Simon or Peter

Consider a few more thoughts concerning the Apostle Peter. Turn to John's Gospel, please, in chapter one. It is very interesting how the Apostle Peter is addressed in John's Gospel, and I hope that we can learn a little lesson from this.

17 times he is just called Peter, and 17 times he is called Simon. That's the name that he received from his earthly father and mother. And then there are four occasions when he is just called Simon.

But there are two occasions that the Apostle John, by the Spirit of God, calls him Simon, son of Jonas. And then four different times, the Lord Jesus calls him Simon Peter. So I want to just try and draw a little lesson from it.

In fact, one of the passages that we will make reference to, my brother has read to us from chapter 13. But it seems as though the Lord is seeking to remind Peter that there's always Simon there. Don't forget that.

That's who you were when you were born, and that rascal's gonna stay there, Simon. And sometimes he interrupts into the part that belongs to Peter. That's the spiritual man.

And you will recall, for the sake of younger believers as well today, in 1 Corinthians 2 and chapter 3, we find three different individuals. We find a natural man. And the Word of God says, "'The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit.'" Because he doesn't understand them.

There's nothing in the natural man to respond to the spiritual. And then he speaks of the spiritual. And he says, "'He is the one who receives what the Spirit says,' because there's an appreciation of it.

There's Holy Spirit within. That's the spiritual man. And then he speaks of the carnal.

And he says, "'It's just like a baby, an immature person, acting like a little child when you should be an adult.'" The word for carnal there is the idea of a person that is saved, but he's acting like Simon. And that is the lesson that I hope that we can see from a few of these passages here today. The first one, please, we will read concerning the conversion of Peter in chapter one of John's gospel.

And we will read at verse 40. "'One of the two which heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith to him, we have found the Messiah, which is being interpreted the Christ.

And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, thou art Simon, the son of Jonah. Thou shalt be called Cephas, or Peter, which is by interpretation, a stone.'" We'll look now, please, in chapter six.

That's Simon, son of Jonah. That's our first little lesson that we want to notice. Chapter six in this very beautiful chapter of the Lord Jesus being the living bread.

He's been teaching the people and the disciples are listening. And in verse 66, we read, "'From that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the 12, will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.

And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the son of the living God.'" The third passage, please, is in chapter 13, where my brother read to us how the Lord Jesus addresses dear Peter on this remarkable day in his experience when he felt the touch of the hand of the Lord Jesus upon his own feet. Notice, if you will, then please, at verse five, "'After that, he poureth water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter.

And Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? And Jesus answered and said unto him, what I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. And Peter saith unto him, even thou shalt never wash my feet. And Jesus answered him, if I wash thee not, thou wast no part with me.

Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. And Jesus saith to him, he that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit, and ye are clean, but not all.'" Verse 12, "'So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments and was set down again, he said to them, know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me master and Lord, and ye say, well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet.

For I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord, neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If you know these things, happy are ye if you do them.'" Now, please, chapter 18, chapter 18 of John's gospel.

Verse eight, "'Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he, therefore ye seek me, let these go their way, that the same might be fulfilled which he spake of them which thou hast given me, have I lost none. Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and smote the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus.

Then said Jesus unto Peter, put up thy sword into thy sheath. The cup which my father hath given me, shall I not drink it?' And finally, please, in chapter 21. Very interestingly, this is the only other occasion when the Lord Jesus is going to speak of Simon as Simon, son of Jonah.

In this passage, for the restoration of beloved Peter. Read, please, at verse 15. "'So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.

He saith unto him, feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, feed my sheep.

He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, lovest thou me? That is because he used a different word that grieved dear Peter. And he saith unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee.

Jesus saith unto him, feed my sheep.'" Lord bless our reading of this word and help us to draw some lessons from these passages concerning dear Simon. First of all, let me note with you again the first and the last occasions that we have read. Simon, son of Jonas.

It's very interesting that in his conversion, that the Lord Jesus addresses him as thus, and then he changes his name. He says, thou shalt be called Cephas, a stone. Now we realize that the church had not as yet had its foundation laid as we have in Acts chapter one and chapter two.

But Peter is, Simon, son of Jonas has given the name Peter, a stone. And dear brothers and sisters, let me just say to each of us, and again to those of you who are newly saved. Some have been saved recently, and some of you are young in your reading and studying of the scriptures.

