Look at the last part of verse
42. And when Jesus beheld him, he
said, thou art Simon, the son of Jonah. Thou shalt be called Cephas,
which is by interpretation, a stone. I've entitled this message, Christ
Named Him Peter. Now, if you came up to me and
gave me a name which was not my name, I'd say, who do you
think you are? My name is my name and you didn't
name me. But if Christ gives me a name, that's my name. And he says to Simon, your name
is Peter, which is by interpretation a stone. Now in the setting,
Andrew had heard what John said with regard to the Lord Jesus
Christ, behold the Lamb of God, and he followed him. And he spent an entire day with
the Lord Jesus Christ. What all were they talking about?
Well, I would say Andrew wasn't saying anything. And he was listening
to what the Lord said. You know, what he says to us
is a whole lot more important than what we have to say to him.
And he heard the Lord speak. And he did what anybody who finds
out who the Lord is does. He wanted his loved ones to know
him. Now if you know him, if you know
who he is, you want people that you love to know him as well.
Now this is not about racking up souls won and trying to earn
a recognition for how much you're used by God. That's what most
soul winning is about. It's very distasteful. It's not
real. But if you know him, you do want
people you love to know him as well. You can't know him and
not want others to know him. So what does Andrew do? He first, verse 41, findeth his
own brother, Simon. And he saith unto him, we have
found the Messiah, which is being interpreted the Christ. Now there's
a reason that, uh, Andrew said we found him because Christ found
him. Look in verse 43, the day following
Jesus would go forth into Galilee and find a Philip. And Philip
saith unto him, follow me. Look down in verse 45, Philip
find Nathanael and saith unto him, we found him. We found him. Well, I suppose you did to some
extent, but it's because he found you. And this is what he is saying
at this time. He says to his brother, Simon,
we found him, that is the Christ. Now everybody in that day had
some vague notion of the Christ coming. Somebody's coming. They might not have understood
much about it, but they had some understanding of this. Somebody's
coming. Remember the woman at the well? She said, I know when
Messiah comes, he'll teach us all things. I'm clueless as to
what you're talking about. She says to the Lord, I have
no idea. But when Messiah comes, he'll show us all things. And
that's when the Lord said, I that speak unto thee, am he. We have found the Messiah. You see, when he makes himself
known, you know who he is. And that's what saving faith
is. It's knowing who he is. I think the most powerful example
of that, perhaps in all the scriptures, is the thief on the cross. How
did he know the stuff he knew? How did he know he was God? How
did he know he was the Lord? How did he know he'd never sinned?
How did he know that he was gonna come back as a mighty reigning
king and he wouldn't stay dead? How'd he know? He knew who he
was. It's that simple. If you know
who he is, everything is predicated on that. Everything we believe
is, comes from, is drawn from who he is. Verse 42, and he brought him to Jesus. Best thing he could have done. And you know, we can't bring people
to him physically, but we can certainly bring them to him in
prayer, can't we? He brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, when I thought of that, I couldn't
help but thinking, I want him to behold me. I want him to look
down upon me even right now. I want him to see me the same
way he saw Peter in his son. He beheld Peter. This is one
of my elect. This is one I stood as a surety
for before the foundation of the world. This is somebody I'm
going to die for. This is somebody I'm living for.
This is one of my children. He beheld Peter and I have no
doubt it was with eyes of love, with eyes of grace, with eyes
of favor, he beheld Peter. Now Peter did not yet know him. He would come to know him, but
he didn't know him yet. He knew he was a man, but he
didn't know he was the Lord Christ. Turn with me for a moment to
Luke chapter four. Luke chapter four. Verse 38, he arose out of the
synagogue and entered into Simon's house, Simon Peter. And Simon's
mother was taken with a great fever. And they besought him
for her, and he stood over and rebuked the fever. And it left
her. And immediately she arose and
ministered to them. I think Peter started having
some idea as to who he was at this time. But look in Luke chapter
5. This is when the Lord was revealed to Peter. And it came
to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of
God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret. and 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 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, I don't know if that's
pronounced draught or drafter, but for a bunch of draught, okay,
draught, and it's for a big load of fish. And Simon answering, said unto
him, master, teacher, we've toiled all the night and
have taken nothing. And I would suppose that he did
really not want to do this. He had been fishing all night.
He was tired. The nets were cleaned. You want
me to go back out there again? We know fishing, and we know
this is not the time to fish. 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 the ships, so they began to sink. When Peter saw, when Peter perceived,
when Peter understood, This is the revelation of Jesus
Christ. He saw that this man was one
who said, fish, get in the net. They got in the net. He saw his
utter sovereignty, his power. He saw his deity at this time.
