Sure as thy fruit shall last,
to thine shall be given the brightest glory, sure as can heal and brighter
than a pen. I love that hymn, don't you?
By the grace of God, by the grace of God, I can say from my heart,
I love these hymns of praise. I love His Word. I love His Kingdom. I love this place. I love you. I love being here. I love what we're doing. Can you say that? From the heart,
there's no place I'd rather be, no one I'd rather be with, nothing
I'd rather be doing than this right here. Now that's a miracle.
If you'd have known me 40 years ago, you wouldn't believe that
I'm here. You would not believe that I'm
standing before you. And like I said the other day,
for lack of a better way to put it, I can't believe it, but I
believe. I can't believe it, but I believe. I am. You're looking
at a miracle of God's grace. A miracle. And I guess I'm looking
at several of them too. Oh, my tears. For her, my tears
fall. For her, my prayers are sin.
Don't they? Pray for one another. I love thy church, O God. The
air as the apple of thine eye. The raven on thy hand. What a
hymn. Thank you, Robin. Thank you. John. Go to John 21 now. John chapter 21. John 21. Now, the Lord has been crucified. And He was buried. And they thought
He was dead. But He's not dead. And He's still
not dead. He's still alive. That's what
He said in the Revelation. Behold, I am He that was dead,
but I am alive evermore. I am He that liveth. And in Him
we live and move and have our being. They thought He would
redeem Israel. Remember the disciples on the
road to Emmaus? They said, we thought He would
redeem Israel. He did. He did. Most certainly. They
said, we thought He would restore the kingdom. No. It was never
His intention to have an earthly kingdom. This is not His kingdom. Not His kingdom where we would
fight. But He has a heavenly kingdom.
A spiritual kingdom. And yes, He set that up and established
that and put us in it. There is a kingdom, though we
can't see it. And like whoever wrote the song, though the wrong
seems all so strong, our God is the ruler yet. He reigns and
rules over the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth. Now the Lord do all these things.
Simon Peter was a believer. Simon Peter loved the Lord because
the Lord first loved him. You may keep saying that because
he deserves the honor and glory. We would not love him if he had
not first loved us. And herein is love. Not that
we loved him, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the
propitiation for our sins. Nevertheless, Simon Peter loved
the Lord. He really did, because the Lord
loved him. That's how you know. And he believed
the Lord. He followed the Lord. But Simon's
a sinner, isn't he? He was a sinner until the day
he died. He's not a sinner now. He just denied the Lord. The Lord who died for him, the
Lord died for him, suffered for him, but he denied the Lord as
due witness. He reverted right back to that
old man that he used to be. In a heartbeat, like that. Reverted right back to that sorry
fellow that the Lord first found, that fisherman. It didn't take
long, did it? The Lord taught him a lesson
and He's teaching us one too. If He doesn't hold us up, we'll
deny Him, we'll go right back to this world. Yet, the Lord
sent word to him. He's the first one that He mentioned
by name. He said, my sheep, hear my voice.
He calls them by name. The Lord sent word through an
angel, and then through some others, even some women. Sent
word to Simon Peter, go tell my disciples and Peter. The only one He called by name.
The first to deny Him. Chief of sinners. This is how
good our Lord is, isn't it? So gracious, so merciful. Go
tell my disciples and Peter that I go before them in the Galilee.
Go, and I'll meet you there. Him that cometh. Him that cometh. In no wise cast
out. Alright? Then the third time
the Lord showed Himself to them. How many times has He shown Himself
to them? I thought about when he told some disciples that came,
he said, you go show John again. I love that. If your name is
John, you ought to really love that. Go show John again the
things that you've seen and heard. The death here, the lame walked,
the blind received their sight, the dead are raised. He's still
doing that. Go show them again. Again and
again and again, the Lord kept showing Himself to His disciples.
