John chapter 21. We've been in this chapter for some time now. I've been trying to preach to it expositionally as much as I possibly can. But also, there has been some wonderful themes in this, and we must take time to mull those over and try our best to take a little bit from them in a way of application for our lives. I've entitled this, Lovest Thou Me More Than These. Lovest thou me more than these? And I want to pick up reading there in verse 15 and read down to verse 22. There are some others, other sermons I'm sure that will come from this section. But as for today, these are going to be pretty much our background text for the whole thing. So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. That's Jesus saying now to Peter. He saith him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter again saith unto Jesus, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. And Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. Verse 17, Jesus saith unto him, to Peter, the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved, because he said unto him, the third time, lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee. And Jesus saith unto him, feed my sheep. Verily, verily, or truly, truly, I say unto thee, when thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkest whither thou wouldest. But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me. Then Peter, turning about, seeth a disciple whom Jesus loved following, which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. Lord, thank you for your Word today. Help us to understand it. And in making sense of it, help us, Holy Spirit, to make application of it, that we might in all ways live as we should for our King. For there is no other king but Jesus, who is King of kings and Lord of lords. And to you, Lord Jesus, we bow this day." Help your poor old servant one more time to speak that which you would have these saints to hear. We have this outline. We have, Lord, this manuscript. Nevertheless, Lord, we look to you, the author and finisher of our faith. And ask You, Lord, to have that on way with us. And bring an effectual call, Lord, if You so desire, to some poor lost soul that may be here today amongst us. And help the saints, Lord, to live soberly, righteously, godly in this present world. And as they do, be ever looking for the soon return of You, Lord Jesus, whom we expect soon. It's in Your name that we ask these things of the Father. Amen and amen. Sometimes the best part of a meal, in my estimation, can be the conversation. Now, you wouldn't think that by looking at me, would you, that the best part of any meal for Darrell Lingenfeld would be the conversation. However, it is in these moments that the meeting of minds finds its greatest successes. Here, details are reasoned out, instructions are sometimes clarified, hopes and dreams are spoken, and the truth of the heart is challenged. It's a feeding of the senses, if you will. It's a feeding of the intellect, the emotions, and the soul and spirit of expression as minds gather together to eat around the table. In this case, the disciples are gathered to dine with Jesus, who has called them to this meal. This is what's happening here in this text. The physical meal is now finished. But Jesus takes this relaxed moment to speak to Peter, and He singles out Peter. He's going to have a meeting of the mind with Peter, and in doing so, though it's directed at Peter, He also feeds His other disciples. And believe you me, if you'll pay attention to this morning, He will feed you also, because I believe this meal This spiritual meal that Jesus delivered has fed believers since that very night. If you read through the book of John, one thing you'll find, you'll find Peter's name used quite a bit. And in the next few messages, we're going to talk about him a lot, evidently. He's called to different things, but he's called here to the fact of his love for Christ. and His church. We don't see the word church on here, but that's exactly who Christ is talking about in the end of all of it. I guarantee you, though, Peter may have not liked this meal Jesus is going to feed him at first, but he would when all the spiritual nourishment of what Jesus is saying, to Him, is saying to Him, will come to the surface and begin to feed Him. Certainly, it will have its greatest use on the day of Pentecost. All these things that Christ is saying here will have its impetus in that great sermon in Acts, Chapter 2. Go there, if you will, with me, just a few pages forward. And look there, if you will, how that just days later from this time with Jesus, Jesus is now ascended back into Heaven, and here is Peter preaching, verse 22, and doing so boldly, actually feeding those who are believers, and showing the rest of the people to Christ. He says, Ye men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you, by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God you have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain, who God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be wholen of it. Well, that's thrilling words to the ears of all the saints that are present, because if there was any doubt whether Christ was alive or not, here is the proof that He is, and Peter is certainly telling them that it's so. Verse 25, for David's speech concerning him, And David was your big hero of those days. I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for He is on my right hand, that I should not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad. Moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption. He came out of the grave very much alive. