Would you turn back to John Chapter
21? A couple of announcements. If
you noticed in the bulletin, the vacation Bible school is
from June 20th through July 1st. We've decided to make it 12 days
this year. Just kidding. No, it's June 29th
through July 1st. You can thank Lynn for that.
Also. Also, next week, we're going
to have a church dinner together and we're going to have Sunday
school next week in the auditorium so that the tables can be set
up. And tonight, Don Bell, pastor
of the Lantana Grace Church, is going to be preaching for
us. And I always look forward to that. He's going to drive
up this afternoon and be with us this evening. John, chapter 21. I've entitled this message, Lovest Thou Me? Lovest Thou Me? The Lord Jesus Christ the Son
of God, the Son of Man, the God-Man, the Second Person of the Holy
Trinity, the Creator of the universe, is all-powerful. He said, all-power. is given to me in heaven and
in earth. Now, if he has all power, if
he possesses in his person omnipotence, what does that say about the
power of everything and everybody else? If he has all What does
that say about all other powers? It says that they have no power. The power that anybody or anything
has is given to them by Him. Power belongeth unto the Lord. is a being of great power. He's
called the God of this world, but his power is a borrowed power. Remember when he was tempting
the Lord and he said, all these things will I give you for it's
delivered to me? Who delivered it to him? God
did. Satan, that mighty being, is
God's pawn. fulfilling God's purpose, and
there really is nothing to worry about. The Lord God Omnipotent
reigneth over all things. He has all power. The Lord Jesus Christ is omnipresent. He's omnipotent, all-powerful,
and He's omnipresent. That means He is everywhere at
once. You can't go anywhere where He
is not. He said to Nicodemus in John
chapter 3 verse 13, And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but
he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is
in heaven. When He's standing here on earth,
He says the Son of Man is in heaven. He is omnipresent. He is everywhere at once. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
omniscient, all-knowing. When he said to Peter, Lovest
thou me, he wasn't asking this for information. He knew whether
or not Peter loved him because he is omniscient, all-knowing. He never gains new information. He's never taught anything. He never learns anything, because
he is all-knowing. He knows all events, because
all that is, he decreed to be. He said, I declare the end from
the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not
yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all
my pleasure. And when Peter is asked this
question, lovest thou me, his appeal was to the omniscience
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, you know all things. You know that I love your person. Now look back in verse fifteen.
Lovest thou me? May the Lord direct this question
to the heart of each person here according to his will. Lovest
thou me? Verse fifteen. So when they had
dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?"
Now put yourself in Peter's place. Remember what has taken place. Peter has denied the Lord. And after the resurrection, Peter
made an attempt at leading the other apostles back to being
fishermen. I go fishing. He went in a wrong
direction, seemingly on every turn. And now the Lord asks him
this question, Peter, do you love me more than these? And the Lord is not saying, do
you love me more than the other disciples do? He's not saying,
do you love me more than John and Thomas and that bunch? There
was a time when if the Lord would have asked him that question,
do you love me more than the other disciples? You know how
he would answer? Yeah, I do. No doubt about it. You know,
these other guys might deny you, but I'll never do it. I love
you more than they do. There's a time when he would
have answered in the affirmative. Yes, I do. But he would no longer
answer that way. What our Lord is saying is, do
you love me more than these, these nets, these boats, these
fish, this way of living, the world? Do you love me more than
these? And Peter appeals to the Lord's
knowledge. He says, yes, Lord, you know
that I love thee." And the Lord replies in a very amazing way. He said to him, feed my lambs. Rather than making
him go through probation to make sure he would not deny them again,
to make sure he wouldn't lead the apostles astray the way he'd
done, and make him, let's watch him and see what he does. No, he gives him a sacred trust. He entrusts Peter with that which
was most precious to him, his lambs. He says, Peter, feed my
lambs. What a sacred trust of love. He entrusted to Peter that which
was most dear to him, his sheep, his lambs, his elect. Feed them,
Peter. Peter is given a sacred trust. Now look at verse 16. He saith
to him the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Now here the emphasis is not
do you love me more than these, but do you love my person? I'm not asking you right now
if you love my kingdom or if you love my doings, but do you
love my person? Now understand, Christ is a person. The gospel is a person. And we trust a person. We don't trust a proposition.
