In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you've been distressed by various trials. So that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor. at the revelation of Jesus Christ. There are so many voices clamoring to be heard today. We have heard those voices for months and people are distressed and people are suffering And yet this text was penned at a time by a man who had experienced incredible suffering. Matter of fact, the fires were raging in Rome and major parts of the city of Rome had been burnt, they suggest, by Nero himself because he was a builder and he wanted to rebuild from the squalor. And people were displaced and people were homeless. But you know who he blamed the fires on? The Christians. And there was a suffering during the reign of Nero that was unbelievable. He would take Christians and cover their bodies in black pitch and light them as candles at night in his garden. He would throw them into the arena and allow the wild animals to tear them to pieces. What's suffering? How does the believer overcome suffering to where they can rejoice? What do they turn to? What do they wrap their arms around? What gives them hope and comfort and solace? Where can we as believing people feel grounded as we move forward listening to these voices that clamor every single day on the streets and corners of our city and around the nation? Our nation has burned too. My friend, I would have you know that there was a voice that was crying in the wilderness nearly 2,000 years ago. And it was a voice that said, Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. The problem in the world is not politics. The problem of the world is a spiritual problem. The problem of the world is sin. And the voices that need to be heard are the voices that will declare, behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. And what He has been doing for thousands of years, He can continue to do. There were two individuals that heard John the Baptist cry, behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. And they followed Jesus. And one of them went back to his family, went back to his brother. He found his brother. And he said, we found Messiah. You know, the world was looking for Messiah back then, and the world is looking for Messiah now. The world is looking for someone who can right the wrongs, set everything straight, and I would have you know that the Scripture has already told us these things and has told us that the world stage will be set for the coming of Christ. But before He comes back, there will be another one who's designated in the Bible as anti-Christ. The one who is instead of Christ. Do you know that one of the names and titles concerning this individual? He is called the sinless one, but get this, the lawless one. Did you ever wonder why there is such an attack on law today? The stage is being set. And these things must take place before the return of Christ. But this man found his brother. We found Messiah. We found him. And then that brother brought him to Jesus. Do you know what we need today? We need people who know who the Messiah is. who begin to bring like never before people to Jesus. And when he brought his brother to Jesus, Jesus looked at his brother and he said, you are Simon, son of John. That's who you are, you are Simon. That's your Greek name. Simon, your Hebrew name is Simeon. Named after one of the twelve tribes of Israel, one of the sons of Jacob. A son of Leah, the handmaid of Rachel. It would be Leah that would give birth first to Reuben, the firstborn. And then she would give birth to Simeon. And then she would give birth to Levi. And then she would give birth to Judah. Oh, there's significance in the way in which God brought His people into existence and the names that they receive. And this man is named after Simeon. Oh, it is so fitting that in the testimony that you and I can read today, a testimony that we're gonna begin to study today, we're laying the groundwork for, a testimony that comes to all of us from this man, who knew what it was like to suffer, and how he rose above it, and how he's telling the people of God to rise above it, and what to focus on, this man would write of Christ as the firstborn. And then he would use a term relating to his own name. And then he would tell us that the people of God are a priesthood like Levi, who are to speak the excellencies and the praise of God like Judah. Brought him to Jesus and he looked at him, Simon. son of John, you shall be called Cephas." Simeon is the Hebrew. Simon is the Greek. Cephas is the Aramaic. The language that Jesus was speaking at that time to these two brothers. Your name is Cephas. Cephas is Aramaic for stone. Your name is Simon, but you are going to be called a stone. I see something about your life. You are going to be rock solid. But you're going to be part of a structure. You're going to be part of a building. You're one of the stones. And how fitting that this man who was named Cephas would write about the people of God and say that Christ is the rock. that Christ is the cornerstone and that all of you are living