I’d like to ask you to turn in your Bibles to Matthew 28. These are familiar verses. This is the close of the Gospel of Matthew.
But the eleven disciples went into Galilee, unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed them.
And when they saw Him, they worshipped Him; but some doubted.
And Jesus came to them and spake unto them, saying, All authority hath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth.
Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit:
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
Then He said this: “Go therefore.” Go therefore—or just go—and make disciples of all nations.
Again, this is the 1901 version. After the Lord had been speaking in parables, He said this to His disciples:
Have ye understood all these things? They say unto Him, Yea.
And He said unto them, Therefore every scribe who hath been made a disciple to the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a householder, who bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.
And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, He departed thence.
Again on the morrow John was standing, and two of his disciples;
and he looked upon Jesus as He walked, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God!
And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.
And Jesus turned, and beheld them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? And they said unto Him, Rabbi (which is to say, being interpreted, Teacher), where abidest Thou?
He saith unto them, Come, and ye shall see. They came therefore and saw where He abode; and they abode with Him that day: it was about the tenth hour.
One of the two that heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.
He findeth first his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messiah (which is, being interpreted, Christ).
He brought him unto Jesus. Jesus looked upon him, and said, Thou art Simon the son of John: thou shalt be called Cephas (which is by interpretation, Peter).
Now 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.
Lord, we come to You. We commit the reading of Your Word back to You, and we say once again, as always, in utter dependence: Lord, You alone have the words of eternal life.
If You refuse to speak, there is no value. But if You speak, there is great value. Open Your Word. Send forth Your Spirit. We pray that the Holy Spirit would be free to open the Lord Jesus to us in an ever-deepening way.
Lord, speak; Your servants hear. Lord, we do not want to be distracted by the immediate. We pray above all, You will speak and we will hear. For we ask this in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.
Those of you who know that in September we started a series called Making Disciples, I think you probably remember at least some small part. We will continue with that today. It is a matter of making disciples.
I told you then, and I will tell you again, that this burden resulted from three initial impressions that the Holy Spirit seemed to give me.
Oswald Chambers said that when the Lord talks about disciples taking up their cross and following Him, the Lord always said, “If.”
So none of us is excluded. I shared with you about the great Vince Lombardi. You know I am a football fan. Some of you grieve so much about that. The famous coach said a thing that has enduring value: “Leaders are not born. They are made.”
And so it is true for disciples. The Lord Jesus calls everyone to believe, and for those who will hear, He calls everyone to be His disciples. Then He sets out to do a work that He can only do by the Holy Spirit, transforming and conforming us to His own image.
In the end, that wonderful verse in the Scriptures says, “It is enough for the disciple to be like his master.” That is the end of discipleship. So this is the burden that is on my heart.
I am not going to give you a long introduction. Ralph is supposing I will finish early. I hope that is true.
First, we talked about the mission. When the Lord Jesus gave His last earthly command—the last command on earth before He was taken up—He said this: “Go therefore, and make disciples.”
Now, we know that as the Great Commission. Somehow, I think we have dumbed it down, if you will pardon me for using such a phrase in regard to the Scriptures. We like to dumb things down.
I do not know about you, but I am a fan of the books for idiots. I guess it fits—computers for idiots, cars for idiots. I do not guess they have a Bible for idiots, but I guess I would have it.
We dumb things down, and we say the Great Commission is all about evangelism. It is about evangelism, but it is not just about evangelism. There was one single mission, and that mission was: “Go therefore, and make disciples.” That was the mission.
Then we looked at the Maker. What a word of encouragement. God reveals Himself in the opening pages of the Bible, in Genesis, as the Maker of the universe. He is pleased with the work He does, unlike us.
Often I do things—I am a project person. I love projects. I have endless projects. My wife is constantly grieved by my endless projects. Often I will end those projects and say, “Well, that is not very good.”
But the Maker of the universe saw everything that He made, and He said, “Behold, it was very good.” The Maker—He is the Maker.
He said to Peter, when He called him that second time, “Come, follow Me.” And He said this: “I will make you fishers of men.”
It says in the Psalms, “Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us worship God our Maker.” It says in Isaiah, “Your Maker is your husband, the Lord.” He is the Maker. He is the One who makes disciples. Aren’t you glad it is not your responsibility? I am so glad it is not my responsibility.
But He says, “Those I call, I will make.” That is the good news.
