The Lord may graciously help
me, I will turn your prayerful attention to the Gospel according
to Matthew chapter 16 and verse 22 and 23. We're looking again at Peter and his
interactions with the Lord and the Lord has just here began
to tell his disciples of what must take place shortly at Jerusalem,
his sufferings and death and resurrection. And then we pick
up then Peter's response to this in verse 22 of Matthew 16. Then Peter took him and began
to rebuke him, 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 offence unto me. For thou savourest not the things
that be of God, but those that be of men. Thinking again of this disciple
Peter, who We spoke of this morning as that one that the Lord renamed
from Simon to Peter, and that one who had that confession,
depart from me for I'm a sinful man. He realized his sinnership,
but Jesus said, fear not, for I will make you to be a fisher
of men. Jesus was going to use Peter.
But it's so clear as we read through the Gospels that Peter
had so much to learn. But that is what a disciple is. He's a learner. And we should
not be surprised then with us in our little lives as we have
much to learn. Many things that to us seem strange,
mysterious. Stronger than that, Peter outwardly
completely disagreed. with some aspects of what the
Lord Jesus told him. And yet you see this was a chosen
vessel of mercy. And in this account that we read
in Matthew 16, when Jesus is in Caesarea Philippi, the north
part of Israel, Jesus asks his disciples this question, who
do men say that I the Son of Man am?" And he gets various
answers. John the Baptist, Elias, another,
Jeremias, and one of the prophets. Clearly these were the people
who were favorable to the Lord Jesus, rather than some of them,
of course, like the scribes and Pharisees, were saying that he
is Beelzebub and cast out the devils by being that person. But Here these were those that
were more favourable to Christ. But then the Lord Jesus comes
closer and says, But whom say ye that I am? And you see there's
one of our hymns that starts with that, What think ye of Christ?
is the test, to try both your state and your scheme. You cannot
be right in the rest unless you think rightly of him. The person
of Christ is so important that we have right views and a right
understanding of these great truths. So Jesus asked his disciples
this question, and as is typical, the spokesman Simon Peter, the
spokesman of the Twelve, he answers in a very good and gracious way. And Simon Peter answered and
said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. An answer which Jesus gave him
a great response back. He was very positive.
In his response to Peter, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, he
was very pleased that Peter had come to this firm
position. And no doubt the other disciples,
often Peter was speaking on behalf of the others as well. So when
he said something, often I believe it was their thoughts too, that
he was speaking on behalf of them. Thou art the Christ. the
Son of the Living God. So Peter was clear of the identity
of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he was indeed the Messiah. But
you see, and Jesus gives him this great
blessing. Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah,
for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my
Father which is in heaven. You see here that Jesus shows
that it's revelation. Peter had this revealed to him
by the Father. But my Father which is in heaven,
he had this correct understanding of who the Lord Jesus was. And yet in this short chapter
or part of the chapter that we read, we go from a very great
high point in Peter's experience to a very great low point. Jesus
gives a great praise, really, or calls him blessed in verse
17. But it's not long before he's
severely rebuking Peter. And so Peter knew some highs
and some lows. But you see, Peter was a disciple
of the Lord. And we read, whom the Lord loveth,
he chasteneth. And though Jesus said some very
strong words in our text against Peter, he was still a son, he
was still a disciple. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth,
and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. And we see here
that Peter was not, experienced that. He experienced
these times of of great blessing and he was told that he would
have great privileges. So Peter clearly had a right
view of that Jesus was the Son of God and yet as you go on he did not have at all a good working
understanding of what the work was that Jesus came to do. He
knew he was the Messiah. He believed he was the Son of
God. But as for the work that he came to do, he really didn't
know much at all. He really had missed it completely. His idea, as many of the Jews
were, that Jesus had come to liberate the Jews from the Roman
occupation and to lead them to be once again a kingdom with
their own sovereign, to re-establish the throne of the father David,
the whole idea of it being an earthly kingdom. But you see
