Jesus' Trial, Peter's Denial

John 18:12‑27

     We come in our studies to the eighteenth chapter of John, to a very familiar and most important and wonderful passage. We have seen in the years now, a couple of years that we have been studying the gospel of John, that John always wants to present to us the glories of Jesus Christ., He always wants to magnify His deity. He is not nearly so concerned about the human Jesus as he is about Jesus God, a very God. And no less than that does he do in our passage today, as always he does in his gospel.

     Now, we're going to look at verses 12 to 27 and we can coverthat many verses, you can rest easy, because it's historical narrative. And it takes us through the flow of two dramas happening at the same time, both with tremendous significance on their own and they're mingled by John and the Holy Spirit here in this passage. And these two dramas teach us the two basic truths to all of Christian doctrine: the glory of Christ and the sinfulness of man. Now those are the two basics to Christianity. Christianity is built on the fact that Christ is glorious, God is holy and man is sinful. That's what it's all about. Everything moves from that foundation up.

     But, these two basics of the tremendous majesty of Jesus Christ and the depth of sin in the life of men are contrasted graphically by presenting Jesus Christ in His trial and Peter in his denial.

     Now, as I said, Jesus has concluded His time with the eleven in the upper room. From chapter 13 through chapter 17 He had spent time promising them wonderful blessings in the new age to come, praying to the Father that the Father would care forthem in the time that Jesus went to the cross, and continually from then on. And now the hour has come to move toward Calvary. And so, Jesus leaves the upper room with the little group of eleven, goes out the gate, perhaps Stephen's Gate, down the little slope of Kidron, cross the little winter torrent, up the other side, as we saw last week, into the Mount of Olives to a place called the Garden of Gethsemane. And in this garden, Jesus spends time in prayer, agonizing over the anticipation of sin bearing and separation from God.

     Having concluded His time of prayer, John tells us Jesus confronts Judas leading the multitude mixed of Gentile and Jew coming to the garden to capture Jesus. The Jews had long waited for an opportune moment to capture Him. They couldn't do it in public because He was too much of a public figure and the people esteemed Him too highly and they waited for that secret moment when they could get Him when He wasn't aware and when the people weren't aware. And indeed the moment has arrived and Jesus, to make it easy for them, moves to a place in the dark of night where they will have no trouble taking Him, there will be no people around but His own disciples and a place that He knows Judas knows He will go to. So it simplifies Judas' job, Judas being aware that Jesus retired night by night in that very garden.

     And so, Jesus sets it up because it is time for Him to die. And now the whole force moves to get Jesus and they come led by Judas and armed to the teeth. Now we saw last we that as this army confronts Jesus, Jesus takes the occasion to display His majesty and His glory and His power. Never being the victim but always being the victor ‑‑ and particularly so in John's special emphasis presentation. We see in that record right there in the Garden of Gethsemane the tremendous display of the power and the glory of Jesus Christ. In what could have been a very debasing and very humbling and degrading situation Jesus shines forth in glory. There can be no really ... there can be no worse situation than be co ... than be captured like a common criminal, condemned to die And executed and yet in all of this Jesus shines in tremendous majesty. And here they come to Jesus to capture Him as a common criminal and Judas places that putrid kiss on His cheek to betray Him, and even in that, from that kind of degrading, humiliating scene Jesus is exalted in His deity.

     You say, "How?" Well, you remember what happened; He turned their well‑planned maneuver into a triumph of His own power. The first thing He did was He said -‑ who are you looking for? And they said Jesus of Nazareth. And He said ‑- I am. And they all fell over. Likely there were at least a thousand of them ... somewhere between six hundred and a thousand, and they fell down. The word of His power flattened them on the ground.

     Later on in the same scene He had exacted from their own mouth two times that they had come only for Jesus of Nazareth so they would admit by their own tongue that they had no right to His disciples. And then He said, "Let them go." And they had admitted twice by their own mouth that their orders were only for Jesus and thus in power He had controlled the situation and secured the release of His disciples ... always in control ... never the victim, always the victor. And so He built a little shelter for His disciples and naturally Peter jumped out of the shelter and went out and was going to start fighting, grabbed his little dagger, his little machaira as the Greek word indicates and cut off an ear, not aiming for an ear but that's the best he could get at that particular interval. And so, Jesus stepped out of that and He just created an ear on the spot for Malchus.

