John, chapter 21. Go to John, chapter 21. This is a good time to be here, isn't it? That not only today,
the Lord's Day, it's a good thing we're doing here. Give thanks
unto the Lord. We just heard a good message. But at this particular time,
we've been looking at two books of the Bible, the book of Exodus. I've been so blessed. Haven't
you? We looked at it years ago, but it's like the gospel, it's
brand new. And what a thing to study, what
a book, what a word from our Lord. It's about God's people
going out, going out to a land that flows with milk and honey.
I want that. I want to be brought out. John,
the Gospel of John. You shouldn't have a favorite
gospel or a favorite book, but the Gospel of John is so marvelous
and great. book about our great Lord, all
he said and did. Not all he said, but much he
said and did. Many, many promises to his disciples. All right, the Lord had risen
from the grave. The disciples, he'd shown himself
to them twice. And several days went by and
Simon Peter, remember, said, I'm going fishing. They said,
we're coming with you. And they toiled all night, remember,
and caught nothing significantly. Now the Lord was on the shore
watching them the whole time, in the dark, waiting to be gracious. He had prepared for them a meal,
and He said in verse 12, Come and dine. He said that. He called them. Come and dine.
The first time He called them, what did He say to them? Come.
Follow me. Come and dine. All things are
ready. We read that, Luke read that in Luke 14. Come, all things are ready. He
has prepared a great supper. A great supper. So great salvation. The supper
of marriage, supper of the Lamb. I want to be there. Don't you?
We are there. This is the rehearsal dinner. Joseph and Kara get married,
you know, they're gonna have a rehearsal dinner. I'm looking
forward to that Most marriages I don't look forward to but I'm
looking forward to that a happy and joyous occasion between two
believers. Well That's what we're doing
here. And They're everybody there is
gonna be believe. Oh What a joyous occasion come
Come and dine, he said. Come. Just come. Sit down. Don't
bring anything. Come. All things are ready. All
things prepared. Just come, sit, and eat. Now who will come and sit and
eat? The hungry and the thirsty. Blessed
are you if you hunger and thirst. I love the scripture. He said,
Open your mouth wide. And I'll feel it. I'll feel it. Oh, thank God. Come and dine, he said. Christ
hath provided, and the meal he provides is himself. No greater
fare than his body and blood. And in verse 13, he's the one
that served them. He cometh. He cometh. The Lord
tells us to come. Then he comes to us and takes
the bread. and gives it to them, and fish like one. He serves them. What a Lord who
would become a servant. It's no wonder God gave Him a
name above every name. He took upon Him the form of
a servant. He is still serving us. You remember
the story of Him washing feet? He arose. He had the central
place, rightfully so. They watched him rise up from
the table and gird himself with a towel and begin to wash all
their feet. But our Lord is still serving His people. And He even
said that, the Scriptures even says that, that when we're all
there together that He will serve us. It's hard to imagine that. He Himself is the one that said,
the greatest among you shall be a servant. That's Him. He served them. The greatest
thing you can say about someone is give themselves in the service
to another. And that's exactly what the Lord
Jesus Christ did. He proved his love to his bride,
his people. He gave himself in service to
them. He still serves them. Oh, let
us not be as ungrateful children that don't acknowledge the service
and the food and all that our parents do for us. Let us not
be like that. I'm so ashamed of myself for
so long living in my parents' home under their good graces
and provisions and all the food, all the many meals she prepared
me and washed me and everything I had. And all that was required
is, thank you. And that's all the Lord requires
of me and him. Well, verse 14 says, this is the third time
that he showed himself to his disciples after he was risen
from the dead. This is the third time he showed
himself to them. How many times has our Lord shown
himself to us? Thousands of times. Thousands
of times. He spoke to them, He fed them,
He showed Himself. Oh, how many times. Most in here,
they heard His voice. Most in here have heard His voice
for years. Many in here. Years. Heard the
Gospel for years. And again, let us not take one
single message for granted. Some people never hear it. One time, and the food is prepared
from this plate. You know, who was I talking to?
I was talking to somebody this morning. Somebody said it's a
good radio message. I said, no. It was good. In spite of the fact that I brought
it. The content, everything about it is God's Word. It's good.
It's good. This is good. I said, that's a good bullet.