Remember who you were in the day of your conversion. You were Simon, son of Jonah, and that's what marked you. And as our brother has been pointing out even last evening in the gospel concerning their former experiences before they were saved, that's who they were.

Simon, son of Jonas, that's who I was. Now the problem is that Simon stays there. What we read of in the scriptures is, God calls it in the New Testament language in the epistles, the old man.

That's who Peter was, who he was by his natural birth. That was the only name he had, and he lived up to it. We don't know the history of his name very much, of his family.

That's not the important part. The important part is, he's gonna have trouble with Simon all the way along the road. And what I want to notice with you in the last section, and I may not have time to look at it as I would like to, but I do want to remind you that the Lord Jesus uses Simon, son of Jonas when he talks to him about whether he loves him or not.

And Simon, son of Jonas, cannot love like God loves. That's the lesson he's learning in that passage. That's one of the lessons.

So we have the beginning, and we have the end. And in between, we're going to notice how Simon keeps interrupting on Peter. And in our life as believers, brethren, as we've been hearing, not only is there sin, and I know my beloved brother had very much in mind what he was speaking of, but let me say as well, just add it to it, because I know he would have said it.

If you have fallen into sin, and you're in God's assembly, you must tell your overseers. You must have the assembly cleansed from that sin. And there is discipline in the scriptures for those who defile God's assembly by fornication or those other sins that are mentioned in the scripture.

But that has been dealt with, and that's not what my brother had in mind, I know. But just add that to it for the sake of your younger brethren. Don't ever forget, sin will not only mar you for your experience in your life and hinder you, but it could be the cause of bringing tears to the assembly if you are in God's fellowship of God's assembly.

But let's come back to Simon. In the first passage that we read in chapter six and verse 69, we find the central commitment of Peter's life, to whom shall we go? Lord, thou hast the words of eternal life. Now, that's a very meaningful statement because in that chapter, the Lord Jesus had been teaching three very precious truths necessary in a believer's life.

And Simon pops in. In each one of them, we're going to find that the flesh likes to stick its unholy head into the places that it belonged just to Peter, to the spiritual. You will find that, dear brother and dear sister.

But here notice, first of all, that Peter has comprehended what the Lord was teaching. He was a good listener this day. One lesson he learned from the Lord was, be a student of typology.

The Lord Jesus had been speaking of the people in Israel that had received manna from heaven every day. And then he interpreted that for him. And he says, I am the bread of God that came down from heaven.

Peter got ahold of that. Because as a boy, as a young man, he had been taught in the synagogues of his religion of Judaism. He had been taught about the manna coming from heaven, but they had no indication as to how that's going to be fulfilled.

Now the Lord Jesus shows them, he is the bread of God. So he's teaching him, and it's a good lesson for each of us. We should be students of the types of the Old Testament to see how the Lord Jesus is portrayed in them.

Because as we were reading in our Bible reading this morning, the prophets told different things about the Lord Jesus. But they could never give a complete revelation. But when he came, he came as the fulfiller of all those prophecies.

And that is the teaching that dear Peter got ahold of. And what he sees in that is, he sees, I'm giving my life to that man. To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.

So there's commitment to the person of the Lord Jesus by dear Peter. But don't ever forget, he carried Simon with him. And there are occasions when Simon gets in the way, as we will note in some of these cases.

The second thing that he learned in this passage, the Lord Jesus taught about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. And the people they all, the people that were listening to him said, we can't understand that kind of a thing. But Peter got ahold of it.

He says it right in that passage that we read. He says, thou hast the words of eternal life. Do you see what dear Peter saw that day? He saw that the word and the person are equal.

My, he said, that's what I've got. He is the fulfillment, not only of prophecy, but he is the word. And he got ahold of that truth and he's committed to it.

I, we, he could say, we're going to stick by the Lord. Thou hast the words of eternal life. Very precious thought.

And let me just bring it into a little practical note for each of us here today. This beloved book that we have, dear saints, is God's word. And how I treat this book is a reflection.

Of my appreciation of the person. Dear young man, dear young lady, don't you ever put your book, this Bible, in an inferior place in your possession. It's God's word.

That's not a law. That's an act of appreciation for the word. And that's what we're going to find with dear Peter.

