We welcome very especially those that are joining
us as a Knox family, and we trust
that as we wait upon our risen Lord
together, we may find that he is still
the one who speaks to us by name.
Now you will find the word of our
text this morning in the passage that was
read for us by Mr. Walker in Mark's
Gospel chapter 16 and verse 7.
But go your way, tell his disciples and
Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee.
There shall ye see him as he said
unto you.
In our morning services at the present time
we are following a theme which we have
entitled from Simon to Peter.
And I am taking the liberty on this
Easter day of continuing that theme because the
resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ certainly had
a very particular relevance to this man who
was destined to become a leader in the
Christian church.
Any objective appraisal of the relevant gospel records
will make it abundantly clear that a spiritual
pilgrimage of the disciples generally, and of Simon
Peter particularly, was very much a matter of
up and down.
It was a checkered pilgrimage.
Unfortunately we sometimes read things into the Gospels
which are not there.
And we sometimes represent the lives and the
biographies of God's people as if they began
the Christian life and ever afterwards it was
just one clear straight line upwards toward glory.
Without ever a fall or a lapse.
You know that simply is not true.
These characters of the Bible were not men
of straw.
They were real men and real women.
And because they were real men in real
situations facing a real enemy.
There were times when they faltered and failed.
Miserably failed.
The wonder of our gospel is this.
Not that it transforms a man today and
he will never be tempted anymore.
The wonder of our gospel is this.
It begins a work today and that work
pursues us and continues to go on within
us until our Savior brings us to the
appointed destiny which is glory.
This is the glory of the gospel.
Our Lord is our risen Lord and he
follows us.
And even when his people fall and fail
and falter miserably so.
He comes after his own.
And to me at any rate I must
say this is a note which I delight
in.
Because I have yet to meet the Christian
that does not fall.
The story is told of someone in the
17th century who was suspicious of the theology
of a man who would be known as
a Puritan.
In his suspicion he approached him one day
and he said do you believe in the
perseverance of the saints.
The Puritan could smell something from a distance
and he thought he would answer appropriately.
And he said no he says I don't.
Ah says the questioner I knew there was
something amiss.
You don't believe in the perseverance of the
saints then you are not true to the
world.
Says the Puritan I believe in something far
better than the perseverance of the saints.
I believe he says in a persevering God.
That is the message we have here today.
Simon Peter has fallen miserably.
We do not blurt as we speak of
this.
We do not delight to call attention to
this.
We do so with bated breath and with
reticence because we are not worthy to unloose
the latchet of his shoes.
We do so nevertheless to magnify the grace
of the persevering Lord.
Of the risen one who goes after the
sheep into the wilderness and brings it back
again in his arms back into the fold.
Now however challenging to the divine plan and
purpose certain previous rebellions of Peter had been.
I must repeat that the events leading up
to the death of our Lord are of
an entirely different order.
His denial three times his cursing and his
swearing.
His apparent rejection of Jesus Christ.
I say apparent.
His apparent going back upon the confession of
Caesarea Philippi when he said I know him
not.
I don't know anything about him.
Yet my friend I want you to see
the good shepherd rising from the dead and
first of all going after the worst man
among the eleven.
The man who'd sinned the greatest.
Who'd failed the most miserable.
Go tell his disciples and Peter whoever else
was on the heart as he died upon
the cross.
Peter was there.
For Peter was his man.
So Easter day changed it all.
And no sooner was the risen Lord risen
from the dead than he finds Peter.
And the whole process is reversed and something
starts now again in the life of Peter.
May I say a sun was now to
rise which was never more to set.
This is our major turning point.
We propose looking at Peter's experience as it
passes through three stages.
I will speak of them as midnight darkness.
From midnight darkness through twilight shade toward midday
bright.
First of all we think of the midnight
darkness in Simon Peter's experience.
Oh yes darkness there is no other word
for it.
Bleak darkness, black darkness, barren darkness, oppressive darkness,
soul shattering darkness.
But darkness of a man who knew the
Lord and yet failed to do it.
Not the darkness of a man who is
in ignorance but the darkness of going against
what you knew was right and persisting in
so doing.
Darkness, thick darkness is the only appropriate description
of that spiritual experience which now overtook this
disciple.
I have described as denial supplemented by an
oath and you know the revised standard version
goes further and it says that Peter began
to invoke a curse upon himself and to
swear that he had never known this person.
Probably that is the correct translation of the
words.
When suddenly the cock crowed and as Peter
looked yonder at the scene the other end
of the courtyard he saw his own blessed
Lord looking at him and that look and
the crow of the cock tore his heart
to pieces and he went out for the
fountains of the deep broke loose in him
and he wept.
So we read he wept bitterly.
Now to describe the overwhelming darkness that now
developed and enveloped Peter is something that is
not humanly possible.
We don't mind, we don't know how he
thought, we don't know how his conscience functioned
at this time, we don't know how the
spirit of God dealt with him, we really
do not know.
