Our scripture reading this evening is three different places in the gospel according to Mark. We begin in Mark chapter 14. Mark chapter 14, and we read verses 26 through 31. Mark 14, beginning at verse 26. This is at the time of the Passover, or the Passover where Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper. Mark 14, 26, and when they had sung and hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives. And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night, for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee. But Peter said unto him, Although all shall be offended, yet will not I. And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, that this day, in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. But he spake the more vehemently, if I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise. Likewise also said they all. Then later in that chapter, verse 66, Jesus has been arrested, he's been brought to the high priest, and Peter is in the courtyard there. Mark 14, verse 66. And as Peter was beneath in the palace, there cometh one of the maids of the high priest. And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked upon him and said, And thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth. But he denied saying, I know not, neither understand I what thou sayest. And he went out into the port and the cock crew. And a maid saw him again and began to say to them that stood by, this is one of them. And he denied it again. And a little after, they that stood by said again to Peter, surely thou art one of them, for thou art a Galilean, and thy speech agreeth thereto. But he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not this man of whom ye speak. And the second time, the cock crewed. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus had said unto him, before the cock crowed twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon, he wept. And now to chapter 16, Sunday morning, that all happened on Thursday night. And now chapter 16, the first eight verses. And when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome had brought sweet spices that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulcher? When they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away, for it was very great. And entering into the sepulcher, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment, and they were affrighted. And he saith unto them, be not affrighted, ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified. He is risen, he is not here. Behold the place where they laid him, But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee. There shall ye see him as he said unto you. And they went out quickly and fled from the sepulcher For they trembled and were amazed, neither said they anything to any man, for they were afraid. So far we read God's holy word. The text for the sermon is verse 7, Mark 16, verse 7. But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee. There shall ye see him as he said. unto you. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, it is hard to imagine a more bitter state than that of Peter on this day as it is recorded in scripture. He had done the Thinkable. He had denied his Lord. He had denied the Lord. The last thing that scripture recorded of Peter before. This text that we consider is that Jesus went out from that courtyard into the dark night. Weeping. Bitterly. because of his horrible sin of denying the Lord. What a shock for Peter to find out on top of that, to learn that his Lord had been crucified, that he had been condemned not only by the Jews, but that they had brought him to Pontius Pilate. and that there he had been condemned to death by the Roman governor. And the Roman soldiers had led Jesus out of the city, out to Golgotha, and there crucified him. Jesus was dead. If the death of Jesus was a violent shock and a numbing grief for all Jesus' followers, It was that a hundredfold for Peter. It meant that he could not speak with Jesus. It meant that he could not confess his shame and his guilt. He could not beg the Lord to forgive him for denying him three times. It is not difficult to know then that of all the men on the face of the earth at this time, Peter was the most miserable. But all the disciples and followers of Jesus were unspeakably miserable. They absolutely could not explain the events of the last few days, the last week. How could it be that the people The same people who on Sunday, Palm Sunday, had cut down branches and laid them in front of Jesus and put their coats on the ground as Jesus on the donkey rode up the way to Jerusalem and crying out, Hosanna to the Son of David! And that those same people then on Friday would say, Crucify Him! Crucify Him! We have no king but Caesar! How can this be? absolutely could not explain it. They couldn't understand the cruel, slow death that was imposed upon Jesus and all his sufferings. The horrible mockery, the reproach that were cast upon Jesus there. The one that they were convinced in their heart is the Messiah of God, the King of Israel. the rulers, the chief priests, the people, the Romans, all of them had unitedly put Jesus to death in this most despicable way. And yet here were the women on this Sunday morning, anxiously waiting the time when they could go to the tomb. They had seen the hasty burial of Nicodemus and Joseph of Jesus' body. They had prepared spices for anointing and that Sunday morning they were ready to go to the tomb to perform this