Will you please turn to the Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 16? Matthew 16. We will read from verse 13.
But when Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that the Son of man is?”
And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”
He saith unto them, “But who say ye that I am?”
And Simon Peter answered and said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
And Jesus answered and said unto him, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father Who is in heaven.
And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
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.”
Then charged He the disciples that they should tell no man that He was the Christ.
From that time began Jesus to show unto His disciples, that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.
And Peter took Him, and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Be it far from Thee, Lord: this shall never be unto Thee.”
But He turned, and said unto Peter, “Get thee behind Me, Satan: thou art a stumbling-block unto Me: for thou mindest not the things of God, but the things of men.”
Then said Jesus unto His disciples, “If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
For whosoever would save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake shall find it.
For what shall a man be profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and forfeit his life? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his life?
For the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and then shall He render unto every man according to his deeds.
Verily I say unto you, There are some of them that stand here, who shall in no wise taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom.”
And after six days Jesus taketh with Him Peter, and James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart:
and He was transfigured before them; and His face did shine as the sun, and His garments became white as the light.
And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with Him.
And Peter answered, and said unto Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here: if Thou wilt, I will make here three tabernacles; one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
While he was yet speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold, a voice out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him.”
And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.
And Jesus came and touched them and said, “Arise, and be not afraid.”
And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one, save Jesus only.
Lord, as we gather here in Thy presence to hear Thy Word, Thy Word is holy and pure. Thy Word is life; Thy Spirit is life.
Who is worthy to deliver Thy Word? Who is worthy to hear Thy Word? Lord, we are men of unclean lips, and we dwell among a people of unclean lips.
Wash us, that Thy Word may not be corrupted, that it may not lose its power. Lord, keep Thy Word from being a letter that kills. Make Thy Word Spirit that quickens.
Oh, speak, Lord. Thy servants hear. In the name of the Lord Jesus, amen.
I really feel a deep sense of unworthiness in helping to minister the Word of God, because it is such a serious thing to touch the Word of God.
We can make the Word of God just a letter, and how it kills. So may our prayer be to find the grace of God, that His Word may not just be letter, but that it will be Spirit that quickens us.
Unless the Lord speaks again by His Word, our time here will be wasted. But if He should speak, then His work shall be done, because God works by His Word.
We thank God that He is a God Who reveals Himself. We thank God that it pleases Him to reveal His Son. So may He reveal Himself to us this morning.
If there is any veil upon our hearts, may He remove it, that we may this morning behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
This morning we will consider the revelation given to Peter the apostle.
Peter was brought to the Lord by his brother Andrew. You remember, when Jesus passed by, John the Baptist said, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” Two of his disciples who were standing with him left and followed Jesus. One was Andrew.
They spent that day and night with the Lord. The next morning, Andrew went to find his brother Peter and said, “We have found the Messiah”—which is, the Christ. And he led Peter to Jesus.
Evidently, Peter also had been a disciple of John the Baptist. He had been prepared by John for the coming Messiah. Evidently, Peter had full confidence in his brother Andrew. He believed what Andrew told him, so he went to see Jesus, ready to believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah.
When he came to the Lord Jesus, the Lord looked at him. Now, the word look in John 1 is not just a glimpse, a casual look. The word in the original Greek means looking carefully; or, to put it another way, our Lord Jesus looked him through.
You know, Peter usually was a very outspoken person. He was usually the first to speak. But somehow, when he came into the presence of the Lord, he was speechless.
The Lord looked over him, looked into him, and said, “Thou art Simon the son of John: thou shalt be called Cephas,” which is by interpretation, Peter—a stone.
In this first encounter, there does not seem to be a direct revelation of the Lord. But there was a tremendous revelation at that time. The Lord said, “Thou art Simon, the son of John.”
Now, probably Andrew had already told the Lord Jesus about his brother. Most likely. So it was nothing strange for the Lord to say to him, “Thou art Simon, the son of John.” Yet there was something deeper there.
When the Lord said, “Thou art Simon,” He was saying, in effect, “That is what you naturally are. You are nothing but Simon. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. Your flesh is weak; it is sinful; it is corrupted. There is no hope for that flesh.”
