Simon Peter's transformation from a fisherman to an apostle is presented as a testament to encountering Jesus. Initially declaring himself a sinful man, Peter later confessed Jesus as the Christ, receiving the name Peter, meaning 'stone,' signifying his foundational role in the church. The sermon emphasizes that salvation is secured by God's righteousness through Christ's sacrifice, as illustrated by the story of Mercy and Justice, where Christ satisfied divine justice. True Christian life and abundant grace and peace flow from the risen Christ on the throne, not from the cross, which offers pardon. Believers are called to build their capacity to receive and enjoy God's provisions through diligent effort, as their eternal enjoyment of Christ will be proportional to the character they build now.
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I'm going to ask you this morning to start right away with our Bible study. We are not going to read, we read the portion. Will you just check right from the beginning? Simon or Simeon, the natural name of this curling fisherman. who felt he was just as good as any of the boys who grew up around Galilee, until one day, face to face with Jesus, forming his path with the cry, depart from me. I'm a sinful man, O Lord.
He'll find those words in Luke's Gospel, Chapter Five. As he looks into the face of the one who has sent him out to catch that great load of fish, he's not thinking about the fish and the dollars. He only thinks that he's utterly unfit for the presence of Jesus. He's passed from me. I'm a sinful man, O Lord. But it's not till two years later at Caesarea Philippi that by revelation... He looks into the same face and he says, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. The Lord Jesus answered, Blessed art thou, Simon, Simeon, thou Jonah, the Son of Jonah.
The flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you. It came from my father which is in heaven. Thy name shall be called Peter, a stone. on this great rock foundation, Christ. You are going to be one of the stones, the great foundation stone, and you will be the key man to open the door to the Jews and later to the Gentiles to bring these living stones that will build up this great church, this habitation of God. The gates of hell shall not prevail against you.
You know, gates don't move and it doesn't mean that the gates of hell are going to attack the church and won't overthrow it. It doesn't mean that. It means that a vital living church on the move will torn the gates of hell and the gates of hell will not prevail. They will be beaten. The church will move into the enemy territory, translate souls out of the kingdom of darkness into this wonderful, growing kingdom of God. a bond slave, one who stood in the slave market of sin, but Jesus came to buy him not with silver, not with gold, but with precious blood, one who came to break the chattels in his life and set him free so that he looks into the face of Jesus and he said, Master.
Not because I've got to, but because I want to. I'm your slave. An apostle, one that was commissioned, one that the written Lord said, I give you a great encouragement, the gospel, go into all the world and preach it to every creature. You've seen me, you've heard me. You're one of the twelve chosen apostles. God. Now he writes to whom? He addresses the letter to them that have obtained like precious faith with us.
Can you say I too have a faith in Jesus Christ? I know he's the Son of God. I know he redeemed me when he died upon the cross. Is he writing to you? Is he writing to every blood-bath believer right through the great world today? Red and yellow, black and white. Every redeemed child of God has faith, precious faith, saving faith in the person of Christ. Is he writing to you? I wonder what your answer was to my second question yesterday. To them who have obtained my precious faith with us, through the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Now never forget this. But the great salvation that we can enjoy, that is ours, for the taking by faith, is something that God wrought out on a righteous, great basis at tremendous cost. Oh, I wonder if I could picture it for the moment. Many years ago in America there was a great preacher called Jonathan Edwards. Wherever he moved, gracious revival was seen. He was a fearless preacher, one of the old Puritan preachers. And Jonathan Edwards used to tell a story which just stayed with me. I read it in one of his books and I've often used it as an illustration.
He pictured a beautiful preacher called Mercy. Charming, lovely Mercy. And she came one day to a big parkade and she looked over this parkade, over this wall and she saw inside the big enclosure thousands of people. They were bruised and crying and burdened, wounded, needy. And the heart of mercy went out toward them. She wanted to go in and lift their burdens and bind up their wounds and wipe their tears away. And so she moved around the stockade to see if she could see the place of entrance, the way of entrance.