     And so, in the garden scene, Jesus had displayed tremendous glory, He had displayed His deity, first of all, in His power ... then in His control and then in His ability to create. He had given them a display of deity. And instead of becoming a victim in the garden He looks like a victor and indeed He is. And He made sure that you know and that I know and that everybody for all time knows that no man took His life from Him, He laid it down ... what? ... of Himself. Matthew added that Jesus said, "Thinkest thou not that I cannot beseech My Father and He shall give Me more than twelve legions of angels, but how then shall the Scripture be fulfilled?" Jesus could have asked God and received 12 legions of angels. Now that's enough to get you out of any problem. In the Old Testament one angel had handled 185 thousand of Sennacherib's forces. You can imagine what 12 legions of angels would be able to handle.

     So, Jesus had manifested His majesty in the garden. And He had left for all time the impression upon all men who read the Word of God that Hewas never a victim, He was always a victor. And the sad and pathetic and almost unbelievable response after the display of glory and the display of majesty and the display of divine power is recorded for us in verse 12, and you'll look at that and we'll being our look at these verses.

     Just an introduction here, "Then the band," the cohort, the Roman soldiers, "and the captain," the chiliarch, ruler over a thousand, "and officers," temple police, "of the Jews took Jesus," and the word "took" is the word for the official arrest," and bound Him." So this massive force takes Jesus and binds Him. Almost as if He hadn't even done anything miraculous to try to show them who He was, almost as if nothing had ever happened, as if their minds all of a sudden were blanked out as to what they had just experienced in the display of majesty that they had seen. And so they took Him and bound Him. The body of the Son of God was bound that our souls might be loosed from the cords of sin and Satan. It will give you a little insight into sin, won't it? And the blindness of sin ... that it cannot see the miraculous character and deity of Jesus Christ right in front of it.

     Now, starting from there, in the following passage through verse 27 there are two dramas taking place. Not one but two. They are separate dramas, separate scenes in separate locations and only at the end of our message this morning will we see how they meet and they don't meet in John's gospel, they meet in Luke 22 and we'll get to that. But you have one drama going over here and one here. Jesus' trial and Peter's denial ... and they are inter- Woven through this passage. Jesus' trial to Peter's denial, meanwhile back at the trial, meanwhile back at the denial. It just jumps back and forth. And it shows us those two basic foundational truths of Christianity: the glory of Christ and the sinfulness of man. Even Peter who was certainly above other men in the fact that he believed, yet is a great illustration of the sinfulness of sin.

     Now, I want you to notice that in John's record by the Holy Spirit they are interwoven accounts. It would have been very simple for the Holy Spirit to just put the trial in one spot, at least this portion of it before Annas, put Peter's denial together in one spot and have them separate so you can just take them each individually, but no. The Spirit of God weaves them together.

     Now, as you study in commentaries and various books you find that most have the tendency to put them together and they sort of say ‑- Well, we don't know why they're separated but for simplicity's sake we'll put them together, but it's better to leave them the way they are because that's the way the Holy Spirit wanted them to be or He wouldn't have put them that way. And so, what we're going to study this morning, and really see some exciting things, are these two different dramas going on at the same time and how they finally resolve together in a closing climax that is powerful. Jesus' trial and Peter's denial.

     Now, I asked myself, as I always do, why the Holy Spirit wanted to make sure these two things were taken together and intermingled. Perhaps we could say to emphasize those two truths ‑‑ the glory of Christ and the sinfulness of man. Perhaps to emphasize that Christ's atoning death was so necessary by showing not only the sinfulness of the unregenerate but even the sinfulness in the life of a believer who doesn't appear a whole lot better than anybody else at this point.

     Another suggestion might be that the reason these two are intermingled is to give us a very lasting and a very vivid contrast between the loving faithfulness of Jesus and the loveless faithlessness of Peter. Certainly there's a distinction between the kind of love that Jesus shows which cares for His disciples right on through the trial, who always in the front of His mind are those disciples, who loves them and is faithful to them to the end, and Peter who is faithless, denying and so forth. And so, perhaps there's the point that it contrasts the love of Christ for us and its divine nature with the love of us for Him which leaves a lot to be desired.