I said, I know it. I read it. I ate it. It's good
food. Oh, the food that's prepared here is so good. So good. My wife, you know, a good cook
is a gift. It's a heart, isn't it? It's
a gift. And the Lord gave me a wife that could
cook well as soon as we were married. I was really worried
when we were dating, Wesley. She never went in the kitchen
one time. I never saw her boil water. I was scared. But the first meal and every
one thereafter was excellent. Excellent. It's a gift. The gospel is a gift. Good food is a gift. Anyway,
one time we were eating somewhere else when we were first married,
and I came back out of the house. A young couple served us. You
know who they are. And we were in the car, and I
kept saying, I'm so thankful. I am so thankful. She said, for
what? I said, for your cooking. Because
what we ate was not good. Not good. I can't imagine sitting
and listening to what this world sits and listens to. We passed
by that Catholic building. I said, Mindy, that could be
us coming out of there. Could be. Don't take this from
me. The Lord served them. I bet you
it's the best fish and bread they had ever put in their mouth. They toil all night, they're
hungry, and it was good, wasn't it? It was good. And the Lord,
all He said for them to do was, come and dine, and I'll fill
you up. And they did. He did. Oh, how
many times He's shown Himself to us. How many times we've heard
His blessed voice, seen His glory. How could we not believe Him?
Huh? How could we not love such a
servant as this? How? Would you tell me how we
could not love Him supremely? It's so good to us, isn't it?
When all those disciples left Him, you know, when He was hanging
on the cross, He should have left them, shouldn't He? He can't
do it. He's too loving. He's too kind. He loved them,
and He's loving His own. He's going to love them to the
end. So they leave Him, and He's going to call every one of them
back. And He did. Two most blessed words Simon Peter ever heard.
And you know it wasn't the Lord himself that said that. It was
an angel. He told his angel to go tell my disciples and Peter. And I'm going before and you
come and I'll meet you. That was the most blessed. That's
the reason he dove out of the boat. He was told to come. And he kept telling him to come,
and he keeps telling us to come. Come and dine. Oh, isn't our
Lord good? How could we not love Him? He
loves us so. You know the reason you've heard
so many messages, good messages, you know the reason you've seen
His glory, you know the reason that you remain here and keep
coming back, you know the reason Because God first loved you.
God chose you. That's right. And drew you with
cords of love. Cords of what? A man. A man. And He will not let you go. He
would not let old Simon Peter go. He would not let Thomas miss
another service. Bless his holy name. Thomas said,
I ain't going. I don't believe. Our Lord said,
come Thomas, touch my side. He won't let go of us. And here
I'm, I'm here to tell you, don't you let go of him. Don't let
go now. Don't leave the house. Keep yourself
in the love of God. Keep yourself. Don't move away
from the hope of the gospel. Don't do it. Don't leave the
house. Till he comes. He told that to all the children
of Israel. In Egypt, he said, he's coming. He's going to smite
Egypt. He's going to smite them all. He's going to smite them
all. But when I see the blood, I'm not going to smite you. I'm
going to bless you. Bring you to the promised land. And he
said, don't one of you leave the house until the sun comes
up. Until the sun comes. Hang on now. Hang on to Him. Lay hold of Him. Don't let go.
Don't let go. Hold fast to your confidence,
steadfast unto the end. What's your confidence? One word. Him. We were in Detroit, Michigan
years ago when Hannah was just a babe in arms. She was about A toddler, one or two years old.
And a big, big city. That's the first time I'd been
in a big, that's probably the biggest city I'd ever been in.
And I had her in my arms and we were going to cross the street.
And it ain't like Rocky Mountain. And boy, I was holding her tight. I'm not going to let go of her. I ain't going to do it. I love her too much. And you
know what she was doing? She was strangling me, holding
me. She's not going to let go of
me either. You know how he holds you? You know why he holds you?
You know why you hold him? You know why you keep holding
him and won't let go? Because He holds you. Can you leave? If you can, you
will. But if you belong to Him, you
can't. You can't drive sheep off. You
can make goats mad and they'll leave. And they'll go off by
themselves. Not sheep. Not sheep. Oh, bless His holy name. So He
said to Simon, They're sitting around by the fire. The Lord
had a fire. And He's prepared a fire for
us. Are you cold? Do you need warming? Does the
gospel warm you? Are you hungry? Are you tired? Do you need rest? Do you need
food? Do you need Christ? Just come
and dine. And then He said to Simon. He
singled out old simple Simon. Why? Because Simon's always the
one speaking up first. He needed this. And I do too. So he said to Simon in verse
15, when they'd dined, he said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of
Jonas, oh dear Simon, don't you love
Simon Peter? Don't you love him? I love him.
