Down at the cross where my Saviour died, Now there were
nothing but sin and pride. There stood my heart for the
Son of God, ♪ Glory to His name ♪ ♪ Glory to
His name ♪ ♪ Glory to His name ♪ ♪ There to my heart shall the
blood of Jesus flow ♪ ♪ Glory to His name ♪ ♪ O precious fountain ♪ ♪ That
saves from sin ♪ ♪ I am your water and your milk ♪ ♪ Purchase
faithfully and faithfully ♪ ♪ Glory to His name ♪ It's true, it's
true, it's true, it's true, it's true, it's true, it's true, it's
true, it's true, it's true, it's true, it's true, it's true, it's
true, it's true, it's true, it's true, it's true, it's true, it's
true, it's true, it's true, it's true, it's true, it's true, it's
true, it's true, it's true, it's true, it's true, it's true, it's
true, it's true, it's true, it's true, it's true, it's true, it's true, it's true,
it's true, it's true, it's true, it's true, it's true, it's true,
it's true, it's true, it's true, it's true, it's true, it's true,
it's true, it's true, it's true, it's true, it's true, Come to
this mountain so rich and sweet. Catch your first look of the
stable breeze. All I want to be today, and it
remains the same. Glory to the new creation. Glory to the new creation. Glory
to the new creation. Glory to the new creation. Glory to the new creation.
Glory to the new creation. Glory to the new creation. Glory to the new
creation. Glory to the new creation. Glory to the new creation. Glory
to the new creation. Glory to the new creation. Glory
to the new creation. Glory to the new creation. Glory to the
new creation. Glory to the new creation. Glory
to the new creation. Glory to the new creation. Glory
to the new creation. Glory to the new creation. Glory to the new creation. Glory to
the new creation. Glory to the new creation. Glory to the new creation. Glory
to the new creation. Glory to the new creation. Glory to the new creation. Glory
to the new creation. Glory to the new creation. Glory to the new creation. Glory to the
new creation. Glory to the new creation. Glory to the new creation. Glory to
the new creation. Glory to the new creation. Glory And at the cross that He took me
in, I'll never forget it. I'll never forget it. I'll never forget it. Lord of all, Lord of all, glory
to His name, glory to His name. You heard Chuck mention in his
prayer, a pastor is preaching in Pennsylvania. Remember him
and Lynn as they're gone. Lord bless their travels and
their fellowship there. We have Chris Cunningham from
College Grove, Tennessee with us. He and Todd have been friends
for a long, long time and I'm thankful that in Todd's absence
we have Chris with us and his wife Vicki and we're getting
to know them and just love them and glad you're with us. I look
forward to hearing you preach to us this morning, Chris. I appreciate the prayer that
was prayed just a moment ago, and one part in particular. It
boils down to something very simple. Lord, have mercy on us. If the Lord is merciful this
morning to us, and is pleased to meet with us and bless us,
then we'll leave here rejoicing to have been here. We'll leave
here worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ and praising Him for His
great salvation. And so we do pray for that with
Him. I'm honored and very happy to be with you. I appreciate
your pastor asking me and all of y'all having us and treating
us so well. Y'all are just a joy to be with
and family to us, and we enjoy being here with you. And pray
the Lord will bless us together this morning. Let's turn and
look at John chapter 13 together for a little while. I'm still
getting used to preaching with these glasses on. I've only done
it once, and I had to abandon them about halfway through. And
so I'm having to try again. I put this off as long as I could. So bear with me. I hope it's
not a distraction to me or you. But John chapter 13, let's look
at this passage together. I want you to notice particularly
one thing about it. Not an unfamiliar passage of
scripture, but we'll focus in on one aspect of it. Verse 36
of John 13. Simon Peter said unto him, Lord,
whither goest thou? And Jesus answered him, Whither
I go, thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me
afterwards. And Peter said unto him, Lord,
why cannot I follow thee now? Brother Coffey was kind of hard
on Peter this morning in the Bible class, but not hard enough.