We ought to believe, shouldn't we? We ought to trust Him more,
shouldn't we? We ought to have more assurance than we do. He
keeps showing Himself to us again and again and again. We ought
to be like Manoah's wife. Do you remember what she said
to her husband? Manoah said, Lord's going to
kill us. Do you remember that? Manoah, because he knows he's
such a sinner like us, he said, Lord's going to kill me. And
Manoah's wife rebuked him gently, said, husband, Manoah, we shall
not surely die. If the Lord were pleased to kill
us, he would not have received a burnt offering. He wouldn't
have sent Christ to die for sinners. Christ came to die for us that
we might not die, that we should not die. And neither would he
have showed us all these things. He wouldn't have showed us this. Nor would it this time have told
us such things. Keep telling us. Keep telling
us. Keep reminding us. Keep reminding us again and again
and again. But Simon Peter just denied the
Lord, shamefully so, and so have we. But one way, here's how you
know it, I hope this message will be a comfort for sinners. One way you know that you belong
to the Lord, that no matter how many times you deny Him, No matter
how ashamed of yourself you are, no matter how often you deny Him and act like
that old man, one sure way you know that you belong to the Lord
is. When Simon Peter denied Him,
the Lord somehow was seeing. There was nothing blocking the
Lord's view of Simon. and Simon's of the Lord. And
it says that the Lord looked at him. After he denied him a
third time, it says the Lord looked at him. Apparently he
was not far away, and the Lord looked up at Simon, and it broke
his heart. And it says he went out and wept
bitterly. That's one way you know that
even if you do deny Him, through His Word that are the eyes of
the Lord, if His Word pierces your heart and you weep bitterly. Have you not wept bitterly over
your own sin and shame and denial of our Lord? You belong to Him. You belong to Him. And he'd call you back like he
did Simon. Well, he did. He did. And they were out in
that ship, remember? They'd go fishing. They grew
tired of waiting on the Lord. How many days was it? Children
of Israel weren't out of Egypt. Three days! Three days and they
wanted to go back. How long was Simon and all of
them, how long was the Lord out of view? Just a few days. They'd
say, Simon, I'm going fishing. I'm tired of waiting. I've got
to do something. No, you don't have to do anything.
Wait on the Lord. Wait, I say, on the Lord. We
need patience, don't we? Oh, how we need patience. Anybody?
Well, after another long, fruitless night of trying to do something,
they hear his voice. Children? John Thomas. That voice sounds familiar. Have
you any meat? No. All of them, no. We went
right back to doing what we used to do and being what we used
to be, but after it was all over, empty, it didn't give us anything. It didn't fulfill us at all.
It didn't wait on the Lord. Just the fruitless light of darkness. Have you any meat? They all said
no. And can you not say? Some of
you are getting up in years now, Deborah. You are, and I mean it's a reality.
I was out at the park. This shocked me. I was out at
the park, running around. It's not doing a lot of running
anymore, but running around, and this fella, younger fella,
was walking, and we just struck up a little conversation. He
said, how old are you? And seriously, I thought, Sixty-two. And he said, you're not meeting
me in your age doing this. Seriously, some of y'all think
I'm young, don't you, John? But it's not young anymore. It's
not young anymore. I'm not young anymore. It's amazing. It boggles my mind, doesn't it?
Doesn't it? I still think sometimes like
an 18-year-old. Why did I say all that? After all these years, can you
not say that after all these years of accumulating, of doing,
what are you getting out of it? Nothing. I get some measure
of enjoyment out of my children, of things. I enjoy things as
much as the next person, but really, there's nothing to it. Listen,
do you esteem this as everything? Do you not? I really do. I can't believe it, but I do.
I do, I do, I do. There's nothing I'd rather do.
That's what the Lord, you see. I'm not bragging. I'm not talking
about myself at all. I'm talking about the One who
puts this. See, the Lord puts the world in the world's heart.
And that's what's in their heart. He's taken it out of His people. He puts in their heart a desire
to get out of this place. To get it out of them. Like David,
one thing that I desire of the Lord, that will I seek after.
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord, this one, as long
as I'm here, never leave. It will be a vital part of his
body, worshiping, rejoicing. That I may dwell in the house
of the Lord there, All the days of my life, to behold the beauty
of the Lord. I see beauty in Him, don't you?