     But the clearest reason of all, the one that I think is most significant because of the gospel of John, is that the contrast is left here in order that we might exalt Christ. How are you going to exalt somebody in an arrest, in an indictment or an arraignment and in a mock trial in which He's spit on and punched around and pushed and abused and mocked? How are you ever going to exalt anybody in a scene like that? The only way you can do it is by contrast, right? So no matter how humiliated Jesus is, down this low there is always Peter down on the bottom. So by comparison, Jesus Christ is again exalted. So the Holy Spirit shows us somebody who was much lower than Jesus, who became much more humiliated and much more degraded than Jesus.And that somebody is Peter. So he exalts Christ by comparison to Peter and he makes sure that he weaves the two together so you keep being aware of the beauties of Jesus in comparison with the ... with the terrible degrading attitude of Peter who should have known better. And Peter was no run‑of‑the‑mill Joe, I mean; Peter was ... he was a pretty hot commodity. He belonged to Jesus Christ. He knew better. He was probably the greatest of the disciples in terms of natural abilities and force of personality. He was quite an individual. And yet he's the one that looks so low and thus by comparison, he being higher than other men, is still lower than Jesus. And after reading this particular passage you come out with those two things, you come out with the beauty and the dignity of Jesus and the depths of sin of Peter and so Jesus is exalted.

     All right, let's look at act one ‑‑ Jesus' trial ‑‑ Act One. Verse 12 to 14, as I say, it's a historical narrative so we'll just move through it and find some interesting things. Verse 12: "Then the band and the captain and the officers of the Jews took Jesus and bound Him." Now, this is an interesting multitude that's doing this and a good illustration of kind of the world picture of sin and rejection of Christ. Because within this multitude you have Gentiles and Jews, heathen and religious, soldiers and servants, priests and Pharisees, a whole lot of different types and though they may not all have all things in common, they all have one thing in common and that is they are totally stone blind to the incomparable qualities of the Son of God. They do not see it at all. They are insensible, they are unmoved, they come to parrot and carry out their orders, totally untouched by the tremendous display of the power of Jesus Christ that they've just seen. And they are graphic illustrators of the terrible sinfulness of the natural man who even in the face of a display of miracles does not believe. And that shows you the grip of sin. It's not hard to understand the unbelief and hardness of heart which we see today when we understand what was going on in Jesus' day.

     If you read a little further in your Bible you'll find that even in the Kingdom, when Jesus Christ sits on the throne in Jerusalem and rules the earth and is there in physical presence, doing the marvelous things that only He can do, there will be a revolution world‑wide of people who have rejected Him who will move to fight against Him. The depth and the sinfulness of sin.

     The Apostle Paul says: "The god of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them."

     Now, you'll notice in verse 12 they bind Him. There were probably several reasons for this. Number one, it was common practice with the captive to bind him just to secure him. Secondly, in Matthew 26:48 Judas had made the statement, ‑‑ when you get Him, quote, "Hold Him fast." And so they were taking the advice of Judas. But beyond that there is certainly a very beautiful fulfillment of typical prophecy. Now I've told you before that there are two types of prophecy. There is verbally predictive prophecy which is where a statement is made that will be fulfilled. And there is typically predictive prophecy in which a certain act or a certain person or a certain thing typifies a fulfillment. For example, a prophet may say Jesus will be born in Bethlehem. That's verbal prediction. On the other hand, a sacrifice laid on an altar is a picture of Jesus Christ, that is a type, so that is typical prediction. Both are accurate. Both are important. And so, as Jesus is bound here we could conclude that He is, in a sense, fulfilling typical prophecy because in the Old Testament, according to Psalm 118:27, the Bible says: "Bind the sacrifice with cords unto the horns of the altar." When the sacrifice was given it was bound. Do you remember in Genesis chapter 22:9, Isaac, who has to be for us a picture of Jesus Christ, is taken and before he is to be sacrificed is bound? So, Jesus by being bound fulfills the Old Testament type, bound in preparation for a sin offering.

