Joseph Prince - Peter's Redemption (What It Means When You Fail)
Today’s message is about this, many of us, we’re not struggling with… we’re not upset or troubled by the sins before we were saved, but we are troubled by the fact that after we are saved, we see ourselves still having challenges in areas of our life. We find ourselves still having some of some sinful tendencies, thoughts, words, or whatever it is. We see ourselves, and we don’t like what we see in ourselves. Am I right? It is not so much the sins before you were saved that troubles you. It’s the sins after you are saved that troubles you.
Now, the Bible tells us they went fishing, and they worked all night. They caught nothing, no thing, okay? «But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Then Jesus said to them, 'Children, have you any food? '» He called for them, «'Do you have any food? ' They answered Him, 'No.' And He said to them, 'Cast the net on the right side of the boat.'» It’s very interesting that he mentioned the right side, not the left side. In the Bible, the right side, like Benjamin, Binyamin, son of the right hand, the right place, right hand. It’s upholding the right hand of my righteousness. It’s the place of righteousness, the gift of righteousness. It’s the place of favor. It’s the place of promotion, amen. «And now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish».
There was so much fish they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish. «Therefore the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, 'It is the Lord! ' Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it), and plunged into the sea. But the other disciples came in the little boat (for they were not far from land, but about two hundred cubits), dragging the net with fish». They had even to drag it. They cannot put it in the boat, all right? It was so plentiful, so abundant, they had to drag it. And it’s buoyant in the water, so it’s easier to drag through the water. And it tells us how far Jesus was from the disciples, 200 cubits.
All right, a cubit is from your elbow to your middle finger here. That’s 1 cubit. So it’s about 90 meters away. Now, notice the moment Peter realized, all right? He was topless. He’s been working all night. The moment he realized it was Jesus, he put on his outer jacket, right, jumped into the water to go straight to Jesus. Now, my question is, why? Why did Peter do that? Why did Peter jump into the water and he went straight to Jesus? The answer to that question will answer many questions in your life, especially the part where you say, «Now that I’m safe, now that I’m born again, now that I’m a child of God, and I see all these things in myself, how does God think of me»?
Now, why did Peter jump into the water to go to Jesus? Was it because he was sin-conscious? We know that he denied knowing Jesus three times. In Luke 22, the Bible says in the Last Supper, Jesus said to Peter, «Simon, Simon, Satan has desired to sieve you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith will not fail». He did not say, «I prayed for you that you will not fail». He knew he would fail. «But I prayed for you that your faith will not fail. And when you are converted, strengthen your brethren,» he said. In other words, Jesus prophesied his victory before he fell. The Lord sees you in your finished product, even before you fall, all right? And what did Peter say? Peter says, «Even if all this,» the disciples. «Even if all of them,» he said it in front of their face. «Even if all this deny you, I’ll never deny you. I’ll follow you to prison and to death».
Then Jesus looked at Peter and says, «Peter, before the rooster crows this morning, you’ll deny knowing me three times». And we know the story, how he’s sat by the fireplace, and Jesus has just been seized by the soldiers, and then a woman recognized his accent. It was a Galilean accent. It wasn’t a Jerusalemite accent. And she said, «Aren’t you one of his disciples»? He said, «No, I do not know the man». And then another person came, «Yes, you’re one of his disciples». He said, «I don’t know the man».
The Bible says he cursed and swore that he never knew Jesus. The third time someone asked him, he said, «I never knew the man». The rooster crowed. And the Bible says it very beautifully in the Gospel of Luke. Somewhere, when he denied knowing Jesus the third time, Jesus turned around and looked at Peter. Jesus prayed for Peter that his faith would not fail, and his faith didn’t fail. We know the story. But that look broke his heart. So Peter went out «weeping bitterly,» the Bible tells us. But many of us think that this story here, Peter jumped into the water to go to Jesus. Now, was that because of sin-consciousness? You see, if you are sin-conscious, if you are aware of your sins, would you jump into the water to go to the one you’ve just denied knowing him three times with cursing and swearing? No, you’ll jump the other side. You’ll try to flee away, am I right? Right? Or you’ll wait, and you’ll be the last one behind the boat.
