Thank you, Adam. Pray the Lord
will enable us to do just that. We have so many distractions
in this world. The Lord will enable us in this
hour to set our hearts on Him. Give us hinds feet. I bring you
Greetings and love from the Hickmans and from your brethren in Pennsylvania. Thought we had a good meeting
last weekend, and I'm very thankful for the way the Lord is knitting
the hearts of those folks together with Caleb and Bobby and the
girls, and it's a blessing to be with them. So they send their
love. A few weeks ago, I think it was,
that I mentioned that there's really not another
group of people in the world that influence this world more
than mothers on Mother's Day and how thankful I am for them. And I was thinking this morning,
one of the things that mothers do is clean up the mess that
fathers make. So happy Father's Day, men. John chapter 21, before we read
our text, I am a very, very thankful and
proud great-grandfather, and Lord Grace and Ryan, have Alice
and Grace here this morning for her first time in worship, in
church. And our heart's desire is that
it will be just the beginning of a life of meeting with God's
people and worshiping the Lord. And I'd like for us to take a
moment and and pray for Allison this morning before we begin.
Let's pray together. Our merciful heavenly father,
we thank you for the miracle of life. Thank you for Allison
Grace. Thank you for a healthy delivery
and for the blessings of your hand of strength and grace and
mercy. Lord, thank you for Lord Grace
and Ryan. Lord, we pray for them that you
would give them what they need to provide and protect, and most
importantly, to raise Allison in the nurture and admonition
of the Lord, to point her to Christ, Lord, we pray for your
hand of grace to give her a heart for Christ. Lord, that you would
be pleased to save her and cause her to be able to worship you
in the power of your spirit and in the truth of your gospel.
We ask it in Christ's name, amen. I didn't plan this, and I didn't
even really discover it until yesterday, but one year ago,
today, this Sunday, I preached a message from 1 Samuel, chapter,
2 Samuel, I'm sorry, chapter 7, when David was Saul was dead and the kingdom
was established and Nathan, the prophet comes to King David and
tells David about what the Lord was going to do in establishing
his kingdom and how it was going to be an eternal kingdom. Prophetically
speaking of the Lord Jesus who would come and establish his
throne forever. in the lineage of King David. And after David listened to all
these blessings, he responded to Nathan with these words, who
am I? That the Lord would show such
mercy toward me. We find that phrase several times
in the Bible. Moses, in Exodus chapter three,
when the Lord met him at the burning bush and told him that
he was to go back into Egypt and bring the children of Israel
out, Moses responded by saying, after spending 40 years in the
backside of the desert and feeling as if he was completely unqualified,
Moses said, who am I? Who am I that I could be used
of God to bring these people out of Egypt? In 1 Samuel chapter 18, when Saul gave to David his daughter,
Michael, David responded with those words again, who am I that
I should be the king's son-in-law? And then later when Solomon,
after the death of David, when Solomon was given the instructions
to build the temple, Solomon responded with those same words,
who am I? Who am I that I should be one
to build a house of God? And we were reminded by that
message one year ago today, who am I? Who am I that God would
give me faith? Who am I that he would open the
eyes of my understanding when the whole world is lost Without
Christ, why would God have mercy upon me? Child of God never responds
with the world when they hear about the fact that our God is
sovereign in salvation and that he has elected a people according
to his own will and purpose. We don't respond with, that's
not fair. No, we respond with, who am I?
