Address—Daniel Nicoara
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Or to start tonight's meeting by seeing him #46 in the Appendix M #46 in the back of the book. Be thou the object, bright and fair to fill and satisfy the heart. My hope to meet thee in the air. And evermore from thee depart, that I may undistracted be to follow, serve, and wait for thee.
I've been fighting a little bit of congestion, so if somebody could please raise that tune for me, I'd appreciate that.
That's helped God our Father, we thank you for another opportunity we have to open the Scripture to preach Thy word. And we just ask now tonight for open minds and open hearts to receive your word and proclaim your thought for the preacher.
And for?
Words that would bring honor to thyself for Jesus.
We ask for help this evening. Your name we pray, Lord Jesus, Amen.
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When Tim asked me to have this meeting several weeks ago.
He first bought me some Chick-fil-A, so in case you all ever need to know what you need to do to get me to do anything, I guess that's it.
But on a more serious note.
As I thought about this address, I think I should be sitting up with you young people there still. I don't feel like I have a lot of life experience to share with you, and I feel like I have so much to learn myself and so on taking up this meeting.
The burden on my heart tonight is spiritual maturity, and I think it was as much as profitable for me, perhaps more so than for you listening tonight.
To dig into this subject and I want to take up the life of Simon Peter.
And the theme that I want to take up in his life is spiritual maturity and growth. We live in a time when much of the world is unserious and immature. And this unseriousness has crept into Christendom because we are influenced by the world around us. And for many people, Christianity has become more of a culture.
I'm a Christian. I live in a Christian nation, but it's a superficial Christianity.
It's mean Christianity, it's TikTok Christianity, it's Christianity that's only skin deep.
I'm not talking about churches out there.
I'm talking about the assembly here.
Talking about each one of us. The temptation to be unserious. The temptation.
To remain at the same spot in our lives, to go through the motions, to come to the assembly meetings, to briefly read our Bible in the morning, to briefly pray the same prayer we've always prayed. To never take that next step in our Christian faith.
And our Christianity becomes a religion of superficial outward motions and inward emotions.
So the response to each believer?
Tonight to this environment of superficiality and immaturity is to develop some depth and maturity. And I want to mention before we go on that spiritual maturity and spiritual death are the result of personal conviction. Spiritual maturity is an individual process. It's not a collective thing. You can't expect that church attendance.
Or meeting attendance or fellowship with other believers will produce spiritual maturity. Those things are good.
But it's the result of a believer that is in communion with the Lord, who welcomes the working of the Lord in his or her life that will produce growth in our lives. The Lord desires for us to move beyond a superficial or immature faith. Turn with me to Colossians chapter 2.
Colossians, chapter 2.
And verse six as ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord.
So walkie in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith as ye have been taught, abounding therein with Thanksgiving.
When I turn to a lot of scriptures tonight, so bear with me, First Corinthians chapter 13.
1St Corinthians 13 and verse 11 was quoted a couple of nights ago.
When I was a child, I spake as a child. I understood as a child, I thought as a child.
But when I became a man, I put away childish things.
First Corinthians, chapter 3.
And race one, and I, brethren, to not speak unto you as on a spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
I fed you with milk and not with meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it neither, yet now are you able.
Hebrews, chapter 5.
And on verse 11 I'll read a couple of verses here, of whom you have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. For when the time of ye ought to be teachers, you have need that one teacher again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God.
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And I become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat. For everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is obeyed. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. The reason I read these 4 verses in quick succession here is because I want to make a point that the Christian I've seen in the New Testament is not seen as someone who is.
And stops there is not seen as someone who wants They are saved, they read their Bible, they go to meeting and they go through the motions of Christianity, no.
The Christian as seen in the New Testament as someone who goes on, who grows, who learns the Scriptures, who are bounds. And so spiritual maturity is what God wants for each one of us tonight. Growth in our lives is what he wants for each one of us.
So what should characterize somebody who is spiritually mature?