And when she got there, she found there was only one entrance, and standing in the entrance was a tall, calm figure called justice. And mercy and justice are faced with this. Justice holds in his hand a sword. It's a flaming sword and he's guarding this door. He's keeping the door. He won't let anyone pass in. And Mercy looks into his face and says, Justice, the people inside there need me and I want to go and meet their needs. Will you let me pass through this door? And Justice said no.
He did not tell every claim of justice has been met and satisfied. And Mercy just broke down and the tears streamed down her cheeks and she turned away weeping. And as she turned away weeping, she met one like unto the Son of God. Jesus. And Jesus looked at her and said, Mercy, what ail is these? And she told him all her heart. And he didn't say very much. He simply said, Come with me, Mercy, and we'll meet justice together. And as they moved back toward that gate, the Son of God was seen to be losing his own clothing and bearing his own heart.
And he faced justice, and justice raised his sword to defend the gateway. And the Son of God moved deliberately right forward into the path of justice. And the sword of justice was raised to strike. And the Son of God with bare bosom moved forward. And all of a sudden there was a death! And the sword of justice was sheathed in behalf of the Son of God. And every claim of justice was met. And justice was satisfied. And now the God wide open. And mercy can go into whosoever will, to lift the burden, to whisper a word of pardon, to give the strength to minister to them.
That's what happened on Calvary when your Saviour took your place and met the divine claims of God's justice. Yes, our salvation is on that basis, Peter says. The righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Never forget that. Any sinner can come and take the hand of mercy and taste of the mercies of God, the great salvation, because of the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus God.
Now will you read verse two with me altogether? All together, grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. I say this is really thrilling when you know the Lord Jesus, you know God. This is life eternal. You remember the verse, don't you? John, This is life eternal, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ from last then. And the moment you know God, then something is multiplied to you.
I want you to get this. It's very important. It's almost the key to this whole chapter, if we can get it. Most of you, when you were school, you learnt very quickly multiplication. Now, I'm not being silly when I say this. Would you, in your mind, put down the figure two and do a little sum? Twice two are... Don't be silly, Mr. Wallace. We're not talking to babies. No, I'm not. I'm talking to seniors. Twice two are four. Twice four are eight.
Twice eight are sixteen. Twice sixteen are thirty-two. Twice thirty-two are sixty-four. Twice sixty-four are hundred and twenty-eight. Twice a hundred and twenty-eight. Two five six. Twice two five six. Let's see, what's that? Five-oh-two, five-one-two, twice five-one-two, a thousand and twenty-four, twice a thousand, and so we go on. Jumping up to thousands and food, it will be reaching millions. Multiplication makes big figures. Is that right? Now read the verse again. Gray and P. B. What? Multitized unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
Multiplication. Well, look at this time. and besides it, listen, read it with me, and besides it, giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue, and to virtue, knowledge, and so on. We'll leave that till tomorrow. Add, add, add to your faith. Let's do some addition. One and one make two.
Right? Just one, three. Just one, four, if I add in ones, it's getting to be very slow. Well, look here, just now I multiply. I put down two multiplications, two, twice two, a four, and jump to big figures. That would be easier. Now we'll do it, adding two plus two equals four. Plus two equals six. Plus two eight. to ten, plus to twelve, plus to fourteen.
Oh dear, I'm only creeping up. Just now I got over a thousand when I was multiplying ten times two, but now I haven't reached more than twenty, is it added. You see the difference? Multiplication makes big figures. Addition is slower work. Well, contrast verse two and verse five. Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Verse five, his guidance is in all diligence that is watchful effort.
Add to your faith certain things. And there are seven things put down. We are not talking about them, but not today. Verse eight, for if these seven things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse nine, but he that lacketh these seven things is blind and cannot see of tarot and has forgotten that he was purged from his old sin. I want to point out to you strongly today and tomorrow the difference between multiplication and addition in the Christian life.
Now, if I've got precious faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that precious faith of chapter of verse one, These things in verse two can be multiplied, grace and peace be multiplied through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. What does he mean? Well, I'm going to point you to a throne, and I want you to realize that if you're a Christian, there lives on the throne of God, someone who died for you on the cross of camp.