Simon's going to interrupt this. I know that. As we will point out, the old man has no appreciation of this word.

But dear Peter got to see that the word and the person are equal. And that is good lesson for us to learn as well. And another thing that he learns at the end of this passage where we're reading, he gets to see the idea of the eating of the flesh and the drinking of the blood is not only at the commencement when you were saved, that's when you appropriated the Lord Jesus to yourself.

But day by day, you must learn to appropriate him into your life also. Day after day, more of Christ, more of his word, more of his person, bringing it into our experience. And Peter get ahold of that.

He says, Lord, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. Yes, he gives us a clear confession. To whom shall we go? There is no one else who is the fulfillment of these things.

And so dear brethren, Simon and Peter, remember you will have the old flesh. We'll say, don't study too much. Don't go too far with that.

Now mind you, when you are studying the word, get some good helps to guide you because otherwise you'll go off on a tangent on something. That's Simon. That's what he does all the time.

He'd like to. You know why? He'd like to be able to get people attracted to him. But isn't he something by that? That boy, look at it.

He's born with teeth. Well, the baby that's born with teeth is dangerous. That's not good.

And that's what happens with Simon. And that's what happens when it comes to the teaching of the word as well. Simon gets in the way.

But Peter got ahold of these three beautiful truths that day. And as we look into his two epistles, we see that he learned them well because he's going to teach them to us in his epistles. But I must hasten to note with you the other passages that we read in chapter 13.

We come now to the cleansing of sanctification as we've been hearing. And it is the feet that have been following the Lord Jesus that have contracted defilement. And don't ever forget, beloved, we are defiled every day of our life because of what we see, because of what we hear.

Sometimes because of what we choose and shame on us for that. But Simon Peter, dear Simon Peter, the Lord introduces it to him. First of all, takes Simon's feet first.

Marvelous. And right away, Simon butts in. You're not going to wash my feet.

There's two elements there now, mind you. And one of them is very right. I mean, Peter is right in saying, the Lord shouldn't be at my feet.

I should be at his feet. But the other one is Simon that says, you're not washing my feet. In fact, he said it very deliberately.

Thou shalt never wash my feet. Simon's will instead of the Lord's will. So Simon interrupts very often, brethren, particularly when it comes to sanctification of life.

You are a vessel, young brother. And younger sister, you are an instrument. Older sister, you are an instrument.

Do you know the word in Romans chapter six for the word being an instrument in the hands of a master? Leans to the musical. It's a musical instrument in the hand of the master. And dear younger brother and dear younger sister, the instrument has to be tuned up.

That's its sanctification. It must be brought into tune. And it's only the master that is capable of bringing you and bringing me into tune, if you will, so that he can make a melody of your life and mine.

But Simon butts in. He can't grasp it. He's looking at it from the natural standpoint.

Makes me look like a fool. Didn't understand that Simon was always a fool. It's Peter that needs to get a grasp of the teaching that the Lord has given.

And then he says to them, now he says, as I have done this to you. It's the as here. As I have done this to you.

I am your Lord and your master, that I am, your Lord and your master. You wash one another's feet as I have washed your feet. No more Simon now.

It's not Simon getting a big name for himself because he's trying to minister something and trying to help somebody. No, it's Peter. It's Peter in likeness to his Lord, ministering to the feet of his beloved fellow believers.

He's taking John's feet next. And then he's gonna take Thomas's feet, the doubter. Then he's gonna take Philip's feet, the acquisitor, the one who's always asking questions.

But he's gonna take their feet one by one. And he's gonna take Matthew's feet, the man of the office. Yes, he has his own little dignity, each one of them, but he takes their feet.

Peter, that's what your job is going to be after I'm gone. John, that's what your work is going to be. But Simon, Peter, Peter, make sure you don't get Simon into the picture when you're washing one another's feet.

That's why he uses himself as an example. Now, the next passage that we read, and I will be finished here in five minutes now. In chapter 18, we have the cutting off of the servant's ear.

Here is Simon for sure. But mind you, Peter, he really meant to help the Lord. He loved the Lord.

And you know, there's zeal involved here. And in the upper room, he had already said, I will not deny thee, Lord. And he meant that from the bottom of his heart.

Even though the Lord has to say to him, but before the cock crow, you'll deny me thrice, Peter. Boy, I'm going to make sure I don't. I'm not going to deny him.

