So Lord, may you graciously help
me, I'll turn your prayerful attention to the Gospel according
to Luke, chapter 5, and reading verse 8 for a text. Luke's Gospel, chapter 5, and
verse 8. These are Peter's words after
he saw the miracle of the catch of fish. When Simon Peter saw
it, He fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me, for I
am a sinful man, O Lord. Luke's Gospel, chapter 5 and
verse 8. We have in these two accounts
that we read something of the beginnings of the Lord's encounters
with Peter and certainly The occasion in John's Gospel was
the first to take place where Jesus finds Simon for the first
time as he was brought to the Lord Jesus by his brother Andrew. So Andrew came to see the Lord
first and spent that time with him, we read. Because John the
Baptist had said, Behold the Lamb of God. And that had been
a blessing to Andrew. Andrew had come to realize and
believe that this was indeed the Messiah and had spoken to
his brother Simon. And Simon is brought to the Lord
Jesus. And that's what we have in what
we read in John's Gospel chapter 1 and verse 42. And he brought
him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he
said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah. It seems that Jesus
was not introduced with all this knowledge, told all this knowledge
about Simon, that he was the son of Jonah. It seems that Jesus
was quite possibly showing his omniscience, that he knew all
things, just like it was with Nathanael. Before thou was under
the fig tree I saw thee, he said to Nathanael, showing that he
knew so much more than he had been told about Nathanael. But
here we have thou art Simon, the son of Jonah. So the first
thing he says to Simon is that he says who his father is, but
The first thing he says is really that his name is going to be
changed. He's no longer going to be called
Simon, but Cephas, which means, by interpretation, a stone, a
rock, or Peter. Petros is the name for it. So he gets called Peter. So that's interesting, isn't
it? We believe that from the records of scripture that Peter
was brought up as a Jew, and he would have been familiar with
earlier people in the Old Testament that had their name changed in
adulthood. There was Abraham, wasn't it? Abraham changed his name to Abraham. He was going to be the father
of many nations. There was Jacob, the deceiver. He had his name changed to Israel,
as a prince that has power with God. And surely there was a big
significance with his first encounter with the Lord Jesus. Your name's
going to be no longer Simon, but Cephas, a stone. Peter, that rock. You're going
to be used mightily, and it was going to show what Peter was
going to become in the kingdom of God and become useful in God's
kingdom. So that was the first encounter
with the Lord Jesus with Peter, showing that he renamed him in
this first encounter to be called Peter, a rock. But then if we
look at what we read in Luke's Gospel, chapter 5, we have this
other encounter where The end result is that the Lord Jesus is telling them to follow them.
Hence, thou shalt catch men. And really, and there's other
accounts in Mark and Matthew on this, but they're told to
follow him. Now Peter is not going to be
carrying on being a fisherman. He is going to follow the Lord
Jesus, where it doesn't seem that that was the end result
of the encounter that he had in John's gospel right at the
beginning there. So Peter is still fishing. Peter has had this name change
to Peter, But he is still in his fishing business. He's still
fishing with his partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
and so they are together. But the Lord Jesus is preaching
in that area, and he uses Simon Peter's boat as a pulpit to speak
to the many crowds that came to hear him. But Simon, this
particular night, had been busy in his business, in his fishing
business, all that night. And it had been an unproductive
night. He'd caught nothing. And how
sometimes you see in our lives there's negatives, there's things
that are disappointments, and yet this was going to be God's
appointment to Simon Peter, to show him that God was able to
give that prosperity. God was able to make him catch
nothing, but also able to catch so much fish that it could nearly
fill two ships to the point of sinking. So, in our negatives
as well as our positives, we need to recognise this was the
Lord's hand. So Simon had had a disappointing
night with his companions as they'd been fishing all night
and got nothing. So after Jesus had been teaching
from Simon Peter's boat, he tells Peter, launch out into the deep
and let down your nets for a draft. So he was given this commandment
to go fishing, and it seems that they did this sort of fishing
with nets, dragging their nets. It was a nighttime activity.
