Peter's Repentance a Type of True Sorrow.
Observe:
I. That Peter's sorrow did not arise from the fact that his guilt was known.
II. It was not simply the suffering of remorse.
III. The Divine power of Peter's sorrow is shown by three facts. (1) It rose from the sense of Christ's love; (2) it was manifested in the conquest of self-trust; (3) it became the element of spiritual strength.
E. L. Hull, Sermons,3rd series, p. 191.
Although the failings and sins of God's eminent servants are faithfully recorded in Holy Scripture, we can never fail to cherish an affectionate and reverential remembrance of those chosen saints of God. Let us never forget how Jesus Himself valued and loved them, and was cheered and encouraged by their affection, their sympathy and their obedience. The faults and sins of God's people are recorded in Scripture, not that we may love and esteem them less, but that we may honour and love and esteem God more, and that we may be more thoroughly convinced of our own inability to serve and please our God.
I. Peter sinned against Light; against bright and fully revealed Light. The Father Himself had revealed unto him that Christ was the Son of God; and he not only sinned againstLight, but in the actual presenceof Light. Jesus was before him while he denied Him. And so do we all sin against Light and in the presence of Light. The very eyes of Jesus are resting upon us, and the very truth of the words of Jesus is within our hearts, whilst we forget Him and deny Him.
II. Remember how Christ had forewarned Peter, even when He had before Him His own sorrow and coming agony. So wonderful was His faithfulness and His love that He never for a moment forgot the sorrows of His disciples. The Lord looked upon Peter, and that brought back to Peter his individual relationship to Jesus.
III. Peter's weeping was a life-long weeping. Repentance which is born out of love lasts all our life. Repentance which exists chiefly out of fear may end in despondency, or may be banished altogether, as the morning cloud. Then this weeping, although it was bitter, was also sweet. Repentance is not bitter in the sense of that bitterness which the world's sorrow is, but is full of sweetness. In God's Word we have the blessedness of the poor in spirit, of those that mourn, of those that are weak, of those that hunger and thirst after righteousness, nay, more wonderful than all, we have the blessedness of the pure in heart. And when we repent and sorrow over our sins, it is because the voice of Jesus is heard saying, "Thy sins are forgiven thee."
A. Saphir, Penny Pulpit,new series, No. 673.
Reference: Luke 22:61; Luke 22:62. Preacher's Monthly,vol. vi., p. 278.