Seeking once again the Lord's
help, I'd like us to turn together to the chapter that we read together,
John 21, and the text you'll find in verses 21 and 22. 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. The chapter that we have read
together is the chapter that brings before us the restoration
of the Apostle Peter after that he had denied the Lord Jesus
Christ those three times Back in John chapter 18, he was so
filled with confidence that though all would forsake him yet he
would not forsake him. And the Lord Jesus tells him
that before the cock crows those times he would deny him three
times. And we see that Peter's confidence in himself is brought
to nothing before that little maid. And then after he denied
him that third time, the cock crew. In John 18, in verse 16, Peter stood at the door without,
and went out, that other disciple which was known unto the high
priest, and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought Peter
in. Then saith the damsel that kept
the door unto Peter, Art not thou also one of this man's disciples? He said, I am not. Verse 25,
And Simon Peter stood and warmed himself, They said therefore
unto him, Art not thou also one of his disciples? He denied it
and said, I am not. One of the servants of the high
priest, being his kinsman, whose ear Peter cut off, saith, Did
not I see thee in the garden with him? Peter then denied again,
and immediately the cock crew. We know as the other writers,
the other epistles, the other Gospels tell us that Jesus turned
and looked to the Apostle Peter and he went out and he wept and
he wept bitterly. After then the Lord Jesus was
taken and crucified. All the disciples forsook him
and fled and he was left alone. was only the Apostle John who
stayed at the at the foot of the cross with the women and
then later after Christ was laid in the tomb they all go back
to their own places and we find then the Lord Jesus rising again
and appearing to to them. We find the Apostle Peter seems
to be still discouraged by his actions, still discouraged by
the way he was left to deny the Lord Jesus Christ and he seems
to turn back to his old profession. Remember that he was called to
follow the Lord Jesus, he was called to be a fisher of men. And he walked with the Lord Jesus
Christ. He talked with the Lord Jesus
Christ. He sat under the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
then at the end it is him who says to the others that I am
going fishing. And they said we will also go
with thee. My mind really was on this call
that Peter had. He's called to follow the Lord
Jesus Christ. In John chapter 1. Peter was a follower of John
the Baptist. He sat under the ministry of
John the Baptist and John the Baptist pointed to the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Lord Jesus Christ came
he says, behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the
world. He says, he must increase and I must decrease. The Apostle
John was used as that forerunner. to bring people's attention to
the coming of one that was greater, the one who John said, I'm not
worthy even to untie his shoes. And so the Apostle Peter and
some of the others were followers of John the Baptist. And when
John the Baptist pointed to Christ, they began following the Lord
Jesus and sitting under the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ in John
chapter one. in verse 36. And looking upon
Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God. And the two disciples heard him
speak. They followed Jesus. And so they were following John.
They were sitting under the ministry of John. And as John pointed
to Christ, they left John and they went to follow the Lord
Jesus. And Jesus turned and saw them
following and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto
him, Rabbi, which is to say, being interpreted, Master, where
dwellest thou? He said unto them, Come and see.
And they came and saw where he dwelt and abode with him that
day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two which heard
John speak, followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
He first findeth his own brother Simon and said unto him, We have
found the Messiah. which is being interpreted to
the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld
him, he said, Thou art Simon, son of Jonah. Thou shalt be called
Cephas, which is by interpretation, a stone. And so Simon Peter is
introduced to the Lord Jesus Christ by his brother. The Lord
Jesus Christ speaks to him and says, You are Simon. You shall
be called Cephas. And so he sits under that ministry
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But that is not his ultimate
calling as it were. It is like the word I thought
of using is wooing. It's like Christ is now beginning
to woo his disciples. He begins to slowly introduce
himself to them. And Simon Peter doesn't fully
follow the Lord Jesus Christ at this time. He sits under his
ministry. He comes and goes and he learns
more about him. If we go back to the Gospel according
to Luke, we read there that it is then that they are called. Chapter five. Simon Peter is fishing and the
Lord Jesus, which we touched on on Wednesday, Simon Peter
has been fishing all night, he's caught nothing. The Lord Jesus
comes and is preaching on the seashore. The Lord Jesus stands
on his boat and begins then to proclaim and to teach the people.
