21. John chapter 21. Before I read the text, let me
give you the background to these verses of Scripture so that you
can get them in their context. It's always helpful in understanding
the words of our Lord to understand the context in which they're
given. In chapters 13, 14, and 15, and in chapter 16, we have
our Lord's final message to us before he
left this world, his final words to his disciples whom he left
in this world to serve the interest of his kingdom. Then in chapter
17 of the Gospel of John we have a detailed declaration of that
which our Lord Jesus prayed for us as our great high priest,
as he made intercession for us in a manner in which the disciples
themselves heard it. and recorded it by inspiration.
It do you good and me good to read that 17th chapter of John
very, very frequently and understand how our Lord intercedes for us
and that which he seeks for us in all things. And then in John
chapter 18, the Lord Jesus is in the garden. He's praying with
his disciples, Peter, James, and John, anticipating everything
that he must suffer Everything that he must endure by the hand
of his father according to his own surety ship engagements as
our covenant surety Mediator and substitute when the soldiers
came to arrest him in the garden Peter and often impetuous, but
very bold. And there are many things you
can say about Peter. Many times folks look at him and we have
a tendency to think of Peter and a lot of his weaknesses.
His impetuosity certainly was a weakness in many ways, but
in some ways a great strength. Peter jumped to the forefront
and drew out his sword. Actually, it wasn't much of a
sword. I'm sure he was a fisherman. He drew out his knife that he
carried to his side and smote off the high priest servants
I'm sure he was aiming for his throat. I don't have any question.
He was aiming for his throat. He was prepared to die in defense
of the Son of God, his master. What a bold man he was. But our
Savior told Peter that his kingdom doesn't stand by power and doesn't
stand by the sword. He said, put up your sword. Then
he healed the high priest servant's ear. And he voluntarily gave
himself up. to the soldiers who came to arrest
him. He voluntarily submitted himself in humiliation to those
who had come to take him. He did so in order that his people
might be spared. You'll remember he said to the
disciples, he said, if you seek me, let these go their way. And
he says to the law of God, you've come for me, now let these, my
people, go away. That's what he prayed for in
John 17. He prayed that the Father would save his people on the
basis and merit of his intercession as our great high priest who
has made sacrifice for us. And then in chapter 18, verse
27, they led him away to the judgment hall. And there, at
the judgment hall, Peter denied him and denied him again. And then he cussed and said,
I don't know that man. And the cock crew, as the Savior
said it would, and Peter was smitten in his heart, went out
and wept bitterly. And then in verses 28, 29, and
30 of chapter 19, our Lord Jesus has finally accomplished redemption
for us. When he had suffered all the
wrath of God as our substitute. when he had by himself endured
our hell, heaped upon him justly, because he was made to be sin
for us. He said, Father, into thy hands
I commend my spirit. And he said, It is finished,
having accomplished redemption for us. He died in our place,
voluntarily laid down his life for us. And then in chapter 20,
if you read verses 1 through 17, You see that how on the third
day after he was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea,
our Lord Jesus, who had accomplished redemption for us, in order to
declare that sin had been put away in the most public manner
possible, he was raised again for our justification three days
after he was crucified. Now, Brother Skip and I were
talking about this Sunday afternoon after the message Sunday morning.
There seems to be a little difficulty in the scriptures declaring that
our Lord was in the earth as Jonah was in the whale of the
belly for three days and three nights. After all, he was crucified
on Friday afternoon, late Friday afternoon. His body was laid
in the tomb before the Jewish Sabbath began, but late in the
afternoon. The Jewish Sabbath began late
Friday afternoon, dark on Friday. Our Lord Jesus then being laid
in the tomb on Friday afternoon, and rising from the dead early
in the morning on Sunday morning, that's only one full day in part
of two others. How then was he in the tomb for
three days and three nights? Well, the difficulty is in the
language that the Jews commonly used. And the scriptures, of
course, the Gospels particularly, were written in the language
of the Jews in that time. The Jews referred to any part
of a day or any part of a night as the whole, even if it was
just a few minutes of the day or a few minutes of the night.