I see glory, I see wonder in Him, don't you? And to inquire into His temple. That's what I desire by God's
grace. Well, have you any meat? They all said, no. Can you not
say that? No. You must belong to Him. Or else He wouldn't keep showing
you and reminding you of the vanity of this world. He wouldn't
keep bringing you back here and reminding you there's nothing
out there. This is your portion. You must belong to Him. Like
Simon Peter. Simon was in that boat. Thomas
was in that boat. And they were glad of it because
they heard his voice again. Again. And again. Go show John
again. And after another amazing display
of his sovereign power and auspiciousness, John said, it is the Lord. John said that. He said to Simon,
it is the Lord. John said. John Sheila didn't
say that. Did you hear him? Whatever it is, it is the Lord. The Lord sent the snow. It's
the Lord. It's the Lord. Trials. Tribulation. Affliction. Pain. Suffering. Sorrow. It is
the Lord. Terror. It is the Lord. Whatever it is. I the Lord do
all these things. Isn't that what he said? I the
Lord do... Be of good cheer. It is I, he
said. It is I. Whatever it is, it is
of the Lord. Our brother's in the hospital.
It's the Lord. Our brother is healed. It's the Lord. Our brother
went to be with the Lord. It's the Lord. Isn't it good?
It's the Lord. It is I. Wherever you are, the
Lord is. Whatever it is, it is the Lord. Understand that? He reigns and
rules over everything. Down to the hairs on your head. You may lose sight of Him. He
never loses sight of you. Oh, He hides Himself, but He's
still there. He hasn't left you. He said,
I'll never leave you. You lose sight of Him, He'll
never lose sight of you. You may run from Him, but He'll
send for you. He'll fetch you. He will. His
arms are not short. He'll fetch you. You can run.
You can't hide. You may deny Him. If you're in Him, He can't deny
Himself. If He loves you, He can't deny
Himself. He can't deny His blood. You may forget Him. He said,
can a woman forsake her sucking child? Yes, she can. Do it all
the time. Give Him up. He said, I will
never forsake you. Can you believe that? Man ought
to see some smiles in here. Who are we talking about? Simon
Peter? We're talking about Simon. He
just denied Him. Cussing. Not me. You belong to the Lord. You'll find out what you are.
You may forget Him. He'll never forget you. You may
be unfaithful. You will be unfaithful. You have
been, you are, and you will be. You will be. But that's who the
Lord, our great Hosea, came for. Why? For the praise of the glory
of His grace and His love and His faithfulness. David said,
deliver me in Thy righteousness and Thy faithfulness. He will.
That's His name. He saves us, John, for His namesake. What's His name? Faithful. It's
a faithful saying. And I'm loving this. You may
be unfaithful, he who abideth faithfully. You may sin against
him, he's always for you." God's people now. So, Simon, upon hearing his voice
again, he dove. He cast himself. He got naked again. Exposed himself
again, just like he did when the Lord found him. He's naked
again, so he wraps himself up in that coat I wondered where
he got that fisher's coat. I think I know. I think the Lord
gave it to him. They all had rags when he found
them. He gave them a new coat. One coat. And it lasted forever.
Wrecking? But he dirt himself and he cast
himself into the sea. Why? What's he doing? He can't
get to the Lord fast enough. That boat's not fast enough.
He says, sink or swim, I'm going in. I got to get to the Lord.
But you just denied Him, Simon. I know it. You see what I mean? Just helping
anybody. In spite of his sins, he must
get to the Lord. Because of his sins, he must
get to the Lord. My old dog Abner, I still think
about him. He'd go off and act like a dog.
That's what dogs do. Get in trouble. Destroy things. And I'd have to get him out of
trouble. But if he knew I was angry at
him, you know what he'd do? He wouldn't run from me. He'd
run to me. He knew I loved him. He knew
I would not hurt him. Oh, I chastened him. Sometimes
quite severely. But he knew I loved him and I
would not hurt him. No way. No way. Simon had to get to the Lord
because of his sins. He had to hear the Lord forgive
him again. Doesn't that tell you that Simon
Peter loves the Lord? How do you know Simon Peter loves
the Lord? He's got to get to Him. You know what he's saying? Whether you fellas get there
or not, I've got to go to Him. I've got to go now. See that? He needs the Lord Jesus Christ.
