O song, a wonderful Savior is
Jesus, my Lord, a wonderful Savior to me. He hideth my soul in the
cleft of the rock, that shatters a dry, thirsty land. He hideth
my life in the depths of His love and covers me there with
His hand. That's what He's done here with
Simon Peter. That's what He's done with all
of us many, many times over the years. And that's what we have
here, our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ hide Simon
Peter's soul in the cliffs of the rock. Hide him there in the
depths of his love and cover him there with his hand. And
that's why we love God's Word. It's our foundation for our faith.
It's the thing that we stand on. I mean, you've got to have
a solid foundation when things happen. And this Word is the
solid foundation. And we can find ourselves in
the scripture. I can find myself in Simon Peter
quicker than I can and better than I can in anybody else. I
certainly don't find myself in the Apostle Paul, but I find
myself in Simon Peter more than anybody else. But I want to go
through these verses and make a few comments on them as I go.
Our Lord said in verse 31, Simon, Simon, You know, he calls him Simon,
Simon there, didn't call him Peter. The Lord called him Peter,
named him Peter, named him Petra. And that was the name that our
Lord gave him, says, you know, upon this rock, called him a
rock. Upon this rock, I'm going to build my church. That was
the name of his strength, the name of his power. But here he
said, Simon, Simon, didn't call him Peter, didn't call him the
rock. And he repeated his name. And the reason he repeated his
name was there's a tenderness here, a compassion here. And
how he said Simon, Simon. He said Simon, Simon. Simon, Simon. He didn't say Simon,
Simon. Aggravated with him. Impatient
with him. Tired of fooling with him. No,
I believe he said Simon, Simon. Simon, Simon. And he gave him
a warning. He gave him an awful fearful
warning. And he says, look what he said,
Satan hath desired to have you. There was 11 other apostles,
but this is the one Satan wanted. This is the one the devil wanted.
He said, Satan hath desired to have you that he may sit you
as weak. Now I want you to notice something,
Simon Peter didn't know the devil, that Satan was anywhere close
to him. None of the other apostles knew that Satan was anywhere
close to them. Didn't even know, had no clue that there was anything
fixing to happen. And yet, he was working. And
our Lord knew what was fixing to happen. And he said, here's
Satan, he's right here, he's right here. And he's got his
hand, he's reaching out for you, and he's going to lay, he's going
to sit you like wheat. They didn't know him was there.
And yet, beloved, near the flock, and he was right there, and he
was with them, and they didn't see him. And as an enemy of our
Lord Jesus Christ and his people, He is an awful, awful enemy,
one you and I cannot possibly deal with. He's called subtle
for His ability to deceive. Through His subtlety, He deceived
our Mother Eve, the Apostle said. He's called a lion for His fierceness
and His aggression. As a roaring lion, He goes about
seeking whom He may divide. He's called an angel of light
because Paul says that Satan transforms his ministers into
angels of light to dazzle and impress. And he's called an accuser
of the brethren in heaven itself. He said our accuser of the brethren
is up there. Always up there accusing us of
something. And that's what he said about
Job. And then God asked him, He said, Do you consider my servant
Job who fears God and is perfect in his generation, perfect in
all of his ways? A lot of people wonder whether
Job was converted or not. Well, it's said right at the
very beginning. God said he's a perfect and an upright man.
That's what God said about him. And if God says you're a perfect
and an upright man, he was. And I know this, that he said,
Satan said, well, I'll tell you the only reason he's serving
you is because you gave him everything. You've blessed him more than
anybody else. He said, you just start taking
that hedge down and let me at him for a little while. And you
know what he'll do? He'll turn around and cuss you. God said,
go ahead. You know what happened when it
got through? He said, the Lord give, the Lord take it away.
Blessed, blessed, blessed be the name of the Lord. And then he's called a murderer.
