Bible Study Series: Peter the Apostle
Matthew 26:31-35 Peter's Epic Failure
by Fraser Gordon
Hello Saints, continuing on with our studies into Peter’s life, today we're going to look at Peter's epic failure. One of the main things that Peter is remembered for is denying the Lord Jesus Christ. It's amazing that Christians can live a whole life dedicated to the Lord, but yet slip up, have a major failure, and that is what they are remembered for. People always remember the failures. It's no different with Peter. Think about the highlights of his life; he walked on water and gave a great confession of faith in Christ. But people always remember that he denied the Lord.
I bought a book a while ago called The Ultimate Book of Heroic Failures by Stephen Pile. It's about things which went catastrophically wrong and about people that tried things who then failed miserably. There have been some epic failures throughout history. There was one about the most failed driving test. Cha Sa Soon of South Korea blazed the trail in 2009 when she failed her driving test a world-breaking 959 times. She had failed the test on 771 occasions and then decided to sit it daily. She got it in the end, but that's epic. In October 1987, Matthew Boyer popped out during his lunch break for some golf practice next to an airbase in the African country of Benin. Slicing his shot to perfection, he drove the ball over the fence into a passing bird which coughed, squawked and plummeted toward the runway smashing into the windscreen of a plane that was about to take off. The pilot, alarmed, slammed on his brakes and skidded, plunging into Benin's four and only military jets. With a single golf stroke, this important athlete had wiped out his entire country's air force!
That golf shot reminded me of the time I bought a new golf club and brought it home. I was so eager to try it out but we lived about 6k from the nearest golf course. I couldn't wait to go to the course, so I whipped over the fence next to my house into a paddock that used to be grazed by horses. I had to give this new club a go, so I teed it up and whacked it. It was going along fine, until it started to develop a little tail which grew into a huge slice with the wind. It went up over the paddock, up over the trees, and I thought, oh no, that's heading directly toward the glasshouses which were about 250 metres from our house. I didn't hear a crash, or anything smash so I thought I was okay. Next minute, at the end of the paddock, there was a man shaking his fist at me, and I thought, oh no, what have I done?! I thought I better go and front up so I went to his property, knocked on his door, and said to him, “I saw you shaking your fist at me, did I do some damage with that golf ball?” He said to me, “Did you hear what I said?” I said, “No”. He said, “That one you can have for free, the next time you do it I'm going to shoot you”. I said, “Oh look, I'm really sorry, what have I done?”. He said that he had been sitting in a chair next to his glass house when he got hit in the middle of his back by my golf ball! He was minding his own business sitting next to his glasshouse and I struck him in the middle of his back! He turned around, looked at what had hit him, and thought, “Where on earth did that come from?”. Only to realise it was me, 250 metres away down the end of the paddock. That was an epic failure!
Peter is going to have an epic failure, and he doesn't know what's coming. We're going to have a look at his failure from all the gospels because they all talk about this event and each one gives a little bit of insight into the whole event. We'll start in Matthew Chapter 26.
I will never stumble!
Matthew 26:30 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. 31 Then Jesus said to them, "All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: 'I will strike the Shepherd, And the sheep of the flock will be scattered.' 32 But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee." 33 Peter answered and said to Him, "Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble." 34 Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times." 35 Peter said to Him, "Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!" And so said all the disciples.
You see, failure for Peter was not in his vocabulary. He knew nothing of it. He said, ‘Everyone else may stumble, but not me. I'm made of much more sterner stuff. I will not stumble’. Failure was not in his mindset.
Matthew 26:36 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, "Sit here while I go and pray over there." 37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. 38 Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me."
This event comes straight after Jesus told them that the shepherd would be struck and the sheep would be scattered. Now he goes to Gethsemane, which means oil press. Here the victory was won so that Jesus could go to Calvary. Jesus was entering into the deepest, most sorrowful part of His humanity. He was going to be made sin. He was going to be separated from His Father. In this place, the oil press, the pressure came on the Lord Jesus Christ. He takes with Him His three closest disciples, Peter, James and John. They are given instructions, “Stay here and watch with Me”. They were to watch and to pray. Jesus in his humanity has His greatest need here. He takes these three disciples with Him because He is after companionship. He wants them to watch and pray with Him.
