This may seem a little bit of a longer paper, but it really is worth reading.
This world that we all live in is
forever seeking to pull us down and steal our hopes and plans for a better
future. We are bombarded moment by moment with the negative pressures of life,
the burdens of debt, family troubles, business worries, and a whole multitude
of other soul-destroying afflictions.
For some people, just a really
good night’s sleep would be like heaven on earth; for others, just to wake up
and see a way through all the problems would be like opening their eyes for the
first time.
It is hard to find a faithful
person or a real friend who will really stand by you when you are in trouble.
The world has become a very unfriendly place, and the new society that is being
forced upon the populations is divisive, and being deliberately engineered to
become a self-policing community where you can trust no-one, and everyone is an
informer and a spy.
In the midst of all this, we have
to fight the good fight of faith. There are so many reasons to give up and chuck in the towel, but this is not what God would have us do.
For many of us who have tried to ‘live
the life’ in the way God wanted us to, we have found ourselves battling with
the mind-set of this age, personal weaknesses and failures, outright temptation
and sin, and then the secretive forces of evil not seen with the physical eye.
We have, at times, let ourselves
down, let our families down, let our friends and colleagues down, and let God
down. On occasions such as these, we find ourselves falling into a pit of
darkness and even despair, where there seems to be no way back to what we had
hoped for if we had not ‘blown’ it.
Peter the disciple found himself in the lowest and darkest cavern he had ever experienced, after doing something that he would never have believed possible of himself.
He was always the leader of the gang (as it were), ready and willing, right at the front, to walk on the water, chop off someone’s ear, climb any mountain, and be God’s right-hand man. He would even boast of himself that he would never be a turncoat or break his promise to those around him, especially the top man.
He was sworn to loyalty, and even
if all the others would run away when there was trouble, he was the one who would hold
fast on the field until the end. He would be the last man standing.
However, when real trouble came, he
discovered that all of his words were but whistling in the wind. At the most
vital moment in his life, faced with incredible choices and surrounded by
haters and violent antagonists, he fell from his throne of self-confidence, and
denied the one person in all the world that he admired, loved, and respected above
all others.
And Jesus looked upon him at the very moment, on the third occasion of his denial of ever being a friend of the Son of God!
Such a look can never be fully comprehended, fully known or felt by
any of us living today.
This was Peter’s hero, the one
who had stood on the waves with him, introduced him to the prophets of old up
on a mountain top, taught him how to work miracles, and given him first-hand experience
of feeding five thousand men with some fish scraps and a few crusts of bread.
Here was his Messiah, the hope
that had transformed his life after he heard him say, “Follow me.”
Eye met eye with words that needed no audible utterance. Jesus his friend was being accused, beaten, whipped, mocked, and derided by the religious mob who cried, “Away with him! Crucify him! We do not want him! Put him to death!”
And Peter, in fear, human weakness
and perplexity, denied he had ever known this man. Not just once or casually
did he reject him, but three times emphatically saying, ”I do not know this
man!” “I am not one of his gang!”
Watching from a far distance, Peter would have seen Jesus scourged with a multi-tasselled Roman whip that would have had stones and shrapnel bound into the leather tapers to cause as much pain and physical damage as possible. He peered through his tear-filled eyes as his leader was laughed at, and as the soldiers shoved a crown made of thorns on his head until blood poured from the gashes that the spikes inflicted on his brow, tearing into his skull.
The breath fled from Peter’s
chest as he watched his friend, his good friend, nay, his very good friend, being laid down on that instrument of horrific torture. They hammered rusted iron nails through his hands and feet to make sure he would not find a way off. He saw them raise it up and drop it violently into the hole prepared for it. He saw and heard the laughing crowd baying for blood and death.
To watch him die, and know that
the last thing he did was to deny knowing him, must have driven a sword through
Peter’s own heart.
Every devil on earth came to mock
him that night. They whispered in his ears, laughed at his guilt and misery,
and brought every accusation before his face: “You failed! You are finished!