last service to their Lord. And thus it was that they were the first ones there at the tomb. to discover that the stone was already rolled away, to discover that the body was gone. And then to hear the angels, the two angels, explain the absence of Jesus' body. The women were afraid, they were shocked, but the angels said to them, in verse six, be not afraid. You see Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified. He is risen. He is not here. Behold the place where they laid him. And then they said this, go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goes before you into Galilee. There shall you see him as he said unto you, The women left as quickly as they could. They ran. They didn't say a word to anybody. They were perplexed. They were scared. They didn't understand the words yet, didn't register. It wasn't completely understandable to them at all. But they ran. They ran to tell Jesus' disciples and Peter. The significant two words that the angels said and Peter to him also yes to his disciples but also to Peter they must give this message of the resurrection we will examine those two words in light of all that has happened we look this morning at Mary Magdalene and her circumstance and how the resurrection affected her and now we look at Peter in His circumstance and see the significance of Jesus' words and Peter. That's the theme for the sermon. Notice in the first place the command, tell my disciples and Peter, that's the command. Secondly, the love that is expressed in those words and Peter. And then thirdly, the comfort in those two words. The command to tell Peter was from Christ himself. Though it was the angels that actually spoke these words to the women, they came with the message, with the very words that Jesus instructed them to say. Without any mistake, without any changing, this is what Jesus told them to say. He is not here, he is risen as he said, Go your way, tell the disciples and Peter. The angels were sent by the risen Lord. The words that they spoke were the exact message I said that Jesus gave them. And the fact that Jesus says go tell my disciples indicates that he had great concern for his disciples. He knew their confusion, their sorrow, inability to grasp what and why all these things had happened. They had lived with Jesus for three and a half years, day in and day out. They sat at his feet. They followed him from city to city. When Jesus was criticized, they were criticized. When Jesus was reproached, they were reproached. When Jesus was honored, they were honored. They were inseparable, Jesus and his disciples, and they loved him. To their shock and dismay then, they had seen their Lord betrayed by one of their own, Judas Iscariot. They had seen Jesus taken by this mob of people in the middle of the night and bound and led away. And John and Peter had followed at a distance and John had even seen some of the crucifixion, maybe some of the other disciples from a distance, we don't know, but they knew of it. Jesus was concerned for his disciples. And out of concern, Jesus himself directed the angels that when the women come, this is the message you must give them, go tell my disciples. Go tell these things to my disciples. And Peter. Undoubtedly, the women did exactly as they were told here. They ran to the disciples, still excited, very much afraid, not understanding yet the full significance of what they had seen, what they had heard. But they went to the disciples and they told them all, and they repeated word for word what the angels had said to them, tell his disciples and Peter. Peter also heard those words. Do you think that those words hurt Peter, that it hurt him to be distinguished from the disciples. Go tell my disciples, oh, and tell Peter also. It's almost as if here's the disciples and here's Peter and he doesn't really belong with the disciples any longer. Perhaps he's not even worthy to be called an apostle, a disciple of Christ. And of course we know that Jesus, or rather Peter, had distinguished himself from all the rest of the disciples. No one was as faithful as Peter to the Lord. were so loyal as he. Others may deny thee, Lord. All may be offended, but not I. I will go to prison. I will even go to death." That's Peter. He set himself up over against the Word of Christ, even, who warned him three times to be careful. all will be offended Peter all but Peter denied it that's not possible that I would be offended and deny the though I should die with the yet will I not deny the in any wise he said vehemently vehemently Peter had distinguished himself from the rest of the disciples with his self-confident boasting, not I, I will not be offended. But as high as Peter stood on the mountain of his self-confidence, so deeply he fell into the valley of sin in his denial of the Lord. In the face of really slight opposition from a maid who stood at the gate and questioned him, he couldn't stand. His self-confidence was absolutely gone. And already there, he said, when she said, art thou not one of the disciples? No, I do not know what you are talking about, he said. Again, and yet again, he denied the Lord. And the last time with cursing, with an oath, an oath that calls God to be his witness that I do not know the man. I have nothing to do with him. Peter, by his denial, had certainly distinguished himself from the other disciples. They had all been offended at Jesus. When Jesus told Peter to put his sword away and Jesus would allow them to bind him and take him away, they