Repeat the same things over and
over over again the Apostle says It's not grievous to me. It's
not grievous to me to repeat the same thing over and over
again the gospel of God concerning our Lord Jesus Christ now in
John 21 I'm entitling the message from the repeated question the
Lord Jesus Christ keeps asking Simon Peter, not once, not twice,
but three times. Lovest thou me? Peter, Simon,
son of Jonah, lovest thou me? You see that in verse 15. So
when they had done, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of
Jonah, do you love me more than anything else? That's what he's
saying there. Do you love me more than anything else? More, more. So I want us to personally
consider, personally consider this question this morning, this
very vital question. Do I love the Lord Jesus Christ? That's the question. I want every
one of us to consider that question personally. Do I love the Lord
Jesus Christ? Every believer can answer that
question Without hesitation Peter immediately said yes Lord You
know that I love you and every believer can answer that question
without hesitation Can answer that question? Passionately immediately
yes, I do love him now by nature What do we love? Remember John
3, 19? By nature, we love darkness,
not the light. It's only by his grace that we
can say, yes, Lord, I do love you. I do love you. And you know why? It says in
1 John 4, 19, here's the reason. We love him because he first
loved us, and that's it. The only reason, the reason that
we love him not found in us. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. The reason of us loving Him is
found in Him. You see, He's altogether lovely.
Now you remember the story here in John 21. The Lord had blessed
these seven We could call them seven wayward fishermen, for
they were called of God to be fishers of men, not to go back
to the fishing trade. But the Lord had blessed these
seven fishermen with a great catch of 153 fish. And we see two things. One, they
had toiled all night and had caught nothing. The Lord said,
without me you can do nothing. And then the Lord said, cast
the net on the right side, and they did, and they brought in
this 153 great fish. You see, without Him, we can
do nothing, but with Him, we can do all things. We can do
all things through Christ that strengthens us. Philippians 3,
Philippians 4, verse 13. Without Him, we can do nothing,
but with Him, with Him, boy, all things are possible, aren't
they? All things are possible. The Lord had also completely
provided for them a prepared meal. They had been out toiling
all night, laboring, and now the dawn was breaking, the morning
was coming, they were hungry, they were tired, they were weary,
and when they came to shore, they found the Lord Jesus Christ
had built a fire, had kindled a fire, it had melted down to
coals burning, He had cleaned some fish, where He got the fish?
I don't know, he probably commanded the fish to jump out of the lake.
He'd gone. But he had prepared the fish,
he had prepared the bread, he'd baked this meal for them, and
he said, fellas, come and eat. Come and dine. Come and dine.
Come and dine. You see that in verse 12. The
Lord Jesus said unto them, let's get together and have breakfast.
Here's a breakfast meal coming down. And none of them, none
of the seven disciples, the apostles we're talking about, dare ask
him, who are you? Knowing that it was the Lord
Jesus Christ. He not only prepared the meal
and invited them to come and eat, commanded them to come,
but it says in verse 13, that He came and He took bread, and
He gave them bread, and He gave them fish. He served them, prepared
the meal, invited them, and then served them. That's a good picture
of salvation by God's grace. It's all provided by Him alone. You remember the song I quoted
last week, and I'll quote just a part of it. The banquet of
mercy is served up by one host, the Lord of glory, who prepares
the feast, invites the guest, makes them willing to come, gives
them their robe of spotless righteousness, and he said, come unto me, all
you that are laboring and heavy laden, I will give you rest. You see, all spiritual and eternal
blessing flow out from Him, and they are in Him, aren't they? They're from Him, and they're
in Him. In the Lord Jesus Christ was
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and in Him, in Him, you
are complete. Complete in Him. He's blessed
His people with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly, in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Another old preacher of the past,
his name is John Flavel. Found out in a little bit of
research that I looked up, he was an old English Presbyterian
preacher, born 1627, died 1691. And he said this, all blessings
are ours by living union with Christ. That union with Christ
is through faith in Him, and that faith is not of us, but
rather the gift of God, which comes by hearing the word of
truth." Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Now, notice verse 14 in our text,
John 21, verse 14, This is the third time that the
risen Lord Jesus Christ manifested Himself, showed Himself to these
particular men. Now, He didn't go around manifesting
Himself to all men everywhere, did He? But to certain men at
certain times. Again, salvation and the revelation
of salvation is by His sovereign grace. But He showed Himself
to His disciples after He was risen from the dead. And this
is the third time. What a blessing they enjoy. This
is the third time the Lord was pleased to meet with His disciples
and demonstrate to them that He loved them, demonstrate to
them that He had accomplished their salvation for them. You
remember the Apostle said He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again because He justified us. So this is the third time
He met with them. And you know what crossed my
mind? This thought crossed my mind when I was looking at this.