Matthew 26:39 He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will." 40 Then He came to the disciples and found them asleep, and said to Peter, "What? Could you not watch with Me one hour? 41 Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
This is the first stage in Peter’s downward journey. He had just made great boasts about everyone else stumbling but him. “Even if I have to die with you, Peter said, “I will not deny you”. He had been given instructions by the Lord to watch and pray and Jesus said in verse 40, “What?” He's astonished that the disciples could not even watch with Him for one hour! He goes on to say, “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak”. The disciples were tired but they were also unaware of the trial that the Lord Jesus Christ was going through. They didn't understand what the will of the Father was. They didn’t realize that the Lord Jesus Christ's life was going to be poured out to death. They were unaware of the trial He was going through when He separated Himself each time, praying to the Father, ‘If there's any other way to bring salvation, if there's any other way by which the cup of Your wrath may pass from Me, let it be. But if not, let everything be done according to Your will’. The Lord Jesus Christ in His humanity had to yield Himself to the Father's will.
This is the hour of trial for our Lord Jesus Christ and the disciples could not even watch with Him for one hour. Was Satan also in the garden? Why did Jesus say to them, “Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation”. The trial was going to come to them also. They were going to be scattered like sheep in such a short amount of time but were unaware of it. Jesus said, “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak”. They were tired and their eyes were shut when they should have been watching and praying.
Matthew 26:42 Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done." 43 And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. 44 So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. 45 Then He came to His disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand."
Three times this happens. He goes away, comes back, finds them sleeping, goes away, comes back, finds them sleeping, then goes away, comes back again, and they are still sleeping. The disciples had missed the opportunity to be a comfort to their Rabbi in His greatest hour of need. He drew them aside so they could share with Him this burden of yielding Himself to the Father's will. They missed the opportunity. So when he returns the third time, he says, “Rise, let us be going”. The opportunity had passed.Interestingly, Luke's gospel brings out that even though the disciples were sleeping and not watching or praying, an angel came and ministered to the Lord Jesus Christ in his greatest hour of need. The disciples had the opportunity to watch and to pray, but they missed it. That's the first little glimpse we get of Peter's downward journey.
Out comes the sword!
We'll continue this story in Luke.
Luke 22:47 And while He was still speaking, behold, a multitude; and he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss Him. 48 But Jesus said to him, "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?" 49 When those around Him saw what was going to happen, they said to Him, "Lord, shall we strike with the sword?" 50 And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. 51 But Jesus answered and said, "Permit even this." And He touched his ear and healed him.
We know from John's gospel that it names the disciple that drew the sword. And who is it? Our friend Peter. Interestingly in Luke the disciples asked the Lord if they should strike with the sword but Peter had already drawn his out. He didn't wait for an answer from the Lord Jesus Christ. He hacked away 100% fully committed to his cause. Peter’s cause is to stop the arrest of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here you have a fisherman trying to be a swordsman and he is 100% fully committed. He takes an almighty swing, tries to take the man's head off, misses and instead takes off his right ear. You cannot do that without being 100% committed. It's not just a little poke forward. It's a slash. Peter hacks away at this guy who’s trying to arrest the Lord Jesus Christ. Beautifully, Jesus stops him and says, “permit even this. And He touched his ear and healed him”.
Even when being arrested, Jesus performs a miracle. This man's ear and his hearing was healed and restored. Of all the people that needed their ears healed, it was Peter, to hear the will of the Father. He again misunderstood the words of Jesus and the will of the Father, that He would be betrayed and become the sin offering. Here he is, trying to hinder the Lord Jesus Christ going to the cross and stop Him from being arrested. The will of the Father was that the Son would give His life as a ransom for many. Peter is trying to hinder it. Someone had their ear healed, but it's Peter who was not hearing the word of God properly.
We also have a type here. This man was a servant of the high priest and is a type of Israel. His name was Malchus which means royal. The nation of Israel was under judgment. Do you remember in Matthew 12 when the Pharisees accused the Lord Jesus Christ of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub? They committed the unpardonable sin and from that moment Jesus began to speak in parables. This was a judgment on the nation by the Lord Jesus Christ. In Matthew 13 Jesus tells His disciples that he now speaks in parables, "because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand”, so they would not hear and they would not understand. Israel had an opportunity, but missed it. Jesus revealed Himself as their Messiah but they claimed that the power by which He did His miracles was Beelzebub, the Prince of Demons. Malchus’s ear had been cut off which pictures Israel as being deaf. The healing of the man's ear is a picture that one day, spiritual healing will be restored to the nation. Paul in Romans 9 through 11 brings this out. This is Peter’s second step toward failure. Firstly, he should have been watching and praying, but he was sleeping. Then he should have submitted to the will of God, but we find him hacking away with his sword. Peter is on a downward progression to an epic failure.