He's a murderer from the beginning. He murdered the human race, killed
us all, slew us all with his lies and his deceit. He's called
the father of lies. And when a seed is sown, he's
right there to catch it away. Takes it, tears from among the
wheat. And not only is this an awful
enemy, Satan's an awful enemy. He's the one that sought him
and sought to sift him as wheat. And the world out here is such
a snare for us. It's such a snare for us. And
the flesh, this awful flesh that we bear, what a burden this flesh
is. Paul said, oh, then I would do
good. I don't. And when I would do
bad, what I wouldn't do, I do. What I would do, I don't. I've
got the will to do what's right. I've got the will to live. I've
got the will. But oh, this flesh. How can this
flesh perform it? Like I said this morning, I make
promises to myself all the time. And I break them. I break them. I promise I'm going to do this.
I promise I'm going to do that. And I'm going to get up tomorrow
and I'm going to start my day doing this and do the other thing.
And then you know the day is done and I find out I've lied
to myself another time. And this flesh, this flesh is
such a burden. But there's no enemy, enemy like
the devil. And I tell you why, because he's
invisible. He's experienced. He's had 6,000
years experience. He went into the Garden of Eden. A perfect environment. Among
two people fresh from the hand of God himself. And he destroyed
them. And he was audacious enough and
proud enough and confident enough of himself that he could even
overthrow the Lord Jesus Christ. And he came to the Lord himself
and tempted him. Tempted him. But all listen,
and he overthrew so many people in the scriptures. But I tell
you, we have a promise. We have a promise. I tell you,
our Lord Jesus Christ, we have a promise. He said, I is not
one, not one that the Father give me. Not one of them have
I lost. And I ain't fixing to start to
lose one now. And I tell you what, look over
here in the Q-Tip Luke and look over in Romans 16 with me just
a minute. Romans 16. Look at this in Romans 16. This
is going to happen shortly. And it's going to happen to every
one of us individually as the Lord takes us out of here. You know, and when it comes time
for us to go, it'll be a different story. And look what our Lord
says He's going to do in verse 20, Romans 16, 20. And the God of peace shall bruise
Satan, tread Satan under your feet shortly. And our Lord says this, He says,
you know when we get ready to leave here, our feet will set
on His head. And one of these days, the whole,
all of us as God's people, all of us as God's elect, and one
final thing that'll happen. He said here, the God of peace,
you'll take your foot and you'll tread Satan under your feet. That's what he said. And boy,
I tell you what, I look, I can't do it right now, but one of these
days, I'm gonna be able to do that. Right now, sometimes he
puts his foot all over me, but one of these days I'm going to
put it back. I'm going to put it back. But now look what it
says next. Look back over here in our text.
He said, Oh, Simon, Simon, Simon, Simon. And that's the way you
do. You know, you just, when you
know somebody's done made a mess out of things, there ain't nothing,
there ain't nothing else to say, but Oh, Simon, Simon, Simon,
Simon. And look what he says. Verse
32. But I pray for thee, that thy
faith fail not. Thank God for these wonderful
words. But, but, Satan, Simon, Simon, Satan
hath desired you to have you and shift you as we. But, But
I pray for you, these wonderful words, I pray for thee that thy
faith fail not. What a blessed, blessed truth. We had a high priest interceding
for him before that act ever took place. Before Satan ever
started sifting him. Before Satan ever come to him. Before there was anything happened
to Simon Peter. Our Lord had already started
praying for him. That knowing this was going to
come. But I tell you, you think it's going to destroy you Peter?
I prayed for you. And you're going to think that
your faith has failed and you don't have any hope. You're without
grace in this world and without faith. But I prayed for you.
And you know what I prayed for? That your faith, it won't quit. It won't quit. Oh, he said, I
prayed for you. He didn't say the other apostles
prayed for you. They didn't even know what was
happening. Simon Peter didn't know I was having said I didn't
say your brethren pray for you He didn't say go off and pray
for yourself So that you'll be able to stand this and if you
pray real hard you'll be able to make it But I Have prayed for you Simon Peter I pray for you Look in John 17 In John 17 you think our Lord Jesus
Christ prayed for his people before they ever came into this
world Before I was ever born the Lord Jesus Christ prayed
for me Do you know how many times I
could have been destroyed? How many times I thought of destroying
myself? How much sin, just awful things.
