Christ's Prayer for Peter
(No. 2620)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, APRIL 30, 1899.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
JANUARY 22, 1882.
"But I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not." Luke 22:32.
SATAN has a deadly hatred towards all good men and they may rest
assured that somewhere or other, he will meet them on their way to the
Celestial City. John Bunyan, in his immortal allegory, placed him in
one particular spot and described him as Apollyon straddling the road
and swearing by his infernal den that the pilgrim should go no further,
but that then and there he would spill poor Christian's soul. But the
encounter with Apollyon does not happen in the same place to all
pilgrims. I have known some of them assailed by him most fiercely at
the outset of their march to Zion. Their first days as Christians have
been truly terrible to them by reason of the Satanic attacks they have
had to endure, but, afterwards, when the devil has left them, angels
have ministered to them and they have had years of peace and joy. You
remember that in the case of our Savior, no sooner was He baptized than
He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the
devil. In like manner, there are those whose fiercest trials from the
adversary come at the beginning of their public ministry. Others meet
with their greatest conflicts in middle life when, perhaps, they are
too apt to think themselves secure against the assaults of Satan and to
fancy that their experience and their knowledge will suffice to
preserve them against his wiles. I know some, like Martin Luther, in
whose voyage of life, the middle passage has been full of storm and
tempest, and they have scarcely known what it was to have a moment's
rest during all that period. Then there have been others, the first
part of whose career has been singularly calm. Their life has been like
a sea of glass–scarcely a ripple has been upon the waters–and yet,
towards the end, the enemy has made up for it, and he has attacked them
most ferociously right up to the last! I have known many instances of
eminent saints who have had to die, sword in hand, and enter Heaven–I
was about to say, with the marks of their stern conflict fresh upon
them. At any rate, they have been crowned on the battlefield and have
fallen asleep at the close of a tremendous fight.
With the most of us who are really going to Heaven–I will not say that
it is a rule without any exception–but with the most of us, at some
time or another, we shall know the extreme value of this prayer, "Lead
us not into temptation of any kind, but deliver us from the Evil One,
who, beyond all others, is especially to be dreaded." There is little
to be got out of him, even if we conquer him. He usually leaves some
mark of his prowess upon us which we may carry to our graves. It were
better to leap over hedge and ditch and to go a thousand miles further
on our pilgrim road than ever to have a conflict with him, except for
those great purposes of which I shall presently speak for a moment. The
fight with Apollyon is a terrible ordeal–an ordeal, however, which a
brave Christian will never think of shirking! No, he rather will
rejoice that he has an enemy worthy of his steel, that true Damascus
blade with which he is armed. And, in the name of God, he will
determine, though he wrestles not with flesh and blood, that he will
contend against principalities and powers and with the very leader of
them all–that there may be all the more Glory to the great King who
makes the weakest of His followers to be so strong that they put the
old dragon, himself, to flight!
So, dear Friends, rest assured that Satan hates every good man and
woman, and that, some time or other, he is pretty sure to show that
hatred in a very cruel and deadly attack upon them.
Further, because of his hatred, Satan earnestly desires to put
Believers into his sieve that he may sift them as wheat– not that he
wants to get the shaft away from them–but simply that he may agitate
them. You see the corn in the sieve, how it goes up and down, to and
fro. There is not a single grain of it that is allowed to have a
moment's rest–it is all in commotion and confusion–and the man who is
sifting it takes care to sift first one way and next, another way, and
then all sorts of ways. Now, that is just what Satan does with those
whom he hates, when he gets the opportunity. He sifts them in all
manner of ways and puts their whole being into agitation and turmoil.
When he gets a hold of us, it is a shaking and sifting, indeed! He
takes care that anything like rest or breathing space shall be denied
us.
