Characteristics of Christ Denial
In Matthew 26:23, Jesus said
to all of His closest disciples, “All ye shall be offended because of
me this night.” The word “offended” is from the Greek word skandalizo
(skan-dal-id’-zo), which means to cause to stumble or trip. Christ is
referring to a natural characteristic of the human nature – FEAR. Fear
is an emotion built into our psyche as a defense mechanism against
danger or harm. The point is that fear is to be controlled. Fear is
not to control us. As Christians, each of us are being tried daily
regarding the reality of our faith in Christ by situations of life that
generate fear within us.
“31 Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye
shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will
smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered
abroad. 32 But after I am risen again, I will go before you into
Galilee. 33 Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be
offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. 34 Jesus said
unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow,
thou shalt deny me thrice. 35 Peter said unto him, Though I should die
with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the
disciples” (Matthew 26:31-35).
There are just two types of
Christ-followers in the Bible; those who DO and those who DON’T.
However, the division is much more defined within these two categories.
We find Christ dividing the multitudes that followed Him into these two
categories constantly throughout the Gospels. In fact, this is exactly
what is taking place in Matthew 26:69-75.
1. Those who are totally surrendered disciples – cross bearers
2. Those who, at some level or some degree, deny Jesus’ full control of their lives.
The fact of the matter is that most of
the followers of Jesus, including most of the Apostles, abandoned Jesus
once He had been taken captive by the Sanhedrin. Even Peter, by this
time, had now abandoned Christ. Just a few hours earlier, Peter had
almost cut off the right ear of Malchus, the servant of the high priest,
as Malchus accompanied the Temple guard to arrest Jesus (John 18:10).
Then, this humble fisherman called by Jesus to become a fisher of men,
was willing to fight and die for Jesus. Therefore, we know he was not a
coward.
However, the test with which Peter was
now being tested was not a test of Peter’s courage, but of Peter’s
faith. Be careful to never confuse these two things. If your faith is
real, there is nothing in this world that can threaten you, including
death. If your faith is real, there is no fear that can cripple you,
because real faith cannot be touched by the mere physical dangers to our
bodies. Faith secures our souls in a position that can never be
threatened. Real faith lives in this reality!
“69 Now Peter sat without in the
palace: and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of
Galilee. 70 But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou
sayest. 71 And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw
him, and said unto them that were there, This fellow was also with Jesus
of Nazareth. 72 And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the
man. 73 And after a while came unto him they that stood by, and said to
Peter, Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee.
74 Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And
immediately the cock crew. 75 And Peter remembered the word of Jesus,
which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
And he went out, and wept bitterly” (Matthew 26:69-75).
In these few verses of
Scripture, we see a man (and it could be any of us) crippled by fear.
Because the man is impetuous Peter, the text is especially puzzling. We
would think that Peter would be the last of all the disciples to deny
Christ. However, the defining factor is that all the Apostles denied
Christ, but one. According to the Gospel accounts of the crucifixion,
only the Apostle John is present at the crucifixion. We should learn
something from this – “perfect love casteth out fear” (I John 4:48).
Why will parents run into a burning house to rescue their child? A
parent takes no consideration of the danger because “perfect love
casteth out fear” (I John 4:48). What we must learn from all of this is
that the main issue in avoiding denial of Christ is not about the
quantity of our courage. If we want to avoid denying Christ, it is
about quality of our love.
Peter denies the Lordship of Jesus
over his life on three different occasions revealing numerous levels of
denial. Although denial always has a beginning point, denial’s cause is
captivation by fear. Then denial cascades downward revealing
innumerable levels of compromise. It is amazing how people can be blind
to what they are doing when acceptance by their peers, or the cultures
in which they live, captivate their thinking and become their motivating
factors for decisions.