I have a list here that I want to go through. First we'll go through the signs of spiritual maturity, and then we'll turn to the life of Peter and we'll look at some of the workings of the Lord that produced spiritual maturity. And I have seven things on this list. And I and I that was coincidental, if any. I'm sure there are many more things we could add to this list, but for the sake of time, we'll go through these seven and we'll see that a number of these begin with the word abound because.
Abounding implies to have gone beyond the mere basics.
Beyond the mere necessities, so the first one will stay here In Hebrews chapter five, one of the first signs of spiritual maturity is to be skillful in the Word of God. He talks to ones here who are unskillful.
We should strive earnestly, each and every one of us, to have an understanding of the Scripture, to be skillful. Paul tells Timothy that he should have an outline of sound words and that he should rightly divide the Scriptures. In Matthew 22 and verse 29, Jesus answered and said unto them.
He do error not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God. So much of the confusion in our personal lives and in our assemblies could be avoided if we simply had a deeper understanding of the Scriptures. How many times do we have questions? What is the will of God? In my life? The answer was in the scriptures all along. And we go ask some faithful older brother or our parents or friend, and they simply turn us to a verse of scripture that didn't come to our mind because we're not familiar with them.
And I speak to myself as much as anyone here tonight. We need to have an understanding and be skillful in the scriptures. We cannot expect any growth. We don't go past this point if we don't begin with a thorough and dedicated effort at studying the scriptures and understanding them.
Turn to Romans chapter 12.
And verse one. I beseech you therefore, brethren.
By the mercies of God, that He presents your bodies a living sacrifice, holy.
Acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and being not confirmed to this world, but being transformed by the renewing of your mind, that he may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. That brings us to our second point here. The 2nd characteristic of a mature Christian is complete devotion to God. We are all called to be a living sacrifice.
The apostle states that this is our reasonable service. We often sing in hymn #283, where the whole realm of nature, ours that were.
And offering far too small love that transcends our highest powers, demands our soul, our life, our all. A mature believer will recognize that the uttermost deaths into which the love of Christ found to them, they realize that the only reasonable offering in return is their complete and utter devotion to God.
Devotion is an initial decision. It's something that we decide.
But it's something, it's a commitment that we have to continually renew. Someone once said that the problem with the living sacrifice is that it tends to squirm off the altar. And how true that is for so, so many of us, for myself included, we start out wanting to be devoted to sacrifice our life, and then we get distracted and we squirm off that altar. But that is our reasonable service, and a mature Christian will have complete devotion to God.
Romans, chapter 15.
Romans chapter 15 and verse 13.
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Now the God of hope, surely with all joy and peace, and believing that he may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. The Third Point here is that a mature believer is abounding in hope is filled with the subtle expectation that is the soon coming, the hope of Christ soon return. We should abound in hope.
This world and often a carnal Christian, someone who is not mature, someone who's not walking.
After the Spirit, they see nothing beyond this earth. But that's not what a mature believer should see. They should see the hope of Christ's coming each and every day. The prayer of the mature believer should always be Even so come Lord Jesus, and everything that we do has to be done in the view of the Lord soon coming in the ushering of eternity in His presence.
Let's turn to 1St Corinthians chapter 15.
First Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 58. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. This is the natural outflow of the first three things on this list. Knowledge of the Scriptures, devotion to the Lord, and the hope of the Lord's coming should make us have a desire.
To work for the Lord, they should prompt us to show energy in the Lord's work. All of us have a work to be done for the Lord, and that will look very different for each one of us. Even the apostles, even though all of them are called to be apostles, if we study the scriptures and history, know that there was a different character to their ministry, each and every one of them. But the Lord has called us all, and He's cause of work for each one of us to do.
In First Corinthians 12/28 we read God hath set some in the church. First apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps governments, diversities of tongues. There's something for each one of us to do. There's a work for every single one of us in this room.