Our Lord Jesus then was in the tomb on the day of Friday and
the night of Friday. He was in the tomb on the day
of Saturday and the night of Saturday, and he was in the tomb
until the breaking of day on Sunday, so he was also in the
tomb on the day of Sunday, or on the night of Sunday, and the
day of Sunday arising in the early part of the morning. Our
Lord Jesus, rising from the tomb then, appears to Mary Magdalene,
And he appeared to the disciples, Thomas being absent. And then
he appeared to them one week later when Thomas was present.
Now we come to chapter 21. The Lord Jesus now appears to
his disciples as a whole for the third time. But he appears
now specifically to restore and confirm his fallen servant Peter. He came to Peter to restore to
Peter the fellowship of his love. Not to restore to Peter his salvation. He never lost that. But to restore
to him the joy of his salvation. Not to restore to Peter his love.
He never lost that. But to restore to Peter the knowledge
and assurance of his love. Not to restore Peter to his place
in his kingdom. He never lost that. But to restore
Peter to the blessedness of that place. Now you're familiar with
the story. Peter had publicly denied the
Lord Jesus three times. And so now he is compelled by
the Lord Jesus to confess and to confess three times his love
for him. Not for the master's sake, but
for Peter's sake and for the sake of those who stood around
and for us. The Lord Jesus compelled Peter
now at last to say, Lord, you know all things. I love that
language. To the unbelieving religious
hypocrite, the Lord's omniscience, is a terrifying thing. It's a
terrifying thing. To the hypocrite, to know that
God knows everything is the most terrifying thing in the world.
He knows what's in us. He knows the secret of all things. The darkness and light are a
light before him. In the hidden part, God sees
everything. But to the believer, to say,
Lord, you know everything, well, that's the greatest joy and comfort
and consolation of which we can be aware. Because you don't see
everything. All you see of me is what I let
you see or what by accident I cause you to see. He sees everything. Everything. Everything. Lord,
you know all things. You know what I am and you know
what I've done. James and John don't know. My
brethren don't know. All they know is I've cussed
you and denied you. All they know is my impetuosity
and sin. They don't know anything. They
know my pride and arrogance. But Lord, you know me in the
deep recess of my inmost being. You know what I am because you
made me. You know that I love you. In
spite of what I've said, in spite of what I am, in spite of what
I've done, you know all things. You know that I love you. And
then the Lord Jesus commissioned Peter three times. He gave the
commission to Peter, but he gave it so that others heard it. He
said, feed my sheep, feed my lambs, feed my sheep. He commands
him three times as his disciple, as his servant, and as his apostle
to go on about his business feeding his sheep. Now then, let's read
beginning at verse 18 in chapter 21. We looked briefly at this just
a few weeks ago on Sunday evening, and I knew then I wanted to come
back to this text. And I trust God will give me
the liberty to deliver to you what's prepared before. Verse
18, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, the Lord Jesus is speaking
to Peter. 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,
you don't have to guess what that means. Verse 19 tells you.
This spake he signifying by what death he should glorify God. That is, the Lord Jesus here
made a prediction. He made a prophecy. He said,
Peter, you're going to glorify me in the manner in which you
die when somebody forcibly executes you. And when he had spoken this,
he saith unto him, follow me. He said, now Peter, this is what's
going to happen to you. You're going to be, you're going
to be put to death for me. Follow me. My soul. What kind of motive is that to
follow me? Maybe you're going to be put
to death. No, no, no. Peter, they're going
to put you to death. Somebody is going to execute
you forcibly. Follow me. Amen. Then Peter turning
about seeth that disciple whom Jesus loved following, the Apostle
John, the one which also leaned on the Savior's breast that suffered
and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter, seeing
him, saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Oh, brother Peter, you're so
much like me. What about John? What about John?
