The sermon titled 'The Rooster Crows' by Scott Brown explores John 18:12-27, detailing the arrest and trial of Jesus, alongside Peter's denial. The narrative contrasts the religious trials led by Annas and Caiaphas, where Jesus is accused of blasphemy, with the civil trials where he is declared innocent. The sermon highlights the irony of Jesus, the judge of all, being judged by his own appointed authorities. Peter's denial exposes human frailty and the deep love of Christ for sinners, despite their weaknesses. The sermon underscores the profound significance of Jesus' atonement, His voluntary suffering, and the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies. It draws parallels between biblical events and current times, urging believers to trust in the eternal truths of Scripture amidst cultural uncertainties. The message concludes by emphasizing Jesus' role as the suffering servant who bore the sins of humanity, encouraging a response of gratitude and reliance on His grace.

John 18 verse 12, reading through verse 27. Then the detachment of troops and the captain of the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him. They led him away to Annas first, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. Now, it was Caiaphas who advised the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people. And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple.

Now that disciple was known to the high priest and went with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest. But Peter stood outside the door. Then the other disciple who was known to the high priest went out and spoke to her who kept the door and brought Peter in. Then the servant girl who kept the door said to Peter, you're not also one of this man's disciples are you? And he said, I am not.

Now the servants and officers who had made a fire of coals stood there, for it was cold and they warmed themselves. And Peter stood with them and warmed himself. The high priest then asked Jesus about his disciples and his doctrine. Jesus answered him, I spoke openly in the world. I always taught in the synagogues and in the temple where the Jews always met, and in secret I have said nothing.

Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them. Indeed, they know what I said." And when he had said these things, one of the officers who stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, Do you answer the high priest like that? Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil, but if well, why do you strike me? Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest.

Now Simon Peter stood and warmed himself. Therefore they said to him, you are not one of his disciples, are you? He denied it and said, I am not 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? Then Peter denied again. And immediately a rooster crowed.

Would you pray with me? Oh Lord we are amazed at your sufferings for us. Pray that you would help us to understand how we ought to take them deep within our hearts today. Teach us Lord. Amen.

Well there are there are many conflicts of our souls in the Christian life. And we, you see our sins, we see the various manifestations of our pride, And we often get discouraged and we wonder, how could God accept me? How can I even call myself a Christian? And the reason that He would accept us and the reason that we, who name the name of Jesus Christ can call ourselves Christians is that Jesus Christ suffered and died for our sins. And these verses explain the depth of His atonement and His sacrifice for our sins.

And I pray that somehow these verses would help us to celebrate like we've never celebrated. I heard a friend of mine say just this last week, when Jesus Christ receives you into heaven, He won't receive you with a scowl. He'll be so happy to see you. And then he said, he'll be happier to see you than you are to him, because he's redeemed you, because he suffered for you. So the significance of these verses is tremendous.

And I'm so glad that we're here. It's really a thrill to go through them and to review the love of Christ for sinners. Now, Jesus and his disciples have exited the upper room where Jesus washed their feet. He spoke to them. He prayed a very revealing prayer about them and about his kingdom.

Judas has departed to betray him. They have been in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus experienced the agony of the pressures and the anticipations of the suffering that would come upon him and doing it for the joy set before him. A garrison has arrested him. Hundreds, maybe even a thousand of them fell back when he spoke.

He's now been ushered to his accusers. This is the point in the Word of God to which all of Scripture points, and the eternal plan of God to save those who are broken by the fall and who have experienced the troubles of sin, are found here in this passage of Scripture that God was saving sinners from the very beginning. Even the Old Testament saints were justified by the sufferings of Jesus Christ retroactively. That's what the Bible teaches. If you wanna know how the Old Testament saints were saved, they were saved by the blood of Jesus Christ and his sufferings.

That's why the apostle Paul says that Christ is our Passover who was sacrificed for us in 1st Corinthians 5 verse 7. Hebrews 10-12 says, But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till his enemies are made his footstool, for by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified." This section of Scripture is the section to which all of Scripture points, all of Scripture before this points to it, and all of Scripture after it points back to it, and to also heavenly glory. And also the deepest truths about ourselves are revealed here. And I'm sure you're a little bit like me in this time of so much controversy and difficulty and remarkable, unusual things happening in our culture and The press telling us things that we're not sure about I found it very difficult to know what to think about this virus with all the conflicting information. And it's really hard to trust the press.

