John 13:38 “Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay
down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not
crow, till thou hast denied me thrice.”
Please understand one thing, Peter loved Jesus so much
he was willing and did die for him. I have read and heard so much about this
denial of Jesus Christ by Peter. Folks, it was an innocent denial, Peter never
rejected Jesus Christ, he never denied his Saviour, Peter simply denied being one
of Jesus’s disciples. Peter was human, and his human instance took over and
the flesh caused him to lie that he knew and was a disciple of Jesus. Jesus knew
this because He is God and He knows everything. Please understand denying Jesus
Christ is denying who He is, as Saviour, God, and that His blood can cleanse
you from your sins. People do not need to explain away what had happened as
though Peter had committed the ultimate sin of unbelief. I even heard one
preacher say this denial came before he was saved, wrong! Peter was a chosen
vessel of God to be a close friend and apostle of His Beloved Son Jesus the
Christ. Peter wrote two books of the bible and gave his life for Jesus Christ.
What this event shows us is that Peter was not
perfect, just as we are not perfect. We are all flesh and fleshly things we
will do sometimes. The Lord Jesus told Peter he would have this weakness at
that time and so he did just as the Lord promised. I believe sometimes
believers think of themselves more than they should. The Lord said through the
Apostle Paul in Romans 12:3 “For I say, through the grace given unto me,
to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he
ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every
man the measure of faith.” The Apostle Paul said that “grace given unto me”
which is something we need every moment of every day. The only time we can
stand faithful is as long as God keeps giving us grace. I believe the Lord
allowed Peter less grace and he had a weak moment. Think about it, If God so
chose we would never sin again, but then we would forget the grace. God warned
us “not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think” because without
God holding us up we would fall immediately, even the strongest believers among
us are nothing without God’s grace. Sometimes the Lord allows us to fall a
little, to weaken a little just to remind us that we are living, moving, and
having a godly life by his grace. Believe me, if Peter can fall to the flesh
and deny being the Lords disciple, then who are we? Remember even the Apostle
Paul said, “But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which
was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than
they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” 1
Corinthians 15:10” What Paul had just told us is that “I know that God’s grace
has made me what I am, and I can say God’s grace was not in vain because I
labored more than any other, but it was still the grace of God and not me”.
Paul knew God’s grace held him up, and Peter saw first hand what it was like to
have a weak moment. Folks, we are what God has made us, even though it is a
labor and some labor more than others, it is still only by God’s grace that we
stand. Peter never denied Jesus and who He is, Peter denied being his disciple
in weakness. God test us in many ways to teach us that “For none of us liveth
to himself, and no man dieth to himself. (8) For whether we live, we live unto
the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore,
or die, we are the Lord's. Romans 14:7 – 8 We live in the Lord and not
in ourselves. Don’t put so much faith in yourself because the Lord may allow
you to fall a little to make you understand His grace.