Then we talked about the man, just briefly. We said, God willing, in our next several times together, we would look at the Apostle Peter. I do not know about you, but I love the Apostle Peter—and all the more because he seems so human. He seems so real.
He always seems to be sticking his foot in his mouth. He always seems to be falling and failing and getting up. He is the first mentioned in every list of the apostles, and he is the first to speak. Even when Peter speaks, they follow him. I love Peter.
I often thought, why is Peter subjected to such humiliation, other than that he has foot-in-mouth disease? Why is it that Peter is always exposed, always being disciplined, always being dealt with?
Then it dawned on me one day: he is the supreme example of the way our Lord Jesus takes a man and makes him into a disciple. All of those dealings, all of those trials, all of those exposings, are for a single purpose: that this one would be made a disciple.
Today, what we would like to look at is simply Making Disciples, Part Two: The Necessity. That is the burden on my heart: that we would see the necessity of this issue and the necessity of a few things.
It may seem to be optional, but if you want to be used of the Lord, if you want to see the Lord have His purpose in your life, if you want to see the Lord glorified, this becomes a necessity.
Let us look, first of all, at the necessity of disciples, or you might say, the reason for disciples.
One thing that tells us how necessary it is: when Matthew concluded his great letter, this is what he concluded with. That is how necessary it is. The Lord’s last command when He was on the earth was this: “Go, make disciples.”
Another thing I think of is the Gospels. A large part of the Gospels is the relationship between the Lord Jesus and His disciples. Some people might say, “Well, what is so important about disciples?”
It seems to me you would miss the vast majority of what is in the Gospel. It is the interchange. It is the fellowship. It is the dealings. It is the life together. It is the learning from Him. It is the lessons that are given through the disciples.
There is a great book. I am going to push a great book, and I get no royalty, so I do not mind pushing a great book. There is a classic by A. B. Bruce called The Training of the Twelve.
One great ministering servant years ago made this statement of that book: “That book has never found its way to my bookshelf.” His secretary had logged every one of his books, neat and in such great order and reference, but that was one book, he said, that never made it to the bookshelf.
Every time he was in the Gospels, it was there on his desk by his Bible. What a great book. That explains everything. All the Gospels are the training of the Twelve.
What He has done is call men to Himself, and those who respond, He wants to do something with them. He wants to make them in His image and transform them and conform them to Himself. That is the necessity of discipleship.
After the Lord was baptized by John in the Jordan, and after the Lord’s temptation in the wilderness, the first thing He did was call disciples. That was the first thing.
We have read the story in John—that first call, how they came unto Him. Even John the Baptist said, “Behold, the Lamb of God,” and the disciples of John became the disciples of the Lord Jesus. They left John and came to the Lord Jesus.
They said, “Where do You dwell?” And He said just this: “Come and see.” And they followed Him. That is what we are to do. That is the necessity of disciples.
Why is it so important to have disciples? Because when you look at the Word of God, it is God determining somehow, in His wisdom—and I would say incredibly, in His mercy—that He has called man into fellowship with Himself.
He has chosen not to be alone, but to be in fellowship with men. Man has this special place. No one else has it. No angel has it. No animal has it. But man alone is gifted.
We read in 1 Corinthians 1:9 that we are called into the fellowship of God’s Son. That is what disciples do. That is what they are. They are simply in fellowship with the Son of God.
In 1 John, we are told that our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son. That is real fellowship, and we are included. That is the necessity of disciples.
I think of the house of God. There cannot be a house—God’s house—without disciples. There cannot.
You may want to argue with me, but I think it is clear that the house of God is a people and not a place. Some of you still say—and maybe me at times—“I am going to church.” How hard is that, to go to church? Is the church still a place to you?
Or is the house of God that people, that temple, that habitation for God in the Spirit, where all of His own—the redeemed—are an expression of His abiding place?
Every disciple is to be part of the house of God. You cannot have the house of God without disciples. We read in Ephesians 2 that we are a holy habitation for God in the Spirit. We are built together on the foundation of the apostles—early disciples—a holy habitation for God in the Spirit.
Then I think about the end of the Bible when I think about the necessity of disciples. In Revelation 21, we see several things. We see a holy city. We see a new Jerusalem. We see a bride. They are all the same.
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.
And it says in Revelation 21:14 that the wall of that city had twelve foundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
There will be no city, no New Jerusalem, and there will be no bride unless there are disciples. These original apostles, these original disciples, become the very foundation of the wall. That is the necessity.