He then tells Peter to launch out into the deep and to let
down your nets for a catch. Peter says, we have toiled all
night and we have taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word, I
will let down the net. And so they launch out into the
deep, they cast their nets, they catch the fish. And Peter has
to confess that depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man. And Jesus says to him, Simon,
Jesus said unto Simon fear not from henceforth thou shalt catch
men and when they had brought their ships to land they forsook
all and followed him. And so this is the second stage
of the call of Simon Peter. First of all, he sits under the
ministry. He hears the teachings of Christ. Then he has a greater experience. He sees Christ in a greater light. He experiences his holiness and
his sinfulness. And he has to say, depart from
me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man. Then Christ says to him,
fear not, you don't have to fear, for I came into this world to
save sinners such as you. You don't have to fear me, although
I am holy and you are sinful, yet I am the good physician who
came to save the lost, to save the lost sheep. He says fear
not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And so he then forsakes
all and he follows the Lord Jesus Christ. But then there is a third
stage to his call. You see they started off as disciples
but then the Lord Jesus made them apostles. There was that
time in chapter 6. when all the followers of Christ
were round about him and then Christ, he goes off into the
mountain to pray. As we were saying this morning
that Christ was a man of prayer and he was going to make a great
decision in choosing his apostles and so he ascends up into the
mountain to pray and he continues there all night in prayer to
God. In verse 13, and when it was
day, he called unto him his disciples. and of them he chose twelve whom
he named his apostles. We know that the apostles are
those who were specifically chosen by the Lord Jesus Christ as his
witnesses, those who received that direct revelation from him. They were equipped with special
power to be able to do miracles and signs, to point people to
or to prove the authenticity of the word which was being spoken. And so out of those disciples
he called 12 and he named them apostles. Peter was the first
one that is chosen. Simon in whom he also named Peter
and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,
Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon called Zealotus,
and Judas the brother of James and Judas Iscariot which was
also the traitor. And so this is the third aspect
of the call of Simon Peter. First he sits under the ministry
and he's like being wooed by the Lord Jesus Christ. He sits
under that teaching He sat under the teaching of John the Baptist. He's heard of this one that is
going to come, this greater than John the Baptist. He's heard
all about him. Then he comes, he sees him. He sits under the
ministry of the Lord Jesus and he's fed by the word. Then the
Lord Jesus reveals himself to him as an individual. He shows
him who he is. He shows him who Christ is. He shows him who Peter is by
nature. Lord, shout into the deep. He
shows him that he's in control even of the fish and of all of
those things. He shows him that he is holy
and that Peter is sinful. Then he calls him. forsake all
and follow me. I'm going to make you now a fisher
of men.' Then he calls him again. He separates him from that body
and anoints him to be an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
we see that gifting and ability that is given to him. And we see also in the life of
Peter how that he is still a man. He still has his sinful nature,
his sinful tendencies, his natural character that has been given
to him. And we see him becoming proud and boasting. Although
an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ yet his natural self manifested
itself at times. But yet even in all of those
things Lord still affirmed his love to him. We know that no
one is able to pluck them out of Christ's hands, that once
Christ has set his love upon a person, his favour upon a person
and he will bring them to himself, although they possess their sinful
nature and characteristics, he is at work on that person to
conform them to the image of the Lord Jesus and sometimes
He leaves proud ones to fall, to show them their frailty and
their need of the Lord Jesus Christ. We saw, didn't we, in
the armour of God that we need the strength and power of God
to enable us to walk this Christian life. And so the Apostle Peter
needed to be shown his weakness. You're not as good and as great
as you think you are so you will fall and be brought to repentance
but also there is that restoration. All that are called to follow
Christ are called to follow in different ways. Peter didn't walk the same pathway
as John. Peter didn't walk the same pathway
as the other apostles that were called by the Lord Jesus. Some of the apostles we never
read about again but they went on to continue and to carry the
gospel into far off places. Every apostle and every Christian
is filled with the Spirit of God. and they are called to walk
separate and distinct pathways, although ultimately heading for
the same destination. It is not like the people of
Israel. When the people of Israel were
brought out of Egypt and led to the Red Sea, they followed
the cloud, the cloud by day and the fire by night. They moved
collectively as a body of people, all led by that one cloud. They crossed the Red Sea together.