We're going to get on him a little bit more this one. Why can't
I follow you now? I will lay down my life for thy
sake. Alright? Jesus answered him, Wilt thou
lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
The cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me thrice. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my father's house or many
mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to
prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for
you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I
am, there you may be also." Now, we see in these verses particularly
two wills expressed. Peter said in verse 37, I will
lay down my life for your sake. And in verse 3 of chapter 14,
the Lord Jesus said, I will come again and receive you to
myself. Now, the one will represents
impotence and shame and failure. And the other will, in a word,
is salvation. Peter says in verse 37 there,
I will, I will, I will. And the Lord in effect says to
Peter, no, you will not. That's not what you're going
to do, Peter. What you're going to do is deny me. But then the
Lord said, but don't be troubled because I will. This is simply the gospel. You
and I are like Peter. I will. Men are saying that all
over this nation, all over this city, all over this world this
morning. I will. I will make a decision for Jesus. I will live for him. I will separate
myself from this world. I will live the Christian life
and on and on. I will follow him. You know,
we used to sing a song in Sunday school when I was a kid. I have
decided to follow Jesus. That's what Peter was singing
right here. I'll follow you to death. I've sung that song before
and meant it, and Peter would have sung that here. But then
the Lord graciously, yet clearly in rebuke, but in gracious rebuke. Are you grateful for the rebuke
of the Lord? That he does grieve us, Brother
Bob. He does stop us in our foolishness. In clear rebuke, but in gracious
and tender rebuke. The Master reveals, Peter, you
won't do any such thing, and we won't either. We're just lacking.
Turn to Mark chapter 14. We have some additional detail
in this account of it here in Mark 14 and verse 27. Look at the language here. This
is the same occasion, just a different account of it. Verse 27 of Mark
14, And Jesus saith unto them, to his disciples, all of them,
All ye shall be offended because of me this night. For it is written,
I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.
But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee. But
Peter said unto him, Although all shall be offended, yet will
not I. And Jesus saith unto him, Verily
I say unto thee, that this day Even in this night, before the
cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. But he spake the more
vehemently, If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in
any wise." Well, Peter proved here what we all know as believers,
that the will of man is impotent. Man's will is anything but free.
Romans chapter 7 verse 19 particularly, but all through that chapter
Paul expresses this, and to the anguish of his soul he expresses
the impotence of his own will and concludes the matter by saying,
O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this, from
the body of this death? And what is it about the body
of this death that grieved Paul so much? He said in verse 19,
The good that I would do, I do not. Anybody? But the evil which I would not.
That's what I do. Does that sound like a free will
to you? The good that when I say I will, I don't. Anybody? Peter, though plainly warned
here, the Lord said you'll deny me. But he was unable to resist
denying the master. Man's will. It's pathetic, impotent,
shameful. Peter ought to be ashamed. Yeah,
me too. And you too. Shameful and pathetic. Plainly warned. And when they
went to Gethsemane, the Lord said, could you not watch with
me for one hour? Peter was one of the ones he
said that to. Though privileged with James
and John to witness things that no other human eyes had ever
witnessed before or since. And I'll tell you this, Peter
was unable to heed the exhortation right here in our text when the
Lord said, let not your heart be troubled. Wouldn't you like
to be able to obey that exhortation? But Peter did let his heart be
troubled. He went out and wept bitterly when the Lord revealed
to him what he had done. And he was grieved, and in the
text that our brother brought out in the Bible class, he quit
the ministry. He said, I'm going fishing. I'm
going to go do what I used to do. I've denied the Lord. But the Lord Jesus Christ said,
Peter, I'm not going to leave you in your misery. He doesn't