I can't wait to see him. The amazing thing is he's going
to look forward to seeing me. Amazing. Simple Simon. That's all he was. Just an old
fisherman. Young fisherman. Simple, sinful
Simon. Nothing special about Simon,
was there? Not before the Lord saved him,
not after. The only thing special is because
the Lord chose him. Do you know the Lord always called
him Simon? I can only find one place where He actually called
him Peter. You know that? One place. He said, Thou art
Peter, the rock. Every other time He called him
Simon, son of Jonas. Simon. Why is that? He's reminding
him of who he is. He's reminding him of where He
found him. I hope you don't mind me calling
you a sinner. Anybody offended by calling you a sinner? Old
Brother Scott used to say, go ahead and call me a sinner. Convince
me. That's who Christ came to save. I reckon it took Simon a while
to get used to the name Peter. Don't you? What's your name,
Simon? Well, I thought it was a rock,
Peter. Oh, I feel like anything but a rock. Jacob. How long do you think
it took Jacob to get used to the name Prince? What's your
name? Jacob? Well, I thought it was Israel.
Prince with God. Well, God says so. I sure don't
see one. I look in the mirror, I don't
see a Prince. I look in the mirror, I don't see a rock. I see a sinner. A simple-minded, sinful man. Simon. Simon Peter. He called him the son of Jonas,
didn't he? Over and over. Who's Jonas? Do
you know who his father was? Jonas Simon Bar-Jonah. Who's
Jonas? It's not the Jonas that was swallowed. It's another Jonas. Popular name.
Who was his father? We don't know. We don't know
anything about him. Was he a believer? It doesn't
appear so. Zebedee, James and John's father. Was he a believer? I don't think
so. Do you? But old Jonas, that's
his father. You know, there's no honor or
respect or glory in our given name or our surname. You can
be named Peter and be a lost... You can be named Paul and you
can be a hellion. I know. There's no honor, no respect,
no glory in our given name or our surname. My father, Henry
Mahan, whom I greatly respect and love, he was named for his
grandfather. His grandfather was a drunk,
a worthless no-good. He neglected his family so much
so that my grandfather, my father's father, had to leave home as
a 17-year-old boy and go to work in British Honduras on a banana
plantation and sent every dime he made back to support his eight
siblings because his father was a drunk Henry Mahan. There's one name, here's the
point I'm trying to make, there's one name under heaven that deserves
all honor and all glory and that deserves to be remembered. Jesus
Christ, George Whitefield. I love that man. I honor that
man. I respect that man. One of the greatest preachers
ever known. He said, let the name of George Whitefield perish
from the earth. He said, let the name of Jesus
Christ be praised. Simon, son of Jonas. Simon, you sinner, a son of a
sinner. That's all I am, the son of Adam.
That's all my father was. That's all his father and his
father and his father and his father were. A bunch of sinners,
but some of them, by the grace of God, are saved by grace. Called,
chosen, elected, and nothing special about any of them. And all of their salvation is
these two words, but God, from the beginning, chose them to
salvation. Simon, son of Jonas, you belong
to me. And he kept coming. Simon would
go off fishing. Christ would call him back. Simon is a reminder. Who he was,
where he found him. He just found him. You know where
he found him? He was fishing. You know where
he just found him? The third time? Fishing. How about you? What were you
thinking before you came here this morning? What were you thinking
about? The Lord? First of all, anything
else? Fishing? Anything? Preparing
a meal? Anything in this world? Anything
that comes through your mind? Sure it did. We're all a bunch
of sinners. Simon, come on back now. Sit down. Come on down. Isn't
he good? How could you not love him? How
could you not love Him with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength? How could you not? Who wouldn't
love such a Lord as this? And then He asked him this question,
which is the question of all questions. And this is why I
couldn't get past these three verses. I intended to deal with
it all, but I couldn't do it. This is the question of all questions. Do you hear me? Listen to me
now. This is what the Lord asked Simon,
and this is what He's asking us. Verse 15, Simon, son of Jonas,
lovest thou me more than these? I believe our Lord waved His
hand. He's not talking about His fellow fishermen, though,
that applies. He wouldn't do that, but he's
waved, I believe he waved his hands, boats, nets, fish, ocean,
that was his life, all his life. He loved, loved, loved, lived
for. And he's back there again. And
he says, he asks him this question, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou
me, Christ, more than all of you? This is the question, isn't it? Isn't it? We need to be asked. Every professing disciple, like
these men, okay? In every disciple, in every believer,
there dwells three things abiding in us. Three things abiding in
us by the grace of God, the work of God. Faith, hope, and love. Faith. Faith in God. It's a God-given
gift to believe in God. Now, I don't mean believe in
a God. I mean believe in God, the God
of the Bible. Do you believe God is God? Do
you? Do you know how few people do?