You’ll wait until the boat reaches the shore and let your companions go out first, using your companions, as it were, as a shield. But there’s something that Peter saw in Jesus, something that Peter knew about the Lord that caused him to jump into the water and go straight to the Lord, and he was not afraid to be alone with Jesus. What was it? The answer to that question is very important for you in your walk with God today. He jumped straight and went to Jesus. Was it the law? Was it because he was conscious of the law? No, if it’s the law, by the law is the knowledge of sin. The law will condemn him for denying the Lord Jesus. The law will never empower him to jump into the water to go to Jesus.
What was it? What was it about Jesus? He knew this: «In spite of all my sins, the man who’s standing on the shore, he loves me, and he’s my friend. I know him. Yes, I know myself, but more than I know myself, I know him. Yes, my conscience tells me my sins, but more than that, my faith tells me my Savior. And my faith says my Savior still loves me». Are you listening, people? Oh, come on. And he jumped into the water to go to Jesus. There’s something very precious in his action, something very profound. You see, this is not the first time that Jesus restored Peter, all right? In fact, this one is restoration to ministry, because Jesus would restore him three times with these words: «Feed my lamb. Shepherd my sheep. Feed my sheep». All right?
Of all the things that Jesus treasured the most in his heart before he left earth to go back to heaven, what was the thing that he treasured the most? His flock, his people, you and I. He treasured us the most. And who did he trust the most in this chapter? Peter. Three times Peter denied knowing Jesus, and three times the Lord says, «Take care of my sheep». We would say, «All right, forget Peter. You cannot trust him, all right? He failed you three times. He’s the last one I will trust». Jesus says, «He’s the first one I trust».
Somehow, Jesus knows where sin increased, grace superabounds. In fact, this entire chapter, 21, the last chapter of the Gospel of John, it’s actually all about Peter. Peter’s the main star. It seems as if the only one besides Judas, the only one of the 12 that really denied knowing Jesus, all right, is the one that’s given special honor in this chapter. Wow! The grace of our God, amen. It’s the sense of his love and grace that changes people’s lives. You know that woman at the well? She had five husbands. And at that point in time, she was living in adultery. The story begins in John 4, very touching, very beautiful. The Bible says, «Jesus must needs go through Samaria».
You know, the amazing thing is this: there is another way to go to Jerusalem. Most Jewish people will not go through Samaria because the Samaritans and Jews have no dealings. They don’t see eye to eye, okay? But the Bible says, «Jesus must needs go through Samaria». Why? Because of one woman. And she would come to the well, the well of Jacob, in the noonday, heat of the sun, when it’s about 12 o’clock. The Bible says she came to draw water at noonday. Most women in that culture, in that place, would draw water early in the morning. So why was she there in the afternoon? Because she didn’t want to be among the gossipers, among women that would talked behind her back when she drew water. Obviously, her reputation was bad. So she came in the afternoon, and who was sitting there? Jesus.
And the whole chapter opens with, «Jesus must needs go through Samaria». And he sat at the well, and the woman came. He asked her for a favor. The one who put the waterfalls and the fountains and the seas and fills the oceans, asking this woman for water. And she says, «How come you’re a Jew, you’re talking to me, who am a Samaritan? For the Jews have no dealings with Samaritans». And Jesus told her, «If you knew the gift of God, and you knew who is the one talking to you, you would ask him, and he will give you living water». And she says, «You have nothing to draw from the well. The well is deep». And Jesus says, «Woman, whoever drinks this water will thirst again». He wasn’t referring to the physical water. Now, she’s thinking in the natural. She’s saying, «Give me this water always so that I never have to come again». And Jesus says, «Go, call your husband here». Notice the tact, «Go, call your husband here».