We just think of a camp like this and all the work that goes into it behind the scenes, in front of the scenes. Everybody has a role and nothing would get done if one person didn't do what they were supposed to do. It would throw everything off. Everyone has a role, and the same goes for spiritual things. And a spiritually mature believer will abound in the work of the Lord.
2nd Corinthians, chapter 8.
There's something for each one of us to do. There's a work for every single one of us.
And verse 7.
Therefore, as ye abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that he abound in this grace also. So the last three things on my list I've found in this verse, and you might count more than three there, but I, I figured utterance and knowledge went under, the first one being skillful in the word. So the next one on my list here is to abound in faith.
We know that saving faith is a gift of God. We get that in Ephesians. But we know that we can grow and abound in faith for every times in our life where our faith is tested, when the devil will cause us to doubt. But a true belief, a mature believer, is marked by strength of faith. They keep their eyes on the Lord, their mind in the scripture, their heart and prayer when prevents those doubts from becoming overwhelming and will speak more of that as we look at Peter's life.
The 6th one is abound in diligence.
Diligence means careful and persistent work or effort. Spiritual maturity will not happen if you just have brief moments of passion or zeal. It is something that takes time to process, that takes Christian discipline to grow and mature. It's important for us to have habits to aid with this.
During our busy lives, it's important for us to take time every morning to read the Scripture, prayer, communion with the Lord, and steady consumption of solid Christian ministry and fellowship of believers that will provoke us unto love and good works. These things are important if we're going to abound, and that's why we need to abound in diligence. It takes hard work to mature and to grow.
And the last one on this list is to abound in love. I think here specifically, I'm thinking of love shown to our brethren. Although it can probably include love shown to unbelievers and lost souls, and it can include love shown to the Lord, I believe it speaks primarily.
About love shown to our brethren. And the mature believer desires to show love to their brother, to other believers, to other brethren.
To encourage, to edify and have fellowship with them as we're doing at this camp. We have scriptures that encourage us to be hospitable.
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And so there they suggest there are 7 marks of the mature believer. That's enough for us to strive for. And if you study the scriptures more thoroughly than I have, you'll find more things that will mark someone who has progressed in their Christian faith, who has gone beyond the basics of simply going through the motions.
We see another list similar to this and Second Peter chapter one, and let's just turn over there. Second Peter chapter one.
And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness.
And to brotherly kindness, charity. For if these things be in you and abound, they make that ye shall be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see it far off. And I've forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather brethren give diligence to make her calling an election sure. For if he do these things, he shall never fall.
For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
And so I just want to draw attention particularly to this eleventh verse. The end result of spiritual growth and maturity is to produce an abundant entrance into the Kingdom. There's that word again to abound. We can enter heaven because we were saved, but that's not what the Lord desires for each one of our lives. He desires for us to have an abundant entrance, to have run the race and fought a good fight, and to enter in heaven abundantly abounding.
And that's why the Apostle Peter himself here.
Is also encouraging us to give diligence to grow to progress.
He wants to say to each one of us, Well done, thou good and faithful servant. That's the burden of the 2nd Epistle of Peter to stir up the brethren, to stir up the Christians, that we go on to grow, to mature, to lay hold of these things, to put them into remembrance.
And that introduces my main subject for this evening, which is Simon Peter. Miss Peter. His life is a beautiful study and the growth of the believer and the time that they're called through the ups and downs of the pathway of faith to the abundant entrance at the end of a life that was lived in devotion to Christ. I chose Peter in particular because I feel that many, if not all of us can relate so much with them. And I found myself so often reading and my heart.
Disappeared because I feel like I've done the exact same things in my life. You know, in many religions, they're heroes.
Are venerated, they're presented as perfect people, as superheroes. But that's not how the Scriptures talk about men, is it? And as it presents Peter, even though he was one of the greatest, if you will, one of the greatest heroes of the Christian faith, it records his triumphs as well as his desperate failures.