Why would God save anyone? And most particularly, why would
he save me? Who am I? Now, you're wondering, what did he
discover yesterday? Well, I prepared a message this
week and I titled it with those same three words, not remembering
that I had brought that message last year on this same Sunday. Who am I? However, the question is completely
different from the question we just asked. The emphasis in the question
before was, who am I? The emphasis in the question
this morning is, who am I? Who am I? Completely different question,
but a very valid one still. Who am I? Men identify themselves
by their nationality. They identify themselves by their
race. They identify themselves by their
gender. They identify themselves by their
work or by their relationships. That is so-and-so's wife or that
is so-and-so's husband. And we put labels on people to
identify who they are. We identify people by their personality. One person may be very outgoing
and never met a stranger. Another person may be very quiet
and introvert. And so we put those sort of labels
on individuals to identify who they are. Those are easy identifiers. The question that I want us to
pursue this morning is apart from all those obvious things
about me, who am I? Who am I? Men pursue their whole lives
trying to answer this question. They write books, build buildings,
they try to leave for themselves a legacy, they earn money in
order to try to identify themselves as somebody that has made a difference,
someone whose life really matters. And we're tempted to pursue those
things. We're tempted to wonder, does
my life really count for anything? Who am I? Who am I really? Need to be very careful. going
down in that well. It's a deep well, and it's dark. And the further you go down in
that well trying to figure out who you are, the darker it's
going to get. You dive into the shallow water
of that pool, you're liable to break your neck. The truth is
that we're just not very interesting subjects. We try to make ourselves
interesting. We try to think that we're somebody
and the more we know about ourselves, the more significant we are.
And so the whole world is trying to attach to themselves some
identification in terms of who they are. Modern-day social media provides
men a platform to promote themselves for who they are. This is who
I am. Who are you? You have your Bibles open to
John 21? We're going to get to our text now. John 21. Verse seven, therefore, that disciple whom
Jesus loved saith unto Peter, it is the Lord. And we'll just
stop right there. This is the apostle John. One of the most elite group of
men ever to live on the face of the earth. One of the 12 apostles
given special gifts and abilities to take the gospel of God's free
grace and spread it throughout the world. That's who this is. No mention of that as John identifies
himself. This is one of those holy men
of old who were moved by the Holy Ghost
to pin the inerrant, infallible, inspired Word of God. Not many
of those. Not many of those. God chose
a few men he calls holy men and he gave them the spirit of God
in power to know exactly word for word what to write. And John
writes five of the books in the New Testament. This is the apostle
who outlived all the other apostles. The apostle that was exiled on
the Isle of Patmos, the apostle that was given the revelation
of the book of Revelation. He uses none of those impressive,
significant things to identify himself. Those things to him were not
only insignificant, they were irrelevant. The only thing that
was important to John for him to know about himself was that
he was a disciple loved of Christ. Oh, I so hope the Lord will bring
us to that place to where we don't compare ourselves
to ourselves and think somehow we're getting better and we don't
compare ourselves to other men and we don't get caught up in
the worldly measurement of trying to figure out who am I? Who am I really? Because the
only thing that's really important is that I'm loved of God. If I know that Then my whole life can be a waste.
Not that we want our lives to be a waste. We want to honor
God with our lives. Don't misunderstand me, but I'm
thinking right now about that thief on the cross. His life
was wasted. He had nothing to boast in. He had nothing to be proud of. He had no legacy. He had nothing
to point to, to say, well, there, my life counted right there.
His life didn't count for anything. And yet he took his final breath
hearing the words of the Lord Jesus saying to him, this day
thou shalt be with me in paradise. And that was enough. That was
enough. If I never achieve anything,
you know, it seems like, it seems like we go through this world
trying to Trying to find, you know, some reason. I think it
was somebody, I forgot who it was, maybe Mark Twain said, two
most important days in a man's life is the day he was born and
the day he figures out why. Why was I born? Who am I? Who am I? The first designation that John
gives of himself is that he's a disciple. Now, he doesn't use
apostle. There were only 12 of them. He
uses the word disciple. This word disciple means a follower. It means a learner. He's saying
the Lord Jesus Christ is my teacher. He is my leader. I can't figure out things by
myself. I need to be taught of him. That's who I am. I'm an ignorant
man who has not the wherewithal to know the truth. about who
I am, about who God is, about how it is that God's pleased
to save sinners. And if I'm going to know, he's
gonna have to teach me. I've gotta be taught of God.
