Rock Bottom (or,
Sin, Conviction, and Repentance)
Mark 14:66-72
Introduction: I shared a story with you before that
was told by Max Lucado, who you may know was a missionary in Brazil before he became
a pastor. The story is about…
… a young teenaged girl named
Christina. She lived in a little one room house, in a small dusty village in
Brazil. She was bored with life in such simplicity and poverty and longed for
the excitement of the big city of Rio.
One morning her mother Maria found
Christina’s bed empty. Maria knew immediately where her daughter had gone. She
also knew the dangers that a pretty young girl faced in the city, so she
quickly threw some clothes in a bag, gathered up what little money she had, and
headed for the bus station. On her way, the mom entered one of those
photograph booths in a local drug store and took pictures of herself. She put
the pictures in her purse and took the next bus to Rio de Janeiro. When she
arrived, she began looking, all the while she put up pictures of herself all
over town, in a phone booth, on a bulletin board, on a bathroom mirror. Each
had a note written on the back. But she couldn’t find her daughter, and soon her
money and the pictures ran out, and Maria got back on the bus and wept all the
way home, fearing she would never see her daughter again.
Many weeks later, Christina slowly
walked down the hotel stairs. She was already worn down by life. Her young face
was tired. Her brown eyes no longer danced with youth but spoke of pain and
fear. A thousand times over she longed to leave behind the beds and hotel rooms
and to go back home, but how could she? She remembered the warm secure feeling of love
and acceptance she had experienced back with her mom in their little village.
But she thought it was too late to turn back…
Christina had hit rock bottom. Not all of us get to that point, thankfully, but we
all experience trials and failures along the way, even after coming to faith
in Christ. Today we’ll look at the story of a man who in a real sense did “hit
rock bottom.” If we are right that Mark is recording the reminiscences of
Peter, then we must conclude that Peter told this story on himself! He holds
himself up as a negative example, warning us how easily we can drift off
course, spiritually speaking. This is pretty close to shipwreck, as Peter, the
Rock, hits “rock bottom.” Even though it is night, though he moved from the
fire to the shadows, his sin is exposed, and it cut to heart. He responds in
brokenness, and in the end, in repentance and faith.
The Maine* Idea: Whatever we have done, God’s grace is greater than
our sin, and if we confess, repent, and believe, we can be restored.
I. The
Danger of Conforming: Conforming to the world will lead us to sin
(14:54; 66-67a). I like the J.B. Philips paraphrase of Romans 12:1, “Don’t let the world force you into its mold!”
Let’s look back for a moment to 14:54 and remember the scene that Mark had set
for us… Peter was nearby, in the courtyard, sitting next to a guard, warming
himself by the fire, while Jesus is taken inside and interrogated…
…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.
We have to acknowledge some courage on Peter’s part as at least he is
following, albeit, at a distance. Mark doesn’t give us the detail that John is
there as well, and being acquainted with someone in the household, it is he who
gets them into the courtyard. But Mark is telling the story from Peter’s perspective,
and wants us to know that he was there, and followed right into the High Priest’s
courtyard. And so there he is, sitting with the guards, and warming himself by
the fire. Why was he there? Curiosity? Hoping against hope that Jesus
would do something to turn the situation around? Sitting with the guards, by
the fire, whatever his motive, seems to show that he was content for the moment
at least to blend into the crowd, to be a secret follower of Jesus. Better not
to attract attention to himself. But then, we read in Mark 14:66-67a…
66 And as Peter was
below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, 67 and seeing Peter warming
himself…
Peter’s plans are disrupted as a servant girl sees him
and comes over for a closer look! When he saw her lock eyes and walk toward
him, did he fear that suddenly he was in danger, that he was about to be
exposed, that he would have to make a choice? Sin is always a choice, for
which we are responsible. Amazingly, Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners. Before we judge Peter, let’s be honest: Have you been guilty of
staying in the shadows, blending into the world, maybe even trying not
to be recognized as a Christian? You might think, is that really sin? It’s not
like I did anything! Either did Peter… yet. There are sins of commission
and sins of omission, but they are still sin, they fall short of God’s will. If
we conform to the world rather than following Jesus, we cross the line. We’re
not loving Him with our whole heart. Peter sinned, haven’t you? Here’s the “Good
News” implicit in this Gospel: Whatever we have done, God’s grace is greater
than our sin, and if we confess, repent, and believe, we can be restored.
Peter, the Rock, was crumbling a bit, but he hadn’t yet hit “Rock Bottom.” As the
story continues, we see…
II. The
Downward Spiral of Sin: Conformity
will lead us away from Jesus (67b-68).