The progression of sin
Mark 14:53 And they led Jesus away to the high priest; and with him were assembled all the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes. 54 But Peter followed Him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he sat with the servants and warmed himself at the fire.
Peter didn't understand what had happened. There were two disciples that followed Christ after his arrest, the other one being John who seems to have been closer to where the Lord Jesus Christ was. Peter was outside the courtyard but in John's Gospel, it says that John sent a message to Peter and brought him into the courtyard. Here we find Peter in verse 54 following at a distance. He's seated with the high priest's servants warming himself by the fire. Peter is seated amongst unbelievers, and we all like Peter, have found ourselves, at times, seated or surrounded by unbelievers. We have all felt the pressure of being accepted, to fit in and not cause offence for the sake of Christ. At times our mouths have remained shut and we avoid spiritual topics. Peter is like this, he's seated among enemies, but yet his mouth remains shut.
Mark 14:66 Now as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came. 67 And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, "You also were with Jesus of Nazareth." 68 But he denied it, saying, "I neither know nor understand what you are saying."
This is Peter's first step toward willful sin. What he claims is ignorance, to have no idea what she is talking about. He's seated amongst the enemies of God and the pressure is on, and he fails. There is a progression of sin. Isaiah 53 says, “All we like sheep, have gone astray”, that is wayward sin. In the Bible man is likened most to sheep. Sheep are prone to wander and prone to getting into trouble. Sometimes they wander off and before they know it they're in trouble, and that is wayward sin. We just wander into it. The verse in Isaiah continues, “We have turned, every one, to his own way”. That is willful sin. You see, because we are born with a sinful nature, sometimes we just wander into sin and get ourselves in trouble, but there are also times when it grows into willful sin. We know something is wrong and yet we continue in it, and do it anyway.
In verse 68 Peter starts by denying it, then, “he went out on the porch and a rooster crowed”. Jesus told him in Mark 14.30, “Assuredly, I say to you that today, even this night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times”. Jesus had given him a warning. When Peter commits his first sin, a rooster crowed. That was a warning sign for Peter and there are always warning signs for us too. Like I said, there are times when we just wander like sheep into trouble. Before the sin of wandering turns into willful sin, when we know what we are going to do is wrong, there is a warning from the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a rooster that crows. Peter should have heard this rooster and thought, ‘Jesus spoke about that. He said a rooster would crow twice, and I would deny him three times’. He should have taken stock but his ears were deaf. He didn't even hear it.
There's always a warning from the Lord. Sometimes it can be a grieving in our spirit, sometimes a quenching of the presence of God in our life, or maybe a word of warning is spoken. We need to listen to these promptings from the Lord before our sin turns willful and we progress from worse to worse as Peter is going to do. We'll continue the story in Matthew's gospel. I know we're jumping around, but each gospel gives a little bit of information to this event in the life of Peter.
Matthew 26:70 But he denied it before them all, saying, "I do not know what you are saying." 71 And when he had gone out to the gateway, another girl saw him and said to those who were there, "This fellow also was with Jesus of Nazareth." 72 But again he denied with an oath, "I do not know the Man!"
Peter moved himself away and a girl saw him. A second time he's confronted and this time he denies it with an oath. In other words, ‘I promise, I swear on my mother's grave, I do not know the man’. Now he is willfully sinning, straight out lying. You would think, ‘What? Peter, where have you been for the last three years?’ He's been in the pocket of the Lord Jesus Christ, traveling everywhere with Him. Peter left everything to be with Jesus and he spent his whole time with the rabbi. Yet when this girl says that he was with Jesus of Nazareth, he denies it with an oath. “I do not know the man!”. Peter is on his way to failure.
Matthew 26:73 And a little later those who stood by came up and said to Peter, "Surely you also are one of them, for your speech betrays you."
Everything happened in threes, three times the Lord came to him while he was sleeping in the garden. Peter must have thought, ‘What on earth is going on?’. Here his speech betrayed him, he was a Galilean. In John 18.26 it says “One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of him whose ear Peter cut off, said, “Did I not see you in the garden with Him? His speech gave him away but cutting off the ear of the servant of the high priest also betrayed him.
Matthew 26:74 Then he began to curse and swear, saying, "I do not know the Man!" Immediately a rooster crowed.
