Fountains of Repentant Tears
(No. 2735)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JULY 14, 1901.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
OCTOBER 24, 1880.
"And when he thought about it, he wept." Mark 14:72.
TRUE repentance is always the gift of God and the work of the Holy
Spirit in the soul. Man, left to himself, continues in sin. If he turns
from his iniquity, it is because God turns him. By nature, his mind is
set on mischief and if that mind is changed, as it is in genuine
repentance, it must be because the Lord Himself has changed it. That
repentance which a man works in himself, without the Spirit of God,
will turn out to be a repentance that needs to be repented of! But that
godly sorrow for sin which the Spirit of God produces in the heart is a
sure indication of spiritual life and the constant attendant of saving
faith. Whoever truly repents of sin and believes in the Lord Jesus
Christ, is a saved man–he shall be among the blessed ones in that day
when Christ comes to judge the quick and the dead–and he shall be
forever among the glorified!
Yet, while repentance is worked in men by the Spirit of God, He
generally makes use of means to produce that result. In the case of
Peter, the agency employed was thought–thought about his sin–"When he
thought about it, he wept." There is no doubt that multitudes of
sinners have been led to repentance in this way and, in some respects,
this must be the universal way by which the Spirit of God conducts men
to the goal of true penitence. As long as they live carelessly and
thoughtlessly, they go on in their evil ways, but if they are stopped
in their mad career, if they are made to consider, if they begin to
think over their sin–if God, the Holy Spirit, convinces them of the
guilt of it–He uses that thought and conviction to lead them to trust
in Jesus Christ. The remembrance of sin committed is the Holy Spirit's
frequent, if not constant method of bringing men to weep over their
wrong-doing and to turn from it.
I find that the Greek word, which is here rendered, "he thought about
it," is rather difficult to translate in order to give the full meaning
of the original. There is, in the expression used by Mark, some idea of
throwing or casting, so that some have even read the passage, "When he
muffled up his face," as though they thought it was implied that he
cast something over himself so as to hide his face for shame at his
great transgression. But others, and I believe much more correctly,
think that our translation comes near enough to the idea of the writer,
who wanted to convey the impression that Peter cast his thoughts
concerning what he had done, one upon another–brought before his mind
the circumstances in which he stood and heaped them up, one upon
another and, as he did this, and considered his sin in detail, and
brought out its true and gross guiltiness–then it was that he began to
weep. Without, however, insisting upon the absolute accuracy of this
particular translation, we take the text as it stands–"When he thought
about it, he wept."
I. First, LET US STUDY PETER'S CASE AND USE IT FOR OUR OWN INSTRUCTION.
The details of this sad story are familiar to you, yet I may remind you
of them in order that we may see in how many points we have been like
Peter was.
As Peter heard the cock crow, he thought, first, that he had actually
done what Christ had said he would do–he remembered that he had denied
his Lord. That which had seemed impossible to him had, nevertheless,
been done three times! He would not believe even his dear Lord and
Master when He told him that it would be so, but now it was literally
the fact that Peter, one of the first to follow Christ, one who had
even walked on water to go to Jesus, one who had seen Christ's
miracles–Peter, the most earnest and enthusiastic of Christ's
followers, always to the front, ready to brave any-
thing for his Lord–Peter, who, with his sword, cut off the ear of the
servant of the high priest–he realizes that he is the very same man
and that he has actually denied his Master, declaring positively that
he was not one of Christ's disciples. "When he thought about it, he
wept," as well he might! Ah, what castles in the air had vanished! What
self-confidence had passed away!
