We cling to his promise, don't
we? That with sincere heart, begging for mercy, he said, you
ask, you'll receive. It's our hope. Turn with me to Matthew 26. Matthew 26, before we read these
verses, I want to tell you what the title of this message is. I've titled it, But the Lord
Loved Him. That's our title tonight, But
the Lord Loved Him. Matthew 26, verse 69, it says, Now Peter sat without in the
palace, and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with
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 was also with Jesus of Nazareth. And again,
he denied with an oath, I do not know the man. And after a
while came unto him they 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 crowed. And Peter remembered the word
of Jesus, which said unto him, before the cock crow, thou shalt
deny me thrice. And he went out and wept bitterly. What have I done? Can't you see
him saying that to himself? What have I done? All four Gospels
record this moment. All four Gospels. But Luke's
account gives us one heartbreaking detail that the others don't.
Turn with me over to Luke 22. Luke 22 verse 54 says, Then took they him, and led him,
and brought him into the high priest's house, and Peter followed
afar off. And when they had kindled a fire
in the midst of the hall, and were sat down together, Peter
sat down among them, But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by
the fire and earnestly looked upon him and said, this man was
also with him. And he denied him, saying, woman,
I know him not. And after a little while, another
saw him and said, thou art also of them. And Peter said, man,
I am not. And about the space of one hour
after, Another confidently affirmed saying of a truth, this fellow
also was with him for he is a Galilean. And Peter said, man, I know not
what thou sayest. And immediately while he yet
spake, the cock crew and the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word
of the Lord, how he had said unto him, before the cock crow,
thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out and wept bitterly. The Lord turned and looked at
him. Can't you envision that moment?
When their eyes met, Peter remembered and it broke his heart. It just
absolutely broke his heart. Now, Peter was a man who didn't
always do things the right way. He was rough around the edges,
as we say it. He was rough around the edges
in his attitude. He was rough around the edges
in his conduct, in his speech, and he's one that we could learn
a lot from his mistakes to not repeat them. But Peter is one who brings a
lot of comfort to God's people because we can relate to Peter
so much. We relate to him so much. Often
we get it in our minds that believers are supposed to do everything
just right. We do, don't we? Believers are
supposed to do everything just right. They're supposed to say
everything just right. Well, that was not Peter. That
was not Peter at all. But even so, it is clear in the
scripture that the Lord loved him. What this shows us is, and what
this reassures us in is, Our hope is not in our conduct. Our hope is in Jesus Christ. Now, let me make this clear.
There is no excuse for our sinful ways. There's no excuse for them. But I hope this message will
bring comfort to us in spite of our sinful ways. through our
example of our brother Peter here. I want us to look at him
for just a second. We're gonna skim through some
of the accounts of Peter. Turn with me to Luke chapter
five. This is how things started for
Peter. Luke 5 verse 1, it came to pass
that as the people pressed upon our Lord to hear the word of
God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret and saw two ships
standing by the lake, but the fishermen were gone out of them
and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the
ships, which was Simon's, and prayed to him that he would thrust
out a little from the land, And he sat down and taught the people
out of the ship. Now when he had left speaking,
he said unto Simon, launch out into the deep and let down your
nets for a draft. And Simon answering said unto
him, master, we have toiled all night and have taken nothing. It started with him talking back. This is how Peter's relationship
to the Lord started. It started with him talking back.
It started with unbelief. Verse five, Simon answering said
unto him, Master, we have toiled all night and have taken nothing.
Nevertheless, at thy word, I'll let down the net. And when they
had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes in
their net break. And they beckoned unto their
partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and
help them. And they came and filled both
the ships, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell
down at Jesus's knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful
man, O Lord. I am so sorry for my unbelief. I am so sorry I did not believe
your word. Verse nine, for he was astonished
and all that were with him at the draft of the fishes which
they had taken. And so was also James and John,
the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus
said unto Simon, fear not from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they had brought their
ships to land, they forsook all and followed him. His first encounter
with the Lord proved to him and proved to everybody else that
he was a sinner. This is where it all started
with him. A doubting, unbelieving sinner. He himself said, Lord,
you need to depart from me. I'm a sinful man. I'm a sinful
man. That's how it all started. Turn
to Matthew 16. Matthew 16 verse 21 says, from
that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that
he must go into Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders
and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised again
the third day. Then Peter took him and began
to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall
not be unto thee. Can you see him grabbing the
Lord by the arm and pulling him aside and saying, Now you listen
to me. What you just said, that ain't
happening. We're not doing that. Hush, Peter. Hush. Verse 23. But he turned and said
unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan, for thou art an offense
unto me. For thou savourest not the things
that be of God, but those that be of men. Hush, fool. You think you sound so wise,
but you actually sound like the devil. This was Peter. This was Peter. Look at Matthew 17 right here,
verse one, it says, And after six days, Jesus taketh Peter,
James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into and
high 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 and Elijah talking with him. Then answered Peter
and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If
thou will, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, one
for Moses, and one for Elijah. Peter said, Lord, if it sounds
good to you, we will share your glory with Moses and Elijah. How would that be? How does that
sound to you? Verse five, 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 in whom I'm well pleased, hear
ye him. And when the disciples heard
it, they fell on their face and were sore afraid. And Jesus came
and touched them and said, arise and be not afraid. And when they
had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only. I can only imagine that at that
moment, Peter was saying to himself, I'll never do that again. I don't
want to do that again. In Mark chapter 10, Peter was
in the mix rebuking parents who were trying to bring their children
to the Lord. Peter was the one saying, nope,
uh-uh, not the children, no. Our Lord got mad about it and
he said, what are you doing? Suffer the little children to
come unto me. Of such is the kingdom of heaven. What do you
mean the children can't come? That's who heaven is made up
of. Who do you think you are, Peter? In Luke 22, he was in the bunch
who was trying to decide who was going to be the greatest
in the kingdom of heaven. They were all standing around.
