] And Jesus says to him, will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly, I tell you, before the rooster crows, you're going to disown me three times. In a matter of hours, Peter has gone
[00:49:55] from passionately denying that he would ever leave Jesus to fighting for Jesus and maiming a man to denying he knows him.
[00:50:07] He swore that would never happen.
[00:50:10] But it happened.
[00:50:12] And it happened so fast.
[00:50:17] What makes this moment so incredibly heartbreaking for me is knowing that Peter genuinely loved Jesus.
[00:50:26] Every single gospel writer tells us about Peter.
[00:50:29] And when you put all of their stories together, they paint the picture of a disciple who is deeply committed to Jesus.
[00:50:38] Peter is the guy who left his fishing nets by the sea to run after and follow Jesus.
[00:50:43] He's the one who fell down before him saying, Lord, get away from me because I'm a sinful man.
[00:50:49] Peter is the guy who walked on water to get to Jesus.
[00:50:52] he declared before anybody else understood this truth you are the Messiah the son of God and even in the last moments he's the one who insisted to Jesus even if I have to die with you
[00:51:05] I will never disown you Peter wasn't pretending that he was a disciple his commitment to Jesus was real his faith was deep and he still failed spectacularly now that's important for you and eye to hear because I think sometimes we carry this unspoken belief that if we were really
[00:51:29] faithful, we would never have a moment like Peter had. We think we'd never have moments where we fall apart and we screw it all up. And if our faith was just strong enough, we would always
[00:51:43] be faithful. But the Bible tells us a much more honest story. The Bible tells us that even the most committed followers of Jesus, even the people who literally stepped in the footsteps right behind him can have both incredibly deep faith and incredibly profound failure. One commentary
[00:52:08] that I read this week described Peter's denial as occupying that gray area between outright betrayal and faithfulness, the place where fear and self-protection take over. I think it's really easy for us to look at Judas and see that betrayal and condemn that betrayal because it's dramatic,
[00:52:28] It's clear. It's final. But Peter's form of betrayal, we don't even like to call it betrayal.
[00:52:35] We call it denial. But it's more than that. And I think, if we're honest, we've all been there at some point. The Gospel of John wraps up this scene with Peter's third denial. Peter's going
[00:52:49] to fade into the background of John's gospel for a while. As Jesus has another trial before the Roman governor Pilate, Jesus is going to be condemned. He's going to be crucified. He's going to be buried. But the really good news is that the story doesn't end there. It doesn't end
[00:53:03] there for Peter. It doesn't end there for Jesus. You need to come back on April 19th. Come back before April 19th, too. We're doing other good things. But if you want the end of Peter's story
[00:53:14] specifically, you need to come back April 19th to get the rest of his story. But just in case you can't be here, let me give you a preview. Jesus has been crucified. He's been buried. He has
[00:53:24] resurrected, show up Easter if you want that story, Jesus has gone about, he is visiting disciples, and he meets Peter again. He goes and he finds him back at the lakeshore. Peter has returned to his
[00:53:35] old habits. He's fishing by the lake when Jesus comes to meet him, and they meet around, this is a fun fact, a charcoal fire. It's the only other one in the Gospel of John. There are exactly two
[00:53:46] of them. The first one is where the denials happen. At the second charcoal fire, by the lake, Jesus is going to ask Peter three times, Peter, do you love me? Peter denied Jesus three times. He
[00:54:00] failed Jesus three times, and Jesus is going to give him three opportunities to get it right.
[00:54:07] Jesus doesn't discard Peter. He restores him. This is the same disciple who denied Jesus in the darkest hour of the darkest night, who completely abandoned him. That same guy is going to be the guy who boldly proclaims the gospel to the infant church as it starts to spread. I'm pretty good at
[00:54:26] summarizing the Bible. I can't even summarize this part for you. I'm just going to read you what happens if you flip a head in your Bible to the gospel of Acts. This is another story
[00:54:35] about Peter. So Peter, as we saw him in today's passage, has denied Jesus three times. Peter that we meet in Acts 4 is going about with John. They're speaking to people and they were greatly
[00:54:52] disturbed. This is the leaders. Because the apostles were teaching the people, they were proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. So the leaders seized Peter and John because it was evening. They put them in jail until the next day. But many who heard the message believed. So
[00:55:05] the number of men who believed grew to about 5,000. So Peter's now preaching. He has got 5,000 people following Jesus. And the next day, the rulers get together. Those rulers include Annas, Caiaphas, and several of the others, the same people who were questioning Jesus. They had Peter
[00:55:23] and John brought before them, and they began to question them, by what power or name did you do this? This is verse 8 of Acts chapter 4. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them,
[00:55:36] rulers and elders of the people, if we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all
[00:55:47] the people of Israel, it is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. Jesus is the stone you builders
[00:55:58] rejected, which has become the cornerstone. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given by mankind to which we must be saved. That's where Peter ends up. The Bible tells us when they saw the courage of Peter and John, they realized they were unschooled
[00:56:15] ordinary men. They were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.
[00:56:22] Failure is a part of Peter's story, but it is not the end of Peter's story. Jesus doesn't leave Peter in his worst moment and he doesn't define Peter by his worst moment. What Jesus does is he
[00:56:33] redeems the failure and he restores the man. And I think that matters for us for a couple of reasons. The first is that disciples sometimes fail. I wish this weren't the case, but it is.