That was the time that they usually would find it would be much more
productive. And therefore, Simon, you see,
he questions the wisdom of this statement. so typical of Peter. Peter spoke his mind so many
times. And as I've been considering
this over the last few weeks with Peter, thinking of the life
of Peter, isn't it a mercy that there was a character like Simon
Peter who did speak his mind? You think of it, if all the disciples,
whatever Jesus said and did, they just remained silent and
thinking things, but never said what they were thinking. We wouldn't
know what they were thinking. We didn't know whether they would
understand what Jesus was doing or not understand, or whether
they thought it was good or bad. We wouldn't know. It would be
all inside their heads, but we wouldn't know. But you see, Simon,
he spoke what he was thinking so often. And sometimes he said
some very, very good things and sometimes he said some not so
good things and some bad things. But that's true of our thoughts,
isn't it? Sometimes we have good thoughts and sometimes we have
bad thoughts. But if you keep them to yourself, somebody won't
tell you off for the bad thoughts. But you see, Simon spoke it out
so we can understand what he was going through. And there's
so much we can learn from Peter, this one who was called by God
to be the disciple, to be part of that inner three that would
go to the Mount of Transfiguration with Christ, which would be able
to see Jesus raise Jairus' daughter from the dead, that would go
with him to the Garden of Gethsemane. These were three favoured disciples
above the rest, and of course Peter was going to be used greatly
on the day of Pentecost and beyond. But you see, this is the beginnings
of Jesus dealing with Peter. But typical to Simon, Simon answered
and said, Master, we have toiled all night and have taken nothing.
He was questioning it. He didn't think it was a good
idea. But also so typical, nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down
the net. So even though he objected to
it, but yet he was still going to do it, and so often Peter
He did love his master and he did want to do what was right,
although he found so many things that were seemed wrong in what
he was being told to do. They didn't fit with his understanding.
And so often we don't understand why things are as they are. But
perhaps we keep quiet about them. But Simon was, God had ordained
it that he would be an outspoken person. And I've thought so much,
if he wasn't an outspoken person, how much less we'd have in the
Gospels than we do have. Because he did speak his mind
and said some, the things that he did. Well, so he lets down,
Jesus said, let down the nets and he only let down one net
and we find that that one net broke. It couldn't cope with
all the fishes. So Peter then sees this miracle. And we read later that they all
acknowledged that this was amazing. This was not a normal day fishing
for these fishermen, who were experienced fishermen. This was
something unusual. This was something special. And
so we have then, we come to our verse, but I want to look at
this verse, this verse eight, and think first of all, of the
expression of Peter's self-knowledge. He says in verse 8, I am a sinful man. I am a sinful man. The reaction
of what he sees, it comes back to a confession on the part of
Simon. I am a sinful man. And so it's very important to
realise this, that Simon realised his own sinfulness and it was
something that he was ashamed of. Sin was not just a little
matter to him, it was a problem. I am a sinful man. This expression
of self-knowledge. We live in a day when we're told
that everybody has to have a very high esteem of themselves. They
have to rate themselves very highly and think always positive
about themselves. But you see, we need to look
at the whole of this text and I believe true Christianity is
positive. and I'm not trying to be negative,
but they are right, negative views that we have to have about
what we are, that we are sinners. We're not to pretend, and Jesus
does not correct Peter and say, no, no, no, you're not a sinner.
No, he is a sinner, and he acknowledged it, and he came to this point,
for I am a sinful man. He felt it, he felt that he was
a sinful man, and he declared it. Well, you see, so this expression
of self-knowledge. But how did he come to suddenly
feel that he was a sinful man? What had happened? Well, surely
he'd come into contact with one who was holy. And you see, that's
the effect. And this is not unique to Peter
at all. We can think of others in the Word of God that when
they come into contact with God, they come to see also what they
are themselves. I was thinking of Job. Job, that
one who's, we read that he was one that was an upright man that
eschewed evil. He was a godly man. He prayed
for his children and prayed to God very often, but then he had
all these difficulties happen in his life. He didn't understand what was
going on, but then at the end of all the dealings that he had,
God spoke directly to Job. And Job becomes smaller and smaller,
it seems, in his own estimation. And then he comes to that in
Job 42 and verse 5. I have heard of thee
by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee. wherefore
I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. So this is a
testimony like Simon Peter, I am a sinful man, that's what Job
was saying. But he came to that knowledge
because he had a knowledge of the holiness of God and the mighty
power of God. And Peter saw that, didn't he?
