FOLLOWING CHRIST IN THE STEPS OF ST. PETER

Sermon, delivered at the Morning Worship, Spurgeon's
Tabernacle,
Lord's Day, July 6, 1986

Texts:  John 1:35-36, 40-41; Matthew 6:21-26; Luke 5:4-11; Matthew 19:20-21, 27-30; John 21:18,19.

It gives me great pleasure this morning to be with you, not only for the reason that the name of Spurgeon is one that we love, but also for sweet memories of 36 years ago when I was here worshipping, perhaps with some of you, in the cellar. Now, having known Dr Masters as a very dear brother in the Lord, it gives me even greater joy and courage to come and witness to you our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

I bring greetings from our churches in Singapore to you as we shall further fellowship with your pastor and his wife who would be visiting us in Singapore in two months' time.

Now, I have been here to speak at the School of Theology on the Revival we had received in our young days from the ministry of Dr John Sung. When we mention John Sung and China, the Far East, and other servants the Lord has raised, immediately we think of three names that have been recognised by the west. These three names are John Sung, Watchman Nee and Wang Ming Tao. These three who have been recognised leaders of the Chinese Church may be compared to three running a race. John Sung died in 1944, the first to be taken home after fifteen years of relentless service. Watchman Nee, having been imprisoned by the communists for twenty years, was taken home a week or so before he was to be released. This was about a decade ago. Wang Ming Tao and his dear wife, having been released after twenty years of imprisonment, are now living in Shanghai - they are still alive! Wang Ming Tao is eighty-six years old. Praise be to His Name, God has given to each man a portion of work to do. But I want to say that, in point of time, John Sung is the first to be received into glory. So he is number one in the race. He is number one in the race also for pouring out his life beyond all other servants of the Lord that I have known.

My subject this morning is "How Far Have You and How Far Have I Followed the Lord Jesus Christ?" These three men have followed the Lord faithfully and diligently. Let us examine ourselves: Have we attained? Have we followed in the plan He has laid out for us ? We can learn it from the life of Peter according to the five passages we have read, in five steps.

Now, in Chinese, the word "Christian" is a "Christ- follower." The Chinese character for "follower" is made up of two radicals, and both refer to "movement." The left radical means "to walk," and the right radical means "to run." In other words, we must be good followers of Jesus Christ. Not only are we to follow Him, but we are to follow Him briskly, spiritedly, not lagging behind. When I think of this, I realise in many areas of my life I have not followed Him enough. Our prayer this morning is, "Lord, help me to follow closely after You." From the life of Peter, we can see certain failures. But we thank God that Peter finally had attained. He can say also with the Apostle Paul, "I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. (II Timothy 4:7)."

I

Before we can follow Him, we must find Him. Many people are following, but they are lost, though they think they are following Him. We have the case of Andrew and Peter and Philip, the early disciples, and John. They had heard John the Baptist. They were trying to find the truth. We thank God that as for Andrew he was able to testify to his brother Peter,” We have found the Messiah!" Have you found the Messiah, have you found the Lord? It is possible for us to attend Church, a Bible-believing Church where the Gospel is preached, and not find the Lord Jesus Christ. I speak from my own experience. I was a seeker from a very young age. I was always troubled about my salvation. I always wanted to know how I could know for sure that I would go to heaven. And my grandfather was the pastor. He spoke the Truth, but I did not find the Truth because I always argued, "How can it be so simple?"

We thank God for your great predecessor, Mr. Spurgeon. How I love to read that story! And how he was troubled, he was seeking. Until that morning when the Lord found him, and he also found the Lord! It was in a snow-storm, in a very small Methodist Church. He heard the Methodist lay-preacher call to him, "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth." (Isa. 45:22). And one look, he found Jesus! He knew that his sins were washed away. I thank God for that noonday when as we sang in that Revival Meeting in Singapore fifty years ago, "In the cross, in the cross, Be my vision glorious: All my sins are washed away in the blood of Jesus." Now, these words meant everything to me. I had found the Saviour at last! I hope everyone worshipping here may be able to say, "I know that my sins are forgiven. I've found my Saviour." Don't say, "Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the world." I could say that. You must say, "Jesus Christ is my personal Saviour." That is Peter's first step.

