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Bro. Bill Nichols
Okay, good morning. We just finished James, and we're going to start the letters that Peter wrote, the first and second letters of Peter. But before we begin that, I would like to take a few, I said a few minutes, and as I went through this, it turned out to be more than a few minutes.
But in any case, we're going to look at Peter, the man. But before we do any of that, we want to pray. Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for bringing us again together, that we may see one another face to face, along with all of those that are out there in the internet world, listening to us by the World Wide Web.
And we know not how many there are, but we know that you are in control. And those people that you know that need to hear this or want to hear this, you will have them available in doing it. But we thank you most of all that we have this ability to meet together today in person and worship you.
Worship you by studying your word. Worship your son that you gave us for one thing, to bear our sins, to protect us, and for the Holy Spirit that you granted unto us with measure, but that you gave us your Holy Spirit.
And keep in mind, help us keep in mind as we go through this study of Peter, the man, that Peter, the man, at the time this was written, was before Pentecost. It was before he was indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
And so there were problems that he faced that we don't have to face. And help us to understand or try to understand better the issues that he dealt with. Bless us and keep us. Go through the lesson today.
Go through all the classes, messages today. Bless us and keep us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So the first thing we're going to do is attempt to answer the question, what kind of man was Peter? Can anybody tell me anything about Peter?
How would you describe Peter if you could describe him in one word? A strong leader. A strong one-letter, one-word leader. Strong. A hero. He was bold. He was brash. He was impulsive. Peter was always, out of the disciples, the first to speak.
He was always the first to act. And he was often wrong. But when he was right, he was amazingly right. Peter, simply put, was a man like all of us. A man with two natures. He was a man whose life was written in boldface type.
Everything that's said about him is said with force and vigor to make him appear to stand out among all of the disciples. So if I said, name a disciple, everybody says Peter. And then they say John and James.
And then they start thinking Andrew, Peter's brother. Maybe they think of Paul after a while. Oh, they all think of Judas at some point in time. But the first person that comes to mind when you say disciple, at least to me, the first man that comes to mind is Peter.
Now, before we focus in on the kind of man that Peter was, we're going to look at the two kinds of men that exist. And when I say men, ladies, I'm talking about you too. Yeah, you're just one of the guys.
There are the redeemed and the unredeemed. If they're unredeemed, they have one birth. They are born one time. If they're redeemed, they're born twice. Once at the natural birth and once when they are, as Brother Otis would say, informed by their Creator that they belong to Him.
Oh, when do they begin to belong to Him? All of the redeemed began to belong to Christ before time even existed. You can't say when. It's before there was a wind. But they didn't always know it. They didn't know it before they were born.
Except maybe John the Baptist. Not John the Baptist. Was it John the Baptist that kicked in his mother's womb in celebration before he was born? He probably knew. But most of us don't know. We don't know until we finally are informed by our Creator that we belong to Him.
And once we belong to Him, then we know that we will always belong to Him because no one is strong enough to overpower the power of Jesus, especially when Jesus' hand is around us and the Father's hand is around Jesus' hand.
There's nothing in the world that can pry us apart. So we know that we're His. So if we are redeemed, we have two things that we have. We have a birth, a natural birth, and we have a new birth. Well, back to men of all kinds, everybody, both types of men, redeemed and unredeemed, have eternal life whether they want it or not.
If they're redeemed, the life they have here on the earth will have high points and it will have low points. But there will never be a point in time that what we have here on the earth can even approach what we will have in our new life after we go to heaven.
But if we're unredeemed, whatever kind of life we have here is absolutely the best form of life we will ever have. So if you're unredeemed, enjoy life here because you certainly won't enjoy the next one.
Now, if you're redeemed, you still have problems. There's always two natures of the redeemed. There's what we call the new man and the old man. The new man is the man that you become after you are redeemed.
And the old man is the one that refuses to let go and still dangles around and you carry him with you as you go. The new man wants to and does carry out a Christian life. The old man, when you're in the old man, not living the Christian life, what you still have is salvation.
But you only have salvation. You don't have a good Christian, healthy, wholesome life. You don't have what's called the abundant life. If you are allowing the old man to control you, you are not partaking of the abundant life.
You are partaking of a carnal life. When you do let the new man control you, you don't let the old man interfere with you. You're living a spiritual life. And when do you live a spiritual life? When your eyes are upon Christ.