He realized that he had just disagreed, he had just contradicted
what Jesus had said was a good idea to do. He'd been commanded
to go and put down his net and Simon had questioned that. He
questioned that and he realized, well, This is somebody that's
almighty. This is somebody who's got all
the fish at their control. This is the Messiah. And there
I am, criticizing him and doing those things that are wrong,
and I have an evil heart. You see, he declared here that
he was a sinful man. Not that I just committed one
or two sinful deeds. But you see, I understand that
the Bible study that was had on Friday The topic was regarding
the original sin and how that we sin because we're sinners.
We don't become sinners because we sin. No, we are sinners and
therefore the fruit of being a sinner is that we sin. We walk in pride, we disobey
God's word. You see, and Peter is acknowledging
this. I am a sinful man. Well we looked at Job who said
this. Isaiah was another one. Isaiah was one who said very
similar words in Isaiah chapter 6. reading from verse 3, And
one cried unto another, saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts
of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house
was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me, for I
am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell
in the midst of a people of unclean lips. So that's the expression
of self-knowledge. But where's the source? For mine
eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. You see, it's
a knowledge, a glimpse of Christ, a glimpse of God, a glimpse of
the glory and the holiness of God that it exposed, you see,
Simon for what he really, he started to understand that self-knowledge
of who he was, that he was a sinner. I have this Holy One and I'm
a sinful man. So Simon's experience is not
unique. This is vitally important and
in the day in which we live, in all this gratifying oneself
and one's achievements and one's excellence and one's self-promotion,
This is what Peter said, I am a sinful man. And God used that sinful man
to be a wonderful blessing in the hand of God to build his
church. It wasn't by him drumming up
himself and showing how great he was, and therefore Jesus used
him. No, that is the opposite. Peter
acknowledges, I am a sinful man, O Lord. But then, what was the
response? Peter realized this self-knowledge
that he was a sinful man. The source of it, it came from
the fact that he had seen something of the majesty and the greatness
of the Lord Jesus. And then we have this reaction,
the response. And you might, to start with,
think this is a shocking response. However would you say this? Depart
from me. depart from me. You say, well,
surely we need to come to God and ask for forgiveness and we
need to come to God. Why would we ever say depart
from me? Peter was often hasty with his
words, remember. And I don't believe at all that
this was the deep longing of his heart. The deep longing of
his heart was not that he wanted the Lord Jesus to depart from
him. But what it was, was a logical conclusion of what he knew. He had come to a realisation
that he was a sinner. He'd come to feel it, he'd come
to hate it, he'd come to be ashamed of it. And he'd come to see that
the Lord Jesus was holy, was righteous, was godly, and he
was sinful. And it seemed to him that there
was, these two things just could not be brought together. He was
sinful, and God was almighty, and God was holy, and he was
just a sinful man. How can you get these two to
ever come together? And therefore I believe the words
that Peter spoke were a logical conclusion to how these two things
could exist. They had to be separate. They
had to stay away from one another, otherwise it would ruin the Lord
Jesus. If there was that holiness and
you mixed unholiness with it, it seemed as if it would ruin
God, it would be obnoxious. But Peter was here, one that
longed after God. He loved, I believe he loved
the Lord Jesus, and yet this was a response which seemed to
Peter to be the only possible response for seeing the difference,
the gulf that is between a sinful person and a holy God. Depart
from me, for I am a sinful man. Now there were others that had
said to Jesus and told him to depart. We think of those when
he came to that land of Gennesaret, the Gergesenes, when he took
that man, Legion, who had so many devils, and he took the
devils, wanted to go into those herd of swine, and the swine
ran down the hill and were drowned in the sea. And we read a very
sad statement. And this is in Matthew 8 verse
34. And behold, the whole city came
out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they besought
him that he would depart out of their coasts. Now, I think
they really did want to get rid of Jesus, those people. They
didn't want him. But here, Peter, the depth of
his heart was longing for God, and yet he could only see that
the only right solution was separation. See, have you come to realize
that the only really right solution, it seems to you, is separation?