stones that are being built together into a temple, into a priesthood, and the purpose for all of this is so that you can open up your mouth and praise God and speak of the excellencies of God. That is what God wants to do in the lives of His people in the midst of the voices that are clamoring. The world needs hope. The world needs direction. The world needs to know who Messiah is and we need to be bringing people to Messiah. The Lord is baptized by John. The Lord goes into the wilderness, not into the garden of Eden like the first man, but into the wilderness as the second man, the Lord from heaven, facing the same tempter that Adam faced in the garden. And then He comes out of the wilderness to begin His ministry. And he's preaching. He's preaching in his hometown of Nazareth. Preaching in the synagogues and yet they drove him out of the synagogues. Took him to the very cliff height. Here's a cliff and Nazareth is located right here. I've been there. I've seen it. And they sought to push him off a mountain that was close by the town of Nazareth. And he would leave his hometown and go into Galilee. The upper regions where Galilee is, where the sea of Galilee is, the sea of Tiberias, that sea. And on the northern side of that sea, he would enter a little town called Capernaum. That would be his new home. He would live there. But why go up into Galilee? Because the prophet said that in the region of Naphtali, and Zebulun the light would come. And the light came and began to live in Capernaum. This man with his brother were originally from Bethsaida. Beth, Hebrew for house. Theda, Hebrew for fish. They lived in a town called the House of Fish. And yet they left that house and went to Capernaum to live, the hometown of Jesus. And He's in a synagogue preaching. When I was over in Israel a few years ago, I stood in a synagogue. The foundation in black stone and then built on that old foundation of black stone was new white stone. The black stone was the stone that was there when Jesus preached in that synagogue. I walked above where Jesus preached and right next to that synagogue there was a house. It's there to this day. They built a little church over it. It was Peter's house. And not too far from Peter's house is the Sea of Galilee, and you see the pebbles on the seashore. And that is where Jesus is. John the Baptist has been taken into custody, and Jesus is in Galilee. And he sees the same two brothers who are casting a net. into the Sea of Galilee because they were fishermen. And he said to them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men." Two brothers who needed to learn that life was not about things. Life is not about possessions. It's not about power. It's not about position. Life is about people. and to be able to turn from the things we think are important and to become fishers of men. Follow me. And if you follow me, you'll discover who I am and what are the passions of my heart. And Jesus says, I'm out here fishing for men. So he calls this man. and his brother to follow him. And then he enters this man's house. This man is married. He has a wife. And he enters this man's house and discovers that this man's mother-in-law has a very high fever. And out of compassion, he touches this man's mother-in-law, and the fever is gone immediately. And so powerful is this healing touch that this woman rises from her fever and begins to immediately serve everybody. Now, that is called a divine healing. And this one who is Messiah whom we are inviting people to follow is one who could step into this age and heal every single person driven by a fever. That is the power of this one. This man went back to fishing with his brother and two of their close friends, but the Lord is teaching. And they arrive back to shore with their boat, and the Lord is preaching the kingdom of heaven, and the crowds are pressing upon the Lord, and he's stepping back, getting closer and closer to the edge of the Sea of Galilee, and he sees this man's boat, and he asked if he could please step into your boat and push it from the shore. And so the Lord steps into this man's boat, pushes it from the shore, and begins to preach again. And after He had completed His preaching that day, He turns to the fisherman whose boat He had borrowed. Think of this. He said, cast your net into the sea. And this poor fisherman had been fishing all of his life, had to acknowledge something that no fisherman would like to acknowledge. Lord, we've been fishing all night and we've caught nothing. What fisherman wants to acknowledge that? Anytime you tell someone you're going fishing, what do they want to ask you? What did you catch? How long was it? How many? Well, we've caught nothing all night. Well then, cast your net on the other side of the boat. Okay, we'll do it. And the haul was so great that the net began to break. And the response of this man when he saw such power and heard such preaching said, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man." My friends, all of us are sinful. And in true humility, the cry would be, Depart from me, Lord. And yet this Lord is one that