…she looked at him and said, "You also
were with the Nazarene, Jesus." 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.
The
servant girl came over and one translation says, “…she looked closely at him…” The word translated “looked” is a compound form of the verb,
and seems to have the sense of looking closely at someone, with recognition or
discernment. Mark used it only three times before this: 1) of the blind man who
had been healed (8:25), suddenly “seeing clearly,” 2) of Jesus looking at the
rich young ruler (10:21), when “seeing him, he loved him,” and invited
him to become a follower; and 3) of Jesus looking at his astonished disciples
and instructing them when the young ruler walked away (10:27). He knew their
hearts, the ruler, the disciples, the healed man—the idea is to look intently.
Here in our passage, the young girl, who hadn’t recognized Peter before, looks
closely, recognizes, and exposes him!
Remember the context, the false witnesses who
testified against Jesus had failed to get their stories right, they
contradicted each other, they couldn’t corroborate their false charges even
with the minimum of two or three witnesses required by the Law. Jesus, like a
lamb led to slaughter (Isa 53:8) remained silent. There was no need to respond
to those false witnesses! And then the high priest asks Him directly, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?”
And Jesus, the one True Witness, knowing what the response would be, said “I AM…
Son of God, Son of Man…” That is the context, lying false witnesses, and the
One who is the Truth.
Now, Peter
had a choice to make. He had managed to blend into the crowd, and to go
unnoticed for a time as Jesus was interrogated by his enemies. But now he is
confronted by this servant girl. Would he stand up and speak the truth? Until
now, he was “conforming,” blending in, silent and unnoticed. In contrast to
Jesus who spoke the truth despite the consequences, Peter now compounds his
sin by lying—he becomes a false witness…
“I neither know nor understand what you
mean.” The expression was an emphatic way of saying “I have no idea what
you are talking about!” In contrast to Jesus, who was the true and faithful
witness, Peter fails for the first time in this sequence, emphatically denying
that he was a follower of Jesus. Do you remember God’s words to Cain, “…sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is
for you, but you must rule over it...” (Gen 4:7). Jesus had told Peter in the garden to “Watch and pray, lest you fall into temptation.”
Indeed, sin was crouching at the door! Luke relates this exchange between Jesus
and Peter…
31 "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have
you, that he might sift you like wheat, 32
but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have
turned again, strengthen your brothers." 33 Peter said to him, "Lord,
I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death." 34 Jesus said, "I tell you,
Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you
know me." (Luke 22:31-34).
Did you get that, “When
you have turned again…” Jesus is anticipating Peter’s failure, and his
restoration! Mark tells us that after Jesus prayed and the disciples slept
in Gethsemane, Jesus woke Peter and warned him, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? 38 Watch and pray that you may not
enter into temptation…” (Mark 14:37-38). Watch and pray. Stay alert,
and look to God for help! So now, in the moment of testing, Peter, who had been
so self-confident, stumbles. He says, “I
have no idea what you are talking about!” And…
“…he went out into the entry way…” [and into the shadows…]. Instead of
identifying with Jesus, and standing up for the One who was willingly suffering
injustice at the hands of men so that he (and we!) could be justified before
God, Peter moves away, away from the light of the fire… and away from the Light
of the World, going out into the entranceway. Men love darkness rather than
light, lest their deeds be exposed. Sin tends to compound itself over time. Remember
the old Arab proverb, “Do not let the Camel’s nose in the tent, his body will
surely follow!” We need to watch and pray, knowing that we are in a spiritual
battle. And if we stumble along the way, know that He is waiting for us to
return, and that whatever we have done, God’s grace is greater than our sin,
and if we confess, repent, and believe, we can be restored. Peter doesn’t yet seem
to realize what he just did, even as the rooster crowed for the first time
(v.68).
III. The
Danger of Distancing ourselves from God:
It can lead to compounding our sin, and even to denying the faith (69-71).
69 And the servant girl saw him and began again to say
to the bystanders, "This man is one of them." 70 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."
71 But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear,
"I do not know this man of whom you speak."
The
servant girl doesn’t so easily give up, and though Peter adamantly denied
knowing Jesus, she is convinced, and begins to talk to the bystanders in and around
the courtyard. Peter had spoken enough that they picked up his accent, and he
wasn’t from New Jersey, or Judea, he was from away, a Galilean like Jesus of
Nazareth! So, Peter denies the accusation a second and a third time. The language
gets increasingly intense, and the third is the strongest. The English
translations can mislead us a little, the idea is not that Peter is using
profanity, but he is “swearing” as someone under oath, and “evoking a curse,” using
the verbal form of the word “anathema,” let him be accursed who would say such
a thing (see Gal 1:6-8)! The translations take him to be speaking reflexively,
of himself, “May I be accursed if I am one of His followers!” Think about that!