He's always seemed to get along the easiest. What about John? He's always seemed to have nothing
to do. The Lord Jesus told Peter how he would be required to suffer
and die for the glory of God, impetuous and sometimes fickle
in his youth. Peter was assured that in the
end he would, after all, die with Christ just like he said
he would in his pride, and yet he told the truth. He said, I'm
prepared to go to Jerusalem and to die with you. He said that
Peter would die, and he was. He was crucified at Rome because
of his faithfulness to Christ. And when the Lord Jesus gave
Peter this word of assurance, he said, follow thou me. And then as they were walking
along the beach, Oh, Brother Peter, he took the Lord Jesus
at his word. Everything's all right now. And
now he speaks to him just as confidently and just as comfortably
as he did before and expresses exactly what he thought. He says,
as he saw John coming, he said, now, Lord, you told me what I'm
going to do. You told me how things were going to turn out
for me. You told me how the end was going to be for me. What
about John? And the Lord said, Peter, that's
none of your business. That's none of your business.
That's exactly what it said. Peter turning, verse 21, see
if the disciple whom Jesus loved following, one which leaned on
the Lord's breast and said, who is he that betrayeth thee? And
Peter seeing him said to Jesus, Lord, what shall this man do? And the Lord Jesus looked at
him and he said, if I will that he tarry till I come, what is
that to thee? Follow thou me. Now here's a
message directly for Bobby Estes and Don Fortner. A message directly
for Nancy Wormuth and Larry Criss. A message directly for Shelby
Fortner and Sally Ponson. Directly for each of us. Here's
a message which the Lord Jesus has given to you and to me. It's
a message for you who believe and for you who believe not.
It is our responsibility It is our privilege, our blessed, blessed
privilege. But it is our responsibility
to follow the Lord Jesus Christ in all things. Now let me give
you two or three things, and I'll spend the bulk of my time
on the first statement here, because it's the most important.
First, our primary responsibility in life is to follow Christ. I was walking The other day,
getting my exercise in the shopping center over in Lexington while
Shelby was playing grandma. And as I was walking along, I
passed a couple of college girls. I guess they were 25, 26 years
old. Looked like they must have been in graduate school. And
one was saying to the other, I could hardly believe it. She
said, you know, nobody expects us to know what we are or where
we're going or what we're going to do at this age. Man, things
have changed. When I was 18 years old, bud,
you feed yourself from now on. That's all there is to it. You're
on your own from this day forward. Not these days. These days, when
a fellow's 40, he's still trying to find himself. And that's all
right. We're trying to find ourselves. Most miserable fellow on this
earth is the fellow who's grown up trying to find himself. But
I'm telling you, this is your responsibility. This is my responsibility
in all things to follow the Son of God. I know the consequences,
the ramifications, and the implications of what I'm saying. I know that
it will cost us if we dare do what the Son of God commands,
but it'll cost us infinitely more if we don't. Oh, how I pray
that God will give us grace to hear and obey His Word. The main
business of your life, the primary, all-consuming business of my
life is to follow Jesus Christ. I hope that you'll write this
down and write it down somewhere where you can take it home and
remember it. Larry, we live in vain if we don't live for Christ. We live in vain if we don't live
for Christ. Indeed, it were better for you
and me had we never been born than that we should live and
die without Christ. The Lord Jesus says to each of
us, follow me, follow thou me. Now this is the command of the
gospel. I know that many today, most everybody, tries to separate
what's called salvation from discipleship. Churches all over
the planet, Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist and otherwise, have
discipleship classes and discipleship revivals and discipleship meetings,
Folks who profess faith in Christ act like they really are saved.
They try to get folks who don't know Christ to act like Christians. It's not hard to act like it,
but it's utterly frustrating to try. And I'm telling you that
it's all just put on. It's all just an act. Faith in
Christ, God's salvation of necessity in its very character and nature
involves being His disciple. There's no separation, there's
no distinction. The scriptures use many terms and many expressions
to describe faith. Don't turn there because we won't
have time to look at all these passages, but let me give you
a few. In Matthew chapter 4, when our Lord Jesus is walking
by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon Peter and his brother Andrew
casting nets into the sea. And he said to them, follow me
and I'll make you fishers of men. They dropped their nets,
followed him. He then saw the sons of Zebedee,
James and John. He said, follow me. And they
dropped their nets and followed him. They dropped their business
and went about his business. They quit their lives and sought
his life. In Matthew 16, our Lord said
to his disciples, take up your cross and follow me or you cannot
be my disciples. And then in Matthew 19, the Lord
Jesus said to that rich young ruler who thought he had done
so much. He said, if you'd enter into life, go sell everything
you have. Give it to the poor and come
and follow me. What does that mean? A man can
earn salvation by selling his riches and giving them to the
poor? No, no, no, no, no, no. That's not what it means at all.
