Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to the Gospel according to John
chapter 21 and reading for our text the last part of verse 22. What is that to thee? Follow thou me. The whole verse reads, Jesus
saith unto him, if I will that he tarry till I come, what is
that of thee? Follow thou me. John 21 verse 22. Sometimes the Lord is pleased
to tell his dear people the path that is before them. what shall
befall them. We think even of how it was so
with Balaam, used by God to tell the children of Israel and those
of Moab what shall befall them in the latter days. Really all
of the prophecies, or many of them, were telling of things
that were going to happen and were going to come to pass. Of course, they involved sometimes
the Lord's people and those that were then living. David was told
that he should bear a son, that his name would be Solomon, and
that he would build the house of God, the temple. David should not build it, he
should build it. But for the most part, the path
of the people of God is hidden from them. They have to walk
it out. As one of our hymn writers says,
Providence unfolds the book and makes his counsel shine. We don't pry into what is to
happen and to come to pass in our lives. I certainly have found
myself, but I've never put that as a pattern. that the Lord has
intimated those things that should come to pass, and they have.
From a child over in Australia, I was always persuaded through
no word or anything, but persuaded I was English, I would come back
to England, and one day we'd return here. My first thoughts
of it was that our whole family would. I never thought it would
just be myself. And that was so strong. When my parents were talking
about buying a plot, a graveyard for them over there in Australia,
I rose up against it. I said, you can't die here. You
can't be buried here. You've got to go back to England.
And I was only probably 10 or so at that time. and of course
now they're buried over in Tasmania and yet for myself that has come
to pass and then following that the exercise of the ministry
and that I would return here and to a pastorate which as again
happened and before that the Lord would give me a wife from
this land. And that was told 10 years before
it came to pass. And those things the Lord has
done for me. As I said, I would not use that
as a pattern for others. I've often marveled with the
Apostle Paul. He felt so persuaded. He must
go back to Jerusalem. And they tried to dissuade him. One of the prophets actually
told him that if he went back to Jerusalem, He was going to
be bound, and of course he was, he was bound, he was taken to
Rome. But you look through the scriptures, you can't see where
the Lord actually gave Paul the real clear direction that he
had to go to Jerusalem, but he seems so impressed upon him.
that this was the path for him. And of course later on when he
was apprehended, then the Lord did tell him that he was to go
to Rome and the Lord would be with him there. But for the most
part, as we said, the path is hidden. But of course here we
have in the context where the Lord has been pleased to tell
Peter the manner of his death. In verses 18 and 19, the Lord,
after he had spoken to Peter those three times and drawn out
from him his profession of love of the Lord, he said, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast young, thou girdest
thyself, and walkest whither thou wouldest, When thou shalt
be old thou shalt stretch forth thy hands and another shalt gird
thee and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. And we have the
interpretation in verse 19 of what he was referring to. This
spake he signifying by what death, that is crucifixion, he should
glorify God. And when he had spoken this,
he saith unto him, follow me. So Peter is told the manner of
his death. He's not told when. He's not
told all the leading up to it or circumstances. You know, I
believe there's one aspect of why Peter was given to sleep
on that night when he was apprehended. James had been slain by the sword. But Peter knew that that was
not the death that the Lord had appointed for him. But the Lord
wonderfully brought him out of prison and delivered him at that
time. So Peter, the Lord, uninvited
you might say, spoke to him and told him what was before him. And that then excites with Peter
Desirable, what about the others? What about the other disciples? He turns round, he sees John,
that's who he's referred to in verse 20, following. And Peter,
seeing him, he says to Jesus, Lord, what shall this man do? And so the word of our text is
our Lord's answer to this. Jesus said unto him, if I will
that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou
me. In other words, but bluntly,
what does it concern you, Peter? This is not for you to inquire
into. Whatever I might have planned
for John, that does not concern you. Follow thou me. I want, with the Lord's help,
to look this evening at three things. Firstly, the variation
in the lives of God's people. And then secondly, what does
not concern us, that is, what we are not to inquire into. And then what does concern us,
And that is to follow the Lord ourselves. But firstly, the variation
in the lives of God's people. I said before, I would not want
to raise up either a path that I have walked or another as a
pattern or standard. And yet, it is often something
that can be quite a snare. obituaries, autobiographies,
accounts of the Lord's people that rightly glorify the Lord
in what He has done in the lives of His people. The danger is
that others will read them and think, well, this must be what
happens to me. This is the standard. This is
what I have got to expect. Otherwise, I can't be one of
God's children. But the word of God is very clear
how different God leads his people. If we used as a base the account
that we have in Hebrews 11. Now Hebrews 11 is a chapter that
lists those that have gone before that have walked by faith. So
we know they are God's people. The Lord has given them faith.
