In the Gospel of Matthew, in chapter 26,
we find the tender scene of the Lord's
Supper.
And we see, after they had eaten and
sang a hymn, they went out into the
Mount of Olives.
And in verses 31 through 35, we read,
Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall
be offended because of me.
This night, for it is written, I will
smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the
flock shall be scattered abroad.
But after I am risen again, I will
go before you into Galilee.
Peter answered and said unto him, Though all
men shall be offended because of thee, yet
will I never be offended.
Let me pause here to say, friends, here,
Peter makes a vow to God he will
not keep.
I wonder how many of us have made
vows to God that we didn't keep.
Let's continue with our text.
Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto
thee, that this night, before the cock crow,
thou shalt deny me thrice.
Well, Peter doubles down and argues with Jesus
and strengthens his vow.
Peter said unto him, Though I should die
with thee, yet will I not deny thee.
I will stop their friends.
We have to turn over to Luke's Gospel
in chapter 22 to see the sad story
played out in verses 54 to 62.
Then they took him and led him and
brought him into the high priest's house, and
Peter followed afar off.
Let me pause here to say, we can
just picture the cowardly Peter who had just
boasted and bragged he would die with Christ
rather than deny him.
But when the robber met the road, Peter
shrinks to the shadows, stays back far enough,
far enough away from Jesus so not to
be associated with him.
All sin is a step downward, and then
you're on a water slide, slipping down the
rest of the way until you hit rock
bottom.
Well, let's pick up things in verse 55.
And when they had kindled a fire in
the midst of the hall and were sat
down together, Peter sat down among them.
But a certain maid beheld him as he
sat by the fire and earnestly looked upon
him and said, This man was also with
him.
And he denied him, saying, Woman, I know
him not.
And after a little while another saw him
and said, Thou art also of them.
And Peter said, Man, I am not.
In about the space of one hour after
another, confidently affirmed, saying, Of a truth, this
fellow also was with him, for he is
a Galilean.
And Peter said, Man, I know not what
thou sayest.
And immediately, while he spake, the cock crew.
Let me pause here to say, friends, that
the only gospel account of Peter's foul mouth
of cursing and swearing appears in Mark's gospel.
Because most church historians affirm that it was
Peter who was Mark's main source for the
information contained in his gospel.
Peter made certain that Mark included all of
his denial of his Lord, including his foul
mouth part where Peter cursed and swore.
But what I want to focus on here,
friends, is not Peter's shortcomings.
For we all have our own shortcomings.
But what I want us to notice here
are two main things from these gospel accounts.
Number one, Peter had vowed a vow to
Jesus and then broke that vow.
And in Peter's unique style, he peppered it
with some cursing and swearing from an emotional
outburst of trying to preserve his skin.
But the second thing I want us to
note here is Peter's heartfelt repentance.
He's really broken hearted over his sin.
In verses 61 and 62 we read, And
the Lord turned and looked upon Peter, and
Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how
he had said unto him, Before the cock
crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
And Peter went out and wept bitterly.
I will stop there.
In the life of faith, we will come
across times in our own life where we
just plain mess up.
I can't point my finger at Peter because
I mess up as much or more than
him.
Peter vowed an oath.
He broke that oath.
He wept bitterly.
He was broken hearted over his sin.
God showed me an area in my life
recently where I was in direct disobedience to
his word.
It was like I was stabbed in my
heart by a knife.
At first I couldn't believe it to realize
how blind I was, how stupid I was,
how disobedient I was.
It so disturbed me.
I became broken hearted over my sin.
I cried like a baby so hard I
didn't realize I was soaking my open Bible
that was sitting in my lap.
With profuse tears I had wept so profusely.
It looked like I poured a glass of
water onto my Bible as it pooled into
binding.
God had reminded me I'd made a vow
to him on a certain issue and I
had broke my vow.
I was allowed to experience the sadness of
that broken vow from God's perspective.
Our sin breaks the heart of the Father
when we sin.
He gives us enough grace to see our
sin for what it is and it should
break our heart as well.
This is true heartfelt repentance.
God's not blessing us because we are in
a place of rebellion.
We said we would do something and we
didn't do it.
He called us to a ministry but we
wouldn't go.
I recall a girlfriend of my daughter was
visiting her home one time and I asked
her what she wanted to do with her
life once she got out of college.
She told me that she felt God had
called her to be a missionary but after
she looked into it she realized she'd have
to raise her own financial support and it
was too risky of an endeavor for her.
So she had decided against it and instead
to become a medical worker because it paid
a salary of $80,000 a year and
that's more of what she wanted.
Since that conversation I had with that girl
about seven years ago I've kept up with
her and she is yet to graduate college
with her degree for the medical field and
she's had one broken wedding engagement right after
another.
She doesn't realize she has a broken vow
with God.
He had called her to a specific ministry
but she wouldn't go because it didn't suit
her well enough.
God remembers a broken vow long after we
have long forgotten about it.
That's the way it was with me.
I had forgotten about my vow to God
regarding something but He had not forgotten.
I was out of step with God in
a particular area of my life because of
a sin of omission, sins of omission or
just as grievous to God as sins of
commission.
They're even more sneaky because they're not on
our spiritual radar like a glaring sin from
our actions.
But God keeps a record of all we
promise Him, all we vow to Him.
If we fail to keep our word to
Him He will remind us of that in
our life of faith.
A principle of faith is how do we
respond when God convicts us of sin?
How do we respond?
And how we respond will determine how much
further we go with God in our walk
of faith with Him.
Take this time now friend to reflect on
your own walk with God to see if
you have any broken vows to Him.
How you respond will determine how you progress.