In Matthew 26:69-75, Peter did not
want to end up on a Roman cross condemned to death for blasphemy just
because he believed Jesus was the Messiah. This had been Peter’s
testimony before Christ in Matthew 16:16; “Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God.” This same testimony would be the foundation of upon
which Jesus would begin to build His living Temple of the Church one
living stone at a time. Jesus said to Peter, “upon this rock I will
build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”
(Matthew 16:18). Peter’s testimony was being tried by the test of fire.
Peter’s testimony was certainly a true statement. However, if it was
going to be a statement considered true by those hearing it, that
testimony might require the ultimate sacrifice. Peter had to be willing
to die rather than compromise this testimony of truth. A true
testimony becomes a part of you like an arm or leg.
To die by crucifixion was the most
humiliating, degrading, debilitating, and disgraceful way any Jew could
die, because the Law said, “Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree”
(Galatians 3:13). Paul quotes from Deuteronomy 21:23 in Galatians 3:13.
“22 And if a man have committed a sin
worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a
tree: 23 His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou
shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed
of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth
thee for an inheritance” (Deuteronomy 21:22-23).
Under the Law, if a Jew committed a
crime worthy of death, he would be stoned to death and his dead body
would be hanged up in a tree for all to see. The name of the person
killed and hung in the tree would be disgraced as well as the name of
his family and relatives. It was the worst possible scenario for any
Jew to disgrace himself and the testimony of his family name. This is
what is going through Peter’s mind at the time of his denial of Jesus.
He did not consider that, in his attempt to protect his family name
from disgrace before the world, he was disgracing himself and his
testimony before God. To call one’s self a Christian is to take on a
new family identity to which we become accountable to never defile.
Peter was unwilling to be identified with Christ by testimony
We would think this would be
something no true Christian would do. However, this form of Christ
denial is rampant in Emergent Christianity and in the Mega Church growth
movement. In these types of churches, it is appropriate to use the
Name of Jesus and to talk about loving one another. However, it is
taboo and considered legalistic to talk about sin, moral responsibility,
tithing, fornication, pornography, homosexuality, abortion, separation
from worldliness, and an innumerable host of other issues that make
sinners uncomfortable.
In these circles of discussion, we
often hear such platitudes as, “the church is not a sanctuary for the
saints, but a hospital for sinners.” This sounds great and is true to
many degrees, but how can the church be a hospital for sinners if it
never addresses the sins of which sinners need to be cleansed to be
cured by the grace of God?
Bible doctrine is especially taboo in
these circles. Teaching the doctrines of Jesus (what Jesus taught) is
dry, boring, and irrelevant to the New Age Millennials. For these
people, making the teachings of Jesus relevant to the culture demands
redefining the teachings of Jesus and the Word of God regarding sinful
practices that the modern culture has now justified. Jesus simply
becomes a vehicle to justify a worldly gathering that has very little
identification with the Person of Jesus or the teachings of Jesus. The
point here is that this type of Christianity is NOT Christianity AT ALL!
In Matthew 26:69-75, Peter did not
want these unbelievers that surrounded him to know that he believed that
Jesus was the Christ of God. He feared similar ridicule and the
mocking like which these same people had given Jesus earlier. He did
not think to persuade them that they were about to crucify their
promised Messiah. He feared their derision and wanted their social
acceptance!
Peter was willing to be identified WITH the deniers of Christ
The first level of Peter’s denial of
Christ is simply silence. He sought obscurity sitting at the fire of
the Christ-haters by simply trying to hide behind his own silence.
After the events of the day and what these people had witnessed, we can
only imagine the conversation that was going on around the fire. The
mocking and ridicule of Jesus certainly would have continued to be the
brunt of inappropriate jokes and remarks. Crude, vulgar, and brutish
people joke about things like death and holiness, as they mock the
defenseless.
How could Peter set there in silence
as this was going on all around him? This reveals the subtlety of the
sinful human nature and it simply shows how easily a person can slip
into being a traitor if he does not guard his spirit and the emotions
coming from it. There are mechanisms for self-protection built into our
psyche. Fear is one of those mechanisms. Muscle reflects is another.