And we can learn so much from that. He triumphed when he was walking by faith, and he failed when he trusted in himself, like so many of us have done. He's full of zeal and emotion and impulsiveness.
He truly loved the Lord.
Let us I want to look at 8 major events or periods in the life of fear. So let's turn to the first one in John chapter one.
Because the Gospels are often not written chronologically, you have to kind of go back through and piece things together. The West Walston has a book on the life of Simon Peter, and he kind of helps to get a chronological order of the things that happen in his life, and this is the first time that he encounters the Lord.
In John chapter one and verse 35 says in the next day John stood and two of his disciples and looking upon Jesus as he walked he said behold the Lamb and the two disciples heard them speak and they followed Jesus.
And then down to verse 41 of the two which heard John speak and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messiah, which is being interpreted Christ.
And brought unto Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jonah, thou shalt be called Cephas. So is better Andrew believe the testimony of John the Baptist, behold the Lamb of God. And then the first thing he does he finds Simon and tells him, we have found the Messiahs and brought him to Jesus.
So before there can ever be spiritual growth, there must first be faith in Christ. One must be brought to Jesus. And if you're still in your sins tonight, then you have to be saved first before the rest of this meeting or anything that I said prior to this will apply to you. The first thing is to come to knowledge of this one who is the Lamb of God, who God has provided as an offering for your sins. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. This was the first part of Peter's calling, His calling. This is the call of salvation.
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And so he listens to his brother and comes to me, Jesus, and took the first steps of faith here. And immediately he's given a new name, which signifies ownership. We know that, for example, Pharaoh changed Joseph's name in the Old Testament, and that was something that we've seen a number of times in the Old Testament. It signifies ownership. Simon now belonged to Jesus. He was his, and the Lord would use him how he saw fit.
That was the call of salvation. But then there's the call of discipleship. Let's turn to Mark chapter one.
And verse 16.
Now as he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea. For they were fishers. And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you fishers of men. And straightway they forsook their Nets, and followed him. So now they found the Messiah. We read previously they believe John's testimony, but evidently they were still fishing here.
And here the Lord Jesus gives Peter the call of discipleship. He says, Come ye after me.
What does Peter say? What's his immediate response? It's so beautiful. It says it here straight away. They 1St and they followed him.
Is that the response of our hearts to night? This is the first call away from simply being just a believer, just having been saved. It's his first call of discipleship, telling Peter that he's got something more for him. And the response of his heart immediately is to forsake everything and to follow the Lord Jesus.
Come ye afternoon.
It's beautiful, but can we close the book here?
We can't because we know that the Lord had a lot more to work with Peter. And you know, even though we respond to that call of discipleship, even when we're young, perhaps in our teens or in early childhood, we say I'm going to follow Jesus just as Peter followed Jesus. We all know that there's a lot, but the Lord takes each one of us through to teach us, to mold us, to make us a vessel fit for his use. And that's what comes next in Peter's life.
The next few scenes will bring that up. Let's start with Luke chapter 5.
And now this is actually the same scene that we just read in Mark, but since it's written by Luke, Luke, he gives us a little bit more to this story. And he had left speaking in verse four. He said unto Simon, launch you out into the deep, and let down your necks for a drought. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we've toiled all the night and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word I will look down the neck. And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes, and their net break, and they beckoned onto their.
Is richer in the other ship that they should come and help them. And they came and filled both the ships so that they both began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down as Jesus sneezed, saying, Depart from me, for I am sinful man, O Lord, for here is astonished and all that were with him.
Now he realizes in the presence of who he finds and one of whom he finds himself, and he realized who he is as a man. He says, depart from me, for I am a sinful man. And this is a critical part of spiritual maturity. It's beginning to realize how sinful we are and how holy God is. When we realize how unworthy we are interviewing His presence, we begin to think God's thoughts against sin and against ourselves.
Sin is not to be taken lightly. We live in a world.