seeks to draw us to Himself. This Lord is one that seeks to reconcile us to the Father. That's the purpose for which He came. And so this man, whose name was Cephas, who was a stone, who had fished all of his life, who was going to discover there's something greater than fish in his people, realizes that the Lord is concerned about his sin. and will do something about it. This one is an apostle and there are lists of apostles in the New Testament. Every time you find a list of the apostles, You find it in Matthew. You find it in Mark. You find it in Luke. And you find a reference in Acts. And in every occasion, this man's name is at the top. It's the first one. Always listed. And you begin to see the importance of this man used by God who has something to say to us 2,000 years later. He has some words through the power of the Spirit of God to give us hope in the midst of our suffering and understand how to rise above it for the glory of God. That is a voice that we need to listen to against the backdrop of all the noise that's around us. First in the list of the apostles. It is this man, when the Lord would be on the hillside leading up from Galilee, preaching again with the Galilee Sea behind him and the mountain rising up like an amphitheater, right there he preaches, the message is over, there's 5,000 people there, and guess what? They're hungry. He could have just said, well, go on home. I'm done. But he said, no, we're going to feed them. And this man is the one that came to the Lord and said, there's a young lad here. He has some loaves of bread and some fish. This man is the same one. who after the Lord has fed the 5,000, tells his disciples, get into a boat, go across the sea, I'm going to meet you over there, and he dismisses the 5,000 and he goes up into a mountain to pray. And I believe I was also on that mountain that the Lord prayed from. It's a mountain that rises up right from this surrounding area. And you get up on top of this mountain, and the Sea of Galilee just opens up before you like a panorama. You can see everything. And the Lord went there to pray. You need to study all the times the Lord prayed in His life and His ministry constantly. But while He was up there praying, the disciples were on the Sea of Galilee, and the wind whipped up, and the waves began to roar. A sudden storm had come over Galilee and His disciples were out there in the midst of all of that, panicking. And the Lord observed that. And He left that mountain and did what no other man could ever do or has ever done. He began to walk on the waves. And this man saw him with all the rest, and they thought he was a ghost. And then this man, when he recognized who he was, said, Lord, invite me to come to you. And he stepped out of the boat, and he began to walk on water, looked at what was happening, and began to sink in fear. Lord, save me." And he would hear the Lord say, you of little faith, why do you doubt? Our faith is weak, isn't it? I mean, I've never even walked on water. Why do we doubt the Creator of the world? Why do we question His Word when His Word has been authenticated? over and over and over again. We know it is a sure word. We're like this man. But he was a man that was very interested in the teaching of Christ. And it seems as though every time the Lord was teaching, it was this man who was asking the questions. Think of all the other apostles that were with him. He's at the head of the list. He's asking all the questions, Lord, explain this parable to us. It is this man who, where the Lord heard of Jairus' daughter who was dying, and Jairus comes to him asking the Lord to visit his house and touch his daughter. It was this man, as he's going with the Lord to Jairus' house, amidst a crowd of people, a woman comes up. And she touches the hem of the garment of the Lord, just touches His hem. And the Lord stops in the midst of a pressing crowd, and He says, who touched me? And this man speaks up. Well, Lord, you got all these people pressing on you, and you're asking who touched you? One of my screen savers on my computer is a picture of an artist's rendering of that great scene that I took when I was over in Israel. That woman had faith. All it would need would be a garment and I'll be healed. Not just garment. Maybe having to reach in between people to get close enough to touch a garment, but she touched it and she was healed immediately. And what I find so fascinating is the Lord is on His way to Jairus' house in the midst of a crowd and He is willing to be interrupted on that journey to touch the life of another person. But when he separated from the crowd to go to Jairus' house to heal Jairus' daughter, they heard that she had died. But the Lord would go anyway, and He would take only three people with Him. James and John were two of the three, but this man was the third one. And he's referenced as going to Jairus' house with the other two and the only one there besides Jairus and Jairus' wife and Jairus' daughter and Jesus were these three people. And he watched the Lord raise Jairus' daughter from the dead. The Lord begins to ask, who