Mark Chapter 16. I want to briefly
mention to us a little bit about Mark. Peter would have been Mark's
pastor. Peter would have been Mark's
pastor. Mark received most, if not all of his insight from Peter
following around him around being his interpreter to various locations. He was Peter's interpreter, so.
To be clear, Mark was not one of the 12 disciples. And why
is this important? Well, because Peter would have
been the one, had the Lord permitted, to write the second gospel, as
the line is, Matthew then Mark. But he didn't allow Peter to
do that. He allowed Mark to write. But
we see Peter in the book of Mark quite a bit for that very reason.
Peter had been telling him all that he had learned of the Lord. Now Mark gives us, because of
all this, Mark gives us great insight to the servitude, the
Lord being a servant. We just heard about him being
the great physician. We just heard about him having all power
and him using that power to serve not only just his people, but
the father. He was, we see him as a servant.
He took upon not in nature of angels, the scripture says, but
of a servant. Mark clearly defines our Lord's
purpose in accomplishing salvation for sinners, such as Peter. The Lord gives us a gracious
summary of Mark's gospel. In Mark chapter 10, verse 45,
it says, for even the son of man came not to be ministered
unto, son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister
and to give his life for a ransom for many. That's a summary of
the gospel of Mark. Christ came to be the Lord's
minister. to give His life a ransom for many. Understand that the
earth was made and that Christ came to this earth being born
a man for one reason and for one purpose, and it was to please
His Father in redeeming His people, redeeming the people that the
Father had elected. That was the Lord's purpose.
Christ served His Father in all things. He shows us His obedience
unto the Father. Mark reveals this. shows us that
he fulfilled all the work that was given him, all the requirements
for salvation, all his responsibilities, he fulfilled it. Mark gives us
insight to this. Now, I do understand that there's
echoes through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John of each other,
and we see different viewpoints as the Lord's healing this individual
or casting out demons in this individual, but we certainly
can see the Lord as a servant in the book of Mark, and I'm
truly thankful for that. Last Sunday, I found it interesting
because we looked at the beginning and the end of Matthew. Well,
that's exactly what we're doing in Mark. We're in the second
chapter, the first hour, and now we're in the last chapter,
chapter 18 of Mark. So Christ had given up the ghost
in Mark 15. And as we ponder the Lord's death, the
fulfillment of his gospel, The desire I had this morning is
to ask us a question. Is the message for me? And that's
what I've titled the message. Is the message for me? Now you
can hear the gospel and I can hear the gospel, but if the message
is not for us, it's not good news to us. If it's for us, that's
what the gospel literally translates as good news. This message is
not for everyone. This message is not everyone's
hope. This message is not good news
to the self-righteous. As we heard the first hour, Christ
came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Now in Mark 15, we see that the
Lord bows his head on Calvary's cross and he gives up the ghost.
He says, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. It is finished.
And it's the second account, the first account was in Matthew,
the second account of the veil in the temple being rent in twain,
signifying that we can now enter boldly into the throne of grace,
having obtained mercy and find grace to help in the time of
need. We can enter into the holiest by his sacrifice, his blood and
his offering. Now in chapter 16, it's after
the three days and three nights had taken place where the Lord
had been buried. We know that it was three days and three nights
because the Lord said that. And to his followers, as Jonah
was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights,
so shall the son of man be in the heart of the earth three
days and three nights. This is typifying his death and what's going to
take place afterwards. He's going to be buried. And
he was, and this is exactly where we're at chapter 16. Let's read
chapter 16, a few verses, verse one. When the Sabbath was passed,
Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and Salome, had
bought sweet spices that they might come and anoint him. And
very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came
into the sepulcher at the rising of the sun, and they said among
themselves, who shall roll us the stone from the door of the
sepulcher? And when they looked, they saw
that the stone was rolled away, for it was very great. And entering
into the sepulcher, they saw a young man sitting on the right
side, clothed in a long white garment, and they were affrightened. And he said unto them, be not
affrightened, you seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified.
He is risen, he is not here. Behold the place where they laid
him. But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth
before you into Galilee. There shall you see him, as he
said unto you. And they went out quickly and
fled from the sepulcher, and they trembled and were amazed. Neither said they anything to
any man, for they were afraid." Let's stop reading right there. We often talk about the scripture
having a spiritual meaning and a physical meaning, and there
is This is true in this chapter. This is true in every verse of
this chapter. There's a spiritual meaning and
a physical meaning. And I want us to, we can obviously
see the physical just by making it an account, telling a story.
