LUKE 22:47-62 THREE TYPES OF PEOPLE2014 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 22:47-62 Three Types Of People

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2014.

This morning as we look at Luke chapter 22 verses 47 through 62, we are looking at three types of people. Three different types of people that I'll identify and show throughout this passage that we can learn some insights from. First of all, we'll have the betrayer.

And then we'll have the opposers. And then we'll also have the followers. And in relationship to Jesus Christ, there are these three types of people. Either you're one of these three. You're a betrayer, an opposer, or a follower.

And so we'll kick it off looking at the betrayer and talking about verse 47 and 48. And let's look again at verse 47. It says, And while he was still speaking, behold a multitude, and he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to kiss Jesus.

Here as we talk about the betrayer, of course we're referring to a man named Judas. And we see him lead this multitude of soldiers into the Garden of Gethsemane.

Jesus has been here in this garden spending time in prayer. It was just a few hours earlier that he was celebrating the last supper with his disciples. And after the supper he led his disciples out to the garden and we studied last week his prayer and the time that he spent with the Lord in preparation for the things that he was about to endure.

Well, Judas now comes back in the picture, having left the dinner, and he is bringing this crowd with him to betray Jesus. And as we look at these couple verses here, there's a few things I want to point out and observe about Judas that we can learn about those who are betrayers. So the first thing that you can see here in verse 47 is that

Notice it says there in verse 47 that he who is called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them. It highlights, it points out here that Judas was one of the twelve disciples. And he was one of the twelve disciples.

These are the 12 guys who had been with Jesus for the past three to three and a half years. And they'd been ministering alongside of Jesus for all this time. There were these 12 guys that Jesus had selected to be his disciples.

There was lots of people around him. He had lots of followers. Back in chapter 10, we saw him send out the 70. And so there was at least 70 followers. But there were these 12 that he selected to be close to him, to be with him always. And Judas was one of these 12. He was with Jesus. He was with the rest of the disciples for this time. And the point is that he fit in.

He blended in with them. He, well, he was a follower alongside of them. He looked just like the rest of the disciples. So much so that a few verses earlier, when Jesus was at that last supper with his disciples and he told them, one of you is going to betray me, the disciples were shocked.

And it tells us in the other gospels that they went around one by one saying, is it me, Lord? Is it I who'm going to betray you? And one by one they went around because in their minds it was

easier to understand or easier to think that they would betray Jesus than it would be that one of the others, perhaps Judas, right? It would make sense if they thought all of a sudden Jesus said, you know, one of you is going to betray me. And everybody said, it's Judas. We always knew he didn't fit in. We always knew he dressed funny. He wasn't quite like us. And so, you know, we can pick him out right away. He's the betrayer.

No, but the reality is they didn't know. He fit right in. Seemed like he was one of them. And so when Jesus said, there's someone who's going to betray me, they didn't know who it was. Now, this is the reality that we face because Judas was not the last one to be like this. But there are always betrayers in the midst of followers. The apostle John, later on as he's writing the book 1 John,

He tells us in chapter 2 that many antichrists have gone into the world. He says many antichrists have come. There's many who are against Christ, he is saying. But he points out in 1 John chapter 2 verse 19 that

That they were from the midst of believers. He says, they went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that it might be made manifest that none of them were of us. And so John's pointing out, there are those who are against Christ and they were in your midst. They were in the midst of believers and we didn't know any different. But then they left us

And then it was made manifest. When they came out and were against Christ openly, then it was clear and then we knew that they were not of us, but that they were against Christ. And so there are betrayers in the midst of believers, in the midst of followers. It's the wheat and the tares that Jesus spoke about. And that is going to be the case. In fact, as we, you know, gather together on a Sunday morning,

it's probably pretty likely that there are some betrayers among us. I mean, look around. Look to the left. Look to the right. They might be right next to you because they look like followers. How are you going to know? Now, that doesn't mean that we're now charged with tracking them down and trying to figure out. God knows who they are. That's not for us to worry so much about. But instead for us to consider ourselves and to examine ourselves because we can easily fit in.

And we can, like Judas, wear the mask of hypocrisy and play the part that we're expected to play and put on the show and pretend to be Christian, pretend and play church and look like everybody else. And that's a dangerous position to be in as we'll continue to see here as we look at the example of Judas. So first of all, a betrayer looks like a follower.

