STEPS OF PROGRESS IN GRACE
[p. 30] STEPS OF PROGRESS IN GRACE
I want to show you the progress of grace in our souls. Peter was lending his boat to the Lord, just as much as one who has come to Jesus does now; they are willing to serve Him. But after the miraculous draught of fishes, Peter comes to another point. He discovers that he had come to God. This makes him say, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord”. This is a Jewish experience, perhaps, but he learnt two things: the holiness of God, and his own uncleanness. But after the Lord’s word, “Fear not” - what a change! “When they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him”. This is the effect of first love, we give up for the Lord. In leaving all they got the Lord’s company. Peter had learnt what the Lord’s heart was for him, and he never lost this, for it never changes. In John 21, when in the boat with the other disciples whom he had led astray, directly he knew that it was the Lord he girt his fisher’s coat about him and cast himself into the sea; he knew the heart of Christ for him; although his love had failed, the Lord’s love was the same - unaltered, and he knew it.
Now to turn to John 6: 67, “Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God”. This connects itself really with Matthew 16, but it is very important to know that Matthew 14 took place at the same time as John 6. One gives our side, the other God’s side. We have to go to the other side of death to reach Him. In Matthew 14 Peter says, “Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come”. He had the affection to take the step. The proof of love is that it wants the [p. 31] company of its object. Every one knows this. No service can take the place of company, or make up for it. Love must have company. This is the great blessing vouchsafed to us in the assembly. The Lord said to His own, “I will come to you”, that is to the company, it is not individual there. If He comes to me individually, it is in connection with my own things, but when He comes to us in the assembly, it is in connection with His side of things. May the Lord give us to know these steps of progress in grace! Not only would I serve Him, but I love Him, and His company is the one thing my heart craves. When Peter had confidence in his own love to the Lord, he broke down, but when restored, the Lord placed confidence in him, and said to him, “Feed my sheep”, and in the long run he gets the desire of his heart, that he would go to death for Him.