The Gospel of John - Outline Part 43 - Ruled by Fear

TITLE

John 18:12-27 – Ruled by Fear

EXPLANATION

Now things were beginning to move more rapidly.  Jesus was taken to Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest.  After having initially run away, John and Peter returned and followed Jesus all the way to the courtyard of the high priest.  There He was questioned by Annas.  Then they sent Jesus to Caiaphas’s house for further questioning.

Meanwhile, Peter was outside in the courtyard warming himself.  He was asked on three separate occasions whether he was with Jesus.  Peter, apparently acting out of fear, denied having any association with His Master.  Immediately after denying Jesus for the third time, a rooster crowed, fulfilling Jesus’s prophecy of a few hours previous, when He said that Peter would deny Him three times before the rooster crowed.

APPLICATION

One of the things Peter has been known for down through the centuries is his denial of Christ.  I am sure he would have preferred otherwise, but this single point of failure became one of the defining moments of his life.  However, Peter’s story did not end in shame.  Out of this miserable low point Peter arose, strengthened by his Master and emboldened by the Holy Spirit, to become a titan of the faith and arguably the leader of the early church.

From Peter’s example we can learn at least two important points.  First is that of humility.  One of Peter’s problems early on was that he was too headstrong.  He thought far more of himself and his capacity for strength and loyalty than he ought to have.  This failure of character on his part on the night of Jesus’s arrest was just the sort of graphic object lesson he needed to be brought down to size.  Because we all struggle to some extent with pride, just as Peter did, this is a lesson we all need to learn.  Perhaps, by the grace of God, some of us may be fortunate enough to learn it without the mortification that Peter endured.

The second point is to remember that even though, on a human level, this was a horrible betrayal of trust by one who had sworn to stay by his Master’s side, in the hands of the Lord this denial was a powerful teaching and training tool.  God would go on to use it in the life of His servant, Peter, to grow the character of Christ in him. 

So then, on the one hand we ought to strive for integrity and blamelessness of conduct.  But, on the other hand, when we do inevitably act dishonorably, it should not cause us to become depressed or feel defeated.  Rather, we should look for the lesson that God will be pleased to teach us through our failure, and press on toward the prize of glorification.