In Matthew 26:75, we find one of the saddest verses in the Scriptures:
“And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, ‘Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.’ And he went out and wept bitterly.”
This verse comes at the end of a long chain of events, during which we went from Peter declaring “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away” (26:33), to Jesus telling Peter that – in fact – he would fall away, and in a very blatant fashion (26:34), to Peter denying that this would be the case (26:35), to the disciples – including Peter – fleeing from Christ’s side, just as He had predicted (26:56), and finally to Peter doing just as Jesus had sad: denying the Lord three times (26:69-75) even though Peter had boldly declared that this would not be the case.
Why is this chain of events important? Because Peter is weeping not simply over sin in general, nor is he weeping only over the sin that he has now committed. Instead, more precisely: Peter is weeping over the sin that he was told he would commit. This is the very sin that Peter himself denied that he would do, and yet here he is, having done that which he did not want to do. Haven’t you and I been in these very shoes ourselves?
Take heed then: knowledge alone does not keep us from sin. There are influences swirling around the Christian world that act as if all we need for holiness is additional knowledge – but it is not so. Knowledge alone will not save us. What it will do, however, is remind us again and again that you and I and every Christian on this earth cannot do what the Word says in a perfect or ultimate sense. And we shall see that even in our trying, even in our “best” moments, we shall fail.
This is why we need a Savior! It’s not just that we sometimes sin, and need Jesus for those moments – as if we were holy all the other hours of the day. No! Instead, we need a Savior for every moment – we need a Savior who will rescue us even from our “best” selves. That Savior is Jesus, the One who has died and risen again. The One who restores not only Peter (John 21:15-19), but all who call upon the name of the Lord.