Then, as he looked to the end of the hall where he could see his
Master, he reflected upon the excellence of the Master whom he had
denied. Ah, Peter! You have denied the best, the most loving, the most
lovely, the most tender, the most generous, the most compassionate, the
most self-denying, the most pure, the most heavenly of leaders! If
there had been some fault in Him, if He had played you false, if He had
been unkind to you, if He had promised you a wage and had not paid you,
or if He had lied to you, and you had found Him out, or if you had seen
some infirmity or imperfection about Him when you watched Him
privately, you might be excused. But to deny such a Master–well may
you weep and cover your face for very shame! He is perfection, yet He
permitted you to follow Him–you who are such a poor untrustworthy
creature! How could you say, "I am not His disciple"–and say it three
times over, so positively and so plainly, when, but a little while ago,
it was your joy, your glory, your delight to humbly follow in His
footsteps and to call Him Master and Lord?
Then, next, he recollected the position in which his Lord had placed
him. Peter, you are not only a disciple, you are one of the 12
Apostles! Your Master singled you out, at least on one occasion, and
spoke to you words that put you in a place of great eminence in His
Church. You were endowed with the power to work miracles, you were
exalted above the 70 evangelists and called to be one of the 12 pillars
of the future Church to be built upon Christ Jesus. Yet you have denied
Him! Oh, how this thought must have struck his heart, like the point of
a dagger, for, by so much as Christ trusts us, by so much is it a
shameful thing for us to betray that trust! By so much as Christ puts
honor upon us by using us, by just so much is it an intolerable shame
that we should put Him to shame and grieve Him by denying that we are
His! We can do this by our actions as well as by our words. You can
deny Christ quite as much by acting inconsistently as by standing up
and boldly saying, "I know not the Man!" O Brothers and Sisters, if
Christ has highly favored any of us, and used us in His service in any
degree, and yet we have denied Him, the recollection of our sin ought
to cut us to the quick!
Moreover, Peter remembered that his Lord had favored him with very
special communion with Himself. Christ took only three of His followers
into the silent chamber where the daughter of Jarius lay dead. When he
took the damsel by the hand and said to her, "Talitha cumi," and the
maid arose, there were only three pairs of eyes, out of all His
disciples, that saw that miracle, for "He suffered no man to follow
Him, save Peter, and James, and John." Then, up on the mountain where
the Lord was Transfigured and His garments became whiter than any
fuller could make them, and the Glory of the Lord shone upon the
Well-Beloved, there were only three disciples who were permitted to be
there–and Peter was one of those who "were with Him in the holy
mount."
And in the Garden of Gethsemane, when eight of the Apostles were left
as a picket to watch at the gate, there were three who accompanied the
Savior to within a stone's throw of the place where He agonized and,
"His sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the
ground." And among the three who constituted the innermost bodyguard of
their suffering King was Peter. Yet, with the memories of Tabor and
Gethsemane upon him, he had denied that he even knew Christ! Do you
wonder that, as he thought about it, he wept? Ungodly men, if they make
a confession of sin, speak of it in the mass, as Pharaoh did when he
said to Moses, "I have sinned." But godly men are not content to act
like that. They enter into details and in their confession they dwell
upon the minute particulars of their guilt. They seek out that which
will aggravate the sin or, rather, will set it in its true light when
they are making confession of it before God! And I have no doubt that
Peter mentioned this as a great aggravation of his iniquity, that he
had seen the Savior in those choicer moments when only the elect out of
the elect, the very elite of the Apostolic band were permitted to be
pre-sent–and yet he had denied his Lord!
There was still more for Peter to think of–he recollected that he had
been solemnly forewarned by his Master Jesus had said to him, "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 He had
also said to him, "Verily I say unto you, That this day, even in this
night, before the cock crows twice, you shall deny me thrice." No
warning could be more explicit than that! If a man plunges into a ditch
when he is told where it is, or puts his foot into a trap when it is
pointed out to him, or, being warned of his weakness in a particular
direction, nevertheless takes no heed, he really doubles the guilt of
his offense, for he has sinned
against special light. You do not often have the full light of the
bull's eye lantern turned upon a weakness as Christ turned it upon
Peter's. He told him plainly what he was going to do–yet the boastful
man declared that he would not do it and then went straight ahead and
did it!