I think we all believe that and understand that. And it's hard to trust the press coming from any direction. That's my view from conservative or liberal. But in these verses you have the truth. This is a true testimony.

This is absolutely true. It is everlastingly true. And while we don't know what's true happening all around us, we do know something that is true about ourselves, about the greatness of the kingdom of God, and about the preciousness of the love of Jesus Christ. These things you can know are true. I don't know if the headlines today are true, but I know that this is true.

So it's such a joy to be here. Now, in these verses, there are two parallel stories and they're interwoven together. They begin and then change from one story to another and that is the trial and then the denial. The trial of Jesus and the denial of Peter. And this is really the beginning of what Jesus has already announced, which he announced right at the beginning of the upper room discourse in chapter 12, verse 23, where he said, my hour has come.

And so now he is facing these trials. Jesus is facing six trials and you get the beginning of these trials in these verses. All of them, all trials, all six trials were conducted from about 2 a.m. To 10 p.m. On Good Friday.

We're headed actually toward what's called Good Friday this week. So this is what was happening on Good Friday. And there are six trials. There are three religious trials and three civil trials that the in the text before us. And the first is the first religious trial is before Annas, the quote unquote former high priest, I'll explain that later.

And then Caiaphas, the high priest, and then before the whole Sanhedrin. And Jesus is condemned for blasphemy. And the decision rendered is death. Now, in the civil trial, there are tremendous differences in the civil trial. The civil charge was for treason, not blasphemy.

Jesus taught that there was another king and he declared himself to be the king of the Jews. And Jesus has three appearances, three trials in the civil realm before Pilate and then before Herod and then before Pilate again. And the decision of the Romans is this, he's innocent. We find no reason. We find no fault in this man.

Isn't that interesting? In the civil trial, he's thought innocent. In the religious trial, he's thought a blasphemer. You also see the betrayal of his own disciple Peter illustrating that he was despised and rejected of men. And what's remarkable about this section is that John reveals all the gory details of all the glory details of Peter's duplicity.

And they're piled up one after another. And he must believe that Peter's denial ought to receive extensive explanation. And A.W. Pink gives us an idea, which makes sense to me, about why John goes to such great lengths to explain Peter's denials. He suggests that John, by the illumination of the Holy Spirit, exposes the details to show us the true character of those for whom Christ died.

Jesus came to save sinners. The extensive details of Peter's denials are set before us so that we would see the greatness of the love of Jesus Christ for sinners. We would see the depths of duplicity and depravity, And at the same time we would see the mercies of Christ towards sinners. Because Christ took the punishment that we deserved. And all of the sufferings that Christ experiences here reveal what we deserved for our sins.

And so the sufferings of Jesus reveal who we really are. We deserve everything that Jesus suffered. That's why the Bible teaches by His stripes we are healed. And so we deserve everything that he did not deserve. Like Isaiah said, he was wounded for our transgressions.

Now, I think as we go through this, we'll see that his suffering was voluntary. He had the power to resist. He had the authority to resist, but he did not resist. He was a lamb led to slaughter. Now, I would encourage you to read the harmony of the Gospels.

I've supplied it to you in your outline, John MacArthur's One Perfect life, which compiles the gospel records and places them sequentially as best that he could. And in the outline that you'll see, I have highlighted various ways that he has suffered. And I won't read it. I just encourage you in your homes to read it today read read the entire account I won't take the time to do it, but it's remarkable how it how it all fits together So here's the outline. I want to begin moving to the text now and you'll see that I've divided the text into several sections.

The first section is in verses 12 through 14. Jesus is arrested, shackled, and transported to Annas. And then secondly in verses 15 through 18 he's betrayed and denied by Peter. And then thirdly in verses 19 through 23 he is interrogated and accused by Annas and struck. And then fourthly in verse 24, he is condemned by Caiaphas.

John gives a very short testimony of this, which the other gospel writers illuminate more. And then fifthly in verses 24 through 26, Jesus is denied by Peter a second and a third time. And then finally, in verse 27, in the last verse of our text, Peter's sin is revealed by a rooster. So there you have it. Well, let's take these one by one and try to walk through the text and understand what is here.

