CLOSE ENCOUNTERS SERIES
15 – THE BIG FISHERMAN PETER
PART 2
This morning, we’re continuing with our sermon series entitled CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
And what we’ve been doing over the last several weeks, and months, is we’ve been talking about the fact that no matter…
--who you are
--what you’ve done
--where you’ve been
You can have CLOSE ENCOUNTERS with God
And we’ve been learning this GLORIOUS TRUTH by looking at the lives of the greats like…
--Adam
--Abraham
--Joseph
--Moses
--David
--Daniel
And many others
And we’re going to finish this portion of the sermon series next week by looking at the CLOSE ENCOUNTERS of Isaiah the mighty prophet in light of World Missions Sunday
But today, we’re going to finish looking at the life of Peter
Last week, we began looking at THE BIG FISHERMAN, and with that in mind, let’s read…
• Luke 22:31-34 ( KJV ) 31And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: 32But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. 33And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death. 34And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me.
INTRODUCTION
Last week, we began looking at the life of THE BIG FISHERMAN, PETER
And of all the people that have had CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, it is perhaps Peter that encourages me the most
Because if there’s anyone in the Bible that I can identify with personally, it is THE BIG FISHERMAN PETER
With all his…
--failings
--fumblings
--mistakes
--mis-speaks
I can identify with him the most!
And last week, we talked about Peter’s CONVERSION
How that he was brought to the Lord by his brother Andrew
And we also mentioned that on September 14th, Friend Day, we ought to be “Andrews” and go out and bring people and invite people to Friend Day!
And then, we also talked about Peter’s COURAGE
How he…
--cut the ear off the high priest’s servant
--walked on the water and that it’s time for some of you to get out of the boat
--how he was bold enough to be the first “gentile” evangelist after the vision he had on the top of the house in Acts 10
And then, we finished up last week talking about Peter’s CONFESSION
And how he boldly proclaimed…
Matthew 16:16-19 ( KJV ) 16…Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17And 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. 18And I say also 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. 19And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
And then, in John 6, when everyone was forsaking Jesus, he said…
John 6:67-68 ( KJV ) 67Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? 68Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
What a man, PETER
And the greatest thing we learned about Peter is the fact with all his…
--fumbling
--bumbling
--mistakes
--making bold statements that he didn’t back up
--putting his foot in his mouth
And yet, with all of these, the fact that he…
--walk on the water
--preached and 3,000 to 5,000 are saved and baptized instantly
--just walk by and his shadow bring healing and miracle
--have CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
Really lets me know that SO CAN I!!!
And so, this morning, we come to the second part of Peter’s life
We’ve already talked about his…
--conversion
--courage
--confession
But the next thing I want us to look at today is PETER’S…
1. CRASH
And it’s found in our text this morning…
Luke 22:31-34 ( KJV ) 31And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: 32But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. 33And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death. 34And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me.
Jesus said to Peter that Satan desires to have YOU – and that word in the Greek is plural, which could read – SATAN DESIRES TO HAVE EVERYONE OF YOU! Not just Peter
And I feel this so strongly that SATAN DESIRES TO HAVE SOME OF YOU THIS MORNING
That’s why…
--there’s been a struggle
--things have been so tough
--it seems as if something is always wrong and in conflict
It’s because you have an ADVERSARY
And Jesus told him that SATAN DESIRED TO HAVE HIM!
Just like God desires to DELIVER us, Satan desires to DAMN us!
He wants…
--the talent of musicians and use them
--young girls to get pregnant so that life will be so hard and the children will be raised without the blessing of parents
--the preacher to fail morally because you smite the shepherd and it scatters the sheep
--a young man to become a drug pusher
--every Christian to get offended over some thing in the church
You must understand that you’re a TARGET of Satan
He doesn’t want you…
--to get the victory
--to stay in the church
--to read your Bible
--to win souls
--to pray and fast
--to worship and raise your hands
And here’s his ultimate goal – TO SIFT YOU
The verb there in the Greek, siniazo, means basically to...to sift wheat. And what happened was simply you put all the wheat and all the chaff and everything that came out of the initial process and you put it in a large flat kind of instrument or a basket and violently, turbulently shake it and throw it in the air, the wind blowing away the lighter chaff and leaving only the wheat. It’s a way to discern what is true and real. So that’s what Satan wants to do. He wants to violently, turbulently, rapidly shake you to find out if you’re real.
Oh, I know…
--it feels good now
--everyone’s doing it
--it’s cool
But it’s not fun when IT’S SIFTING YOU AND TEARING YOUR LIFE TO PIECES
And Satan is desiring to have this church and he’s desiring to destroy your life
Jesus said…
John 10:10 ( KJV ) 10The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
And many years later, guess who said…
1 Peter 5:8 ( KJV ) 8Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
Notice here that Peter said “Be sober, be vigilant”
Why? Because even though Satan desires to have us, there are some things that we can do to help him!
