Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. I want to invite you to turn
with me to John chapter 13 this morning. Our Lord at His last
supper, His last Passover supper, announced to his disciples that
one of them would betray him. And he said, it's whoever I give
the sop to. And he gave it to Judas Iscariot. John 13 verse 27 says, And after
the sop, Satan entered him. Then said Jesus unto him, That
thou doest, do quickly. Verse 31 says, Therefore, when
he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified,
and God glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God
shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify
him. Yet a little while, I am with
you. You shall seek me. And as I said
unto the Jews, whither I go, you cannot come. So now I say
to you." Our Lord explained to them that
in order for their sins to be put away, he had to be lifted up. He had to be lifted up. He had
to suffer for those sins. He had to be separated from God
His Father to endure this penalty, to finish this payment. And then
He had to be raised again to bring new life to all of His
people. His disciples then, and us now
if we belong to Him. And He said, I have to do this
alone. The end of verse 33, He said,
Whither I go, you cannot come. So now I say to you, in verse
34, a new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another
as I have loved you that you also love one another. It's a
commandment. This is my commandment. The fact
that I'm leaving, the fact that I'm going to accomplish every
bit of this for you says that I love you. Greater
love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends. And as I have loved you, you
love each other. It's a commandment. Verse 35,
he said, By this shall all men know that you are my disciples,
if you have love one to another. He said that's one of the evidences.
That's an evidence that you belong to me if you have love one to
another. I'm gonna put my spirit in you.
I'm gonna put my spirit in all of my people and my spirit will
love every soul that possesses my spirit. Unity, true unity,
it's one of the evidences that you belong to me. Now right after our Lord said
those words, talking about love for brethren, talking about what
he was about to go do for them. Right after our Lord said those
words, look at verse 36, John 13, verse 36. Simon Peter said
unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither
I go, thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me
afterwards. Peter said unto him, Lord, why
cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy
sake. Jesus answered him, wilt thou
lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
the cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me thrice. Three times. Peter was so sure of himself, so sure of himself, he said,
I'll lay down my life for thy sake. Don't tell me I can't follow
you. Why can't I follow you? Now turn with me over to Matthew
26, and let's read Matthew's account of this. Matthew 26,
verse 33. Peter answered and said unto
him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet
will I never be offended. Even though everybody else might
be, I won't. Though all men should be offended
because of thee, yet will I never be offended. Jesus said unto
him, Verily I say unto thee, that this night before the cock
crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. Peter said unto him, though I
should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also
said all the disciples. Now that doesn't sound like love
for the brethren, does it? That sounds like arrogance and
pride. He said, though all men should
deny thee, I won't. He said, though I should die
with you, I won't deny you. What he was saying is, Lord,
you're not telling the truth. That's what he was saying. And
he was looking around at everybody else there saying, they all might
do this, but not me. Oh, that's pride. Arrogance and
pride. We all know what pride comes
right before, don't we? Peter was spouting off, spouting
off to God in all of his arrogance, all
of his pride. And I want to show you what God
said to him in Luke 22. This is Luke's account of this
same moment. And right here at this same moment,
this is what God said to him. Luke 22 verse 31, the Lord said,
Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he
may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee, that
thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren. And he said unto him, Lord, I'm
ready to go with thee both into prison and to death. And he said,
I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day before
that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me. Three times you're going to deny
that you even know me. Now let's learn a lesson from
this first. a man or a woman who goes around acknowledging
himself or herself to be unmovable in faith. Absolutely unmovable in faith. A great follower of Christ. One who is going to outlast every
other believer on this earth. And that is a man or woman who
is about to fall flat on his or her face. It's just so. Peter is our example of that. God said, Peter, be careful. Be careful, Satan hath desired
to have you. That sounds like the work of
Satan. When we hear ourselves say, I,
I, I, that's what Peter was saying, I, I won't deny you. I'll die
with you. I, be very careful. That self-confidence,
that self-confidence, be careful. Our confidence is in Christ. That's where all of our confidence
is. It's in Christ. I am nothing
but a sinner. Peter was nothing but a sinner. He's about to realize that. God
has revealed that to me too. Has he revealed that to you?