And yet, yet, Christ Had me and had you written on
His heart, bore our names on His breastplate, bore our names
on His shoulder epaulets before the world ever began. And the
reason we became believers, the reason we continue to be believers
because Christ our Lord prayed for us before we ever were. But
He prays for us when we're in particular situations. Now look
what he said here now in John 17 in verse 9. This is what he
says now. I pray for them. I pray not for
the world, but for them which thou hast given me. Oh, what
a wonderful word. For those thou hast given me.
For they belong to you too. And then look what he says down
in verse 12. While I was with them in the
world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest me, I
have kept, and none of them is lost. You mean Simon ain't gonna
be lost, ain't gonna backslide, gonna have to go to the altar
and renew up? No. No. Oh, and look what he says down
in verse 15. I pray not that thou shouldest
take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them
from the evil. Don't take them out of the world,
but just keep them from the evil. Keep them from the evil. You
know, the reason he didn't fully and finally fall away was because
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know why? Because our
Lord Jesus Christ says this, All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me in no wise. I don't care if he denies me
three times. I don't care if he falls like
David and falls into adultery. I don't care what sin he commits.
He said if he come to me and he was given to me and he comes
to me there is nothing that he'll ever do. No time if he tells a lie and
says I know not the man. If he gets in a position where
he's ashamed of me and speak my name. He said I will never
and no way cast him out. Now, you say, well that means
you go out and do it. No, no, no, no, no, no. Don't
you know the Simon? Oh, we'll get to that in a minute,
but listen. That's, oh, he's not going to cast us out. If
he was going to cast us out, he would have done that at the
beginning. Bruce, we've got a thousand reasons
I could think of for myself for him to cast me away, but he won't
do it, he won't do it. And I'll tell you another reason
why he didn't fully follow it. Our Lord Jesus promised him eternal
life. Eternal life. Not life until
you fall. Not life until you deny Christ.
Not life until you do something stupid or you sin. Not eternal
life until you mess up and you do this and you do that and the
other. He said you've got eternal life. and he promised and he promised
this he said that he says he said I'll come again and receive
you unto myself that where I am there you may be also and that
means everyone for whom he died and he promised him Simon Peter
you're going to go with me one of these days and you're going
to go with me and be with me where I am and I tell you what
that's why you're not going to fail And you're going to behold my
glory. And our Lord Jesus Christ said, and He said, I'll never
leave you. And I'll never forsake you. Never do that. And that's
what our Lord said, and I pray for thee that thy faith fail
not. Now let me ask you something.
What if your faith ceased to be? What if you got in a situation
and you didn't have any faith at all? You know what it would be like
to be without faith? If your faith is gone, everything
is gone. Your hope in Christ is gone. Your life is gone. Your love is gone. Joy is gone. Peace is gone. And if you lose
faith, everything is gone. But I prayed for you. I prayed
for you, Simon, Simon. I prayed for you. I prayed for
you. I called your name to my Father. I told my father about you. And I prayed for you. And I tell
you, Diamond Peter, you're going to think what Saul said and done
that you're a goner. You're not going to fail. Oh,
no wonder Christ is precious to us who believe. No wonder
faith is called precious. It is precious, isn't it? Oh,
it's precious. And our faith won't fail. And
you know why it won't fail? Because Christ won't fail. He won't fail. As long as He's
on His throne, as long as He's for me, My faith won't fail because He
can't fail. He sits now at the right hand
of God. And you know where He appears?
In the presence of God for us right now. Right now. And let
me tell you something. Look over in Isaiah 43. I just
thought of this. Look over in Isaiah 43. And you know, When Daniel was in the lion's
den, who do you think upheld him? When the Hebrew children
were in the fire furnace, who was that fourth man they got
in there with? Look in Isaiah 43. Behold now, thus saith the Lord
that created thee, O Jacob, He that formed thee is Jacob that
I loved. He that formed thee, O Israel,
fear not. I have bought you and paid for
you. And I have called you by name. I know my sheep, and my
sheep know me. And you are mine. And when you
pass through the waters, When you go through that river of
Jordan, when you go across to the other side, when you go through
the rivers, waters, I'll be with you. And when you go through
the rivers, oh listen, don't you think for a minute they're
going to overflow you and carry you away. When you walk through
the fire, And when you sin a fiery trial
that you don't think is strange, he said, thou shall not be burned,
neither shall the flame kindle upon you. For I am the Lord thy
God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. Oh, what? If that's all the scripture
said, that'd be enough. If that, those three scriptures
is all we had, Bobby, that'd be enough. God make us a promise. That's a promise right there.
