'Thou shalt deny me thrice.'
We cannot say that poor Peter's fall was at all an anomalous or
uncommon thing. He did exactly what a great many of us are doing. He
could—and I have no doubt he would—have gone to the death for Jesus
Christ; but he could not stand being laughed at for Him. He would have
been ready to meet the executioner's sharp sword, but the
servant-girl's sharp tongue was more than he could bear. And so he
denied Jesus, not because he was afraid of his skin—for I do not
suppose that the servants had any notion of doing anything more than
amusing themselves with a few clumsy gibes at his expense—but because
he could not bear to be made sport of.
Now, dear brethren, I suppose we are all of us more or less movers in
circles in which it sometimes is not considered 'good form' to show
that we are Christian people. You young men in your warehouses, you
students at the University, where it is a sign of being 'fossils' and
'behind the times' and 'not up to date' to say 'I am a Christian,' and
all of us in our several places have sometimes to gather our courage
together, and not be afraid to declare whose we are. No doubt life is a
better witness than words, but no doubt also life is not so good a
witness as it might be, unless it sometimes has the commentary of words
as well. Thus, to confess Christ means two things; to say sometimes—in
the face of a smile of scorn, which is often harder to bear than
something much more dangerous—'I am His,' and to live Christ, and to
say by conduct 'I am His,' 'Whosoever shall confess Me before men, him
will I also confess before My Father, and whosoever shall deny Me, him
will I also deny.' Do not button your coats over your uniform. Do not
take the cockade out of your hats when you go amongst 'the other side.'
Live Jesus, and, when advisable, preach Jesus.
But Peter's fall, which is typical of what we are all tempted to do,
has in it a gracious message; for it proclaims the possibility of
recovery from any depth of descent, and of coming back again from any
distance of wandering. Did you ever notice how Peter's fall was burnt
in upon his memory, so as that when he began to preach after Pentecost,
the shape that his indictment of his hearers takes is, 'Ye denied the
Holy One and the Just,' and how, long after—if the second Epistle which
goes by his name is his—in summing up the crimes of the heretics whom
he is branding, he speaks of their 'denying the Lord that bought them.'
He never forgot his denial, and it remained with him as the expression
for all that was wrong in a man's relation to Jesus Christ. And I
suppose not only was it burnt in upon his memory, but it burnt out all
his self-confidence.
It is beautiful to see how, in his letter, he speaks over and over
again of 'fear' as being a wise temper of mind for a Christian. As
George Herbert has it, 'A sad, wise valour is the true complexion.'
Thus the man that had been so confident in himself learned to say 'Be
ready to give to every man that asketh you a reason for the hope that
is in you, with meekness and fear.'
And do you not think that his fall drew him closer to Jesus Christ than
ever he had been before, as he learned more of His pardoning love and
mercy? Was he not nearer the Lord on that morning when the two
together, alone, talked after the Resurrection? Was he not nearer Him
when he struggled to his feet from the boat on the lake, on that
morning when he was received back into his office as Christ's Apostle?
Did he ever forget how he had sinned? Did he ever forget how Christ had
pardoned? Did he ever forget how Christ loved and would keep him? Ah,
no! The rope that is broken is strongest where it is spliced, not
because it was broken, but because a cunning hand has strengthened it.
We may be the stronger for our sins, not because sin strengthens, for
it weakens, but because God restores. It is possible that we may build
a fairer structure on the ruins of our old selves. It is possible that
we may turn every field of defeat into a field of victory. It is
possible that we may
'Fall to rise; be beaten, to fight better.'
If only we cling to the Lord our Strength, the promise shall be
ours—whatever our failures, denials, backslidings,
inconsistencies—'though he fall he shall not be utterly cast down, for
the Lord upholdeth him with His hand.'