A Little Bird Told Him

Read the word of God from Luke chapter 22, verses 31 to 34, and then 54 to 62, the familiar account of the denial of the Apostle Peter. Luke 22, 31, And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.

But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee both into prison and to death.

And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me. Verse 54, Then took they him, and led him, and brought him into the high priest's house. And Peter followed afar off.

And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the court, and were seated together, Peter sat down among them. But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire, and earnestly looked upon him, and said, This man was also with him. And he denied him, saying, Woman, I know him not.

And after a little while another saw him, and said, Thou art also of them. And Peter said, Man, I am not. And after about the space of one hour another confidently affirmed, saying, Of a truth, this fellow also was with him, for he is a Galilean.

Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet spoke, the cock crowed. And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter.

And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crows, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out, and he wept bitterly. And the Lord restored him, even as the Lord can restore anyone who will repent.

He was sure that he would never, ever do it, but he did it just the same. He had boasted, I will go with you to prison and to death, but instead he was frightened by a little maid, frightened by a few words, and denied his Lord three times. This of course is the experience of Peter.

And when Peter said, I will go with you, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death, he meant it. From the depths of his heart he loved his Lord, and he was a courageous man. And Peter really believed that courageously he would stand with his Lord and protect him.

And he failed. And you and I are not going to be too quick to criticize him because we have failed. There have been times in our lives when we have said, I would never do that, and we've done it.

Or we have said, I will do this for the Lord, and we didn't do it. There have been times when we have had the opportunity to stand up with him and for him, and we fail. Now, we meant it in our hearts, but the trouble is we didn't know our own hearts.

That's the problem. Jeremiah was no psychiatrist, but he knew what he was writing, inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.

Who can know it? And we just don't know our own hearts. We've made the same mistake. Do you remember the last time you failed the Lord, how you felt? Your feelings condemned you.

And Satan came and condemned you, and there you were in that dark night of despair and discouragement and shame and defeat. And Satan said to you, it's all over, better hand in your Bible, it's all over. You failed him, you failed him, you're through.

That must have been the way Peter felt. And then the Lord performed a miracle. Out of some distant place there comes a familiar sound in Jerusalem, but different at this point, because just as Peter denied the Lord the third time, that very split second, as though some NBC producer were standing there with a stopwatch, the cock began to crow.

And the Lord performed a miracle. You see, it was a miracle. The Lord had warned Peter, and then when Peter denied the Lord that third time, the Lord gave the signal, a miracle took place.

Every other bird in that neighborhood kept quiet, and one began to crow. Because the Lord was using the crowing of that cock to get some messages to Peter. Now, it wouldn't have been right for our Lord to walk away from his arresters and talk to Peter.

He couldn't do that. That would have implicated Peter, and they would have bound Peter and taken Peter out and crucified him. No, the Lord couldn't do it that way.

The Lord has such beautiful ways of getting messages to us. Sometimes he has to use an ambulance, sometimes he has to use an operating room, but most of the time it's the still, small voice or something out there that he gets a hold of. That night it was that bird, and when that cock began to crow, the Lord Jesus was getting some messages across to Peter, and he wants to get those same messages across to us today.

You see, we worship here today at Moody Church, and we don't know each other's hearts. Why, for all you know, someone here today may have failed the Lord miserably this past week. There may be someone here who has come into this service and said, I don't belong here.

I don't even know why I came. I'm such a hypocrite. The Lord wants to get these messages across to you.

But even if you're walking in the light, and even if you're enjoying victory and blessing, the Lord still wants to get these messages across to you because you never can tell when you may find yourself in that dark hour of defeat and shame and failure, and you'll want to remember what God says. There are three messages in the crowing of the cock that I think encourage us in this hour of defeat and failure. First, there is a message of reassurance.

The cock is saying, Jesus Christ is Lord. Now when I say that to you and you read this passage, you smile and say, just a minute, Pastor, it sure doesn't look like Jesus Christ was Lord. There he was bound, and they've been pushing him from pillar to post.

And they arrested him like a common prisoner, a common criminal. Jesus Christ is Lord, bound, and there's Judas. Jesus Christ is Lord.

Judas betrayed him. There's Peter. Peter denied him three times.