This thought might well make him weep! The tones of his confident
affirmation that he would never deny his Master must have still
lingered in his ears yet he could also hear the sad echo of the denial
which he had so grievously made and, therefore, "when he thought about
it, he wept." Why, it must have come to his mind that he had flatly
contradicted Christ and that he had put himself before all his brethren
and claimed to be better, more steadfast than they were– "Though all
men shall be offended because of You, yet will I never be offended,"
and, further, he said, "Though I should die with You, yet will I not
deny You." He had to eat his own words and to confess that he had
proved false to his own most solemn declarations–and that might well
cause him to weep as he thought over it.
Yet there was something even worse than this–Peter mourned that he
should have denied his Master under such circumstances–that he should
have left Him when He most needed a friend and companion. When
everybody else forsook Christ, Peter not only forsook Him, but he
denied that he even knew Him. If a man is really a friend, he certainly
will stand by his friend when others turn away from him–yet there
stands the blessed Lamb of God, buffeted, mocked, delivered up by cruel
men to be crucified, and it is at such a time that Peter denies Him! He
denies Him when He is about to lay down His life for Peter and for all
His loved ones–denies Him when He is acknowledging us as His own and
standing before the tribunal in our place to suffer for our sins! O
cruel Peter, if you meant to deny your Master, why did you do it just
now when He has no one to cling to Him? Surely, it would have been more
noble on your part to have said, "I am one of His followers. Nail me to
a cross at His side, and let me die faithful to my Lord." That would
have been a speech more worthy of Peter at his best!
He also thought of the repetitions and aggravations of his offense and
this made him weep. In addition to denying his master, he told a
positive lie and repeated it again and again. He said to the damsel, "I
know not what you say." And twice he said, "I know not the Man." Now,
that was an altogether unnecessary lie because I would think that a
very large majority of the Jews knew Christ. Jesus of Nazareth must
have been so famous as a Teacher and as a Miracle Worker that many a
man who was not one of His followers, could not have said, "I do not
even know Him." It was bad enough for Peter to deny that he was
Christ's disciple, but to say, "I know not the Man," was a needless
aggravation of the lie that he had uttered! What is worst of all, "he
began to curse and to swear." Liars generally seem to think that they
will not be believed upon their bare word. So they imagine that if they
will swear, then they will be believed. This is not the case, by any
means, for, if you are wise, the moment you hear a man swear, you will
know that he is telling a lie, for a profane swearer practically says,
"I need not mind telling a lie to man, for I am not afraid to swear in
the Presence of God."
You never need believe a man who swears–you may know that he also
lies. But Peter, having the common notion that to blaspheme and to use
strong language would be convincing, began to curse and to swear. Do
not alter these words, so as to make it appear that Peter used gentle
and polite expressions. He did nothing of the kind–he used the
strongest form of cursing that he could, for the Greek word is
tantamount to "anathema." He anathematized himself, invoked upon
himself the heaviest curses–as profane people usually do–in order
that those who stood around might believe him when he said that he did
not know Christ.
This cursing and swearing shows how very low Peter had fallen. When a
man swears, you may, as a rule, be quite sure that he does not know
Christ. Peter may have thought within himself, "There never was a
disciple of Christ yet who took to swearing, so, if I swear, they will
think at any rate that I am not one." So he borrows, out of the mouth
of the profane language which did not belong to him–and he utters it
in order that they may really think that he is no disciple of Christ.
When the cock crew, and he thought of all this, he might well weep.
Why, this is the man who said, on the Mount of Transfiguration, "Lord,
it is good for us to be here: if You will, let us make here three
tabernacles." This is the man who said to Jesus, across the stormy sea,
"Lord, if it is You, bid me come unto You on the water." This is the
same man, yet he has been cursing, and swearing, and denying Christ!
When he turned all that over in his mind, it is no wonder that he wept.
