Simon Peter – His Life and Its Lessons
HIS RESTORATION
We now briefly consider the important subject of Simon Peter's restoration. In his fall we learn the frailty and folly of man; in his restoration we learn the grace, wisdom, and faithfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ. The fall was certainly deep, terrible, and humiliating – the restoration complete and marvelous. We can be assured that Simon Peter never forgot either one; no; he surely remembered them with wonder, love, and praise. The grace that shown forth in Peter’s restoration is the same displayed in his conversion. So, let us briefly look at some of the salient points – first, the procuring cause.
The inspired evangelist Luke wrote, “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have thee, that he may sift thee as wheat.” If Satan had been allowed to have his way, Simon would have been hopelessly ruined. But he was merely used as an instrument, as in Job’s case, i.e., when the work ended, he retired. He could not go one hair’s breadth beyond his appointed sphere. It should be remembered that Satan is only a creature – crafty, wily, powerful, no doubt, but a creature who can only go as far as God permits. Had Peter walked softly, had he humbly and earnestly looked for Divine help, had he secretly judged himself, there would have been no need of Satan’s sifting. Thanks be to God, Satan has no power with a soul that walks humbly with God. There is perfect shelter, perfect safety, in Divine presence. There is not an arrow in the enemy’s quiver that can reach one who leans in simple confidence on the arm of the living God. Here our apostle failed, and so, in order that he might learn himself, he had to pass through a very severe process. But, oh, the power and preciousness of those words, “I have prayed for thee!” This is the secret – the procuring cause of Simon's restoration. In that terrible hour when the enemy would have crushed Peter to powder, the prayer of Jesus sustained the soul of His erring servant. How could Satan oppose the all-powerful intercession of Christ? He couldn’t. When all seemed hopelessly gone, that wonderful prayer was the ground of Peter’s safety.
And for what did our Lord pray? That Peter might not commit the awful sin of denying Him? That he might not curse and swear? No; what then? “I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not.”
Can anything exceed the grace shown here? What a gracious, loving, and faithful Lord. In view of Peter’s terrible sin, knowing all he was about to do, still, our Lord pled for him – that his confidence might not give way; that he might not lose his sense of the eternal stability of faith.
Matchless grace. Nothing surpasses it in brightness and blessedness. Had it not been for this prayer, Peter’s confidence would surely have given way. When he came to himself, when he reflected on the whole scene, he expressed devotedness, “Though all should deny Thee, yet will I never deny Thee” – “Though I should die with Thee, yet will I not deny Thee” – “I am ready to go with Thee to prison and to death.” No doubt, it was overpowering to his heart to remember these words after denying his beloved Lord with cursing and swearing.
Waking up to the consciousness of having committed sin is a dreadful feeling – sin against Divine grace and goodness. Satan is sure to be especially busy at the time of such a crisis, interjecting terrible suggestions, raising all manner of questions, filling the heart with legal reasonings, doubts, and fears; causing the soul to totter on the foundation.
But, thanks and praise to God, the enemy cannot prevail. “Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further.” The all-prevailing intercession of our divine Advocate sustains sorely tried faith, carrying the soul through deep and dark waters, restoring the broken link of communion, healing the spiritual wounds, lifting up the fallen one, bringing back the wanderer, and filling the heart with praise and thanksgiving. “I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not; and when thou art restored, strengthen thy brethren.” Here is the procuring cause of Simon Peter's restoration. We now look briefly at the producing means.
For this, too, we are indebted to the evangelist Luke. Through him the inspiring Spirit has given us so much that is exquisitely human – that goes straight to the heart; revealing so much of God’s love.
We have touched on Peter’s gradual descent from one stage to another – forgetting to watch and pray; following afar off; warming himself at the enemy’s fire; the cowardly denial; the cursing and swearing. All this pointed shamefully downward. But, when this erring, straying, sinning one reached his lowest point, the procuring cause and producing means of his restoration shines forth. We have already considered the procuring cause – Christ’s prayer; now the proclaiming means – Christ’s look. “The Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the Word of the Lord, how He had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny Me thrice. And Peter went out, and wept bitterly.”
Here it is: “The Lord looked”, “Peter remembered”, then he “wept bitterly.” What a look. What a remembrance. What a weeping. What human heart can the Lord’s look? We know it went right home to the center of Peter’s soul. He will never forget that penetrating and marvelous look – full of mighty moral power.
“Peter went out, and wept bitterly.” This was the turning point. Here Divine light breaks in on the deep moral gloom. Christ’s most precious prayer is being answered, His powerful look doing its work. The fountain of the heart broke and penitential tears flowed, demonstrating the depth, reality, and intensity of Divine work within.
It’s always this way when the Spirit of God works in the soul. If we have sinned, we must be made to feel, judge, and confess our sin – to feel it deeply, judge it thoroughly, and confess it fully. “I have sinned,” said in levity, flippancy, or mere formality will not do.
There must be reality, uprightness, and sincerity. God desires truth in the heart. There was nothing light, flippant, or formal about Simon Peter in the hour of his fall and repentance. No, all was intensely real. How could it be otherwise with such a procuring cause; with such a producing means? The prayer and look of Jesus displayed precious results in Peter’s restoration.
In a very striking and beautiful manner, the prayer and look of Jesus set forth two grand aspects of Christ’s present work as Advocate with the Father. We enjoy the value and prevalence of His intercession, as well as the power and efficacy of His Word in the hands of that “other Advocate” – the Holy Spirit. Christ’s prayer for Peter speaks of His intercession for us. His look on Peter speaks of His Word brought to us by the power of the Holy Spirit. When we sin, Jesus Christ, our blessed Advocate, speaks to God on our behalf. This is the procuring cause of our repentance and restoration. But He also speaks to us on God’s behalf. This is the producing means.
