if you would open your Bibles with me to the gospel according to John, John chapter 21 this morning. And before we hop into the word, a couple of things I wanted to maybe put on your radar. One is, if you, this is gonna come out of the blue, but it's something that the ladies, some of the ladies like to share with. If you were at the women's retreat, and you have, it's like a glass vase, it almost looks like a little flower glass vase. The owner would like those back, and so if you could please bring them next Sunday, and should I announce who the owner is? Paige Rodriguez is the owner, and we want... Hunting, you know, my mind, okay. Paige Rodriguez hunting. And if you could bring them back to her, she'd be delighted. Other thing, a little more serious note, please be praying for the Tafts. They went to Fredericksburg to be with Debbie's mother. not doing well and so we want to keep the taps in our prayers in this season. Pray for Debbie and Ashley and Charlie as they have the aroma of Christ and his resurrection to minister to the family and that they might look again to our resurrected Lord and be encouraged. And we do have John 21 here, which reminds us that our Lord indeed is alive. He's the conqueror of death, and so we always have hope. And so let's turn our attention now to the scriptures, John 21, and let me read starting in verse one. After this, Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. and he revealed himself in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas, called the twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, I am going fishing. They said to him, we will go with you. They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore, yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, children, do you have any fish? They answered him, no. He said to them, cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some. So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because of the quantity of the fish. The disciple, whom Jesus loved, therefore said to Peter, it is the Lord. When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and he threw himself into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far off from the land, but about a hundred yards away. When they got out on the land, they saw a charcoal fire in place with the fish laid out on it and bread. And Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish that you have just caught. So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, come and have breakfast. Now, none of the disciples dared ask him, who are you? They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, feed my lambs. He said to him a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, tend my sheep. He said to him, a third time. Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you. Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and another will dress you and carry you to where you do not want to go. This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God. And after saying this, he said to him, follow me. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that Christ has risen and that he in this word says to us again, follow me. I pray, Father, that you would say even to the first time to those who are following the world, say to their souls, follow me. And I pray for your people that you might revive us again, that you would restore our hearts, that you would say to our souls even, follow me. I pray this in Jesus' precious name, amen. Well, growing up, I was a soccer player, believe it or not. A decent soccer player. I chose to play soccer because, in my thinking, it was the only sport that a scrawny little man could excel at. Football was out of the picture, so was basketball, so was baseball. All the good sports. I was really into soccer, consumed by it, driven to succeed. I was on a traveling soccer club, and we were pretty good. Sophomore year, my soccer club made it to the state championship, and it was an intense game. It made it to the shootouts. Now, if you're not familiar with soccer, if you tie, which is like 95% of the games, they tie in a 0-0 score. Boring. But when you tie, no overtime, you go to penalty kickouts. And we were going in penalty kickouts with this team, and the guy just before me missed. And this meant for me, it's my chance to be the hero. If I make this shot, we win the championship. So as I approach that ball, I'm thinking in my head, this is it. What I've dreamed of, what I've worked so hard for, The referee blew his whistle, and I looked at that ball, and I struck it as hard as I could, and over the goal it goes. And the other team makes their shot and wins. And I am defeated. I feel like the biggest failure you can imagine. And as I went on in my soccer career, That failure felt something like a blemish on my endeavors to be good at soccer, a blemish on my reputation, what I was known for on my team. It was like I had an F on my high