Simon had tried to distinguish
himself. He said, I won't, they might,
but not me. But this truth from God's holy
word made a liar out of him. The same lump, the same lump. It makes liars out of all of
us too, if we ever try to be anything else. of the disciples forsook the
Lord and fled in fulfillment of the prophecy in Zechariah
13 7 our Lord said so in Mark 14 27 Referring to that prophecy
in Zechariah. It says in Jesus saith unto them
all ye shall be offended because of me this night For it is written. I will smite the shepherd And
the sheep shall be scattered and as you know the Simon objected
to that And put himself above everyone
else But just like him we are of the
same lump If the Lord did anything for
us to us in us with us I There was just one lump to begin
with. All of us are cowards. All of
us are self-righteous. All of us are selfish. All of
us are self-serving. All of us are self-destructive. All of us And I'll be as kind
as I can. All of us are not real smart. The same lump. But God. Children of wrath even as others. But God. Let me read the rest of that
passage that I began to read in Romans 9.21, hath not the potter power over
the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and
another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show
his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, and that he might make known
the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had aforeprepared unto
glory, even us whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also
Gentiles from the same lump God made two different kinds of vessels
Vessels of destruction Seen clearly in Pharaoh in the
context of Romans 9 the beginning of Romans 9 talks about Pharaoh
how the Lord said Even for this same purpose have I raised the that I might show my power in
you. Also Judas, from our text, whom
the Lord declared was a devil from the beginning. Vessels of
wrath. But from that same lump, God
has made vessels of mercy for a different purpose. He makes
his power known on the vessels of wrath so he plainly declared
here that in the vessels though in the vessels of destruction
he's going to show his wrath let me read it again what if
god willing to show his wrath and all of this is about him
it's about him his wrath and to make his power known. Endured
with much longsuffering, the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction. But why did he make vessels of
mercy? Well, it tells us right there,
doesn't it? To make known the riches of his glory. Now, once God has made a difference, There can't be a greater difference. It's life and death. How do you?
Life and death. It's heaven and hell. It's a
light and darkness. But there is a difference also
in the actual experience and character of the person who receives
mercy from God, isn't there? Is there not? Are they created
in righteousness and true holiness? As it says in the word of God,
well, you might say, well, Simon ain't much acting like it here.
He's not really acting like somebody that knows the Lord. In fact,
his own testimony is, I don't know him. It sounds believable,
doesn't it, when he says that. But even that can't change the
fact that there are a couple of differences
between Simon and Judas. There's a couple of differences.
Same lump, but God has done something. God
has done something. The first difference is faith. That's a big difference. That's
a big difference. In John 6, 65, it says that the
Lord said, therefore said I unto you that no man can come unto
me except it were given unto him, my father, no man, same
one, nobody coming, no hope, except a gift is given by God Almighty. And from that, many of his disciples
went back and walked no more with him. And there's just 12 standing
there and the Lord looked at them and said, are you going
with them? Are you going too? Everybody's leaving. Will you
also go away? Simon. Simon answered him, Lord, to
whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe. Believe and are sure that thou
art that Christ The son of the Living God and listen to what
the Lord said after that Jesus answered them Simon just gave
this beautiful confession of faith And he said this have I
not chosen you twelve and one of you is a devil Judas wasn't saying that Judas
wasn't thinking that. Judas wasn't believing that.
That was not in Judas's heart. You see how the Lord puts his
finger right on the issue. There's some say, well, we believe,
there's no question in our mind. You're that Christ. You're God's
Christ. You're the son of the living
God. You have the words of eternal life. Where can we go? We don't
have any choice. And he said, I've chosen you 12, but one of
you is a devil. One of these is not the same
as the others. One of you is a devil. For he
spake of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. For he it was that
should betray him, being one of the twelve. Now we know that God gives faith. By grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, Ephesians
2.8. This is how God makes a vessel of mercy from a worthless evil
lump. Now he's purposed it in eternity,
but we're by nature, as we're born into this world, we're even
as others. We're the children of wrath, we're the same lump.
But God has made a difference. And he gives faith, the fruit
of the spirit. Galatians 5.22 is faith. That's the fruit of the spirit,
not the fruit of the flesh. Christ is the author and finisher
of faith. If you look up that word author,
it means he by which something begins to be. My faith began to be because
he authored it. He caused it, he gave it to me
and he'll have to finish it. He'll have to sustain it. He'll
have to intercede for me like he did Simon. He'll have to pray
to his father, don't let his faith fail. It will, anything
of mine is gonna fail. But this is a gift that he gives He don't take that back. He's the author and the finisher
of our faith Hebrews 12 too. Compare these two scriptures and then think of the word faith,
the reality of faith, what faith is and what it has to do with
these two scriptures. Think about that. If it's easier
for you to turn to them to think about it, then turn to them.