[00:56:45] Now, I don't mean to tell you that failure is the goal or it's totally fine. It doesn't matter what we do. Peter's example is not evidence that failure is good. The Bible's standard from cover
[00:56:55] to cover is holiness. That's what God calls his people to, is holiness, is being like him. But God knows it is a lifelong process that we don't get right on our own. And even as we move toward
[00:57:07] holiness, which is still the goal, we have times where our faith falters and fear wins out and we fail. That doesn't make us failed disciples. It makes us disciples who have failed. The second thing that's going on in this passage is distance from Jesus. And distance from Jesus makes failure
[00:57:30] so much easier. Peter followed Jesus, but the distance between them, the physical distance, the spiritual distance, it kept growing. And that's what happens sometimes to us too. Spiritual distance doesn't often happen in a blink of an eye. It's usually gradual. It's when prayer becomes
[00:57:48] this occasional thing we might or might not do. Worship becomes optional when it's convenient.
[00:57:53] Our faith gets quieter and the doubts creep in and other voices around us get louder and louder.
[00:57:58] and before we even realize that it's happened, we look up one day and we realize we're standing in the wrong camp around the wrong fire with the wrong people asking ourselves, how in the world did we get to this?
[00:58:15] But the best part of this is that the story of Christianity is not about perfect disciples.
[00:58:20] It's about a faithful savior.
[00:58:24] Peter fails, I fail, you fail, but Jesus never fails.
[00:58:31] And if we're honest, I think most of us are going to recognize ourselves in Peter at some point in our lives. There's moments when we know that fear won, moments when silence replaces courage, moments when we look back and we wish, I just wish I could have done better, or I could have done
[00:58:48] that differently, or I had another chance. But the really good news of the gospel is that Jesus doesn't give up on disciples who stumble. He restores them and he calls them again and he keeps working through imperfect people. And that's really wonderful news because as far as I can tell,
[00:59:12] imperfect people are the only kind that Jesus has available to him to work with. That's really, really good news for me. So if you see a reflection of Peter when you look in the mirror,
[00:59:24] I've got a word of encouragement for you. And that word is that acknowledging you have failed doesn't make you a failure. And to recognize there's some distance between you and Jesus doesn't make that distance permanent. God is still calling you and me to holiness, to choose
[00:59:42] to follow Jesus. And that can begin again today or for the first time today from anywhere you are.
[00:59:49] because what this story of Peter shows us is not that we gotta look back, see what we did wrong and just try harder to get it right.
[00:59:57] That's not what this story is about.
[00:59:58] It's not about us trying harder or doing better.
[01:00:00] It is about the incredible grace of Jesus that gives us another chance.
[01:00:05] There's absolutely nothing, nothing that you have done and nothing you could ever do that would make Jesus give up on you and not give you that opportunity.
[01:00:17] There is nothing that would make Jesus decide you don't deserve another chance to follow him.
[01:00:25] Peter's story didn't end with his failure.
[01:00:27] It didn't end in his darkest night, and neither does yours.
[01:00:31] Your story is not defined by your worst chapter, no matter what it is or when it happened.
[01:00:35] Even if you are right now standing around the most blazing fire of your most epic failure, the story is not over yet.
[01:00:44] God isn't done with you.
[01:00:45] For those of us who belong to Jesus, who know him, who claim him as our own. Our stories aren't defined by our sins or our failures, but by the incredible grace of a perfectly faithful Savior. And there's a whole lot that I don't know,
[01:01:02] but I know exactly one thing that I can guarantee you with 100% confidence today, and it's this. It's that the grace of Jesus is always bigger than our failure. Let's pray together. God, it's a wild plan you had to use imperfect people to build your church and to be
[01:01:24] your body here on earth. We thank you that you've called us into that story, and we pray as we look at our lives and see moments of failure, moments where we've been farther from you than we ought
[01:01:33] to, that you would give us courage to start again. Help us accept the grace to try one more time to follow you more closely and more faithfully. Would you give us the ability to be your church,
[01:01:49] your hands and your feet in the world, not so that people see how great we are, but so that we have stories that we can tell and say, look how incredible the grace of God is. It's by that

[01:02:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[01:02:00] grace we live. Amen. And then sing one last song with us.

[01:02:52] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[01:02:52] So every dark addiction starts to break, declaring there is hope and there is freedom.
[01:03:18] I speak Jesus, because your name is power.

[01:03:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[01:03:27] What a space we live in, that even in the throes of global unrest, difficulty, navigating waters in our own community, and in our personal battles against sin in the world, we can sing with confidence that your name is power,
[01:07:23] it is healing, and your name is life.
[01:07:27] We see Peter in ourselves, Lord.
[01:07:29] We fight fear, pressure, and doubt that keeps us silent when we should speak.
[01:07:34] In those things, we ask for your forgiveness.
[01:07:37] We ask forgiveness in our failure to acknowledge you in our thoughts, works, and actions.
[01:07:43] We ask for courage where there is fear, faith where there is doubt and strength to stand for Christ when it's difficult thank you for all that you are Lord for all that was shown to us
[01:07:55] in sending your son to die for our sins that we may truly find our freedom and belonging in you it is in these things and in your name that we pray Amen

[01:08:05] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[01:08:05] you guys have a great week we love y'all hope to see you next Sunday