II. Now, in the second place, LET US STUDY OUR OWN LIVES AND USE THE
EXERCISE FOR OUR FURTHER HUMILIATION.
I will begin with the backslider. There are, alas, many who have denied
Christ in this way. After having followed Him for years, they have
gradually grown cold and have turned aside from Christ, their Lord and
Master. I want you, dear Friend, once a member of this Church, yet now
a backslider, to turn this matter over very carefully and prayerfully.
You were converted in a very remarkable manner. You were, by Divine
Grace, kept for years from sins into which you had formerly plunged.
You had much joy and peace in believing and, sometimes, in the services
of the Lord's House and especially at the Communion Table, you have
felt as if you could sit and sing yourself away to everlasting bliss.
You have often talked to your friends and kinsfolk about the bliss that
dwells in the name of Jesus, your Savior–yet now you are a backslider!
I cannot go into the details of your sins–perhaps it would not be
right or profitable to mention such matters in public–but will you
think on them? I pray you, my Brother–my Brother Peter–think of them!
Turn over all the details in your mind. This may seem to you to be a
very bitter task, but one day the result of it will be sweet. You do
not like to remember your sins, but if you remember them, God will
forget them–whereas, if youforget them, God will remember them against
you!
Possibly you were not only a member of the Church, but you ware a
teacher in the Sunday school. Do you remember how earnestly you used to
teach the children, how anxious you were to lead the little ones to the
Savior, and the intense joy with which you heard their first
expressions of confidence in Christ? You remember what zeal and
devotion to your Lord and His service you manifested in those happy
days which have long gone by? But what a change has come over you!
Surely, as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so have you
departed from Christ–and in going astray from Him, you have turned
aside from happiness and from peace. You know that you are not happy.
You also know that you can never be happy while you continue in your
present condition. You have tasted so much of the joy of true religion
that you are quite spoiled for the world. A man who lives in sin and
loves it, may get some sort of pleasure out of it, but if, by Divine
Grace, you have once been brought out of the City of Destruction, you
cannot go back to it–the place would be a house of bondage to you.
There is nothing for you but to go forward because, as John Bunyan
says, there is no armor for the Christian warrior's back–and if you
turn round, you will quickly be wounded by the great adversary. You
must go forward! There is something within you which tells you that you
must, and I believe you will find that it will help you to go forward
if you think over the sins that led to your departure from the right
road, and that have made you, who used to teach others, now need to be
taught yourself!
Is there, in this great throng, one who used to be a preacher of the
Gospel, a minister of Christ, and who has turned aside? Such men are
not as rare as one could desire. I can, at this moment, recall one who
used to be prominent in Christ's service, but who now spends his life
in serving Satan. We sometimes meet with men who have the drunkard's
brand upon their face and they tell us that they were formerly
ministers at such-and-such places. O my Brother, my Brother Peter! How
sad it is that after having preached Christ, you have denied Him! Were
you sincere in your preaching, or was it a lie? Did you do it for the
sake of the loaves and fishes? God have mercy upon you if you were a
whitewashed hypocrite! But now have the whitewash removed and appear in
your true colors! Possibly, however, you can say, "Yes, I did serve the
Lord sincerely. I did long to do good in His name." Then, how did you
get down to your present condition? A more important question is–Do
you not wish to get out of that sad state? Oh, I beseech you, seeing
that you have disgraced the name of Christ and put Him to open
shame–come back to Him at once!
May He make you to hear the cock crow this very hour, awakening your
slumbering conscience, and may you go out to weep bitterly over your
terrible sin! It is by that watergate that many find entrance into the
Haven of Peace. It is by deep conviction of guilt and by true
contrition of heart that they come, at last, to the feet of Jesus and
find salvation. Out of such a congregation and such a Church as this,
it is not possible for anyone to know all that goes on, but we cannot
help hearing of one here and another there who gradually turn aside.
