Once again, good morning. Now we've started a series of
studies that we're looking into God's Word, a series that we've
titled Simon Peter, an Apostle of Christ, which is the way Peter
opens his first letter in the book of 1 Peter. And I want to take the time to
go through scriptures and look and see how our Lord led Peter
to that point where he wrote those two letters. All the way
my Savior leads me, correct? That's what we sing. We sing
of the sovereign God who rules over everything according to
His will. Everything that we can see, everything that we know,
our God has led us and guided us all the way our Savior leads
us. The same thing goes for Peter.
And that's what I want to look at. How did our Lord lead Peter
to come to that point where everything he had to say pointed to the
glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, His Savior, our Savior? We're
looking to the life of this one called Simon Peter, praying,
praying to our God. Lord, teach us. As it is written in scripture,
and they shall all be taught of God, so the apostles believed the
same. Praying to receive an understanding
of how God worked in his life, in Peter's life, leading him
to write these two letters, And we began by looking at his calling
in the first one and the power of God when he just walked by
and said, come, follow me. And what did they do? They came
and followed him right away in a way that we could see even
in our own life on how, if we look back at that very first
time that we heard the truth, the true gospel being preached,
what did we do? We continued, didn't we? Our
God is so good that even when we try not to, if we're His,
He'll bring us right back to Him. Even if we're like Jonah
and we want to run and get on a ship and sail somewhere else,
our Lord will figure out a way to bring us right back to Him. We saw the power of Christ in
the calling and then we looked at the results of that calling.
We looked at how Peter fell at the knees of Jesus after they
had gotten back to shore. Peter had just seen a multitude
of fish, so many that it was sinking two ships. When they
had fished all night long. But Peter didn't see just that,
he saw the power of God in this man called Jesus. The Lord revealed
who it was that said, go out into the deep and fish. He revealed
it to his heart. And what did Peter do? There
was many there who saw those very miracles. Many who saw,
wow, look at that! That is so cool! And many did
exactly that, didn't they? But what did Peter do? He dropped
at the knees of Jesus and he said, depart from me. I'm not worthy to be in your
presence. He knew that this was God walking
with him. Just as each of you and I know
this is God walking with us by the reading of His Word. We know
that this is about Jesus, but we know that it's the Lord Jesus
Christ who is revealing Himself to us in this Word. We must be
taught of God. And that's exactly what is happening
with Peter. God is teaching him that this
man, Jesus Christ, is God in the flesh. Look at the miracles
that he did. Remember when he went and he
was talking and he said, you've seen the miracles that I do,
but you still believe not. Why? Because you're not my sheep.
Peter believes because he's a sheep of God. He's a child of God. He was the gift of the Father
to the Son before the world began, wasn't he? But still, Peter was
just a man and had to be taught, just as you and I had to be taught.
I didn't start coming here and boom, all of a sudden I knew
everything about the Lord that I know today, which is very,
very little. But still, what I know today
is something that's taken time. Same thing with you folks. What
you know today has taken the time of God to show you the things
of himself in the world even. The miracles. When I look at
the devotionals that we used to have when Pastor Gene were
here and the man that would volunteer for it would show up and he'd
read a part of scripture and man, it would just go perfectly.
with what Steve was going to bring in the Bible study. And
then what Steve brought in the Bible study, and none of these
three would go perfectly with Pastor Gene and his message from
the pulpit. And not one of them had talked to each other about
what it was they were going to bring. We know that those things are
the works of God. We can see it. Because men didn't
invent that. Men didn't come up with that.
God worked it out. So we saw how Peter fell at the
knees of Jesus declaring his unworthiness before a holy God.
We saw the effect of God in the presence of this man. The same effect that you and
I have had when we realized this is the true and living God that
we are reading about. This is the true and living God
who is speaking to us through his word. How unworthy we are
before a thrice holy God. And it just magnifies, magnifies,
blows up that wonderful grace that He has for us, doesn't it? How great is His mercy to us. Peter is now one to be taught
of God the things regarding his son. His heart has been prepared. He sees his unworthiness before
Jesus. And he's now ready to be taught
the things of Jesus, the Christ. As we've all come into this same
need to learn more about Jesus, so did his disciples. We must
learn of this one who is our savior. In Romans 10, 14, a very
familiar verse, how then shall they call on him in whom they
have not believed? And how shall they believe in
him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? Or in the 17th verse of that
same chapter where it says, so then faith, faith, the belief
of who the Lord Jesus Christ is, whosoever believeth on me
shall have everlasting life. So then faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. Turn to Matthew chapter 16, please. And we'll begin there this morning. We don't just all of a sudden
know all the things of Christ, as I said a moment ago. We must
be taught. And we are taught through the
preaching of His Word, as we just read. In 1 Corinthians 1,
verse 21, don't need to turn there, we're going to go to Matthew.
For after that in wisdom, in the wisdom of God, the world
by the wisdom knew not God. all the smartness of the world.