First, Jesus is arrested, shackled, and transported to Annas, verses 12 through 14. Then the detachment of troops and the captain of the officers of the Jews Arrested Jesus and bound him and they led him away to annus first for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. Now it was Caiaphas who advised the Jews that it was expedient, that one man should die for the people. Now notice a number of things here. How they took him, they bound him, they tied him up literally most likely put a chain around his neck and handcuffed him in that manner, in a different manner than we handcuff today, most likely.

But Judas told the detachment to seize him. You see the brutality of Judas literally telling them to take hold of him. You read that in Matthew 26 verse 48. And well, I think what we should recognize here is that We deserve to be betrayed like Judas betrayed his Lord. We deserve that someone we've served with would tell others that we should be shackled and bound.

And they bound him like an animal. And they bound him like an animal drawn into sacrifice, which is of course I think prefigured by Abraham binding his son Isaac and putting him on the altar in the same way Jesus was bound as a sacrifice for sin. He was treated like a common criminal. That's why he said, Why have you come to me with swords and clubs? In truth, we deserve to be arrested and tied up and taken.

The Old Testament prefigures this, prophesies it In Psalm 22 verse 12, many bulls have surrounded me, strong bulls of Bation have encircled me. They gape at me with their mouths like a raging and roaring lion. In Psalm 118, 12, they surrounded me like bees. In Isaiah 53, he was taken from prison and from judgment. He was cut off from the land of the living.

For the transgression of my people, he was stricken." So we deserve to be arrested and bound and taken away. Now notice where they took him, verse 13, and they led him away to Annas first. They took him to Annas first. This is the first religious trial Annas was most likely and an old man I By the way, just quickly it is such a tragedy and a disappointment when and all when an old man is wicked in his old age What a sad thing that is But anus was was the father-in-law to Caiaphas who was high priest that year John uses some language to allude to how tenuous the job of the high priest was during the Roman period. He says that he was high priest that year.

His position became a revolving door under the Romans, sometimes annually. Interestingly enough, the prosecuting of Jesus fell on his term. He was the high priest that year. And it's very important that we understand that things fall to us at the right moment, at the right season, in whatever position we're in. If you're a child, whatever comes to you, God has ordained it.

If you're a man or a woman, if you're a leader of a company, if you're a leader of a church, whoever you are, recognize that God is going to appoint things to happen to you during your watch. And what will you do with it when it falls to you? Because it's God who ordains these things. He kindly orders them. It's very important that we understand that we walk in holiness when things fall upon us, because things will fall.

His timing is perfect and he causes all things to work together for the good. Now, Annas was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, and both of them were very bold and unprincipled men. We can see how unprincipled Caiaphas himself was in John 11. In John 50, Caiaphas says, one man should die for the people, kill him. These were brutal men.

He cared for himself. He needed to keep his power base. And so he used people to navigate public opinion, to stay in power, just like all politicians do. By the way, don't expect politicians to do anything different. Don't be surprised.

Don't be discouraged. Don't fall apart. This is the territory And not to say that every single politician operates that way, but expect it and don't worry about it because this is the way it has always been. Anas was actually deposed as high priest for his corruption and his son-in-law Caiaphas was installed. Now, by Jewish tradition, the high priest was granted his position for life.

And so, Annas was still considered high priest, even though his son-in-law Caiaphas held the official position, being appointed by the Romans, Annas being deposed for his corruption. Remember the temple tax? Annas's family controlled it. What was the purpose of the temple tax in the court of Annas? To fill his own pockets.

It was a cash flow. And the buying and selling in the temple that Jesus refers to, Jesus came and he chased the money changers out of the temple twice. Historians say that the temple was called Annas's Bazaar. So he was using the temple funds for his own and his own purpose And so now you have this generational sin running in this family. He visits the iniquity to the third and fourth generations, the father-in-law and the Son-in-law doing the same thing, sin running in a family.

So, notice the irony here. I'm going to give you three of them. There's so much irony in this passage. First, Jesus is the judge of all the earth who is being judged. Judgment has been given to the Son, and yet he submits himself to being judged.

