THE SERMON OF THE ROOSTER

It was easy to follow Christ in the beginning.  For the three years that Jesus spent with His disciples in ministry, He was busy teaching and preparing them for the coming day, that He would leave them. During those years, He had been observed, studied, criticized and even harassed by the religious scholars and priests within His own race and religion, as well as the Romans who feared by what they saw, believed were political indicators of an upheaval. He was misunderstood by everyone at first, until they had a personal encounter with Him as Peter the fisherman did.  While Peter loved Jesus, He never really understood the full meaning of  the Lord’s life and purpose  until after Peter walked through the tribulation of public denial, of which had already been predicted by Jesus Himself. The brokenness over his denial is echoed by the bitter tears that he wept upon realizing what he had done and remembering, not only what Jesus had predicted that he would do, but by his own words that he had told Jesus, were now coming back to haunt him. Words of loyalty and promise, as He told Jesus, “…though everyone else forsake you, I never will!”.  Peter’s denial would progress from a simple denial of, “I do not know Him” to a denial plus an oath, that he did not know Him and to finally, cursing and swearing with a very determined denial, that he never knew Jesus. Then the moment came, the sound of the rooster’s crow that brought a shock wave to Peter, as he remembered Jesus’ prediction. God had used that rooster to bring a message to Peter that would not only rock his world, but forever change it! Nothing Christ could have ever done or said to Peter, would have had such an impact as that moment.

As Judas’ betrayal of Christ sets him apart, so Peter’s denial sets him apart from the other disciples of Christ by what they did. Peter was closely associated with Jesus from the time that the Lord called him to become a fisher of men, until he fell asleep in the garden, too tired to stay up and keep watch. From that point Peter’s level of commitment went down hill. Jesus had told all the disciples according to Matthew 26:31, that they would all fall away on account of Him. But Peter in verse 33 told Christ that no matter if everyone else fell away, that he himself would not. Jesus told Peter in verse 34 that, “…this very night you will disown me 3 times, before the rooster crows”. Peter responded back to Jesus declaring that even if he had to die with Him, that he would never disown him….and the other disciples said the same in verse 35.

Later that night, Jesus was arrested. They seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest's house. Peter followed at a distance and when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. A servant girl saw him seated there by the fire. She looked at him and said, "This man was with him." But he denied it. "Woman, I don't know him," Peter said. The servant girl said again to those standing around, "This fellow is one of them."  and again Peter denied it. The third denial brought so much grief and strain to Peter, that he was emphatic about his denial as he cursed as he denied knowing Jesus, according to Matthew 26:73-75: After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, "Surely you are one of them, for your accent gives you away." Then he began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them, "I don't know the man!" Immediately a rooster crowed. Then Peter remembered the words Jesus had spoken: "Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times." And Peter went outside and wept bitterly.

The Gospel of Luke 22:61 describes the moment of the last denial as follows: The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times." That rooster preached the same message to Peter,  that the donkey did to Balaam in the Old Testament. A message of rebuke and chastisement.
Matthew 10:32-33 stresses the importance of our public witness as an essential element of our discipleship to Christ and Jesus Himself tells us that… "Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven." Peter's denial is in direct conflict with his human nature and that of the cost of being a discipleship of Christ. We know that Peter was forgiven for denying Christ, because he was broken and repented. Peter went on to become the rock upon who God would use to bring the gospel to a world in need of it. He would never again deny Christ again. He would however be beaten, thrown into jail, ridiculed, observed, studied, criticized and even harassed by the religious scholars and priests within His own race and religion, as well as the Romans who would ultimately kill him for his faith. After he received the sermon from the rooster, Peter began to see Christ for Who He really was and better understood the cost of being a true follower of the living God.
God uses many avenues of outreach to bring us to surrender to Him. If we do not hearken and yield to them, we are of no use to Him and our faith is in vain.  For Peter, the light bulb went off for him as he heard the rooster’s crow and realized the very thing that God was trying to tell him. What sermon has God been sending your way lately and by what means is He trying to get your attention? He tells us in His Word, that if we love Him, we will obey Him. Is there an area of your life that He is asking you to surrender. If so, do it today….drop all that you have been thinking, and run to Him!
Loving you today,
Bren