Peter the Man (2)

Driving home: When God gives us his words, he does not bypass the instrument through which those words are conveyed to us, but rather unto the mysterious but very real superintendent, the Holy Spirit, as with the Incarnation, and he w…

God, the great composer, uses human instruments (like Peter) to sound His notes. The notes take on the character of the instrument, just as a tune sounds different on a violin than a trumpet. This illustrates how God's divine words come through human authors, reflecting their personality and background.

I refer you to the last week's sermon, in which I tried to demonstrate that in giving to us his words in the Scriptures, what we have in Scripture are the words of God given to us in the words of men. And when God gives us his words, he does not bypass the instrument through which those words are conveyed to us, but rather unto the mysterious but very real superintendent, the Holy Spirit, as with the Incarnation, and he who is truly God, takes to himself a true humanity, so that what we have is the God-man, not a mixture of God and man, something in between God and man, but we have the God-man...

4:41 - 5:41 Read in full sermon

Driving home: In that transition period, there are dynamics that are not normative for the rest of the age. So that when we pick up our Bibles and ask the question, how did Peter become an apostle, and a more basic question, how did P…

Martin uses the analogy of a blackboard to trace redemptive history from creation, fall, Noah, Abraham, Israel, captivity, Malachi's curse, 400 silent years, to John the Baptist. This helps listeners visualize the unique 'transition period' in which Peter lived.

profile of anyone whose spiritual experience is recorded in the Gospels, or primarily in the Gospels, we must remember that we're looking at material that comes to us in a very unique, one-of-a-kind, place in the history of redemption. Now try to think with me that there's a big blackboard up here, and we're reading as Occidentals, not as Orientals, from right to left, but from left to right. And over here on the left side of the blackboard is creation. And as we pick up our Bibles and read the account of creation and speed read through, we see that creation soon gives the account of the fall,...

8:49 - 10:04 Read in full sermon

Driving home: He says as he thinks of Jesus, he knows who I am, and he knows who and what I will become in fellowship and in companionship with him. So in that initial encounter with Jesus, there is in a very mysterious way, if we iso…

Martin alludes to Paul Harvey's famous radio segment, 'And now you know the end of the story,' to highlight that the audience can read Peter's renaming in John 1 with the full knowledge of Peter's later transformation and ministry.

He made of him a rock-like man, who when we see him in the book of the Acts, is prepared to defy the very people before whom he quaked, and he is prepared to defy the very people before whom he quaked, and he is prepared to defy the very people before whom he quaked, like a feather in a storm. He is the one who facing martyrdom can talk now about his death, like he's packing up his tent on a camping trip. He said, I'm ready to have my tent dismantled. I'm about to have the tent dismantled.

27:00 - 27:26 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: This section focuses on Jesus' appointment of Peter and the other disciples to apostleship in Luke 6 and Matthew 10. Martin stresses that Jesus initiated the choice, conferred…

Martin contrasts modern healers who claim to heal 'unseen diseases' with the apostles' power to heal visibly withered hands, paralytics, and even raise the dead. This emphasizes the genuine, undeniable nature of the miraculous power conferred upon the apostles.

But you see, the Lord conferred upon them not pseudo power to perform miracles, but to heal all manner of disease and all manner of sickness. And then the twelve are named, and then notice what he says in verse eight. Heal the sick. Raise the dead.

48:40 - 48:59 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: This section focuses on Jesus' appointment of Peter and the other disciples to apostleship in Luke 6 and Matthew 10. Martin stresses that Jesus initiated the choice, conferred…

Martin imagines people testifying that Peter raised them from the dead or that his shadow healed them, to underscore the tangible, undeniable evidence of Peter's apostolic authority and power.

Here's a man who in his attachment to Jesus Christ, who bears witness to the significance of who he is and what he has done, was not just taken in by a mesmerizing teacher. He saw that teacher confer upon him a rude, rough, Galilean, outspoken, energetic, passionate fisherman to raise the dead and cleanse the lepers. Dead people who could point to Peter and say, my mama tells me that I had died and when that man came into the room, he prayed over me and I was given back my life. I didn't hear him pray. I didn't see him come in the room, but when I woke up, I sure saw him there. And as we'll se...

51:18 - 52:22 Read in full sermon