II

Secondly, in following Jesus, we cannot follow Him on our terms. The servant is not above his master. The follower cannot go before the one who is leading him. For example, someone is going to run in an Olympic race. He will be under coaching, he will be under instruction. One thing 1 know of the terms he must keep - he must lose much of himself. I am talking of it physically. But in following the Lord Jesus Christ, you must lose all your life, your whole life. "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me." When you take your cross, you are being sentenced to death, you are going up there to be killed. Are you willing to follow the Lord, on His terms, paying the price of your life?

Now, Peter did not understand this. He said, "0 Lord, please don't go to Jerusalem. I cannot think of you going there to suffer." "Get thee behind me, Satan," Jesus spoke to the chief of the Apostles. We must pray that the Lord will give us the devotion, to surrender our whole life, because if He has given His life for us, we must be willing to die for Him. Now, it is easier said than done. Often I have thought to myself, "If there should be a persecution, and I should be taken to prison, would I be able to say that?" I tremble. We must ask the Lord for strength. It is only by love and devotion to Him that we can so do.

Recently in my church we had a young girl preparing for baptism, but she came to me in tears. She said, "My father has threatened to beat me up if I should be baptised." Chinese parents are willing to let their children go to church for a selfish reason - to learn English, and my church is English-speaking. But they will warn them, "You don't get baptised. If you get baptised, we will beat you up." So this young lady, with tears in her eyes, pleaded, "Pastor, what shall I do?" I said, "I cannot dictate to you. It is between you and the Lord, if you love Him. 'If any man will not love me more than father and mother, he is not worthy of Me." So, she prayed, and I left her at that. I was very happy to see her come Sunday morning for the baptism. For she was prepared to be beaten up. When she went home that afternoon, however, the stern voice of her father came to her ears. The father had earlier told the younger sister to call her to the room. She was trembling. Wonder of wonders, the father had a "hongbao." a red packet with money inside for her. God honours those who honour Him. When she took a stand for Him, the father had to surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank God for the ordinance of baptism. When the catechumen is baptised in the Name of the Lord Jesus, the heathens are afraid. So her father yielded and instead of beating her up, gave her the "hongbao." It was not a consolation prize, it was a great reward from the Lord!

But, maybe, a greater paying that price is paying it in peace, when we have every liberty to keep our life. We must be willing to serve Him unconditionally. I say this particularly to those who are entering fulltime service, becoming pastors, or in some other sphere of service in the church, even as a caretaker. Anything and everything is for the Lord. We have no right or claim, or privilege.

We had a young man who was brought up in our Bible College. He went abroad, and got a higher degree. I loved him very much. But because I loved him, I overlooked his faults. We had a vacation Bible school. As pastor, I did all I could to bring the children in. So I drove our station wagon. And I said to that young man, "Here is another station wagon for you to drive." So we went out to collect the children. The next day, my wife said to the young man, "Please, will you help?" He said to her, "This is not my job," meaning to say, "I am a venerable scholar, it is not my job to drive a van." Well, that showed me that he was not willing to give his life to the Lord. I said to myself, "I cannot use him." That prediction came true. Neither could the elders use him. Let those who are serving the Lord, serve Him gladly. Picking up a piece of waste paper from the Church ground is as sacred as preaching from the pulpit, if you do it in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

There was the great Emperor Justinian in those days of emperors, who built a great cathedral. For the dedication of the cathedral there was a plaque that was made to his own glory. "I, great Emperor Justinian so-and-so, have built this cathedral...." But there was a poor widow named Euphra­sia, who loved God's House, but could not contribute any substance. But she said, "I will do my part to bring water and hay to the donkeys that are hauling the stones." On the day the curtain was drawn, angelic hands had already erased the name of the great emperor, but there were words of commendation to the poor widow Euphrasia.