When our hand gets too close to something hot, reflect action
automatically jerks the hand away from the heat. Peter was not able, or
willing, to control these self-protection mechanisms. He sat in the
midst of the very people who cried out for Jesus to be crucified and was
silent. Peter would rather be identified WITH those who sought his
Saviour’s crucifixion than put himself at risk for similar consequences.
Peter could have gotten away from the crowds and gone into hiding
somewhere. He purposefully sought to obscure his identity as a follower
of Jesus by joining himself with the crowd that had sought Jesus’
death.
Peter was willing to verbally deny his identity as a Christian
On three separate occasions and in
three different degrees, Peter verbally denied he was a follower of
Jesus. Each level takes on a tone of increased agitation and vulgarity.
The reason all of this was happening was that Peter was doubting that
Jesus was who He said he was. Peter was doubting his own testimony that
he had so quickly asserted before the other disciples. – “Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). He was learning
that such a testimony in the midst of the hostility of religious
prejudices and apostasy would not be so readily accepted as it was in
the midst of other believers. It is easy to shout out an amen agreement to a testimony of Christ in the midst of the amens of other believers. It is another thing altogether to do so in the midst of unbelievers with stones in their hands.
How often do your actions and words
shout out to the world, “I know not what thou sayest” (Matthew 26:70)?
Peter steps out of the shadows of his silent denial and into the
darkness of his verbal denial. Peter was unwilling to taste the shame
of social rejection within the cup of Christ’s death. Often, the
disciples did not understand what Jesus was saying to them. They
thought He was speaking in spiritual platitudes without practical
applications in this world. They could not have misunderstood what He
said in Matthew 20:20-22 more than they did.
“20 Then came to him the mother of
Zebedee’s children with her sons {James and John}, worshipping him, and
desiring a certain thing of him. 21 And he said unto her, What wilt
thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one
on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. 22 But
Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink
of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism
that I am baptized with” (Matthew 20:20-22)?
Jesus was saying that the pathway to
greatness and position for believers in the Kingdom Age would be through
suffering, anguish, affliction, and persecution during the Church Age
as they sought to bring lost souls to faith in Him. The intent of the
question is, if these men really wanted these high positions, would they
be willing to be rejected and hated by the majority of the world’s
populace? The “cup” is the covenant Jesus made with the Father in the
Abrahamic Covenant, which meant His life-blood would be poured out for
the sins of mankind. Both the “cup” and the “baptism” to which Jesus
refers speak of death. We testify to our understanding of that covenant
responsibility to live and die for Christ through our water baptism.
Peter, according to Scripture, was the
first to be tested regarding this willingness. We can assume others
were being tested elsewhere in similar circumstances because their
presence is not recorded at the crucifixion. We know that, after the
crucifixion, six other disciples had given up on their calling as had
Peter because of the events recorded in John 21:2-3.
“2 There were together Simon Peter,
and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples. 3
Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also
go with thee” (John 21:2-3).
In this text, we have seven of the
remaining eleven abandoning Christ and His Great Commission to go back
to their old professions as fishermen. Judas had already betrayed
Christ and killed himself. We are not told who the “two other” are, so
we cannot know with surety those who remained faithful to their calling
to be Apostles. The point is that desertion was characteristic of the
majority.
Faithfulness will always be in the minority. If you
are part of the faithful, be sure you will be part of the minority.
However, it is the faithful who call the faithless back to their
mission. So it will ever be throughout the Church Age. There will be a
constantly diminishing faithful remnant within numerous levels of
compromise and doctrinal corruption as history repeats itself into
apostasy. You will not find the faithful standing with the large crowds
of compromisers.
Peter then denied Christ by Oath
In Matthew 26:71, Peter gets up from
the previous crowd, before whom he has just denied Christ, and goes to
another place and another crowd of Christ deniers. Here, a young woman
(“maid”) points out Peter and proclaims to the crowd, “This fellow was
also with Jesus of Nazareth (Matthew 26:71). The substance of Peter’s
denial goes something like this: “I swear to God that I am not a
follower of Jesus.” We do not know if this is exactly the substance of
Peter’s oath, but it could be. The point is that Peter took his
disobedience to another level. He did something Jesus had commanded
Christians to never do.