No disciples, no holy city. No disciples, no New Jerusalem. No disciples, no tabernacle. No disciples, no bride. That is what Revelation 21 teaches us.
Another thing I think of when I think of the necessity of disciples is that they are entrusted with the testimony of Jesus.
It says of Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. I think we misread it sometimes. I think sometimes we say the believers, but the disciples. Notice the Holy Spirit’s fine choice of word.
Those that respond to the call of discipleship are those who are together entrusted with the testimony of Jesus.
You remember when the Lord was about to leave, and He spoke those loving words in John 13. Our brother Jim has been sharing on this. When He instituted the table, He said:
A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; even as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.
That is the necessity. That is the importance. They have the testimony of Jesus.
We could go on and on, but I think of the mysteries of the kingdom. You remember when the Lord Jesus spoke the parables and the disciples came up to Him. It was the disciples that came to Him, and they said, “Why is it, Lord, that You speak in parables?”
He said simply this: “Because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom. It is not given to them.” The Lord will share His closest secrets with His disciples. He will unfold His mysteries to His disciples. That is the necessity.
Finally, I think the disciples are to be transformed and conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus. You can be a believer; you will have eternal life.
I despise those—well, that is too strong, isn’t it, on a day of such joy and birth? I despise those who say you can lose your eternal life—or at least the teaching.
But this matter of a disciple: they are the ones that are transformed and conformed. You can believe in the Lord Jesus and have no deep change of heart.
But when disciples are put into that training ground, or put into that discipline program, or put into that place of relationship and fellowship, the Lord Jesus can begin to work in their hearts and deal with them and conform and transform them.
The end result is that they are to bear His image. We read in 1 John:
And when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him even as He is.
That is the necessity of discipleship.
Another thing I want to hit you with this morning is the necessity of response. I am very burdened about this, because unless there is response to the Lord’s call, there can be no disciples.
You remember we read in John 1 how those disciples of John, one of whom included Andrew, the brother of Peter, heard that great pronouncement, “Behold, the Lamb of God,” and went over and followed the Lord Jesus.
Then Andrew went and found his brother Peter. What a good brother. He went and found Peter, and he said, “We have found Him—the Messiah.” And Peter came to Him.
Then it says the Lord Jesus looked at him. Now, it does not mean a casual look. The Word of God is very explicit. It means a careful look. I think He looked right through him. I think He looked deep into his soul.
No politics involved—please do not take it that way—but George Bush refused to talk to people on the telephone. He wanted to look them in the eye and look into their soul, he said. He refused to talk to world leaders on the phone.
Brothers and sisters, He looked at Peter, and He said to him, “Thou art Simon, son of Jonas.” Now what does that mean? Have you ever thought about it?
In the Bible, names have meaning. Very often we understand everything just from a name, and I think it is true in this case. Simon is Greek for Simeon, and Simeon simply means “hearkening.” That is all it means.
He looked into his soul, and He saw one that would hearken to Him. That is Peter. That is Peter’s secret. Above all the other apostles, Peter is always responding.
You see it again and again through all of his fallings: he is still responding. I think he is always falling, but ever following. That is the way I think of Peter.
When I fall, that is what I want the Lord to do. How often I fall. But would it be said, “Ever following”? He hearkened. Do not take that name for granted. He hearkened. He responded to the Lord Jesus.
Hearkening means hearing. You remember how important it is when the Lord gave His last words to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3. He ended every letter to the churches with this:
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.
Hearkening. A hearing ear. That is the great need. That is what separated the Apostle Peter. That is the reason he was made a disciple.
I think of Samuel. I think of so many illustrations; it would take us way too long. The baby would be a year old, and we would be celebrating a birthday.
But I think of Samuel. You remember Samuel—a beautiful picture of Samuel in the temple, in 1 Samuel 3. It says, “The lamp of God had not yet gone out.” That is the testimony.
Samuel heard a voice. He heard a voice. That is what Samuel did: he heard a voice.
And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place (now his eyes had begun to wax dim, that he could not see), and the lamp of God was not yet gone out, and Samuel was laid down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was; that the Lord called Samuel: and he said, Here am I.
“Here am I.” That is hearkening. He said it three times. Samuel would wake up, go to Eli, and say, “Eli, I heard this. Here I am.”
Eli, maybe in his dullness, finally realized it was the Lord calling him. He said, “The next time He calls you, answer Him. Answer Him, and say just this: ‘Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth.’”