this was not what Jesus came to do. This, my kingdom is not. this world. Peter had to realize
that. Peter had these ideas that this
would be a place of Jesus would be exhorted into a position of
authority and Peter as being one of those very close to the
Lord would also have that honor and authority that came from
being close to to the Lord Jesus, but this was so different than
the pathway Jesus had appointed. And you see here that Peter struggled with these things. If we look at verse 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 rise again
the third day. Jesus had earlier made mentions
of it, of the fact that destroy this temple and in three days
I will restore it again. There were passing references
to the fact that he was going to die and rise again, but And we have also in Matthew 10,
Matthew 10 verse 37, he that loveth father or mother more
than me is not worthy of me. And he that loveth son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his
cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me. And that
in Matthew 10 verse 38 is the first time we read of the cross
in the New Testament. The first time that that is mentioned. But you see here Jesus is now
beginning to tell his disciples in more plain words exactly what
is going to take place. So from this time forth he began
to show unto his disciples how that he must go on to Jerusalem. There's a definite here. The
Lord Jesus doesn't say well I'm thinking that this might be a
good way forward or And these things it might be that things
don't go so well at Jerusalem. No, there's a certainty Jesus
is prophesying the determinate counsel of God that was going
to take place for this appointment that he must keep at Jerusalem. There was an appointment that
he must suffer, bleed and die, and yet his close followers are
so far off track in understanding what it was that he was going
to accomplish. And you see here that though
Peter understood his person, that he was the son of God, he
did not understand at this time that he must suffer. He must suffer. And you see,
this can be, it's something I mentioned this morning, but you see the
things of God, the way of salvation is very strange to human understanding. It's strange. that the Lord should
use such a method. You think of it, if you have
a shepherd looking after the sheep, you think, well, all the
time the shepherd's alive and caring for his sheep, then the
sheep are well and well cared for. But if you kill the sheep,
if you kill the shepherd, then the sheep are defenceless. That
doesn't seem to be a benefit or a good thing at all for the
sheep. if the shepherd is killed? Well,
you see, God so appointed it that this shepherd was going
to lay down his life for his sheep. He was not going to die
and stay dead, he was going to rise again. And Jesus tells them
that here. But I really wonder whether by
the time he got to the raise again the third day, I wonder
whether the disciples were so so concerned with what he'd said,
they didn't really grasp hardly the fact that he said he was
going to rise again the third day. As far as they were concerned,
this was a bombshell to them. This was something completely
opposite to what they expected, what they were looking for, and
what they wanted. And you see, the way of the cross
is contrary to our human nature. We want the crown, but we don't
want the cross. We don't think it's necessary.
Peter didn't think it was necessary for Christ, and in our hearts
we don't think it's necessary for ourselves. But you see, this
is the God-appointed way. No cross, no crown. No cross, no salvation for Peter. And yet Peter In his characteristic
outspoken way, he takes Jesus to task on what he tells them. So Jesus has told these disciples
that he is going to go to Jerusalem, suffer many things of the elders
and chief priests, where the elders and the chief priests
were the religious leaders. Of course, it was eventually
the Romans also that were involved. because the chief priests brought
them to the Romans and the Romans did put Jesus to death, but the
instigators were indeed the chief priests and the elders and the
scribes. They were the instigators. they were the they were stirring
up the people and they were trying to bring these things to pass
and Jesus puts the puts his finger there that the chief priests
and the elders and the scribes these religious leaders and that
shows you see how Opposite, you see, is to how they thought. They wanted a messiah. They wanted
a glorious messiah. But the idea of a suffering messiah,
the idea of one that would lay down his life, these things were
so foreign to them. And if they were so foreign to
so many in the Bible, is it surprising that we have to grapple with
them too? They're so opposite to our nature.
And you see, we have to remember that the disciples struggled
with these things too. And yet it did not make them
not disciples. The Lord gently led them. It
does not mean that they were allowed to continue in ignorance.