“33 Again, ye have heard that it hath
been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear {commit perjury}
thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: 34 But I say unto
you, Swear not at all {do not make truth conditional upon an oath,
because your trustworthiness should be based upon moral integrity and
proven character}; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: 35 Nor by
the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the
city of the great King. 36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because
thou canst not make one hair white or black. 37 But let your
communication {the words you say as a witness and accounting of the
events to which you testify} be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is
more than these cometh of evil” (Matthew 5:33-37).
Peter knew his testimony was false. He sought to
reinforce his lie by swearing that the lie he was telling was actually
the truth. By this time his condescension into his own corruption
considered only the possibility of deceiving those he feared. A liar is
a deceiver and operates under the dictates of the curse. To swear by
oath that the lie you are telling is actually a truth is the epitome of
deception. By this act, Peter denies the very essence of his new nature
in Christ. By this act, Peter denies Jesus by denying these people the
truth of the testimony they absolutely need. Peter refused to
compromise his own safety by compromising his testimony and relationship
with Jesus. Peter was in the midst of a crowd of people that needed
him to tell them the truth. Jesus was “the Christ, the Son of the
living God” (Matthew 16:16).
Peter had been present at the house of
the High Priest Caiaphas, when Peter and John attended the inquisition
of Jesus by Caiaphas (John 18:14-15). This inquiry and the presence of
these two men with Jesus would have been widely discussed and
publicized. There certainly would have been a great deal of public
conversation by those who saw Peter almost cut off the ear of Malchus
and then to see Jesus simply touch that almost severed ear and heal it
back to his face (Luke 22:51). Malchus would certainly have talked
about this miracle as well as the other soldiers that were present. It
was hard for Peter to hide. He needed the darkness of perjury to cover
his deceit.
Peter denied Christ by vulgar worldliness
The word “bewrayeth” in Matthew 26:73
is from the Greek word delos (day’-los). We naturally think the word
means to “betray.” However, the meaning of delos (day’-los) is to
manifest or make evident. Therefore, the meaning is the exposure of
Peter’s hypocrisy and deception. The point is that Peter’s choice of
words originally did not include the vulgarity that was common among the
heathen and the Hellenized Jews. The Hellenized Jews had been absorbed
into the Greek culture becoming worldly and losing the distinction of
holiness and separation from worldliness. These were the descendants of
those holy Jews that had returned under Ezra and Nehemiah. Most of
these once holy and separate Jews had become just like the culture in
which they now lived.
This lack of Peter’s crass vulgar
language caused people to identify Peter as one of those holiness guys
that followed Jesus around. However, Peter was willing to abandon this
quality of character and become crude, profane, and vulgar in his
language in order to be accepted by this vulgar crowd. This is what
happens when people want the acceptance of the world. The world DEMANDS
that we become like them. The worldly demand absolute tolerance of
anything they say or do while being absolutely intolerant of people
wanting to do God’s will.
Much of what has become the Emergent
Church, New Evangelicalism, and even much of Evangelism has begun to
incorporate various levels of the profane and vulgar into worship these
days as if God simply does not care. In many cases, one could find
little difference in appearance between church goers and night clubbers.
Even the atmosphere of many of these so called churches is more like a
night club. These types of churches propagate a shopping mall
Christianity where one can find about anything he wants and can quietly
bypass anything that does not fit his taste. This is the same thing
Peter did when he used vulgarity to be accepted by the crowd. He had no
burden to reach their souls with the Gospel. Let’s be honest. When
gathering a crowd becomes your objective, the willingness to become
vulgar and profane will become a necessary part of your methodology.
The world does not find holiness attractive. It never has and it never
will.
“And Peter remembered the word of
Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me
thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly” (Matthew 26:75).