They walked in the wilderness together. They arrived at the
River Jordan together. They were judged together. They
wandered in the wilderness for 40 years together. They were
brought through into the Promised Land together. But it's not so
with the people of God. They are led in distinct pathways
but going in that same direction. They're all walking on the narrow
way that leads to life. But their pathways are unique
for each individual. Their trials are specifically
designed to work in the nature and the character of that individual
person. And so Peter's trial, Peter's
temptations will not be the same as you and I. John's pathway
will not be the same as you and I. His nature was different,
his calling is different, yet we are all called to follow the
Lord Jesus Christ. And this is where Peter gets
himself into a bit of bother. He leads the other apostles away to go
fishing. He says, I go fishing. They said, we will also go with
thee. And they went forth and entered
into the ship. And immediately that night, they caught nothing.
But in the morning, when the morning was come, Jesus stood
on the shore. Other disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto them, children,
have ye any meat? answered no. He said unto them
cast the net on the right side of the ship and you shall find.
Now it doesn't seem that Peter recognised the voice of the Lord
Jesus Christ at this time, even though he is being told to literally
do the exact same thing that he was told to do right at the
start of his following the Lord Jesus. He is told right then
to launch out into the deep, to cast the net on the right
side of the ship and you will catch fish. that he doesn't seem
to recognise the voice of the Lord Jesus at this time. It's
John, the Apostle John, who recognises the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore
that disciple whom Jesus loved, know that John calls himself
that in his writings, the disciple whom Jesus loved. Now when Simon
Peter heard that he was the Lord, he girt his fisher's coat unto
him, for he was naked and cast himself into the sea. As I've
said to you before there are cultural degrees of nakedness. In our country we see nakedness
as without any clothes whatsoever but if you go to other countries
nakedness means having your top off or wearing shorts or something
like that I told you the story I think of when I was in Kenya
and there was a tourist card that got stuck and the Africans
told me oh there was a lady there and she was naked and I said
to them naked and I said can you like explain to me a bit
more and they said oh she was wearing a short skirt And to
them, because she was revealing her thigh, she was naked. And so there are culturally differences
in what people deem as naked. And the apostle Peter was not
naked. He just had maybe his top off
for work, and he was girt about with like a loincloth to enable
him to do the work that he was given to do. And there were no
women on the boat, so it would be of no problem. So he wasn't
completely without clothes as you and I would, as we would
read this. And so he cast himself into the
sea and he swam then to the Lord Jesus Christ. And as they arrived
to the land, the Lord Jesus Christ has prepared for them a meal
already and he invites them to come and to eat. They sit down,
they're afraid, they don't want to really ask him who he was,
who he is, because they knew in their heart of hearts that
it was the Lord Jesus Christ. He says to them, come and dine. Then he begins to speak with
the Apostle Peter. Remember that he denied the Lord
Jesus Christ three times. And so Jesus asks him, do you
love me, Simon, son of Jonas, Lovest thou me more than these?'
Do you remember what he had said? He had said, Though all men forsake
thee, yet not I. And the Lord Jesus goes right
to the heart of the matter. Do you love me more than these? You had so much confidence in
yourself earlier But what about now? Now you've been left to
deny me in front of the little maid but what about now? Are
you so confident of your love? Are you so confident of your
ability to stand with me? Or it could be said, do you love
me more than these? All these fish that you have
caught? These boats that you so happily
returned to? You can imagine the Lord Jesus
saying, do you love me more than these? These apostles or this
fish, this lifestyle that you have so quickly and readily gone
back to. He says unto him, yea, Lord,
thou knowest that I love thee. He says unto him, feed my lambs.
He says unto him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest
thou me? He said unto him, Yea, Lord,
thou knowest that I love thee. He said unto him, Feed my sheep.
He said unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou
me? Peter was grieved because he
said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto
him, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee.
Jesus said unto him, Feed my sheep. And he goes on to tell
him of the way in which he is going to glorify God by his death. And we know due to church history
that the Apostle Peter was crucified by Nero, I believe, in Rome and
crucified for the preaching of the gospel. And so this this
apostle who once denied the Lord Jesus Christ in front of But
after Jesus has finished speaking and restoring Peter back into
the ministry, feeding my lambs, feeding my sheep, he then tells
him, follow me. But Peter then turns again. And when you're following somebody,
you're looking at them, normally looking at their back, where
they are going. It seems that Peter turns aside.