But then another thing that we can see here in verse 47 is that a betrayer follows Jesus for what they can get. Notice at the end of verse 47 it says that Judas went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss him. Judas drew near to Jesus to kiss him. Why did Judas draw near to Jesus? Well it says it was to kiss him. Now

we know that this was not what we would consider a genuine kiss. It wasn't an affectionate kiss. It wasn't that he was drawing near to Jesus because he loved him, because he worshipped him, because he adored him or served him. The reason why he draws near to kiss Jesus is because that's the sign that he had set up with the religious leaders so that they would know which one to arrest.

It was the sign that he had set up with them so that the soldiers would know who to take into custody. And so as Judas draws near to Jesus, it's not because he loves Jesus. It's not to get to know Jesus or to worship Jesus. It's to get what he wants from this encounter, which is the 30 pieces of silver that the religious leaders agreed to pay him for betraying Jesus to them.

And so he drew near to Jesus to kiss him so that he could obtain the payment that he had arranged. Now this wasn't the first time that, you know, something like this has happened for Judas. We learn from the Gospel of John chapter 12. Remember there, that's the account where the woman has broken a vial, a very costly ointment, and she's anointing Jesus with it.

And it tells us the disciples, specifically Judas is upset and says, hey, why didn't we sell that ointment for 300 denarii? That's 300 days wages. Or you could think of it like an annual salary. That's a year's worth of wages that we could have sold and then given the money to the poor. Sounds pretty good what Judas is saying, but John gives us some insight in John chapter 12 verse 6 says,

It tells us that Judas said this, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief. And he had the money box and he used to take what was put in it. So Judas is watching this exchange and he's thinking, I'm missing out on a year's worth of wages. Because he had charge of the money box and he was a thief. He would take out of it what he wanted. And so Judas is following Jesus for this time. But throughout this time he's...

Well, he's a thief. And he's getting what he wants out of this relationship or out of following Jesus. And that's something that continues to exist today. There are people who follow Jesus for what they think they can get out of it. You know, there are some people who think, you know, I don't really need these things about the Lord, but I really want my kids, you know, to be learning about God. And so,

I'm going to come to church because I want my kids to learn about Jesus. I don't have any desire to follow Jesus, but I'll come. I'll fit in as long as my kids are being taken care of. As long as my kids are learning what they need to be learning. I'm not going to change my life. Don't expect me to repent. But, you know, my kids need it very much. And so I want to make sure they get taken care of.

Some people follow Jesus because, well, they're trying to alleviate some guilt that they have. And there's this burden that they carry. And it's like, well, if I do good, if I'm religious, then I can relieve this sense of guilt that I have. And that's what I'm in it for.

Some people come for the girls or maybe for the boys, you know, at least initially. We've had many examples of that, right? Well, I went to a Harvest Crusade because there was this girl I liked and she was going and then I got saved at the Harvest Crusade. But sometimes it extends beyond that. There are those in the midst who, their motives are not right. They're not about seeking the Lord. Their hearts are not about pursuing the Lord. But they have other interests in mind. They're out to get something for themselves, right?

Instead of being like that, we need to follow Jesus for who he is. We need to follow Jesus because we believe that he is the son of God. He, being God, became man and died upon the cross for us. We need to follow Jesus because it's our rightful place. He's our creator. He's our master. He's our king. And not so much that we can get out of it, but

He's already done what we need the most, and that is He paid the price for our sin. And we need to come to the understanding that if Jesus does nothing else for you ever, what He did for us upon the cross is sufficient for us to serve Him, to love Him, to worship Him for the rest of eternity. What He did for us upon the cross is enough. So if we don't get any money out of it, if we don't get anything else out of it, it's enough.

