In a great house, like the house of our Lord, the
kingdom of our Redeemer, there are many servants, many servants. And they're not all alike. In the mercy and grace of our
Lord, they're loved alike, they're heirs alike, children of God
alike. But they're not all alike in
personality. God uses them according to his
blessed will, for his glory, in a way that seems best to him.
I'm so thankful that the scriptures are not like the biographies
of men. When we read the biography of
some religious person, We only see in that biography their good
points. That's all the authors pleased
to tell us. Just how much they prayed and
how often they preached and how much they gave and how they suffered. And it's a little bit difficult
for me to identify with most of these great men. In fact,
it's downright impossible. I'm not a Spurgeon. Not according
to the biographies that I've read. I'm not a Calvin by any
means. Don't even belong in the same
room with them. I'm not a McShane nor a Brainerd. But I can identify with these
fellas here. Abraham's faith is clearly revealed. God told him to get out of his
father's house and he got out. Go to the land he would show
him and He went, not knowing where he was going. God put him
through some trials, some difficult trials, and his faith came to
the forefront. But also, not only is Abraham's
faith revealed, but his doubts are also recorded, and Sarah's
too. His doubts are also recorded,
and his fears and his failures. In fact, one time Abraham got
downright scared, and he denied the providence of God. He actually
denied the care of his God. And he leaned heavily on the
arm of the flesh. In fact, he did it more than
once. And I can sure identify with that. And then Moses. Moses' meekness and humility
are strongly portrayed throughout the Scripture. But God also shows
Moses' temper. One occasion Moses lost his temper
so badly and exhibited his flesh so badly that God rebuked him
severely. And God said, Moses, you didn't
sanctify me in the eyes of the people. All the people saw was
you and your flesh and that demonstration of temper, and for that I'm going
to kill you, Moses. You're not going to lead the
people into the promised land. You've come all the way from
Egypt, you've led them 40 years, but Joshua will take them in.
I'm going to take you home. Boy, I can identify with that.
And then David. David, if we, I tell you, it'd
be almost impossible for us to identify with this man David
just by reading some of his greatest psalms. But I also read his Psalms
of Repentance. I read him talking about trying
to pray and not being able to pray. I read about David rejoicing
in the presence of the Lord, but I also read about David suffering
through the absence of God and wondering if God was clean gone.
One time he said, I don't believe God's ever going to hear me again.
You ever been there? And you know, David's devotion
and consecration are strong points, but his self-defense and sensuality
and these things are very evident through the scripture. They're
on his record. And that sure helps us an awful
lot, doesn't it? Especially knowing that this
man was a man after God's own heart. Job! Job was most patient. Sometimes we sit and read Job
and we think, I wonder if it's possible that if this experience
became mine, that I could come anywhere near this man's patience
and resignation to God's will. Well, the Lord gave and the Lord
has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
And though he slay me, yet will I trust him. And everybody was
making fun of this man. Even his wife was saying, why
don't you curse God and die? And in the midst of all this,
he stood firm as the rock of Gibraltar, and he said, though
God slay me, I'll trust him. But yet in this same book, and
Job's one of the most frustrating characters I've ever tried to
read after. I don't believe anybody can put Job in a mold. I don't believe the mold's ever
been made big enough to contain Job. You put him somewhere and
he juts out here, you know, his self-righteousness, oh my soul,
his claims to priority. This godly, patient, humble man,
submissive man, turns out to be arrogant, just flat arrogant
and haughty. Even in the presence of J of
God Almighty, boy, he defended himself. He said, I'll hold on
to my righteousness till I die. And that's hard to figure, except
one thing. He was a M-A-N man, a man who
loved God, but he was a man. The Master didn't hesitate to
rebuke Philip, the beloved disciple. He said, Philip, have I been
so long time with you and you don't know me? He doesn't hesitate to rebuke
Thomas. He said, Thomas, be not faithless. But believe. Reach heavy your
hand. You want to touch the wounds in my hands and side, touch them.
Touch them. But quit being an unbeliever.