do men say that I am? Oh, they say that you're one of the prophets, or you're John the Baptist risen from the dead. That's what people are saying about who you are, Jesus. There are a lot of people out there that know who Jesus is. But those who know, with Peter, can make a confession. You are the Christ. the Son of the Living God. Can you make that confession? Do you understand who Jesus is? But having made that confession immediately, this man turns to the Lord who says, I'm going to go to Jerusalem. I'm going to suffer. I'm going to suffer many things. I'm going to die. I'm going to be in a grave and I'm going to come back from the dead. This man rebukes Him, rebukes the Lord. Do you have the audacity to rebuke the Lord? When the Lord communicates, And after making the great confession that you're the Messiah, the Savior of the world, having heard the Lord say to this man, you're a rock, you're a pebble, you're part of the building of God. He rebukes the Lord and the Lord has to turn to him and say, get behind me, Satan. You don't savor the things of God, you savor the things of men. You would have thought it all would have been over after the Lord told him to get behind me, Satan. You don't understand the program and the plan of God, but no, the Lord would take this man with two others to the Mount of Transfiguration. And in the sight of this man, the very face of Christ would shine with brightness like white raiment, and they would see the glory of God shining in the face of this Christ. And it would be this man recorded in the Bible who said, Lord, you're here. Moses is here. Elijah is here. Shouldn't we just go ahead and build some tabernacles? Is this the coming kingdom age? I mean, is this when you're going to be glorified and we're in that age that is symbolized by the feast of tabernacles? Let's just go ahead and build them right now. And then heaven would open and the Father would speak. as the clouds surrounded, and He would say, this is My beloved Son, hear Him. And if heaven were to open today, the same voice of the Father would say, this is My beloved Son, hear Him. And this man would learn lessons of forgiveness from the Lord. Lord, how many times should I forgive my brother? He sinned against me a lot. I mean, should I do it once, twice, three times, four times? And Lord, how many times? And the Lord would say, 70 times what? Seven. I think he would lose count. And that's the point. You know why we forgive people? I mean, that heart of ours that doesn't like to forgive, that heart that likes to harbor the wrong. And people go, Lord, how many times should I forgive? I mean, you know, I've forgiven the same person, you know, 18 times in my life. The answer still comes that came to that man. Seventy times seven. We're a lot like this man. And yet he heard the Lord continue to preach, and a rich young ruler comes to Christ and says, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And the Lord tells that rich young ruler, sell everything you have. Have you kept the commandments? No. Oh, I think I have. Kept them all. And the Lord nails him on the last one about covetousness. Sell everything you have and give it to the poor and come follow me. That rich young ruler walked away as heart had fallen because he wasn't willing to give up things to follow Christ. He valued possessions and wealth and gold more than following the master of the universe. Yeah, he did. But this man immediately speaks up and says, Lord, we've left everything. We've left our houses and our lands and we've followed you. What are we going to get? The Lord says, well, when I enter my kingdom, you're going to get everything. For all things are mine. If you're in Christ, my friend, all things are yours. And you can go without in this age knowing that eternally there are riches to come." It would be this man that heard the greatest teaching on end time events. It would be this man who was taken on Wednesday night of crucifixion week with two other men, James and John. out of the temple, across the Kidron Valley, over the Kidron River, and up the side of the Mount of Olives. And he would sit there with the Lord, and he would hear the Lord open up future events, things that would take place before his coming, things that are documented, things that could be observed. And you'll know when these things happen that my coming is imminent. It's going to be here shortly. There's so much in the Scripture about the coming of the Lord. There's so many signs, so many signs. And some of those signs we're beginning to see today. I'm living in the generation that is watching new alliances form on the globe. I'm in a generation that is watching Russia and Germany and Turkey and Iran and Syria come together in a coalition. nations that will leave NATO and join with Russia. That's in the book. That's in the prophets. And Jesus said that things would take place before my coming. I'm starting to see them. The lawless one on the scene, the anti-Christ, we're starting to see lawlessness overnight. And this man gets all that teaching. And in the communication He's going to have for