Let us turn once again to God's
Word and turn into the portion of scripture that we were reading
in Luke chapter 22. And our text is found in verses 31 and
32. Luke chapter 22 verses 31 and
32. 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. The Lord Jesus Christ then entered
Satan into Judas, surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. He was, as Christ said, at the
end of John 6, the son of Perdition. He was not one of those then
of the election of grace, Judas Iscariot. He was one who was
not bound up, with Christ in that great bundle of life. He
was the betrayer of the Lord. But again here we see something
of the activity of Satan in regard to one who was in Christ, even
Simon Peter. And so what we have in these
verses can be described as Peter's sifting. Here is Peter being
sifted in his experience, being sorely tried and tempted. And when Peter comes to write
in his epistle, his first epistle, he speaks so clearly of that
place of the great trying of faith. In the first chapter of
1 Peter we have those words, Now for a season, if need be,
are in heaviness, through manifold temptations, that the trying
of your faith, being much more precious than the gold that perishes,
though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and
honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Though tried,
there is also some profit in these things. And so here in
verse 32, the Lord says to Peter, and when they are converted,
or restored, strengthened, then he will be able to minister
to his brethren. Peter knew something of prose,
he speaks of it not only there in the first chapter of his first
epistle, but again later in that same epistle he writes the words,
Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial that
is to try you as though some strange thing happened onto you. This is not strange. This is
often not the experience of the child of God. There must come
those times in our experience when Satan will assault us, when
we will find our faith under fearful assault and our strength
failing. And our complete and utter dependence
upon the Lord Jesus Christ is what we are meant to learn in
those experiences. Well, let us turn to these words. The Lord said, Simon, Simon,
behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you
as wheat. But I have prayed for them, that
thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren. First of all, I want us to consider
something of the sovereignty of God in relation to this experience
in the life of Simon Peter. We read the words, Satan hath
desired to have you. And the words rendered desires
here is an interesting one because it's one of those compound words
we've mentioned this before we often find them in the original
here in the greek it's a compound word in other words it's made
up of of two words with it's expressed in our english word
desire but it literally means to obtain a thing by asking to
obtain a thing by asking And do we not see that when we turn
back to the Old Testament and what we read concerning the experience
of Job? And it's cited in a sense, obtained
Job, when he comes before the presence of God. There's a mystery
of course in what we read there in the opening chapters of the
book of Job. when the sons of God come to
appear before God, that is when the angels who are about his
throne are waiting upon him and yet we are told how Satan is
here. Now God is a voice too pure to behold iniquity, God
cannot look upon sin and we cannot really conceive just how that
could be. But what we are taught surely
there in those opening chapters of Job is this, that Satan is
not a free agent. Satan is under the sovereignty
of God. That is a great mystery. And
it is God who puts Job, as it were, into the hands of Satan,
that he might sorely try him and test him. We have it in chapter
1, and then we have it repeated, of course, in chapter 2 of the
book of Job. In chapter one, verse twelve,
the Lord says unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power,
only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth
from the presence of the Lord. He is put into Satan's hands,
but Satan cannot touch him initially. And
you know the consequence is that he loses all his possessions,
he loses all his children, but he's not touching his own person.
But still, Job does not sin against God.
In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly, we're
told at the end of that first chapter. But then in the second
chapter we see Satan again, but this time God permits Satan to touch him
in his own person. Verse 6 of chapter 2, the Lord
says unto Satan, Behold he is in thine hand, but save his life. He can touch him in his person
now, but he cannot kill him, cannot destroy him. And so we
see Job subsequently struck down with some fearful disease covered
from the crown of his head to the sole of his feet. with all those putrefying sores
and boils. He's so sorely afflicted. But
all of this, I say, is under the hand of God. God is sovereign. God is sovereign. Shall there
be evil in a citizen, and the Lord hath not done it, says the
prophet Amos. Now God is not the author of
sin, and I want to make that We are not to imagine for a moment
that God is the author of sin. He is not. God's sovereignty
is an absolute sovereignty. And we are reminded, are we not,
of that? For example, in the 9th chapter
of the Epistle to the Romans, we see there that God's great
purpose of salvation is double-sided. as there is the election of grace,
so there is also the awful doctrine of reprobation. Therefore have
mercy on whom ye will have mercy, says Paul, and whom ye will be
hardened. God's sovereignty is absolute.
