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Chris Cunningham

Follow Me - Follow Thou Me

John 21:18-23
Chris Cunningham November, 7 2010 Audio
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John 21 in verse 18, we'll have
just a lesson or two more in the book of John. This study has been such a blessing
to me, such an instructive one. Not sure which book we'll look
at next, but let's see this in chapter 21, verse 18 this morning. The Lord is speaking to Peter.
We saw last time how that he asked him this question three
times, and we saw Peter's answer and why. In verse 18, the Lord
Jesus said to Peter, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when
thou wast young, thou girdest thyself and walkest whither thou
wouldest. But when thou shalt be old, thou
shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee. and carry thee whither thou wouldst
not. This spake he, signifying by
what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this,
he saith unto him, Follow me. Then Peter, turning about, seeth
the disciple whom Jesus loved following, which also leaned
on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that
betrayeth thee? Peter, seeing him, saith to Jesus,
Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If
I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow
thou me. Then went this saying abroad
among the brethren, that that disciple should not die. Yet
Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die. But if I will that he
tarry till I come, what is that to thee? How many sayings have
been spread abroad that were not what Christ said? What kind of death glorifies
God? The Lord Jesus told Peter, he
signified to him what death he should die and glorify God. The
historically accepted version of Peter's death says that he
was crucified like the Lord Jesus Christ was, but not like him,
but that he insisted on being crucified upside down because
he considered himself unworthy to die the same way his Lord
did. The scriptures don't record this, but it's interesting that
Peter had said in Luke 22, 33, it says that Peter said unto
him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee both into prison and to
death. How would Peter have died if
he had been permitted? To make good on this boast. He would no doubt have been crucified.
With the Lord. But if Peter is killed bragging
about what Peter's willing to do, who would be glorified then? Peter's going to die a death
that doesn't glorify Peter. By God's grace and providence
and power, Peter's going to die a death that glorifies God. What
does that look like? Well, I know this. I know what
happened between then and now. We have some record of that,
don't we? Now that some of Peter has been
wrung out of Peter, and that's what needs to happen. Some of
me needs to be wrung out of me, doesn't it? That's what the Lord
does over time in his good time in Providence and grace. He causes us to experience some
things that truly teach us what he says. Somebody said one time,
you don't really know something that you haven't experienced.
And there's a lot of truth in that. You may know it in your
head, but the Lord brings you through something and then it
comes down into your heart, doesn't it, if he's pleased to do that.
Peter's been wrung out a little bit and the Lord blesses him
with a little preview and tells him that by his death he will
glorify God. The Lord Jesus didn't tell him
when he would die. That'd be horrible. That'd be
a horrible thing to know, wouldn't it? Would you want to know when
you were going to die? It would ruin everything, wouldn't
it? You know, the weekend comes and you know you got to go to
work Monday. It ruins the whole weekend. You'd be scared to death
you was going to die. You'd be thinking about that,
that day, that day. The Lord doesn't do that to us.
But he comforts Peter here. This is about Peter's encouragement
and comfort. And he tells him this, you're
going to glorify God in your death. Isn't that a comfort? Wouldn't you like to know that? That's what I want to know. Will
I glorify God Almighty in my death? I have a dear friend who
recently expressed that very concern that he might in his
death glorify God. that God would cause that in
his grace. I'll tell you what kind of death
glorifies God. It looks just like the life that
glorifies God. It excludes self. It abases self. It excludes any boasting. Somebody
that glorifies God in their death won't talk about what they've
accomplished in their life. It will exalt the Lord Jesus
Christ and show him to be holy and sovereign and gracious and
glorious and what an opportunity to do that when you're dying.