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life, thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. And then he goes on to say, Men and brethren, brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his supplicant is with us unto this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God has sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne. He seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens, but he saith himself, the Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ." Now notice what happens. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and unto your children, and to all that are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourself from this untoward generation. Well, what was the outcome of that great sermon? Then they that gladly received this word were baptized, and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. So the message at first grieved Peter's heart. Lord, you know I love you. There's no question, Lord. Should be no question in your mind that I love you. But Jesus says to him, not once, not twice, but three times, feed my sheep. Well, it comes home. And Peter preaches this incredible message. The spiritual vitamins and nutrients have began to nourish his heart, if you would, a little play on words. But this sermon that he gives is a toe smasher to the men of Israel and all the folks of Israel as to what they had done to Christ. And Peter now is feeding all of the sheep, including the new ones coming in with this ground, this grand message. Now, this sermon I'm going to preach, that was just the introduction, is somewhat of a toe smasher as well. And I know by experience that no one likes their toes stepped on. But you and I know that it's good for you and me both to have our faith challenged, and certainly our love for Christ challenged, because it is very easy to get weak, as Peter did here, and these disciples, and get out of sorts with that that we already have come to know, and that's what they've done. I don't like the taste of lima beans, but I know they're good for me. I don't like the medicine I take, but I know that it's good for me. Likewise, for Peter and every believer for the last 2,000 years, what Christ says here, no one likes to be challenged this way, but I know that it's good for us. And so, Peter proves it by how he preaches on the Day of Pentecost. First of all, what can we first say about Peter? Peter, first of all, was a zealot. The Gospel proclaims he was a zealot and had shown his emotional hand many, many times and maybe to a fault. Yet though he was brash, he had by most biblical accounts become the involuntary spokesman for the rest of the disciples. He was indeed a leader of sorts and a man who liked to get things done one way or the other, though he was a kind of shoot from the lip kind of guy. And though he said some of the most incredible things like Matthew, 1616, when Christ said to him, Who do men say I am? It was Peter who first says, We say that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Though he says that, yet Jesus challenges him on that fact here at this dinner to see whether or not it was so. Jesus praised Peter for saying, Bless art thou Simon of Bar-Jonah for saying this and tells him flesh and blood, didn't give it to him that night at Matthew 16, 16. And then in John 6, if you want to look there at verse 66 through 69, it is Peter who first spoke up and said, Lord, to whom shall we go only you have the words of eternal life. And certainly, I believe that Peter believed it. But for all intents and purposes, Christ wants to make sure, wants to show the other disciples, wants to show poor Peter that if it is true, then you will feed my sheep. If everything you've said in the past, if everything that you've said just this day is true, then feed my sheep. Follow thou me." Now, that's a long way to get to right there, but I challenge you this morning. Indeed, do you love Christ the way you say you love Christ? Are you following Him the way that you ought to be following Him? For all intents and purposes, up to this time, it looked like Peter was following Christ. Now there's some glowing sparks, no doubt, but Christ doesn't want glowing sparks. The Lord wants a raging inferno out of Peter. He wants Peter's full devotion, not just word, not just words, not just mindless actions and activity. But the Lord wants a genuine, 24-hour-a-day, radical, fanatical devotion to the cause of His sheep. And to let Peter see just how much Peter really loves the Lord, he's challenged these three times. As I was putting this sermon together, the words kept jumping back at me. Lovest thou me more than these? Lovest thou me more than these? And I began to think of that word, these. What was it in that list of these that had my attention more than Christ. What are the things going on in my life that I've allowed to have the top of my mind rather than Christ? But Brother Dale, you're a preacher. Well, preachers are just as prone to get sidetracked. They get caught up in things as much as believers are. And that kept ringing over and over in my ear. Lovest thou me more than these? And I began to go down the list of what might have my attention more. And as I went down through the list, you're not going to believe what showed up in the list. All