leave us to our own will, does he? Thank the Lord, praise his
name forever, that he doesn't leave us to our will. That's
the so-called pitiful thing that passes for a gospel down the
street here, is that God has done everything Up to now, everything
he can do to save you, now it's up to your free will. Aren't
you glad the Lord Jesus doesn't leave you there? Oh, he said
to Peter, you won't, Peter. You're not going to do what you
said you're going to do. But I'm going to do what I say I'll
do. And here's what I'll do. He said, Peter, I'm going to
prepare a place for you. Not for mankind, not for somebody
who might you know, be pleased someday to improve upon my grace. Oh, how pitiful we are. How sickening
the false gospel of this world is. No, Peter, I'm going there
for you. When I go to the cross, when
I go to shed my precious blood at Calvary, Peter, I'm going
there for you. And he said, don't be troubled
about this. But Peter was. We can't obey even that, can
we? If we say, I will, I will. But Peter went out and wept bitterly,
that old rugged fisherman. Wept like a little girl with
a broken heart. And then he quit, went back to
his old ways of fishing and didn't even know the Lord when the Lord
came to meet with him. Peter proved here again what
we all know, by God's grace. But does the Lord still need
to teach it to us? Will He need to put us through
an experience like He did Peter here, perhaps? To teach us the
impotence of our own will, and the gracious power of His will. May He teach us that this morning. Can I confess something to you
this morning? I'm exactly like Peter, exactly. I say I will,
and then I don't. I'm just like Paul who said,
the good that I would do, I can't do it. As a believer, I want
to honor the Lord Jesus Christ, don't you? As a believer, we
come here to honor him, didn't we? This morning, did we meet
in his name? That's what it is to meet in
his name, to honor him, to worship him, to laud and honor and glorify
his holy name. Did we come here for that? We
want to, don't we? Will we do it? Oh. Religion says if we will, he
will. But the believer knows better that if he will, we will. If he will, as our brother prayed,
have mercy on us this morning. Lord, have mercy on us. If he
will, then we'll honor him. We'll honor him. I want to be
consecrated to him in this world. I don't want to go about my own
business and forget God, do you? If he will, I will. How to perform
that which is good, I find not. How about you? How do you find
it with yourself? May he be gracious to us. We're
not going to find it in ourselves, in our flesh. There's no good
thing dwelling there. And like Peter, I have one hope.
And it's what the Lord Jesus said to Peter. Look at verse
1 of chapter 14 again. John 14, 1. Let not your heart
be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. So what happens if I can't perform
that which is good? What happens if I fail? What
happens if I say I will and I can't? What if I fail? We will fail. We do fail. We have failed in
every sense of the word. But don't be troubled, the Lord
said. Don't be troubled. Why not believe in me? Don't believe in yourself. You're
a failure. You're worthless. You're impotent.
Was the Lord Jesus Christ exaggerating, you reckon, when he said, Without
me, you can do nothing. Nothing. Except you abide in
me. You have no life in you. We are
nothing. We have nothing. We can do nothing.
What's the difference between Peter and Judas, for example? who also denied the Lord Jesus
Christ, just like Peter did. It says that Satan entered into
Judas Iscariot, and when Satan entered into him, the Lord Jesus
dipped the sop. He told the disciples, when I
dip the sop and give it to him, that's the one that's going to
deny me. And he did it, and it says Satan entered into Judas
Iscariot. The Lord said to Peter in Luke
22.31, Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired
to have you." Can you imagine what it would be like for Satan
to have you? The Lord, but then he said, what
will Satan do with you? He'll sift you as wheat. He'll
tear you apart. He'll destroy you. That's what
he wants to do. But, I have prayed for thee. Do you remember what the Lord
prayed for? That your faith fail not. Why am I quoting that verse?
What did he just say to Peter in our text? Believe in me. That your faith fail not. There's our hope. By grace through
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're nothing. Christ is all. He's all we need. If He's all
we have, then we have enough. We have everything. We have everything. I've prayed for you that your
faith, Peter, you're going to deny me. You said you will, but
you will not. What you'll do is just the opposite.
