A.Have you ever thought that you had something all figured out only to learn that you had it all wrong?
1.You thought that you knew exactly how everything should be, and then everything got turned upside down.
2.Many have been in this position.For example, people in both the Union and the Confederacy thought that the Civil War would be over in a matter of weeks.They were sadly mistaken, for it took four years and over 600,000 soldiers’ lives to settle the outcome.
B.Peter is one who seemed to think that he had the kingdom of God all figured out.
1.He knew just exactly how things should happen for Jesus.He knew his part in the process, and he was ready to carry it out.He was even ready to give up his life for Jesus along with the other apostles fighting for the cause of Christ.
2.However, something went wrong on the way to Peter’s expectations.Jesus died on the cross, and this changed everything that Peter thought he knew.
C.Let us consider Peter as an example of one who had to learn to take up his cross for Jesus.
1.Peter thought that he was ready to make the ultimate sacrifice for Jesus.
2.However, he had to learn what the ultimate sacrifice really was before he could give it.
II.THE FALL OF PETER
A.Consider some things that Peter said and did that set him up for a fall.
1.Peter rebuked the Lord when Jesus predicted His own death (Matt. 16:13-26).
a.When Jesus asked, “Who do you say that I am?”, Peter gave that great confession, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
b.However, Jesus soon began teaching His disciples that He would suffer and die in Jerusalem, which conflicted with Peter’s belief in Him.
i.Peter rebuked Jesus, saying, “God forbid it, Lord!This shall never happen to You.”This revealed Peter’s mistaken concept about the Christ and His kingdom.To Peter, the Christ was invincible could not possibly die.
ii.Jesus had to correct him, saying, “You are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”God sent Christ to be a sacrifice, but this had never occurred to Peter’s way of thinking.
c.It was at this time that Jesus taught His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”
i.If Peter did not understand the sacrificial nature of Christ’s life, then he certainly did not understand this about the disciple’s life either.
ii.The paradox of the Lord’s teaching in verse 25 would have been meaningless to Peter’s worldly way of thinking about the kingdom of God.
2.Peter refused to allow Jesus to wash his feet (John 13:1-10).
a.On the night of His betrayal, Jesus washed the disciples’ feet as an example of how He expected them to serve one another (John 13:15).
b.However, Peter refused to allow it, for he could not perceive that Christ would serve him.
c.The Lord corrected Peter by speaking in spiritual terms (“If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me”), but it appears that Peter still did not grasp the meaning of the Lord’s actions or words.
3.Peter declared that he would never deny the Lord (Matt. 26:30-35).
a.Also on the night of His betrayal, Jesus told His disciples that they would all fall away.
b.Peter rejected the words of Jesus and said, “Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away.”
c.Jesus corrected Peter again, telling him that before a cock crowed that night he would deny the Lord three times.Yet Peter still claimed he was ready to die with Jesus.
4.Peter drew his sword to defend Jesus in Gethsemane (Matt. 26:51-54; Mark 14:47-49; Luke 22:49-51; John 18:10-11).
a.When Judas led the Roman mob to arrest Jesus, Peter drew his sword to make a defense, cutting off the ear of Malchus, the high priest’s slave.
b.Jesus rebuked Peter, telling him to put the sword away.The battle that Peter was prepared to fight was not to be.Instead, the Lord allowed Himself to be taken.
5.All of these words and actions by Peter give insight into his misconceived way of thinking.Peter may have been ready to die, but he was not ready for Jesus to die.Moreover, Peter was not ready to be a living sacrifice for a spiritual kingdom.
B.The turning point for Peter came when he denied his Lord Jesus (Luke 22:54-62).
1.When Jesus was arrested and led away to trial, Peter followed at a safe distance.When Peter was identified as an associate of Jesus, he vehemently denied it.
2.At the very moment that Peter denied knowing the Lord, a cock crowed, and Jesus turned to look at him.Peter then remembered that the Lord had told him that he would deny Him.
3.This caused Peter to rush out and weep bitterly.Imagine the pain and the disappointment for this one who had been so confident of himself.Everything that he thought he knew had changed.
C.If this had been the end of Peter’s story, it would be a very sad story indeed.Yet this was not the end, and Peter’s story is a resounding success.
III.PETER TAKES UP HIS CROSS
A.Let us now look to a time just a few months after the events surrounding Christ’s crucifixion.What we find is a radical change in the apostle Peter.
1.Rather than trailing the cause of Jesus at a safe distance, Peter was right at the center of it.
2.Rather than denying the Lord, Peter was boldly proclaiming that Jesus was the Christ.
B.Consider the events of Acts 4 and how they reveal this change in Peter.