Brothers and sisters, I believe God is God. I mean God in every
sense of the word. Sovereign, reigning, ruling,
controlling, doing as He will, according to His will. That's
God of the Bible. I believe God. Don't you? You believe His Word.
Faith is to believe His Word. Do you believe His Word? Do you
believe all His Word? Every Word? All that the prophets
said? All that the apostles said? That
that's the Word of God? Do you believe that? You know
how few people do? I do. The way they call heresy,
that's what I believe. I believe everything the prophets
say. Everything that the apostles
say. There's not one jot or tittle in this book that I don't believe
God put in there. No scriptures of any private
interpretation. Every man spake as he was moved by the Spirit.
This is the Word of God. Don't you love it? Don't you
love it? You don't only just believe it,
you love it. You live on it, do you? Do you
really? You're back again. Faith in Christ. Faith. Now how about these three? Faith,
hope and love. Faith. Is Jesus Christ your only
faith, trust, confidence that God will someday receive you
into heaven but for Christ's sake? Really? Is Christ all your
faith? Is He really? Do you know how
few people? have this precious gift of faith.
But you haven't. Simon. Sally. From where? Very few people know you. Boy,
I know someone who knows you. Or you wouldn't be here. Faith. Precious faith. Hope. Hope. Is your hope in God? Is your
hope in Christ? Is your hope of glory in Jesus
Christ and Jesus Christ alone? Can you not say, do you not love
to sing this hymn, my hope is built? How many times have you
said that? Surely you're tired of it by
now. No! This is my hope. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus Christ's blood and righteousness. I dare not trust
the sweetest frame or feeling, but solely, wholly lean on the
Lord Jesus Christ's name. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.
All other ground is sinking sand. I know it so. My hope is in Christ. What a blessed thing! We're saved
by hope in a world that's hopeless. Look at this world. There's no
saving this place. It's hopeless. Well, in a world
of hopelessness, I can go to bed at night. I can go to sleep
at night. I've got hope, don't you? Where
is it, preacher? It's within the veil, seated
at the right hand of the majesty on high. He's coming back for
me. Faith, hope, and love. What's the greatest of the three?
Love. Love. Love. What is love? Well, love is it right here. I am here. Out of the heart are
the issues of life and love. Love. The heart. The heart. With the heart man believeth
and loveth the truth. Okay? It's the heart. The heart. The heart is the affection. The heart is fondness. You ever
look at, I know you look at your children or someone else you
love and you just, your heart, you feel it in your heart, don't
you? You don't say, well, I think
I love that. No, your heart beats, skips a
beat. Right? It's with the heart. That's
where the affection is, the fondness. The heart is a desire. The heart
is longing. The heart, it consumes you. When something is deep in your
heart, it consumes you. Christ said, Love is thy name. Now, love does involve the whole
person. It does. Heart, a desire, a longing. And you know, who or whatever
it is that you long for, that's what you'll go after. That's
what you'll go after. Or whoever you fall in love with,
that's who you're going to go after. And nothing and nobody's
going to stop you. I would have climbed the highest
mountain and swum the deepest sea to go after my beloved. Simon Peter did, didn't he? Dove
out of that boat, swam a hundred yards with his coat on, with
his clothes on. To get to who? The one he loved. Luke read from Luke 14 of all
the excuses that people gave for not coming to the marriage
supper. Why? Why didn't they come? They didn't
love Christ. Simon couldn't get there fast enough. But the whole person is involved.
The heart is the desire, the longing, the mind. You think
on the one you love. You think on them, don't you?
