Rev. David Holwick L- Very well received
Alderson-Broaddus College
Philippi, West Virginia
March 22, 1988
Matthew 26:31-35
THE DENIAL OF JESUS
It’s an honor for me to be here today. Ten years ago I graduated from a Christian college - Wheaton. One thing about Wheaton is that attendance at chapel is required. They actually had observers in the balcony taking roll-call. Out of all the speakers I heard, I can remember maybe 4. But you were not forced to be here today. You came of your own free will and so I hope my message will be worthwhile. I am the pastor of a medium- sized church in a small Ohio town. This last weekend our church sponsored a youth rally at the local high school. We called it a “Gym Jam.” About 100 kids showed up and we did the usual rally games - chariot races with blankets, relaying girls on mattresses, stuffing all 100 through a truck inner-tube hole in under a minute.
And then we had the special speaker. He preached, he sang, and then he gave an invitation for salvation. To my surprise, more than half the high school students came forward. For 27 of them, it was a first-time decision. I am sure that many of you became Christians at an event much like this. For me, it was a Christian rock concert held in a gym in Heidelberg, Germany.
The religious invitation they gave was the first I’d ever heard. I raised my hand, and from that point on I have tried to follow Jesus. One thing I have been aware of is that your “old nature” is not eliminated the moment you are born-again. It just becomes religious. The Biblical assurance of salvation can be easily twisted into an arrogant confidence in ourselves.
Peter had this arrogance. In all the Gospels he is the one who charges ahead of everyone else - especially if he got some self-promotion out of it. Peter was the one who proclaimed Jesus to be the Messiah, who walked on water, and who tried to talk Jesus out of his martyrdom. On the evening of the Last Supper, Jesus predicted that all of his disciples would fall away. Peter spoke up. “These other guys may fall away, Lord, but I never will.” Jesus responded, “You’ll deny me before the night is over.” Then Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.”
In his own selfish way, I think Peter was utterly sincere when he said this. He never expected to fail Jesus. And he was not alone in this attitude. The end of verse 35 says, “And all the other disciples said the same.” I can easily include myself in this. I am a confident person. Sometimes I may be arrogant, but I’m always confident. Part of the reason is that I am still young. One of the beauties of youth is that we haven’t had time to fail dramatically. It takes experience to teach us that we are “dust.” In the meantime we can still think that all things are possible for us.
It’s a truism in our culture that young people are idealistic. We don’t have to look far for evidence. Many campuses have set up Mandela shacks and had demonstrations against Apartheid. I am old enough to remember the Vietnam War demonstrations. With some older people, our idealism is suspect because we have not yet been tested in the “real world.” They know that when we are tested, many of us will fall.
A young man grew up in my church. His name is *John*, and he is in his twenties. *John* was very zealous as a teenager. Every year our little community of 2,000 people has a community Thanksgiving Service. All the churches get together and we may have 200 of the most solid citizens. One feature of the Thanksgiving service is the time of sharing. Grandmas stand up and thank God for their grandkids. Wives thank God for their husbands. Husbands thank God for their jobs. One year, *John* stood up. It has never been forgotten. For 20 minutes he told these solid citizens how superficial they were. Their faith was a bunch of cliches and God was sick of them. Everyone was appalled.
*John* went on to be the first youth from our church to go to a Christian college. He considered studying to be a minister, but became an insurance salesman instead. He married a Christian girl, had 2 kids, and put on some weight. Today he is divorced, and has dropped out of church. -Except when he comes back to our small town. *John* is by no means the worst sinner our town has produced, but the ones who were stung by his high ideals now feel a little more secure.
I am sure that everyone here has high goals in their life. You want to marry the right person and live happily ever after. -Maybe you’re engaged to them right now. You’re going to get a job that is satisfying and pays well. Your kids are going to turn out well and you’ll be respected in your community. Almost no one in this room is contemplating failure in their future. Especially not due to a personal fault or sin.
But a confidence that ignores our capacity for sin is an arrogance that will lead to a fall. I identify myself as an Evangelical Christian, and the heritage of this college is Evangelical. It’s been a dramatic decade for us:
1976 - Carter elected President. National media “discovers” Evangelicals. 1980 - Evangelical Christians propel Ronald Reagan to one of the biggest political victories ever. That same year, the Moral Majority decimates liberal candidates. 1987 - Jerry Falwell leaves the Moral Majority to spend more time in his church. Pat Robertson makes a splash, but no more than that. And Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart humiliate themselves.
Why have we fallen so hard, so fast? We have been experts at condemning the sins and shortcomings of others, while being blind to our own arrogance and sins. On a personal level, there are a lot of ways to deny Jesus. For Peter, it was the denial that he even knew Jesus. Has there ever been a time you should have stood up for the Lord, and didn’t? It’s no sin to have firm convictions about Jesus Christ. But sometimes our beliefs reflect our environment more than a well-thought out commitment to truth.
Very few Christians deny Jesus as crassly as Peter did. Usually we deny him by the way we live. Our beliefs are kosher, but our actions don’t correlate. Consider Jimmy Swaggart. He has preached some of the most fiery and convicting sermons against sin I have ever heard. He may have preached truth, but he was living a lie, and it will cost him.
Before you judge them too quickly, ask yourself - could you ever fall away yourself? Maybe you’ve done it already. Some of those who come down the hardest on the sexual sins of teenagers, or their use of drugs, weren’t pure or sober when they were young, either. It’s amazing how the passage of time covers over our past failures. It may be nice not to be burdened by them, but we still need the humility.
Denial can also be very subtle. Every American knows about Mark Twain. His real name was Samuel Clemens and he is probably our best-loved writer. You may not know that as a young man he fell in love with a beautiful Christian girl named Livy. He married her. She was devoted to God, and she wanted her family to be, too. So she insisted on prayer at meals and set up a family altar so they could have spiritual devotions each day. They did this for a time, and then one day Sam said, “Livy, you can go on with this by yourself if you want to but leave me out. “I don’t believe in your God and you’re only making a hypocrite out of me.”
As the years went by, Twain became world-famous. He appeared before the royal courts of Europe. And with the fame came a lot of money. Livy got farther and farther away from her original dedication to God. Then a bitter crisis hit their family. Twain said to his wife, “Livy, if your Christian faith can help you now, turn to it.” Livy replied, “I can’t, Sam, I have none left. It was destroyed a long time ago.” We can deny Jesus by letting him slip away from our thoughts.
Jesus knew that all of his disciples would fall away. But he didn’t give up on them. Even before Peter shot off his mouth, Jesus gave a promise to him and the others: he would visit them again after his resurrection. One of the great promises of the Bible is that even if we fail God, he never gives up on us. Jesus said that of those the Father had given him for salvation, he wouldn’t lose a single one. Jesus even knew that Peter would come back. In Luke 22:32 he told him: “I have prayed for you, that your faith doesn’t fail. And when you are converted (brought back), strengthen your brothers.”
(Invitation to come back to God.....)
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