He has accomplished the greatest thing already for us. But if we follow Jesus for what we can get out of it, for something that we want to obtain, well then the reality is that we will betray Him

When we think that we can get something better. And this is the last observation here with Judas. That is the betrayer will betray Jesus when it is convenient. In verse 48 Jesus says to Judas. Judas are you betraying the son of man with a kiss? Are you betraying me with a kiss? The betrayal was one thing. But this was adding insult to injury. Because it was a token of affection.

a demonstration of love, but it was that very demonstration of love that was the act of betrayal. And so Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss because it's convenient. When he was arranging with the religious leaders a couple days earlier, he talked with them, hey, I can get him alone for you. I can get him away from the crowds. And

They were all happy and they agreed, okay, we'll give you 30 pieces of silver. And it tells us there that Judas then looked for that convenient time to betray Jesus. The time that was opportune, you know, the best time, the time when it would be convenient to grab Jesus when he's away from the crowd. But that idea of being convenient to betray Jesus always has stuck out in my mind. I think it's a door that goes both ways. That is, Judas was with Jesus and

While it was convenient. He followed Jesus as long as it was convenient. As long as he got what he wanted out of it. But then when he could get something else that he wanted. And it wasn't going the way that he wanted with Jesus. So he decided, well I'm going to go this way. It's more convenient now to betray Jesus.

For a while it was convenient to be with Jesus, to follow Jesus, but now it's more convenient to betray Him to get the things that I desire. And that's the reality. If we're in this relationship with the Lord for what we can get out of it, there's a danger then for us to try to get what we want elsewhere instead of continuing to go to Jesus to satisfy our needs. And so this morning I would ask you to consider, are you

A betrayer. I won't ask for a show of hands if you're a betrayer because a real betrayer wouldn't show his hand. Because he looks like a follower. But it is worth considering for our own hearts. Am I involved in hypocrisy, playing church, pretending, but not really following Jesus? Not following Jesus because of who he is. And he's worthy of all of our worship and praise and adoration and service.

It reminded me of the church of Thyatira. Remember in chapter 3 of the book of Revelation, where Jesus is writing to the church. He says, I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. And he says, I could wish that you were cold or hot. But then because you're lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I vomit you out of my mouth. I think this is the condition of the betrayer. Trying to walk kind of the middle. Trying to be with Jesus, but also be God.

for themselves and get what they want. And so there's this middle road, but he says, I wish you were cold or hot. Now we're going to talk about those who oppose Jesus. Those are those who are cold. Then we'll talk about the followers of Jesus. They're hot. They're on fire for the Lord. But to be lukewarm, to try to walk the middle, Jesus says, I wish you were one or the other. Lukewarm, I can't handle. Lukewarm, I can't handle.

Remember Jesus also said, if you're not with me, you're against me. And so to pretend to be with Jesus is really to be against Jesus, but it's just not revealed until later on. And so if you find the Lord convicting you about some hypocrisy, some betrayal that is going on, then, well, you need to repent and you need to put Jesus first and decide to follow him no matter what.

Well, there's another type of people that we can see in this passage, and those are the ones who oppose Jesus. So you have a betrayer and you have the opposer. Check out verse 52. Then Jesus said to the chief priests, captains of the temple, and the elders who had come to him, have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs?

Here Jesus points out that those who are against him are coming out, and the first observation about opposers is that they treat Jesus like a criminal. He says, have you come out as against a robber? You're coming out to me as if I have done something wrong, as if I've committed some crime, as if I've been robbing people.

And so you have your swords, you have your clubs, you have your instruments that you would use whenever you're trying to take down a criminal. When I haven't been committing any crimes. I haven't been doing anything wrong. Jesus has been completely innocent and sinless his whole life. And so the way that they come at Jesus here in the garden is really a case of unnecessary force.

It's a brutality, it's a roughness that is, well, it's not right. It's not appropriate for who they're coming against and who they're seeking to arrest. And so there are those who have this kind of opposition against Jesus and in that they treat Jesus like a criminal.

And we can see this today and we can see it in the world around us. There are people who have animosity and anger towards Jesus. And it's not justified. It's not appropriate because Jesus has not done anything wrong. But there's this hatred, this anger, this opposition to Jesus. It comes from religious leaders like we see here in the Garden of Gethsemane. It comes from political leaders. It comes from all kinds of people.