And I've used this example before, and I think you can all agree
with me on this. The Pope probably knows as much
about Scripture as anybody else in the entire world. He's probably
wiser than any man is as far as the writings of God's Word,
yet he knows not God. Men who know God would not act
as themselves being gods, sitting on their little throne over in
Rome, having people kiss their hands, treating them like they're
gods. You know, when God walked this
earth, he didn't act like God. He acted like a servant, didn't
he? You want to be like God? Act as a servant, because that's
what God did. For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. The apostles
needed to be taught just as all who come to know Christ must
be taught. In John 6, verse 45, it says,
It is written of the prophets, and they shall all be taught
of God. Are you with me in Matthew 16, beginning at verse 13? And
when Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, He asked
His disciples saying, Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man,
am? Who do you say that the Son of
Man is this morning? Do you know Him as God Almighty
in the flesh? He who has power over everything?
He who is sovereign over everything? He who created everything for
His pleasure? Verse 14, and they said, some
say that thou art John the Baptist, some say Elias, and others Jeremiah,
or one of the prophets. And he, our Lord Jesus, saith
unto them, but whom say ye that I am? These very ones who he
had been teaching. Who do you say that I am? Is what he's asking. You, who
I've been teaching first hand, walking through this countryside
and teaching with miracles and so on. Who do you say that I
am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood
hath not revealed it unto thee. The words of men have not revealed
this unto you, but my Father which is in heaven. We must all
be taught of God. To know who the Lord Jesus Christ
is, God the Father must teach the hearts of men. He must remove
that old black stony heart that we were born with and give us
a heart of flesh to believe on who He is. He goes on, He says,
and I say also unto thee that thou art Peter and upon this
rock, the rock of who Christ is, And I say that because the Catholics
have taken this verse and set it upon Peter as a rock. Peter
was not a rock, he was a man. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the
only rock to stand on. On Christ the solid rock I stand,
everything else is sinking sand. Upon this rock, this Jesus Christ,
I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail. To say that the Lord Jesus Christ
went and died for everybody and yet some will still be going
to hell throws that verse out the window and makes it worthless. Now there's a lot of teaching
right here in Matthew 16 and we're going to come to that at
another date. But I want to come back to these points at another
time. So for now, now that we've established that teaching is
of God and not of the flesh, turn if you would over to Luke
chapter 5. And let's pick up where we left off after Peter
had been called by Jesus Christ to be a fisher of men. Join me in reading verse 12 through
26, please. And it came to pass, when he
was in a certain city, speaking of our Lord, behold, a man full
of leprosy, who seeing Jesus, fell on his face, and besought
him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And
He put forth His hand and touched him and said, I will be thou
clean. His apostles are right there
with Him, folks. They're seeing this very fact
that somebody is coming to the Lord and saying, Father, if it
be Your will, if it be Your will, You can make
me clean. And what does Christ say? He
says, I will be thou clean. Wasn't somebody saying, you know,
if I walk up to the front of the church, Lord, will you make
me clean? If I make a decision to start following you, if I
choose to decide to follow you, will you make me clean? No, if
you will. Our Lord is teaching His apostles
right there whose will matters. And it's the will of God. Every time. Because He will not
share His glory with another. And that includes me. and you,
and any other flesh that walks this earth." And he put forth his hand and
touched him, saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately the
leprosy departed from him. Now, do you think they had doctors
and stuff that could cure leprosy at that time? Don't believe they did. Kind of like cancer is today,
isn't it? We think we can cure it. No. We may have eradicated
leprosy out of the world. You know, I heard that it's coming
back. I heard something the other day about a story about how some
people over in the Middle East had come down with leprosy again.
I don't know. I don't think it's coming back
in droves, but there have been a couple of people who've had
it. And he charged him to tell no
one. But go and show thyself to the
priest. This was the procedure that they
were told to do. This was the law of Moses. Go
to the priest and show thyself to the priest and offer for thy
cleansing according as Moses commanded for a testimony unto
them. But so much the more went the fame abroad of him and of
the great multitudes came together to hear and to be healed by him
of their infirmities. And he withdrew himself into
the wilderness and he prayed. And it came to pass on a certain
day as he was teaching that there were Pharisees and doctors of
the law sitting by which were come out of every town of Galilee.
He was teaching. It came to pass on a certain
day that he was teaching. He was teaching his apostles.
He was teaching those around him. God was teaching. And Judea and Jerusalem and the
power of the Lord was present to heal them. And behold, men
brought in on a bed a man which was taken with palsy, and they
sought means to bring him in and to lay him before him. And
when they could not find by the way they might bring him in because
of the multitude, they went upon the housetop and led him down
through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus.
