Why don't you take your Bibles, turn to Mark chapter 14. Let's spend some time together in worship as we study God's Word together. Mark chapter 14. Tonight I'm going to begin in verse 53 and we'll go through to the end of the chapter. We come tonight to the trial and denial of Jesus. Would you stand in honor of God's Word as I read Mark chapter 14 verses 53 through 72. Mark 14 beginning in verse 53. And they led Jesus to the high priest. And all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together. And Peter followed Him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at fire. Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, but they found none. For many bore false witness against Him, but their testimony did not agree. And some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying, We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another not made with hands. Yet even about this their testimony did not agree. And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you? But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am. And you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven. And the high priest tore his garments and said, what further witnesses do we need? You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision? And they all condemned him as deserving death. And some began to spit on him and to cover his face, and to strike him, saying to him, Prophesy. And the guards received him with blows." And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came. And seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus. But he denied it, saying, I neither know nor understand what you mean. And he went out into the gateway, and the rooster crowed. And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, This man is one of them. But again he denied it. And after a little while, the bystanders again said to Peter, Certainly you are one of them. For you are a Galilean. But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, I do not know this man of whom you speak. And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times. And he broke down and wept. Fathers, we come to these final hours before the crucifixion of Christ during the Passion Week. I pray that you would fill our hearts with passion. Father, that what is familiar words to many in this room wouldn't become so familiar that they are ineffective and unmoving to us. Father, I pray that you would teach us tonight. I pray that you would remind us tonight that Jesus indeed suffered and died, but He is coming back as the conquering King. And may we fear Him the way that we should. I pray in Jesus' name, Amen. You can be seated. I'm going to start this week with a story that I read about a lonely frog. You already feel bad for a lonely frog, don't you? A lonely frog telephoned a psychic hotline, which obviously the story is made up. I'm not advocating telephoning psychic hotlines, and asked what his future holds. His personal psychic advisor tells him, you are going to meet a beautiful young girl who will want to know everything about you. The frog is thrilled. He says, this is great. Will I meet her at a party, he croaks. No, says the psychic, in biology class. You see, that frog had a date that he wasn't desiring. And what you see in our passage tonight is this, is you see Jesus Christ on trial, if we want to call it that. We're going to see the denial of Peter. But what you're going to really see tonight is, is Jesus is the one that's fully in charge of all of these events. Jesus is not some helpless victim as we come to mark chapter 14. He's not a he's not a man who's there against his will He is God king of the universe come in the flesh as the person of Jesus Christ And what you're gonna see in our passage tonight before it's over as he's being beaten and spit upon and is on trial if you want to call a trial it's more like a conspiracy before these religious leaders the Sanhedrin and What you're going to see is that Jesus is going to say, I'm standing before you now and you're my judge now, but later on you're going to stand before me and I'm going to judge you for eternity. And so what you really see here isn't a weak Jesus. You see here a Jesus who is large and in charge, and he knows who he is. And actually, the words of the high priest, when he says, are you the Messiah, bring to mind certain passages of scripture that remind Jesus, this crucifixion will pass. It is temporary. I'm going to rise from the dead. I'm going to ascend to heaven. I'm going to be seated at the right hand of the Father. And one day, I will judge those people who right now are judging me. And I guess what I want to say to all of us tonight is we need to ask the Lord for that same kind of faith. To be able to see to the other side into eternity. And to recognize that we're on the winning team. You see, Peter, in our passage tonight, for a brief time had a little spiritual amnesia, as I talked about last weekend. And for a brief time, he sort of fell into this trap of denying Christ because he feared a servant girl more than he feared the Lord. And so it was a moment of weakness where he just caved in. Jesus warned him that it was coming. We shouldn't be surprised that it came because when he was sleeping, he should have been praying. Jesus said, you're about to face temptation like you've never seen before. And within a short