Think on them. If you're married, Rarely a day goes by, a few hours
go by, you don't think of it. My parents were together. They
were married 72 years. And the last 25 years, they were
never apart. Right, Mom? Dad didn't want you
to go to the grocery store with him. They were always together
until he died. That's love. That's love. Body, mind, heart, body. When you love somebody, you want
to hug them, don't you? Don't you? Kiss them? Isn't that
this display of true love? You want to kiss them? Great,
well, no, with a holy kiss. Don't you? Don't you want to
kiss them and be kissed by them? Somebody you love? Don't you? The Beloved said in the Song
of Solomon, let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. Isn't
it? That's the gospel. Oh, Lord,
come today and speak to me. You love their voice. Kisses
and praise. Lord, lay hold of me by the gospel. You want to lay hold of them.
Lord, I want to feel your presence. I don't want to go through the
motions drawn here with my lips. I want my heart in this thing.
I want to feel you with me. Don't you? If you love Him, you
do. The whole soul, heart, mind,
body and soul, that's the innermost being. The innermost being. You know, I loved my parents
as a child, I did, but it wasn't even close to their love for
me, was it? No way. But I did. And sometimes they'd
ask me, do you love me? Do you love your mom? I'd say, yes, I do. And they'd
say, why? And all I could say was, just
cause. Did your kids ever say that?
Why? Cause. Cause what? Just cause. One time
I said, because you, she asked me, I said, because you wash
my socks. Well, that's serving it. I did
love them. Not like they loved me. I do love the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not even close. I'm so ashamed. That's why I'm here. I want to hear my voice. I am
so tired of hearing my voice. But you need to hear His voice.
And I love feeding you. Because I love the food I'm feeding
you. I love sheep food. Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ?
How could you not? There's a passage in 1 Corinthians
that says, If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him
be anathema. Another passage, Paul said, Know
you not your own self? Christ is in you. Yes, our love
is shallow. Yes, our love is fickle. Yes,
our love is so faint, so cold, so faint. Thine love to us so
great. But kindle a flame of love. And
what does that is this blessed gospel. So he asked him, Simon
Peter, lovest thou me? Do you love me? Don't you love
his person? Don't you love to hear about
his Altogether lovely person, the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I want you to fall in love, or rather I want the Lord
to make you fall in love with Him. And so what am I to preach?
Him. Him. The Bridegroom. I want you
to hear the Bridegroom's voice so that you beg Him to marry
you. Altogether lovely. There's none
like Him. Oh, and the more you hear Him, The more you hear Him,
the more you're near Him, the more you see Him, the more you
walk with Him and talk with Him, the more lovely He becomes to
you. Don't you love His voice, His gospel, His Word? Don't you
love it? Isn't there some time when He speaks to you, He really
speaks to you? Ain't nothing like it. It's a
blessing from God. My beloved wife, after all these
years, soon to be 40, Well, I better know it is 45, 44. She calls my name all the time.
I get up before she does and make the coffee, and she's lying
in bed. She's still asleep. And after a while, I'm sitting
there reading, and after a while I hear, good morning. I still love that boy. And I take her coffee in bed.
How about you, Wesley? How about you, John? Kelly says she don't want to
be woken up. I'm not. What the point is, I'm
still hearing her voice. I still love to hear it. And
my daughter, well, my daughter says, Daddy. And now the other two more, Pawpaw. Is there anything sweeter red
than that? Pawpaw! Abba! Father! Help! That's His voice. His blessed voice. His blessed
word. Do you ever grow tired of hearing
it? His worship. When you love the
Lord Jesus Christ, you love His worship. You love to come in
His honor, don't you? You come here to worship the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's so worthy, isn't He? We
all got together in Abby's honor. Wasn't that good? Mindy was just
saying, wasn't that a good time? We were all together. It was
a good time, wasn't it? Why? Why were we there? In Abby's
honor. We all love her, don't we? And
the food was good. What a table! What a spread! What a family! What a blessing! What fellowship! What about this? There ain't nothing on the top
side of God's earth like this. What a fellowship! What a joy
divine! In the honor of the Son of the
Most High God. Isn't He worthy? Oh, let's have
more like this. His worship. Don't you love His
worship? The fellowship with the saints. His glory. Those who love Him love His glory.
Love His honor. You know what I'd do to somebody
if they started talking about Abbey? You know what her father
would do? What about my Lord Jesus Christ? We love His honor. We love His
glory. We love His name! We make mention His name is holy,
is glorified, is high and holy. Don't take that name in vain.