Quit vacillating. And then to his disciples one
day when the crowd had gotten up and left, he preached and
fed 5,000 or better. And they all got up and offended
by what he said. And there were the 12 standing,
and he turned and said, Would you also go away? And then on another occasion
he was sleeping in the boat and they came back and shook him
and said, Master, don't you care if we drown? What a charge to bring against
the Lord of Glory. Don't you care if we drown? Oh,
he said, ye of little faith. And Peter, you notice how I've
left out Peter? Well, I'm coming to him. Turn
to Mark 16, because this is our champion this morning, the champion
of impulsiveness. He's the champion of indiscretion.
He's the champion of impropriety. He's the champion of impatience.
And he's the one that I guess throughout the scriptures, if
I've got one that gives me encouragement, Peter's the man. And he was singled
out. The Lord singled him out. He
singled him out again and again and again. He singled him out. His highs and his lows are emphasized. You ever notice that? I'll show
you some this morning. His good points and his bad points,
they're just so obvious. They're just put out there for
us to look at and examine. His wise words and his foolish
talk, all right there in front of you. His impulsiveness, impatience,
improprieties, indiscretions, they're all right there. And
then when the Lord arose from the tomb and the angels announced
his resurrection, Mark 16, verse 6, they said, don't be afraid.
You seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He's risen. He's
not here. Behold the place where they laid
him. It's empty. But go your way and tell his
disciples. And the angel said, and Peter, only one mention. Go tell his disciples, and be
sure and tell Peter. Be sure and tell Peter. Why'd
he say that? Well, because I said Peter was
the champion of all things as regard to the highs and lows
and the impulsiveness and indiscretions and impatience. Let's just take
a tour through some of Peter's experiences. First of all, it
was Peter. When the Lord Jesus Christ said
to the disciples, whom do men say that I am? And they said,
well, John the Baptist, Elijah, some of the prophets. But whom
do you say that I am? Peter. Thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God. He spoke right out. Thou art
the Christ, the Son of the living God. And then our Lord went down
to the seashore one time, and the disciples were fishing. They
hadn't caught anything, not this experience, another one. And
he told them to cast the net at a certain place. They brought
him the fish and Peter came. The rest of them were busy taking
care of the fish. He came and fell at the Lord's
knees and looked up and said, Lord, depart from me. I'm a sinful
man. It was Peter on the Mount of
Transfiguration when our Lord took three disciples up there,
Peter, James, and John. And he was glorified before their
eyes. They saw Moses and Elijah. the
law and the gospel, if you please, talking with Christ about his
crucifixion, his resurrection. And when it was over, Peter,
he had to say something. He said, Lord, it's great to
be here, isn't it? We've had us a good time. Let's
just stay here. Let's build three tabernacles. Let's build a tabernacle for
you and one for Moses, one for Elijah. That's foolish talk,
but that's Peter. And then it was Peter when the
disciples were out in the boat, and Christ came walking to them
on the water. And one of them said, what's
the Lord? And Peter looked, and nobody else said this but Peter.
He said, Lord, let me come walk on the water with you. And he
said, come on, Peter. Another disciple, but Peter climbed
over the edge, Jay, and he started walking. And he got scared. He got scared. The wind was blowing
pretty good, you know, and the waves had a few white caps on
them, and he looked around and saw where he was. It suddenly
dawned on him where he was. He was walking on water. And brother, his face was so
big when he stepped out of that boat, and it was so little now,
he began to sink. Lord save me, I'll perish! I drowned. He could swim, he
just showed us he could swim. He swam a hundred yards right
here from the boat to the shore. But he got scared. That's Peter. And the Lord took his hand and
pulled him up. It was Peter when the disciples
were sitting around in that most solemn, sacred hour. When our
Lord, they were all awed and overwhelmed when our Lord girded
himself with a towel and was going to wash their feet. And
he came to Peter. He couldn't leave it alone. You're
not going to wash my feet. The Lord said, Peter, if I don't
wash your feet, if I don't wash you, you have no part with me.