     Now, verse 13: After He was bound ... and here we get into the nitty‑gritty of the trial, "and led Him away to Annas first, for he was the father‑in‑law of Caiaphas who was the high priest that same year." Now there you meet two real crumbs ‑‑ Annas and Caiaphas. They are despicable individuals. They would definitely fit into the Bible's rouges' gallery. They are the lowest of the low. But they're very important to the scene.

     Now Annas, we must look at Annas first, because the Bible says they led Him away to Annas first and there was a reason for that. This is the first phase of Jesus' trial. Let me give you a little quick note on His trial. Jesus had two trials ‑‑ a religious trial and a civil trial. His religious trial had to do with Israel; His civil trial had to do with Rome. And nothing, could be done in terms of Jesus' execution without Rome. Israel could decide that He should die but Rome had to execute Him 'cause they had no right to take a life since they were under Roman bondage. So first of all, there is then a religious trial. That religious trial has three parts: the arraignment, or the initial indictment before Annas which took place immediately after the garden, it was followed by a meeting with Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin who had gotten together in the middle of the night, which was, of course, illegal but was part of the plot, the whole trial was illegal, it never was intended to be legal it was all a mockery just to get it over with. The second part then, in the middle of the night with Caiaphas, and then to try to validate what they had done they had a regrouping in the morning after daybreak to try to make it legal ... of the same group, Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin. So they had three phases: Annas, Caiaphas in the middle of the night with the Sanhedrin and then in the morning again.

     After that, He went to the civil trial which also had three phases. First before Pilate and Pilate didn't know what to do so he sent Jesus over to Herod who was the tetrarch of Galilee who happened to be down in Jerusalem at the time and Herod didn't know what to do with Him either so he sent Him back to Pilate. So there you have the three phases of the civil trial.

     Now, to begin this whole mock trial which didn't have any evidence from beginning to end and didn't mean anything, it was all a part of the plot, He is taken to Annas first of all. Now according to the Word of God and especially according to verse 19 in this passage, we know that Annas is called the high priest. Now the question that always arises is how come Annas is called the high priest and so is Caiaphas? Can you have two high priests? Technically, according to God's design, no. But by this time Israel had deteriorated into so many problems that they had problems of this nature. There was not only one or two high priests there may have been others who rightfully had the right to be called high priests. But Annas was the power behind everything.

     Now, let me tell you what I mean. It is possible and likely that Annas legitimately had the right to be high priest. He could well have been in the Aaronic line. If that is true then he did have the right to be high priest. And in fact he was high priest from the year 6 to 15 A.D., during the childhood years of Jesus. But around the year 15 he had been pressured by the Romans to bail out of being high priest because they wanted it to become a puppet office and Annas was a powerful guy. And I suppose historically they felt somewhat threatened or insecure with Annas in there running the show permanently until he died. Because in the Old Testament, you see, a man was high priest for life. And so technically Annas was still high priest and could legitimately be called high priest ... for he was high priest all his life, if in fact as we believe he was of the Aaronic line. But in order to kind of work together with Rome, Rome had felt they needed to put a puppet in as high priest and so they would appoint high priests. Technically they weren't legitimate.

     Now, to show you what kind of a guy Annas was, he was so powerful that when they took Annas out of office, the next six, seven guys they put in, five of them were his sons, one was his grandson and this one was his son‑in‑law. So he may not have been high priest technically, but he was high priest for real. He was running the show. Now in order to be high priest you just had to get down on the ground and kiss Rome's hem and come up with a lot of money. You bought the office. It was a matter of intrigue, a matter of corruption, of contention and bribery. And Annas was so loaded with money that he just kept buying out the high priest office and consequently was always in control.

     Now this kind of sets the stage for Annas being involved here and Caiaphas would be just a puppet for Annas. Evidently Annas was the biggest briber because he had the most money and it's very interesting to learn how he earned his money. Annas was in charge of the temple concessions. Now when Annas got bounced around 15, he took over running the concessions in the temple and Annas was an operator. He was really the biggest cog in the ecclesiastical machine of Judaism. He ran the show. He was immensely rich and consequently could buy his way into all these offices and he remained the power behind the scene.

