Peter and John - been with Jesus (Quality: Very Good)

[0:00] As the Lord should be pleased to help this morning, we would direct your prayerful attention to the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 4 and at verse 13.

[0:20] The Acts of the Apostles and chapter 4 and the 13th verse. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled and they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus.

[0:48] What a difference that made to these two men to have been with Jesus. You see, the Lord Jesus said on one occasion, Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your soul.

[1:10] And these two dear men had been with him. As they had been, I was looking back this morning in preparation for this service, And I saw how the Lord called them together.

[1:28] If we look just a moment into the first chapter of Mark's Gospel, we find these two dear men who were fishermen.

[1:39] And we read concerning them that the Lord Jesus, as he walked by that Sea of Galilee, saw Simon.

[1:51] This is Peter. You know, friends, his names are significant. I believe that the very name Simon would remind us of his old nature and what he was before.

[2:06] But do you remember that Jesus gave him another name? They should be called Peter. Peter. Yes. A rock. The Lord taught him many a lesson.

[2:20] The Lord led him along. And we can see such a different man in the chapter where our text is, To what he was here when he was first called.

[2:32] Lord, he saw Simon and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And Jesus spoke to them. And he said, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.

[2:48] But you see, before they were enabled to be fishers of men, they had to be taught many a lesson. They had to go through the pathway of trial and distress.

[3:02] They were like Moses who had to go to the backside of the desert to learn many a lesson before he led the children of Israel.

[3:14] But you see, not only is Simon Peter spoken of there, but we find it recorded just a little later. When he had gone a little further thence, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, who were also in the ship mending their nets.

[3:36] And straightway he called them. How wonderful it was, friends, that when Jesus called these men, they immediately left everything. What a wonderful thing it was. They could leave their occupation, they could leave their boats, they could leave their old father, Zebedee, and they could follow Christ without delay.

[3:58] All these two dear men, how they were often together. I've been tracing it out a little, and I would seek to trace it out with you here this morning, as the Lord led them along.

[4:13] And I went next to the 13th chapter of John, where we find these two men together again. You know, on the occasion when the Lord Jesus washed their feet.

[4:29] And there was Simon Peter. And you remember what he said, Lord, dost they wash my feet? Jesus said, What I do, thou knowest not know, but thou shalt know hereafter.

[4:45] How often that's a fitting word for us. We are so often perplexed about the future. Perplexed about what may take place. But the Lord knows all about it.

[4:57] He knows the end from the beginning. What I do, thou knowest not know, but thou shalt know hereafter. But what I was coming to was this, when they were sitting at the supper table.

[5:10] We read of these two men together. There was Simon Peter and John at the table. And we read, there was leaning on Jesus' bosom.

[5:23] I've been thinking about John a lot lately, friends. How near he lived to the Lord. That's why he knew this boldness in the chapter we've been reading.

[5:33] Because he'd been living very near the Lord Jesus. On this occasion, we find it recorded that he was leaning on Jesus' bosom. So near to the Lord was John, that he leaned upon his bosom.

[5:50] Oh, how we long to know more of that, in a spiritual sense, don't we? To be nearer to the Lord. They had been with Jesus, and learned of him.

[6:02] He leaned on his bosom. And we read in the next verse, that Simon Peter beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake.

[6:13] And he then lying on Jesus' breast, John saith to the Lord, Who is it? And Jesus answered, He it is to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it.

[6:26] And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. What a solemn hour that was. The Lord Jesus had come near to his suffering, and there was around that table, not only Peter and John with the others, but Judas Iscariot.

[6:46] He that eateth bread with me, hath lifted up his heel against me. What a solemn hour he had come to. And yet you see, there with the others was the traitor.

[6:59] Oh, it comes home to us sometimes, friends. How we read in the word of God, let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed, lest he fall.

[7:10] We need to know more of what these two dear men knew. what it is, in the first place, to feel our sinnership, to feel the guilt of sin, to be convinced by the Holy Ghost that we're sinners, and then to feel our need of repentance, and to repent and confess our sins before the Lord.

[7:35] Where there they are, together there. And then I thought, well, were they not together, when he entered into the garden, of Gethsemane.

[7:47] When he, went from, that place where they had, been, observing the Lord's Supper, and we read of him, going to that, garden of Gethsemane.