How in the world could anybody stand in a pulpit and say the crowing of the cock was a message of reassurance? And the Lord was saying to Peter, Peter, don't give up. I am still Lord. Well, when you think about it, you can understand what this message means.

You see, all during these three years that Peter had been walking with Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ had been trying to get through to Peter, Peter, let me be the Lord. I am the Lord. I want to govern your life.

I want to control your life. I don't just simply want to redeem your soul. I want to control your life.

I want to be Lord in your life. And now this little bird is the Lord's way of saying to Peter, look how I can control even a little bird. Go back with me to Genesis.

When God made the first man, the first woman, he said, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and have dominion. Remember that? When God made the first man, the first woman, he put a crown on Adam's head and said, have dominion. He put a crown on Eve's head and said, along with your husband, have dominion.

Have dominion over what? Have dominion over the fish of the sea. Have dominion over the beasts of the field. Have dominion over the birds of the air.

And Peter had seen the Lord have dominion in each of these areas. He had seen the Lord have dominion over the fish of the sea. Remember, Jesus got into Peter's boat and he said, launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.

And Peter said, Lord, we have toiled all the night and we've caught nothing. Now you are a carpenter and I am a fisherman. I know more about this than you do, but nevertheless, at your word, I'll let down the net.

And he did. And scripture says he caught such a great catch of fish, they had to call their partners with their boats and their nets to come and rescue them. You see, the Lord Jesus had dominion over the fish.

At a time of day, in a location when no fish should have been caught, Peter caught them. And Peter fell down at the Lord Jesus' feet and he said, depart from me. I'm a sinful man.

Oh, Lord. Jesus said, don't be afraid, Peter. I've just taught you a lesson.

I'm the Lord. Now, just stay in that position. Just keep following me and I'll make something out of you.

They came to Peter one day and said, aren't you going to pay your temple tax? He said, yes. And Jesus said, Peter, let's pay our tax this way. Don't go get a net.

Go get a hook and a line. And go down to the sea and cast in the hook. And the first fish that you pull up is going to have a coin in his mouth.

And take that and pay the tax for me and for you. And so Peter did that. It seemed foolish.

For this man who for years had been throwing these big heavy nets around to go down like a little schoolboy ditching class, drowning some bait to catch a fish. Ah, but Jesus Christ had dominion over the fish. And he gave the orders and along came the fish and Peter caught him.

And Jesus Christ had dominion over the beasts. Our Lord sent Peter and John to make ready as he was going into Jerusalem. They brought the animal.

They brought the donkey and they brought a colt on which no man had ever sat. I wouldn't get on that beast. Not for anything.

But Jesus did. Our Lord had complete control over that beast. He had dominion over the fish of the sea.

He had dominion over the beasts of the field. And now he says, Peter, I want to remind you, I've got dominion over the fowl of the air. Now, I don't know how many birds there were in the area of Jerusalem.

Some of the Jewish people would not keep these birds in their houses because they said they were unclean. But there were many other people there. And ordinarily in Jerusalem, there are two crowings of the cock.

There are four watches to the night from six in the evening till nine from nine till twelve midnight from midnight to three and from three to six. And usually somewhere between midnight and three, there's one crowing of the cock. And of course, when one starts, they all decide to join the choir.

And then there is that crowing of the cock from three to six, which is the announcement of the dawn. Can you imagine? Here is Jesus bound. Here is our Lord Jesus undergoing the rigors of the third degree.

Here he is giving witness to his accusers. And yet by the very force of his deity, by the very power of his Godhead, he speaks and every bird is silent. And then when Peter had denied the Lord once, a cock began to crow.

And then when he had denied the Lord three times, a cock began to crow. All the other birds were silent. There was a holy hush of heaven that descended upon that hour.

And Jesus spoke the word and a bird began to crow. And when that bird began to crow, he was saying to Peter, Peter, Peter, don't give up. Don't quit.

Here is a message of reassurance. Jesus Christ is Lord. You know what that says to me? That even though I may not be faithful, he's faithful.

Even though I may have failed, he never failed. Even though I may have abdicated, he's still on the throne. Even though everything is dark, even though everything is shrouded with defeat, even though my heart is broken with shame, even though I can't lift up my head and look to God, Jesus Christ has not lost control of the situation.

