Savior of Mercy and Grace

By

 John C. Orlando, Jr.

Covenant Presbyterian Church

Abilene, Texas

2 January 2005

Text Luke 22:54-62

Intro

We have just celebrated the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  As we celebrated that momentous occasion, the thing that we all know is that Jesus was born for a reason. 

That reason, according to the Scriptures, was that after 400 years of silence, the birth of Christ marked the dramatic event in redemptive history where God was spoke most loudly and profoundly, not through a prophet, not through an Angel, but through His Son, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God.   The birth of Christ was not a mere afterthought in the mind of God, a plan B or a parentheses in redemptive history, but was rather in keeping with God’s sovereign and eternal plan which was manifested at the precise time that God had decreed, as the apostle Paul tells us, “when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born or a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law…” (Gal 4:4).   

Today we want to transport ourselves from that manger scene in Bethlehem, to Jesus’ last days on earth when He is about to accomplish all that the Father had sent Him to accomplish.  But we are going to do it through the eyes of one of the foremost followers of Christ, the man who was said to be the rock, the Apostle Peter.  We are going to go to one of the most infamous scenes in the life of Peter, that being the scene of the arrest of Jesus, and Peter’s subsequent denials of his Master.  As we look at Peter, we will be given a picture of just how radically fallen we are, how desperately we need Jesus, and just how merciful and gracious our Savior truly is to His people. 

In our text this morning we are taken immediately to the scene of Jesus’ arrest and Peter’s denial, but to capture the full weight of what happened, we must go back to the events that occurred just hours before this took place, to the Passover meal, or what we call the Last Supper, that Jesus had with His disciples just prior to His arrest. 

I. The Lord’s Supper (Lk 22:14-23):  Many important things are taught and take place during the course of this meal, ultimately though, Jesus’ primary purpose is to institute the New Covenant by proclaiming that His body would be given for His people, and His blood would be shed for many for the remission of sins, as Jesus would perfectly accomplish and finish His redemptive work on the cross.  During the meal, Jesus says that one of them is going to betray Him, and the disciples discuss among themselves who it was that would do such a thing.  In the course of that discussion, a dispute arose among them.  What was this dispute about?  Verse 24:

            A.  Verse 24 - Who’s the Greatest? –  Their mindset seems to be that if there was one among them that would actually betray Jesus, then certainly there was one among them that would surely never do such thing—the ones given to such betrayal would be the least in the kingdom, while those not so given would be counted as the greatest.  Well, it is clear that the disciples still don’t get it.  They still don’t grasp the fact that the Son of Man must go to Jerusalem to be handed over and be crucified, and three days later would rise again from the dead for our justification.  Instead of recognizing the redemptive mission of Christ, and realizing that it was because of their sin and guilt that Jesus was going to go to the cross, they are looking at one another and trying to figure out which among them was the greatest.  Obviously, they had a:

            B.  Wrong Focus - By pointing to who is the greatest among them, every one’s focus would be on an individual other than Christ.  Ultimately, Christ Himself is the only “great” one, and the only greatness that anyone of us can ever boast of is that which can only be found in the person of Christ and that which is credited to our account.  The greatness question centers on the works of the individuals themselves, and not on the works of Christ. 

And as devout, and as pious as the disciples were, the greatest among the disciples is still a stench in the sight of God.  And when they argue over which of them is the greatest among them, it’s like saying “I’m better stench than you are.”  They, and very often many of us who are followers of Christ today, fail to realize that stench is stench.  Filth is filth.  And the only thing that we have to offer is not greatness, but wretchedness. 

Imagine a fashion contest between filthy, unkempt bums.  Their clothes are full of

holes and have mud and filth hanging on them, their shoes are so worn that they are not recognizable, their hair is frizzed out, tangled, and looks like a birds nest, their faces are weather worn and battered, they have no teeth, and the smell that emanates from all of them is so putrid that it defies words.  Because of malnourishment and unsanitary conditions, they are frail, and they are covered in body lice and other unmentionable things. 

Now imagine them arguing over which of them is better than the other.  And now imagine one these trying to gain entrance into the Royal Court of a King where a great feast and celebration was taking place.  Even if the King knew them, do you think one of these scoundrels would be permitted into the Royal Court in the condition they are in? 

