Last Lord's Day as we were going through John 21. I made mention of the fact that there are a number of individuals that I have known over the years, either personally or have known by extension, who have failed in the ministry. I want to make sure that we understand the point. The point is, is that no one is above the warnings of scripture. Peter could fail, anyone could fail and stumble and fall in sin. The moment we think that we're exempt from these warnings from scripture is a dangerous moment. I think I mentioned last year when I was a candidate, you remember those days? I may have mentioned then that as I was a commuter student going to seminary, commuter student traveling 85 miles back and forth from seminary through Los Angeles traffic which I would never recommend to anyone except maybe an enemy. There were days that when I was coming home I would maybe just delay a little bit just so I wouldn't get into the traffic and sit in the parking lot and I would sometimes go to my favorite bookstore called The Archives, and they had a bargain bin for books that they wanted to get rid of that typically were something like a dollar or less. And so one day I came by The Archives, went through the closeout bin, and found a familiar title that was pretty popular at the time. It wasn't a book that I was really interested in getting, but at a dollar, I thought, well, okay, this was a big deal book, and so I'll just go ahead and get it. And so I decided to pick up the book, and as I was walking out the store, I examined the book a little bit further, and I was amazed to find that the author of the book actually signed the book. And he put a reference to Philippians 2.13, which says that it is God who is at work in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Juxtaposed to his signature in the biblical reference was on the other page a newspaper clipping that had the heading adultery whereby the article in a rather clinical fashion described the authors, the famous authors fall from the ministry such that he ended up in an eight year adulterous affair. The sad thing about that story is that I have several books that really earmarked that kind of a failure for men who were at one time the latest and greatest thing. And I take no pleasure in stipulating these matters. I keep those books on my bookshelf, on a particular shelf, for a very important reason. Because they remind me of the fact that again, no one is above the warnings of scripture. And no one can claim to say, well, you know, I'm above any danger of falling into sin. As soon as someone thinks that, they're in a very dangerous place in their lives. We need to take to heart the lesson of John 21. Three times Jesus asked the question, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? Feed my lambs. Simon, son of John, do you love me? Shepherd my sheep. Simon, son of John, do you love me? Feed my sheep. This isn't so much of a Q&A, but it's really a Q&C. It's a question and command sequence where Jesus is basically helping Peter to understand that he needs to focus on serving Christ out of love, and that this is the only sense and way in which he will be able to serve Christ well. And so last Lord's Day we went through this text, we talked about how this text teaches us about the need for humility, the need for the shepherd, the under shepherd in the church to feed Christ's sheep, and the need for an under shepherd to shepherd Christ's sheep. Remember, they're his sheep. And the lesson that was given to Peter I think is so crucial because as you recall, When Peter was warned about the fact that he was going to stumble and fall, remember, Jesus said to Simon, Peter, he said, Peter, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. And being deaf to what Jesus said Peter said to him Lord with you I'm ready to go to prison and a death. He said I say to you Peter the cock will not crow today until you have denied me three times that you even know me. It's remarkable. Peter believed that he was above this warning. That's why in Matthew chapter 26 and verse 33, Peter answered Jesus and said, even though all may fall away because of you, I will never fall away. Brethren, we all need to be sober minded in our thinking about ourselves. We need to be careful not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. This threefold question and command sequence was designed to help Peter to understand that he failed Christ and if he's going to be restored he must be restored on the firm foundation of nothing but love for Christ. We then talked about the important duty of the under-shepherd of feeding Christ's sheep. And so we talked about the fact that the disciples repeatedly, from the lessons of Christ, were warned about the leaven of the Pharisees, the traditions of men, which ultimately nullify the commandments of God. Christ's priority was that they would nurture his sheep with nothing but his word. This is why he prayed in a few chapters earlier on, he prayed in their presence, he said to the father, I do not ask thee to take them out of the world but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth. Thy word is what? Truth. Nothing but the word of God will do. We have no other firm foundation. And then we talked briefly about the duty of shepherding Christ's sheep. This is hard and difficult business. Sometimes it's very pleasant and sometimes it's very joyful. Sometimes it's very hard and sad. As William Thompson said, with his staff, he rules and guides the flock to their green pastures and defends them from their enemies. With it, he also corrects them when disobedient and brings them back when wandering. It is a multifaceted work, but it is the work of an undershepherd to do it all and not to flee in the face of the enemy. This priority of love is foundational. And it stands really as the foundation for what then comes next in John chapter 21, because Jesus first of all talks about the priority of Peter loving him, and then moves on to this idea, this concept of having singular devotion to Christ. The two of these go together really as a root relates to a tree. And I say that in view of the text that is before us. In John chapter 21, verses 18 through 23, we read these words. