Luke 22:62

Luke 22:62

Only a Fall.

It is very difficult to define a fall. It has boundaries; you go into it and you come out of it. Some conditions of sin have no boundaries. Therefore, till the issue we cannot absolutely pronounce upon any wrong state and tell it is a fall. It rests with you, so to get up at this minute from any sin that you have ever done, that you shall make it only a fall. "Only a fall?" Yes a mere parenthesis, a mere exception, to be absorbed back into the eternal grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I. Look at the downward steps in Peter which go to make that long fearful slide which we name a fall. Peter, presuming on his position, and elated with his high distinctions, began to compare himself with other people and to prefer himself to them. I do not know whether this habit of comparison was the child of or gendered the pride which took possession of Peter's heart. Certain it is that he was proud, and the reason he was proud was that he was dealing with a low level. Whenever you have proud feelings, it is a proof, not that your attainment is great, but that your standard is deficient. "We have left all and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?"

II. Peter was reproved. But he was where all caution falls impotent. Without any measurement of himself, without any thought of past monition, he hurried on and ventured into the" very midst of scenes which were full of the ordeal which he was least able at that moment, to meet; and at once he was precipitated into the depth of his humiliation. He is as weak as the slenderest reed upon the lake. He, whom we should have called characteristically and fearlessly honest, tells three base lies. His Master is despised, sacrificed to a fear and a blush.

III. How did the restoring mercy work? By the simplest of all simple processes. Peter's eye was still on Christ. There was a fascination in the Saviour to him, even in his wickedness. There was a relationship between that man and Christ which nothing could ever dissolve; he could not help but look at Christ. And as Peter looked, the face of Jesus turned and looked upon Peter, and the Saviour's and the sinner's eyes met, and that meeting was salvation. It was but a glance, and it took but a moment, but it was the hinge of Peter's destiny for ever and ever.

J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons,5th series, p. 290.

References: Luke 22 F. D. Maurice, The Gospel of the Kingdom,p. 324.Luke 23:2. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. iii., p. 216. Luke 23:8; Luke 23:9. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xxviii., No. 1645; Homiletic Magazine,vol. xiii., p. 65.Luke 23:8. Parker, Hidden Springs,p. 269. Luke 23:9. W. M. Taylor, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxix., p. 47. Luke 23:13. W. Hanna, The Last Days of Our Lord's Passion,p. 119. Luke 23:15. Preacher's Monthly,vol. ii., p. 99.