I can't figure these things out. I'm a disciple. A disciple is
one who sits at the feet of another and listens to every word that
that teacher tells them. And though we do that in, Our
relationships with men, teachers, teaching students, we never do it like this. We might say, well, you know,
I'm thankful for what they taught me, but I don't agree with this,
I don't agree with that. No, no, no. When it comes to being
a disciple of Christ, you agree with everything. You agree with
everything. You're in lockstep conformity
to your teacher and to your master. And whatever he says is right.
Whatever he says, you bow to. Whatever he says, you... That's
what John said, this is what I am. I'm a humble student. I'm a humble follower of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I can't, I don't know which way
to go. I've got to follow him. I don't
know what to think or what to believe. I've got to be taught
of him. I'm a disciple. I'm a student. I'm a nobody. I'm dependent upon him to show
me the way, to lead my steps. Oh, I make my plans, but how
often my plans are changed by him. I need him to direct my
path. I'm a disciple, a disciple. And when the Lord makes us his
disciple, he doesn't just, you know, when
the Bible says that he makes us willing in the day of his
power, that's not just a, okay, whatever he said. No, it's a,
you remember when Eli, Samuel, young Samuel was working in the
temple with Eli and God was calling Samuel. And three times Samuel
went to Eli, or twice Samuel went to Eli saying, did you call
me? Did you call me? Eli said, no, go. Eli knew it
was the Lord speaking to Samuel. And finally, Eli told Samuel,
that's the Lord, you tell him that you're listening. And Samuel
responded with, speak Lord, for thy servant listeneth. thy servant listeneth. Now some
may come to religion and they may come to the Bible wanting
some information so that they can decipher it and discern it
and divide it for themselves and pick and choose what they
will believe and what they won't believe. But that's not what
Samuel was saying. Samuel was saying, speak Lord,
thy servant listeneth and that word listeneth means Lord I'm
whatever you whatever you say he had no idea what he's gonna
say as it turned out God spoke a word of judgment against Eli
and against Israel and Samuel was burdened by that message
and didn't want to tell Eli the message but Eli forced him to
say it you tell me what God said to you or the curses that God
gave to you are gonna come up God gave to you concerning me
and my family and Israel gonna come it wasn't an easy message
but he heard it and he believed it. When you become, when God makes
us willing, oh, it's a heartfelt willingness. It's a rejoicing. It's, Lord, we don't try to defend
the truth. We don't try to debate the truth.
We don't even really discuss it. We proclaim it and we believe
it. And if the Lord's made you a
disciple of Christ, I don't know what you're thinking right now.
You're saying this to me. You're saying, just tell me what
God says. I don't wanna know your opinion. I don't want you
to sugarcoat it. I don't want you to take the
edge off of it. I just wanna know what God says. I'm a disciple
of him. He's made me to sit at his feet
and just want to know whatever it is he says. Someone's thinking, well, how
do I know that God loves me? There's a good indicator right
there. You're not going to the Bible looking for some practical
principle that you can put into force in your life and give you
a better life in this world. And no, no, you want to hear
God. Lord, I need to hear a word from
you, whatever it is. Whatever it is, Lord, that's
why we have in the Bible, thus saith the Lord, thus saith the
Lord. God's speaking to his people. He's speaking to his people. One preacher of old, they accused
him of not preaching the gospel to all men because he believed
that God only speaks to God's people. And he wasn't guilty
of that. We issue forth the audible call,
but God has to make it effectual to the heart. And when he does,
his people just say, Lord, Saul of Tarsus, breathing out threatenings
against God and against his church. Saul, Saul, why persecuteth thou
me? Who art thou, Lord? I'm Jesus, whom thou persecuteth.