You and I can trust and believe from now until the time we go
to glory. But thank God that ain't all it said. But that's
enough. Oh no, we won't fail. Our faith
won't fail. And then look what he says to
him here back over in our text again. And he said in verse 32, I prayed
for thee that thy faith fell not. And when thou art converted,
when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. What in the world's
the Lord meaning when you are converted? Now he's going to
fall. He's going to deny our Lord Jesus
Christ. He's going to deny his master
three times. He's going to deny his master
three times. And he'll be sifted. Look what
he said in verse 34. I tell thee, Peter, the cock
shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that
thou knowest me. You're going to deny that you
don't know me. The same one that said, Lord,
to whom shall we go? You've got the words of eternal
life. The same one that said, who do men say that I am? And
Simon Peter says, well, thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God. And he said, blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah. Flesh
and blood didn't reveal this to thee, but my Father which
is in heaven. That's who we're talking about. And then he's going to turn right
around and say three times, I don't know him. I don't know him. A little old
woman comes up to him, just a little old woman, just a maid. Runnin'
around waitin' on people and puttin' wood on the fire. And she walks up to him. I've
seen you somewhere before. Ain't you with him one time?
Didn't I see you follow him around? Ha ha ha, no, no, no. Not me,
not me. Oh my. How will this do Him any
good? We say that all things work together
for good to them that are called of God according to His purpose,
that love God according to His purpose. How will this do the
cause of Christ and His gospel any good? And you know what conversion
is? Oh my, me and you have been converted
lots of times in our lives. We was converted from false doctrine.
We was converted from Arminianism too. The grace was converted
from works to grace, was converted from self-righteousness to the
righteousness of Christ. We're being converted all the
time. Conversion means that you're
going this way and you turn and go another way. And salvation
is a work of God. God comes and He works in your
heart and He works in your soul and regenerates you. And that's
the new birth. That's what He does. But conversion
is when that happens, you turn and you start calling on God.
You turn from everything you ever had and you turn to Him.
And that's what's going to happen to St. Peter. And I tell you,
what did he trust in before? Look what it says there in verse
33. This is one reason why he needs to be converted. Look at
verse 33. And he said unto him, Lord, I
can just hear him. He said, Lord,
Lord, Lord, Lord, he's just as good as saying, Lord, you don't
know what you're talking about. That's as good as what he said.
He said, Lord, You don't know me like I know
me. He said, Lord, I'm ready to go
with you. If it's a prison, I'll just go
in prison with you. And if you have to die, I'll
just die too. The Lord just told him what was
going to happen. And he turned right around and told the Lord
that it ain't going to happen. No, not me. Not me. Don't you think he needs to be
converted? His conversion. Oh, he's got
to be converted first of all from the confidence he had in
his flesh. No wonder the Apostle Paul says
we have no confidence in the flesh. There was a time he did
and Simon Peter, oh how many times did he have confidence
in the flesh. How many times did he dispute
with the Lord? And that's what he's doing here.
And his conversion will be a glorious display of the grace and faithfulness
of our Lord Jesus Christ. How that he'll never cast a man
out. And oh, look what he told them
down in verse 35. He said, when I sent you without
purse or without script or without shoes, when I sent you out without
anything, did you lack anything? They said, nothing. And here's Simon Peter, he's
thinking he's got the ability to stand, he's got the ability
to do what's necessary to stand by Christ no matter what happens.
And don't you know he really believed that about himself?