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you and bring you where you do not wish to go. Now this, he said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he said to him, follow me. Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back on his breast at the supper and said, Lord, Who was the one who betrays you? Peter therefore seeing him said to Jesus, Lord and what about this man? Jesus said to him, if I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me. You follow me. But what about John? Don't worry about John. Here's what you need to focus on, Peter. I just talked to you about the priority of loving me. Now here's your next lesson. Don't you worry about John or any of the other disciples. You focus on me. You follow me, he says. Again, these lessons go together as the root relates to the tree. The root is love for Christ above all. The tree and the fruit of the tree that comes out of that is singular devotion to Christ. The one connects to the other. So this morning I want us to think about that idea of the fruit of being singularly devoted to Christ. First of all, we need to think about the fact that this text teaches us that we are to have a singular devotion to Christ, again, that is rooted in love. Secondly, there is implicitly in the text a very clear and obvious lesson to us that we are also to have a singular devotion to Christ that is focused on a trust in the Lord's character. I have a question for you. Do you know what's gonna happen tomorrow? Do you know if you'll be alive or what circumstances you're going to be found in? Listen, brother, I can't trust anything regarding the circumstances of this world. One thing I know is I can trust in the Lord who holds me and carries me from day to day. That's the focus before us. And finally, we'll just have some concluding thoughts and exhortations in view of these very, very important lessons before us. Let's first of all think about this idea of having singular devotion to Christ that is rooted in love. This is the main lesson that Jesus is giving to Peter. Again, he says, truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished. You were free, you could do whatever you wanted to, but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you and bring you where you do not wish to go. He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he said to him, follow me. Follow me. You know, the command is easy enough. It's simple enough. You, and that's a singular command, you follow me. He's not saying, brother, I lived in the South for two decades. and I made the joke back then, I'm gonna go ahead and say it now. If they ever come up with a Southern version of the Bible, I would be a little conflicted because on the one hand, it frustrates me that we don't really have a second person singular pronoun that we use, well, except for the word y'all. Okay, now if they come up with that translation someday, I'm not sure that I wanna know about it, And I love my brethren in the South, but I don't know that I could handle y'all. But here's the problem with the English language. You see the word you, and sometimes it's plural and sometimes it's singular. This is singular. Jesus is not saying to Peter and John and all the disciples, you all follow me. He's talking to Peter just like he was when he was saying to him, do you love me? Why is this so important? because there's a very fundamental principle that we have to understand. Not only do we love Christ as the body of Christ and that there is a corporate sense of this, but we have to understand that we as individuals are called to love Christ and that that is absolutely foundational to everything else. We can't love Christ corporately unless we as individuals are devoted to Christ in that love. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 10, he says, for we all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each one, and there he uses the word ecastus, each one, each individual member may be recompensed for his deeds in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. I'm not gonna stand before the Lord holding anybody's hand in the final day. but I will answer to him as an individual, thankfully covered by the righteousness of Christ. But we all serve the Lord as individuals who assemble as the corporate assembly of the church. It is that individual devotion that is really the beginning part. It's the building block of our being able to serve Christ and love him together as the people of God. Again, as I just indicated, when Jesus said, you follow me, that's in the singular. It's also the questions, the question and commands sequence is also in the singular when he says, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Again, it's in the singular. Not talking to anybody else. Peter, I want you to think about this and focus on this. I'm talking to you. Do you love me? And I should mention something that's actually very important. The first time Jesus asked this question, he used the word agape. Peter responded by saying, you know that I philos, love you. Not the same word. The second time when he asked him, he said, Simon, son of John, do you agape me, agapas me, you love me? Peter responds with philos. You know that I philos you. But then the third time, he said, Simon, son of John, do you philes me? We tried agape, now we'll go to philos. That's when Peter repeated the same instruction or the same word. You know that I philos you. We could spend an entire week talking about the distinctions between agape and phyllos, and I would caution overemphasizing