Let us turn again to the chapter
where we read in John's Gospel chapter 21. Earlier this morning
we were considering the verses 15, 16 and 17 and continuing
now at verse 18. The Lord speaking to Peter says,
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest
thyself, and walkest whither thou wouldest. But when thou
shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another
shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This
spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God.
And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me. Then Peter, turning about, seeth
the disciple whom Jesus loved following, which also leaned
on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that
betrayeth thee? Peter, seeing him, saith to Jesus,
Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If
I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow
thou me. What we have here is really,
we might say, a twofold call. The words that I want to center
your attention on more particularly then are words that we find At
the end of verse 19, He saith unto him, Follow me. And then again in verse 22, Jesus
saith unto him, If I will the detail which shall I come, what
is that to thee? Follow thou me. this two-fold call, as it were,
to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this morning we were looking,
as I said, at those previous three verses, and there, of course,
we have, as it were, a three-fold inquiry. The Lord repeatedly
asks the question, Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me? And in those words we saw something
of the ministry of the Lord Jesus as He is restoring Peter who
had denied the Lord three times. He had denied Him just as Christ
Himself had foretold before the croc crow, he said, they shall
deny me thrice. And we remarked on the various
elements, the various stages whereby the Lord ministers to
this man in order to restore him, to raise him again after
his sad denial. And all that had come upon him
Again, the Lord had spoken of those things when He had told
him quite plainly that he would be put into the very sieve of
Satan, that roaring lion who walks about seeking whom he may
devour. The Lord had said to him in Luke
22, Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you that
he might sift you as wheat. but I have prayed for thee, that
thy faith fail not." Yes, He desired all of the disciples,
the plural you is used there in verse 31, but then as the
Lord is speaking in particular to Simon Peter, He uses the singular
pronoun. I have prayed for thee, that
thy faith fail not. And when they are converted,
when they are restored, strengthened by brethren. But the Lord is
the one who must come and restore that soul that had been so savage
by Satan himself. But now the Lord completes the
restoration in that passage that we were considering earlier.
And so the exhortation, the commandment is given, Feed my lambs, feed
my sheep, feed my sheep or when thou art converted the Lord said
strengthen strengthen thy brethren and how he is so desirous to
do this and how does he do it well he will constantly remind
believers of their complete and utter dependence upon the Lord
Jesus it's Peter who says how we must be kept by the power
of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last
time and now we saw him there at the end of that first general
epistle in chapter 5 addressing himself to his fellow elders
the elders which are among you I exhort who am also an elder
and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker
of the glory that shall be revealed feed the flock of God which is
among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but
willingly, nor for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, neither
as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensembles to the flock. And when the chief shepherd,
the chief pastor, shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory
that fades not away. or we had known the ministry
of him who is the shepherd of the sheep, that sheep pasture.
It was the Lord then who had restored him. And so it was that
he was able to minister to others. And now, in the portion that
follows that we've just read, verses 18 to 22, the Lord is
exhorting him to be a follower. Here in verse 19, follow me. And then again in verse 22, what
is that to thee? Oh, here is the one thing needful,
follow thou me. Our Paul says, be ye followers of
God, or be ye followers of Christ, or be ye followers of me, even
as I am of Christ. Christ himself is that why. I
am the why, the truth and the life he says. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. So as we consider this twofold
call to be a follower I want to observe two headings this
evening. First of all, with regards to
this way to observe how it is a way of sufferings. It is a way of sufferings. The words that we have here in
verse 18, solemn words, serious words. The Lord prefixes what
he has to say with the double verily. Often the case in the
course of his ministry, John brings this out time and again.
The Lord in his teaching will use this word, sometimes the
singular, but many times it's a double verily as we have here. And the word that we have really
is the word Amen. Our English word Amen is but
a transliteration of the particular Greek word that we have here.
