Peter the Man (5)

God Prepares His Messengers: Jeremiah and Peter

0:02 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, January 18th, 1998, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. When we open our Bibles to the book of Jeremiah, the first thing that strikes us in the text of that book are these words. The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin. And those opening lines tell us that when we read through this portion that we call the book of Jeremiah, we are reading the words of Jeremiah.

0:47 And yet in verse 2, we are told, to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah, the son of Ammon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. Well, are we reading the words of Jeremiah? Or are we reading? The word of the Lord.

1:09 The passage says, the words of Jeremiah. And yet we are told that the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. And further on in this passage, God says in verse 9, Then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me, Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. And so it is right for us to say, that the book of Jeremiah contains and reflects the words of Jeremiah.

1:44 But it also is equally true to say that it contains and reflects the words of the Lord God himself. And those words which were given by the Lord through Jeremiah, as we look at this opening chapter of the book of Jeremiah, are given through a man whom the Lord said, It was known in sovereign love and divine purpose before he was ever conceived, and before he came out of his mother's womb, God had set him apart to be his mouthpiece. So that all that God did when he scrambled up the gene pool in Jeremiah's mother's womb, and all the influences that went into his life were all preparatory that Jeremiah should be the instrument through which God would bring his word with those distinctive nuances that were unique to the man Jeremiah. And I refer to this passage simply because it reflects the things we have been wrestling with as we have been seeking to set the table for our studies in what we call that portion of the word of God, 1 Peter. We have had occasion to underscore the principle that when we open up that 1 Peter,

3:12 we are heard of Peter, the opening line, Peter, the Apostle of Jesus Christ. Peter is giving to us the very words God gives us His word through Peter, gives them through a man whom He like-wise, as in the case of Jeremiah, molded and shaped and fashioned into that precise instrument, through whom is not only to be in Asia Minor in the first century but words that he gives to us the people sitting here in the light of that great principle that the words of God given to us in the words been seeking to understand the man Peter through whom birds of God into us in his first he had occasion to note something of Peters background by the all-encompassing providence of God and we hope to conclude this morning our study of Peter's spiritual pilgrimage determined by the all-transforming grace of God did

Peter's Eyewitness Account of Christ's Ascension

4:35 six major incidents in the Gospel records and sought to show incidents and we looked at stories of events in what I called the prelude to pens lords day morning resurrection appearances of Jesus resurrection instruction of and the post resurrection promise and coming of a survey of Peter's spiritual pilgrimage to tell Peter as a miner and as a spiritual peter the man by noting three final categories of events in his spiritual pilgrimage and how they colored and what he was able to write under the inspiration of the spirit when he gave us the

5:36 first of these three categories of events is this that was an eyewitness the ascension lord jesus into heaven peter was an eyewitness the ascension of our lord jesus in these two acts chapter we read in verse nine and when he had said these things that is our lord jesus had spoken again of the coming of the holy spirit as they were looking he was taken up and the cloud received him out of their sight and while they were looking steadfastly into heaven as he went behold two men stood by them in white apparel who also said you men of galilee why do you stand looking at me Jesus, who was received up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you beheld him going into heaven.

6:46 Now, the words are so familiar that I wonder if we've really stopped to reflect upon what an amazing incident this was in the life of the other apostles and elders who may have been part of that. The Lord Jesus had a coming of the Spirit, a certainty of their being witnesses of him, both at Jerusalem and Judea and that part of the earth. These things, as they were looking, the Lord Jesus began to levitate.

7:30 This was something entirely different from those strange and sudden post-erection appearances. You remember, John records that they were gathered together behind closed doors for fear of the Jews. And suddenly, Jesus appeared before them. He did not come through the wall by degrees and suddenly begin to appear before them.

7:54 He didn't float down. He simply appeared before them in that.

8:01 But now we read, while they were looking,

8:14 and to rise before their very eyes would have been a sight from which you could not see someone without any trickery, someone without any invisible wires, without any of the so-called magician or the illusionist, someone whom you knew. You knew. You had sustained him, stretch out his hands and say, Touch me, feel me, see it as I, a spirit hath not flesh and bones, a thick weight that you could have read from that scale.

9:06 It should not surprise us to read that as this happened, he was taken up. A cloud received him out.

