I told you all last week that
unless the Lord impressed something on me that that would be the
last message in John, but I couldn't get through this. I just kept
going back to these Scriptures here where the Lord's questioning
Peter about his love. Standing on that beach, having
fished all night, and you recall the circumstance when he first
called Peter and John. It was the same circumstance.
They'd fished all night and caught nothing. The Lord told them to
throw their net down one more time. Peter said, well, we fished
all night. We didn't catch anything. But
at your word, we'll throw out the net. And the result was the
same. He pulled in a net full of fishes.
And now here it is after the resurrection. The Lord's on the
beach this time and Peter and John and all the rest of them
out there fishing. Tells them again to throw the
net. They do. The net fills up with fishes. All these things. And then they
stand on the... He tells them to come and dine.
He had some fishes there on the fire and he tells them to come
and dine. And so they do. And then the Lord presents these
questions. So if you want to turn to John
21, I think everybody here is familiar with the story. But
if you want to read over these verses, beginning with verse
15, you can as I talk to you. But here's what I want you to
see. The master had been taken from And they thought in their mind,
they thought that surely He was the Christ. This is what they
told Him. He appeared to them as they walked along the way
to Emmaus, Cleophas, and whoever else was with Him. And pretending
to be somebody else, the Lord engaged Himself in a conversation
with them, asked them why they were so down in the dunks, and
they said, well, we thought. We thought that this was He that
would deliver Israel. We thought this was the Christ.
And, you know, in their mind, and this is the thing, I deal
with this constantly. In their mind, because of the
traditions of their fathers, because of the error of their
fathers, Because of these false ideas and concepts, it was fixed
in their mind about this Messiah. They already were convinced that
they knew who He was. He was going to be one like David. That the Lord was going to raise
up from some quiet little spot. They knew which tribe He would
come from. They were asked and told on many occasions that He
was going to arise from Judah. They knew all of that. God was
going to raise him up from obscurity and rally the whole nation around
this one man, this Messiah. And he was going to reestablish
again the temple and that ceremonial sacrificial worship and the priesthood
and all these things. He was going to reinstitute all
these things. And he's going to purify all these things and
sanctify all these things that had fallen by the wayside, just
like he did with so many kings in the Old Testament. These things
had just drifted off into obscurity, and they were bringing in old
crippled up lambs and things that were going to die anyway,
and they were bringing them in there to sacrifice. And that's
what they thought. Those were the ideas that were
in their head. Just like today, you have ideas in your head when
you come in here. Depending on how you were raised,
you've got your ideas and concepts about the gospel. I deal with
that constantly. Constantly. And so these disciples,
when they made these comments to Christ and made these things,
just like Peter stood there with him and he said, everybody else's
life will go their way. He had suspicion of everybody
but not of himself. I'm not going anywhere. The reason
he said that is because he believed that this was the Christ. He
wasn't going to die. The Lord somehow, even under
these circumstances, was going to preserve him. and rally the
nation around him. And so he was ready to go down
to the end. He drew that sword and whacked
off the servant to the high priest's ear, just cut it off. And he
wasn't aiming for his ear, he was aiming for his neck. But that's what they thought
was going to happen. A new world order, a new world
reform, the restoration of the old temple, all of these things.
And this man Jesus of Nazareth was their hope for these things.
They thought this was Him. This was Him. But then suddenly
and unexpectedly, He was taken from them and made to suffer
all kinds of public indignities. Accused, falsely accused of immorality,
being a thief and a murderer, a seditioner, stirring up the
people. And then he was dragged off in
the middle of the night by a lynch mob. He was taken down to the
courts of the Romans, given a mockery, an absolute mockery for a trial. Declared there before all men
to be a traitor, a pretender, and a fraud. Declared to be a
common criminal. And then after they tortured
him nearly to death, Beaten beyond recognition, his visage was marred
more than any man. They stripped him of his clothes
and nailed him on a cross and hung him up between two convicts
and laughed at him until he died. And these disciples walked around
and they said, they couldn't make any sense out of it. They
couldn't make heads or tails out of this. They couldn't explain this. There
was no way to rationalize this out. The only rational answer
to these things in their mind was that he was not the Christ
after all. And Peter said, he says a lot
in this statement, he said, I go fishing. He throwed his hands up. He said,
that's it. It's over. We were wrong. I go
fishing. I go fishing. And when he said that, it wasn't
just a sudden urge to go fishing. This was their livelihood. This
is all they knew before God called them into the ministry. This
is all they knew. And they said, this is what we're going back
to. We was wrong. We'll continue to look for another. He was their hope, but now even
that was over with. He'd gone to the grave. No hope in anyone there. No hope to see him again. I go
fishing. So they went down to the sea.
And they get back into the boat, and they shove off, and they
labored all night, didn't catch anything. And suddenly, the Lord
appears. And He said to them what He said
to them in the beginning. And then He called them to Himself. You know, the one thing I learned
a long time ago about fishing, He said, cast a net over here.
