Acts 12:16 KJV But Peter continued knocking: and when they had opened the door, and saw him, they were astonished.
I. INTRODUCTION—BE CAREFUL AS TO HOW YOU JUDGE THINGS
-It is perilous to judge a person by a single action. Life is far too complex and intricate for that.
-Every man who has ever lived has had purpose and passion in his life. Yet when under pressure that very same man can be greater than he really is or less than he really is.
-For instance you see that in the life of Peter. There are moments when he flashes with greatness and then there are moments when he appears to be nothing more than a pawn in the hand of the devil.
-In fact, one need look no further than the waning hours of the Lord’s life to see what I am having reference to. One moment he has grabbed a sword and is cutting off the ear of Malchus, one of the high priest’s soldiers, and Peter is in the fray to defend the Lord.
-If you look a few hours later, Peter has muddled off into the terrible throes of denying the Lord. He drifts from defense to denial. It would be a terrible thing to judge Peter in that single night of his life.
-Furthermore, notice the variableness of what Peter’s words say to us from the New Testament.
• Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. (Luke 5:8)
• Lo, we have left all and followed thee. (Luke 18:28)
• What shall we have therefore? Be it far from Thee, Lord. (Matthew 16:22)
• Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come unto Thee on the water. (Matthew 14:28)
• Lord, save me. (Matthew 14:30)
• The crowd press Thee, and how sayest Thou, Who touched me? (Mark 5:31; Luke 8:45)
• Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. (Matthew 16:16; Mark 8:29; John 11:27)
• To whom can we go but unto Thee? Thou hast the words of eternal life. (John 6:68)
• Lord, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three tabernacles: one for Thee and one for Moses, and one for Elias.(Matthew 17:4; Mark 9:5; Luke 9:33)
• How oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? (Matthew 18:21)
• Though all men deny Thee, yet will not I. (Matthew 26:35; Mark 14:31)
• Thou shalt never wash my feet. (John 13:8)
• Lord, not my feet only, but my hands and my head. (John 13:9)
• I know not the man. (Matthew 26:74)
• Lord, Thou knowest all things: thou knowest that I love Thee. (John 21:15-17)
• Not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common and unclean. (Acts 10:14; 10:28; 11:8)
• Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us; what was I that I could withstand God? (Acts 11:17)
-This is just a sampling of some of Peter’s comments. His words mark him just as ours do. He would often hastily rush into sacred territory like a blind bull, full of arrogance.
-But on the other hand, despite these heady remarks that Peter made, his heart was always close to repentance. Therefore it would do all of us well when we look at men to make sure that we don’t judge them for a day but rather for the course of their life over time.
-I am thankful that the Lord does not take my own life and sum it up in single moments when I am at my worst or for that matter the times when I am at my best. Our worst times and our best times are not really good indicators of what we are on the whole.
II. KEEP KNOCKING
Acts 12:16 KJV But Peter continued knocking: and when they had opened the door, and saw him, they were astonished.
-If I am to scrutinize the life of Peter and make a determination as to who he really is, this text from Acts is a good indicator of what made the man. The Bible says that he “continued knocking.”
-There are some great lessons that we find from this passage of his life.
A. It Takes Courage to Keep Knocking
-This common act of Peter knocking proves to us a courage that was deep within his heart. The time is somewhere around 3-6 AM as the Bible notes that the angel set him free on the fourth watch.
-Somewhere in the distant east, the sun is starting to show over the horizon. The roosters are beginning to stir in the chicken coops. The people who are sleeping are in the range between a deep sleep and a restless movement of a man who is just settling in for a long nap.
-Here is this Apostle who is on the street knocking at the door. There had been a day just a few years earlier where he had been in a panic-stricken state at this exact time. He had denied the Lord and he had feared the soldiers. He knew that his life was about to be snuffed out because of his association with Jesus.
-All of that was now gone from Peter. He was filled with courage. There is a quality that comes to all of us in moments like this when we lean on a courage that is other-worldly. It is a courage that does not come just because we will it to be there but because God has breathed it into us.
