Denying Christ: Peter’s Denial, Repentance, and Restoration

And if so, then what you have done what have you done with those tears? This is the most crucial question of all. Because sooner or later, most people feel sorry for something that they have done or at least about the consequences of what they have done. But not everyone repents in a biblical sense of the world. Repentance is more than a feeling. It is a change of direction away from sin and back to God. [00:58:35] (27 seconds)  #TurnFromRegret

And think of it, in the midst of all that Jesus was going through, because of his love, He still found time to think about his poor erring disciple. And at that moment, with a look, Jesus was calling Peter back to repentance. Reichen again, Jesus knows our weaknesses too, and he has a plan for our salvation. And this is why he came into the world in the first place, to die for our sins, to free us from them. This is why he's given us his word, to promise his forgiveness. [00:54:44] (36 seconds)  #CalledBackByLove

Well, the next thing is often as we sin, though, like Peter, we can draw comfort from another lesson, and that is this. Jesus knows our weakness, and even before we fall, he has a plan to lift us back up. Praise the lord. We should always see Peter's three denials in the context of the prophecies that Jesus gave about him and then also what happened later. Jesus said to him, truly, I tell you, this very night before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. Jesus knew the details ahead of time. [00:51:40] (34 seconds)  #HeKnowsAndRedeems

Rather than listening to the Lord's admonition to pray that he may not fall into temptation, he slept. And as one commentator put it, there's no telling what sin people will commit once they stop praying for God to deliver them from evil. So Peter was trying to follow Christ in his own power, and thus he put himself in the most vulnerable position that anyone ever gets into, and that is prayerless, but yet full of presumption. [00:36:37] (28 seconds)  #PrayerPreventsPresumption

The true test of discipleship is our witness to the world and not just the promises that we make to God. Peter had been very bold and presumptuous in the promises that he made to Jesus about following him even to prison and to death. Alright? Peter made these promises in the private and safe confines of their small community of faith. But when he was put to the test, it was not something he actually was ready to say or to do before the world. [00:48:29] (30 seconds)  #FaithUnderFire

Unless we speak up for what we believe, then in that way, in that time, we may be denying Christ. Right? We deny him subtly when maybe we'll talk to other people about maybe church involvement, but not what it means to know Jesus. We may deny him when there is so little that is distinctive about the way we live that people at work or school don't even know that we're Christian. [00:49:42] (25 seconds)  #LiveDistinctlyForChrist

We may deny him when we're more afraid about what people think about us and shrink back from telling biblical truth at times about controversial topics that the the bible would have a a thing to address, like issues of abortion, transgenderism, homosexuality, other things like that, or especially the unique claims of Jesus Christ as the only savior of the world. [00:50:07] (27 seconds)  #StandForBiblicalTruth

We deny Christ when we say something a Christian shouldn't say or do because we wanna be have maybe fun or be popular. So like Peter, we can be vulnerable to social pressures and be different in some settings than we want to be when we're alone with Jesus or we're in the safe confines of a church meeting. And, friends, this can be especially true when we don't pray and seek the Lord's empowerment. [00:50:34] (28 seconds)  #FaithOverPopularity