I love that name. I fear that name. It makes me
ill to hear people use that name. It cuts me like a knife when
I see it on bulletin boards. What about you? That's love. You love His name. You honor
His name. Simon Peter, Simon Peter, son
of John, lovest thou me? More than these? More than these. Now he was talking about the
sea and the boats and the nets and the fishing. And he said,
do you love me more than all this stuff? One time he did call
it stuff. He said, when the Lord comes,
don't come down from the roof to get your stuff. It's just
a bunch of stuff. That's all it is. And we accumulate
so much stuff, don't we? And our Lord said, Do you love
me more than all this stuff? Do you? Now, the Lord knows we
have great affection for other people, and we should. We're
told to love one another as we love ourselves. We're told to
love even our enemy. We're told to love. We should
love. We do love. We do love our loved
ones, don't we? But not more than Him. You can't
do it. And that, to me, is the greatest
proof of all that you love Christ. It's when somebody, your loved
one, comes between you and your Lord. That's when you're going
to find out. That's when you're really going
to find out. I've said before, when do your family come to visit
you on the weekend? Sunday morning, what are you
going to do? What are you going to do? You're going to go be
with the one you love. Aren't you? Who's that? Jesus
Christ and His people. Your true family. True family.
Well, lovest thou me more than these? The Lord knows we love
things too. And we shouldn't. We shouldn't
do it. Love not the world or the things of the world. We shouldn't
do it. But we're sinners. We're in this world. And we sure
do like things, don't we? I admit it. I love, you know,
sea. I like the ocean. I love the ocean. I love Ocean
Isle Beach. Man, I love sitting on that beach.
I love Ocean Isle Fish Company. I could eat my weight in that
fish, that shrimp they serve down there. Don't have it in
Franklin County like that. Oh, and watching that ocean.
If I was down there, I'd have me a boat and I'd have me nets
and I'd have all of that. But I prefer being right here
in Franklin County. In this building today, above
all of that, if I never had that again, I have now. Would you say that? Amen. What do you love more? What do you love more? Listen
to what He said. He saith unto him, Yea, Lord. Yes. Yes. He didn't hesitate. Now he just denied him. He just cursed. He just acted
like he didn't know him. And he went fishing. He couldn't
wait on him. And he went back fishing. But
the Lord pressed him with this vital question in his heart.
He said, Simon Peter, Simon Peter, son of John, do you really love
me more than all the others? Yes, Lord. You shouldn't have to stop and
think about it. And in spite of all that, in spite of all
that, and I've seen it in your face this morning already, I've
said, don't you love his word? And don't you love his gospel?
And I see you doing this. We're ashamed of our love. We're
ashamed of it. But thank God we do have some. Thank God. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. But here was his hope. Here was
his confidence. Here was his assurance. He said,
Lord, thou knowest. Yea, Lord, thou knowest that
I love thee. See, he knew that there was a
time he did not love Christ at all. He remembered. It wasn't so long ago, three
years or so ago, he did not even care to name Jesus Christ. Have you ever heard it? He heard
of it. He heard of it, everybody did. Did he go follow it? No,
he did not. He wasn't interested. And the Lord came and called
him, and he fell in love. The Lord set his love on Simon
and called Simon to love him. He's like a little child, he
said. But he loved him. Yea, Lord, thou knowest. You
know. Thou knowest me. Psalm 139. There's not a word
in my Tongue, my mouth, you don't know altogether. You know my
down city, my upright. You know what I go after. You
know what distracts me. You know this. You know that.
You know my sins. You know my falling, my failing.
You know me, Lord. You know me. And that's my hope.
That's my peace. That's my comfort. That I know
you know me. And you know I love you as weak
as it is. And if you didn't love me, you
wouldn't keep calling me. Yay, Lord. When he said this, feed my lambs,
and then he went on, verse 16 and 17, asked him again, Simon
son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, yea, Lord,
thou knowest I love thee. He said unto him, feed my sheep. And he said unto him the third
time, Simon, son of Jonas. And there's, I'm sure there's
a pause between them. Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou
me? Peter was grieved because he
said the third time. And I know he was reminded that
he denied him three times. How many times have you heard
this message? Thirty times. And he was grieving. And he said
unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that
I love thee. That's my hope. And Jesus said
unto him, feed my sheep. Now, he said first, feed my lambs. And I'm going to quit. When the
Lord found Simon Peter and all the others, He loved them. He
loved them. And He found them and He fed them. He fed them
for three years. Didn't He? Every meal they ate,
the Lord fed them. And the 5,000, 3,000, 5,000 and
more. Whomever and whatever you love, you feed, don't you? We've
got two old cats. And man, you can't believe what
we feed them. They ain't worth it. I know them.
