God’s purpose in a trial is maturity

DIGGING DEEP NO. 948 – August 16th, 2022 AN ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS JLuke 5:8.

As you live your life, it’s likely that you will come face to face with people at all kinds of different spiritual levels. You may find that you end up spending time with People who are actively pursuing a closer relationship with Jesus. People who have recently recommitted their lives to Christ and are excited about living for Jesus. People who are nonchalant or noncommittal about their relationship with God. People who have gone astray from the walk they once had with Jesus. People who are religious or churchgoers but are still unsaved. People who are lost and don’t know the message of Christ. Simon Peter had to encounter Jesus four different times before he was changed. This tells me that the act of receiving eternal salvation is not a one-time event. When we talk about steps and stages, we are referring to the various encounters people might have with God before they finally surrender their lives to the lordship of Jesus Christ. Let‘s look at the progression in Simon Peter’s life, and how he moved from the moment he first heard about Jesus to an eventual encounter that totally changed his life.

 1.  Simon Peter’s first encounter with Jesus. Simon’s first encounter with Christ was secondhand information that he heard from his brother Andrew. Simon had never personally met Jesus. All he knew of Him was what his brother had told him: “We have found the Messiah!” At long last, the Savior had come, but Simon had only secondhand knowledge about Him. This describes the spiritual state of many people in the world. These individuals may have heard about Christ from family and friends. They know of Jesus, and they know about Him; however, they’ve never personally met Him. That kind of secondhand knowledge is not enough to bring a person into the Kingdom of God. That’s where our responsibility begins. Just like Andrew, you and I must take the initiative to make sure our friends and family members have more than secondhand knowledge about Jesus. A person must have a personal encounter with Jesus Christ to go to Heaven — not just “head knowledge” about Him or the ability to say, “I know who Jesus is. ”As Andrew did for Simon, so we must do everything we can to bring our friends and family to Jesus — which leads us to the next point.

2.  Simon Peter’s second encounter with Christ. In John 1:42, Simon came to the place where Jesus could be found. We know that Jesus and Simon had a conversation; this second encounter was his first personal introduction to Jesus. During this encounter, Jesus even told Simon that his name would be changed to Peter, indicating that soon he would have a change of character. This second encounter was merely Simon’s introduction to the Savior and His message. Again, we see that Simon was close to the Kingdom of God but not yet actually inside the Kingdom. I urge you to do for your family and friends what Andrew did for his brother. Invite them to a place where they can hear the message and learn more about the Savior. They may have already heard the message from you, but now is the time to take them to church or to a smaller gathering where Christians celebrate Jesus. Taking someone to a place where the Gospel message is presented may seem like only a small step, but this step may be needed to bring about the change of heart that will make a difference for eternity. Just as Jesus introduced the idea of a character change to Simon Peter in that first personal encounter, this may be a way to introduce your lost friends to the truth that Jesus can totally change their lives. Even if they don’t get saved during this first introduction to Jesus, remember, Simon’s real inward change also didn’t happen the first time he personally met Jesus. There are many who take this step and get stuck there. In other words, they go to church or to a meeting searching for truth — and they come very close to the truth., they are in the very vicinity where a life change can occur. But because no one ever tells them about the need to repent, of their sins and surrender their lives to Jesus Christ, they end up religious but unsaved. because they’ve never recognized their sinful state and repented of their sins, they live on the edge of God’s Kingdom without ever entering it.

3.  Simon Peter’s third encounter with Jesus Christ.

Luke 4:38 tells us that after several days, Jesus went to Simon Peter’s house. This was the third step for Simon as he drew closer and closer to truly knowing Jesus Christ. Simon Peter’s mother-in-law was sick with a fever. But when Jesus arrived, verse 39 says that “…immediately she arose and ministered unto them That same night, word spread through the city that Jesus was spending the night at Simon Peter’s house, and people got excited. Luke 4:40 tells us what happened next. Right in Simon Peter’s own home, he experienced God’s power. This was no longer secondhand information. Simon had not only witnessed the miraculous healing of his mother-in-law, but he’d also seen multitudes of sick people healed by Jesus’ touch that same night. God’s power was all around Simon, but the change he needed at his core had not yet occurred in him. There are people who have experienced answers to prayer and have tasted and heard so much about God’s love and power, yet never allowed the truth they heard to sink into their hearts and bring them to a saving knowledge of Jesus that changed their nature. Luke 4:44 tells us that after this evening of miracles, Jesus left Simon Peter’s house and began to travel and preach in the synagogues of Galilee.

4.  Simon Peter’s fourth life-transforming encounter with Christ.

. Then in Luke 5:1-11, we read the story of Simon’s fourth encounter with Christ The moment came when Jesus stepped into Simon Peter’s boat and used it as a pulpit to preach to a large crowd. When Simon surrendered the use of his boat to Jesus, he had no idea where that would take him. But after preaching to the multitude from Simon’s boat, Jesus told him: “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught” Luke 5:4. Simon Peter had just fished all night with no results. But he chose to obey Jesus, saying, “…at thy word I will let down the net” v5-7 Such an enormous catch couldn’t be attributed to coincidence or a freak accident. Simon Peter had been fishing all his life, but he had never seen anything like this and neither had anyone else. This encounter with Christ pushed Simon into a rock-solid faith as “…he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord” Luke 5:8. Peter recognized his sinfulness and called Jesus “Lord.” Peter’s use of this word (Lord) lets us know that at this moment, he finally recognized Jesus as having supreme spiritual authority and surrendered his life to Christ. It was this final experience that caused Simon Peter to see Christ’s holiness and his own sinfulness. When Peter saw this miraculous catch of fish, he really knew that God Himself was in the boat with him. In that moment of revelation, he called Jesus “Lord.” This fourth encounter totally changed Peter and reset his goals for life. However, this life-transforming experience happened:

• After Simon Peter had learned that Jesus was the Messiah. After Jesus had spent time in Peter’s home. After Peter had seen Jesus miraculously heal his mother-in-law. And after he had witnessed Jesus healing multitudes outside his own home.

One might think that these previous encounters would have been sufficient to bring Peter to the point of conversion. However, it took this final experience to cause him to drop to his knees and fully acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus Christ. As a fisherman, Peter knew that the amazing size of this catch of fish was an unquestionable miracle. Consequently, this fourth encounter was so life-altering that he never returned to a life of fishing again. From that moment on, Peter followed Jesus.