He saw his lordship, because you'll notice here, he doesn't
call him teacher now. He started out calling him teacher,
master, but look what he says now in verse eight. When Simon
Peter saw, He fell down at Jesus' knees saying, and I don't think he knew this
before this very instance, depart from me for I am a sinful man, oh Lord. Now you know when you will understand
your own sinfulness? You know when I'll understand
my own sinfulness? Not when I have somebody telling me how sinful
I am. When I see who the Lord is. When
I see who the Lord is, I will understand what Peter understood. Lord, you don't want to have
anything to do with me. I am a sinful Now that comes
from finding out who he is. If you ever find out who he is,
you'll know that's true about yourself. And if you don't find
out who he is, if you don't know who he is, it'll just seem like
something negative, you know. But oh, if you know who he is,
you'll say the same thing Peter did. Lord, you don't want to
have anything to do He didn't even suspect mercy. Not at this
time. He didn't even expect God's favor.
He just thought he needed to be done away with. Depart from
me, oh Lord. He knew who the Lord was. Now let's go back to John 1. And he brought him, Andrew brought
his brother to Jesus, and when Jesus beheld him, he said, thou
art Simon, the son of Jonah, thou shalt be called Cephas,
which is by interpretation, a stone. Now if you look at Peter in the
gospel narratives, he sometimes appears to be all over the place,
doesn't he? I think of the Lord walking on
the water. Who's the one who said, bid me,
if it be thou, bid me come to thee on the water? None of the
other disciples did that, and I admire that. He was, if it
be thou, bid me to walk on the water with thee. And the Lord
said, come, and he got out of the ship. Oh, we admire his faith
at that time. Now, we also know that he began
to look at the waves and began to sink like you and I would,
but still, what faith he demonstrated. He's also the man who said when
he saw the Lord with Moses and Elijah, let's make three tabernacles.
One for thee, one for Moses, one for Elijah. There's never
been a... I don't know what word to use for it. Let's just say
it was stupid. Very stupid. What a slam. He didn't realize this. What
a slam at the Lord Jesus Christ to put him in the same category
as Moses or Elijah, sinful man. There's only one type of knack
to be made. He's also the one who denied
Christ with cursing and oaths. in fear of a little maid after
he was the one who said, though all the rest of this bunch denies
you, I'll never do it. He is the one who tried to lead
everybody back to going fishing. When he said, I go fishing, he
didn't just mean I'm going this recreationally for tonight. I
think he was saying, I've had it with this disciple business.
I'm going back to fishing. And several of them said, we're
going with you. But this is also the man who
died as a martyr for Christ. And the Lord said, they're gonna
take you where you don't want, signifying what death he should
glorify God by. He glorified God by his death.
And church tradition has it that he was crucified upside down
because he did not believe himself worthy to be crucified in the
same manner the Lord was. Now what comes to my mind When
I think of Christ, giving him this name is Matthew chapter
16. Would you turn with me there? Matthew chapter 16. That's where
he says, thou art Peter and upon this rock, I'll build my church. And this is such a significant
passage of scripture. Verse 13. 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? What do you hear them say? They reply, and they said, some
say thou art John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah,
or one of the prophets. Now I suppose that these were
meant as compliments. They're putting you in some high
cotton. But understand this, they were
varied. He couldn't be all of those people.
They were contradictory and they were infinitely below the glory
of his divine person. They might have meant them as
compliments, but they weren't. And then he asked this question,
he saith unto them in verse 15, but whom say ye, put your name there. Whom say ye that I am. Whom say ye that I am? What do you say? We're not talking
about what other people say right now. What do you say? What do you believe regarding
the Son of God? Verse 16. Then Simon Peter answered. Now he's always listed first
in the list of the apostles, and he always acts as the spokesman
of the apostles. He's the one that's going to
answer. He's gonna answer if nobody asks him anything. I think
it's interesting when he saw the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration,
and he was very much like me. He didn't know what to say, but
he had to say something. So he answered, nobody asked him anything,
but he answered. He was quick to answer, I am
too. But here he is, he answers and
he gives this glorious answer with regard to the person of
Christ. Simon Peter answered and said, thou art the Christ,
the son of the living God. And my dear friends, this is
the content of faith. This is the content of faith. Everything is predicated on who
he is, he's the Christ. Now understand this, the Christ
is not his last name. The Christ is his offices. Thou art the Christ, thou art
the Messiah. Now, his offices are that of
prophet, priest, and king. And it's very important that
you and I understand this. He's God's prophet. In the Old
Testament, there were three offices that were anointed. God's prophet
was anointed. Remember the way they anointed
Elisha? God's priest was anointed with
the holy oil. And God's king was anointed. Remember when David was anointed
with oil. Here's the king. Now Christ is
God's prophet. Christ is God's priest. Christ
is God's king, but he is utterly unique as God's prophet. He's the word of God. And I love
this, not one time did he ever say what every other prophet
said, thus saith the Lord. He didn't say that once. He said,
I say unto you. Now that's him speaking with
his divine authority. I love that passage of scripture.