As I said earlier, that is unserious and sin has taken very lightly in this world. It's in joy, it's reveled in, but that's not for the mature believer, is it? We have to learn how sinful we truly are in the presence of a holy God, not like God, learned Romans, who said, shall we send that grace may abound because the new man should recall at the thought of sin.
Instead, the mature believer walking in the spirit desires after holiness.
And we get that in first Peter chapter one. I won't turn to it for the sake of time, but he says be holy even as I am holy. I read a book once when I was a teenager by William McDonald, which I recommend. It's called Be Holy, the Forgotten Command. And I, and I encourage everyone to take that up or some books similar to it, where to accept the concept of holiness that is so counter to the culture that we live in today that glorifies unholiness.
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But that starts with having an appreciation for how terrible our sin is. And sometimes as new believers, that we realize we're sinners, that we realize we have need for a Savior. Sometimes we don't realize how truly, desperately wicked each one of us is. And that was something that the Peter had to come to realization here. He had to say, I'm an unclean man.
I'm worthy to be in His presence, even though the Lord did show him grace.
Let's turn now to Matthew chapter 14, to Maxine and Peter's life, a very well known scene full of instruction.
Where he learns the power of God.
And that's keeping the eye of faith on the person of Christ. Matthew chapter 14 and verse 24.
But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary.
And the 4th watch of the night Jesus went unto them walking on the sea. And the disciples saw him walking on the sea. They were troubled, saying, It is a spirit. And they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spoke unto them, saying, Be a good cheer, it is I be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And Peter was come out of the ship. He walked on the water to go to Jesus, but when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid and beginning.
He cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
It's important to note here that it wasn't that Peter didn't know that Christ could keep him, otherwise he wouldn't have asked to come out of the boat to him. And it's not that he didn't have faith initially. Here Peter faltered and failed because he took his eyes off the Lord and looked at the circumstances.
Around Him. It's a very simple concept to keep our eye on the Lord. But we all know how difficult that is, isn't it? We're halfway through camp, almost, And as we all go back to our homes, back to our jobs, businesses, school, perhaps we have trouble with friends, trouble with family, trouble with our faith, doubts.
And we go away from this safe haven where we're surrounded by the Lord's people and.
By godly ministry and great volleyball and other games. And we go back and the winds are boisterous and the waves around us are boisterous. It's so easy to take our eyes off the Lord, to look at those waves and to forget in whose presence we stand. And that's what happened to Peter. He took his eyes off the Lord and he looked at those circumstances around him.
And as he looked at those circumstances, he faltered, and he started to sink.
Or in other words, Jesus is everlasting hands or right there immediately to catch him and pull him out of the water. And Peter learned an important lesson that even as he's floundering, even as we flounder in our faith, the Lord Jesus was there, and he's powerful, and he's stronger than any storm that assails us in this life.
And not only is he stronger than those storms, he is in the storm with us, with each one of us. And as we go back to our homes and to our lives, we have that to lean on, the fact that he is in that storm with us. Gideon built an altar in Judges 6 and verse 24, and he called it Jehovah Shalom, which is the Lord, our peace Peter.
When he's writing the first epistle in chapter 5 and verse 7.
He writes, casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you. Peter had learned in whose presence he was walking. Peter had learned who was in the storm with him, and he can cast his cares upon him because he cares for each one of us.
Let's turn to Matthew chapter 16.
Another scene in Peter's life.
In verse 15 you say unto them, That is the Lord Jesus, but whom say that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou Simon Barjona, for fresh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, for my Father which is in heaven.
Then let's get down to verse 21. From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples all that he must go into Jerusalem.
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And suffer many things of the elders, and the chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him and began to rebuke him. He's rebuking the Lord Jesus, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee. But he turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan, for thou art an offense unto me. For thou savour us, not the things that be of God, for those that be of men.
So here Peter has a beautiful confession.
And he confesses who the person of the Lord Jesus really was, and his beautiful proclamation was such.