Well, don't wash my feet, wash my head, my hands, all over,
you know. That's Peter. And then it was
Peter when the Lord said, I'm going to Jerusalem. He was talking
about salvation, redemption. He said, the Son of Man is going
as it's written to Jerusalem, and there he'll suffer and be
killed and raised again. Peter took him aside and rebuked
him. And he said, Lord, be it far
from thee." And our Lord looked at him and said, He didn't even
address Peter then. He said, Satan, you get behind
me. Thou savorest not the things of God. Now you know, you talk
about Peter's highs and lows, you know he must have got pretty
low then, because the Lord looked him right in the face and called
him Satan. He was another spirit that was
speaking. And then it was Peter who They
went out in the garden. They had a prayer meeting. They
were in the midst of a prayer meeting. An awesome time of prayer. They'd just left the Lord's Supper
and prayer and gone out into the garden. And these soldiers
came. And they said, Peter was standing
there with the Lord and the other disciples. And these soldiers
came up and they said, we seek Jesus of Nazareth. And he said,
I am he. And they started taking and Peter
ripped out his sword. And he went for that fella's
throat. Somebody said he cut off his ear. He just ducked.
That was all there was to it. Peter wasn't aiming at his ear.
I know that. Peter's fixing to kill him, a soldier. That's Peter. And then it was Peter who resigned. Well, it was Peter who sat by
the fire. The Lord Jesus was in Pilate's hall being tried.
And the other disciples had run, I imagine, for fear. But Peter
had to come and see what was going on. And he came up around,
and he got up and sat by the fire. He thought nobody was going
to recognize him. He was going to listen to what was going on,
look around, and get in the midst of all this, you know, and somebody
recognized him. And they said, well, you're one
of the disciples. I'm not. I'm not. And another one said,
your speech betrays you. And he began to curse. He was
going to show he could talk the other way. And he began to curse,
and he said, I don't know the man. He did that three times. And then the cop crew, and he
went out and cried. I tell you, Peter is such an
enigma. Peter is so human. So human. You see how you could identify
with this man? So human. He went out and cried. Just wept bitterly. Bitterly,
the Scripture says. It was Peter who quit the ministry
first. That's right. You see it right
there in John 21. The disciples were gathered together
wherever they were, and the Lord had appeared to them, and Peter
said, I'm going back fishing. I'm going to fishing. Now, for
one of you men to say, I'm going to fishing, would mean anything. With you, it's a hobby. With
Peter, it was a livelihood. He was a fisherman. And that's
what he was doing. He said, I'm going fishing. I'm
going back to making my living fishing. And he persuaded the
whole outfit. They followed him. He was an
outspoken man. He was a leader at Pentecost
who preached, Peter. When they had trouble in the
churches and sent for somebody in Jerusalem, Peter came back.
And here he says, I'm quitting. I'm going fishing. They said,
we'll go with you. And they were out there, and
that's when the Lord saw them. And he fixed the fish. And he fixed the bread, and he
called them in, and they came in and sat down. And he turned
to Peter after it was all over. And he said, Peter, do you love
me? And you know another example
of this, man? After this precious conversation with the Lord, and
the Lord told him how he was going to die, he was going to
be crucified upside down. You know one of the first things
old Peter did? He turned to the Lord and said, what about John?
What's he going to do? That's Peter. You never cease to be amazed.
And then down there in the early church, old Peter went down there,
and the Lord, you know the Lord seen him a special vision with
the sheep, you know, let down the animals, told him to kill
and eat them. Why, he said, I'm not going to do it. I've never
eaten anything unclean. And the Lord said, Peter, don't
you call anything that I've cleansed unclean. Now you rise and eat.
