5 Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, "I will confess my rebellion to the LORD." And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone. What is confession? To confess our sin is to agree with God, acknowledging that he is right to declare what we have done as sinful, and that we are wrong to desire or to do it. It is to affirm our intention of abandoning that sin in order to follow him more faithfully. Verse and commentary above is copied from the Life Application Study Bible Reading Plan on YouVersion. Check it out at http://www.youversion.com/ .
Any Dr JOE comments will be in BLUE :0)
Luke 22:54-62 Peter Disowns Jesus 54 Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance.55 And when some there had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them.56 A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, "This man was with him." 57 But he denied it. "Woman, I don't know him," he said. 58 A little later someone else saw him and said, "You also are one of them." "Man, I am not!" Peter replied. 59 About an hour later another asserted, "Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean." 60 Peter replied, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about!" Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed.61 The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times."62 And he went outside and wept bitterly.
Peter wasn't thinking about his loyalty to Jesus in these circumstances, he was confused and terrified, and trying to survive. When Jesus predicted Peter would disown Him, it was in response to Peter's assertion that he would even die for Jesus. He did end up doing that, but only after he learned that we can only do God's work by letting Him work through us, not by our own strength of will. |