OF "li the men whom Jesus made Simon Peter is the one we know the best and Jove the most. His very faults endear him to us, for there! is-a humanness about them which brings him all the closer to us, and the, grand success which "his charactst achieved under the in fluence of Jesus teaches ux what we may become under the same lend ership.
There is so. much in the New] Testament about Peter one hardly ienows where to begin, There is man of whom Wwe know more with the exception of our Lord Himself, Peter first comes into prominence about a year after the happenings of our text. Our Lord begins His Galilean ministry and one of His first acts is to call little group of men to be His ciples." He calls them to. go with Him, witnesses of "all that He hogan' to do and to tench," His constant companions, hearing all His wondrous teaching, seeing all His marvellous acts. A little group of 12 men, who remain with Him] in unbroken fellowship until the end.!j Peter was the first to be called and) the obvious leader of the little group, from the beginning. Did it ever strike you how little We would know of the rest were it not for Peter? He represents the rest; by his words and acts we know the feelings of the band.
He is their spokesman, of their desires and purposes. not for him our knowledge of their hopes, prejudices and difficulties would be indeed. "I goa fishing, Peter, "we go with thee," was the reply. It is n characteristic word. ible. Let us never sit down in despair before a blank wall. Let us always have faith that when any Chstruetion comes in the pathway of duty, there is a way round if there is not a way through, But to be a leader a man needs not only initiative, he needs also courage, He needs courage to take the initiative, to press forward in the face of opposition and risks. And this courage was perhaps the most outstanding characteristic of Peter. We see it all through his life, We see it in the storm on! the lake, when he ventured his life fon the water to come to Jesus. We see it when he drew his sword struck the only blow for the freedom of his Master. We see that he ventured to enter the Priest's palace when he knew that he was in all probability a {marked man and his life likely to stand forfeit.
The Old Temptations But the old weaknesses have not been miraculously removed, or the old temptations lost their power. No man who makes up his mind to follow Jesus will find the old] temptations have disappeared, they often seem to come with redoubled power, But as we follow Jesus we find our strength renewed, we so from victory to victory. But at first there is often fai 0 as we rend the Gospel narratives we see Poter struggling with his old yetlines defeated. to cowardice. spoiled by impulsiveness. Love and devotion marred by pride fand_ self-confidence.
We think of that scene on the lake, They are rowing in the grip of the storm. Suddenly they see! Chéist in the distance walking] amid the billows. They are transfixed with terror and ery out with) fear. Then comes the gracious voice. He draws near and with re-ion Peter becomes a lion in courage and leaps out to walk on the water to Jesus, He sees the waves all about him and _his courage oozes out at every pore and ko ties "Save me, I perish."
We think of the arrest of Jesus Peter would make a fight for his Lord. He draws his sword and at-tucks the servant of the High Priest. Then runs away. He plucks up courage when pursuit is abandoned and follows afar off. actually into the High Priest's house. There accosted by the vants his courage again fails, ind with fear he denies with a fury of oaths.
And not only does he manifest faults of cowardice and impulsiveness, but pride and self-confidence. How tragically we sce it fon that last night when he boast~ fully asserted, "Though all should be offended, yet will not I!" And then before the cock-crow he denied im thrice. Peter's pride died that The look from Jesus, so full of love and pity, broke "Peter's heart We read that he went out and wept bitterly. It heart that led him to
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.