of you. What? Us? Yeah. Because not even you are supposed to supersede my love for Christ. Christ is supposed to have my full, complete attention. It does no good for you if my attention is more you than Him. Because what I'm trying to do here is show you to Him. Show Him to you. Now don't get me wrong, don't think I'm being silly when I'm saying this, because really I'm not. What I'm trying to get the point is, is that what we want to have done is for the Lord not to say, do you love me more than you do these. We want the Lord to see us as being fully committed to Him, and not just in words, but in deeds and actions. This is one of the things that Peter was good at. Peter had all the words. Peter had to lingo down. He's the first to say, Thou art the Christ, the Son of God. He's the first to say, Who do we go? Lord, only You have the words of eternal life. He is the first one to go with Christ out of the Garden of Gethsemane, followed Him out of there, went across that brook And there they're met by the chief of the, goodness, Caiaphas and his bunch, and also Roman soldiers. And what does Peter do? He takes someone's sword and cuts off the ear of Malchus. I mean, brash radio, and he follows Christ as they lead him off and arrest him and get ready to do this big giant mock trial. Peter goes in there, but Peter finds out real quick how much he loves the Lord because he said, I never forsake you. I'll never, never, never. And Jesus had done said to him before the cock crows three times, you'll have denied me. And sure enough, it was so. Peter denied him. So Christ doesn't want just words. Christ doesn't want just brash actions. He wants a full devotion where everything in Peter's life is dedicated to the Lord. And as I've continued down through my sermon, it became very, very obvious for me, as well as you, what the Lord wants from us is a full, complete devotion to Him. And so the question comes back to you, as much to me. Lovest thou me more than these? These were all these things which Peter had allowed to take him over. These things that diminished his loyalty to Christ. Now you say, well how do you get that from all this? I remind you that it is Peter that has gotten with the other boys and they've gone fishing. I told you three Sundays ago, four Sundays ago, Christ and His glorified body is still on the earth walking amongst them. I remind you again that these boys are His disciples, and if anything, if their love for Christ had been where it needed to be, they would have never allowed Him out of their sight unless He just disappeared before them. You understand what I'm saying? They ought to have been talking about what He's going to do next. They ought to be discussing amongst themselves. Should we go on? What should we do? When He comes next time, let's talk to you about these things. They had gotten so down and diminished in who they were, what they were, and their love for Christ that they didn't even recognize Him on the shore. And some folks try to explain that way with there being a fog that they couldn't see through to see the Lord. Well, when they do recognize Him, Peter girds his coat around and dives in the water because he's fishing naked. And then they come to the shoreline and they're still stunned that here He is and this is what He's doing, but they don't ask any questions according to the narrative. Not a one. So Jesus begins to go after Peter. and challenge Him. If you love me more than these, then tend to my flock, tend to my business, not the big, the brash, the bold way, your way of doing things, the world's way of doing things. but the way I do things." And notice what Christ starts with. This is so amazing. There in verse 15, Jesus doesn't say, build me a temple. He doesn't say, make your way to Rome and become the vicar and start the Catholic Church. I can't find that anywhere in there. Instead, He says very poignantly, feed my lambs. The Lord literally takes a knife, if you will, to the zealot that Peter is, and stands him down to the lesser things. despise things, the things that his bombastic attitude would find repulsive. Jesus doesn't say sheep like a big flock, but the lambs, the younger and more tender part of the flock, the weak believers, the poor, the hot, the lame, the uneducated, still Christ's little children, the newborn babes. Jesus is telling him to take care of the small things of the ministry, like the Providence Baptist Church. Like the Way of the Cross Baptist Church. Like the church out in Texas that has the roof problem, Parkway Baptist Church. These were more important to Christ than all the bombastic things Peter could have done, would have done. When I think of it, Peter and these other boys may have been waiting for Christ to set up His throne in Jerusalem. Did you know that? They were probably looking for Him to do that because you've heard the Sons of Thunder's mom came to Him and asked Him to let her boys sit on each side of Him when He sets up His kingdom. And she wasn't thinking of heaven, she was thinking of here on earth. But none of those things has happened yet. Instead, Jesus is here on an obscure shore, there with these boys, around some coals of fire, some fish cooking that Jesus cooked, not them. And He's speaking of feeding His lambs, and not just take care of them. but be devoted to them to prove that he loved Jesus. Peter is not to be a captain of a mighty army or second in command as the Catholics believe, but a private back at the