Amen. Amen. So be it. Verily, truly. And how important
then when the Lord, as it were, underlines and underscores a
particular point in his teaching. Verily, Verily, I say unto thee,
when thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkest whither
thou wouldest. But when thou shalt be old, thou
shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee,
and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. Now, when we read these
words, there is a certain obscurity. The language is rather dark and
difficult. But that's significant. because
the Lord is speaking of a way that is going to be a hard, a
trying, a suffering way. There is a mystery to the Lord
and the dealings of the Lord and the ways of the Lord. The
psalmist says thy way is in the sea, thy path in the great waters,
thy footsteps are not known. And our believers of course live
to prove that. as they seek to walk in that
way, that narrow way that leads to life. As I'm sure you're aware,
Bunyan brings it out so remarkably in that great work of his on
the pilgrim's progress, the many trials and troubles and difficulties,
the trying, confusing circumstances that Christian will many times
find himself in. If we turn back to the Book of
the Prophets, in Isaiah chapter 59, and there at verse 10 he
says, as a believer we grope for the wall like the blind,
and we grope as if we had no eyes. We stumble at noonday as
in the night. We are in desolate places as
dead men. This is how believers feel themselves
at times as they're seeking to walk in this way, this this narrow
way and yet at the same time a way that is so so strange to
the people of God again in the language of the Prophet in Isaiah
42 16, God's promise is, I will bring
the blind by a way that they knew not. I will lead them in
paths that they have not known. I will make darkness light before
them and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them
and not forsake them. Oh, in the midst, you see, of
all that is dark and difficult about the way, there is that
promise that the Lord will yet make these things plain to his
children. And so here in verse 18, as I
said, the language is somewhat obscure,
difficult to understand, but the Lord is speaking to Peter
of a way that he's going to be filled with sufferings. He's speaking of troubles, that's
so evident from what he goes on to say. Or John's comment
in verse 19, this bake is signifying by what death he should glorify
God. What we have in verse 18 is to
be understood in the light of that comment then at the beginning
of verse 19. the death whereby Peter will glorify God, and he
knew it, and he didn't lose sight of this. He was ever mindful
of these words that the Lord had spoken to him, because he
refers to them in his epistle. In the second epistle of Peter,
there in chapter 1 and verse 14, he says, knowing that shortly
I must put off this my tabernacle, my budding, even as the Lord
Jesus Christ told me." We remembered, you see, how the Lord had spoken
to him on this occasion and spoken of the way wherein he must be
a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there is a contrast. What we see here in verse 18,
a contrast between when he was young and
what would come when he was an aged man. When he was young there
was freedom but when he grew old there was captivity. When thou wast young thou girdest
thyself and walkest whither thou wouldest but when thou shalt
be old Thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall
gird thee, and carry thee, whither thou wouldest not." For once
he was young and he was able to gird himself. He knew what
it was to have that freedom of movement. Again, does he not
use that very figure in the course of his own ministry there in
In 1 Peter 1.13 he says, Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind,
be sober and hope to the end for the appearing of Jesus Christ.
Speaking of girding, you see, how they would wear those long
robes, those flowing robes, and if there was any need for a thing
to be done with some urgency and haste, they would gird up
the robes, they would take them up and tuck them into their girdles,
so that they had greater freedom of movement. And he is using
the figure there with regards to how the believer is to live
his life. Girding up the loins of his mind,
sobriety. And now he has to look to the
Lord and has to hope in the Lord as he seeks to press on in that
narrow way that leads to life. Or when he was a young man, you
see, he would gird up himself and he would go just where he
would, he had freedom and liberty. But when old, the Lord speaks
of how he's going to be bound and he's going to be led, carried
whither thou wouldest not. It seems to be an allusion to
the fact that he will die a cruel death. He will die a martyr's
death. He will die a martyr's death. We're not all called to be martyrs
in that literal sense but I do much like that the verse in one
of Joseph Hart's hymns, it's not in God's Beselection, but
he speaks of believers, saints who feel the load of sin, yet
come off victorious, suffer martyrdom within, though it seem less glorious,
or the glorious death of the martyrs, you see. Now we remember
them, those who literally gave their lives, their physical lives,
but all believers will know something of a spiritual martyrdom, We
must all know what it is to mortify all the deeds of the body that
we may live. Here is Peter then, the Lord
speaks to him of that way wherein he is to be a follower. Follow
me. Oh what is that to thee, he says,
