I want us to go back to John's
Gospel again, and I want us to look briefly at what it is for
the sheep to be fed. John chapter 21, Simon is asked
to feed my lambs. So let's read from verse 15 down
to verse 17. So when they had dined, Jesus saith unto Simon
Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? And
he saith unto him, yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, feed my lambs. He saith unto him again the second
time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? And he saith unto him,
yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him,
feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time,
Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because
he'd said unto him the third time, lovest thou me? And he
said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that
I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, You feed
my sheep. So the question is, what are
the sheep fed on? What is the food for the sheep?
Turn with me in Acts 21. Peter had such an up and down
life. Peter was so extraordinarily impetuous. A number of times
in the Gospel accounts you'll hear that Peter answered before
he'd ever been asked a question. He just had to say what was on
his mind. He had to do what was in his
will at the moment, and yet the Lord loved him and gave him this
extraordinarily sweet command. And I know as you breathe through,
we'll read through this sermon that he preached because the
Lord gathered these people together and the blessed Holy Spirit came
on the day of Pentecost and Peter was the one who was to speak
in front of that enormous crowd in Jerusalem and 3,000 souls
were saved. And so the Lord had gathered
this enormous crowd in Jerusalem and out of that enormous crowd
there were lambs and there were sheep And in this remarkable
account we actually get to see what the sheep feed on, and quite
simply the sheep feed on the Lord Jesus Christ, the sheep
feed on the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, The sheep feed
on the glory of the righteous redemption and the liberty that
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. We feed ultimately on his broken
body and his shed blood. His body is real meat and his
blood is real drink. So I'd just like us to, if we
want to think about what sheep food is, and if you want to know
what is going to be food for your soul as a sheep, then here
we have God's first preaching of the gospel after the coming
of the Holy Spirit in power on the day of Pentecost. And you
know the story of Pentecost. It was a great crowd of people
from all over the world And they were amazed because they heard
them speaking the wonderful words of God in their own language. Let's go to verse 14 and set
some of the scene. Peter, standing up with the eleven,
lifted up his voice and said unto them, Ye men of Judea and
all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, Be this known unto you and hearken
unto my words. The accusation against them was
that they were drunk because of their speaking in another
language. All the languages of all of those
nations there, the apostles and others were given this remarkable
gift of God to actually speak in someone else's language. They
were known languages, the people understood what was heard, and
there was one message that was preached in these tongues. the
wonderful works of God. And Peter is going to declare
what the wonderful works of God are. But he says in verse 16,
but this, what's happening here before you is that which was
spoken by the prophet Joel. And it shall come to pass in
the last days, saith God, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh
and your sons and daughters shall prophesy and your young men shall
see visions and your old men shall dream dreams. And on my
servants, And on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days
my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. That I will show wonders in heaven
above and signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapour
of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon into blood before that great and notable day of
the Lord come. And this is what I want us to
focus on here. And it shall come to pass, it
shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the
Lord shall be saved. To call on the name of the Lord
is to call on the very character of God. When Peter was challenged
about, do you love me? He was calling on the character
of God, wasn't he? Lord, you know all things. You
know that I love you. And the food that feeds The shepherd
feeds the sheep. Because we have the same food,
we have the same needs, we're brought to the same place. And
we'll see that as we go along. Whosoever. Don't you love that?
Whosoever. I love the whosoever's of Scripture. The Gospel says come and dine. The Gospel of the Spirit and
the Bride say come. And come and feast on this, whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And here we have a description
of the name of the Lord. This is the food for the sheep.
This is food for lambs as well. You men of Israel, verse 22,
hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you
by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did by him in the midst
of you as you yourselves know. That's what Nicodemus said to
the Lord when he met him, didn't he? No, only God can do these
miracles that you're doing. Now listen to him describing
the character of this God. This is the food for the sheep.
Don't forget there are sheep here. 3,000 sheep and lambs will
be fed wonderfully this day. Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, being
delivered by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of
God. Nothing that happens, nothing
that has happened, and particularly nothing that happened at the
cross of Calvary was outside of the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God. Ye have taken and by wicked hands
have crucified and slain. Peter knows what it is to have
wicked hands. He knows what it is to have a wicked heart. He
knows what it is to have a wicked mouth. by wicked hands have crucified
and slain. Whom God hath raised up, having
loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should
be holden of it. 4. Because David speaking concerning
him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on
my right hand, that I should not be moved. Therefore did my
heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad. Moreover also, my flesh
shall rest in hope, Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell,
neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption."