Never heard Jesus calls this the rock upon which he would build his church. The Peter makes a serious error and tells the Lord Jesus.
That he should not suffer at the cross. And this review receives an instant rebuke from the Lord. And Peter learned a lesson here, that all who follow after the Lord must learn when we speak the truth.
We're simply a vessel of the Spirit to speak through us. If we speak our own wisdom, we are speaking men's wisdom, and man's wisdom comes from the devil. Let us not fall prey in the thinking that our own cleverness can be a substitute for godly scriptural ministry. Let us ever be praying that we preach only that what is being which has been revealed.
By God himself in the Scriptures, Peter later on writes in first Peter chapter 4 verse 11. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. If any man minister, let him do it as the ability which God giveth. So he learned that lesson too.
Being too quick to speak and to speak in his own wisdom.
Matthew, Chapter 17.
Matthew chapter 17 and verse one, the mountaintop experience of Peters life, perhaps the greatest mountaintop experience that ever was. And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an higher mountain apart, and was transfigured before them. And his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And behold, there appeared unto them Moses.
I was talking with him, then answered Peter and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be clear.
If thou will, let us make your three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias, while he yet spake. Behold a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold a voice out of the cloud which said, This is my beloved Son, and whom I am well pleased. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and was so afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and their side. Arise, and be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man but Jesus only.
And here's another lesson that the Apostle Peter had to learn, because as he proposes that they build 3 tabernacles, here he puts Moses and Elias on the same level as the Lord Jesus. And we see that the Father zealously guards the person of the Lord Jesus and swaddles the mountain in darkness. And then when they look up again, they see no man.
Say Jesus only, and one of the lessons that we must learn as we go on our pathway of faith, as we grow and mature, it is not to elevate man above what he is.
Moses and Elias were great men that the Lord used mightily, but they were men, and this was the Son of God and whose presence they found themselves. Only Christ should occupy our highest thoughts and meditations. Men always should fade into the background of that. Our temptation, even in our holiest moments, is to think highly of men and to distract ourselves from the perfect man.
We'll see you later. We'll leave at the end of this meeting when Peter writes about the Transfiguration.
In Peter, there is zero mention of anyone but Christ himself. When he talks about that mountaintop experience the second time in his epistles, he doesn't say and then we saw the Lord, and then we saw Moses and Elias to There's no mention of that. There's only one thing that he recalled from that moment. That was the Lord Jesus himself.
And now let's move on.
To Matthew, chapter 26.
In verse 33.
Peter answered and said unto him, The Lord Jesus, though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.
Jesus said unto him, Verily Sam to thee, that this night before the **** pro thou shall deny me thrice Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise said also all the disciples now in the verse 69 of this chapter.
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Now Peter sought without in the palace, and a damsel came unto him, saying also was the Jesus of Galilee. But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest. And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them that were there This fellow also was with Jesus of Nazareth. And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man. And after a while came unto him day that stood by and said to Peter.
Surely thou also art one of them, for thy speech betrayeth thee.
Then began he to curse and to swear, saying I know not the man, and immediately the cock crew.
And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him before the **** pro, Thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out and wept bitterly. Now let's turn over to John chapter 21.
You're in Matthew.
We have Peter's greatest failure, that despite all of his boasts, he denies the Lord Jesus. Not once.
But three times this is the darkest hour of his life. Not only is his Master crucified, but he denies him from whom he has so strongly professed affection and love.
And he did it with zeal, and he said it would despite what anyone else would do, he would stand with the Lord. And then when he was put to the test, he did what any of us would have done in that situation, and he denied the Lord.
It's inevitable in our Christian pathway that we will fail, and the devil will use this failure to discourage us from ever following the Lord again or being useful in His service. He will use that bad conscience.
And not failure to keep us down and to keep us thinking about that instead of the love and grace of our Lord Jesus.