There are those who are appointed to eternal salvation, there are
others who for their sins are foreordained to an everlasting
destruction. There's a great mystery in all
of these things, a great mystery in all the ways and all the works
of God. But we have to acknowledge that
God is God, and there is nothing that is over him, nothing that
is equal to him. He is sovereign in all his ways,
in all his works. And we see it here with regards
to the experience of poor Simon Peter. Satan hath desired to
have you. Satan has obtained. He sought this thing by asking. And this is the way, I say, in
which God deals with his people and teaches his people. We have
that word again in the book of the prophet Amos. For though
I will command and I will sift the house of Israel among all
nations like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the
least grain fall to the ground. God sifted his ancient people
Israel when he sent them into exile, when they went into captivity,
into Babylon, what was God doing there? He was sifting them, He
was separating them. They are not all Israel that
are of Israel. There were those who were merely,
in a physical sense, the descendants of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. But He is not a Jew which is
one outwardly, neither is circumcision that which is in the flesh. But the true circumcision is
a spiritual circumcision and the true Israel of God is a spiritual
Israel. And this is what God was doing
at the time of the Babylonian captivity then. He is sifting
them. He is separating the precious
from the vile. God does this. The great harvester as it were. He must separate. his crop, he
must winnow his grain. And he does it often times of
course by means of the ministry of his own word. We certainly
see that in the ministry of the prophets in the Old Testament,
that word that was spoken to Jeremiah for example. He was
to be the mouth of God, and what was the evidence that he was
the mouth of God? That in his ministry there was
a separating, a separating of the precious from the vile. God says, what is the chaff to
the wheat? And we have that word there in
Jeremiah chapter 15. If they take forth the precious
from the vile, they shall be as my mouth. This is the spiritual
significance then of what it is to be in the city. It's that there might be that
separating from what is real and genuine, the true work of
God and that that is only of self and only of the flesh. And
this is what God is doing here in the case of Simon Peter. We're told again concerning the
ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, even as he begins that ministry.
The words of his forerunner John the Baptist, when he speaks of
Christ's coming, what does he say? Whose fan is in his hand,
who will throughly purge his floor. His fan is in his hand,
that's a reference to one of the ways whereby there would
be the sifting of the grain. The fan is some sort of large
spade-like instrument that might be used to shovel the mixed grain
and chaff to toss it into the air that the chaff might be blown
away and the pure grain then fall to the ground as that that
was separated from what was nothing but chaff. And that's the ministry
of Critis, fan in his hand, curtain in his form. separating the precious
from the vile. And we see it in the ministry
of the Lord Jesus Christ so many times, we have it there in John's
Gospel, that his ministry only divided men. There was a division
among the Jews because of him, or there was a division among
the Jews because of these sayings we read on several occasions
in the course of John's Gospel. The Lord's own ministry then,
was a sifting and a separating ministry. Not only with Christ, but also
when we come to the ministry of those who are the apostles
of Christ, those words, those solemn words that we find at
the end of the fifth chapter in 2nd Corinthians, Paul writes,
Now thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in
Christ, and make us manifest the savour of His knowledge by
us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savour
of Christ in them that are saved, and in them that perish. To the
one we are the savour of death unto death, and to the other
the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these
things? For we are not as many which corrupt the word of God,
but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, speak
we in Christ. Paul's great concern is to be
found faithful and true in seeking to proclaim the word of God,
to divide that word rightly. And he knows the consequence
will be that there will be a separation. there will be a sifting taking
place. And so it ever has been and ever
will be throughout the history of the church, throughout this