9:16 And while they were looking, he was there in the clouds. But it says, the two men standing by them, apparently speaking, said to them, Well, if you men are angels, I think you know why. We're standing here looking up into heaven. We see something we've never seen before. We have the heaven.

10:24 And then they make this pronouncement.

10:31 The structure and language in the original is emphatic. This very Jesus, the very one, whom you accompanied him to, one whom you saw taken out and impaled upon a cross to be raised from the dead, validated in all of the appearances,

11:03 shall so come in them going. The count given to us by him was an idol. The count given to us by him was an idol. The ascension of the Lord Jesus.

11:32 Another very incident.

11:42 This tremendous significance for Peter.

11:47 And as we shall see when he sits in Asia Minor. Turn to Luke.

The Priestly Blessing and Christ's Ascension

12:03 We saw last week in looking at this passage, the sampling of the kind of instruction that Jesus gave the eleven in that post-resurrection instruction on the kingdom of God. And when he completes that account, we read in verse 50, of Luke 24, and he led them out until they were over, and he lifted and was carried up into heaven. Luke writes his second treatise, the opening words of the list I wrote unto you, he asserts that his readers would have known this incident, and see the account in chapter 1 of the book of Acts, that it was not just that the Lord Jesus levitated before them, was enveloped in a cloud, and stood by them and announced that this very Jesus, who was taken up, he

13:22 saw him go into heaven, that he was received up. And he's very careful to make it plain to all his readers that he had lifted up, but was not in the posture of having his hands at his side, or his hands folded, but in the ponderous significance for Peter as a Jew. For this raising of the hands and blessing was a distinct turn to Deuteronomy.

14:28 Deuteronomy chapter 10, Deuteronomy chapter 10, the time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, now notice, to stand before the Lord, to minister unto him, and to bless his name unto this day. And here the tribe of Levi, those who were to do the service, their task is broken down into three major categories. The ark of the covenant. The ark of the covenant of the Lord.

15:12 Stand before the Lord to minister unto him, and to bless in his name. Major categories of responsibility of the tribe of Levi, and their unique function in conjunction with the temple, and then subsequently in the tabernacle, was to bless in his name. God had even given the precise words of the blessing that they were to pronounce. In Numbers chapter 6, Numbers chapter 6, 6 and verse 22, spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron and his son, saying, On this wise you shall bless the children of Israel. You shall say unto them, The Lord bless you and keep you. Make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

16:19 So shall they put my name upon you. The blessing was not just some kind of pious gibberish. The blessing was pronounced, blessed, officially identified with his people, and identifying God with his people in such a way that was pronounced, was actually conferred by God himself. The priest shall bless the children of Israel, that is, he shall pronounce the good will of God towards them. He would be gracious and give peace. The blessing was pronounced in the blessing. The blessing was not just some kind of pious gibberish.

17:23 The blessing was not just some kind of pious gibberish. Now put yourself in the place of God, in conjunction with the offering of sacrifices, in conjunction with the stated gatherings outlined by God. How many times would you have seen the priest and pronouncing God's good will and favor to his people? God, by my gracious commitment to my people, this meant that Jesus is about to be taken from them, and of all the possible, stretches out his hand, and remember, is resurrected.

18:28 That's why he could see my feet, see that it is Jesus' hands, or he lifted up his hands, and while they are lifted up in that course had of their Lord, he was in the posture

19:23 pronounced, in the tongue pronounced direction of his own, with the other eleven, was an eyewitness of the ascension of our Lord with these two overarching, never-to-be-forgotten impressions, without spans in. He was enveloped in a cloud, saw him go up into heaven. I say that's all very in passage, but what in the world does that have to do with understanding and appreciating 1 Peter?

The Relevance of Ascension for 1 Peter

20:44 The sampling of the sign Peter is writing to these Christians in Asia Minor, as surely as he can speak of the resurrection with absolute certainty as an eyewitness of that resurrection. Notice what he says in chapter 3. 3. A very difficult passage.

21:14 Some of you familiar with 1 Peter are already wondering, what is Pastor Martin going to tell us about the meaning of this passage, about the Lord preaching to the spirits, etc., etc.? Well, don't get hung up on that.

21:31 22. Section of Jesus at the end of verse 21, into heaven, and going into heaven has been positioned at the hand of God, and powers being made subject unto him. Because as with the Lord, he is in the hand of God, and he is in the hand of God. The resurrection saw him.