If you just want to listen to me and it's easier for you to
just get them in your mind, then do that. But John 13, 26 is the
first one. I want you to compare these two
scriptures and think about faith. John 13, 26. John 13, 26. Jesus
answered, he it is. to whom I shall give a sop when
I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop,
he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And after the
sop, Satan entered into him and then said, Jesus, unto him, that
thou doest do quickly. Now think about that. Satan entered into Judas Iscariot
And the Lord knew exactly what he was doing. He intended to
betray him. We've read before. I think we're gonna read it again
here in a minute. When exactly and why he began to purpose in
his heart to betray the Lord. And the Lord was aware of that
all along, of course. And he said, what you do, do quickly. He knew Satan had
gone into Judas. Now look at Luke 22, 31. Satan entered into Judas and
think about what Satan did to Judas. I know I talked about
this son, but not in much detail Satan caused Judas to sell the
Son of God for 30 pieces of silver and Then When he realized, at
least in his mind, what he had done, he said, I've betrayed
the innocent blood. And he went back and he was gonna
give that money back to them and try to undo what he had done.
And they said, seethe out of that. That's your problem, not
our problem. He said, I betrayed the innocent
blood. Seethe out of that. And Judas went out and hanged
himself. And the scriptures are very graphic about how that happened.
that when he hanged himself, the rope broke and he fell and
just, it talks about his insides coming
out of him. Satan entered into him and that's
what he did to him. Now listen to Luke 22, 31. And
the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to
have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith fail not. Think about that. Not I've prayed
for you that Satan won't be able to touch you. I've prayed for
you so that, you know, nothing bad, you know, you're not gonna,
not that you're not gonna be tried. He was tried. I've prayed for you that it might
be smooth sailing, no? I've prayed for you that whatever
else happens, what you said, we believe and we're sure that
you're that Christ, the son of the living God. No matter what
else happens, that faith in me that I gave you will never fail.
It'll never fail. You'll always look to me. You
won't be worthy of me. You're going to deny me. You're
going to be ashamed of me. But you're going to still look
to me. You're still going to love me. And when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren. I'm going to use you for my glory. Not only am I going to preserve
you, but I'm going to use you for my glory. And he said unto
him, Lord, I'm ready to go with you both into prison and to death.
And he said, I tell thee, Peter. He didn't have to say those first
three words, did he? I tell you. I tell you, remember
that. Remember that throughout this
message, I tell you. The cock shall not crow this
day before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me. I tell you, Simon, I think now Simon's been contradicted
by his, by his Lord right to the face here. Simon said, I'm
not gonna betray you. I'm not gonna deny you. I'll
die with you. I'll go to prison with you if that's what it takes.
If it takes dying with you, I'll be there too. And the Lord said,
no, Simon, you're gonna deny me. That's humiliating, isn't
it? Everybody's standing around.
The others heard that too. Simon has boasted and the Lord
took the wind right out of him. Simon didn't say a word after
that did he? When the moment came and he realized
that the Lord was right about him Simon took a hit didn't he like
most of us will never have to take He was confronted with with the
reality of what he was in a very brutal way And it broke his heart He went
out and he wept bitterly. I don't reckon Simon did that
a whole lot. He wept bitterly. I've wept bitterly, I think,
I got to thinking about that. You know, I'll tear up at times
when I'm preaching because the things that I'm talking about,
I don't know how, it's just, it's hard not to. And I'll do
that even in a stupid movie. Something sad happens and I'm
like, you know. But we're not talking about that
kind of crime here. I've only sobbed out loud, just
uncontrollably sobbed, I think twice in my life. And really
neither one of those were worthy of it. I remember two times. I think
Vicki, I know Vicki knows about one of them. And I'll tell you about it sometime.
It's not worth mentioning in a message, but this is, I imagine
Simon was not the kind of guy that just cried over everything.
You reckon? He's a tough guy. It utterly broke his heart. And
when Judas was rebuked by the Lord, and he was, It went differently
turn to Matthew 26 Turn to Matthew chapter 26 verse
6 Now when Jesus was in Bethany
in the house of Simon the leper There came unto him a woman having
an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his
head as he sat at meat. But when his disciples saw it,
they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste?