[8:01] When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples, over the brook, Kedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples.

[8:12] And these two were there. In fact, friends, with James, there were three who were, among the most favorite, of those disciples.

[8:22] They went a little further, than the others. And the Lord, led them, to that spot, and then he himself, went a little further still, about a stone's cast.

[8:34] These three disciples, how favored they were, and these are two of them, in our text. They'd been with Jesus, they'd seen the depths, of his suffering.

[8:46] They'd seen his anguish, in the garden of Gethsemane. They'd witnessed all these things. There they were, in that garden together.

[8:58] And then I thought, were they not, also together, just after that? We read, of the time, when the Lord Jesus, was led away, to Annas first.

[9:14] And, and then, we read this, and Simon Peter, followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. I believe that was John. He doesn't give his name, but John is writing this, you see.

[9:28] So did another disciple. That disciple, was known unto the high priest, and went in with Jesus. They had been with Jesus, you see, and learned of him.

[9:40] You know, friends, what a wonderful effect, a gracious soul has. In, whatever company, he may come into, if he lives in accordance, with the word of God, that will have an effect, upon those, that he's with.

[9:55] It must have. Now, what a blessed effect, the presence of Jesus, must have had, on these two, Peter and John. They had been with Jesus, and they'd been with Jesus there, not only in the garden, but when he went into this, priest's house, the palace of the high priest.

[10:16] But Peter stood at the door without. John went in. Peter stood at the door without. Then went out that other disciple, which was known unto the high priest, and spake unto her, that kept the door, and they brought in Peter.

[10:32] But, this is when Peter denied his Lord. Oh, Peter had boasted. Though all men deny thee, yet will not I. Then the hymn writer bring it in, friends, one of our hymns.

[10:45] Behold, Peter boasting, but overcome at last. And so he was. But he had to learn, you see, not to trust in himself.

[10:57] That's what we all have to learn. We mustn't trust in ourselves. No, we must trust alone in the Lord. Peter was left to deny his Lord three times, with oaths and curses.

[11:12] And then, you know, he was brought to that point where he went out and wept bitterly. He wept over it. Oh, what a wonderful favor, friends, if we should be granted the same repentance that Peter was given, as he wept bitterly.

[11:31] Well, now, just recently, we have seen those two men together again. In the 20th chapter of John, after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, you remember, Mary Magdalene was the first one to come to the sepulcher.

[11:49] But when she went and told these disciples, we read that these disciples, Simon Peter, she runneth and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, that's John, and saith unto them, they have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher.

[12:10] I was dwelling on that last Sunday. They've taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher. This was a great problem with Mary Magdalene.

[12:21] But you know, friends, it was only what she imagined. Nobody had taken him out of the sepulcher. He'd risen. He'd risen from the dead.

[12:34] She says, we know not where they have laid him. Oh, if she loved him, friends, and when he made himself known to her, by speaking one word, and that was sufficient, Mary, oh, how she responded, Rabboni, Master.

[12:51] But these two, Mary goes and tells them, and Peter therefore went forth, and the other disciple came to the sepulcher, and they ran both together to that sepulcher, and the other disciple did eight rump, Peter.

[13:10] It appears that John could run faster than Peter, perhaps because he was a younger man, but he was first to the sepulcher. But there's such a difference between the two men.

[13:23] One, to my mind, friends, John is of a quiet disposition. He is the one who was more timid, and therefore we find that when he arrived at the sepulcher, he stooped down and looked in, but he didn't go in.

[13:39] Yet, went he not in. But when Peter comes, following him, he went into the sepulcher, immediately. Peter, Peter, suggests one, friends, who was more bold, and I believe the Lord used that, even that natural disposition of Peter's, and even on the day of Pentecost, he was favoured to, know that spiritual boldness, which the Holy Ghost gives.

[14:08] Yes, and we have it in the text, don't we? When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, when they saw the boldness, all this was wonderful.

[14:22] And so different was Peter from the time when he denied his Lord, when he'd said to the maid, I know not the man, how different a man on the day of Pentecost.

[14:34] Bold as a lion. Didn't fear those there in Jerusalem at all. And so, on this occasion, he goes into the sepulcher, and it's wonderful to notice that when John saw him go in, then John goes in.