But I want to see the spiritual this morning. The first thing
we have is these words, after the Sabbath had passed. after the Sabbath had passed.
Don't miss that. So many times we read the word
of God and the Lord has to be the one that reveals it to us.
But we miss things that they're so precious because it's twofold. Number one, the Sabbath, the
day had passed. But number two, the Sabbath,
the person, the person had died. The Sabbath had passed. The Lord
Jesus Christ understand is God's Sabbath. On the Sabbath day after
he had finished his work, the scripture says the Lord rested
on the Sabbath. Christ told the Pharisees, I
am Lord of the Sabbath. He is God's Sabbath. And now that his death had been
accomplished, now that his death had been fulfilled and everything
necessary for salvation had been accomplished, we see that after
the Sabbath had passed, they come to worship him. The Sabbath
had never passed away. There would be no hope for you
and I. No hope of salvation. And after
he had passed, they come to worship. They bear sweet spices. Now,
my intention is not to spiritualize everything in this passage, but
I want us to see the picture here. What is their desire? What
is their desire? Is it not to worship? Bringing
these sweet spices, this was bringing a gift unto the Lord.
It was to anoint the body. They couldn't do anything on
the Sabbath by the law. They weren't allowed to do anything.
But after the Sabbath had passed, then they came and they were
going to anoint him. They desired to worship. They believed he
was God and they desired to worship him. That's the picture here.
They're desiring to come to him and worship. Well, how do we
worship? Do we bring offerings of our
sweet smelling savor that by our works or by what we've done
and think that the Lord's gonna smell that and be satisfied with
it? The scripture tells us very plainly the smell that he was
satisfied with was the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. When the
Lord Jesus Christ offered himself to the Father, it said that it
went up unto him, the Father, as a sweet smelling savor. That's the picture here, isn't
it? That's how we worship, is we confess, no, Lord, you're
the sweet smelling savor. You're the one that I've got
to smell like you if I have any hope. I've got to look like you.
I've got to be you. That's exactly what the Lord
did on the cross in substitution. He took the wretched, vile, ugly
that we are and gave us his beauty. He gave us his smell before the
Father. We don't stink anymore. Remember
the first hour I mentioned Martha said, Lord, it's been four days.
Lazarus stinks. Not anymore. He's alive. God made him alive
and he smells just like the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what his
people smell like. That's our confession. That's worship, isn't
it? Well, that was these ladies' desire coming to him. Worship
is simple. Looking to Christ. Looking to
Christ. Looking to his finished work
alone. Confessing him through the eyes
of faith that he's given us. The next thing I want us to notice
is when they were coming. At the rising of the sun. Now I love, we looked in Malachi,
you remember what the Lord was called? The sun, S-U-N of righteousness. They didn't know it, but Christ
had already risen at this point. So it's a twofold picture here. Yes, it was the sun coming up
over the hill, giving light into the earth and warming the earth.
But it was the son of righteousness that was risen at the rising
of the sun. They didn't even know it yet. There's evidence
of that, we'll see it in a minute, but the son of righteousness
has come and at the Lord's bidding, they came to worship Him. Who
put the desire to worship Him there? God did. Who puts the
desire for you to worship? God does. Now, if we live to
ourself, we'll find something else that the flesh is more entertained
with. There's no good news for the flesh in this gospel. This
corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on
immortality. How does that happen? Because this corpse is going
back to the dirt from which it came. We're just walking a bunch
of dust. We know that, don't we? We're
just dust. From dust thou art, from dust thou shalt return.
No, but Christ came to save sinners and give them a new nature, give
them a new heart, give them spiritual life and make them perfect. And
that's our hope. That's what we hope in. The Lord bid them to come worship.
If he doesn't bid, there's no life. We'll remain dead. Just
as we heard the first hour, we'll remain paralyzed, won't we? We'll
remain paralyzed. But his word in the heart of
his people calls us to desire to worship according to his will,
all by his grace. I love the thought that every
believer, now that word's thrown around a lot. Christians thrown
around a lot too, isn't it? Everybody talks about being a
Christian and truly there's only one type of Christian and that
is those whom the Lord loves, those whom the Lord's purchased
by his own blood. There's only one type of believer,
those that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that believe this
gospel. There's only one gospel. There's one faith, one baptism,
one Lord. There's just one. There's not
a bunch of them. Why am I saying all that? Because every believer
that's ever lived has had the same exact confession. that it's
all his choosing, it's all his saving, it's all his calling,
it's all his keeping. He did it all. He must do it
all. It's all the same. These ladies
knew that. They wanted to worship the Lord.
