Now are we stretching it too far tt we distinguish a fourth step, and call it mingling with bad company? He went into the high priest's house and sat among his servants by the fire. At any rate it is a step that many make as they follow Peter in their denial of Jesus. We mix with his enemies, and seek to hide our allegiance. It is a long step in the downward path, and one always fraught with danger.
And the fifth step was the natural consequence of the proceeding four. He was overwhelmed with fear when charged with being a disciple, and denied his Lord. Self.-confidence, neglect of the means of grace, cowardly compromise, bad company, then the final fall—startling and sudden as it appears it was not really so. In his heart Peter had been preparing for it, It was the fruit of the seeds he himself had sewn.
Have we not proven the truth of this progression over and over again in our own lives? Self-confidence, neglect of the means of grace—just a little compromise, careless choice of companions—and then we find ourselves doing something that startles us quite as much as Peter's sudden realization when the cock But when we have made all excusses possible they are of little real worth, and all pale into insignificance beside the shame of the denial. We see a man who bad been in the inner circle of the disciples of Jesus for no lest than three years, and had ever been first in professing love toward him, and faith in his Messiahship. A man who bad witnessed his wonderful works and heard his matchless teaching—who had received boundless mercies and loving kindness, and had been treated by Christ as a dear familiar friend. We see this man three times denying that he knows Jesus, It was a great sin, a shameful and cowardly sin, better death than such dishonour, And then, too, it was a sin committed under circumstances that rendered it exceptionally blameworthy. Peter, with his fellow disciples, had just passed through a most wonderful experience.—He had just heard those wonderful discourses we read in St, John chapters 14-17, He had been present in the Upper Room, and joined in the institution of the Lord's Supper.
He shad been twice warned; but such was his self-confidence that he had declared that though all should forsake Jesus yet he would remain steadiast—even 'It I should die with thee." And yet that same night he' denied him. And further, it was a sin committed under apparently small provocation. He is questioned three times, and only the last could be construed as at all in the nature of a challenge.
The others are merely the requests of idle curiosity. No threat seems to have been used, no violence seems to have been attempted, but it was enough to overthrow Peter's faith. He denies before them all, and affirms his denial with a binding oath. It is a humbling picture, and a warning to us all, for the best of men are weal, and have many strong besetting sins; and we see here how a chief disciple, one who had been for years Joyal follower, braved dangers, endured hardships, shared his master's work and ministry, joys and sorrows, refusals and triumphs-—one who had heard the most marvellous words that ever fell from the lips of man, who had seen the most wonderful miracles. How such a one could fall terribly in a moment of trial! It should teach us humility; Let us beware of self-confidence spiritual pride is a dangerous thing. Rather let us be conscious of: our weakness, and watch and pray lest we fall into temptation.
Down into Great Sins Let us look at these things more in detail—And I would premise that while from a superficial point of view a man may seem to fall suddenly into a great sin, in reality the sudden act is the outcome of a long process and preparation. Men do not fall into great sins by one appalling and awful lapse, behind every shameful apostasy and crime there -is a history of deterioration and degeneration. Great diseases seldom attack the body without preparation in undermined health through overwork or worry, or abuse of nature's laws, and great falls seldom happen to a Saint without a previous course of secret back-sliding; only to others does it seem sudden. Men fall in private long before the fall in public and our study this evening is a case in point. Peter's fall illustrates haw small and gradual often are the steps by which men go down into great sins. The steps in his fall are clearly marked out by the Gospel writers, We might call the first step self-confidence, If you turn to the fourteenth chapter of St. Mark, and the 27th verse, you will find these words:—"And Jesus said unto them, All fe shall be offended because of me this night, but Peter said unto him, although all shall be offended yet will not I. And Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee, that this crew.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.