time, he's denying Christ. And what I find in this is, one is I identify with Peter. I find hope in it, like God went on to use Peter. But also I find that sometimes we too fear man too much. We do. We're too intimidated. And I gotta tell you, I spoke at the high school chapel to the Christian this week, and what I told those young people was, I just said, listen, we want you to become Christian leaders because you're stepping into a world that none of us ever stepped into when we left high school. You're stepping into a world that's hostile. You're stepping into a world that's going to be contrary to what you believe. You're going to go to colleges. They're going to teach you things. And will you be strong? Will you be able to have enough faith in Christ and to fear Him enough that you're just going to go, no, I really do believe in eternity, and I'm going to shine for Him no matter what the rest of the world does? I'm going to be bold. And what I see coming over the church today, and even ours too, is a spirit of timidity. I think in some ways, many of us feel kind of sucker-punched by the culture, like, what is happening? What is going on? It's happening so fast. Like, we can't even keep up with it. One year it's gay marriage, next year it's transgender baptism. I'm honestly wondering, what is next year? I mean, I can't even in my mind imagine what is going to be the next ask. What is going to be the next thing that falls? And why ultimately, it really honestly isn't all about those things. What I would tell you is this, is it's not a time for us to be full of a spirit of timidity. In fact, I have to laugh. I wasn't going to pick on her, but she's just a fun person to pick on because I love her and she's just so bold. It's Barbara Willebrand. So Barbara Willebrand's over here. And I don't know how old Barbara is, but Barbara's a, you know, she's a grandma of many years, right? So she's been a grandma for many years. And I saw a picture on Facebook this week of her chopping off a snake's head out in front of their house. I'm like, man, I wish every grandma was, you know what I mean? Like, we need... We need, she's gonna hate me for this, we need Grandma Barbara's boldness, you know what I'm saying? Like we need to, sometimes, sometimes there's a place, there is a place, we want to be winsome and loving and kind, we want to win the lost. You guys, there's also a time to say, truth is truth, the gospel is the gospel, let's not be cowards. And so what we see in this moment is we see Peter being a coward. But before we go tonight, I'm going to show you Peter being bold because something changes in Peter's life. And you know what changed in Peter's life from that day of denial to just about 50 days later was Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came in to him. So just a couple of months later, Peter's standing up and boldly proclaiming the gospel. He is a change in a different man. Why is that so significant? You have that same spirit living in you. We have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us, and so we don't have to be intimidated. Don't get me wrong, I don't want anybody leaving here being rude and obnoxious and unloving, but I also don't want you to be intimidated and scared because somehow, it's interesting, somehow you're finding yourself saying, wow, I feel like a foreigner in this culture. Can I tell you something? You've always been. The Bible said that from the beginning. The Bible says that we're citizens of heaven and not citizens of earth. So tonight what I want to do is I just want to show you the boldness of Christ. I want to show you the fear of Peter and how you can overcome that fear by understanding who Jesus really is. So let's just look at our passes. The first we'll look at is the trial of Jesus. Look at it, if you will, pick it up verse 53. The first thing we'll read, verse 53, and they led Jesus to the high priest and the chief priest and the elders and the scribes came together. Okay, what we know from John chapter 18 is there's something that preceded this trial before the Sanhedrin. This is before the Sanhedrin. I'll show you that in just a moment. This is the Supreme Court of Israel in Jerusalem. They've arrested Jesus from the garden. Judas has betrayed Him. They've drug Him there. I don't have time to go there, but if I could, I would draw your attention back to Mark chapter 3. Mark chapter 3, the very beginning of Jesus' ministry, they actually had already sort of got together with the Herodians, and they wanted to seek ways to destroy Him. So for a couple of years now, they've been figuring out a way to try to kill Jesus. The problem is, is Jesus never does anything wrong. He never breaks the law because he fulfills it and keeps it perfectly. So they're just failing miserably at their attempts to try to find a reason to crucify Him. And now He's gathered a great following so they fear the people. So like if we arrest Him publicly, we're in trouble. So they arrest Him in a garden at night. And not only that, but when is this trial actually happening? This is in the middle of the night. Which, by the way, was against their own laws. Trials were not to take place at night. They were to be in the day and in public. You see, the Jewish people prided themselves on their sort of judicial system. It comes out of Deuteronomy chapter 19, which I don't have time to