You might say that's a funny point to come to. But surely,
I mean, one of our hymn writers comes to that point, and if my
soul was sent to hell, thy righteous law approves it well. In other
words, it's righteous. it's righteous for God to punish
sin, and I'm a sinner, and therefore for God to put me out of his
presence eternally is a just, a right solution. It's an awful
solution, but it's the right solution. But what a mercy it
is, you see, when Peter's reaction or response to this self-knowledge,
depart from me, that the Lord Jesus did not answer the words
of his prayer. He did not answer it. And what
a mercy it is, you see. When Peter writes in his epistle
1 Peter 5 and verse 10, we read, But the God of all grace, who
hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, the God
of all grace, and here we see the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Peter realised that he was a
sinner, he realised that he was sinful, and he realised that
he was far off from God, and yet he saw God as holy, as righteous,
and he saw that as beautiful, and yet he saw he was not like
that, he was far off. But you see, there's a vast difference. The first words that Jesus spoke
in response to Peter's request apart from me was, fear not,
fear not. You see, the Lord Jesus did not
obey or did not give Peter's verbal request. He gave him something
so much better. You see, really what we have
here is the Gospel. We have here that Peter's saying
the right response for sinners is to be eternally separated
from God. That is a righteous response. But the Gospel is this, that
the Lord Jesus came to save, to seek and to save that which
was lost. He came for this very purpose. You see, we've just sung in that
hymn, here's refuge for sinners whose guilt shall appear as black
as the confines of endless despair. Peter had been brought, you see,
by God, by the Spirit to this self-knowledge. I am a sinful
man. He'd been brought to see something
of his sinnership, and this is vitally important. And I note
that the Lord Jesus never corrected him on this. The Lord Jesus never
said, no, no, no, no, you're not too bad. You're quite good,
really, Simon. You know, you don't need to worry.
No. The Lord Jesus never corrected Simon, Peter, that he wasn't
a sinful man. He said, fear not. The Lord Jesus
came, you see, to deal with sin. He didn't come to say sin didn't
matter, or people weren't sinners, or people needed a better self-image
of themselves, and that's why they would be happy when they
became self-important and self-esteemed. No, Jesus didn't come to do that.
He came to give them eternal life. He came to say, fear not. And you see, some people might
say to you when you've got a great big problem, and you might tell
it to them and they say, oh, don't worry. But actually, they're
not going to help you. Maybe they're not going to do
anything to help you in your situation at all. They're just
going to say these nice, consoling words, don't worry. But ultimately,
they're not going to do anything. But you see, when the Lord Jesus
says, fear not, these are not empty words. They're not empty
words. They are words that Jesus was
so qualified to say because he was going to deal with the problem. He was going to deal with the
problem that Simon was sinful and that he was holy. And he
was going to bring the two together. In fact, this was the whole purpose
of Jesus' coming. He said, I came not to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance. He came to call those which were
lost. And so Jesus was here to bring
together, you see. But Simon, you see, could only
see that his sinfulness and Christ's holiness, he could only see that
this would result in separation. But the Lord Jesus had other
thoughts, and that's our mercy, and that's the crux of the Gospel,
isn't it? The crux of the Gospel is this,
that the message is that we are great sinners. It's not to dilute
that message in any way, and it's not to dilute the message
that God is not so holy that he can cope with some sin. No,
the message is he's holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, and
we're great sinners. A great gulf is set between us. And you see Peter appreciated
here with what happened at this miracle. You might say, why did
it happen at this time of this miracle? We read in Romans 2
that it's the goodness of God that leadeth us to repentance,
the goodness of God. And Jesus had just given Peter,
a great blessing. Peter, who was a fisherman, who
was trying to run his fishing business, to have a great catch
that would fill two boats full to overflowing with fish, from
a business point of view, this was a wonderful day. This was
a day which was profitable, this was a day that seemed to be a
very good thing. But To Simon, it seemed to expose
more and more his own sin, the goodness of God, his goodness
to us, his mercy to us. It exposes in Peter his own sin,
and it brought him, you see, to this true repentance. And
this is a vital ingredient for each one of us. You see, we are
to Do we know this experience? Do we know this self-knowledge? Do we know ourselves? It's really
important to know ourselves. It is when you're looking for
a job, isn't it? It would be very dangerous if you haven't
any idea of what your skill set is. You do need to know yourself. But you need to know yourself
spiritually. You need to know what you are.