He wants to be near the Lord. He wants to hear Him. He wants
to lay hold of the Lord Jesus Christ. So the ever-present, always merciful
and faithful Lord and Savior, Father, Husband, Elder, Brother
of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was watching over them all night
long while they were fishing, failing, and floundering. He was preparing for them the
whole time while they were doing their thing. He's preparing a
meal for them. And they come swimming, come dragging. You
reckon they were dragging literally, physically up their toilet all
night? You reckon their heads were hanging down? They were
ashamed of themselves, not calling on the Lord, not seeking the
Lord, not waiting on the Lord. You reckon Simon Peter came with
his head hanging down? But he came. Now here's what
the Lord said. Verse 12, Come and dine. Come and dine. I do smile. Glad to see them. You glad to
see your children? Are you? You glad to see your
children? You haven't seen them in a while,
you're really glad to see them. And you can't go to greater lengths
to do for them, can you? I drop everything and everyone
when my girls come. And it just delights me to serve
them, to do everything for them. Everything for them. Come and
dine. You hungry? Oh, are we ever.
Come and dine. Isn't that a wonderful message
in itself? Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst, they shall be filled. Open your mouth wide, he said,
I'll fill it. A brother and a sister invited
us over for dinner the other night, and they killed a fatted
pig. They killed a fatted pig, Ricky,
and then covered it with Carolina sauce. They called and said, come and
dine. What shall we bring? Nothing. It's ready. It's waiting. Well, we had to go. And John,
I was so hungry. And I got there. And I ate. And I ate. And I wasn't embarrassed. And
I wasn't bashful. And I wasn't shy. And I ate.
And I said, can I take some home with me? Yes. Lest today the hunger and thirst
open your mouth wide, he said, I'll fill it. I'll fill it. Sure glad I went. I got filled. The Lord proves us by this manna,
by this gospel. Some grew tired of it. Oh, but
His people. Alright, so when they had dined,
verse 15, that's the story leading up to this. So when they had
dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Got up and were walking. Because
look at verse 20. Peter turning about, see if the
disciple, see they're walking along. It's already daylight. The Lord's put out the coals,
the fire. They've got up and they're walking back to Galilee
or wherever. And he's talking to them. Now,
our Lord is wisdom. He is wisdom personified. He
was a man of few words. That's how you know a wise man.
You study it to answer. A fool's mind is presently known. He says, whatever on top of his
head. Many words. Our Lord was a man of few words.
And when he opened his mouth, nothing but grace poured out
of his lips. Nothing but wisdom. You could hang your soul on everything
he said. You could believe every word
he said. Everything, he said, all the
words of my mouth. In Proverbs 8, he said, all the
words of my mouth are in righteousness. We need to hang on His every
word. And there was silence. We have a lot of trouble with
silence, don't we? In this modern generation, few people can stand
to be in silence. When the Scripture says, God
is in the heaven, Whereupon the earth, let your words be few.
Let all the earth keep silence before the Lord." Our Lord is a man of silence.
There was time between. You see, the Scriptures are written,
there's a P there, a backward P, that means some time. They're
walking along and He's not saying anything. That's good. Alright, but then
He said something. He said it to Simon Peter, the
first person. At this time, Simon was so prone
to talk, wasn't he? So ready to speak out. He said,
Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? And I believe he waved his
hand. I believe he was walking along
by the shore, you know, boats and sea and the nets. His brethren
all around there. Lovest thou me more than these?" Simon knew the Lord was talking
to him, didn't he? He called his name. He said,
My sheep hear my voice. He calleth them by name. Simon? You know, sometimes the Lord
speaks in love. Sometimes He speaks in anger,
doesn't He? That's what parents do, don't you? You don't always
say, Oh, good little... No. Sometimes you speak in love. Sometimes you speak in anger.
Sometimes the Lord spake with comfort. Sometimes it was correction
or rebuke, wasn't it? We need both. That's a sign we
belong to Him. Sometimes He speaks cheering
us up. Sometimes to humble us. But it's always
in mercy. No matter how He speaks to us,
it's always in mercy. The rebuke is mercy. The correction
is mercy. The chastisement is mercy. The
anger. He's slow to anger, but he does
get angry with his people. He did. He did. He got angry
with Moses and others. It's good. It's good. You don't get angry with other
people's children. You do, don't you? But you don't
talk to them. Well, the Lord does His children.