     Now about this particular situation of temple concessions ... You say, "What do they have concessions in the temple for anyway? That belongs at the football game." Well, they weren't those kind of concessions, hot dogs, and popcorn concessions. They were ... they were concessions having to do with the sale of animals for sacrifices. When people came to make their sacrifices, they came into the outer court called "The Court of the Gentiles," and there were all these concession booths set up for the exchange of money because they would have to pay a temple tax, put money in those trumpet‑shaped things that were on the walls where they dropped their collection. And if they brought in foreign currency, of course, they had to exchange it. Also, they came in there to make sacrifices. Well, Annas had a monopoly going. Because the Old Testament law required that any sacrifice be without spot and ... what? ... blemish, and all the details. So here comes somebody from out of his particular field and he's coming to Passover and he's gathered his own sacrifice, he's got a little lamb under his arm ... illustration. He comes in. Annas has stationed in there certain guys who are inspectors of sacrifices. And the sacrifice must pass the inspection before it can be legitimidized (legitimized).

     Naturally, nobody's sacrifice ever passes. And so what happens is the suggestion is made that if you want a sacrifice that's already been approved, they're for sale over at the certain booth in the Court of the Gentiles. And you go over there and you buy it at five times the price it's worth. And then, of course, when you come in and you attempt to change your money to give your money to the temple, you find that you are cheated about five to one. And so, Annas has got a real good thing going.

     Now, as history indicated to us, and we mentioned it last week, at least one Passover time had a quarter of a million sacrificial lambs. That's a lot of money. That's quite a business. And Annas had made his money on extortion. In fact, the whole temple ground became known ... that area became known as "The Bizarre ofAnnas." And he ran it. In fact, the Jews themselves hated Annas. They hated him. The Talmud, which puts down for history the beatitudes of the Jews, says about Annas, and I quote: "Woe to the house of Annas. Woe to their serpent's hiss. They are high priests. Their sons are keepers of the treasury. Their sons‑in‑law guardians of the temple and their servants beat the people with staves." They had a monopoly going. They had ... they were in control of everything. So the Talmud gives us an indication of the Jewish hatred of Annas and his house.

     Now, to add to that problem, not only was he the brains behind the whole scene, guess who had twice messed up his operation? None other than Jesus who when He began His ministry went in there and chased everybody out and evidently did it again at the close of His ministry. This did not make Him very popular with Annas. So naturally if they wanted to get an indictment of Jesus, they would go to Annas for those two reasons. Number one, he was the brains behind the machinery anyway, even though he wasn't technically the high priest. And number two, he had a hatred for Jesus who had messed up his business. And they figured if anybody could come across with some pretty powerful indictments, our boy Annas could cut it. So they brought Him to Annas.

     But, Annas, my friends, was about to meet his match and infinitely superior. Annas hated Jesus because he had been hit right where it hurts, in the moneybag. He hated Jesus because Jesus represented to him something threatening the security of his office, even as he did to Caiaphas who was scared that Jesus was going to take over, start a revolution and Caiaphas would lose his job.He was purely a paid politician, paid by the Romans.

     So, they bring Him to Annas first. Then we meet Caiaphas because Caiaphas has to be introduced because he's technically the guy who's really the high priest at this time in terms of function. Verse 13: "He was the father‑in‑law of Caiaphas who was the high priest the same year. Now Caiaphas, "verse 14, "was he who gave counsel to the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people."

     Now, Caiaphas had been plotting Jesus' death all along. You know how these purchased politicians are; they're scared all the time. They know they never got the office by ability to begin with and they're hanging by a thread. And here is Caiaphas and he's scared to death. He loves the prestige of his office ..., he sees Jesus. And Jesus moves in and Jesus moves the people. He sways the people. He is popular. I mean, it's only been less than a week ago and the whole place has been screaming "Hosanna!" right? And he is really scared. And he said back in John chapter 11, verse 49, he got together with his cronies and they talked about the tremendous problem of Jesus just prior to Jesus' triumphal entry and they had heard about Him raising Lazarus from the dead.

     "And one of them named Caiaphas being the high priest that same year said unto them, Ye know nothing at all." 'Cause they suggested ‑- Just let Him alone and ... you know, it will pass. Caiaphas says: "Nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people and the whole nation perish not." And here he says -- why, if we don't get rid of this Jesus He's going to mess up the nation, we're going to have a revolution, the Romans will come down and "Whapo!" they'll wipe outall of us. So what we ought to do is kill Jesus to save the nation.

