tonight to John chapter 21. John chapter 21, and we're gonna look at these last 10 verses of this passage, or 11 verses, counting verse 15, as we end here the book of John. Now, the Lord has met his disciples here at the seashore. This is what we were looking at last week. Of course, Peter jumps in the water and swims to shore to be with the Lord. The rest dragged the fish in that they caught, that they fished for all night and couldn't catch anything. The Lord says, cast on the right side. They cast on the right side and pull up these 153 fish and so many, that they weren't able to get him, even get the net into the boat. They just had to drag the net shore. And they were about 300 feet off shore. And they come in dragging it into shore. And here Jesus is, he's got a fire. He's got fish cooked. He's got bread there for them to eat. And he tells them to come and dine with him. Now, Peter kind of takes the center stage at this point. Peter usually did. I mean, he's the one that jumped into the water to swim shore. But the Lord calls Peter out here specifically. I remember last week in our text, Peter told the rest of the disciples, I go fishing. I go fishing. He'd given up in his service to the Lord. He had given up in his place Perhaps because of his own denial, he felt such a failure that he didn't feel worthy any longer of that position, of that place before the Lord. Maybe he thought, well, I've messed up so bad, the Lord's done with me, he ain't gonna use me. He's not gonna allow me to have any part. Whatever the case may be, Peter had given up on the idea of service to the Lord and just, I'm gonna go back to fishing, guys. And then he flopped at that. He was a horrible fisherman. Didn't catch nothing until the Lord came along. And then he catches that draw, that miraculous draw to fishes. And he comes to shore there and the Lord tells him to come and dine. And he addresses specifically Peter here in our text. And we have here Peter's reconciliation to the Lord. as the Peter, as the Lord, thy rather, restores Peter to that place that he had before his denials. Now, immediately following his reconciliation, he's gonna rebuke Peter because Peter cannot help that mouth of his, he's gotta speak up. And so Peter will speak up once again and the Lord will rebuke. So Peter gets a reconciliation and a rebuke all in the same conversation, which is something that happened quite often when you read the Lord's interaction with his disciples. There was constant teaching, constant work on these individuals as the Lord would speak with them. And so they've sat down to die here with the Lord. And John, of course, we ended last week, verse 14. John said this was the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples. After that, he was risen from the dead. Of course, that was three times that John records for us. We know there are more times other than that, but it's the three times that John records for us. And it says, verse 15, it says, so when they had died, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, love us thou me more than these. Now, here the Lord calls him Simon. He does not call him Peter. So then call him by that spiritual name that he said he would be called by any longer. He goes back to his old name, his given name. That's what the Lord's calls him by here. Simon, son of Jonah. Lovest thou me more than these. There's some debate on what it is there, whether he's talking about the other disciples Whether he's talking about the love that Peter has for the Lord, does he love the Lord more than the other disciples love the Lord, or does Peter love the fish more than the Lord? I mean, those are the three options. Based on Peter's bragging, I think it's the Lord saying, Peter, do you love me more than these guys love me? Because in Matthew, rather, chapter 26, go back and look with me at this verse. Matthew 26 and verse number 33. This is the very night of the Lord's arrest. This is just before he's carried off. And the Lord warns them about what is going to take place as these things unfold. And Peter rises up here. In verse 33 of Matthew 26, Peter answered and said unto him, though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. And of course, the Lord would go on to tell Peter before the cock crows in the morning, Peter, you're gonna deny me three times. I'll never deny. He says in verse 35, though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise, also said all the disciples. And so here, I believe what the Lord is doing with Peter here in John's, Peter, do you love me more than these guys love me? You said one time before that you would, that you would go with me to the death even, Do you love me more than these other guys? Simon, son of Jonah, 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. The Lord asked Peter, Peter, do you agape? The Lord demands of us our best, our best. And we like Peter often find ourselves lacking in the best. We often find ourselves coming up short of what we know the Lord demands of us. And it is in His grace and it is in His mercy toward us that He looks over our failures. He looks over how short we come and in His mercy toward us, in His love toward us, in His grace, blessing upon blessing, outpouring upon outpouring toward us that we do not deserve because we have not get, we've not even come close most of the time of giving him our best, but that is exactly what he demands of us. He demands our best. He demands agape love from us, his people. Do you agape me more than these? How often we come up with excuses for the lack of our agape. Peter wouldn't even answer agape. Peter said, yea Lord, thou knowest that I phileo thee. That's the next step down from