There was no corruption. That body that was put in the
grave stayed there for those three days. What's the cause
of corruption? Sin. Sin. and he had no sin. Therefore
thou hast made known to me the ways of life. Thou shalt make
me full of joy in thy countenance. I hope you're noticing here that
every sentence is about the God, it's about the character of God
and the activities of God. Full of joy with thy countenance,
men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you, the patriarch
David, that he is both dead and buried in his sepulcher. His
tomb is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet and
knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that the fruit
of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ
to sit on his throne. The word Christ just means the
anointed one. He's the anointed king. that
Israel is the anointed prophet, he's the anointed priest. He, seeing this before, spoke
of the resurrection of Christ. He spoke of the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That his soul was not left in
hell, neither did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus hath God
raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore, being by
the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father
the promise of the Holy Ghost, He has shed forth this which
you now see and hear. For David is not ascended into
the heavens, but he saith himself, the Lord said to my Lord, sit
thou on my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore, Let all the house
of Israel know assuredly that God has made that same Jesus
whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. This is sheep food. And this is why the sheep need
this food. Verse 37. Now when they heard
this, they were pricked in the heart. They were wounded into
their heart, just as Peter was grieved when the Lord said to
him. Peter was grieved when the Lord looked at him. They were
pricked in their heart. and said unto Peter and the rest
of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? We are in the
hands of God almighty. We are in the hands of him whom
we have just murdered. How sinful is sin. How sinful is sin. The sinfulness of sin is measured
by the character of the one that we have sinned against. David
said, against you and you only have I sinned and done this evil
in your sight. The sinfulness of sin is seen
in the only solution to that sin, and that's in the finished
work and the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Pricked in
the heart, pricked in the heart, pricked in the heart, because
of what they are, pricked in the heart, most particularly
by what they did and thought of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
then Peter said unto them, the pricked in the heart ones, repent
and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ,
for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of
the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you,
and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as
many as the Lord our God shall call. When he calls, when he
comes a-calling, you'll know about who you are, you'll know
about who God is, And you'll be like Peter on that shore of
Galilee. You'll be very sorrowful for
what you are. You'll be so thankful that God knows all. And with many other words did
he testify and exhort saying, save yourselves from this untoward
generation. Crooked, that means, untoward
generation. Who's he talking about, this
untoward generation? The most zealously religious,
morally upright, biblically learned generation that all of the Old
Testament scriptures had witnessed. The ones who were so obedient
they would get their spices out and work out a tenth and give
it away as a tithe. That's what God calls a crooked
generation. And listen to the response. Because
Peter went away from his time with the Lord then they that
gladly received his word. What is it? When the Lord does
this work of grace, when he reveals himself, when he pricks people
in the heart and he shows them that the only possible hope for
their souls is in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
they gladly receive his word. There's gladness. The apostles,
what happened that night when they met the Lord Jesus? They
were glad when they saw the Lord. They were glad when they saw
Him. If you've been made a sinner, a sinner as the scriptures describe
a sinner, a sinner as Peter describes sinners, and he didn't put himself
above these people. He had effectively joined with
them when he sat by that coal of fires. He's not standing above
them and saying, I'm better than you. He's standing above them
saying, I've been fed. The Great Shepherd has fed me.
He's fed me the bread of his broken body. He's given me the
drink of his shed blood. He's caused me to receive his
words with gladness. They that gladly received his
words. In response to the gospel, there
are two responses, aren't there? People either receive the gospel
with gladness or madness and badness. I pray that it's gladness
for us, all of us, all of us, all who might be listening. That
same day, there were added unto them about 3,000 souls. Lambs and sheep were added in
one dye. And listen to what they fed on
then. Listen to what they continued to be fed on. They continued
steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship. They continued steadfastly in
hearing the Lord Jesus Christ raised up in all of the glory,
all of the glory of who he was before the foundation of the
world, all of the glory of him on the cross, the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. This Jesus, who is now Lord
and Christ, He rules over all things, He reigns over all things. Everyone is in His hands. They continued steadfastly in
the Apostles' doctrine, and in fellowship, and in the breaking
of bread, and in prayers." I reckon on that shore of Galilee, when
Peter was there with those other six men, I reckon there was a
lot of prayer. Lord, save me. Lord, save me
from myself. Lord, I'm so thankful you're
asking Peter these questions. in the answer you gave him. The preparations of the heart
and the answer of the tongue are both from the Lord. He prepared
Peter's heart by bringing him low. He prepared the hearts of
these 3,000. breaking her bread and in prayers.
And fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were
done by the apostles. Do you reckon fear came upon
Peter that day by the Sea of Galilee? When the Lord asked
him the third time, Don't you think he thought, this is the
end of it. There's just absolutely no evidence
in anything I've done that I love him. My only hope is in who you
are and what you have done and what you know. Fear came upon
every soul and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.
And listen to this. This is what happens when sheep
feed. That's why they're called sheep. Sheep are flocking animals. If you are a shepherd and you
go into a field, a paddock of sheep, and you see one that's
way, way, way on its own, you know that it's not well at all.
You know it's not only it's not well, it's probably sick, but
also it's in great danger. Sheep flock together. all that
believed were together and had all things in common. Do you
love me more than these Peter? What a work of grace and what
a work of God in the hearts of all these people. And sold their
possessions and good and parted them unto all men as every man
had need. And they, continuing daily with
one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to
house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
praising God. That's sheep food. That's what
the sheep feed on. It's praising God and having
favour with all the people and listen to it. And the Lord added
to the church daily such as should be saved. Sheep food. That's sheep food for sinners.
That's sheep food for those who've been pricked in the heart. And
as amazing as it is that 3,000 were saved on that day and many
others, please don't forget the crowd was a million in and around
Jerusalem. How precious is salvation? It's
precious to those who've been wounded in the heart. I'll just read a few verses out
of Psalm 116 before we have the Lord's Supper. What shall I render
unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup
of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay
my vows under the Lord now in the presence of all these people,
precious in the sight of the Lord, is the death of his saints. O Lord, truly, I am thy servant. I am thy servant. and the son
of thine handmaid, thou hast loosed my bonds. Untie him, set
him free, set him free. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of all of his saints, all of the saints of
God. All of the lambs and all of the
sheep all died in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why they have
passed from death unto life. We feed on him, we feed on his
glory, we feed on the liberty that's in him, we feed on his
word. Amen. The cup of blessing which we
bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread
which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, being many, are one bread
and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread. He says, take and eat. This is
my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of
me. After the same manner also he
took the cup, and when he had supped, saying, This cup is the
New Testament, the New Covenant in my blood. This do as often
as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat
this bread and drink this cup. You do show the Lord's death
until he come. We eat and drink. Those who drink
worthily drink in faith, drink resting on the Lord Jesus Christ. We drink as needy sinners, just
needy sinners. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
the world to save sinners. Thank God he saved sinners.