“But thou shalt be called Peter”—a stone, a living stone. Brothers and sisters, here is a tremendous revelation. It is a revelation of Simon.
Do we know our name? Certainly, we do. But do we know who we are? We do not. We think we know who we are. We think we know what we are.
You remember Isaiah 50:11:
Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that gird yourselves about with firebrands, walk ye in the flame of your fire, and among the brands that ye have kindled.
This shall ye have at My hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.
Brothers and sisters, when we examine ourselves, when we look into ourselves, what do we do? We kindle a fire and compass ourselves with sparks. We walk in the light of our own fire and among the sparks that we ourselves have kindled.
In other words, when we examine ourselves, we look at ourselves in our own light. And when we do that, the Lord says we shall lie down in sorrow. Why? Because we deceive ourselves. We do not know ourselves.
No matter how we analyze ourselves, no matter how honest we feel we are with ourselves, we either overestimate or underestimate. We deceive ourselves. We do not know ourselves.
And that is our problem. There is only One Who knows us.
Psalm 36:9 says:
In Thy light shall we see light.
It is only in the light of God that we see light, that we begin to realize who we are and what we are.
Brothers and sisters, such self-revelation—that is, revelation of ourselves—not based upon our own light but by the light of God, is a prelude to the revelation of Christ.
Or, to put it another way, this self-revelation under the light of God and the revelation of Christ in that heavenly light actually go together.
We will never know the Lord Jesus until we know ourselves. Or we can turn it around and say: only by knowing the Lord Jesus do we know ourselves.
The reason we do not know the Lord is because we do not know ourselves. We trust ourselves too much. We think too highly of ourselves, and that blinds us from seeing the Lord.
So in this first encounter, it seems that there was no direct revelation of the Lord to Peter, to Simon. Yet in that indirect revelation—of knowing who Simon was, giving Simon an inward sense, “This is what I am”—it brought him to the Lord. It gave him a vision of the Lord.
After this, most likely Simon again traveled with the Lord. He was most likely one of the disciples who went to the marriage feast in Cana of Galilee, where our Lord performed the first sign to manifest His glory.
But during that period, he and the others traveled with the Lord on and off, not constantly, not continuously.
Then one day, after John the Baptist was put into prison, our Lord Jesus began His public ministry in Galilee. There He walked by the Sea of Galilee and saw Simon and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea.
The Lord passed by and called, “Come ye after Me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.” Simon and his brother Andrew left their nets and followed the Lord.
Simon heard the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount. He saw the Lord heal the sick, open the eyes of the blind, cast out demons, and preach the gospel to the poor. He watched the life of the Lord. He stayed with Him day and night. He watched Him.
The more he came to know the Lord, the more discouraged he became. The Lord was so holy, and he was so defiled. The Lord was so pure, and he was so corrupted. The Lord was full of light, but he was full of darkness. The Lord was strong, but he was weak.
The more he knew the Lord, the more he felt that he was unfit. How could he be a disciple of the Lord? Would he ever make it? How could he be a fisher of men? He was very discouraged.
So when the Lord came to Capernaum—that is Peter’s place—you notice that Peter went out to fish again. Why did he do that?
When he was called, he left the nets and followed the Lord. Now he was going back to fish. We need to understand: he was on the point of giving up.
Not because he had despaired of the Lord Jesus. He had despaired of himself. “I cannot make it.” So he was thinking of dropping out.
Through the night, he could not catch one fish. In the morning he was washing the nets, and the Lord came. A great multitude came to the Lord. There was such a crowd by the seaside.
So the Lord said to Simon, “May I use your boat?” The Lord got into his boat, and they moved from the shore a little, so that He would not be crowded. Then He spoke to the multitude.
After the Lord finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.”
Simon looked at the Lord and, in effect, said, “Master, I am a fisherman. You are a preacher. You know nothing about fish. I am an expert. But to honor You, I will do this foolish thing. I will go out into the deep and cast a net. I know there is nothing there.”