If the Lord gives you a voice when you're on your, if there
is a death bed and there's time and you have something to say,
you have the opportunity to say something. Glorify God. God gave me life. He gave me so many blessings
in life. He caused me to be born and then One day in his sovereign,
wonderful, marvelous grace, he caused me to be born again. Glorified
God, he gave me an appointed time on this earth to worship
him and to enjoy his grace and blessings. And now, he'll take
life when he's pleased to do so. He said, I kill and I make
alive and nobody else does. And when we acknowledge that
in our death, this is not an alignment of stars or anything
foolish like that. This is God Almighty. And in
the case of the believer, there's no stinging death. There's no
victory in the grave. The victory is ours by the Lord
Jesus Christ. We'll come out of the grave.
There won't be any death. He that liveth and believeth
in me shall never die, the Lord Jesus said. Do you believe that?
I want you to notice now the key to this whole text. And the
key, for that matter, to the entire Word of God and the key
to everything. The Apostle Peter is probably
doing here what any of us would do if we were told something
about the future. Christ told him this future in
order to comfort him, that he would glorify God in his death
and that he gave him some information there that I don't understand
about him stretching forth his hands and being taken where he
would not. And some say that's an allusion
to the fact that he would be crucified. I don't know. But
the Lord gave him some information about the future. And you know
that always is a danger in one sense. When we see what's going
to happen in the future and we begin to think about the future.
The Bible forbids us to live in the future. Did you know that?
We're comforted by the things that we know are going to take
place. But don't live in the future or the past. Much of the
book of Revelation is mysterious. It tells things that are going
to happen, doesn't it? We're told some future things in the
word of God. But the clear message of Revelation
is the clear message of all of God's word. If you read the book
of Revelation, rightly with God's grace, you'll find that Christ
is on the throne where he's always been. That's where John saw him.
You'll find that he's worthy to be praised. He's worthy and
all salvation and glory and honor are attributed to him by those
who have tasted that he's gracious. You'll find there that he has
redeemed us by his precious blood and that he's worshiped through
our eternity for that glorious work. You'll find that he is
life and peace, that Christ is all and in all, just like you'll
see everywhere else in the word of God. The future is the same
as the past. In that sense, Christ is all.
Christ is all. And this is exactly now what
our Lord is saying to Peter. He told him what's going to happen
in the future, and I'm sure Peter's thinking, I wonder what, how's
that going to happen? What am I going to do? What's
all going to? The Lord Jesus says this, follow
me. You see the context there? The future will be glorious for
the believer. We know that. In this life, we
know that there'll be heartaches, and I'm sure just like there
have been in the past, there'll be laughter and tears and all
the things that the past has brought. But we know this, all
things will in the future work together for good to them who
love God. To those who are the called according
to his purpose, we know that because that's always true. There
are things that we know will happen because he said they would,
but don't live in the future. Peter, don't be thinking about
what you're going to do five years from now. Follow me. Right now. Today, this moment. Follow me. Tomorrow. You'll still need to do that
same thing. Follow me. The day after that, follow me. Do you see what the Lord is saying
to Peter here? The scripture, as I said, forbids
us to live in the past. Turn to Philippians chapter 3
and verse 13. Philippians 3, 13. Paul says there, Brethren, I
count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind. Forget that. Forget about it.
It's behind. Don't live in the past. And reaching
forth unto those things which are before, verse 14, I press. Today, right now, as you're sitting
there, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling
of God. Where's that? In Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus is the goal. He's
the prize. I press. You see what Paul is
saying? I'll give you three guesses what
tense that word press is in here. You don't need but one, do you?
What do you think that word press means? What do you think the
definition of it is? Follow. I follow. I follow. You see what the Lord's
saying to Peter in our text? Follow me. Forget what's happened. Last week. Two weeks ago. Forget about What happened when
you were asked, are you one of them? Your speech betrayed you. You were with him. Forget about
that. Forget about your righteousness.