But I will. Believe in me. Now that's the
word of power. When the Lord speaks effectually,
believe in me. That's the one that said, let
there be light. And there was light. He speaks
that word effectually to the sinner's heart when he comes
in salvation and grace. When he said to Thomas there,
Thomas said, unless I see the print of the nails in his hands
and the wound in his side, what was his words? I will not believe. And then the Lord Jesus comes
into the room and says, Thomas, come here. He said, come here,
Thomas, and put your finger into my hands and thrust your hand
into my side. And what did he say to him? Be
not faithless. But believing, that's the Son
of God that says that. The gospel goes out generally,
and many are called, but those who are chosen in eternal, infinite,
marvelous grace. The Lord speaks to their heart
through the preaching of the gospel in power and says, be
not faithless, but believing. And that's what he did here with
Peter. Believe in me. And with all who believe on him. He commands it. And with the
command goes the ability, the power to obey. Here is why you
should not be troubled. If the Lord gave you faith to
begin with, and he intercedes on your behalf that though all
else fail, that faith that he gives will never fail. And that's
the only difference between Judas and Peter. They both denied the
Lord. They both sold him out. But the Lord Jesus said, Peter,
I pray for you. I pray for you. And that's the
difference between us and Judas, the intercession of the Lord
Jesus Christ and his will toward us, not our will for him. Romans 11, 29, the gifts and
calling of God are without repentance. If he gives faith, he intercedes. Let that faith fail not, and
it never shall. It never shall. Paul said in
Philippians 1.6, we're confident of this very thing, that he which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day
of Jesus Christ. So when Christ says to Peter,
believe in me, he does so effectually. Why did he exhort him this way
at all? Why did he say believe in me when the Lord had already
given him faith and the Lord had already prayed for him, which
we have that revealed where we read, Peter, I prayed for you
that your faith, well, it's not going to fail. So why does he
say, believe in me? That's the Lord's way. He commands
it. And with the command, he gives
the power to obey. Why does the Lord say, come to
me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you
rest? And then also say, no man can come unto me. Well, let me ask you another
question. Why does he say to Lazarus, come forth when everybody
knows a dead man can't come out of the grave? Because when he
gives that command, he's not trying to get a sinner to do
something. He's not calling upon that sinner's will or power to
obey. He's issuing a command and he's
doing so with power as when he said, let there be light. Paul
said, God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness shined
in my heart. That's the one that gave the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of his son. The one who speaks
and it's done. That's the saving power of his
grace. Believe, Peter, believe also
in me. Looking unto Jesus, the what?
and finisher of our faith. The author, he's the one that
produced it. He's the one that gave it. He's
the one that authored it. And he'll finish it. If he begun
it, if he started it, if he gave it, he'll perfect it. And that's
Peter's hope and that's my hope. It's your faith, Peter. He said,
I prayed that your faith fell not. He gives us faith and we
have faith and we obey in faith, but he authored it. We wouldn't
have it if he didn't give it to us. The word author there
means that by which anything begins to be the origin, the
active cause. Is that where you got your faith
from? The Lord Jesus Christ is the author of my faith and he'll
finish it. That means to accomplish, to
finish, to bring to an end. Your faith will take you all
the way to the presence of God because he gave it to you and
he will make it happen if you got it from him. Believe also
in me. Believe. And then he said this,
I go to prepare a place for you and I will. When Christ says
I will, it's worth listening to. When I do, It's not. It's not. I will come
again and receive you. Let me ask you all a question. And I'm asking it of myself again.
Has the Lord rung you out yet? Has he rung your plumb out? Or
has he still got some ringing to do? We don't know for sure,
do we? But I know this. The Lord, as
he's pleased, he reveals to us our own nothingness, like he
did Peter here. Have we been emptied of self?
If so, to some degree or another, then we're ready to hear this
next part. Well, I know now, when I say
emptied of self, I know self keeps coming back, doesn't he?
The old nature, it's always there. It's always present with us.
We never are completely free of it. But I'll tell you this,
once the Lord does ring you out, you never completely forget that
or get over it either, do you? Every time you hear the rooster
crow, and the Lord has a way of causing the rooster to crow,
doesn't He? And reminding us of what we are and how dependent
upon His mercy. He reminds us often, and I'm
glad that He does. And then when we can say with
Paul, We have no confidence in the flesh. Can you say that?
No confidence in the flesh. And we utterly despair of self.
That's when the Lord says, let not your heart be troubled. Let
not your heart. Look at the comforting word that
He gives Peter here. My heart need not be troubled,
because though I can do nothing, and when I say I will, it doesn't
mean anything. It doesn't mean anything without
Him. Yet he says, I will. And so I don't need to be troubled
because I depend upon his will and I rejoice in his will. Both
said I will. Regarding something that they
would do for the other. What did Peter say he would do?
I will lay down my life for thy sake. That's exactly what Christ
said to Peter. I go to prepare a place for you,
and when I go to prepare a place for you, I'll come again and
receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be
also. I will lay down my life for thy sake." Let me ask you a question, another
one this morning. What have you ever done for God?
