“And Simon Peter stood and warmed himself. They said therefore unto him, Art not thou also one of His disciples? He denied it, and said, I am not. One of the servants of the high priest, being his kinsman whose ear Peter cut off, saith, Did not I see thee in the garden with Him? Peter then denied again: and immediately the cock crew.” John 18:25–27
Peter’s shameful denial is, I am sure, not something that we want to duplicate. He denied His Lord with cursing and swearing—are there are other ways to deny Jesus?
“Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please Him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.” 2 Timothy 2:3–4
We have fully reached that time to which the Scriptures refer, when Christians would have “a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” 2 Timothy 3:5. There are so many preachers around that seem to be lacking any kind of self-awareness, or perhaps they just want to do things their own way, regardless of what the Bible says.
First we should ask, “how can we confess Him?” Are our professions lining up with our confessions? Are our actions lining up with our beliefs?
We confess Christ by:
- Confession and repentance of our sins.
- Taking Him at His word and learning to trust Him regardless of our situation or circumstances
- Being positive and trusting God, even in the face of negativity.
- Prayer/Study/Sharing the light with others.
When Peter said to Jesus, “I will go with Thee to prison and death”, was he sincere? Yes! The problem was he did not know his own proud heart. When the test came in a way he did not expect, his pride caused him deny His Lord with cursing and swearing.
There are some other ways that our pride fools us into thinking that we are serving our Lord when actually we are only serving the god, self.
“He who would confess Christ must have Christ abiding in him. He cannot communicate that which he has not received. The disciples might speak fluently on doctrines, they might repeat the words of Christ Himself; but unless they possessed Christlike meekness and love, they were not confessing Him. A spirit contrary to the spirit of Christ would deny Him, whatever the profession. Men may deny Christ by evilspeaking, by foolish talking, by words that are untruthful or unkind. They may deny Him by shunning life’s burdens, by the pursuit of sinful pleasure. They may deny Him by conforming to the world, by uncourteous behaviour, by the love of their own opinions, by justifying self, by cherishing doubt, borrowing trouble, and dwelling in darkness. In all these ways they declare that Christ is not in them. And ‘whosoever shall deny Me before men,’ He says, ‘him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven.’
“The Saviour bade His disciples not to hope that the world’s enmity to the gospel would be overcome, and that after a time its opposition would cease. He said, ‘I came not to send peace, but a sword.’ This creating of strife is not the effect of the gospel, but the result of opposition to it. Of all persecution the hardest to bear is variance in the home, the estrangement of dearest earthly friends. But Jesus declares, ‘He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me.’” –The Desire of Ages, p. 357
Let us look at another similar view from a Christian in times past.
“If anyone thinks that Christians regard unchastity as the supreme vice, he is quite wrong. The sins of the flesh are bad, but they are the least bad of all sins. All the worst pleasures are purely spiritual: the pleasure of putting other people in the wrong, of bossing and patronising and spoiling sport, and backbiting; the pleasures of power, of hatred. For there are two things inside me, competing with the human self which I must try to become. They are the Animal self, and the Diabolical self. The Diabolical self is the worse of the two. That is why a cold, self-righteous prig who goes regularly to church may be far nearer to hell than a prostitute. But, of course, it is better to be neither.” –C.S. Lewis (emphasis mine)
In the end, “We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.” 2 Corinthians 13:8
In the time of the early Adventists, there was a problem with the church in upstate New York. They had lost the ability to love one another. For this reason, the blessing of the Lord was withdrawn from them, no souls were being won for Christ, and all they could manifest was the wrong spirit.
“I saw that many in New York have had so much care for their brethren, to keep them straight, that they have neglected their own hearts. They are so fearful that their brethren will not be zealous and repent, that they forget that they have wrongs that must be righted. With their own hearts unsanctified, they try to right their brethren.” –Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 165
What did the Lord say through His servant Ellen G. White?