school transcript, a blemish in my past. And failure in any area of life can be difficult to live with, can't it? And it's also true with the Christian life, the life of following Jesus Christ. And the fact is, and we see this in Peter, a true Christian can fail Jesus miserably. It's one drink too many. It's one outburst of anger toward your children. It's one taste of forbidden sex. It's one unjust business transaction, and you find yourself living the Christian life with an F in your transcript, with a blemish on your record. Martin Lloyd-Jones calls it that one sin. It's a sin. It's not an ongoing lifestyle of rebellion. It's an instance of a severe failure in your past. And if you have a severe failure in your past, it can make Jesus feel distant, and it can cripple your ability to serve Jesus with joy. That one sin. Do you have that one sin? Are you a blemished disciple? If so, you need to see in this climactic revelation that Jesus Christ saves us by grace and he restores us by grace. Even as the resurrected Christ displays the character of God, a God who is a restoring God. We see in scripture God restores the temple under Ezra. He restores the city walls under Nehemiah. He restores the fortunes of Job. Psalm 23, he is my shepherd, he restores my soul. In Isaiah, he restores Hezekiah to health. In Joel, he restores the years the locusts have devoured. And in Ruth, Ruth's son, Obed, for Naomi, she becomes the restorer of life in Naomi's old age. God is a restoring God. And this is why Jeremiah, when he's looking on the heap of ruins at the temple, destroyed, Weeping, Jeremiah prays, restore us to yourself, oh Lord, that we might be restored. Renew us in our days as of old. And my hope as we look at Christ restoring Peter is that this very day you would pray, restore us to yourself, oh Lord, that we may be restored. Renew us as of days of old. And Jesus' restoration of Peter gives you confidence that his answer is yes to that prayer. That Jesus Christ, the risen Lord, can restore you after you have failed Jesus. After you've become a blemished disciple. Now, typically we talk about Peter as having a fall, that he is a fallen disciple. I don't think that's the best way to think about Peter in this text. And the reason is because in scripture, you have different categories of falling into sin. For example, you have the issue of maybe the backslidden Christian, someone who is falling back into their old sinful patterns. You have Christians who wander from the truth. You have Christians and Galatians who are ensnared in sin. And so this idea that a Christian can have some sort of ongoing sin issue and they need restoration. That's not Peter here exactly. Peter is not walking in present rebellion. Peter's a disciple, but he's marred by that one sin of his past, a single sin, you remember it, John chapter 18. The apostle Peter has the opportunity to seal his allegiance to Jesus with his blood, but then he denies Jesus publicly. I am not a disciple. I don't know the man. And he disowns Jesus not once, not twice, three times. In other words, it is a thorough rejection of Jesus. And so I would call Peter not a fallen disciple, but a blemished disciple. He needs Jesus to deal with his past. and to help him overcome a severe sin of his past. And that is exactly what Jesus does. And John makes his agenda with you clear. Why does he include this revelation? Well, he calls it, notice in verse one, a revelation, Jesus revealed himself. And then verse 14, he uses the same word that Jesus has revealed. And so you should not think of this as an appearance of Jesus. I made an appearance to the office party. I made an appearance to church. No, this is a revelation. This is the unveiling of the kind of Jesus we have, the kind of son, the kind of Christ we serve. You are to see Jesus is restoring grace as a matter of his character and as a matter of how he can treat you. if you are a blemished disciple. So I wanna unfold this text under two headings. Number one, first scene, we're gonna see a revealing catch. Scene two, restoring confrontation. And as we walk through these two scenes, I want you to look at Jesus. And my prayer is Christ will reveal himself to you as the Christ of restoring grace. So, scene number one, a revealing catch. Now at the outset of this revelation, we find seven of the original 12 apostles. They are on the Sea of Tiberias, also called the Sea of Galilee. So apparently, these disciples have finished up the Feast of Unleavened Bread there in Jerusalem. And they have headed north to their hometown. And of course they're fishermen, many of them are. And so they're hungry. And Peter says, I'm going for a fish. They all follow. And now they are there fishing on the lake. And some people see this as a kind of sign of apostasy, that these men are renouncing their allegiance to Jesus entirely. And I think that's almost certainly not right. In fact, in the, I guess, echo of