The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1902-10-03

attack upon his fellow man Doe was doubt
less amcudble 10 the law. and possibly
might have been tried and condemned II
Jesus bad not replaced che ear. The mem.
DRY Of Mal,hus aroused All the terror im.
aRinable IN him, and before he knew 10 the
third denial was upon him. and with re-
peated oaths and cursngs he said
II tell SOU that / know Him not"
This is the denial that oumcs because of
some unconiessed sin. Alas for the man
who allows any sin TO 90 without imme-
date confession. IL viii spring upon him
some day like a tiger from the jungle, and
will overthrow him before he can have
time 20 call for help. Sin is always down
grade in its tendencies, and he who denies
Christ az the wicket gate viii ere long
deny Him face to face.
II.
This text Is also to be used in, connection
with the suHerings OF Jesus. 1t may not
be amiss to give brief account OF His
trial
First of all He appeared before Annas,
the high priest, an account of which we
read in John xviii: 10 to 22-'Bhe high
priest then asked Jesus of His disciples,
and Of His doctrine. Jesus answered him,
] spake openly to the world; l ever taught
in the synagogue and in the temple, With
have / said nothing. Why askest thou Me?
Ask them which heard Me what | have
said unto them: behold, they know what I
said. And when lie had thus spoken one
Of the officers which stood by struck Jesus
with the palm of his hand, saying, An
swerest Thou the high priest so?"
1t was an awful thing for this man with
open hand 10 strike Him in the face. To
strike Him, before Whom the angels yelled
their faces; TO strike Him before Whom
the arohangel sang; "Hoiy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty"
But do you notice that when they struck
Him He never shuddered? They could.not
hurt Him with any such blows as this, but
when we read, Now Simon Peter stood
without and warmed himself" this Is a
blow which makes the Son of God shudder
and His heart grow sick.
The second part Of the trial was His APP
pearance before Caiaphas. Here, although
false witnesses appeared against Him He
was perfectly silent "But Jesus held His
peace. And the high priest answered and
said unto Him, | adiure Thee by the living
God that Thou tell us whether Thou be
the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus said
unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless l
say unto you, Hereafter shall We see the
Son of Man sitting on the right hand of
power and coming in the clouds Of hea-
ven"
"And they did spit, in His face, but He
never saw them. His eyes were blinded to
His insults, but Peter in the presence of
His enemies was a blow at His very heart.
They smote Him until, if He had been only,
man He would have staggered in His weak
ness, but they might as well have struck a,
rock like Gibraltar and expected it to fall
as to move Him with their blows, but
when Peter stood in the presence of those
who were against Him, like one of them
himself, it was a terrific blow at the Son
of God
The third part of the trial was before
the Sanhedrim. He is led out from the
court where He has seen both Annas and
Caiaphas, and passes through an outer
court to another room where the Sanhe-
drim is to meet. AS He passes, possibly
near enough to reach out His hand and
touch His disciple, suddenly He hears
Peter say:
II tell you know Him not"
He could forget the splitting of His ene--
mics, the blows of those who hated Him.
and the rods that had fallen upon Him in
the hands of the angry multitude, but He
could not forget Peter.
That which hurts Him the most in these
days is not the sin of the unregenerate-
this He mast expect, but the sins of His
own people for whom He suffered and
died, and rose again.
There is an infinite amount, of pathos in
the words, HE turned and looked at Pc
ter" No word of reproach fell from His
lips, but simply an expression of sorrow
was there to be seen. Does He not look
upon you to-day, and does He not arouse
memories in your life-vows that you have
broken-pledges that you have never kept?
Jesus, let Thy plying eye call back the,
wandering sheep
False to Thee like Peter, I would fam
like Peter weep"
III.
But do not be discouraged. Mans use
fulness not infrequently springs from his
recovery from some sin. Out of Peters,
fall came his first episte The best glimpse
that [ have of the SaviounS heart is that
which comes when I think of His personal
dealings with individuals. When l think
of the God of Abraham | think Of one who,
strengthens His child under trial The
God of Jacob is my encouragement to be-.
lieve that my old nature may be con-.
Quered and my name changed from Jacob
to Israel, the prince of God. The God Of
Elijah teaches me that prayer must be an.
swered. The Saviour Of Thomas encour-
ages me while in doubt; the Saviour Of
Paul sustains me in my suffering, but the
Saviour Of Peter is the, res4orer Of the pen.
itent
Peter and Jesus met after the Resurreo-,
ton on the shore of the lake. II is most
significant that when he denied Christ il
was in the presence of the fire of Goals in
| the court OF the enemy. When the Son
of God met him on the shore Of this lake
| there was a fire Of GOALS Burning there.
doubt not but that all the story of his de-
NAL came rushing upon him. What was
said at that interview we shall not know
until we hear it from Peters own lips, but
! it is safe to say that all his sins We're for
given, and even tire marks of his denial
/ were taken away,
If you have denied this same Lord in
your business, in your home. or in society,
He waits to forgive and to forget and He
SIS the same yesterday, to-day and for
| ever"