barracks cleaning the bathroom. I said, Brother, what are you talking about that for? Just so happens not long ago, I saw the movie again on TV, No Time for Sergeants. Anybody ever seen that movie, No Time for Sergeants? Andy Griffith made his debut pretty much in that movie. He's an old country boy from up in the mountains who can't read, write, or anything else, but he wants to be in the army and he gets in. And the sergeant hates his guts. And he is so corn-poned, so country, and he can't help himself, that's what he's been, that they assign another guy to him, and they assign them to latrine duty. For those fellows who have been in the army, the latrine is the bathroom. And in this thing, he decides that if he's going to help get this sergeant to like him, if he's going to do right by the military, he must make this place shine. But he goes beyond that. He goes in there and he even rigs it up so when the captain comes in later to do the inspection, he can press a foot pedal and all the lids go up so he can examine them. I mean, all the things he's done, he's mechanized this bathroom. And the sergeant, who hates him, has told the captain, as you're walking there, this guy's a foul-up of the worst kind. You can't be trusted. We need to put him out of the army. And sir, when you see how bad this room looks, you're going to believe me. Well, they walk in there, and it's just the opposite. That thing is incredible. And they promote him, and now the sergeant is under him instead. You're saying, Brother Darrell, why are you saying this sermon? This is what the Lord has done to Peter. Feed my lambs. Lovest thou me more than these? Lovest that little Baptist church on Nancy Green Ridge Road more than everything else that's gone on in your life? Are you committed to helping the Lord's work there with your time, your talent, your tithe? How about this? Are you committed to praying for it every time you bow your head? Or about this fat little goatee preacher here, lift his name up in prayer? Well, this is what God is asking Peter to do. Now granted, what happens in Acts 2 is incredible. 3,000 people are swept into the kingdom. But if you'll go on into the chapters, I don't have time to do today. One of the things you find about Peter is that the Lord sends him to some weird places. First of all, He sends him down to testify and preach to a Gentile, Cornelius. On top of that, the Lord takes away all his Judaism, whereby he had never let anything that was defiled into his mouth. Now Jesus is saying, eat it all. And not only that, not only finding there, but we see him in other places to where he's no longer the top of the heap. He's no longer the man of the hour. In every way, Peter is down on the lower levels doing the work that he is assigned to do, feed my lambs. Let me give you a case in point. Go with me, if you would, to First Peter, Chapter 1. And here he's writing to not a big giant church in Rome or at Jerusalem or anywhere else. Here he is in verse 1 and he is writing a letter saying to the little lambs who are strangers to the commonwealth of Israel, having been sent out of Jerusalem or had to flee Jerusalem. And now they're scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. And He's writing to them. He's taking His time for them. And He has to. Verse two, these little lambs there are the elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit and obedience to the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace be multiplied to them in peace and certainly the blessings of God. Verse three, And the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again into a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that faith is not a way reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time to these little lambs, this little church. And if you look deep and hard enough, you will come to realize that this kind of thing is all over the world. And God's saying to us, feed my lambs. And by the way, I'll remind you, little is much when God is in it. We sing that song here often. We're also told where two or three are gathered in His name, He is in the midst of them. Think of how the Lord blessed the widow's might which she gave, which is all that she had. Think of the joy and blessing that comes from being with a small group where you know everybody's name. I'm not against big churches, don't get me wrong. Some are sent to feed the sheep that way. However, some would never pastor a church this size. Some won't attend a church this size because we don't have a lot of shenanigans going on. I did see where there is a guy that plays hymns on beer bottles. I've thought about having him come if that'll draw us a crowd. Most preachers today in most venues are scratching, scrambling, scurrying at your prestige, popularity, and prosperity. I've been called to feed the little lambs. And the little ones need a lot of care. I don't know if you caught a hold of this yet from the sermon this morning, but evidently God is calling you to that. That's why you're here. It was asked this morning during Sunday school. We're going through that London Baptist Confession of Faith. We get down there, a part about God electing or damning to save us. And we talk about means for a little while, how God uses means, how God puts people together. Everybody in here just about is from someplace else, with the exception of Steve. Steve lived here when he was young, and Dennis has lived here all his life. But the rest