Gray hairs are upon them, but they perceive them not, and at last they
slip back almost imperceptibly, and, by-and-by, they fall into some
open sin. Return, O backsliding daughter! Return, O weeping one, to
your Savior! Return, O prodigal child! Come back to your Father's House
and heart! The door of His House is open to receive you, and His heart
is waiting to welcome you! Return, return, return!
But now I must speak to another class of persons, those who never did
come to Christ I wish I had the power to make them think of their past
lives until they wept over them. Shall I try to recall some things to
the remembrance of careless ones who are still unconverted? I should
have to go back a long way with some of you–back to the old house at
home,
and to your dear mother–oh how she prayed for you and pleaded with you
while you were a curly-headed boy! You remember the name that was
written in your Bible, and the request that you would read a portion
out of it every day when you first went away from home? You little
thought, then, that you would ever be a swearer, that you would grow up
to be a drunk, that you would be a Sabbath-breaker and a companion of
the wicked! If anybody had foretold that concerning you, in those days,
you would have said, with Hazael, "Is your servant a dog, that he
should do this great thing?" You would have been shocked–yet you have
done it!
Do you remember the feelings you had in your early days, those childish
prayers that were sincere in their way– those simple hymns that you
delighted to sing–the time when you used to get alone and cry out to
God? In those days, if you had had a portrait of yourself as you now
are, shown to you, and it had been said, "That is what you will grow to
be," you would not have believed it, would you? They were happy days,
but they are gone, never to return. For years after that, you had a
very tender conscience, had you not, my Brothers and Sisters? I want
you to remember that fact if it was true in your case. Then, when you
first went into overt sin you were very frightened and alarmed–but now
you can do a great deal that is evil without being at all troubled–but
it was not so with you then–you could not feel easy while engaged in
wrong-doing.
Why, sometimes you have been sitting in the playhouse when there has
been some lewd word or action, and you have felt that you ought not to
be there! You have wondered that the place did not tumble about your
ears! But you do not feel like that now. Remember, too, how you used to
start in your sleep through some alarming dream, and how you awakened
in terror and sat up in bed, and wondered how you could live as you
did, without God and without Christ, and in constant jeopardy of being
cast into Hell. I want you to recall all this and to remember how you
seared your conscience, as with a hot iron, till you had burnt out of
it the possibilities of sensibility.
I want you also to recollect another thing–and that is, God's mercy to
you. Try and think about that for a little while. God has been very
gracious and kind to some of you. You have prospered in business beyond
all your expectations, or you have been helped in times of trouble when
you could not have thought that God would aid you. For which of these
things do you now neglect Him? What has God done to you, or for you,
that you should remain His adversary? You remember that long sickness,
when you were brought very low? "Don't talk about it," you say. But I
must talk about it, because there was something that happened, then,
which ought not to be forgotten. In the middle of that illness, you
vowed that if ever you got well again, you would lead a very different
life. You recollect that you promised that? God registered the vow,
though you have broken it!
I do not know how to say all that I have in my heart because there are
certain things which I want some of you to think about, yet I can only
just mention them in the public service. Remember the sins which you
committed in which others were involved–sins which have ruined their
souls, and which you never can undo. A man may sometimes sin by
himself, as Peter did, but some men sin with others, and drag down
others as they sink themselves. It is sad enough to go to Hell alone,
without having one's arms clasped about others to be the means of their
ruin, also. Yet there are some men, and some women who have dragged
scores down to Hell with them. O God, have mercy on them for this
dreadful crime! If any here have been so guilty, I entreat them to
think of their great sin, to look it steadily in the face till their
eyeballs burn–and to keep on looking at it until the blessed drops of
penitential grief shall distil from their eyes.
Why should you not think of what you have done? Do you fancy, because
you forget it, and draw a veil over it, that it is destroyed? No,
Sirs–you may blot out your memory of the crime, but it is as fresh in
God's Book of Remembrance as if it had been committed only yesterday!