After the Sermon on the Mount, it says they were astonished
at his doctrine for he spake as one having authority. And that doesn't mean he just
spoke with a deep, booming voice. That might be phony when somebody
does that. What that's talking about is
these very words recommended themselves as the very Word of
God. When you hear him speak, you
know this is not the Word of a mere man. This is the Word
of God. He was unlike any other priest.
For one thing, every other priest was a sinful man. Not him. He had no sin. Every other priest
brought the blood of a dead animal. He brought his own blood. No
priest was also the altar and the sacrifice. He's the altar
and the sacrifice and the priest that presents himself. And he's
a priest that cannot fail. If he represents you, you must
be saved. Peter, I have prayed for you. What else needs to be said? And oh, what a king. He's a king
like no other king, and here's why. Every other king is a figurehead,
nothing more. The king's heart is in the hand
of the Lord. As the rivers of water, he turneth
it, whithersoever he will. No king has any true power. They're nothing but pawns doing
his will. He said, all power is given unto
me. Oh, what a king he is. He absolutely
rules and reigns, and that's why he, as the all-powerful king,
can save us. If he wasn't all-powerful, I
couldn't be saved, but he's got all power to give me life, to
put away my sin, to make me perfectly righteous. What a king! Thou art The Christ, the son of the living God. Now this king, this prophet,
this priest is incapable of failure. Don't you love that? I'm trusting
one that I can trust Him completely and know that He cannot fail
in saving me. Listen, if I end up being lost,
I'll lose a lot. He loses more. His honor and
His glory. Because if one of His sheep could
fall away, it would destroy every one of His attributes. He ain't
gonna let that happen. That will never happen. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. Now, what does that mean? Many,
probably, if you would go out tonight and say, do you believe
Jesus Christ is the Son of God? Probably a large percentage of
people would say, yes, I do. I do believe that. What do you
mean by that? Now, they can't answer that.
It's just tradition. You're taught all your life Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. What does that mean? Well, I
can tell you exactly what it means. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead in his body. In that man, Christ Jesus, There
is all the fullness of holiness, all the fullness of sovereignty,
all the fullness of justice, all the fullness of power, all
the fullness of wisdom. Every attribute of God has its
fullest expression in his body so that he could say to Philip,
Philip, have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not
known me? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. All we will ever see of God is
Jesus Christ. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. Would you turn with me to 1 John
chapter five? Whosoever, verse one, whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ, what? Is born of God. That's just too simple, you may
think. Do it then. Whoso believeth that Jesus is
God's Christ, God's prophet, the very word of God, God's priest
who must be successful, God's king, all-powerful, is born of
God. I believe that Jesus is the Christ.
I'm born of God. Only a new creature in Christ
Jesus can do that. Look in verse four. For whatsoever
is born of God, that's that person who believes that Jesus is the
Christ. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world,
and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our
faith. Who is he that overcometh the
world? But he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. Do you believe that Jesus is
the Christ? You're born of God. Do you believe that Jesus is
the Son of God? You are victorious. This is the
content of faith. In Acts chapter 8, when the Ethiopian
eunuch said, what hinders me from being baptized? And what
a question. What a question. Every one of
us ought to ask ourselves that question. Is there anything about
me that would hinder me from being baptized? And Philip answered,
if you believe with all your heart. Now, the first thing that
happens to us when we hear that is we start thinking, what's
it mean to believe with all your heart? What's that mean? That scares
me. Do I believe with all my heart? I hope I do, but I'm not,
I mean, how did he answer? He answered, I believe. that Jesus Christ is the Son
of God. That is the content of saving
faith. If you believe who He is, everything
else is going to fall in line. You're going to believe everything
else. Nobody who believes who He is has any problem with election
or particular redemption or irresistible grace. That's who He is. That's who He is. Believe. I want to be very careful how
I say this. I want to be very careful, but I want to say it.
What must I do to be saved? Is there a more important question
than that? What must I do to be saved? I know I can't save
myself. What must I do to be saved? He doesn't say, Beg for
mercy. He doesn't say that. He says,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Let me repeat that. I want you
to sink in, I want you to think about it. He doesn't say, beg
for mercy. Now I beg for mercy. Lord have
mercy on me. I say that every day, Lord have
mercy on me. I'm not speaking against asking for mercy. But
when he says what must I do to be saved, what is the answer?