Of course we learn from the Bible that God is appointed a day for all men to be judged. Jesus Christ is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and in His glory is the Judge of all the earth. And then the second irony, Anas's name means grace or graciousness. And the one who's full of grace and truth, true grace and true truth is before him. And thirdly, Jesus is before the authorities that He Himself has appointed.

Romans 13 says that God has appointed all authorities, and He has authority over all authorities. It's ironic, isn't it? And notice the language, they led him away. They led him away. This is a disclosure of the willing submission of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

He is a submissive lamb led to the slaughter. I love the way J.C. Ryle explained this. Like in these words, to submit to ill treatment quietly. When we have no power to resist is submission that is both graceful and wise, but to suffer voluntarily when we have the power to prevent it and to suffer for a world of unbelieving and ungodly sinners, unasked and unthanked, this is the line.

This is a line of conduct which passes man's understanding. He was led away captive and dragged before the high priest's bar, not because he could not help himself, but because he had set his heart on saving sinners by bearing their sins by being treated as a sinner and by being punished in their stead. Al Martin said in a sermon that I listened to that if there ever was a legitimate reason for civil disobedience, this was it. But Jesus was silent before his his sheers, and he was bound like Abraham's son was bound and They led him through the sheep gate, which a while back we read about in Nehemiah chapter three verse one. He was led as a lamb to slaughter.

They led him. They took him. And then in the next section, John cuts to Peter's betrayal and denial in verses 15 through 18. So we come to the second section here where he has been betrayed and denied by Peter. Betrayed and denied by Peter.

Peter is following from a distance. And then he's finally admitted into the courtyard of Annas and Caiaphas' house. And another disciple follows him from a distance. Two things, Peter is at a distance. He's willing, but he's weak.

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Who is the other disciple? Some say Joseph of Arimathea, others Nicodemus. Almost everybody says though that it's John. I think it was John.

The other disciple was known to the high priest. You know, why was John admitted into the court of the high, the courtyards of the high priest? John was related. John's mother was Salome, who was related to Mary, who was the cousin of Elizabeth, who was the wife of Zacharias, a priest. So John's Uncle Zacharias, as priest, would have had access to the courtyard of Annas and Caiaphas.

The house that they went to was not like your house. It was a very large building. You would liken it to a mansion. There were homes, large homes, of the priests in the temple core area. And Annas and Caiaphas, it seems that they were living in the same, on the same premises there in the temple grounds.

Archaeologists believe that they have found ruins of this house in the midst of the temple grounds, two very large homes there have been excavated. And Peter is in the courtyard. So you can picture these homes and a courtyard in the middle and a balcony around it like that. And Peter and John finally end up in that in that courtyard. But the Peter's not in yet in our text.

So look at verse 16. Peter's shut outside. John is inside. And Peter stood at the door outside. Verse 16.

The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to her who kept the door and brought Peter in. So Peter is shut out, the doors closed, there's a doorkeeper, a girl, and John goes to the doorkeeper to let Peter in. And She let him in. And then the next verse should be a warning to dampen our pride and to show us the depth of Jesus' love for us. Beware if you think you stand lest you fall.

Peter falls. Verse 17, Then the servant girl who kept the door said to Peter, You're not one of this man's disciples, are you? And he said, I'm not. He lied. Right in front of John.

John records it here. Here. Jesus suffered by Peter's betrayal and we deserve that people would say of us, I don't know him. We deserve that people would disassociate from us for all the foolish things that we've said and done and been. We deserve our closest friends to abandon us.

We deserve that they cut ties of association with us because Jesus suffered what we deserve to suffer. This is one of the beautiful things about the body of Christ. It's a collection of sinners who really are saved by grace. And as a result, they're able to gather because they have grace for one another. They recognize.

What they've been forgiven, and so they forgive. And this is what every true church is meant to be characterized, The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is the way that the Apostle Paul ends one of his letters. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. And then in the next frame of the story that John brings to us in verse 18, Peter's fitting in.

It's cold outside and he's warming himself by the fire. And it says here in verse 18, now the servants and officers who had made a fire of coal stood there for it was cold and they warmed themselves and Peter stood with them, with them and warmed himself. Peter is fitting in. He's standing with the guys. He is warming himself.