day of grace. There are those who are coming
unto the word, it has a blessed effect, it's a savour of life,
but there are some alas, and it comes to them only as the
savour of death. Who is sufficient? Who is sufficient
for these things? Ask the apostles. the sovereignty
of God then, in the way in which he makes a separation not only
between men but when he comes to deal with us individually,
when he has those very personal and particular dealings with
us and shifts our religion as it were, and tries us and tests
us and searches us out. But the amazing thing is that
here we see Simon Peter in the sieve, but it's Satan's sieve. Strangely, it is God at work
and yet Satan is involved here. Satan is very much behind what
Peter has to say, is he not? The words of verse 33, what does
Peter say in response to what the Lord has said? Lord, he says,
I am ready to go with thee both into prison and to death. Here he is, you see, he is full
of vain self-confidence. He is trusting really too much
in himself. And he speaks foolish words here,
as he looks to himself. We see something similar, of
course, when he makes his great Confession. He was the one of
Caesarea Philippi who acknowledged that Jesus of Nazareth was truly
the Christ of God. When the Lord asks the disciples,
whom say you that I am, it is Simon Peter who says, Thou art
the Christ, the Son of the living God. What a confession. And the
Lord pronounced him, Blessed art thou, Simon, by Jonah, flesh
and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which
is in heaven. And it was upon that confession
of who Jesus of Nazareth is, that acknowledgement of his person
that he is the Son of God manifest in the flesh, he is the promised
Messiah, it's upon that that the Lord begins to speak more
plainly of his work. He begins now to speak of what
must be accomplished in him at Jerusalem, his death. There in
verse 21 of Matthew 16, from that time forth, when Peter made
his confession, when Peter was pronounced blessed from that
time forth, began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he
must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and
chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised again
the third day. Then Peter took him and began
to rebuke him, saying, Be ye far from the Lord. This shall
never be done unto them. He doesn't want to hear this
talk of Christ's cross and Christ's offerings. But then the Lord
turns and says to Peter, get thee behind me, Satan, thou art
an offence unto me, for thou savourest not the sins that be
of God, but those that be of men. Well, Satan was in what
he said on that occasion, and I say that Satan is in what he
says on this occasion, in response to the words of Christ. He will look to himself. He will look to his own strength. Lord, I am ready, he said. Ready
to go with both into prison and to death. All vain pride and
presumption is here. How we see Satan so very much
at work in all of these things. What does the Lord say? Satan
hath desires to have you. Satan would have all of them. He would desire that he might ruin them, destroy their faith. Notice that it's the plural pronoun
that we have. It's an interesting text that we have before us this
morning because it brings out for us the beauty and the exactness
of the authorised version. Satan hath desire to have, not
they, that would be a singular pronoun, though the Lord is speaking
to Simon Peter, He uses the plural pronoun. Satan is desirous to
have not just Peter, but all of them. All of the disciples. But it is Peter, you see, who
is the one who is most vulnerable at this time. I have prayed for
thee. That's a singular pronoun. The
you and the thee. We have it in these two verses,
the significance in it. You is plural, thee is singular. It is Peter who is in the gravest
of danger and so the Lord must pray for
him, not that he doesn't pray for the others, but at this particular
point it is Peter who is in very real danger and the Lord sees
it and the Lord will pray for him. He is the one you see that stands
in the greatest need. And the Lord comes to those who
are in the greatest need and ministers to such. But surely,
friends, we have to recognise this, that the great thing here,
the all-important thing, is that in our hearts there is something
real, some real grain of truth, some blessed fruit of the Spirit. So that when the sifting comes,
that is what is preserved, and that is what the Lord is prospering. Job could say in the midst of
all his trials and troubles, the root of the matter is found
in man. By all those things that came
upon Job, that's what was proved. That he had the roots there.
There was something real in his soul, some real work of God. And so it was with Simon Peter.