But we feed them. Why? We love them. Whatever you
love, whoever you love, you feed. You love to feed them. You love
to feed them. And you feed your children and
you love them. Do you feed your rebel children? Huh? Your rebellious children,
will you feed them too? You sure will. Our God feeds
everything. Everyone. Well, He said to Simon
Peter, if you love Me, then you feed My lambs. You feed my lamb. Now what's a lamb? A baby sheep. What do lambs start out on? Every
single mammal on the earth starts eating one thing. What? Milk. Milk. Pure milk. Mother's milk. Pure milk. Not man-made formula. Nurse them. Nurse them. Feed them my milk. The milk of
my word. God's milk. The word. He told
young Timothy and every preacher. There's a young preacher. Preach
the word, Timothy. The sincere milk of the word.
Start with the milk of the word. Baby food. For babe's in Christ. Make it plain. Make it simple.
The word of truth. What is it? Christ's word. All right? We cut our teeth.
You cut your teeth. We cut our teeth on these simple... And you love it today, don't
you? Cain and Abel. Anybody want to hear that story
again? Cain and Abel. It all starts right there. What
about Noah's Ark? I get a chill up my spine when
I just mention these things. This is Christ. We cut our teeth
on it. The world doesn't have it. Noah's
Ark. What about Abraham and Isaac
going up on that mountain? Mmm! I'll never forget when I
got the first taste, when I first heard a man preach, that the
sacrifice, the son sacrificed, and the ram caught in the thicket.
Oh! Jacob and Esau. Serpent on a
pole. Smitten Rock. Ruth. Esther. You know what? Do you still,
do you remember your first taste of that milk of God's Word? Do
you remember the first time you heard those things? Do you still
love it? Do you still love it? The milk of God's Word. I still
love milk. I drank milk the other night.
Friday night, I was wanting something, didn't know what I wanted, and
there was some cornbread flaying there, and I thought, hmm. Milk, whole milk, not two percent. I put that cornbread and that
milk, oh man, I inhaled it. It wasn't enough. Wasn't enough,
so I thought, well, there's some cereal in there. I put cereal
in the milk, you know. I ate all that, and I thought,
it's not enough. I had some chocolate ice cream
in the freezer, and I've done this since I was five years old.
Take a big old scoop of chocolate ice cream, put it in that milk,
stir it up. It's kind of satisfying. Milk. Never get tired of it. Feed them. The sincere milk of
the Word. Feed my sheep. By the way, lambs and sheep,
he said, feed my lambs and my sheep, not giraffes. Put it down there where they
can get to it. What's sheep food? Grass. You grow up, little lambs, they
don't eat ivy. They eat grass. Grass. Make them lie down in green pastures
and feed them this. There's nothing I love more except
eating. Oh, my. Grass, milk, meat. Christ said, what did he say
was meat? My body is meat indeed. And my dad said this, and he
said this again to him a third time, feed my sheep. There's
children, there's babes in Christ, there's young men and there's
older men. He said this one time to us preachers. He said, don't,
he said, say the Word of God exactly the way God's Word says
it. Don't bring it down. Don't change it to bring it down
to the level of a child. Don't do that. God's Word is
too high, too holy. God will make them understand.
And use words like this. Keep using words that God uses. Use words like justification,
sanctification, propitiation, reconciliation. That's too big. It's God's Word. Feed it to them. Feed it, feed it, feed it. Teach
them, teach them, teach them. And they'll grow up loving propitiation. Reconciliation. You reckon God
will reconcile me? Peter, Simon Peter, feed my lamb. Do you love me? Feed my lamb.
Do you love me more than me? Feed them. That's his occupation. And brothers
and sisters, he's not just talking about preachers. He's not just
talking about preachers. He would do you no good. He's
talking about all of us. And we're to feed His sheep and
His lamb. We're ever together, speaking
to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and
making melody in our hearts to the Lord and build up one another
on this most holy faith. Have each other over, yes. But
the fellowship and the real feeding is the gospel. And that's to
every one of us. You feed. You feed. Okay.