Just like Mary Magdalene and Peter, if a backslider ever needs a witness or a testimony as to what Jesus can do with the broken failure of a person, it is us! I’m so thankful for what God’s done in my life, I was raised in this church and for 19 years of my life, I ran from God. And it wasn’t until my senior year of high school at Barbourville Pentecostal Youth Camp that I let the Lord transform me. Praise God!
Go Get Peter Mark 16:1-8
He found me that night on June 18th, 2019, and I’ve never been the same. I was nearing alcoholism because it’s in my family and that was my main concern, that marijuana and just a rough lifestyle.
But He came in and pulled me out of the miry clay. And I’m here today. Not because of who my parents were, because of my own merits or because I can preach and teach and whatever you call it; I’m here today by the grace of God.
I’m gonna be reading out of Mark 16:1-8, and if you have your Bibles, I would ask that you would turn with me there and we’re going to read it together. I’m going to be reading out of the New King James Version and that is Mark 16:1-8 if you’re there say Amen.
And the Bible declares now when the Sabbath was passed. Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Jesus.
Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen and they said among themselves, who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?
But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, for it was very large, and entering the tomb they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe. Sitting on the right side and they were alarmed.
But the angel said to them, “Don’t be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen. He is not here. Look at the place where they laid Him. But go tell His disciples and Peter that He is going before you into Galilee. There you will see Him as He said to you.”
So, they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
For just a few moments tonight I’m going to be preaching on the subject, Go get Peter. Everybody say, “Go get”. Amen. Once again, I’m so thankful for a church that pours into their young people.
My goodness, it’s an honor to be with you guys tonight. But our text is found in Mark 16:1-8, and we’re going to be preaching on the subject, Go Get Peter.
Now, we have the ability to read the Passion Week that Mark lays out, that John Mark lays out. We have the ability to read the gospels and when we read that Peter denied Jesus. Every time we read that, we know the end. We know that Peter will ultimately be restored. We know that Jesus will come to Peter and restore him.
We have the ability to know the end when this is happening, so it’s easy for us to read that. It’s easy for us to read that Peter denied Jesus, knowing that the outcome is going to be alright. But Peter didn’t have that luxury, Pastor Lane.
The other 10 disciples, because of this time, Judas had already gone and made his decision. So it’s Peter, isolated from the 10. And No one knows the outcome of this. No one knows the outcome of Peter’s denial of Jesus. Peter doesn’t know what tomorrow’s going to look like. Peter doesn’t know what the rest of his life is going to look like.
And, if I could argue with you for a little bit that Peter was a witness to a lot of miracles. Peter was a witness to his mother in law’s fever being healed, Peter was a witness to the five loaves of bread and the fish being divided and feeding thousands and thousands of people, and Peter even walked on water.
Peter alone with Jesus defied nature and took a step out of the boat and walked on water. Peter saw Lazarus walk out of the grave. He saw the impossible made possible as the three years went by, walking with Jesus. But Peter never saw a soul restored. Peter never saw someone deny Jesus and recover from such a fall from grace.
And, if I could tell you, Peter found himself in rough company. The only people that Peter had to look at was Judas Iscariot, and, at this point in time, the other ten had so ridiculed Judas, and Judas had already made the decision to deny Jesus.
And here, Peter is, having done the same exact thing, but he knew that he was in bad company. He didn’t have another example to look at and say, “What?” How did God turn this around for them?
Peter had to look at Judas denying Jesus and let the guilt consume him to the point where Judas took a rope and hung himself. Praise God, that is not a good place to be, and I’d venture to say that at one point in time or another, in each and every single one of our lives, we have found ourselves in a place of despondency.
We have found ourselves in a place of failure where we have looked at our situation and our mistakes and have said, “I don’t know how God can use me after what I’ve done.” Praise God, Amen.
And the longer that I walk with Jesus, I find it easier to sympathize with Simon Peter, a failure. These are all of the things that we can call Peter at this point in time. We know the end, but Peter does not have the luxury to know that very soon Jesus is going to reveal Himself to him.
So, Peter’s current condition is he’s broken-hearted. He’s confused. He’s convicted of sin. He just denied the Lord, the only person who’s ever given him a hope in life, denied Him three times.
Peter, the one who said, “Lord, I will leave and go unto death before I deny you.” What a place it is and how many times have we said, “Lord, I will never do that again,” but we found ourselves going back and back and back and in this cycle.
Ohh, but Peter has no company besides Judas. He has no one to turn to, the 10 don’t want to talk to him. You’ve denied the person that has called us and has changed our lives and we saw that is Peter’s current condition.