of us haven't. I'm originally from East Tennessee by the way of Chicago, and then here eventually to pastor this church. Reggie's from San Diego. Marty came down from Michigan. The Heffleys are from Oklahoma. Kevin is from New York. Kim, you're from Alabama though, aren't you originally? Where? I didn't hear you. New Hampshire? You're a Yankee? Get off my piano. And where are y'all from originally? You're not from Columbia originally, are you? Oh, there you go. Okay. So that's how God does things, puts people together. The Lord took my family from Kingsport to Chicago just for me to get Debbie. I'm still mad. No. And she's from Texas. The Lord took her folks to Chicago and we met in church there. We were married there and then I wanted to come back to Tennessee. I'm a Tennessee boy. Never dreamed I'd end up over here in the middle part of the state. But there was a little group that was being put together before the foundation of the world to be here. And the Lord said, Lovest thou me more than these?" I said, but you put them together. He said, but if you love me, you'll feed them. It closed out today. Peter got the message. And I think it hit home so hard on him that he began to write these words in chapter 2 of 1 Peter. Wherefore, laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, all evil speaking, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby. He's dealing with lambs, sheep. is so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious, to whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chose of God and precious, He also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore, also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a cheap cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner. And a stone is stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. And then verse 9, But, are you looking? Are you looking? You need to see this. But ye, talking to these scattered strangers, talking to these little lambs, you are a chosen generation. Who chose them? God. He says you're a royal priesthood. Who brought them into the priesthood? The Lord Jesus Christ. That's who did that. He says, You're now a holy nation. You're a peculiar people. You're God's special, holy treasure. Can you believe that, that you're God's treasure? That you should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light, which in time past were not a people. But look, but are now the people of God which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. And that's what the lambs have received. That's who our ministry is to. This is what we got to do and submit ourselves to every ordinance of the Word and do everything that we can to work the work that is given to us, even if it's just a few. Now that may have seemed like a little scattered to you. And it was difficult for me as I began to think about who I am and what I am and what I'm supposed to be doing. It actually started last weekend when I was down in Mississippi at that conference. Amazingly, one of my brothers down there preached a sermon that blew our minds as such. His message was on the little boy who had the five loaves and two fishes, but not on him specifically. It was about his mama. And his mom was not even mentioned. Not at all. His mama's not mentioned. But somebody had to make that lunch. And that was that mama who made those five loaves and two fish. And here is the Lord takes those five loaves and two fish, and He feeds a crowd of 5,000 men plus women and children. May have been as many as 10, 12,000 people there. And when they get through, they go through the crowd and take up the fragments, the leftovers. And there's 12 baskets full. All because that mama, by the providence of God, made that lunch for that boy. I couldn't help but think when they were preaching that, little as much when God's in it. And it was brought to our attention during that meeting, during that sermon actually, about the fact that when that little boy got home, what he said to his mama. Mama, you won't believe what this man did with my five loaves and two fish. She says, come on now, that can't be true. We're paraphrasing here, just embellishing the story a little bit. But just imagine if the Lord had sent that boy home with some of the fragments. Just imagine if the Lord sent that little boy home with a basket full of fragments, much more than what he brought. Can you imagine how that mama felt when she saw that? In feeding the lambs, the outcome is always better than you would ever believe. We saw it. Jesus says, feed my lamb, feed my sheep. 3,000 are swept into the kingdom. A few days later, Peter's doing stuff that he had never do before. And he's feeding the lambs as he goes. That's your calling. That's my calling. He's saying to you today, asking you, Lovest thou these things that ye do in the world more than me?" That's including your wife and children. Love them more than you love God? That was on my list. Include your grandchildren. Boy, I love my grandchildren. Let me tell you about my grandchildren. No, not right now. How about your finance? Love your money more than you love the Lord? Now, these have all been practical sermons, and the brewers may be tired of hearing all that. We'll get to the meat one of these days, but in the meantime, what we've got to do is get our minds straight on who we are serving. We're serving the Lord Jesus. And we don't do it just in word. We do it in deed. Because actions always speak louder than words.