He had to probe him a little bit, but he'd obey. And he ate. And he went down there, and God
saved Cornelius, the centurion, the Gentile, and Peter saw all
that, and then he turned right around and was in that early
church, eaten with a Gentile. And some of those fellas came
down from Jerusalem, some of those intellectual Calvinists,
and they came down, and Peter, He didn't want to offend them,
so he left these poor Gentiles and went over and ate with the
Jews. And Paul came in and said, Peter, you're wrong. And which
stood him to the face in front of the whole congregation. But it was to this man. He said,
why are you going over all of this stuff? So we can identify
with him. We have our ups and downs and
highs and lows and impulsive and and the improprieties, and
we have our own failures. We're just so much like this
man. So much like him, especially,
you know the fella that never makes a mistake is the fella
that never does anything, never tries anything, never attempts
anything for the glory of God. He'll never make a mistake. Those
fellas out Rose Hill never make a mistake, they're dead. But
a person that's involved in in God's glory and preaching and
teaching and worshiping and praying and speaking for the glory of
God, he's still two natures and he has conflict one against the
other. Now you, let me ask you this morning, if you had an opportunity
just to let us see yourself, would you identify with the beloved
John the beloved John. You say, in some ways. Would
you identify with steadfast Paul? Would you? Well, in some ways,
but not many. Well, would you identify with
courageous Stephen? Throw your stones. Glory to God,
I'd die for his honor. I see Jesus on the right hand
of God. Well, somewhat. But I thank God
when I read about Simon Peter. I don't choose to to imitate
a man's weaknesses and failures, and you don't either. But I'll
tell you, by the grace of God, God's dealings with this sinner
sure encourages this sinner. And don't you feel that way?
God's dealings with this man, the Lord Jesus' special love
and special dealings and special mercy and special grace to this
man Peter, it just gives me more courage and comfort than any
one man in this New Testament I can read about. And here, let's
listen in on this conversation. They had, you know, they had
come in. Peter, here he is. He'd done
it when they were out there, and here he is again. I could
just go on picking out things about Peter. But they was out
there in the boat, and they weren't catching anything, and they was
all pretty much in a bad mood, I'm sure. And somebody said to
me one time, when a fella comes back from fishing, if you have
to ask him if he caught anything, don't. So Peter they were out there
and hadn't caught anything and the Lord told them to cast on
the right side and they did and they caught a whole lot and John
said why it's the Lord now watch Peter Get the oars and let's
row in now He put his coat on him and dove into the water,
you know Just left the fish the boat the fellas and everything
and swam to the shore. That's his impulsive And and
and then the Lord when they'd eaten he called Peter aside and
they sat there by the fire I'm sure Peter thought about another
fire, don't you? I'm sure Peter, throughout this
conversation, thought about another fire and another time and three
questions. I'm sure he did, Dick, don't
you? I'm sure he did. And perhaps the Lord had this
in mind, too. But here's three things I want
to give you quickly. First of all, there's a solemn
question. There's a solemn question. Our
Lord looked at this man, this man. all men, but this man who
was redeemed, this man upon whom he had set his affection and
love, this man whom he loved and whom he knew loved him. They're
going to settle this matter. They're going to discuss this
matter. And the question our Lord asked Peter, here's the
first point, a solemn question. And the Lord didn't ask Peter
this question for the Lord's information. He said, Peter,
do you love me? Peter, do you love me? Now, the Lord never asks a man
a question for information. The Lord knows every man's heart.
The Lord knows not only what you did, He knows why you did
it. He knows why you did it. And
that's the problem. The problem, believe me, my dear
friends, as you get a little older and understand some things,
the problem isn't nearly so much what we do as why we do it. And
I'm talking about righteous and unrighteousness. I'm talking
about good work and bad work. God's dealings with us are based
on why we do things, not what we do. More why than what. And you'll learn that. God will
teach you that someday. And He'll give you a lot of help.
Give you a lot of repentance. And He'll give you a lot of grief.
And you see, you're not near as holy as you thought you were.
Your religious works and good deeds aren't nearly as good as
you thought they were when you realize that motive is more important
than anything else. Same thing about the rich man
that gave all the money and the widow that gave two pennies.
Not what they did, just why they did it. It's what they had to give out
of. The Lord doesn't look on the, he does not basically, and
in the main, look on things as we look at them, and the quantity
of a thing, or the vastness of a thing. I see these preachers
always talking about their vast buildings, and their vast numbers,
and their vast programs. Listen, this nation is a drop
in the bucket to God. There's nothing here vast to
God. The universe is not even vast to God, and it's the vast
of all vast. It's a drop in the bucket. The
inhabitants of the earth are grasshoppers. We talk about our
78,000 people we had for religious meetings, 78,000 grasshoppers.
