Matthew 26:31-35 Mark 14:27-31 Luke 22:31-37 John 13:26-28

Matthew 26:31-35 31 Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of Me this night, for it is written, ‘I WILL STRIKE DOWN THE SHEPHERD, AND THE SHEEP OF THE FLOCK SHALL BE SCATTERED.’ 32 “But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.” 33 But Peter said to Him, “Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away.” 34 Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you that this very night, before a 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.” All the disciples said the same thing too.

Mark 14:27-31 27 And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, because it is written, ‘I WILL STRIKE DOWN THE SHEPHERD, AND THE SHEEP SHALL BE SCATTERED.’ 28 “But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.” 29 But Peter said to Him, “Even though all may fall away, yet I will not.” 30 And Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you, that this very night, before a rooster crows twice, you yourself will deny Me three times.” 31 But Peter kept saying insistently, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” And they all were saying the same thing also.

Luke 22:31-34 31 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; 32 but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” 33 But he said to Him, “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!” 34 And He said, “I say to you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me.”

John13:36-38 36 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered, “Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow later.” 37 Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You.” 38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times.

There are certain things that we don’t think we are capable of doing.  We tend to underestimate the depth of our sin and overestimate the strength of our character.  God knows our heart perfectly.  He knows all the weakness and frailty.  Amazingly, He still loves us and sacrificed Jesus that we might be reconciled to Him.  As Jesus prepared to go to the cross, He also seeks to prepare His disciples for the difficulties they will face during this time.  Unfortunately, instead of recognizing the danger and admitting their own weakness, they assumed they were already prepared to face whatever might come their way.  Self-confidence can be a very dangerous reality in our lives.  God can strengthen us to be victorious over any temptation, but we must face it in His strength and not our own.

JESUS WARNS HIS DISCIPLES OF THEIR COWARDICE: Jesus warns His disciples that they will all abandon Him in the coming day.  He warns Peter specifically that he will deny Him three times before the rooster crows.  Jesus knew exactly what would happen and He knew the nature of His disciples.  There is nothing that is hidden from the Lord.  He not only knows what we have done and what we are doing; He also knows what we will do.  Perhaps, what is most amazing is that, knowing all this, He still loves us.  The weakness of His disciples was no surprise to Jesus.  Our weakness is no surprise to Him.  His love for us is not conditional.  He is also faithful to warn of our weaknesses.  It should come as no surprise to us that we are weak.  Too often, we are overconfident and overestimate the power of our own will.  We must learn to heed the Lord’s warnings to us about the condition of our hearts.

THE DISCIPLES ASSURE JESUS OF THEIR CONFIDENCE: Each of the disciples and specifically, Peter promise that they will never abandon or deny Jesus.  They are all confident that they are willing to die for or with Jesus.  As impressive as this may look on the outside, it is an unfortunate reality that in the face of danger, they all did exactly what Jesus warned them that they should do.  So, what should they have done?  What should we do with this example?  I believe that humility it the key to answering this question.  What if they had listened to Jesus and readily admitted their fears?  Perhaps, if instead of assuring Jesus that they would never fall; they could have asked Jesus for strength to resist this temptation.  God is able to deliver us from the power of sin, but we must recognize that this can only be accomplished through His might and not our own.  The next time we hear of a friend of famous figure that falls into the trap of sin; it would be wise for us to humbly admit that we are made of the same dust and, but for the grace of God, we would be in the same situation.  Confidence in self is always misplaced.  Confidence in the Lord will never be disappointed.

APPLICATION: Beware of our own cowardice and propensity to fall into sin.  Understand that God knows all of our weaknesses and yet He still loves us, alerts us and strengthens us so we can live in ways that are pleasing to Him and satisfying to us.  Don’t depend on our own strength to be victorious over the temptations we face.  Humbly recognize our frailty depend on the Lord to give us the strength we need.  Be careful not to judge out brothers and sisters who fail.  Rather, graciously seek to restore them while guarding our own hearts from temptation.