They've walked by faith. They've died in faith. They were
looking to Christ. They believed that Christ would
come. They believed that their sins had been blotted out and
would be blotted out by the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet, what differences? Remember, this is the inspired,
inerrant word of God, that God has chosen to record here a catalogue
of his people going right over their history in the Word of
God. And yes, this seeks out instances,
sometimes just single instances in their lives of how the faith
that God had given them actually worked. We have it beginning
with able and how that he offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice
than Cain. That was his act of faith to
see it was a blood sacrifice that was required and that he
had to obey and follow the pattern that God had given and not just
take what was to his hand from the field with no blood as Cain
did. But what a path that he walked.
We don't read much of his life at all. All we read was of this
offering, a right offering, and then we read of his death, his
murder, by his brother. What a path that he had to walk. Mithold of Enoch, but again,
very little of his life, only that he didn't die. He walked
with God and was taken. One of those, along with Elijah,
that are a type of those that shall be alive when the Lord
returns, that they won't die, but they will be caught up with
him in the air and be changed. Paul tells us that in his epistle
to the Thessalonians. We know also from his epistle
to the Corinthians of that change when the Lord comes at the last
great day. But then we have the case of
Noah. What a path that he walked again.
We're told very little of his actual life. Yes, of his ministry,
of his preaching. We're told in Peter's epistles
the main thing He lived in a day that was a very wicked day, a
very evil day. And how few converts through
his preaching. And when the flood came, there
is just the eight that are saved by water. A path, you might say,
that no other of the Lord's people will ever walk in that way. They
couldn't possibly imitate it or walk it. Now he was one of the Lord's
people. And then we have Abraham. Abraham was taken from the Ur
of the Chaldees and told to go into a place which he'd after
have for inheritance. He went out, he didn't know where
he was going. The Lord showed him, but he comes
into Canaan And in that land he wanders about, but he's not,
it's not his by possession, but he's given a promise that his
seed should come and inherit that land. All the things that happened
in Abraham's life. And we read of his son Isaac,
but before that Ishmael and how He came to be born. And of course
intermingled there with Lot and all that happened to him in Sodom
and Gomorrah. How different the lives of God's
people are. Some of them, there's many events
that are told in their lives in great detail. Others we have
very little that is actually told of the day-to-day. Abraham
lived for 175 years, and yet how little is actually written
of the path that he walked. We think of Jacob. We're told
a bit more about him, and yet what a path that he walked. deceiving
first, and then going out at the age of 60, lying there with
the stones for his pillow, going into Syria and to Laban, his
uncle, having his ways changed ten times, being deceived regarding
the wife, and then all the troubles that he had in his life. He deceived
his father once, Laban deceived him 10 times, changed his wages,
and deceived him in the most tenderest of affections with
his wife. And then his sons deceived him
as what had happened to Joseph, and for 20 years he thought that
Joseph was dead. And the Lord chose to hide from
him that fact. one of the Lord's dear people,
and yet walking a path, and the Lord, unlike with Peter, who
the Lord tells Peter what shall happen, Jacob has to walk this
out, not knowing, not knowing that Joseph is alive. And even
at the end, even when Joseph is drawing his brothers back
and back to, in Egypt, Jacob is saying all these things are
against me. He had to walk out the real trial
of having Simeon locked up, having Benjamin, having to let him go. That tribulation and that trial wasn't
spared him. The Lord caused him to walk that
path. The last 17 or so years of his
life he had in Egypt looked after by Joseph, but that we're not
told much of. But you think before that, with
Joseph himself, he was given the intimation through the two
dreams that he had, that there would come a time that his brothers
bowed down themselves to him. How it was to happen, when it
was to happen, No doubt he did not know. We're told in Psalm
105 that until his time came, the word of the Lord tried him.