Satan desires thus to sift the saints in his sieve and, at times, God
grants his desire. If you look at the Revised Version, in the margin
you learn the true idea of Satan having asked, or rather obtained by
asking, the power to sift Peter as wheat. God sometimes gives Satan the
permission to sift as wheat those who are undoubtedly His people–and
then Satan tosses them to and fro, indeed. That record in the Book of
Job, of Satan appearing before God, is repeated in this story of Peter,
for the devil had obtained from God liberty to try and test poor
boasting Peter. If Christ had not obtained of God, in answer to His
intercession, the promise of the preservation of Peter, then had it
gone ill, indeed, with the self-confident Apostle! God grants to Satan
permission to try His people in this way because He knows how He will
overrule it to His own Glory and their good. There are certain Graces
which are never produced in Christians, to a high degree, except by
severe temptation. "I noticed," said one, "in what a chastened spirit a
certain minister preached when he had been the subject of most painful
temptation." There is a peculiar tenderness without which one is not
qualified to shepherd Christ's sheep, or to feed His lambs–a
tenderness without which one cannot strengthen his brethren, as Peter
was afterwards to do, a tenderness which does not usually come–at any
rate, to such a man as Peter, except by his being put into the sieve
and tossed up and down by Satanic temptation!
Let that stand as the preface of my sermon, for I shall not have so
much to say upon that as upon another point.
First, observe, in our text, the grand point of Satan's attack. We can
see that from the place where Jesus puts the strongest line of
defense–"I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not." The point
of Satan's chief attack on a Believer, then, is his faith Observe,
secondly, the peculiar danger of faith–"That your faith fail not."
That is the danger–not merely lest it should be slackened and
weakened, but lest it should fail And then observe, thirdly, the
Believer's grand defense–"I have prayed for you, that your faith fail
not."
I. Notice carefully, in the first place, THE GRAND POINT OF SATAN'S
ATTACK.
When he assails a child of God, his main assault is upon his faith, and
I suppose that the reason is, first, because faith is the vital point
in the Christian. We are engrafted into Christ by faith and faith is
the point of contact between the believing soul and the living Christ.
If, therefore, Satan could manage to cut through the graft there, then
he would defeat the Savior's work most completely. Faith is the very
heart of true godliness, for, "the just shall live by faith." Take
faith away and you have torn the heart out of the gracious man. Hence,
Satan, as far as he can, aims his fiery darts at a Believer's faith. If
he can only destroy faith, then he has destroyed the very life of the
Christian! "Without faith it is impossible to please God." Therefore,
if the devil could but get our faith away from us, we should cease to
be pleasing to God and should cease to be "accepted in the Beloved."
Therefore, Brothers and Sisters, look well to your faith! It is the
very head and heart of your being as before God. The Lord grant that it
may never fail you!
I suppose that Satan also attacks faith because it is the chief of all
our Divine Graces. Love, under some aspects, is the choicest, but to
lead the van in conflict, faith must come first. And there are some
things which are ascribed solely and entirely to faith that are never
ascribed to love. If any man were to speak of our being justified by
love, it would grate upon the ears of the godly! If any were to talk of
our being justified by repentance, those of us who know our Bible would
be up in arms against such a perversion of the Truth of God! But they
may speak as long as they like of our "being justified by faith," for
that is a quotation from the Scriptures. In the matter of
justification, faith stands alone. It lays hold on Christ's Sacrifice
and His righteousness and, thereby, the soul is justified. Faith, if I
may say so, is the leader of the Graces in the day of battle and hence
Satan says to his demoniacal archers, "Fight neither with small nor
great, save only with the King of Israel–shoot at faith, kill it if
possible." If faith is slain, where is love, where is hope, where is
repentance, where is patience? If, faith is conquered, then it is as
when a standard-bearer faints. The victory is virtually won by the
arch-enemy if he is able to conquer faith, for faith is the noble
chieftain among the Graces of a saint!