It does mean this, Lindsay. If you follow him, if you believe
him, you got to sell all and follow him. Got to give it all
to him. And it's not a once-for-all thing.
It's a continual day-by-day taking up your cross and following Him.
Everything is yours. Everything is subject to your
rule and your disposal and your will. The Lord Jesus says to
you and to me, follow me. If you're without Christ, God
help you to hear me. You would be wise to make the
salvation of your immortal soul the primary concern of your life.
Make your soul your first care, if necessary, to the neglect,
even to the pain of all other things. What do you mean, pastor? What will it profit you if you
gain the whole world and lose your own soul? Our Lord said,
if your right hand offends you, what does they do with it? Cut
it off. If your right foot offends you,
cut it off. If your right eye offends you,
pluck it out. Does that mean literally? Pluck
out your eye, cut off your hand, cut off your foot? No, no, no,
no, no. But whatever it is that's dear
to you, whatever it is, don't you let it keep you from Christ.
Don't do it. If you're without Christ, you're
under the wrath of God, cursed and condemned. If you die without
him, you're going to hell. The wrath of God is upon you.
Will you follow Christ and be forever saved? Or follow your
own devices and be forever damned? Now, buddy, for a lot of folks,
that's just confusing. You preach to them free grace,
and they say, well, if God's predestinated it and God's chosen son to be
saved and Christ's redeeming spirit calls them, we have no
responsibility. Well, you can fuss and argue
with God until you go to hell if you want to, but I'm telling
you, This is what the book says. See, I have sent before thee
this day life, and good, and death, and evil. I call heaven
and earth to record this day against you. I have sent before
you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose
life that you may live. You mean preachers got to choose?
Yes, sir. And you got to make that choice
now. That's right. That's exactly right. But what
about God's purpose, God's grace, God's predestination? I know
that dead sinners will never seek the Lord except He seek
you. But I know you're dead sure responsible
to seek Him and choose Him for yourself and choose Him you must.
To follow Christ is to willingly submit to His dominion. It is
to willingly be saved by His grace to believe on Him. And
this is His commandment, follow me. More than that, this is the
character of true faith. Faith follows Christ. His doctrine? Yes. His will? Yes. His word? Yes. His example? Yes. Faith follows
Christ. Faith does not live in rebellion
to the Son of God. It just doesn't. Now, I know
our flesh is contrary to everything about our God and our Savior.
Our flesh rebels against everything in this book. I know our flesh
is flesh and will be flesh till we die and it rots in the ground.
But I'm telling you, believers are new creatures in Christ and
they follow Him. That means, Sammy, if you and
I know Him, we follow Him. And if we don't follow Him, bless
your heart, you don't know Him. That's all there is to it. Mr. Spurgeon said this, the one thing
we are to aim at is to tread in Christ's footsteps, to do
what he did, and as far as he is imitable by us, to do it as
he did it, to be as he was in the midst of the sons and daughters
of man. The grace of God that brings
salvation, that grace of God that's appeared to all men in
a general sense, has come to us, Bob, teaching us that denying
ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously,
and godly in this present world. You see, a disciple is more than
just one who has learned his master's doctrine. A disciple
is one who's done more than just learn what his master teaches.
A disciple is one who is getting to be what his teacher is. Christianity
is more than believing the doctrine of Christ. It's following Christ. It's seeking to mold my life
after Christ. If I'm God's child, if I'm His,
I'm not a follower of John Calvin, I'm not a follower of John Gill,
I'm not a follower of C.H. Spurgeon, I'm not a follower
of any man, I'm a follower of the God-man, Jesus Christ the
Lord. Every now and then I get letters
from folks that say, you know, So in your Calvinistic position,
and I write them back, I say, I don't have a Calvinistic position.