We trust a person. Whom having not seen, you love. Though now you see him not, yet
believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable. and full of glory. Now, I want us to think about
his person. Just a moment. To love his person
is to love who he is. It's to love his attributes.
It's not just some vague, generic, oh yes, of course I love him.
No, I want us to think of his person. Do you love my person? Do you love who I am? Now, he's God. Do you love the fact that Jesus
Christ is God? I do. I don't want you to even
think about your love right now. I want you to think about His
person. He's man. He's humanity. Do you love the
fact that He's man? I do. The God, man, Christ, Jesus. I love His person. He's the Creator. Do you love the fact that he's
the creator? That he's the one who's made
this world into existence? He is sovereign. That means he
controls everything. Nothing falls outside of His
control. I don't care if it's who's saved
and who's not saved, events, times, places. He's in control
of everything and everybody's in His hand and He can do with
them whatsoever He's pleased to do. He can save you or He
can damn you. Your salvation is up to Him. You have no control. I have no control. It's up to Him. Now, do you love
that? I do. He's holy. He's absolutely just. There's
no unrighteousness in him. When he saves, he saves in a
way that honors his justice. He's all wise. He's never learned
anything. He's all powerful. Do you love
his wisdom? Do you love the way that he's
made a way to be just and justify the ungodly? Do you love the
fact that he has such power that whatever he wills, he has the
power to perform it? He's gracious. He delights in
mercy. You can go on and on with his
most excellent attributes. Peter, do you love my person? You see, you know the truth. when you know Him. I used to be so confused by this. Brother Mahan used to say, you
don't come to Christ through doctrine. You come to your doctrine
through Christ. And I used to be confused by
that. I thought, what's that mean? I mean, how can you? You've
got to learn the doctrine. Well, no. Here's what he meant
by that. When you come, when Christ is revealed to you, When
you come to a knowledge of the Son of God, when he makes himself
known to you, the doctrine is obvious. It's obvious. For instance, you can't believe
that Jesus Christ can fail in anything he does if you know
him. You know that would be impossible for him. You know that if he
died for you, you must be saved. You know he's in control of all
of this. The doctrine becomes obvious when you come to know
his person. Salvation is a person. The Lord
Jesus Christ. Peter, do you love my person? Lord. You know I do. He once again appeals to the
Lord's knowledge. And notice, he didn't say, Lord,
now, I walked on the water. Obviously, I love your person.
You enabled me to do it. He didn't say, Lord, I'm an apostle.
Lord, I'm the one of whom you said, thou art Peter, and upon
this rock I'll build my church. You said that. He didn't talk
about any of the things that the Lord had used him to do.
He simply appealed to the Lord's omniscience is knowledge, Lord,
you know, all things. And I can't help but wondering
how the other apostles were feeling when the Lord asked him this
question. Peter, do you love me? I wonder if anything. Let's
see what he says. I mean, we know what his actions are. Let's
see what he says. The Lord. Peter, do you love
me? Again, he says, feed my sheep. Verse 17. He saith unto him the third time.
Somebody has suggested that he had denied him three times, so
he asked him three times. I'm not sure whether that's the
case. That may be. I'm not real sure why the Lord
asked the same question three times, but he did ask three times.
He saith unto him The third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou
me? Now, if the Lord asked me that
same question three times, I'd start getting a little nervous.
He must not be satisfied with my answer. Why would he ask me
the same thing three times? Lovest thou me? He must not believe
me. He must not think I'm giving
the sincere. That's what I'd be thinking if I was in Peter's
place. And I can understand why Peter was grieved. He was vexed. He was upset over the fact the
Lord asked him this question for the third time. So Peter
was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Love has
found me. And he said unto him, Lord, you know all things. You're omniscient. I can't fool you. I can't play
around with you. You know all things. You know
what's in my heart. You know me through and through. You know me. You know all things. And you know that I love thee." He appeals to the
omniscience of Christ. Now, Peter probably is thinking,
after this third time, I guess there isn't any evidence that
I do love him. I denied him three times. Even after his resurrection,
I tried to leave the other apostles back to fishing. As a matter
of fact, all of the evidence that can be seen points to the
fact that I do not love him. That's the way it appears. But he appeals to the Lord's
omniscience. Lord, you know all things. Now
hold your finger there and turn to 1 John 3. Let us not love in word, neither
in tongue, but in deed and in truth. Now you can say, I love
you. And it's utterly meaningless
if there's not actions, deed, and truth that prove you love. And you can never say, I love
you, audibly, yet your deeds and actions can prove that you
do. Now he says, let us not love
in word, neither in tongue, not just say I love you, but in deed
and in truth. And hereby we know that we are
of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him. Now look
at this verse 24. If our heart. Condemn us. God is greater than our hearts. and knoweth all things." My heart condemns me. My heart condemns me. I can't even look up. Todd, do
you love me? My heart says, all I can do is condemn myself.
