Apostle of a Grace-Changed Life, Part 3

Peter, the book of First Peter. We will try to make some headway
this morning. If you’ve been with us the last
couple of weeks, you know that this began essentially as a a
prompter to the Lord’s table. And I really purposed. I mean,
if you’re looking at your insert, your bulletin rather in the inside
column, You see that there are 20 lines there. And I explained
that several weeks ago, I had instructed my brother Trey that
one should never preach a 12 point sermon. Trey having done
so, I just suggested that the most that people can really imbibe
is maybe four or five points, very rarely six and never 12.
Well, what I intended by that was don’t preach a 12 point sermon. 20 points is fine, which is what
I’ve laid out here for you. 20 points. And really, as I said,
it didn’t start out as a sermon at all. It started out as a prompter
for our hearts. before the Lord’s table to show
that God can and does change lives in dramatic fashion. And
as I have suggested for the last two weeks running, there is no
more dramatic transformation in Scripture than the Apostle
Peter. Even the Gerasene demoniac who
was radically saved and sent back to his people, clothed and
in his right mind, were not given really any more about the demoniac’s
life that could testify of an ongoing sanctification in his
life. We just sang about sanctification,
and that is one of the glorious truths, is that wherever you
stand right now in the Christian life is not, by God’s grace,
going to be true of you even a year, five years, ten years
from now. If you pursue the things of Christ,
if you feast on God’s Word, if you fellowship with God’s people,
God is going to change you through confession, through prayer, through
growth and grace. And for nobody was that more
true, as we’ve seen, than the Apostle Peter. The Apostle Peter
was dramatically saved and perpetually changed, and we see that when
we come into Peter’s epistle. Now, I sprung this on you a couple
of weeks ago. We’re really focusing on the
first word, literally the first word of Peter’s epistle, Peter. That’s all we’re looking at.
That’s all we’ve looked at for the last three weeks. It’s the
first time I’ve ever preached two weeks on one word and now
a new record in that we will preach a third week on the single
word. And all we’re looking at is Peter
and his changed life manifested in the Scriptures as we see him
in the Gospels in contrast to what we see in Peter’s epistle. First of all, and I’m just going
to blaze through these by way of reminder. Peter’s view of
God’s sovereignty, first of all, was dramatically changed. Peter
was called sovereignly by Christ there on the shores away from
his fishing business and to the service of Christ. Peter, in
his heart, knew there was nothing in himself that commended him
to the service of Christ. It was purely God’s sovereignty.
And no wonder then, as we’ve seen, does Peter, in his opening
words, point to the sovereignty of God and salvation when he
calls those who reside as aliens, who are scattered, those who
are chosen. He points back to the sovereignty
of God and salvation. The resurrection of Christ was
a prominent feature. Having witnessed the resurrection,
Peter then turns to the resurrection as the very foundation of his
own ministry. There at the end of verse 3,
that God has caused us to be born again to a living hope through
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Eternal rewards. was the third very dramatic change. Because this is a man that, like
all the other apostles, was caught up in a what’s-in-it-for-me.
What do I get now for serving you? That was his mentality. And in v. 4, we see that his
mindset was completely changed and transformed. That he could
care less about any earthly possession, any earthly reward. His focus
was on eternity and what lay there for him. Look at verse
4, that we have been born again to obtain an inheritance which
is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved
in heaven for you. He got that very thought directly
from the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 19, Jesus promised Peter
and the apostles who were eager to see what was in it for them.
Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father
or mother or children or farms for my name’s sake will receive
many times as much and will inherit eternal life.” Peter had his
view of human ability corrected as well. The fourth point. Inhuman
ability. Peter had this penchant for,
much like you’ve heard me criticize some of contemporary Christian
music, when they’re constantly talking about, I will, I will,
I will. They got that from Peter. Peter
was constantly saying, I’m going to do this. I will do that. I
will never forsake you. Oh, really? Jesus corrected him. His own
life corrected him. The life experience of seeing
Christ go to the cross while Peter stood in the shadows and
denied Him even to a little girl. No wonder as Peter turns the
corner, look at verse 5. He points out that we are protected
by the power of God through faith. It’s not we who are hanging on
to God. God’s hanging on to us. The fifth
observation. was the need of faith. The need
of faith. Peter, the very one that walked
out on the sea and saw his faith sink under his own weight, now
calls fellow believers to faith. Look at verse 7, the proof of
your faith, even though tested by fire. might result or might
be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation
of Jesus Christ. And as I’ve said before, as I’d
say over and over again, as you look at almost every point, you
either have to point to Peter as the biggest hypocrite that
ever lived. How could he call us to faith
being at times such a faithless man? Or you have to look at Peter
and say, this is a man whose life was utterly and completely
changed. Peter’s view of the Word, the
Word incarnate, Christ, was changed and transformed. His view of
vigilance was changed. His view of the holiness of God
was changed. Holiness was not meant to be,
intended to be this austere presence that drove us away from Him.
but a holiness that drew us to God in holiness. Look down at
verse 14. As obedient children, do not
be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in ignorance,
but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves in all
your behavior, because it is written, you shall be holy for
I am holy. You see, Peter, when he was first
called by Christ to come and to serve Christ, tried to send
Jesus away. Depart from me, Lord, I am a
sinful man and Christ would have none of it. Peter’s view of the church, Peter’s
view of the church, he got the whole illustration, the whole
thought, a beautiful illustration that it is that it is this holy
structure that is being built up block by block by block. He
got that from Christ. As I’ve told you, the Gospels
walk us through the transformation of Peter. And step by step, every
time he opens his mouth and every time he’s corrected by the Lord
Jesus Christ, we end up seeing that work itself out in Peter’s
epistle. Earthly submission. Earthly submission. That wasn’t Peter’s natural tendency.
Peter’s natural tendency was to be just as much the scofflaw
as you and I. But in chapter two, verse 13,
he says, submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake, for testimony’s
sake to every human institution. And then he says, for such is
the will of God that by doing right, you may silence the ignorance
of foolish men. So testimony, testimony is at
stake. Nowhere did we see Peter’s thinking
change than in the area of the sufferings of Christ. This is
the same man that had the audacity to go and rebuke Christ, to rebuke
the Lord Jesus Christ, that even the thought that he might go
and suffer and be crucified. Not only was Peter’s understanding
of Christ’s sufferings changed, he knew that it was inevitable.
He knew that it was part of Christ’s calling as the Savior. But Peter’s
understanding of earthly sufferings for all of us, any who would
follow Christ, are changed. And we saw that over and over
again in Peter’s epistle. 1 Peter 2.18, 3.13, 4.1 and following,
4.12, Peter again constantly returns to this theme of the
sufferings of Christ. And the constant theme, the constant
call is to entrust ourselves to a faithful creator, just as
Christ did. Now, as I’ve suggested, there’s
only one passage in all of Peter’s epistle where I couldn’t find
a direct reference to where God changed his heart and mind on
the matter, and that is in the area of marriage. And here I
just asked you to go with me. If you have this rough fisherman
that is crude, that blurts out everything that pops into his
mind at the drop of a hat, if you have this rough, crude fisherman
who lent nothing to the service of Christ, all I’m asking you
to do is go home with him. Imagine Peter at home. Imagine
Peter with his wife. And then it’s not too much of
a stretch, is it, ladies, to imagine Peter’s wife. as an unsanctified
woman. And to imagine that this home
was not exactly the purpose of God’s blessing, or the picture,
if you will, of God’s blessing. And here in 1 Peter 3, 1 through
7, we have some of the most unbelievable words on marriage and family
that have ever been uttered. And to know that they came from
a fisherman but it was a fisherman who was dramatically and wonderfully
changed by a loving God. Violence. Peter had his practice
on violence challenged by Christ when he whacked off the slave’s
ear so much so that he could pen with pure heart and integrity
Verse 8 of chapter 3, be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kind-hearted,
humble in spirit, not returning evil for evil, but giving a blessing
instead. This is the same man, people.