all ran. They were all offended at Jesus. But who among the disciples had publicly denied Jesus? insisting that he was not one of his disciples three times. Only Peter. The word of the angels reported by the women brought all of that sharply into Peter's mind, into his heart. Not that Peter had forgotten what he had done, If all of the followers had endured the long, long, painful Sabbath, tormented by grief, as I said, it was a hundred times worse for Peter. After that night, that Thursday night, he had gone out and wept bitterly. He was overwhelmed with grief for the sin that he had committed against the Lord. It was the sorrow of repentance absolutely the sorrow of repentance. He had offended Jesus. He had denied his Lord. How could he find peace? That terrible, terrible sin stared him in the face nonstop for the next three days. And then comes the words of Jesus that must have cut to the heart, opened up the wound even farther, to all my disciples and Peter. The words of Jesus were intentional from that point of view. The words of Jesus do that. They are a two-edged sword. And they often cut before they heal. Not, you understand, That Jesus is being unkind here. That Jesus is deliberately saying, I'm going to really stick it to him here. I'm going to jab him with this. Not that. Not that at all. But Jesus does call to mind sin. He brings it before our mind and before our consciousness and sets those sins in a proper light. His words expose sin before they give comfort. The word of the gospel that comes week after week accuses us. It says, you are sinners. You have no right to be called the followers of Jesus Christ. Your sins are many. Look at yourself. Look at your sins. You are worthy only of His wrath. And then the Word of God comes to each one of us. Repent! And it doesn't do that just once, but week after week, and time after time as we open up the Scriptures and read it. The Word of God tells us what we are. And the light of the Gospel shines into our heart and exposes ever more of the corruption that is there. It convicts of sin. It exposes the vile corruption That's what the word of Jesus does. And that's what it did with Peter. But the purpose of Christ is to speak specifically to Peter. He needed to hear a word specially for him. Yes, Peter, you sinned. By your sin, indeed, You distanced yourself from the other disciples. So now, now I call you distinctly from the rest of them. I'm going to speak to you and address you in your sin. This is what Peter needed. Christ was seeking Peter. He was not ignoring Peter. He was talking to him. Peter needed this. Is this word of Christ addressed to you? Has it ever happened to you that a word of God, perhaps a passage that you read, or a sermon that is preached, is so applicable to you that it's almost as if the sermon title could have your name in it because it is so clearly applying to you that the Holy Spirit takes the word and applies it to you and addresses you in this word that it almost as it were singles you out For among all the rest of the believers in the church that day, tell my disciples and Peter a word specifically addressed to him that he needed to hear. That's what the word of God does. That's what it's doing here to Peter. But understand then that the final purpose, the purpose of Jesus is not to make Peter squirm and to make him uncomfortable and to push him away, but it is very emphatically a word of love. This is a word of love that Jesus spoke through his angel. And how could that be? How could it be that the Lord who had been rejected by Peter, denied by Peter three times with cursing and an oath that he could still love Peter. I'll tell you, it's because the love of God is absolutely amazing. The love of Jesus is the same as the love of God. That love of God is an attribute of God. It's part of his very being. God is love. Love is the unbreakable spiritual bond that unites, that unites in delight, that unites in love and fellowship. Love is that kind of a bond. God is love. The three persons of the Trinity are one essence, but they're also knit together with that bond of love. The father begets the son, but it's not a mechanical thing. He begets the son in perfect love for the son. And the son returns that love. He loves the father and he honors him. And the spirit is the spirit of love who proceeds as breath from the father to the son with the love of the father, and then as breath from the son back to the father with love. God is love. It's an attribute of God, which means it's eternal. It means that it is infinite. There's no limit to it. It means that it does not change because God does not change. It's love that is sovereign and free. God is love and he's the source of all love you will ever find in this world and in eternity. All love is from God. All true love. His love for his people is always first. He seeks us first. The love that he has for his people is eternal. God loved his people before the foundations of the world. In eternity, he saw them in love and he gave them to Jesus Christ, the son of his love, for him to save. because he loved us. This is the only love that there is and no one can love unless God has first loved him. That's the only way. God does not love us because we love him. God did not love us because he saw that someday we would love him. God does not love us because we are worthy of his love. because we're good or beautiful or there's something in us that God says, well, this person is worthy of love, not that person, but