Sunday
Morning Bible Study
April 8,
2007
Before and After
There are certain things that come along in life that change our lives for
the good.
Every new diet comes with a full set of “before” and “after” pictures – to
show how your life will change when you go on the diet.
Kids are like this – they dramatically change our lives, and for the
better… this was written by a mom …
Before children: I was thankful to have been born the USA,
the most powerful free democracy in the world.
After Children: I am thankful for Velcro tennis shoes. As well as saving
valuable time, now I can hear the sound of my son taking off his shoes --which
gives me three extra seconds to activate the safety locks on the back seat
windows right before he hurls them out of the car and onto the freeway.
Before children: I was thankful for the recycling program which will
preserve our natural resources and prevent the overloading of landfills.
After children: I am thankful for swim diapers because every time my son
wanders into water in plain disposables, he ends up wearing a blimp the size
of, say, New Jersey, on his bottom.
Before children: I was thankful for fresh, organic vegetables.
After children: I am thankful for microwaveable macaroni and cheese --
without which my children would be surviving on about three bites of cereal and
their own spit.
Before children: I was thankful for holistic medicine and natural herbs.
After children: I am thankful for pediatric cough syrup guaranteed to
"cause drowsiness" in young children.
Before children: I was thankful for the Moose-wood Vegetarian cookbook.
After children: I am thankful for the butterball turkey hot line.
Before children: I was thankful for a warm, cozy home to share with my
loved ones.
After children: I am thankful for the lock on the bathroom door.
Before children: I was thankful for material objects like custom furniture,
a nice car and trendy clothes.
After children: I am thankful when the baby spits up and misses my good
shoes.
Before children: I was thankful for my wonderful family
After children: I am thankful for my wonderful family.
Easter morning was one of those events that not only changed us, but
changed the entire world.
When Jesus rose from the dead, everything changed.
Lives were changed not just because of the resurrection alone, but by the
work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of men who were impacted by Jesus.
(Rom 8:11
NKJV) But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead
dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your
mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
I want to look at the life of a man whose life changed because of the
resurrection.
Peter
We all love the apostle Peter. He’s the “Everyman” Disciple. He loves the
Lord. He makes mistakes. He’s heroic. He’s afraid. One of the glimpses into
Peter’s life comes right after he’s said something profound…
Before
(Mat 16:21-24 NKJV) From
that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem,
and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be
killed, and be raised the third day. {22} Then Peter took Him aside and began
to rebuke Him, saying, "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to
You!" {23} But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan!
You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the
things of men." {24} Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone
desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and
follow Me.
Jesus had an important thing to communicate to the disciples. He must go to
Jerusalem and die.
We know now in hindsight that Jesus needed to die because He would be the
sacrifice for our sins.
But Peter had a hard time seeing this as important.
At that moment he was not about to let Jesus go and die.
Jesus didn’t have anything good to say about Peter’s response.
It sounds as if Jesus was calling Peter “Satan”. At the very least Jesus
seemed to think that Satan was behind Peter’s words.
What’s even worse is that Jesus identifies Peter’s problem as one of
selfishness.
Peter is more concerned about his own ideas of what should
happen rather than what God wants.
Illustration
Gone Fishing With
The Baby Sister
A boy was taking care of his baby sister while his parents
went to town shopping. He decided to go fishing and he had to take her along.
“I’ll never do that again!” he told his mother that evening. “I didn’t catch a
thing!” “Oh, next time I’m sure she’ll be quiet and not scare the fish away,”
his mother said. The boy said, “It wasn’t that. She ate all the bait.”
Now I’m sure that since Peter was a fisherman, he wouldn’t
be the one eating the bait. But just as
the little sister’s priorities were in the wrong place, Peter’s priorities were
also in the wrong place.
God wants to give us a filet-o-fish for dinner and we’re
busy eating worms.
What are the top priorities in your life? What do you live for? If you were given five minutes to collect
stuff from your house before you needed to evacuate, what would you take? The worms?
Illustration
Each Friday night after work, Bubba would
fire up his outdoor grill and cook a venison steak. But all of Bubba’s
neighbors were Catholic....and since it was Lent, they were forbidden from
eating meat on Friday. The delicious aroma from the grilled venison steaks was
causing such a problem for the Catholic faithful that they finally talked to
their priest. The Priest came to visit Bubba and suggested that he become a
Catholic. After several classes and much study, Bubba attended Mass.....and as
the priest sprinkled holy water over him, he said, “You were born a Baptist,
and raised a Baptist but now you are a Catholic.” Bubba’s neighbors were
greatly relieved, until Friday night arrived, and the wonderful aroma of
grilled venison again filled the neighborhood. The Priest was called
immediately by the neighbors and as he rushed into Bubba’s yard clutching a
rosary preparing to scold him, he stopped and watched in amazement. There stood
Bubba, clutching a small bottle of holy water which he carefully sprinkled over
the grilling meat and chanted: “You wuz born a deer, you wuz raised a deer, but
now you is a catfish.”