And this is what the Lord in his sovereignty is seeking to
establish. But let us turn to this in the
second place, how we see something here of the gracious ministry
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we see it in this particular
text in terms of the prayers of Christ, the way in which the
Lord is the one who appears for Simon Peter and supplicates on
his behalf. But, and again it's a significant
conjunction is it not, that little word but, what a contrast we
see, Satan hath desire to have you, that he may shift you as
we, but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not, and
when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. I want us, with
regards to the way in which Christ ministers to Peter here, to consider
some three things. First of all, we see this very
basic truth that the Lord Jesus Christ He is very present and
he is present as one to help. The verbs concerning Satan's
activity and the Lord's activity are both in the same tense. Satan hath desired to have you. But I have prayed for them."
They are both in exactly the same tense. They are both in
what in the Greek is the first Aorist tense. In other words,
these actions are taking place at one and the same time. Satan
is there seeking the destruction of all the disciples,
Here is the Lord and he is praying, and he is praying in particular
for this disciple, even for Simon Peter. You see, as Satan accuses,
we see the Lord Jesus Christ as that one who answers all his
accusations. Now, that is brought out in a
remarkable way in Zachariah there at the end of the Old Testament
the prophecy of Zachariah and the third chapter the prophet
says 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 He is
not this brand plucked out of the fire. Here is Satan. He is
not only the terrible tempter of the saints, but he is that
one who is spoken of in the revelation as the accuser, the accuser of
the brethren, accusing them day and night before God. That is
the activity of the devil, is it not? He comes at us and he
lays his fair traps and snares before us, how
they are so concealed, and we fall. And as soon as we
fall, what does He do? He turns against us. Having deluded
us, having drawn us aside, having entrapped our feet, He then turns
against us and accuses us, and He would silence us. We feel
ashamed. because we've sinned, and how can we who sin so easily
and so readily, how can we sincerely come before God when Satan knows
us? And so he accuses us, he's the
accuser of the present. And here we see him in Zachariah,
accusing the saints of God, accusing Joshua. But the Lord speaks even as Satan
makes his accusation. 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, what a comfort it is
unto the people of God. There's that lovely hymn on the
offices of the Lord Jesus Christ of Isaac Watts, 122. twelve verses speaking of Christ
in his various offices and amongst them of course he is an advocate. We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for
our sins says John in his first epistle. Oh Christ is that wondrous
and here is what Watts says of the advocate. My advocate appears
For my defence 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. The Lord is the one
who is pleased to answer them for his people. He is able, is
he not? He is able to save them to the
Ottomans. that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. When Satan comes with
his temptation, or when Satan comes with his accusation, the
Lord is there to answer him. He is present and he is a present
help. He is present of course in the
midst of all those trials and all those troubles that come
upon his people. I said that here is Simon Peter
being sifted. That it was necessary to separate
what was really precious in his experience from what was false.
But the Lord is in all of these things. If we turn to Malachi
chapter 3 we see the same idea under a different figure. There
in Malachi Three, instead of sifting we see a refining process. But as the Lord sits you see
at the crucible when he is refining his people. He shall sit as a
refiner and purifier of silver and he shall purify the sons
of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer
unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. But the Lord doesn't
just leave them to the refining pot, he watches over the pot,
he sits there, he shall sit as a refiner, looking over the process
as the heat is applied, and as the ore is in its molten state,
and then the separation, the impurities forming that slag
that might be removed, from the pure metal, from the gold or
from the silver, but the Lord watches over. He is present. He is very present out in time
of trouble, says David in the psalm. This is the ministry then
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is present. And there on behalf
of his people, whenever necessary, in the midst of the trial, when
that's empty, He's there watching over them, ensuring that they'll
come safely through, but he's there when Satan turns to be
their accuser, and he answers him on their behalf. But then
also we observe this, that the Lord Jesus Christ deals with
his people in a very personal and a very particular fashion.
