Would you turn with me to John
chapter 21? While you're turning there, remember,
we're going to have lunch together today after the service, and
we won't have services this evening, but everybody stay and eat and
we'll have a time of fellowship. I'd like to begin reading in
verse 18. and read down through verse 22. The Lord is speaking to Peter,
and he says in verse 18, 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, whether thou wouldest not this spake, signifying
by what death he should glorify God." Now, it doesn't say exactly what
type of death that is, but it is said that Peter was crucified. And he was crucified upside down
at his request because he didn't feel himself to be worthy to
be crucified in the same manner our Lord was. And I think this
is such a powerful thought This spake he signifying by what death
he should glorify God. This crucifixion of Peter, whatever
death it was, it glorified 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 If I will that he tarry till
I come, what is that to thee? What business is that to thee? In other words, it's none of
your business. If I will that he tarry till
I come, that's my will. And it's really none of your
business what he does or what I call him to do. Here's what
you're to do, Peter. Follow thou me. Don't you worry
about John and what I'm going to do with him. You follow me. I've entitled this message. Follow And it's my prayer that the Lord
will say to me and to you, follow thou me. Peter had already been given
the high honor of feeding Christ's sheep. He said, Do you love me? Feed my sheep. What a sacred
trust that the Lord would entrust to Peter this thing of feeding
his sheep, that which is most precious to him. And then he's
given another high honor. The Lord tells him ahead of time,
you're going to die as a martyr for me. Now, when you were young,
you did whatever you wanted to do. But when you're old, you're
going to be have your hands stretched forth and somebody else is going
to carry you. And the allusion to him being
nailed to a cross and being carried on that cross, you're going to
go where you don't want to go. Nobody would choose a death like
this. But what a high honor, he said
this, he said, signifying by what death he should glorify
God. Now, how can this glorify God?
being nailed to a cross? How can that actually glorify
God? If they took me and stretched
me out on a cross and nailed me to that cross, how could that
glorify God? How glorious Christ must be. How glorious must the gospel
be How powerful God's grace must be that it will cause a man to
choose to be crucified over failing to confess Christ. Now, they could say to Peter,
if you simply stop what you're saying and just be silent. Stop
what you're saying about God, about Christ, about the cross,
about His grace. Just don't say anything about
election or the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ or regeneration
or perseverance and so on. Just don't say anything and you'll
be set free. If you stop preaching this, we'll
let you go. But if you keep preaching this,
you're going to be nailed to a cross. Now, what is there in
the message of the gospel that would make a man not keep his
mouth shut. Knowing he was going to lead
to his crucifixion, what power is in that message? Doesn't that
glorify God? I think of Paul's words, I'm
ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. God's people, by grace, are willing
to die as martyrs for the gospel of God's grace. By His grace,
you would count it a good thing to be killed for His sake. And
that doesn't mean you wouldn't be stressed out over it. I'm
sure Peter was stressed out over being crucified. But if your
life was taken for the cause of God's gospel, It would be
a life well spent and it would glorify God. He said, this said
he signifying by what death he would glorify God. Paul said,
I don't count my life dear to myself that I might finish my
course with joy. What is it about the gospel? How glorious this is that will
make somebody say, I don't count my life as dear to myself. It's
really not. It's expendable. Oh, that the
Lord would be glorified in whatever way he sees fit. Now, he tells
Peter, you're going to die a death that will glorify God. And when
he had spoken this, verse 19, he saith unto him, follow me. Notice, it is a person we are
called upon to follow. Follow thou me. Not a church, not a denomination,
not a theological persuasion, not a doctrinal position, not
even a cause, but a person. Follow thou me. Now here's my question for this
morning. How do I go about doing that? How can this man, how can
you, be a true follower, an out-and-out disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, first, for me to be a follower
of Christ, it has to begin with Him and not with me. For me to be a follower of Christ,
it has to begin with his command to me to follow him. We have several instances in
the New Testament where this was initiated by a man where
he says, I will follow thee. I will follow thee. Anything
that begins with an I will is going to go bad. You can just
write that down. If it begins with you, it'll
be no good. Let me show you that in Scripture.
