Simon, who is called Peter – Part 2

A Man of Zeal

I. Introduction (Mt 14:23-29)

A. The men that made up the group called the Apostles are great to study

B. Their calling, life, and experiences are what Jesus used to establish the New Testament church 2,000 years ago.

C. They are quite a group – fishermen, tax collectors, married men, and single – all doing one thing – following Jesus

D. An Apostle is different than a disciple – we are going to see why

E. There are no more apostles.

1. As a matter of fact, there were only twelve, as seen by the twelve layers of foundation in the New Jerusalem

2. But the lives they lived, and the lessons they learned from our Lord are vital for 21^st century Christianity to succeed

F. Over the next several weeks, we are going to look at the people that Jesus called to be Apostles – “Sent Ones”

G. By doing so, God will be able to keep us focused on OUR life purpose, by learning how that God takes ordinary clay, and makes something beautiful out of it!

H. The first apostle we are studying is Simon Peter.

I. Some Great Things About Peter

1. He at least TRIED to follow the Lord, even though he got diverted often

2. He at least TRIED to believe the Lord, even though he had many struggles understanding Him

3. He at least TRIED to live for the Lord, even though he found it hard to be right where he should have always been

4. He at least TRIED to enjoy the Christian life – even though he failed at it

J. I like Peter. You would want to have Peter for a best friend

1. Takes up a sword to defend you

2. Determines to stand by you when everyone else is leaving

II. Review – Who Was Peter? Last Week’s Message

A. A Normal Man

1. Grew up in Bethsaida, in Galilee (Jn 1:44)

2. A Fisherman – hard working, 6 days a week, struggling labourer

3. Married (Mt 8:14)

4. Lived in a tiny fishing village called Capernaum

5. Home-owner (Mk 1:29; 2:1)

B. A Man of Great Faith

1. Understood that Jesus really was the Christ, the promised Messiah

2. Has his name changed to Peter (Mt 3:16; Jn 1:42)

3. Said himself that Jesus is the Rock (1Pet 2:4-9)

4. Walked with Jesus on water

5. His greatest attribute was questioning

C. Big Failures

1. Cursed and denied Christ (Mt 26:74)

2. Had to be corrected about the simplicity of salvation (Gal 2:11)

3. Easily argues with the Lord (Acts 10)

4. Easily influenced by Satan (Mt 16:21-23)

5. Obviously, Peter had some big failures – but so what. In NO WAY is Peter’s life ruined by those failures

D. Great Preacher

1. Peter became a Great Shepherd over flocks (people in churches that he started)

2. But Peter was not the Chief Shepherd (1Pet 5:1-4)

3. He was Sent not to the Gentiles, but to the Jews (Gal 2:7)

4. Had the keys (Mt 16:19) – as did all the disciples

a) Not of death and hell

b) Not of heaven

c) But of the human heart

d) EVERY believer in this room has the KEYS to the hearts of this world

E. Peter was All these things because He Had Three Things

1. A Right Beginning - Answered Christ’s call to follow Him (Mt 4:17-20)

a) Had heard of Jesus from Andrew

b) Had watched Jesus teach and heal

c) Now was called by Jesus to leave everything and follow Him

d) It takes great faith to start!

2. A Constant Surrender – to Christ’s will for his life

a) Humbleness

b) Brokenness

c) Able to be wrong, and be glad to at least know that you were wrong

d) Able to believe that God takes wrong people, and makes them back right

3. A Good Reason to stay at his Christian walk – because he LOVED Jesus

III. Message – The Heart of Peter

A. Hungry to know God (Jn 1:40-42)

1. You may not believe it, but a fisherman can get excited about God!

2. Real revival only takes place when there is a holy sense of awe towards God by the common people – carpenters, builders, fishermen, rubbishmen

3. Already a disciple of John the Baptist’s preaching – loved good preaching, and you will see its effect when Peter begins to preach in Acts 2!

4. Already a lover of God’s word the Bible – knew the OT from start to finish, and loved it – even though only a fisherman!

a) William Tyndale’s goal was that every ploughboy would have a copy of the Bile in his language and know more of it than the bishops!

b) It came true!