I suppose, again, that Satan makes a dead set upon the faith of the
Christian became it is the nourishing Grace. All the other Graces
within us derive strength from our faith. If faith is at a low ebb,
love is sure to burn very feebly. If faith should begin to fail, then
would hope grow dim. Where is courage? It is a poor puny thing when
faith is weak. Take any
Grace you please, and you shall see that its nourishing depends upon
the healthy condition of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ! To take faith
away, therefore, would be to take the fountain away from the stream–it
would be to withdraw the sun from its rays if light. If you destroy the
source, of course that which comes out of it ceases. Therefore,
Beloved, take the utmost possible care of your faith, for I may truly
say of it that out of it are the issues of life to all your Graces.
Faith is that virtuous woman who clothes the whole household in scarlet
and feeds them all with luscious and strengthening food. But if faith
is gone, the household soon becomes naked, poor, blind and miserable.
Everything in a Christian fails when faith ceases to nourish it!
Next to this, Satan attacks faith because it is the great preserving
Grace. The Apostle says, "Above all"–that is, "over all," "covering
all"–"taking the shield of faith with which you shall be able to
quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." Sometimes, the Eastern
soldiers had shields so large that they were like doors, and they
covered the man from head to foot. Others of them, who used smaller
shields, nevertheless handled them so deftly and moved them so rapidly
that it was tantamount to the shield covering the entire person. An
arrow is aimed at the forehead, up goes the shield and the sharp point
rings on the metal! A javelin is hurled at the heart, but the shield
turns it aside. The fierce foe aims a poisonous dart at the leg, but
the shield intercepts it. Virtually, the shield is all-surrounding–and
so it is with your faith. As one has well said, "It is armor upon
armor, for the helmet protects the head, but the shield protects both
helmet and head. The breastplate guards the breast, but the bucker or
shield defends the breastplate as well as the breast." Faith is a
Divine Grace to protect the other Graces–there is nothing like it and,
therefore, I do not wonder that Satan attacks faith when he sees its
prominent position and its important influence in the entire town of
Mansoul.
I cannot help saying, also, that I wonder not that Satan attacks faith
because it is the effective or efficient Grace. You know what a
wonderful chapter that 11th Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews
is–it is a triumphal arch erected in honor of what? Of faith!
According to that Chapter, faith did everything–it quenched the fire,
stopped the mouths of lions, turned to flight the armies of the aliens,
received the dead who were raised and so on. Faith is the soul's right
hand. Faith works by love, but, still, it is faith that works, and you
can do nothing acceptably before God unless you do it by that right
hand of faith. Hence, Satan cannot stand faith–he hates that most of
all. Pharaoh tried to have all the male children thrown into the river
because they were the fighting force of Israel. He did not mind having
the women to grow up to bear burdens–it was the men whom he feared.
And, in like manner, the devil says, "I must stamp out faith, for that
is the secret of strength." He will not trouble himself so much about
your other Graces–he will probably attack them when he can, but, first
of all he says–"Down with faith! That is the man-child that must be
destroyed!" And he aims his sharpest and deadliest darts at it.
I believe, also, that faith is attacked by Satan, most of all, because
it is most obnoxious to him. He cannot endure faith. How do I know
that? Why, because God loves it! And if God loves faith and if Christ
crowns faith, I am sure that Satan hates it. What are we told
concerning the work of Jesus being hindered by unbelief? "He could not
do many mighty works there because of their unbelief." Now, I will turn
that text around and say of Satan, that he cannot do many mighty works
against some men because of their faith! Oh, how he sneaks off when he
discovers a right royal faith in a man! He knows when he has met his
master and he says, "Why should I waste my arrows upon a shield carried
by such a man as that? He believes in God, he believes in Christ, he
believes in the Holy Spirit–he is more than a match for me." To those
that are under his leadership, he cries, "To your tents!" He bids them
flee away and escape, for he knows that there can be no victory for
them when they come into collision with true God-given faith! He cannot
bear to look at it. It blinds him–the lustrous splendor of that great
shield of faith which shines as though a man did hang the sun upon his
arm and bear it before him into the fray–blinds even the mighty Prince
of Darkness! Satan does but glance at it and straightway he takes to
flight, for he cannot stand it. He knows it is the thing which most of
all helps to overthrow his kingdom and destroy his power! Therefore,
Believer, cling to your faith! Be like the young Spartan warrior who
would either bring his shield home with him or be brought home dead
upon his shield. "Cast not away your confidence, which has great
recompense of reward." Whatever else you have not, "have faith in God."