It didn't mean that because they didn't accept them that they
could carry on and it didn't happen. No, it did happen. And
the Lord brought it all to pass. But they were to learn of him. Well, In verse 22, then Peter
took him and began to rebuke him. He just said, thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. Peter so quickly forgot
in that sense that he was speaking to the Son of God and criticizing
him and rebuking him. like you would take perhaps a
child to one side that's misbehaved and tell them off and say, look,
you're really behaving wrongly. This is what Peter did to his
lord and master when he spoke about the sufferings, the death
and the resurrection that was soon to take place at Jerusalem. And here you see Peter stumbled. Peter, in one sense I believe,
did it from a good motive, in the sense that he loved his master. He wanted to see his master looked
after well, and he wanted to show that he as one of the disciples
would protect his master. And of course this also went
through right to the time of When this actually happened in
the Garden of Gethsemane, it was Peter that took the sword
and cut off the servant of the high priest right here, one called
Marcus. And he tried to defend his Lord,
and the Lord Jesus had to tell Peter, put your sword away. And
he healed the servant's ear. Peter meant well, but he was
way off track. Then Peter took him and began
to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord. He didn't want this way. He didn't
think it was a good way. He didn't want his master to
suffer. He wanted his master to have
the crown. He wanted his master to have
the preeminence. But he didn't want the suffering. He didn't want the cross. He
wouldn't hear of it, and he would actively oppose it. You see,
the Lord's ways are higher than our ways, and his thoughts than
our thoughts. When we look at this, and we
think of the plan of salvation, and we look at all that Peter
became, and how much he preached the gospel, and how these things
became such a central part of his preaching, that Christ must
die, that Christ rose again. According to the scriptures,
he writes of the precious blood of Christ, and yet Peter, this
one who wrote so beautifully of these things, struggled so
much with it to come to terms with it himself. And may we take
these things then on board, that we may realize that these are
not easy things, these are opposite to what we would naturally think.
And yet Peter came to embrace them. Peter came to love them,
but he had much learning to do. He had to be discipled. by the Lord. He had to be rebuked. And we see here, you see, what
Peter think. If we didn't speak out, we wouldn't
know what he was thinking, whether all the disciples thought this
was a very good idea. But clearly, they did not. They
did not think this was good. They did not think this is what
should happen. And as we see what happened at
the time of the crucifixion and Even after the Lord's resurrection,
the two on the road to Emmaus, the fact that the Lord Jesus
died for the disciples seemed to put a huge question mark over
whether he really was the Christ. It was that fundamental. It was
such a problem to them. It was such a problem that this
Messiah should die. They said, we trusted that it
would have been he that would have redeemed Israel. Now he's
died. Now the chief priests have taken
him and by wicked hands have killed him. And this to them
was an indication that he could not be the Messiah. And no wonder
it was such a blessing on that Emmaus road when he was able
to show that ought not Christ to have suffered these things
and to have entered into His glory ought not Christ. This
is what the Christ, this is what all the Old Testament sacrifices
were pointing towards. They were pointing towards a
sacrifice, a substitute, one that would lay down their life.
And you see, Peter didn't understand it. And you see, if we don't
understand something of the awful nature of our sin, and we spoke
this morning how Peter He did realise he was a sinner. He did
realise that there needed to be, he felt a separation between
him and God because he was a sinner and God was holy. But he had
not yet come to realise how that gulf would ever be fixed. He
knew that it was, Jesus had said, fear not. But he didn't know
how. He didn't perceive that it was
the precious blood of Christ. He didn't understand it and he
didn't see a beauty in it. This is the great Apostle Peter
who was a great pillar in the church and he struggled with
these, what you might say, very fundamental things of our Christian
faith. But may we then realize that
these things are opposite to what the human nature would think
and would understand. Then Peter took him and began
to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord. This shall
not be unto thee. It's very positive. Peter really
doesn't agree with this. Peter is not going to let this
happen. He's going to do everything in
his power to stop his Lord and Master going to Calvary, going
to Jerusalem. He's going to stop it. But what
a mercy you see. Another thing we spoke this morning
of how that Peter's prayer was, depart from me. Peter's now saying,
don't go to Calvary. Don't go to Jerusalem. What a
mercy. Once again, Peter's words were
not listened to by Christ. You see, Christ set his face
as a flint to go to Jerusalem. He was not going to be changed.