turn there, but in Deuteronomy 19 it says, all of your trials are to be fair, there's to be no bribery. And so out of that, they developed this whole system of justice that was really excellent if they followed it. And so in fact, it wasn't just in Jerusalem that this would take place. Anywhere in Israel, any town, any village, What they would do is there would be a synagogue, and each of those synagogues would have a Sanhedrin. There wasn't just one Sanhedrin. Sanhedrin, the word means sitting together. So there are people, they were judges essentially, leaders from amongst the elders, they would sit together. And in each of these villages, there would be 23 men who they would choose, who were known to be men of good reputation, fears of God, faithful to the law. And what they would do is they would sit in judgment and there would be a ruler of that group that would lead that group of 23, and they would make decisions. It's really kind of how they would function civilly. and decide what was right and what was wrong. And God said it always has to be justice in the land. God demanded it. And so this would happen all over Israel. Well, in Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin was like the Supreme Court over all of those other courts, if you will. And there were 70 plus one, 70 of these members of the Sanhedrin, members of the council, plus one, the chief priest, who would be the ruler of the Sanhedrin. That's who Jesus is standing before in the middle of the night, which was completely against the law, in a secret trial. The other reason we know the trial wasn't fair, you're going to see in just a minute, they had already decided the verdict before they ever called a witness. Basically they said, he's guilty of a capital crime, we want him dead, and we're going to find witnesses to support our conclusion. That's not a trial, that's a conspiracy. And so notice, notice verse 54, And Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire. Literally here, you could say it this way, and he was facing the light. And the idea is the fire's illuminating Peter's face. That's going to be important in just a minute. So Peter's sitting by the fire. He's following at a distance. but not far enough of a distance. Because he's about to see Jesus too. Verse 55. Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. We know from Matthew 26, 59 they were actually paying bribes. They were finding people, they were going and saying, hey we'll pay you money if you'll come give some kind of testimony against this man. But Jesus was so integrous, so faithful to the law of God, they couldn't find anybody. They found none. Verse 56, for many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree. You know what's harder than telling the truth? Telling a lie. Because it just doesn't always match up, right? I mean, pretty soon you can't even remember them all. That's what's going on here. They can't get them all to match up. So remember, in the Old Testament, the Bible says in Deuteronomy also, that you had to, in order to establish truth, you had to have two to three witnesses to agree. And they can't get anybody to agree on anything because they're telling lies. Now notice this. It says that they went around to find people to bear testimony against him. Think about this just for a minute. What if they had done this trial in the day and in public? And what if they just said, is there anybody that has any testimony about Jesus? Can you imagine, for just a minute, the man who had the withered hand saying, my hand didn't work before, now it does. The paralytic who had been healed by Jesus coming and saying, I couldn't walk, now I can. The widow coming and saying, my son was dead, and now he's alive. Can you imagine testimony after testimony? If they just really wanted to open it up, anybody have anything to say about Jesus? That's what they would have said. And so, because they're desperate, they're looking anywhere they can. And so they find two false witnesses that come and say in verse 58, we heard him say, I will destroy the temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build it another, not made with hands. That's a reference to John chapter two, verse 19, when Jesus the first time had cleared out the temple at the beginning of his ministry, and they were marveling about the temple. And remember the disciples quote, zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults that fall upon you fall upon me. I mean, I just love this. I love that Jesus was so passionate for the Father's reputation. Like, Father, when you're insulted, I'm insulted. By the way, as we see a perversion in our culture of things like marriage, and the distinction between men and women, I mean, listen, it's a perversion of God's created order. And ultimately, it's offensive to Him. And it should break our hearts. Father, we're, identify, would we identify with the sins of our culture? Yes, Nehemiah did. Father, what we're doing to your creation and your order is, we're sorry. Forgive us, have mercy on us, heal us from this. See, Jesus, when he went into the temple, he's like, this is supposed to be a house of prayer for the Gentiles. This was the place of testimony to the world about the greatness of this God of Israel. And look at, you're ripping people off in here, and he just starts flipping tables over. His zeal for your house consumes