us, He's going to make reference to the coming of Christ. This man is asked by the Lord to go prepare the Passover with two others. Go make the meal. Get it ready for Passover. That must have been a wonderful thing to have been able to do. This man has his feet washed by the Lord. And he's the only one that speaks up in that moment when the Lord is washing the feet. And they've been arguing about who's going to be the greatest. Maybe this man was arguing he was the greatest. I don't know. But the Lord stoops down and He begins to wash all of their feet. in humility demonstrating what greatness is. Greatness is not at the top, my friend. Greatness is at the bottom. The greatest are those who serve. Lord, do you wash my feet? No, never, Lord. You're not going to wash my feet. Well, if I don't wash your feet, you don't have any part of me. Well then, Lord, wash none of my feet, wash my hands. No, just wash everything, Lord. No one else has recorded in the Bible as having spoken at that moment, but this man did. They're celebrating the meal, Passover meal. It's time for the sop, part of the meal. The Lord makes a comment that everyone's clean here but except for one. Someone here is going to betray me. And they begin to look at each other and say, well, you know, who's that going to be? Certainly not I. And this man looks at John who's leaning on the breast of Christ. Hey, John, ask the Lord. Find out who it is. I mean, you just see Him everywhere in the Scriptures. You see Him everywhere in the Gospels. He's at the head of the list. He's wanting the teaching of Christ. He's in the middle of everything. And the Lord has to turn to this man, and He says, A rooster will not crow until you've betrayed me three times. Oh no Lord, I'll lay down my life for you. Lord I'll go to prison for you, but there's no way I'm going to betray you. We're a lot like Him. And we'll leave with the Lord the Passover meal and we'll once again be taken by the Lord with only two other people into a garden, the Garden of Gethsemane. And this man heard the Lord tell the three that were there with him, just why don't you just stay right here and watch. For he knows that he's going to be betrayed. Just watch here for me because I'm going to go over there and I'm going to pray. Just watch. And he goes and he prays great drops of sweat, begging the Father, if there's any way, Father, that I can accomplish this redeeming work without having to be separated from You, to have to drink the dregs of the wrath of God. If there's any way possible, Lord, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will. And in his agony and in his praying, he stands up and he goes back and hear this man with two others have fallen asleep. Mind you, there's three that have fallen asleep, but it is only to this man that he speaks about his sleeping. Watch him pray and he goes back and he prays a second time, comes back, they're still asleep. doesn't wake them, goes and prays and comes back, they're still asleep. And He commands them to arise. For the little lanterns from the Temple Mount have descended down, they've hit the Kidron Valley, they've crossed the river, and they're coming up the mountainside to the Garden of Gethsemane. And there are Roman soldiers with all of their lanterns, and you can hear their armor and the clanking of their swords. And at the front is the one, Judas. And without hesitancy, this man takes a sword out of the sheath and whacks the right ear off the high priest's servant who's there to witness the arrest. I don't know what he was trying to do. I don't think he was probably aiming for his ear. But in great compassion, the Lord reaches down and puts that ear back on. Can you imagine that power? And this man witnessed all of that. And they take Jesus. And everyone flees. And this man kind of waits and watches and follows from a distance. He sees John. John's of the priestly family, and they take Jesus to the house of the high priest first. And John is able to get in because he's a relative. But this man hovers in the background until he can make his way into the courtyard of the priest. And he sits down. And there's a fire that's been kindled. And he moves closer to the flames of that fire in order to warm himself. And a little servant girl comes up to him, you too were with Jesus, the Galilean. I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know the man. And then another one. You're one of them. I am not. About an hour passes. And a man insists. Certainly this man was with him for he is a Galilean too. I can hear it in his accent. And with curses. Man, I don't know what you're talking about. I am not, and he curses at them. And as soon as he curses, he looks away and has contact, eye contact with Jesus. Denied Him three times, and then the cock crows. And all He can do is to rise from His cursing and walk out of that courtyard into the darkness of the night and find a spot where He can weep, all alone, but weep bitterly because of His denials. We too, like Peter, have betrayed the Lord by our silence. The Lord would be crucified, and He would rise from the