Peter being strong did not fear his own weaknesses, and neither do we at times. We may not be strong as Peter was, but we do not identify and fear our weaknesses. I could do this, I could betray the Lord, I could shrink away when I ought to stand forward. I could be the one. We do not fear our weaknesses. We just sail along unaware of them, and that seems to be the main fault of Peter. And we can make pledges without realising what they may cost: I will never forsake you, I will stand with you, I will defend with you. But Peter should have thought: do I know what I am saying? Do I know what he’s going to go through and why? Have I really thought about this pledge? Yes, make such pledges to Christ, make the strongest pledges you can make, but think about them, and think about what they may cost you, and be ready for the price when you make the pledge. And Peter did not recall the promises and the statements and the teaching of the Lord. And I think, too, what may have caught Peter out, is that the great challenge came from such an unexpected source. There he is ready to take on a Roman cohort, or a detachment of a Roman cohort, and the great challenge comes from a maid, a woman, and a young woman at that, and a defenceless one, and she brings in this sudden challenge and he is sent headlong, as it were. He’s tripped up completely. And you know Satan sometimes aims high. He aims low at first, trips us up with small sins, softens us up as it were; draws us into small white lies, foolish things, exaggeration, build up the degree of temptation, and then suddenly he’ll come for something massive which you are not expecting. The last thing Peter would have expected is that he would have been brought to deny the Lord.
Natural courage is not enough; natural strength is not enough. As Calvin said in connection with this passage, and it’s very profound, ‘Boldness must always be in the Lord’, and this is the greatest lesson surely from Peter’s denial and his fall. ‘Boldness must be in the Lord’. I am bold by praying to him. I may be trembling, but I cast my care on him, I ask him to help. I ask him to help whether I am meeting people off the buses to challenge them and to introduce them to the Lord, personal witness – the most difficult person to speak to in the office, close member of the family – it makes for peculiar difficulty – whatever it is, my boldness must be in the Lord, because I pray for help, because I cast myself upon him, because I do it for him. Never my old boldness – straighten up, pull yourself together, be bold – no, that’s not the way. That didn’t help Peter. He had it all naturally, bags of it. Be bold in the Lord your God and lean upon him and that alone brings us through because we know our weaknesses, we know our vulnerabilities and we need him, and him alone, to help us through everything we do. There’s so much of Christ here in this passage, and there’s so much of us here too. When we think of the lessons of Peter’s fall may they be a blessing and a strength to us.