this scene are the two resurrection appearances we just saw in John chapter 20. Jesus appears to his disciples and we read, they were glad when they saw the Lord. In fact, the last scene is Thomas's climactic profession, looks at Jesus resurrected from the dead and what does he say? My Lord, my God, So I find it very unlikely that John wants you to see this fishing scene and conclude, they've quit, they're apostate. No, I think John wants you to see that Jesus himself has chosen strategically the Sea of Galilee as the proper location for this third resurrection revelation. I think he wants to take this setting to drive home his message with maximum impact. Something like this, you know, if you've heard of spouses renewing their wedding vows. And you can do that, say, over, let's say you want to do that, you're married, hey honey, let's renew our wedding vows. You can do that, you can go to Chick-fil-A and renew your wedding vows over a chicken sandwich. Not a bad idea. I love you. I love you too. Let's eat some Christian chicken together. Message in force. But what if you went to your original wedding venue? Ah, there you go. The scene, the altar, the venue, memories. I love you. You see, setting can drive home the message. I think Jesus is strategically choosing this because this was the scene, listen, of his original call to the disciples. Go read the other gospel accounts. On the Sea of Galilee, Jesus says to these four fishermen, follow me. And so this whole scene on the lake, it emits the aroma of a renewed call to follow Jesus. Jesus reveals himself again to command these disciples, follow me again. And not only that, but what we find here is a replay of a miracle that happened in Luke 5 when Jesus called his disciples. Luke 5, you'll remember, These men are laboring all night. They're exhausted. They don't catch fish. Jesus shows up. He says to them, cast your net on the other side. And they obey. And Jesus provides a miraculous catch, filling up their nets. Peter senses his sinfulness. He goes to Jesus and says, Lord, I am a sinful man. Depart from me. And Jesus says, Fear not, from now on you will be catching men. It is a prophecy about the mission that these apostles will achieve, a great ingathering of believers through the nets of the gospel. And so this setting and this miracle that we're about to see, it is a re-calling, a re-issuing, a re-summons of devotion to Jesus and prophecy that your mission through me is gonna be successful. And so notice what Jesus does here in verse six. These men have labored all night. They're in the boat. Jesus is on the shore. And Jesus says to them, cast the net on the right side of the boat and you will find some, find some fish. So they cast it and now they were not able to haul it in because of the great quantity of fish and the disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, it is the Lord, it is the Lord. Renewing of these memories perhaps. We've seen this before. This is unmistakably our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember when we put our nets in all night and we were empty, our labors were vain, and Jesus showed up at dawn and said, cast over the nets, and he filled it up. This has to be the Lord Jesus Christ. And perhaps Peter begins replaying in his own mind that summons to follow Jesus. Fear not, you will be fishers of men. And perhaps that's why he does something right here. We might call it very Peter-esque. Notice how Peter responds in the middle of verse seven. When Simon Peter heard it was the Lord, He put on his outer garment for he was stripped for work and he threw himself into the sea. And what a scene. He jumps into the lake, starts swimming as hard as he can to get to Jesus Christ, his Lord. That's vintage Peter. Bold Peter. Stick out in the middle of a crowd, Peter. Now, given what's about to unfold, I feel pretty confident that Jesus does this because he is filled with love and excitement to see his master. He loves Jesus deeply and he wants to get into Jesus's presence. But given the fact that Peter's failure is on Jesus's mind, how will Jesus treat Peter? Chastise him? Give him a lecture on the perfection of righteousness and the law, rub his face in his failure. No, when the men show up and when Peter shows up, Jesus has breakfast already cooking for him. Fish and bread on a charcoal fire. And then he says, hey, grab some of those fish, add them to the grill. Let's have a breakfast feast. It's an incredible gesture of welcome, of acceptance, of love. And John wants to show you something very specific about these men as they sit with Jesus around the fire to eat breakfast. Notice in verse 12, come and have breakfast. Notice what's going on in the minds and hearts of these disciples. Now, none of the disciples dare to ask Jesus, who are you? They knew it was the Lord. They knew it was the Lord. They're timid. They're fearful. They're unsure of themselves. Why? Well, we don't know. John doesn't tell us. But this is a wonderful reminder that Jesus is a living person. And that discipleship is a dynamic relationship with the risen Christ. I mean, how would you feel if the risen Lord of glory invited you to breakfast right now? Right now, in your condition right now. How was your morning? How was the ride to church? How's your week been? I am sure that all of us to some degree might be a bit timid in the presence of raw glory and righteousness. But notice, the timidity of these disciples does not alter who Jesus is. Immediately, John tells us how Jesus responds. Look at it, verse 12. Now, none of the disciples dared ask him, who are you? They knew who it was. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. Though these men are timid, Jesus feeds them, feeds them. This is the good shepherd, isn't it? Loving his sheep, feeding his sheep, giving his sheep a welcome, summoning his sheep into his presence, enveloping his sheep with his love. The fear and timidity of these disciples cannot change Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. Your doubts, your fears, your uncertainties, beloved, cannot undermine the identity of this good shepherd, the shepherd of the sheep. And all of this beckons us, I think, to respond by seeking for ourselves, diligently even, a renewed relationship with this unchanging Jesus. I think that's what we're seeing here. Jesus is calling them again, commissioning them again, assuring them of love again. So I wanna ask you, do you need a renewed relationship with Jesus today? And if the answer is yes, then I want to call you to diligently seek a renewed relationship with the unchanging Jesus. How should you do that? Maybe you should wait for a miracle. Probably not, you might be waiting for 30 years, I don't know. Maybe you come from a tradition where you have a big revival event, protracted meetings, and on the last night of the event, you all make your vows. I promise to the Lord I'll never do that sin again, and then you write the sin on the fire, and you throw it in the fire. Am I the only one who participated in this? Problem is, fire cannot purify your soul. Fire cannot give you power to say no to sin. I wouldn't start making vows to Jesus. I think the Bible gives us many ways to pursue a renewed relationship with Christ, but I want to give you one of them. Renew your relationship with Jesus by paying close attention to how Jesus saved you. To how he saved you. how he saved you. The Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians, consider your calling brothers. That is to say, give heed, pay attention, look at it, look at how Jesus Christ called you to himself. How he overcame your rebellion, how he melted your heart, how he beckons you to believe the gospel. Retell the story to yourself of how Jesus converted you Consider your calling. This past weekend at our men's conference, we had a brother share his calling. And it went something like this. It happened in a 48 hour period. It involved a Bible study, taking hard drugs, not at the Bible study, jumping out of a moving vehicle, driving 75 miles per hour down the highway, seeing a vision of Satan and hell, busting his head, going to the hospital and having a doctor stitch up his head and say, I can stitch up your head, but only Jesus can heal your soul. Then that night, a knock on the door, it was the police, you're arrest for drug dealing, throw him in the jail cell. Gets out next morning, returns home where it happened. The call. And his brother says, if you'll have a sinner like me, I repent and I'll follow you forever. Consider your calling. Your calling might be much less dramatic. Probably is. Your calling might go something like this. Wonderful Christian parents, they taught me the gospel. Young age, I believed. I actually, not exactly sure exactly when I believed for the first time, but I'm following Christ. I know I believed under the teaching of my parents. I've been following Jesus ever since. But do you know the miracle that is for you to have Christian parents to teach you the gospel so that you come to believe. Do you know the miracle of that? A man had to get saved, maybe dramatically. A woman had to get saved, maybe dramatically. And then they had to fall in love, which that's a mystery, isn't it? And then God, in his providence and wisdom and plan, had to put you in that family. He could have chosen to put you with parents in China who are atheists, or in Egypt who are Muslim, or in America who are secular atheists, but in God's wisdom and providence, He put you in a family who had the gospel and actually cared for you and for your soul. and taught you Christ. That is a miracle, beloved. That is extraordinary providence that you are a Christian today. Consider your calling. How did Jesus save you? You would do well to give heed and pay attention to how Christ came to you and called you the first time. And I'm sure by his