The Denial that Haunts Us

Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house, and Peter was following at a distance. And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with him.” But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.” And a little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not.” And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, “Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.” But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly (Luke 22:54-62).

At the very hour when the Son of God surrendered to the chains of man so that man might be set free from the chains of sin, one of His leading disciples surrendered to another kind of bondage. Peter was the disciple who was called to the office of apostle by Christ Himself. He heard the teaching and sermons of Christ and saw his miracles up close. Peter had seen Christ’s transfiguration and he had walked on water to get to him. The Holy Spirit gave him revelation and moved him to confess that Jesus was the Christ… “‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven’” (Matthew 16:16-17). Yet, here we see and hear Peter increase his distance from Jesus, saying he was never with Him, he was not a disciple of Jesus, and he knew nothing about Him. His denial pricks our heart because deep inside we know we are much like Peter. There is a part of us too that is vulnerable to the denial that haunts us.

The root of denial is planted in our flesh. Like Peter, we all have a fleshly human nature. It is temporal and vulnerable to temptation and sin. The Spirit inspired Paul to write about how the flesh wars against the born-again spirit within us… “I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members” (Romans 7:23). Jesus was aware of this battle over the soul of Peter and He is aware of the same battle going on within us today. He came, paid for sin, and places His Spirit in our hearts so we might have His grace working in us to give us increasing victory over temptation and sin… “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin” (Romans 6:6). As we mature in the faith, God’s grace helps us see every temptation as an opportunity to deny Christ and His victory over sin or as an opportunity to choose to live in His victory over sin… “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11).

The robustness of denial is propelled by distance from Christ. Like peter, we sometimes follow Jesus “at a distance”. Being a Christ follower in a rebellious world is not easy, and sometimes we visit Jesus at church and occasionally in Bible study, but staying close to Him at work or around family and friends can be costly. Our flesh and the anti-Christian culture around us relentlessly push us away from Christ and our best defense is always a closer walk with Him… “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:6-7).

The ruin of denial is produced by intimacy with Christ. If we’re truly born again, then like Peter, the look and the word of Christ will convict and compel our hearts to return to Him to receive forgiveness and cleansing whenever we have denied Him by yielding to temptation… “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8-9).

As we grow up into Christ, staying close to Him, His grace empowers us to increasingly overcome…

The Denial that Haunts Us.