follow thou me. And there of course in verse
22 there's a greater emphasis because the pronoun is introduced,
not just follow me, but follow thou. And again it's a singular,
it's very much a personal word to this man Simon Peter. He is
to be a follower of the Lord Jesus even in these difficult
paths. All sufferings you see are so
inevitable. There can be no avoiding this
way of suffering so far as Peter is concerned. I've already remarked
on the significance of this double verily at the beginning of verse
18. The Lord uses that because this
is a sure and a certain word. This word will have its accomplishment,
have its fulfillment. And Peter knew it. Again, the
Lord's teachings to him come out in the course of his own
writings in his epistles. Remember how he writes here in
the opening chapter of that first epistle? He speaks of the way
of trial, now for a season, he says, if need be, you are in
heaviness, through manifold temptations, that the trying of your faith,
being much more precious than the gold that perishes, might
be found under praise and honor and glory at the appearing of
Jesus Christ. Or he says, concerning this trial,
the troubles that come, it's now, It's just now, it's for
the moment, for a season, for a little while. But He introduces
also those words, if need be. Or it's something that is necessary. The Lord sees the necessity of
it. Yea, all that will live godly
in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, says another Apostle
Paul. Yea, And again, there's an emphasis
there, you see. There's no avoiding it. Just
as Peter says, now for a season if need be, if necessary, you
are in heaviness through manifold temptations. The sufferings,
the trials, the troubles of the people of God are so inevitable. And what is involved? in the
life of the believer. Well, the life of the believer
is a strange sort of life. It's not an easy ride to heaven.
Or there will be changes. Certainly this is what's spoken
of here in verse 18. He was very different in his
earlier days when thou wast young thou girdest thyself and walkest
whither thou wouldest. But how different when he's old.
The complete reversal of that life, when thou shalt be old,
thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird
them, and carry thee, whither thou wouldest not. But the Lord,
you see, is wise, and he sees how good these changes are. The
psalmist says of the ungodly, because they have no changes,
therefore they fear not God. Oh, in the midst of all the vicissitudes,
all the changing circumstances of the life of faith, what is
God teaching His child? He's teaching him the way of
faith. His complete, His utter dependence
upon the Lord Himself. And it is a sovereign God who
is behind all these things. Nothing comes merely by chance. What does Peter say as he recalls
these words of the Lord Jesus when he writes there in 2 Peter
1.14? Even as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me, you see. The Lord had showed him. The
Lord had told him how he must in a certain manner put off his
tabernacle. He's speaking, of course, of
his body like a tent. Putting off the body, dying.
And the Lord was the one who had told him. All his confidence
in is in his Lord. He rests in the great doctrine
of the absolute sovereignty of God. We think of the language
of John Ryland. He that for me in the womb, He
shall guide me to the tomb, all my ways shall ever be ordered
by His wise decree. Peter knew it. All Peter knew
it. The Lord had told him. The Scripture
is clear, there is a time. To every purpose under heaven
there is a time to be born and there is a time to die. And what is involved in all of
this? Well, those words in verses 19
and 22, follow me, follow thou me. Here is the believer's comfort. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
has gone before in the way. This way of suffering. Is not
this the way of the Lord Jesus Christ? Now, because he has gone
that way before, he is so able to understand his children, he
can minister to them, in that he himself has suffered
being tempted. Paul says he is able to suck
at them that are tempted. He is that one, you see, who
is a sympathetic high priest. or we have not an high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities
but was in all points tempted like us we are yet without seeing
or therefore let us come boldly to the throne of grace that we
may obtain mercy and find grace to help in every time of need
it's the Lord you see He is God. He is the Eternal
Son of the Eternal Father. He is God of God. And yet He
becomes a man, a real man. And how He is able now to empathize
with men. He understands what our life
is. Oh yes, He is without sin. And
yet He knows all our sinless frailties. His was a real human
life. That's the great mystery. Our
God contracted to a span, incomprehensibly made man. And so he can sympathize. He can minister. Although this
is a difficult way that Peter must go, yet the Lord himself
has gone before. And that's the comfort. All the
Lord is there. The Lord is there, and He leads
His people. And ultimately, He leads them
besides the still waters. In the midst of all the difficulties,
He makes Himself ever more real to them. They discover something
more of the wonder of that gracious ministry. As I said this morning,
it's the Lord who is ministering to Peter throughout. He's restoring
him. He's re-establishing him. Again,
the hymn writer says, though our cup seems filled with gall,
there's something secret sweetens all. And what is that secret?
