When Peter denies Christ, Scripture exposes a sober path from pride to prayerlessness, to rash self-confidence, and finally to denial. Learn how Peter's three denials of Christ become a gracious warning for every disciple—so we “watch and pray” instead of falling. Drawing from the text and historical context, we can trace sin's downward spiral.
https://youtu.be/cerQpiF4JGI
Table of contents*
The Groundwork Is Laid Before The Sin Is Committed.*
Four Ways the Groundwork for Peter’s Denials Was Laid*
First, Peter Denies Christ Because He Ignored Jesus’s Warning.*
Second, Peter Denies Christ Because He Was Proud*
Third, Peter Denies Christ Because He Failed To Pray.*
Fourth, Peter Denies Christ Because He Acted Recklessly*
The Context for Peter’s Denials*
Sin Often Begets Worse Sin*
Peter’s Example Should Make Us Sober, Not Proud*
Four Ways to Learn from Peter*
First, Peter didn’t listen to Jesus.*
Second, Peter was proud.*
Third, Peter was self-deceived.*
Fourth, Peter was unprepared.
Soon after I became a Christian, I started reading the Bible regularly. The approach I took was to read a book in the Old Testament and then a book in the New Testament: Genesis, Matthew, Exodus, Mark, Leviticus, Luke. But then something happened: my friend Elwyn said, “Have you read about David?” I didn’t even know where to read about David. He told me I had to read 1 and 2 Samuel. I trusted Elwyn, so I interrupted my Bible reading plan and began these two books.
I reached 2 Samuel 11 when David committed adultery and murder, and I didn’t think I was reading about David anymore. I wondered who the imposter was. David hadn’t been perfect up to that point, but I sure didn’t think he was capable of these horrible sins.
As I reread about David over the following years, I saw the groundwork for his adultery. By the time David saw Bathsheba, he already had about twenty wives and concubines. There was no way this sort of compromise wouldn’t catch up to him. He was so used to taking women that didn’t belong to him that by the time he saw Bathsheba, she was just one more woman in that long list.
David's practice of adding wives showed a lack of restraint and an indulgence of his passions. Staying home from the battle just provided the opportunity for David’s indulgence to reveal itself.
The Groundwork Is Laid Before The Sin Is Committed.
Was there any groundwork for David’s sin of murder? No. I would say it was the opposite. David repeatedly resisted murdering Saul, even when it looked like it was something he should do. When Saul was in the cave:
1 Samuel 24:4 [David’s men] said to him, “Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand,