Turn to Luke chapter 9. Luke chapter 9. Beginning in verse 57. And it came to pass that as they
went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow
thee. whethersoever thou goest. Pretty confident. Pretty confident. Lord, I will
follow thee whethersoever thou goest. Now, anything that begins
with I will, man's will, it's going to go bad. Look what our
Lord says. And Jesus said unto him, foxes
have holes, And birds of the air have nests, but the Son of
man hath nowhere to lay his head. And he saith," now here the Lord
initiates it, "'and he saith unto another, Follow me.'" Now
this is where the Lord initiates it. But he said, Lord, suffer
me first to go and bury my father. Jesus saith unto him, let the
dead bury their dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of
God. And that's what he did. And another also said, I will
follow thee, but let me first go bid them farewell, which are
at my house. There it's initiated by the man.
And Jesus said unto him, no man having put his hand to the plow
and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. Now, a successful
following of the Lord Jesus Christ must begin with His command to
me, to you. Follow thou me. I'm saying, Lord, give me this
command. Say to my soul, follow thou me. It's got to begin with
Him. And secondly, This command must
come with invincible and irresistible power. We began this service
by looking at when our Lord saw a publican named Levi sitting
at the receipt of custom doing his job. And his job was dishonest. This man was somebody who collected
taxes for the Roman government. He was a very rich man. He abused
his fellow Jews. He was hated by everybody. And
there he sits at the receipt of custom, making money, doing
his thing. And the Lord passed by and said,
follow me. The Lord wasn't inviting him
to follow him. He was commanding him to follow
Him, and He did so with irresistible, invisible power, because we read
where Matthew rose up. And he forsook everything. He
forsook his way of life, his job. He forsook everything and
followed the Lord Jesus Christ. And he did so to his death. He
was one of the twelve apostles. When the Lord speaks in invincible
power, follow thou me, you'll follow him just like Matthew
did. So I say, Lord, say to my soul, follow me and say it with
invincible, irresistible power. Let me tell you something I love.
I love irresistible grace. I love grace that I can't resist. Because if I can resist it, I
will. I know myself. I need grace that
I can't resist. That said, rise and follow me. and I rise, forsake all, and
follow him. Our Lord said in John chapter
6 verse 44, no man can come to me except the Father which has
sent me draw him. And the only way that I'm going
to follow the Lord Jesus Christ is if he draws me irresistibly
and invincibly. And then I will follow Him. Here's my prayer. Lord, say to
me, follow me and say it with invincible, irresistible power
so I can't say no. Cause me to be just like Matthew,
to forsake everything, to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. You see,
this is what all the sheep of Christ do. They are followers
of Jesus Christ. Turn with me for a moment to
John chapter 10. John chapter 10, verse 27. The Lord says, My sheep hear
My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. My sheep. Is everybody sheep? No, there are sheep and there
are goats. A goat will never be a sheep
and a sheep will never be a goat. Remember there in Matthew chapter
25 where all the world is brought before Christ on Judgment Day
and he separates them as a man separates the sheep from the
goats. Well, who are these people called the sheep? The sheep are
those people that Christ died for. The sheep are the elect
of God. Look what he says in verse 24
of the same chapter. 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. 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 you believe not, because
you 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, and they shall never perish, neither shall
any man pluck them out of my hand, my Father which gave them
me." is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them
out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. His
sheep are the ones the Father gave him. His sheep are the elect.