Lord, what would you have me to do? What would you have me
to do? Just tell me. I'm now at your
feet. I'm your disciple. I thought
I knew what I was doing. I thought my life counted for
something. Saul of Tarsus, head and shoulders above his peers,
concerning the law, he's blameless. Oh man, he was a man to look
up to. He thought his life was counting
for something and he was serving God, destroying the church, destroying
the heretics. upholding the truth. Now the
Lord speaks. His face is in the dirt. He's
a disciple, a disciple of Christ. John's only identification, he
doesn't use all these other things that he could have said. You
know, I'm an apostle. I've been given this inspiration
of God to write scripture? No. A disciple. He doesn't even use his name,
and this is not the only time that John does this. Throughout
his writings, on several occasions, he doesn't mention his name.
He says, the disciple whom Jesus loved. The only thing I need
to know about myself is that I'm loved of God. That's the only thing that really
matters. If I know that, it's all good. He gives us a teachable spirit.
He puts in our heart a desire. A disciple. a lowly, humble,
dependent, teachable, needy disciple. We're gonna read some verses
in John chapter six in a moment. The Bible says that many of his
disciples left him. Those were not like John. Those were the ones who jumped
on the bandwagon and thought, you know, this is the, This is
the social welfare program that we've been waiting on. This is
the one who's going to feed our flesh. And the Lord said, you
follow me that you might have your bellies full. But when he
told them what the call was, they left. They all left. The one whom Jesus loved. You know, we love him. We love him because he first
loved us. He's put in our hearts a love for Christ, a love for
the gospel, a love for his word, a love for his people. He's put
that in our hearts. But we can never measure our
lives by our love. When the Lord asks Simon, son
of Jonah, lovest thou me? Simon said, yea, Lord, I love
you. Lord, you know my heart. You know everything. You know
I love you. Herein is love. Herein is love. This is the definition of love.
Not that we love God. We can't define our lives by
that. how fickle our love is, how easily
distracted, how cold our hearts can become, how easily we can push that love away. Herein is
love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and gave his
son to be the propitiation of our sins. Greater love hath no
man than this, that he lay his life down for his friends. It's what the Lord Jesus did. Those Roman soldiers never seen
anything like it before. I'm sure it took three or four
of them to hold a man down to get those nails to him. And the
Lord Jesus laid his life. He'd laid his body on that cross
and those soldiers looking at one another. One of them hesitantly,
I'm sure, picks up the hammer and the nail and thinks, we've
never seen anything like this before. He laid his life down. No man took his life from him.
And greater love hath no man than this. He laid his life down. Oh, what manner of love. the Father hath bestowed upon
us, that we should be called the sons of God. Now, we have reason to be ashamed
of our love, but when we are able, by His
Spirit, to believe that He loves us, There we can rest. There we can
have confidence. I was talking about a child one
time to a sister, and this child was very exceptional. And the child never asked for
anything. He was just a happy child that
never demanded anything, never And this sister was so wise in
saying to me, it's because they know they're loved. It's because
they know they're loved. They don't have to, they're not
trying to get you to prove your love. They're not trying to get
you to, the most important thing that a child can have is to know
that they're loved. And if a child knows they're
loved, What, what, how secure, how confident a child is who
never doubts, never doubts that they're loved. Same thing's true
for you, child of God. Same thing's true for each one
of us. If I know I'm loved, that's all John was concerned with.
I'm just a lowly disciple whom Jesus loves. That's who I am. Who am I? Who am I? I'm a disciple, a follower, a
learner of the Lord Jesus Christ who is loved of him. That's all I need to know about
myself. So how do we know if we're loved? Well, how do you know if you're
loved by another person? Two things. What they say to
you and what they do for you. That's how we know we're loved.
How does a child know he's loved? How you speak to that child,
what you say to that child. The older I get, I say this as
a word of encouragement to parents, never miss an opportunity to
tell your children how proud you are of them. Oh, correct
them when they need correcting, but always tell them how proud
you are of them. That's what a child wants to
know, wants the approval of its parent. And the interesting thing
is that a child never gets too old to want that. An adult child
still wants that from its parent. That's how we know. What and
how a parent speaks to us, or anyone speaks to us for that
matter, and what they do for us. What they do for us convinces
us of their love. And if I know I'm loved, I can
just I'm good, I can rest right there. That's all I need to know.