They knew that to be true. Now in verse three, a glorious
question is asked. I wanna read that again, verse
three. They said among themselves, who shall roll us away the stone
from the door of the sepulcher? In verse four, the very last
word says, for it was very great. Now they had a problem. And I want us to understand that
everything in God's word points to the finished work of Christ.
Have you ever wondered why the Lord put a stone before the tomb
of Christ? I've never thought of this before,
but the Lord's give me an answer to that. Everything in His Word,
everything is about Him and about His finished work. They had a
conundrum. And the conundrum, the problem,
the issue was a stone separated them from the worship of Jesus
Christ. They couldn't enter in. They're
still going. Isn't that amazing? They could
not have rolled it away even if they wanted to. Who's gonna
roll the stone away? I don't know, but we're gonna go. Think
about that. Ain't that what the Lord puts
in the heart of His people? I don't know. I just believe
God. I don't, I can't explain it. I don't know. They knew they
wanted to worship God. And when they got there, the
Lord had already removed the stone. It had already been removed. Who did that? Did the disciples?
No. Did the angel of the Lord? No.
Jesus Christ rolled the stone away. How do we know? Because
the stone represents the law. The law was written on stone
tablets, wasn't it? This stone represents our heart
of stone. It represents every work that
we do based upon a law. It separates us from worship.
Worshiping God is not keeping the law, no. But when the fullness
of time came, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the
law to redeem them that are under the law. What happened? He rolled
the stone away. Do we see that? Now there's no
separation. We can enter boldly into the
throne of grace, having obtained mercy to find grace to help in
the time of need. We can enter in and worship through the eyes
of faith. That's what the stone represents.
I never saw that before, but that's clear. That's crystal
clear, isn't it? Because they were bid to come,
they didn't have to explain how they were going to get the stone
open. They were still coming unto the Lord. You and I won't
be able to explain what we believe. We just believe it. you and I
will talk to people and try to elaborate on it. And then, have
you ever thought in your mind, according to the flesh, I mean,
I remember, especially early on, I was like, I don't really
like this, what he's saying, but I believe it. You ever done
that before? I mean, it offends the flesh for me to tell you
that you have no choice, that you have no power, that I have
zero power whatsoever. The flesh doesn't like that.
The flesh wants some kind of something to do by nature, some
law to keep by nature. That's what we are. Lord said,
no, as soon as you put your hand to it, death, as soon as you
touch my salvation, it's no longer your salvation. You can't have
it. This is something bestowed completely
by grace. I'm the one that's going to roll
the stone away. You can't touch it. That's what he does for every
one of his people. This stone represents our iniquities,
and the scripture says, but your iniquities have separated you.
See, understand the iniquity, and I say this often, but I wanna
reiterate it this morning. What is iniquity? You know what
iniquity is? It's what we try to do to please
God. It's literally us trying to keep
His law. He calls that iniquity. We can't
keep His law, can we? But that's the requirements for
salvation, is to be perfect. So if I can't keep his law, what
is my hope? I need a substitute. I need someone who kept the law
perfectly. I need the man that has all the power, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the one that accomplished salvation. But your iniquities
have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid
his face from you that he will not hear. I'm reminded of Daniel when the law
came unto Daniel. Do you remember the account?
We've heard the account of Daniel and the lion's den. It's written
in storybooks. It's written, I'm sure even the
children might've know the, I don't know, they've not got to Daniel
yet, have they? Okay. Daniel and the lion's den. Well, what
happened was the king gives forth a law because he was tricked
into it. And Daniel was found guilty of the king's law. The law was that no, you can't
worship anybody or pray into anything but me for 30 days.
Well, the princes that were jealous of Daniel were the ones that
put this into effect. And they, because they were, they, that's
the reason they were jealous. And so Daniel still prayed to his
God, didn't he? And they say, we got him now.
And they took the word of the King that grieved the King. Darius
was grieved. He said, I didn't, he honestly didn't know that
he was condemning his, Daniel was like his right hand, but
yet the King's word had to be kept or the King's word meant
nothing. And so what happened to Daniel? Well, what was the
consequence? What was the consequence of breaking
the King's word? The King's law was the den of
lions. And these were not petting zoo
lions. These were not lions that were fed well. These would have
been starving. They would have made certain that, and we know
that to be true because later on when the princes are thrown
into the lion's den, their bodies didn't even hit the ground before
they were devoured, the scripture says. These lions were hungry. The king puts a stone over what
would be Daniel's tomb. If the Lord doesn't intervene,
the den of the lions puts a stone over it and he puts his signet
in it. He said, I've honored my word.
