A series of steps led to Peter's denial of Christ. The first was self-confidence, and the second was following at a distance. The third was hanging out with the wrong people.
Peter Denies Jesus: The Biblical Text
Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest's house, and Peter was following at a distance. And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, "This man also was with him." But he denied it, saying, "Woman, I do not know him." And a little later someone else saw him and said, "You also are one of them." But Peter said, "Man, I am not." And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, "Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean." But Peter said, "Man, I do not know what you are talking about." And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, "Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times." And he went out and wept bitterly. Luke 22:54-62
What Led to Peter Denying Jesus?
In Luke 22:55, we find Peter warming himself at the fire in the courtyard of Caiaphas, who was trying Jesus - we might call it the enemy's fire. At this point, Peter was worn down, defeated, and weak. He was vulnerable, and the last place he should have been was at a fire surrounded by unbelievers.
Matthew's Gospel tells us that he sat down with the servants to see the end. He was resigned now to the fate of Jesus. There was nothing he felt he could do. So he was just sitting there. Peter was with the wrong people in the wrong place at the wrong time, about to do the wrong thing.
That is why we need to give a lot of thought as to who we spend the bulk of our time with. We think we are influencing others, but the question is, are they influencing us? We think that we are pulling them up, but the real issue may be that they are pulling us down.
That is why Psalms 1:1 says, "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful." Have you ever noticed the progression - or shall I say the regression - of the words in Psalm 1? First, there is walking. Then there is standing. And finally, there is sitting.
When we fall into sin, it most often begins with a series of steps. And when we hang around with the wrong people in the wrong places, we are going to end up doing the wrong thing.
Taken from "By the Enemy's Fire" by Harvest Ministries (used by permission).