It's always in mercy. Here's the fact, if he speaks
to you, if he speaks to you, if you hear his voice again and
again, whether it's in love or anger, whether it's in comfort
or correction, here he is. Simon, sinner. That's our name, isn't it? Son
of Adam. Jonas. You know anything about
Jonas? Simon Peter's father. You know anything about him?
Do you? I don't either. Nobody does. There's no mention
of him. Is he an unbeliever? Maybe. Thomas' twin probably was. You never hear of him, do you?
Jonas? Who's this Jonas fellow? Does he believe the Lord? Is
he there with them now? No. Where is he? But Simon's there. He might not have called his
dad Jonas, but he called his son. What mercy? What grace? And he's talking
to him again. Could have left him. He's talking to him. He's speaking
to him. Rebuking him. Correcting him. Everything the
Lord says to here is bringing back his sin to him. Reminding
him how he denied him three times. Causing him to search his own
heart. Examine himself. But that's good. Because he belongs
to the Lord. He's his child. Simon, he didn't
say it that way. I can't imitate him. But Simon,
he never called him Peter. Not one time. That wasn't the
Lord that said, and Peter. It was the angel. The Lord told the angel to go
tell my disciples, and Peter. The angel said that. The Lord
didn't. He never did call him Peter. He always called him Simon. Why? To remind him of what he
used to be and where the Lord found him. To remind him of where
he found him. To remind him of the Lord's great
grace to him. To remind him that you didn't
choose me, I chose you. To remind him. Some people think we make too
much of sin, that we talk too much of sin, that we keep calling
people worms and wretched and vile. You've got to quit saying
that. If you quit believing that about
yourself, you don't need Christ. And you'll go somewhere and find
somebody to scratch your back and tickle your ears. But this is for those who know
the plague of their own heart. Simon, son of Jonas, son of your
father. How many of your fathers are
believers? Huh? He's no different than your father
when he found you. Right? Son of Jonas. Son of Adam. Sinner. Son of Adam. Then he
asked this question. Lovest thou me? More than me. Now, he did not say, Believest
thou me? Did he? He said that back in
chapter 14. He said, if you believe in God,
believe also in me. In other words, he said, you
do believe in God. I know you do. I gave you that
faith. You weren't seeking God. You
didn't believe God until God came to you. Until God revealed
Himself to you. I am your God. You believe in
God. Believe also in me. And they
did. He asked one time, who do men
say that I am? And they said all sorts of things.
And this generation today, everybody's calling Him Jesus. Everybody's
calling Him Jesus. Everybody's calling Him Jesus.
And that says within my heart, they don't know Him. Well, He asked His disciples,
who do you say that I am? You're the Christ, the Son of
God. Thomas said, my Lord and my God. You are my Lord Jesus Christ. Brother Cody Groover, oh, didn't
you love that man? I do love that man. I still do.
He would never mention his name without mentioning all three
names. The Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord
Jesus Christ. That's who He is. You fear Him
and you love Him and you honor Him. That's how you refer to
Him. The Lord Jesus Christ. Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou
me more than these Boats and nets, and it didn't say believers
down there. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. Hebrews 11. Evidence of an unseen
God, unseen Christ, kingdom unseen, evidence of life in there, but
faith without works is dead. Nobody knows there's any faith. You can say it, it doesn't mean
you had it. You can say it, you can make
an outward profession with your mouth. But that doesn't mean you believe
him. Does it? Faith without love is dead. See, faith is evidence of life,
but love is evidence of faith. Didn't Paul say now about the
three things? Faith, hope, and love. What did
he say? Can you quote the rest of it? The greatest of these
is love. The greatest evidence of true
faith is love. Love for what? Love is thou me. Now, I wouldn't discourage the
weakest love, the newest love, the most childlike love, and
nobody in this room, beginning with me, He talks about their
love. I don't go around telling everybody,
I love the Lord. I love the Lord. I would not
put that on the back of my car for nothing. People that do that
are not bragging on the Lord, they're bragging on themselves.