Hearkening is hearing, but answering is responding. What we see in the life of the Apostle Peter, this great disciple who had so many flaws and faults, is first of all the heart of one who responds.
I started going through all the occasions his name is mentioned, and I began, at least in my version—I do not know what your version has—to see this phrase that I have fallen in love with. Every time he responded, it says, “And Peter.”
And Peter. That is so important. The necessity of a response is the beginning of being made a disciple. If we do not respond, there is no way He can make us a disciple.
Think of the story of walking on the water. You remember the story. They were all in the boat, and then the Lord was walking on the water. Peter says, “If it is You, Lord, call me to come to You.”
The Lord says, “Come,” and Peter does what no man has done except the Son of Man: he walked on the water.
Now, I know—you and me both—we look at the failure. “Yeah, but he sank.” That is positive encouragement. But nobody else, nobody else in that boat, even responded. Do you see the necessity? That is the difference.
He responded. “And Peter, having descended from the ship, walked upon the water to go to Jesus.”
I can think of another circumstance: Matthew 16. I think you all know that story. I read the verses. That great revelation, often just referred to as Peter’s confession. It says, “And Simon Peter answering.” Nobody else—answering, responding.
The Lord said, “Who do men say that I am?” They gave Him high praise. But then He said, “But ye, who do ye say that I am?” And Simon Peter answering, said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
This is the necessity of response.
You can think of the Mount of Transfiguration. It immediately follows in Matthew 17. You know the story: Elijah and Moses appear with the Lord Jesus, Who is transformed in glory.
At that moment, He could have left the earth and gone to be with the Father. His glory—that flesh that had veiled His glory—there was a breaking out of His glory.
And it says, “And Peter said, ‘Lord, it is good that we should be here. Let us build three tabernacles.’” Now Peter was a diplomat. He said one for You—he mentioned the Lord first—one for Elijah, and one for Moses.
But he responded. We often look at the rebuke, the failing, but I believe—and this is the burden, if I can transfer it, then I can sleep tonight—do not look at the failure. Look at the response. That is what is necessary.
Peter is flawed, but following; always responding.
Think of that last scene in John 21. You remember the sea. They are out fishing, and they do not catch any fish. The Lord is out preparing breakfast on the shore, and one of the disciples says, “It is the Lord.”
And it says, “Peter”—nobody else. Peter girded his overcoat on, dove into the water—I guess he could swim—and went to the Lord. That is response.
Read his life. Read it differently. Peter is imperfect, true; being made, true; having many faults. Does that remind you of anyone? Wake up and look in the mirror in the morning.
But Peter, first of all, is one who responds.
I remember, through my midlife crisis—whoa, somebody wrote me a note. She will be fine. The Lord loves her, and this young one. Thank you.
Where was I? Oh, the midlife crisis. How could you forget?
I remember when I went back, a gray-haired old fellow with young students, to get my master’s degree in structural engineering. I did not understand all those courses I took. I will be honest with you. I should not admit that to you students.
I understood everything, took it all in, it was wonderful, I can tell you every bit of it—that would be a lie. But I took one course I loved. It did not have anything to do with engineering: the history and aesthetics of jazz.
Believe it or not, they told me I needed an elective. I thought, “Well, gee, this is a whole lot better than structural computations for whatever.” I took it.
I do not remember much out of that either, to be honest with you. But I remember this: that professor, a gifted jazz musician himself, was explaining the secret of early jazz.
He said it comes from the African heritage, and the whole beginning of early jazz was call and response. It is like in Africa, when they play the drums. Have any of you guys watched Tarzan movies? I grew up on them, by the way. They would play the drums.
Then, in a distant place, on another hill, that same tune was played back. It was call and response.
Now, that is what the whole Bible is, dear brothers and sisters. Do you know that? From the beginning of the Bible to the end of the Bible, it is call and response.
If we do not respond, you will never be made a disciple.
I remember this nation went through a huge tragedy—some do not like to use that word—with 9/11, a huge trial. I learned a term that I think, at this age, fifty-nine years old, you would have heard before: “first responders.”
It was everywhere in the news: those firemen, those rescue people, those police who laid down their lives for others. They were simply called first responders.
I wonder if we could borrow that term. Peter was the first responder. When the Lord called, he answered. He hearkened. He heard, and he answered. He responded. This is the secret of his life.
There are some contrasts in the Word of God. So much for going short, huh, Jack? I saw you just look at the clock, brother. That is okay. I do that too.