[14:52] Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulcher, and he saw, and this is what I like about John, he seems to have been given a wonderful faith.

[15:03] As soon as he saw that sepulcher empty, and the clothes laying in a place by itself, he saw and believed. He believed in the resurrection.

[15:16] What a wonderful thing, friends. John was so favoured in that way. Well, now, we read, and we were looking at this on Wednesday, in the 21st of John, where these two are together again.

[15:30] And this time it's by the Sea of Galilee. And the Lord Jesus comes. They've been toiling all night. Peter had said, I go a-fishing.

[15:42] But you know, friends, I believe they went in their own strength. It seemed that they hadn't learnt the lesson yet. And so they caught nothing that night.

[15:54] But when Jesus stood on the shore, and he speaks to them, cast the net on the right side of the ship, and you shall find. And they cast.

[16:06] And we read, they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. Now, that disciple whom Jesus loved, when he saw this wonderful miracle, he says to Peter, it is the Lord.

[16:22] You see how favoured John was, friends. As soon as he saw that miracle, he said, it's the Lord. There, when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fish's coat unto him, for he was naked, and he cast himself into the sea.

[16:38] Peter was the first one to go to the Lord. He cast himself into the sea, and got to the Lord as quick as he could. The way he loved his Lord, didn't he?

[16:49] And didn't the Lord test that love, on that same occasion? He asked him three times, friends. Peter had denied him three times, and the Lord asks him that question three times, lovest thou me?

[17:06] And in the first instance, he says, lovest thou me more than these? Now, what about it this morning, friends? The Lord would put that question to you. lovest thou me more than these?

[17:18] More than all these material things? More than all these loved ones? More than all these things of earth, friends? Do we, can we honestly say it?

[17:29] I could from all things parted be, but never, never, Lord, from thee. It's easy to sing that, friends, but it's far harder to, to know it and experience.

[17:42] Can we part with everything? Could we part this morning, friends, with everything? I could from all things parted be, but never, never, Lord, from thee.

[17:54] Now, Peter could say to the Lord on that occasion, yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. Thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee.

[18:04] Peter, you see, was gradually being prepared for this time on the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit was given.

[18:15] I was reading that the other day at the TBS, at the prayer meeting, the second chapter of the Acts. And what a wonderful chapter it is, where Peter is preaching the Gospel on the day of Pentecost, under the wonderful influence of the Holy Ghost.

[18:34] And what a wonderful thing it was, that those that heard that Gospel preached, they were pricked in their hearts. It affected them. This Holy Spirit applied it to their hearts, and they said, men and brethren, what shall we do?

[18:52] Well, we must come to this, and this, that is connected with our text. The chapter we've read, the third of Acts, reminds us of this wonderful miracle.

[19:07] These two dear men, then, in our text, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, we've read of them, now Peter and John went up together at the temple, into the temple at the hour of prayer.

[19:21] Here they were, in this great city of Jerusalem. The Lord had helped Peter on the day of Pentecost, and now, he's found with John, going up to the temple.

[19:33] And here is that lame man, he'd been carried, to that temple gate, day after day. There he was, sitting there, asking elms of all the people that entered into the temple.

[19:47] But on this occasion, friends, he sees these two men, Peter and John, about to go into the temple. And he asks them, for elms.

[19:59] But Peter says, look on her. And of course, the dear men, expected to receive some silver and gold from them. But what did Peter say?

[20:11] Silver and gold have I none. How like his Lord he was, wasn't he? Foxes have holes. The birds of the air have nests.

[20:22] But the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. Silver and gold have I none. That was nothing to Peter. Silver and gold. But such as I have, give I thee.

[20:34] In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. Oh, what a wonderful power, friends, there is in this name. The name of Jesus.

[20:45] Have we not read just before our text this morning, this wonderful birth? Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

[21:01] Is that name precious to you? Do you love to hear the name of Jesus? Do you love the person, friends? Oh, he is worthy of our love.

[21:14] He is the one that has saved us as he died on Calvary's tree. Well, this wonderful miracle was performed through his name.

[21:25] He took him by the right hand, lifted him up. What a sight it must have been, friends. You know, it's wonderful when we read these things to try and visualize what it really meant to that lame man.