Think of this blessed thought for just a moment. Our Lord said
in Matthew 18, 20, where two or three are gathered in my name,
I'm in the midst of them. The Lord here in our story was
pleased to meet with them three times. But every time we meet
as believers around the gospel of God's grace, when we come
together publicly and read his word and preach his gospel and
worship him, he said, I am with you. He's here right now. Say,
I don't feel him. I don't see him. You don't have
to believe His Word. The Lord said, I am with you
always. Where two or three are gathered
in My name, I'm in their midst. Now, we know that religious men
are always interested in great numbers, aren't they? Great numbers. How many did you have in service?
this week. How many attend your church?
I've been asked that question many, many times. How many people
are in your church? How many people attend your ministry? You see, men are always interested
in numbers. God's not. He said, we're two
or three. We're two or three are met together
in my name. That'll encourage us. Every time
we meet together to preach the gospel, to rejoice in his person,
to worship the Lord, he has promised to bless us, to be with us. Public worship for a believer
is vital to our soul. We are told not to neglect the
assembling of ourselves together as a manner of some is. What
a privilege God's given us. He's given us this nice comfortable
building. We have air conditioning. We
have heat. We have padded pews and carpet
on the floor. We have all things. we have the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's given us a nice comfortable
place to worship and he more importantly sent a gospel preacher
with a message of God's grace to preach Christ, to preach Christ
in him crucified. Now in verse 15 down to verse
17, the Lord Jesus Christ is going to single out Peter and
instruct him and us in a particular manner, in a particular manner,
over with a particular, in a particular manner as well. Now, I want to
show you something here. Look back at Mark 16. Mark 16. You remember when the women came
to the grave early that Sunday morning? And the messenger of
God said unto them, verse six, be not afraid, you seek Jesus
of Nazareth which was crucified, he is risen, he is not here,
behold the place where they laid him, go your way and tell his
disciples and Peter. The Lord is very mindful of this
man, Peter. that he goeth before you into
Galilee, and there they shall see him as he said unto you."
Go tell Peter. When the Lord and the disciples
had finished breakfast around the campfire, he singles out
Peter and he asks Peter this very particular vital question,
Simon, son of Jonah, Do you love me more than anything else? Do you honestly love me? Now notice, first of all, he
addressed him not as Peter. He addressed him as Simon, Simon. Now, you remember back in Matthew
16, turn back over there. Here the Lord asked another very
important question in Matthew 16. And this is when the Lord
gave Simon, son of Jonah, that new name, Peter. In Matthew 16,
look at verse 13, when Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea
Philippi, he asked his disciples saying, whom do men say that
I, the son of man, am? Who are the people saying that
I am? Well, they said, some say that you're John the Baptist.
Remember, John had been beheaded. Some thought John had been raised
from the dead. Some say that you're Elijah the
prophet, or maybe Jeremiah, another prophet, or one of the others,
maybe Ezekiel or Daniel. Then he said unto him, but whom
say ye that I am? A pointed, direct question. Whom
do you say that I, the Son of Man, am? And Simon Peter Simon
answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God. And the Lord answered and said
unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon bar Jonah, son of Jonah, for
flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which
is in heaven. I say unto thee that thou art
Peter, and upon this rock this foundation Christ crucified I'll
build my church in the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it." So this is not the first time that Simon Peter is singled
out and asked a very important question. Whom do you say that
I the Son of Man am? Now here's another very vital
and important question. Turn to Matthew 22. Matthew 22
verse Matthew 22 verse 41, the Pharisees
came and they asked the Lord Jesus many different questions
about taxes, about marriage, about the law, and then the Lord
Jesus turned the tables on them. Matthew 22 verse 41, the Pharisees
were gathered together and Jesus asked them, saying, what think
ye of Christ? Whose son is he? And they said
unto him, The son of David. And they answered right. He said
unto them, How then doth David in the spirit call him Lord? How can he be David's son and
David's Lord? Then he quotes Psalm 110, The
Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou with my right hand, till I make
thine enemies thy foes. So if David then call him Lord,
how can he be his son? How can he be the son of God
and the son of David? And no man was able to answer
him a word, neither does any man from that day forth ask him
any more questions. He put him to silence, didn't
he? What think ye of Christ? Who is this son of man? What
think ye of Christ? Two vital questions, and here's
the third one. Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ?