Yet at this lowest point in his pathway, we have, I think, probably one of the most beautiful and tender examples of the love of our Lord Jesus and restoring Peter and to make him fit again, to be a vessel for his use. He had a purpose for Peter. He owned Peter. He changed his name to Peter.
Because he had a purpose for him and he was going to go where Peter was and to restore this man in the most loving and tender fashion that we have reported in Scripture.
So when they had dined in verse 15 of John 21, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, I'm going to switch over to the new translation.
Simon Peter, Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He says to him, Ye Lord.
I noticed that I am attached to thee, he says to him, Feed my lambs. His boast was that if everyone else denied the Lord Jesus, yet he wouldn't. And so he says, Peter, lovest thou me more than all these? And Peters reply here is that he he can't say that he loves him more than those because he had denied him.
He was the only one that denied him vociferously everyone else Fred.
Denied him and so he doesn't say back that he loves him. He says I have affection or some have rendered its strong affection for the.
And verse 16 he says to him again a second time, Simon, son of Jonas Lovestami, he says to him, Dear Lord, that I know that I am attached. Thou knowest that I am attached to him, to thee. He says to him, shepherd my sheep. So this time he asks them again. And this time he doesn't bring other people into the equation. He simply asked him if he loved him without comparing him to the others.
And Peter again replies, Yeah, I have a strong affection for you.
And then he says the third time.
And this time he doesn't say, Do you love me? He says.
Simon and verse 17 son of Jonas, art thou attached to me? And Peter was grieved because he had said to him, the third time, Art thou attached to me? And he said to him, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I am attached to thee. Jesus says to him, Feed my sheep. And here we see how the Lord had brought Peter to the very end of himself.
The very point of departure because Peter's problem wasn't that he didn't have affection for the Lord.
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But it was that he trusted in his own affection. He thought he could show that affection for the Lord. And this third time when the Lord Jesus asks him if he even had affection for him, Peter is at the end of himself. And he has to admit Lord Balnost all things, because it was so not obvious that he had affection for the Lord while he was denying him with oaths and curses.
That the only way that anyone would know.
That Peter had affection for the Lord Jesus was because the Lord Jesus knew all things and knew that deep down he did have an affection for him. And he's brought to the end of himself here. And the Lord tells him, feed my sheep. And then he goes on in verse 18. Verily, verily, I say to thee, when thou wast young, thou greatest thyself, and rockets will thou desirest, but when thou shall be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee and bring thee where thou dost not desire.
But he said they're signifying what death he should glorify God. And having said this, he says to him the same words that he told him at the beginning, follow me and Peter was restored even after a fall so desperate, even though it said earlier in the Gospels, if any man denies me before men.
I will deny, also deny Him before my Father, but here we see that the Lord Jesus.
Deals with us and Grace.
And so now I want to read.
A number of verses which you don't have to turn to.
To show what happened.
To Peter, after the Lord called him the second time to follow him and after he had restored him. What happens to this man that was afraid before a maid, this man that denied his Lord with oaths and curses. This man that had gone through all these exercises of teaching the Lord, taking him through different scenarios when he taught him his love and his power and his his own unrighteousness and his own ability to fail when he didn't trust in the Lord.
Acts chapter 2 and verse 14.
But Peter, standing up with 11, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judea, and all that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words. And he preaches the gospel. Here in verse 31 we read.
Van Berry, that gladly received his word, were baptized in the same day, or added unto them about 3000 souls.
Now over in Acts chapter 4 and verse 13.
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled, and they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. Verse 19.
But Peter and John answered and said unto them, These are the rulers. Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you, mayor, more than unto God, Judge ye, for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen.
And heard Acts chapter 5 and verse 28.
And they said, the priest, the counsel, thy priest, asked them, saying, Did we not straightly command you that you should not teach in this name? And behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intent to bring this man's blood upon us. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than men.
Acts Chapter 12.
And verse five. Peter therefore was kept in prison.
Her prayer is made without ceasing of the church and to God for him. And when Herod would have brought him forth the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains, and the keepers before the door kept the prison.