And he looks at John, who is also following. And Peter turning
about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following, which
also leaned on his breast at supper and said unto him, Lord,
which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter seeing him, saith to Jesus,
and what shall this man do? And so again, this Peter is distracted. He's become distracted by somebody
else or something else. Instead of focusing on the calling
that Christ had called him to, to feed the sheep and to feed
the lambs. Instead of asking Christ, as it were, how am I
going to do this? Please give me the strength and
the ability to do so. I've failed already. I don't
feel sufficiently strong or able for this task that you're giving
me to do and I've just heard how I'm going to how I'm going
to die how am I going to how am I going to fulfill all of
these things instead of looking to Christ for those things he
now turns aside and he's worried about somebody else and what
shall this man do? He's distracted and how often
that can be with us other things take our eyes off
following the Lord Jesus. We really don't we run with patience
the race set before us looking unto Jesus the author and finisher
of our faith and be not laying aside every weight and
every sin that so easily besets us. And so Peter distracted by
what the Apostle John was going to do. And how dangerous it is
isn't it? As we looked at this morning
we are told to pray for others. We're told to think about others
and to pray for them in their pathway, in their difficulties,
in their temptations, in their concerns and in their lives and
how we can so often be selfish in our prayers and it's even
very difficult for us to focus on the lives of other people.
But then it's very easy for us to be preoccupied with the lives
of other people when we're outside of prayer. How often it is when
we meet together we talk about the lives of other people, what
other people are doing, where other people are going, what
other people are saying. And it's very easy to be preoccupied
with the lives of others and be gossiping and busybodying
in their lives and being taken up with their life. instead of
concentrating on our life and how we should be following Christ,
instead of taking these people to the Lord in prayer, we end
up, as we say, chewing their ears off in conversations with
other people. And it's like Peter is immediately
lost sight of Christ and is preoccupied with the life of the apostle
John. What is going to happen to him?
Where is his ministry going to go? Where is he going to end
up? What type of death is he going to die? And instead of
praying for him at the throne of grace, he's occupied by his
life. He's worried about what is he
going to do? instead of worrying how Peter
is going to follow and accomplish the work that has been given
to him. And so Peter's seeing himself
to Jesus, Lord and what shall this man do? Instead of worrying
maybe what this man is going to do, what everybody else is
going to do, I think we should be worried about what this man
is going to do. We should ask the question, what
will thou have me to do? Instead of what will thou have
other people to do? What wilt thou have me to do?
What is the direction of my life? How am I going to follow the
Lord Jesus? How am I going to be obedient
to the Lord Jesus Christ and not to be taken up with our other
people are following the Lord Jesus but bring those people
to the Lord in prayer and we ourselves seek to faithfully
follow the Lord Jesus. And what shall this man do is
turn the question to ourselves and Jesus says if I will that
he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Mind your own business. Jesus is sovereign over the lives
of his people. Jesus is the good shepherd, the
sovereign ruler of the skies. He says if I will As we saw this
morning, as I've just said, what will thou have me to do? That
prayer surrendered Paul's will to the Lord Jesus Christ and
Christ says if I will, if he tarry till I come, what is that
to thee? How I lead and govern and direct my individual sheep
is none of your business Peter. I am sovereign over the lives
of my sheep. I'm the good shepherd. As we have sung, he leads them
through those still waters and those green pastures and the
valley of the shadow of death. And as Peter was called to walk
an individual pathway, So each Christian is called to walk an
individual pathway, all heading in the same direction, yet they
follow Christ uniquely. The trials are unique. Their
giftings and abilities are unique to them, to furtherance the gospel,
to be useful within the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
so we cannot be so taken up with the lives of others and forget
about how we ourselves are meant to be following the Lord Jesus
Christ. Jesus said to Peter follow me
and he says well what about this man? What is this man going to
do? Jesus says mind your own business. He is my sheep. I am leading
him and guiding him and directing him. I have authority over him. Your job, Peter, is to follow
me. And so each believer has their
path to walk. Peter goes on to be used of the
Lord Jesus Christ on the day of Pentecost. as they are all
equipped with the Holy Spirit of God. And Peter is used as
that instrument to bring in the gathering in of the church where
the Lord added to the church daily. And as I've said, he goes
on to be crucified. Yet the Apostle John goes on
to write revelation and to have that great witness, that great
revelation on the Isle of Patmos. As he's in the Spirit on the
Lord today he sees the Lord Jesus Christ and he receives that revelation
which he writes down. And so their lives were different. Their lives were different. They
were both used by God for the glory of God in different spheres,