AND NOTICE THE DEVIL HAD TO ASK PERMISSION! You can bank on it, if the enemy is targeting you and working on you, it’s part of God’s PLAN and it’s for God’s PURPOSE!
Satan asked for permission, and God gave it – but sometimes we can give the devil permission by our actions!
And really, even though Satan was heavily involved, Peter made some fateful decisions that helped him
And isn’t that the way it is – it’s a lot of Satan, but a lot of times, it’s me…
--getting offended
--not being aware of what’s going on
--not praying and fasting and watching
Because just look at that fateful night when PETER CRASHED!
In fact, it wasn’t a SUDDEN CRASH as it was A GRADUAL DESCENT
I can give you 3 quick things that led to it
A. He walked afar off
Luke 22:54 ( KJV ) 54Then took they him, and led him, and brought him into the high priest’s house. And Peter followed afar off.
That was his first problem – he FOLLOWED AFAR OFF
And there’s always a danger in lagging behind
The Bible says…
Deuteronomy 25:18 (KJV) "[The enemy] smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary…"
In other words those who were straggling behind were vulnerable!
And that’s the way it is – the banana that leaves the bunch always gets peeled
And if you’re going…
--to keep from Satan’s sifting machine
--make sure you don’t deny our Lord
--stay true to him
Then don’t fall afar off!
But that’s not all that happened, the Bible says also that Peter…
B. He warmed by the world’s fire
Luke 22:55 ( KJV ) 55And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall, and were set down together, Peter sat down among them.
And that’s a big reason why some people backslide – they warm by the worlds fire
And I’m here to tell you, that I’m not against some of the things of this world…
--football
--basketball
--racing
--golfing
But you have to be careful, because if you warm by the world’s fire, you’ll be an easy target for the enemy!
And I don’t know about you, but I need and I want THE HOLY GHOST FIRE!
I’d rather be at church on Sunday night, than warming by the world’s fire!
And then, thirdly…
C. He went with the wrong people
When he got around the wrong crowd, a woman said, “I know you were with that man!”
Matthew 26:74 ( KJV ) 74Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew.
That’s Peter’s CRASH
But finally, let me talk to you about…
2. PETER’S COME BACK
Because, let me tell you, that as soon as the rooster crowed, Peter’s heart broke into a thousand pieces and the Bible says that JESUS JUST LOOKED AT HIM
And it must have been A LOOK OF LOVE!
Jesus was not at that moment…
--fussing
--forsaking
--forgetting
He was FOCUSING all of His love and passion on him
And isn’t that the way it is with us!
We…
--deny him
--fail
--come short
And the whole while, God is just waiting for us and looking for us to come back to Him!
Kind of like the PRODIGAL SON
And the Bible says that Peter went out and wept bitterly
But let me give you one of the greatest examples of God’s grace
When Jesus rose from the dead and Mary was at the tomb along with the mother of James and John, the angel said
Mark 16:7 ( KJV ) 7But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.
He wanted Peter to know he had been forgiven!
And you want to know how Peter came back? The way he left!
In John 21, we have the story how that Peter was out fishing and the Lord called to him and the Bible says that Peter, first of all, jumped into the water to swim to meet Jesus!
That’s the first thing – he made up in his mind to get as close to the Lord as possible
And then, the Bible says that Jesus was over there and had a fire going and was cooking fish and Peter got around that fire
John 21:9 ( KJV ) 9As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread.
And then, Jesus asked Peter 3 times did he love him and Peter 3 times said, “Lord, you know I do”, and Jesus said, “Feed my sheep”
And that’s what we need to do, we need to be among the sheep!
And Jesus sealed Peter’s come back with those 3 QUESTIONS
And Vance Havner said that…
--we need to love the Lord supremely (more than these)
--we need to love the Lord actively (feed my sheep)
--we need to love the Lord openly (repeated love)
I’ve told my wife 1,000 times I love her, but she wants to hear it again
We need to do that with our Lord, tell him again and again, I love you Lord!
And let me tell you, it’s not Jesus love in question here – He didn’t say, “Peter do you know I love you?”
He said, “Peter, do you love me!”
In other words, JESUS DIDN’T MENTION IT EVER AGAIN AND NEITHER DID PETER!
And if God forgives you, YOU MOVE ON IN JESUS NAME
And you talk about A COME-BACK KID, Peter went on…
--preached on the day of Pentecost
--shadow passed by
--defied Rome
--wrote 2 books of the Bible
--opened the doors to the gentiles
--had CLOSE ENCOUNTERS!
I’d say that’s a pretty good COME BACK!
IN CLOSING
This morning, some of you…
--are a target of Satan
--are warming by the world’s fire
--are following afar off
--have failed and denied the Lord
--have the best intentions but keep missing the mark
There’s a look from heaven toward you this morning!
But I’m here to tell you, there’s a God that loves you!
Come this morning and have A CLOSE ENCOUNTER!