It's not beg for mercy. It's believe, rely, trust on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Turn with me for a moment to
John chapter 6. Verse 64, but there are some
of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believe not and who should betray him. He
wasn't in for any surprises, was he? And he said, therefore I said
unto you that no man can come to me, except it were given unto
him of my father. From that time, from that statement,
from that sermon preached in John chapter six, From that time,
many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the 12,
will you also go away? I think of him watching that
crowd of at least 5,000 men and women and children who he had
fed miraculously, now they're leaving. And I think one of the
most sobering thoughts is that he did not ask them to come back. He watched them leave and he
looked at the 12 and said, will you also go away? The door's open. You can go with
him. Will you also go away? Then Simon Peter answered, Lord,
where shall we go? No, he didn't say that, did he?
Lord, to whom shall we go? It's not like we have an option.
To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, these words that people were offended by. You look on
up in this chapter, they said, these are hard sayings. We don't
like hard sayings. Who can hear this? They were
offended. They left. Peter wasn't offended,
nor were any of the rest of his disciples. To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and are sure. We believe and know that thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God. Now, if you would have asked
them, do you know for sure that you're saved without any doubt
whatsoever, if they would have been honest, they would have
said, Well, I hope so. But if you ask them if they're
sure that he's the Christ, the son of the living God, amen. I believe who he is. I turn back to Matthew chapter
16. Let's wrap this up. Verse 17, this is after Peter makes this
confession concerning the person of Christ. Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. Jesus answered and said unto
him, blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood
hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven. Do you believe that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of the living God, and all that means, the
God of the Bible? There's a reason for that. Somebody,
I don't remember in the conference, brought up the two thieves. One was saved, one was not. One knew who he was, one didn't. What was the difference? Revelation. You and I are shut up to revelation.
The only way we will know him is if he reveals himself. And he says to Peter, blessed
art thou. And listen, if you believe what
Peter believed and if I believe what Peter believes, we're just
as blessed as he is right now. Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah. Flesh and blood hath not revealed
this unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven, verse 18,
and I say unto thee, thou art Peter. That name he gave him
when he first revealed himself to him. Thou art Peter, and upon
this rock, Peter's a little rock, this is a big rock, upon this
rock, not talking about Peter. You know, this is where the idea
of the Pope comes from, right here. Would you want your salvation
to be built on Peter or any other man? Man, I wouldn't. When he's
talking about the rock, he's talking about this confession
of me. Thou art Peter, and upon this
rock, this confession of me, who I am, this covers everything,
who I am. It's so simple, it's so powerful,
it's so beautiful, who I am. Upon this rock, I will build
my church. You know something that I despise
is to hear men talk about being church planters. Let's go plant
a church. Well, that's foolishness. Upon
this rock, I will build my church. Christ is the builder of the
church, not some silly church planner trying to win points
in heaven. I don't apologize for talking
that way, it's evil. Christ said, I will build my church. And what does he say next? And
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. You know what that
means? That means the Lord Jesus, by almighty, irresistible grace,
will knock down the gates of hell and pull out all of his
elect out of it, and there's nothing hell can do to prevent
it. That's exactly what that means. Verse 19, and I will give
unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind
on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose
on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Now, does that mean it's up to
Peter as to who will be saved? He's got the keys. If he says
you're in, you're in. If he says you're out, you're
out. Now, what would happen to me if my salvation was dependent
upon you? Now, you might say right now,
well, you're in. But let us stay around each other
for long enough. Let me make you mad and we'll see what happens.
Let me offend you and we'll see what happens. Send them to hell. I sure don't want my salvation
to be dependent upon you. I love you, I really do, I love
you. I love you, but I don't want my salvation dependent upon
you. Something will go wrong. Here's what the Lord is saying. The keys of the kingdom is the
gospel message Whoever is set free and loosed by this glorious
message here on earth, they're gonna be in heaven. And whoever finds this message
not liberating, but binding and offensive here on earth, they
will not be in heaven. I will give unto thee the keys
of the kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on
earth shall be bound in heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt loose
on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Now, the Lord looked at Simon
and he said, your name's Peter. And whatever the Lord says to
me, my name is, I'm fine with it, aren't you? Whatever he says,
your name is Peter. Peter went on to write in first
Peter chapter two, verse five to every believer. We're called by Peter, living
stones, living little Peters, living little rocks, living stones
built up by Christ, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer
up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Lord, we say with Peter, by your
grace, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And Lord, enable us to carry
this message with us. Everywhere we go, who he is. Lord, create faith in each heart
here according to your will. In Christ's name we pray, amen.
Matt, come lead us in closing in, please.