That's what Paul's talking about, primarily in Philippians chapter
three. Forget about your accomplishments. Forget about what you've done
for the Lord. You've never done anything for the Lord. You just
thought you did. He done something for you. Right now, I press. You see what Paul is saying and
what Our Lord is saying to Peter, follow me eagerly, urgently pursue. That's the word. And then also
in the word of God, we're forbidden to live in the future. We can
think about future promises that have the promises of God that
have to do with the future and rejoice in them. No question
we're to do that. He wouldn't have told us if he
didn't want us to rejoice. and the rest in them. But don't
live in the future. Proverbs 27, 1, boast not thyself
of tomorrow. Don't start talking about what
you're going to do. For thou knowest not what a day
may bring forth. You don't have any idea what
you're going to do or what anybody else is going to do. The only
thing you know about the future is what God has revealed. And
that's it. That's it. So don't start bragging
about what you're going to do tomorrow. Don't worry about tomorrow. What did the Lord say? Sufficient
for this day is the evil thereof. You've got enough to worry about
today. James 4.13. Go to now ye that
say today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue
there a year and buy and sell and get gain, whereas ye know
not what shall be on the morrow. Don't say, I will. You don't
know whether you will or not. It's a denial of the sovereignty
of God to say, I will. You don't know what tomorrow
will bring, for what is your life? It's even a vapor that
appears for a little time and then vanishes away, for that
you ought to say, if the Lord will. You want to talk about
the future? Don't start saying, I will. Here's
what you ought to say, James said, if the Lord will. I'll live. And if he allows me
to live, if he continues to give me life, I may do this or that. If the Lord is willing. I know this right now. There's work to do. Didn't he
say the harvest is plenteous and the labors are few? Right
now, we have privileges and blessings that are to be acted upon. Didn't
James say also, be ye doers of the word and not hearers only?
Right now, we must be about my Father's business. That's what
our Lord said. How about you? What business
are you about in this life? Right now, there's mercy for
sinners. Right now, Christ is worthy to be worshipped. Right
now, He's worthy to be served. Right now, he said, follow me,
follow me. Here's what will happen. But right now, follow me. What was the first thing that
the Lord Jesus Christ ever said to people? Do you remember? Turn to Matthew chapter four. Verse 18, Matthew 4, 18. And Jesus, walking by the Sea
of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew,
his brother, casting a net into the sea. That sounds a lot like
what Peter's doing in John 21, doesn't it? For they were fishers. And he
saith unto them, Follow Me. And I will make you fishers of
men." And straightway, they left their nets and followed Him. When the Lord found Peter, he
was fishing. And the Lord said unto him, follow
Me. And in John 21, the Lord found Peter again fishing and
said to him, follow Me. Follow Me. The first thing and
the last thing that our Lord taught to Peter, one of his choice
privileged servants. Peter was one of the three that
was always there when everybody else was perhaps left behind
for a little while. Peter, James, and John. His choice
privileged someone with whom Christ entrusted his dearest
treasure when he said, feed my sheep. The first thing he taught
him and the last thing he taught him is follow me. Follow me. The first thing that I ought
to have taught my children is to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. What else is important? And if
I do have a deathbed and am able to speak while I'm on it, may
God give me grace to teach them to follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
Follow Christ. Eagerly, urgently pursue Him. Flee after Him. Run after a person. Not a creed, not a denomination,
not an organization. Run after a person. Follow Christ. Well, what about John? What's
he going to do? None of your business. Follow thou me. Thou. This is between the Lord
and thou. The title of the message is follow
me. Follow thou me. You're not saying
exactly the same thing. It's the same message, but he
emphasizes the second time, Peter. It doesn't matter what John will
do if it's my will that John live until I come again. If it's
my will that John never physically dies, he just told Peter how
he was going to die a physical death. And Peter's thinking,
OK, well, what about him? What's going to happen to him?