Wouldn't mean a thing, would they? This world is nothing,
nothing, nothing. And our Lord Jesus Christ didn't
ask Peter this question for information anymore. He asked Cain the question,
where's your brother? God knew where his brother was.
He asked the question for Cain's benefit. He wanted to hear what
Cain had to say. He wanted to hear what Cain had
to express about this thing. If I'm not brother's keeper,
well, we found out. We found out just then. The rich
young man, when the Lord told him, said, he said, what shall
I do to inherit eternal life? The Lord said, keep the commandments.
Well, he knew the man never had kept the commandments. He wanted
to hear what he had to say about it. God knows all men. And he
didn't ask Peter, do you love me, for information. He asked
it for Peter's sake. And notice this. He did not ask him about his
faith. He didn't say, Peter, do you believe on me? Do you
believe on me? Peter believed on him. He didn't
ask him about his works. He didn't say, Peter, are you
serving me? Peter had served him. Peter had left his family.
He had left his fishing. He'd traveled with Christ. He'd
been on the mountain. He'd been in the valleys. He'd
left everything and followed Christ. But the Lord didn't ask
him about his works, and he didn't ask him about his fears and failures.
He didn't say, Peter, never mention Peter denying him. Never did. The Lord doesn't go back and
dig up dead bones. Sometimes people are bad about
that, but the Lord doesn't do it. He didn't ask him about his
sins and faith. He didn't say, now, you sorry
you denied me? He didn't say, are you sorry
you quit the ministry? Are you sorry you're going to
make restitution? The Lord looked at him and said
one thing. He said, Peter, do you love me? Oh, my friends,
love is the evidence of faith. Love is the evidence of faith.
Love is the motive for service. Love is the motive for prayer,
for giving, for witnessing, for worshiping. To love Christ. Love is the greatest of these.
He said, now by the faith, hope, and love, love is the greatest
of these. Love covers a multitude of sins. Though I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels, and have not love on a sounding brass
and a tinkling cymbal, though I have all faith so that I can
remove mountains, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing.
Though I give my goods to feed the poor, and yea, my body to
be burned as a martyr, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing. Peter, do you love me? Do you love me? That's all there is to it. That's the sum and substance
of the whole thing. Do you love Christ? Love is the
evidence of faith. It's the motive for service.
It's the foundation of perseverance, of perseverance. Satan's a great
imposter. He's the great imitator. He's
the great counterfeiter and most every sign and evidence of piety
and religion can be imitated by Satan. Did you know that?
He can imitate most any of it except one and no way that he
can or can inspire anyone to love Christ. He can't do it. can't do it, there's no way in
the world, that's not his field, to love Christ. And if any man
love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed, the Lord's
coming. Let him be accursed. That's the
key. You can pass out, if you want
to, all kind of cards and pledge cards and promises and decisions
and dedications. You can pass out all these promises
to help us reach our goal and come to church on Sunday and
do all this, that, and the other, and it just proves one thing,
you're not operating on the foundation that Christ operated on. He said,
Peter, do you love me? Then you'll feed my sheep. If
you don't love me, you can forget the whole thing, but if you love
me, you'll do what I say. If you love me, you'll keep my
commandments. If you love me, you'll love one
another. If you love me, you'll lay down your life. Greater love
hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friend,
but if he loves him. That's the basis, and I know
preachers have for years got up and blasted folks because
they don't come to church. That's just, you expect preachers
to do it. You have a small crowd, you expect a preacher to mention
it. He shouldn't, but you expect him to. If the offerings are
not just right, you expect the preacher to go and say, now we
got to have this, and got to have that, and got to have that,
and you got to give, and if you tithe, God will bless you, and
if you don't, he'll take it out to the door in a coffin. You
expect preachers to do that, because preachers are ignorant
too. But if men ever love Christ, you can quit all that foolishness.