It's abomination. I love. I love. John referred
to himself as the disciple whom the Lord loves. That's what he
always wanted to talk about, wasn't it? The Lord's love. Here
in His love, not that we loved Him, but that He loved us. We loved Him, yes, because He
first loved us. We're not going to talk about
anybody's love. We're going to talk about His,
aren't we? And we act so often like Simon Peter, like we don't
even know Him, let alone love Him. But when He asks you, And now the Scripture says over
and over again, examine yourselves, will you be of the faith? That
is, looking to trust in Christ. Know ye not your own selves?
Has it Christ be in you? Except you be reprobate. Don't you know? And Paul said this, if any man
love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha,
a curse. Amen. Love not the Lord Jesus
Christ. I heard a brother preach on that passage, and he said,
I think it's 1 Corinthians 16, yeah. And he said, how could
you not love the Lord? Who wouldn't? His disciples do. We sing that song, our love to
Thee so cold, and yet Thine to us so great, but when asked,
Examine in your heart, lovest thou me? What if Mindy asked me, do you
love me? And I say, seriously. You know, there's
times I act like I don't love her. It's been many times over the
years. It'll be other times again. I think you know I love you nothing.
I say it all the time, but saying it is not doing it. The Lord knew he loved him. He
didn't ask questions, never asked questions for information. He
knows everything. He knows us better than we know
ourselves. He asked for them to examine
their own heart, for us. Love has found me more than these."
Did Simon wait? How long did it take him? Yay,
Lord. Look at verse 50. Yay, Lord.
Yay. Yes, Lord. Can you hear him? Oh, he might have been hanging
his head. You know he was hanging his head. Simon, love has found me more
than these. Yes, yes. Yay, Lord. Thou knowest that
I love thee. Now, how did he know? that he
loved him, because he put that love in him. And how do you know
that Simon loved him? He's there. He couldn't get to
him fast enough. He had to hear his voice. In
spite of his sin, in spite of his... he had to be there. He's
with his brethren. That's who he's with. That's
who he chose to be with, isn't it? That's his companions. He
belongs to the Lord. He's a member of the body. Yea,
Lord thou knowest I love thee. Many say they believe, but don't
show any evidence of loving who they say they believe. Men love
doctrine. Men just love going to church. People love things. The disciples of the Lord love
Him. They love to hear about Him. They love to hear His voice.
They need to hear His voice. By this we know, John said, when
we love Him and love those are begotten of Him. We love Him
that begat, we love them that are begotten of Him. Now, we
don't look to our love. Don't look to your love for assurance.
Do not. Look to His love. But there's
no denying the love that God's people have for Him. If God sheds
abroad His love in your heart, it's going to show. Love's going
to show. It's going to show. And you don't
have to say it all the time. I told you before, my dad's generation,
our parents didn't tell us they loved us all the time. It just
wasn't their way, but I knew it. I showed it. I showed it. Now, John Newton wrote this song,
"'Tis a point I long to know, and oft it gives me anxious thought.
Do I love the Lord or no? Am I His or am I not?" There
are times when we act like that. I remember my dad first bringing
that song, that hymn up, after several years. He said, you know,
I understand when you get in a temporary insanity, and you fall into sin and despair,
and you might ask yourself that, to the point I long to know,
but really now, really now, do I, stop, do I love, do I, no,
you don't. And what you're doing is because
of your sin, you're saying, how can I love the Lord and do this?
How can I love the Lord? Maybe I do love the world. Love
not the world, the things of the world. And you get caught
up in it. You think, maybe I do love the world. The only man
who loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
And you catch yourself almost in love with these things. But you catch yourself. You come
to yourself like that prodigal son. The Son came to Himself. This
is a hog pen. Where are you going? Back to my Father. Where are you going Peter? Back to
my Lord. I don't know why I went fishing. I never got anything
out of it. I want to go back to that. The
Lord heals our backsliding. No He not. Now that Christ be
in you, Peter said this, whom have ye not seen ye love? Let
me give you a few evidences of love. I've got to hurry. Love. Love loves to be with the
one you love and want. That's how you know. You want
to be with that person. Right? If you don't love that
person, you don't want to be with them. Wherever Christ is,
That's where his people want to be. He loved to see that person. He loved to hear their voice.