And I think as we look around in our nation more and more, we can see that our nation is treating Jesus more and more like a criminal. There's this antagonism against the things of Jesus. I was reading an article this week, and it was talking about a bunch of different cases recently in the United States where Christians are being fired...

especially in upper levels of leadership within companies and corporations, they're being fired for their beliefs

even if they're not promoting those beliefs within the workplace. So it was giving different examples of CEOs and people in those kinds of positions where it's discovered, it's found out that they believe in Jesus. They find statements that they've made. They find things that they've contributed to religious groups and things like that and propositions that are highly...

political but focused on the morals of the Bible and they find these things out and there's been recently kind of just a bunch of people who have been fired for those things. Not because they were disrupting the workplace or anything like that but things that were done outside of the workplace and

are now costing them their jobs because they believe in Jesus, they believe in what the Bible says. And we continue to see that trend, that there's this opposition against Jesus, treating Jesus as if he's a criminal, as if it's a crime to believe in him and to do what he's called us to do.

And so that's the first observation about those who oppose. They treat Jesus as a criminal. But the second thing we see as we go on in verse 53 is that they work secretly for fear of people. He says in verse 53, he's still talking to the religious leaders, he says, When I was with you daily in the temple, you did not try to seize me, but this is your hour and the power of darkness. Why were they arresting Jesus secretly?

At night in the garden of Gethsemane. That's what Jesus is pointing out. He says, look, I've been with you. Remember, this is the tail end of the Passion Week. So every day he's been in the temple teaching for the past week. He says, daily I've been in the temple. I've been out in the open. I haven't been hiding anywhere. And you did not try to seize me. Why are you doing this now? Well, we know from previous passages in Luke that

That they're doing it in this way at this time because they feared the people. At the beginning of chapter 22 is when Judas went to the chief priests and arranged to make a deal. But verse 2 that started it says, "...the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might kill him, for they feared the people."

And so they didn't want to kill him in a way that the people would see what was going on. They were trying to figure out a way, how can we get him alone? How can we do this so that the people don't find out?

Because they feared the people. And so when Judas said, hey, I can give you the insights. I can tell you where he's going to be and when the best time will be. And it says that they were glad and they agreed to give him money. They were all happy because now we have a way to put Jesus to death without the people coming. And so Judas says, yeah, I'll get him away from the multitude and then he'll be yours. This indicates here that they knew Jesus

that what they were doing was wrong. So they kept it secret. Those who are against Jesus know that it's wrong. And so they work secretly for fear of the people. Now they join together with others who are against Jesus as well, but they work secretly, subversively, trying to do things behind the scenes so that it only comes out after the fact, after it's too late, there's nothing that the people can do about it.

Back in chapter 20 of Luke in verse 19, it tells us that the chief priests knew that Jesus was speaking against them in his parables. And so they sought to lay hands on him, but that they feared the people. And then in chapter 19, now this is, you know, day by day as Jesus is teaching in the temple, this is happening over and over. It says they were upset with Jesus, but they were unable to do anything for all the people were very attentive to hear him.

And they were frustrated. The people are always paying attention. They're always around. How can we get rid of Jesus when the people are always watching? They desperately wanted to get rid of him, but they feared the people. The Proverbs tell us that the fear of man is a snare. And when fear of people motivates us, it's going to cause all kinds of problems. It's never going to be good. We need to fear God first to put him first.

But here they fear man and so they're working secretly behind the scenes. And what they're about to do is to put him on trial and then put him to death. This happens so quickly because they're trying to get it done before the people know what's going on. And so they're going to have some illegal trials tonight as they arrest him. And then by 9 o'clock the next morning he's going to be on the cross already.

So that before the nation as a whole or the city of Jerusalem as a whole realize what's going on, it's already too late and Jesus will have been crucified. And so they work secretly to try to accomplish these things without the people knowing. Well, the final observation here in verse 54 is that

The opposer will try or will attempt to get rid of Jesus. Verse 54 says,

And so here's their attempt to get rid of Jesus. They take him to the high priest's house and now there's going to be a series of trials. A couple Jewish trials, then a couple Roman trials, and then finally his crucifixion. And so they have this plan in place. Their attempt to get rid of Jesus involves these trials so that they can turn him over to Rome to be put to death. And to accomplish this, they try to gather up a bunch of witnesses, right?

Now they're false witnesses. And it's kind of a little bit humorous as you look at it because they were frustrated because these false witnesses, they got them to testify in their trials, but they wouldn't agree with each other. And so they're like, hey, didn't we pay you enough to agree with each other and you're false witnessing? You know, like...