But this passage of scripture says, when we're like that, God
is greater than our hearts. And He knows all things. Exactly what Peter was appealing
to. Lord, You know all things. Same principle as this. If we
believe not, He abideth faithful. He cannot deny Himself. When in my experience, I feel
like I can't even come up with faith. Do you know you're one
of the elect? No, I don't. Do you know you're
saved? No, I don't. I'm just so filled
with confusion and doubt and unbelief. I don't know. Can you say with confidence,
I know you love the Lord? My actions say no. If we believe
not, Yet he abideth faithful. He cannot deny himself. You see, if I'm in Christ, I'm
in him. For him to deny me would be for
him to deny his very own self. And that's not going to happen.
You see, every believer is united to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
Peter says, you know all things. You're omniscient. You know that
I love your person. And once again, this sacred trust,
feed my sheep. Now, try to put yourself in this
position with the Lord saying to you, Todd, Delphus, lovest
thou me? Now, if you want to know What
love is? Love is thou me. I think of what John said. John
called himself that disciple that Jesus loved. He didn't call
himself a disciple that loved Jesus. You know, when I hear
people describe someone else, they say, well, they really love
the Lord. And you know, I'll be honest with you, I'm not real
aware of the Bible speaking in that kind of language. They really
love the Lord. As a matter of fact, John, when
he's describing love, he said, He said, herein is love, not
that we love God. We're not going to give our love
as a description of what love is, not that we love God, but
that He loved us and sent His Son to be the perpetuation for
our sin. Now, when I talk about love,
I'm not going to talk about my love to Him, because my love
to Him, I do love Him. He knows. I do love Him, but
my love is not to be considered as The defining of what love
is, His love to me is. But love to the person of Christ
is absolutely essential to faith. You cannot believe on one whom
you do not know, and if you know Him, you must love Him. There is no knowing of Him and
not loving Him. It is love to Christ that motivates. It's love to Christ that inspires
a man to deny himself, to take up his cross, and to follow the
Lord Jesus Christ. Paul put it this way, the love
of Christ constrains us. It presses on us. It causes us
to do things we wouldn't do, and it keeps us from doing things
we would do. It constrains us. His love to
us, our love to Him. The love of Christ constrains
us. Now, Peter, as you go on reading
in this passage of Scripture, our Lord tells him, you're going
to be carried off and crucified. That's your future. You go where
you want to now, but you're going to be carried off and stretched
forth on a cross. And tradition has it that he
was crucified upside down because he didn't feel himself worthy
to be crucified in the same manner as the Lord Jesus Christ. And
the Lord tells him ahead of time, well, I'm glad I don't know how
I'm going to die, aren't you? I'm thankful for that, the Lord withholding
that, when and how and so on, but the Lord told Peter. He said,
you're going to be crucified upside down. Now, what is it
that kept Peter from running from this and from trying to
avoid any kind of situation that would bring him into this end?