distinctions. It's kind of an interesting comparison between the two words. For the most part, the two words overlap in meaning quite a bit, and are oftentimes used almost in a synonymous way. However, if you read commentaries on this section, It is normally assumed that the idea of agape is presented as being the higher form of love, and that philos is more of a general reference to affection for another individual, like you might have affection for a friend. Again, I don't wanna overstress that idea, but I do think that when these words are used comparatively, as they are here in this section, that that's a valid thought and observation. And in view of that observation, it is perhaps the case that Peter's use of the word philo reveals a measure of humility in Peter. He understood that he fell short of the agape love for Christ as he was boasting about the fact that he would never abandon Christ. And I think that perhaps his denial of Christ and subsequent repentance took his pride down a notch, which was needful. By the way, Jesus taught his disciples that he who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who agapone, loves me. This is what love looks like, Jesus says. You have my commandments, not just in the head, but you what? Keep them. That is a demonstration of love, Jesus is saying. That is the one who Agapone loves me and the one who loves me and he who loves me shall be loved by my father and I will love him and will disclose myself to him. Peter fell short of such love, he knows this. and I believe that he's humbled in the moment. But here's the key thing I really want to focus on. I'm not as interested in comparing the words agape and philos. What I do want to mention here is the distinction between those two words and the concept of love that existed in the Greco-Roman world. This is actually a very important concept and I really wish that this is something that would be taught more readily because it's something that really applies to the modern day. It's always interesting, whenever you study history, you just realize that there is nothing new under the sun, which brings me to this analogy. Do you remember the 1986 Whitney Houston song or the song that was popularized by Whitney Houston, Greatest Love of All? Does that sound familiar to you? Do you remember the lyrics? So here's a portion of the song. It says, I decided long ago never to walk in anyone's shadows. If I fail, if I succeed, at least I'll live as I believe. No matter what they take from me, they can't take away my dignity because the greatest love of all is happening to me. I found the greatest love of all inside of me. The greatest love of all is easy to achieve. Learning to love yourself It is the greatest love of all. No. Actually, that's the problem. We love ourselves. Foremost commandment is a call for us to get out of ourselves and to love God and to love our neighbor. It assumes that we're already taking care of ourselves. The challenge is to get out of ourselves and to make God the priority and even our neighbor before ourselves. We're really third in the list. Why do I bring this up? Because I really do believe that we need to mortify all cultural notions of love. In the first century, You see that there were multiple artifacts of belief that existed in the day, in the time of the writing of the New Testament. They were all seated in this notion of what was the true and highest love of all. For the Greeks, we see that it was not agape, nor even philos. They had another word for love, and it was the foremost love of all. According to Hesiod's Theogonia, written in the 8th century BC, there's a poem about the origins of the universe, and it's basically a study on the primordial forces that brought about everything that exists in the current day. And so the four primal sources of everything were chaos, Gaia, earth, Tartarus, who was the god of the underworld and punishment, and then the god of love. But this is not agape or philos, it is the word eros. Eros. If you were to go back, if we could take Whitney Houston and her song and go back into that day, and if she were to sing that song, it would still be a number one hit. Why? Because eros love was all about self. I'm gonna get what I want. It doesn't matter who I use or what I use in this life, as long as I'm getting my own self-satisfaction, that is all that matters. That is Eros love. So here's your pop quiz for the morning. How many times did the New Testament writers use the word Eros love? Zero. You got the right answer. they wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot pole. You know, it's interesting. Philologist Richard Trent makes a very important observation about the fact that the New Testament writers avoided this word, even though it was the foremost word for love. Again, if you were to talk to people in the community in the secular world, if you were to talk to them about what the greatest love is, they would say Eros. But this is what Trent says, Trench, excuse me, says about this whole subject. He says, I observe in conclusion that Eros and other derivatives, Aaron and Erastus, never occur in the New Testament, but the two latter occasionally in the Septuagint, which only have the sense of dishonorable affections. He says, their absence is significant. It is in part no doubt to be explained from the fact that by the corrupt use of the world, they had become so steeped in sensual passion, carried such an atmosphere of unholiness about them, that the truth of God, abstained from the defiling contact with them, yea, devised a new word rather than betake itself to one of these." The word Eros was so ruined, there was no way in which it could be used for any godly context. By the way, there's a related term, hedonism, or hedonism. In Greek mythology, through the union of Eros and Psyche came the goddess Hedonae, and similar to the word Eros, this