And what is the one evidence of somebody being one of Christ's
sheep? They follow. They follow the Lord Jesus Christ. And if someone dies without What
verse 27 describes, my sheep hear my voice, I know them and
they follow me. All you can conclude from that
is that they were not sheep. His sheep follow him. And in following Christ, there
are things we must do or we're not following him. Turn to Luke
chapter 9. Once again, Luke chapter 9. And he said unto them all, If
any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up
his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life,
shall lose it. But whosoever will lose his life
for my sake, the same shall find it. Now, in following Christ,
first I must deny myself. You can't follow Christ. Listen
to me. You cannot follow Christ without
denying yourself. You know who the biggest problem
you have is? Yourself. You believe that? You are, I am, my biggest problem. Self. And I'm called upon to
deny self, self-will, self-righteousness, self-centeredness, self-promotion,
selfish love of ease and pleasure. Self is the greatest enemy, myself,
my way, my will, and I'm called upon to deny myself. I can't follow Christ without
denying myself. Oh, Lord, give me the grace to
deny myself. And then the next thing he says
in that passage of scripture is whosoever shall come after
me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily. Now, a lot of folks, when they
talk about this thing of taking up their cross, they think of
some burden they have to bear. Well, my crosses in this life
is sickness. My cross in this life is financial
trouble. My cross in this life is some
kind of a bad thing that takes place, and I'm just going to
have to endure it because God brought it on me. Now, that's
not what the Lord is talking about. Taking up your cross has
something to do with the confession that one makes of the cross of
the Lord Jesus Christ and the trouble that brings on him because
of that confession. Take up his cross. Now, the cross
The cross of Christ, the cross, if I was going to pick out one
word to describe the gospel in all of its aspects, I'd use the
word the cross. The cross, this is God's eternal
purpose. Christ is called the land slave from the foundation
of the world. This is God's purpose. He came
to die. The cross tells me the truth. The cross tells me the
truth about myself. If God left me to myself, if
he pulled away his restraints and just let me to myself, I'd
nail Jesus Christ to a cross. You believe that about yourself?
That's how bad you are. That's how bad I am. That's what
the cross tells me. The cross tells me that I'm so
evil that if God took away the restraints, I'd put him out of
business if I could. Thank God I can't. You know,
the throne of God wouldn't be safe for a second if men had
the power to get him down. Thank God they don't. But God
looks at the heart. He knows what we would do if
we could. The cross tells the truth about man. The cross tells
the truth about God. How holy is God? Look at the cross where sin is
placed upon Christ and God kills him for it because God will not
let sin go unpunished. God is just. He will not let
sin go unpunished. This is God's sovereign purpose.
We see that this is what God always purposed. We see God's
wisdom in making a way for him to be just and justify the ungodly. when every attribute of God is
fully displayed by Christ hanging on that cross. And when we preach
this message, when we stand for this message, the cross, what
Christ actually accomplished on the cross. Now, let me tell
you something. When Christ died on the cross, this whole religious
world we're living in today says that he made salvation available
for all men if they do whatever it takes to make what he did
work for them. That's a denial of the cross.
Now, if I say, well, Christ actually accomplished salvation on the
cross, but if you don't believe that, that's okay, you'll still
be saved. I'm going to fend nobody but God. I'll fend God, but I'm
not going to fend anybody else. But if I maintain truth of the
cross, the truth of substitution, what Christ actually, what was
actually going on on the cross. My sin became his. And because
my sin became his, his righteousness becomes mine so that I'm the
very righteousness of God. Tell him the truth of the cross.
And I said, believe this and be saved. Don't believe it and
be damned. I'm going to suffer persecution.
Now, as long as I say, well, you know, I'm OK, you're OK,
we're not going to offend anybody. But if I say this is what it
is to take up your cross, it's this confession of Christ that's
going to cost you something. Now, if I don't take up my cross
and follow him in that sense, I can't follow him. Whosoever
will come after me, let him deny himself. Take up his cross and
follow me. And here's how critical this
is in verse 24, for whosoever will save his life. Keep from
getting in trouble because of this taking up of the cross and
denying himself, whosoever will save his life, they're going
to lose it. But whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the
same shall save it. You know, actually, the only
way we can serve him is by following him in this way. He said, if
any man will serve me, do you want to serve the Lord? If any
man serve me, let him follow me, that he may be where I am. And the only way I can be where
he is, is if I follow him. And in this thing of following
the Lord Jesus Christ, we don't pick and choose when and where
we follow. Turn to Revelation chapter 14.
Look at this description of God's people. Revelation 14, verse 1, And I looked, and lo, a Lamb
stood on the mount Zion. I love the way the Scripture
refers to the Lord as the Lamb. He's called that so much. The
God of glory is called the Lamb. This is a continual reminder
to us of his substitutionary death as God's lamb. God will
provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. Even in heaven, he's
called the lamb. When John looked for the lion
of the tribe of Judah, what did he see? A lamb as it had been
slain. And I looked, and lo, a lamb
stood on Mount Zion, and with him an hundred and forty-four
thousand. having his father's name written
in their foreheads. Now, this 144,000, that's not
talking about a literal, there's only going to be 144,000 saved.