And yet, it’s a man completely changed. Finally, as we’ve already
mentioned, his testimony of Christ was transformed. He knew that
he stood before a watching God. And he knew that he had much
to proclaim in his Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. The same one
that denied Christ three times now would call others to not
fear the intimidation of the world, to not be troubled by
it, but to sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being
ready to make a defense. This is the same man, and yet
it’s a changed man. You would either have to conclude,
as I’ve suggested, that Peter is a grand hypocrite like no
other that ever lived in the world. Or this is a man so radically
changed that he literally repudiates his former life as he sees those
things recorded for all of history and for your sake and my sake. Peter doesn’t mull on that. Peter
doesn’t sink down in the despair of that part of his life. He’s
been transformed by the grace of God and he’s not ashamed of
it. The next point, and this is where
you have to do the writing. The nature of cleansing. The
nature of cleansing. The Jews had an almost superstitious
view. And they had picked up a lot
of this from the heathen religions around them, where washings became
ritualistic. And as I said, almost superstitious
that you had to wash before dinner. Now, it’s certainly from a health
standpoint, wise to do so. But that’s not what the Jews
implied. They implied spirituality. Those things had a spiritual
effect. And so, washings, even total
immersion became a regular feature of the Jewish religious life. When Peter says in verse 21 of
chapter 3, and we’ll get there, and I’ll explain it in full when
you get there. So, if it causes you panic, you’re
going to have to sit tight for 20 or more weeks until we get
to chapter 3. Corresponding to that, baptism
now saves you. Now there’s the shock. Get over
it. And he goes on and says, not the removal of the dirt from
the flesh. That was the mindset is that
heavens, we must wash off the dirt and thereby wash off the
sin. Not the removal of the dirt from
the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience. Peter
had this understanding of the inward filth as being more filthy
than anything that could ever defile the outside of the body.
You say, well, where did he get this kind of theology from Christ? Turn, if you would, to John chapter
13. This is the passage, and we’ll come back to this passage
momentarily. The foot washing passage that
so radically transformed Peter’s life in another area. But there’s
a subtlety here that you must catch. Peter, in the midst of
having his feet washed, again, the one to stand up and challenge
Jesus. You know, he wanted to correct
Jesus at every turn and no different here, even though he’s in the
upper room, Christ is preparing to go to the cross. I think by
now Jesus has figured out one would think if you were Peter,
Peter might have thought that Jesus might know what he’s doing
by now. Evidently not. Jesus begins to
wash the disciples feet. And in verse eight, Peter says,
Never shall you wash my feet. Jesus answered, if I do not wash
you, you have no part with me. And then, Peter, the opposite
extreme. Lord, then not only my feet,
but also my hands and my head. If this is a good deal for my
feet, then wash all of me. And Jesus corrected him and said,
he who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely
clean. What Jesus was pointing to, and
the whole thing goes to the purpose of his foot washing, is that
this was not some ritual. This was not some spiritual cleansing
that he was going to endure. That’s what Peter insisted when
he said, not only my feet, but my hands and my head. Thoroughly
cleanse me, Lord. Jesus points out to him, you’re
already cleansed. By the grace and mercy of God,
by your faith in Me, you are already clean.” Jesus wasn’t pointing him to
some new ritual. Jesus wasn’t saying that by washing
his feet, he was going to be purified. His understanding of purification
was changed. Next point. And this is where
I want to spend just a few moments in John’s Gospel. And I want
to take you to chapter 13, if you’re not already there, turn
to chapter 13 of John’s Gospel. Where you will see an utterly shocking passage of Scripture.