But I want to point out to you very, very strongly that from that throne comes your Christian life. Did you get that? Now look at me. Your Christian life does not come from the cross. It comes from the cross. You'll get pardon at the cross if you come a weeping, trembling sinner and say, Oh, God, forgive this poor child of Adam with all his sin and shame, and he'll whisper forgiveness. It will spring from the cross where he died for you. But your Christian life doesn't come from the cross.
And you can be forgiven and you can be cleansed, but you can be a poor, ailing, tumbling, blind, useless, ruthless, disappointing, defeated, and left. From the throne the light of Jesus is mouticized. You'll never get grace, verse two, and you'll never get peace. Peter just picks out two things. Grace and peace be multiplied unless you're in touch with the written class. All grace is in that wonderful person.
And from the throne he whispered, My grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in weakness. Grace sufficient, multiplied from the throne. Peace, peace surpasses all understanding, conscaring your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus the written law. Oh, I want to say to you, young people, when it burst upon my soul some years ago, when I was reading Romans, I, this great truth, it changed my outlook. You just turned back just for a moment to Romans five to check on this.
You know, Peter wasn't a great theologian. He's down to earth's practical teaching, but he turns to Paul. He says Paul said many things difficult to understand, but he was the theologian that worked it all out. He had the pen of a ready writer and gave us the great epistles. Now look at Romans five, verse nine, verse eight. But God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. We arrived back at the cross. Much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from loss from hell through him.
For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the debt of his sons, much more Being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. The great salvation I am going to enjoy will come from the prose and the written law. Pardon, forgiveness, cleansing comes from the cross as I bow there in repentance confessing my sins. But if ever I am going to know His grace flowing in my life, His peace that passes all understanding, the things that come from the written Christ, He's going to be my life.
And Peter in that second verse says grace and peace can be multiplied. No such thing as rationing the resources of the risen Christ. No such thing as going to the throne any day and saying, I want a little bit of grace today and an angel says, sorry, the supply of grace has run out. There's no more. There's been such a demand on it all over the world. There's no more for you. It's always sufficient. If I could give you a lisk, I don't know whether I might... Well, I wonder what the question is going to do this morning. Ask you to give a lisk of the things that flow from the throne of the little Christ.
Oh, I wish some young child of God could get... hold of what I'm going to say to you in a moment, I'll make it very simple. Look, I'm going to the throne, the throne of grace, the throne of peace, the throne of power, and I'm going by that new and living way that Jesus opened to stand before the throne and I stand there, Harold Wilde, standing before the throne. And all of a sudden I hear a voice and it's a nasty voice, it's a cruel voice, it's Oh dear, it sends a shiver down my spine. Do you know what the voice says? Wildish.
What are you doing here? I say, why can't I come here? You've just refused, haven't you? It's the accuser of the brethren. You say, does he have a right to the throne when he did in Job's day? And I don't really care. Let's see about Revelation chapter. I forget which it is. Seven, I think. No, it's chapter twelve in Revelation that he was cast down. The one who accuses the brethren. And he's there, right there at the throne, and he's accusing me. He says, why this? Why this too, your little child? And Adam, what right have you got here? And I turn round and the shiver's down my spine, and I just wonder really what road I have got here.
What have I ever done to stand here at the throne? He says, look, I've got the record of your life. You were born in the Christian home, I know, but you were a little thief at school, and you told lies, and you stole apples, and my words, you were selfish, chocked with self. And I say, he's got a picture of me, he's got a record of it all, and he's accusing me. Oh, dear, oh dear. Then I hear another voice, and oh, it's such a lovely voice, and let me tell you, when you hear a shepherd's voice, if you're a sheep, you know.
And he knows you. He's not taken like a tribe. It's anything about a wandering sheep that he found and made his own. And I hear his voice, and do you know he's talking, but he's not talking to me? Satan was talking to me and accusing me before the throne, but this lovely voice of my written Lord Jesus isn't talking to me. I hear him saying, Father, Father, do you remember how you sent me forth down into that world of sin? Do you remember how you asked me to go and take death for every man?