grace, you will be renewed to love and serve him. Eagerly, beloved, seek a renewed relationship with the unchanging Jesus. So let's move now from a revealing catch to a restoring conversation. Notice verse 15, the scene changes. When they had finished breakfast, and I love these words. Mark them, look at them. When they were done with breakfast, and the reason I love these words is because it tells you Jesus will not confront Peter's sin until after breakfast. Now, if someone fails you and sins against you, are you gonna wait to confront them till after breakfast? Not me. When someone fails me, I go at them hot. You failed me. Let's deal with it now. I need to deal with your sin, confront you, full metal jacket, let's go confrontation. Not Jesus. Jesus confronts sin after a warm welcome, after a hot breakfast. after fellowship, after acceptance. I mean, this almost anticipates Paul's admonition. Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him gently, gently shrouded by love and acceptance and hope for the future. So Jesus restores Peter by accepting him first. But don't mistake this as if Jesus is some approver of sin. No, he is a reprover of sin. So notice now, Jesus restores Peter by exposing the sin of Peter's past. When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these Now you're very smart people, you're studied people. And so your question is these what? Do you love me more than these what? These fish? Maybe. These disciples? Maybe. Those are valid options. But I'm convinced Jesus is speaking a bit more tersely. Peter, do you love me more than these disciples love me? Do you have more love in your soul for me than the souls of these other men? If that's the right reading, this here echoes one instance when Peter's love was not greater for Jesus than the other disciples. On the night Jesus was betrayed, all the other disciples, to be sure, they abandoned and left Jesus. Peter denied him publicly three times. Jesus here is probing the heart. He's putting an x-ray to the heart. Peter, given your severe act of disloyalty, do you love me more than these other disciples love me? Do you treasure me, delight in me as your Lord and God to the extent that your love outstrips the love that these other men have for me? Is that true, Peter? It is a subtle reference to Peter's failure. But the question itself is a pretty subtle rebuke of sin. If you think about this, this question, do you love me? Let's say in your marriage, your spouse comes to you and says, honey, do you love me? And you say, of course I do. But then they say again a second time, no, do you love me? Something's going on, something's a little more serious. Honey, you know I love you. How about a third time? Do you love me? At this point, you start to think, she's not, she's not asking if I, she's accusing me of not loving her. The question turns into an accusation. And for Peter to be asked three times, it must incite in him a memory of the occasion when Peter did not love Jesus three times. In fact, notice how it goes. He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved. He said it to him the third time. Do you love me? Jesus is exposing Peter's past sin. He's bringing it up. And when he brings it up and exposes it, even gently, this deeply grieves Peter's heart, makes him sad, punctures his heart. And when you're sad over sin, this is very good. Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret. worldly grief produces death, and here is godly grief. Grief over Peter's past failure. And Jesus here is not bringing up Peter's past sin to heap shame and guilt, but to give healing and restoration. I can stitch up your head. Only Jesus can heal your soul. That's what Jesus wants to do. He wants to heal Peter's soul after committing that one sin. Jesus breaks the heart to heal it. He wants Peter to move on, move forward. Don't let this one failure define you. I am here to restore you. And notice then Jesus restores Peter by reinstating authority. Reinstating authority. Three times, do you love me? Three times, yes, I love you. Is it true? Is it true or is it just speak? God speak. I mean, we're at church here. If I were to ask you, hey, do you love Jesus? Most of us would give some nice God speak. Of course I love Jesus. But is it true? And Peter asserts it is by appealing to Jesus' omniscience. The third time here, he says, Lord, you know everything. That is to say, you know my heart. You're God. You can see to the depths of my being. You know that I delight in you. I treasure you as Lord and God. And does Jesus agree? He does. And you know that because three times Jesus commissions Peter to feed my sheep. tend to my lambs, feed my sheep." In other words, Peter, on the basis of your love for me in your soul, I am commissioning you, listen, to be an elder in my church. That's what this image is of. 1 Peter 5, Peter calls himself a fellow elder, a fellow pastor. This image of feeding the