Peter, do you love me? Simon, Peter, do you love me?
And he confessed thy work to Christ. Now, many times we see
this chosen, beloved disciple acting in his old character as
Simon, son of Jonah. Now, when you think of Jonah,
what do you think of? A wayward man who went his own
way, who got in trouble, who ended up in the belly of a great
fish that God had prepared. God taught him a lesson. Many
times when we see this chosen and beloved disciple, an apostle
of the Lord, acting like his old Jonah forefather, Simon,
Simon son of Jonah, sinner. And again, many times we see
this man, also known as Peter, the rock, the one begotten and
born of God, taking a strong, bold stand for the gospel as
he does on day of Pentecost. This is true of every one of
us. We still have that old fleshly, sinful, Adam nature, we are sons
of Simon, sons of Jonah, like Simon son of Jonah while yet
We enjoy the privilege of being called sons of God made new creatures
in Christ Jesus Simon Peter we have that old Simon rebellion
That old flesh the nature yet. We have that new nature in the
Lord Jesus Christ that constrains us that motivates us Every believer
can say I'm a sinner and yet by his grace. I'm also a saint
I'm a sinner And I'm a saint. I am what I am by the grace of
God. Oh, wretched man, I can say with pause that I am who
shall deliver me from this body of death. I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, Simon, look at verse 15
again. Simon, son of Jonah, do you love
me more than anything else, more than anyone else? He may be referring When the
Lord says, more than these, he may be referring to Peter's trade. More than likely, the Lord is
asking Peter, do you love me more than anything else? Do you love me more than these
friends of yours? Do you love me more than your
fisherman's trade? Do you love me more than your
mother, your father, your children? Do you love me more than anything
else? The all-knowing Lord is not asking
a question out of ignorance, for He knew Peter's heart, didn't
He? The Lord looketh on the heart. We look outwardly, but the Lord
looks on the heart. But in order to hear Peter confess
his love before the Lord and before these other disciples,
who all forsook him and fled, Peter denied the Lord not once,
but three times. He asked specifically, he singles
out Peter, Simon Peter, and he deals with him and he said, Simon,
you're a sinner, but do you love me? Do you love me? And Simon
immediately without hesitation said not once but three times,
yes Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you. Now Peter doesn't boast that
his love was greater than that of John's. Nor did they say,
well, I love you more than Thomas. I love you more than Nathaniel.
He doesn't bring that in at all, does he? He said, Lord, you know
I love you. I love you. Peter doesn't boast
of his love. He simply states and humbly says,
Lord, thou knowest. He knows. whether we believe
him. He knows whether we love him.
Since you do love me, the Lord gives this command in verse 15,
16 and 17. Since you do love me, you feed
my lambs, feed my sheep. Now the Lord Jesus Christ is
the great shepherd of the sheep, isn't he? He is the Lord, my
shepherd, our shepherd. But he has given unto sinners
this responsibility and charge to go preach the gospel. Since
you do love me, go and do what I've commanded you. You remember
what the Lord commanded him to do? We read that last week. He
called them to be fishers of men. Go and feed my lambs, feed
my sheep, feed those chosen of God. Now that's why I read earlier,
don't turn, let me just read it to you again, later when Simon
Peter writes under inspiration of Holy Scripture, in 1 Peter
chapter 5, the elders which are among you I exhort, who am also
an elder, a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker
of the glory that shall be revealed, feed the flock of God which is
among you, taking the oversight thereof." Leadership, not by
constraint, but willingly, not for the love of money, but of
a ready mind, a willingness, and a readiness to preach the
gospel. Privileged to do so. Feed those sinners chosen by
my electing love. God has chosen the people unto
salvation. Feed those sinners saved by my
sovereign grace, justified freely by his grace. Feed those sinners
the gospel of God, those redeemed by my precious blood. What do
they want to feed upon? Christ and Him crucified. Feed
those sinners called out of darkness into His marvelous light. What
do they want to feed upon? Christ who is our light. Christ
who is our bread. Peter, preach the gospel to my
people. You know, that's the charge God
gives His church. The last words of the Apostle
Paul before he had his head removed for preaching the gospel, he
said to young Timothy, I charge thee before God and the Lord
Jesus Christ to preach the word. Be instant, in season, out of
season, always preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Feed them the word of truth.