But when the net was cast, it was full of fish. The net began to break. So he called his companions, James and John, and they came and filled both boats with fish.
When Peter saw this, he fell down before the Lord and said, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
What was Peter thinking? The Lord knew that Peter was thinking of leaving. But there was no word of reproof. It was as though the Lord said, “All right, this is your boat. I have used your boat; I will pay you back. If you want to go, you may. I will not blame you.”
Such kindness melted Peter. Peter realized how sinful he was.
He said, “Lord, depart from me.” In other words, “I am beginning to see myself in Your light. The only right thing for You to do is let me go. I will not be a profit to You, but a burden to You.”
But in the heart of Peter, when he said, “Depart from me,” actually he was saying, “Lord, will You please give me another chance? Do not leave me. If You leave me, I am finished.”
“You are able to do the impossible. You have control over everything. You enabled me to catch such a great multitude of fish where there was no fish. Can You do this impossible thing with me? I am an impossible person, but You can make it possible. You can make me a Peter, a stone, a fisher of men. If You please, please do not leave me.”
The Lord said, “Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.”
Brothers and sisters, this was a further revelation of what Simon was and what the Lord is. He saw the glory of the Lord, and in the glory of the Lord he saw his own shamefulness, his own sinfulness.
Is that not always true? The more you see the Lord, the more you see yourself. The more you see the Lord as worthy, great, patient of heart, and full of compassion, the more you see yourself as utterly unfit, sinful, and unready.
The Lord is not only able to make you what He wants you to be; He has all the power to make you so. What an encouragement that is.
From that day onward, Peter left the boat and followed the Lord persistently, never turning back. He committed himself to the Lord for His will and for His work.
You remember John 6. When the Lord began to say, “I am the bread of life. I came down from heaven. He that eats of Me and drinks of Me shall never die, and I will raise him up at the last day,” many of the disciples said, “This is a hard saying,” and they left.
You remember that the Lord Jesus turned to the twelve disciples and said, “Would ye also go away?” If you want to, you may.
And Simon Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we have believed and know that Thou art the Holy One of God.” We are stuck with You forever.
Dear brothers and sisters, has this happened to you? Is there any way you can go? Is there any person you can follow? Is there any alternative in your life?
If there is, you do not know yourself and you do not know the Lord. Your knowledge of the Lord is mental, traditional, religious. It is not real.
But brothers and sisters, if you really see the Lord—Who He is, what He is—and you know who you are, how far you have fallen, and what He is able to do with you, is there any other way you can go? Any other alternative?
Brothers and sisters, you are caught. You are arrested. You are stuck with Christ forever. Thank God for that revelation.
If you really have revelation, brothers and sisters, all the other ways are finished. There is only one way: follow the Lord.
Peter followed the Lord faithfully.
After our Lord had labored among His people, doing good, preaching the kingdom of God, and declaring the Father, He was not accepted. Opposition arose, and our Lord Jesus retreated to Caesarea Philippi, to the border of a Gentile city.
He was rejected by His own. They knew Him outwardly. “We know He is the carpenter, the son of the carpenter. We know His parents. We know His brothers. His sisters are with us. We know He has never been to school. We know Him.”
But what did they know of Him? No revelation.
The Lord retreated out of His own country, to the border of a Gentile city. Then He turned to His disciples and said, “Who do men say that I, the Son of man, am?”
The disciples tried to encourage Him and said, “Some say Thou art John the Baptist; some, Elijah; some, Jeremiah; or one of the prophets.” They were thinking well of You. Be comforted.
Then the Lord turned to His disciples and said, “But who say ye that I am?”
And Simon Peter immediately said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” What a confession!
Confession is confessing the Lord under opposition. Profession is professing the Lord even in friendly circumstances. When the world was rejecting this Man, here was Peter, confessing Him as the Christ, the Son of the living God.
“You are the Anointed of God. You are sent by God with a mission to redeem the world. You are the Son of the living God. You are one with God. You are the delight of God. You are unique, supreme, above all. You are the One we worship and serve.”
What a confession. And the Lord said, “Simon Bar-Jonah, this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood. Flesh and blood will never tell you Who I am, Who I really am. They could not.”