bears the idea of, again, self-satisfaction at the expense of anyone or anything. And therefore, the words eros and heidenei bore the same family likeness and meaning, though eros was much more popular and well-defined. The Greek ideal in life was utterly grounded in the pursuit of an autonomous, and this is an important concept, an autonomous self-satisfaction as the highest goal and achievement of any individual. This pursuit of self-pleasure involved the instrumentality of various things and people, but at the heart of it all was self-gratification. What about the word agape? At the time in the writing of the New Testament, this word was barely used. It was like a rarely used term. And this is why the exegetical dictionary of the New Testament makes this very important observation. They say that the translators probably preferred the words of the agapao group, which convey less affective emphasis since they designate a sober kind of love, love in the sense of placing a high value upon some person or thing or receiving them with favor. It bears the notion of honor and valuation of another person in the context of a relationship. Eros has nothing to do with the relationship. Hayden has nothing to do with the relationship. It's me, myself, and I, but agape sees a bond and a union with another and has a valuation and sense of honor for the other. This little used term in the first century became the word that was preeminent to describe God's love for us and his calling for us to be lovers of God and lovers of our neighbor. Do you see this? Brethren, this is a key distinction. The love of God and the love that is found in this world, they're diametrically opposed to one another. The world posits and advances a selfish love But the love of God leads us to follow the one who first loved us. I would submit to you that this calling of Jesus for Peter to love him and to follow him bears all the markings of this word agape. Peter, I want you to love me. And this is our union, this is our relationship. We are now related to one another in the sense that You're a member of my family now. You're my possession. And here's what I need you to do. You need to follow me. The collective narrative from John chapter 21 verses 15 through 22 basically is summarizing this. If you love me, then you'll stop thinking about yourself or comparing yourself to John or anyone else and simply focus on me, following me. Brethren, such love of God does lead us to the singular devotion to Christ. Singular devotion that is rooted in the love of God. Here's our second point. This love also calls us to a singular devotion to Christ that is founded on a trust in the Lord's character. We follow him, not knowing what tomorrow will bring, but we follow our Lord knowing that he holds us in his hands and that we can trust in him even though we don't know what's going to happen. Again, Jesus, after describing the nature of Peter's suffering and death that would come, it says that Peter, therefore seeing John, said to Jesus, Lord, what about this man? Jesus said to him if I want him to remain until I come what is that to you. You follow me. Brother I love this narrative. It is. It is encouraging. It is convicting. It reminds me of the fact that I'm like Peter. I get distracted so easily and I'm thinking to myself, well, what about this guy or what about that person? Why can't I have this lush lifestyle or this easier lifestyle that somebody else is having? We are so like this. We like to look horizontally and think about our circumstances and think about how maybe somebody else has it better than we do. But we have to reject all that temptation. When Jesus said, if I want him to remain to come, what does that to you? When he says, if I want, the word there is phthalo, which simply means to want or desire. The thing that we have to understand is, is that all that God desires and all that he wills is good. We don't have to understand it every time and we certainly don't know it in advance, but we know that God's sovereign will is good and it accomplishes his purposes. And so in Isaiah 46 in verse 9 it says, the Lord says, remember the former things long past for I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is no one like me. Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things which have not been done saying my purpose will be established and I will accomplish all my, how does that verse end? Good pleasure, good pleasure. What is God's pleasure? What is his will? It's good. Even if we don't understand it, even if we sometimes think to ourselves, how could this possibly be good? Or when we think to ourselves, I don't like what I'm going through. And how many times have we been in a situation where a trial comes and we're thinking to ourselves, what is this? Well, it's God's good will and pleasure. That's what it is. Coming from a heavenly father who loves us enough to sanctify us by whatever trial it is that's come. You know, what's amazing is to think about this passage and to think about the way in which God sanctified, faithfully sanctified these disciples. And how it is that they persevered even in the midst of great opposition, martyrdom even. It's kind of interesting that Peter would be so interested about what's going to happen to John. You know what happened to John, right? He was arrested in Ephesus, was sent to Rome where he was cast into a large vessel filled with boiling oil. I don't know who would really want to say, hey, why don't I have his gig? Why does he get the boiling oil? I mean, think about that for a second. After that, he was released and banished by the Emperor Domitian to the Isle of Patmos. After being released from Patmos, he returned to Ephesus where he died in 98 AD. Yeah, why did he get to be banished to the Isle of Patmos where all the snakes and scorpions are? Why can't I have that gig? I mean, think about it for a