For this ointment might have been sold for much and given
to the poor. Now right here, stop right there
for just a second, and I wanna interject a passage from John
12. Don't turn there. Stay with me in Matthew 26, but
in John 12, four, it says, then saith one of his disciples, Judas
Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, why was not
this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor? In this
he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was
a thief. And he had the bag that bear,
and he bear what was put therein. He was the treasurer of the group
he held onto the money that they used to spend on their necessities
and things. And he said that Because he was
greedy, he was a thief. He thought, boy, if we could
have put that money in this bag, I could have skimmed a little
bit off the top. He's sitting there talking about how much
he cares for the poor. That's religion for you. So it was Judas. Now it says
the disciples in Matthew 26, and that's because when Judas said
that, they were all, you know how we are. Yeah, we could have
we could have done some good with that. You know that does
seem like that does seem wasteful We go along with the stupidest
stuff But it was Judas that said it
Now let's continue in Matthew 26 verse 10 when Jesus understood
it He said unto them why trouble you? The woman in another place
it says he said that let her alone Leave her alone Why trouble
you, the woman? For she hath wrought a good work
upon me. For you have the poor always
with you, but me you have not always. For in that she hath
poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. Verily
I say unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the
whole world, there shall also this that this woman hath done
be told for a memorial of her. Then one of the 12 called Judas
Iscariot went unto the chief priests and said unto them, what
will you give me and I'll deliver him unto you? And they covenanted
with him for 30 pieces of silver and from that time he sought
opportunity to betray. He's rebuked in front of everybody
by the Lord. Little different reaction. He was determined from that time
to betray the Lord. He despised him in his heart.
It made him mad. We see that all through the scripture.
Cain, when the Lord rebuked Cain, why didn't Cain ask for mercy?
Lord, I brought a sacrifice that you won't accept. What would
you have me do? No. Instead, he murdered his
brother and tried to hide it, lied about it, and hated God. He hated God. Just like all of
us do by nature. Both Simon and Judas had two
different reactions to being rebuked by the Lord, not because
Simon was made from a different lump, but because of that same
lump, God had made a different kind of vessel. He'd given him
a new heart. He'd made a vessel of mercy.
And there's another difference in the two vessels that God makes.
Turn with me to John chapter 21, verse 1. John 21, one, and 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, that's James and
John and the two other of his disciples. Simon Peter saith
unto them, I'm going fishing. I'm going fishing. And they say
unto him, we also go with thee. And it's not a coincidence that
that's when the Lord first appeared to Simon, what was he doing?
He was fishing. He was a fisherman. That's what
he did for a living. And the Lord came and said, I'm
gonna make you fishers of men. And they dropped their nets and
they followed him. And they say unto him, we also go with thee.
And they went forth and entered into a ship immediately. And
that night they caught nothing. They caught nothing. But when
the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples
knew not that it was Jesus. And then Jesus saith unto them
children, have you any meat? Did you catch anything? Knowing
that they hadn't. And this is what fishermen don't
like to say this, do they? No, I didn't catch a stinking
thing. And he said unto them, cast the
net on the right side of the ship, and you shall find. They
cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for
the multitude of fishes. Therefore, that disciple whom
Jesus loved, saith unto Peter, it is the Lord. Ain't it a beautiful thing when
the Lord reveals himself? Now when Simon Peter heard that
it was the Lord, he girt his fisher's coat unto him, for he
was naked, and he did cast himself into the sea. He was going to get to him one
way or the other, wasn't he? Going to get to him. 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. Simon couldn't even wait till
the boat got over there. You know, the Lord had bid Simon
walk on the water to him one time. And then Simon got to looking
at the waves and the winds and began to sink and said, Lord,
save me. And he did. Immediately, he stretched forth
his hand and caught him, it says. Caught him. Now, Simon not worried
about walking on it, he's just jumping in. He's gonna swim to
get to the master. And then the boat comes. Comes
up later, dragging the net with a bunch of fish in it. You know,
that's us without Christ, nothing. With Christ, according to his
will, his word, he's revealed himself to us. And now we're
so blessed, we can't even handle it. We don't even know what to
do with it. And as soon as they would come
to land, they saw a fire of coals there. Can you picture that in
your mind? They come up on the beach, and
there's a little fire kindled on the beach. And fish laid there
on, and bread. I've never really seen this before.
But he didn't say, there, give me some of that fish, and we'll
cook it. There's already fish on there. There's fish everywhere. The Lord just everywhere you
look, he's provided. He's already provided for you.
