May it please almighty God to
bless us together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let
us turn to the gospel of John and chapter 21, the last chapter
in the gospel. We'll read verses 21 and verses
22. The gospel of John chapter 21, 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. As we have read together this
21st chapter in the Gospel of John, and as we come towards
these verses, we've passed through those questions that the Lord
Jesus spoke to Peter when he said, Simon son of Jonas, lovest
thou me? And the answer was, yea, Lord,
thou knowest that I love thee. And the Lord then said, feed
my sheep. And having said previously, Father,
feed my lambs. And he comes and says, feed my
sheep. And then he asks him the third
time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? And 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. And Jesus saith unto him, feed
my sheep. And then he speaks to Peter and
tells him, very, very, I said to thee, when thou wast young,
thou girdest thyself, and walkest whither thou wouldest. But when
thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and
another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.
This spake he signifying by what death he should glorify God.
When he had spoken this, he saith unto him, follow me." So that
was a very clear statement to the apostle Peter of what the
Lord had in store for Peter. And so Peter then, we're told,
he turned about and saith the disciple who Jesus loved, which
of course is John, following, which also leaned on his breast
to supper and said, this John said, of course, Lord, which
is he that betrayeth thee? 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. Well, The Lord answered those questions
perhaps in a different way to what the apostle Peter expected. First of all, the Lord had told
Peter what would indeed come upon him. And now as Peter asked
this question, then we find that really Peter is asking a question
which In reality, there was no need to ask. And what he was,
he was inquisitive. What would happen to John? He'd
been told what would happen to himself, and perhaps he expected
John to be told the same position, that he would have to endure
a similar position that the Lord had told Peter. But you see,
The Lord is sovereign in all his ways. And we should be very
careful, therefore, in what we expect God to do to other people. In the epistle of Paul to the
Galatians, and in the last chapter, chapter six and the fifth verse,
we read these words, for every man shall bear his own burden. And we can so easily misjudge
people and assume that they're walking in the same way that
we are. We may not know what burdens they are having to bear
and what the Lord is doing with them. We assume therefore they
must follow the pattern that we've been called to walk in. Well the Lord knows and the Lord
deals with us each in an individual way. because the Lord is dealing
with us each to prepare us for glory at last. And the Lord does
deal with us rightly. You see, we can easily make a
wrong assessment. We can easily come to a wrong
conclusion. We can easily think that this
is the way that the Lord should work and this is what should
happen to this one and that one. Well, let us be clear as The
Apostle Paul tells us, and the Apostle Paul was very aware of
the Lord's dealings with him, for every man shall bear his
own burden. And therefore he asked this question,
Lord and what shall this man do? Well, the Lord didn't tell
him what this man should do. Perhaps we might expect he would
do. Perhaps we might think that the Lord would encourage Peter
in the same view that the Lord has spoken to him, but the Lord
doesn't indeed address Peter in that way at all. In actual
fact, he addresses him in a very different way. And it's good
for us to understand this in our lives today, because the
Word of God, of course, is comprehensive. And it speaks to all of God's
people down to the ages. It doesn't address us in one
particular position or situation. And so Jesus said unto him, if
I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow
thou me. Now it's not perhaps clear precisely
what the Lord meant when he said, if I will that he tarry till
I come. And there are several interpretations
that can be placed upon this. And I don't feel that this evening
I desire to go into these positions, but to move on to that which
the Lord speaks in this way. What is that to thee? Whatever
it is, whatever it may be, what is that to thee? It should not
matter to thee. Don't be concerned about it.