It is the Lord, it's the presence of the Lord. All unto you, Paul says, it is
given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but
also to suffer for His sake. Those two things, They're given,
they're given on the behalf of Christ. What is given? Faith.
That faith is the gift of God unto you which is given on the
behalf of Christ to believe on Him. We cannot give ourselves
faith, we cannot make faith, saving faith. No, the Lord must
give it. Oh, the Lord by His gracious
workings in our soul must produce it. It's faith of the operation
of God. But unto you it is given in the
behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer
for His sake. Where the Lord gives the faith,
hand in hand with that faith will be the trying of the faith,
the proving of the faith, so that that faith is is real and
seen to be real. And now Paul there in Philippians
goes on to express his own great desire that I may know Him. He
wants to know the Lord Jesus, he wants to know Him experimentally.
The power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings,
being made conformable unto His death. And this is Peter's experience. These apostles, they speak with
one voice. All their experiences are different,
all experiences are different, and yet there's a certain sameness.
They don't contradict one another. What is true of one is true of
them all. And here is Peter, he is to be a follower of the
Lord Jesus. He will know then something of
the fellowship of those sufferings. It is a way of sufferings to
follow the Lord. Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkest whither
thou wouldest. But when thou shalt be old, thou
shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee,
and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying
by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this,
he said unto him, Follow me." Always a follower of the Lord
Jesus. The way of suffering. Shall, did Christ my Lord suffer? And shall I reply? Asks dear John Newton. It cannot be. But this way of
suffering is also a way that is full of snares. There is a
great adversary. There is Satan and all his subtle
ways. How was it that Peter had first
fallen and denied the Lord? Oh, it was Satan. It was that
sin of Satan. Satan hath desired to have you,
that he might sift you as wheat. Oh, he comes, you see, and he
desires to destroy believers. He wanted to destroy Job. Poor
Job. Oh, Satan comes, appears with the
sons of God. He's not a free agent, you see.
Cannot do altogether as he pleases. In no way is God the author of
sin, and yet we have to recognize that Satan himself is but a creature
he's not equal to God God's sovereignty is absolute and so what comes
into poor Job's life is ultimately under the sovereignty of God
but Satan is here seeking to destroy the man seeking to destroy
his faith and likewise here and he is such a subtle foe or we're
not to be those who are ignorant of his devices. Look at what
we see here. Two things in particular. How
he can make use of small things, small diversions. The Lord says to Peter, follow me. Here in verse 19,
He makes that statement concerning Peter's end in verses 18 and
19, and we are told, When he had spoken this, he saith unto
him, Follow me. Then Peter, turning about, seeth
the disciple whom Jesus loved following. Now, from the way
this reads, it would appear that the Lord, having spoken in the
first place to Peter, stands and begins to walk away from
this group of the disciples. There were several of them that
were gathered there. We're told at the beginning,
verse 2, it was Simon, Simon Peter, it was Thomas, Cordinimus,
Nathanael, it was James and John, the sons of Zebedee, and two
other disciples. But it seems here in verse 19,
having uttered these words previously, the Lord then begins to to walk
away and says to Peter follow me and Peter turns about and
sees John also following and that's a diversion that's a diversion Peter you
see is so easily diverted here the Lord says follow me but instead
of simply following the Lord He's aware of other things. It's
often like that with Peter, is it not? Remember that occasion
when he sees the Lord walking on the waters and being the bold,
impetuous man that he was, he clambers out of the boat and
he begins to walk towards the Lord. And he's walking on the waters,
but then Oh, he's diverted. There's a great storm. There
are winds and waves. And we're told, oh, when Peter
saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid. And beginning to sink,
he cried out, Lord, save me. His eye is taken off the Lord. His eye is taken off the Lord.