[21:41] Immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. He hadn't been able to walk before. But now we read he's leaping up.

[21:52] He's walking. He's entering with them into the temple. Walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw it. They saw him walking and praising God.

[22:05] And they knew it was the same man that had been sitting there at the beautiful gate. No wonder, friends, they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

[22:15] And this lame man did what any lame man would do that had been healed. Naturally speaking, he held Peter and John.

[22:28] Oh, and all the people ran together unto them in the porch. It is called Solomon's, greatly wondering. Now, Peter speaks, you know, friends, and he speaks some wonderful things.

[22:40] He says when he sees this, ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? Why look ye so earnestly on us? He is humbled, you know, now.

[22:53] He says, why do ye look so earnestly on us as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? It's the name of Jesus Christ.

[23:05] He's the one to look to, not us. Not the servant of the Lord, friends. It's Jesus Christ we must look to. He's the only saviour. He's the only one that can heal us in our soul as well as in our body.

[23:21] Well, Peter goes on to speak about this glorious person. He speaks of how the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his son Jesus.

[23:37] He knew that Jesus had been glorified in heaven. He knew that he'd gone back to his father and was sitting at the right hand of the majesty on high. He's been glorified, he says.

[23:49] You delivered him up. You denied him in the presence of Pilate. Pilate had that determination to let him go. He couldn't find any fault with him.

[24:01] But you denied him. You denied the Holy One, he says, and the just. You desired a murderer. You wanted Barabbas. You didn't want Jesus.

[24:13] You wanted Barabbas. When Pilate gave them that choice, you know. Oh, they said, away with him, crucify him.

[24:27] And that's what the world still says, isn't it? They reject him. He is still despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

[24:39] Oh, Peter brought it home to them, friends. I don't wonder that they were persecuted. Peter was so bold to bring this sin home to those who had crucified the Lord.

[24:52] He says, you killed the Prince of Life. What a statement that is, friends. They were allowed to kill the Prince of Life. The very one that had given life.

[25:04] The very one who had created this earth. they were allowed because it was God's determination that this was the way of salvation.

[25:15] This was the only way sin could be dealt with as Jesus Christ was crucified on yonder cross. You killed the Prince of Life. But he says, God hath raised him from the dead.

[25:28] We're witnesses to it. We've seen him after he rose. And so he says, his name through faith in his name. It's Jesus' name.

[25:40] It's through Jesus' name that this man has been made strong. You have seen this man. You know this man. But it's through Jesus' name that he's been healed.

[25:52] The faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. And then Peter tells them, well, I what that through ignorance he did it.

[26:04] It was through ignorance you crucified him. As did your rulers. But those things which God before had showed, it's all been written in the Old Testament, he's saying.

[26:16] All the prophets spoke about it. That's what Jesus said to those two on the Emmaus Road, didn't he? He said, O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.

[26:28] Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory? And so Peter is reminding them that all these things have been recorded before by the prophets.

[26:39] Those things which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets that Christ should suffer, he has so fulfilled. And he is enabled to speak this to them and hey, we need it, friends, today.

[26:54] All we do, we need it individually, we need it as churches, we need it as families, we need it as a nation. Repent ye therefore. Sind against our God.

[27:06] I believe that's why we don't feel the power of the Spirit. We have sinned against him. Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.

[27:24] Oh, what a wonderful thing, friends. He shall send Jesus Christ. He's coming again a second time without sin unto salvation. He shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you whom the heaven must receive unto the times of the restitution of all things.

[27:45] And so, Peter went on to speak about Moses' word. Moses had said that a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren. This is Christ. He is the prophet that Moses spoke of.

[27:59] And he says too, it shall come to pass that every soul which will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people. Have we heard him? Have we listened to his voice?

[28:12] Have we had a desire, friends, to follow him? To obey him? To love him? To do the things that he said? Oh, to be enabled to do more of these things.

[28:26] To walk in accordance with the word of God. Do those things that are pleasing in his sight. Well, we must hasten on to the text because there's so much in the text, isn't there?

[28:39] But I just want to get the connection you see between what has gone before. And so, after Peter's spoken about the prophecies and what has been spoken in the Old Testament, these priests and these Sadducees came upon them.

