Let us turn again to God's Word
and turning to the Gospel. The Gospel of Qantas and Luke
in Chapter 22 and reading verses 31 and 32. Luke 22, 31 and 32. 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 thee, that thy faith fail not, and when
thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. 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 thee, that
thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted, strengthen
thy brethren. To say something then with regards
to the sifting of Simon Peter, or we might say Peter's fiery
trial. He certainly is one who can write
of these things. We read those portions in his
epistle, there in the first chapter of that first epistle. The words
that we have at verse 6 Speaking of manifold temptations and the
trying of faith, he says, wherein ye greatly rejoice, so now for
a season, if need be, are in heaviness through manifold temptations,
that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than
of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might
be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of
Jesus Christ. And then again, in that other
portion we read in chapter 4, Beloved, think it not strange,
he says, concerning the fiery trial that is to try you. He knew something then of temptations,
of trials, and of tribulations, and so there in the epistle is
he not speaking out of the depth of his own soul's experiences
even these things that we've read here for our text this morning
the words of the Lord Jesus to him just previous to the crucifixion
Simon, Simon, behold Satan that desired to have you that he may
sift you as wheat but I have prayed for them that thy faith
fail not. Last Lord's Day morning we were
considering those words in the Song of Solomon in chapter 6
and verses 2 and 3 where the Lord speaks of His garden His
garden that is the church and the church of course made up
of individual believers and I remarked that as there are seasons of
the year in nature so there are various seasons in the souls
of the Lord's people and I went on to make some reference actually
to the experience of Simon Peter what changes he knew in his experience
great highs and yet dreadful those also when he makes that
great confession concerning Jesus of Nazareth in Matthew 16. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God, he says. And though the Lord reminds him
that was a wondrous revelation, flesh and blood hath not revealed
it unto thee, he said, but my Father which is in heaven. And
so he has that name of Peter. Oh, what faith Peter has! Again, in John 6, he is the one
who says to the Lord, when all seem to be forsaking Him, to
whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of everlasting
life, and we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ,
the Son of the living God. And yet, that man who was so
blessed and so favoured on other occasions, seems to stumble and
fall, even in that same portion in Matthew 16, just after he
has made his great confession in Caesarea Philippi, and the
Lord goes on to begin to speak to the disciples concerning the
purpose that he is coming to this world for, to die. All he
must need is to go to Jerusalem, and it begins to unfold to them
there in that very chapter in the context of Peter's confession. that they must go to Jerusalem
and there he will make the great sin atoning sacrifice. And what
does Peter say? That be far from thee, Lord,
or that be far from them. As if he would deflect him from
his purpose. And the Lord turns and speaks
sharply to him, Get thee behind me, Satan. Addressing the same
man who had just been blessed, Get thee behind me, Satan. They
say, but it's not the things that be of God but those that
be of men. And of course in this 22nd chapter
here in Luke we have the record in some detail of verse 54 through
to 62 of the denials of Peter. Three times, three times he denies
that he ever knew Jesus of Nazareth and he denies Christ with persons. This man then knew something
of temptation and trial though he was so favoured and so blessed
of God. Let us turn for a while to the
words that I've read here in verses 31 and 32. Peter's fiery
trial the sifting, the sifting of Peter. And I just want to observe two
very simple points from the verses that we have here. First of all,
to say something with regards to the sovereignty of God in
all that is going to befall this man. God is sovereign in all
these things, even in his temptations. And then secondly, to say something
with regards to the prayer, the supplication that the Lord promises
him. I have prayed for these things. First of all then, to say something
with regards to the sovereignty of God. The sovereignty of God. And we
see it in the very vocabulary that is being used here in the
text, the Lord says to Simon Peter, Satan hath desired to
have you. Now that verb that we have, to
desire, is a strong word, literally it means this, it means to obtain
by asking. Satan, in his desire you see,
has actually obtained the thing that he wants. because Satan is no free agent
and we are reminded that, aren't we, in the experience of Job? Job must come, or rather, with
regards to Job, we say that Satan must come Satan must come, as
it were, before the Lord and obtain the Lord's permission
to do anything to Job. We see that quite clearly in
the opening chapters. In Job chapter 1 and verse 12
and again in chapter 2 and verse 6. The Lord says to Satan, he
is in thy hand, he is in thy power. The devil is not a free
agent. God is sovereign. The Prophet
says, shall there be evil in the city? And the Lord hath not
done it. Not evil in the moral sense,
but catastrophe. That that is not good, that that
seems to be so hard to understand or to interpret or to bear. Now
God, of course, is in no way the author of sin. God is one
of eyes too pure to behold iniquity. God cannot look upon sin. God cannot clear the guilty.