I know I had some Jehovah's Witnesses or more, I can't remember who
it was, which ones think there's only 144,000 that make it into
heaven and the rest got to stay on the earth? And they said,
you're not going to make part of that 144,000. And I said,
well, I know one thing for sure, you ain't going to be there.
You don't believe Jesus Christ is God. You don't believe the
gospel. And that, well, that's another. This 144,000 represents all of
God's elect. It's a definite number. And I heard a voice from
heaven. Verse two, these people have
their father's name written in their foreheads. Oh, we have
the name of that's my name. That's the name I answer to Jehovah's
Witness, the Lord, our righteousness, his name written in my forehead.
And I heard a voice from heaven is the voice of many waters.
And it's the voice of a great thunder, and I heard the voice
of harpers harping with their harps. And they sung as it were
a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts and
the elders. And no man could learn that song but the 144,000
which were redeemed from the earth. It's talking about all
of God's elect, all that He redeemed. These are they which were not
defiled with women, for they are virgins. They look to Christ
only. These are they which follow the Lamb, whether soever He goeth. These were redeemed from among
men, being firstfruits unto God and to the land. We follow him wherever he goes. And go back to our text in John
chapter 20. John chapter 21. Now the Lord
says, follow me. Verse 20. Then Peter, this is typical of
Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved, John,
the writer of this epistle, following. I love to think of this. The
Lord is talking to Peter and John's behind just following,
just following. And Peter, verse 21, saith to
Jesus, Lord, what shall this man do? You tell me that I'm
going to be crucified, that I'm going to glorify you by my death,
and what about John? Here he is falling, but what
about this man? Verse 22, Jesus saith unto him, if I will, in his will glorious, If I will. You know, if it's the Lord's
will for me to live in a cave and you to live in a penthouse,
that's just fine with me, if it's the Lord's will. If it's
the Lord's will for me to be sick and you to be healthy, that's
fine with me. We are fine with the Lord's will,
aren't we? Whatever His will is, it doesn't
matter what it is, because He wills it. It's great! It's just
what I want, as God is my witness, and I say this carefully. I just
want His will to be done, whatever that will is. It doesn't matter
what happens to me. If I will, are you fine with
His will? I am. I'm fine with whatever the Lord,
I'm fine with it. If I will, that He carry until
I come, what business is that of yours? Follow thou me. Don't worry about what John does
or doesn't do. It's none of your business. Your
only business is for you yourself to follow me. Now, Peter got
off track. You see, you can't follow Christ
and look at somebody else. Do you hear that? You personally
cannot follow Christ and look at somebody else. You can't follow
Him and worry about whether somebody else is following Him. You can't
follow Him and worry about somebody else pulling their own share
of the load. You can't do it. Now, the Lord says, what business
is it of yours if I do will till he tarries till I come? And he
doesn't have the same kind of debt you have. What business
is it of yours if I will that he stays alive all the way to
my second coming? It's not your business. Your
business is to follow me. That's your only business. You see, you can't follow Christ
and worry about what somebody else is doing. You know, one
time, a fellow came up to the Lord and he said, Are there few
to be saved? You have the Lord answered it. You strive to enter
in at the straight gate. For many will seek to enter in
and shall not be able. You don't need to worry about
whether there's many or whether there's few. You strive to enter
in. Whether nobody else believes,
you believe. Whether nobody else follows,
you follow. This is his command to you. And really, that's enough to
where you don't need to worry about anybody else, isn't it?