He's already taken care of it. And there was some bread. They
had fish sandwiches for dinner. Jesus saith unto them, bring
of the fish which you have now caught. We'll cook up some more
fish. And 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." The net's never
going to break, is it? Until all 153 are brought in,
all every one of them. And Jesus saith unto them, come
and dine. And none of the disciples dared
ask him, who are you? They knew who he was. Jesus then cometh, and taketh
bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise. And 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. And he saith unto him, Feed my
lambs. You know what the Lord's talking
about. He's not saying, do you love me more than these other
folks do? Even though you might think that because he did say,
I'll die with you. These may betray you, but I'll
die with you. And he could have been questioning that, but it
didn't look that way to me because he said, if you love me, feed
my sheep. What are you doing fishing again? What are you doing where
I found you before? Feed my sheep. That's the business
I gave you to do. Feed my lambs. Do you love me
more than your life? than your way, than what you
want to do. These nets and these ships, he
saith unto him again the second time, verse 16, Simon, son of
Jonas, lovest thou me? And he saith unto him, yea, Lord,
thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, feed my sheep. And he saith unto him the third
time, Simon, son of Jonas, Lovest thou me And 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 now not only i
want us to notice not only did the lord ask simon Do you love
me the same number of times that Simon betrayed him? That's not
a coincidence. Simon had denied him three times
and the Lord asked him three times, do you love me? That's
the Lord restoring him. That's the Lord being gracious
to him, reassuring him. It grieved Simon, it says it
grieved him when he asked him the third time because that reminded
him of the fact that I've just denied him three times. Do you
reckon that rung a bell? Why has he asked me three times?
Oh yeah. But what a gracious thing this
is of our Lord to cause Simon To confess three times because,
you know, the Lord had prayed that very thing. Simon, you're
not going to be worthy of me. You're going to deny me. You're
going to be selfish and self-serving and self-destructive, but you're
not going to stop loving me because I've seen to it. I've interceded
on your behalf. You're not going to stop looking
to me. And that's the implication here.
He said, you know, Lord, I love, you know, I love you. And the
implication clearly is I'm a coward, but I love you. I denied you,
but I love you. I'm worthless. You should have picked somebody
else, but I love you. I'm unfaithful. I'm weak. I'm an idiot, but I love you. I'm a wretch, but I'm your wretch. And do you reckon that Simon
knew why he loved the Savior? Do you think Simon is still thinking,
you know, do you think he walked off that beach thinking, well,
I betrayed the Lord, but at least my love is strong, you know? The Lord had just knocked the
stuffing out of him. Do you think maybe he walked
away thinking, what a gracious and merciful Savior. What a wonderful
thing it is to love and be loved by the Son of God. Behold what
manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon me that I should
be called the Son of God. We love him because he first
loved us. And every believer knows that.
Every believer knows that. Remember when the Lord told Simon
that he would deny that he even knew him and Simon said, not
me. You ever think about the audacity of that? Here's the
Lord Jesus Christ. God in human flesh just told
you what's gonna happen and you say, no, it's not. No, it's not. Wait a minute, Simon. Do you
understand? Remember what I said? He said, I tell you, I tell you. You're not who you think you
are. I tell you, you can't do what you think you can do. And in another place, Simon had
contradicted the Savior. You remember that? Matthew 16,
21, from that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples
how that he must go unto 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. He began to rebuke the Lord Jesus
and said, be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto
thee. But look at Simon's confession now in John 21, where we read,
look at verse 17 again. Then he saith unto him the third
time, Simon, son of Job, lovest thou me? And Peter was grieved
because he remembered what he had done. When he said unto him
the third time, lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou
knowest all things. If you say so, you know everything. Thou knowest that I love thee.
Thou knowest all things. No more questioning, no more
rebuking, no more boasting in himself. Lord, you
know everything. And he said, feed my sheep. And
back in our text, I've looked at this verse where the Lord,
it says, he turned and looked upon Peter. And you can imagine
the situation. There was a porch and there was
the hall there and there was a porch. And you've seen how
those type of structures were in those days and how they might've
been within eyesight of one another. And so the Lord was able to turn
and look That's Simon, and Simon saw that. He saw that the Lord looked upon him in the very act
of denying that he knew him. And I can't describe that look.
It'd be foolish to try, but I know this. Here's what I know about
it. Simon's heart was broken by it,
and I know why that was, too. Because he loved the Lord. We
just read about it in John 21. And he had betrayed his Lord. I know this about that look.
I know that the Lord loves Simon a whole lot more than Simon loved
the Lord. I know that. And as soon as Simon went out
and began to weep bitterly, look what happened next. In verse 63, and the men that
held Jesus mocked him and smote him. That's how much he loved Simon. In the other verse where Simon
went out and just uncontrollably sobbed, that's how much Simon
loved the Lord. Here's how much the Lord loved
Simon in verse 63. They mocked him and they smote
him. Herein is love, not that we loved
God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Simon was the one that ought
to have been smitten by God, but God was smitten instead. And Simon went home, and the Lord went to Calvary.
And that's the gospel. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
gave himself for our sins, because he made his soul an offering
for our sins, because he was made a curse for us. Because
the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all, we get to go home. Really home. And he is our home. He said in John 14, to in my
father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. You ever wonder what that's like? A place for a, what's it like?
You know what you need to know about it? That where I am, there
you may be also. That's home. Let's pray.