THE THREE-FOLD DENIAL

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on February 16, 2022 under AM Bible Study |

AM Bible Study Group: February 16, 2022 from Luke 22:54-62

Theme: Peter’s three-fold denial of our Lord highlights our Lord’s pardoning grace toward all of His followers who stumble and fail Him.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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There’s a discernable pattern in the events of our Lord’s dark night before the crucifixion—particularly as they concerned Peter. To understand this pattern, we need to begin with what our Lord had told Peter just before going to the garden of Gethsemane and being arrested. He said,

“Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren” (Luke 22:31-32).

Those words “when you have returned to Me” must have upset Peter greatly. Peter was certain that he would never leave his Lord. He declared, “Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death” (v. 33). No doubt, Peter meant it with all his heart. But the Lord then told him, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me” (v. 34). It was in that exchange with our Lord that this ‘pattern’ has its roots.

So then, we begin to see the pattern show itself. While praying in the garden—as it’s reported to us in the other Gospels—Jesus rose from His prayer to find Peter and the other disciples asleep. He had told Peter;

“Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:37-38).

We’re told that the Lord arose and came to wake Peter and the others three times. Very clearly, Peter—who had boasted of his great commitment to Jesus—was too weak in the flesh to even stay awake and pray.

So; that’s the first time we see a three-fold pattern. The second time is in the passage that we come to this morning in Luke 22. It tells us of what happened after our Lord was betrayed and arrested:

Having arrested Him, they led Him and brought Him into the high priest’s house. But Peter followed at a distance. Now when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them. 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.” But he denied Him, saying, “Woman, I do not know Him.” And after a little while another saw him and said, “You also are of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not!” Then after about an hour had passed, another confidently affirmed, saying, “Surely this fellow also was with Him, for he is a Galilean.” But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are saying!” Immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. 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.” So Peter went out and wept bitterly (Luke 22:54-62).

What a sad story! Just as our Lord had told him, Peter—before the cock crowed—had denied the Lord Jesus three times. Peter realized what he had done; and when he wept bitterly, it must have been because he thought that he had made himself unworthy of ever being a disciple of our Lord. He had denied the great profession he had once made—that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16); and must have believed that he was now no longer worthy of the Lord or of being used by Him to build His kingdom.

But there is a third time that we see this three-fold pattern. We find it in John 21—after our Lord had risen from the dead. There must have been an occasion, prior to this last story, when the Lord made a personal, post-resurrection appearance to Peter and expressed forgiveness to Him. It must have been that, at that time, Peter “returned” to the Lord. And as Peter and others of the disciples encountered the Lord once again along the shores of the Sea of Galilee, we’re told;

So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Feed My lambs.” He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep” (John 21:15-17).

With these words, our Lord restored Peter to the ministry He had given him of strengthening his brethren after he returned. There were three calls issued for every one of the three times that Peter denied Him. And if—as many believe—the number ‘three’ is a significant symbol of ‘completion’; then we see a ‘three-fold’ repetition of a ‘three-fold’ pattern in Peter’s story: a pattern of (first) a complete weakness of the flesh, which led to (second) a complete failure of faithfulness, but that was followed by (third) a complete forgiveness and restoration to service.

We won’t rightly understand the terrible story of Peter’s three-fold denial of the Lord unless we see how it was under the Lord’s control and supervision; and that it resulted in a three-fold demonstration of our Lord’s pardoning grace. This makes Peter’s denial an important word of encouragement to all of us who—in our weakness—think that we have failed our Lord to the point where He can no longer use us. It shows us that our Lord is able to forgive our failure and place us once again in His service—if we will humbly confess our failure and return to Him.

None of us are so great a failure that our Lord cannot fully restore us.

* * * * * * * * * *

Notice how this story begins. We’re told in verse 54 that our Lord had been arrested, and was then led to the high priest’s house. In Luke’s Gospel, the events that immediately focus on the Lord Jesus aren’t taken up again until verse 63; where we’re told about our Lord’s mistreatment at the hands of His captors. This means that the story of Peter’s denial is a ‘parenthesis’ in the flow of events. But it’s an important parenthesis. It shows that even our failures in the service of the Lord cannot cause His divine purposes to fail.

Though our Lord was taken away by the captors, we’re told in verse 54, “But Peter followed at a distance.” In John’s Gospel, we’re told that “another disciple” (most likely John himself) was known to the high priest; and when he spoke to the keeper of the gate, he was permitted to come into the courtyard and to bring Peter along with him. Peter, who had just denied the Lord, still couldn’t completely depart from him. He followed; but—perhaps because of having fled from the Lord in the garden—and perhaps because of fear—he followed at a distance. Isn’t that how we are when we’re not right with the Lord as we should be? We follow … but at a distance. And when we’re in that condition with the Lord, we’re very much in danger of failing Him in even greater ways when the pressure is on.