Now he’s about to reveal to her her sin. Question: why must Jesus reveal to her her sin? Because she will never know she’s loved. If she thinks, «He loves me, but he doesn’t know me,» she cannot feel loved. But when you realize God knows all about your sins and still loves you, you will feel loved. And those who feel loved will loved. Those who are loved best love best. So that woman, Jesus need to bring her gently to the place where he wants her to know he knows her and still loves her. «Go, call your husband here». And she says, «I have no husband». Technically correct. Then notice how Jesus so graciously exposed her, all right, in his presence. Watch this, so that she will feel, all right? He says to her, he praised her first.
Watch the divine sandwich, huh? He praised her first. «You have said correctly. You have rightly said, 'I have no husband, ' because the one that you’re living with now is not your husband. You had five husbands». And then he says, «In that», he finished off by saying, «In that, you have said correctly». Divine sandwich. He praised her in the beginning, he praised her at the end. Now, what you and I would do? «You’ve sinned, repent». And we think we are being spiritual. We think we are being like the Lord. Then she looked at him, she says, «Our father said we must worship on this mountain». That’s called changing the subject.
Now, all of a sudden, she realized she’s standing literally naked, you know, vulnerable, exposed to the one who knows all about her. There’s no way anyone would have told him «I mean, he’s a Jew. He’s not even living in Samaria. How in the world does he… oh, no, I’m in the presence of someone holy, but he knows all about me. But look at him, he’s still here with me. He’s talking to me. As a Jew, he’s not even supposed to talk to me, but knowing who I am, my background, he still talks to me, and there’s no judgment in his eyes, but I see love». And then they start talking about the mountain and worship, and all of a sudden, she said, «I know that when the Messiah comes, the Anointed One comes, he will tell us all things». Jesus looked at her and said… by the way, just to let you know: through the Gospels, very few Jesus himself revealed himself to as the Messiah. This woman was one of them. Jesus said, «I, who speak unto you, I am the Messiah».
Wow! All of a sudden, she realized the Messiah is the one who would expose your sins to forgive, to love you. She said, «You know what? He knows all about me, and yet he loves me. The Messiah, the Promised One, loves me». The Bible says she left her waterpot there. She went to the city of Samaria. And she was ashamed to even talk to them. Now she goes to the city of Samaria, and I’m sure that some of those people who heard her were her former husbands, and she told the whole city, «Come, see a man who told me everything about myself»! She’s not even ashamed now. In an instant. No going to Bible schools. I’m not against Bible schools. In an instant, she became an evangelist. She became an evangelist.
Now, if Jesus just exposed her sins and left her there without her knowing she is loved, she would never run and proclaim him. It was the fact that she knows she is loved, now she’s not afraid of saying, «Hey, I was once this, I was once that». You and I, we’re not afraid to say, «I was once this, I was once that, but his love changed everything». Amen! It’s the sense of his love, his grace, his goodness, his favor that changes everything. And Jesus’s disciples came back from buying food, and they want to give food to Jesus, and Jesus smiled and said, «You know, guys, I have food to eat that you do not know of», wow. The Lord is fulfilled when somebody allows him to love her. When you allow the Lord to love you, to save you, to give to you, he feels blessed. He feels fulfilled. It’s his joy.
Wow! A certain disciple saw, «How come? Did someone give him food»? No, a woman came and took from him his love, and that energized the Lord. The only thing that can change our lives, even our lives today, is the love of God. You see, faith is not seeing God as a Judge. Is God a Judge? Oh, yes. When Jesus comes again, the whole world will know he’s a Judge. But that’s not faith. Faith is seeing God now as a Savior, which is how he wants to be seen. Faith is seeing Jesus in his love for you. That’s how he wants to be seen, and that is faith. When someone sees Jesus in his love, I’m telling you, it pleases the Lord. He has food to eat we don’t even know of. He wants us to see him in his love. We’ll go real quick because I’m going to show you the apostle Paul and what we think is growth, spiritual growth.
How many think the apostle Paul is the greatest of all the apostles? Come on. He wrote ¾ of the New Testament, okay? Now we are going to look real quick back to back, the order of the books that Paul wrote by the Spirit are in sequence of their writing, all right? The oldest to the newest book. Okay, are you ready? When Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 15, verse 9, this is what he said: «For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God». So Paul put all the apostles together: James, John, all right? All of them together, all the apostles. And you know what Paul says? «Hey, you know what guys? I’m the least compared to all the apostles».