You are disgusting beyond any human that ever lived!”
His own heart screamed at him,
saying, “How could you have done that Peter? There is no forgiveness for you!
You are worthy of death and judgment, and there is no one anywhere who can help
you now! God hates you and will never forgive you!”
Some days later, Peter went
fishing. He knew how to catch fish. He was an expert at that, and maybe he
could hide his tears and bury his thoughts out there on the lake with a few
mates.
No matter how hard he tried that
night to catch a single fish, he utterly failed. God had forsaken him even to
the point of shutting down his business, it seemed. The morning light brought no
better news. The nets were still empty. He knew there were fish out there, and
he always came back with something. ‘This is surely the hand of God against me’,
he must have thought.
Despondency and despair gripped
his soul and engulfed even his shipmates.
All was lost.
Then a voice rang out from the
shore line. “Hey fellas, have you got any fish?” They answered, “Absolutely
nothing!”
“Cast your net over the right
hand side of the boat, and you will get some,” the voice replied.
For whatever reason, Peter and
his mates did what the man said. Maybe they were just tired-out, fed up, or
lost in their thoughts, but they threw their net into the water, and immediately
the fish just could not wait to get caught, and swam straight into it.
Peter knew who it was on the
shore, and jumped out of the boat to get to the beach as quickly as he could.
It was Jesus!
When you hear the Voice call you,
you just have to run to him as quickly as you possibly can!
He was back from the dead!
Peter’s thoughts and senses were trying to unscramble all the dreadful events of the last few days, and if he could just get to see his friend, he would see for himself.
He watched him die on that cross. He saw the spear thrust up into his
ribcage by the Roman soldier to check if he was really dead. He saw the blood and
water pour out, the evidence of death spilling onto the ground below.
He remembered the words of Jesus
the night before everything went wrong. Jesus told him that the devil had a
plan for Peter to finish him off, but he had prayed that Peter’s faith would
not fail him in the dark night of evil.
Jesus did not pray that Peter would not sin or deny him. He prayed that Peter's faith would not fail; and in this moment as he ran out of the water, faith leaped in his heart and he believed that Jesus still received sinful men and rescues them from their own folly.
The mercy of God endures forever and he finds a way to bring
his lost son home.
No matter how you or I may have failed our God, our own selves, our families and our friends, and committed what others may judge as unforgiveable sins, it is faith in the love and mercy of God that will cause us to jump out of the boat of despair and hopelessness, swim through the waters of accusation and judgment, walk upon the sharp shingle of those who think we are done-for and finished;.
And it is faith that will cause us to run to the Saviour who loves
us unconditionally, and gave his life a sacrifice for all of our sin and
miserable backsliding.
Satan and all his demons fled at
the sound of Peter’s feet running to his friend for help in such a time of
trouble. There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus; no, not one, no, not one.
He that began a good work in you
shall bring it to fulfilment and completion. He loved us when we were yet
sinners and enemies of God: how much more does he love those his children who trust in him, even
when they make dreadful decisions and terrible mistakes?
You can run to him from whatever
catastrophe may have occurred in your life. There is nothing too hard for God.
Your life is not too difficult for him to unravel, fix, mend, and heal.
Peter was restored, forgiven, and
re-commissioned to go and preach the most wonderful news in the world, that God
still loves the sinner, that he gave his only Begotten Son, so that we should
not perish, but have everlasting life.
Christ has prayed for you that
your faith does not fail you, but that you run to him in full assurance that he
is ready to forgive, restore, receive, and re-start you on the plan he had for
you before you were even born.
If he could take a man like Peter, and love him in spite of
his unbelievable denial, then be certain, and believe with all of your heart,
that the blood of Jesus, poured out at Calvary, is more than able, more than
enough, more than sufficient, to cleanse you from all sin, and stand you
justified ('just-as-if-I'd' never sinned) and holy before the throne of God.
‘The blood of Jesus Christ
cleanses us from all sin.’ (1Jhn 1:8-9; Revelation
1:5-6)