dead. And the angels that were in his tomb who met the women said to them, go tell this man that he's risen from the dead and he's not. Go tell this man. And they run to this man and John and this man hears of this resurrection and with John he races back to the tomb. John outruns him, faster runner. John stops at the entrance of the tomb and looks in. If it is indeed the garden tomb that the Lord was buried in, which is not too far from the hill of Golgotha, I too have stood in that tomb. I didn't pause on the outside like John and just look in. Like Peter, as soon as he arrived, Peter went right in and he saw the linen clothes wrapped there, napkin. And he believed. He had heard this Christ, this Messiah talk about this. But he knows that the last time he had looked at the eyes of the Messiah, they were eyes of betrayal. He left that tomb, and the text says he started making his way back home. Do you know how many miles away home was for him? Nearly 70 miles. He was going to leave Jerusalem and go back to Capernaum, his hometown. But on the way, we're told in 1 Corinthians that the Lord appeared to this man. And he returns to Jerusalem, and he's gathered with the rest of the apostles. And that night, the Lord appears to all of them. What a change took place. My friends, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is everything. There's one who's reversed death. There's one who's dealt with sin. Show me a man who can conquer death and I'll follow Him. This man, Christ Messiah. Oh, we could go on and on about this man. This man was called a pillar in the church. Three pillars. A leader. This man, as you open up the Acts of the Apostles, he is one of the main characters in the entire history given to us in the Acts of the Apostles. His life and ministry figure heavy. The other man is the Apostle Paul. When the Apostle Paul came to Christ, the Apostle Paul came to this man's house, spent 15 days with this man. He knew this man. What fellowship they must have had for 15 days? What were they talking about? I don't know, but this man was a prominent leader. This man had his name changed from Simon to the stone Cephas. This man preached the sermon on the day of Pentecost, and the Spirit of God came down on all those Jewish people that were gathered there. The Spirit came down when this man preached. You read through the book of Acts, and you come to the second coming of the Spirit of God, not on Jewish people, but on Samaritans. And this man with John had to go to Samaria, lay hands on the Samaritans before the Spirit of God ever came down. And this man is the one who was called by God to visit Cornelius, the Gentile. And he would observe not only Jewish people as a part of the body of Christ, not only Samaritan people as a part of the body of Christ, but now Gentiles as a part of the body of Christ. This man is the one whose preaching and ministry is magnified when the Spirit of God came down. Sounds like a pretty prominent man, right? This is a man that stands up in Acts 15 at the council. and discusses what the gospel is. Though he had spent some time with Paul, this is the same man that Paul had to rebuke because he wasn't being true to the gospel. But this was a man that took his wife and continued to travel all over the world and make his way ultimately to Rome, where he would be in Rome before the fires of Nero would burn. And he would continue to preach Messiah. And this man would be forced to watch Nero kill his own wife in front of him. And he said to his wife, remember the Lord. And once she left her body and entered the presence of the Lord, they turned to this man to crucify him. And he said, crucify me upside down. I don't want to be crucified like my Lord. And he entered the presence of Christ. and left behind two letters to help the people of God go through suffering and rejoice. And by the kind grace of God, in the days ahead, we're going to listen to that voice and gain strength in the midst of suffering. Who is this man? Do you know who he is? Peter, Peter, Peter, the apostle. whose light, life, the Bible showed greater light than any other apostle. It's Peter. Simeon, Hebrew, Simon, Greek, kind of give you a name change, you're going to be a stone, Cephas. And the Greek translation of stone is Petros, Peter. And he's a stone. That's all he is. As we get to the section in his first letter, he's going to remind us who the rock is, who the chief cornerstone is, the one on whom the church was built. He said it's Christ. And I'm just a little pebble. I'm just a little stone. I'm a part of that temple that God is building, that God is going to dwell in. I'm part of the priesthood." And he turns to everyone he's writing to and he says, you too are living stones. God can dwell among you. so that you can offer sacrifices of praise to speak the excellencies of God in the midst of your generation. That's my prayer for you. May God put us on a path to hear the right voices, to know what the right purpose is, to bring people to the Messiah, to hear Him say, follow me, to wait for His coming. and bring hope to a troubled world. Let's pray.