We're going to start a new Bible
study this morning. I'd like you to begin by opening
your Bibles to 1 Peter, please. As we have said many times from
this pulpit, even when Pastor Gene was here, many, many times,
over and over again, Everything that has happened throughout
time has been to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything
that has happened throughout time has come to pass that when
in the day of his power, his children, his people should be
called out of the darkness that we walked in. That means this
entire country, For many, many other reasons, I'm sure there
are thousands of those who have come to know the Lord since this
country has come about. But I know this, that this country
was formed so that John Reeves would be born when he was, walk
the path that he had to walk through, and be called out of
darkness in the day of the Lord's power, that day I sat down the
first time in this church. accomplished according to the
will of God, right? So that means the path for each
and every one of us goes to the exact same thing. All things
have happened so that Mike Lovelace would come into this world exactly
when he did, so Cheryl would come into this world exactly
when she would, and all the rest of us, so that our Lord would
call us out of that darkness and call us unto himself. This morning I want to look at
a person's life. We've seen in the life of Paul
in our Friday night Bible study, we read this last Friday night,
and how Paul even declares himself to be set forth as an example
of how God's people are called out of that darkness. How Paul
was set up and how his life was about persecuting the church. Until the Lord at one time and
on the road blinded him and brought him under the understanding and
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, Paul's not the only example. He's the only one that I know
of that is actually declared as one, but all of the people
that God uses in Scripture are used as an example. David is
used as an example of Christ, and in some ways David is also
an example of us. That's why we can read the Psalms
and see the prophetic declaration of it, but also see the human
part of it. We see ourselves in a lot of
what David has written. Moses, a man who stuttered. Some of us may see ourselves
in that. All throughout scriptures we
see examples over and over again of mankind and how it relates
to our Lord Jesus Christ. This morning I would like to
start looking at an example that our Lord uses in this man called
Peter, who at one time was called Simon. And I just want to read
the first few words here in chapter 1 for right now, and then we're
going to go to Matthew. It says, Peter, and this is Peter writing
and he's addressing Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. Now we're going to stop there
and we'll come back to this book at some point or another. I don't
know how long it's going to take to get here, but we are going
to come back to these two books that Peter wrote, and we're going
to look at them in very, very close detail. But until that
time, I want to look back at the beginning of the New Testament,
so I'd like you to turn back to Matthew, if you would. Matthew
chapter 4. And I addressed this just a little
bit in last Sunday's message on the calling power of our Lord
Jesus Christ. I would like to begin this study
on this one called Simon, whom the Lord surnamed Peter, and
we will eventually look closely into the two epistles that he
wrote. But first I would like to take a look at the events
concerning him that we see in previous scriptures. Just like
I opened a moment ago, everything leads up to another. Everything
is according to God's plan. All the things that happened
in John Reeve's life, good and bad. have led me to
be the person that I am today. All the way, my Savior leads
me, right? That doesn't mean that He just
started leading me the day I came into the church. No, He's been
leading everything up to me, and everything from me on, and
He's going to lead everything continuing on. Because our God
works all things out according to His purpose, does He not?
He rules all things according to His will. So as we want to
take a close look of these two epistles of Peter, we would like
to take a moment and see how the Lord uses things in his life,
working up, that puts Peter in that position where he sits down
and declares himself to be an apostle of Jesus Christ. That'll
be the title for this study, Simon Peter, an Apostle of Christ. Our Lord calls his chosen with
a holy calling. And that's how we're going to
see Peter here, because we really don't know anything of him before.
But we do see where the Lord has been walking along the sea,
and where he calls Peter in. And he is calling him with a
call of power. As I had brought out last Sunday,
the God-man, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, has all power.
And when he speaks, it's with the authority as our creator.
the very one who spoke all things into existence, and he calls
his chosen unto himself. This is not that general call
that goes out to all of mankind, the call to believe, but it is
a personal calling, a life-giving calling, a call that makes lost,
unregenerate souls put down the things of darkness and come to
the light. In John 10, 26, we read, but
ye believe not, because ye are not my sheep, as I said unto
you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow
me. It doesn't say if they want to, they follow me. No, they
know me. I know them, and they follow
me. This morning, I would like to
look at all three accounts of this calling of Simon Peter in
Matthew, Mark, and Luke. to begin a picture of the life
of Peter leading up to the time where he wrote those two letters.
