Peter's Denial and the Grace That Restores

Summary

Preached during a communion service, this message opens in Galatians 3, where Paul declares that everyone baptized into Christ is one - no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female. Gathered around the bread and the cup, the church is reminded that it is a single body, joined to Christ and to one another.

The heart of the sermon is the story of Peter. Sure that he would never fall, Peter followed Jesus from a distance, warmed himself at the enemy's fire, and denied his Lord three times. Yet Jesus had already prayed for him, and after the resurrection He met Peter again by another fire, asked three times 'Do you love Me?', and restored his calling with the words 'Feed My sheep.'

From this the preacher draws a sharp line between mercy and grace, warns that pride drives grace away, and shows how we can deny Christ by our words, by our silence, or by our deeds. Sharing his own testimony of being rescued from a life of sin, he points the church to the cross and to the table, where the body and blood of Jesus cleanse us and reunite us with the Father.

Key Points

• In Christ we become one body - no division by nation, status, or gender.
• Mercy is having a deserved punishment cancelled; grace is receiving a gift you never earned.
• Pride pushes grace away, while humility keeps the heart open before God.
• We can deny Christ not only with our words, but also by our silence and our actions.
• Peter's fall did not cancel his calling - Jesus restored him with 'Feed My sheep.'
• Apart from Christ we cannot truly love or stand - 'without Me you can do nothing.'
• Communion proclaims the Lord's death until He comes and joins us to His body and to each other.