And yet, you see, there's a very, very sharp rebuke for Peter. In verse 23, Jesus very sharply
rebukes Peter in no uncertain terms, but he turned and said
unto him, unto Peter, get thee behind me, Satan. Very similar words to what the
Lord Jesus spoke to the devil himself. when he went into the
wilderness for those 40 days and 40 nights, and we read that
he was tempted by the devil. If we look in Matthew chapter
four and verse eight, again, the devil taketh him up into
an exceeding high mountain and showeth him all the kingdoms
of the world and the glory of them, and said unto him, all
these things will I give thee if thou will fall down and worship
me. the crown before the cross. You can have all this glory,
you can have all these things, you can have all the glory, you
don't need to have the cross. Then said Jesus unto him, get
thee hence, Satan, for it is written, thou shalt worship the
Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. So here Jesus rebukes
Satan, tells him to get hence, but here Peter, get thee behind
me Satan. Now that does not mean that Peter
was Satan, but Peter in saying these so-called kind words, he
meant to be a help to Christ, he meant to show his love to
Christ, but actually trying to derail Christ, just as the devil
was trying to derail Christ from doing his great work of redemption.
The devil wanted to stop that work of redemption, he wanted
to cause Christ to fall, and if he had fallen, then there
would not be a perfect substitute, there would not be a satisfying
righteousness, there would be no glory for the Church of God,
there would be no salvation, there would be no heaven. But
here you see Peter in his meaning kindness to the Lord, is actually
doing the devil's work. He's actually trying to encourage
Christ not to do this great work of redemption, not to lay down
his life for ransom for many, not to be despised and rejected
of men, not to be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. You
see, if you look in Isaiah, we see how the Spirit gave such
wisdom to these prophets in the Old Testament. Because they,
in many sense, understood, how much
they understood of what they wrote, we don't know. But under
the inspiration of God, they wrote things which were so wonderfully
accurate and wonderfully portraying of the work of Christ. But if
we look in Isaiah 52, And verse 13, we read, Behold, my servant
shall deal prudently. He shall be exalted and extolled
and be very high. Well, Peter would agree with
that. Peter would say, yes, that's the Messiah I want. My servant
shall deal prudently and be exalted and extolled and be very high. Yes, that's the Messiah we want.
But the next verse says, As many as were astonished and You see,
it was predicted Peter was astonished. Peter was astonished at what
happened and what Christ said. As many as were astonished at
thee, his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form
more than the sons of men. What a strange path. What a strange
path to salvation that the holy, harmless son of God, the one
that always delighted in his father's will, the one that never
disobeyed his father, this one is going to find himself in the
place of sinners. He's going to willingly take
the place of sinners, willingly stand in their place, willingly
be despised and rejected of men. This is our beloved. This is
our saviour. And yet Peter was saying, don't
do that. We don't need that. But oh how much We did need it,
and he did need it. And his salvation rested on it,
our salvation today rests on this great work. And aren't we
thankful that the Lord Jesus set his face as a flint towards
Jerusalem? He wouldn't be determined by
a Peter wishing him well and yet really encouraging him to
do the devil's work. His visage was so marred more
than any man, his form more than the sons of men. And then it
goes on, who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm
of the Lord revealed? Who's believed this report? Peter
didn't want to believe it, and the disciples didn't want to
believe it, did they? They didn't believe this report,
that Jesus must suffer, but the truth was he must suffer. And
you see how the Lord graciously deals with Peter. Get thee behind
me, Satan. Thou art an offence unto me,
for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that
be of men. And so here you see that Jesus
is telling Peter that you're thinking on man's level. You're thinking not as God thinks,
but as man thinks. You're thinking of your own skin.