5. Saw in Jesus the key to knowing God intimately – didn’t realise just HOW intimately they were going to get to know God!

a) Andrew heard Jesus first

b) Then went and got Peter who was busy that day – had to get Peter to hear Jesus!

c) From that moment on, Peter was sold on following Jesus!

B. Happy to Follow Jesus (Mt 4:17)

1. Didn’t set out to lead

2. Didn’t seek to take over the group

3. Just wanted to have a good example in his life

4. Wanted to just watch, and ponder, and do what Jesus said do

5. Did you know that you never get beyond this place in your Christian life? Jesus must always stay in the lead!

C. Helpful – had a servant’s heart

1. Feeding 5,000 – no picnic

2. Then feeding 4,000 – lots of work

3. Got tired yes, but only after a lot of work – not lazy at all

4. Not arrayed in royal or priestly robes either – not the first Pope

a) Christ called Peter to strengthen the brethren, not lead them (Lk 22:32)

1) James was the pastor of the church in Jerusalem

2) Peter ends up in Babylon

3) Paul is the one who dies in Rome!!!

b) Peter was never venerated, nor worshipped (Act 10:25-26)

c) All worship belongs ONLY to Jesus Christ – full stop!

D. Hearty in his Faith in Christ (Mt 16:13-18)

1. Everyone has their own opinions about who Jesus is

a) Resurrected John the Baptist – very popular idea of the day

b) Elijah

c) Jeremiah

d) Any number of other prophets

2. But what about you all – those of you who have been with Jesus now for over 3 years?

a) Peter is up first

b) No hesitation to answer

c) Jesus, YOU are the Messiah – the promised One who would come and fix everything

3. Jesus commends Peter – why?

a) Nobody taught Peter what to say – catechism

b) God the Father illuminated him as he watched Jesus, and pondered the Old Testament Scriptures being fulfilled before his eyes

4. Popularity never affected Peter (John 6:66-69)

E. Hard Pressed to Understand all that was going on (Mt 16:21-26)

1. All the miracles were easy to deal with

2. But the progressively more and more talk about crucifixion stumped Peter

3. And the necessity to let such a tragedy occur was too much for Peter

4. So Peter allows Satan to take over his thoughts

a) Good thoughts – protect Jesus

b) But, wrong thoughts – telling God that He is wrong to do something

5. You see, Peter easily worshipped, and followed Jesus the Super-Hero – the Son of God – the Messiah!

6. But to follow Jesus, the Substitute, the Saviour, the lowly Lamb of God, the Son of Man – that was hard to see the need for

7. Same today

a) People want dynamic leadership – grand scale changes

b) Hard to follow someone who talks about taking up a cross with joy

F. Heavy-hearted over sin in his own life (LK 22:60-62)

1. Not hard-hearted

2. Here is a grown fisherman, crying, weeping, convulsing

3. Not over retirement funds problems

4. But over his own sinfulness, and hardness, and failure

5. Oh that grown men would weep over their wickedness

6. It would be the beginning of another real Pentecost!

G. Hesitant to stand alone (Jn 21:18-22) – what person isn’t at one time or another?

1. Didn’t like Jesus calling for him to struggle differently than anyone else

2. We all like company – especially in misery

3. Jesus warned Peter of the future – told him to just keep his eyes on Him as he had always done

4. Peter, as we all do, struggled with the will of God

5. But praise God, very quickly found out it is the greatest thing to be doing!

H. Heroic in his Life Thereafter (Act 4:8-13, 15-20)

1. You couldn’t shut Peter up

2. Preached to a crowd, of which 3,000 got saved

3. Later preached, and 5,000 MORE repented and got saved

4. Later again preached and the number of new converts was impossible to count

5. Peter is captured, threatened, and yet stands up for the name of Jesus Christ

6. No matter what happened, Peter was changed! No denying Jesus anymore!

IV. Conclusion – Behold a good mixture! This is what Jesus saw in Peter!