this person is worthy of love, so I will love that one. No, no, the love of God is simply a choice, a determination to love, to do good, to draw to himself, to establish that bond of love. God's own good pleasure is the only reason why He loves anyone. This love is the source of our love. Because He fills our hearts with His love, we're able to love. Just a little trickle of that overflowing love of God in our hearts, a little trickle returns back to Him. All love is from God. You see then, why the love of God is unchangeable, why it always abides on God's people. If God's love depended on us, if it depended on our goodness or our maintaining a certain level of goodness in our life, on obedience or whatever there is that God is demanding, if it depended on that, there would be no hope for us. Because as soon as we would fall into sin, then we would forfeit that love, and then the fountain of God's love would be dried up. His love does not depend on you. It does not depend on you doing something or maintaining something. Never. God's love is only something He determined to bestow upon us. When we fall into sin, therefore, When we transgress His commandments, when we walk as children of the world and deny God by our words, by our activity, even if we don't say specifically, I deny God, our life denies that we have anything to do with Him. That's what sin does. Then He may chastise us, but His love never fails. Never. He determines to cleanse us. He seeks us. And He cleanses us from our iniquity and covers us with the righteousness of Jesus Christ so that those sins that were on our account are gone. They're on Jesus' account and they're paid for by His shed blood. And He continues to love us. This is always the way it is. The love of God is revealed, the essence, the heart, the height of the love of God is revealed in Jesus Christ. Exactly in this is Romans chapter five, that when we were sinners, Christ died for us. Not because we were good, not because we had something to offer. When we were sinners, Christ died for us. But when we do sin, and then sin, and sin more, God's love is not lost. It remains unchanging to us, though the conscience accuses us that we have violated every commandment of God And that we sin, and sin in every thought, word, and deed, though we grievously transgress, and again deny Jesus Christ, and make ourselves unworthy to be called by His name, to be called Christian, even if we fall so deeply into sin that we think there is no way, there is no way that God could still love me, that He could bring me up out of this and restore me to favor with God. God's love remains. And that's what's expressed in the words, and Peter. That's the message that Peter needed to hear. Jesus, undying, unchanging, seeking love. Because as far as Peter was concerned, He had cut the tie that bound him to Christ. As far as Peter is concerned, he had denied the Lord with words impossible to misunderstand. I do not know the man. I am not one of his disciples. I have nothing to do with him. Strengthened with an oath. And he knew the words of the Lord, whosoever shall Whosoever denies me before men, him will I deny before my Father which is in heaven. Jesus said that to his disciples. Peter knew it. This could only mean that he was condemned. He had rejected Christ. He had denied him. There is no possibility then that Jesus would go to heaven and confess Peter's name before the Father. He would deny him. But the words of the angel tell otherwise. Go tell my disciples and Peter. And Peter. That declares Christ's love for him. If the angel said merely, go tell my disciples, Peter wouldn't know what to think. Am I included? Did he mean me? I don't deserve to be called an apostle. I've forfeited any right to be called a disciple of Jesus Christ. No, it's not for me. I don't deserve it. Christ isn't speaking to me. I'm not a disciple any longer of Jesus. But Jesus said, and Peter. Tell my disciples, but be sure you also tell Peter. Be sure that he hears this, the great news of the resurrection. The great news of the resurrection, which means I arose for him also. It's as if he said, go tell Peter that I love him. Go tell Peter so that there's no doubt in Peter's mind that I love him. You can see how much Peter needed this word from the Lord. Have you never desired the same? When your sins are so many and you see them and are convicted by the astounding number of sins in a day. When you see your sins, and they're presumptuous, and you know they are so wrong, you know, and you say to God, I am so sorry. I will not do it again. And then you do it. You do it. Or you fall into a sin so grievous that it brings shame to the church. A sin that cuts one off, it would seem from Christ, cut you off and cut you off from fellow saints. Have you never felt that way that if only the Lord would just talk to me personally. Say my name. And say I love you and I forgive you. If you've never felt that. Then you better look more closely at your sin. They should trouble us. Sins should not be something that we take lightly. They are a denial of Jesus. They are a sin against the grace of God. They are a terrible, terrible offense against God. At such a time, we would desire, as I said, as it were, if it were possible, that Jesus would actually speak to us by name. Tell us that He has not rejected us. Tell us that though it's true you do not deserve the name Christian because of your life, that's what the Lord is saying to Peter, though, in spite of all