He's still Lord. And he rules and overrules. You see, when you and I have sinned, when we have failed our Lord, the first feeling we get is one of loneliness, rejection, and Satan comes along and says, God's not concerned about you anymore.

You're done for. Just forget about it. Get on the shelf someplace and get out of everybody's way.

And just about that time, the cock begins to crow. And when the cock begins to crow, the Lord is saying to us, let me reassure you, I'm not through with you yet. I am still Lord.

There was a second message that came from this cock. Not only a message of reassurance, but a message of repentance. The bird was saying, Peter, you can be forgiven.

The more I understand about Satan, the more I hate him. First he comes to you and says, you can get away with this. Oh, if you do this, you can get away with it.

And then you do it. And then he comes and says, you'll never get away with that. You're through.

Isn't that right? It's the way he operates. First he encourages us to sin, and then he discourages us in sin. And we want to quit.

In our radio ministry here at the Moody Church, we receive many letters from people who want to quit. They are sure they have committed some unpardonable sin. They are sure that because of what they did or didn't do, God is through with them.

It's our joy to write back to them and say, look, Peter denied the Lord three times. If anybody was a failure, Peter was. And yet God sent to him a message of repentance.

Peter, says this bird, you can be forgiven. When you read Luke chapter 22, it's not hard to understand how Peter got into trouble. Back in verse 24 of Luke 22, there was a strife among them.

Which of them should be accounted the greatest? That was the beginning of Peter's downfall. He was arguing over who was the greatest. Pride.

Pride goeth before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Here is the Lord Jesus talking about dying. Here is our Savior preparing for Calvary.

And what are his followers doing? Praying for him? No. Sympathizing with him? No. Arguing over who is the greatest.

About that point, Jesus got down on his hands and knees and washed their feet. And he showed them who was the greatest. That's always the beginning of trouble, my friend.

Pride. Pride. Am I great? Am I not greater than somebody else? Well, this pride led to a second problem.

In verses 31 through 34, Jesus tells Peter that he's going to fail. He's going to deny him. And he argues with the Word.

Now, I have argued with the Word. There have been times in my morning devotions when I've turned the pages of my Bible and God has spoken to me, I've said, wait a minute, Lord, you don't mean that. I better get a different translation.

And so I get a different translation and it still says the same thing. And I start arguing with the Word of God. That's what Peter did.

Jesus said, Simon, and that should have been a warning to him right there. Not Peter, the new name, Simon, the old name. Simon, Simon, Satan has been asking to have all of you that he might sift all of you like wheat.

Well, there's nothing wrong with sifting wheat. It gets rid of the chaff. But I have prayed for the Peter, for you individually and Peter, I don't want your faith to fail and I'm praying your faith won't fail.

So it won't. You may fail, but your faith won't fail. And Peter, when you're converted, when you're turned around again, when you are restored.

Help your brethren, strengthen your brethren. And Peter argued with the Word. He said, Lord, I'm ready to go with thee both to prison and to death.

And Jesus said, Peter, don't argue with me. I'm telling you, the cock shall not crow this day before you shall deny me three times. First pride, then arguing with the Word.

Down in verses 39 through 46, he ignored the Word. Jesus said, Peter, James, John, come into the garden with me, pray, pray that you'll not enter into temptation. Verse 40, what did Peter do? Went to sleep.

Now, don't criticize him. How many times have we been sleeping when we should have been praying? Perhaps even this morning. So he ignored the Word of God and he went to sleep when he should have been praying.

And then he ran ahead of the Word of God when that mob came to arrest Jesus. Peter didn't say, Lord, can I go out and fight them? He pulled out his sword and went to fight. Jesus had to straighten that mess out.

Then the Lord said something interesting. Don't miss this. When they came to arrest the Lord Jesus, he said, I'm the one you're looking for.

If you're seeking me, let these go their way. He was saying to his men, get out of here, get out of here. The scripture said they shall smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered.

He was saying to Peter and Andrew and James and John, if you stick around here, you'll get into trouble. Now get out of here. But what does Peter do? Verse 54, he follows afar off.

I've heard Peter criticized for following afar off. That was not his sin. He should not have been following at all.