He also wrote to epistles, and we know that most likely he was the one who dictated the book of Mark to his helper, John Mark. At least that's what history teaches us.
But what happened now that he's restored? Now he was a vessel fit for the masters use. And now we don't get the same man all of a sudden. We don't get the same man that was afraid before a maid. We don't get the same man who denied the Lord with oaths and curses. Now we have one who's standing up before crowds and preaching. One who's standing before the same chief priests and rulers that put his Lord to death and telling them we ought to obey God rather than men. And now we have 1.
Who had feared when he was walking on water in the presence of the Lord? Now we have him sleeping, chained to two soldiers, sleeping because he knew who was in control. Because he had progressed in his life, Because he had matured from the fisherman that was walking along the shores of Galilee when Andrew brought him to meet the Lord Jesus for the first time. And now he was Peter the Apostle. Now he was a vessel fit for the Master's use. He had gone on. He'd grown.
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Let's turn to second Peter, chapter one.
Second Peter chapter one and verse 12. Here he's at the end of his service. Peter is anticipating martyrdom because when the Lord Jesus so tenderly restored him, that's what he told him. What happened to him. He says, Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, let him know them and be established in the present truth.
Yeah, I think it neat as long as I am in this Tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance, knowing that shortly I must put off this my Tabernacle.
Even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me where we read there, nor of I will endeavor, that He may be able, after my decease, to have these things always in remembrance. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when He made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ for our eyewitnesses of His Majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory.
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven, we heard when we were with him and the Holy Mount.
Now he sees the end coming for himself. He knows that he's going to be martyred for the faith and for his testimony for Christ. But do we see Peter afraid here? Do we see him concerned about the things he was going to suffer? No, because the Lord had given him a charge.
The Lord had given him a task that was to feed my sheep, feed my lambs.
And shepherd my sheep. And here He is as the shepherd of the sheep of his flock, riding to them and to us now to day. That he wanted to stir them up and put them in remembrance, and to remind them that we had not followed cunningly devised fables. That He Himself had been a witness of this majesty on the mount. That he had seen the Lord Jesus himself.
And that after all these things that he'd gone through.
Despite his failures, Christ had brought him back and had used him mightily to spread the gospel and to lay the foundations of the church with the other apostles. And as he looks forward to his death, he's not thinking about that. He's thinking about the glory of the Lord Jesus.
And he's thinking about his flock and what they would do after he was gone. And he wanted them to be stirred up, to be put in remembrance of these things.
Simon Peter signed the epistle of his life and signed those words and those epistles with his own blood. And that is perhaps one of the greatest proofs that we have that this was real, that what we read in the Scripture is real.
And that's why we need to go on and to grow in grace and grow in the knowledge of the truth.
That's why we need to mature, because we don't serve a dead God.
We serve a risen Christ, we follow a risen Christ. And Peter, though he was a common man, like each one of us, he was a fisherman, as it said, though they took knowledge of them, that they were unlearned.
It didn't matter. Christ had something for him, He had something for Him to accomplish, and He had something for each one of us to night to accomplish.
So as you head back to your homes, you head back to your lives.
You have an option.
You can maintain the status quo. You can continue to go through the motions of Christianity or.
You could do something different.
You can do what Peter did and allow himself to be worked on by his master. And when you have that call that all of us have the call to follow him, to forsake all and to follow him.
Let's read Second Peter chapter 3.
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Second Peter chapter 3 and verse 18. These as far as we know.
Are the last words that we have reported coming from the Apostle Peter, the growing grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?
To him be glory both now and forever. Amen.
In the Scripture is real and that's why we need to go on and to grow in grace and grow in the knowledge of the truth.
Tonight to accomplish.
To your homes, you head back to your lives.
To be worked on.
Second Peter chapter 3 and verse 18. He's, as far as we know, are the last words.
Started coming from the Apostle Theater.
And the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
And to read them and we trust profit from them.