me. I can't bear it. And then he says, they say, well, what proof do you have? And he says, the proof is this. The proof is that it destroyed this temple. And he's speaking of his body. And in three days, I will build it. In other words, I will rise from the dead. And it says there in John chapter 2 that the disciples, after his resurrection remembered, oh yeah, he said, remember that deal? It's his body that's going to rise from the dead. And that would be the ultimate proof that Jesus was who he said he was. Listen, we can be critical of Peter tonight for denying Jesus, but after all, that was before the resurrection. All of us live on the other side of the resurrection. I mean, I give Peter some credit. Not only do we have the indwelling Holy Spirit, we have the resurrected Christ. Some of you say, well, I wish I could have lived in the time of Jesus and with the disciples. And personally, I would never want my name in the Bible. I would not have wanted to be one of the disciples because the Bible tells the truth about its characters, right? All of my flaws would be forever in the book that never is going to fade away. No thank you. I mean, when we see Peter in heaven, we're going to be like, oh, the guy who had foot and mouth disease. You know what I mean? Like all the time. I would want to be Peter. But we have something Peter didn't have at this time of this passage, the indwelling Holy Spirit and the resurrection proof. We have it. We should be assured. And so, verse 59, yet even about this their testimony didn't agree. They couldn't even get that right. So now the high priest is desperate. And he says, he stood up in the midst of, and asked Jesus, and now what he's asking Jesus to do is to incriminate himself. Another thing, just like we have plead the fifth, they had it too. There was a log in self-incrimination. So he's now saying, okay, Jesus, you testify, you give us something that we can kill you with. You know what's crazy? Jesus gives it to him, and he knew it would get him crucified. Jesus was fully committed to being crucified that very day, because he's fully submitted to the Father's plan. And so, he says, the high priest says in the midst, have you no answer to make? What is this that these men testify against you? But he remained silent and made no answer. And that's important just for a moment. Isaiah chapter 53 verse 7 says this, like the sheep before its shears is silent, so he did not open his mouth. And so the picture is, is Jesus just didn't respond to these accusations. Now, I think there's two reasons. Number one, it's never a good idea to respond to people who are just getting up in bold face lying about you. If they're already willing to tell a lie about you, you're never going to establish the truth with them. And he had no legal reason to have to respond to these silly accusations. It would have just, it would have honestly kind of brought dignity to the lies to start to address them. But there's another reason. Jesus is fulfilling prophecy. Because to speak out against them would have been to resist. It would have been to say, I'm innocent, don't crucify me. He's not resisting. He already made the decision to surrender in the garden. Your will be done, not my will. I'll drink the cup of the fury of the wrath of God and I'll drink it dry. It's interesting because this reminded me when I was reading this back in Isaiah 53. I was studying it this week. I wish I had time to go there now. I don't, but it reminded me when I was a kid, I would go to Iowa for a couple summers and live back on a farm, my uncle's farm. And it was a great experience for me. I think it was also a great experience for my parents to have me gone for the summer. Some of you are thinking, is that farm still in existence, and could we send our teenager there this summer? It was really, honestly, I learned a ton. I loved being there. It was a huge farm. And I remember the day, because I was a city boy, still a city boy, I remember the day that a big rig showed up, and they put a ramp out, and they started just to sort of herd the cattle up onto this truck. And they're just mooing as they go. They're as happy as can be. They put feed in there. So they're just thinking, we're going there to eat. And I asked my uncle, where are they taking the cows? And he said, to McDonald's. Is that where they get their milkshakes? You know what I mean? No, no, that's... In other words, they're becoming hamburger. They're going to the slaughter. But they look so happy as they were going. And they weren't protesting, and they weren't bellyaching. Now here's the thing, this isn't the case with Jesus. Jesus isn't silent because he doesn't know what's coming. Jesus is silent because he's totally submitted to the Father's will. He knows he's off to be slaughtered to endure the wrath of God. So he's not resisting. Verse 62. of verse 61. This, verses 61 and 62 are the most important two verses of our passage. But he remained silent, made no answer, and again the high priest asked him, Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? Now, this is so important. When he says, Are you the Christ, remember Christ and Messiah, same words. He's saying, Are you the Messiah? Remember many times Jesus is, through the study of the Gospel of Mark, is avoiding that label. He doesn't, he's not asking for that label. It doesn't mean he doesn't believe