If you’re not thoroughly familiar with it already. This is where
Peter’s understanding of Christian service was absolutely changed. This was not a man who was given
to taking care of his brethren. This is a man just like the rest
of the eleven. This was a man who was generally
out for his own interest, generally out for what’s in it for me,
generally out for I’ll help you just this far. And then you’re
on your own. That was Peter’s mindset. And
then came the upper room. Join me in verse one. Now, before
the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his hour had come,
that he would depart out of this world to the father, having loved
his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. There
was a brevity. There was a shortness, there
was a time pressure element. in the upper room. Jesus knew
that His time was finished and He knew that this was His last
chance to drive home this very important point. Service to the
body of Christ. And it’s motivated, if you see,
by love. He loved them all the way along
and even at the very end it says He loved them. He loved them
up until the final minute. You will not serve. Those you
do not love. That’s the bottom line. You will
not serve those you do not love. Note, secondly, this service
service that we’re called to is inconvenient. People service
by nature is inconvenient. Look at it during supper. I mean,
can you imagine a more disgusting thing? than to get up in the
midst of a meal and to go around the table with whoever you’re
seated with and to go around with a little bowl of water and
to wash your friend’s feet. And you know what? We don’t even
have it that bad because we wear socks and we wear shoes and we
don’t walk through the mud and the dust and the dirt and the
filth. And if we do, we take off our shoes and generally speaking,
our feet don’t stink. But not during supper. There
are those churches, and I’m not saying this to criticize anyone,
there are churches who have dawned this as a ritual, just like we
would celebrate the Lord’s table. They have foot washing ceremonies. And I don’t believe that that’s
what Jesus was instituting here. But it’s an interesting thing
that in these foot washing ceremonies, you know, it is ritualistic.
It’s not the same thing. It’s not during dinner and it’s
not dirty feet. During supper, the devil already
having put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon,
to betray him. And that, I mean, of all the
amazing things in this passage, the fact that Jesus washed Judas’s
feet, even his enemy, we serve, we’re called to serve even our
enemies. Jesus did. Verse three, Jesus, knowing that
the father had given all things into his hands and that he had
come forth from God and was going back to God, got up from supper,
laid aside his garments and girded himself with a towel. Service people is often performed
alone. And Peter learned that right
here. No one offered to stand up with
Jesus and help. No one offered to join in and
service people most often, I would tell you, is done alone. It’s
done in solitariness. He poured water in the basin,
verse five, and began to wash the disciples feet. It’s a humbling. Self-sacrifice. I mean, imagine
the Lord of Glory and all He’s wearing now is a towel tied around
His waist. And He’s using that very towel
to wipe and dry the Apostles’ feet. It is an image that is
so striking, we don’t even like to meditate on it. I would suggest
we don’t even like to read it that much, because it’s so far
different from the service that we do. If we do service, we want
partnership. If we do service, we want recognition. If we do service, we want remuneration. If we do service, we want reciprocation. You know, the amazing part of
this passage, look at this. In verse 12. I think I dropped out the very
verse I was looking for. I want to say it’s in verse 11.
When it was all finished and done, Jesus sat back down. He
donned His clothes and sat back down. No one offered to wash
Jesus’ feet. There was no reciprocation. There
was no care of Christ. Verse 12, there I found it. When
he had washed their feet and taken his garments, he reclined
again at the table.” That’s amazing to me. The example that Christ
just gave them and nothing? Nothing. But Christ had a purpose to this.
His purpose was not to institute a new ritual. The purpose was
not to give them some kind of a spiritual cleansing by washing
their feet that touched the vile ground. The purpose of this is
stated in verse 12. Look at the end. He said to them,
do you know what I’ve done to you? He wasn’t asking if they
knew what they just experienced. They knew full well what he had
done. You call me teacher and Lord. You’re right, for so I
am. If I then, the Lord and the teacher,
washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. Now,
you have people that would say that this is where he is instituting
this new ritual. People, I don’t believe that
he was calling us to wash, literally, one another’s feet. What he’s
calling us to do is serve one another. Do whatever it takes
to serve one another. And that’s summed up in verse
15. I gave you an example that you should also do as I did to
you. I’ve seen other churches. who practice this ritual, who
are no more given to Christian service than any other church.