What did it mean? How would it come to pass? And
again, what a path he had to walk at trial with his own brethren,
and then sold as a slave, falsely accused, and then imprisoned. We think of Moses' path. Again,
we don't read a lot of what happened in his life, really. His life
divided into three sections, 40 years in Pharaoh's household,
40 years in the backside of the desert feeding his father-in-law's
sheep, and then 40 years leading the children of Israel through
the wilderness and the great signs and wonders that were done
in Egypt to bring Israel out. 80 years preparation for 40 years
work, as it were. But because Moses did not sanctify
the Lord in the speaking to the rock, instead of smiting at that
second time, he is forbidden to go into the promised land.
It does us well to meditate, to think on the very, very difference to really stop us from thinking,
well, my life must be some pattern of someone else. Perhaps it is that we've got
so taken up with those around us, maybe in our own circles
or denomination, and instead of the Word of God as our pattern,
we're saying, well, this generally what is known and what is done
That should be my pattern. That should be how the Lord works. And because the Lord's not working
in that way, then you think it is not the Lord's hand. Or do
really notice how the Lord in the inspired Word of God has
shown such a difference of the appointments. And even amongst
the apostles, those that were chosen there, many of them we
don't read much of. at all, not much of their ministry
or what they did at all. If the secular records are correct,
it is that John alone was the only one that didn't suffer martyrdom. But we don't read much of them. And God had a path for the mage.
Peter used much, used at Pentecost, used 10 years later with Cornelius
the two times the Holy Spirit was given for the Jews and for
the Gentiles. It is very clearly seen and in
detail. The Apostle Paul as well, his
path is clearly shown to us. So may we note in the context
here where the Lord has told Peter of what shall be before
him, what shall be his path, and his immediate then thinking,
well, if this is my path, what shall this one's path be? Just
to think how differently The Lord has appointed the paths
of all his people may be used perhaps to break a snare that
one is in tonight of trying to pattern their lives upon others
or cause the Lord walking away that he is not actually appointed
for them. The variation then in the lives
of God's people Maybe something that we notice as we read the
Word of God from now on, just noticing. Your mind might go
now to various parts of the Word and how different each one of
the people of God is. They all had faith. They all
died in faith. They all led forth by the right
way that they might go to a city of habitation. They were all
the Lord's people. In every case, we may say, He
began a good work in them and He performed it unto the day
of Jesus Christ. And we may say, as we sung in
our middle hymn, that in every one of them, the path was more
or less a path of tribulation. Our Lord said, In the world ye
shall have tribulation, In me shall have peace. There could
be a good cheer, I've overcome the world. How that tribulation
comes, what it consists of, the Lord appoints that. Aren't we
glad that that is so? What if the Lord would say to
us, you must go through tribulation, can you choose out what tribulation
you would like? Do you want poverty? Do you want great afflictions?
Do you want to be a paraplegic? Do you want to have rebellious
children? Do you want to see your offspring as not the Lord's
people? Do you want to have enemies?
Do you want to have troubles in your employment? You choose. We'd be hard put, wouldn't we?
What would we choose? How much better to leave it with
the Lord and let Him choose and when we see His choice to seek
from Him that grace and help to bear that choice and to know
something of the blessing of his word, in me ye shall have
peace, in me. When the Lord takes away the
peace around us, and in what has been our peace it may be. How oft David proved the Lord
was his peace, and yet the Lord had said to him, the sword shall
not depart from thy house. The troubles he had amongst his
children and house, and even his relatives, the sons of his
sister, Zeruiah. What a trouble they were to him,
Joab, and those of his brethren, all the time with the wrong spirit,
a different spirit. How David often proved that a
man's enemies are those of his own household, very close at
hand. And all that he went through
with Absalom You know, these places, and even with his own
men talking of stoning him at Ziglag. But David encouraged
himself in the Lord his God, and David was a man after God's
own heart, and the Lord blessed him many times, and kept him
and preserved him. But what a balancing, what a
balancing of the clouds. May the Lord help us to allow
him to choose. Well secondly, what does not
concern us to inquire into? Here is Peter, he has been shown,
but now he has this inquiry regarding another. What shall this man You know, even in the answer,
we're told here in the inspired word of God, that the word that
the Lord gave, which wasn't saying what he would do, but if I will,
that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Many took it
the wrong way. Many took it that the Lord was
actually saying that he would not die. But John himself says,
Jesus said, not unto him he shall not die, but if I will that he
tarry till I come, what is that to thee? What a reminder how
easy we can make mistakes, and especially as concerning someone
else. And that is what the Lord really
has set before us here. Don't expect If the Lord is leading
us and directing us, that the Lord will then give us light
and direction and wisdom as regards another's path. How many paths
would we like to walk? In the church of which we are
a member or part of the congregation, how many other of the congregation
would you like to walk their path? to be able to advise them
what to do, or to know what is before them, or know what the
Lord has appointed for them. The Lord has promised to guide
His people, to instruct and teach them in the way that they should
go, to guide them with His eye, and that they shall hear His
voice. But He's not promised that all around them shall join
in with it, or, as so often is the case, prefers to know better
than the person concerned how they are to walk, and what they
are to do, and the way they are to go. Our Lord gives really
quite a clear rebuke to Peter here. What is that to thee? Follow
thou me. that is not concerning Peter. But the context, what the Lord
says to Peter, he is implying this, while you are inquiring
and looking at John or at others, this will be a hindrance to you,
to you in what I have told you to follow me. So it's not only
something that's just an innocent thing, but it's something that
can hinder us. How many of us know what it is
to sit in the house of God, under the preached word, and we're
hearing, but we're not hearing for ourselves. We're hearing
for someone else. We know, we think we know, what
someone else is walking in, and instead of listening for ourselves,
we listen for them. That's many times we've done
that. I think that word will suit them. I hope they're listening. I hope they're listening to that.
