Mark 14: 66-72

(Mark 14: 66-72) And as Peter was beneath in the palace, there cometh one of the maids of the high priest:  And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked upon him, and said, And thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth.  But he denied, saying, I know not, neither understand I what thou sayest. And he went out into the porch; and the cock crew.  And a maid saw him again, and began to say to them that stood by, This is one of them. And he denied it again. And a little after, they that stood by said again to Peter, Surely thou art one of them: for thou art a Galilaean, and thy speech agreeth thereto.  But he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not this man of whom ye speak. And the second time the cock crew. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon, he wept.

 

There are two beliefs. The faith in me is different from the faith God gave me. Faith built by man is the same as building a house on sand. It is a faith that runs away from the cross even though the disciples have had tremendous miracles and experiences for three years. Although Peter had the faith to risk the life of walking out of the boat and walking on the water, Jesus says: You can experience miracles in the belief that you can risk your life by changing the environment. However, the Lord says that faith leading to salvation is not such faith.

Regarding being born again, Jesus said, "You must be born again with water and the Holy Spirit." Those who are not born again, like Peter, believe in themselves. If we are not born again with water and the Holy Spirit, we never change because we are old people who are physical beings. faith to be born again is faith associated with Jesus crucified and dying. Faith in unity with Jesus was crucified, means that the inner old man also dies. The old man came directly from Satan's temptations, so must die.

『And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. 』 (Genesis 3:15) Here, Satan's head is broken by Jesus' death. So, the old man must also die on the cross. The head of idols called greed in my heart is broken.

If you don't realize "old man die", you don't even know what it means to be born again. Trusting yourself (the old man) will eventually trust Satan, and you will be the one who wants to kill Jesus. If God doesn't shine, you don't realize. Others say that he believes in Jesus well, but unless the old man dies, he is a follower of Satan and only a person who tries to kill Jesus. To others, you may be told that Jesus is Lord and live for Jesus, but if you are not born again, you will eventually live for yourself. This is the result of hostility to God.

『For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. 』 (Romans 1:17) You will be saved only if you change from the faith you believe and to the faith God gives you. You must be born again to get God's righteousness. To be born again, an old man deep in the flesh must die. So the Bible says to repent. If you think of confessing your sin without knowing the meaning of repentance, you are not born again. Repentance is self-denying life. If you repent, heaven will come to those who repent.

Repentance begins when you realize that you are "the one who cannot follow the Lord." So, you are the one who has to die of God. If you do not realize your identity, your life of faith will be nothing more than a religious act. If you don't realize your identity, you haven't even started repenting.

In Luke 22: 31-32『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.』 It means that Satan is suing Peter legally. The Lord prayed that Peter's faith would not fall, but Peter fell. So, Jesus says: If you don't turn, you too fall out of faith. Peter followed Jesus for three years, and Jesus tells Peter to "turn around." What is turning?

Today, if the Lord says to many church people, "You turn," what do we turn to? You may say The word “to be converted”  is to turn from evil. If Jesus’s disciples does not turn to, they will all escape from the cross. Peter said, "Never deny Jesus." Jesus said, "Turn back." Peter is confident. The result was a run away from the cross.

Everyone in the church can work for the Lord, but can he give his life for Jesus who died on the cross? Few people are holding onto the dead Jesus Christ. The kind of person who holds Jesus on the cross is the one who realizes that Jesus died because of the evil in me. So, I confess that the wicked me is also dead. I confess that I am dead in transgression and sin before Christ who died on the cross.

Those who realize that I am the one who killed Jesus and are dead before God in transgression (worldly sin) and sin (original sin: evil) are the ones who are born again. So, it becomes "I was crucified with Christ." Anyone who does not realize that I am evil is a person who runs away from the cross. Only those buried with Christ are born again by the Holy Spirit. In Romans 6: 4『Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 』