agape. As far as the loves are concerned, that's the next one down. That means a brotherly love. You know I love you like a brother. It's not quite agape. It's nice. It's nice to be loved like a brother. But it is not that all sacrificial love. So Peter would not deny his love for the Lord. He acknowledged, yes, Lord, I love you. But Peter, in his denials, would not dare claim, I agape love you. Peter knew he had failed. He knew he'd come short. He knew he could not brag on his love for the Lord. He could not claim that highest love and yet it is that highest love that our Lord demands. He demands of us. Demands that of us. Paul says there in, I'm sorry, Romans chapter 12, verses one and two, as Paul describes to us our service to the Lord, he tells us there that we are to give our bodies a living sacrifice unto the Lord. And then he says that it is our reasonable service. The least that we can do is to give all of ourselves, the very best of ourselves to the Lord. That's what he demands. And yet somehow we might get, we might get close to it. We don't necessarily, we can't necessarily say agape, but well, at least filet-o, Lord. Peter didn't even make the claim. He couldn't make the claim. Oh, yes, Lord. Of course, I agape you. You know that. Yea, Lord, I phileo you. And even though Peter could not rise to the best that the Lord demanded of him, the Lord Reassures Peter, Peter, you're still mine. I'm still using you. Feed my sheep. I'm not done with you yet. Feed my sheep. Lord, I failed. I've denied you. I've come short. I've sinned against your name. I keep getting worse and worse. I failed you here and I failed you there. Look what a mess I've made. Feed my sheep. And then he asked again, the second time. He saith unto him, saith to him again, the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Again, agape. Thou me, he saith unto him, yea, Lord. Thou knowest that I phileo thee. He saith unto him, feed my sheep. This he changes. He asked the same question. Peter answered in the same way. Do you, agape, do you give me the vest of your love? And Peter said, well, I give you I'll give you my love. The Lord changes it here. The first feed my sheep or feed my lambs, as he said there in verse 15, that feed is an actual feeding to tend to, to give food. This feed here in verse 16 is a different word in the Greek, and this particular word means shepherd my sheep. So not only are you telling Peter to feed them, but he's telling Peter here in verse 16, Peter, you lead them, you pastor them, you shepherd them. And even though Peter, again, could not give his best, even though he could not acknowledge that agape, as much as he wanted to. There's no doubt in my mind, Peter wanted to be able to say, yes, Lord, look at my life. Look at how I've served you. Look at how faithful I've been to you. You can see I go pay you. But Peter wasn't able to do that. Peter wasn't able to point to his best and say, yes, Lord, I've given that to you. He could only rise to Phileo And even still the Lord says, shepherd my sheep. Take care of them, tend to them, Peter. You're gonna pastor them. Verse 17. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, lovest thou me? This time the Lord said, Peter, do you phileo? Do you at least phileo? And that grieved Peter because that was all Peter could say. He asked him the third time, that grieved Peter because that was exactly the number of times that Peter had denied him. And so as the Lord restores Peter here, he's asked him three times, one for each of those denials that Peter had denied the Lord by. And the only thing I think that would have made this better is when Peter said the third time, I love you, Lord, that a cock crew in the background. It was morning. For them in the third time, Simon, son of Jonah, love us, thou meter me. Peter was grieved because he said in him the third time, love us down me and he said in him, Lord, thou knowest all things. You know everything more. You know. You know that I love you. Peter couldn't rise to the best. He couldn't rise to the level of the highest love. He couldn't say, yes, Lord, all he could do was I fillet over you. And he was grieved, again, because the Lord asked him those three times, and yet that was as high as Peter could rise to. Peter was so confident. He was so confident in his love for the Lord that he could make that statement, Lord, you know everything. You know I love you. Do we have that same confidence that we could say that to the Lord? And know that there's proof to back it up. Lord, you know everything, you know I love you. You know I love you. And he said to them, the third time, feed my sheep. Verily, verily, he says, I say unto thee, when thou wast young, thou girdest thyself and walkest whither thou wouldest. When thou shalt be old, Thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee with her. Thou wouldst not this spake he signifying, by what death he should glorify God, and when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, follow me." The Lord tells Peter here, Peter, you're gonna die for me. That love will eventually be proven. That promise that he had made, I'll go with you into the death. That promise of Peter will be called upon and Peter will follow through with that promise. The Lord tells Peter that Peter's gonna die for him. that Peter's, though Peter could not at this moment, rise to agape. The highest he could get to was phileo. Lord's telling him, there's a day coming, Peter, you're gonna be able to say, I agape you. When he at last would sacrifice himself, all of himself for the service of his Lord. would at last that love would be proven in Peter. It is told us the stretching forth of his