Restored –by a Look Luke 22:47-62: “And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter recalled the Lord's words, how He had told him, Before the cock crows today, you will deny Me thrice.” (v61)
14th January 2024 | | sermon source |
We were exploring last week the phrase ‘cast down’, which has its roots in an Old English shepherd’s term for a sheep that has accidentally turned over on its back and cannot get up again by itself. ‘A ‘cast down’ sheep is a very pathetic sight’, says Philip Keller. ‘Lying on its back, its foot in the air, it flays away, frantically struggling to stand up without success. Sometimes it will bleat a little for help, but generally it lies there lashing about in frightened frustration.’ This is similar to the situation we sometimes find ourselves in life, so helpless, so frustrated, so down cast not knowing exactly what to do; which is why our Lord Jesus will bacon on us saying, ’come unto Me…and I will give you rest and peace! Let us learn how to come unto our Lord.
He goes on to say that whenever a shepherd finds that a sheep is missing, his first thought is this, my sheep may be cast down somewhere –I must go in search of it and set it on its feet again. ‘Some of my most poignant memories’, he continues, ‘are wrapped around the co-mingled anxiety of keeping a count of my flock and repeatedly saving and restoring cast sheep.’
The care and concern that the one-time shepherd, Philip Keller, had for his sheep pales into insignificance, however, beside that of Lord Jesus; that is, whenever Lord Jesus is on the scene our mini-shepherd condition as individual elect of the Lord faints out! Many Christians hold a view that when they fall by the way or fall in their Christian experience, God become extremely angry with them. Not so; because God knows that often we live our lives like sheep without a shepherd and when life is lived in that pattern, it is bound to have numerous ups and down. The revelation of Scripture is that Eternal God, the Almighty, the Lord of all creation, has a shepherd’s heart. Recall that we talked about the attributes of a shepherd’s heart in our other sermon. He our chief Shepherd is infinitely more caring and compassionate towards the sheep of His fold than any human shepherd could ever be. Reflect again on the tender and loving manner in which Lord Jesus restored Peter after he had three times denied Him. The tenderness, the compassion and the patience He our Lord Jesus showed in restoring Simon Peter back to himself after Simon Peter fell are just the same as He will show in restoring you and I whenever we err or fall out of grace. Remember that there are many ways we deny Lord Jesus every day by our character, our attitude, our behavioral pattern and our life style that are questionable with regard to the Word of God in the Scripture and in the Gospel! So whenever we find ourselves in such situation by erring, our Lord wants us to know and recall His dealings with Simon Peter when he erred and know that is exactly how He wants to deal with us, hence He calls us to come unto Him! Let us allow ourselves to be called back to God when we err by denying the Lord.