And when do you live a worldly life? When your eyes are on the world. So we sit here today and we look around and some of our eyes are on God and some of our eyes are on the things of the world. Some of us are worried about God and what he wants, and some of us are worried about our finances or whether I left the water running at the house.
All kinds of things that we may be worrying about, the old man is controlling us. Doesn't mean that we're not going to be saved. It only means we won't have the kind of abundant life that we would have if we allowed the new man to be the controller of us at all times, never allowing the old man to interfere.
And when the old man does interfere, we've got an out. We can always call on the Lord to bring us back into his presence and our life will suddenly improve. The First Baptist Church of Dallas, the sermon this morning was dealing with anxiety.
And he didn't quite say it the way I would say it, but anytime you're worried about something, there's always an antidote. Go to Christ. Put your eyes on Christ. If your eyes are on Christ, you will not fear the anxieties.
He talked about them being in focus. It was a really nice sermon that I had to leave because I had to come in here. But he's right. There is an antidote for anxiety. If you're worried about something, go to Christ.
Go to God. Pray, and he will relieve your anxiety. Peter showed all of the characteristics of the redeemed man, the redeemed man. And part of that is, part of the time, Peter allowed the old man to control his life.
Some of the time, Peter focused on Christ and lived the new life. But he didn't have something that we have. I think I told you this earlier. We got one up on Peter. We have an indwelling Holy Spirit that we have, and we have had ever since the Lord informed us that we belong to him.
And all we have to do is call on that, and he will come to our rescue. Peter lived before people were endowed by the Holy Spirit. Remember at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down and settled on the people?
This event, these events that we're going to look at Peter, most of them, all of them, all of them took place before Pentecost. Now, when we get around to looking at the book, the epistle of Peter, that portion will all be done after Pentecost.
And you will see that Peter is a different man when he's writing Peter than he was when he was talking to Jesus. Peter's life was full of inconsistencies and apparent contradictions. And even his name revealed his dual nature.
I'll put it this way. In Genesis 17, verse 5, God gave Abram a new name. And never again, so far as I've been able to find, was Abraham called Abram. Except for possibly one exception, and that was in Chronicles, where the writer of Chronicles described Abraham, and he named Abraham, and he said, this is the same person as was Abram.
That was the only mention of Abram I found in the Old Testament after this event that we're going to look at this morning. The same was true for Sarai. When you do a word search on Sarai, it'll stop, and then you have to do a word search for Sarah, and it'll pick you back up.
She's never known as both. That was not so for Jacob. Jacob is sometimes Jacob, and sometimes he's Israel, and it just bounces back and forth, depending to some extent on how he's behaving at the time.
So Genesis 4, Genesis 17, verse 4. This is God speaking to Abram, and He says, As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name is Abraham, for a father of many nations have I made thee, and I will make thee exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
Now if you go down in chapter 17 to verse 15, we'll pick up the last mention of Sarai, and this will indicate how God is speaking to Abraham now. Genesis 17, verse 15. And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name, and I will bless her, and I will give thee a son also of her.
Yea, I will bless her, and she will be a mother of nations. Kings of people shall be of her. So that's Abraham and Sarah, Abram and Sarai. And so now we come to Jacob. Way on down, Genesis 32, verse 27.
Genesis 32, verse 27. And He said unto him, this is God speaking to Jacob. And He said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel. It's God speaking again.
For as a prince thou hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. Verse 29. And Jacob asked him and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, this is Jacob asking of God. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name?
So he didn't answer. He just said, Why are you asking? And he blessed them there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel. For I've seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. And if you keep reading, you'll see that occasionally he will be Jacob, and sometimes he'll be Israel, and sometimes he'll be Jacob, and sometimes he'll be Israel.
And toward the end of his life, he's almost always Israel. But once in a while, he's still Jacob. Now, Peter was like Jacob in that he kept both of his names. All of his life, Peter remained both Simon and Peter.
And you can kind of help yourself a little bit. He was called Simon when he was acting in the flesh. And he's called Peter when he's acting in the spirit. And I believe he's called Simon Peter at other times.
So you always get Simon. Sometimes you get Simon. Sometimes you get Peter. And sometimes you get them both. Now, this might be my favorite passage concerning Peter. It shows him at his best and at his worst.