Some of us are just like
Bubba. We learn to be religious, but
when it really comes down to it, nothing really changes. We just use our religious mumbo-jumbo to make
excuses for why we still do the same old things we’ve always done. When it all comes down to it, we’re just as
self-centered as we always were.
God wants our lives to be different. The difference comes from the power of the
resurrection through the work of the Holy Spirit.
After
Look at how Peter changes after Jesus has been raised from the dead and
he’s been filled with the Holy Spirit.
(Acts 2:14-42 NKJV) But
Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them,
"Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be
known to you, and heed my words. {15} "For these are not drunk, as you
suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. {16} "But this is
what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
Watch how many times Peter is going to quote Scripture. He’s a virtual
Scripture machine.
{17} 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I
will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.
{18} And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in
those days; And they shall prophesy. {19} I will show wonders in heaven above
And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. {20} The sun
shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of
the great and awesome day of the LORD. {21} And it shall come to pass That
whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved.'
Peter not only quotes verses that explain the work of the Holy Spirit in
these last days, but it’s also a passage that gives a key to being saved –
“calling on the name of the Lord”.
There may be some of you here today who need to hear this. You need to get
to the point in your life where you realize that you need God’s help. And you
need to ask God for His help.
{22} "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a
Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did
through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know; {23} "Him, being
delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by
lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; {24} "whom God raised up,
having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be
held by it.
What is it we’re being saved from?
We’re being saved from the penalty of our sins. Our sins come with a pretty
stiff penalty – death. That means that our sins will send us to hell.
But Jesus died on a cross to pay for our sins. He paid a price He didn’t
owe because we owed a price we couldn’t pay.
Notice how Peter brings in the resurrection.
Not only is the cross important to our salvation, but so is the
resurrection.
When Jesus rose from the dead, He proved that He more than paid for our
sins. Death could not hold Him down because He paid for all of us.
Watch how Peter will again quote a ton of Scripture…
{25} "For David says concerning Him: 'I foresaw the LORD
always before my face, For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.
{26} Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; Moreover my flesh
also will rest in hope. {27} For You will not leave my soul in Hades, Nor will
You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. {28} You have made known to me the
ways of life; You will make me full of joy in Your presence.' {29} "Men
and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is
both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
They are standing in Jerusalem,
the place where the kings were buried.
{30} "Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had
sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the
flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, {31} "he,
foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul
was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.
King David understood that God would be raising the Messiah from the dead,
just like He did.
{32} "This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all
witnesses. {33} "Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and
having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out
this which you now see and hear. {34} "For David did not ascend into the
heavens, but he says himself: 'The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right
hand, {35} Till I make Your enemies Your footstool."' {36} "Therefore
let all the house of Israel
know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and
Christ." {37} Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and
said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall
we do?" {38} Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of
you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you
shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. {39} "For the promise is to you
and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God
will call." {40} And with many other words he testified and exhorted them,
saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation."
Apparently this message that Luke records isn’t all that Peter said that
morning.
{41} Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and
that day about three thousand souls were added to them.
I usually think of this all happening at the “upper room” mentioned in Acts
1. But it would be hard to think how you’re going to get 3,000 people getting
saved in an upper room.
It’s more likely this was happening outside, perhaps even on the steps of
the Temple.
{42} And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and
fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Peter is a changed man. The Holy Spirit has changed him. The power of the
resurrection is in him.
As their ministry expands, they start getting into trouble with the Jewish
religious leaders. Several times Peter and the others are brought up on trial
before the Sanhedrin…
(Acts 5:27-33 NKJV) And
when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high
priest asked them, {28} saying, "Did we not strictly command you not to
teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your
doctrine, and intend to bring this Man's blood on us!" {29} But Peter and
the other apostles answered and said: "We ought to obey God rather than
men. {30} "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by
hanging on a tree. {31} "Him God has exalted to His right hand to be
Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel
and forgiveness of sins. {32} "And we are His witnesses to these things,
and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him."
{33} When they heard this, they were furious and plotted to kill them.
Notice the reference to the Holy Spirit.
But even more important, what Peter said in verse 29 –
"We ought to obey God rather than men”
Back in Matt. 16, Jesus rebuked Peter for being more
concerned about the things of men than the things of God.
And now Peter is more concerned about obeying God rather
than men.
What happened? It’s the Holy Spirit working the power of
the resurrection in Peter’s life.
Whose agenda are you living for?
Your agenda? Or God’s agenda?
You and I need the power of a risen life. We need the power of the
resurrection.
Perhaps you have never called on the Lord for help – and today you realize
you need God’s help.
Maybe you’ve been a “religious” person, but you’ve been basically living
for yourself.
Illustration
Pastor Dave Charlton tells us, “After a worship service at First
Baptist Church
in Newcastle, Kentucky,
a mother with a fidgety seven-year-old boy told me how she finally got her son
to sit still and be quiet. About halfway through the sermon, she leaned over
and whispered, ‘If you don’t be quiet, Pastor Charlton is going to lose his
place and will have to start his sermon all over again!’ It worked.”
Starting over isn’t always a bad thing.
Starting a message over is a bad thing.
But starting your life over is a pretty good thing.
Make a new start today with Jesus.
Ask Jesus to live His life in you.