Have you ever done anything for God that you'd like to talk about
this morning? Me neither. Romans 11.34 says, Who hath known
the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counselor, or who
hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto
him again? Anybody? For of him, and through
him, and to him are all things, to whom be glory forever. David
said in 1 Chronicles 29.14, Who am I and what is my people
that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort?"
When they were giving for the temple, to build the temple,
all of the gold and silver and all of their jewelry and things,
it was all given and money and whatever they had was given for
the building. David said, who are we that we
should be able to even do this? For all things come of thee and
of thine own have we given thee. We're just giving him back what
he gave to us. People that know that, you don't
have to beg them to give, do you? You don't have to have bake
sales, you know, and things like that to trick people into giving
to the Lord. We're just giving Him back what
He's given us. And it's this way with everything, not just
money. Christ said, without me, you can do nothing. If you're
going to give, He's going to have to give you something first.
Or you're not going to have anything to give, are you? If you're going
to give Him devotion, if you're going to give Him any dedication,
any kind of effort in your life, any zeal, He's going to have
to give it to you first. Or are you going to get it? If
you're going to worship Him this morning, why do you think we
pray, Lord have mercy on us, enable us to worship, enable
us? If He doesn't, we won't. And He reveals that. He rings
us out, doesn't He, over time and reveals to us. Lord, it's
all of thee. We're just giving you back what
you've given us. Energy, strength, money, whatever
it is. Devotion, worship. When anyone
but God says, I will, it's sin. Unless you say it with the attitude,
if he will, I will. It's sin. Let me read you a passage
from Isaiah 14. You can turn there if you'd like
to, but I'm going to read you. Isaiah 14, 12. And you listen
to how many times the words, I will, are contained here. Isaiah
14, 12. How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the
ground, which didst weaken the nations? For thou hast said in
thine heart, Why did God cast Lucifer out
of heaven? Because of something that he
said. What was it that he said? I will. I will ascend into heaven. I
will exalt my throne above the stars of God. What did Satan
say to our first parents in the garden? You shall be as gods. That sounded pretty good to us,
didn't it? It still does to the flesh. That's our problem, my
friends. We want to be God. The problem
in the garden wasn't that the apple was a more evil fruit than
the orange or whatever that was that they ate. The problem was
that God had established his authority. He said, all right,
Adam, everything here is yours to enjoy, but I'm God. And in
the day you eat of that tree, you'll die. And Adam said, I will, didn't
he, in his heart. He said, I will. We're just like the devil. When
we say that, what did the Lord say to Peter when the Lord said,
I'm going to the cross three days, I'll rise again. And Peter
said, no, no, no. Be it far from thee, Lord. And
the Lord turned and looked at Peter and said, get thee behind
me, Satan. To say, I will. It's satanic. He said, I will sit also upon
the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I
will ascend above the heights of the cloud. I will be like
the most high. That's what we say, too. We've
got a bunch of little gods running around, that's what's wrong with
this world. Why do most marriages end in divorce? It's not because
one comes from Venus and one comes from Mars is because everybody
comes from Adam. And when you put two gods in
one house, you're going to have problems. If there's no submission,
there's going to be trouble. And we all want to be God by
nature, don't we? This is where we are. Get thee
behind me, Satan. He's talking to me, too. Is God
omnipotent? Then don't you try to make me
do anything I don't want to do or stop me from doing something
I want to do. If you do, we're going to have
problems. Are you like that? Is God omniscient? Well, what
a coincidence. I know everything, too. Just
ask me. Is God sovereign? Then don't
you dare violate my free will. Is that what men are saying? They're preaching that now. They
name their churches Free Will Baptist Church. Let's name it
after an attribute of man, and not just that, an imaginary attribute
of man. Let's call our church that, where
we worship a God of some kind. The will of man. Don't violate
my free will. Sinners would rather go to hell
than have God violate their free will. James 4.13. Go to now, ye that
say, Today or tomorrow we will." I will. I will go into such a
city, and I will continue there a year, and I will buy and sell,
and I will get gain, whereas you don't know what's going to
happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor
that appears for a little time and then vanishes away, for that
you ought to say, If the Lord will. That's what Peter ought
to have said. That's what we ought to say.