God hates sin. He abhors sin. He will visit
the just punishment, therefore upon the sinner. God is not the
author of sin, but God is sovereign. And God's sovereignty is absolute. There is such a truth, is there
not, as that of a double predestination. The Lord says, therefore he has
mercy on whom he has mercy and whom he will he hardens. There is such a truth as reprobation
as well as election. There are those whom the Lord
has passed over. when He has made choice of a
people. These are hard and difficult truths for us to comprehend. There's a mystery in God's ways
and God's works. And even when He comes to His
dealings with His people. Look at the language of the Prophet
again there in Amos. In Amos 9 and verse 9. For lo,
I will command and I will seek the house of Israel among all
nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the
least grain fall to the earth. Oh, the Lord does have dealings
with His people, strange, mysterious dealings, hard to understand.
He sifts them. Even when we read of the ministry
of the Lord Jesus as He comes into this world. Remember John,
the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, who prepares the way,
who speaks of the nature of His ministry. And what does He say
there in Matthew 3? "...whose fan is in His hand."
This is how the Lord comes, His fan in His hand. He will throughly
purge His floor. What is the fan there? Well,
it's an instrument used for the winnowing of the crop. The farmer must winnow his harvest
once he has gathered it in. He must separate the wheat from
the chaff. And this imagery is taken up,
is it not, in scripture with regards to the ways of God in
his dealings oftentimes with his people. Jeremiah asked that
question, what is the chaff to the wheat? There is a certain sifting that
takes place under the under the ministry of the Word of God all
the time. We see it clearly in the preaching
of the Lord Jesus, who is the Prince of all the preachers.
Now, there were divisions because of his ministry, because of the
things he was saying. There were those who would embrace
his teaching, and it seems, as we read through the Gospels,
they were but very few. He comes to his own, his own
receive him not. The majority seem to be rejecting
him. And then when we come into the
ministry of the Apostles later in the New Testament, remember
the solemn words of the Apostle Paul there in 2 Corinthians 2
where he speaks of the preaching as a savour of death unto death
to some, but a savour of life unto life to others. Who can understand these things?
Oh, there's a mystery in all the Lord's ways. And the Lord, as I said, is sovereign. And here we see how the Lord
is speaking of what Satan has desired, and what Satan, in a
sense, has obtained by asking. Peter is going to be sorely tempted
and tried and tested Satan is behind these events and what is happening is that
Peter in this testing he's going to betray something
of his self-sufficiency something of his presumption he responds
to the words of the Lord in the text there in verse 33 he says
Lord I am ready to go with you both into prison and to death he doesn't feel anything of his
weakness no, he's so self-assured He would never deny the Lord,
but the Lord tells him plainly, Peter the cock shall not crow
this day before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest
me. Or the devil, you see. He is
a mighty foe. He's a cunning foe also. He's
a roaring lion and he walks about. seeking whom he may devour. And how he sets his heart, you
see, upon the children of God, seeks to destroy them. Going back to the book of Job,
and all that Job had to experience, And now the scene is all set
really in those opening two chapters. As we said, he must obtain leave
from God, so he comes and he appears with the sons of God,
strangely as we read there in the book, and the Lord God does
put Job into his hand, into his power. But again also, it's what
the Lord says to the devil. There in verse 8 of the opening
chapter, As thou considered my servant Job, He says. He's been
going through the earth, walking up and down in the earth, and
the Lord says to the devil, to Satan, As thou considered my
servant Job. Now again, it's interesting.