in different ways, in different parts of the world, in different
parts of the body of Christ. they were both used yet in a
distinct way. Remember that in Corinthians
it says I have watered Apollos, I have planted Apollos watered
God gave the increase and so there was two different men given
different abilities, different ministries Yet both following
and being obedient to the Lord Jesus Christ. The problem came
when the church began to lift up one and say, I'm following
Paul, I'm following Peter, I'm following Apollos. There came
the problem. Instead of following the Lord
Jesus Christ, Peter here then is distracted. with the life
of somebody else instead of committing himself wholeheartedly to follow
the Lord Jesus. Jesus says, if I will, if I will,
that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Jesus confirms
what he has been saying, that he is going to come. he is going
to come and he will come again. In Acts chapter one, when the
Lord Jesus ascended up into heaven, in verse nine, it says, when he
had spoken these things, while he beheld, he was taken up and
a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked
steadfastly towards heaven, as he went up, behold, two men stood
by them in white apparel. which also said, ye men of Galilee,
why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken
up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you
have seen him go into heaven. And so as Jesus is taken up,
the angels confirm the word of the Lord Jesus. If I will that
he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? The angels said,
this same Jesus whom you have seen going up, he will come again
in like manner as you have seen him. And so that time is yet
to come. It is something that the church
is still waiting for, that coming of the Lord Jesus Christ when
he will gather his people from the four corners of the earth. And as we sit, God willing, around
the Lord's table next week, we are reminded of his death, but
we are also reminded of his coming. This do ye, and often as you
drink in remembrance of me, and that he is going to come again
to gather up his people. If I will that he tarry till I come, what
is that to thee? Follow thou me. That is the command of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It is to deny yourself, take
up your cross and follow the Lord Jesus. Peter's future was
safe in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. John's future was
safe in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. They didn't need
to know everything that was going to happen to them. There are
things that Christ keeps secret from his church. Christ keeps
secret from those who are individually following him and we're thankful
for that. Peter knew a little that he was
going to suffer at the hands of others. But many of us would
not want to know that. We wouldn't really like to know
what's going to happen tomorrow or the next day or in 20 years
time. Because if we did we would spend
20 years worrying about what was going to happen and not live
for today. and enjoy the blessings of the
Lord today we would be overwhelmed with fear and anxiety of what
Christ has already promised to us. But what we do know is that
Christ is sovereign over his people and he leads them and
directs them and we know that he is coming again and that even
if we die it won't matter because we will go to be with him which
is far better. And so while we are here we are
called to follow, to be obedient, to walk in the way that he would
have us to go and not to be hindered by others and the lives of others
and to be preoccupied by everything that is going on around about
us and to lose sight of the Lord Jesus Christ. And maybe there
are those who are hindering you and me from following the Lord
Jesus. Maybe you're saying, well, I
want to follow, but this one is going to be upset. This one
is going to give me difficulties. But the scripture says that whosoever
loves brother, sister, mother more than me is not worthy of
me. are called to lose sight as Peter after he received that
greater experience of seeing Christ he forsook all and followed
the Lord Jesus. So if there are those that are
hindering you from following and if you are saying well what
about this man and what about that man and what about that
woman what's going to happen Jesus says, don't worry about
that. What is that to thee? You follow
me. And so the lives of others should
not hinder us in following the Lord Jesus Christ because our
obedience and our love is to Christ should outshine and outweigh
the love that we have to others. Christ should be first. Obedience to Christ should be
first. And he says, if I will that he
tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. May the Lord give us that faith
then to follow him and to be obedient unto him, however that
may be. Amen. Our closing hymn is hymn number
146 from Hymns of Worship. Be still, my soul, the Lord is
on thy side. Bear patiently the cross of grief
or pain. Leave to thy God to order and
provide. In every change he faithful will
remain. Hymn number 146 from Hymns of
Worship. cross of grief or pain. Live to thy God, to order and
provide. In every change, ye faithful
will remain. Be still, my soul, thy best is to a joyful end. Be still, my soul, thy God hath
undertaken to guide the few. Thy hope, thy gold, faithless,
they now do shine. All now mysterious, shall be
one in the past. His voice surrounds them while
He dwells below. He's filled my soul, the hour
is facing on, when we shall be forever. The purest joys restore. Now may the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, with the fellowship
and the communion of the Holy Spirit, to be with us each now
and for evermore. Amen.