That kind of throws them back a step or two. Don't have one.
Oh, but aren't you a Calvinist? No, no, no, no. Nor a Gilite, nor a Spurgeonite.
I am, I hope, by the grace of God, a Christian. That means
I follow Christ. That's all. What about your creed? It's his word. What about your
practices? What he commands, what he did.
That's all. It's so simple. So simple. We're
not trying to convert men to Calvinism. I don't give a hoot
whether a man's a Calvinist or an Arminian. You can go to hell
being either one or both. But I'm telling you, you must
know and follow Christ. Our Lord Jesus is that one who
said, I've given you an example. Go do what I did. You remember
John 13? He who is God Almighty, he who
is God Almighty, knelt down before this disciple, Simon Peter, whom
he knew would cuss and deny him. And that's not all. There he
even knelt down before Judas, who was about to betray him,
and washed his face. What on earth did he do? He served
men for their good, both temporal and eternal. That means, Rex,
if we're his, we serve each other for our temporal and eternal
good, for the glory of God. Man, I thought following Christ
meant you quit going to the picture show and quit watching television
and quit this and quit that and started dressing funny and acting
funny and talking funny. No, no, no, no. Following Christ
means you love each other. That's what it means. It means
you serve each other. Our Lord Jesus not only expiated
our sin at Calvary, but according to 1 Peter 2, 21, He gave us
an example that we should follow Him, laying down our lives for
one another. God's given each believer a place,
a position, and gifts with which to serve Him, which nobody else can occupy. We're going down to visit Cody
and Walter and their families next week, Lord willing. I thought
about that as I was preparing this message, going to go visit
our missionaries. Will you listen to me for a minute? Every believer's a missionary. A missionary is someone who's
sent on a mission. That's what he is. Every believer is God's
missionary. Every believer is described by
Christ as being his witness. That means, Mark, that we are
men and women who are called of God, sent into this world
on an errand of mercy. And that errand of mercy is to
do the will of God. You know what the word witness
is? Our Lord said, you're my witnesses. The word witness is
the word, if it were written out, for example, like the word
baptism is written out, just transliterated from Greek to
English, it's the word that would spell out martyr. You know what
a martyr is? A martyr is a person who willingly
lays down his life in the cause. That's what it is to believe
on the Son of God. It is to lay down my life. his cause. Now then, if we would follow
Christ, we must subject everything to his sovereign will. That means we must not concern
ourselves with the responsibilities of others. Skip and Sandy Gladfelter
are not my responsibility. Now, we are watching over one
another, we care for one another, we serve one another, but it
is not my responsibility to see to it they do what God would
have them to do, nor to see to it that you do what God would
have you to do. That's not my responsibility.
It's my responsibility to help you, it's my responsibility to
encourage you, it's my responsibility to assist you, but not my responsibility
to watch over you as though I were your Lord. Oh, no, no, no, no.
Every man stands or falls for his own master. And it's my responsibility
to leave you who are his in his hands. That's right. Even as
your pastor. I have no more to do than to
watch over your souls carefully, prayerfully, declaring the word
of God to you, but I am not about to invade your lives and try
to mold you and force you by coercion of any kind to do what
I want you to do. I'm not about to do it. Every
man stands or falls for his own master. And I'm prepared, and
I know it's best to leave it just like that. Just like that.
Folks all the time wanna know, what's this fella gonna do? What's
that one gonna do? God teach me to stick with what I am sent
here to do. That's my business, and that's
yours. If we would follow Christ, we
must avoid everything that would deter us from doing his will.
And we must not concern ourselves, even with our own personal interests
and pleasures, but sacrifice everything to Him. Everything.
Just like Jephthah did. Go back and read it for yourself
in Judges chapter 11. If we would follow Christ, we
must set ourselves to this one thing. Just one thing. Just one thing. Oh, God make
me a man of one thing. Just one thing. We have limited
powers. Let's use them for one thing.
We have limited abilities. Let's use them for one thing.
We have limited opportunity. God help us, Father, to use them
for one thing. To follow Him. To serve the interest
of His kingdom. and the glory of his name. Amen. Ladies, you come listen to him,
please.