What difference does it make to you? If I will that he carry
till I come he didn't say I'm going to do that. He said if
that's what I want to do that's what I'll do Peter and it's none
of your business. That's in plain language exactly
what he said to Peter. You find out who Christ is and
you follow him. Follow thou me what is it to
follow the Lord Jesus Christ. That would be the question we
would need to answer now, wouldn't it? It's clear what we're supposed
to do, what we're called upon to do, what we're commanded to
do. Follow me. Well, we noticed something that
took place in both cases back where we read when the Lord first
met Peter and in John 21. This is the first thing you need
to understand about following Christ. If you're going to follow
Christ, He's going to come to you first. Well, what does that
have to do with following Christ? It has a whole lot to do with
it. It has everything to do with it. The Lord Jesus Christ is
going to have to come where you are and do something for you
that you can't do for yourself. You're not ever going to follow
him until he comes to you. Didn't he come where Peter was
and say, follow me? Where would Peter be now if he
had not done that? Where would you be this morning?
If the Lord Jesus Christ had not come where you were and spoken
in power and grace to your heart, follow me." Straight way when
he speaks effectually. Straight way the sinner comes.
Turn to Luke chapter 9. Let's look at another account
of this. Luke chapter 9. Let's look at
an example here of some people with regard to following the
Lord Jesus. This is very, very instructive
here concerning our text. Luke 9 and verse 57. It came to pass that as they went
in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow
thee whithersoever thou goest. There's those two dreaded words
again. I will. I will. Don't go there. I will follow thee whithersoever
thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes
have holes, and birds of the air have nests,
but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. He didn't say,
good, okay, you know, come on. He said, you don't want to follow
me. You just think you do. Is that what he said? Everybody wants to go to heaven
when they die, don't they? I will serve Jesus. I have decided
to follow Jesus. Have you ever heard that little
song? It's been a long time since I've heard anybody sing, I have
decided to follow Jesus. And I hope it's a long time more
before I ever hear it again. Because if you ever decide something,
it'll be straight out of hell, whatever it is. I guarantee you
that. The devil's got a hold of you
and you're his captive. And you will do His will, not
yours or God's. You'll do His will. You're held
captive at His will until the Lord Jesus Christ sets you free.
And don't ever think otherwise. I will. But then the Lord turns
to somebody else. He said to another, follow me. And he didn't want to. He said,
Lord, I've got to go bury my father. I've got things to do. And Jesus said unto him, let
the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom
of God. There's somebody that's looking
to follow Jesus, that's volunteering. And the Lord says, I don't even
have a place to lay my head. And then the Lord turns to somebody
else that wasn't looking and says, you follow me. And overcomes his indecision
and his obstacle there is refusal. It says you're going to preach
the kingdom of God. Was Saul of Tarsus looking to follow?
Was he singing, I have decided to follow Jesus? When the Lord
Jesus Christ met him on the road to Damascus and said, I have
chosen you and you're going to preach my gospel. That's how
the Lord does things. He's not looking for volunteers.
His people will be willing in the day of His power. That's
when Exactly when? When the Lord revealed His Son
in me. When it pleased Him to do that. That's when I came to
follow Him. And another also said, Lord,
look at verse 61, I will follow Thee, but let me first go bid
them farewell which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto
him, No man having put his hand to the plow and looking back
is fit. Did you hear that? The other
man made an excuse, too. He said, I've got to go bury
my father. But the Lord said, no, no. You're going to preach
my kingdom. That's what you're going to do.
This man made an excuse, too. What's the difference? The Lord
called the first one. This one volunteered, and the
Lord said, you're not fit for my kingdom. That wouldn't be a popular message
in this day, would it? Never has been. Never has been. The Lord Jesus Christ is going
to have to come to you. Or you'll just be saying, I will,
I will. The same thing Satan said, I
will ascend and be like the Most High God. Does the Lord then
cast away folks who come to Him? This man came to Him and said,
I will. If you come to Him talking about
what you have done or what you're going to do, you haven't come
to Him in the scriptural sense. Look at the difference now. These
characters came up to the Lord Jesus and said, I will follow
you. In Matthew 8 verse 2, a leper crawled up at his feet and said,
Lord, if you will. You can make me clean. There's the difference. Between
life and death right there. What you will do is death. But if Christ is willing, there's
life. There's life, if you will. He
didn't come popping off about what he was going to do. He was
interested in what the Lord was about to do. Are you? Honestly
now, are you? Did you come here this morning
to do something for God? Or did you come here because you need
Him? I need Thee every hour. Secondly, Christ comes in effectual,
powerful grace and commands you to follow him. There's a word
spoken in both cases. The Lord spoke and said, follow
me. When the Lord said to Peter and
Andrew in the beginning there, follow me, they didn't even stop
to think about it. Can you imagine that? They were
professional fishermen. They had lots of equipment there.