One thing we do know is this that
the big fisherman became a broken man and
the tears and the circumstances that bring a
man to the place of brokenness are blessed
tears and blessed circumstances because my dear people
let us face it on this Easter morning
no man can be made after God's image
until he's broken.
Apart from the inevitable sense of guilt and
of shame that must have featured very largely
in Peter's thinking.
It must have been harshly gruel, grueling for
him to sense now a chasm opening between
him and the one that he had been
so near to, who had befriended him, who
had brought hope and joy and gladness to
him and much much else over the last
three and a half years.
And now there is a thick cloud coming
between them.
God becomes strangely distant again who had been
so very near.
You just think of it, suddenly the sky
has become black and ominous and it's not
long ago since Simon Peter stood at Caesarea
Philippi and heard the Savior say to him,
blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jonah, flesh and
blood didn't reveal these things to you but
my Father which is in him.
Simon Peter is in touch with heaven, he's
on the right way of living.
God is speaking to him, God is dealing
with him but not now.
It isn't long ago since Simon stood on
the mount of transfiguration and he beheld the
glory of his transfigured Lord and he wanted
to build there three taverns, three booths, one
for his Lord, one for Elijah, one for
Moses.
Oh the glory, the majesty, the thrill of
it all.
But it seems as if that were in
an eternity in the past.
A cloud has come betwixt the present and
the past and the glory of the past
is shut away.
And here he is in sick, oppressive, soul
-shattering darkness.
Everything commends him now.
There is nothing to comfort him.
No Simon did not need a Nathan to
come to him as David did and say
look you are the guilty culprit.
You did this or you did that.
Simon knew full well he had sinned.
If Judas knew that he had betrayed the
innocent blood, Simon Peter knew that even though
he had not betrayed him as Judas did,
he had sinned against the very Messiah, son
of the living God and therefore the profanity
of the occasion and the persistence of the
occasion and all the ingredients in that awful
incident in his life are like a bar
tearing his soul to shreds.
Black midnight darkness.
Could it be that there are some of
us in Knox this morning who are going
that way?
I hope not.
And yet it could be that there is
someone here this morning just yearning as Simon
must have been during those three days, yearning
for a ray of light.
Nothing is clear.
There is like a curtain of black that
separates you from an experience of God that
you had yesterday or yesteryear.
You too had your transfiguring moment.
You saw the glory of the Lord and
you wanted to stay on the mountaintop.
You too have your Caesarea Philippi and you
made your confession and you could not do
otherwise.
But today you've denied him.
Not once, not twice, not thrice.
And if you are honest with yourself the
heavens are black to you.
There is very little you get out of
the means of grace.
And you read your Bible and it is
scarcely more to you than an ordinary novel
and the throne of grace is just like
an unoccupied throne.
You shoot your prayers into the distance.
That's all.
Midnight, darkness.
Before I pass on may I note it
again and underline it.
There are experiences of this nature through which
the people of God may pass.
Now please let us take this seriously.
Through which the people of God may pass.
Not through which the people of God need
pass.
I did not say that.
The Bible doesn't say that.
But may pass.
If you are there this morning it does
not necessarily mean that you're not a child
of God.
But it does mean that you have rebelled
and you have sinned.
As Simon did.
For God did not call us into darkness
but into light.
Not into misery but into joy and glory
and peace and hope.
And fellowship with himself.
Midnight blackness.
Now come with me for a moment to
the second portrait or picture or scene that
we have here.
I speak of it as twilight cherry.
The dictionary describes twilight as referring to the
light from the sky when the sun is
below the horizon either in the morning or
the evening.
And those of you who get up very
early in the morning know what it is.
Sure there are more early risers here.
You know what it is.
The sun is about to shine.
You can't see anything distinctly.
You can see, you can see features.
You don't know whether it's a man or
a woman.
You can't distinguish between things but you know
there's something there and something moving.
It's just twilight.
Nothing is clear yet.
Now that's the stage I want to speak
about.
Something happened in the experience of Simon Peter.
It was leading towards something bigger and greater
of course.
But it's just this twilight shade.
Its glory resides in the fact that it
is sun rising not sun setting.
It's the prelude of sunrise in all its
glory.
It's not indicative of a sun that is
setting not arising yet.
Twilight is a great advance from the pitch
blackness of a starless night.
But it is far short of clear daylight.
Let's look at it for a moment.
The first flicker.
Now it is given to us with our
Bibles in our hands.
It is given to us to see the
kindling of the first ray that was to
bring hope into the unrelieved and tense darkness
of Simon Peter's heart.
Mark describes it for us.
A group of women folk including Mary Magdalene
arrived early on the morning of the first
day of the week.
Soon as the Sabbath day was over early
in the morning it was still twilight.
Early in the morning they arrive at the
garden too.
They came because you remember before the feast
began they had to hurry the last rites.
And though they had with great consideration poured
the spices that were lovingly brought by a
secret disciple.
Poured the spices between the linen garments and
then wound the garment around the body of
the dead Christ as you would wind a
bandage around the limb.
They had done that but they had something
more they wanted to do.