So let's begin here in Matthew chapter 4, if you would please,
at verse 12. Now when Jesus had heard that
John was cast into prison, he departed from Galilee, and leaving
Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the
sea coast in the borders of Zebulon and Nephthahem. Nephileum. Nephthaleum. I'll get it. Nephtali. Huh? Nephtali. V. M. Silent. Oh. Maybe I'm not
looking at the right spot. Verse 13. Nephilim. So continuing on, verse 14, that
it might be fulfilled which was spoken of in Isaiah, the prophet
saying, the land of Zebulon and the land of Nephilim by the way
of the sea beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people which
sat in the darkness saw a great light. This is what was declared
in Isaiah, that those people which sat in the darkness saw
a great light. And to them which sat in the region in shadow of
death, light is sprung up. Our Lord Jesus Christ is that
light. He said, I am the light and the
way in one of his messages. This is that light that would
spring up. Those who walked in darkness saw a great light, and
to them that sat in the region of the shadow of death, light
is sprung up. From that time, Jesus began to
preach and say, repent, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand. Our Lord was very clear, and
people understood exactly what that meant. The Kingdom of Heaven
is at hand. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is
the Kingdom of Heaven, who is the key to Heaven, He is the
way to Heaven, was at hand, right before them. Christ preached,
Christ Verse 18, And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two
brethren, Simon, called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting
a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And he saith unto
them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they
straightway left their nets, and followed him. And going on
from thence, he saw two other brethren, James, and the son
of Zebedee, and John, his brother, in the ship with Zebedee, their
father, mending their nets. And he called them, And they
immediately, not five minutes later, not five days later, they
immediately, at once, He who has all power in heaven and earth
spoke. And that's what He does to each
and every one of His people. That's what He does to each and
every one of those who He has loved from the foundation of
the world. He comes to us and speaks through
the preaching of His word to our hearts. Come, I will make
you fishers of men. And immediately left their ship
and their father, and they followed him. And Jesus went about all
of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues, and preaching the gospel in the
kingdom, and healing all manner of sicknesses and all manner
of diseases among the people. Now, let's turn over to Mark
chapter 1. So we see the power of God speaking
to these men. These men who have all their
lives, what have they known? They have known fishing. And
here, this man walking by with the power of God, because he
is God, says, come, follow me. And what do they do? They stop
exactly what they're doing and they follow him. In Mark chapter 1, we read the
same event beginning at verse 14. Now after that, John was
put in prison. Jesus came into Galilee and preaching
the gospel of the kingdom of God. Now I want to point out
something here. We see a little bit of difference,
maybe, but nothing is contradicting each other. Some in the world
would say, well, this is contradicting that, but it's not at all. This
is three different men. who have seen the exact same
event, who are portraying it in words according to what they
have seen. So that's why there might be
a slight difference between what they're talking about here. Jesus
came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God
and saying, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at
hand. Repent ye and believe the gospel. Now, as he walked by
the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, his brother, casting
a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And Jesus said
unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become
fishers of men. And straightaway they forsook
their nets, and followed him. And when he had gone a little
further, thence he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John
his brother, who were also in the ship, mending their nets.
And straightaway he called them. And they left their father Zebedee
in the ship with the hired servants and went after him. And they
went into Capernaum, and straightaway on the Sabbath day he entered
into the synagogue and taught. And they were astonished at his
doctrine, for he taught them as one that had authority and
not as the scribes." Interesting. So Matthew gives us the account
of how these men were called. And Mark has something to add
to that, doesn't he? Our Lord Jesus Christ spoke as
one with authority. I remember the first time sitting
in that chair over there, and I've shared this with you many
times, but I'm going to do it again. On how I sat there in that chair
in the very first time in my life, I heard about the one who
has authority. What astonished me most That
day was I heard about a God who deserved to be called God. What stood out to me the most
that day was that I heard about God Almighty in the flesh. Who ruled everything according
to His purpose. Who when He went to the cross
that, in the scriptures, He went to the cross with authority and
power. His blood did not make people
savable, it saved people. That was what astonished me when
I heard the gospel preached the first time. That's what Mark
is telling us here. You know, if you want to, you
could be saved if you start doing this and doing that, or following
this and following that. That's the way the scribes would
talk. Jesus talked exactly like His
word here is, I have saved my people. God the Father gave them to me
and nobody can pluck them out of my Father's hands. That's
what our Lord taught. That's what He preached. This
is what Mark is telling us here. The people were astonished because
they heard Him speak with authority. Not a maybe, not a might, not
a possibility, but for sure an assurance. Now turn over to Luke chapter
5. Luke gives us the most detail
of this situation, and we begin at verse 1. And it came to pass,
as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood
by the lake of Genesaret, and he saw two ships standing by
the lake. Notice the difference in the
detail here? Luke was obviously a man who noticed Some great
detail, my son-in-law is a sheriff. And one time he was, I can't
remember exactly what it was we were doing, but I think we
were in Hawaii the first time. And we were doing something,
and I just noticed, wow, look at that there. The next thing
you know, he's like, oh, yeah, look at this. And he starts giving
me in complete detail of the situation that was around us.