"But," you say, "this wrong was done 50 years ago." That does not make
any difference–in the sight of God it is just as though you did it
tonight–and it will be the same with you, one of these days, when
stern Justice, like a grim chamberlain with black hands shall draw back
the curtains of the bed on which you now securely sleep–and wake you
up to see that your sin, unless Christ has buried it in His tomb–is
still alive to curse you forever! Oh, may God help us to think over our
sin until we shall realize its guilt and bow before the thrice-holy
Jehovah in true penitence!
Some of you, who have been living in sin, and living without God, are
doubly guilty, because you have sinned against light and knowledge. You
are not like the ignorant multitude, for you have been well-taught and
trained from your very childhood. Moreover, many of you have been
endowed by God with good common sense and sound judgment, and it has
been a difficult matter for you to continue in your evil course while
your own conscience was accusing you.
Think of this, because it aggravates your sin and makes you more guilty
than those who have not had such privileges! Some of you have heard the
Gospel till you know all about it. I cannot tell you anything fresh and
I never try to do so. When we have seen the old Truths of God
exercising all their possible power over our hearers, then will be time
enough to think of something fresh–but they have not reached that
point yet, so we still continue telling "the old, old story." Oh, that
the Lord would cause you to remember the sermons that you have heard,
the Prayer Meetings you have attended, the revival services you have
passed through–and the resistance to your own conscience and to the
Holy Spirit which some of you have dared to carry on! O my God, I
cannot break the rock! I cannot make the water flow from it, either
with a rod or by speaking to it! You must do the work, O blessed
Spirit, if it is to be accomplished! Will You now constrain these
people to think of their past lives until they shall go out of this
building to seek a quiet place where they may weep in penitence before
the Lord?
III. I have set before you the example of Peter and have tried to
transfer it to your own experience. I must now close by asking you to
OBSERVE THE RESULT OF THESE THOUGHTS UPON YOURSELVES.
Alas, there are some who can think of sin without emotion. I have tried
to make you think of your past sin. Do you find that such thoughts lead
you to repentance? Has God blessed this meditation to the breaking of
your heart and the humbling of your spirit? If you answer, "No." If you
can think over all your past life and still say, "No, I do not weep. I
do not repent," I am afraid that you are like Judas rather than Peter!
I fear lest I have met with the son of perdition and not an heir of
Glory!
What can be said for the man who is aware of his sin, but who tries to
pass it upon somebody else? I have known some who have charged the
guilt of their wrong-doing to their constitution. They were so
constituted, they say, that they could not help sinning as they
did–this is trying to pass upon God the guilt of their transgression.
"Oh," says one, "it is my trade that has made me sin! If you had been
in my position, you would have been no better than I am." Perhaps so,
but you mean that you are not the sinner, it is your tradethat is
guilty? It does not appear that you are one of those whom Christ came
to save, for He came to save sinners, the lost. He came not to call the
righteous, but sinners, and I do not think His call will be extended to
your trade–it is you, yourself, who must be saved–and none but Christ
can save you!
"Oh!" says one, "my sin is the result of my circumstances." Whatever
your circumstances may have been–whether you were rich or poor, or
whatever your condition may have been–if you try to lay the blame of
your guilt on your circumstances, I have little hope concerning you.
There is no mercy for you and there will be no forgiveness for you
until you take the blame of your sin upon yourself. "Oh, but I was so
tempted!" Yes, I know–that was the old excuse of Adam and Eve. "The
woman gave me the fruit of the tree," said Adam. "The serpent beguiled
me," said Eve. Perhaps you also lay the guilt of your evil-doing upon
the devil–he is a beast of burden that carries many saddles that never
belonged to his back. But I must tell you that as long as you lay your
sin at the devil's door, there is no mercy for you! Plead guilty, I
implore you, for you arethe guilty party, and then shall you receive
the pardon of your transgression! It is the sign of a sad condition of
heart when a man, instead of confessing his sin, and admitting,
straight away, that he is guilty of it, and lamenting before God that
he should have been so wicked, turns round and casts the blame upon
chance, or upon anyone but himself!