he's the Messiah. Right now if anybody, if you ever hear somebody say, Jesus never actually claimed to be the Messiah, You're going to see it right now. Remember throughout the Gospel of Mark, though, he just said, it's not my time yet. And he knows when he stands in front of these spiritual leaders and says, I'm the Messiah, they're going to kill him. So he is waiting to declare it for this glorious moment in such a clear way. His actions declared it already. He certainly wouldn't deny it. But in this case, he's asked directly in front of the whole Jewish council, in front of the Sanhedrin, are you the Son of the Blessed? That was another name for God. Are you the Son of God is what they're asking. And Jesus said, I am. Ego ami. Also could be a reference to the I am the I am. A declaration that he's God. And you, I love this right here, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven. That's a combination of quotations from Psalm 110 verse one, which by the way, if you read the One Year Bible, Psalm 110 verse one is in the One Year Bible reading today. Daniel chapter 7 verses 13 and 14 where it talks about the Messiah coming in the clouds and it talks about in Psalm 110 verse 1 how this Messiah will come and judge the world that God's gonna hand over judgment to this Messiah so what does Jesus say to them in that moment he says yes I am the Messiah a go on me I am the I'm I am and by the way I am gonna come in the clouds of heaven just like it says of me in Daniel chapter 7 verses 13 and 14 and my enemies will be put under my feet and I will judge them." You know what Jesus is saying right now? He says, listen, you're judging me now, I'm judging you later. You know what you're doing is wrong, you know what you're doing is false, you know that you're bringing false testimony, you know that you're liars, you're supposed to be spiritual leaders, you will answer to be for this later. Anybody ever, when you're a kid, there's some kids here, You know that moment when your mom would say, wait till your father gets home? I hated that. Mom, I hated it. Thank you, it was effective. It was an effective way to bring your son under control at times in his immaturity growing up. It was effective because I did not like that thought. I remember one time my mom even told on me to my dad. Can you believe my mom would tell on me to my dad? We should be a partnership here. I can't believe it. Grandma Johnson told on her son. And he was in Alaska, and he didn't even wait to, he just, Dad wants to talk to you. Hi, Dad. You know, I'm like, I don't want to know. I don't want to answer to Dad, even from Alaska. What could he do to me from Alaska? Not much at the moment. Listen, this is what Jesus is saying. Your turn's coming. You're going to answer for what you're doing. And I'm going to say something tonight in a few minutes. I'm going to bring this back around, but I want to tell all of you something tonight. If you're in Christ, be so glad that you never have to face the judgment of Christ. But if you're not in Christ, you should turn to Him or you will. And so let's continue. Verse 63, And the high priest tore his garments, because he knew this was blasphemy, and said, What further witness do we need? You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision? And so he's claiming to be God. He's claiming to be the judge. He's claiming to be the Messiah, who is God. What's your decision? And they all condemned him as deserving death. Now, when they bring charges to Pilate against Jesus, do you remember what they charge him with? Is it blasphemy they charge him with? No, he says they charge him with insurrection of causing, trying to cause, you know, sort of an insurrection against Rome because they say he tells people not to pay their taxes. So they even change the charge when they come against Pilate because Rome won't care if there's some Jewish blasphemer. They won't put him to death for that. Verse 65, and some began to spit on him and to cover his face and to strike him. This is, this is difficult to read. This is our Lord. It's even interesting. In Luke's account, Luke 22 and 23 of this same section of scripture, the parallel account, it says that not only were the Sanhedrin, were they spitting on Him. Don't forget, these are men that would be dressed in flowing gowns. They're the Supreme Court justices, and they're spitting. And it says they were hitting Him with their open fists and hands. They were slapping Him in the face. And then they were saying, prophesy. What was that a reference to? What's that all about? They believed, and rightfully so, that Isaiah chapter 11 verses 1 and 2 talk about how the Messiah, when he comes, will have this spirit of wisdom and discernment, almost like he'll be all-knowing, which was accurate. That was Jesus. So what they're really doing is saying, hey, if you're really the Messiah, if you're the one, then you'll have that spirit of discernment. We can blindfold you, slap you, and you'll be able to tell us who did it. Can I ask you this question? Did Jesus know who was slapping Him? Yes. Because He's the Messiah. And the guards received Him with blows. You know what the guards do? The guards do what they see their leaders do. And they start hitting Him and slapping Him. And then we see Peter's denial, verse 66. And as Peter was below in the courtyard... Now remember, this is a