Summer Heat
“Peter feels the heat!” or “Flames of bold passion, flames of warmth, flames of brokenness.”
June 22, 2025
Luke 22:31-34, John 18:10-11, Mark 14:53-54, Mark 14:66-71
INTRO: Peter… What a guy! He’s that Apostle that you’ve just gotta love… in spite of himself! He’s an “open mouth, think later kinda guy… He speaks without thinking. Sometimes, that’s great, but other times, his mouth is writing checks his body and personality can’t cash.
Here we see Peter, on the night of the Passover feast with Jesus. He’s the usual Peter, sure he can and will do whatever needs to be done! He’s got things handled!
The night’s events will show him that he isn’t quite as capable as he might think.
This night will show him how wrong a person can be!
- Peter makes a bold declaration!
Luke 22:31–34 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat;
32 but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”
33 But he said to Him, “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!”
34 And He said, “I say to you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me.”
- Jesus gives Peter warning that trouble is coming.
- Satan is going to “sift him like wheat.”
- Peter is going to be shaken to his very core. What he believes about himself will be broken!
- Jesus also tells him that He has prayed for Peter.
- But it seems from what Jesus said that He knew Peter would fail.
- But Jesus holds out hope…
- “When once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”
- There will be a path back…
- Peter replies that not only will he go to prison for Jesus, he will die for Him.
- Strong words… Peter is passionate!
- In a sense, Peter is denying Jesus already.
- “That’s not going to happen!!!”
- I think Peter truly meant what he said.
- Peter makes a bold move!
John 18:10–11 Simon Peter then, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear; and the slave’s name was Malchus. So Jesus said to Peter, “Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?”
- His move is TRULY bold.
- Peter is a fisherman, not a soldier. He’s facing hundreds of armed men. Still, he draws a sword and takes a swing!
- It’s dumb, but it’s brave.
- Perhaps his plan was to “hold them off” while Jesus escaped.
- Jesus stops him, heals the man, and Peter and the rest of the Disciples run away.
- Peter makes a bold entry.
Mark 14:53-54 They led Jesus away to the high priest; and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes *gathered together. Peter had followed Him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest; and he was sitting with the officers and warming himself at the fire.
- Peter slips into the courtyard of the High Priest, with a little help from John.
(John 18:15-16)
- He sits down with some of the officers of the High Priest’s guard, next to a fire.
- He does this to warm up.
- Perhaps, he does this to see what he can learn.
- He may be trying to figure out how to help Jesus escape…
- Peter makes a bold denial!
Mark 14:66-71 As Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant-girls of the high priest *came,
67 and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and *said, “You also were with Jesus the Nazarene.”
68 But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you are talking about.” And he went out onto the porch.
69 The servant-girl saw him, and began once more to say to the bystanders, “This is one of them!”
70 But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders were again saying to Peter, “Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean too.”
71 But he began to curse and swear, “I do not know this man you are talking about!”
- A serving girl calls Peter out!
- “You were with Jesus!”
- Peter denies even knowing what she’s talking about.
- This is a pretty dumb denial.
- Peter is in the courtyard of the High Priest.
- It’s the middle of the night.
- So of course, he’s there because he just couldn’t sleep tonight and decided to see what was going on up the street??? RIGHT!
- Peter decides to move to a different spot.
- The serving girl follows him.
- Again, she calls him out.
- Again, he denies knowing Jesus.
- Apparently, she gives up and moves on.
- The girl’s accusation leads others to think. They begin making comments:
- “Surely you are one of them!”
- At least one person looks at him and finds him familiar!
- Peter has been traveling with Jesus for 3 years. This person may have seen him with Jesus!
- You’re a Galilean too!
- Peter’s accent is giving him away!
- Peter denies, yet again!
- This time, he curses and swears.
- In this moment of fear, the “old fisherman” Peter comes to the surface.
- “I don’t know this man you are talking about!!!”
- At this point, a rooster crows a second time..
Mark 14:72 Immediately a rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had made the remark to him, “Before a rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” And he began to weep.
- Jesus’ words come back into Peter’s mind!
- Peter is destroyed by what he has done.
- He denied Jesus!
- He did it in spite of being warned!
- A broken man runs out of The courtyard of the High Priest!
Conclusion: We’ll see “the rest of the story” as Paul Harvey used to say, next week. But what can we learn from this “Firey” incident?
- Don’t disagree with Jesus!
- Peter should have known that Jesus knew what He was talking about.
- We need to recognize the same thing.
- Jesus was and is, always right.
- Not just the “words in red” in the Bible.
- The WHOLE Bible is His inspired Word, and needs to be obeyed!
- Be Bold!
- Jesus doesn’t fault Peter for his boldness!
- Followers of Jesus are called to be brave!
- “The cross is not a crutch for the weak, but a standard to be carried by men and women of courage!”
- Boldly go where you should be, and boldly stay out of places you shouldn’t be!
- Peter boldly stood up for Jesus in the garden.
- Drawing a sword on a crowd was pretty brave, even if it wasn’t the brightest idea.
- Peter was trying to do the right thing!
- If Peter would have paid attention to what Jesus had been saying for weeks, he wouldn’t have been in the High Priest’s courtyard.
- Peter would have understood that what was taking place was God’s will!
- He would have realized that his presence wasn’t going to change anything!
- If he had stayed out, he could have avoided denying Jesus!
- When we mess up, REPENT!
- Peter BLEW IT!
- It broke him.
- He was broken by the wrong he did.
- We need to be broken by our failure to serve Jesus!
- Next week, we’ll see Peter at another fire, after Jesus’ resurrection.
- We’ll see a different man.
- Changed by the knowledge that he couldn’t do it all alone.
- We can’t do it all alone either!