That's the significance of these pronouns. plural, you, and the
singular, they. Satan hath desire to have you,
all of you, that he may shift you, that's all of you. But I
have prayed for they. That's thy faith. This disciple who is so very
vulnerable, this disciple who is so full of self-satisfaction,
so full of presumption. Lord, he says, I am ready to
go with you both into prison and to death. He says something
more in Matthew 26 and verse 33. Though all men shall be offended
because of thee, yet will I never be offended. Or others might
be offended, others might denied the Lord, but I would never do
such a thing. You see, he is evidently full
of himself. He is full of pride. And what
an accursed thing pride is. It is pride, accursed pride,
that spirit by God our Lord, do what we will, it haunts us
still, and keeps us from the Lord, says Joseph, out through.
O true, pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a
fall, says the wise man. And what does Peter do? Peter
falls. Peter falls. His faith almost
fails him altogether. The Lord speaks of that. I have
prayed to thee that thy faith fail not. What do we see subsequently? We see him as the one who denies
his Lord. Verse 34, I tell thee, Peter,
the cock shall not crow this day before that thou shalt thrice
deny that thou knowest me. And we have the record alas subsequently. In verse 54, in the following
verses, we see Peter so ready to deny his Lord and to deny
him with cursings, the completely, utterly disowned Christ. Oh,
his faith almost failed. It didn't fail. It didn't fail. The Lord was there. The Lord
was there to pray for him. And that was the only thing that
kept him. Couldn't keep himself. It was the Lord's intercession
on his behalf that preserved him. Remember the Lord Jesus Christ
in his offices. We have him as that one who is
the Great High Priest and what does he do as the Great High
Priest? Well he comes into this world and he makes that one sacrifice
for sins forever. That was the priestly work that
he had to undertake. He came to die. He is not only the priest making
the sacrifice, He is the Lamb, the Lamb of God, that taketh
away the sin of the world. But His priestly work is not
done when He makes the sacrifice. He has now entered into Heaven,
and there in Heaven He intercedes, He is very present. before the
throne of God is a constant plea on behalf of his people. He is able to say to the Ottomans,
we have told them that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth
to make intercession for them. And as his death was for a particular
people, and all that he shed that blood for are to be saved,
so his intercession is for a particular people. We see it in that great
high priestly prayer in John 17, he says, I pray for them,
I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given
me, for they are thine. These are the ones he prays for.
It's a particular prayer. Oh, what a favour to know that
we have the prayers of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we look to
ourselves, when we try to pray, we feel so often our prayers
are such poor prayers, such pathetic prayers, such weak prayers, so
mixed with our unbelief. How we need to look to the Lord
Jesus Christ and His intercession, and to remind God that Christ
is there praying for us. Here He is and He's kept. He
is kept, why? Because the Lord is pleased to
deal with his particular case. He is the one who is in the gravest
of danger. And so the Lord tells him, but
I have prayed for them, that thy faith fail not. The Lord is present. He prays even as Satan is desiring. And the Lord deals with his people
individually and particularly. But then finally this morning
we also see here Christ's purpose. There's a purpose in all that
is transpiring. I know the thoughts that I think
towards you says the Lord God. Thoughts of peace and not of
evil to give you an expected end. Oh there's an expected end
here. I have prayed for thee that thy
faith fail not and when thou art converted strengthen thy
brethren. When thou art converted, it's
not his first conversion, it's really his restoration. We know that He'd already heard
those words from Christ when he made his confession at Caesarea
Philippi, when he said, Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the Living God, and the Lord said, Blessed art thou,
Simon, Barjona, flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,
but my Father, which is in heaven. His eyes had been opened to the
truth. God had dealt with him so graciously, and that's not
the only occasion, of course. In John 6, where we see Christ
very much winnowing the multitudes. You know John 6, that long chapter,
the chapter of the blessed diminishings. Multitudes following Christ at
the beginning, and then when we come to the end of the chapter,
how the multitudes have melted away, how they are offended,
how the Lord has sifted them through his preaching, and it
seems that even the twelve will deny him. Then said Jesus unto the 12 verse
67, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him,
Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the works of eternal
life, and we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ,
the Son of the Living God. or he acknowledges Christ, he
confesses Christ. This is not his first conversion. Although strangely we might say
he is reminded of that, the Lord addresses him in verse 31 as
Simon, Simon. Remember when his brother Andrew
brought him to the Lord in John chapter 1, The Lord said he was
to be called Cephas or Peter. He would receive a new name.