That's all that young child needs to know. I'm loved, I'm secure.
I'm safe. It's good. And the same thing
applies to the child of God. John, who are you? I'm a disciple. A lowly follower
and learner of Christ, loved of him. Loved of him. Say, well, how do I know what he has said? Well, he speaks
to us in his word. He speaks to us in his word.
You know, the principle of how we know that God loves us is
learned by probably millions of children around the world. And you're going to be surprised
perhaps when I say this, but the principle of knowing how
it is that knowing that I'm loved of God is true. In that little
children's song, Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible
tells me so. Now most of the children that
sing that are not being taught the Bible. Most of the churches
and parents that teach their children that Little diddy don't
believe the Bible. But that doesn't change the principle
of those words because they're true. They're true. Jesus loves me. This I know for
the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong. They
are weak, but he is strong. Say, well, love's a feeling.
I've got to have a feeling before I can know for sure that God
loves me. Brethren, feelings come and feelings go. Feelings
are deceiving. People fall in love all the time
and then they fall out of love. And the same people that are
head over heels, in love with one another at the marriage altar
can become the bitter enemies of one another at the judge's
desk years later. That's not love. Feelings come, feelings go. Feelings
are deceiving. My only warrant is the word of
God. None else is worth believing. If you believe God, that is your
evidence that you're loved of God. Because you would not believe
it. You would not believe it. You'd be like that king in the
Old Testament. You'd take your pen knife and you'd cut out the
parts of the Bible you didn't like. And men do it all the time. And you say, here's who I am. Here's all I need to know about
who I am. I am a disciple, a lowly learner
and follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, loved of him, and here's
how I know he loves me. Because the Bible tells me so. And I believe the Bible. I believe
every word of it. I can't not believe it. He's
made me willing in the day of His power. He has made me to
be a believer. I can't pick and choose what
part of the Bible I like and what part I don't like. I love
it all, it's God's word. What do we sing that hymn? Standing
on the promises. That's the only place I know
to stand. The only place I know to stand. I can't discern God's love for
me by my circumstances. Sometimes I feel like the Lord
has forsaken me. Sometimes I feel like I'm in
the worst of situations. Sometimes I feel like, you know,
if God loved me, this wouldn't be happening to me. I feel that
way sometimes. And then the Lord reminds me
and I come back to my senses and I know, I know that he works
all things together for my good and for his glory. and that he
does love me, and that the thoughts that he has for me are good and
not evil, that he's bringing me and giving to me my expected
end, and that these things, as Paul called them, are necessities
for me, whatever they might be and however painful they are.
They're not coming from a hand of wrath or judgment. They're
not coming from an angry God. Demonstrations of His grace and
His love and His mercy toward me. How do you know that? Because
I believe that. That's how I know. Because God
said so. God said so. And I'm just, I'm just believing
what God says. Faith. is the substance of things
hoped for. It is the evidence of things
not seen. And faith is not something we
bring to the table. Faith is not something we run
around impressing one another with. That little baby who can't
feed itself and can't change its own diaper, all it can do
is mess itself up and cry is dependent upon its parent for
everything resting in faith. And the faith of that child gives
no credit or glory to the child. It's the object of that faith
that gets all the glory and credit. And so it is with saving faith.
Faith is not something that we boast in. There's no boasting
in faith. Faith is like that term disciple. It's a teacher, it's a learner. I mean, it's a learner, it's
a follower, it's a dependent one, it's a weak one. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life. Will you leave me also? Lord, to whom shall we go? You
alone have the words of eternal life. We know and are sure that
thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. You've shut
us up to yourself. Martha, I am the resurrection
and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, Yet shall he live, and he that liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Martha, do you believe this?