That you're unworthy of the least of his benefits. Not so that
you can go into despair, you see. This is not to drive people
into despair. They are to despair of their
own righteousness. But you see, the gospel is to
say that there's a way back to God from the dark paths of sin. There's a way back to be united
with his savior. And it results in what the Lord
Jesus has done. And Jesus said unto Simon, fear
not. He was very fearful. I think
in another sense you think of those brothers of Joseph when
he was governor of the land of Egypt and the men came to buy
corn and they went when they were going home the first time.
When the first of them opened their sacks and found money in
the top of their sacks, the result was fear. They feared because
it was exposing that they had already just said that we'd be
verily guilty concerning our brother. And the fact of this
money in the top of their sacks, instead of it being a positive
thing, they were Jews and Jews are known to like money and to
be tight with their money, so surely money in the top of their
sacks, that would be something very nice for them, wouldn't
it? But for them it was a great problem because it exposed more
and more their own sin. And you see it's the goodness
of God that exposes our sin in all its awfulness and all its
unreasonableness and all its sinfulness. And you see this
kindness of Jesus showed Peter his emptiness. And you see, but
the Lord Jesus was going to speak words of comfort. He was going
to speak words of togetherness. Peter had said, depart from me.
That seemed to be the only logical solution to Simon. But Jesus
says, fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men. There was
a work for Simon Peter to do in the kingdom of God. He was
going to be used of God. He had just caught all these
tremendous fishes, a tremendous number of fishes in his net.
Well, he was now going to be used. by God in the future, in
future occasions, to catch men and women to come into the Kingdom
of God. He was going to be used to bring
many to a knowledge of the Saviour. And he was going to learn, you
see, who was in control of that net and the fishes that went
in it. It was not going to be just what Simon Peter thought,
when it was good to fish and when it wasn't. it was gonna
be the Lord's blessing that was gonna mean everything to Simon
Peter. When God says to do something,
whether it's the daytime, whether it's the night, whether it's
not the normal time to fish, he was going to be obedient to
his Lord. Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men. So this
was such a blessing to Simon that instead of separation, there
was going to be union. And there was, I should have
read one more verse, actually, in verse 11. And when they had
brought their ships to land, they forsook all and followed
him. So there was a following, you
see. There was a following the Lord Jesus from this time when
they had this encounter. So Peter followed him. He was
with him. He didn't depart from him. Jesus
allowed him to be with him. And you see, But Peter was going
to learn so much. And as we see in the accounts
of Peter and the things he struggled with, we learn so much of that
it wasn't easy for Peter. It wasn't easy for the disciples.
And how often they got the wrong end of the stick. They didn't
understand what Jesus was doing. They got all confused about what
was really important and what the Lord wanted. And you see
these things. are there for our learning if
we just had the disciples and they always just passively absorbed
everything and never found everything to be strange. You see, the way
of salvation is, it's something we read, which things the angels
desire to look into. There's something shocking about
the way of salvation. It was shocking for the angels
that always praised the Lord Jesus Christ, the second person
in the Trinity, in eternity past, worshipped him as God. And for
him to come to this earth, to be ridiculed, to be despised,
for people to disagree with what he was saying, for his sayings
to be ridiculed, For him to be called Beelzebub, the prince
of the devils, for him to suffer, to bleed and to die, this was
astounding. There's something astounding
about the way of salvation. There's something that if we
think, yeah, that's what happened, that's how it works, we've missed
the point. And I think when you see how
shocking it was to the disciples to understand it was so opposite
to what they expected, And you see, it shows that what the Lord
Jesus did, even the angels desire to look into these things. They
cannot comprehend why the Lord of life and glory should be made
to be so despised. But you see, this is this great
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But so we have this word, depart from me, for I'm a sinful man. This was the prayer. You could
say it was a prayer of Peter. The words were not literally
answered by the Lord Jesus, and what a mercy it was that the
Lord Jesus did not answer literally that prayer of Peter. Because
if he had done, Peter would have been gone from the presence of
Jesus forever and ever and ever. Jesus had other thoughts, he
had thoughts of love and mercy. Peter realised his natural distance
that he had with Jesus and yet he appreciated the Gospel that
meant that there was a way back to God. He appreciated the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ that was able to bring him back in
fellowship and union and to follow this man. But I want to, just
before we close, look at these same words. depart from me.'