You follow me. Following Christ is to be my
daily life's work. Every day, to deny myself. He wakes up in all of his power
every morning, and you and I are called upon every day to deny
ourselves. to pick up this cross, this confession
of Christ and to follow Him. Now, where do I begin? How do
I follow the Lord Jesus Christ? Where do I begin? I can't see
Him physically. So where do I begin? What do you do when you follow
somebody? You keep your eyes on them. It
really is that simple. Turn with me once again to Luke
chapter 9. We've already read this passage
of scripture. I'm going to look at it again. Our Lord represents following
him like plowing. Now, some of you
have a garden and you've plowed furrows to put the seed in. Look what our Lord says, verse
61. Another also said, Lord, I will follow thee, but let me
first go bid them farewell, which are home at my house. And Jesus
said unto him, no man having put his hand to the plow and
looking back is fit for the kingdom's Following Christ is compared
by our Lord to plowing. Plowing. Now, I was talking to
Bruce Crabtree about this, and I was, he said, well, let me
tell you what I've learned through this. I said, you know, this,
this thing of plowing. I talked to him on the phone yesterday.
He said, He said, I plant a garden every spring, and I've got one
of those plows, you know, that has a wheel in front of it and
got a spade behind it. You just push it along in order
to get the furrow up. And he said, and I've tried so
many times to get a straight furrow. And I'll try to get it
as straight as I can, and it'll just be crooked, winding all
over the place, veering off. And he said, I finally learned
the key to plowing a straight furrow. He said, I put a bucket
out in front. And I aim at that, like I was
looking at that clock. I don't take my eyes off that
bucket. And I just go straight toward it. And I get a straight
furrow. Now, if I look down at my feet
to try to see how straight I'm going, I always go crooked. It
doesn't work. If I look to the side, I veer
off. If I look back to see how straight
it was, I veer off. If I look to my feet, to look
to my walk, to see how my walk's doing, I veer off. If I look
to the side at somebody else, I veer off. If I look behind,
trying to find some kind of comfort, assurance in some past experience,
I veer off. The only way I can plow a straight
furrow is by keeping my eyes on that bucket and looking nowhere
else. In following Christ, I look to
him only. Now, I can't see him physically.
No doubt about that. I can't see him physically. I
don't know what he looks like. People have these paintings and
pictures of Christ. That's idolatry. If you've got
one, get rid of it. Nobody knows what he looks like. But I know he's God. And I look to him as that one
who cannot fail. He's the God-man. Whatever he
does must be successful. I look to him in who he is. He's
God. He's all-powerful. He's absolutely
sovereign. He's utterly just. He's all-wise. I look to him in who he is. I
look to his life. I look to his perfect obedience. That's my life before God. That
is my righteousness before God. I'm the very righteousness of
God in him. I look to his life as my righteousness
before God. I look to his death as my sin
payment. His death wiped away all my sins. My sins were paid for. That's
why I'm not worried about anything. Right now, I'm not worried about
having to stand before God and give an account for my sin. What
sin? He put it away. I have no sin. I look to His death as my complete
and sufficient sin payment. I look to His resurrection as
my justification before God. When he was raised from the dead,
I was justified. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. I was justified, not guilty,
no sin. When he was raised from the dead,
I looked to his resurrection as my justification before God.
I look to his present intercession right now as the reason I'm going
to continue. He said to Peter, Peter, I prayed
for you. that your faith fail not. And
you know what? Peter's faith didn't fail. You
know why? Because the Lord prayed that
it would. Now, he failed in himself, but his faith didn't fail. Peter
knew that the only hope he had was in Christ. He knew that.
Now, the reason I'm going to persevere is because he prays
for me. He represents me. I'm looking
to him. And in looking to him, follow
Him. I'm looking to His return. You know, the Scripture says, it
does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He
shall appear, we'll be like Him. For we shall see Him as He is. And I look to His glorious return. And I look to that time when
I'm going to behold his face in righteousness. You know what heaven is going
to be looking at him? That's heaven. When by his grace I shall look
on his face. That will be glory. Be glory for me. And the only way I can follow
Him is by looking at Him. I can't look at Him physically,
but I can look to who He is. He's the God-man, incapable of
failure, Almighty to save. I can look to His life. That's
my life before God. That's my righteousness. I can
look to His death. That's my sin payment. I can
look to his resurrection. That's my justification. I can
look to his intercession. He's representing me even now.
And I can look to his return. And looking to him, I follow
him. Oh, that the Lord will say to
each person here, follow thou me. And if he says that, I'm
dead sure of this, you will follow him. Let's pray.