He broke the law. He must die. I've honored my
word. He toiled all night. Scripture
says he was up all night long. He was, he was distressed. He was distraught for Daniel.
Breaking of day, he comes out running and he rolls the stone.
Oh, he's the only one that had the authority to roll the stone
away, didn't he? He was the king. He's the only one that had the
ring. Nobody else could touch it. He
was the king. He says, roll the stone away. Daniel is your God
whom you continually serve, able to deliver you from the den of
lions. And he didn't hear crickets. He heard Daniel's voice. Daniel
said, O King, live forever. The Lord hath sent his angel
to shut the lion's mouth. What does the lions represent?
Well, that's our false accuser, isn't it? Satan, because the
Lord's people sin has been put away. He's falsely accusing because
of that reason. What does the door represent?
It represents the law. And you and I are guilty of the
law. And we see the picture here, how that the King says death
is the consequence. You and I see ourselves as vile.
We see ourselves as wretched. We see ourselves as ugly, as
full of sin, putrefying sores from the top of our head to the
bottom of our feet. And yet the Lord Jesus Christ took all of
that unto himself and he gave us his righteousness. And he
went to hell for his people upon the cross of Calvary. He went
into the den of lions and the father put the stone there. Death had to come. Do you know
why the lions couldn't touch Daniel? Do you know why the lions
can't touch you and I? Because they touched the Lord
Jesus Christ because of our sin. Justice was satisfied in Him.
Christ really died. God, the eternal God really died,
putting away the sin of His people. And now the stone has been rolled
away. Justice has been satisfied. That's the picture here. That's
the picture of this stone being rolled away. We can now enter
and worship. Now hear the gospel call, brethren. As I said the
first hour, come. Come to Christ. Believe on him.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. If you're impotent, you can still
come to Christ. If you're blind, the messages
receive thy sight. If you're lame, the messages
arise. Take up your bed and walk. If
you're dead, the messages live. Ezekiel. was asked a question. Ezekiel
chapter 40, can these bones live? He was over a valley of dry bones,
wasn't he? And he says, they were very dry. They were sun
bleached. They were white bones. They'd been dead for a long time.
Can these bones live? Ezekiel say, no, there's no way they
can live. No, he said, Lord, you know, if they're going to leave,
you're going to have to do it. And they lived, didn't they?
Why? Because the Lord spoke the word through Ezekiel. The Lord
sent the wind and he stood him up and he represents us being
dead and the Lord doing all the work. Can dry bones make a choice
to come back to life? No. Can the Lord bring the bones
back to life? Yes, he does it every time he
calls one of his people, every single time. The good news of the gospel is
Christ said, for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. I will
be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. How can he not remember them?
I've already mentioned it, but he put them away. He put them
away by his own death. That's how he doesn't remember
them anymore. They're gone. Micah chapter 7 verse 19 tells
us, he will turn again. He will have compassion upon
us. Does that give you hope? That gives me hope. He will have
compassion upon us. Think about the compassion of
the Lord, what it accomplishes. It's not a compassion. He doesn't
just feel sorry. He pitieth his people, his children.
As a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth his people.
But it's not a compassion that's like you and I wanting to help
someone that's in a bad situation, perhaps that has cancer, and
you wish that you can help them, but there's nothing you can do
that you're powerless. His compassion accomplishes something. It accomplishes
whatever he purposes. He don't just pity us and feel
sorry for us and wish he could help us if we would let him.
No, he helps us. He saved us. He calls us. He keeps us. That's
what his compassion does. And the good news is he will
turn again. He will have compassion upon us. He will subdue our iniquities.
They're gone. They will cast out all their
sins to the depths of the sea. They're all gone. They're all
gone. They don't exist anymore. They're
paid in full. Do you believe that? I believe
that's our only hope, don't you? Now, the question I have this
morning is the message for me. We've heard the gospel already
very clearly. We've heard the gospel. It's all Christ, his
doing, his work. He's rolled the stone away, the
law keeping it. He's redeemed us back to the father. The father
resurrected him. He was pleased with his sacrifice. He's now
seated. His people have been redeemed, period. We've heard
the gospel. Now I want to know the answer
to this question. Is this message for me? As I was studying this,
I realized that that is the question that I ask myself often. Is this
message for me? Lord, make it known unto me that
the message is for me. I believe the Lord's given me
an answer to this question this morning in Mark 16, verse seven.
Look there with me. But go your way, tell his disciples
and Peter. I don't want us to miss that.