Get your story straight, but everybody was telling different stories even though they were false witnesses, even though they were being used by the religious leaders to try to accomplish an unjust trial against Jesus. But they're desperately working. The trials that they go through, for the Jewish trials,

They were against their own laws and customs. And so to have a trial at night like this was against their laws. But they did it anyways because they're desperate to get rid of Jesus. They're gathering up false witnesses to try to build up a case. And they're frustrated that that's not working. But they're attempting. They're working hard to get rid of Jesus. And so there are those who oppose Jesus. They still exist today.

We still see this work going on and the secrecy, the attempt to get rid of Jesus. And I would say this morning, if you consider this and you realize this is me, I've been working against Jesus. Listen, the good news is it's not too late. You can repent and turn to Jesus. He receives opposers when we repent, when we turn. Think about the Apostle Paul, the greatest example, right? I mean, if there was ever an opposer of Jesus, it was Paul.

Then he was called Saul. He persecuted the church. He tortured people to try to get them to renounce the gospel, to renounce Jesus Christ. But then as he was on the way to Damascus, Jesus appeared to him and he said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. It's hard for you to kick against the goads. You're fighting against me, Saul. It's hard. And Saul repented. He converted. He gave his life to the Lord and God did great things with him.

And so there's hope for opposers. It's something important for us to keep in mind. For those of us who are followers of Jesus, that when we come in encounter with or we come close to those who are in opposition to the things of the Lord, that we need to remember that God wants to bring them to salvation. They're against him, but he's not against them.

And he's out to deliver them and to show them mercy and grace and forgiveness that's found by faith in Jesus Christ. And so pray for those Saul's in your life. Pray for those Saul's in our nation who are against Christ because God wants to reach them and bring them to salvation.

Well, the final type of people that we'll look at this morning is found in the rest of the verses that we haven't covered yet. And this is starting in verse 49 through 51. And then we'll jump down to 56 through 62. But these are followers of Jesus. Let's look at verse 49. It says, when those around him saw what was going to happen, they said to him, Lord, shall we strike with the sword? And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear.

But Jesus answered and said, permit even this. And he touched his ear and healed him. And so the first thing that we observe about followers of Jesus is that they make mistakes in zeal. This is something that, well, if you're a follower in Jesus, you can basically count on it. You are going to make some mistakes because of your zeal or your passion for the Lord. It's going to happen.

This is demonstrated by, well, they see the guards, they see the crowd, and it says in verse 49, they see what's about to happen. They're like, oh no, is this really about to go down? And so they say, shall we strike them with the sword? Now then, verse 50, it says, one of them struck the servant of the high priest. We learn from John chapter 18,

That this is Peter. So they're saying, shall we strike him with the sword? Peter's already got his sword out. He's not waiting for an answer. He's swinging. And as he does, he cuts off the ear of the high priest's servant. You got to love Peter, right? I mean, passionate, zealous. It's not difficult to picture him doing this after, you know, we've spent some time with him in the gospels.

Now there's a couple of ideas or theories that go along with Peter cutting off the ear of the servant. First of all, it's been observed. So number one, Peter was probably not very good with the sword because, well, he cut off his ear. So it's probably not what he meant to do, right? It's probably wasn't what he was going for. And so maybe he was going for the kill. I mean, he was chopping heads off and the guy ducked or something and it just nicked his ear. We don't know.

But another thought, another theory is, well, assuming that Peter is right-handed, it points out in verse 50 that he cut off the right ear of the servant. Now, if you think about it, so you're facing somebody, their right ear is over here. If you're right-handed, to cut off their right ear is awkward, right? It's kind of hard. And so some suggest from that that Peter might have attacked this guy from behind because if he's facing the other way, then it's just right there. It's like clean cut, no problem.

We don't know. We don't know what was really going on or what all happened. But here's what we do know. Peter is caught up in his concern for Jesus. And he's saying, there's no way this is happening. I'm not letting them have Jesus. And so he's on the offensive. He's on the attack. He's swinging the sword. Now remember that Jesus, for the past few days, has been warning his disciples that he would be betrayed. That he would be put on trial and that he would be crucified. He's been telling them over and over again.