You can just drop every bit of it. You can lay it like a shabby
old cloak at the door and never put it on again, and just go
on worshiping the Lord. And folks that don't love him,
you can't make them love him. And folks that do love him, they'll
love him more day by day. That's it. Peter, do you love
me? And what's the answer? Now this
is so interesting. Peter said, each time the Lord
asked him, do you love me? Notice what he said. He said
the same thing practically three times. Lord, you know I love
you. You know I love you. Lord, he was grieved. The third
time he said, you know everything. You know I love you. I looked at this first question,
verse 15. Simon, he said, son of Jonas,
lovest thou me more than these? You know, some men actually teach,
and I guess there may be somebody here that believes that, I don't
know, but I have difficulty believing the Master is setting one disciple
against another. I don't think he's saying John
Howsam, do you love me more than John Horan does? I don't believe
God's doing that. I don't believe the Lord does
that. But now, there was a time Peter would have said, yes. That's
right. I'll show you. Turn to Matthew
26. I'll show you. Peter, there was a time that
if the Lord had said, Peter, do you love me more than James
and John? That old Peter, without hesitation, would have said,
well, you know I do. Certainly I love you more than
John. In Matthew 26, let me show you something. Verse 33, the Lord had already
said, look at verse 31, the Lord said, all of you are going to
be offended because of me this night. For it's written in the
scripture, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall
be scattered abroad. But after I'm risen again, I'll
go before you in the gallery. And Peter answered, he just had
two, didn't he? Nobody else said anything. But
Peter said, Lord, though all, and that word means in italics,
let's leave it out. Though all shall be offended
because of you, I will never be offended." So if the Lord
had said, Peter, do you love me more than James and John even
said yes back then? But see, the Lord had whittled
him down a little bit. You wonder why the Lord embarrasses
you? We have to be embarrassed. You
wonder why the Lord humiliates us? He has to humiliate us. We're still blooming proud. Suppose
he had left Peter like this. Suppose that Peter had never
denied the Lord, that he'd... Suppose at Pentecost they'd have
had to put up with that proud peacock of Matthew 26. It'd have
been a tragedy, wouldn't it? And I know preachers that they
strike out. They get up and try to preach.
I've done it many a time, just strike out. And they come just
to their lip about halfway down to their chin, you know, and
I've failed, I'm old quit, and that's the best thing that ever
happened to me. Now we'll go depending on the Lord. Fail in
your preaching, fail in your life, fail in your resolves,
in your determinations, I'm going to do this! And God said, no
you're not. You're going to do the opposite.
And you just fall on your silly face in front of everybody and
they point their finger and laugh at you. Best thing that could
happen to us. That's why the Lord had to do that to Peter,
because there was a time if the Lord had said, do you love me
more than James and John, he would have said, yes, sir, and
you know it. And they know it. But he had the back of his head
down, he didn't say that. Because one time he'd said, though,
all these fellas quit, I want, and he's the only one that did.
He's the only one that denied the Lord. I think maybe the Lord's
saying, Peter, do you love me more than these, these boats,
these nets? Do you realize what a hole these
boats and nets had on that old man? He'd been in those boats
since he was a little boy. He'd been planting those nets
and cleaning them, washing them every night, every morning since
he was a little boy. He knew the sea and he knew the
fish and he loved it. And he had a family and a wife.
I believe the Lord is saying, Peter, do you love me more than
anything else and more than anyone else? Do you? Do you? And there was probably a time
Peter would have said, yeah, well certainly, Lord, I left my nets,
I left my fishing boat, but he couldn't now because he'd gone
back to them, Jack. He couldn't now. He didn't have
but one answer for the real, honest Peter, for the real, sincere
believer. He said, Lord, you know I love
you. Quit trying to impress people
with your piety and your knowledge and your wisdom and your ability
and your gifts. You don't have to. Because it
doesn't matter what people think. Here's the answer. Do I love
Christ? See, so he knows I love him. And that's what counts.