     Now, he didn't know what he was saying but he was speaking prophecy. It says in the next verse, "And this spoke he not of himself but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation." How do you like that?

     Oh, Annas, opened up his hateful mouth ... with political end in mind and say: We ought to kill Jesus because it's better for one man to die for the nation than the whole nation die. And he didn't even know what he was saying. And God was putting a prophecy right through his lips. So that's Caiaphas. He hated Jesus. And so was ready and plotting to get rid of Him. They were only waiting for the right moment. And of course, Judas had already consulted with them and set it all up. So we see the beginning of Jesus trial and a mock trial at that.

     Now let's switch to Peter's denial. Act one ‑‑ Meanwhile back at Simon Peter, right? Verse 15: "And Simon Peter followed Jesus," Mark 14:54 says he followed a far off. He was kind of hiding back in the bushes and sneaking along. "And so did another disciple. That disciple was known unto the high priest and went in with Jesus into the court of the high priest." They had gotten Jesus clear to Annas. Taking Him through the outer deal into the courtyard, and this other disciple and is not named, some think he's John. Personally I don't think he is John. What connection would John have with the high priest? I mean, they would know him very definitely to be a disciple of Jesus. One writer went to great pains to show that he thought that John's father sold fish to the high priest, and so since the high priest knew John because ... or knew John's father cause he bought fish from him, he would know John the son. Well, that's okay except we don't have any evidence that John's father sold fish to him ... which kind of blows the theory.

     Who is it then? Well, I have two choices that you can choose from that I think are valid. One would be Nicodemus who perhaps at this time had not really yet revealed himself as a disciple but since he is one of the Sanhedrin would have been able to slide in there. And his name is not used in the sense that he is still unknown. The other one and the one that I think I lean toward is Joseph of Arimathea ... a very wealthy and rich aristocrat who did not really declare himself a disciple at all. And in John 19:38 it says: "Joseph of Arimathea being a disciple of Jesus but secretly for fear of the Jews," etc. "besought Pilate to bury the body of Jesus." So, maybe Nicodemus, maybe Joseph of Arimathea, it doesn't really matter. But somebody who had an in with the high priest. Either Nicodemus or Joseph of Arimathea likely would have had such an in.

     So, Peter is following along. Now this is typical of Peter. Peter will not stay where the Lord wants him to stay, you see. In the garden the Lord built a little protection shelter for them and allowed them to get away. You remember? But Peter didn't accept that. He jumps out and starts to fight the Romans. And the Lord said: "Peter, put that thing away." And He grabs him and puts him back in the little shelter. He says -‑ Now why don't you accept My protection, that's not how it's going to be.

     And no sooner has Jesus gotten him secured and Matthew told us the disciples fled, forsook Him and fled, they went away, not Peter. He still hasn't got the sense to know what he can't handle. Do you see? Now he's moved by the fact that down in his heart he remembers that he promised Jesus he'd die with Him and he loves Jesus and he can't stand the thought of not being with Jesus. Now we know that. I mean, I know Jesus spent three years with Peter walking down the road stopping and having Peter run into the back of Him, you know. Peter was always there. And on one occasion He said, "Will you go away?" And he said: "To whom shall we go, Thou and Thou alone has the words of eternal life." So, Peter had a tremendous desire to be with Jesus. And there is no question that he loved Jesus with all his heart he loved Him. But he just had this kind of overwhelming self‑confidence that he thought that he could just kind of hack his way into any problem and he would not accept the security that Jesus had provided for him, that we studied last week.

     And before you get too hot about Peter, look at your own life. I mean, the Lord says -‑ Now I'm going to give you a secure place, don't get out into the world's system, don't buy the world's philosophy, don't entertain yourself with the world's entertainment, don't gobble up on the world's customs, don't become a part of the scene, I've built you a place where you can grow and when you're strong enough you can go out there and you can meet the world and you can be victorious but until you get that strong, hang in tough with those who belong to Christ and build yourself up until you're ready for that. And so many Christians say, "Oh, are you kidding? I can handle that." Boom, they go out there. And the Lord spends His time reaching out and taking Christians and spanking them on the way back to put them in the shelter. Because we will not accept the place that God has given us to abide in Christ, we always have this overconfidence thinking we can go in the world and do what the world does and we'll come out all right.

