The next thing—Peter is familiar and friendly with the enemies of Christ. A damsel says to this bold Peter: “Thou also wast with this Jesus of Galilee.” But he denied before them all, saying, “I know not what thou sayest.” And when he was gone out into the porch another maid saw him and said unto them that were there, “This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth.” And again he denied with an oath. “I do not know the Man.” Another hour passed; and yet he did not realize his position; when another confidently affirmed that he was a Galilean, for his speech betrayed him. And he was angry and began to curse and to swear, and again denied his Master: and the cock crew. (Matt. xxvi. 69-74.)
He commences away up on the pinacle of self-conceit, and goes down step by step until he breaks out into cursing, and swears that he never knew his Lord.
The Master might have turned and said to him, “Is it true, Peter, that you have forgotten Me so soon? Do you not remember when your wife’s mother lay sick of a fever that I rebuked the disease and it left her? Do you not call to mind your astonishment at the draught of fishes so that you exclaimed, ‘Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord?’ Do you remember when in answer to your cry, ‘Lord, save me, or I perish,’ I stretched out My hand and kept you from drowning in the water? Have you forgotten when, on the Mount of Transfiguration, with James and John, you said to Me, ‘Lord, it is good to be here: let us make three tabernacles?’ Have you forgotten being with Me at the supper-table, and in Gethsemane? Is it true that you have forgotten Me so soon?” The Lord might have upbraided him with questions such as these: but He did nothing of the kind. He cast one look on Peter: and there was so much love in it that it broke that bold disciple’s heart: and he went out and wept bitterly.
And after Christ rose from the dead see how tenderly He dealt with the erring disciple. The angel at the sepulchre says, “Tell His disciples, and Peter.” (Mark xvi. 7.) The Lord did not forget Peter, though Peter had denied Him thrice; so He caused this kindly special message to be conveyed to the repentant disciple. What a tender and loving Saviour we have!
Friend, if you are one of the wanderers, let the loving look of the Master win you back; and let Him restore you to the joy of His salvation.
Before closing, let me say that I trust God will restore some backslider reading these pages, who may in the future become a useful member of society and a bright ornament of the Church. We should never have had the thirty-second Psalm if David had not been restored: “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered”; or that beautiful fifty-first Psalm which was written by the restored backslider. Nor should we have had that wonderful sermon on the day of Pentecost when three thousand were converted—preached by another restored backslider.
May God restore other backsliders and make them a thousand times more used for His glory than they ever were before.