May I please Almighty God to
bless us together this evening as we meditate in His Holy Word. Let's turn to the Gospel of John,
chapter 21, and reading verses 21 and 22. The Gospel of John,
chapter 21, and reading 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 Word of God is very clear
and it's wonderful to have clear directions. And we know how Peter
was always one to speak out and we have him here speaking and
wanting to know, what shall this man do? He wanted to know about
other people. And God graciously came and spoke
to him and corrected him. And as we think of these words
here, how often perhaps in our own lives we look around at other
people and want to know what they're going to do, what they're
going to say and how they're going to react. Where in fact
the reality is, that spiritual things are essentially personal. You and I stand before God. You
and I have to answer to God. And it doesn't matter what other
people think. It's important that we have an
evidence that God is looking upon us. And so the Lord Jesus
answers him very clearly. and says, if I will that he tarry
till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. That was the great direction,
wasn't it? That the Lord gave to Peter, to follow him. Not to be concerned about everybody
else. Not concerned what they should
do and what they should say. But the direction was very clear.
Follow thou me. And how relevant that is to each
one of us in our lives today. We have a glorious example of
the Lord Jesus Christ set before us in the New Testament. and
that's our example that's who we should be looking to and that's
the one who we should be following and what a mercy therefore if
the Lord gives us that willingness to do His will not to be inquisitive
about other people to be busybodies and worried about them it's really
how we respond to such a statement as that, what is that to thee,
says the Lord, follow thou me. Now what a blessing it is therefore
if we have that desire to follow the Lord in his wonderful example
when he was on the earth. No doubt we're all familiar so
far with the life of the Lord Jesus in his Wonderful example. And therefore Jesus here really
rebukes Peter for the question that he asks. And we should not
therefore follow that wrong way and be concerned about other
people. We should be concerned about
ourself first. It doesn't mean to say we should
not pray for other people and desire that they might indeed
be brought to the light and they may also follow the Lord in everything. But to have that true desire
riveted into our hearts, so easy isn't it to look around and compare
other people and yet we have to stand individually before
our God. and therefore to follow that
glorious example of the Saviour. And I suppose in following the
Lord, what does that mean? What did Jesus do? Jesus did
His Father's will. He followed the will of His great
God. My friends, you and I today live
on the earth and really for us today it's no different. we are
to do our Father's will. We are to obey what He has instructed
us in, and to be concerned therefore that through following Him, we
may honour Him. The Word of God is so clear,
isn't it? Those that honour me, I will honour. And those that
despise me shall be lightly esteemed. So easy, isn't it? For us to
not honour our God. We think somehow we can get by
without doing it. And yet, it's always good to
come back to realise a great debt that we owe. And a great
debt that has been paid. And it's a great blessing if
that is so. in our lives. Now, I cannot tell
whether God has blessed you with that wonderful favour. It's only
you, as you stand before God, have the answer of that great
truth, whether you are doing God's will, or whether perhaps
you're sitting on the fence, or perhaps you're rebellious
against the will of God and you Point the finger at others and
say, well so-and-so's not doing this and they live a good life
and therefore why should I do it? Well, the word is, what is
that to thee? Follow thou me. Doesn't matter
what other people are doing. It's our own situation, what
we are doing. And therefore what a great mercy
it is to do our Father's will. And the life of God's people
on this earth is not to please themselves. It is to please God. It is to do His will and not
do our will. We live in a day The same as
it's probably always been that the devil is very strong and
powerful and brings into our mind so many excuses why we perhaps
are a special case and we needn't do that which the Bible instructs
us to do. And we look around and we see
other people who haven't done it and therefore we think, well
so-and-so hasn't done it, so therefore I can evade such a
situation. Let us remember we have the Word
of God. That's where we find our direction. Don't follow man, follow God. We won't make any mistakes if
we follow God and follow his Word. We will if we follow man. And so may we have that grace
of God. Again, it's a wonderful word,
isn't it? The free unmerited favour of
God to us, which enables us to really desire to do our Father's
will. And that's in everything, in
every detail in our life. And we shouldn't think, well,
I can excuse myself from that position. No, we are to do God's
will in everything. And Jesus went about, when he
was on this earth, and what did he do? He went about doing good. He didn't do bad things, did