He knows I love him. He knows. Lord, you know. You
know. I don't need to I don't need
to spend my time trying to impress folks with my humility and my
righteousness and my personal piety. That's a waste of time,
because I'm cut out of the same mold you are, dug out of the
same pit, lifted from the same downhill. So here's where the
answer goes. Peter, do you love me? Do you
love me more than anything else or anyone else? Peter with a
clear eye and a clear heart could look at him say Lord You know,
I love you All right, the blessed results. Let's quit with this
every time the Lord said feed my lambs Feed my sheep feed my
sheep don't get bogged down on this It may be he's talking about
feed my lambs babes in Christ feed my sheep Young men in Christ
feed my sheep even the elders the old folks needed to But what
he's saying here is, feed my sheep. Feed them. Now watch it. He didn't say, shear my sheep.
And that's what a lot of these professional preachers are doing.
They're shearing the sheep, skinning them, in fact. That's not what the Lord said.
Many feel disposed to do that. I'm talking about with harsh
words, skinning the sheep, and with covetous plans and covetous
desires for possessions and filthy lucre, they shear the sheep,
they take from the sheep. Our Lord said, feed my sheep.
Feed them, feed them. He doesn't say weed out my sheep.
I know a lot of preachers that feel constrained to try to find
out who's saved and who's not saved and weed out the membership. They want to get this person
out and that person out, the other person out. They want a
perfect church. They get all their constitutions
and bylaws and rules and precepts and you can't have done this
and can't have done that and can't do something else. Sinner,
come on to this place. We want you here to worship God.
I don't care what your past is and I care little what your present
is, but I'm interested in your future. I want you to know Christ. And I'm not going to make a set
of rules here and say you can't come to this church if you've
done this, that, and the other. Brother, you can come because
this is a hospital for sinners. This is a place where people
meet together who are sinners and who need a Savior and who
love his grace and mercy for whom Christ died. I know there's
a lot of places. They've just got so many rules
and nobody can feel comfortable there. They weed out the sheep.
Brother, in the kingdom of God, he's got some frail little sheep
and he's got some strong sheep and he's got some sheep that
are weak on their legs and some that could run a mile. He's got
different kinds of sheep. This disciple here is an illustration
of that. He didn't say, beat my sheep.
He didn't say, go out and make sheep. That's his business. He
said, feed them! Well, we're going to feed them.
What does sheep eat? Well, I know what those fellas
on four legs out there call sheep eat. They eat green grass. And
I know what God's sheep eat. They eat the Word. They live
on the Word. That's right, the Gospel and
the Word of God. The gospel of Christ, who Christ
is, what Christ did, why Christ did it, his sacrifice and death,
his righteousness, his resurrection, his intercession, his mediatore
work, his precious blood that cleanses us from all sin, his
mercy and grace, his desire to save, feed on the gospel. It's
by the word of God that men are born again. He has begotten us
again unto a living hope and he has begotten us by the incorruptible
seed, the word of God. By the Word of God, men receive
faith, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
By the Word of God, men who know Christ grow in grace, and the
knowledge of Christ, and desire the sincere milk of the Word,
that you may grow thereby. By the Word of God, men are comforted.
David said, In thy Word I find comfort. By the Word of God,
men are kept from sin. David said, I'll hid thy Word
in my heart, that I may not sin against thee. Peter you love me Lord, you know,
I love you Then feed my sheep Your dealings with my sheep Will
be the result of your relationship with me That's it Your dealings
with your wife and children and your friends and other people
If you love Christ you love them If there's a right relationship
between you and Christ, there'll be a right relationship between
me and you. That's right. You love him that begot, you
love them that are begotten. And that's what it's based on.
Here's your message, Peter. Go preach it. I want to know
one thing before I send you to my sheep. I want to know if you
love me. Because I know this. If you love me, you're going
to love them. And you're going to feed them.
And you're not going to be satisfied you fed them. And you're not
going to be content with a half-hearted effort because you're loving
Christ. You're doing it for Christ. You
men, bless your hearts, you go out in the morning and you labor
and you work and you work hard and you sweat and you go out
and grow little crops, you know. What are you doing all that for?
You like work? No, you love your family. You
love your family. That's why you do it. And nobody
tell you to quit because you love them. And I'll tell you
this, if a man loves Christ, that's all the motivation he
needs. That's all the encouragement he needs. You love them. Lord, help me to love thee. Because
if I love thee, I know everything else is alright. Let's sing a
closing hymn.