Pastor Harry

TRUE BLESSING                                    9/4/08

Why is it that Christians cannot see and understand what it means to be blessed by God? Why do they always think that it means to get material things like houses, money or cars? Why can't they see that what God really wants is to bless us with His life and nature so we can truly be a blessing to others. If you give material things to someone you may change their life for a day or two, but if you can be a vessel to impart God's life and nature to someone then you have changed the destiny of that person for all eternity. The problem is that Christians love the world and the things in it more than they do God or the brethren. How can we say we love God when all we think about is our own prosperity? Are we not told in the scriptures that we should "love not the world" First John 2:15. Did not Jesus Himself give us a new commandment in John 13:34 saying, "a new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another as I have loved you." He said in verse 35, "that by this shall all men know that you are my disciples." Men do not know we are His disciples by our prosperity but by our love for one another. How we need to go before the Lord and humble ourselves asking God for forgiveness for being so self centered and selfish, calling out to Him to truly fill us with His love. We need to have a true life changing experience just as Peter did. When you look at Peters life you see a man that had a true change of life and nature. I thank God for the story of Peter, there is not a man in the Bible that should give us greater comfort. When we look at his character so full of faults and failures and how he was changed by the power of the Holy Spirit into a vessel of honor, we can see that there is still hope for us all. In John 13:36-38, Peter, full of pride and self, said to the Lord that he would follow Him wherever He went and that he would even lay down his life for Him. Jesus said to Peter, "wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake," you see, Peter at this time was not ready to follow the Lord, he was still full of pride and self so the Lord went on to say, "the cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me thrice." Even though Peter had been with the Lord for three years he still was not converted, he had not yet turned fully from self reliance to full reliance on Christ. Peter was a devoted disciple of Christ when Jesus called him to leave his nets and follow Him. Peter did it at once so he could rightly say to the Lord, "We have forsaken all and followed thee" (Matthew 19:27). Peter was also a man of ready obedience when the Lord told him to, "Launch out into the deep and let down your nets," he did so without question. Peter was a fisherman and he knew there were no fish there for they had been fishing all night, but he said, "At thy word I will let down the net" (Luke 5:4-5). Peter was also a man of great faith. When he saw Jesus walking on the water, he said, "Lord if it be you, bid me come unto thee" (Matthew 14:28) when the Lord said, "Come," Peter stepped out of the boat and walked on the water. He was also a man of spiritual insight. When Jesus asked the disciples, "Whom do ye say that I am?" Peter answered, " Thou art the Christ the son of the living God" Jesus said to him, "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 16:15-17). Jesus also spoke of Peter as being a rock and of having the keys of the kingdom so we see that Peter was quite a man and if he were living today everyone would say he was a mature Christian, but Peter was still living by the self life. Remember just after Jesus had said to him, "Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father in heaven," Jesus began to speak about His suffering and Peter dared to say, "Be it far from thee Lord, this shall not be unto thee." Then Jesus said to him, "Get thee behind me Satan, for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of man" (Matthew 16:22-23). There was Peter in his self-will trusting in his own wisdom forbidding Jesus to go and die, forbidding Him to fulfill God's will. Where did that come from? Peter was trusting more in his own self thoughts than in what Jesus was saying. The life of self was strong in Peter, he had left boats and nets but he had not left his old self. When Jesus had spoken to him about His suffering and said, "Get thee behind me Satan," He followed up by saying, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me" (Matthew 16:24). No man can follow Christ unless he does that. We must take up our cross and utterly deny our self. What does that mean? When Peter denied Christ we read that he said three times, " I know Him not" (Luke 22:57). In other words he said, I have nothing to do with Him, we are not friends, I deny having anything to do with Him. Jesus told Peter that he must deny self. Self must be ignored and its every claim rejected. That is the way and the root of true discipleship. But Peter didn't understand it and could not obey. What happened? When the last night came, Jesus said to him, " Before the cock crow twice thou shalt deny me thrice" ( Mark 14:30), but the self confident Peter said,