But Peter missed it. He missed the point. He was zealous. He was passionate. But he was missing the point. It's a good example for us because, well, we have many more examples, Christians that follow Peter's example, where we, in our zeal and our passion, make mistakes. Have you ever done that? Have you ever been so zealous or passionate about something that you've kind of taken it too far? Maybe you took a strong stance on something and

And then later on you realize, you know, that wasn't the best thing. That really wasn't a big deal. I don't know why I was so serious about that, so hard on that. I didn't cut off an ear with the sword, but I cut off an ear with the words. And yeah, maybe I should have backed down and not swung so quickly on that issue. Sometimes we make mistakes in our zeal.

I was thinking back to many years ago now when Pastor Tom was still here and I was leading the youth group. I was maybe 19, 20 years old, something like that. And I was leading the youth group and I was having a great time. And I decided, you know, we need to change the time on Friday nights from 7 o'clock to 6 o'clock.

Because we're doing all these things. We have worship and then there's these games that we play. And then we get into the word. And there's just not enough time. If we start at 7 o'clock, we just don't have enough time. And so I moved the youth service to 6 o'clock so that we could have enough time. Because what I wanted to do and what I was doing was...

Well, you probably already know. I haven't changed that much. I was spending a long time in the Bible study. And so I wanted to start at 6 o'clock so we could spend a lot of time in the Word. And very quickly, the youth group dwindled and dwindled and dwindled and dwindled and dwindled. And later on, Pastor Tom came up to me. He's like, hey, you know, you changed the service a couple months ago. And it seems like nobody's coming anymore. You know, what do you think's wrong?

Like, I don't know. I don't know why they're not coming. They just don't love Jesus like I love Jesus. I was zealous. I was passionate. I want to teach for an hour and a half. I mean, that's important. A little bit overzealous maybe, perhaps. We do that. We go too far.

And that's part of being a follower of Jesus. There's some things that are worth taking all the way. There's some things that are worth fighting for. There's some things that are worth dying for. But also there's some things that are not. And some things we need to just let go and let God do the work that he wants to do. The Lord told Peter in verse 51, permit even this. And he touched his ear and healed them. Let it go. Let it go. Let it happen. God's got it in control.

And so followers of Jesus will make mistakes in zeal. But another thing that we'll do as we look at verses 55 through 62 is that followers of Jesus will also fall in times of testing. And here we'll look at the passage where Peter denies the Lord. Verse 55, now when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them.

Now it was just a few hours earlier that Jesus had warned Peter that he would deny Jesus. We talked about that a few weeks back. We looked at the parts of a trial in that example and the different parts where God is at work, where Satan is at work, what Jesus is doing, and then also your part in the trial. And Jesus told Peter there he would be sifted like wheat.

And then he told him to prepare himself there in the garden in the time of prayer. He said, your spirit is willing, but your flesh is weak. But Peter did not prepare. And so he was not prepared for this trial that he was about to endure. Verse 56. And a certain servant girl, seeing him as he sat by the fire, looked intently at him and said, this man was also with him.

And so a young servant girl begins this sifting process in Peter's life. It says she looks intently at Peter. She's like zeroed in. She's looking at him. Ah, you look familiar. I'm pretty sure I know you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He was with him. Now it tells us that Peter's there. He's around the fire with them in the courtyard. So he's in the courtyard of the high priest where Jesus is being tried. The group of people around him are not fans of Jesus. Right?

And so she's looking at him. She's looking intently, it says. And I kind of picture Peter like wishing he was invisible. Like, please don't see me. Please don't say anything. Please don't notice who I am. I want to know about Jesus. I want to know what happens, but I don't want anybody to notice me. She says, yeah, he, he was with Pete. He was with Jesus.

And now all eyes are on him. You know what that's like? To have all eyes on you? You know, when we do like weddings and there's people involved in the process, you know, they're walking the aisle and things like that, we usually have to do some preparation because people aren't used to having, and sometimes depending on the person, some people like that attention. Some people really freak out when all eyes are on them and they're like, I forgot how to walk, you know. Is it right foot first or left foot first? I mean, how does it go?