-Courage caused Peter to keep knocking. There are moments in life when we act courageously because adrenaline and passion fuels the action. I am sure that early this week there was men and women who were fueled by courage to help others when Hurricane Sandy blitzed the northeastern coast of the United States. They put out fires, they helped rescue people from flooded areas, and they responded with an energy marked by courage.
-Yet the truest courage of life is often displayed when life is just muddling along. This kind of courage is not spectacular or showy.
• It moves in the shadow of a dark street.
• It comes in the dull seclusion of a home.
• It comes with mundane moments of commitment to a family.
• It comes in the routine of just getting up in the mornings and doing your normal tasks.
• It shows up when weariness tugs at your dreams and visions.
• It shows up when it would be easier to just disappear from life.
• It comes when the acceptable thing to do might be to just quit.
• Courage comes when we shut our ears to the catcalls of vagrant whims.
• Courage comes when we are willing to bear our cross on a regular and daily basis.
-Life will soon reveal to you that men are the most heroic when they learn to do things when they least feel like doing them. You won’t get very far along the way if you give in to every whim to quit and throw in the towel.
-There is something about duty that presses a man to keep knocking. I urge you to crush under your feet all the moods and feelings that tell you the grass is greener and better somewhere else. By pressing on through all of that, a man comes to bear his cross with great courage!
-This was one of the greatest qualities of Jesus—He had the courage of continuing. Through ridicule, misery, shame, and suffering, He just kept going.
Keeping On—Charles Allen
I’ve dreamed many dreams that never came true,
I’ve seen them vanish at dawn;
But I’ve realized enough of my dreams, thank God,
To make me want to dream on.
I’ve prayed many prayers when no answer came,
I’ve waited patient and long;
But answers have come to enough of my prayers
To make me keep praying on.
I’ve trusted many a friend who failed
And left me to weep alone;
But I’ve found enough of my friends true-blue
To make me keep trusting on.
I’ve sown many seeds that fell by the way
For the birds to feed upon;
But I’ve held enough golden sheaves in my hand,
To make me keep sowing on.
I’ve drained the cup of disappointment and pain,
I’ve gone many days without song,
But I’ve sipped enough nectar from the rose of life
To make me want to live on.
B. It Takes Understanding to Keep Knocking
-Not only does it require courage to keep knocking, it takes understanding to keep knocking! If you contrast Peter with Naaman, the picture becomes clearer.
-When Naaman was told to go dip in the Jordan, he thought the prophet was making light of him. He flew into a rage and almost missed his miracle.
-If Peter would have misinterpreted as Naaman had he would have left in a great rage also. But Peter continued knocking.
-If we are honest with ourselves we must admit that there are times that we are guilty of misinterpreting our experiences. When we knock on a door and no one answers, it can grate at us. We really could lose our patience if we saw someone looking through the window or the blinds.
-That is exactly what happened to Peter. Rhoda came and looked out at him and then didn’t open the door. But Peter understood perfectly because he was able to put himself in Rhoda’s shoes.
-For it was only a bit earlier in the night when he was awakened by what he thought was a ghost but the reality of it was that it was an angel. Now the people in the house think that Peter is a ghost and so he has patience in working with them.
-Because he kept knocking, it proved that he was full of understanding.
-There are many times in life that we have to bear the cross of misunderstanding. Joseph had to endure the misery of misunderstanding. He was proclaimed guilty of some trumped up charges by Potiphar’s wife. She accused him of sexual harassment and there was little that he could say or do to defend himself.
-Yet that incident would later pay a great blessing to his brothers when they stood before him and he did not destroy them with retribution. Because of his own trial of misunderstanding, he could grant them freedom and patience.
-You can keep knocking if you have gone through an ordeal of misunderstanding.
-There are two words that have to enter into every life that has ever been lived if they are to be successful in serving the Lord—forgiveness and bitterness. If you don’t have forgiveness, you will limp through life with bitterness.