Go your way, tell his disciples and Peter. Now is Peter not a
disciple of the Lord. Yes. Yes, he was a disciple of
the Lord. He was called to be a disciple
of the Lord. So why did God choose to record
these words this way? I believe to give us full understanding
that salvation is all by grace. Go tell my disciples. What is
it that they were to tell the disciples? He is not here. He is risen. The stone has been
rolled away. The father was satisfied. He's
been resurrected. Go tell my disciples the good
news of the gospel and Peter. Make sure that you tell the disciples
and Peter. They put an emphasis on that.
Mark's the only one that gives us that emphasis on that. Why
is it that the Lord chose to record these words? Well, I mentioned
to you Mark was following Peter. And Peter would have been his
pastor. And so no doubt when the words
came to him, he said, the angel of the Lord told us to specifically
tell you, Peter, specifically you. It said tell the disciples,
but also said tell Peter. Tell Peter. Understand. Peter. Had been so. I remember in religion, they
use the term on fire for Jesus. You ever heard that before? Beard
on fire for Jesus. Well, Peter was on fire for Jesus
so much that he said, Lord, I'm gonna go with you. These other
disciples may deny you. They may turn against you. They
may leave you. I'll never leave you. I'll go all the way and
I'll die with you. And what did Christ say to that? He abruptly
rebuked Peter and said, get behind me, Satan. Why? because Peter's
confidence was not in Christ when he made that statement.
Peter's confidence was in the flesh. It's just like all religion. All religion is confidence in
the flesh. It's confidence in what we do. It's not faith. That's
what all false religion is. Christ rebuked Satan because
the confidence Peter had in his flesh. No flesh will glory in
the presence of God. But think about What was Peter's
confession of Christ? He asked the disciples, he said,
who does men say I am? They said, well, some say you're
Elias. Some say you're John the Baptist.
Some say you're one of the prophets. He said, but whom do you say
that I am? Peter said, thou art the Christ,
the son of the living God. Now understand that confession.
That is our hope, our confession. If we've been made to believe
that, we're believers. If we believe the Lord Jesus Christ
is the son of God, if we believe he is God and all that entitles,
we're believers in his gospel and his truth. That means we
believe in his sovereignty and calling, his sovereignty and
redeeming, his sovereignty and choosing, and his sovereignty
and keeping. And that's what it means, the Lord Jesus Christ,
that's his name. Peter believed that. Peter confessed
thou art the Christ. What did the Lord say? We know
it was revealed of God because He said, Can you see it any other
way? He'd been given faith, hadn't
He? At that time, He'd been given
faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. What else did Peter do? Well,
did he not walk on water? He was the only disciple ever
recorded. He's the only person in Scripture ever recorded to
walk on water other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter was
just a man. We're talking about God walking
on water, but Peter was just a man and he walked on water. Did he not have faith to do so?
The Lord gets back in the ship and he says, oh ye of little
faith. It didn't say, oh ye of none. No, he had some faith,
didn't he? The Lord had given him some enough.
How much faith does it take to walk on water? I don't know,
but you and I both know we don't have that. Every one of us would
sink. It's just how it is. But thanks
be to God, he's given us the measure, the measure that he's
seen fit, and it is enough to please him, whatever that measure
is. Peter walked on water. How many steps did he walk? I
don't know. But God said he walked on water, so I believe it. Do
you? Of course, God said it. We believe it, don't we? Can't
explain it. It wasn't a shallow part in the pond. It was a deep
hole in the middle of the sea, and there was a storm, and Peter
walked on the water. And he sank. Why did he sink? He took his
eyes off Christ. That wouldn't be the first time, would it?
Nor the last. Peter's gonna take his eyes off of Christ again.
And this time when he does, the Lord leaves him to himself. And
he did exactly what you and I would do if left to ourself, we would
deny. We would deny knowing Christ. If left to ourself, we would
deny him. Not just once. Not just twice. Three times. He denied him with cursings.
He denied him with swearing. He did the exact same thing Judas
did just without money. The exact same thing. When he heard the cock crow,
as the Lord's prophecy was, when you hear the cock crow, before
the cock crows, you're gonna die on me three times. He denied
the Lord to a little girl. I don't know how old the little
girl was, but it says a little girl, a maid. I mean, a child. This guy that walked on water,
this guy that confessed Jesus Christ as God, this guy that
had cast out demons, this man denied Christ out of fear to
a child. Christ looked at Peter when he
heard the cock crow. Whenever the cock crow, he brought
his Christ's words back to his memory. And I preached the message
to us before. If you haven't listened to it,
I encourage you to. It's the look of compassion.
How did Christ look at Peter then? It says their eyes met.