They had a livelihood to think about. They had a future to consider. And a man comes up and says,
to where? Follow me. And straightway they left everything.
That's power, my friend. That's let there be light and
there was light kind of power is what that is. That's the effectual
call of God's grace through the Word, the Gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Irresistible grace. I like irresistible grace. Do
you know that? Do you? You know why I like irresistible
grace? Because I'll resist everything
else. Was the Lord Jesus making them
an offer when He said, follow me? Was He opening the door of
opportunity if they would just decide to do something? He said,
I will make you fishers of men. He wasn't interested in what
they were going to do. He said, I will make you fishers of men. That's my Lord Jesus Christ. That's what I pray for. Not that
my loved ones will muster up the will or the faith, what men
call faith, to believe on Christ. My prayer is God, save them.
Have mercy on them. Come in power and speak to their
hearts. And have mercy on my children
and on those that I love. Come where they are and say,
follow me. Because I know what happens when you say that. I
know what happens. Turn to John chapter 10. This is what happens when the
Lord Jesus Christ says, follow me in power. Verse 22. And it was at Jerusalem. At the feast of the dedication, and it was
winter, and Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. Then
came the Jews round about Him and said unto Him, How long dost
thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. And Jesus answered them, I told you, and you believe not.
The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me,
but ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said
unto you. My sheep hear my voice. And I know them, and they follow
Me. And I give unto them eternal
life. Does this sound like there's
anything uncertain about that? Any contingencies? Any possibilities
there? My sheep hear Me. I say unto
them, follow Me, and they follow Me. And I give unto them eternal
life. And the reason you don't believe
Me is because you're not My sheep. And they shall never perish.
Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. You see why I
pray the way I do? Number three, what is it to follow
Christ? Turn to Mark chapter 8. You're looking at a lot of
scripture because where else will we turn? The Word of God
teaches us this, not me. Mark chapter 8. And when he had called the people
unto him with his disciples, he said unto them, Whosoever
will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross
and follow me. Now, what does that mean? How
do you deny yourself? How do you take up your cross
and follow the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, people like to say whenever
they're going through some trouble in life, you know, they have
a handicap of some kind of difficulty or they're going through a rough
patch. They say, well, this is just my cross to bear. Nonsense. That's not what crosses are.
There's only one thing a cross is good for, and that's for killing
somebody on it. Look at the context of it. Verse
35, for whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever
shall lose his life. That's not talking about going
through a rough patch. That's not talking about a handicap.
That's talking about dying. Dying to self, dying to my wisdom,
dying to my interest, dying to the lust of the flesh, dying
to the wisdom of the flesh, dying to the love of the flesh. What
shall it profit a man? If he shall gain the whole world
and lose his own soul, for what shall a man give in exchange
for his soul? That's what's hanging in the
balance here. A man's soul. It's a death that must be died. That's what happens when you
follow the Lord Jesus Christ. That's not something you can
just decide to do. That's a work of God's grace. Paul said, When
the commandment came to my heart and I realized what God's law
said, sin revived. And I did what? I had a little
trouble? No, I died. Has that happened
to you? Has sin, has the law spoken to
your heart and killed all of your dreams, all of your hopes
of pleasing God by what you do? Of your decisions, your will?
