Sermon Tone Analysis

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Anger
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Introduction
For the last few years, until we made some changes, we had been wrestling with our vacuum cleaner.
It sucked, well not literally, it actually didn’t suck very well at all.
One of the problems was that it had a filter on it which always got clogged with dirt and needed to be cleaned.
The enemy of good suction in a vacuum cleaner is dust.
Such a little thing on the inside prevents it from working the way it should.
If you have ever tried to take a walk with a stone in your shoe, you know that a little stone can begin as a minor irritant, become a major irritant that prevents you from enjoying your walk and eventually become such a huge problem that you can’t even walk at all.
In both of these cases, there is something inside which prevents things from working the way they should.
There is also something inside of each one of us that prevents us from living a Spirit filled, effective Christian life.
That something is self.
It prevents us from being effective for God and it prevents us from living a holy life.
How can we get rid of the dedication to self that prevents a free and effective walk with Christ?
Last week we thought about what it means to live a holy life.
We realized that holy living is what God expects of us.
We also were encouraged that we can’t do it in our own power and strength.
God, by His Spirit empowers us to live holy lives.
On Pentecost Sunday we were reminded that the Bible teaches that God calls us to be His servants.
We were also reminded that being effective servants of God also happens by the power of the Holy Spirit.
So it is clear that Spirit empowered Christian living happens when self is dethroned in our lives and the Holy Spirit is enthroned in us.
The question is, “how do we dethrone self?”
I have been reading the book Absolute Surrender by Andrew Murray which talks about these things.
One of the chapters is a sermon on the life of Peter, the disciple of Jesus, and how he moved from self centeredness to being a Spirit filled disciple.
Of all the people in the Bible, Peter is one of the ones who gives us great comfort.
He was so full of failures, but also so effective and so his life is one that we can both identify with and learn from.
This morning, I would like to follow this sermon, and look at Peter the devoted disciple of Jesus, who was actually quite full of self and then at how God brought him to repentance and what he became by the power of the Holy Spirit.
His life is a human example of what we talked about last week.
If you want to read Murray’s sermon or even the book, it is available on the internet if you google “Absolute Surrender and Andrew Murray.”
 
1.
Peter The Devoted Disciple Of Christ
 
Right from the beginning of his life, we discover that Peter was a devoted disciple of Christ.
 
A.
Peter was a man of absolute surrender
 
He was a man of absolute surrender to Christ.
In Matthew 19:27 we read the words of Peter who said, “We have left everything to follow you!” Peter had left his nets and his livelihood.
He was not afraid to leave behind the things of his life in order to follow Jesus.
B.
Peter was a man of ready obedience.
Peter was also a man of obedience.
In Luke 5:4,5, we read about an encounter between Jesus and Peter.
Jesus came to Peter and said to him, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”
Jesus was commanding Peter to go fishing.
Jesus was a carpenter and Peter was the master fisherman.
He knew when there were no fish around.
As a professional fisherman he had tried to fish all night, but caught nothing.
However, Peter answered “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything.
But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
Even though he knew things about fishing, he was willing to obey Jesus when he commanded.
C.
Peter was a man of great faith.
Peter was also a man of faith.
Matthew 14 tells us the story of how the disciples were traveling across the lake in a storm when Jesus suddenly came to them and He was walking on the water.
When Peter saw Him he said in verse 28, “Lord, if it’s you tell me to come to you on the water.”
At the voice of Christ, he stepped out of the boat and walked on the water.
He trusted the word of Christ.
D.
Peter was a man of spiritual insight.
One day Jesus asked the disciples what people were saying about Him.
When He then asked the disciples who they thought He was, it was Peter who replied in Matthew 16:16, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus affirmed this and recognized that it was not Peter’s own insight, but the Father in heaven who had revealed it to him.
In other words, Peter was in tune enough with God to be able to discern and communicate a word from God.
He was a man of spiritual insight.
Peter was identified by Jesus as a “rock” and also as the one who would have the “keys of the Kingdom.”
He was a devoted disciple of Jesus, and if he were living now, everyone would say that he was a true believer indeed.
2.
Peter Living The Life Of Self
 
And yet that wasn’t all there was to Peter.
 
A.
Peter Trusted His Own Wisdom
 
When Peter had this amazing insight into who Jesus was, Jesus affirmed it and indicated that it was spiritual insight that had revealed it to him.
After that, Jesus began to speak of what was to come in Jerusalem.
He indicated to the disciples that he would suffer and die.
When Peter heard that, he dared to say to Jesus in Matthew 16:22, “Never, Lord!” he said.
“This shall never happen to you!”
At this point, Peter was no longer speaking with spiritual insight.
He began to rely on and speak out of his own wisdom.
The words of Peter at this point were not inspired by God but by Satan because Jesus said to him in verse 23, “Get behind me, Satan!
You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
This was Peter in his self-will, trusting his own wisdom about divine things and actually forbidding Christ to go and die.
B.
Peter Sought Position
 
When the disciples were looking for positions of honour and asked Jesus who would sit at his right side, Peter was among them.
He was just like the others seeking a place of honour for himself.
Once again self seeking was in his heart.
C.
Peter Was Filled With Self
 
The life of self was strong in Peter.
He had left his boats and his nets, but not his old self.
After Jesus had spoken to him about His sufferings, He said in Matthew 16:24, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
No one can follow Him unless he does that.
Jesus told Peter that he must deny self.
That is the root of true discipleship.
But Peter did not understand it and could not obey it.
And what happened?
When the last night came, Jesus said to him in Mark 14:30, “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “today—yes, tonight—before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times.”
With self-confidence Peter had said: “Even if all fall away, I will not.”
In Luke 22:33 it is recorded that he even said, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”
The thing is that Peter meant it honestly, and he really intended to do it; but Peter did not know himself.
He did not believe he was as bad as Jesus said he was.
When the time of pressure came, self preservation, self will, fear for self came on him and three times he denied that he even knew Jesus.
In fact, in Matthew 26:74 it says, “he began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them, ‘I don’t know the man!’”
In other words he said, "I have nothing to do with Him; He and I are not friends.
I deny having any connection with Him."
 
Andrew Murray says, “We perhaps think of individual sins that come between us and God.
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