It becomes merely a ritual. What is really needed is exactly
what it did in Peter’s heart. It changed his heart. It changed
his thinking. It changed his life. Turn, if
you would, to 1 Peter 4. As I said, you’re going to have
to keep your fingers flexible between the Gospels In Peter’s
epistle, 1 Peter 4, verse 7, the end of all things is near.
Therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose
of prayer. Above all, keep fervent in your
love for one another. Remember, I told you, you will
not serve those you do not love. Keep fervent in your love for
one another because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable
to one another without complaint. There’s the first element of
forgotten service. As each one has received a special
gift, not if you’ve received a special gift, as, presuming
the fact that it is true, as each one has received a special
gift, employ it. Put it to work in serving one
another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever
speaks is to do it as one who is speaking the utterances of
God. Whoever serves is to do it as one who is serving by the
strength which God supplies, so that in all things God may
be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and
dominion forever and ever.” This is a man who was dramatically
changed in that upper room, who at first didn’t get it, didn’t
understand what Jesus was doing, and now he does. There’s no doubt
in his mind what Christ was calling him to. Service of the body of
Christ. Forgiveness is the next dramatic
transformation that Peter, his understanding of forgiveness. I told you, you’ve got to have
flexible fingers. Go to Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 18. Matthew chapter
18. Peter had while you’re turning, the same
litigious, the same cantankerous, distrustful attitude
towards others that you and I have. That’s what makes Peter such
a lovely figure in the Gospels is we see ourselves over and
over and over again. I mean, is it ever more true
than in this passage? Look at verse 21. Jesus is teaching
about brothers and falling and stumbling brothers. And Peter’s
on to something. He just knows it. Finally, in
his blurting out, he knows that he’s got something, a point to
be made. All he needs is a little clarification. Then Peter came
and said to him, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against
me and I forgive him? And Peter probably felt pretty good about
himself. He probably thought that he had
already forgiven this brother three or four times. And now
was high time that this brother learn his lesson and get with
it. Up to seven times should I forgive
him? Jesus said to him, I do not say to you up to seven times,
but 70 times seven. Infinitely. Keep on forgiving
Him as many times as it takes. As many times as He returns to
the well of grace and pleads with you for forgiveness, forgive
Him. In fact, one of the most beautiful parables in all of
Scripture is recorded right there. I call it the parable of the
ten million dollar sin. You know what it is. The slave
was before the king and he owed him a great debt, the equivalent
of our ten million dollars. And he went in before the king
and he pleaded in his big sob story, oh, forgive me this debt.
And the king did forgive him all ten million dollars. He didn’t
set up a payment plan. He didn’t say, you know, can
you pay part of it? He just forgave it, all of it.
And what did the slave do? The slave went out and found
somebody that owed him the equivalent of 16 pennies. And did he walk
up and say, you know what? I’ve been forgiven. incredible
debt, and magnanimously I forgive you to…” No. He went up and
he began to choke his fellow slave. Demanding that he repay. The illustration there, people,
is an illustration of us. The ten million dollar sin, the
ten million dollar debt, is the debt of sin that God forgave
us. And what he says is, how could
we dare go choke our fellow slaves over 16 pennies? And you know, Peter, I’ll bet
you every time Peter thought of that, he shuddered. He shuddered
at the coldness of his own heart. And even as he shuddered, he
rejoiced in the change that God had worked into him. Because
look at 1 Peter 4.8. In 1 Peter 4.8, Peter admonishes
believers when he says, keep fervent. Not get fervent. Don’t stoke the fires. The fires
are going. You’re going well. Keep fervent
in your love for one another. Why? Because love covers a multitude
of sins. Now, when we get there, I’ll
explain this. He’s not suggesting that you
can sin it up But if you just keep serving other people and
loving other people, that that kind of covers over your misdeeds,
that’s not the case at all. It isn’t even the case that merely
by loving your brethren and serving them and caring for them, that
you’re going to cover up their sins before God. That’s not the
case either. You can’t atone for their sin
even any more than you can atone for your own. What he is saying is that in
your eyes, If you are really loving them like you ought, you’re
going to have a great tendency to overlook those little things.