I guarantee you, Peter spoke first. I wonder which one of
us is going to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. I bet
you have to worship me to some degree. I bet you my throne is
going to be higher than yours. It's probably me. He said I was
the stone. Turn over to John 13. John 13,
verse 1. Now before the feast of the Passover,
when Jesus knew that his hour was come, that he should depart
out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were
in the world, he loved them unto the end. There it is, he loved
them unto the end. But once again, listen to Peter,
verse two. And supper being ended, the devil
having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son,
to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all
things into his hands and that he was come from God and went
to God, he riseth from supper and laid aside his garments and
took a towel and girded himself. After that, he poureth water
into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe
them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he
to Simon Peter, and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash
my feet? Jesus answered and said unto
him, what I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, thou shalt
never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, if I wash
thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him,
Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Oh, I'm such a fool. I am such
a fool. Lord, please, would you wash
not only my feet, but my hands and my head? I'm so sorry. I should have never said that. Poor Simon hardly ever got anything
right. Even when they came to take the
Lord, Peter drew his sword and cut off that man's ear. The Lord
rebuked him for his unbelief. And once again, he said, what
are you doing, Peter? Put up your sword. How many times do I have to tell
you this? I am going to be betrayed into
the hands of men. I am going to die. I am going
to be buried. And on the third day, I'm going
to rise again. After our Lord did die, after
he was buried, what did Peter do? He got depressed and quit the
ministry. He said, I quit, that's it, I'm
out. Turn over to John 21. John 21 verse 1, after these
things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the sea of
Tiberias and on this wise showed he himself. There were together
Simon Peter and Thomas called Didymus and Nathanael of Cana
in Galilee and the sons of Zebedee and two other of his disciples.
Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto
him, we also go with thee. They went forth and entered into
a ship immediately. And that night they caught nothing. He said, I'm going back to my
old ways. They all said, we'll go back
with you. I'm sure that was coming from
his deep regret and his depression for denying the Lord. I'm sure
he was still depressed over this. Peter was a man of like passions,
just like the rest of us. And I'm sure he spent a lot of
time in sorrow and regret and depression just like the rest
of us. I'm sure he thought constantly
about his life of foolishness and unbelief. And I'm sure in
this moment he was thinking constantly about his denial of the Lord
three times, thrice, just like the Lord said he would. He had no choice but to say to
himself, I did the unthinkable. I did the unthinkable. I did
what I said I would never do. I denied my Lord. I turned my
back on my Lord. I cursed my Lord and left him. But here's the thing about it.
Here's the thing about it. Even in all of that, the Lord
never denied Peter. He never turned his back on Peter.
He never cursed Peter. He never left Peter. Through
it all, he loved Peter. That's all he did, was love Peter. Having loved his own, he loved
him to the end. And that's how it is for every
soul that the Lord loves. We don't excuse our sin. We don't condone our sin. We sure don't glory in our sin. But we most definitely glory
in the fact that our sin will not keep us away from our Lord. It will not ruin our standing
with Him. Do you ever commit sin? And then think, honestly, I've
fallen back a couple of notches. Well, that's not a possibility
with him. When we're standing on the rock, we're going nowhere. If anything, the regret of our
sin only drives us closer to him. It just drives us closer
to Him. That regret, that hatred of our
sin. Every believer hates his sin.
But that's what deeply causes us to want to be like Him. No
more like us anymore. Only like Him. I'm ready to be
like Him. Verse 3 right here. Simon Peter
saith unto them, I go fishing. They say unto him, we also go
with thee. They went forth and entered into
a ship immediately. And that night they caught nothing,
but when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore,
but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus saith
unto them, Children, have you any meat? They answered him,
No. And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of
the ship, and you shall find. They cast their four, and now
they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.