Don't spend time in being involved in a situation like this. What
is that to thee? But he does tell him very clearly
what he should do. And he tells him in this way,
follow thou me. So it's good instruction for
us to realize the Lord sometimes doesn't go along with our requests,
but passes over them. and directs us more importantly
to our own lives. We're not therefore to look around
at other people and to find fault with them, we're to look at ourselves
and to examine ourselves. And that's why the Lord addresses
Peter in this way and tells him very clearly, follow thou me. Now we have wonderfully and gloriously
therefore a wonderful example in our Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And what a blessing it is if
God gives us that grace to heed these words, because they are
very full and they are very comprehensive. And sometimes we can bring these
words into a very narrow compass. In actual fact, they are a very
broad statement And we do have a very wonderful account of the
life of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have his wonderful example.
And that's what we are to follow. We might commence perhaps with
the wonderful statement that the Lord Jesus Christ did his
father's will. What a mercy it was. what grace
there was given to the Saviour to do the will of His Father. And of course He knew, because
He was also God, He knew what that entailed. But He was willing
to do His Father's will. What a good thing for us today,
if you and I are willing to do the Lord's will for us. And that
means to be more concerned about what that means in our life than
what it is in other people's lives. See, God knows how to
deal with his people, and God does deal with his people. And
God doesn't leave them to just wander on. We might think he
does, and we might think God needs some help from us. But
of course, God doesn't need any help from us. And you see, we
can make big mistakes and we can bring wrong things to bear. The Lord never makes any mistakes. What a blessing for us today,
if therefore we are willing to submit ourselves as Jesus did
to his father's will. And as we think of the occasion
right near to the end of the life of Jesus, When he went into
the Garden of Gethsemane, being in agony, he sweat as it were,
great drops of blood fall into the ground. We perhaps cannot
think of a greater agony that would bring that scenario to
pass. The Lord Jesus Christ, sweat
as it were, great drops of blood fall into the ground. And in
that condition, And in that situation, with that time ahead of the judgment
hall, a time ahead of that crucifixion, he prays to his father, if it
be possible, let this cut pass from me, nevertheless not my
will, but thine be done. What do we see? We see a humble,
a gracious, a wonderful submission to the will of his father. And it wasn't as though it was
going to be a relatively easy path. It's going to be an exceedingly
hard path. But the Lord Jesus was willing
to do the will of his father. If it be possible, let this cut
pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but
thine be done. Now that's a glorious and wonderful
statement. And I'm sure the Lord in his
mercy has left it there for our instruction. And as we look down
to the history of mankind since the time of the Lord's crucifixion,
we see how many have had to suffer in doing the will of our Father
in heaven. The Lord has seen fit to allow
many to suffer martyrdom. He's allowed many to suffer greatly
for his sake. He's allowed many to endure much
hardship, much opposition. But the glorious truth is, like
it was with the Saviour, The Lord was with them. Almighty
God was with them. Almighty God was with the Lord
Jesus Christ, although on the cross for those three hours,
he did cry out and said, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken
me? It appeared that that's what
had happened. The Lord had forsaken him. But
no, the Lord had not forsaken him. But he had to endure the
hiding of his father's face. And sometimes, indeed, in our
life, the Lord sees fit to, as it were, hide himself from us.
You may think, well, why does this come across? Why do I have
to endure this situation? Why has God withdrawn himself? Why is it? that I am suffering
in this way? Well, I believe it is because
the Lord in his great love toward us in those situations blesses
us with a little union and communion with his sufferings. You know,
it is really the greatest blessing. It's not something that you and
I would want naturally to enter into. But when the Lord does
graciously enable us to be blessed with this communion, it is really
in this way, in just a very, very small way. What a wonderful thing it is
then to have the presence of God with us. And because of that,
to know that the Lord is dealing with us as his children, We're
not being cast off. We're not being thrown away.