Peter writes again that believers are to desire the sincere milk
of the word that we might grow thereby, feed them and nourish
them with the blessed doctrine of God concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ. But we preach not ourselves,
but we preach Christ and Him crucified. God called ministers
are not sent to entertain sinners on the road to hell. Did you
know that? I'm not an entertainer. I'm not here to entertain you.
I'm sent to preach the Gospels. Those sent of God are sent with
His message of Christ and they're determined to preach Him. the
Lord Jesus Christ. Go into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature, and we can be determined as the
Apostle Paul to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ in
Him crucified. Those who do love Him, who do
love the Lord Jesus Christ, must preach Him at every opportunity,
every time we have a shot at it, and a pulpit. and a sounding
board. Those who do love him must preach
him at all times. As the Apostle Paul said, for
as much as in me is, I'm ready to preach the gospel to you who
are at Rome also. God has ordained the preaching
of the gospel to call out his people and his sheep will You
remember he said that in John 10? My sheep hear my voice, I
know them, and they follow me. You see, preaching gets down
to a very simple thing. You know what preaching is? You
know what it is? One beggar telling another beggar
where I found bread. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
bread of life. Are you hungry? Do you need a
meal? Are you a sinner? Look to Him. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Those who are brought into this love relationship with their
Lord do love Him and serve Him. Why? Out of love. We love Him, and we serve Him
out of love. Not fear of punishment, not out
of promise of reward, but out of love. You see, the love of
Christ, you know what it does? The love of Christ is shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. The love of Christ constrains
us. Now, do you need me to put a
set of rules back there on the back wall? And you check them
off, here's the rules for this week, okay, you come in, okay,
I've kept, okay, check them off. You need me to put up a set of
rules? The word of God is written upon our heart. We serve him
out of love, out of gratitude, not out of fear of punishment,
not out of promise of reward. You see, out of love, this is
an all-important question I want each of us to consider this morning.
How important is this for us? Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ?
Now let me show you scripture. Let me show you two scriptures,
how important this is. 1 Corinthians 13. And again,
I know this is something that's not in us naturally. If we love
the Lord Jesus Christ at all, it's because of his grace. But
look at this, how important it is to love the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 13 verse 1, though
I speak with the tongue of men and of angels and have not love,
I am become a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though
I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and
have all knowledge, though I have all faith, so that I could remove
mountains and have not love, love for Christ, I'm nothing. I'd say that's pretty important,
wouldn't you? Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor
and to give my body to be burned and have not love, it profits
me nothing. Now look at 1 Corinthians 13,
13. Now by the faith, hope, and love,
faith is real important, isn't it? Hope is real important. But the greatest of these, Love
love for the Lord Jesus Christ Peter Simon, do you love me? What are the consequences of
not loving the Lord Jesus Christ 1st Corinthians? 1622 look at
this 1st Corinthians 1622 Now, you've marked this in your
Bible. 1 Corinthians, I want to give
you time to find it. I want you to see this. I want
you to see this with your own eyes. 1 Corinthians 16, 22. If any man love not the Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha. What does that anathema
maranatha mean? Let him be damned when the Lord
comes back. I'd say loving the Lord Jesus
Christ is the only thing that matters, isn't it? Do you love
me? Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Now listen to this. Those who
do not love the Lord Jesus Christ do not love God. That's right. You cannot say, I love God and
hate the one who is God our Savior. Remember the religious Jews,
they said they loved God but hated the one sent of God, didn't
they? They said away with him, we have
no king but Caesar. You cannot say I love God and
hate the one sent of God to effectually redeem his people. I heard one
preacher say, or heard of him saying, if the Lord Jesus Christ
died only for the elect, he's no savior of mine." Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Big trouble. Big trouble. You see, you cannot
say, I love God and hate the One sent to effectually redeem
His people. You cannot say, I love God and
hate the Gospel of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot
say that. It's impossible. Now, why did
the Lord keep asking Peter the same question over and over and
over and giving the same command each time, Peter, do you love
me? Yes, Lord. Feed my sheep, feed
my sheep, feed my sheep. Now, some think that the Lord
asked Peter three times because Peter denied that he knew the
Lord three times. And maybe that's so. But rather,
I think, more importantly, to drive home the importance unto
us and the importance the Lord puts upon loving him And the
importance of the Lord puts upon preaching the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It pleased God through the foolishness
of preaching to call out his people. Peter, do you love me? Yes, Lord. Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. Now, hold your
place there in John 21, and look at Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter
20, when the apostle Paul was headed for Rome, through Jerusalem,
and to be questioned and imprisoned for the gospel, he gathered together
the elders from the church at Ephesus, and he said unto them,
I'm not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. You
see verse 27? Now a lot of people quote that
verse, I'm not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of
God. That's not what he said. It's all the counsel of God.