If you have a Bible with marginal references you might observe
there in that 8th verse that we're told in the margin that
the word CONSIDERED AS THOU CONSIDERED my servant Job the margin tells
us the Hebrew literally means AS THOU SET THINE HEART ON AS THOU SET THINE HEART ON THIS
MAN WHO IS TRULY desired him. And here he is, you see, he walks
about and he sees the people of God and he sets his heart
on them, the devil. What does the Lord say here in
this 31st verse? Satan hath desired to have you
that he may sift you as wheat. Yes, he is speaking to Simon
Peter, the Lord But he's not simply referring to Simon Peter,
is he? Because he uses the plural. It's
quite plain here in our authorised version. You is the plural pronoun. The is the singular pronoun. And the Lord says to Simon Peter,
Satan hath desire to have you. That's not just you as an individual,
that's all of you, all of my disciples. all of you that he might sift you as as
wheat but you see when the Lord uses
that word wheat does he not remind us that there's something something
real, something genuine in these disciples of the Lord Oh yes, there's there the son
of perdition. There's Judas Iscariot. He's
not wed, he's the dross. He must go to his appointed place,
but there is something real in the hearts of these disciples
of the Lord, and there's something real with regards to the religion
of Simon Peter, and I trust we'll see that this morning. In spite
of his great fall, his denial of the Lord, there's something
real here. The fruit of the Spirit is there within him. The root
of the matter is found in him. Or can that Job say that in the
midst of all the troubles that Satan brought upon him? There
in Job 19.28, the root of the matter is found in me. and now we have to examine ourselves
and prove ourselves and know ourselves is that root of the
matter in us this morning as we come again into this place
and come again under the sound of the word of God God is sovereign
you see there's nothing comes into any of our lives that the
Lord God is sovereign in those things yet God is not the author
of sin and we're never to think that that would be blasphemy
that we're to recognize his absolute sovereignty. And he is here in
this portion, he's in what is going to befall Simon Peter. But let us turn in the second
place to the Lord Jesus. What does he say in verse 32?
But Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as
wheat, but..." What a but is that? "...I have prayed for thee,
that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted, strengthen
thy brethren." Now there are three things I want to mention
with regards to the ministry of the Lord Jesus as he said
before us in this 32nd verse. First of all, Christ is always
present Christ is always present. Whatever situation His people
might find themselves in. Yes, Satan has desired to have
you, but the Lord says, I have prayed. And it's interesting
because the tenses of those two verbs are identical, they're
both in the same tense. The one answers to the other,
as it were. Satan might have obtained by
asking, he so desired you, but I'm praying. I'm praying. Now we see that, don't we? With
regards to the words that we have back in the prophecy of
Zachariah concerning Joshua the high priest. And of course Joshua
the high priest is a wonderful type of the Lord Jesus by the
very name Joshua, the Hebrew form of the Greek name Jesus.
And the prophet writes here in Zechariah 3, and he showed me
Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord
and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the Lord
said unto Satan, the Lord rebuked thee, O Satan, even the Lord
that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuked thee. Is not this a brand plucked
out of the fire? Oh, there is Satan on the one hand, there
is Joshua on the other, and so it is with regards to the experience
of Simon Peter. Here is Satan on the one hand,
but here is the Lord, ready to answer him. Satan might come,
and he might come to the people of God, and he might come with
all his accusations. He's the accuser of the brethren,
accusing them day and night before God, as we read in the Revelation. But the Lord answers all his
accusations. And are we not reminded of that
in that lovely hymn that we just sang, that 119th hymn by John
Newton? How do we have access to God?
It's all in the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Lord beholds us in Him, Verse 2, Since
I can hardly therefore bear what in myself I see, how vile and
black must I appear, most holy God, to Thee! But since my Saviour
stands between, in garments dyed in blood, is He instead of me
a scene when I approach to God? Or we desire that the Lord would
look upon the face of His Anointed, even upon Christ, as we come
before Him. in our prayers and he withstands
all the accusations of Satan that might trouble us he will
seek you see to shut our mouths when we come before God he's
the accuser but previous to that he's the tempter and how often
does he tempt us and alas we fall and then we feel so utterly
ashamed because we've fallen so very many times before. And
how can we come and make genuine confessions this time? Why only
yesterday we're making the same confessions that we have to make
today. Or the devil, you see, will stop
our mouths. But we have to remember that
it is Christ who always answers these many accusations. Again, I like that 122nd hymn
in the book. It's a long hymn. A long, long
hymn. But it brings out all the various
offices of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there, amongst the offices
of Christ, is that of the advocate. The one who appears and pleads
the cause of the accused. My advocates. appears for my
defense on high the father bows his ears and lays his thunder
by not all that hell or sin can say shall turn his heart his
love away oh and advocate with the father Jesus Christ the righteous and he's able you see he's able
to deliver all his people He watches over them, He's with
them, He's continually there, mindful of them, and all their
varying needs. Again, even when God's people
are in the midst of the trial, when they're in the midst of
the fires, He's not the Lord that One who is watching them.