And Peter's feeling this. All eyes are on him. The pressure is on. And so he responds in verse 57. It says, but he denied him saying, woman, I do not know him. I don't know Jesus. What are you talking about? I don't know what you're talking about. He denied the Lord. He feels the pressure. The intensity is great. He feels the danger. He senses, you know, this isn't a good situation to be in. And so he says that he does not know Jesus. Well, then in verse 58,

It says, after a little while, another saw him and said, you also are one of them. But Peter said, man, I am not. Peter is on the spot. You know what it's like to be on the spot, right? You know, sometimes people put you on the spot and it's like, you weren't expecting that question. You weren't expecting that situation. And sometimes we just say dumb things when we're on the spot. Peter says, I don't know Jesus. He's panicked. He's freaking out. The pressure is great.

I kind of relate to Peter. Every time I go through a drive-thru, you ever freak out at the drive-thru window? I, there's something about it. I just, I, I get stressed out. I feel all this pressure. I'm looking at the menu and I feel like there's a huge line of cars behind me. There's a bunch of things and there's so many things on the menu. I'm like, I can't figure them out. There's like too many things for me to see. I like in and out, right? Because one, two, or three, which one do you want? I'm like, I'm going to go to the

And there's so many things that I'm stressing out. And there's many times I'll come home and Kim will say, why did you get that? You don't even like that. I panicked. I mean, I was like, there was all these people behind me and I just had to order something. And so I ordered something. Maybe that's not exactly what Peter was experiencing, but you get the point. He's under this pressure. He panics.

And so he denies that he knows Jesus. Well, then it happens again in verse 59. It says, after about an hour had passed, another confidently affirmed saying, surely this fellow was also with him for he is a Galilean. So Peter's denying the Lord, but his denials didn't fool anyone. He said, you're from Galilee. Your accent gives you away.

Galilee was the northern part of Israel. Where he was at was Judea. The Judean people were the southern part of Israel. And so there was this distinction between the northern and the southern people of Israel. And they said things differently. Their words sounded differently even though they spoke the same language. They said, hey, you don't use the word y'all. You're not from the south, are you, Peter? You're from the north. You're Galilean. You must be one of the followers of Jesus because he's from Galilee.

Verse 60, Peter says, man, I do not know what you are saying. Immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. While he spoke, the rooster crowed. He says, man, I don't know what you're... And all of a sudden, it dawns on him. He realizes, he remembers, he's fallen. Followers of Jesus fall in times of testing. Now, this is important for us to understand because...

Well, there's a lot of times that believers will fall in an intense situation or fall into some kind of sin and Satan loves to come in at that time and beat people up and say, you're probably not even saved. God doesn't love you. He doesn't want you to come back to him. He doesn't want you to hear from you again. Don't try asking for forgiveness. You've already messed up too many times. The enemy will love to bring all of these things against us to keep us away from God. But listen,

Falling in the midst of a time of testing... Doesn't mean that you're not a follower of Jesus. Followers of Jesus fall in times of testing. We fall short. We stumble. We crack under pressure. We give in to temptation. We mess up. It's part of our nature. And so we do fall in times of pressure. It's going to happen. The point is to not run away... But instead... Looking at the example of Peter... And the third observation here for a follower of Jesus...

is that a follower of Jesus will weep and return to Jesus. Check out verse 61. It says, And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. Verse 62. So Peter went out and wept bitterly. Peter denies Jesus these three times. The rooster crows three times.

And then it tells us that the Lord looked at Peter. What kind of look do you think it was when the Lord looked at Peter? Was it a look of surprise? Peter, I can't believe you did that. I don't know if that was a surprise look. I can't make my face do what I want it to do. It just does what it wants to do. But

Jesus told Peter this is what was going to happen. He wasn't surprised. Was it an angry look? Was it a look of disgust? I'm disgusted with you, Peter. I can't believe you would do this thing. Was it a look that said, I told you so. Uh-huh. Yep. Yep. I told you that was going to happen. What was the look? I think it was a look of compassion, mercy, love. Remember, he had told Peter that this was going to happen. And when he did, he said, I've already been praying for you, Peter.