Well Beloved, the Lord knows that we are just like these bums.  So, He sends a Savior for us, and prepares a great feast, but in order for us to gain entrance into the Royal Court, we must be appropriately clothed.  And this is what the Lord does for us; He takes upon Himself all of our filthy clothes and putrid smell, and all of our wretchedness, and in exchange He clothes us in the royal robes of His righteousness, and as we enter the court, the image that everyone sees is that of our Savior. 

            C.  Jesus Addresses the Disciples (v. 25-32) - This dispute over which one was the greatest had evidently reached a fevered pitch until Jesus addresses them, and when He does, it becomes apparent that the one making the most noise was Peter.  After telling His disciples what true greatness was, in that it had to do with sacrificial service and not lording it over others, Jesus refers specifically to Peter in v. 31-32 (read):  “And the Lord 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." 

There are many significant things that we would could examine here that time does not permit.  The most important thing for now that I want us to see is the intercession of Christ on Peter’s behalf.  It isn’t that Peter pulled himself by his bootstraps and made a “free will” decision to follow Christ, rather, it was because of the powerful intercession of Christ that Peter would be empowered and enabled to be restored, as the writer of Hebrews declares, “Therefore He (Jesus) is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” (Heb 7:25)  Lest the other disciples think they would fare any better than Peter, Peter is the one who will be charged with strengthening the disciples, because they all, we are told in the Gospels, end up fleeing and forsaking Christ.  Peter will strengthen his brothers not because of any greatness inherent in Peter, but because of the greatness of Christ working through him. Peter will be, as it were, a means of grace to his brothers.

D.  Peter’s Response – One would think that after having the Lord say all of these things, that Peter would be frightened and even appalled.  One would think that he might cast himself upon the mercy of Christ right then and there, and cry out to Christ for strength.  Instead, Peter boldly and emphatically asserts in verse 33 "Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!" Jesus simply responds in verse 34 "I say to you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me." This takes us now to…

II.  The Denial by Peter (v. 54-60)

On a purely human-level, Peter would have been the last person anyone would suspect of the kind of failure that he engaged in.  Peter was by all accounts a pretty tough customer.  Commentators describe Peter as, “eager, impulsive, energetic, self-confident, aggressive, and daring…He was preeminently a man of action…” (New Bible Dictionary, 2d Edition, J.D. Douglas)  He was a rugged fisherman, and certainly not the kind of person to back down from a good fight. 

Peter was one of the first disciples called by Jesus; he always stands first in the list of the disciples; he was one of the three who formed the inner circle round the Lord, and he acted as the spokesman for the Twelve. When the Lord asked his disciples directly who they thought that He was, it was Peter who boldly proclaimed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 

But now we find Peter, after the arrest of Jesus, not quite as bold, not quite brave, not quite as willing to go with Jesus both to prison and to death, as we find that Peter was, verse 54 states, “following at a distance.”  The Gospel of John records that Peter accompanied another disciple, most probably John himself, and John went into the proceedings while Peter remained outside, and it is outside where Peter will deny his Lord three times.  Look at verses 55-60.

There are a couple of things I want us to note about Peter’s denial.  First, though our text doesn’t mention it, we know that when Peter denied even knowing Christ, Matthew’s Gospel provides us with the details that Peter used an oath and called down curses in his adamant denial of Christ (Matt 26:74).  Commentator’s note that the calling down of curses does not mean that he used foul language, but this was the kind of swearing that a person does in a court of law.  Peter was swearing that he did not know Jesus and was invoking the curse of God on himself if his words were untrue.    What irony here!  Peter calls down the curse of God upon himself, and it is that very curse which Christ Himself is going to bear on Peter’s behalf, as the Apostle Paul would write in Galatians 3:13-14:  “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

Secondly, notice to whom Peter is making this denial:  A servant girl.  Peter wasn’t standing before the Tribunal of the Temple, but here is found cowering to a little servant girl.  John Calvin in his commentary notes:  “He does not wait until he is dragged before the tribunal of the high priest, or until his enemies attempt to put him to death by violence, but, terrified by a woman’s voice, immediately denies his Master.”