The Lord is blessing us with communion with the Lord Jesus
Christ. And the gracious effect of that is to bring us into union
with the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul tells us, if
we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him. So we can
conclude If there is no suffering, there's no reigning. The Lord
has ordained that you and I should be brought to that situation
where we do, in measure, suffer with the Saviour. And then we
know the great blessing of his presence. And what we know is
the Lord has passed that way already. He knows the temptations. He knows the opposition that
we're passing through because he has known the same. Therefore
he can indeed be a true friend, a great saviour, a loving and
blessed brother. What a mercy it is then to have
such a saviour. And so the Lord says to Peter,
follow thou me. Well of course it's not actually
written in scripture what the Apostle Peter had to endure but
we do know from historians that he did in actual fact suffer
and he was crucified and he was crucified upside down on that
cross and he had to endure great things and so the Lord brought
Peter into this condition. Follow thou me. Well the Apostle
Peter did his father's will. And what a blessing for us today.
If the Lord gives us grace, that's what we shall need. Grace, his
favor, his strength, his help to endure the trying hour. Therefore, we are to follow the
wonderful example of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, The Lord
spoke these words very powerfully and very clearly to the apostle,
follow thou me. Simple words, weren't they? They
weren't complicated. He didn't need to have them explained
to him. He knew what they meant. And
surely for us today, these words apply to every true believer. None of us should think, well,
course that was addressed to Peter because he needed something
very special but you see it wasn't at all it was something indeed
which the Lord graciously granted to Peter and he does graciously
grant to the Church of God and so therefore we are indeed
to follow his example He did his father's will. Then perhaps
just tracing out his life a little, the life of the Savior. And that's
the example that you and I are to follow. And we know that when
he was that 30 years of age, when he was revealed as the son
of God, when he came to John the Baptist, what was the pattern
that he set before us? pattern was that he should be
baptized he should go down into the water and he should come
up again out of the water and he had that wonderful word from
the Lord God Almighty this is my beloved son in whom I am well
pleased what does that speak to us what does that tell us
surely without any doubt it tells us the passion set before all
believers all those who are indeed true believers such a word as
this to each one of us follow thou me you know there's no real
area for excuse is there we may make excuses We may think, well,
I can't do this and I shouldn't do that. And perhaps we mistakenly
think that we need some wonderful word of direction. Well, of course,
the word of God doesn't encourage us in this at all. You follow
through the pattern of the New Testament, you will find this,
the church of God believed and were baptized. What were they
doing? They were following the command
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sure, it's a blessing to follow
the will of our God. And this is the will of our God,
because it shows that we are one whom he has called and he
shows us that he's called us and he's loved us and he's died
for us and he's risen again for us and he intercedes for us.
And it is our wonderful favor and wonderful privilege, therefore,
to follow him. Follow thou me. It's nothing
complicated, it's nothing difficult, but it's that which brings with
it the answer of a good conscience, a good conscience before God,
that he's given us grace to follow him and to be baptized. And then in the life of our Savior,
what did he do? He went about doing good. He went about doing good, didn't
he? What an example he sets before us. The Savior never had an easy
life. He never had great possessions
in this life. He never had anywhere to lay
his head. And yet you see, He was the great
and glorious God. And so we have this evidence. He went about doing good. He
healed many, healed many naturally, healed many spiritually by forgiving
their sins, had mercy upon many who cry out to him. He heard
and answered their cries. He heard and answered their prayers. He went about doing good. Well, of course, we do not expect
people today to pray to us because we are sinners indeed. But nonetheless,
we should desire to do good unto all men. Well, God tells us that,
to do good unto all men, especially unto the household of faith. And sometimes we perhaps draw
up lines And we're willing to do good unto the household of
faith, but not perhaps to those who don't appear to be the household
of faith. Well, the word of God tells us