Now, we know him, and rightly so, as the greatest of the apostles, but in his own estimation, when he grew somewhat in the Lord, he says, «I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle. I’m the least of the apostles». Are you with me? All right, as Paul grew more in the Lord, all right, he wrote Ephesians. In Ephesians chapter 3, we see this. Now he says this: «To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ». So now, he’s no more comparing himself with the limited scope of the apostles. He says, «Put the entire church together. How many of you are under the sound of my voice right now»?
You say, «Pastor Prince, if you knew who I am, if you knew what I’ve done, even though I believe in Jesus Christ and I’ve received him many years ago, Pastor Prince, I really think I am the least of all the saints». Paul says, «If you are the least, I am less than you, the least». Are you with me? And Paul was growing in the Lord. This was a later episode. So the more he grew, he says, «You know what? I’m not even the last of the apostles. I’m the least of the saints». «Am,» you know what’s «am»? «Who am,» I checked in the Greek, it means present tense. That means he’s saying, «I’m not the last and the least of all the saints before I was saved». He wouldn’t be a saint, right? He’s talking about now, am, present tense. «I’m the last and the least of all the saints».
The apostle Paul! It seems like the more he grew, the more he sees his sins, but please don’t stop there. The more he sees the Savior’s love and his grace. It magnifies the grace of God. Okay, and the last verse, 1 Timothy 1. Look at what Paul says: «This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief». You know what’s «am»? I checked in the Greek. It means present tense. By then he has grown a lot in the Lord. He has grown in the grace of God. He has grown, but it seems that the more he grows, the more he sees he’s not perfect. But more than that, don’t stop there. If you stop there, you’ll be in despair. Peter didn’t stop there.
The Samaritan woman didn’t stop there. They saw the Lord. The more you see your sin, the more you see how forgiven you have been. You see his grace, you see his love, the more you grow like the apostle Paul. One time he says, «I’m less than all the apostles in that category». Then he widened to every believer. «I’m the less than the least of all the saints,» after he grew somewhat more. Then he grew some more in the Lord. He says, «You know what? Of all the sinners, I’m chief». You know what’s «am»? Even now, present tense. Wow. He magnified the grace of God. He magnified the grace of God. So people say things like, you know, once you’re a Christian, «Shame on you».
Romans chapter 5. Chapter 5, yes. «But God demonstrates His own love towards us». I told you «three last verses,» right? One more addition, okay? Bonus. This is the lastest verse, okay? «But God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were still sinners,» what happened? «Christ died for us». Think about it: God didn’t love you because you were seeking him. God didn’t love you because you have a heart for God. Even you didn’t care about God, God cared for you. You were still a sinner and don’t care you were a sinner. God cared. God sent his Son to pay the price for your sins, to be judged in your place. So while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Say amen. But this is how we think, many of us, all right, don’t read the verse, think this way.
«Much more then, having now been justified», stop there. Stop there for a while, okay? And think of the natural reasoning of the flesh. «Much more then, now being justified. We better watch it. Because now we are justified. Much more than being justified, we better make sure». That’s how we reason. But watch what the apostle Paul said. «Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him». You know what that means or not? After you are saved… this is for those after they are saved, like you and I today.
After you are saved, you know what you’re saved from? From God ever being angry with you. God will never, ever be angry with you. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, never, ever, ever, never, never, never, never, never, ever. Never say «never, never, never, ever, never». Never say, «never say 'never'» is something else, okay? Never be angry with you again, all right? It’s the opposite of flesh. It’s the opposite of the fleshly mind, the way we think. You see, many of us, if we were like Peter, we look at Jesus on the beach, we’ll jump backwards. We’ll try to run away. Peter ran, he knew. «I know him. He knows everything about me like nobody can, but he loves me like nobody loves me». And that’s how he loves you today.