He's so angry and frustrated that no one believes him that he starts cursing and swearing. Now this is the third time he has denied the Lord. There's one other event in Luke's gospel which we must look at.
Our true condition
Luke 22:60 But Peter said, "Man, I do not know what you are saying!" Immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. 61 And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, "Before the rooster crows you will deny Me three times." 62 So Peter went out and wept bitterly.
Luke is the only gospel writer that includes this particular incident. The Lord Jesus Christ had just been tried before the high priest. Peter is in the courtyard just outside and they're able to see each other. “Jesus turned and looked at Peter”. That look bought the full weight of his failure onto Peter. What kind of look would it have been? I don't believe it would have been a, no, no, no, no, no, no, I told you so look or one of anger or frustration at what Peter had done. Jesus already knew everything about His disciples. I believe this was a look of compassion on a man that is discovering his true state.
Peter was completely unaware of his true condition. He'd made a great boast that everyone would stumble but him. He was made of sterner stuff. He thought Jesus could count on him and that he was ready to die for Him. Yet in such a short time, he denied the Lord Jesus Christ three times to people who weren’t even a threat, yet he was still intimidated by them. The Lord Jesus Christ knew the state of Peter, but Peter needed his eyes to be opened to the chameleon of his flesh life. When Jesus looked at Peter the full weight of the boasts and his consequent failure came on him. For the first time he discovered what Paul also discovered in Romans 7.15, “For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do”. Paul came to the conclusion, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” Peter discovered what the flesh is really like. With all his boasts the flesh was reduced to nothing along with his self-confidence. He has had an epic failure, but now his eyes are open. All the saints have epic failures, even David who had a heart after God. David's epic failure was Bathsheba. In Psalm 51.5-6 David came to the conclusion, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom”. David came to understand what Paul understood and what Peter is also going to understand.
If we are faithless, He remains faithful
Peter learned two things, firstly the true state of the flesh, and secondly the truth of God's faithfulness. You see Jesus had already said to him, “Peter, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith would fail not. And when you have returned, strengthen your brethren”. The Lord Jesus looked ahead and saw this epic failure coming, but He also knew that the failure would not shipwreck His disciple. The strong hand of Jesus saved Peter from drowning when unbelief crept in as he walked on the water. Peter cried out to the Lord Jesus, “Jesus save me!”. That same strong hand also saved Peter at his denial.
2 Corinthians 7:10 For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.
Godly sorrow produces repentance. Peter wept bitterly over his condition and his failure. For the first time the self-confidence he relied on was exposed. Have you had a major crash or failure? Have you ever had the wretchedness of your flesh exposed? Has the Lord done that with you? Have you seen the flesh for the chameleon that it really is? An epic failure will do that but then God will use it. Have you wept bitterly over your state? Have you, like Paul, come to the conclusion, “O wretched man that I am? Who will deliver me from this body of death?” Have you seen the flesh for what it really is and all that it boasts about doing? The flesh had to be crucified with the Lord Jesus Christ. It had to be buried with Him so that a new man might live. The flesh doesn't improve or get any better over time. It's only good for one thing and that's crucifixion and burial. It will always be rotten and Peter was exposed to the rottenness of his own self-confidence.
Have you found, through epic failure, the truth of what 2 Timothy 2.13 says? “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself”. Peter learned two things; the wretchedness of his self, and the faithfulness of God, that even when he is faithless, the Lord Jesus Christ will remain faithful. This whole event was needed for the disciple. As we follow Peter’s life, we will see how he is restored to fellowship, picked up and then used. Just like God was faithful to Peter He is also faithful to us. We need these failures to expose the wretchedness of self-confidence and our flesh.
Conclusion
I encourage you to read all the gospel accounts of this event because each one gives a little bit of insight into it. Next time we will continue with Peter and look at his restoration after this epic failure. Remember Proverbs 24.16 says, “For the righteous man may fall seven times and rise again”. Like Peter our failures may be remembered, some Christian pastors are faithful for 40 or 50 years and then they do one stupid act of the flesh and they have an epic failure. Sometimes they are remembered for that failure rather than all the good things they did.
We need to be careful, a rooster crowed at Peter’s first denial so there was a warning. The Lord will always warn us when we are about to be led astray. We need to pay attention to that warning so that we don’t commit willful sin which might then grow into more and more willful sin.
May the Lord bless you, and we will continue next time with our study into this man of God.