1.The context begins in Acts 3, Peter and John healed a man who was over forty years old and had been lame from his birth.
a.This miracle attracted the attention of a multitude, and so Peter preached Christ to them.
b.As Peter and John were speaking, the Sadducees had them arrested for preaching the resurrection.
2.The day after the miracle, Peter found himself standing in the Lord’s shoes in a sense.
a.Peter was standing before the same council, the Sanhedrin, as Jesus had stood (vv. 5-7).
b.These were the same characters who saw to it that Jesus was crucified (Annas, Caiaphas, etc.)For all Peter knew, they would have him killed as well.
3.The council asked the question, “By what power, or in what name, have you done this?” (v. 7).Peter answered, “By the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead – by this name this man stands here before you in good health” (v. 10).
a.Whereas Peter had flatly denied Jesus when he was accused of being a disciple at the Lord’s trial, now he boldly declared the name of Jesus.
b.Notice the emphasis Peter gave to the name of Jesus in Acts 3:16; 4:10, 12.It was by the authority and power of Jesus that Peter performed this miracle and that all men can be saved.
4.Notice the reaction of the rulers, elders, and scribes that showed the radical change in Peter.
a.They recognized that Peter and John had been with Jesus because they acted and spoke as Jesus did (v. 13).
b.They had no answer for Peter because they could not deny the miracle (vv. 14-17).
5.Even when the council threatened him, Peter did not relent from his preaching (vv. 18-22).He, John, and the others recognized the similarity of their situation to that of Christ (vv. 23-30).
6.This was by no means the end of the story, for Peter and the others went on preaching and found themselves under constant persecution.
a.In Acts 5:27-42, the apostles were brought before the Sanhedrin again for preaching Christ.They were flogged, commanded to preach no more in His name, and released.Yet they were not discouraged, but rejoiced to be “considered worthy to suffer shame for His name.”
b.The book of Acts records other works of Peter done in the name of Christ, and tradition records that Peter was crucified head-down in Rome in the A.D. 60’s by Nero.
C.The change in Peter could be described as Peter taking up his cross to follow Jesus.He became a living sacrifice, bearing the burdens that were necessary for him to imitate and serve the Lord.
1.Rather than seeking a worldly kingdom, he promoted the spiritual kingdom of Christ.
2.Rather than being willing to take a sword and fight for Christ, he was willing to wield the Spirit’s sword, preaching the word of God in Christ’s name.
3.Rather than being willing to die for Christ, he was willing to live and suffer for Christ.
IV.LESSONS LEARNED
A.Living for Christ can be greater than dying for Christ.
1.By no means should we minimize the sacrifice of those who have been killed because of their faith in Christ.Their sacrifices should be honored and remembered.Yet let us understand that such sacrifices are meaningful only because those who died for Christ lived for Christ also.
2.It is not necessary to die for Christ in order to please Him, but it is necessary to live for Him.
a.“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who love me, and delivered Himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20)
b.“For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Phil. 1:21)
3.It is admirable to be willing to die for the cause of Christ, but Christ wants us to take up our crosses daily and follow Him (Luke 9:23).
B.Self denial is essential for one to follow after Christ.
1.Jesus exemplified self denial by giving up His own interests in favor of the interests of His Father and of us (Matt. 26:39, 42; Rom. 15:3; Phil. 2:3-8).
2.In the case of Peter, he had to learn to deny his own reasoning and embrace the plan of God.
a.Peter trusted in himself that he had it all figured out, and he would not listen to the words of Jesus.His thinking was not selfish, but it was worldly regarding the kingdom of God.
b.Peter learned to deny himself and accepted the truth of God regarding the kingdom, Christ, and the Gentiles (Acts 10).
3.If we are to follow Jesus, then we must also imitate His example of self denial.
a.Self denial is not just depriving ourselves of our desires.It is completely letting go of ourselves and trusting in God.
b.Just as Jesus “kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously” (1Pet. 2:23), so we also must place our lives in His hands.
C.Suffering shame for the name of Christ is a blessing.
1.Jesus suffered the shame of the cross, but God in turn “highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name” (Phil. 2:9).
a.Dying on a cross was regarded as a shameful death, and it was reserved only for the lowest of criminals in Roman society.
b.Jesus “endured the cross, despising the shame” (Heb. 12:2), but because of it He was exalted to the right hand of the throne of God.
2.We likewise must bear the shame of our own crosses for the sake of Christ our Lord.
a.Notice Matthew 5:10-12.Suffering persecution, insults, and shame for the sake of righteousness and the name of Christ is a blessing because it leads to a great reward from God.
b.Peter learned this first hand, and he later wrote, “But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed” (1Pet. 3:14), and, “If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not feel ashamed, but in that name let him glorify God” (1Pet. 4:16).