Believe in the Christ of God. Rest your soul's entire confidence upon
the faithful promise and the faithful Promiser and, if you do so,
Satan's attacks upon you will all be in vain!
That is my first point–observe the grand point of Satanic attack.
II. Now, secondly, observe THE PECULIAR DANGER OF FAITH. "That your
faith fail not."
Did Peter's faith fail? Yes, and no. It failed in a measure, but it did
not altogether fail. It failed in a measure, for he was human, but it
did not altogether fail, for, at the back of it, there was the
superhuman power which comes through the pleading of Christ. Poor
Peter! He denied his Master, yet his faith did not utterly fail and, I
will show you why it did not. If you and I, Beloved, are ever permitted
to dishonor God and to deny our Lord, as Peter did, yet may God in
mercy keep us from the utter and entire failure of our faith as He kept
Peter!
Notice, first, there was still some faith in Peter, even when he had
denied his Master, for when the Lord turned and looked at him, he went
out and wept bitterly If there had still not been the true faith in
Peter, the Master might have looked upon him long before a tear would
have coursed down his cheeks. The Lord not only looked on Judas, but He
gave him a sop with Him out of the dish. And He even let the traitor
put his lips on Him and kiss Him. But all that had no weight with
Judas. The reason why Christ's look had such an effect on Peter was
because there was still some faith in Peter. You may blow as long as
you like at the cold coals, but you will get no fire. But I have,
sometimes, seen a servant kneel down when there has been just a little
flame left in the coal in a corner of the grate, and she has blown it
tenderly and gently so as to revive it. "It is not quite out," she says
and, at last, there has been a good fire once again! May God grant that
we may never come to that sad condition, but, if we do, may He, of His
Grace, grant that there may still be that blessed little faith left,
that weak and feeble faith which, through the breathing upon it of the
Spirit of God, shall yet be fanned into a flame!
We are sure that there was this faith still in Peter or else what would
he have done? What did Judas do? Judas did two things. First, he went
to a priest, or to priests, and confessed to them. And then he went out
and hanged himself– the two things were strangely connected. Peter did
neither, yet, if he had not had faith, he might have done both. To
publicly deny his Master three times and to support his denial with
oaths and curses, even when that Master was close by and in His
greatest need, must have put Peter into most imminent peril. And if
there had not been, within his heart, faith that his Master could yet
pardon and restore him, he might, in his despair, have done precisely
what the traitor Judas did. Or, if he had not gone to that extremity of
guilt, he would have hidden himself away from the rest of the Apostles.
But, instead of doing so, we soon find him, again, with John–I do not
wonder that he was with John. They were old companions, but, in
addition to that, the Beloved John had so often leaned his head on the
Master's bosom that he had caught the sweet infection of his Savior's
tenderness and, therefore, he was just the one with whom Peter would
wish to associate.
I think that if I had ever denied my Lord as Peter did, in that public
way, I would have run away and hidden myself from all my former
companions. But Peter did not, you see. He seemed to say to himself,
"The Master, with His dear tender heart, can still forgive me and
receive me." So he clings to the disciples and especially to John. Yes,
and notice that on the day of our Lord's Resurrection, Peter was the
first disciple to enter the sepulcher, for, though "the other disciple
did outrun Peter" and reach the grave first, "yet he went not in" until
Peter led the way. "The Lord is risen, indeed, and has appeared to
Simon," is a remarkable passage. Paul, writing concerning Christ's
Resurrection, says that, "He was seen of Cephas," that is, Peter. There
was some special manifestation of our blessed Master to Simon Peter who
was waiting for it, and privileged to witness it–and this showed that
his faith was kept from failing through the Savior's prayers.