Same passage. Peter, along with the rest of his disciples, have just witnessed Jesus feed 5 ,000 men. And here it's just men, along with a multitude of women and children, totaling probably between 15 ,000 and 20 ,000 people.
More than that. He fed that multitude by using only two fish and three loaves of barley. And they weren't big loaves. He had enough food from those seven items to feed, let's take the conservative guess, the 15 ,000 people that were there.
The 15 ,000 people ate all they wanted to eat until they were satisfied, until they were full. And so then he sent his disciples out to pick up the scraps. And they collected 12 baskets of leftovers. Now, that's a miracle.
You can't feed 15 ,000 people with two fish and five loaves of barley that a little boy carried into the meeting. But there are more miracles on the horizon. So now we're going to jump to Matthew chapter 14, verse 22.
This is just after, immediately after Jesus has had the disciples pick up the scraps of food, the 12 baskets. And straight away, Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship and to go before him to the other side while he sent the multitudes away.
There's 15 ,000, 20 ,000 people you got to move out and send home because Jesus is going to be gone in a few minutes. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray.
And when evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night, that's between 3 and 6 o 'clock a .m., Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.
Now, Jesus walking on water would be classified as a miracle, and it certainly was a miracle. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit. And they cried out for fear.
But straightway, Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid. That was verse 27. Verse 28, who's going to speak? Peter. And so what's Peter going to do? Peter's going to ask the Lord to prove who he is, watching the sea.
And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me to come unto thee on the water. So it's interesting. Peter was the one that spoke for the group and asked Jesus to prove himself. Now, you know what's even more interesting to me?
That Jesus did just exactly what Peter asked him to do. He complied. And so Jesus, and he said, Come. And Peter was come down out of the ship, and he walked on the water to go to Jesus. Now, Brother Dave, if Jesus walking on water rates as a miracle, what do you call it when Peter's walking on the water?
Another miracle, maybe even a greater miracle. But no matter what you call it, it's not going to last long. I'm sorry? Yeah. He has a little faith. We're going to get to that today, too. A little. He got a little faith.
But when he saw the wind, that's Peter, boisterous, he was afraid and began to sink. So it didn't last too long, did it? Whatever you call it. He cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately the Lord, Jesus stretched forth his hand and called him and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. Then they that were in the ship came and worshiped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God. So now they all recognize just who Jesus is.
So let's kind of sum it up. Peter is a model of the best of men and the worst of men. When his eyes are on the Lord, Peter is capable of performing miracles. But when his eyes are on the world, he flounders, just as we all do.
And now we're going to look at Peter at his best. Go down to Matthew 16, verse 13. It won't be long until you know exactly where we're going with this. 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?
And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. And he said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? So who's the spokesman? Simon Peter.
And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
And I say unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. It was this very verse that when I was practicing last night with Clarence and Diane, that Clarence mentioned that this was one of Brother Otis's favorite passages.
And the reason for that is he had done a word study. In verse 18, how many times do you see the word rock? Anybody looking at it? Twice. Twice. There are two different kinds of rocks mentioned here. Peter is the word Petros.
P-E-T-R-O-S. Now if you look at Petros, you'll see that Petros is a loose stone, one small enough that you can pick it up and throw it away out of your way. In other words, a pebble. Now the other kind is when it says this rock.
This rock is not Petros. It's Petra. Petra is a huge mountain of a rock. If you've ever been to Georgia and you've been to Stone Mountain, you see a huge mountain of a rock with faces of the Civil War Confederate heroes carved on it.
If you go to South Dakota, you'll see Mount Rushmore, a huge piece of rock with the faces of the presidents on them. If you go to California, you may see Half Dome in Yosemite, a huge rock. And we've got one down in Middle Texas that people go visit all the time.
I can't remember the name of it. Anybody know the big rock that people go down to Middle Texas to see? You climb up and down on it. It's north of Austin. Enchanted Rock? Enchanted Rock. Big rock, right?
I'm sorry. They should be. Petra. Not Petros, but Petra. Petralith. Huge mountain of a rock. From those huge mountains of rock, sometimes they cut out huge slabs of rock to create foundations for huge buildings.