22:18 Oh, likewise, Peter with his eyes, be it crucified, buried, testimony upon which, and with the

23:56 terminology twice in the opening chapter, he speaks in chapter 1, guarded by the power of God through faith, unto salvation ready, to be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus. 2. Verse 2. Verse 3.

24:28 Verse 4. Verse 5. Verse 6. Verse 7.

24:29 Verse 8. Verse 9. Verse 10. Verse 10.

24:29 Verse 10. Verse 11. Verse 12. Verse 13.

24:30 Verse 12. Verse 13. Verse 12. Verse 13.

24:31 Verse 11. Verse 12. Verse 13. Verse 12.

24:31 Verse 13. Verse 11. Verse 12. Verse 13.

24:31 Verse 13. Verse 12. Verse 13. With such honor.

24:34 One of the reasons is his ascension of the Lord Jesus.

25:04 Presentative.

25:15 It's a big manner. And so the relevance for the letter is that once again, when we encounter these statements about these spate time historical facts, stuff of religious myth, we're not dealing in the stuff of the effusions of excessively devotional hearts that somehow project upon Jesus. This. This noble ideas of resurrection and ascension, we're dealing with a man who beheld him. The significance of that. He can never think of his Lord in reflecting back the incidents that he experienced in the days of our Lords. We forget the pronouncement of blessing in his mind, that which he saw with his eyes

26:27 and heard with his ears of the priest's blessing of the risen hand of the Father toward his peoples. A priest. After the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek.

26:41 Melchizedek. Melchizedek. Melchizedek. When we first watch the Gospel of the Redeemer 13 incomplete pictures, for years, we have been simply laughed at and torn apart by the powerful words of God in their entire sources. I want to watch Melchizedek as an epistle of the Lord. And the edifying characterisms of the illustration of Jesus. The carefulBY.

27:47 I don't think I'll ever be able to watch this, but a few years ago I had the power to remain unrepeated now granted all through one of his letter sent from heaven without realizing that

29:44 there is a manifold in terms of the person and work of christ sending of the holy covenant community pick up his in the midst he did what i'm going to say with vacation think of pentecost

Peter's Experience of Pentecost and the Holy Spirit

30:54 as a once for all event a manifold event in terms of he studied several months ago pastor lamar's expositions of the upper room discourse in john 14 16 to 20 the lord jesus said this i will pray the father and he shall give you another comforter or helper that he may be with you forever even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive him not neither knows him

32:00 you know him for he abides with you and shall be in you i will it coming or is christ as i live you my redemption activity in that day shall know i am in my father i am in the father and you in me since in the whole

33:30 intimate that their experience is somehow less valid and went back to the land of the father

34:38 and when the spirit was sent on the day of pentecost peter can write his letter knows him

35:36 that ministry promised it was at pentecost the tangible pre careful to underscore through luke the historian verse five they were dwelling at jerusalem you jews met and from every nation under heaven when this sound was heard the multitude came together and were confounded because every man heard them speaking in his own language they were all the maize than marones single are not all these that speak their everyman in our own language where we were poor part of the incident needs in the lights and well as the mess什麼 thing puppy does shit problem

36:52 in trafficél oke are mission others are great difference they are give up lab pepperoni and kept the of the of the is a great difference they are devout men of the is and captivity and their return from captives among the nations and there were pox in these places and yet we are to decide the point but it said you shall be witnesses witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the uttermost part of the earth the indication be that the gospel would in ever widening

38:05 gives a chance that the nations would be Christianized but that he would call out of them in the language of Acts 15 a people about repentance of it in his letter

Sanctification Through Suffering and Opposition

40:03 could he not make a connection that which God be gathering at Jerusalem converted Jews and mass sharing all that the others shared in that coming of the spirit in that unique way as one who become the permanent possessor of Peter's preparation for struggle with how to describe these things and put them under one heading there was not only a witness in the epical

41:31 ongoing recipient of the ongoing work of his sin in making him the man who says you're Simon the Aramaic person with me I'm going to make you a rock like predictions of a man

42:36 he didn't stop that work does not give us a lot of detail about Peter we don't have as much as we have about Paul we have stories of that ongoing work and this is going to be any one of these begin our study as you read found in the book of Acts I believe your

43:55 judgment will be carried with mine of opposition and opposition fine in Jerusalem until we come to John four and there begins to be some disturbance and we read in John and acts for I mean acts for not hit by the appeals and all they did at that time is it says they threatened Peter and John they threaten that they didn't beat them and put them in prison they the time we come to chapter 5 versus for me that they are beat them they are charged not to preach in his name and by the time we come to chapter 12 verses 1 to Peter is imprisoned on death row waiting for the festivities to be over that they might do to Peter what they had done to James. Peter was no stranger to opposition and suffering in the way of obedience to Christ.