We're all nothing but sinners. I don't do anything right. I
don't worship him with the right spirit. I don't pray to Him like
I should. I don't read His Word like I
should. Thank God He is faithful. Thank God. Thank God Christ is
faithful. Our confidence is in Christ. Now Peter did deny the Lord.
Just like the Lord said He would. He denied him three times. Look right here in Luke 22 at
verse 56. It says, But a certain maid beheld
him as he sat by the fire, and earnestly looked upon him, and
said, This man was also with him. And he denied him, saying,
Woman, I know him not." I don't know him. And after a little while, another
saw him and said, Thou art also of them. And Peter said, Man,
I am not. And about the space of one hour
after, another confidently affirmed, saying, Of a truth this fellow
also was with him, for he is a Galilean. And Peter said, Man,
I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet
spake, the cock crewed. And the Lord turned and looked
upon Peter, And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he
had said unto him, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me
thrice. And Peter went out and wept bitterly, bitterly. Peter denied him just
like God said he would. And when that cock crew, Our
Lord turned and looked over at Peter. Our Lord was being persecuted. He was being accused. He was
being beaten. And He turned and looked over
at Peter, right in the eyes. And He showed Peter, I see your
sin. I know your sin. I know what you've done." And I'm sure after Peter went
out, I'm sure he could hear all the things that they were doing
to our Lord. And verse 63 says, And the men that held Jesus mocked
Him and smote Him. And when they had blindfolded
Him, they struck Him on the face and asked Him, saying, Prophesy,
who is it that smote thee? and many other things blasphemously
spake they against him. And the whole time Peter just
wept bitterly. Oh, what have I done? We all have the same reason to
weep bitterly. We have all denied him. We have all been ashamed of Him. We've all been the cause of His
suffering and His pain. It was my sin that hung Him on
that tree. Do you know why the Lord Jesus
Christ hung there on that cross? My sin. That's why. I'm the cause. I'm the cause. But our God is so merciful. Oh,
how merciful! In spite of everything Peter
is, in spite of everything I am, in spite of us, our God preached the gospel to
Peter and He preaches the gospel to us. He preached the gospel
to Peter right there in that very moment. Turn with me back
over to John 13, and we'll see right here that our Lord declared
the truth of the gospel. Peter declared the error of religion,
and then our Lord declared the awful truth of man's works. And then He declared the glorious
truth of His own works. Look at verse 36, it says, Simon
Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him,
Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now. You can't. He was going to a place that
no mortal man could return from. Death. Hell. The grave. No mortal man could
return from there. His sin would keep Him there.
So Christ the God-man said, I'm going to take your sin there
for you and I'm going to leave it there. I'm going to take it all to the
grave and I'm going to leave it there. I'm going to remove
the curse from you and then then you will be able
to follow me. After I take care of this, this
great work, this great transaction that has to be made, then you
will be able to follow me. Wherever I am, there you will
be also. Verse 36, Simon Peter said unto
him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I
go, thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me
afterwards. Peter said unto him, now listen
to what Peter said. Peter said unto him, Lord, why
cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy
sake. That's religion. That's religion. That's false religion. I pray that the Lord will open
our eyes to the truth of the gospel, the truth of God's Word,
the truth of how sin is paid for, the truth of salvation. And I hope that our Lord will
expose the lies of religion. And if we're under the lies of
religion, Lord, pull us out. What Peter said right there is
religion. It's false religion. Religion
does not tell men and women that when Christ laid down His life,
He finished the work of salvation. Religion does not tell sinners
that. Religion says, you've got to
lay down your own life. You have to lay down your...
Yes, Christ died. But you have to lay down your
own life. Peter said, Lord, I don't need
you to die for me. Our Lord told him, I'm going
to take care of something for you. And I have to do this alone. You cannot come with me. I'm
going to die for you. And Peter said, Lord, I don't
need you to die for me. I'll die for myself. I'll do all of my own dying." And Peter said, as a matter of
fact, I'll accomplish the work for you. I don't need you to
accomplish the work for me. I'll accomplish the work for
you. He said, I will lay down my life for thy sake. Isn't that
what Peter said? Religion does not declare what
God has done for me. Religion declares what I'm going
to do for God. Oh, religion has it all wrong. That's not what this book says.