Peter is right back where he started. The Lord brought him
right back where he started. It's like the slate had been
wiped clean. It's like all that stuff we just
read had been wiped clean. It's like a brand new day. It
was like mercy started over, brand new today. Verse seven,
therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved, that's John, he
said unto Peter, it is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that
it was the Lord, he girt his fisher's coat unto him, for he
was naked and did cast himself in the sea. When he heard that
it was the Lord, when he heard it was the one he betrayed and
the one he rebuked and denied and cursed, He grabbed his coat
and he jumped into the sea. Verse 8, and the other disciples
came in a little ship for they were not far from land, but as
it were 200 cubits, dragging the net with fishes. As soon
then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there
and fish laid thereon and bread. Jesus saith unto them, bring
of the fish which you have now caught. Simon Peter went up and
drew the net to land full of great fishes, and hundred and
fifty and three. And for all there were so many,
yet was not the net broken. Jesus saith unto them, come and
dine. Come and dine. That's what he
said to them. He could have rebuked them. He could have upbraided
them for their unbelief, but he didn't do that. He said, come
and dine. How sinfully wretched life in
this world can be. How sinfully wretched our lives
in this world can be. And then we come in here and
God's Spirit so graciously, so lovingly says to our hearts,
Come and dine. Isn't that true? Come and dine. Come on. Feed
on Christ, the living bread, the living water. Open your mouth
wide. I'll fill it. Eat of his flesh. Drink of his soul-cleansing blood. If any man sin, you have an advocate
with the Father. Come and dine. Verse 12, Jesus saith unto them,
come and dine, and none of the disciples doth ask him who art
thou, knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus then cometh and taketh
bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise. This is now the third
time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples after that he
was risen from the dead. So when they had dined, Jesus
saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me
more than these? He saith unto him, yea, Lord,
thou knowest that I love thee. He said unto him, feed my lambs.
He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest
thou me? He saith unto him, yea, Lord,
thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, feed my sheep.
He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou
me? Peter was grieved because he
said unto him the third time, lovest thou me? And he said unto
him, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee.
Jesus saith unto him, feed my sheep. Peter denied the Lord
three times. And our Lord so graciously and
so lovingly allowed him to confess his love for the Lord three times. I don't know him. I hate him. I curse him. Yes, I do love you. I love you. I love you. So kind
of the Lord. And then right after this moment,
Peter messed up again. Verse 18, Verily, verily, I say
unto thee, the Lord said, When thou wast young and thou girdest
thyself, you walked where you wanted to. But when thou shalt
be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall
gird thee and carry thee, whither thou wouldst not. This spake
he, signifying by what death Peter should glorify God. And
when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me. Then Peter,
turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved, John, that's
the apostle John, following, which also leaned on his breast
at supper and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter,
seeing him, saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus
saith unto him, if I will that he tarry till I come, what is
that to thee? Follow thou me. He said, that's
none of your business, Peter. That's what he said. That's none
of your business. Follow me. And poor Peter continued
this trend, I'm sure the rest of his days on this earth. In
Galatians 2, he was eating dinner with some Gentiles and some Jews
walked in and Peter got up, grabbed his food, walked over and sat
down at the Jews' table because it was unlawful to eat with Gentiles. And the apostle Paul had to rebuke
him to his face. Honestly, that sounds exactly
like the kind of stuff that me and you would do. This sounds
just like us. We are all wrong-in-the-flesh
sinners, and therefore, this is the conclusion we have to
come to. There is no confidence for us in our flesh. All we can
do is worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in our own flesh. None. And that's where
our comfort and our assurance lies. It lies in Him alone. It is in Him alone. If our confidence
is in Christ, then we don't need any confidence in the flesh.
If our confidence is in His flesh, and if it's in His salvation,
and His body, and His blood, and His righteousness, and His
mercy, and His faith, and His faithfulness, His, His, His,
we don't need any of our own. We have His. So after all of
this was over, and Peter's life on this earth was over, this
is what he learned, this is the conclusion he came to, go to
1 Peter 1. First Peter 1 verse 5, he said, we are kept by the power
of God. There's no doubt in my mind.
We are kept by the power of God. Verse 18, he said, for as much
as you know, you were not redeemed with corruptible things of silver
and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your
father. You did not straighten up and fly right and get yourself
there. Peter said, I know this firsthandedly.
You were redeemed, verse 19, with the precious blood of Christ
as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. That's our
only hope. Verse 24, he said, for all flesh
is as grass, and all the glory of man is the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the
flower thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord endures
forever. He said, I'm telling you, the
promise of God will stand sure. What he promised, he'll do it.
And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you."
Chapter 5 is where he said, you cast all your care on him. That's all I know to tell you.
Turn over to chapter 5. I'm done here. Chapter 5, verse
6. He said, humble yourselves therefore
under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due
time, casting all your care upon him. For he cares for you. Even
when we were yet sinners, He cared for us. He lived for us.
He died for us. He saved us. He called us. In
spite of us, He'll keep us. If He bought us with His blood,
He will keep us forever. We have lived disgraceful lives
on this earth. I hate to tell you that. I hate
to admit that. I hate to know that. Some of
you already know that. Some of you will learn that. The Lord loved us in Christ and
he redeemed us. And because of that, he will
keep us forever. He is going to keep us forever.
Isn't that so relieving? Thank God. All right.