He sits as the refiner, and the purifier of silver, we're told,
in Malachi 3. He's there, as it were, looking
over the crucible as the heat is applied, going through the
whole process, you see, to separate the pure metal from all the impurities. He's watching it. He's a present Savior in that
sense, a very present help in every time of trouble. He says,
when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt,
neither shall the flame kindle upon them. The Lord then is that
one who is present and the Lord is that one who
praises them. Isn't that what we see here in
the text? I have prayed for thee, that
thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren. And how personal and how particular
is this prayer. I said back in verse 31 that
when the Lord utters those words, Satan has decided to have you,
the plural pronoun, although he's speaking to Simon in particular,
he is referring to all the disciples. But the Lord sees so clearly
that it is Simon Peter who is in the most grave danger. Because when we come to verse
32, it's not the singular pronoun, is it? Rather, it's not the plural pronoun,
but it's a singular pronoun. It's the plural pronoun in verse
31, it's the singular pronoun in verse 32. Now, we have it
in these three forms. I have prayed for thee, that
thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted. It's only here, of course, in
our authorised version, because, as we're aware, I'm sure, we
don't tend to distinguish the pronouns now when we're speaking. We always use the you, even though
we speak to an individual, and not to a company of people. but the Authorized Version maintains
the distinction between the plural and the singular, because it
is there in the original Greek, so it's a very faithful rendering
of what we have in the original. Oh, you see how Christ is very
particular then in His praying. Of course He prays for all His
disciples. But here he is so mindful of
this one disciple who is in the most grave danger of all. Satan might desire all of them,
but this man is so vulnerable. And why is he vulnerable? Because
he's full of himself. He has so much vain self-confidence,
this man. Lord, he says, I'm ready to go
with you, both into prison and to death. although all men shall
be offended because of the yet will I never be offended we read
in Matthew's account of the same incident I'm never offended I'm Simon Peter I'll stand with
you whatever happens oh friends pride goeth before destruction
and the haughty spirit before a fall says the wise man in the
Proverbs how this man is so very vulnerable and you know when
we read on there at verse 54 following we see how his faith almost failed completely
he is so denying his Lord I tell thee Peter the cock shall not
crow this day before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest
mine." How was he preserved? He was only preserved because
of the intercession of the Lord Jesus. What a comfort that is,
friends. You know, he ever lives to make
intercession. Oh yes, he has accomplished his
great priestly work here upon the earth. He has made one sacrifice
for sins forever. That's a priestly work, sacrificing,
but now he has entered into that within the veil. He has entered
heaven itself and there he ever lives to make intercession. His very presence, the fact that
he is there before the throne of God is a continual plea on
behalf of his people. Or does he not say in that great
high priestly prayer, I pray for them, I pray not for the
world, but for them which thou hast given me for their life. His prayer is a particular prayer
because his sacrifice is also a particular sacrifice. We're
unashamedly particular Baptists, aren't we? We believe that the
sufferings and the death of the Lord Jesus Christ didn't just
make salvation a possibility for everyone, but He accomplished
salvation, assured a certain salvation for all those that
the Father had given to Him in the eternal covenant. Oh, He
is present on behalf of His people. He is particular, He deals with
them in a very personal way He knows everything about us and
all our needs and there He is before the throne of God and yet ever mindful eyes as
a flame of fire, He sees us wherever we are those all seeing, those
all searching eyes and then finally here We see that it was a purpose.
It's a purpose in all that is happening. And what is that purpose? Well,
where was Simon Peter's creature strength when we see him trembling,
really, before the servant girl? Here in verse 55, when they had
kindled a fire, we read, When they had kindled a fire in the
midst of the hall, and were set 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. Where's his creature strength
now? All we have here is his presumption. He's being stripped really of
all of self and all of any strength that he imagines that he has
in himself. This is the Lord's purpose. When
the Lord addresses him in verse 31, what name does he call him
by? Simon. And he repeats it, Simon. now that was the name that was
given to him of course but the Lord changed that name didn't
he? when the Lord first meets with
him when his brother Andrew introduces him to the Lord there in John
1 verse 42 Andrew brings him to the Lord, he brought him to
Jesus, and when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon,
the son of Jonah, thou shalt be called Cephas, or Peter, which
is by interpretation a stone. But what is the Lord doing now?