Because Peter was not the only one who declared these words. In Matthew's Gospel chapter 7,
which is the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says these
very solemn words. Matthew 7 verse 21. Not every
one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is
in heaven. Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? Can you see here
there's those that are going to claim a closeness to the Lord
Jesus that he is not going to own. You see, Peter was led of
the Spirit to see that there was a separation between him
and Jesus. That there was this great gulf.
He was sinful and Christ was holy. And you see, we can have
to be careful in our hearts and in Christianity today that there
is not this idea that, well, Jesus is on our level. Jesus
is just one of us and he's just, we just, we're on a level together.
In one sense Jesus did came and made himself of no reputation.
But Peter perceived that there was a great separation. And that
separation, in one sense, is right for us to appreciate. Many
will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name, and in thy name cast out devils, and in thy name
done many wonderful works? Oh, we've been with you. We've
done all these things with you. We never realized that we were
great sinners. We never realized that we needed salvation. But
we just thought we were with God. Verse 23, and then will I profess
unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. So here we have these same words
spoken to those who had a form of godliness. They had religion,
but they had no appreciation. of this separation that there
needed to be between, not that there needed to, but the realisation
that they were sinners and that God was holy. And if you muddy
that water and if you try and make God come down from his holiness
and sinners come up from their sinfulness so that they have
union, you see, that way. But no, the Bible maintains the
holiness of God. and it maintains the awfulness
of sin. But it brings them together in
the gospel. That's how it brings them together.
Not by bringing Christ down and bringing sinners up. He brings
them together with what Christ did at Calvary. That was the
way they were brought together. That sin, in all its ugly, gruesome
details, was manifest and spent itself on Christ. The punishment
for sin at Calvary. And therefore there could be
this way of union. And yet, as I hope to look, God
willing, later this evening, yet if you look at Peter at this
time, he didn't appreciate, he didn't appreciate really the
way that he was going to be saved. The disciples went out and preached
the kingdom of God, repent for the kingdom of God is a heaven.
Did they preach that Christ and Him crucified would be the central
doctrine of it? I'm absolutely certain they didn't,
because they didn't even appreciate it themselves. But you see, these
people who didn't appreciate so much, they were disciples.
They appreciated a certain amount. They were told to follow. They
did what God told them to do. They walked in the light that
God had currently shown them. And that's the whole point of
a disciple, is a learner. And we can get to the idea that,
well, you know, unless you understand everything and can fit the whole
thing together and understand all these central truths, then
you can't be anything. But these disciples follow the
Lord with great gaps in their knowledge. But you see, it's
not that I'm trying to encourage gaps in knowledge, but I am trying
to show that The Lord leads his people and brings them to places
where Christ does become precious. You see, Peter wrote his epistle.
The Lord was going to use Peter to write this epistle, these
two epistles. And he's going to say things
like this. in 1 Peter 1 verse 18, for as
much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible
things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received
by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of
Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. I don't believe
that Peter at all could have written those words. when we
were in this time when he came to speak with Jesus, when he
was on that time when he had the multitude of fishes that
we've read of in Luke 5. You see, the Lord led him. and
we need the Lord to take us and lead us. We need to follow in
the light that God has given us, to be obedient. You see,
that's the vital thing, to be obedient. Not everyone that saith
unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of God, but
he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." We
are to put into practice what light God has given us. And as
we go on, the Lord will give us further light. You see, we're
not to say, well, I need all this understanding and all this
knowledge and then I'll follow. No, we are to follow in the light
that God has currently given us. And we know that, you see,
that he that hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto
the day of Jesus Christ. It's his purpose to bring all
his people as a shock of corn, ripe for the harvest. But the
encouraging thing is here, that how we can get things, we can
be get things wrong and not understand
things and not perceive things but God is gracious. God dealt
with Peter and God used Peter and though Peter had an indication
here of his sinfulness and of course the Apostle Paul was It
said that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of
whom I am chief. Paul was the same, he said this, that he was
a great sinner. And they knew their sinfulness,
but this made the gospel all the more precious. And may we
be amongst those who realise that the gospel is for sinners. And Peter realized this great
truth early on, that he was a sinful man, and Christ was holy, and
the reaction was separation. This must be the only way. But
there's another way. There's a breathtaking way that
Christ has made a way that sinners can come back to God through
the red sea of his own blood. May we be partakers of that way,
amen.