To pray for them. To bear with them. To plead with
them. To walk with them and love them
and serve them. And not write them off. Not give
up on them. Peter’s understanding of forgiveness,
just like the rest of his life, was utterly and completely transformed. And you know what is so true,
just like in 1 Corinthians 10, these things were written for
your instruction. It is for our instruction to
see Peter, bumbling, mouthy Peter in the Gospels, and to see him
here in this epistle, and to come away saying these can’t
be the same men. They are literally the same men,
but it’s a transformed man. It’s a new man in Christ. Turn, if you would, to 1 Peter
5. 1 Peter 5. As I’ve already said,
Peter’s understanding of Christian service was transformed. But
just a little bit different twist on that, his service, his own
service of Christ was changed as well. Look at verse 1. We’re familiar
with this passage, having recently recognized an elder. Peter says,
therefore, I exhort the elders among you. That’s who he’s talking
to as your fellow elder. And that kind of stuns us because
Peter could call himself a lot of things. That isn’t what we
would look for from Peter. Peter could call himself the
greatest apostle, the first apostle, the chief apostle, an apostle
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But he didn’t. He humbles himself
and puts him right down in there with the rest of these men and
says, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of
Christ and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed,
shepherd the flock of God among you. And you say, well, what
is so dramatic about that? It’s dramatic because those words
are coming from Peter’s mouth again. Shepherd the flock of
God among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily,
according to the will of God.” They roll off his tongue and
we’re so used to reading them, we don’t even remember from whose
mouth they come. They come from a quitter. They
come from the mouth of a man who walked away from ministry,
who denied Christ three times, and then in the face of the resurrection
itself, walked away, quit, went back to fishing. Turn to John
chapter 21, if you would, briefly. Where did this understanding
of shepherding the flock come from? How could he with good
conscience urge other fellow elders to exercise such great
care over Christ’s people? It came from being reinstalled
in the ministry. Look at verse 3 of John chapter
21. Simon Peter said to them, I am
going fishing. And I’m telling you, this was
not just an afternoon trip. This is where Peter quits the
ministry. They said to him, we’ll come
with you also. You have other quitters. They went out, got into the boat,
and that night they caught nothing by God’s gracious providence.
down to verse 15. They have seen the resurrected
Christ. They don’t recognize Him as such
on the shore. When they had finished breakfast,
Jesus said to Simon Peter, now they know it’s Christ. Simon,
son of John, do you love Me more than these? And I take that these
to be all-encompassing. These friends, these boats, these
fish, this stuff. Do you love Me most of all? He
said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And I can imagine
it was just as cold as that. I mean, how how stunned must
Peter have been after denying him and giving up on the ministry
and now face to face with Christ once again? Yes, Lord, you know
that I love you. He said to him, tend my lambs.
You have a flock to shepherd, Peter. He said to him again a
second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? And he said to
him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And now you can sense
the distress in his voice. He said to him, shepherd my sheep. Take care of this flock to which
I’ve entrusted you. He said to him a third time,
Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved because
he said to him the third time, Do you love me? And he said to
him, Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you. Jesus
said to him, Tent my sheep. Peter was either big hypocrite.
