Why don't we turn again in our Bibles to John Chapter 21. John Chapter 21, where it seems like fairly rapidly, or at least it feels that way to me, maybe not to you, fairly rapidly coming to the end of this amazing book, this amazing gospel, the Gospel of John. But here in John Chapter 21, we're We've been with seven of Jesus's disciples. Not sure where the other ones went to. Obviously, we know what happened to Judas, but not sure where the others were. But seven of Jesus's disciples have been enjoying some fellowship with Jesus for this third time after his resurrection. And, well, most of them were enjoying it. I think there was probably one that didn't enjoy it as much, and that was certainly Peter, after Jesus, as we saw last time, started questioning him and started testing him about his love for the Lord. In fact, if you remember, we saw that Peter, we were told, even became grieved when Jesus asked him that third time. It upset him that Jesus actually asked him whether or not he loved him for that third time. Lovest thou me? But just like Jesus always has, Jesus had a loving purpose for Peter, even in his questions, even in his tests, in all of this. Not only did he want Peter to search his own heart, to truly understand his love for the Lord. He also wanted to stir up that heart so that he didn't just say he loved Jesus. Sometimes we say it and sing it, even in the hymns that we sing. He wanted Peter to show his love for Jesus. by serving him and by serving his sheep, by serving other Christians. And if you remember, that's how we are able to show what we say. That's how we're able to show the love that we say we love Christ in. We do so by showing it in service to the Lord and each other. But in doing so, it's clear that Jesus forgave Peter. Jesus forgave Peter for denying him those three times, and in fact, Jesus now is restoring Peter, not only to his fellowship, but to his position and service as one of his apostles. Well, in the verses that we come to next, Jesus is not quite done with Peter. In fact, there in verses 18 and 19, we find that Jesus wants to share something else with Peter, and it's something that is very solemn and very serious. And that's why there in verse 18 he actually begins his words with the very last verily, verily statement that we find in the Gospel of John. Again, verily, verily I say unto you, Jesus says there in verse 18. And the way that Jesus says this is unique. to all of the Gospels, here in the Gospel of John. He might say verily in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, but in the Gospel of John is the only place that you find those two verilies. And we actually find them 25 times, and this is the very last 25th time where Jesus is about to share a very important truth with someone, and he prefaces it with, verily, verily, I say unto you. That phrase in and of itself is a very powerful phrase. because it shows that the truth that Jesus is about to share is a certain truth. That's one of the reasons why John puts, verily, verily. It's a double true. It's truly, truly, certainly, certainly. It's a certain truth. Also, when Jesus says this 25 times through the gospel of John, it means that it's a constant truth. It's something that he could continue to say to John, to anyone else, because what Jesus says is always so. It never changes. Remember the song that we sing, and according to the verse that we know, that Jesus is always the same, yesterday, today, forever. Jesus is the same. And so what he says that is true will always be true. It'll always stand the test of time. There are a lot of people today that'll say that, well, what Jesus said, I'm the way, truth, and the life, no man comes to the Father but by me, will say, well, that was back then. Jesus wasn't talking about people that never heard of him. Jesus wasn't talking about people that might grow up as Muslims or Hindus or any other language so that all these paths might lead to God, and he's just one of those ways, or they might lead to him first and then he'll bring them to God. No. When Jesus says a truth, it's a continual truth, it's a constant truth, it's a certain truth, but it's also a consequential truth. What Jesus says matters. Jesus's message always matters to the people or person that he is speaking to. And that's why he prefaces these words to Peter in verses 18 and 19. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Peter, what I'm about to say to you is a certain truth. It is a constant truth. It's a consequential truth. And I want you to listen to me. I want you to learn from me because this matters to you, Peter. So what does he say? Verily, verily, I say unto you, When thou wast young, Peter, thou girdest thyself, and walkest whither thou wouldest. But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thine hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. And then John adds this editorial comment, This spake he, this spake Jesus, signifying by what death he, Peter, should glorify God. And when he, Jesus, had spoken this, he saith unto him, Peter, again, follow me, follow me. This message of Jesus mattered to Peter. And because it mattered to the Lord and matter to Peter, it ought to matter to us, especially since this is one of the last times or really, this is the last time that Jesus used that very literally statement. But one of the other last times that he used it was back when he and all of his disciples were in the upper room in John chapter 13. If I keep your finger here, just go back with me, because this only happened a few days, even though it's quite a few chapters ahead of where we're at, it only happened a few days before what we find transpiring here in John 21. But if you go back to John 13, 37, Peter tells Jesus, in front of everybody, in front of all of the disciples, and of course Judas is included here, he says, verse 37, I will lay down my life for thy sake, Jesus. I'm willing and I'm ready to go where you go. I am willing and I am ready to die the death that you are going to die. I am ready and willing to die and lay down my life for you, Jesus. But look at verse 38. Jesus says to Peter then, verily, verily, I am saying to you, all right? So there's another time of those 25 times. Verily, verily, truly, truly, certainly, certainly, I'm saying to you, Peter, you who say that you will lay down your life for my sake, The cock, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied me thrice, three times. Now we come back to chapter 21. And in these verses, in these verses, Jesus wants Peter to know that what Peter said back in the upper room was true. Peter, it is true that you are going to lay down your life for me, but it's not in the way and in the timing that you originally thought. In fact, the truth of this verily, verily statement in chapter 21 is connected to that verily, verily statement back in chapter 13, because one day Peter would lay down his life for Jesus, and Peter needed to pay close attention to this prophecy, and that's what these verses are, to this prophecy about his death by Jesus, because this prophecy about his death is as certain as Jesus' prophecy about his denial back in chapter 13. But until then, Jesus wanted Peter, and I think Jesus wants us to know some things about what it means to follow him. And so this message doesn't just matter to Peter, it matters to us. It