In the book of 1 Peter the Apostle Peter writes to his fellow believers scattered abroad and encourages them, among other things, not to fear those who would seek to harm them because of their association with Christ. “Have no fear of them, nor be troubled…,” he writes. Then he continues, “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you…” Given all that we know about Peter’s past tendency to let fear cause him to deny Jesus this bit of counsel to His fellow believers to not be bullied into denying Christ but to boldly make a defense of their hope in Christ has obviously been mined with great difficulty from the ore of personal failure and repentance. His is a hard-won perspective.
In this message we will remain in the thirteenth chapter of John’s Gospel. Last message John focused our attention on Judas, and now we will study verses 36-38, in which John recounts how Jesus confronted the self-confident Hubris of Peter by telling him that before the rooster crowed he would deny his Lord three times.
Although both Peter and Judas would, in a sense, betray Jesus, and even though they would both be revealed as hypocrites before the night was over, Peter’s case is different from Judas’ in many hopeful and encouraging ways.