“It is My Father Who is in heaven Who has revealed the Son. You are blessed.”
Did Simon come to this revelation at that moment? No. It began with his first encounter with Jesus. Through the years, revelation began to increase. As he was with the Lord, he saw more and more of the Lord. His faith was strengthened: “This is the Messiah. Truly, this is the Messiah. This is the Son of God.”
Brothers and sisters, do we have this confession? We cannot, unless it is the Father Who has revealed it to us.
Thank God, it pleases God to reveal His Son to us. Brothers and sisters, we can never thank God enough. For eternity, we have to thank God for revealing His Son to us.
If He does not, where will we be? What will become of us? We are helpless, hopeless, finished forever.
Oh, the mercy of God, the great love of God, that He should open our eyes and reveal His Son to us, that we might believe in Him. What love that is.
Then the Lord Jesus said, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
The Father reveals the Son. Only the Father can reveal the Son; nobody else can.
But on the basis of that revelation, the Son begins to reveal to us something more. The Father’s revelation of the Son is the foundational revelation.
Built upon that foundational revelation, the Lord Jesus begins to reveal something further. He said, “Thou art Peter.”
Now, at the first encounter, the Lord had already said, “Thou shalt be called Peter.” But now He says, “Thou art Peter. Thou art a stone.”
Naturally, you were but Simon, made of dust; and to dust you return. That which is of the flesh is flesh. No hope, no use. But now you are Peter. God has done a marvelous work in your life. He has made you a stone, a living stone.
“And I will build My church upon this rock.”
Brothers and sisters, it is the Son Who reveals to us His church. Do not think that you can know the church just by hearing or by reading.
Do not think that you know the church because you have heard many messages on the church, read many books written on the church, played church, practiced church, perhaps even built church, thought church, and written on church.
You may have accumulated so much information about the church that you are an expert on the church. Do you know the church? No.
No one knows what the church is but by what the Son has revealed. And that is the problem today. We know too much of the church by tradition, not by revelation; and that keeps us from knowing the church.
How much needs to be undone before the Lord can really reveal what His church is.
“You are Peter,” a small stone, a piece of the rock. “But I will build My church upon this rock,” that massive rock.
You are not the rock; you are a stone, a piece of that rock. Who is the rock? The Lord Himself.
The One Whom Peter had just confessed: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” That is the rock.
Because you confess Me and recognize Me as the Son of God, you become a stone. And I will build you, with many other living stones, together upon Me and make it My church.
Peter understood. He knew he was not the rock. If Peter were the rock, what a shaking foundation that would be, and what a shaky superstructure. Thank God he is not the pope. He is not the rock.
And Peter understood it. So in 1 Peter 2:4-5, he says:
Unto Whom coming, a living stone, rejected indeed of men, but with God elect, precious,
ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Dear brothers and sisters, our Lord is the foundation, and out of that foundation He is building His church. The church comes out of Him.
The church is built with living stones—with life, His life in you and in me, in every one of us, in all of us, in all who believe in the Lord Jesus, from the first one to the last one.
He will take us and build us into His church.
He is not just saving us and scattering us all over the world. If you see stones scattered everywhere, it speaks of ruin. And that is the condition of Christianity today.
We find God’s people—thank God, they are God’s people. They are saved. They have life. But it seems as if they are scattered all over the world, each by itself. That speaks of ruin, not building.
Brothers and sisters, the Lord does not take us and pile us together. A pile can be a monument, but it cannot be a house in which to dwell. The Lord does not want a monument. He wants a house in which to dwell.
How God’s people today are often just thrown together, like a pile thrown together. There is no knitting together, no relating to one another, no joining to one another, no ministering one to another, no supporting and supplying one another.
What is building? Building is with purpose. Building is organic. It is not just an outward falling together. That is not building.
The Lord said, “I will build My church upon this rock.” Oh, brothers and sisters, Who is the Builder?
We hear many people say, “So-and-so is a church builder.” Well, if it is built by the power of people, it is not the church.
The Lord did not say, “I will reveal My church.” The Lord is the only One Who can build the church. He is the only One Who can build His church.