[28:58] They were grieved when they heard them speaking and preaching through Jesus the resurrection of the dead. They laid hold on them. They put them in hold until the next day.

[29:11] It was in the evening time. But there were many brought to believe, you know, through the words of Peter and John. All the faith that was given. The number of the men even was about 5,000.

[29:25] And it came to pass on the morrow. Their rulers, elders and scribes and Annas and Caiaphas and John and Alexander all were gathered together at Jerusalem. Then they asked the question, by what power or by what name have you done this?

[29:42] That's the question. Peter gives the answer as he's filled with the Holy Ghost and what a wonderful thing friends, to be filled with the Holy Ghost.

[29:53] He says, you rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man by what means he is made whole, be it known unto you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ, he's still saying the same thing.

[30:11] this is how this man has been healed through the name of Jesus, the one whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you all.

[30:25] and then he quotes from one of the psalms and he says that he quotes the psalmist, this is the stone that was set at naught of you builders. Christ is that stone.

[30:37] He's been set at naught of you builders, you rulers. He has become the head of the corner. There isn't salvation anywhere else. It's only in this blessed person, Jesus Christ.

[30:51] There is no other name, says Peter, under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved. Then comes the text, now, now, when these elders that were questioning them, when they saw the boldness, they couldn't help but see it, friends.

[31:11] It was manifest in these two dear men, Peter and John. These two men had been together so long and had been with Jesus, as it says at the end of our text.

[31:23] They couldn't help seeing this boldness. They felt the power, I believe, a little, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John. And they perceived something else.

[31:36] They perceived that these two men were just unlearned and ignorant men. They were fishermen. The Lord had called them from their old trade of being fishermen.

[31:49] And he had said to them, ye should be fishers of men. And here they are, friends, used by God. Ye should be fishers of men.

[32:01] And so these rulers, they can see, you see, that these unlearned and ignorant men have received something.

[32:11] What did they receive, friends? They had received the Holy Spirit. And I feel more convinced than ever, friends, this morning that's our great need today in the church.

[32:23] And in our assemblies, we need upon us. we need to know what these two dear men knew. Have you been with Jesus?

[32:34] Have you learned of him? Have you been favoured like these two dear men? They walked with him. You know, we sometimes sing that verse, but do we really mean it?

[32:50] Oh, for a closer walk with God, a calm and heavenly frame, a light to shine upon the road that leads me to the Lamb. If that is a sincere desire of our hearts, friends, the Lord will favour us.

[33:05] we might have to go through some very deep trials, because these dear men did, that must have been a tremendous trial to Peter, you know, after he denied his Lord.

[33:18] And we were looking at another time when he felt his sinnership, when he realised what he was the other evening. I was looking at that in the fifth of Luke, where the Lord, at the beginning, when the Lord was dealing with these men, and he had performed that miracle again, of those fishes that were caught in the net.

[33:46] And when Simon Peter saw it, when those two ships were filled with fish, so full of fish that they began to sink, and Peter, when he saw it, what did he do?

[34:00] He fell down at Jesus' knees, and he said this, depart from me, Lord. I'm a sinful man. Have we ever felt like that?

[34:10] In the presence of the Lord? Depart from me. I don't believe he wanted the Lord to depart in this sense, that he didn't want to be in his presence. What he really meant was this, friends, he was so unworthy to be in his presence.

[34:27] He was such a sinner. He felt himself to be such a sinner. Have we felt like that? Like the publican of old? God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

[34:40] The Lord will bring us to feel that. As Peter was brought to feel it, depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. He was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draft of the fishes that they had taken.

[34:55] And it was just after that, you know, that the Lord said to him, Simon, fear not, from henceforth they shall catch men. Now here he is. He's doing that very thing.

[35:08] He's being used to the Lord in great blessing to many souls. And when those around and these elders see what these men have done and what they've taught, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled.

[35:31] They marveled. Well, I see the time's gone, but if you don't remember what I've said, friends, remember these words, especially at the end of this text, which we may come to more closely this afternoon, and they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus.

[35:52] That's the secret, friends. If we live closer to the Lord Jesus Christ, we should know something of what these two dear men knew. Oh, that we might have that closer walk with him.

[36:05] They took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. The Lord had his blessing. Amen. Amen. Amen.