45:24 The threat of being identified with Jesus in the presence of a servant girl that causes him to lie openly, to deny his attachment, to take forces upon himself, to validate his lies. Now when Peter is threatened and charged, this man in the midst of suffering and opposition, a rock-like man who sounds it a privilege to suffer. Four of the five chapters, explicit reform, consolation, to give them directions. To give them practical exhortations. Is it someone who went off to seminary and had a course on the theology of suffering for Christ? No.

46:30 It is a man who from being threatened, beaten, and then imprisoned not only from the example of his Lord, which he does. But out of the crucible of the very principles he has proved the category that we see. Purging of his Jewish exclusion by the patient instruction of Christ. It never ceases to amaze me that when I go back over these materials for Jesus, very patiently, lovingly, out of him, they cannot deny his and extend, read in Acts chapter, meaning the gospel in man, guarded them, cleansed enough to impart my spirit to them, that's what I'm going to do here.

49:32 While people, natural manifestations, languages that they had not acquired in the ordinary way, here is exactly what happened to us on Pentecost. And the same gift as he gives to us, put them in the same orbit of prison. So in the next chapter, I'm giving you a flyover, because Peter has to validate all of that, and his friends say, yeah, that's what happened.

50:31 So reluctantly, these others, witnesses have tested, were beginning to get the message.

50:54 Ones were troubling the Gentile churches, saying, you didn't come into full salvation unless you became a kosher Jew. And so this matter was thrashed out, and Peter gives his testimony, a ringing testimony. God made no distinction. Between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith, he gave the light gift unto them as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.

51:19 Peter's theology is clear. Still some of that stuff.

51:36 Or some of these Jews, sit down and write a letter.

53:09 The deep exclusivism has to be purged away by the operation of God to a living temple.

53:40 You are now his mind of the spirit, and I've got to give it. He's now joyfully in opposition and suffering. That he might write to suffering saints, purging away his Jewish exclusivism, by the patient instruction of Christ, that he might treat Gentiles as they are to be treated in the light of the gospel, as an under-shepherd of Christ.

Peter's Pastoral Ministry and Enrichment by Other Scriptures

54:30 Remember when the Lord restored him, and said, Peter, if you love me, in language, it is among you I, who am a fellow, yes, I am an apostle, but I have served.

56:00 One or two little snippets, the incident in Peter did. There's all kinds of speculation to some of that. As a necessary, listen, John 21. He was to give himself in love to Christ, to shepherd and feed lambs and sheep.

56:34 And he was to follow Christ until he laid down his life for Christ. We know he was involved in the Jerusalem until others were brought into spiritual leadership.

56:57 He sits down to write his letters upon himself to give instruction to other pastors. Who's doing this?

57:06 Who's got noble ideas about what it means to shepherd? He's a man who's been. He's been doing it for 30 years. He's known the vagaries of sheep.

57:18 He has known something of the attacks of the enemy who to come in like a wolf, rend the flock of God as an old category in which we see God preparing Peter at ultimate task to which he was not only in the suffering through in his understanding by the other spirit inspired penman of Christ.

58:11 He was enriched in his understanding by the other spirit inspired penman of Christ. He was enriched in his understanding by the other spirit inspired penman of Christ. He was enriched in his understanding by the other spirit inspired penman of Christ. One does not get too long in before he encounters his own reading and in the commentary, some very distinct power between what all that the letters circulated among the churches.

58:40 And we know from second Peter chapter three, that Peter was acquainted with the epistles of Christ. He said our beloved brother things hard to be understood. Peter was acquainted with some of the epistles. It seems to be real indication.