Not our will. If the Lord will. We shall live. Both physically
and spiritually, if the Lord will, we shall live. Lord, if
you will, you can. If the Lord will, we shall live
and do this. And that. But now you rejoicing
your boastings and all such rejoicing is evil. It's evil to say, I
will. We ought not to ever even say,
I'm going to go to the grocery store this afternoon without
at least knowing in our hearts and acknowledging in our hearts,
if God is willing, I'll do it. May God give us grace to honestly
say with the Apostle, Philippians 3.3, we are the circumcision
which worship God in spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh. Do you still have any? I reckon
we do, don't you? And may the Lord be gracious
to teach us this. Look at the comfort again. He
said, I go to prepare a place for you, Peter. I will go. I will prepare a place. I will
come again. I will receive you unto myself. I will. These are some of my
favorite words in the word of God. Are they yours? This is
the time our Lord spent, the last few hours that he spent
with his disciples alone. Now, and he's speaking to all
of them here. You say, oh, well, this is a
promise. These words, I go to prepare a place for you. That's,
is he talking to Peter there? Well, let me ask you this. Are
you an impotent failure whose will is impotent and shameful? Then he's talking to you, too.
He's talking to all of us Peters, isn't he? And these are some
of the most blessed and comforting words. Peter said, I'll go with
you. I'll die with you. I'll lay down
my life for you. But my hope is that the Lord
Jesus Christ said, I lay down my life for my sheep. We're not going to do anything
for him. He's not waiting on us to do. We're not here this
morning to try to get you to do something for God. Oh, we've
gathered here this morning with the fond hope and desire and
prayer that God will come and do something for us. Peter denied the Lord Jesus Christ,
but the Lord would not deny Peter. Why in the world didn't he? Why
didn't the Lord deny Peter? Didn't the Lord say in Matthew
10, 33, Whosoever shall deny me before me and him will I also
deny before my Father which is in heaven? Does that shoe fit
him? Does it fit you? Why then? Because I go to prepare a place
for you. He didn't go there to prepare
a place for good people. He didn't go to die for people
that obey his law, that obey his will. He went there for sinners. God commendeth his love toward
us, and that while we were yet sinners, and that while we deserve
for him to deny us before his Father in heaven, he won't deny
us because he loves us. mercy upon us. There is no place
for us in the presence of God by nature. God can't have anything
to do with us. He must put us in hell, unless
Christ goes and prepares a place for us. Christ hath also suffered once
for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. I go to prepare a place for you. You remember in Mark chapter
16 when the angel said to the ladies there, go and tell the
disciples, the Lord said, the Lord met with them. Let me read it to you. In Mark
16, when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother
of James and Salome had bought sweet spices that they might
come and anoint him, and very early in the morning The first
day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of
the sun, and they said among themselves, Who shall roll us
away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they
looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away, for it was very
great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man
sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment, and
they were affrighted. And he saith unto them, Be not
affrighted, ye seek Jesus of Nazareth which was crucified.
He is risen, he is not here. Behold the place where they laid
him. But go your way, and tell his disciples and Peter that
he goeth before you into Galilee, and there shall you see him as
he said unto you." Peter denied the Lord, but the Lord would
not let Peter go. He would not let him go. Aren't you glad he won't let
you go? If he set his affection upon you from eternity, he's
determined and purposed to have you. And he went to the cross
and bought you. And he said, I'm coming back
for you. And we long for that day. There in John 21, where
our brother read this morning and taught so, so well and so
profitably, when the Lord spoke to Peter and asked him, do you
love me? And he asked him three times and grieved Peter. He said
to him right after that conversation, toward the end of that conversation,
verse 18, he says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, when you were
young, you girded yourself, and you walked where you would. But
when you shall be old, you shall stretch forth your hands, and
another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest
not. And it says this about that statement of the Lord to Peter.
This spake he signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this,
he said, I know you follow me. Now, if Peter had been enabled
by Christ to follow through on his boast, and the Lord could
have enabled him to do it, we can do all things through Christ
which strengthens us. If Peter had been able to say,
Lord, I'll go with you and I'll die with you, I'll lay down my
life for your sake. And he had done that. If he had
never denied him, if he had gone to the cross with him and said,
I'm with him, I'm going with him, if you're going to crucify
him, crucify me too. And if Peter had been allowed,
who would have gotten the glory out of that? The Lord is not going to have
it that way. The way the Lord dealt with Peter,
perhaps the Lord will have to put us through something like
this to show us what we are in order to get the glory out of
us. Out of our experience, out of our testimony, out of our
life, out of our death. I tell you this. Whatever he
puts us through, one way or the other, he's getting the glory.