Oh, if only we would stand aside and let Him build. The more we help Him, the more we destroy His temple.
The Lord said, “I will build My church.” Whose church is it? My church? Your church? No, His church. It belongs to Him.
It is for Him to dwell in. It is to please Him. It has to be built according to His delight, not to please you, not according to your delight: “I like it this way. I like it that way.” No.
It is for Him to feel at home in His own house.
And how the enemy will contest it. All the gates of Hades will be opened to try to destroy it. But the Lord said, “The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
Who can destroy what the Lord builds? If it is what you build, let it be destroyed—the sooner, the better—that it may not stand in the way of the Lord’s building.
But if it is the Lord’s building, brothers and sisters, no power, no darkness, no enemy can destroy it. The more it is attacked, the stronger it becomes.
“I will build My church upon this rock; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Oh, what a revelation.
Dear brothers and sisters, are you a living stone? Do you know what is the Lord’s will for you?
Does He save you just to throw you as a scattered stone somewhere? Or will He just throw you together, pile you together, with some other believers?
Do you know that His purpose is to build you with your brothers and sisters organically, building you together upon Him with love? Do you know that this is His purpose?
Do you know that He wants to dwell among His people, to rest and to be joyful in that dwelling?
What a privilege that is: that we can be built together to be a resting place for our Lord. While He was on earth, He had nowhere to lay His head. But today, in the church, He can rest with joy.
May the Son reveal the church to us. Oh, brothers and sisters, may He give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation, that we may really see the church as He reveals it.
Then the Lord began to tell His disciples, “I am going to Jerusalem. I will be rejected. I will be killed. But on the third day I will be raised from the dead.”
For the Father to reveal the Son is glorious. For the Son to reveal the church is glorious.
You know, when we receive the revelation of the Father concerning His Son, it lifts us to the third heaven. Many testify that when they first knew the Lord, they literally walked on clouds.
And when the Son reveals the church to you, brothers and sisters, it is so emancipating. It delivers you from your petty self, your small self, and puts you into the great purpose of God. It liberates you.
But then you find that revelation does not stop there. The Lord said, “I will go to the cross. Then everything will be fulfilled.”
And you know, Simon had just received such tremendous revelation, and the Lord had said, “Blessed art thou.” I think he must have been in the third heaven at that time.
So when he heard the Lord say, “I will go to Jerusalem and be killed,” my, what a tremendous drop! So he took hold of the Lord, shook Him, and said, “Lord, be kind to Thyself. This is not necessary.”
“You can have Your church. You can be the Head over all things without the cross.” It sounds familiar. Somebody had already said it to the Lord. Peter was repeating it.
And the Lord turned and said, “Get thee behind Me, Satan: thou art a stumbling-block unto Me: for thou mindest not the things of God, but the things of men.”
“If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. He that loses his life for My sake shall find it. The Son of man shall come and shall reward each according to his deeds.”
Dear brothers and sisters, this is the revelation of the cross.
There can be no Christ without the cross. There can be no church without the cross.
The world wants a crossless Christ. We want a crossless church. But you will never have it.
Unless our Lord Jesus, the Word become flesh, tabernacled among men, full of grace and truth—unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.
Brothers and sisters, to accomplish the work for which God sent Him into this world, to be the Anointed One, to finish His mission, He had to go to the cross. Oh, how He set His face toward Jerusalem.
Thank God, He not only took up His cross; He was crucified. “It is finished.” The work is done. Now we have the Christ, and God has made Him both Christ and Lord.
But brothers and sisters, do we have the church?
If we, as living stones, will not allow the Lord to make us precious stones through the pressure, the deep cutting, and the fire—if we do not allow the Lord to apply the cross to our lives, not only individually but together, to make us fit with one another—can there be the church?
No cross, no church.
The cross is the way to Christ. The cross is the way to the church. There is no other way.
Brothers and sisters, do we have this revelation? Naturally, we shy away from the cross.
But unless we are willing to deny ourselves, take up the cross, and follow Him, not only will we not be completed for the church; we will not be built.