The only way of being delivered from the curse is to know and follow
Him! Jesus endured that for us, He drank the cup of God’s wrath, so that we
could experience blessing rather than the curse! Peter, “the Rock,” hits rock bottom, just as Jesus had predicted he would.
But
God isn’t finished with Peter. In between Jesus predicting the scattering
of the disciples and predicting the denials of Peter, He said in Mark 14:28, “But after I am raised up, I will go before
you to Galilee.” In other words, “You will all leave me—you too Peter—but I
still have a plan for you, my grace is greater than your sin. I will die, yes,
but I’ll rise again, and go before you to Galilee!” Though we stumble we shall
not be utterly cast down. Whatever we have done, God’s grace is greater than
our sin, and if we confess, repent, and believe, we can be restored.
IV.
Conviction and Repentance: God will
use His Word, and even circumstances, to expose our sin (72; cf. Luke 22:60-62).
We read in v.72,
72 …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.
“Immediately,” making it impossible for Peter to miss the
connection, the rooster crows for the second time. Unlike the first sounding of
the rooster, after his first denial, this time Peter “remembers” what Jesus had said! And it
pierces his soul, it cuts to his heart, and he is broken. Have you been there?
Have you gotten to that point? The Rock who once said, after Jesus had
predicted his three denials, “If I must
die with you, I will not deny you…" (Mark 14:31), had, that same
night, denied Him, not once, but three times! Luke adds one detail to his
account that makes the moment even more poignant. We read in Luke 22:60-62,
60 But Peter said, "Man, I do not know what you are
talking about." And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster
crowed. 61 And the Lord
turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord,
how he had said to him, "Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me
three times." 62 And he
went out and wept bitterly.
The
additional detail of the Lord turning and looking at Peter, across the
courtyard, certainly adds to the pathos of the moment. Peter suddenly knew what
he had done, and he also knew that the Lord knew what he had done! Have you
heard the newsreel of the Hindenburg disaster? “Oh, the humanity!” Peter was
crashing and burning, he had done what he said would never do, what he thought
he could never do, he had denied his Lord! I don’t know if you have had a
Hindenburg moment in your life, or even just a few “fender benders” along the
way. But the Bible tells us all sin is an offense to God, it separates us from Him,
apart from Christ it leaves us guilty and deserving of judgment. Thank God that
Jesus came into the world to save sinners, that He endured injustice at the
hands of men so that we could be justified before God!
What is God
saying to me in this passage?
The Maine Idea we can take from this story is that we will all, at one time or
the other, stumble. But know this: whatever we have done, whatever we have
become, God’s grace is greater than our sin, and if we confess, repent, and
believe, we can be restored.
What would God have me
to do in response to this passage? Peter stumbled, maybe you feel that you have too. But God
wasn’t finished with Peter. Remember Christina? She had hit rock bottom, as Max
Lucado tells the story…
…A thousand times
over she longed to go back home. Yes, they were poor, but Christina remembered
the warm secure feeling of love and acceptance she had experienced back with
her mom in their little village. But she thought it was too late to turn back. As
she reached the bottom of the stairs, her eyes noticed a familiar face. She
looked again, and there on the lobby mirror was a small picture of her mother.
Christina’s eyes burned and her throat tightened as she walked across the room
and removed the small photo. Written on the back were these words:
"Whatever you have done, whatever you have become, it doesn’t matter.
Please come home."
And she did! Like the father in the
story of the prodigal son, watching the horizon for his son to return, like
Maria searching the streets of Rio for Christina, God is waiting for each of us
to come home, to return to Him in repentance and faith, as Peter later does. Whatever we’ve done, whatever we’ve become, God’s
grace is greater than our sin. If we confess, repent, and believe, we can be
restored.
If you have not trusted Christ as your Savior
you may be thinking “There is no way God could forgive someone like me, you
have no idea what I have done!” You’re right, I don’t know your heart, but God does
know everything about you and me. Even so, He spared not the Son, but delivered
Him up for us all. Horatio Spafford wrote, “My
sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin, not in part but the whole,
is nailed to the Cross and I bear it no more! Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord,
Oh my soul!” The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all - He bore our
sins in His body on the cross - He did that for you. The price has been paid
and the gift is offered, will you trust Him, and receive Him? And believer,
think of what this means… Jesus knew Peter’s failure even before it happened.
And He know us. That is why He came. Whatever you have done, His invitation
stands, please, come home… AMEN.
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