to do good unto all men. Again, that's a very clear statement. And if we are to follow the Lord
Jesus Christ, that's the example, that's the testimony. We are
indeed to do good unto all men. especially under the householder
faith. And also the Lord tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves. It doesn't say love your good
neighbors, love those who are wonderful people, love those
who are going to reward you again. Not at all. We are to love our
neighbor as ourselves. You know, we think of loving
ourselves. You know, that's a We want to
please ourselves don't we? We want to make a comfortable
life for ourselves. We want to have plenty of food
to eat ourselves and clothes to wear. You see the Lord tells
us that we are to do good to all men and we are to love our
neighbor as ourselves. What a wonderful picture it is
and it's a glorious picture that we have by the Lord Jesus Christ
when he spoke about that Samaritan. that man who fell among thieves
going down from Jerusalem to Jericho we might say well of
course he was going the wrong way he should have been going
the other way but be that as it may the fact of the matter
is he did fall among thieves and we have the evidence of the
priest and the levi passing by on the other side they didn't
want to be involved they were not prepared to be found loving
their neighbor as themselves. But then we find the unlikely
character of that Samaritan who came where the man was and did
all that was necessary and it cost him. It wasn't a question
of just speaking to him, he did all that was necessary and what
a blessing that was. And so we have that example by
the Saviour to follow thou me. That was the example that Jesus
gave when he was asked the question, who is my neighbor? Well, there
was no doubt the Lord tackled this head on and spoke very clearly
as to who our neighbors are. And therefore, still in the day
and age in which we live, we shouldn't be choosing. We shouldn't
think, oh, I'll look after that one and ignore that person. The
Lord knows about us. he's given us gracious instruction
therefore to follow his example to follow that which he tells
us and to love our neighbor as ourself and therefore we can
clearly understand that the lord jesus pleased not himself he
didn't please himself who did he please he pleased his father
in heaven And we today are called upon to please the Saviour, our
Lord Jesus Christ. That's the one that we are called
upon to follow, the one we are called upon to please. We need
to very carefully examine ourselves as to whether we are doing this.
You know, we can say nasty things, we can do nasty things, we can
think nasty things, You know, what is that? Is that pleasing
God? Or is that pleasing ourselves?
Well, the Word of God tells us here, follow thou me. How important it is that we have
this example and we follow that which the Lord Jesus sets before
us. And then we know that Jesus was
indeed without guile. And that means he didn't have
a secret agenda. He was without guile. He did
all those things which were right in accordance with his father's
will. He didn't have any secret agenda to make his own life easier
or to impress people. He desired to do his father's
will. He was without guile. What a blessing for us today,
if we are able, by the grace of God, to follow the example
of Jesus, who was without guile. Follow thou me. And then we're told when he was
reviled, he reviled not again. What does that mean? It means
when he was spoken against. When people spoke untrue things
against him, unfair things against him, unkind things against him,
he didn't retaliate. He didn't revile again. No, he
accepted them. Indeed, he turned the other cheek. He did not speak those things
which could have justified himself. So often, you see, we want to
justify ourselves, don't we? We want to be seen as the right
person. We don't want to accept any wrong judgment. And yet here
we're told, follow thou me, the Lord Jesus Christ. We're told
he reviled not again. What a blessing it is that we
therefore have these, I believe, sacred examples the life of the
Saviour. They're recorded for our blessing. They're recorded for our instruction. And then he took upon him the
form of a servant. He was willing to serve. He served. He didn't take up a higher mighty
position, although he was God Almighty. He served. And he gave that example when
he took a towel and washed the disciples' feet. A menial situation,
a menial task, and yet he set a wonderful example. Yes, he
took upon him the form of a servant. It's a very humbling consideration.
A very great word of instruction for us. to obey such a command,
follow thou me, to be as a servant. Yes, to take the lowest place,
to do the most menial task, to not expect other people to do
it, but to be willing to follow the great and glorious example
of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then he was despised and
rejected of men. Well, hard to follow, isn't it? If we're despised, people turn
against us. They speak against us nastily.