59:05 He was familiar with the epistle of James. The significance of that. Well, you see, God is enriching Peter to write what he writes, not only by the Lord's direct tutelage of him of other in which his own thought about this beautiful harmony in the witness of scripture so that we don't have a distinctive biblical theology comprised of the peculiar insights given to Paul and those given to Peter and the unique way that Paul expressed contradiction, but a beautiful synthesis. And one of the things. God used was the enrichment of Peter's understanding inspired.

God's Sovereign Work in Believers' Lives

60:00 I said, this is a very cursory overview. It's been heavily pedantic, but I didn't want to keep tracing out these trails as we get into the letter itself. And I hope time will vindicate the profitableness of this. But as we bring it to a close this morning, seeing this ongoing work of those fashioning his servant into the instrument through which he would give us this did our response.

60:28 One that admired. And we will take that in the future. If my teacher knows that we are. And Parametha and I are.

60:38 We are all human beings. How is it that each of us have a grasp on what we can expect from others, not just the individual, but all of us, but all of us, ourselves, but also among others, making sacrifices. And God is an example for us. He does what he wants.

61:05 He will allow us to be successful. This is a revelation. It will help us in our way of life. And I hope this will be the hope of the world.

61:09 And I hope that if the world will keep coming to us, it will be one that will make us rich. And I hope that that will happen in the future. But if it will burn to the finished when we can't see it, I believe that the world,

61:46 and will of God to do, and at any given point, Peter thinks in reckless how that they are to fit the pieces together and see how they overlap and intertwine, but Peter was under the tutelage. He was within the orbit of the saving work of God, and though God's dealings with us in many ways will have no parallels with Peter as to specific in terms of God's commitment in grace to make us what he wants to be, that we may do what he's purposed for us to do personally, individually, tailor-making all that flows into your life and mine, that we might, by his grace, try the child of God doesn't have to sit down and try to figure out all of God's providential dealings with him. It's losing business. See one little

63:04 segment of what God is doing. He has the whole scheme laid out with omniscient eyes, working in us to will and to work, for things are indeed work in you, wondering what the future will hold. Your task is to keep close to the Savior, keep your nose in your Bible, keep a good cognate upon your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will. The divine nudge here for Christ and his people, and God is committed to lead you into that good, so you don't need to be filled with apprehension. You don't need to know all the

64:25 answers any more than Peter. God is your God and your guide even unto death. And for you who have some aspirations to be useful in some form of ministry, you are not going to be purposeful. I've got to make you useful by reading books. Well, that'll be part of it. The hammer and the chisel. He's committed to let you discover things about yourself that will put a wound on your spirit that you'll carry to your grave. And he could never forget. And God will let you do things that will put a wound on your spirit that you'll

65:11 forget. God will bring you into the crucible of relationships and circumstances that seem to be antithetical to your usefulness. But they are all part of God's way of preparing you. for those works that he's marked out for you.

65:30 And my unconverted friend, what a terrible thing to face the tragedies and the sorrows and all the unknowns of life and not to have the confidence that your life is in the hands of a God like this. As I said a few weeks ago, there's only one reason those of you who hear the gospel week after week remain unconverted. And it is that you really think you're better off in your present state than if you gave yourself to Christ. That's a lie of the devil.

66:00 He's a murderer and a liar and he's the thief who comes to steal and to kill, Jesus said. Jesus takes his own in hand like he did with Peter. Molds them, fashions them, shapes them, prepares them. And when they've accomplished their work, they don't live a day longer.

66:19 Then he takes them to heaven and gives them the greatest desire of their heart. Now they love him with unsinning heart. Oh, my unconverted friend who would not want to have that kind of relationship to the God who made you in this life and in the life to come. Our Father, we do admire and worship you for your wisdom and grace shown to Peter the man.

66:52 We thank you for what you have revealed in the scriptures of all of the ways in which you fashioned and shaped and prepared him for his task. And we thank you that you are the God who likewise in grace takes us in hand and is compassionate and is committed to fashion, to mold, to shape us, to make us more and more like your Son, to fit and prepare us for that which you've purposed for us in this life, and then to take us home to be with you forever. Seal these things to our hearts and be with us as we seek by your grace to understand what the Spirit is saying to us through the letter penned by this man whom you so meticulously prepared that we as your people might have the opportunity to have this rich deposit of truth. We thank you for your grace and kindness to us in Christ. Hear our prayer and receive our praise in Jesus' name. Amen.