Now, Beloved, I say no more about Peter, but I speak to you about your
own faith. Are you greatly troubled? Then I pray that your faith may
not fail. It is shaken. It is severely tried, but God grant that it may
not fail! Something whispers within your heart, "Give up all religion,
it is not true." To that lie, answer, "Get you behind me, Satan, for
the religion of Jesus Christ is eternally, assuredly, Infallibly true."
Cling to it, for it is your life! Or, perhaps, the fiend whispers, "It
is true enough to others, but it is not meant for you, you are not one
of the Lord's people." Well, if you cannot come to Christ as a saint,
come to Him as a sinner! If you dare not come as a child to sit at His
Table, come as a dog to eat the crumbs that fall under it! Only come
and never give up your faith!
If the arch-fiend whispers, again, "You have been a deceiver! Your
profession is all a mistake, or a lie!" Say to him, "Well, if it is so,
there is still forgiveness in Christ for all who come unto God by Him."
Perhaps you are coming to the Savior for the first time–you mean to
cast yourself upon the blood and merit of Jesus even if you have never
done so before. I pray for you, dear coming one! O gracious Savior, do
not let Satan crush out the faith of even the weakest of Your people!
Blessed Intercessor, plead for that poor trembler in whom faith is
almost dying out! Great High Priest, intercede for him, that his faith
may not utterly fail him and that he may still cling to You!
What is to become of us if we have not faith in Jesus? I know that
there are some who seem to get on well without it. So may the dogs. So
may the wild beasts. They get on well enough without the children's
garments or the children's bread–but you and I cannot. The moment I am
unbelieving, I am unhappy. It is not a vain thing for me to believe in
Christ–it is my life, it is my strength, it is my joy! I am a lost man
and it were better for me that I had never been born unless I have the
privilege of believing! Give up faith? Remember what Satan said
concerning Job, "Skin for skin, yes, all that a man has will he give
for his life"? And our life is wrapped up in our faith in Christ! We
cannot give it up and we will not give it up! Come on, fiends of Hell,
or mockers of earth–we will not give it up, we will hold it fast, for
it is part of the very warp and woof of our being! We believe in God
and in His Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And it is our great
concern that our faith should be well guarded and protected, for we
know the peculiar danger to which it is exposed when it is assailed by
Satan.
III. Now I will close my discourse by speaking, for only a very few
minutes, upon THE BELIEVER'S GREAT PRESERVATIVE AND DEFENSE.
What is the great protection of our faith? Our Savior's intercession!
Prayer is always good, it is always a blessed thing, but notice that
great letter-word in the text, "I have prayed for you." It is the
intercession of Christthat preserves our faith–and there are three
things about it which make it precious beyond all price–it is
prevalent, prevenient and pertinent. First, it is prevalent, for, if
Jesus pleads, He must prevail. It is prevenient, for, before the
temptation comes to Peter, He says, "I have prayed for you. Satan has
but obtained, by his asking, the permission to tempt you, but I have
already prayed for you."
And, then, it was pertinent, that is, to the point. Christ had prayed
the best prayer possible–"that your faith fail not." Peter would not
have known that this was to be the chief point of attack by Satan. He
might have thought that Satan would attack his love. The Lord seems to
hint at His thought about that by saying to him, afterwards, "Simon,
son of Jonas, do you love Me?" But the Savior knew that the hottest
part of the battle would rage around Fort Faith and, therefore, He
prayed that the fortress might be well garrisoned and never be captured
by the enemy. And it was not!