“Now the only way the brethren and sisters in New York can rise is for each to attend to his own individual case, and set his own heart in order. If sin is plain in a brother, breathe it not to another, but with love for the brother’s soul, with a heart full of compassion, with bowels of mercy, tell him the wrong, then leave the matter with him and the Lord. You have discharged your duty. You are not to pass sentence.” –Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 165
She called a halt, so that they could get themselves straight—to examine their own selves before helping their brother. The original sin was pride, and this led them to examine their brothers with unsanctified scrutiny.
Let us consider why Jesus has not come back to this earth. Could it be because we ourselves are not ready? God’s grace is still the same. His character is still the same. So it must be something else that needs to change. Ask yourself, if you are denying Christ in your life. What needs to change in yourself, so you can help your brother in the spirit of Christ, and not delay Jesus’ coming?
In our mingling in society, in families or in whatever relations of life we are placed, either limited or extended, there are many ways wherein we may acknowledge our Lord and many ways wherein we may deny Him.
“We may deny Him in our words, by speaking evil of others, by foolish talking, jesting and joking, by idle or unkind words, or by prevaricating, speaking contrary to truth. In our words we may confess that Christ is not in us. In our character we may deny Him by loving our ease, by shunning the duties and burdens of life which someone must bear if we do not, and by loving sinful pleasure. We may also deny Christ by pride of dress and conformity to the world, or by uncourteous behavior. We may deny Him by loving our own opinions and by seeking to maintain and justify self. We may also deny Him in allowing the mind to run in the channel of lovesick sentimentalism and to brood over our supposed hard lot and trials.” –Counsels for the Church, p. 81 (emphasis mine)
Peter found repentance following that look of mercy and pity, mingled with love, that Jesus gave to him in the midst of His torture at the hands of cruel men. That look broke Peter’s proud heart. Ever after that, he had the new, soft heart that God promised.
“Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them.” Ezekiel 36:25–27
If we truly want to see Jesus and live with Him in heaven, then we must learn not to deny Him here. “Whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 10:33
If there was anyone who thought he was saved and had good reason to believe this, it had to be Peter. Had he not been with Jesus for 3 ½ years and done many deeds of mercy and kindness for others?
We never have anything in which we can glory in missionary work for, it is His work. We cannot take any credit to ourselves. And if we do, or try to, we can be sure that soon we will lose the Lord’s blessing and that others around us will be stirred with a spirit of contention and strife, as well.
If we are striving for merely an earthly crown then there will be no way that we can strive for a heavenly one. “I then saw a company pressing through the crowd with their eyes intently fixed upon the heavenly crown. As they earnestly urged their way through the disorderly crowd, angels attended them, and made room for them to advance. As they neared the heavenly crown, the light emanating from it shone upon them and around them, dispelling their darkness, and growing clearer and brighter, until they seemed to be transformed, and resembled the angels. They cast not one lingering look upon the earthly crown. Those who were in pursuit of the earthly, mocked them, and threw black balls after them. These did them no injury while their eyes were fixed upon the heavenly crown, but those who turned their attention to the black balls were stained with them. The following scripture was presented before me:
‘Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
‘The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.’ Matthew 6:19–24.” –Christian Experience and Teachings, p. 163
Peter wanted to see Christ establish an earthly kingdom or at least one where he could have a high place. He did everything in his own strength to see this accomplished. And what happened? He wore himself out, almost killed a man and shamefully denied his Lord. Could the same thing happen to us? “No,” you say, “we are Adventists, even Reformers!” But let us remember that the Seventh-day Adventist people are exactly repeating the history of Ancient Israel.
Exactly like Peter was confused about his place in establishing Christ’s kingdom, there is danger that some of the professed people of God today may be striving for merely an earthly crown. They try to establish Christ’s kingdom through political or social means, striving for position and honour in the church. In order to establish God’s kingdom we need the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We must have our spirits, souls and bodies yielded fully to the Holy Spirit.
“And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on Me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see Me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. . . These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” John 16:8–11, 33
It is my prayer that we stop looking for the early crown and allow Jesus to break through all of our denials of Him, so that we may win that heavenly crown, for in this way only can we be saved. Amen.
Jerry Eaton