They looked at each other. Lord turned. Knew exactly where
Peter was. Knew exactly what Peter had done.
Knew exactly what Peter was doing. He looked at him. Now, did he
look at him like we look at our children sometimes whenever they're
making too much noise and driving us crazy? Or did he look at him
whenever they had a frustration, annoyance? No, it was the look
of compassion, wasn't it? He didn't look at him in condemnation.
He didn't say, told you so. No, no, it was the look of, I
prayed for you, Peter. I love you, Peter. It's okay, Peter. I knew you
were gonna do this. What did that stir up in Peter?
Did that make him say, well, good, I'm just gonna go out here
and live however I want to. No, he went away and he wept bitterly.
He wept bitterly before the Lord. The Lord gave him repentance,
didn't he? He wept unto the Lord. He knew
that he could not fix what he had done like Judas thought he
could do. Judas said, well, I'm going to
go give the money back to the priests. I'm going to fix it. Well, that
didn't fix it. They said, we can't take it.
That's blood money. It's against the law. Judas said, okay, well,
if you can't, if you're not gonna let me fix it that way, I'll
take matters into my own hand. I'll go kill myself. I'll offer
myself up unto God. He'll be pleased with me. And
that's what he did. And was God pleased with him?
No, no. What did Peter do? I don't know
all the thoughts that went through Peter's mind, but we know that
he wept bitterly. He wept bitterly. He didn't try
to fix it by getting religious. He didn't try to fix it by offering
himself up unto God. He didn't try to do a good work
to atone for the sin that he had done. You think of the agony
of denying the one that loved him unmeasurably and proved that
to him. Peter really loved Christ. Don't
misunderstand that. Just as we love him, but we don't
love him for any other reason than because he first loved us.
Peter would have thought all hope is lost. Think about the
whispers of Satan, the lions, as I mentioned before, whispering
in his ear. Well, you've done it now. There's
no hope for you. You've denied him. Is that not
what you hear sometimes in your ears? I'm not talking about these
ears. I'm talking about inside. Is
that not what you, the echo continually? He constantly says, well, you've
done this and you've done that. That's your adversary. That's
your flesh crying out, saying you've got no hope of eternal
life. You've denied him. Not once, not twice, but three
times. And you and I both know it's
thousands of times. It's from the time we are born
to the time that we die. We know that to be true. Lord,
I'm continually denying you, not looking to you, looking to
myself. And I hear those whispers. I have that weight of sin upon
me. Peter would have believed that
he had no hope of eternal life. Do you agree with that? He would
have, I mean, Christ had died. He, I mean, I really believe
he'd have thought I have no hope of eternal life. I've denied
him. I've denied him. Can you imagine his thoughts?
The light of the world and the life of the world had died. What hope did Peter have? What
hope did he have? The reason I know that Peter
would have thought he was going to hell is how often do we look
at ourself, our circumstances, our sin, and become afraid that
we're not his? Is that not true? What are we
afraid of then? We're afraid of going to hell.
We're afraid of being left to ourself. We're afraid of eternal
separation from God. What I would say to that is,
is that's not looking to Christ. When you look to Christ, You're
not looking to yourself in any way, in any shape or any form. Peter would have saw the great
stone. That's what we see is the great stone, the law that
we've broken before God, and we realize we've denied him and
judgment is all that we deserve and wrath is all that we deserve
because sin's been revealed. So what did Peter do? He did
the same thing you and I would do. He went back fishing. That
was his trade. He liked to fish. Took up fishing
again. He said, well, I'm not getting
religious. That's for sure. I know there's no salvation in religion.
I'm going fishing. I'm going to go fishing. You
guys want to come? Yeah, we'll go with you. Disciples went with him. He was completely discouraged.
He left the ministry. Yet he didn't get religious,
did he? He didn't. The Lord wouldn't let him. Whenever
you've saw the truth, when you've tasted of the grace of God, the
husks of the hog will not do anymore, will they? Peter was
not interested in the husks. He knew there was nothing going
to fill him there. He didn't go to the high priest and say, okay, I'm going
to enlist. No, that's not what happened. He said, I'm going
to go fishing. I'm going to go fishing with
my brethren. Something I can do that I'm good
at and all hopes lost. So I'm just going to go back
to doing what I want to do. Now look at verse seven again. Here's
the charge given to these that were here at the Lord's burial
place. But go your way, tell his disciples
and Peter. Peter was afraid. Peter was hurting. Peter thought he was alone. Peter
believed, I have messed up. Why, Peter? Because of my choice. See, men put all of their emphasis
on their choice, but we see what the choice of man will get us
right here, don't we? What will we choose? We'll choose
to deny the Lord. We'll choose to deny Him sovereignty
and power. We'll choose to deny Him in everything.