Whenever I begin to talk to you about the intercession of Christ, I
feel inclined to sit down and let you think, and look up, and listen
till you hear that Voice, matchless in its music, pleading, pleading,
pleading, with the Father! It were much better for you to realize it
than for me to describe it. It was a blessed thing to hear one's mother
pray–by accident, as we say–to pass the door that was ajar and to
hear Mother pleading for her boy or her girl. It is a very touching
thing to hear your child praying for her father, or your wife breathing
out her warm desires for her Beloved. I do not know anything more
charming than to hear, now and then, a stray prayer that was never
meant to be heard on earth, but only in Heaven. I like such
eaves-droppings. Oh, but listen! It is Jesus who is praying! He shows
His wounds and pleads the merit of His great Sacrifice and, wonder of
wonders, He pleads for me, and for you! Happy man, happy woman, to have
our faith preserved by such a mighty preservative as this–the
intercession of Christ!
I want you to especially notice that this intercession is the pleading
of One who, in the text, seems to directly oppose Himself to the great
adversary ' 'Satan has asked for you by asking that he may sift you as
wheat; but I have prayed for you by asking," (so I will venture to
paraphrase it) "that your faith fail not." There stands Satan. You
cannot see him and you need not want to, but that grim monster who has
made kings and princes tremble, and has plucked angels from their
spheres of light, and hurled bright spirits down from Heaven to Hell,
stands there to assail you! And you may well be afraid, for God,
Himself, permits him to sift you! Ah, but there also stands the
Ever-Blessed One, before whom an angel, fallen or unfallen, is but a
tiny spark compared with the sun! There He stands, girt about the chest
with the golden girdle of His faithfulness, robed in the fair white
linen of His matchless righteousness. Upon His head is a crown of glory
that far outshines all constellations of stars and suns! And He opposes
His Divine pleading to the demoniacal asking of the fallen one. Are you
still afraid? It seems to me unspeakably blessed to see it written
here, "Satan has desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat,"
and then to see over the top of it these words, "but I have prayed for
you." Oh, blessed, "but"! How it seems to cast the fallen angel back
into the bottomless Pit and to bind him with chains, and set a seal
upon his prison–"But I have prayed for you." Tempt on, then, O Satan!
Tempt at your worst, for there is no fear when this glorious shield of
gold, the intercession of the Savior, covers the entire person of the
poor attacked one! "I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not."
And then my last word is this–it is an intercession which is
absolutely certain of success. In fact, He who offers it anticipates
its success and discounts it by giving this precept to His
servant–"and when you are converted." Sure pledge, then, that he will
beconverted, that he will be turned back, however far he wanders! When
you are restored, "strengthen your brethren." Then, for certain, he
will be restored, or else the Savior would not have given him a precept
which could only be available if a certain, unlikely contingency should
occur! O you who are a true child of God, you may be drenched, but you
shall never be drowned! O warrior of the Cross, your shield may be
covered with fiery darts, thick as the saplings of a young forest–but
no dart shall ever reach your heart! You may be wounded in head and
hand and foot. You may be a mass of scars, but your life is given you!
To Christ are you given and you shall come out even from between the
jaws of death–and you shall overcome Satan by Christ's power! Only
trust Christ! Only trust Him! Cling to your faith, Beloved. Cling to
your faith! I would like to get a hold of that young man who has lately
been listening to skeptical teachers, and to whisper in his ear, "Cling
to your faith, young man, for, in losing that, you will lose all."
And to you who, alas, have fallen into sin after having made a
profession of religion, let me say that, however far you have gone
astray, still believe that Jesus is able to forgive you! Come back to
Him and seek His pardon now! And you, my hoary-headed Brothers and
Sisters, whose hair is whitening for Heaven, are you sorely beset by
all sorts of temptations? Well, give me your hand, for I, too, know
what this warfare means. Let us believe in God, my Brothers and
Sisters–let us believe in God! Though He should break us down worse
than ever. Though He should set us up as a target and let the devil
shoot all the arrows from his quiver at us, let us still believe in God
and come to this point to which my soul has come full often, and to
which Job came of old, "'Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.'