He's not using the new name, he's using the old name, the
name that's associated with Simon, the son of Jonah, that man who
was born dead in trespasses and sins like all men. We're not to think when the Lord
says when they were converted that this is His first conversion
as it were. It's not that. It's His restoration
really. Was He not truly saved when the
Lord uttered those words in Matthew 16? Thou art Peter, and upon this
rock I will build my church." Not that the church is built
upon Peter as the papists might say, it's what Peter had said,
it's that great confession, Thou art the Christ. Other foundation
can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ
the Lord. But surely there in that 16th
chapter of Matthew we see that Simon was truly a believer. He had a real faith. But now
his faith is being tested and tried. He's being sifted. And he's being sifted in order
that he might be able subsequently to minister to others. When thou
art converted, when thou art strengthened, then you'll be able to strengthen
the brethren minister to them and isn't that what he's doing
really in those portions that we've already referred to in
that first epistle where he speaks of the trying of your faith more
precious than of gold that perisheth the fiery trial that is to try
you well we were sifted the Lord had good purpose a gracious end
in view that upon his restoration he might be the apostle that
he was, and that we might be able to read, as we do there
in the Acts, of that ministry of the exercise, his preaching
in those early chapters, his preaching on the day of Pentecost,
his faithful setting forth the truth concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Lord has a purpose in view.
Satan, in a sense, is overreaching himself. That's the way of Satan.
He overreaches himself. He does it, of course, primarily
in the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus, because by that accursed
death that Christ died, he accomplished a great salvation for sinners,
so different to what Satan had ever intended. But as we close,
just observe something of the gracious ministry of the Lord
Jesus. He doesn't only pray for this
man in the midst of his trial, but the Lord is there in his
restoring after he's denied the Lord. We read here at verse 61,
how the Lord turns 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's look you see oh the Lord the Lord turned and he looked
and there was restoration even in that look when the Lord lifts
up the light of his countenance upon a man when the Lord beholds
the man. How he touches Peter, he goes
out and he weeps bitter tears. There's real repentance in the
man's heart. But that's not all. The Lord
ministers to him immediately after the denial. He looked upon
him. But then, after the Lord had accomplished his great salvation,
when he rose again from the dead, Remember that He first appears
to the women. They are first of the two. And
what is the message that they are to take? Well, we have it
there in Mark 16 and verse 7. Tell my disciples and Peter that
I go before thee into Galilee. That's the message. But who is
to be told? It's my disciples. But Peter
is singled out. You read it there in Mark 16,
7. Tell my disciples and Peter,
oh Peter especially, needs to hear this message that the Lord
is risen and that the Lord is risen indeed. So the Lord doesn't
just look, the Lord sends a message to him. But then furthermore
the Lord actually appears to him. Here in chapter 24 and verse
34. the message of the other disciples,
the Lord is risen indeed, and that appeared unto Peter. Why,
Peter was one of those who saw the risen Christ. And when Paul
in 1 Corinthians 15 at the beginning of that chapter is speaking of
all those multitudes who were witnesses to the truth of his
resurrection, Peter's name is there. And then finally, of course,
we have those questions that the Lord puts to this man at the end of John's Gospel in John
21 Simon son of Jonas lovest thou me more than these and that
question isn't he put some three times just as he denied the Lord
three times so the Lord asks that question over and over and
over again. When they had dined, Jesus saith
to Simon Peter, Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than
me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord,
thou knowest that I love thee. He saith 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
mine? Peter was grieved, because he
said unto him the third time, Lovest thou mine? And he said
unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that
I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my
sheep. Oh, when thou art converted,
saith the Lord, when thou art converted, strengthen mine sheep or strengthen thy brethren
the Lord has a purpose the Lord has a purpose in it all too wise
to be mistaken too good to be unkind oh yes we see poor Simon
Peter put into the very still of Satan in the midst of the
fiery trial but under the watchful eye of Christ how he is brought
through, the Lord is present or the Lord prays for him in
particular and the Lord accomplishes his own gracious purpose in the
restoration of this man or that we might know then something
of the Lord's dealings with us and dealing with us in this very
personal way in the midst of all those things that might befall
us in the midst of all our trials in the world He says you shall
have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. May the Lord grant His blessing
on His Word. Now let us sing our final praise
this morning. The hymn 305 and the tune Lester
171. The souls that would to Jesus
press must fix this firm and sure,
the tribulation more or less they must and shall endure."
305, TUNE 171.