parenthetical section here, and don't forget that Mark is Peter's gospel. This is Peter's account of Peter's denial. And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came. I think it's significant that it's a servant girl. I have to tell you that Jesus had told Peter, you're going to deny me three times before the rooster crows and that's before this night is over, within hours, you're going to deny me three times. Peter says, no, I'll die with you, Lord. I'm not going to deny you. I'll never deny you. I'll suffer with you. I'll die for you. Within hours. He's already denying him, but he's not just denying him to even the Sanhedrin, he's denying him to a servant girl. I got to tell you, I think that there's probably some, this would be the sort of, okay, I don't want to sound sexist at all, but guys don't like the idea of being afraid of a girl. I mean, like, the worst thing that could ever happen for a guy is to be beat up by a girl. Okay, I'm just telling you, and I realize there are some here that have done that. So, so, I, but I won't say that one. Okay, there's so much I could say right now, it'd be funny, but I'm not gonna. Okay, so, okay, there's a lady in this room, okay, who, my wife and I have played tennis with her and her husband. And as we're playing, we had a good time, things were pretty even, whatever. I could tell she was jockeying for a position because she wanted to see if she could beat me when I won. I said, hey, let's play again. Let's play again. And maybe we can not do doubles. Maybe we can do some singles and kind of rotate her, you know, just like suggesting ways. And so finally, I remember looking at her. She's over here. So I remember saying, I said, listen, I know. I know what you're trying to do. You're trying to get a game between the two of us. And it's not going to happen. Well, why not? I was like, Because I can't win that game. Because if you win, I'll never hear the end of it. You got beat by a girl. And if I win, I beat a girl. But I just gotta tell you, at this point for Peter, Jesus says you're gonna deny me? He's like, not only does he end up denying Christ, he denies him to a young servant girl who's the lowest rung in all of the Sanhedrin. It says in the other Gospels that she's watching the door. She's the door holder. That's who he denies Christ to. Notice verse 67, and seeing Peter warming himself, She looked at him and said, you also were with the Nazarene Jesus. I think it's important here, because remember what I told you earlier that you could interpret that as the fire was illuminating Peter's face in the Greek? That's the idea here. She sees pictures of somebody's faces like, oh wait, look at that guy behind the fire. You're one of them. I've seen you with him. Verse 68, but he denied it, saying, I neither know nor understand what you mean. And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed. Strike one. And the servant girl saw him again. What do you think Peter's thinking right now? The servant girl, like, would you leave me alone? You know what I mean? Like, come on! She sees him again, and began again to say to the bystanders, this is one of them. But again, he denied it. And after a little while, the bystanders again said to Peter, certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean. We know from Matthew 26, verse 73, that they knew he was a Galilean because of his accent. So they knew from his dialect, the way he spoke, that he was a Galilean. Like you couldn't miss it, right? It's like when you meet someone from Texas, you know like, you're a Texan. It's the same thing. But this gets really sad here, verse 71. But he began to invoke a curse. It doesn't mean that he was cussing. It means what he's doing, he's saying, what he's saying is this literally, I swear to God, I'm not, I don't know this guy Jesus. And if I'm lying, God can kill me right now. But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, I do not know, in fact, he doesn't even say Jesus, does he? I don't know this man, as if he, like, I don't even know the guy's name. This is a pretty low point. I don't know this man of whom you speak. And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. Who do you think was behind the crowing of the rooster? God was. Just making that rooster crow right in that moment. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times. And he broke down and wept. Why was this moment so hard on Peter? Because Luke chapter 22, verse 61 says that Jesus, who was on the upper floor, looked down at Peter as the fire is illuminating his face, and they made eye contact. So can you picture this scene? I don't know the man! I swear I don't know the man! And just in the rooster crows, Jesus looks, and they make eye contact. And the Jesus that looks at him is already a Jesus that's been spit upon, blood on his forehead, sweating drops of blood in the garden, beaten, hit with open, black eye, probably barely able to peer through his swollen eyes. And he goes out and weeps bitterly. I will say to you that I think sometimes it's good for us to go weep bitterly when we sin badly. And I want to tell you tonight that God, he'll meet you there and forgive you. But he's overwhelmed, he's broken. Let me just give you some closing points, and I'll just go through these quickly because we have some sweet baptisms tonight in just a moment, a family's getting