Has it done that? If so, that's the grace of God
coming in power and saying, follow me. Because when you follow Him,
you deny yourself and you take up a cross. And you say, I'm
done. I'm cut off. Like Isaiah did. I've seen the Lord. I'm cut off. In John 12, 24, the Lord said,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into
the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth
forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall
lose it. You see the context there? And
he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life
eternal. If any man serve me, let him
follow me. Following the Lord has something
to do with denying self, killing self, and following the Lord
Jesus Christ in service. If any man will serve me, let
him follow me. And where I am, there shall also
my servant be. And if any man serve me, him
will my father honor." This is not about living a life of service
to the Lord and, oh, look how much he's done for the Lord.
The Lord's going to reward him for that. The thief on the cross. Did you hear the promise here?
If any man serve me, let him follow me. And where I am, there
shall also my servant be. The thief on the cross hadn't
served the Lord Jesus Christ his whole life. But what did
the Lord say to him? Where I am, that's where you'll
be today. You'll be with me in paradise. It's about killing yourself and
worshiping him. You see that the Lord doesn't
need you to do anything for him. He don't need us. Praise His
grace if He allows us to serve Him in some way on this earth.
If there's anything that can be called good in some sense
in Christ that comes of the Lord using us, then praise His grace
for it. He didn't need you. He can raise up stones to do
His will if that's what He wants to do. But instead, He took a
lump of vile, defiled flesh, clay, and made a vessel into
honor. Who gets the glory out of that? Turn to John chapter 6. In John
6 verse 63, look at this passage. This is the Lord Jesus Christ
preaching to a group of people, some sheep and some goats apparently,
and he said, It is the Spirit that quickeneth The flesh profit
of nothing. The words that I speak unto you.
They are spirit and they are life. But there are some of you
that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believed not and who should betray him. And
he said, therefore, said I unto you. That no man can come unto
me except it were given unto him of my father. That's what
we've been talking about. The Lord Jesus is going to have
to come where you are. The father is going to have to
send his son to you in power through the gospel and do something
for you. He's going to have to draw you.
That means to take from one place to another. Doesn't mean to influence
or woo. To incline. It means to bring
you. In bringing many sons to glory. That's the that's the
language of the scripture. Now look at verse 66 from that
Many of his disciples went back. The word time is in italics.
It's not that it was from that that they went back from what
he said. And walk no more with him. Then
said Jesus unto the 12. Don't leave me. No. Are you going with him? Are you going with him? Then Simon Peter answered him,
Lord, To whom shall we go? Will you follow me or will you
quit following me? Will you come after me or will
you leave me? And here is the answer from him who is the recipient
of the grace of God in Christ. Where would I go? If I don't
follow him, who am I going to follow? Myself? Some wise person
in this world? The devil? What choice do we
have? As long as you have a choice, there's no grace. When grace
comes, it removes all choice then. To whom shall we go? I'm going to follow him, not
because I decided to, but because he had mercy on me. To whom shall we go? We're not
leaving. We're going to follow you. We're
not going anywhere. Why? Two reasons are given, and I'll
be through. First of all, you have the words of eternal life. What did I say? To follow him
is to trust him and to love him. They trusted him, didn't they?
Peter spoke for the rest of them that didn't leave, that followed
him, that continued to follow him, that followed him all the
way to the end, that followed him whithersoever he went. You have the words of eternal
life. The gospel you preach is the truth. It's the very life. I'm not ashamed of the gospel,
Paul said, because it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth. We believe what you say. We trust
you. And then what else is it? To
love him. And not just the words. And we
believe and are sure that you are that Christ. You're the son of the living
God. They trusted him. They knew that
every word came out of his mouth was the word of God. And they
loved him. They said, you're God's son,
where are we going to go? To you. The Lord Jesus Christ said
to Peter, first thing he said to him, follow me. And the last
words recorded that he spoke to Peter in our text, Follow
me. Follow thou me. Let's bow and pray.
Chris Cunningham
About Chris Cunningham
Chris Cunningham is pastor of College Grove Grace Church in College Grove, Tennessee.
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