That rock is a firm foundation, and as such, it serves as a metaphor for the faith of Jesus Christ, the faith that Jesus Christ possesses that he gives to us in part. Now, effectively, what Jesus is saying to Peter is, Peter, you're a rock, but you're a small rock.
You're only a pebble. You have faith, but you only have a little. Now, on this huge mountain of a rock, not even the huge slab, I'm talking about the stone mountain slab. That big rock, even bigger than that, I will build my church.
It's not your faith that matters. It's my faith that I give you in measure. Now, just six days later, almost immediately, you're going to see Peter again at what would, for me, be the most terrifying moment of my life, where he will see what happens.
And after six days, six days after this proclamation that Jesus told Peter, yes, you got a little faith because the Lord revealed to you just who I am. And six days after this, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John, his brother, and brings them up into a high mountain apart and was transfigured before them.
And his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as light. That's Jesus. And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with him. Then answered Peter and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here with you.
That's good. Maybe he should have stopped there. If thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud which said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.
Hear ye him. So I said, wow. Rebuked from heaven by God. Verse six. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face and were sore afraid. I don't doubt it. And Jesus came and touched them and said, arise and be not afraid.
And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them saying, tell the vision to no man until the son of man be risen again from the dead.
And then his disciples asked him saying, why then saith the scribes that Elijah must come first? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elijah truly shall come first and restore all things. But I say unto you that Elijah is come already.
And they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listeth. Likewise, also shall the son of man suffer of them. And then the disciples understood that he, Jesus, spake unto them of John the Baptist.
Well, we could go on and study that for a while. If you just dwelt on Peter, you could stay on Peter for the rest of our lives. So now we're going to run through to just before the crucifixion. We're going to look at Mark's account of Peter at his absolute worst.
Okay, here we go. Mark 14 verse 26. They've just had the last supper. They have just sung a hymn and they went out unto the Mount of Olives. And Jesus saith unto them, all ye shall be offended because of me this night.
For it is written, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered. But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee. And Peter interrupts him. Basically, Peter says, not me. Peter said unto him, although all shall be offended, yet will I not.
And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, that this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shall deny me thrice. Three times. That didn't satisfy Peter. But he spake more vehemently, if I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise.
And then something that's tagged on at the end that not everybody pays attention to, likewise also said they all. So what did they all say? Every last one of them said, even if they kill me, I will not desert you.
Even if they kill me, I will not scatter. I will not run. I'm sorry. Easier said than done. And moreover, Paul's disastrous boast, which is a representative of all the disciples, but Peter's, I said Peter, Paul, but it's really Peter.
Peter's boast, as Peter's protestations of loyalty are the loudest, so is his rejection of the Lord most explicit. However, the Lord doesn't abandon him as he will abandon the Lord. And isn't that good?
Isn't it good that the Lord doesn't abandon us only because we abandoned him? If the Lord abandoned us, the first time we abandoned him, we'd all be gone and we would not be eternally secure, but he won't.
And he didn't. So now about a few hours later, same day, but now late at night, illegally, we could come to verse 66 of Mark 14. Mark 14, go on down to verse 66. There'll be some things that happen in between that are very important, but we don't have time to deal with them.
And as Peter was beneath the palace, there cometh one of the maids of the high priest. And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked upon him and said, And thou also was with Jesus of Nazareth. But he denied, saying, I know not, neither understand I what thou sayest.
So he went out on the porch. And when he went out on the porch, the cock crew and the maid saw him again and began to say to them that stood by, this is one of them. And he denied it again. And after a little while, they that stood by said again to Peter, surely there are one of them, for thou art a Galilean.
By speech agreeth thereunto. And he began to curse and swear, saying, I do not know this man of whom you speak. And the second time, the cock crew. So now the cock crew, Peter denied Jesus three times, and then the cock crew a second time.
And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crew twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon, he wept. Now go down to a few days later. Mark 16 verse 1.
And when Sabbath was passed, it was after the crucifixion, after the resurrection, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome had brought 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 sepulchre at the rising of the sun.
And they said among themselves, who shall roll away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away. For it was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment.
And they were affrighted. And he said unto them, Be not affrighted, ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified. He is risen. He is not here. Behold the place where they lay him. And now I read this because of verse 7.
But go your way and tell his disciples. And he specifically includes Peter. But go your way and tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee. And there you shall see him as he said unto you, even before all this happened.