that, I love you. My love has not changed. These words, therefore, and Peter is not merely to him, they're to him in his situation, but they're to all of us. This is the Word of God, His love to every single child of God who looks at himself or herself and looks at the sins and sees how terrible, how many, how grievous they are. And the Lord Jesus says, I still love you. Repent, turn, don't continue in them, but I do love you. That's the word that Jesus spoke to Peter. And to you. And to you. And to you. And to me. What comfort. What comfort. Comfort even in the name Peter go tell my disciples and Peter not go tell my disciples and Simon Simon was his name his common name given to him by his parents the name that reminded Peter he was very much a man of the earth reminded him of the confidence that he had put in himself. Simon is the one who boasted of great things. He would never deny the Lord. In fact, when Jesus was warning Peter, that's the name he used. Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired you to have you that he might sift you as wheat. Simon, Jesus said. Simon stood in proud self-confidence, and Simon had fallen into this grievous sin. But Jesus' word was, tell Peter. Peter was the name that Jesus himself had given to Simon. The name means rock. And it is a name that Jesus gave to Peter after Jesus said, whom say ye that I am? And Peter made that beautiful confession. Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus said, blessed art thou. Flesh and blood has not revealed that to thee, but my father, which is in heaven. And Jesus said, upon that rock, the rock of that confession, that thou art the Christ, the son of the living God, upon that rock. And the word for rock is Peter. Upon that rock, I will build my church. That confession, not upon the man. That's where Rome goes totally astray. Doesn't even make sense. Not upon the rock. of Peter, but the rock of the confession. I will build my church. Peter, the rock, was not the one who stood in self-confidence. He stood on this confession, the confession that flesh and blood had not revealed to him, but the Father in heaven had revealed to him. That is Peter, standing on that confession. And so by using that name specifically, Christ is calling all of that to his attention. That's your strength, Peter. You stand on that confession, not on your strength, but only on Jesus Christ. Peter, as part of the church, is built on the rock, which is Jesus Christ. that confession. But there is more to this comfort, and that is, tell Peter. Tell Peter what? Tell him that Christ is risen. Tell him, to the women, tell the disciples, we were at the sepulcher. We saw the empty tomb. we saw the grave clothes lying there undisturbed we heard the message of the angels that he is not here for he is risen as he said and tell them also this that he goeth before you into galilee and there ye shall see him as he said unto you tell peter that too you will see him your lord whom you denied is not dead. He's not lying in a grave. He is very much alive. Death in the grave could not hold him because he atoned for the sins of his people, including yours, Peter, including yours. Jesus died for you too. And that That's the word they brought. They couldn't understand yet all the significance, all that Jesus had to do, why he had done this, what he had accomplished. It would take the Spirit being poured out for them to understand the cross and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that it signals the victory over sin and death, that it is proof of our justification the certainty of forgiveness that it is proof of the hope that we have that we have eternal life and that our bodies will be raised even as Jesus was raised all of that was yet to come but the basic message was still there a basic message to be proclaimed to all people to everyone who grieves over sin who sees iniquity who weeps Not over the consequences of the sin, but who weeps over sin. That you are washed in the blood of Jesus Christ. Even the sin of denying Jesus. Every sin. Tell that to His disciples. And Peter. Amen. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we give thanks and praise to Thee for the wonder of salvation. A salvation that redeems only those who are totally unworthy. And that gives Such blessed assurance to those who are yet sinners and who every day deny the Lord Jesus by their sin. And yet we have such a blessed comfort. Apply, we pray this word of salvation to us. And forgive us for Jesus sake. In his name we pray, amen. We sing Psalter number 170. 170. Praise waits for thee in Zion. All men shall worship there and pay their vows. before thee, O God, who hearest prayer. Our sins rise up against us, prevailing day by day, but thou wilt show us mercy and take their guilt away. All the stanzas, 170. There is place for thee in Zion. All men shall worship there. They'll pray their vows before thee. O God, who heareth prayer, our sins Revealing day by day, Our lovers show us mercy, And take their guilt away. God bless the band of brothers, Their greatness near to thee, ♪ Blessings like no other ♪ Enfilling all the goodness of thy most holy place. O God of high salvation, since thou hast In all its lamentations, our love above will sing, when wise, most sure Elias, ♪ Above him gather heav'nly light ♪ ♪ Then bless the Lord, ye saints below ♪ ♪ Who in his praise delight ♪ ♪ By all his creatures let his name be heard ♪ The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace. Amen.