Today, the cross is not only a stumbling-block to the world; even among God’s people, the cross is something avoided. It is not preached. It is all prosperity and success—no cross.
Can it be real if there is no cross? Anything that has not come by the cross, brothers and sisters, is unreal. It is a counterfeit. It is a deception. It is no revelation.
Revelation comes by way of the cross. Oh, may God give us a willingness, just a willingness, and He will give us the grace.
Then the Lord took three of His disciples, and Peter was one of them, to the Mount of Transfiguration. There He appeared in full glory. It is a preview of the kingdom of God, the coming of the kingdom of God.
Peter was so thrilled. He said, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three tabernacles: one for Thee, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. We will just tabernacle here forever.”
While he was yet speaking, the Shekinah glory of God filled that place, and he heard a voice: “This is My beloved Son; hear ye Him.”
Oh, they were frightened. When they looked up, they saw no one but Jesus only.
Peter received a revelation of the kingdom of God. What is the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is the Son over all.
The kingdom of God is the Son Who refuses to remain on the exalted Mount Hermon but will rather go down to Calvary. Through suffering, He enters into glory. And Peter saw it.
So, brothers and sisters, in the life of Peter, we find that he received revelation after revelation. And by revelation, he knew the Lord.
But again, revelation is always tested. How Peter was severely tested on every point of the revelation he received.
How powerfully he testified, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And how he assured the Lord that even if all the other disciples denied Him, he never would, because he was willing to go to prison and die with Him.
In Luke 22:31-32, the Lord said:
Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have you, that he might sift you as wheat:
but I made supplication for thee, that thy faith fail not: and do thou, when once thou hast turned again, establish thy brethren.
And sure enough, when our Lord Jesus was being judged, Peter was in the court denying the Lord three times. When he denied the Lord the third time, the Bible says that the Lord turned and looked at him.
And that look is the same word found in John 1, when He first looked at him. What a tender, loving, understanding look. Peter’s heart was broken. He went out weeping.
Severely tested, but how the Lord restored him. In John 21, before the other disciples, the Lord said, “Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me?”
You know, if you know the Lord, you love Him. That shows that you know Him. You love Him.
So the Lord said, “Simon, dost thou love Me?” And Peter said, “Lord, Thou knowest that I am attached to Thee. I really am attached to Thee. I cannot say I love Thee absolutely. No, I failed. But still, I am attached to Thee.”
And the Lord said, “Feed My lambs.” Three times the Lord restored him in his relationship with the Lord.
And he was tested on the matter of the church too. You remember, in Acts 10, Peter was on the roof in Joppa, praying. He saw a sheet coming down, full of unclean animals, and a voice said, “Peter, rise, kill and eat.”
Peter said, “No, no, no. I have never eaten anything common and unclean.” And the voice said, “What God hath cleansed, make not thou common.” Three times Peter said no, and the sheet was taken up.
Then three men sent by Cornelius were knocking at the door. Brothers and sisters, that sheet is the church. There is nothing unclean there—no Jews, no Gentiles, all cleansed by the blood of the Lamb.
Oh, but Peter said, “No, no, no, not these Gentiles. They are all unclean. No fellowship.” But the Lord said, “Go.” Did he learn that lesson? Not very well.
In Acts he did, but in Galatians 2, no. He went to Antioch and ate with the Gentiles because in the Lord there is neither Jew nor Gentile. But when people came from James, he wondered what they would say, and again he separated himself.
So Paul, his younger brother, had to withstand him to the face, that the truth of the gospel might be preserved. Thank God, Peter was humble enough to accept it.
Even in his writing, he said that our beloved brother Paul wrote some things hard to understand, but they are the Word of God. He was learning.
He was tested in the matter of the cross. When the Lord was judged, he tried to avoid the cross. But at the last, he was crucified for the Lord.
Oh, how he learned the lesson of the kingdom and suffering. Read 2 Peter. He knew what the kingdom is.
So, brothers and sisters, revelation constitutes ministry. May God help us.
Lord, cleanse all these words with Thy precious blood. Quicken what is of Thee into our hearts. Give revelation.
In the name of our Lord Jesus, amen.