Notice, then …

1. THE FIRST DENIAL (vv. 55-57).

We’re told in verse 55, “Now when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them.” You can almost identify, in those words, the beginning of Peter’s denial. He had fled from the Lord at the time of His arrest, and was now sitting in the company of those who did not love his Lord. Our disassociation with the Lord so gradually turns into association with the world that we hardly notice that it has happened.

But we who belong to Jesus cannot be hidden; and sometimes, the world itself startles us into awareness. We’re told in 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’”. How did she know this? In Mark 14:66, we’re told that she was a servant girl of the high priest. And in John 18:17, we’re told that this ‘servant girl of the high priest’ was responsible for keeping the door to the courtyard. It was her job to look carefully at people and know who they were. Isn’t it interesting that, no matter how hard we may try to hide our identity as the Lord’s followers, the observant people of this world are still able to find us out?

Now; she noted that Peter was ‘also with’ Jesus. And this makes Peter’s first denial a very grievous one. Verse 57 tells us, “But he denied Him, saying, ‘Woman, I do not know Him.’” In the original language, the first word “Him” isn’t present in the best ancient copies of Luke’s Gospel. What it actually says is that Peter simply “denied”. It’s meant to bring strong emphasis to Peter’s action; and it points us back to the words of our Lord—using the very same word that Jesus used—that before the cock would crow, Peter would “deny” Him three times.

Once we have begun to slide away, it’s hard to stop the slide. Peter had another opportunity; but he failed again. Luke goes on to tell us of …

2. THE SECOND DENIAL (v. 58).

Verse 58 says, “And after a little while another saw him …” That would mean that, even after his first denial, Peter remained by the fire. The “another” who saw him was, most likely, another servant of the high priest. John tells us, that one of the servants of the high priest, “a relative of him whose ear Peter cut off” saw him and said, “Did I not see you in the garden with Him?” In Luke’s telling of the story, this second servant must have put the pieces together in such a way as to make an affirmative determination of the matter: “and said, ‘You also are of them.’”

Once again, we cannot hide ourselves from the people of this world. They can not only tell who we are by our association with the Lord, but also by our association with the Lord’s followers. The servant affirmed—rightly—that Peter was one of the Lord’s followers; “But Peter said, ‘Man, I am not!’” According to Matthew’s Gospel, Peter denied this “with an oath” (Matthew 26:72). He falsely swore that he was not a follower of Jesus. And can you see that, once we’ve begun to deny the Lord, the denials become bolder and more grievous?

Still, Peter could have stopped the downward slide. He had yet another opportunity to repent and to claim Jesus as His Lord. But as we go on, we find …

3. THE THIRD DENIAL (vv. 59-60).

Luke tells us, in verse 59, “Then after about an hour had passed …” And just think of what had been happening during that hour. Our Lord would have been led away to face the council of Jewish leaders that had gathered at the home of Caiaphas the high priest; where false testimony had been brought against Him, and where Jesus became convicted of blasphemy because He declared that He was the Son of God, and where He was condemned to death. That whole time long, Peter sat by the fire. As he heard the others chatting away and talking about Jesus, he no doubt thought of what was happening to his Lord. But he was hardening his heart to it all. Once we begin to go down the path of denial, we can only pretend to have a certain level of indifference. Our heart still condemns us.

And it must that Peter heard the talk, and responded, and spoke enough times for people to hear his ‘accent’; because after that hour had passed “another confidently affirmed, saying, ‘Surely this fellow also was with Him, for he is a Galilean.’” His way of speaking had given him away. And that’s when we see how far Peter had fallen. Verse 60 says, “But Peter said, ‘Man, I do not know what you are saying!’”—and as Matthew’s and Mark’s Gospels both tell us, Peter punctuated this last denial with cursing and swearing.

Just think of how far down our denial of our Lord can take us!

* * * * * * * * * * *

So; in the first denial, Peter was pointed out as a man who was with Jesus, and he said, “Woman, I do not know Him.” In the second denial, Peter was pointed out as a follower of Jesus; and he said, “Man, I am not!” And in the third denial, Peter was again identified as having been with Jesus; and—with cursing and swearing—he said, “Man, I do not know what you are saying!”

And in verse 60, we’re told, “Immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. In God’s remarkable timing, Jesus must have been being led out of the council that had just condemned Him, because His eyes then met Peter’s, and Peter’s eyes then met His. Peter remembered what the Lord said he would do; and as verse 62 tells us, “So Peter went out and wept bitterly.”

Peter’s story reminds us of what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:12; “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” But let’s also remember what Paul wrote in Romans 5:20; that “where sin abounded, grace abounded much more …” Just as was eventually true of Peter, we too—who so often fail our Lord—can return to Him, confess our failure, be restored in love, and be told, “Feed My sheep.”

AE