He's not testifying to the grace that is in Jesus Christ. He is silent, hanging out, hoping not to be recognized. And he's actually associated with the accusers. Matthew Henry says he desired to be thought one of them, that he might not be suspected to be a disciple of Christ. Have you ever done that?

Peter was sitting in the seat of the scornful. Have you ever done that? On the one hand, we deserve no one standing up for us, no one defending us, no one taking up our cause, no one telling the truth about us around the fire, but silence. And then in the third frame here, Jesus is interrogated and he's accused by Annas and he's struck. He's actually beaten.

Verses 19-23. Then the high priest, this is Annas still, asked Jesus about his disciples and his doctrine. And Jesus answered him, I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple where the Jews always met and in secret I have said nothing why do you ask me ask those who heard me what I said to them indeed they know what I said so Jesus asks this question ask them and in other words where are your witnesses? Would you please bring some witnesses?

They're not keeping the law of witnesses. And that's why Jesus, many chapters before in the Gospel of John said, You don't keep the law. Here's another example of this. And Christ is turning the tables on them and he's asking them a question based on the law of witnesses. Jesus is driving them back to the law of God.

And he's saying, where are your witnesses? Because there was a requirement in the law for witnesses. You can't just make up an accusation. You must have witnesses. There's a process.

And Jesus, with this one question, is exposing their dishonesty and they know it. And they see it as an offense. Now, parenthetically, Jesus is regularly appealing to the law of God. And here he is using the law of God to convict them of their own sin and to reveal the duplicity and the lawlessness of the high priest, which he has been doing all along in his earthly ministry. So he says, ask them, you be the witnesses, go find your witnesses, please bring your witnesses.

And the truth is we deserve to be interrogated, we deserve to be accused without witnesses, We deserve to be asked questions about what we've done. If you were interrogated about what you've done, your Internet searches, your private conversations, your secret thoughts, played back, broadcast before the world, your anger, your foolishness, your stupidity, your pride, self-righteousness spread out before everyone? What if? Well, I believe that these things are being laid out before us here. We are being exposed by the sufferings of Christ because He took the punishment for everything we deserved.

And then Jesus is struck by an officer. You can see how offensive this was in verses 22 and 23 when Jesus just asked a simple question. Rather than repenting, they were offended. This often happens. If you point out some matter where someone might need to repent, you're often attacked back.

And so when he had said these things, one of the officers who stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, do you answer the high priest like that? How dare you? Offend him Jesus answered him if I've spoken evil bear witness of the evil But if well, why do you strike me? Again, Jesus is penetrating their duplicity and their motives. In the other accounts, you'll read it if you are able to read through the harmony of the Gospels.

He is spat upon, he's struck over and over again, beaten, and belittled in every possible way. And then in the fourth frame, he is condemned by Caiaphas, verse 24. Interestingly enough, very little is reported by John about this interaction with Caiaphas. Then Anas sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest. He's also called the high priest, as I explained earlier.

He is Anas' son-in-law. He too was a cunning politician, a social navigator. He was a pragmatic, brutal man. And he was continuing the corruption of the priesthood. He was being enriched, he was very wealthy, and he looked for a scapegoat to keep from losing his power.

Kill the man so that the Romans don't come and take away our power. He feared removal by the Romans and he did what he did to benefit himself. When men want to protect their positions, they'll do whatever they feel is good for them. And, and Caiaphas makes it very plain that that is his position. One man will die for the people.

That's his position. Caiaphas didn't know that what he said was prophetic. And then later on, Caiaphas will say in this trial, kill him. You know, it's interesting. I read somewhere that they, archaeologists believe they found the tomb of Caiaphas.

And at the same time, when the Romans conquered Jerusalem in 70 AD, they found a vast treasury of Caiaphas' wealth, gold without number that he had collected in his lifetime. The irony of it all, the creator of the universe is complying with Caiaphas' creative plan. The creator of Caiaphas' brain is talking to Caiaphas. And neither does Caiaphas follow the law, there are no witnesses. And then in the fifth frame of this scene, that John records, Jesus is denied by Peter a second and a third time, verses 24 to 26.