Do you remember how you asked me to bear the storm of punishment? Do you remember how you asked me to lay down my life and shed my blood as a redemption cry? Father, look, look, look. See the marks of Calvary on my hands and feasting. See my ribbon-side where I died for Harold Wildish, that child of Adam's father. accept him in me. Father, let him stand before thee, closed in my righteousness. Father, he is one that I bring to thee as a blood-wrapped child.
Father, I and the children that thou hast given me. And I realize a battle is raging around me. And I realize that I have in Jesus a great high priest who represents me, an advocate who pleads for me, and all of a sudden I hear the voice of the eternal world. Satan, the God! And I stand up there to be a voice. Oh, young Christians, if you get hold of this book as a risen Christ, A man in the glory with the marks of Christ, whoever lives with him.
And he has given his life to you. And you are saved by his life. And when you opened your heart and took Jesus as Savior, God said, he that hath the Son hath life, he that hath not the Son, hath not life. And if you've taken Christ, you can say, Christ lives in me and the life that I now live. I live by faith. And this precious faith in Christ, when you knelt at his cross and said, Thank you for dying for my sins, and you looked into his faith and received him, he came to be your life.
And everything you need will be multiplied to you. No rationing. There's no excuse for you being a defeated Christian. There is no excuse for you, day by day, not being a victorian. He's made every provision for it in his living life, which he imparted to you. And everything in Christ can be multiplied to you. There is grace sufficient, peace sufficient, wisdom, strength, joy, power. Every resource of the written Christ that you're describing. Multiply. Will you say, how did it come to me?
Do it. Well, Peter does. Practical Peter does. Now look carefully. Verse two, grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Verse three, according as his... divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and God with us. Now read that again. According as his divine power. Now who can tell me what is his divine power is? The power of what?
Gimmona. What is his divine power? Nothing else. What is the power that Jesus had when he lived amongst them? The power that he offered himself to God on the cross with. The power that raised him from the dead. The power that he shed a load on the day of Pentecost. The power of the Holy Spirit. It's given to every child of God. It's given... given according to his divine power given unto us give them a gift a gift a gift that should be thankful received by faith a gift that should be made useful Oh dear young Christians, are you conscious that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?
You couldn't have a divine life, the life of the Lord Jesus, unless the Spirit of God convicted you of sin. The Spirit of God revealed Christ to you. The Spirit of God came to make him real in your dead spirit. a new creation work that began to capture your mind and capture your affection and capture your will and then began to shine out and Christ began to be magnified in you and through you. And by the Holy Spirit according to his divine power have given unto us. Now what's the next word? given unto us, what?
All. All. All. You see, why do you keep saying it? Because it's so thrilling. Oh, I'm going to get down to brass tacks with Peter tomorrow. Listen, verse five. And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith, seventy. Seven things. If these things be in you, you won't get blind, you'll be fruitful. Seven things that you've got to add, but the wisdom Christ multiplies all things by the Holy Spirit to make you a victorious Christian.
Yes, grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord. Verse three, according as his divine power, the power of the Holy Spirit, hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue. Now look at verse four. whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through us.
Verse four we are given something else, not the Holy Spirit, but something else. something that's very holy. Could you tell me what it is? Well, just take your Bible and look at the back and read Holy Bible. And the Bible thinks in me rightly. And the word holy simply means sacred. And these are the sacred writings that God has given us. And they are the Catholic promises, the promises of God that we can bank in at the throne.
And so read the verse again, verse three, according as his divine power the Holy Spirit hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and God's in it, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us, the Holy Spirit, packed with the great and precious promises of God, that by thee he might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through life. Young Christians, I want to tell you something.
There are times when I see the corruption that is in the world and my heart is overwhelmed with it all. When I go into the prisons in Jamaica and I see the mass of humanity there, And I go under a great big bridge in Haiti that spans a river, and I see four hundred people living under the bridge because they haven't got houses to live in, living in cholera and filth with sores and corrupting walking dogs. And I go down Skid Row and see the poor Brahmin lying on the gutter, drunk, white trash, the throw away of our humanity.