I hope, however, that I am addressing some who are moved to penitence
by thinking of their sin. I hear one say, "As I think over my sin, I am
moved to great sorrow. I desire to have that sin put away, for I long
to be wholly delivered from it and I do want to be reconciled to God."
I am glad to hear you say that and I will tell you something that ought
to move you even more than the thought of your sin, something that
ought to make your heart leap within you. Do you ask, "What is that?"
Why, it is this–that, though you have denied Christ, as Peter did,
with many aggravations of your guilt, He still loves you and He bids
you come to Him, for He has blotted out all your transgression! God
told Jeremiah to say that when a wife treacherously departs from her
husband, when she commits adultery and falls into all manner of
wickedness, he cannot be expected to receive her back again–yet God
says to the soul that has gone astray from Him, "I am married unto you,
says the Lord; come back to Me and I will forgive you, however much you
have defiled yourself."
It was not many days after Peter had denied his Master, that the
Master, having died and risen from the dead, sent a special message to
him. The angel said to the women, "Go your way, tell His disciples and
Peter that He goes before you into Galilee: there shall you see Him, as
He said unto you." And it was not many days after that that Peter stood
by the
seashore and his Master said to him, "Simon, son of Jonas, do you love
Me?" And Peter was able to answer, "Lord, You know all things; You know
that I love You." Christ had always loved him, and He loves you, too,
poor penitent soul! You have denied Him, but He has never denied you.
No, backslider, you have been false to Christ, but He has never been
false to you. Come back to Him who still loves you! The marriage tie is
not broken! The Covenant of Peace is not cancelled, though you have so
grossly transgressed!
What a mercy it was for Peter that, within a short time of his great
fall, his Master gave him work to do! And that same Peter who had
shamefully denied his Lord was standing up in Jerusalem, filled with
the Holy Spirit, preaching to the multitudes and bearing the standard
of the Cross in the very front of the battle, the bravest of the brave!
And Peter ended his career by dying for his Master, as Christ foretold
that he would, by being crucified upside down, thinking himself
unworthy to die in the same position as his Lord had done, and asking
as a favor that if he must be crucified, it might be in that fashion.
Peter yielded up his whole being, in life and in death, to Christ out
of intense loyalty to his Lord who had so freely forgiven him his great
transgression.
That same Master is here, at this moment, seeking you poor prodigals!
And He would have you come to Him and receive this gracious message
from His lips–"I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your
transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sins: return unto Me, for I have
redeemed you. Behold, I have cast all your transgressions behind My
back, and will remember them against you no more forever. Go forth and
serve Me, and rejoice in Me all your days. Love Me much, for you have
had much forgiven." God grant that many of you may have Grace given to
you to enable you to obey that blessed word, and to the name of Jesus
shall be praise for evermore! Amen.
EXPOSITIONS BY C. H. SPURGEON: MARK 14:27-31; 53,54; 66-72; JOHN
18:15-18;25-27.
Mark 14:27-29. And Jesus said unto them, All you shall be offended
because ofMe this night: for it is written, I will smite the Shepherd,
and the sheep shall be scattered. But after that I am risen, I will go
before you into Galilee. But Peter said unto Him, Although all shall be
offended, yet I will not There was love in that utterance and so far it
was commendable. But there was also much self-trust in it. And there
was great presumption, for Peter dared even to contradict his Master to
His face and, at the same time, he contradicted the Inspired Scripture,
for Jesus had told the disciples that it was written that the sheep
should be scattered! Yet Peter boldly denied both what God had written
and what Christ had said. Alas, there is nothing of evil which proud
self-confidence will not make us do! God save us from such a spirit as
that!