Some people see Peter repenting in
this verse. It is common to mistake remorse for repentance. The
difference is that remorse cries tears, while repentance changes
actions. Peter felt bad and guilty about what he had done, but he did
not turn around and say, “yes, I am a disciple of Jesus.” He did not
tell them that they needed to repent and trust in Jesus as their Messiah
and Redeemer. He did not begin to do what Jesus had trained him to do
for three long years. In fact, Peter ran away from his calling. He did
not return to follow Jesus. Jesus had to come find him.
Learn from this. If you are genuinely
saved, you are commissioned to win the world to Christ. You cannot run
away from the omnipresent God. It is not enough to feel bad about our
failures, if that conviction does not determine to never allow that
failure to happen again. There have been many at the altar of the
mourner’s bench under the conviction of their failure to live right and
to seek to win the lost. Yet they have left their tears at the altar
but never altered their lives to become what their Saviour needs them to
become. God does not want your tears if those tears do not result in
change. God wants you crying out to the world and become a living
translation of the Word of God.
Mark 14:54 tells us all the events of
Peter’s denial took place in the “palace of the high priest.” Peter was
in the lower chamber “beneath in the palace” (Mark 14:46) of the high
priest. There is a strong possibility he went there because he could
hear what was being said regarding the accusations of Jesus. The point
is that Peter’s denial of Christ was taking place during the mockery of
justice taking place just above him (Mark 14:53-72). While Jesus was
being prepared to die for Peter’s sins, Peter was sinning against His
Lord.
The good news is that this event of
Peter’s radical drop to the bottom of the faithful bucket is not the end
of Peter’s story. Failures can cripple a person for life, or failures
can become stairways to successes. The latter is the case with Peter.
He had another failure at Galatia for a while about which Paul had to
deal with him. He again was unwilling to offend the Jews by confronted
the Judaizers with their intermixing the works of the Law in with God’s
gift of salvation. Paul had to confront Peter and Barnabas for their
“dissimulation,” or pretentious hypocrisy compromising a Biblical
response to the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Galatians 2:11-21). Peter and
Barnabas were not preaching a false way, but they were tolerating a
false way. Such toleration is another form of denial of Christ and it
is compromise.
Personally, we all can rejoice that
God has not left us on the pathway of our many faithfulness failures.
God meets us right where we failed and picked up right where we left
off. Peter thought God was done with him because of his thrice denial
of Jesus. So it must have been with the other six disciples listed in
John 21:2.
Sometimes, when Christians fail, all
they hear is condemnation for their failure. They do not hear the
necessary words of encouragement that calls the failing person to repent
AND BEGIN AGAIN! This is sad. This is a sad state of affairs because
such a person does what Peter and the other disciples did. They quit on
Christ! No faithful believer should ever allow another believer to
quit on Christ because of failure. The faithful must call the
unfaithful back to faithfulness and the church must begin again with
such people after they have repented.
Shortly after the encouragement that
Jesus gives to Peter, and the other disciples within hearing of those
words at the Sea Tiberius, they are all back and in the upper room in
the Temple. They had been directed by Jesus to wait in an upper room of
the Temple for the promised Comforter in the Person of the Holy Spirit
as promised in Acts 1:8. After the Comforter had come, Peter preached
the great message on the Day of Pentecost, where “about three thousand
souls” trusted in Jesus as their Messiah. He preached that message from
the very steps of the Temple where he had trembled in fear to be
identified with Jesus just fifty days previous.
Although it is difficult to overcome a
bad testimony, such disasters do not end one’s life. God forgives and
His grace affords His children unending new beginnings. Because of the
wonders of God’s gracious forgiveness, you need never live in
yesterday’s failures.
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Numerous studies and series are available free of charge for local churches at: http://www.disciplemakerministries.org/
Dr. Lance Ketchum serves the Lord as a Church Planter, Evangelist/Revivalist.
He has served the Lord for over 40 years.
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