That's what Peter was doing by denying the Lord. But his faith couldn't fail,
could it? Why? Because Christ told him it wouldn't. He had been given the faith of
Christ. So at no point did Peter ever deny salvations of the Lord. At no point did Peter ever deny
whoever he died for, he redeemed. At no point did Peter ever deny
who Jesus Christ was. He just denied affiliation with
him. He just denied out of fear, didn't he? Men believe that their
choice is going to save them. But we are made to believe like
Peter that our choice is the problem because it's twisted
by our own nature. We're always going to choose
self. We're always going to choose ourself over others. We're always
going to choose ourself before God. We need a substitute. In
mercy, God sends his angel that says, tell my disciples and Peter. Tell my disciples and Peter.
Now, the preacher has one job to do to tell the truth. to preach
Jesus Christ and Him crucified, to preach Him high and lifted
up, and to preach man small. Preacher does not tell you to
trust in yourself in any way. He didn't tell Peter, go trust
in yourself. No. He said he's risen. He's alive. Everything he set to do has been
accomplished. Everything he had purposed has
been done. You imagine the The grace of
the Lord revealing unto Peter it is finished. And your sin
cannot separate you from me. Because my love is everlasting. What did they tell? What did
they tell Peter? When they saw him, the stones
rolled away, the veil in the temple has been rent. He's risen. Salvation has been accomplished.
Some of them believed and some of them didn't believe. We know
Peter went fishing. What does that mean? He said, well, that's
good, but you don't understand what I've done. You ever felt
like that before? You don't understand what I've
done. The Lord said, yes, I do. Yes, I do. You're mine and I
experienced every bit of it on the cross. I took it into myself. I owned it as my own sin and
I put it away. I know exactly what you've done,
Peter. I know exactly what you've done.
The question remains, is the message for you. You've got to
be a Peter. That's the qualification. You've
got to come admitting that you have denied him in every way.
You've denied him glory. You've denied his holiness. You've
denied him as God. You have to take sides with him
against yourself. That's what must happen. You've
got to be a Peter or salvation will not come to you. The Lord
must have loved you. And the Lord must have loved
me. He loved Peter. God loved Peter. The one that
denied him? Yes. Yes. He come to save sinners such
as Peter. We must admit we have no righteousness
of our own. We're not trusting in the choice
that we've made because our choice is going to damn us. We're going
to deny him. That's our choice. We're not
trusting in our works or keeping the law. We're not trying to
roll the stone away in order to access the presence of God.
We're acknowledging who's going to roll the stone away. It's
great. We can't roll it away. We got to worship Him. When we
get there, it's already rolled away, isn't it? It's all His
doing. Now understand something very
clearly. The only difference between Peter and Judas is these
words. Peter, I've prayed for you. Jesus Christ did not love
Judas. Jesus Christ did not pray for
Judas. Judas was the son of perdition. He was born for the purpose of
betraying Christ. He had no hope of salvation from
the time he was born, but Peter did. Why? Christ prayed for Peter. Now in closing, I want to turn
to John 21. John 21. Now understand where
we're at. I just mentioned to us that they
were gone fishing. They are out on the sea fishing
at this time. They've toiled all night. They've
not caught anything. And they see Christ on the shore and he
yells to them, children, have you any meat? And Peter saw him
and Peter knew who it was. What did Peter do? Well, Peter
was naked. Peter went back fishing and Peter
was naked. What's that a picture of? He
had no righteousness. He had no hope of salvation in
and of himself or anything he's done. He had no confidence whatsoever
in the flesh. He knew in approaching the Lord,
he definitely didn't want to be naked. So he did put a garment
on. That garment is not a picture of man-made works, religion and
self-righteousness. It's a picture of how we approach
the Lord. We must be robed in his righteousness. And Peter
jumps in the water. He don't even come to shore. The boat's
still out there. He jumps in the water. You gotta get to him.
There he is. Maybe he'll have mercy. Maybe
he'll have grace upon me, even though I've done all that I've
done. And I don't think he swam slow, do you? I think he swam
fast. And he got to him on the bank.
And everything they were fishing for was already provided for
them on the shore. Where did the Lord get the fish? He's God,
we don't know. He had bread, fish, everything he needed. And
they ate it. And look with me in verse 15. So when they had dined, Jesus
said unto Simon Peter, Simon Peter, son of Jonas, lovest thou
me more than these? And he said unto him, yea, Lord,
thou knowest that I love thee. He said unto him, feed my lambs.