That's not what God's Word says. That's not what happened. That's
not what happened. Look back at John chapter 8 with
me. John chapter 8 verse 21 says, Then said Jesus again unto them,
I go my way, and you shall seek me, and shall die in your sins. Whither I go, you cannot come.
Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? Because he saith, Whither
I go, you cannot come. And he said unto them, you are
from beneath. I am from above. You are of this
world. I am not of this world. I said
therefore unto you that you shall die in your sins. For if you
believe not that I am, you shall die in your sins. Die
in your sins. Peter said, now wait a minute,
Lord. Let me tell you what I'm gonna do for you. You need me. How many people on this earth
does that sound like? Our Lord just said, I'm from
above, you're from beneath. And you're gonna die in your
sins if you do not believe that I am. But how many people on
this earth are saying, What must I do for this man, Jesus? How many people on this earth
are trying as hard as they can to do for the Lord? Oh, he does
a lot for the Lord. He's working for Jesus. He's
a carpenter for Christ. denying that the one who spoke
the whole creation into existence, the one who created this earth
and the mountains and the trees and the planets and the stars
and the solar systems, saying that he needs my help
to go build a house, a carpenter for Christ. Turn with me over to Titus chapter
3. Titus chapter 3 verse 5 says,
not by works of righteousness which we have done. It's not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy. He saved us by
the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. which
He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that
being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according
to the hope of eternal life." Peter said, I'll lay down my
life for you. The Lord said, Will you, Peter? Will you? Back over in John 13, Verse 38
says, Jesus answered him, wilt thou lay down thy life for my
sake? Wilt thou lay down thy life for
my sake? Let me tell you all that you're
capable of, Peter, sinner. Let me tell you the only work
you're capable of performing. Here's the truth concerning your
works. He said, Verily, verily, I say
unto thee, The cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me
thrice. Peter, you will not come to me
that you might have life. Peter, you cannot come to me
except the Father which hath sent me draw you. He came unto
his own and his own received him not. Peter said, I don't
even know the man. I don't even like the man. Curse
that man. Jesus answered him, Wilt thou
lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
The cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me thrice. That's
the truth. That's the truth. Now I'm so
thankful that God raised up men to translate His Word into our
language. You know what mercy that was?
Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. In God in
mercy, He raised up some men to diligently and thoroughly
translate His Word into our language. He kept His hand on them and
He preserved His Word. And I've always loved the title
page to our Old Testament and our New Testament. Listen to
the New Testament. It says, The New Testament of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, translated out of the original
Greek and with the former translations diligently compared and revised
by His Majesty's special command, appointed to be read in churches.
And then the bottom of it says, With much privilege. With much
privilege. I thank God for these translators. And He caused them to do such
a good job. It's so easy for us to find a place we want to
read together, the book, the chapter, the verse. And I'm quite
positive that the Lord inspired these men in putting these divisions
where He wanted them to go. But as we read this Word, we
have to remember that it was not written originally with chapter
and verse divisions. And if we don't read the whole
story, it might mean the difference in leaving this message with
extreme sadness or extreme joy. So I want to close this by reading
what our Lord said to Peter in its entirety, no divisions. We're going to read chapter 13,
verse 36 through chapter 14, verse 1. It says, Simon Peter
said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him,
Whither I go thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow
me afterwards. Peter said unto him, Lord, why
cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy
sake. Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my
sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow
till thou hast denied me thrice. Let not your heart be troubled. Let not your heart be troubled.
Peter, that denial, that's what I'm going to pay for. It's already
put away. It's gone. Our Lord said, let
not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself,
that where I am, there you may be also. Where I'm going, you
can't follow me now, but you're gonna follow me afterwards. So
let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. Until next Sunday morning, may
our Lord bless His word to our hearts. You have been listening
to a message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign
Grace Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message or to hear other messages of Sovereign Grace, you can write
to our physical mailing address at 905 Yadkin Street, Kingsport,
Tennessee 37660 or log on to our website at kingsportsovereigngracechurch.com. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 10.45 a.m. and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next Sunday morning
at 8.30 for another message of God's free and sovereign grace.