moment. Peter's really not thinking carefully, and we're kind of like that ourselves. We think about, well, look at him, and what about me? It's not the way to think. What we need to think about is that God is good. His will is good. Whatever comes our way we can count it as all a part of his good sovereign providence. As for the disciples we know that Andrew was crucified. James in Acts 12 was executed by Herod Agrippa. Philip was crucified in Herapolis. in Asia Minor, Matthew was martyred in Navarra, James the Less was stoned by the Jews and had his brains dashed out with the Fuller's Club, Matthias who replaced Judas was stoned in Jerusalem, Andrew was crucified and Mark was dragged through the streets of Alexandria and killed. As for Peter, the only account that we really have regarding his martyrdom comes to us from various traditions John Fox in Fox's Book of Martyrs says this. The only account that we have of the martyrdom of the Apostle Peter is from the early Christian writer, Hegesippos. When Peter was old, there were a plan to put him to death. When the disciples heard this, they begged Peter to flee the city, said it be Rome, which he did. When he got to the city he saw Christ in a vision walking toward him. By this vision Peter understood that it was time for him to suffer the death of Jesus. The death which Jesus said would glorify God. So he went back to the city after being captured and taken to his place of martyrdom. He requested that he be crucified in an upside down position because he did not consider himself worthy to be crucified in the same position as his Lord. You know, God has a plan for each and every one of our lives. And what's interesting is he doesn't tell us what that is. He doesn't give us a roadmap for what's next. What he does is he gives us his word, which teaches us about his character and helps us to know that he is good and that he loves us, infinitely loves us. As for John, who was not martyred, It is said that he helped to establish the churches that are described in the Book of Revelation, Smyrna, Pergamos, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea, Thyatira, and he ministered then at Ephesus. While it was banished by Domitian to the Isle of Patmos, he wrote the Book of Revelation. It was all according to God's plan. What about John? What's going to happen? Don't you worry about him. The Lord already had a plan for John and John was going to be used as an instrument and as his vessel just as Peter would be because remarkably despite all the failings and shortcomings of Peter he was able to exhort the brethren In godliness, having learned his lessons, having taken his pride and mortified his pride, and now seeking the glory of God, he was able to say in 1 Peter chapter 2, keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. Don't you worry about anything else, just serve him in the presence of this world that's watching you. Sounds like good counsel. And then emphasizing faithfulness to Christ in 1 Peter 3, verse 13, he says this. He says, and who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. You're blessed, and do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence, and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame, for it is better if God should will it. that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong. It's all about his will. It's all about his will. It's a good will. In the meantime you just focus on being faithful and following Christ. I believe he learned his lesson beautifully. This is what love for Christ does. This is what genuine love for Christ does. It gives us a joyful fixation on the privilege of following Christ such that nothing else matters. I love what Thomas Watson says about the impact of love in the life of a child of God. Watson says this, why are men so eager in their pursuit after gold but because they love it? Love causes delight and delight causes earnest zeal. What made Paul labor more than all the other apostles? The love of Christ constrained him, 2 Corinthians 5.14. Love is like oil to the wheels. Get love for religion and you will never be weary. You will count those the best hours which are spent with God. Amen. The root and the fruit. The root is love. The fruit is singular devotion to Christ. Brethren, these things are indelibly linked together. Here's some concluding thoughts and considerations. Maybe you're sitting there and thinking to yourself, I thought we were talking about ecclesiology. We are. We're talking about ecclesiology in its most rudimentary, fundamental sense. In fact, I would say to you that without this, I don't care what ecclesiology a church claims. I've read many doctrinal statements. It doesn't matter what your doctrinal statement is, your bylaws, whatever. If you don't have this, It's nothing. Paul writing to the church at Ephesus says this, he says, so then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's household, having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building being fitted together. The whole building being fitted together. is growing into a holy temple of the Lord. That language that he uses there, the whole building being fitted together, comes from a construction of two Greek words, And harma logeo, harma logeo, it's this idea of taking parts and putting them together. If you see a kid on the floor building, putting Legos together, that's kind of the picture. You got these individual parts and they go together. That's the imagery. As a holy temple for the Lord, for the Lord's dwelling, we are brought together and we're fit together, assembled together as that holy temple. If you build a brick wall, you have to have bricks that have a certain symmetry to them and strength. Symmetry, because you can't have just a bunch of different bricks that are of different sizes and they're all in contradiction with one another, such that they don't really