You're thinking of your own glory. You're thinking of what's best
for you, as you think. But God, you see, has other plans. His way of salvation is so different
than man could conceive. You see how the plan of salvation
is not man's plan. It's not man's way of obtaining
salvation. It's God's way. Man opposed it. Satan tried to oppose it. His
disciples tried to oppose it. But what a mercy that Christ
continued with his work. He would not be derailed. He continued his great work.
Thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that
be of men. The great work that the Lord
Jesus came to do. And so we see, then it goes on,
that Jesus then applies this to the disciples. because Jesus
went to the cross to pay for the price of the sins of his
church. But he didn't go to the cross
so that his people would be able to know no suffering. He did
not do that. We read specifically that he
was an example as he suffered. The servant is not above his
master. If our master was rejected, so
will we be. If he suffered, so must we. Not
that our suffering pays for our sin, but you see, it was so in
God's appointment, how that there was to be that suffering. We
read in the Hebrews, amazing words really of the Lord
Jesus in Hebrews 5 verse 8, though he were a son, And Peter acknowledged,
you see, that he was the son of God, but he didn't understand
the work that the son of God must do. And perhaps we don't
understand it. Perhaps we don't realize the
necessity. Why should he suffer? I remember when I was younger,
we would think of the Lord Jesus Christ and I could understand
that he was a friend of sinners and that he would be kind and
helpful and help us in our ways. Why did people delight in his
death? I couldn't understand. Why would a hymn writer say,
sweet the moments, rich in blessing, which before the cross I spend?
Love and grief my heart is dividing, to the gracious sinner's friend. Why would they do that? Why would
we delight? Why would we see a preciousness
in the death of Christ? Well, Peter would join you and
say, I can't see any preciousness in this. Why? We don't want this
to happen. But you see, the Lord's people
are brought to embrace these things. And you see, just as
the Father revealed to Peter that Jesus was the Christ, the
Son of the living God, so the Lord needs to show us each the
necessity of Calvary, the necessity of what Christ endured. From that time forth, Jesus began
to show unto his disciples how that he must go to Jerusalem. There was a necessity. It was
not an option. But you see, when our Lord came,
we read this in Hebrews 5, who in the days of his flesh when
he offered up prayers and supplications with strong cries and tears unto
him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that
he feared, though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the
things which he suffered. Tremendous words, isn't it? That
he learned obedience by the things that he suffered. And being made
perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all
them that obey him. You see, this was why it was
important. Paul, writing to Timothy in the
second epistle of Paul to Timothy, chapter 2 and verse 12, says,
if we suffer, we shall also reign with him. And Jesus, of course,
goes on in the last part of this chapter and speaks of the cross,
not only for him, but also for the disciples. Verse 24 of Matthew
16, Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come
after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross. and follow
me." Jesus' life was a life of denial. He denied the denial
in the sense of denial of himself and his own glory. Philippians
picks this up very beautifully, Philippians and chapter 2. I can just turn to it. Let this mind be in you which
was also in Christ Jesus, this is Philippians 2 verse 5, who
being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but made himself of no reputation, denied himself, and took upon
him the form of a servant, denied of his own pride, and was made
in the likeness of men. and being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death. of the cross. If any man will
come after me, let him deny himself." Now it's not just like you get
taught sometimes in the Roman Catholic that you beat your back
or something like that to hurt yourself and that then gains
you something. This denial of self is so that
you can perform the work of God. Jesus denied himself so that
he could. be made of no reputation, so
that he was willing to go through all that was appointed for him
at Calvary. It was a denial, not to just
cause ourselves pain, but to do the will of God. That's the