Lead us not into temptation. And Peter came to the gate of the house of the high priest and the gatekeeper looked at him and said, you're one of his. But then John came and got Peter in and Peter walked right into trouble.

You see, he was disobeying the word of God. His mistake was not following afar off. His mistake was following.

He should never have gone there. Peter is a perfect illustration of Psalm 1, verse 1, blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. That's what Peter did.

Instead of obeying the Lord, he walked in the counsel of the ungodly. He stood by that fire and then he sat down by the fire to warm himself. Did it ever dawn upon you that the same night in which Jesus was sweating drops of blood, Peter had to warm himself by a fire? You see, the Lord Jesus Christ was walking in the warmth of the Father's will.

Peter's heart had gotten cold as he got away from the Father's will. And so Peter had resisted God's word. He argued with it.

He ignored it, went to sleep. He ran ahead of it and fought. He disobeyed it and followed, and then he forgot it.

Because when the cock crowed the first time, Peter went right on into sin. Jesus had said, the cock will crow twice. And Peter denied the Lord, and the cock began to crow.

And Peter at that point should have said, I'd better get out of here. It may be okay for John to stay here, but not for Peter. But he didn't.

He stayed by the fire, and he sinned again, and he sinned again, and then the cock crowed. In the crowing of the cock was a message of repentance, Peter, you can be forgiven. Now what happened when the cock began to crow? Verse 61 of Luke 22, while he yet spoke, says verse 60, the cock began to crow and the Lord turned and looked upon Peter.

Someone should paint this scene. Here is Peter by the fire. The lie has just left his lips.

Man, I am not one of them. I do not know him. And he began to curse.

And then as they're leading Jesus from one judge to another, just at that providential time, just at that very moment, the Lord Jesus steps out. He doesn't bring a thunderbolt from heaven. If I had wanted to wake Peter up, I would have had Jerusalem shake with an earthquake.

Bolts of lightning come out of the sky, but not Jesus. No, the Lord was not in the wind, and the Lord was not in the earthquake, and the Lord was not in the fire. The Lord was in the still, small voice, and all Jesus did was turn and look at Peter.

And in that look, he was saying, Peter, you've hurt me, but Peter, I love you. I wonder if Peter remembered Psalm 32, verse 8, where David, when he had sinned, heard God say to him, I will guide thee with mine eye. You see, Peter was such a good Christian that the Lord didn't have to use thunder and lightning and earthquakes to wake him up.

All he had to do was turn and look at him. Can you remember when you were a child how all mother had to do, all father had to do was just look at you? It was that look of knowledge, Peter, I know what you've done. It was that look of love, Peter, it hurts.

After all I've done for you, Peter. But it was that look of forgiveness. It was not a scowl.

It was not the angry look of a judge. It was the forgiving look of a Savior. And my Bible says, and Peter remembered the word of the Lord.

Now, what did he remember? Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times. And Peter said his word came true. What he said was true, but he remembered something else.

At that same time, Jesus had said, Peter, I'm praying for you. And when you are converted, when you've turned around, when you have repented, strengthen your brethren. You see, it was the word of God that brought to Peter the assurance of forgiveness.

The message of the bird was the message of repentance. Peter, you can be forgiven. He said, when you are converted, Peter said, if he said it, I'll believe it.

He'll forgive me. And Peter went out and he wept bitterly. Peter did not lose his faith.

He failed his Savior, but he didn't lose his faith. If he had lost his faith, he would never have wept bitterly. He still had his faith in the Lord.

He believed the word of God. And he went out. He should have done that a long time ago.

He should never have gone in to begin with. And he went out. He said, I'm leaving this place of sin.

I'm forsaking this place of disobedience. And he went out and he wept. And once again, I remind you, it didn't take an earthquake to break his heart.

It was just the look of the Savior. And he remembered the word of God. And so it was a message of reassurance.

Jesus Christ is in control. He's Lord. It was a message of repentance.

You can be forgiven, Peter. A broken and a contrite heart, God will not despise. There was a third message in the crowing of the cock.

It was a message of renewal. Why does the cock crow in the morning? It's announcing the dawning of a new day. And Jesus Christ was saying to Peter, Peter, it's the dawning of a new day for you.