Do you believe this, Martha? Yea, Lord, I believe that thou
art the Christ that should come into the world. Lord, I'm hanging
all my hopes on you. You would not do that if he did
not love you. There is the evidence of his
love. John says, here's who I am, a
disciple whom Jesus loves. Turn back with me to John chapter
six. John chapter six. Begin reading in verse 51. I am the living bread, which
came down from heaven. If any man eat this bread, he
shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Now, You're familiar with the
dietary laws of the Old Testament. These Jews had very strict laws
given to them by God as to what they could eat and what they
couldn't eat. Things that we eat were unclean to them and
they would never dream of sitting there. Peter said, you remember
when he brought those unclean animals down and the Lord said
to Peter, take and eat and what did Peter say? Oh, nothing unclean
has ever passed these lips. No, these Jews were very particular
about their diet. And now the Lord Jesus is talking
to them about eating his body. Yeah. They think he's talking
about cannibalism. How do you think that would have
offended them? Men are just as offended when they hear what this really
means. He's not talking about eating
the flesh of his body. He's talking about looking in
faith to the life that the Lord Jesus lived in this world, in
his body, and the death that he died when he bore our sins
in his body for all your righteousness and all of your justification
before God. You have no righteousness outside
of Christ. And the unbeliever who is either
not loved by God or has not yet come to understand their love. God doesn't love everybody. We
know that. Jacob I've loved, Esau I've hated.
How do I know he loves me? Because his body is my life.
I have no life outside of what he did and outside of who he
is. Let the religious people talk
about Jesus being the most important thing in their life. The child
of God says, Christ is my life. I have no life outside of him. That's how I know I've been loved
of him. I wouldn't believe that if I wasn't loved of him. The Jews therefore strove among
themselves, verse 52, saying, how can this man give us the
flesh of his body to eat? And then Jesus said unto them,
barely, barely, I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the
son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whosoever eateth my flesh and
drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up
at the last day. I believe. What the Bible teaches,
and this is the essence of the gospel. This is the essence of
all the Bible. That I have to have a righteousness,
a perfect righteousness in order for me to be able to stand in
the presence of a holy God. And that if Christ is not my
substitute, if he doesn't stand in my stead, if he's not all
my righteousness before God, I have nothing to offer. Nothing
to offer. I will be condemned and I will
be judged of God guilty and I will go to hell for all eternity but
for Christ. He's all and He's in all. I have no way of atoning for
my sins if the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ doesn't hide my
sins from the sight of God. I have no way. of making up for
any sin that I've ever committed. Not one. Not one. I've got to have Christ. Martha,
believest thou this? Yea, Lord. I believe that thou
art the Christ. That should come into the world.
Lord, who am I? Who am I? I'm a disciple. Whom Jesus loves. How do I know he loves me? Because
the Bible tells me so. And I believe the Bible. Every
word of it. And I believe it all points to
Christ. Skip down to verse 64, but there
are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the
beginning who they were that believed not and who should betray
him. And he said, therefore, I said
unto you that no man can come unto me except we're given to
him of my father. And from that time, many of his
disciples, these are the people who were going to follow Christ,
but they weren't, no. Once they heard. Once they heard
that they had no righteousness, once they heard that they could
not atone for their own sins, once they learned that no law
keeping would merit them favor with God, once they learned that
Christ was everything in their salvation, they left. We don't believe that. Many of the disciples went back
and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve,
Will you also go away? And Simon Peter answered, Lord,
to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ,
the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered them, Have
not I chosen you? Don't worry about whether you're
chosen of God. Don't try to measure God's love
for you by your love for Him. You believe God. You believe
Christ. That's the evidence that you're loved of God. And my brethren, that's the only
identification that you need. Let the world spend their life
trying to earn significance by answering that question, who
am I? Who am I? I'm a disciple loved
of Jesus Christ. That's all I need to know. Amen. Adam, number 474. Let's stand together, 474. I'm
only a sinner.