The likes of which the world has never seen, or he was a man
utterly transformed when he told fellow elders to shepherd the
flock. Shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight,
not under compulsion. You’re not there because somebody
made you, but voluntarily according to the will of God. If it’s God’s
will, then shepherd the flock. Second to last, in verse 6, not only service
of Christ, but humility in service. At the end of that passage, Peter
says, verse 6, Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand
of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time. This passage of Scripture is
repeated throughout Scripture in various ways. This concept of humbling yourself
in order to be exalted and he who exalts himself will be humbled.
Both true. You’ve got to go back to the
shores, if you would, back to John chapter 21. And just by
way of reminder, Peter was in on this conversation, you may
recall, of who is the greatest. There was this constant, you
can imagine, jockeying for position, a political maneuvering, even
among the twelve. Peter was in on that debate over
who was the greatest. And so now he’s reinstalled in
the ministry And in verse 18, we pick it up again. Truly, I
say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and
walk wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will
stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you and bring
you where you do not wish to go. John’s Gospel clarifies exactly
what Jesus meant when in verse 19 it says, Now he said this,
signifying by what death he, that is, Peter, would glorify
God. And when he had spoken this, he said to him, follow me. And
those words had to ring with Peter, they had to burn in his
ears. Those were the first words that Jesus ever said to him.
He’s reminding Peter of his initial calling to salvation and calling
to the service of Christ, a calling to be a fisher of men. And Peter,
he’s not done yet, is he? He’s still got a few left in
him. And he says, Peter 20, turning
around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, the one
who had also leaned back on his bosom at the supper and said,
Lord, who is this one who betrays you? So Peter, seeing him, said
to Jesus, Lord, what about this man? And doesn’t that sound like
us? How come he gets to? Why don’t
I have to? We sound like children, don’t
we? Our thoughts are childish. Peter learned right there on
the shore when Jesus corrected him that he was to humble himself
in the service of Christ if he was ever to be exalted. The last point is essentially
a repeat of what we’ve looked at. Perhaps God knew that when
it jumped into the next column on the next page. Essentially,
the point there is that Peter had learned, Peter knew full
well of the ability of the devil to influence. Remember, Jesus
had to correct him and said, get behind me, Satan. Don’t try
arguing about the plan and economy of God and suffering. The devil
had substantially influenced Peter’s thought. And no wonder
Peter can wrap up his epistle with this solemn warning. Be
of sober spirit. Be on the alert. Your adversary,
the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone
to devour. But resist him. Firm in your
faith. Knowing that the same experiences
of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the
world. Peter knew the devil. Peter knew full well the devil’s
ability and his ability to influence because he himself had been influenced. And now had begun to resist him. People, the whole point of doing
this was to take us before the throne of grace, before the Lord’s
table, and to remind you that God can and will change your
life. He’s not done with you. You’ve
not reached some kind of plateau. And if it is, if you feel like
you’ve got some kind of a plateau, hang on, because it’s a very
precarious fall. You haven’t plateaued. You’re
not finished. The Lord is not done with you
yet. And if there’s areas of your life that are distressing
you, that are grieving you, that you seem like you cannot eradicate,
don’t give up. Don’t quit fighting the flesh.
God’s not finished with you, just like He refused to quit
with Peter. Let’s humble ourselves before
God. Let’s pray. O Lord God, You know our purpose. We set about just to look at
this briefly before the Lord’s table three weeks ago. We began
to look and see a man so utterly transformed. And Lord, it does
give us hope. It does lift our hearts to know
that you did not give up on Peter and you will not give up on us. Lord God, we humble ourselves
before you and you know there are areas that you desire to
bring under your sovereign control in our lives. Lord, we pray that
just like Peter, that you would see our lives transformed by
your grace as we confess our sin and feast on your word. Father God, we thank You and
praise You for the example of our brother Peter. And we pray,
Lord, that You would use this epistle in our lives in the weeks
to come to do the very thing that we’ve discussed in purifying
us and making us to be like Christ. That’s our desire, Father. We
thank You and we praise You. It’s in Jesus’ name, Amen.