He's getting the glory. Is that alright with you? By his grace, I like it that
way, don't you? He's getting the glory. Peter
was going to die, and probably for Christ's sake, but on the
Lord's terms. And the Lord would get the glory
out of it. That's the way it's going to be. Turn to Ezekiel
37. And it's dangerous for y'all to let me get up here and not
put a clock up back there somewhere. But let's look at this together
and we'll be through. Ezekiel 37, verses 1 through
5. I told you I wanted us to focus
on that one aspect there where Peter said, I will, and the Lord
said, I will. And so we'll close with this
from Ezekiel 37. The hand of the Lord, Ezekiel
said, was upon me, and carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord,
and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full
of bones." Now, he said, the hand of the Lord was upon me.
Ezekiel is about to be commanded by the Lord to preach the gospel,
and so the Lord put his hand upon Ezekiel. I pray that he
does that when I preach. If he doesn't, it's not going
to be worth hearing. It's not going to be worth hearing. It'll
be a waste of time. But if the Lord will put his
hand upon his man, and then tell him, prophesy. Lord, if you go
not up with us, don't let us go. And then look at verse 2. And cause me to pass by them
round about these bones. This valley was full of bones,
and behold, there were very many in the open valley, and lo, they
were very dry. There were a whole bunch of them.
God will give life to a people which no man can number. We preach,
and the bones are dry, but we know that the Lord out of every
kindred, tribe, nation, and tongue under heaven has a people, and
he will call them out. He will give life. It's just
they were very dry. Very dry bones. Why do you suppose
it describes them that way? Some say that the gospel is only
effectual to sensible sinners. You know, that the Lord somehow,
when you're asleep or something, causes you to be a sensible sinner.
And then the gospel comes, you know, and you hear it. These bones weren't sensible
bones. They were dry, dead bones. And the Lord said, preach to
them. And when Ezekiel preached to them in verse 7, there was
a noise. You see, these ones who teach
such things, they deny the power of the gospel as God's divine
means of salvation. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Paul said, I'm not ashamed
of the gospel. Why not, Paul? It's the power of God unto salvation. And so when God says preach,
we're preaching to very dry bones, not sensible bones. And then
the Lord asked a question in verse 3. He said unto me, Son
of man, can these bones live? Ezekiel gave the perfect answer. The Lord gave him this answer.
It's the perfect answer. Thou knowest. And look at the way he said it
there in verse 3. I answered, O Lord God, thou
knowest. The only one that knows whether
these bones can live or not, and the only one that can say
without qualification, I can say, you know, if the Lord is
willing, they can live. But the only one that can say
it without qualification, whether these bones can live or not,
is the one who has the power to give them life. And that's
O Lord God, the Sovereign God who gives life. The Lord Jesus
Christ said, as the Father, quickeneth whom he will, so he has given
authority to the Son to give life to whomsoever he will."
That's who we're dealing with. And then, can these bones live?
And then look at verse 4. Again, he said unto me, prophesy
upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the
word of the Lord. The Lord said, I've got a message.
for these bones. And I want you to deliver it,
Ezekiel. And I want you to notice the message. It didn't have anything
to do with what he wanted those bones to do for him. Did it? Here's the message. I will. Behold, attention. God's going to say something.
And he's going to do something. I will cause breath to enter
into you, and you shall live. I will, and you shall." Is that
how God saved you? We've met here this morning to
worship the Sovereign God, and we, like Peter, we have a will,
don't we? We who know better wouldn't call
it free. We wouldn't call it anything but shameful and obstinate
and foolish. And our will represents just
that, failure and shame and foolishness. But we come to worship a God
who said, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And we
pray for our children, for those that we love. that God would
be pleased to have mercy on you. I know if he will, I know how
he'll do it. He'll do it by the preaching of the gospel. And
so it's a pleasure to worship with you this morning, and I
appreciate your attention.