Finally, notice in verse 59 that after Peter’s second denial, about an hour had passed.  One would think that in this span of time, surely Peter would have rethought what he had just done, and maybe repented. But no; you see, in and of ourselves, godly sorrow that works repentance is simply impossible.  Instead, he is confronted again, and again he insists that he doesn’t know what they are talking about.  It is at this point that we are taken to what I believe is a profound moment in Scripture.  Look at verses 60 and 61…

III.  The Look of Jesus

Luke records that immediately, even while Peter was still speaking these words, a rooster crowed, and then we see the Lord turns and looks at Peter.  Jesus looks on this one who not only denied Him, but please note, it was this one whom Jesus already knew would deny Him, and it was this one for whom Jesus was about to go and die.  Much has been written about this look that Jesus gave to Peter.  It is an intense and dramatic moment, and the question that comes to mind is what kind of look was it that Jesus gave to Peter?  Was it a look that said, “Peter, you fool!  How could you be so stupid?” 

No words were spoken by Jesus, yet I believe that volumes were spoken in that look.  I believe that when Jesus looked at Peter here, it was not with eyes that were full of anger, but eyes that were full of compassion, full of gentleness, full of love, full of mercy, and full of grace.  It was a look that would cause Peter to remember all that Jesus had told him, which in turn would cause Peter to go out and weep bitterly. 

You see, in a moment, Peter understood who he was.  Far from being the greatest of the disciples, far from being the one who would go with Jesus both to prison and to death, Peter realized that in and of himself he was like the bum I described:  Poor, weak, miserable, wretched, and putrid.  Peter realized in an instant that his heart, as that of each one of us, is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. 

It was, maybe for the first time, that Peter truly understood both his horrible plight before a holy God, and the incredible mercy and grace of His Savior.  You see, in mercy, God did not give Peter what he deserved; and in grace Christ is about to do something for him, and for us, that neither he, nor we deserve:  He who knew no sin was going to become sin for us on the cross to secure what we do not deserve and could never earn by our own works:  eternal life.

At that moment that Jesus’ eyes met Peter’s, Jesus was saying, “Peter, my son, you are one of my sheep.  I love you and I am going to die and pay the penalty for all of your sins, all of your guilt, all of your shame, and all of your failure.”  It was a look that said, “Come unto Me all that weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”   And Peter understood that without Christ, he could do nothing. 

            Conclusion

Today we have transported ourselves from that manger scene in Bethlehem, to Jesus’ last days on earth when He was about to accomplish the mission He was sent to do, which was to die for the sins of His people that He might redeem them from their sin. 

And we used the Apostle Peter as our tour guide as it were.  Peter was, for us, a mirror so to speak.  As we look at Peter and his denial, we see our reflection bouncing back on us.  Here was Peter, a man who had walked with Jesus, ate with Jesus, and traveled with Jesus for over 3 years, and yet he falls, and thus we see just how radically fallen we all are, how desperately we need Jesus, and just how merciful and gracious our Savior is.  All self-reliance is completely demolished, any thought that our goodness might somehow merit our entrance in to Heaven is shattered.

It is here dear ones, in poor Peter’s plight, where Peter teaches us that no matter how strong we think we are, in and of ourselves we are weak, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.

But the look of Christ comes to us, and we are reminded of the word of the hymn “Come unto me ye fainting, and I will give you life.  O peaceful voice of Jesus which comes to end our strife!  The foe is stern and eager, the fight is fierce and long; but thou hast made us mighty, and stronger than the strong.” 

It is the look of Jesus that comes to us, and causes us to say, “No condemnation now I dread, Jesus and all in Him is mine!  Alive in Him, my living Head, and clothed in righteousness divine.” 

It is in the look of Jesus that we understand that Christ is our mighty fortress, a bulwark never failing, and our helper amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing.

It is in that look of Jesus where we understand that we have a Savior of mercy and grace, and that God demonstrated His own love toward us in that while we were YET sinners, Christ died for us.

It is the look of Jesus to us, that is, it is the mercy and grace of our Savior that is the source of our strength, our solace, and our comfort.  Rest in Jesus beloved, gaze upon Him whose eyes never leave His children, and bids you to come…come…come unto Him and drink freely from the rivers of living water. 

Amen.

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