Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 26:74-75

"Then began he to curse and to swear, I know not the man. And straightway the cock crew. And Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly." — Matthew 26:74-75 (ASV)

Lying led to swearing and swearing to cursing. No one but the Lord knows how much further Peter would have fallen if he had not been divinely arrested in his sinful career. Many men heard the cock crow that morning, but to Peter it carried a solemn reminder of his Lord’s prophetic warning, “Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.” There was something else that affected Peter more than the crowing of the cock. Luke tells us that, “The Lord turned, and looked upon Peter.” Peter must have looked up at the Lord or he would not have seen that look of sorrow, pity, love, and forgiveness that the Lord gave him, before he went out and wept bitterly.

If anyone of us has denied the Lord that bought him, let him look up to Him who now looks down from heaven, ready to pardon the backslider who cries with the returning prodigal, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no worthy to be called thy son.” Moreover, this same Peter, when reinstated in his Lord’s favor, preached on the day of Pentecost the sermon that led to the conviction and conversion of thousands of his hearers.