     That's Peter. He is not content with what Christ has provided for him in security until he gets strong enough to handle it. Now later on he was strong enough. Boy, after the Spirit of God filled him he could go right out in the middle of the world and just bomb the message out and really with devastation. He was powerful. He could handle anything. He got before some of those persecutors later in his life, wound up being crucified upside down, I mean, he could handle it. But not yet. And the Lord puts him in this thing and says ‑- Stay there, Peter, until you're ready. If you were ready I'd take you with Me, you're not ready.

     But Peter doesn't know that. He's just self‑confident Peter. But he's not too self‑confident. Right? He's following a far off. Just kind of, you know, well, I'm ... you know, I can handle it, I ... I think. You know, so he's kind of sliding along. He wanted to be with Jesus and yet he was afraid.

     All right, verse 16. Now the other disciple has gone into the courtyard but Peter is standing at the door. Peter stood at the door,he didn't have an in yet. "Then went out the other disciple, which was known unto the high priest, spoke unto her which kept the door and brought in Peter." See, now he's got permission to get Peter in there. And the doorway would be kind of a little hallway going through one of the apartments that surrounded the courtyard likely. But Peter would be progressing through. He's waiting on the outside, the disciple on the inside who ... they motioned him to come on. So, he starts through. And he's making it in there.

     And I can imagine that in his mind he is plotting. "Now, when I get in there I'm going to get right next to Jesus. Hmm, see. I'm going to get my arm right ... and if anything happens I'm going to say -‑ Jesus, You did it in the garden, do it again." See. Ha. Make them all fall down or do something. You know, he felt whenever he got near Jesus he had tremendous security, fantastic security, never fear anything. So he's figuring, "When I get in there, I'm just going to get in there and I'm going to get right up to Jesus and if anything goes wrong we'll just zap them, you know, that will be it, see."

     But, he didn't plan very well. Cause on the way through the door, verse 17 says: "Then saith the maid that kept the door unto Peter, Art not thou also one of this man's disciples?" And the Greek question's in the negative. You're not one of His disciples, are you? She's kind of looking at him in the dark and he says: "I am not." And I know that he just all of a sudden said, "Oh my ... what did I say? I ... what did I say?" You know, that's what shocked him. I'm sure he just realized that he had said something without even thinking that he had said it. I am not. Just in fear. Now, get the picture. He was going in to where Jesus was on trial. He was ready for that. But he wasn't ready for the little girl at the door, you see. I mean, you know, those temptations you know are coming up in two weeks; you can plan for it, right? You lay that strategy out ‑‑ let's see, when I get there I'm going to avoid this, oh; I'm just going to be ‑‑ it's all set. And on the way ‑Zap! You get hit from the blind side. That's how Satan works. You get that self‑confidence and you build up in your mind how I'm going to handle this ‑ See, when I get in there I'm going to say I believe in Jesus, yes, I'm one of His disciples. Ha‑ha, you see, holding on very tight to the Lord.

     But he never got there because he blew it in his own self-confidence. Satan is too subtle. Now I have this opportunity this week to speak at Valley College, I think it's on Tuesday. There was a man there who gave a series of five lectures against Jesus Christ, a Jewish man, so they asked me to come and kind of present Christ.And I don't fear this, there's no problem. I can meet that challenge. I'm ready for whatever ... tomatoes, or you know, whatever they want to do to me. I don't care about ... I'm ready, I've got it all worked up, I'm ready to go today, you know, I've got that deal laid out. That's not what bothers me. It's not those big super confrontations, it's those little shots on the way in that you get. Satan is subtle. And here all of a sudden, before Peter even knew what happened, he was going to go meet the whole Roman shot and all the Jewish leaders and he was going to make it but he couldn't get pass the little girl at the door. He blew it. And once he had told the lie he was stuck with it because now if he turned his story around, then he made Jesus look bad ‑‑ a lying disciple. Not only that it would have seemed like he had a plot going on or something.