The one thing I learned a long time ago about fishing, they're
never where I think they are. Never are. Fishing is one place
forever and somebody comes along, don't even know how to fish,
digs a worm on this side and gets the big fish. You sitting
there empty handed. That sucks. That sucks. And this
net that the Lord told them to cash down, it was so full of
fish it nearly overturned the boat. John turned to old Peter
and he said, it's the Lord. It's the Lord. And then later, having counted
all these fish, it says in the Scripture there was 153 great
fishes. Big fish in this net. Dragged
it up. There on the fire, laid some
ready to eat. And the Lord said, come and dine. I was thinking as I wrote these
notes out how easy it is for us to identify with the flesh
and how utterly impossible, how utterly impossible it is for
us to identify with the resurrected Christ. I can identify immediately
with hot and cold and dark and light and all of them. Anything
has to do with this flesh, I get it. I get it immediately. But
I tell you, when you're trying to deal with this resurrected,
glorified Christ, it's impossible. It's just impossible. And that's
what the Lord's doing here on this beach around this fire.
He wants to show them that the cross and the grave were necessary
to redeem their rotten souls and not in any wise to be seen
as a deterrent for His love, but to manifest His love. to
manifest it. He'll teach His disciples by
His suffering and death and resurrected presence, by His coming to those
who sold Him out. They left. They all left. They
all forsook Him. Left Him for dead. That it's
not our love for Him that secures our salvation, but His love for
us. That's what it is. He'd have us to know by all John
has written that the wellspring of all joy and peace and comfort
and hope is the love of God in Christ. Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ? Paul said, what? Who? Things? People? Your own mind, your own
will, your own decision. What's going to separate you
from this love of God that was in Christ? Because this love
was in Him before you were. Before you ever did anything,
before you ever thought anything, before you ever fell in your
father Adam, God loved you in Christ. Did He consider at that time
your fault? Did He consider at that time
your being an enemy? Did He consider at that time
your weaknesses and frailties and all those things? Then those
things can't separate you from that love because they had nothing
to do with the founding of it. This love of God in Christ is
the wellspring of all things. All things. And He said, who's
going to separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation,
distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword. None
of these things. Why? Paul said, because I'm persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, now listen, which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord. Not going to happen. Not going
to happen. Do you know how believers are
persuaded of this? Paul said he was persuaded. How?
How was he persuaded? What is it? What is it that persuaded
him? Turn with me to Romans chapter
5. And this persuasion is constant.
It's not just a one-time thing. There is a beginning. There is
a time. There was a time when Christ stood on that beach and
looked Peter in the eye and said, Do you love me? And made Peter
deal with his love. But it tells us in Romans chapter
5 that all of these trials All of these things that we face
and when we fall in those trials, He comes along and He gets us
out of them, don't He? He makes a way of escape. And
in that way of escape, that love is shed again and brought in
our heart by the Holy Spirit. Look down here in verse 6. For
when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the
ungodly. I called Don this week and I
told him I found something here in Romans chapter 5. Christ died
for the un-people. The un-people. Unbelieving. I just found these in the concordance
of my Bible. I don't know. I didn't look it
up in the Strong's concordance. But it says here that it describes
us as unbelieving, uncircumcised in heart and ears, unclean, unclothed,
uncomely, undone, unfaithful, unfruitful, unholy, unjust, unkind,
unlawful, unlearned, unmerciful, ungracious, unloving, unlovable,
unperfect, unprepared, unreasonable, unrighteous, Unruly, unseemly,
unstable, unthankful, untoward, unwashed, unwise, unworthy, and
altogether unprofitable. He died for the un-people. The
un-people. Scarcely, it says in verse 7,
for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good
man some would even dare die. But God commendeth His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,
the un-people. While the young prodigal was
wasting his inheritance and righteous living, and while he lay down
in the hog pen, and while in his rebellion preferred the stink
of the hogs to the savor of his father's roots, While he fed
the hogs of rebellion, the father was feeding the calf of celebration. Have you ever thought about that? While he was washing the hogs,
the father was polishing the family signet to put on his finger. While he sewed his clothes in
a stitch and waller, Father was cleaning and pressing the royal
robes. Now what he said, bring the robes.
What robes? You know which robes. While he
was busy trying to survive in the hog pen, the father was preparing
his room, making a place for him. Oh, while the young rebel's eyes
was on servitude, thinking about his father's house, and thinking
about being a servant, and just bedding down with the servants.
The father's mind was on his son. And while the son came home in a show, and he came home in
shame, the father came and ran, running
to him, smothered him with kisses. And while Peter warmed himself
by the fire of his enemies, cursing and denying his Lord, the Lord
he denied was manifesting the greatest evidence of his love.
He was dying in his room instead. He was suffering in his place.