Because he would receive a new nature, even a divine nature.
He is reminded, is he not here, of his own great weakness. That the Lord is dealing with
him, sifting him, searching him, in order that he might subsequently
be able to minister to others. That's the purpose that the Lord
has in view. When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. Isn't
that what he does in those words that we referred to at the beginning,
those words in his first epistle? Beloved, think it not strange
concerning the fiery trial that is to try you, as though some
strange thing happened unto you. now for a season. If need be,
you are in happiness through manifold temptations. But the
trying of your faith, or the trying of faith, he knew something
about the trying of faith. But he also knew something about
the restoring ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. And now Christ
deals with him so thoroughly, subsequently, In this chapter we're told, after
Peter's denial, verse 61, the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word
of the Lord, and we have said unto him, before the cock crowed,
thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out and wept bitterly. Oh, that look you see. It was
a gracious look, it was a restoring look. Oh yes, it was a look that
brought conviction into his soul and moved him to real repentance. But it's part of his restoration,
is it not? Part of his conversion, when
they were converted. The Lord looked upon him. The
Lord sends a message to him. The resurrected Christ sends
a message specifically to this man. In Mark's account of the
resurrection, when the Lord appears unto those
women on the morn of his resurrection, what does he say to them? There
in Mark 16.7, Go your way, this is really the word of the angel
isn't it, the word of the angel to the women, Go your way Tell
his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee. There shall ye see him as he
said unto you. Now why is Peter mentioned in
particular? Go your way, tell his disciples.
Peter is one of the disciples. But the Lord is mindful of this
man, you see, who had so sorely fallen and was so grieved now
in his own spirit because of his denial of Christ. Go and
tell his disciples and Peter. And then the Lord, we are told
later, did appear specifically to Simon Peter when those two
on the road to Emmaus rushed back to Jerusalem after Christ
had revealed himself to them, we're told, are we not that they
rose up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the eleven
gathered together and them that were with them saying the Lord
is risen indeed and that appeared to Simon. Or the Lord appeared
specifically to Simon Peter to reassure him, to strengthen his
faith. Then of course at the end of
John's Gospel in chapter 21 when the Lord speaks to him very
personally and asks him whether he truly loves the Lord and how
Peter is grieved as Christ keeps on repeating the question three
times, three times he has denied the Lord but what do we read
there? Verse 15 in John 21, So when
they had dined, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas,
lovest thou me more than these? He said unto him, Yea, Lord,
thou knowest that I love thee. He said unto him, Feed my lambs.
He said unto him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest
thou me? He said unto him, Yea, Lord,
thou knowest that I love thee. He said unto him, Feed my lambs,
feed my sheep. He said unto him the third time,
Simon, son of Jonas, love of Samuel, Peter was grieved, because
he said unto him the third time, love of Samuel, and he said unto
him, Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee.
Jesus said unto him, feed my sheep. How the Lord deals with
him, you see. All the thoroughness of the works of the Lord Jesus
Christ, as that one who is ever and always the friend of the
poor sinner, the friend of his people in the midst of all their
trials and all their troubles, in the midst of all Satan's fearful
assaults, when he tempts and then when he accuses. And we
see it, do we not, in the way in which the Lord was pleased
to deal with this man Simon Peter. I have prayed for thee, says
Christ, that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren. May the Lord grant his blessing
for his namesake. Now let us conclude as we sing
Hymn 305 to St Bernard 219. In 305, the souls that would
to Jesus press must fix his firm and sure that tribulation more
or less they must and shall endure.