Whatever He does to me– if He shall never smile upon me again–I will
still believe Him, I can do no other." I dare not doubt Him! I must
confide in Him! Where is there any ground for confidence if it is not
in the God that cannot lie, and in the Christ of the Everlasting
Covenant whom He has set forth to be the propitiation for human sin,
and in the Holy Spirit, whose work it is to take of the things of
Christ and reveal them to us?
May the blessed Trinity save and keep us all, for our Lord Jesus
Christ's sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: LUKE22:7-34; 54-62.
Verses 7-20. Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover
must be killed. And He sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us
the Passover, that we may eat And they said unto Him, Where will You
that we prepare? And He said unto them, Behold, when you are entered
into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water;
follow him into the house where he enters. And you shall say unto the
good man of the house, The Master says unto you, Where is the guest
chamber, where I shall eat the Passover with My disciples? And he shall
show you a large upper room furnished: there make ready. And they went
and found as He had said unto them: and they made ready the Passover
And when the hour was come, He sat down, and the twelve Apostles with
Him. And He said unto them. With desire I have desired to eat this
Passover with you before I suffer: for I say unto you, I will not any
more eat thereof until it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God. And He
took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among
yourselves: for I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the
wine, until the Kingdom of God shall come. And He took bread, and gave
thanks, and broke it, and gave unto them, saying, This is My body which
is given for you: this do in remembrance of Me. Likewise also the cup
after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament–(Or, Covenant).
20, 21. In My blood, which is shed for you. But, behold, the hand of
him that betrays Me is with Me on the table. What a shadow this
revelation must have cast over that solemn feast, over the Savior's
heart and over the minds of all His attached disciples! We can scarcely
imagine what pangs tore His loving spirit. He could have used the
language of David with even deeper emphasis, and said, "It was not an
enemy that reproached Me. Then I could have borne it: neither was it he
that hated Me that did magnify himself against Me. Then I would have
hid Myself from him. But it was you, a man My equal, My guide and My
acquaintance." "The hand of him that betrays Me is with Me on the
table." O Beloved, I pray that you and I may never betray our Master!
If ever we should so fail as to deny Him, may the Lord stop us where
Peter fell and never suffer us to betray Him as Judas did!
22. And truly thee Son of Man goes, as it was determined: but woe unto
that man by whom He is betrayed! The decree of God does not lessen the
responsibility of man for his action. Even though it is predetermined
of God, the man does it of his own free will–and on him falls the full
guilt of it.
23, 24. And they began to enquire among themselves, which of them it
was that should do this thing. And there was also a strife among them,
which of them should be accounted the greatest. Be astonished, dear
Friends, as you read, in such a connection as this, "There was also a
strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest."
What? While yet the anxious question as to which of them was the
traitor was being passed round, "Lord, is it I?" Is it so closely
followed by another question, "Which of us shall be highest in the
Kingdom?" Oh, the awful intrusiveness of pride and ambition! How it
will come in and defile the very Holy of Holies! May God prevent our
falling victims to it! The last question for a Christian to ever ask
is, "How may I win honor among men?" The one question for a Believer
should be, "How can I glorify my Master ?" Very often, that can best be
done by taking the very lowest place in his Church.
25, 26. And He said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise
lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are
called benefactors. But you shall not be so: but he that is greatest
among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that
serves. Let every respect be given to the elder and let such as God
honors be honored among us–but let no man honor himself, or seek honor
for himself! After all, in Christ's Kingdom, the way to ascend is to
descend! Did not the Master act thus? He descended that He might ascend
and fill all things! And so must His disciples! Less, and less, and
less, and less must we become–and so we shall really be, in His
sight–more, and more, and more, and more!
27. For who is greater, he that sits at meat, or he that serves?Is it
not he that sits at meat? But I am among you as He that serves. For He
had just then taken a towel and girded Himself, and washed their
feet–so becoming Servus ser-vorum, the Servant of Servants, though He
was, in very truth, the King of Kings!