He loved to be with them. He looked for ways and opportunities
to spend time with them. When I fell in love with this
lady, you know, Simon Peter dove into the ocean. Well, I would
have swam the deepest sea and climbed the highest mountain.
I did. I went without sleep for days
on end. just so I could spend a few hours
with my love. How do you know somebody loves
Christ? Same way. Where is He going to be? That's
where I'm going to be. Are you going to talk about my
Lord? I'll be there. He said He'd be there. I'll be
waiting. They that love me, Christ said
in Proverbs 8, I love them. They that seek me early shall
find me. To love someone is to love their person, their character,
not what you get out of them. Right? It's not what you get
out of them. My wife could not have married
me for my money. I didn't have any. You know,
it all of a sudden hit me, Tom. It hit me when we were about
to get married. Hey, I need some money. I need to quit spending
it on myself. Start saving it. Making pretty
good money. What was I doing? What do young
men do with money? Cars and stuff. I've got a wife
now. I need some money. But she didn't
marry me for my money. It's love. The Lord sure didn't
come to us for anything to get out of us, did He? Neither do
His people. Neither do His people. They love
Him. They love His person. They love
His character. That's how you know. They love to hear about
Him. Somebody is going to stand up and preach about this and
that and this thing and that thing. Christ-lovers don't want
to hear that. Do they? I don't want to hear
about, like that group up there going to talk about the Constitution
for 12 weeks. I'm glad we've got a Constitution.
But I want to hear about the covenants ordered in all things. I want to hear about the Constitution,
if you will, the covenant that God made with Christ before the
world began. I want to know if my name's in it. I want to know
if He's going to keep it. Will that thing last? He said,
ratified. They ratified the Constitution. They keep amending it. Keep changing it. I need covenant
here, don't you, Helen Hope? That covenant has been ratified,
ordered and all things ensured. It won't be changed. It won't
be amended. Go on up there if you want to.
I ain't going to go there. I'm going to hear about my Lord,
don't you? That's how you know Him, Vicki.
Yes. Don't we have to hand them butts
about it? People don't want to come hear Christ. They don't
know Him. They love His honor, love His glory. Me and you and
I watched something, a Christian-related movie, wish we had. We didn't
know it. We got trapped. And started watching this thing.
And after it was all over, I said, what do you see wrong with that?
You know, it's all about Jesus and this and loving and feeling
good and forgiveness and all that. And I'm all for that. But
what you came away from that was, who's getting the glory
here? Who's getting the glory? People
clapping for these gospel singers. Who are you clapping to? That's an abomination. God's
people come, they really do come to honor and glorify and worship
the Lord. Not man. They love His honor, His glory.
Who's getting the glory? They love His praise. They love
His worship. They love His Word. Love for Christ is loving His
Word. Hang on His Word. Love His truth.
Don't just believe it. Love it! Have you ever seen the
love of the truth? Not only, Teresa, you believe
it. You believe it with all your
head and all your heart. You know it. Nobody can convince
you otherwise. But you love it, don't you? I mean, you don't
reluctantly say, I believe God likes His people, I believe He's
soft. You love it! Why? Because it's His Word. It's
His truth. It's His glory. It's His honor.
That's how you know. You love His people. You love
His people like Ruth. Every one of God's people. And
our Lord said, if any man loved father, mother, husband, wife,
son or daughter more than Me, he's not My disciple. They don't come out from among,
whether it be father or mother in false religion. If they don't
come out, they don't love Christ. Ruth had a mother, had a family,
had a sister. And Naomi is leaving, going to
where God's people are. Isn't she? And Ruth said, I'm
coming too. She said, entreat me not to leave
you. Isn't she? Please, don't bid
me leave. Bid me stay. I'm coming with
you. Who did that? God did that. You know why? There's a seed
in her. There's a seed in her. The seed
of Christ is in her. She's in the line of Christ.