III

Now Peter had followed the Lord. But then we come to the place where he had his boat, and was mending the nets. The whole night he and his partners had caught nothing. They were parttime disciples. But Jesus wanted Peter and John and the others to follow Him fulltime. Peter could not understand this. "I have got my wife, I have got my children (perhaps), I have got my parents." These particularly are considerations for Chinese disciples. They have many obligations. I must attain self-support before I can follow the Lord. But this is not the Lord's way. When Peter got nothing that night, that was the beginning of fulltime discipleship. Some people will follow the Lord when they have lost out in business. Their motivation may not be very pure. Yet, the Lord knows our weakness. When the Lord had given Peter two ship-loads of fish (how much do they cost in England?), then Peter knelt down before the Lord and said, "Depart from me, 0 Lord, for I am a sinful man. I have been harbouring so many reservations about you." He forsook his net and followed Jesus.

I thank God I came to that point one day. But I have heard some of our zealous people back home say, "We want to serve the Lord but we will keep this job or have shares in certain businesses to upkeep ourselves, so we will not be a burden to the Church." I cannot find it in the Bible. If the Lord has called you, then you have to give up your job to serve Him fulltime. That is the Bible way. Thank God, Peter understood. He forsook his fishing business.  How about you?

IV

We come to the fourth step, and that is in the encounter between the rich young ruler and our Lord. After our Lord had told him all the conditions, he said, "What lack I yet?" He felt there was something wrong with him. You want to serve the Lord and yet there is something in you that asks, "What lack I yet?" He was a rich man with position and power. That was the thing that kept him from fully following Jesus. So Jesus said, "Sell all that you have and give to the poor, and come and follow me." Give away your wealth. The problem with us today is we are too rich! I read in Singapore an article about America. It says America is a mediocre society today because there is no pressure. For everything is fine. It does not bring out the sparks of excellence. And that is exactly what Jesus Christ sees of the rich young ruler. If you want to live a life that is productive, meaningful, then distribute your wealth. Give away your money. Is that easy? "Oh, I give my one-tenth." But so far as the States is concerned, I understand it is deductible from income tax. In Singapore it is not like that. The Government gives no preference to any religion. Everyone's the same, you just pay tax. Therefore, giving to the Church in Singapore is pure giving.

Some who have given their tithes feel very cocky about it: "I have given my one-tenth." But I have heard of Colgate and LeTourneau, how they gave one-tenth and two-tenths, and finally nine-tenths. But then the Lord says, "Not only nine-tenths, give all!"

Let me tell you the story of a very dear brother in the Lord who has struggled together with me since thirty-six years age to witness for the Lord. He gave himself fulltime, and was ordained as a pastor. Then he went to New York and he had a church. Later on he did not have a church, but served as an honorary pastor. To keep himself alive he became a taxi-­driver. A taxi-driver pastor. He said to me, "We have made a resolution to the Lord. We give 80%. Ten percent for myself. and ten percent for my wife. The rest goes to the Lord. For thirty-six years he has been supporting our Church, giving to missions, especially for pioneer missions to the Dyaks of Borneo.

How about Peter? Peter has given all. And so he said, "Lord, how about me? How about us, who have given all!" The Lord blessed them: "You will receive eternal life and in this life, one-hundredfold in houses and lands." And that is very true, The Church today lacks power because the members are holding back that blessing that the Lord has for them. I pray that the Lord may give me more grace to give and keep on giving. It is a joy. When you begin to give and give sacrificially, you will receive the spiritual power in return.

V

Thank God for Peter. Finally, we see Jesus asking him three tunes: "Lovest thou me more than these?" Peter said, "Lord, you know that I love you." The three times uttered may be due to the fact that he had three times denied the Lord Jesus. Jesus wanted Peter to re-consecrate himself.

Not doubling up, but trebling up! Recently I sent my teacher, Dr Jack Murray in America, a copy of the book I have written on the life of Dr John Sung in whose Revival in Singapore I found the Lord and gave myself to the Lord fulltime. Dr Murray. having read the hook, wrote me a very kind letter. He said, "Timothy, I thank you so much for telling that story. But as for me, I closed my door, I knelt down before the Lord, and I prayed, 'Lord, help me to consecrate my life anew to You as John Sung had done'." Thank God it is not only Peter who had consummated his following the Lord when he died for Jesus Christ in the end. John Sung poured out his life for Him as well.

This morning, if we realise we have not followed the Lord enough, let us also treble up.