He saith unto him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest
thou me? He saith unto him, yea, Lord, thou knowest I love thee.
He said unto him, feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time,
Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because
he said unto him the third time, lovest thou me? And he said unto
him, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee.
Jesus said unto him, feed my sheep. I want us to understand something
that I've never seen before. Whenever I was studying this,
the Lord asked him a question. Lovest thou me? Now the word
love there is not the same word as love when Peter responds unto
the Lord. The first love, Peter, do you
love me, is agapo. It's a spiritual love. It's not
natural. It's not instinctive. It's a
godly love. It's bestowed. Peter, do you
love me like my father loves me? Peter, do you love me with
a godly love? Do you love me with a spiritual
love? Peter's response is, Lord, I phileo you. I love you. That's the word, the same word
close to Philadelphia. That's where they got the, that's
the root of it, phileo. It's brotherly love. Is it not
called the city of brotherly love? That's where it came from.
This is what he's saying, Lord, Lord, I can't love you the way that
you love me, but I love you as my brother. I love you as my,
uh, your, your, your every, I love you with all my heart. Lord,
I love you with all my heart. Isn't that what, what men say
in religion? He said, feed my sheep. What
is he going to feed them with? Stones rolled away. He has risen. It is finished. That's what the
sheep are going to feed on. What Peter's confessing unto
the Lord is, Lord, I love you with all my heart, but my heart's
the problem. I cannot love you the way that
you love me. I have no confidence in my love
for you whatsoever because my love is going to deny you. Lord,
if you love me, And you've loved me with an everlasting love that
cannot be severed. It cannot be broken. You will
never deny me is what you said. Lord, you promised you would
never deny me. Lord, do you love me? That's the question, isn't
it? He loved Peter. He loved Peter. The message for you, you got
to be a Peter. He has to love you. And do you love the Lord?
The question goes forth to us. Do we love the Lord? Lord, I
can't agape you. I can't agape you. I can't love you the way that
you love me. My love's so cold. My love's so indifferent. I'm
going to deny you. Lord, I phileo you. Lord, cause
me to love you more. Cause me not to have any confidence
in my love. Cause me to see your love. Scripture
says we love Him, not because of anything we've determined
or decided, but because He first loved us. It's not our love that's
our hope, is it? Is your hope in the fact that
you love the Lord? People talk about all the time
about how they love the Lord. It doesn't matter. Yes, you're
going to love the Lord if he's called you, but your love has
nothing to do with salvation. It's nothing we produce. This
is what Peter had to come to realize. It wasn't his choice. It wasn't his actions that merited
salvation, nor could they keep him away from the love of Christ.
The message was for Peter. The message is for Peter's and
the message is for you. Stone rolled away. He's risen.
It is finished. Rest. But Lord, I've denied you. But Lord, I've done this. But
Lord, I've done that. I don't see any of that. I've
put it away. I've cast it into the depths
of the sea. I've washed it in my own blood. You are perfectly
righteous in my eyes, Peter. Me? I'm perfectly righteous in
your eyes? How? Because I did it. I did it all and I get all the
glory. here in his love, not that God loved us, not that we
loved God, but that God loved us and sent his son to be the
propitiation for us. It's not based upon our love
at all, is it? We love him because he first loved us. When did he
first love us? When we were sinners. When we
were dead and trespassed in sin, God committed his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners. Christ died for his
Peters. Christ died for his people. He
didn't come to call the righteous. He came to call the sinners.
He came to save Peters. Are you a Peter? Can you admit
you deny him all the time? Can you admit that you need a
substitute? Feel like you're walking on water one day and
then you take your eyes off of him there, you're sinking. Feel
like you're ready to go to die for him and then the next day
deny him all over again. Is that not us? Yes. A thousand
times yes. Do you love me, Peter? Feed my
sheep. Have the confession of the gospel. That's the feeding
of the sheep. Confess Christ is all. It's this
message for me only. Only if you're a Peter, because
only then you're made to trust his love, not your love. His
confession, not your confession. His life, not your life. His
work, not our works. given his faith, we see that
he's rolled the stone away that separated us. And because we've
been given the faith to believe that he says, there's the rock.
I've built my church upon my faith. My faith. That's what
he told Peter, thou art Peter. And upon this rock, I will build
my church and the gates of hell should not prevail against. He
wasn't talking about building his church on Peter. He was talking
about building his church on that confession. Jesus Christ is God. You believe that, don't you?
You know why? If you do, because you've been made a Peter.