I've already been praying that you would endure, that your faith would not fail, and that you would return to me. It was a look of love that Jesus had as he looked at Peter. And as they made eye contact here in the midst of this courtyard, wherever Jesus was on trial, it tells us that Peter then remembered the word of the Lord. He had forgotten the word of the Lord, and so he had failed in the trial. He wasn't ready for it.

But now after the fact, he remembered the word of the Lord and the word brought the conviction. There was the conviction because he remembered what the Lord had said. And so then he goes out, it says, and weeps bitterly as he realized what he did. He kind of woke up and realized what had happened and realized, hey, how did I get here? How did I get so far that I'm denying the Lord? It causes him to weep bitterly. And that's good.

to have this conviction, to have this remorse. It's the beginning of repentance. But weeping over a failure is not enough. We can read ahead into the account of Peter and know that Peter went beyond the weeping over his failure to a return to Jesus. And that is the real mark of a follower of Jesus Christ. You know, in some ways, there's not a lot of difference between the follower and the betrayer.

Because they both violate the things of God. But the main difference between the follower and the betrayer in the end is that the follower will still mess up and sometimes get caught up in things and chase after things that are not of the Lord. But when they remember the word and that conviction is there, they'll weep and then return to Jesus. And this morning, I want to encourage you to be a follower of Jesus. That means you're going to make mistakes. Sometimes from zeal.

Because you're passionate about the Lord and that's great. And sometimes you're going to take it too far. That's part of learning how to walk with the Lord. But also we're going to make mistakes from fear. We're going to fall apart in the midst of a trial. And the real key to being a follower of Jesus is what happens next. Will you return to Jesus? Listen, Jesus always receives those who come back to him. Even if it's over and over again.

He receives those who come back to him. No matter what it is that you experience, no matter what it is that you fall apart in or the thing that you do, no matter how deep a pit you've fallen into or no matter how hard you've fallen or how bad the thing is that you've done, you're not too far to follow the example of Peter to weep and to return. Jesus receives you back.

As you repent, as you confess and agree with God about your sin, he forgives you and he receives you back. And so as a follower of Jesus, of course of these three, this is the one that we need to be. The betrayer is not in a good spot. They betray Jesus, they go away, they don't come back, and they're lost. And so Judas is called the son of perdition. He's lost. He's not saved because, well, he didn't return to the Lord. He messed up.

He realized he messed up, but he didn't return to the Lord. The opposer, of course, is against Jesus, so they're lost because, well, they're against Jesus. They will not receive him. But as a follower, here's what we need to know. I'm going to make mistakes. It hurts our pride. We don't like to make mistakes. We don't like to mess up. Some of the mistakes will be from our passion for the Lord. Some of our mistakes will be the weakness of our flesh. But we're going to make mistakes. And we need to keep on making mistakes.

Getting up and getting back into our relationship with Him. The Proverbs tells us that the righteous man falls seven times but then gets up to keep on going. Yeah, you're going to fall. You're going to mess up over and over. But don't give up. Don't quit. Don't bail out. Return to Jesus. Let the Word bring that conviction and return to Jesus. Don't let the Word keep you away. Don't let the enemy beat you up. But keep coming back to Him. And

One final thought is let's also pass that on to others. You know, there's a lot of times that we're beating up those who are being convicted. And we're giving the look of anger and disgust and disappointment. I can't believe you did that. But let's learn from the example of Jesus. And let's show some compassion and mercy. And those who are overtaken in some sin, let's help them. Let's help them get back up.

They get enough beatings from the enemy. They get enough beatings from the world. We don't need any clubs and swords. Let's love on them. Help them to return to Jesus that they might have right relationship with him. Let's pray. Lord, as we consider these types of people, Lord, we can see evidence of these types continuing on today and we pray that you would help us.

Lord, to show compassion and mercy where it's needed, God, to those who have been hurt, to those who have fallen. Lord, that we would help to bandage them, to heal them, and to bring them into right relationship with you. And I pray for us, God, those of us in our midst who have fallen, who are in the condition of Peter, where they've blown it in the midst of a trial or gone too far, Lord, in the midst of zeal. Lord, I pray that you would help them.

To see, Lord, your love and your open arms of reception, Lord, that you welcome them back. I pray that they would return to you, that they would walk with you, that you would strengthen them, and that you would bless them. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.