What does it say of Adam in Genesis 3:17?
Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife.
That was the indictment. The land will be cursed because of it. You will toil. It will be labor. From dust you are, and to dust you will return—all because he hearkened to the voice of his wife.
Jerry has been sharing on Abraham, lessons learned from the life of Abraham. Abraham—it says, I think, in Genesis 16:2, but I am not sure; I am going by memory—Sarai had a great idea. She must have thought she was Ford.
She came up and said, “Look, I have this handmaid, and we are not getting this thing happening about children and seed. So suppose you take her. Do you not think that is a good idea?”
Well, it says of Abram, “And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.” You think of the ruin with Adam. You think of the ruin with Abraham. Multiple generations are still in conflict.
Brothers and sisters, this is the necessity of response.
When the Lord first looked into Peter, He had another thing to say to him. He said, “Simon, son of Jonas, you shall be called Cephas.” That is a promise. The Bible says, interpreted, “a stone.”
Every disciple is to be a living stone in the house of God. But that will never happen. That place of a living stone will never happen unless there is an adequate response.
It is a promise, for sure. But how we need to hearken. How we need to answer. How we need to turn to Him. This is the main thing that is on my heart.
The necessity of response is absolute.
The Lord is looking. I think He is looking in this room. I think the Lord is looking into your eyes, and He is saying, “Will you hearken to Me?”
Brothers and sisters, there is no more important word I can bring you. Your life with the Lord depends on it. The testimony of your life depends on it.
It is the secret, the necessity, the key that set Peter apart. It is nonetheless our secret.
Another necessity is the necessity of revelation. Some of you get tired of that word, I know. I heard the prayers and the comments. But the truth of the matter is, without living revelation, you can never be made a disciple.
We read from Matthew 16, that portion that is so familiar to us. You know the story at Caesarea Philippi. The Lord had a private meeting with His disciples. That was with His disciples; that was not with the crowd. That was not with the throngs of people. He was alone with His disciples.
He asked this question: “Who do men say that I am?”
They had an answer. They said, “Some say John the Baptist. Some say Elijah the prophet. Some say Jeremiah the prophet.” That is all high praise, do you not agree?
Suppose you were called that—the great prophet Elijah. What did the Lord say of John the Baptist? Among those born of women, there is none greater. The greatest. High praise.
But if all we can say is, “You compare to this one,” and, “You compare to that great one,” it will always be less than the Lord Jesus is.
Without living revelation, revelation from above, divine revelation, we will never see the Lord Jesus as He is. You will always be comparing Him to something or someone.
Here is the problem: He is the incomparable Christ. To what are you comparing Him? To whom are you comparing Him?
If you have divine revelation, you will see One Who is altogether lovely, worthy of your life, altogether beyond everyone and everything, in matchless glory.
That is what divine revelation does. It opens the eyes. It takes away the sheet. It exposes the thing as it really is.
So at that moment, the Lord said to them, “But who do ye say that I am?” And Peter said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Brothers and sisters, have you seen Him? Have you seen the incomparable Christ?
One of my favorite books is by J. Oswald Sanders. The title I cannot ever forget. It is simply called The Incomparable Christ, with the subtitle The Person and Work of the Lord Jesus.
Oh, that God would give us such revelation. Peter saw it. Peter’s eyes were opened. The rest of them did not see it, but Peter saw it.
I think there is, going back to the first point, maybe a connection to be made. If we simply respond to Him, He will open to us His greatest secrets.
This is the lesson of Peter. He was the responder, and unveiled to him, he saw what no one else saw. They were always beating around the bush. They were comparing Him to other great men. It is true, high praise, it is true. I would like just one of those comparisons upon my gravestone.
But they did not see the incomparable Christ. That is what we need to see. It takes divine revelation.
When he saw it, the Lord Jesus said:
Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father Who is in heaven.
He is the One Who gave you this vision. He is the One Who opened your eyes. He is the One Who made you see this One as He really is. This is the secret.
What necessity, brothers and sisters, there is of divine revelation. If you see Him altogether lovely, if you see this incomparable Christ, your life will change.
If you respond to Him, He will show you more of Who He is.
I think of Leonardo da Vinci. He saw something. He was not just a great inventor, but when he painted his fresco of the Last Supper and was contemplating painting the face of Jesus, he devoted himself to prayer.