And I’m sure Peter probably wondered, “Will I follow in Judah’s footsteps? Is this the end for me,” because that’s all he knew. But then we get to the resurrection day, and when Mary and Mary, the mother of James, and Mary Magdalene, and Salome arrive at the tomb, they encounter an Angel who says I want you guys to go and tell the disciples, and Peter, that Jesus is going before you into Galilee, just as he said before.
There is a current distinction in this text between the disciples and Peter. We don’t know if it was self-imposed or if it was Peter who isolated himself from the disciples, or it could have been both. I’m sure it was probably a mixture.
I’m sure the disciples, and I’m sure James and John and Bartholomew and Thomas and the rest of the bunch probably looked at Peter and said, “We might not want anything to do with you for the rest of our lives.”
Praise God, that is our nature. That is our nature. To throw stones, praise God. We were; our fleshly nature was to throw stones. And I’m sure Peter was not in a good spot with the disciples when he denied Jesus.
I’m sure they probably wanted nothing to do with him. They probably let him know and reminded him of where he had fallen and constantly brought it up.
But I’m also sure that Peter isolated himself, because that is the nature of a backslider. You don’t see Backsliders participating in church services. You don’t see Backsliders getting up and raising their hand to testify on a Wednesday night.
You don’t see Backsliders signing up to volunteer. You see them running and you’ll never see them again unless we go get Peter. Praise God, we have to go get Peter.
Hallelujah, there was a distinction between the 10 disciples and Peter. At this point Jesus made it very clear. He instructed the Angel to instruct these three women to go not only get His disciples but go get Peter. Praise God. Amen.
So, whether it was self-imposed, self-inflicted or outside, externally imposed, or both, the command was the same. This Angel, through the instruction of Jesus, commanded 3 women to go get Peter. Praise God.
The responsibility was on Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome. Two of those we don’t know much about, but we do know something about Mary Magdalene.
We find out that she was the first person that Jesus revealed Himself to after He resurrected. He went to Mary Magdalene. The very next part of Mark Chapter 16 is Jesus, revealing himself to Mary.
But Mary Magdalene, the Bible says, out of whom Jesus had cast out seven devils. And I know that this command that God has required the Church to go get every backslider to go get every Simon Peter that’s ever been discouraged because of their faults, their failures and their mistakes.
The command is the same, and you might ask yourself, like Mary Magdalene, who am I? Who am I? I am just a woman. I came here to give honor to the body of Jesus Christ. I didn’t expect Him to be resurrected.
I didn’t come here to get this command to go get the disciples. And Peter, I’m just here with these women to honor Jesus, praise God, and His body. But what Mary found herself in was a situation where her responsibility was now to go and get the disciples and Peter.
So, you might be in the seat tonight and you might say, “I have no business doing the call of the Great Commission. I have absolutely no business. I don’t have a pedigree. I don’t have a heritage.” But let me remind you something, Mary Magdalene was the soul that Jesus restored.
If Peter ever needed a witness or a testimony as to what Jesus can do with the broken failure of a person, it was Mary Magdalene, the very person.
The angels and Jesus didn’t make a mistake. They went to these three women. They didn’t make a mistake and wait for them and say, “You, it is now you.” It wasn’t a random assignment, but Jesus knew that the restored soul of Mary Magdalene had the message that Peter needed when Mary showed up to Peter and said, “Peter, Jesus told me to come and get you. He mentioned you specifically.”
If it was anybody else, if it was Thomas, if it was James, if it was John, Peter could have said, “You want nothing to do with me.” But when he saw Mary, praise God, he saw someone; he might have even seen Mary when she was possessed by 7 devils.
But when Peter looked at her, when she said, “Peter, Jesus mentioned you specifically and wanted you to be a part of whatever He’s about to do in Galilee.”
My God, Jesus wants you. Your testimony has somebody else’s name on it, that when they hear it, they’re gonna come back.
Don’t ever discredit what God’s done in your life. He knows exactly who you are, and He knows exactly who needs your testimony. Praise God. Enough with the excuses.
Enough with the excuses. The Bible tells us in the next verse, after they have just seen an angel telling them to go and get Peter and the disciples. What do they do? They don’t do anything, Pastor Lane. They don’t do a single thing.
The Bible says that they were terrified, and they went and spoke nothing to anybody, the disciples or Peter. Whether it was fear or what, there is no silent witness. There is no gift of silence in the Bible.
I don’t pray in silence. I will never witness in silence.
Now great as my conduct can be had. The Spirit of excellence and everything that I do in Word or deed, let me do it all to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. So I understand that, but when Peter needs restoration, the time of silence is over.
We need to go to him and tell him, “Jesus specifically wants you.” He’s not going to do anything else until you show up, Peter.