sheep, it is an image of preaching and teaching the words of Jesus to the church, the people of God. Feed my sheep. Jesus, I'm gonna feed your sheep. I'm gonna obey. I love you. It's an incredible, like putting Peter, this blemished apostle, not just in restoration to himself, but into a position of leadership. over the people of God. So, beloved, how should you view Peter? Not as a failure, not as a blemished disciple. You should view Peter as a pastor of the church worthy of your imitation. Worthy of your imitation. Why? Peter here has the quality, that is utmost, uppermost in what defines a Christian, love for Jesus in the soul, love for Jesus in the soul. And he has the quality that is uppermost in what a pastor should be, love for Jesus. And before we move on, I do need to give you, and I want to give you, since we are a local church here, two glaring implications for us as a church. Number one, the most important qualification for an elder in Jesus' church is love for Jesus. Love for Jesus. 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, we get qualifications for who should be an elder in the church. There's several of them. So love for Jesus is not the only qualification, but it is the wellspring and the root of all these qualities. Love is utmost. Love is vital. That is love for Jesus. And I think if Paul were writing his great love chapter in 1 Corinthians 13, if he was writing that to elders in the church, I think he would have said this. If I have the leadership abilities of Martin Luther, or the mind of John Calvin, or the evangelistic success of George Whitefield, If I have the preaching power to gather crowds like Charles Spurgeon, but have not love, I'm nothing. Love for Christ is that ultimate for pastors in the church. It is everything. At least it's the foundation and the wellspring of everything. So I want to call you, church, pray for your elders to love Christ, that we would treasure Him and love Him as our Lord and God, and pray for these men in the church, that above all, they would be lovers of Jesus. Second here, preaching on Sunday mornings is Jesus' way of loving you. Gospel preaching, preaching God's word on Sunday mornings is Jesus's way of loving you. I mean, can't you see the logic here? You're my man to lead my people. They're my sheep, Peter. My sheep, sheep I've died for, bled for, suffered, purchased with my own blood. How do I want you to treat them? Teach the word. Give them the Bible, give them the scriptures. Teach the word of God to my people. That's how I want to give my love to my people, through men who preach to my sheep. And oh, how that would change how you think about gathering on Sundays. You know, I fear it's very easy for us. We're all busy people. You have a lot of duties, responsibilities. We all do. And it's easy for us to get into the mentality of treating coming on Sunday mornings, kind of like how we treat, you know, a diet. I really, you know, I really should eat better. You know, saying no to that bacon, that'd be good for me. I really shouldn't have that extra cupcake. You know, I really should be at church. Like, I really should go. It's almost like motivated by guilt, isn't it? Beloved, the risen Christ, one of the ways he loves you is wherever you are, and a lot of you are transient, wherever you go is to raise up men who preached the Bible to you to feed your soul, to satisfy your soul with Christ and his word. Oh, how that might change the way you think about Sunday mornings. I come not to hear a man. I come to hear the risen Christ talk to me and speak to me and reveal himself to me and satisfy me. I come to get Jesus, and that's what we aim for. Come to get Jesus in his word. We gather not to hear a man, but to be loved by Christ. Jesus restores Peter by accepting him first, by exposing his sin, by reinstating his authority, and finally, by motivating his devotion. Motivating his devotion. You're a pastor, Peter. You got the thing. But Jesus has a final word for Peter, verse 18. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go. Now, this is not as obscure as it sounds. Let me read for you the NET translation and tell me if you can pick up what Jesus is saying. When you were young, Peter, you used to tie your clothes around you. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and others will tie you up and bring you where you do not want to go. And when the Romans were going to execute a criminal by crucifixion, they would take a man, they would spread out his arms on a horizontal cross beam. They would tie him up, his arms up, And they would say, let's go to the execution site. And you know that's what Jesus is saying because John gives you this parentheses. This he said to show what kind of death he was to glorify God. Peter will be crucified like his Lord. And I love how John makes you see this is not defeat. This is victory. Peter, you're gonna be dominated by the Romans, strung up, not able to go freely. You will experience the greatest form of execution that will bring you down. But this will glorify God. Why? Because Peter will be crucified for the name of Christ, for preaching the gospel and being faithful to the end. His love for Jesus will go all the way and it will cost him his blood. And in John's theology, this glorifies God. Martyrdom glorifies God. And in the view of Peter's martyrdom, Jesus says, follow me. Beloved, you would do well to think about the martyrs. There are people today who are being crucified, killed, murdered for Jesus' sake. and it glorifies God. It is victory because it shows you the worth of Christ. How worthy is Jesus Christ? He is worthy of our lives. He's worthy of our blood. That's how precious this Lord is. He is worthy of our blood. You're not to see Peter's devotion, you're to see the glory and the beauty of Jesus Christ in Peter's faithful devotion. But I'm gonna close here by asking one question that I think this passage shouts to us. Like this... This reconciliation here is different than we typically see in the New Testament. Typically, it goes like this, you sin, you confess your sin, Jesus forgives you, you're assured of his grace, you sin no more. This is different, isn't it? What happens here? Jesus calls forth something that is already present, namely, Peter's love for Jesus. And on the basis of Peter's love for Jesus, Jesus says, go and serve me. It's different. And the question it raises here is, where does Peter's love for Jesus come from? Here's where it comes from. John chapter 13, the night Jesus is betrayed, Jesus demonstrates his love for the sheep. He gets up from the table, he takes a towel, girds it around himself, and he begins washing his disciples' offensive and unclean feet. But Peter won't have it, will he? Peter says to Jesus, what I am doing, you don't understand, but afterward, you will understand. And right here on the Sea of Tiberias, it is afterward. After Jesus Christ hands himself over so his disciples can go free. After Jesus is falsely condemned by the Jews. After Jesus is falsely condemned by Pilate. After Jesus is scourged by the Roman whips. After Jesus spreads his own hands out in love for his disciples and carries his cross to Golgotha. After Jesus is lifted up on the cross and after Jesus cries, it is finished. What is finished? The death which satisfies the wrath of God against sin. The mission of Jesus was never to remove defilement from the body, but to blot out our sins, to remove sin from the soul, so that we can be accepted by God this very day, no matter our past. And now Peter gets it. Now Peter understands. Christ has paid for it. His death, his blood, has removed my sin. Jesus can say to Peter, feed my sheep, because on the cross, Jesus cried out, it is finished. Are you a blemished disciple today? Do you got sin in your back, in your backpack just holding you down? You got a blemish on your record? Do not run from Jesus, run to Jesus. He is here in the gospel saying, my blood can cleanse it, my blood can cover it, and my banner over you will be, there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And if you believe it, if you believe it, your love will spring up for Christ, and if you have love for Christ, you have all you need to serve him, all you need to do great things for his kingdom, even die for him and his glory. Do not underestimate the power of Jesus' blood to cleanse you and to blot out your sin once and forever. There's this great scene in Chronicles of Narnia, Aslan, the lion, he represents Christ. There was a traitor, Edmund, a man he had done evil, betrayed his siblings, brought on the curses of the witch. And Aslan comes, he makes it all well, he undoes it all, he rescues everyone, rescues Edmund. And there's a scene after the rescue where Aslan and Edmund are talking in private and the siblings are watching it. What is he talking about? And Aslan comes over, brings Edmund back to the siblings. And Aslan says this to the children, there is no need to talk to him about what has passed. And if you are a disciple of Jesus, if you trust his forgiving blood, Jesus says to you, There's no need to talk about what is past. It is the glories of the new covenant. This is the covenant I will make with them in those days, declared the Lord. I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more. So pray, beloved, pray. Restore us to yourself, O Lord. Oh Lord, that we might be restored, renew our days as of old, and Christ will say, yes. Let's pray. Jesus, I pray that we would know that your blood, so much greater than the sacrifices of the old, you tell us your blood reaches even to the conscience How much more will the blood of Christ purify our conscience from dead works that we can serve the living God? Help us, O God, with our guilt. Cleanse our conscience so that by your grace we can serve you with great joy. I pray this in Jesus' precious name. Amen.