It's because he loved Christ. He would have counted it a great
privilege to die for the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how he loved
Him. He would find it an honor. The best way my life could be
spent is in dying for Christ. Now, the only way you can feel
that way is if you love Him. There is no salvation without
love to the Lord Jesus Christ. The fruit of the Spirit is love. Love to Him. Love to Him as He
is. Love to Him as He's revealed
in His Word. We love Him. We love the way
He's saved. We love everything about Him. We love all of His
attributes. Everything regarding the Lord Jesus Christ, we love. And we wouldn't change Him if
it were in our power. I'm so glad He's sovereign. I
wouldn't change it if I could. I wouldn't let me be in control
of you. No, that would be disaster. I love His holiness. I love His
justice. I love His grace. I love everything
about the Lord Jesus Christ. I love. I do love His person. There's no salvation apart from
love to His person. Now, let me mention some benefits
and blessings that are inherent in love to Christ. Those that
love Him. Now, do you love the Lord Jesus
Christ? I'm not asking you to answer
me, but in your heart, you know if you love this person, don't
you? You know if you love this person. Do you love Christ? Do you know that means you are
a part of God's eternal purpose? Romans 8, 28, Paul says, And
we know that all things work together for good, to them that
love God, to them who are thee called according to His purpose. Now, here's where my significance
is. Not in my preaching or my anything. My significance is
simply that I'm in Christ, that I'm called according to His purpose. Turn to 1 Corinthians 2. Verse 9, But as it is written,
I have not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the
heart of man, No natural man has ever come up with anything
like this. It's never entered their heart. The things which God has
prepared for them that love Him. That God hath revealed them,
these things that have not entered into the natural man, God hath
revealed them to us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God." Now, when you love God,
you're somebody that God has prepared the great things of
salvation for. And this is a benefit in loving
God. You know, that love you have to Him, He gave it to you. We love Him. Why? Because He
first loved us. I trace my love to Him, and I
do love Him, and I know the only reason I love Him is because
He put it in my heart, and that's why I love Him. And to think
of the great things He's prepared, all the great things of salvation
He's prepared. He justified me. This was His
work. He made me to where I'm not guilty
without sin before Him. He redeemed me. He put away my
sins. He gave me a new heart. He gave
me a new nature, a holy nature. He gave me that nature that loves
Him, that believes Him. He preserves me. He keeps me
by His grace. My future is to be made just
like Christ. Oh, the great things that God
has prepared for them that love Him. That person who loves Christ
is the place where the triune God makes his dwelling place. Now would you turn to John 14? Verse 23. Jesus answered and said unto
him, If a man love me, He will keep my words. He'll guard earnestly my words. He will be intolerant of any
change of my words. You know, people who can take
the gospel or leave it, well, I believe it, but maybe they
can go to a place, a church, where the gospel of God's grace
is not preached. They prove by that they don't love his person. You see, God's people take everything
personal because they love his person. Now, somebody that loves
the Lord Jesus Christ, they'll keep his words. And what it says next, my father
will love him and we will come unto him and make our abodes. Our dwelling place. Our home. With evil. You know where the Lord lives? In here. Christ in you. The hope of glory. What a glorious
thing of loving Him. In Psalm 145, 20, we read, The
Lord preserveth them that love him. All who love him are preserved
by him. I love that hymn that Pam sang,
Come thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy praise. Streams of mercy never ceasing,
call for songs of loudest praise. Oh, to grace how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be. Let thy goodness, let thy grace,
like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee. I'm found, I'm
preserved by the Lord Jesus Christ. He won't let me go. He won't
forsake me. Psalm 122.6 says, They shall
prosper that love thee. Whatever they do, even their
failures and their defeats, our prosperity, the Lord uses them
for our glory, for our good and His glory. Whatever, thanks be
unto God, that always causes us to triumph in Christ. Oh,
what blessings there are in loving the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, somebody
might ask the question, but doesn't love show itself? Doesn't it
manifest itself, or is it just in saying, I love you? No, it
manifests itself. You're already there in John
14. Look in verse 15. If you love me, keep my commandments. Look in verse 21. He that hath
my commandments and keepeth it, he it is that loveth me. And
he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I love him.
and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not ascariot,
Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and
not to the world? Jesus answered and said unto
him, If a man love me, he'll keep my words. And my Father
will love him, and will come unto him, and make our abode
with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings. And the
word which you hear is not mine, but the Father which hath sent
me. There will be a keeping of his
commandments. Look in 1 John chapter 5. You
believe the gospel and you love his people is basically what
that means. 1 John chapter 5, verse 1. Clare read this back in the study.