baptized. First thing, I have it for you on the screen. First thing is this, some points of application. Number one, Jesus is the coming king and those who reject him will be judged fairly by him. Jesus is the coming king and those who reject him will be judged fairly by him. John chapter 5 verses 27 to 29, Jesus says this, and he gave him authority to execute judgment. God the Father gave Jesus authority to execute judgment. Listen carefully to this verse. because he is the son of man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice. He will come forth, those who did good deeds, to the resurrection of life, and those who committed evil deeds, to the resurrection of judgment." You know what he's saying? He's saying everybody lives forever. Just some people will live with God forever, and some people will go to hell forever. Revelation chapter 20, it says it. You guys, you can look and say, man, I don't know, are we supposed to say hell in church? Are we supposed to talk about damnation? Jesus did. And what Jesus says is, he doesn't just say that you're gonna someday face judgment. He says, I will be your judge. It's known as the great white throne judgment. And the great white throne judgment will be a place where everybody is judged fairly. Unlike the trial Jesus had, he'll make sure that everybody else gets a fair trial. And Revelation 20, it says that these books will be open with the deeds of those who denied Christ. Like, here's all of your deeds. It's totally, here's the evidence against you. How will you answer? And the only answer is gonna be guilty. I lived for myself. I didn't live for the glory of God. I lived in rebellion in my heart against you. I wouldn't serve the Savior. I wouldn't receive your free gift of eternal life. And Jesus will judge them in complete righteousness. Now don't confuse the Great White Throne Judgment with the Bama Seat Judgment. The Bama Seat Judgment is a place of reward for believers of how faithfully you served Him while you were on the earth. If you've put your trust in Jesus Christ, You will not stand before the great white throne of judgment. You know why? Jesus already did it for you. That was the cup He drank. He offers, God offers eternal life, but if it is refused, there will be recompense. There will be judgment. And so Jesus stands before the Sanhedrin and He just goes, yes, I am the Son of the Blessed and I'm going to come back in the clouds with glory and I will judge you for your treatment of me. Number two, the surest way to fall is to assume that you won't. The surest way to fall is to assume you won 1 Corinthians 10, 12. Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. Sometimes good beginnings don't always result in good endings. And so Peter was sincere and yet he fell because he was too self-reliant. And if we don't pray, what we're really communicating is, is we don't need God's help in our walk with Christ. The absence of prayer is just a sure sign of work done in the flesh. Number three, Peter attempted to keep a comfortable distance from Jesus, but not far enough, because the Lord was looking. He attempted to keep a comfortable distance from Jesus, but not far enough because the Lord was looking. And what comes to my mind is Psalm 139, verse 7. Where shall I go from your spirit, or where shall I flee from your presence? You can't hide from God. And the last one, number four. The horrible actions of Peter provide each of us sinners hope for healing and future service to God. After all, it was Peter in Acts 2.38 who said this, and Peter said to them, So the idea here is not that your sins are forgiven because you're baptized. The idea is that you repent and that you've received forgiveness of sins, and so your baptism, the word for there, it really means on account of the forgiveness of sins, so we're baptized because our sins have been forgiven, like we're about to witness in just a moment. What does this mean? What it means is, is there's no sin so great that the Savior can't forgive. And who is proclaiming this? Who's the one that's saying, repent, turn to God, be forgiven, and be baptized as a declaration of your forgiveness? Who's saying it? The man who denied Jesus three times only fifty days before. And so I want to provide tonight hope that there is a place of healing. That whatever we've done, whatever sin we've been caught up in, whatever you might be caught up in right now, repent. Turn to Him. Be forgiven. Move on with your life and your service to Christ. Don't be stalled any longer. There's hope. There's hope. Yes, Jesus is coming back as the Judge, but He first came as the Savior. And he wants to rescue you tonight from your sin. Let me pray. Thank you, Father, for your word and for this time together. I do pray, Lord, that you would bring through your spirit not only illumination, proper interpretation of this passage to our hearts, but also, Lord, I pray right now that you would bring very personal application to everybody in this room. Father, I pray that we would be reminded that Jesus indeed is coming back in the clouds with glory, that He is the ultimate victor, and that we're on His team. And so, Lord, help us not to fear man when Jesus is our King. Make us bold, Lord. Lord, give our hearts deep assurance from the resurrection from Your indwelling Spirit tonight that Jesus really is our King. And I pray in His name. Amen.