go together. Strength, because without strength, you can put all sorts of things, stack all sorts of things together, but it might be just a wall of sand. Brethren, we come to church, I would say to you, we need to come thinking about how we are as individual bricks of the holy temple of God. Are we coming with a priority of loving Christ and having a singular devotion for him? When we come in this manner and we do so as followers of Christ, We know and understand that Christ himself did not come to be served, but to do what? To serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. It is that principle of servitude, considering the needs of others, that's crucial. That's why Paul talks about, in Philippians chapter two, the fact that we are to imitate Christ, considering the needs of others as being more important than our own. That's not hedonism. That's not Eros love, this is agape. And it is the message and lesson that Paul gives in Acts chapter 20 and verse 35 when he says that it is more blessed to give than to receive. It is. If we're doing it for Christ, it is. But if we come fixated on self, if we come as hedonists, we become deformed, irregular, weak bricks. And rather than strengthening the fortress of God's household, we weaken it through our own self infatuation. So we have the root in the fruit. The root is the love for Christ. The fruit is singular devotion to Him. And I say to you, brethren, for those of you here this morning who are single, Paul spends a lot of time talking about the advantages of singleness. He says, if you marry, you've not sinned, but he keeps pressing the idea of the advantages of singleness. Why? Because there's something that the single person has that the married person will not normally have, and that is the ability to have more time to devote to the ministry of Christ. To the extent that you have that, use it. Out of love for Christ, and out of singular devotion to him, glory in that, take joy in that and use it. Again, for husbands and wives, you know the best way to destroy a marriage is for a husband to put his wife before Christ or a wife to put her husband before Christ. That's the best way to blow everything up. I cannot love my wife well if Christ isn't first. This is such a fundamental principle. I hope to be able to go through this soon. There are many things I hope to be able to get to soon. Children, you're called to obey your parents and then it says what? Ephesians 6, in the Lord. The idea is that the Lord is really the one who is in your view amidst your obedience. Let your obedience, in other words, be unto him. He needs to be first. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. We have all kinds of relationships and affections within those relationships from one to another, but mark this, Christ is to be first in everything or everything is lost. The same is true for our work, our relationships with the people of this world, in our evangelism, everything is to be for Christ above all. Brethren, we're all imperfect people. We're like Peter, we're learning about how to love Christ more. By the way, we're gonna be doing this for the rest of our lives until we go to glory. Then and there, the veil of sin will be removed. Then and there, the battle against sin will end, finally. Until that day. We need to cry to God for greater strength, more grace, and a deeper faith and trust in him. Again, knowing that his will is always good. Let me ask you to turn in your hymnal to Hymn number 410. My faith looks up to thee. Verse two says this. May thy rich grace impart strength to my fainting heart. Brethren, what have we been looking at here in John chapter 21? We've been thinking about the fainting heart of Peter and his need to learn and understand that he needed not to overestimate himself, but rest in the strength and provision of God. And then the hymn writer says, my zeal inspire, as thou hast died for me, oh, may my love to thee, pure, warm, and changeless be a living fire. What a wonderful thing to sing in devotion to our Lord. Let's stand together, let's sing this as our concluding hymn. My faith looks up to Thee, Thou Lamb of Calvary, Savior divine. Now hear me while I pray. O let me from this day be wholly Thine. May Thy rich grace impart strength to my fainting heart, my zeal inspire. has died for me. Oh, may my love to thee, God, warm and changeless be, a living fire. While life's darkness I dread and griefs around me spread, my God. Bid darkness turn to day. Wipe sorrow's tears away. No, let me ever stray from Thee aside. When ends life's passing dream, when cold threatening stream, shall o'er me roll, blessed Savior, then in love ♪ Fear and distrust remove ♪ ♪ Oh, lift me safe above a ransomed soul ♪ Our precious Heavenly Father, we pray for grace to grow in love for you, in love for Christ, more and more each day. Oh Lord, we thank you that we love because you first loved us. The love that was in our heart was all focused on self. It was hedonism, it was eros, selfish love. But the love that you have poured out in our hearts is an alien love to all these corrupted affections. We pray that we would grow in this love, that we would love you and love our neighbor in view of this love, and that we would glorify your name in this church, in our homes, within this community, that others would know and see the beauty of the love of Christ. Bless us in this day. Thank you for this time. And thank you, Lord, for the riches of your word. May we grow by the reality of what we have studied. May the scriptures be deeply embedded in our hearts and souls so that we would be conformed to the image and likeness of your son. For we ask and pray all this in Jesus' precious name. Amen. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, blameless, with great joy. To the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority from before all time and now and forever.