And Peter went out and he wept bitterly. And then the sun came up. Not only that physical sun that was going to light the city, but the spiritual sun in his own heart.

And as Peter confessed his sin to the Lord and forsook the place of sin and wept before God, it was the dawning of a new day. Have you ever experienced that? Have you ever disobeyed the Lord and the night came? Everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deed should be reproved. Walk in the light as he is in the light.

This is the message that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. And Peter had been walking in the darkness. Have you ever been in the darkness, the darkness of defeat, the darkness of disobedience? That's where Peter was.

And then the cock began to crow. And God said to him, Peter, it's the dawning of a new day. Don't let anyone ever tell you that a believer cannot start all over again.

I'm not talking about being converted all over again in the sense of salvation. Once you're born into God's family, you are born. I'm talking about restored fellowship.

I'm talking about stepping out of the darkness into the light. I'm talking about getting back into the place of blessing. That's what happened to Peter.

The cock began to crow, and that cock was saying to Peter, Peter, it's the dawning of a new day. You're going to start all over again. And Abraham heard the cock crow once.

He'd gone down to Egypt and disobeyed the Lord. And then God said, Abraham, you can start all over again. And he went back to the place of the altar.

Happened to Jacob. For 20 years, Jacob was under the dark cloud of discipline and suffering. Then one day he heard the crowing of the cock, and God said to him, Jacob, go back to Bethel.

There's a dawning of a new day for you. Happened to David. Oh, how grossly and greatly David sinned.

And then one day he heard the crowing of the cock, and God said, David, it's the dawning of a new day for you. I want you to sit down now and write Psalm 32 and write Psalm 51, because one day there are going to be people who will need that. And he did.

And if you read Psalm 32 and Psalm 51, you discover that when David wrote those psalms, the light was on. There'd been the dawning of a new day, and it was a dawning of a new day for Peter. Now there was no dawning of a new day for Judas.

I cannot help but contrast Peter and Judas. They both went out. You read your Bible, and Judas went out.

And it was night. And for Judas, it is still night. There was no repentance.

Remorse? Yes. Regret? Yes. No repentance.

No tears. And Judas ends up a suicide. He went out, and it was night.

But Peter went out and walked into the dawning of a new day. That's the grace of God. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And Peter walked out of Luke 22 into Luke 23 and 24, the resurrection, the ascension. Acts chapter 1, a prayer meeting. Acts chapter 2, the Holy Spirit came down.

And Peter dared to stand before that Jewish crowd and say to them, You denied the Holy One and the Just One. And one of them could have said, What did you do, Peter? But that was all forgiven. That belonged way back there.

And Peter walked into Acts chapter 2, and 3,000 people were saved. And he walked into Acts chapter 4, and 2,000 more were saved. And he just kept on walking.

And the light got brighter and brighter. And the blessing got greater and greater. He'd walked into a brand new day.

And you and I can do that. There's no need to stay in the darkness. There's no need to stay in despair and defeat.

He went out, and he wept bitterly. And God said, Peter, I forgive you. That's the message of the crowing of the cock.

It's a message of reassurance. Jesus Christ is Lord. Just because you and I have failed doesn't mean God has failed.

It's a message of repentance. We can be forgiven. It's a message of renewal.

There's the dawning of a new day. The big question is, what are you going to do with the message? Peter did something about the message. God didn't send a big prophet to preach to Peter.

He sent a little bird. God didn't use thunderbolts. He used the crowing of a cock.

And God is speaking to you and me today and saying, look, why don't you step out of the darkness into the light? Why don't you fess up, confess, claim my forgiveness? I want to move you into a brand new day because I've got planned for you blessings you'll never believe. And it's going to get better and better. Someone needs this word today.

I trust that that person will respond by faith and say, Father, I do confess my sin. I do repent. I do forsake.

I come now for your cleansing. And he'll cleanse you. Heavenly Father, we're thankful that the Holy Spirit recorded this experience.

Not to the shame of Peter, but to the glory of God. Thank you for the encouragement it gives to us. Not to sin, but to forsake our sin.

I pray that there will be many who will do what Peter did. Go out, repent, believe, and be restored. Thank you, Father, that our defeats need not be final.

You can rule and overrule, and I pray you will do that here today. For Jesus' sake, amen.