There are four main points I wish to draw your attention to in Peter’s history:his conversion,
consecration, fall, and restoration. We have his conversion recorded in the first chapter of John
when he met Jesus:"And when Jesus beheld him, He said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona; thou
shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, a stone." He was converted then, but not
consecrated to Christ. Perhaps you, too, are converted and can say, "I am a believer and I know
I am saved." Yes, but beloved, have you really set out to follow Christ? If not, you are very like
Peter between the first chapter of John and the fifth chapter of Luke. There we read of the Lord
addressing the people on the shore from Peter’s boat. When the sermon was over, the Lord, who
will be no man’s debtor, paid Peter for the use of his boat. His words were, "Launch out into the
deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon, answering, said unto him, Master, we
have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing; nevertheless at Thy word I will let down the net"
(Luke 5:4,5). They caught so many fish that the net broke and they had to get their neighbors to
come and help them. Peter had never had such a catch in all his life, and when he saw it, "he fell
down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me:for I am a sinful man, O Lord."

What brought up this question of his sin? As he got a revelation to his soul of the glory of the
Person of his Master, that he was God as well as Man, I judge he was thoroughly ashamed as he
thought what his own pathway in relation to Him had been. The moment he came to land he
"forsook all, and followed Him" (verse 11). He was consecrated to Him now; Christ filled his
heart and the glory of His Person eclipsed everything here; he left all and followed Jesus. Now
was there ever a moment in your heart or mine like that? That is the real question for us.

Then came the close when the Lord gathered His disciples together in the upper room for the
breaking of bread. After supper was over, "the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath
desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail
not; and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren" (Luke 22:31,32). The way the Lord
warned Peter is very striking. He refers to Satan sifting him as wheat. If Peter had not been wheat,
he would not have been sifted. If he had been mere chaff, the devil would have left him alone. He
never worries his own subjects; he keeps them in peace. Saints he always attacks.

What is the next word? "But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." That is beautiful. We
should pray for God’s servants too. Pray for those who are in the forefront of the battle. The devil
is ever ready to trip them up.

Now look at Peter’s answer and his fall:"Lord, I am ready to go with Thee, both into prison and
to death." What an answer! Beloved, that man had fallen! His fall did not occur when he really
denied the Lord. Here is where he fell. He was occupied with his own affection. Later that
evening the Lord was betrayed by Judas, following which they took Him, "and led Him, and
brought Him into the high priest’s house. And Peter followed afar off" (verse 54). Shortly
thereafter, Peter denied his Lord three times over as forewarned by Him.

Notice now how the process of restoration follows immediately upon the heels of Peter’s denial:
"And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter, and Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how

He had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shall deny Me thrice. And Peter went out and
wept bitterly" (verses 61,62). How does the Lord recover our hearts? By a look sometimes. He
turned and looked on Peter. What kind of a look was it? Was it a look of anger and reproach? No,
I think it was a look of brokenhearted, disappointed love. It said, You do not know Me, but I
know and love thee. Nothing has changed My love to Thee. That look broke poor Peter’s heart
and he"went out, and wept bitterly."

If Peter had not had the word, "I have prayed for thee," and the look, I believe he would have
gone and hanged himself as Judas did. Remorse puts you into Satan’s hands, but repentance leads
to real breaking down before God. There never will be recovery without repentance.

You will find that Peter has a private restoration and a public one. The private restoration is
referred to in Luke 24:34 and the public restoration in John 21. The evidence of his restoration
is manifest in Acts 2. The Lord met Peter privately. What took place at the meeting nobody
knows. The Spirit of God has thrown a veil over it. Why? Because it would not do you any good
to know how the Lord dealt with me when my soul had backslider and it would not do me any
good to know how he dealt with you. But we do know that Peter was beautifully restored to the
Lord. This we find in John 21. His brethren were slower than Peter in reaching the Lord on that
occasion. He did not wait till the boat got to the shore; he cast himself into the sea in his hurry
to get near the Lord. He says in effect, "You can have the fish, let me get to the blessed Lord. It
is clear from this action that the man was restored.

Then the Lord gave him a public restoration. I think, beloved friends, you will never find a saint
doing any real good until he is completely rid of self-confidence and broken down before the
Lord, and hence really right with the Lord. He is then in a condition for the Lord to use him. We
see Peter restored to the fellowship and company of the apostles in John 21, and then we see him
in Acts 2 preaching the Word and mightily used of the Lord. I believe when the devil saw Peter
preaching in Acts 2 he wished he had left him alone in the high priest’s palace. Why? Because the
breaking of him was the making of him, and in the first half of the Acts of the Apostles we hear
a great deal more about Peter than any other servant. I repeat, the breaking of him was the making
of him. He was picked up and restored. Ah yes, there is nothing like grace. Grace saved us as
sinners, and grace has kept us as saints. And when we get to glory what shall we say? It was grace
all along the line. Therefore the deeper the sense of the Lord’s grace in our souls, the more our
hearts will rejoice in Him.

(From Backsliding and Restoration.)