Again and again and overwhelming sense comes to my heart, oh God, but for thy grace and tender mercy, that could be how it was. Well, did I know that there's such in my nature, the adamation that could produce all this corruption? Nothing but the mercy and the grace of God to each one of us that has made us what we are to be here today. nothing but the mercy and the grace of God that can make provision for us to be victorious Christians in a dirty old sinful world and live victoriously day by day and the two great treasures he's given us is verse three verse three the divine power of the Holy Spirit and verse four the the the precious promises that the word of God that we should be partakers of the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world through life.
Now in closing, verse five, and I'm on the fringe of tomorrow's subject and eager to get to it, and besides this, and besides this, giving all diligence, which simply means gritting your feet and squaring your shoulders and facing a task. I've got to do something about it. God does not do it all. You never drift to heaven with God doing it all. You've got to build a Christian character. And it's got to be done by diligent, watchful effort.
It's got to be added to. It's not multiplication work. You've got to face the fact that line upon line and precept upon precept slowly and steadily a Christian character is built up through the school days of faith that will have died. Now, in closing, I have something to say that's rather important. Listen, his part and ours. His part, multiplications, ours addition. His part, to pour the content into my life.
Everything I need to make me a victorious Christian. My part, the building of a container, a Christian territory. I'm going to imagine as I close that I ask six kids to come to this store and stand here in a row. And I say, boys, I'm going to fill any container you bring with Coca-Cola. Run away and get the container. Go on. The boys scamper out into the sunshine and they come back one by one and line up. And I turn to the first boy and I say, now you want... Coca-Cola, come on now, where's your container? And he brings out mother's symbol, mother's little symbol, and I fill it.
When I turn it to the top, I say to him, son, can you take any more? And he says, no, it's cool, sir. I go, I turn to the next boy. I have to bring out your container, pulls out a little wine glass. Can I fill it? I said, the next boy, what have you got? He pulls out a big old tumbler about this big fillet. I turned to the next point and said, what have you got? He pulled out a milk jug, this big. I said, you know, what did you bring? He says, behind me I got it, sir. It's a big old rumbling tub. And I said, I would fill it. I have to fill it. And look at six boys and I say, now boys, can you take any more?
And the boy with the thimble says, no, so I can't take any more. And the boy with the rangers says, I can't take any more. The boy with the thimble says, I can't take any more. And the boy with the milk jug says, I can't take any more. And the boy with the pub says, I can't. I have killed those containers according to their capacity. Now you have got to build your capacity. by diligent watchful effort. You've got to add to your faith seven things that will build up a Christian character in which Christ can be displayed and the Holy Spirit and the Holy Scripture will make the written Christ filling that capacity, but according to the capacity.
I wonder if you see it. I should go on with this tomorrow morning. Young Christian, listen. One day, it could be soon, we shall have to look into the master's faith and give an account to him for our lives. And according to the teaching of Scripture, he's going to say to some, they will suffer loss, they will be rather ashamed. He's going to say to some, well done. well done, good and faithful servant. Enter thou into what?
The joy of thy Lord. In other words, you are going to enjoy your Lord according to your capacity to return ladies. Did you get that? If you produce a symbolful capacity, you're going to enjoy the Lord for that capacity to eternal life. If it was a wine cup or a tumbler or a milk jug or a cup, you're going to enjoy your Lord, his companionship and service through eternal ages, according to the capacity that you've built in the school of faith now.
If you get that, it's a tremendous discovery in God. You are going to produce the capacity, and we will pour the content into it. And you will display the content according to your capacity. When you meet and lead glory, Abraham, you will meet Abraham. And when you meet Samuel, you'll meet Samuel. And when you meet Ruth, you'll meet Ruth. And when you meet Dorkas, you'll meet Dorkas. And when you meet Dick Matthews, you'll meet Dick Matthews. And when you meet Harold Wiley, you'll meet Harold Wiley. And when we meet you, we shall meet you.
You won't change. You are creating your capacity to enjoy the Lord for eternity. And it's by diligent, watchful effort you build a Christian to