Instead of looking to the Lord and walking towards him now,
he sees and he feels all that is going on about him. It's the
same here. All the Lord had said to him was, follow me, but Peter
turning about. He's aware of someone else. He's aware of John's presence. Now he is diverted. And isn't
that in some ways the subtlety of Satan, he diverts us so easily. It's a dangerous thing. The Lord
tells us we're to follow Him. Later in verse 22, as I've said,
it's a more emphatic call, follow Thou, man. Well, that's to be
Peter's chief concern, the following of the Lord. Christ himself says
quite solemnly, no man having put his hand to the plough and
looking back is worthy of the kingdom of heaven or were not
to look back Peter turning about seeth the disciple whom Jesus
loved following he should not have turned about or beware let
us beware friends of those small diversions whereby our eye is
taken of the Lord Jesus Christ, that one thing needful, to be
those who are truly followers of Him. But two things I said in the
way of Satan's subtlety and his snares, not just small diversions,
there's also here some sinful curiosity. We read of him turning about
and seeing John, And then what does Peter do?
Well, seeing him, verse 21, he says to Jesus, Lord, and what
shall this man do? He's curious. Well, the Lord
has spoken to me. He's told me something about
myself and what my experience is going to be. What of this
man? Now, it is good, of course, to be concerned for the spiritual
well-being of others. This morning we sought to say
something of that Christian love. We considered those three loves,
the love of the Lord for Peter in restoring him, the love of
Peter for the Lord himself, but also I sought to say something
with regards to Christian love. And Christian love is seen in
caring for others. This is the charge that's given
to Simon Peter, feed my lamb, says the Lord, feed my sheep.
feed my sheep all we know that we have passed
from death unto life John says because we love the brethren
and how Peter is to have that peculiar that special care for
the for the lambs spoken of first of all in verse 15 it's the diminutive
of the noun for sheep it's the little sheep it's the lambs those
tender lambs, those newborn lambs, those who are so vulnerable.
We try to have this concern for the spiritual well-being of others. The Lord says, by this shall
all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have love one to another.
There's that sense in which it's not improper, it's not wrong
for Peter to be concerned for John. Lord, what shall this man
do? He asks. But here is the danger. Here
is the danger. Remember that word that we have
in the Song of Solomon? Mine own vineyard have I not
kept. Mine own vineyard. And we have
to be careful to attend to our own souls. What is that to thee, the Lord
says in verse 22. What is that to thee? Follow
thou me, Peter. Oh, it's a way, you see, that
is beset, beset by snares. Small diversion, sinful curiosity. This way that's found by few
ten thousand snares beset to turn the seeker's steps aside
and trap the traveller's feet, says Joseph Hart in the Hymn
308. Or the way, you see. It is so
simple, it's following the Lord. So simple. Follow me. Follow thou me. It's a simple
way. And yet, alas, though it's so
simple, so straightforward, Now we can miss the word. Again in
Isaiah's book we read, "...of the wayfaring men the fools shall
not err therein, or this narrow wage for wayfaring men." We of
ourselves are so foolish and we have to look to the Lord for
wisdom. Who have God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. It's all in the Lord. And we
have to learn that we must be ever looking to the Lord. and
resting in Him, relying upon Him. Oh, here is Peter then,
he is to be a follower of the Lord, he is to walk in this way,
the way of suffering. But not only the way of suffering,
also a way that is beset by Satan's snares. Not an easy way, a difficult
way. But finally, for a little while,
to turn away from Peter, as it were, and to observe John. Although
the Lord here doesn't speak of personal words to John, yet John will follow the Lord. This is so typical of John, isn't
it? He is that disciple whom Jesus loved, which also leaned
on his breast at supper, the intimacy of John's relationship
to the Lord. Oh, isn't John really a great
example to Simon Peter? Such a devoted follower of the
Lord, so determined that once in need, now we're to strive
to enter in at the straight gate. I were to recognize that the
gate is straight and narrow is the way that leads to life and
few there be that find it. For John will be where the Lord
is. We sang just now in the hymn, the way I walk cannot be wrong
if Jesus be but there. What does John want? He wants
to be where the Lord is. when the Lord has spoken these
things to Peter he saith unto him follow me and Peter begins
to follow but John also follows wherever the Lord is that's where
John desires to burn or might we learn then from these apostles
might we discover again and again that all these things are truly
written for our learning that we through patience, or endurance,
the word means that really, endurance, and comfort of the Scriptures,
might have hope. Or the Lord says unto this man
Simon Peter, follow me, and then again he says it in verse 22,
what is that to thee? Nothing else so important as
this one thing. What is that to thee? Follow
thou me. O the Lord, bless this word to
our souls. Amen.