And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Thy sins are forgiven. This is important. What did our
Lord do first? Man, thy sins are forgiven. Continue on. And the scribes
and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, who is this which speaketh
blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God
alone? Oh, if they only knew. But when the Jesus perceived
their thoughts, he answering said unto them, what reason ye
in your hearts, whether it is easier to say thy sins be forgiven
thee, or to say rise up and walk? But that ye may know that the
Son of Man hath power upon earth to forgive sins. all power in heaven and earth
has been given to him, so that we may know that this
Jesus that we read about in scriptures had power. He had the power to
forgive sins. He saith unto the sick of the
palsy, I say unto thee, arise and take up thy couch and go
into thine house. And immediately he rose up before
them and took up that where he lay and departed to his own house,
doing what? Glorifying God. And they were
all amazed. And they glorified God and were
filled with fear saying, we have seen strange things this day.
Peter. Peter, an apostle, who was being
taught about who Christ is. What the power of God is. The
power of God is not this little weakling God that the Pharisees
and the scribes are preaching in our world today. Not this
little weakling who's saying, please come to me if you will.
No, they had to learn the truth of who Christ is, all-powerful,
all-mighty. And our Lord was very clear about
that, wasn't He? Did He try to beat around the
bush about that at all? Was there any subtly, subtly,
diddly in that at all? No, it was clear. It was simple. But that ye may know that the
Son of Man hath power upon earth to forgive sins. that you may
know that I am God in the flesh, that you may know that God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are one with
all power in heaven and earth. I say to you, arise and take
up thy couch and go into thine house, ye sick with palsy. Peter and those other men whom
Christ had called were learning the power of Christ, God in the
flesh, the God-man, and his purpose for coming. They were not only
witnessing the power of this one who's called Jesus in what
he had, but they were witnessing why God had come to this earth. They were seeing God as the servant
that I spoke of a moment ago. They were not seeing this rich, all magnificently dressed person. They weren't seeing this man
sitting on a throne, the glory that was God, that belonged to
God. No, they saw a servant. Scripture declares that this
one was not even one who you would look at with any fancy,
with any desire. He was comely, common. He looked common. Try not to,
and I know it's difficult, because I have difficulties myself in
thinking of Jesus and not seeing that long-haired hippie that
everybody makes a portrait of. This handsome guy with the hair,
Scraggly, they're making movies about him and stuff nowadays.
Our Lord was not to be desired when He walked this earth. The
only reason people thronged around Him was for this reason, to be
healed, to be healed of their sicknesses, to be fed because
they were hungry. I wonder, is that not what a picture we
have of the churches in our world today? People are so hungry for something. They're so sick of what they
see inside themselves that they're looking for something, anything, anything but the truth. So to satisfy their own internal
needs, they go to what tickles their ears. They go to those
things that say, you can be a good person if you want to be. I say arise, take up thy bed,
thy couch, and go into thine house. Christ our Savior came
to save sinners. His name is Jesus, for he shall
save his people. To heal the ones that were given
to him before the world was. Did you notice, remember I said
a moment ago there was something very important, did you notice
our great God forgave this man of his sins before He healed
him? Interesting. Why didn't He just say, okay,
you know, rise up and walk. Oh, by the way, your sins are
healed, your sins are forgiven. No, our Lord does everything
for a purpose, folks, and that includes the way He inspired
this book to be written. You see, the saving of our sins
was before the world was. I know, Christ hadn't come yet.
This is the time that Christ came right now. But God the Father
sees our sins as no more. And He's seen it that way since
the beginning of the time when everything was started, because
He saw what His Son would do. And the blood of His Son was
effectual then as it shall be for eternity. Because it's the
blood of God, it didn't just come along and start there. No! God the Father has always seen
us as His children. Has always loved us for His Son's
sake. Our sins were forgiven before
anything ever started. The covenant between God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit was made before
the worlds were created, right? Isn't that what Scripture tells
us? Well, who's going to turn the
hand of God? Who can stop what God has planned? Christ is called the Lamb slain
before the foundation of the world. God looked upon His Son
as our Redeemer before anything else was created. As God in the
flesh, Christ has the power to forgive, the power to put it
away, and that's exactly what He did. Man, thy sins are forgiven
thee. You see, the lesson for Peter was
this. This man, Jesus, is God in the flesh. Sovereign ruler
over all that is. And it was His will this very
moment, at this very time, to heal this man before the wicked
religious self-righteous leaders of that day. You see, they taught works. You
must be circumcised. You must do this. You must do
that. There's always something that
you must do. Except for when you're talking
about the true and living God. Because when you talk about Him,
you talk about grace. And grace means there's nothing
you can't do. When you talk about the living
God, you talk about His love and His mercy for His people.
And this is what Jesus was teaching. to these very men who needed
to learn about Him so they could write books, so that Jesus could
go on teaching as He has taught us. Thank God for His Word. Thank God for the new heart to
believe and to learn from His Word. They, the self-righteous, Religious
men of the world teach works. Our Lord Jesus Christ teaches
grace. And when those who were chosen
in Christ have had the revelation of Christ revealed to their heart,
we go our way, glorifying God by praising his son for the grace
and the healings of our sins. Amen.