His denials progress from bad to worse. The first is more like an evasion and not so public: I do not know what you mean.

The second is more direct and public and accompanied by an oath. The third denial is the most public and punctuated with cursing and swearing. I do not know the man.

Peter didn’t have to deny Christ. Neither God nor Satan made him do it. Divine foreknowledge does not override human free will. The test was predetermined, but the outcome was not.

Peter’s own choices led to his dismal failure and downfall.

What choices? First, he overestimated his ability to meet the test. Second, he flatly contradicted the clear warnings and predictions of Jesus. Third, he rated himself more able than his fellow disciples to endure suffering.

Finally and fatally, he failed to watch and pray in the shadow of temptation (Matthew 26:31-46).

Alas! Peter lost the battle before it began. His resistance was worn down by degrees. If you walk into an epidemic without immunity, you can only expect the worst. The best time to fight temptation is not when you’re immersed in it, but before you encounter it (Alan Cole).

This is a hard lesson to learn. We don’t fall into sin. We walk into it, one step at a time. The slope grows steeper and slicker with every step!

To a certain extent, Peter tripped on his own two feet.

In the next room, meanwhile and in stark contrast, Jesus boldly confesses His identity as the Son of Man before His enemies (Matthew 26:64-66).

It’s a tale of two trials. Jesus passes. Peter fails. It’s a saga of confession and denial. Jesus confesses the truth and pays with His life.

Peter denies his Lord to preserve his life. And with the crowing of the rooster, the sifting of Satan begins.

PrayerWatch

• Have we been howling with the hounds? Most of us would not deny Christ as Peter did. But do we deny Him in other ways? By telling or listening to indecent jokes? By lying for the boss or lying to cover our tracks? By falsifying our CVs or exaggerating our credentials?
   
  Do we cheat on our taxes? Do we turn a blind eye to abuse or corruption? Do we keep silent when liberals push for laws to redefine marriage, even though their ideologies contradict the Word of God? Even though their agenda violates Singapore’s core values and will destroy us?
   
  Search your heart. Would you be free from your burden of sin? Come to Christ just as you are with all your guilt and shame. Confess your failure. Receive forgiveness and cleansing. There’s wonderful power in the blood of the Lamb!
   
  
• The best time to fight temptation is not when you are immersed in it, but before you encounter it (Alan Cole). Billy Graham fought temptation before it came. Right from the start of his ministry in 1948, he and his team rolled out the Modesto Manifesto – a set of rules to keep themselves above reproach and, therefore, above scandal as they spread the Gospel around the world.
   
  For example, rule number two: Never be alone with a woman who is not your wife. Billy Graham kept this rule for the rest of his life. We quote his grandson, Will Graham: When my grandfather would check into a hotel, a man would go inside the room and look under the bed and in the closets. What they were afraid of was that someone had snuck into the room, like a naked lady with a photographer, and she’d jump into his arms and he’d take a picture, and they’d frame my granddaddy.
   
  Pause and pray. For the sake of the Lord’s great name, resolve to uphold the highest standard of biblical morality for yourself and those you are discipling. Together, seek the Lord and write a manifesto. Pledge to hold each other accountable.
   
• Avoid meltdown! Remember, your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. You are not your own (1 Corinthians 6:19). Resolve that you will never deny Christ by defiling your body with sensual lust. Reject the over-sexualised culture of our fallen world. Deny yourself, not Christ.
   
  Declare: I surrender my body, holy and pleasing to God. I pledge to love the Lord my God with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my mind. I give my heart wholly to the Lord as His sanctuary where I will hide His Word so that I might not sin against Him.
   
  I yield my soul to the Lord as His channel to express the purity of His emotions and the power of true love. I submit my mind to the Lord as His sacred space reserved for His thoughts and imagination.
   
  I covenant with my eyes that I will not look lustfully at another person. I pledge to shut out anything on screen or in print that stimulates youthful lusts. For I am more than a conqueror through Christ who loved me (Adapted from Unveil 2019 Breaking Free).

Read the devotional from Day 23, July 23: Cold comfort here.