All the counsel of God concerning salvation can be summed up in
one word, Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ, one person.
Now look at verse 28. Take heed therefore unto yourselves
and all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you
overseers, to feed the church of God which he purchased with
his own blood, For I know this, that after my departing shall
grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also
of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things,
to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch and remember
that by the space of three years I cease not to warn everyone
night and day with tears, and now I commend you to God. to
the word of His grace, which is able to build you up, to give
you inheritance among all them that are sanctified." Feed the
church of God. You see how important this is?
We don't put a minimum importance upon preaching the gospel. The
majority of our time when we meet here, we begin our worship
service at 11.15, and the majority of the time is spent doing what?
Preaching the gospel, not entertaining folks. Preaching, preaching,
preaching, preaching. I know today that most have relegated
to the scrap heap the preaching of the gospel, but God's church
doesn't. They make much. They make much
of the preaching of the gospel of God's grace. The importance
of preaching Christ. Preaching Christ. May God enable
us to love Him. May God bless us and cause us
to love Him more. May we grow in grace and in the
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And God help us to love Him. Now I know you're thinking in
your heart, because I have these very thoughts myself. I don't love the Lord Jesus Christ
like I should. Do you? I don't love the Lord
Jesus Christ like I will someday. I love him without any sin in
my heart. I don't love him like I should.
I don't love him like I will one day. But by his grace I can
say this, Lord, I do love you. I love you above all these things. Above all these things. Loving
the Lord Jesus Christ is the only thing that matters in this
life. It. That's it. Loving the Lord
Jesus is the... I know we have other things to
deal with, and I'm not saying we should neglect those responsibilities.
Being a father, being a provider. We have responsibilities. But
the only thing that really counts is do you love the Lord Jesus
Christ? That's all that matters. Believers
do love Him and believers do see the importance of the gospel
ministry and preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
see the importance of doing this every time we meet together.
The Lord has promised to bless His Word. Listen to this scripture,
Isaiah 55. So shall my word be that goeth
forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereunto I send it. Preaching, preaching,
preaching Christ. Now I would not make much of
the preacher, but I would make much of the means that God has
ordained. We have this treasure in an earthen
vessel. that he might receive all the
honor and glory. I want you to look at a couple
of scriptures, find first of all, let's turn to James chapter
one, and we'll see the importance of preaching the gospel. Faith
comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. It pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to call out his people. There's
a very good article on the back of the bulletin today about preaching,
preaching, preaching. James chapter 1, look at verse
17. Every good gift, every perfect
gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights,
with whom is no variable in us, neither shadow of turning. Remember
the Lord Jesus Christ did the same today, yesterday, and forever.
Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth. The word of
truth. That we should be the kind of
first fruits of His... Creature wherefore my beloved
brethren let every man be swift to hear Slow to speak slow to
write one other scripture first Peter now turn a couple pages
first Peter chapter 1 verse Verse 23, being born again, not
of a corruptible seed, but of an incorruptible by the word
of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is grass,
and the glory of man is the flower of grass. The grass wither, the
flower fadeth, but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. Let's make much of preaching
the gospel, reading and studying the word of God. God help us
to love Him and contend for the faith once delivered unto the
saints.