He really believed that about himself. And all beloved, what
a glorious display of the grace and the power and the love and
the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now I'll tell you
something about Simon Peter and every single one of us. We can
every single one of us fall by ourselves, but not one of us
can get up by ourselves. David fell by himself. And he was in the same boat Simon
Peter was when Nathan came to him. He told him about that man
that had that ewe lamb and that little lamb and how he loved
that lamb and how that lamb just loved him. He said there was
a rich man and he had everything he wanted. But he went and took
that poor man's ewe lamb and he took it and slew it and killed
it to feed the people in his house with. David said, a man
like that would take from a poor man, take something that was
so dear to him, something so precious to him, said he ought
to just die. And old Nathan said, David, thou
art the man. Oh, he said, oh, oh, oh, oh. And you know what the next
thing Nathan said to him? He said, the Lord has put away
your sin. That's the next thing he said
to him. Can you imagine how David felt
when he says, you are the man? And you gave the enemies of the
Lord great occasion to blaspheme. And he says, but the Lord hath
forgiven your sin. Oh David, David, David, you did
an awful, awful thing. But the Lord hath forgiven your
sin. Oh, that's what's going to happen. That's the way Christ
is. We can fall by ourselves, but we can't get up by ourselves.
And thank God for the gospel that always tells us where we
are. Thank God for that. Christ never leaves his people
without going before them, without going with them, and without
cleaning up behind them. Oh, he must be converted. Simon
must be converted. Turn from his self-confidence.
Turn from trusting in his own strength. He didn't even know
himself. He was so self-deceived. Oh,
he had such confidence in his flesh. Now look, that word converted
means to turn. Let me show you something in
Jeremiah 31. Well, good job Jeremiah 31 with me, just a minute. In verse chapter 31, verse 18. And that word converted means
to turn. And he said, oh, when you're
converted, when you're turned, When you're turned away from
that self-confidence, when you're turned away from that arrogance,
when you're turned away from that pride that you think this
couldn't happen to me, when you're turned away from that self-deception
that, oh, listen, I know me better than you know yourself. I know
that I can go through this. I know that I'm going to stay
with you, Lord. I know that I'm not going to deny you. I just
know it. And he had to be turned, he had to be turned from that.
And look what it says here in Jeremiah 31, 18. I have surely
heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus. Thou hast chastised me,
and I was chastised as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. Now
listen to this. Turn thou me, and I shall be
turned, for thou art the Lord thy God. And that's the same thing David
said, Lord, if there be any evil way in me, any wicked way in
me, search me, know me, try me. And
oh Lord, keep us. And that's what he's saying here.
And I'll tell you another thing, who could tell the awful bitterness
of falling than someone who has fallen? Who could be more afraid
of the self than those who have failed? And this will give the
Lord's people, all the rest of them, a great occasion to forgive
Simon Peter too. Who better to tell the weakness
of the flesh than those who trusted in the flesh? And I'll tell you
when his conversion started over here in Luke 22 and verse 60. You want to know when his conversion
started? It started before he got out of that enemy's house. And all who better to tell of
the grace and the mercy and the forgiveness and the power and
the intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ than somebody like
Peter who fell so. And look what he says here. And
this is the last time now. And Peter says, Man, I know not
what thou sayest. And immediately while he yes
spake, this is his third time now, that rooster crowed, that
cock crowed, that cock crowed, and the Lord turned, now listen
to this, and the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. That's
one of the most astounding profound verses in the Bible. Peter's standing right there. It hadn't been the space of just
Very, very few minutes. I know not what thou sayest,
man. That rooster crowed. And he's standing there, the
Lord Jesus. He's bound. They're fixing to
take him over to Pilate's hall. And they've got him bound. He's
done been beaten. He's done been ridiculed. He's done been put
on trial. And the Lord Jesus turns and looks at Simon Peter. And I believe he has such compassion
and such love and no accusation in it, no condemning in it, no
judging in it. He just looked at him with such
pity, such compassion. Simon Peter, I see you. I know
you. I know where you are. I know
what you did. I told you this was going to
happen. I told you it was going to happen. And oh, the Lord turned
and looked upon Peter. And listen to what happened then.
And Peter remembered the word of the Lord. Ain't that the way
it is? We remembered the word of the
Lord. How he had said unto him, before the cock crow, thou shalt
deny me thrice. And oh, here's his conversion.
And Peter went out. and wept bitterly. I don't mean he didn't just shed
a few tears. His soul was in agony. He probably
got on his face and he wept and wept and his soul just felt like
it was being torn out of him. I'm sure of that. But oh, that's
where these conversions start. Who better to tell of the grace?
Who better to tell of the pity? Who better to tell of the faithfulness?
