Answer: Three times Peter DENIED that he was a disciple, or follower, of Jesus, (verses 17, 25, 26 and 27).
MORE INFORMATION AND/OR OTHER SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:
Peter was in fear of his life. He did not want to be associated with a "failed kingdom." He still did not understand that Christ's kingdom was spiritual, and that nothing could overcome it. He failed to see the hand of God in all of these happenings even though Jesus had told His disciples that He came to do His Father's Will. AND Jesus told them plainly what His Father's Will was! Peter went so far as to deny that he even KNEW Jesus. Matthew 26:69-75 says that Peter's second and third denial of Jesus was, "I don't know the man!" And this even after listening to such teachings from Jesus as in Matthew 16:24-26: "Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?'" And Matthew 10:32-33: "Whoever acknowledges Me before men, I will also acknowledge him before My Father in heaven. But whoever disowns Me before men, I will disown him before My Father in heaven."