" Though all shall be offended, yet will not I. I am ready to go with thee, to prison and to death" (Mark 14:29, Luke 22:33). Peter meant it and he really intended to do it but Peter did not know himself, he didn't believe he was capable of denying the Lord. We as Christians know how to deal with individual sins that separate us from God but what do we do with our self-life which is all together unclean, our very nature? What are we to do with the flesh that is entirely under the power of sin (our old man)? Deliverance from that is what we need. Peter did not understand that and therefore went forth in self confidence and denied his Lord. We need to take notice how Jesus used the word "deny" twice. He said to Peter the first time, "Let him deny himself" (Matthew 16:24), He said to Peter the second time, " Thou shalt deny me" ( Matthew 26:34 ). We all need to see that it is either one or the other. There is no other choice for us, we will either deny our self or we will deny Christ, it is our choice. There are two great powers fighting each other in us, the self nature in the power of sin and Christ in the power of God through the Holy Spirit, and one of these will rule in us. It was self that caused Satan to fall, he wanted something for himself, that is, to be exalted. It was self that caused the fall of man, they wanted something for themselves, that is, to be like God. We as their children have inherited the awful nature of sin. Peter denied the Lord three times, then the Lord turned and looked at him, the look he gave him broke Peters heart. It was not a look of hate nor was it a look of I told you so but it was a look of love and it broke Peters heart. This was the beginning of Peters transformation. It started with him repenting with bitter tears, now Peter was prepared for deliverance from self. May the Lord bring us all to this point in our lives. On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came and Peter was a changed man. We must not just look at the outward change in Peter, in his boldness, power, or even the insight he gained in the scripture or the blessing with which he preached that day, we thank God for all that, but there was something deeper, richer even better that happened to Peter. His whole nature was changed he went from being self reliant to being fully reliant on Christ as the Life Giving Spirit indwelling him, PRAISE THE LORD!! Read First and Second Peter, you will see there a transformed man. Now we have to see the importance of this life change. It is a solemn fact that before Peter denied Christ he was living what we would call a spiritual Christian life; he cast out demons and healed the sick yet the sin and self still had power in him and he denied Jesus. How many Christians today are just like Peter, able in themselves to work for God but have not yet come to the place were they see the need to be fully surrendered to the Lord, denying self, taking up their cross and following the Lord. They are happy to go on their way caring more for the things of this world than for the things of God. If we don't listen to this warning and seek God that we might deny our self , the day will come, sorry to say, that we will deny our Lord. How many Christians have we seen this already happen to, they are going along in their lives and it looks like they have everything and then you see on the news or read in the paper that they have fallen from grace. There is no other reason than they have not learned the lesson of denying self, taking up their cross and following Jesus. After the Lord's resurrection, Jesus asked Peter if he loved him three times, this in contrast to Peter denying the Lord three times. Peter told the Lord the first time, "You know I love you", Jesus told him to, " Feed His lambs." The second time Peter said, "You know I love you", Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep." Then the Lord asked him the third time, "Peter do you love me," this time Peter did not answer so fast, he was grieved and he said, "Lord you know all things, you know that I love you." This shows that Peter had learned not to rely on his self but to trust in what the Lord knows. He had learned that first of all he had to love the Lord if he was going to fulfill the Lord's will, that is, that he should feed the Lord's sheep. Brothers and sisters, it is time that we begin to love the Lord Jesus not for what He can give us but just for Himself. It is time that we should be following the command the Lord gave us, "To Love one another it is by this love that men will see and know that we are truly His disciples." For love does no harm to his neighbor for love is the fulfilling of the law (Romans 13:10). It is high time that we wake out of our sleep and love one another for our salvation is nearer than we first believed. PRAISE THE LORD!! Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone that loves is born of God and knows God. He that loves not does not know God, for God is love. It is by loving God and the brothers and sisters that all men will know that we are His disciples and will be drawn to Him. It is not by how much we have of the things of this world but how much we have of the life and nature of our Lord Jesus Christ that draws men unto Him. May the Lord bring us all to the place where all we want is more of Christ so that we can impart Him into others.