The advocacy of Christ is a great subject and worthy of your further consideration. We will conclude this study with a brief reference to a few moral features of Peter’s restoration – features that must be considered in every case of true restoration.
State of the conscience
In his after history, we have the most unquestionable evidence afforded, as to the full and complete restoration of Peter’s conscience after his terrible fall; for instance, the touching scene at the sea of Tiberias (See John 21. We have no record of Peter’s first meeting with his Lord after the resurrection). We see Peter putting on his fisherman’s coat, and plunging into the sea, to get to be with his risen Lord – not waiting for the ship or his companions, but rushes to his Savior’s feet, in the lovely freshness and liberty of a divinely restored conscience. There is no tormenting fear, no legal bondage, no doubt, darkness, or distance. His conscience is peaceful – perfectly at rest. The prayer and the look – two great works of advocacy, had proven effectual. Peter's conscience was sound and good – happily at home in the presence of his Lord.
Consider another Biblical example of a striking and beautiful evidence of restored conscience – Acts 3. Here Peter stands in the assembled presence of thousands, and charges them with having “denied the Holy One and the Just” – the very thing that he himself had done, though under different circumstances. How could Peter do this? How could he have such boldness? Why not leave this heavy charge to James or John? The answer seems simple. Peter’s conscience was so thoroughly restored, so perfectly at rest, so perfectly purged, that he could fearlessly charge the house of Israel with the awful sin of denying the Holy One of God. Was this the fruit of moral insensibility? No, it was the fruit of divine restoration. Had any one of this group gathered in Solomon’s porch undertaken to challenge our apostle as to his own shameful denial of Jesus, we can easily assume his answer. The man who had “wept bitterly” over his sin would likely know how to answer such a challenge. Not that his bitter weeping was the meritorious ground of his restoration; nothing of the kind, it only proved the reality of the work of repentance in his soul. Moral insensibility is one thing, and a restored conscience, resting on the blood and advocacy of Christ, is quite another. But there is something else involved in a true work of restoration:
State of the heart
This is of utmost importance. No restoration can be considered divinely complete that does not reach the inner depths of our heart. So, when we turn back to the scenes on the shore of the sea of Tiberias, we find the Lord dealing closely and powerfully with the state of Peter’s heart.
During that wonderful dinner dispensed by the risen Lord, it is deeply interesting to notice that there is not the remotest allusion to past scenes. But “when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me more than these?” Here the words of his faithful Lord once again call Simon to a self-confident profession. He had said, “Though all shall be offended, yet will not I.” Then the Lord’s searching question, repeated three times, evidently referring to Peter’s threefold denial.
The moral root of the whole matter is reached, when Peter’s heart is touched. This is absolutely necessary in every case. The work of restoration can never be thorough unless the roots of things are reached and judged. Mere surface work will never do; we must get down to the depths, the hidden springs, the moral sources, and judge them in the light of Divine presence.
Here lies the secret of genuine restoration. In our self-gratifying, shallow, and flippant society, lacking depth, seriousness, and moral gravity, we are prone to be satisfied with cropping off the sprouts appearing above the surface of daily life, rather than getting at the roots. The sad consequence is that the sprouts quickly appear again, to our sorrow and shame, and the dishonor of our Lord’s name. The work of self-judgment must be more profound if we are to make progress. We need more heart-work like Simon the son of Jonas experienced on the shore of the sea of Tiberias. “Peter was grieved because He said unto him the third time, Lovest thou Me?” The knife of the divine Physician had reached the root of the moral disease, and that was enough – the grieved and self-judged Simon Peter fall back on the fact that his Lord knew all things. “Lord, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I love Thee.” It was as though he had said, “Lord, it demands the eye of Omniscience itself to discern a single spark of affection for Thee in the heart of a falling one.” This is real work; a soul restored – in conscience and in heart. So, what remains?
Restored to his work
By their actions – their examples – some teach that if a man falls he can never recover his position; believing that one must reap what is sown. But grace is something else altogether. Government drove Adam out of Eden, and never replaced him there; grace announced the victorious Seed of the woman. Government kept Moses out of Canaan; grace conducted him to Pisgah’s top. Government sent a perpetual sword upon David’s house; grace made the son of Bathsheba the wisest and wealthiest of Israel’s kings.
We must always remember that there is a distinction between grace and government. To confound the two is to commit a grave mistake. Regarding Simon Peter, we see him not only restored to the work, but to something even higher. “Feed My lambs – shepherd My sheep” – a new commission given to the man who had denied his Lord. Truly this is something beyond “catching men.” “When thou art restored, strengthen thy brethren.” In the service of our Lord, is anything more elevated than shepherding sheep, feeding lambs, and strengthening brethren? There is nothing in nearer or dearer to the heart of Christ than His sheep, His lambs, and His brethren. Obviously, our Lord could not have given Simon Peter a more affecting proof of His confidence than by committing to Peter’s care the dearest objects of His deep and tender love.
And then mark the closing words, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest; but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake He, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He saith unto him, Follow Me.”
Weighty words. Who can tell their depth, power, and significance? What a contrast between Simon – “young,” restless, forward, blundering, boastful, self-confident; and Peter – “old,” subdued, mellowed, passive, crucified. What a difference between a man walking his own path, and a man following a rejected Lord along the dark and narrow pathway of the cross, home to glory.