Whosoever, verse 1, whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ,
is born of God, and every one that loveth him that begat. Love
of him also that's begotten of him. Now, if I love the Lord
Jesus Christ, and if you love the Lord Jesus Christ. I will
love you. I'll love you dearly. You've
been begotten of the same one who begot me, who gave me life. You know, it's love. It's a love
that proves its sincerity. I love that passage of Scripture
in 2 Corinthians chapter 8, verse 8, when he's talking about giving,
he says, prove the sincerity. the genuineness, the realness
of your love. It's giving, not saying, but
giving that proves, that demonstrates the reality, the sincerity of
our love. You know, if I have a problem
with giving, what does that say about my love to Christ? Bottom
line. And we're given some warnings
in the scripture regarding our love. These warnings scare me. Our Lord said in Matthew chapter
24, verse 12, because iniquity shall abound. The love of many. Shall wax cold. I don't want that to happen to
me. And I don't want that to happen to you, but it scares
me, doesn't it you? Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many
shall wax cold. And then you remember the Lord's
warning to the church of Ephesus after he commended them for many
things. He said, but I have something
against you because you have left your first love. I don't want to do that. What
all that means. I don't want to do that. I don't
want to lose my first love. Now the key to maintaining our
love to him is found in Luke chapter 7, where he says to that
man, turn with me there, Luke chapter 7, this is the key to
maintaining love to Christ. Verse 36, and one of the Pharisees desired
him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's
house and sat down to meet, Luke 7, verse 37, and behold, a woman
in the city which was a sinner. She was a sinner. Most people think that this woman
was a prostitute. It doesn't say that. But she
was a sinner. And so am I. Behold, a woman
in the city which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat
at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,
and stood at his feet behind him, weeping, and began to wash
his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her
head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
She didn't say anything. She didn't say, I love you. She
probably felt unworthy to say something like that. She just
wept at his feet. She was a sinner. Now, when the
Pharisees, which had bidden him, saw it, he spake within himself,
saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who
and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him, for she
is a sinner. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, Simon, I have something to say to thee. And he saith,
Master, say on. There was a certain creditor
which had two debtors. The one owed 500 pence and the
other 50. And when they had nothing to
pay, he frankly, freely, graciously forgave them both. Tell me, therefore,
which of them will love him Simon answered and said, Well,
I suppose that he to whom he forgave most. And he said unto
him, Thou hast rightly judged. And he turned to the woman and
said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou
gavest me no water for my feet. But she washed my feet with tears
and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no
kiss, but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased
to kiss my feet. My head with oil, thou didst
not anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.
Wherefore, I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven. For she loved much, but to whom
little is forgiven. The same loveth little. The key to much love is understanding
at all times, I've been forgiven much. Every time I've breathed,
I've sinned. But if you've just been forgiven
little. You know those days when you think you've had a good day?
I didn't sin all that much today. I'll tell you what, I'm not excusing
sin in any way, but on those days, those are the days when
you love Christ a little. You can just write that down.
Now, here's what will make our love perfect and complete. Turn
to 1 John chapter 4. Verse 17. Herein is our love, the love that He's given us,
the love that we have to Him. Herein is our love made perfect,
made complete, made mature, that we may have boldness in the day
of judgment, because as He is, So are we in this world right
now. Now, there's no fear in love,
but perfect love casts out fear. Seeing that as he is, that's
how I am. That makes me have this bold
love toward him. He loves the Father perfectly.
I do too. In him, because whatever he did,
I did. Now, if God gives me the grace
to see that as He is, righteous, holy, perfect, that's me. That's
going to make me love Him. That's going to develop. That's
going to complete. That's going to mature. That's
going to perfect my love. Lovest thou me? J.C. Ryle said, If we really love somebody, we
like to think about them. And we do. In our private thoughts,
we think about them. If we really love somebody, we
like to hear about them. We like to hear them bragged
on. We like to hear people exalt them. If we really love somebody, we
like to read about them. You know, if there's an article
in the Lexington Herald Leader about Aubrey, I'm going to read
each word carefully. There's a lot of articles I just
skip over. They're about people that I don't necessarily, you
know, have any relationship with. But if you really love somebody,
you love to read about them. And if you really love somebody,
you want to please them. And you want, you have a desire
for them to be pleased with you. You have a craving of their approval,
if you really love them. If you love somebody, you love
their friends. Anybody that loves them, you're
on their side. If you love somebody, you're
jealous of their honor. If somebody says something bad
about them, they become your enemy if you really love them.
You cannot tolerate that which is contrary to that person you
love. You're jealous of their honor. Now, if you can just let it go,
you just prove by that you don't really love their person. If
you love somebody, You love listening to them and talking with them.
There's a relationship there. You love to listen to what they
say, and you love to talk to them. You love this relationship.
If you love somebody, you love being with them. You love being
in their presence. And if you love somebody, you'll
speak well of them. These things said Isaiah when
he saw his glory and spake of him. Lovest thou me? Yes, Lord, I do. You know it. Feed my sheep. Every believer desires to be
involved in this thing of the feeding of the Lord's sheep in
whatever capacity. Let's pray.