point. Let him deny himself. Take up
his cross. In Jesus' case, it was the physical
cross that he had to take up. in denial of himself to follow
a despised and a crucified man. For whosoever will save his life
shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake
shall find him. We spoke of that a bit in the
Sunday school this morning at the opening, how that the Lord
Jesus is here showing that we are to embrace those things which
are eternal. And if we try and grab on to
the natural things, grab on to our reputation, grab on to those
earthly benefits that Peter thought would come from an earthly kingdom
of Christ. He wanted to grab on to those
things, but Jesus is saying, no. We're to die to self. We're to live to God. And our
Lord and Master laid down his life, a ransom for many, and
we are to follow him. We are to follow him in his footsteps. We are to identify ourselves
with him. But you see how much Peter didn't
understand. And the other disciples, it seems,
didn't understand also. Many times Jesus told them. This
was not the only time he told them plainly. As it got closer
and closer to the time happening, he told them again and again. and we read it, but they didn't
believe. It's amazing really as we see. I'm not saying these things to
encourage us to unbelieve, because unbelief is a sin. But on the
other hand, we have to be realistic about what the disciples understood
and what they grappled with and they are men with like passions
as we are, and as we grapple with things, then we realize
that they grappled with them, and we realize also that like
as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that
fear him. The Lord pitied his disciples.
It was only the next chapter that Jesus took Peter, James,
and John up into the Mount of Transfiguration. The Lord Jesus
didn't didn't leave Peter. He didn't say, well, if you don't
understand my purpose of dying and coming to this earth, then
I'm finished with you, Peter. You can't be my disciple anymore.
No, the Lord was going to deal with him. He was going to chasten
him. He was going to teach him, but he wasn't going to leave
him. He wasn't going to reject him. And so what a mercy that
the Lord is one who is gracious. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the end of Mark's Gospel we
read these things. Mark chapter 16 and verse 9. Now when Jesus was risen early
the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene,
out of whom he had cast seven devils. And she went and told
them that had been with him, and as they mourned and wept.
And they, when they had heard that he was alive and had been
seen of her, believed not. After that, he appeared in another
form unto two of them, that's the two on the road to Emmaus,
as he walked and went into the country. And they went and told
it unto the residue, neither believed they them. You see,
they struggled. These things were too great for
them. They struggled with these things.
And yet, you see, the Lord brought them to that gracious place where
they embraced them. And it is my desire then, as
we look at these things, not to despise the disciples and
not to encourage unbelief. but that we may, on the other
hand, be realistic about these people who were with Jesus, they
had thoughts, they wanted an earthly thing, and even, it's
interesting, even after the resurrection, Just about when Jesus was going
to be ascended up into glory, listen to these words, Acts chapter
1 and verse 6. When they therefore were come
together, Jesus is just about to ascend into glory, they asked
him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the
kingdom of Israel? Can you see they struggled with
it? I know the Lord gave them that spirit, and then Pentecost,
they came out with those, Peter was able to say, that Jesus was
killed by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God that
they had slain, and yet he put those two sides to it, the purpose
of God and yet the wickedness of men to perform that work at
Calvary. But you see here that they struggled. They didn't find it easy. Peter
didn't always say the right thing. And yet, you see, the Lord was
gracious to Peter. He was gracious to him. He loved
him. He taught him. He was a disciple.
He was a follower. He didn't always understand everything.
But, you see, if he'd have said, well, I'll stay away until I
understand everything, well, he wouldn't have been able to
ever come to a knowledge of it, would he? We are to then be learners
of Christ. We are to follow him with the
wisdom and the knowledge and the light that we currently have.