hands is in reference to a death on the cross. According to history, Peter was brought to be crucified And he would not be crucified on the same cross as the Lord. He said, I'm not worthy to face, to endure the same death as my Lord endured. And so they put him on a cross that was an X and hung him upside down to not hang him like the Lord was hung. And so he says, this faith he signifying in verse 19, what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, follow me. You're not going to go fishing, Peter. You're going to follow me. I'm not done with you yet, Peter. I've got a job for you to go to, Peter. I've got a work for you to accomplish for me. I've got service for you, Peter. Follow me. Peter is restored. And his service continues. Despite his failure, his service continues. with the Lord. And then Peter speaks up. Then Peter, turning about, seeeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following. which also leaned on his breast at supper and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? John tells us there, that was me. That's who Peter was talking to. I was following there. The Lord, while this was all going on, I was right there. And Peter turns around and looks at me, John's saying, and says, what about him? I'm gonna die for you. You've asked me three times, do I love you? What about John? Are you going to ask him? Are you going to tell him how he's going to die for you? Peter saying him verse 21 sayeth to Jesus Lord and what shall this man do? What do you got for John? Jesus sayeth unto him, here's Peter's rebuke. If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. In other words, Peter, it's none of your business what I'm gonna be doing with John. It's only your business to do what you're supposed to do. Follow me. Follow me. It's not our concern. The depth of others love for the Lord. I mean, we can rejoice in that. We can praise God when we see it. It can move our own hearts and stir us to better service when we see other people and their service to the Lord. But when the Lord calls on us to do, when the Lord calls on us to serve, when he says, this is what I have for you, it's not for us to say, well, what about them? It's for us to say yes, Lord, and follow him. We don't receive rewards for what other people do. We receive our rewards on our service to the Lord and really what he's done through us. It's not for us to worry about the stand of someone else's service, but rather, Lord, am I following you like I should? Am I serving you like I should? Am I as faithful as I ought to be? Am I where I'm supposed to be? Follow thou me. Follow thou me. It says, then went this saying abroad, John says, among the brethren, that that disciple should not die. Yet Jesus said not unto him, he shall not die, but if I will, that he tarry till I come. What is that to thee? John said, listen, understand, and I'm thankful John put this snippet in here for us because there would still be people today saying, the Bible says John didn't die. John did die. John said, there are people saying that they were already misinterpreting the words of God then, you see. John said, that's not what Jesus said. Jesus didn't say that I wasn't gonna die. He was just saying if that's what he chose, that it wasn't none of Peter's business. And John shrewdly died. He suffered greatly in his life, though he did not die a martyr's death. He suffered many, many times when they tried to make him even a martyr. They boiled him in oil one time to try to kill him, and that didn't do it. They exiled him to Patmos. to work in the mines there. You hear John being exiled to an island, we automatically think exiling by himself on some desert island. No, he was sent to a prison camp where he was to work in the mines. That was his exile. He was not by himself alone on that island, but he was there in a mine doing this mining work that they sent slaves to do. him being 90 plus years old, working in a mine, suffering with the very things that he had suffered with the scars and the problems, the physical problems that came with all the things that he no doubt suffered through until that point. And John would eventually die. Yes, he did not. He does not remain alive to this day. John says in verse 24, just in case you didn't pick all that up. Just in case you didn't fully understand in John's innuendo throughout this book, because he alluded to himself in this way, this is the disciple which testifies of these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true. Just in case you didn't get all that, John says, it's me. I'm the one who, The Lord loved, I'm the one who he was talking about here. I'm the one who has written these things for you. And he said, there are also many other things which Jesus did. The which if they should be written, every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen. The world could not contain the books if just in the Lord's ministry. In other words, John said, I didn't give you an exhaustive picture of the Lord and who he is and what he's done. I didn't, I just gave you some snippets. I just gave you some examples. I didn't get anywhere close to covering everything that our Lord did in his ministry, in his life while he was here. There is much more, Johnson. He did so much more, so much so that the world could not contain the books if it were all written down. Johnson, all I've done is scratched the surface for you. to try to show you that Jesus is God. Jesus is God. The world could not contain the books, nor I say could our brains contain the majesty. And this ends the testimony of John of the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. Let's all stand and we'll be dismissed today.