Just the contemplation of it. He did not know what to do, but before this great masterpiece was ever made, he considered it deeply. It says that even after that preparation, when he raised his brush to the canvas, his hand trembled.
Do we tremble? Have you seen Him?
God is willing to open our eyes. Divine revelation is an absolute necessity. Because Peter was a responder, God opened more and more to him.
Not only did the Father show him the incomparable Christ, but He showed him His eternal purpose. When He opened his eyes, Peter began to see what was deep in the heart of our Savior, and that was His church.
The Lord Jesus said, “Peter, upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
Now, some people foolishly, mistakenly have said Peter is the rock. How absurd. Sorry.
“Upon this rock I will build My church.” Brothers and sisters, He wants to reveal to us His purpose. If we respond to Him, He will reveal to us His heart’s purpose.
Then He goes further. Not only does He reveal His purpose; He reveals Peter’s place in that purpose. He says, “Thou art Peter,” a rock, not the Rock.
I think the confusion can be easily solved over whether Peter is the rock upon whom the church is built. There are two different Greek words: Petros and petra.
Petros is used for Peter. It is a piece of the rock. He is not the Rock. Petra is used of the revelation. It is referring to the revelation. It is referring to the incomparable Christ, and it means a massive rock.
That is the difference. But if we respond, He will show us His heart’s purpose.
May the Lord be able to open our eyes and give us divine revelation. You cannot be a disciple without divine revelation. You will never understand what His purpose is.
You will never be in the service of the Master doing the right thing; you will be doing what you want. But if you see His grand purpose and are in line with His heart, then He can bring you into that place so that you are a living stone like Peter.
Then, in your generation, you can serve the purpose of God.
Let me conclude with this. At the end of John’s Gospel, we see there is but one question to Peter.
You remember when the Lord was on trial. It is interesting to me: the first trial with the high priest, it says the high priest asked first about His disciples and His doctrine.
But then Peter—you know, it says, “And Peter”—and Peter followed afar off. If there was ever a description of our life, that is the description. But he followed.
He went, and there was that little maid, that little porter, that little doorkeeper. She came up to him, and she had one question: “Are you one of His disciples?”
That was the question. Do you know what his reply was? He said, “I am not.”
Can you imagine? No wonder we read in the Gospel that the Lord Jesus turned and looked at him. I think He looked right through him again, just like the first time.
But he did it again. It says in that same chapter later, one who was with the guard said, “Surely you are, are you?” This is the question: “Are you one of His disciples?”
And Peter said, “I am not.”
This is the question: Are you one of His disciples? What will be your answer? What will be your response? What will you say to that question?
No wonder at that moment the word of the Lord was fulfilled, and the cock crowed. Peter realized what he had done, and it says he went out and wept bitterly.
Thank God that is not the end of the story. It says beautifully in Mark 16, when they found the empty tomb, the angel had a little word—perhaps from the Lord Himself—and he said, “Go tell the disciples.”
That was the word: “Go tell the disciples—and Peter.” That was the word.
All of these “and Peters” had accumulated, and the Lord in His mercy did not let Peter go. The angel said, “Go tell the disciples—and Peter. He will meet you at Galilee.”
What is your answer to that question?
I think that is an all-important question. I think it might be the most necessary question I can bring to you.
I wonder: will He find in us those that hearken? Will He find in us those that respond and answer? Full of flaws, stumbling—yes. Being made, being conformed, being constrained by the love of God—yes.
But what will your answer be today? Will it be, “I am not”?
I think that word was a sharper pain than any sword in the side of the Lord.
May the Lord capture us. May the Lord really draw us to Himself. May we hear His call. May we just say yes.
One of my favorite stories—brother Jerry has been sharing from Genesis—is that story about Rebekah. She was to be the bride of Isaac. It was such a beautiful story with such a simple response.
Finally, her family asked her, and this was her response: “I will go.”
Is your answer, “I am not”? Or is your answer, “I will go”? That is the necessity. May the Lord help us.
Lord, what we cannot say in our own weakness, we ask the Holy Spirit to be very kind with us and help us to see the Lord Jesus.
Lord, help us to hear the call. Help us to hear it. Help us, Lord, to respond to it.
We want You to be able to say about us in the end: we hearkened, we answered, we responded. We do not want to say, “I am not.”
But we want to say to You, Lord, we give ourselves to You. It is enough to be like our Master.
We offer ourselves to You willingly for You to do that making work that only You can do. And we ask it in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.