And all the while we're doing that, we're not listening for
ourselves. Another way it can really hinder
is when we don't want to venture in something ourselves, we want
someone to go along with us. We think of the, his name, Bayrack,
I think, was desired that Deborah should go with him against Cicero
and his army. He wouldn't go alone. He wanted
her to go with him. And she said that then the victory
would be given into the hand of a woman. But sometimes we
are like that. We don't want to, we may be shown
what the Lord would have us to do, but we virtually, we say,
well, I will not do that until I have another to do it with
me. Or it may be the path of another
one is hindering us as well. Many, many times the Lord warns
in the word of God, If we put a mother, a father, a brother,
a sister, a child in front of the Lord, they are not worthy
of me. It is often a lonely path, a
path that the Lord would have his people walk on their own. And we ought to think, well,
if we are to follow the Lord, if we are to go to the house
of God, If we're to walk in the Lord's ways, I want those of
my family to do so well, or my friends to do so as well. Now
I've no doubt if the Lord is pleased to give a revival in
this land, that there'll be many that it will be a hard thing
to break with the friends that they have, or go from in the
midst of a family that has been used to them then go to worldly
amusements or pleasures and without God in their life to suddenly
change and that person then is a different person to come to
the house of God. And in a lot of ways it is a
trial, it is a burden to take up a cross and to follow the
Lord. But the hindrance might be we
are looking at what another would do. And the direction is take
our eyes off what another will do if that is hindering us. The fear of man bringeth a snare. And while we are seeking that
direction from man, then we are not heeding the Lord. So in this second point really,
may we be warned against having our minds on another's path and either asking what the Lord
will do for them or even seeking to influence I'm not saying that
it is wrong for the Lord's people to ask advice at times. But when they do, how careful
we must be that we're not actually going where the Lord has told
us clearly what to do and then we're asking advice of man. I
believe I've been smitten in that in my own life. Certainly in the matter of baptism
I should have gone when I was exercised instead of asking someone's
opinion and then putting it off. And I've always regretted that
through my life. But here is then this warning
in the second point. Has the Lord shown us the way?
Then may he keep us from doing what Peter did immediately turning
and seeing another, what shall this man do? Because in our third
point, I want you to notice what does concern us, and that is
to follow Christ. Remember, our Lord has twice
said this to Peter. When, in verse 19, the Lord had
told him what death he should glorify God. We read, when he
had spoken this, he saith unto him, follow me. And it is from
that point immediately then Peter turns and sees the disciple whom
Jesus loved, John, following. And so the Lord again, after
reproving him, goes right back to that same command, follow
me. And what a warning that is. There will be those hindrances
in following the Lord. If the Apostle Peter has to be
told twice. The Apostle Paul, when he writes
to the Thessalonians, he speaks of the effect of the word of
the Lord upon them, that they became followers of the Lord
and followers of the disciples. A disciple is a follower. The
Lord said to those that believed on him, if ye continue in my
word, then shall ye be my disciples indeed. Ye shall know the truth
and the truth shall make you free. A follower. One that looks to the
Lord, a beautiful John chapter 10, the Lord is a good shepherd.