Now Simon Peter stood and warmed himself, therefore they said to him, You're not one of his disciples, are you? He denied it and said, I am not. Here, the boldest, most vocal, most pretentious, on fire disciple is now the quietest. Peter was subject to the fear of man. The fear of man is a snare.

We see Peter in the snare. We've always thought of Peter as brash and proud and bold. Pride and self-sufficiency is a branch of the fear of man and insecurity. We overcompensate for our fear by being pushy and confident and acting like we know everything. We want our way.

We want to exalt ourselves. And we exalt ourselves because we're fearful that we won't be important or liked or respected or protected in this case probably with Peter. This was Peter's weak spot. And every person is vulnerable in this place, but this was Peter's particular vulnerability. His self-confidence was really an outward manifestation of his self-importance and self-indulgence, which exists in all of us in such great measure.

And then Jesus is betrayed a third time in verse 26. 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? And of course he denied it. And in Mark 13 we read that he swore an oath. In other words, he took an oath, an oath which indicated this commitment, may God strike me dead if I know him.

He took an oath. From the other gospel accounts, it seems like about an hour has passed from the second denial to the third denial. You're one of them. We read that he had an accent. He sounded like he was from Galilee.

You know how that works. People from America don't sound the same. And they recognize him to be a Galilean. And you know we like to tease people with their funny accents, you know, but here the accent revealed the man. In Luke 22 at this point we read that Jesus looked across the room and caught Oh, my.

What a moment that must have been. What did he see? Tender mercies, his whole life being played out before him, remembering all the things that he's seen and heard, and his love for him, even after he denied him three times. And then it all came out and the rooster crowed. And John doesn't tell us very much.

All we read from John is, Peter then denied again and immediately a rooster crowed. Jesus has already said, He who denies me before men, him I will deny. But this was a different kind of denial. This wasn't the same kind of denial that Jesus was speaking of earlier. This was an entrenched, Peter's denial was not an entrenched, unbelieving denial.

It was the denial of weakness and vulnerability to pride and sin to which we can all relate. Jesus says, your faith will not fail. He already said that to him earlier. I prayed for you. You'll be sifted like wheat, but I prayed for you.

And I would just say, and to you and you and you and you and you and you. Prayed for in the midst of the vulnerability and the sin and the pride and all the necessary sanctification that we hope for and need so much. And Jesus' intercession will secure Peter's mission and the fulfillment of it. So the rooster, Peter's sin is revealed by a rooster. This is such a heartbreaking moment.

You know, I hear roosters at home on my farm just before a daybreak every morning. I hope you'll never hear a rooster the same again. God uses things to remind us of who we are and what he has prophesied. Next time you hear a rooster, remember who you are and what he has prophesied. God uses things to remind us of who he is and who we are.

The rooster here marks time. The rooster here exposes sin. The rooster marks words that never fail. The rooster will crow for all of us, And thankfully by the Holy Spirit does all the time to teach us and to convict us of our sin So the next time you hear a rooster remember what it means God put roosters in this world for more than one purpose Okay, I'm gonna bring this down to lessons I'm gonna give there two types of lessons that I think come from this. Lessons from the trials and lessons from Peter's denials.

Okay, Let's start with the lessons from the trials. I'm just going to sort of machine gun some of them here. Jesus takes his accusers back to the law for authority. I think there's a question that we should ask. What do we view sin to be?

In the trials of Jesus, you see the sinfulness of sin and the radical depravity of man. You see fallen nature running. This could be you if you did not have the Holy Spirit to teach you and convict you and sanctify you. But God has put a restraining power in your life called the Holy Spirit. Don't forget in these trials the absolute power of Jesus Christ in the face of his accusers.

God commands all nature, all governments, all friends, all people. He commands all stars and birds and fish and rivers and frogs and clouds and everything else in the world. Your dogs, your cats, and the mosquitoes God controls. The fish he controls. He's more powerful than disease.

He controls the spread of disease. And even now in the moment we're in, when we're banned from meeting as a whole local church, we need to recognize that God controls the virus. God has a purpose for the virus. This is what you should tell your children. God causes calamity to help people to turn their eyes upon God and put their trust in God.