We are to be obedient to the light that God has currently
given us and seek that the Lord may lead us. It's Peter that
speaks in his epistle about growing in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. A growth in grace. And
that's so important, isn't it? Peter writes, you see, in his
epistle, in the first epistle of Peter, chapter 1 and verse
2, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification
of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ, grace unto you, and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively or living hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. Do you see how he embraces these
things? And I think perhaps you could read these things and think,
well, Peter is telling us these things, and he's always seen
them, and he's always embraced them. He didn't. Peter struggled
with these things and perhaps I don't know how it is with you
but sometimes, well I found it when I was doing my A-levels
in my maths class, I was in a group and the teacher would be explaining
things and they would all be nodding in agreement with everything
she said and I was struggling to understand how she was getting
to the derivation she was and I would keep putting my hand
up And then when the exam came, when the test came, actually
they hadn't, I thought I'd be bottom of the class, but I actually
wasn't. The others had just been nodding away, saying they understood
everything, but they hadn't actually really been understanding it.
And you see, it's easy just to say, oh yes, these things are
all easy, and Peter understood them all. He struggled, but then
he embraced. I think if you struggle to understand
something and then you come to see it clearly, there's a laying
hold of it more firmly. Because you've realised or you've
had struggled to come to a knowledge of it. And when you do come to
a knowledge of it, you come to it very firmly. And Peter you
see, this one that Peter, Jesus gave him a name of a rock. He
would be so important in the building of the Church of God.
at preaching of the gospel and establishing the Christian church,
this one that seemed to be so off track at times. But the Lord
knew that he would use him and raise him up to be that stone.
And so the Lord, you see, he doesn't give up with his people,
does he? I've often likened it to an illustration
of a father with their children. You see, if you have a little
toddler that's just beginning to walk, And if they take a few
steps and then they fall over, does the father say, well, if
you fall over once more time, I'm not going to call you my
son anymore. You'd say that's so foolish.
But we can be like that with our Heavenly Father. We can think,
well, if I fall any other times, He'll just going to give up on
me. But no, you see, as like as a father pitieth his children. So the Lord pitieth them that
fear Him. He embraces His children. He
nurtures them. He understands. all that they're
going through and he is dealing with them to make them conform
to the image of his son, a suffering image. And Peter wrote his epistle
to suffering Christians with a very positive message, that
this was the will of God and they were to honour God in it
and encouraging them through those sufferings to glorify God. He speaks to suffering people
and he had suffered. spoke to these people, and he
naturally was as averse to suffering as we are by nature. But he had
come to be conformed to that image of Christ, a suffering
image, and he saw a beauty in it. He saw a necessity in it,
and it was his salvation. And beloved friends, if we get
to heaven, it will be our salvation, what Christ did at Calvary. He
suffered the just for the unjust. It was necessary that he went
to Jerusalem. well we think of these things
and may we then be led into these things. And I think the great
truths of the gospel, we can skate over them and assume that
everybody understands them and everybody accepts them, but they're
great truths and they're so utterly opposite to what we would think.
The angels, I said it this morning, the angels desire to look into
these things. They're puzzled. They can't understand
it, they can't grasp why the Lord of life and glory should
make himself of no reputation, should be abused and spat upon
and mocked and crucified at Calvary for a people that didn't deserve
his love. There was no purpose, there was
no reason for that love other than that he loved them. This
is indeed a wonderful salvation. It's the Gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Peter speaks about it in his
epistle to others. Well, may we be amongst those
who the Lord leads with all our misunderstanding, with all the
things that we struggle to come to terms with, that we may realize
the disciples didn't find it easy to. We can read, we think
of that epistle that he writes, those two epistles that he writes.
We think, well, you know, we should understand it all, but
how much did he have to struggle to come to understand those things? It's only as the Lord reveals
it to us that any of us will understand it. Jesus said that
to Peter, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but
my father in heaven. We need the revelation of Christ,
revelation of these things so that we embrace them rather than
reject them, which we will do by nature left to ourselves.
Well, may we be amongst those then that the Lord deals with
and brings to the place where we can say unto you therefore
which believe, he is. Precious. Amen.