-Misunderstanding can breed a deep-seated bitterness that doesn’t easily go away. In fact it will cripple everything you try to do with this life. Bitterness puts dangerous germs in our memory banks. It can cause a disease of the soul that soon is robbed of joy and peace as the years stack up in life.
-You have to keep knocking with understanding. There must be an understanding that opens you up to forgive and forget. If you have been consumed with misunderstanding, I urge you to come to terms with and let it go by forgiving and forgetting. Life is too short to be little!
Grudges can cause much harm to our walk with the Lord! The great Methodist pastor Charles Allen told of an event when he was in the fourth grade. This would have taken place in the 1930’s. He said the superintendent of the school mistreated him because he was trying to get back at Charles’ father. The Allen’s moved out of town and the years flew by.
One day during Charles’ first pastorate, he heard that his old antagonist was looking for a job with the schools in that area. Charles knew that as soon as he told his friends on the school board about the injustice that they would not hire the man.
He wrote, “I went to get in my car to go see some of the board members and suddenly it came over me what I had done. Here I was out trying to represent Him who was nailed to the Cross and me carrying a grudge. That realization became a humiliating experience. I went back to my house, knelt by my bedside, and said, “Lord, if you will forgive me of this, I will never be guilty anymore.” That experience and that promise are among the best things that ever happened in my life.
C. It Takes Consecration to Keep Knocking
-It takes courage to keep knocking, it takes understanding to keep knocking, and it takes consecration to keep knocking.
-Here was Peter in the early hours of the morning knocking on the door without anyone wanting to let him in. Just a short time prior to this he had been in the company of an angel. The Bible notes that Peter got to an iron gate and the angel nudged it open.
-Now he was standing at a wooden door that refused to budge. The fact remains that in our walk with God we have to go on without the angels. It is as if the massive iron gates that we dread to face are thrown open by angels and the littlest doors are the hardest to get through.
-This is where we see the consecration of Peter. He had tasted heaven when the gates were blown open but now he is back to life and its obstacles. He kept knocking on the wood door.
-All of us have those moments like that. . .
• Hours of great vision.
• Moments of heavenly visitation.
• Seasons when heaven seems to be at our attention.
• Mornings that are graced with angels.
-Then suddenly we are dropped back into the streets of commonality. We find common doors that don’t have angels but rather hesitant humans who bar the progress of life. It takes consecration to continue in those hours.
Jonathon and Rosalind Goforth were among the first missionaries to China in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. But their early ministry showed very little promise and because of that, Rosalind nearly gave up. In her book, Climbing, she writes:
Those earliest days and weeks at Changte were indeed times of testing. Often it seemed, at least to me, all useless, hopeless, like casting bread upon the waters. But one little thing helped me more that I could ever tell. I have a Chinese carpenter make a good sized blackboard. It was really intended for the children, for the drawing of letters, pictures, and so on. One day when feeling discouraged and in need of help I opened my Bible and was led to 2 Corinthians 9:6: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” So impressed was I with the latter clause that I went to the blackboard and printed them out in large letters, high up out of the children’s reach.
For more than two years, this promise remained constantly before me, an ever present incentive to sow bountifully the gospel seed, as I have endeavored to picture it, even though it often seemed the seed was cast on stony ground. The day came, however, when my husband and I were permitted to see the bountiful harvest of souls for our Master in that region.
-Consecration will keep knocking on doors that never seem to open.
• It doesn’t matter how low the sails may dip.
• It doesn’t matter how dim the vision may be.
• It doesn’t matter how high the obstacles may seem.
• It doesn’t matter how challenging the process may be.
• It doesn’t matter how dark the night may be.
-Consecration keeps on knocking!
III. CONCLULSION—THE NECESSARY MINDSET
-If ever there were a man who demonstrated the mindset of one who refused to quit knocking, it would be Jacob in his midnight wrestling match.
Genesis 32:24-26 KJV And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. [25] And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. [26] And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.
-Keep knocking!!!!
Philip Harrelson
November 2, 2012