And the hardship that we're facing now is like many hardships, and it really is designed to help a forgetful people to face the fact of their death. Well, I read this morning, so far in America, 8, 000 have died. Who knows how many will? But if 8, 000 die each month for the next few months, that's a lot of people. Face death with Jesus Christ alone.

Because people who follow Jesus never have to face death. It's a doorway to everlasting joy. David said in Psalm 119 verse 71, it was good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your decrees. So there are lots of lessons from the trial here, The fulfilled prophecy, the depravity of man, the absolute sovereignty of God, a servant being led to slaughter, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, is all implied in these trials. Let's talk about the lessons from Peter.

Well, Jesus prepared Peter for this. He had just spent a long upper room discourse and a long prayer to disclose to him his plans. And you would think that Peter would have learned, he would have heard it, He would have heard it and been emboldened. He departed from the upper room, saw Jesus' power in His arrest, and now He like forgets it all in an instant. Here's a question.

Many of you have been well taught. You've heard the Word of God for years. You've been in places where there has been an attempt to try to be faithful to the Word of God, to bring the whole Council of God, to work through the Word of God word by word, doctrine by doctrine, implication by implication. You've been among a people who believe that Scripture is sufficient for everything and it'll help you everywhere and at every time. That's what you've been exposed to and you've embraced it.

Have you taken your preparation seriously? You've had much teaching and admonition. Teaching and admonition. Two hours before, Peter was taking the Lord's Supper. Take what you've learned and savor it and let it change everything in your life.

You've heard a lot. Peter heard a lot. But we're so tempted in moments of weakness. Notice also the impact of prayerlessness. Jesus told Peter earlier, watch and pray that you might not fall into temptation.

And he went to sleep. Do you go to sleep when you should pray? Are the troubles that you're experiencing today somehow related to your prayerlessness? God is sovereign and all that, but those things are both true. God is sovereign over what happens to you, but what happens to you can be the result of your prayerlessness.

Let's talk about the danger of the fear of man that resides in our self-confidence and how vulnerable we are to following the crowd and be snared by that fear of man. The devil was sifting Peter like wheat and don't expect not to be. Well, it's easy to read this and feel pity for Jesus and the weight of our sin, But don't forget the heart of the story regarding Peter. Jesus restores Peter. He's a compassionate and a faithful high priest who helps us in our weaknesses and He suffered and died for our sins because of his tenderness toward us We are worse than we think we are, and Jesus is better to us than we deserve.

I'll say that again. We are worse than we think we are. And Jesus is better to us than we deserve. God is near to the brokenhearted, those who mourn. Peter mourned, he wept bitterly.

It broke his heart to see what he did. That happens to you from time to time. I know. Jesus said, blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. The rooster crows Mourn and be comforted by the grace of Jesus Christ.

God recorded all the embarrassing details of Peter's denial for us to see. Just a point to give an illustration of the mercy of Jesus Christ. Of Jesus Christ. Peter took an oath on pain of death and Jesus forgave him. Some of you have been exposed to an idea that if you break an oath, there's everlasting condemnation.

It's not true. In conclusion, Jesus suffered for our sins taking the punishment that we deserved. We deserve the mob to come and arrest us. We deserve a multitude to seek us. We deserve the civil violations.

We deserve the religious condemnations. We deserve to be arrested and questioned and slapped. We deserve an abuse of authority under false pretenses and false witnesses and false procedures. And Jesus died once for all. For all the things that we deserve as sinners.

He is the suffering servant. He was without sin and became sin for us. He carried our sorrows. He bore our shame, and death now has no dominion over His children, having canceled sin and conquering death on the cross. We have a high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses, who was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin.

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." So let's spend the day today praising God for the benefits of the sufferings of Jesus Christ. And don't pity Jesus for his suffering. He did it for his joy and ours. He did it willingly and boldly, as he said, for the joy that was set before Him. Don't pity Jesus for His suffering, but pity yourself if He did not." What a Savior.

What a kind Father. Would you pray with me? Lord, we are amazed to look into these things. Too wonderful for us, but yet so, so helpful. Lord, we pray that we would feel and know the impact of them as the day wears on.

We pray that you would bless our time being banned from meeting together but your word is not banned and our faith is not banned and your Holy Spirit cannot be banned. So we pray for great outpourings of all these today. Amen.