And I'm like, oh, I didn't even notice that over there. I didn't
even notice that that's what this is all about. Luke's giving
us a little more detail. He's one of those people that
God has given the gift to pick up on all those small things
and show us. And it came to pass that as the
people pressed upon him, he saw two ships standing by the lake,
but the fishermen were gone out of them and were washing their
nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's,
and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the
land. And he sat down and he taught the people out of the
ship. Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, launch out
into the deep and let down your nets for a drought. And Simon
answering said unto him, master, we have toiled all night and
have taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word, I
will let down the net. And when they had this done,
they enclosed a great multitude of fishes and their net break. And they beckoned unto their
partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and
help them. And they came and filled both ships, so that they
began to sink. And Simon Peter saw it, and he
fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful
man, O Lord. For he was astonished at all
that were with him at the draught of the fishes which they had
taken. And so was also James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear
not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they had
brought their ships to land, they forsook all and followed
him. Interesting how our Lord has
taken this detail now and showed us the entire picture. Not only
did Christ speak with the authority and the power, He backed it up
with the miracle. The miracle of the fish. You
see who I am. I am God. Who else could bring
in such a bounty of fish? Our Lord proved. And these men,
these men believed and followed. What did we say just a few moments
ago in the opening? But ye believed not, because
ye are not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I
know them, and they follow me. That's what our Lord says, isn't
it? Peter is a child of God. Everything
in the world was created for that very moment. Just as everything
in the world was created for the very moments that Matthew,
or that David, or that Moses, and yes, even Adam, and even the sons of Esau. You see, when we stand up for our Lord. We stand up
for He who works everything. He who is sovereign ruler over
everything. That is so important that we
be reminded ourselves and that we remind all of those around
us. I was talking with someone last week and they wanted to go down this
path about how we should be examples. And we should be doing this and
we should be doing that. And I got a little upset with
the situation because our example is this. I believe God. Don't take what you see in this
flesh as an example ever of anything because this is just the flesh.
What is my example before the people of this world? I believe
my Lord Jesus Christ. Everything he says in his book,
the power that he has, the authority that he has, I believe him. We're going to talk a little
bit more about that in the message to follow. But let me close with
an article written by Pastor Don Fortner. on this very verse
that we were reading here in Luke chapter 5, verse 4. And
let me read that verse one more time. Now when he had left speaking,
he said unto Simon, launch out into the deep, and let down your
nets for a drought. Fortner writes this, he says,
in Luke 5, 4, we see how that our great and glorious Lord God
condescends to use human instruments to perform His great and wondrous
works. Now when he had left speaking,
he said unto Simon, launch out into the deep and let down your
nets for a drought. You see, the catching of this
great drought of the fish was a miraculous, was very miraculous,
but the fishermen were just fishermen. The boats were just boats. The nets were just nets. But
they were fishermen, boats, and nets that God was pleased to
use. There are many who object to
this plain revelation of Scripture, fearing that it limits God and
it gives man a hand in God's operations of grace. Moses did not part the Red Sea. God parted the sea using Moses'
rod, did he not? The disciples did not multiply
the loaves of fish. No, the Lord Jesus did that.
But he let those blessed men distribute food to the hungry.
The very one who raised Lazarus from the dead could have easily
moved that stone from the mouth of the tomb, but he chose to
use men like you and I to roll away that stone from the mouth
of the tomb. Well, so too in the salvation of chosen, redeemed
sinners, God condescends to work by means of human instruments.
It is written, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. The instruments God uses are
themselves utterly useless and insufficient for their work.
And they acknowledge that fact. Master, we have toiled all night,
is what Peter said, and have taken nothing. I'm a fisherman. I've been working all night.
There is nothing. I can do nothing. Why was this the case? Was it
because there was no fish in the sea? No. Were they unskilled
in their work? Certainly not. These were master
seamen. Were they lacking in diligence?
No, they toiled all night long. Why then had they caught nothing? Because we must ever be reminded
that the instruments themselves are worthless and useless. Our
Savior said, without me you can do nothing, but with Him we can
do all things. When the Son of God is at the
helm of the boat by some mysterious power, hordes of fishes are drawn
into that net. You see, the Lord usually performs
His work in the most unlikely places. Our master always chooses
the most unlikely people as the objects of his grace, the most
unlikely men to be his servants, and the most unlikely places
to perform his works. Notice that he commanded the
disciples to launch out into the deep. If you've ever fished in lakes,
you know that you are not likely to catch many fish out in the
deep water, are you? But our Lord says, go out into
the deep, proving, proving his power and his authority. Amen.