he? He didn't tittle-tattle. He didn't speak against people. He did that which was good. And
again, it's a wonderful testimony. And it's important for us today
to recognise that, that we might therefore follow him in his gracious
example. And the Lord had a hard life,
didn't he? People criticised him. People spoke against him. people judged him wrongly but he still went about doing
good and therefore what a mercy it is if God gives you and me
that ability to desire to do that which is good and not that
which is wrong and not that which is bad and we have the whole
Bible to direct us into those things which are good And as
we live in a dark world, we should be concerned to set a good example
in the world in which we live. Isaiah tells us very clearly,
ye are my witnesses. We're on this earth as God's
witnesses if we are his people. And therefore our concern should
be so to witness the truth of God's Word. To never turn away
from it, and never try and avoid it. Sometimes questions are asked
which may be difficult to answer, but we should endeavour to answer
them faithfully and truthfully in accordance with God's Word. And always remember, we only have one Master. and
that Master is Almighty God. What a blessing, therefore, if
you and I are made willing in the day of His power to do those
things which are in accordance with His will and go about doing
good. And if we desire to do that,
we can then follow on and see that Jesus, when He was on the
earth, pleased not himself, he pleased
his Father in heaven. And he had a difficult life and
he had a hard life but nonetheless he was faithful and we can say
in his case he was faithful unto death and as we think of what
he endured, the cost of our salvation think that the Lord Jesus Christ
had to suffer so much, not for any sin that he had done, but
he suffered to carry our sins, so that our sins might be washed
away in the precious blood of the Saviour. And so the Lord
Jesus pleased not himself. You may remember that wonderful
occasion in the Garden of Gethsemane, when he prayed to his father,
knowing what was before him, and he prayed in that way, if
it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not
my will but thine be done. A gracious and a humble submission
to do the will of his father. We know how of course he did
have to suffer and what a willing saviour we have. How wonderful
today that Lord Jesus Christ did his Father's will. And through
doing his Father's will, that way was opened for unworthy sinners
to receive the great and glorious blessing of the forgiveness of
all their sins. and to realise the Gospel is
spelt out so very gloriously in those words, redeemed. That means the price paid with
the precious blood of Christ. Therefore, never undervalue the value of the Lord Jesus Christ
and what he did. Because without it, you and I
today would be lost sinners. We would have no hope of eternal
life. And as I've often said, there's
no sin in heaven. You and I will never be accepted
into heaven if we have any sin. and therefore we need that sin
to be removed. And it is removed through that
great and glorious sacrifice of the Saviour who stood in our
place. You may just as very briefly
think of in the Old Testament there was that which set forth
the sufferings of Christ in the offering of the sacrifices And
the Lamb offered not only on that great day of atonement but
also every day there was the morning and the evening sacrifice
signifying the need for death to occur and sin to be removed. And of course the Lord Jesus
Christ carried that out in that final sacrifice No need for any
sacrifices. After that which the Lord Jesus
offered, he offered himself. No greater sacrifice. He offered
himself. And you know, when we ponder
that, as I hope we do, and realise therefore the great cost that
was paid for us, then to realise that we have a very simple statement
What is that to thee? Follow thou me. And we're not
called usually to be crucified or to lose our life. I know there
have been historically those martyrs who've been willing to
give up their life to stand fast and firm for the great truths
of the Gospel. But none of their lives would
take away our sin. But the Lord Jesus Christ was
so willing, so willing to go to Calvary. Remember, he set
his face to Jerusalem steadfastly to do his Father's will. Well, are we doing our Heavenly
Father's will ourselves? Only God knows how we respond
to that. But God knows what our heart is, and where
do we stand, and make excuses, and try and opt out of such a
statement, and yet to think that this statement is made by our
gracious Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And one of the great
blessings is in following Him is to be blessed with that wonderful
gift of fellowship in his sufferings. Often we tend to think that that
is something which is not very important and a bit irrelevant,
but the Apostle Paul knew himself how valuable it was, and he did
have to suffer, and he didn't turn away from it. And we have
the example set before us in the Philippians, where the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul, sets before us his desires. And they were good desires. and wonderful desires. And as
he tells us, he was a Pharisee and he was brought up as a Pharisee,
a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law, concerning zeal, persecuting
the church, touching the righteousness, which is in the law blameless.