And that boy comes along there too close, and if it's a good thing he ducked, he'd have lost his head. There's no doubt about it. He took one swipe with that sword.

But the Lord Jesus says, no cutting off ears, Simon. And brethren, that's a good lesson. Peter should never cut off the ear of anyone.

Simon does that sometimes. If he can just cut off a few ears, it makes him look like he's an authority. And he does have some power.

Put up your sword, Peter. Put up your sword. You want to use the sword, Peter? Use it on yourself.

You're going to need it. Oh, brethren, that we could use the sword on ourself and make sure it's always in the sheath when we are amongst our brethren. Never cut off a person's ear.

If you do, you're acting carnally. That's what the Lord taught dear Peter. But last of all, let me notice with you when it comes to shepherding.

The other contrast that I enjoyed noticing about dear Peter was, the Lord is going to let him have a look at John. Both of them are near the cross. Peter's somewhere there in the audience, but John's by the cross.

By the very man whose Peter cut his ear off. He's around there somewhere because he's the one that tied the Lord Jesus and took him away, way down into the Sanhedrin there. And all night long, they tormented our blessed Lord.

And then they took him out to Calvary. That boy with the healed ear, he was there somewhere close by. There stood John, identified with the cross instead of a sword.

That is what God would teach us. That's Peter. And Simon is the sword.

Put up your sword into the sheath. Now, when it comes to shepherding, and the last one, the Lord Jesus is so clear. Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me.

Now, we understand the word love there. Let me just explain it for the sake of you dear younger students here today. The word that he's using is the word that God loves.

He loved Peter with a divine love. And so he says, Peter, do you love me that way? Simon, son of Jonas, can never, never love God. Can't.

It's not in him. And it's not in your old nature to love God. And you cannot act with God's people, his sheep, his lambs, like you would act with the sheep in the field.

You can't act the same. Simon, son of Jonas, does not have the capacity to love sheep as the Lord Jesus would have them loved. Then he asked him again a second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me.

Now, we can understand that the Lord is taking Peter back in thought to those occasions when he denied the Lord three times. One, two, three. Poor Peter's heart was broken.

And by this time, he has already met the Lord in restoration privately. The Lord met dear Peter after his resurrection. And now he's bringing him before his disciples.

And he's restoring him to the trust of shepherding. But he's reminding him, Peter, don't ever depend upon what you are by nature to handle things that are spiritual. Brethren, that is a very solemn lesson for each of us.

Every occasion that we dare to rise to our feet with God's word, we must not allow Simon to show his head because there's no love in Simon's heart to handle the things that are spiritual. But then the third time, it grieved Peter because the Lord Jesus used the same word Peter used. Peter used the word that would say, I respect you, Lord.

I do. I acknowledge you and respect you. I love you that way.

So the Lord Jesus says, is that the way you love me, Peter? Oh, how it grieved him. He yearned to be able to say, I love thee just like you love me. But this is the lesson.

When the Lord Jesus says, feed my sheep and feed my lambs and feed my flock, he's reminding him, they're mine, Peter, not yours. Be careful how you handle them. Furthermore, he's telling him, you must love me more than you love yourself if you're gonna handle my sheep.

What a tremendous lesson, beloved Simon Peter. And the last thing he teaches, beloved Simon is, you must have wisdom as to how to feed them, Peter. Not just talk to them.

Not criticize them. Feed them. Simon, son of Jonas, wouldn't know how to do that.

He can criticize. He can find fault. He could beat them around.

But that Simon, son of Jonas, that's not Peter. God graciously help us, brethren. Simon is with us.

And as my brother said, we echo, amen. We yearn for the day when Simon will be gone forever. Oh, happy day when we no more shall grieve thee whom our souls adore.

What a wonderful, glorious day of prospect is ours when there will be no more Simon and everlastingly be Peter to give praise and honor to the Lord Jesus. In the meantime, make sure we keep Simon in his rightful place and let Peter, the stone, the living stone, built upon the foundation of the rock, the living stone, our Lord Jesus, let us be like him and seek to understand the great necessity of keeping what we were by nature in its right place, the old man. We have a new man.

That's my Peter. The Lord help us to develop it for the name sake of our Lord Jesus Christ.