They couldn't do it whilst the feast was
on but the moment the Sabbath is over
they're up early because they want to finish
the last rites they might perform upon the
body of the dead Christ.
But they were amazed.
The problem in their mind as they approached
was who shall roll us away the stone.
There was a mighty stone placed by the
Romans over the mouth of the cave and
it was sealed with a Roman seal.
Who will roll it away for us?
But when they came they found the stone
moved away.
Perhaps carried away.
There's a question about the meaning of the
word.
A massive stone that no ordinary human could
move but it was taken away.
It was moved away if not lifted out
of its position.
That was wonderful in itself.
So they rush into the these women.
Can you see them?
They rush into the tomb and lo and
behold there are two things that startle them.
The first is the absence of their Lord.
The second is the presence of someone else.
Their Lord was not there.
The body was not there.
And sitting down there just where the body
of the Lord had been there was someone
a young man as they speak of him
dressed in white.
And he turned to them and he said
this to them.
Do not be amazed he says you seek
Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified.
He has risen.
He is not here.
See the flesh where they laid him.
But go tell his disciples and Peter that
he is going before you into Galilee.
Now John tells us how the first flicker
of light was carried into the dungeon of
Peter's darkness.
The flicker that was lit there in the
garden carried into the dungeon of Peter's darkness.
John puts it like this.
He Mary Magdalene ran.
How a forgiven soul can run.
You know this is a theme all on
its own.
Men and women if you're not forgiven you
can't run on divine errands.
Men and women are glued to their situations
in this world and to their idols.
They can't run until they're forgiven.
But to whom much is forgiven the same
loveth much and runneth well.
This dear woman out of whom seven devils
have been cast ran.
Of course she did.
Her Lord was risen from the dead.
He's no longer in the tomb and she
runs.
This is what we read.
So she ran and came to Simon Peter
and to the other disciples.
The other disciple the one whom Jesus loved
and said to them they have taken away
the Lord out of the tomb and we
do not know where they have laid him.
Now notice what's happened.
Bless her.
She's run all right.
But she's run at this particular point more
out of fear than out of certainty or
knowledge of his being a risen from the
dead.
This is not a hopeful word.
She's misrepresented the whole thing.
She's only seen the fact that he was
not present.
The body was not present.
This is a pessimistic misconstruction which revealed Mary's
terrible fear.
Neither was it a faithful record of the
message because she was asked to say something
special to Peter.
She never said anything about it.
But it was the first glow.
The first flicker of light.
Now I said to you it was twilight.
You can't see clearly here.
This is not much good for anyone but
it's the beginning.
It's the dawn of a new day.
It is the dawn because at least it
struck a match that sent Peter and John
running to the tomb to see what had
happened.
So the first flicker brightens.
It's still twilight.
Nothing is clear still but the first ray
of light brightens as Peter and John dash
for the tomb.
Now Peter was the older man.
John was the younger.
And we read that John got there first
and he looked in and he saw that
the body was not there and all he
could see from outside.
And you see the reticence of the man.
All he could see from outside were the
linen clothes lying where the body had been.
Then Simon came hunting and puffing.
The older man.
The bigger man probably.
And he comes at last but Simon of
course doesn't think twice.
In he goes.
And John follows him.
And it was exactly as John had seen.
They saw the linen clothes lying there in
an orderly way.
As if they were exactly in the position
where the body had lain.
Remaining undisturbed as the body made its exit.
Now obviously this is not light.
This is not resurrection glory.
It's twilight still.
But the Lord has left the tomb.
Moreover there is more light to this because
you see for one thing for one thing
they recognize at least John did and I
suppose he shared it with Peter.
Peter was not as quick thinking as John.
John noticed it.
The clothes.
The clothes were lying in a very strange
suggestive way.
I don't know how to describe this to
you.
But the impression made not only upon me
but on one or two of the commentators
that I have led is I read is
this.
That the clothes were laying may I may
I this morning illustrate by thinking of this
pulpit cross from here this this area here
as as the slab on which the body
had lain.
Here was the head of our Lord.
There was his body.
There was a cloth around his head represented
by this.
And there was a cloth around his body
represented by this.
And the cloths were wound bandage like around
his head and bandage like around his body.
And the significant thing is this.
The cloth around his head was just where
his head had been.
Still wound around unmoved unfolded just in its
original fold.
And the cloth around its body was likewise
just as the bandage had been wound around
the body with the spices in between.
There they were full and flat on the
slab where the body had lain.
And this was strange.
It means that the grave was not plundered.
If someone had come in to rob the
body they couldn't have got the body out
of those folds and folded them back as
they now lie.
It couldn't have been a plunderer.
It couldn't have been a thief.
It couldn't have been anyone in a hurry.
The significance of what they see indicates something
of this order.
Now I deliberately put it like this.
It seems as if the body has almost
evaporated.
Almost evaporated and left the garments lying flat
there as if something of a supernatural order
has taken place.
Leaving them there as a testimony.
This is not man.
This is not a robber.
This is not a thief.
This is something of a different order.
I agree with any skeptic here this morning.
It's not daylight still.
We're still in twilight.