30, 31. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto you, That this day,
even in this night, before the cock crows twice, you shall deny Me
thrice. But he spoke the more vehemently, If I should die with You, I
will not deny You in any wise. See how positive he was, how reliant
upon the strength of his own love! It was well to feel such love, but
it was ill to mix with it such self-confidence.
31. Likewise also said they all Whenever a man who is called to be a
leader, goes astray, others are pretty sure to follow him. It was so on
this occasion, for when Peter made his boastful speech, "Likewise also
said they all"–all the rest of his brethren chimed in and so shared in
his sin–but Peter was chief in the wrong-doing, for he led them all.
In the 53rd verse we read what happened after Christ's agony and
betrayal in Gethsemane.
53, 54. And they led Jesus away to the high priest: and with him were
assembled all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes. And
Peter followed Him afar off, even into the palace of the high priest:
and he sat with the servants, and warmed himself at the fire.
Meanwhile, Christ was being put to the utmost derision and contempt. In
the 66th verse, we are told more concerning the boastful Apostle.
66-70. Andas Peter was beneath in thepalace, there came one of the
maids of the high priest: and when she sawPe-ter warming himself, she
looked upon him, and said, And you also were with Jesus of Nazareth.
But he denied, saying, I know not, neither understand I what you say.
And he went out into the porch; and the cock crew. And a maid saw him
again, and began to say to them that stood by, This is one of them. And
he denied it again. And a little after, they that stood by said again
to Peter, Surely you are one of them: for you are a Galilean, and your
speech agree thereto. He could
not hold his tongue, you see. He was always fast and forward in
speech–and no sooner did he begin to speak than the people said, "That
is the Galilean's brogue! You come from that part of the country, your
speech betrays you."
71, 72. But he began to curse and to swear, saying, Iknow not this Man
of whom you speak. And the second time the cock crew. And Peter called
to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice,
you shall deny Me thrice. And when he thought about it, he wept
John 18:15. And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another
disciple. That is John, of course. He never mentions his own name if he
can help it.
15, 16. That disciple was known unto the high priest, and went in with
Jesus into the palace of the high priest But Peter stood at the door
outside. Then went out that other disciple, which was known unto the
high priest, and spoke unto her that kept the door, and brought in
Peter. I always fancy that John had a greater tenderness for Peter
because he was the means of getting Peter into the palace of the high
priest. Peter could not have got in if he had been alone, but John was
known to the high priest, and so secured his admission. He must always
have felt sorry that he took Peter into a place where he was so
strongly tried. Hence John sought him out after his great fall when,
perhaps, the other Apostles were inclined to leave him by himself. John
cheered him up and brought him back to the faith.
17, 18. Then said the damsel that kept the door, unto Peter, Are not
you also one of this Man's disciples? He said, I am not And the
servants and officers stood there, who had made a fire of coals; for it
was cold: and they warmed themselves: and Peter stood with them, and
warmed himself That was a very dangerous place for Peter to be–he
would have been safer out in the cold.
25. And Simon Peter stood and warmed himself Twice over, we are told
that while his Master was being buffeted, Peter stood in the midst of
the ribald throng and warmed himself.
25-27. They said therefore unto him, Are not you also one of His
disciples? He denied it, and said, I am not One of the servants of the
high priest, being his kinsman whose ear Peter cut off, said, Did not I
see you in the Garden with Him? Peter then denied again: and
immediately the cock crew. Thus was Christ's prediction literally
fulfilled and thus, by what seems the humble instrumentality of a cock
crowing, was Peter brought to repentance. There is many an eloquent
divine who has missed the mark when he has been preaching, but God has
spoken by a very humble voice. You, dear Friend, though you have no
gifts of speech, may go and tell the story of Jesus Christ to someone
and God may bring him to repentance through you, as he brought Peter
back to himself through the agency of this bird. May God make us all
useful and keep us from falling into transgression as Peter did! Amen.