Who better to tell of the forgiveness of our Lord Jesus Christ than
someone like Simon Peter, who fell so much? Who better to tell
of our Lord's faithfulness than those who were unfaithful? Oh,
better. Listen, I'll tell you what. You know what Simon Peter did
in John 21? Y'all remember the story. They was all out there
fishing. John 21. And the Lord Jesus hollered out
at them and said, Children, have you caught anything? They said,
Nothing. And there was a fire there and
there was coals burning and there was fish on the fire. And he heard that voice and old
John said to Simon, said the rest of them on the boat, said,
that's the Lord. That's the Lord. He said, cast
your net over on the right side and you'll catch a bunch of fish.
Told all night, said we ain't caught nothing. He said, you
cast your net over on the right side and oh, you're going to
have a bunch of fish. Well, they did. And old John
said, that's the Lord. That's the Lord told us to do
that. That's the Lord that done that. He took our nothing and
made some. And you know what old Simon Peter
done? Them fellas tried to drag him in the net. He was naked.
I mean, he's naked out there. He got his future coat, put it
on him. Jumped overboard. He went to wade through that
water. And oh, he was the first one
to get to Christ. You know why that was? I pray
for you that your faith fail not. And he said, anybody that
loves me like that, forgives me like that, and receives me
like that, I got to get back to him. I got to get in his feet.
I got to get in his presence. I got to go there. That's the
only place that I'll find any assurance and comfort. And he
went right back there. Oh my, my, my. And I'll tell
you why. And this is the reason. Now back
over here, we're still in Luke 22, ain't we? And look down at
verse 37. Here's another reason why none
for whom Christ died will ever perish. He said in verse 37,
For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished
in me. And he was reckoned among the
transgressors, for the things concerning me have an end. This is why none for whom Christ
died will ever perish. He said all things written about
me must be accomplished. They must be accomplished. There's
an end to them. There's a purpose to them. There's
a finality to them. Must be accomplished. And oh,
listen to what he said. And he was reckoned among the
transgressors. He was reckoned among all of
us. Encountered himself as us. and bore all our transgressions.
Simon Peter was a transgressor. He said, number me. All of us
transgressors. And he said, take me and number
me among them and give them all to me. And then that's what he
said. He says there in verse 37, For
the things concerning me have an end. You know what that means? That has a completeness to it,
a fulfillment of it. And you know what that means?
He said in John 19, 30, when he cried with a loud voice, it
is finished. That was it. It's done. Simon Peters and everybody else
for whom Christ died, Oh, it's done. He said there's a fulfillment
to it. There's a completeness to it.
There's an end to it. And there was an end to it. It's finished. There was an end to sin. There was an end to the judgment
and justice of God. There was an end to the law as
a curse. But there'll never be an end
to us Because Christ did it all. All to Him we owe. I told you
what a wonderful Savior is Jesus our Lord. What a wonderful Savior
to me. He hides my life in the depths
of His love and covers me there with His hand. You all can't see it right now,
but His hands got me right on the cliff of that rock. God,
His hand right over me, that hand of love. Oh, bless His name. Bless His name. Blessed be the
name of the Lord forever. Amen. Amen. Let's sing that 125. Stand together with me. And you know, not only me, but
all of you, you know, that goes for all of us. That goes for
all of us. Yeah, he got you in that cliff
of that rock and got that hand of love right over you. The depths
of His love. Go ahead, Garrett. I hear the Savior say, Thy strength in His law. Out of weakness watch and pray. Hide in me Thine all in all. Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. the crimson stain, He washed
it white as snow. For now, indeed, I find, Thy
power and Thy can change the leper's spot and
melt the heart of stone. Jesus training all, all to Him
alone. Sin left that awful crimson stain. He washed it, washed it, washed
it. Amen. Nothing good have I Whereby I
grace to claim I'll wash my garments white In the blood of Calvary's
Lamb Jesus made it all All to Him I owe. Sin had left the crimson
stain, He washed it white as snow. This is the best of all.
And when He over that throne, I stand in Him complete. Jesus died, my soul to save. My lips shall still repeat, Jesus
made me whole. The crimson stain he washed in
white as snow.