She's got to come. And she begs her mother-in-law,
don't make me leave. I've got to come with you. Your
God's my God. Your people's my people. Your
land's my people. And I'm going to die right there
with you. Is that glorifying to Ruth? No, it's glorifying
to God. She's a heathen. She's a Moabite.
Why are the chains of mine in her? God. That's why. And it's
in every one of His people. Your people are my people. Your
God is my God. And God, do more so to me if
I don't die with you. So our Lord said, feed my lambs. Feed my lambs. And there's so
much here. Talking to a preacher first,
talking to me, Said it three times, feed my lambs, and then
said, feed my sheep, feed my sheep, but feed my lambs. Peter
told the elders in his last letter, he said, feed the flock of God,
which he purchased with his own blood. Feed, feed, feed, and
when the chief shepherd shall appear, you'll receive a crown
of glory, faith is not a weapon. Feed, feed them. with knowledge,
with understanding. Feed them with the Word of God.
Feed them Christ and Him crucified. Feed them, my lambs, lambs, little
lambs, not giraffes, lambs. Oh, God forbid that I should
preach with persuasible words of man's wisdom. But no, I need to preach the
simplicity that is in Christ. Let there never be no doubt in
anybody's mind, from the oldest to the youngest, to the smallest
child, when they leave here, that salvation is in Christ,
and only in Christ. Feed my lamb. Feed. Feed. Not beat. Not fleece. Feed. Feed. Feed. Feed. And then he
said it to him again. Some time elapsed. And he said
it to him again a second time. Son of Jonas, lovest thou me?" He said, and again he didn't
hesitate, did he? Yea, Lord. Now notice that I'm
not there. He said, feed my sheep. As more
time went by, and he saith unto him the third time, Simon, son
of Jonas, lovest thou me? Why did he say it three times?
Because Simon denied him three times. And we've denied him 300
times. How many times have you read
this? Probably 300 times. And I examine my heart, and by
the grace of God I can say, without hesitation, yea, Lord. Thou knowest. Thou knowest. Feed my sheep. The third time
Simon Peter was grieved, what was he grieved with? The Lord?
No, I think he started thinking about his denial. I know he did. But he wants the Lord to know
that from the bottom of his heart that he does love Him in spite
of himself. And he said unto him, Lord, thou
knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee. Hagar said it, Thou, Lord, seest
me. David said, He knoweth me. He knoweth our frame. That's
such comfort. All our comfort, really. We don't
know ourselves. We don't know what we're capable
of. We don't know what we're going to do tomorrow. But He knows us. But He knows
us. I couldn't do it without Him. So He said, Feed my sheep. Feed
my sheep. Now this was not just to Peter,
is it? The rest of the disciples are hearing this. Wednesday night,
Lord willing, we're going to look at the rest of that, how
that Simon Peter What about him? What about him? The Lord said,
mind your own business. What's that to you? That's a
good message right there, Wednesday night. But all the disciples
were listening to this, and so are you. Is it just me that does
the feeding? That's it? Didn't we just read
in Ephesians 4, by that which every joint supplyeth? Didn't
it? Feedeth itself. The body feedeth
itself, each other. That's what the Lord saved us
for, to be members of the body, to be... Oh, so many of you have
literally fed me. But that's our purpose. Feed
His lambs. Ladies feed our little lambs.
Feed His sheep. Serve His body. That's why we're
here. We lived all our lives before
for ourself. Thank God He didn't leave us
to ourself. We'd accumulated everything the world has and
what we have, and lose our soul. But He's taken all that out of
us, putting His love in us, love for the brethren. He says, now,
this is why I've called you. This is why I've saved you. Be
a member of the body. Not feed yourself. Feed my lambs. Feed my sheep. Be a blessing. It's more a blessing to give.
Not what you can get. What do you give? What do you
add to this? He's talking to all of us. Isn't He? Sure He
is. If you're one of His disciples.
Do you love Him? Then feed His sheep. Alright,
let's sing in closing that hymn, More Love to Thee, O Christ.
What number is that? 323? Is that it? 323. More love to thee, O Christ.
323. Let's stand.