I thought about old Joseph down in Egypt, sold into slavery,
cast into prison, the iron restraints entering into his soul. Now he's
exalted and honored and given great authority and dignity,
and now he stands on the backside of suffering. And now he has
the position and the power and the right to crush his hateful
brothers. It's in his hands, John, all
he has to do is say the word. But God didn't raise up Joseph
to crush his brothers. He raised up Joseph to save and
preserve his brothers. and call them to repentance and
faith. And that's what he did. And while Peter and the others
toiled all night in their rebellious efforts to live without Christ,
the Lord was preparing a fire and fish for them to eat. And out there in the darkness,
he calls to his beloved and he says, children, you got any meat? You got any meat? Our Lord told Him, them same
disciples, Russell, He said, I have meat to eat that you know
not of. For all our labor and all our
efforts and all our determination, do we have any meat? Not unless
He prepares it, we don't. And all that you have, and all
that you own, and all that you labor to have, have you anything
to satisfy your soul? Our Lord said, what profit is
it going to do you if you gain the whole world and lose your
soul? What's it going to profit you? Have you anything substantial
to rest in? You lay down your head at night,
you may wake up in glory. You may wake up at your judgment.
Have you anything substantial to lay your head on? Where's
your rest? Where's your rest? Have you any
meat? Have you anything eternal to
hope for? Is there any purpose after this
life? Is there any purpose? Any purpose other than our own
doings and goings and wanting? Desires? I tell you, we don't have any
meat because we're looking in the wrong place. That's right. Making their way to Christ, he
smiles at them with an understanding smile. And he says, come and
dine. Come here and eat. If you haven't got it yet, I
invite you to get these CDs on John and come and dine. Come and dine. There's meat here
all the way through this book. There's meat. Eat what the Lord's prepared.
And then when you've eaten, and on the backside of your resurrection,
when it peers into the heart and mind that knows who they
are, He says, to you. He didn't ask Peter this question
in the garden. And he didn't ask Peter this
question when the mob come to get him. He didn't ask Peter
this question when he was standing around the fire. He asked this
question to him when Peter knew what he was. Knew what he was. Peter didn't just go fishing.
Peter didn't just desert the Lord. But he called for the rest
of them to go with him. And they all went. And out here
in this act of treason and desertion, here they are out in the boat.
The Lord calls them in and He said, Now, Peter, in the light
of your denial, in the light of your treason, in the light
of your unbelief, do you love Me? Do you love Me? I was studying
this Scripture these verses, these questions that the Lord
asked Peter. And something came to me as I
was writing these things down. I remember back in Exodus, I
think it's 33, where Moses asked the Lord, he said, show me your
glory. Show me your glory. And the Lord
said, I'm going to pass by you, Moses, and I'm going to declare
to you all my glory. Now here's what's going to happen.
I'm going to set you in the cleft of a rock. In the cleft of a
rock. And when I approach, I'm going
to put my hand over your eyes. Because you can't look on my
face and live. No man can look on my face and
live. I'm going to put my hand over
you so you can't see. I'm going to blind you so you
can't see it. I'm going to spare you. I'm going
to put my hand over you. I'm going to hide you. And I'm
going to pass by. And when I've about passed by,
I'm going to lift my hand. And you can see my hinder parts.
You know what God's talking about there? I looked at that for years. You know what He's talking about?
He's talking about accomplished salvation, His hinder parts. Peter stood before the Lord and
the Lord revealed to him his own heart and his love for Peter. And he did it on the back side
of resurrection. It's the back part. It's after
he's already passed by. It's after his glory was already
manifested in the brilliance of it, in his face, in the perfect
justice and holiness and righteousness. in that redemption accomplished
on the cross. And when it's accomplished, he
lifts his hand up and gives us eyes to see accomplished redemption. That's what we see. It's all
done. It's all done. And on the backside
of not only his resurrection, but on the backside of yours, Peter's not standing on this
bank now, around this fire, knowing what he is, telling the Lord
what he's going to do. He doesn't even give him a straight
up answer when the Lord says, do you love me? He said, Lord, you know all things.
You know when a man says that, when he knows he don't know nothing.
That's right. Peter done said everything he
thought he knew, and all of it was wrong. And now he looks at
the Lord, and he said, Lord, you know all things. You know
I love you. I love you. And that's when we're
going to tell him we love him, when we see ourselves deserters,
the unpeople, ungodly, unwilling, He said, I know you. He told
those Jews, I know you. You will not come unto me. You're
not willing. John said to those folks that
ran around there talking about how much they loved the Lord,
he said, he that loveth not knoweth not God. Do you love me, Peter? You will if He is on the backside
of your resurrection when you see His glory accomplished, His
redemption accomplished. You'll love Him. You won't love
Him like you want to. You won't love Him like you ought
to. But you'll love Him because He first loved you. God bless
that to your heart.