28. You are they who have continued with Me in My temptations. There is
a reward to the righteous, though they serve not for reward, for the
Lord says–
29. 30. AndIappoint unto you a Kingdom, as My Father has appointed unto
Me; that you may eat and drink at My table in My Kingdom, and sit on
thrones judging the twelve tribes ofIsrael. Ah, but see what follows!
No sooner, in this Chapter, does the thought seem to rise than it is
dashed down again! The brightness always has a shadow cast across it,
31, 32. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired to
have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for you,
that your faith fail not: and when you are converted, strengthen your
brethren. We are thinking about thrones and about which of us shall
have the loftiest throne–but see how the Master is thinking about the
necessary while we are doting upon the superfluous! He thinks of our
needs while we are dreaming of something great. What a blessing it is
that we have our Savior praying for us when we, ourselves, may be
fancying that we need not pray! Our hands are ready for the scepter and
we are anxious to sit down on the throne–when the Lord knows that our
proper place is at the footstool, pleading for mercy!
33. And he said unto Him, Lord, I am ready to go with You, both into
prison, and to death. That is bravely spoken, Peter–and yet it is very
foolishly said, too! He spoke out of his very heart and he meant what
he said, but Peter did not know what a poor weak body Peter really was!
His Master understood him far better.
34. And He said, I tellyou, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day,
before that you shall thrice deny that you know Me. And so it came to
pass. Let as read a part of the sad story, beginning at the 54th verse.
54. Then took they Him, andled Him, and brought Him into the High
Priest's house. And Peter followedafar off. I do not think that Peter
was to be blamed for that. I do not see how he could very well have
followed any nearer, for he was already a marked man. That cutting off
of the ear of Malchus had made him especially prominent among the
Apostles, even if he had not been well known before! He got into the
crowd and came after his Master at such a distance as seemed safe for
him.
55. And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall, and were
set down together, Peter sat down among them. I do think that he was to
be blamed for that action, for it brought him into dangerous company.
Better be cold, than go and warm your hands in ungodly society!
56. But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire, and earnestly
looked upon him. As the flame came flashing up every now and then, she
looked at him, and Peter was troubled by her gaze–she, "earnestly
looked upon him."
56-59. And said, This man was also with Him. And he denied Him, saying,
Woman, I know Him not And after a little while another saw him, and
said, You are also of them. And Peter said, Man, I am not And about the
space of one hour, later, another confidently affirmed, saying, Of a
truth, this fellow also was with Him; for he is a Galilean. For he got
to talking to this evil company and his speech had betrayed him!
60. And Peter said, Man, I know not what you say. Another Evangelist
tells us that he began to curse and to swear, as if that was the surest
proof that he could possibly give that he did not know Jesus–for, when
you hear a man swear, you know at once that he is no Christian–you may
conclude that safely enough! So Peter thought that to prove that he was
no follower of Christ, he would use such evil language as the ungodly
speak.
60, 61. And immediately, while he yet spoke, the rooster crowed. And
the Lord turned and looked upon Peter God has all things in His hands.
He has servants everywhere and the rooster shall crow, by the secret
movement of His Providence, just when God wills! And there is, perhaps,
as much of Divine ordination about the crowing of a rooster as about
the ascending of an emperor to his throne! Things are only little and
great according to their bearings and God reckoned not the crowing bird
to be a small thing since it was to bring a wanderer back to his
Savior, for, just as the rooster crowed, "the Lord turned and looked
upon Peter." That was a different look from the one which the girl had
given him, but that look broke his heart.
62. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said unto
him, Before the roster crows, you shall deny me thrice. And Peter went
out and wept bitterly. How many there are who sin with Peter, but who
never weep with Peter! Oh, if we have ever transgressed in such a way
as he did, let us never cease to weep! Above all, let us begin at once
to lament it and rest not till the Master looks again, and says by that
look, "I have blotted out all your transgressions; return unto Me."