When he puts forth his sheep, he goeth before them, and the
sheep follow him. What is it then to follow? You
might say, well, to follow is to walk in the ordinances of
the Lord's house, in baptism, Lord's supper. Yes, it is. The Lord does direct in that
way that those that are believed and baptized shall be saved.
But it doesn't, as it were, begin in that or continue in that. The following is lifelong. The following is a following
of the Lord, a following of his word, a following of the directions
in the word. If we walk by faith, faith is
not just a feelings or centering or trust In anything, it is trusting
in the word of the Lord, following the word of the Lord, to the
law and to the testimony. If they speak not according to
these things, it is because there is no life or life in them. We have no other guide than the
word of the Lord. Those are sacred times when the
Lord directs his servants and directs us in our private reading
and he directs us to those parts of his word that give us that
clear direction. May we be very careful that we
do really hear the Lord's voice and that we are following the
law. Prove all things, hold fast, to that which is good. If the
Lord has indeed given us his word and direction, then may
we be kept from walking in a way that is contrary to that or fashioning
it to what we desire and putting our own interpretation on it.
There'll be many things, and no doubt with Peter in this part,
He would always have that in mind, what the Lord had said
to him, that he'd be watching providence. And he wasn't just
waiting until that came to pass. One of the corrections that Paul
corrects the Thessalonians in was that they thought the Lord
would come imminently, that it was nigh at hand. And so they
stopped working. They were busybodies. They thought
they'd just wait until the Lord would return. So he had to correct
that. Say that they were to occupy.
They were to have jobs. They were to have employment. They were to continue. And of
course the world still continues. And it was the same when the
children of Israel were in Babylon. They were told by the Lord through
the prophets. Yes, it was to be 70 years, but
don't just while away that time and waste it. Occupy, build houses,
pray for the good of those that are in that place. Prosper and
multiply and build yourselves up as a nation. And in God's
time, in God's way, he would bring them out, he would perform
it. So that's why the hymn writer is so right. Providence does
unfold the book, makes his counsel shine. You have to watch and wait on
the Lord, not be like Naaman, it may be, who when he went to
be cleansed of his leprosy, had some idea of what would happen.
And because the prophet didn't work in that way, a wondrous
way, And all he was told to do was to go and wash in Jordan
seven times and be healed. He took offense at that. Are
we offended in the Lord's dealing with us? Did we want something
more dramatic? Did we want to have something
wonderful to put in an experience? Or would we be content to be
like Lydia whose heart the Lord opened, who then attended unto
the word that was spoken by the apostles. Here's one of the Lord's
dear people. Very different start in that
church at Philippi. Lady on one hand and the jailer
in his household of the other in the earthquake and all that
happened in the prison there. The Lord chooses out which way. But he brings each of his people
to this point, following Christ, following Christ. May that truly describe us. What a difference when the Lord
appeared to Saul of Tarsus, Paul, Lord, what wilt thou have me
to do? Good prayer, isn't it? Lord,
what wilt thou have me to do? May we be delivered from the
deceitful way that the Israelites dealt with the Lord and Jeremiah
when they wanted to know whether to go down into Egypt or not. They'd already decided they were
not going to go down there. And yet they professed that they
would do all that the Lord sent to them for. The Lord was silent
to Jeremiah for 10 days. And then he came to them, he
said, you have dissembled in your hearts. And when the message
was they should not go down into Egypt, they said the Lord hadn't
spoken by him at all and that they weren't going to obey it.
How careful we need to be in that regard. Well, may in the
following of the law, We follow in the footsteps of God's dear
children, that long cloud of witnesses that shows the same
path to heaven, those that walk by faith, that is trusting in
the Lord, trusting in his word. May we be kept with a tender
conscience to hear the Lord's still small voice and to hear
his reproofs. Peter was greatly blessed and
greatly favoured and greatly restored, but the Lord still
reproved him. And it is a great mercy to hear
those gentle reproofs and to be kept in the way and to be
kept following the Lord. For if there are those here and
you're exercised on following the Lord, beware of those things
that would hinder it, that would stop it, that would turn aside
to another, that would wait for another instead of waiting on
the Lord. What is that to thee? Follow
thou me. Is there something that is your
that tonight? And the Lord say to you, what
is that to thee? Follow thou me. May the Lord
add his blessing. Amen.