And so now I'm going to go to John 21. And I'm going to rush through because I'm getting close to the end of my time. John 21 verse 1. John 21 verse 1. And after these things, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias.
And on this wise showed he himself. There were together Simon, Peter, and Thomas, called Didymus, and Nathan of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebediah, that we James and John, and two other disciples.
Simon, Peter, already the de facto leader of the disciples, said unto them, I go fishing. And they said unto him, we also go with you. And they went forth and entered into a ship immediately. And that night they caught nothing.
It's getting to be morning now. The best fishing time has come and gone. But when morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore. But the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus said unto them, children, have you any meat?
And they said to him, no. And he said unto them, cast the net on the right side of the ship, and you shall find. Now you might think that they would say, listen, fellow, we're professional fishermen. We fished all night.
We fished on both sides of the boat. We haven't caught anything. And now you're telling me to cast on the other side? Huh. But they didn't say that. They just did it. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it in for the multitude of the fishes.
Therefore, that disciple whom Jesus loved said unto Peter, it's the Lord. And when Simon, Peter, heard that it was the Lord, he girded his fisher's coat unto him, for he was naked, and he cast himself to sea, and swam to shore to meet the Lord.
And the other disciples came to the little boat. Well, they were not far from the land, but 200 cubits. That's about 300 feet football field. Dragging the net with fishes, and as soon then as they would come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon and bred.
And Jesus said unto them, bring of the fish which ye have caught. Simon, Peter, went up and drew the net to the land full of great fishes, 153, and all of it great fishes, big fishes. And all of them were so many, and yet the net was not broken.
And Jesus said unto them, come and dine with me. And none of the disciples dare ask him who art thou, knowing that it was the Lord. That's funny. I don't want to go into that though. Jesus then cometh and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise.
And this is the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples. After that, he was risen from the dead. Now verse 15. Because of time, I'm not going to read this but one time, but I'm going to every time you see the word love, I'm going to tell you that there's two kinds of love.
There's agape, which is love of God. And there is phileo, love of your brother. Like Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love, phileo, that's one kind of love. And the other kind of love is agape. Jesus is going to ask Peter a series of questions.
And each time I get to the word love, I'm going to replace it with the proper Greek word. And it'll make a little bit more sense. Otherwise, you think Jesus is just saying the same thing over and over again.
So when they had done, he said unto Simon Peter, Simon son of Jonah, agape, me, more than these. And he saith unto him, yea Lord, thou knowest that I phileo thee. I want to change my two words from agape, just to love, and from phileo, to be fond of.
And I'm going to keep reading it that way. Lovest thou me? Do you love me more than these? And he said, yes Lord, thou knowest that I am fond of you. And he said, feed my sheep. And he said it to him a second time, Simon son of Jonah, do you love me?
And he said unto him, yea Lord, you know that I am fond of you. And he said unto him, feed my sheep. Now he's told him the same thing to do twice, right? He said, do you love me? And he says, I'm fond of you.
And he said, feed my sheep. He said, do you love me? I'm fond of you. Feed my sheep. And he said unto Simon the third time, Simon son of Jonah, are you fond of me? And Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, are you fond of me?
And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I am fond of you. And what does Jesus say to him? Feed my sheep. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou was young, thou girdest thyself and walked, whither they wouldest.
But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thine hands, and another shall gird thee and carry thee, whither thou wouldest not. This make he signifying what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he said unto him, one last time, follow me.
Now, you might ask, why is it, why was it rather, that Jesus finally wound up by saying, Peter, are you fond of me? Because at this point in his life, Peter didn't have sufficient faith to be able to say, Lord, yes, I love you.
Because he was living in what time? Time prior to his being indwelt by the Holy Spirit. He didn't have God's faith in him at that time. He didn't have Jesus's faith. He only had his own. And as we just discovered, he only had a little bit of faith.
He had that, but he didn't have as much as you got, because he hadn't experienced the indwelling spirit like you have. So what did he ask Peter to do? Feed my sheep. And what is he asking us to do? Feed his sheep.
Okay, that's it. Any comments or questions? If not, let's close with a quick word of prayer. Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for this day, and thank you for all the many blessings that you've given us.
Protect us and keep us. Go through all of the service today with your protection and your guidance. In Jesus's name we pray. Amen.