He spoke against the Saviour. They rejected him and there was
no reason to despise him. There was no reason to reject
him. nonetheless he was and he sets
before us a gracious example and we have really the life of
the apostle paul a very wonderful example following on don't we
of the apostle he was despised and he was rejected and men and
he endured the savior endured the apostle paul endured the
church of god accord to endure endure to set forth the example
that the Savior left behind he was despised and rejected of
men and then we're told he was a man of sorrows a man of sorrows
you know he didn't have any any reason really to sorrow because
he was God himself and he had not committed any sin no doubt
he sorrowed because the sins of his people. And today do we
sorrow for our sin? Do we bow down before God confessing
our sins? Do we truly sorrow? Are we indeed,
like the Saviour, a man of sorrows? It's not something to be vaunted
in public, is it? It's between our souls and God
when we have this sorrow for sin. when we come and confess
our sins before our God, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're
told he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Yes,
he endured grief. We should not think that we'll
be excused from that condition. We may grieve because of our
sins. We may grieve because of the
things that we say and think and do, but nonetheless, when
the Lord gives us gracious sorrow for that situation and condition,
we can indeed come and thank God for his goodness and mercy. And then we come to the end of
the life of the Saviour. What do we read? He endured the
cross. the most painful death anybody
could be asked or anybody could be made to suffer. The Lord Jesus wasn't given any
option. He could, of course, have called
for legions of angels to come and deliver him, but no, he did
his Father's will, and therefore he endured the cross, despising
the shame And it's now set down on the right hand of the Lord
in heaven. He endured the cross. And so
what falls to our lot today? Follow thou me, says the Savior. What does that mean? Believe
it means this. We are to daily take up our cross
and follow him every day. not just on a good day, on a
bad day as well. We are to take up our cross and
follow him. That's the example the Lord Jesus
leaves for us today. Follow thou me. What a blessing if God gives
us that grace then to take up our cross and indeed to follow
him well it'll be a blessing then
if we think the Lord Jesus Christ came and he offered himself he
gave himself his whole life as a sacrifice for our sins he gave
himself all my friends follow now me you and I today are blessed
with that grace because of his wonderful love toward us, that
we are able indeed to follow him and therefore do not count
our life dear to us. We have many examples, don't
we, of those martyrs years ago who offered themselves Yes, they
were not afraid to go to the stake. They were not afraid to
have their life taken because they esteemed the reproach of
Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, just like
Moses in his day. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
offered himself where it was the greatest sacrifice, wasn't
it, that he did. And so we have these words of
the Savior, follow thou me. We may not be called indeed to
offer ourselves, but you know, we do live in a dark day, live
in a dark day, which is getting rapidly and progressively worse.
And perhaps the younger ones amongst us may come to that time
where once again, There may be very severe persecution,
very severe suffering, and there may be the call to such to offer
themselves, to give their life. It would be a great test of religion,
perhaps the greatest test of religion. But you see what a
mercy it is as those martyrs did, they testified of the love
of Christ toward them, the grace of God, the strength that the
Lord gave in supporting them. While we may not have to sacrifice
our life, we may not have to give our life, we may not have
to offer our life in that physical way, but nonetheless we may have
to stand firm for the truth of God. We may have to in measure
endure some of these things that I've gone through tonight in
following the Lord Jesus Christ and to recognize the blessing
it is to be accounted worthy to suffer for his sake. It's not anything of our flesh
is it? What a mercy when God therefore enables us to suffer
willingly for his sake and to be counted worthy. Well, it means
to exercise every grace of humility, meekness and love, zeal and patience,
resignation to the will of Almighty God. What a blessing it is to
know that we today follow a despised and crucified man A God who has
loved us with everlasting love. A God who has given his life
to redeem our souls. A God who has shed his precious
blood to deliver us from the curse of our sin. The Lord has
gone to glory to prepare a place for his church to receive us
unto himself. And so we should be thankful
tonight. The Lord has left on record such a statement to encourage
us. And may we indeed be able to
meditate upon these great truths and to recognize what they mean
and understand these words. Peter, seeing him, saith to Jesus,
Lord, what shall this man do? My friends, let us be concerned
what we should do. Jesus saith unto him, If I were
that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou
me. Amen.