But what things were gained to me those I counted loss for Christ. I wonder how we consider such
words in our own case. And then he says, yea, doubtless. That's a powerful statement,
isn't it? It means there's no doubt about it. Yea, doubtless. And I count all things but loss
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. for
whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them
but done that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having
mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which
is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God by faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. and the fellowship of his sufferings
be made conformable unto his death. It's wonderful that God
in his great love to his church and mercy has granted that such
a statement should be recorded for us today. in our life and
it's a wonderful testimony and it sets forth the real desire
of the Apostle Paul to have fellowship with his sufferings and so we
take this statement what is that to thee? follow thou me and in
following the Saviour following the Saviour not afar off Peter
followed afar off. He followed afar off and what
did he do? Denied his Lord and Master three times. My friends,
let us not follow our Lord afar off. But let us truly follow
his wonderful and gracious example and we have it set forth here
by the Apostle Paul in his life. And he outlines in those few
verses the value of that fellowship with Christ. Fellowship in his
sufferings. I suppose naturally, people would
stand back and say, well, I think that's a foolish statement, and
I don't think that's true. But I can tell you, it is true. Because to have fellowship with
Christ is wonderful, and to have fellowship with Christ in his
sufferings is more wonderful. And the reason it is, because
it brings us into that unity with the Saviour and some true
understanding of the cost of our salvation. And therefore
we see in that the value of Christ's blood and recognise it is indeed,
as the hymn writer says, invaluable blood. shed for unworthy sinners
like you and me so that by His grace one day we should be with
the Saviour in glory forever. Well it's a good thing if we
are looking forward to that time and we might think well I'm only
young and got all my life before me. Well you may have all your
life before you But of course we don't know how long that life
will be. And therefore what a blessing
it is to be found doing our Father's will. Going about doing good
and not pleasing ourself. And then we see the life of Jesus
on this earth. He went about and He was without
guile. That's a very good statement
to think of. He went about without guile.
You see, you and I, in our lives, if we often perhaps tell a story
or something, we might think it's truthful, but it may not
be quite truthful. It may be perhaps 50% truthful.
It may even be 90% or 99%. But Christ was totally without guile. What a blessing therefore if
we are to follow Him that our life, that our words are without
guile. We don't try and impress people
by this and that statement but our concern should be to glorify
God, to testify what He's done for our souls and how he's made
it over to us and given us that good hope through his grace that
he has died for us and that it is well with our souls. It's
so important, isn't it, to realise that it's well with our souls. We're fast hastening through
life. Life is a very short time. Eternity is before us where there
is no time and how important it is therefore that we're amongst
those who are true followers of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. And he was without guile and
we're told he reviled Sometimes we are reviled by what
people say. And it's very easy, isn't it,
to answer back, perhaps spitefully, and indeed not with a good real
intention, and therefore the answer may very well revile those
that reviled us initially. Well, Christ reviled not again. if we are followers of Jesus
we should remember that not to revile again if we are reviled
but absorb it and accept it again we're told the Savior tells us
to turn the other cheek yes not things which you and I do naturally
but by the grace of God he gives us that strength to do these
things which are for His honour and for His glory. And then He offered Himself. He gave Himself that sacrifice. What a blessing if you and I
are willing to give ourselves, give our life to our Saviour
because of what He's done. He offered Himself. No greater
offering is there. No greater offering. It's not
pointing a finger at other people. It's ourselves. To offer ourselves. To serve Him, to do His will,
and to follow Him, and to be a true servant. What a mercy,
then, to follow that great and glorious example. While we touched
upon that account in Philippians, But the Saviour indeed was despised
and rejected of men. That's not easy, is it? In this
world, we like to have friends, don't we? We like people to think
well of us. And yet, you see, the Saviour
was despised and rejected of men. And He never did anything
wrong. He lived a perfect life. And
there's our example. despised and rejected of men. Well, we have this before us
and here is a statement. What is that to thee? Follow
thou me. If we think we can avoid it,
we are to grasp the scriptures and recognize the glorious example
that we have set before us and desire to follow that example. And we're told him, we're told
that for the joy that was set before him, the joy that was
set before him. That's a wonderful statement,
isn't it? It's good for us to realize these
great and wonderful truths, which are set down in his word in the
12th chapter of Hebrews. We're told, looking unto Jesus, How wonderful isn't that? The
author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was
set before him, the joy that was set before him, endured the
cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand
of the throne of God. For, consider him that endured
such contradiction of sinners, against himself, lest ye be wearied
and faint in your mind. Sometimes we might think, oh,
this path's very difficult. This path is not what I anticipated. Being a Christian, I thought
it would be an easy path, and I'm finding it's a difficult
path. Well, if we're true followers of the Lord Jesus, we won't find
it's an easy path, because Jesus himself tells us It is through
much tribulation that we shall enter the kingdom, but be of
good joy. I, the Saviour, have overcome the world. We, by His grace, are overcomers
through Him. So, remember, the Saviour indeed
was that great and glorious example despised and rejected of men. Yes, and a man of sorrows and
a man acquainted with grief. we don't like really to think
of those things, do we? but that was the Saviour, man
of sorrows and acquainted with grief and so in our lives we
think perhaps we're hard done by we think we're having a hard
time we should always come back to consider Him the Lord Jesus
Christ and to study His life and to study His words and to
see what the cost was to grant us the great and glorious gift
of eternal life. But He paid the price, took away
all our sins, washed away in the precious blood of the glorious
Redeemer. So what a mercy that is. And then of course we think of
that, He endured the cross. He endured the cross. He didn't
choose an easy way. He chose that way to endure the
cross so no one could say, well, of course, Christ didn't suffer
very much. He suffered the most painful
death so that no one could point a finger at him and say, well,
he didn't suffer very much. what are we to do? the command
is to follow Him what is that to thee? follow thou me there's
no room is there for excuses no room to think well I don't
really have to follow the Saviour the great and glorious command
is to follow Him because in that path as we read in that Philippian
account, there is fellowship with Christ. There's no greater
blessing than to have fellowship with our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ endured
the cross. What are we to do? We are told
we are to take up our cross daily and follow Him. It's not just
a question of perhaps picking up the cross on Sunday and thinking,
well, I'm doing this and that and the other. Every day, every
day in our life, whether we're at school or university or at
work or at home, whatever it is, we are to take up our cross
daily and follow Him. And if we do that, you see, we're
not alone. We're not alone. Christ is with us. Joined to
the Saviour. Union with the Saviour. It's
a blessed path. It's a wonderful path. There's
no better path. And he is indeed a great and
glorious friend. Remember what the Bride of Christ
said in that account in the fifth chapter of the Song of Solomon,
where she'd been asked by the Church of God, what was her beloved
more than another beloved? She gave a very wonderful account. And she came finally and said,
and this is my friend, O ye daughters of Jerusalem. what a friend is Jesus and perhaps we'd like to think
he is our friend and I hope he is our friend but you see if
he is our friend we should be following his example we should
be following his words and here Jesus speaks to Peter so very
clearly and he says to him if I will that he tarry till I come
what is that to thee? follow thou me there's no room
is there for manoeuvre there's no room is there to excuse ourself
And when you think of it, in reality, our life on this earth
is very short, could be a hundred years, remote, but could be a
hundred years, but then eternity. So, if we live for a hundred
years and if we follow the Lord for a large part of that, it's
only such a short time in comparison with eternity. and we should
count it a most blessed and glorious privilege, therefore, to follow
Him, to take up our cross, be united to the Saviour, to realise
that if we are united on this earth, which all God's people
are, we shall be with Him eternally in glory. People don't get to
glory who are not united to Christ. People don't get to glory who
do not know something of the sufferings of Christ. People
don't get to glory who have just pleased themselves, rather than
following the great and glorious example of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, as we have such an account
here in this Gospel of John, to realise the relevance of it
to ourselves. As I've said, real religion is
personal between us and our God. We need to have a good evidence,
a good testimony that He is our God, that He is our salvation
that he has paid that price upon Calvary to take away all our
sins and to realize therefore it is well with our soul. That really is the most important
thing in our life, to know it is well with our soul. We can often be so concerned,
can't we, about how well we're doing in life, at work, in university,
at school, and it weighs heavily upon us, and we spend so much
time on it, and yet the vital thing is to know my Jesus, crucified,
by far excels all things besides. That's the words of the hymn
writer who clearly understood it and how true it is. And may
you and I therefore be a true follower of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. Oh my friends, it's a favoured
place, it's a blessed place to be a true follower of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ so we have this account here at the
end of this Gospel of John and the Lord lays it down very clearly
doesn't it? and you and I won't be able to
walk away tonight and say well I didn't understand anything
about that because the words are simple very simple what is
that to thee? don't worry about other things
follow thou me a clear direction a blessed direction and a direction
which is profitable and of eternal good. So may God give us all
that grace to clearly hear his voice and to take up our cross
daily and to follow a despised and crucified man. Amen.