matters to the rest of us as well. Those who believe in and love the Lord Jesus Christ as Peter did. And so when it comes to following Christ, Jesus brings out four things that we'll look at this morning. And the first thing is, when it comes to following Christ, there is a past. there is a past, a past that Jesus saves you from and brings you from, a past. And we see that in the very next part of verse 18, after Jesus says, verily, verily to Peter, then he says, when thou wast young, Peter, thou girdest thyself." That is, you would belt yourself up. You'd put your own clothes on. You'd gird yourself with your clothes and with your belt and with your robes and your shirts. You did that, Peter, so that you could walk wherever you wanted to and walked whither thou wouldest. This simply means that when Peter, or for that matter, when anyone is young, you have a much more carefree life than when you grow old. Perhaps you have heard the verb that I think has only come out in the last maybe 10 years that I don't think was a verb that people used before that, and that is the verb adulting, right? Or I'm adulting today. That means I have responsibilities to do. I'm doing things that I should be doing, right, as an adult, things that I wouldn't have done when I was a teenager or early adult, right? Much more carefree it was when you were young, when Peter was young. And though this is true for just about everyone, it was especially true for a young man like Peter when he was young. You see, Jesus is here talking about the normal life of a young person. Just think of what that was like for you. When you were younger, when you were a young man or a young lady and you were more carefree than you are now, less responsibilities, less perhaps opportunities, but less responsibilities. Or think about what it's like for others who are going through this period of life right now. They're young. When you think about it, it's a life full of youthful ideals, isn't it? Full of youthful ideals. In fact, that's one of the beautiful things about youth, is that they have their whole lives ahead of them, right? And perhaps you might remember the time when you were younger, and you wanted to make a difference in this world, and you actually felt like you were able to make a difference in this world. That is certainly part of what it means to be young. It's a time full of youthful ideals, but at the same time, it's a life full of youthful impulse, right? Full of youthful impulse. And this is kind of the idea of what it means to gird yourself. It doesn't just mean that when Peter was younger, he could actually put on his own clothes, The idea is that he was a man of ambition. He was a man of action when he was a young man. He possessed the strength and stamina of such a man. And this is one of the reasons why, when a country is getting a military together, they don't want their old men to go out and do the fighting. They want their young men to do the fighting, and their young women to do the fighting. Why? Because they got the strength and the stamina, they got the impulse to be able to go out and do what needs to be done to have victory or to do whatever is required of them. And that was Peter. Peter was a man of ambition and a man of action. In fact, Peter had demonstrated this just a few verses back, if you remember back in verse 7 of chapter 21, when, using a similar word here, he girt his fisher's coat about him. Okay? But why? He was so that he could dive into the water to get to Jesus as fast as he could. He didn't want any impediment to get in his way as he was swimming that football field length to get from the Sea of Galilee to where Jesus was. People have always called Peter the impetuous man, the impetuous apostle. And so much so, he would do just that. So even though Peter was no longer the young man that he used to be, some of it still stuck with him. It's kind of like our dog. Sometimes I forget how old our dog is. She's nine years old, working on 10 years old, but sometimes she still has that puppy in her. You know what I'm talking about if you have a dog. She still looks like a puppy sometimes and still has that energy every so often, like she did when she was a puppy. And so even those impulses of a young man continued on with Peter in many ways, right? So that he was still very impulsive, even as he was following after the Lord. Some of that made him into the man that he was. But in addition to this, his life was also full of youthful independence. Full of youthful independence. Jesus puts it another way when he says that, Peter, you were able to walk wherever you wanted to. You could go where you wanted to, you could do what you wanted to, you could do it when you wanted, why you wanted, how you wanted to. That too is how young people normally and naturally are. Or at least, That's what it feels like, even before you come to the Lord at His call. And though that was true for Peter, remember, Jesus says, verily, verily, I say unto you, Peter, this is the way it was for you. I knew you when you were a young man. You may not have known me when you were a young man, but I knew you, and I know that you had that youthful impulse, and I knew that you had that youthful independence and those youthful ideals, but Peter, Is it enough? Was it enough? Was it fulfilling to be that kind of man? Is that all you needed, Peter? Is that all we need in our lives? And of course, the answer is no. Because when Jesus called Peter earlier in the Gospels, Peter came because he knew all of those youthful things were not enough for him. He needed Jesus. Jesus had worked in his heart. God has worked in his heart. The Spirit had worked in his heart so that he knew that he needed Jesus. And so he came. And when he came to Jesus, his life was no longer his own because he learned that he was bought with a price. You see, whatever youthful ideals or impulses or independence that you and I once had, apart from Jesus, they are fallen. They're fallen. They're undisciplined. They are sin-soaked and sin-stained, and they're often clouded with wrong motives and wrong choices. So the fact is, you were not as free. You were not as independent as you thought you were. As young people today think they are, you were in bondage to your own sin and to your own lusts. And so like Peter, when he was young, we needed Jesus to save us from our past. We needed Jesus to save us even from our youth, which when you think back, you think, boy, it was such a carefree age. It was a carefree life. And yet Jesus says, it's a life that you need to care about. And that's why Jesus came for you. He came to save you from your past, even from your youth. And so Jesus lived and died and rose again to save us and to change us so that we are no longer just people in our youth, spiritually or even naturally. In fact, Paul tells us, you know this verse, 2 Corinthians 5.17, Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, a new creation, all those old things, that past is passed away. Behold, all things are become new. So when you come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and his life for you, his death for you, his resurrection for you, guess what? The young you becomes old. And now the older you becomes new. And now you can follow Jesus from your past. putting those things in the rearview mirror because even those youthful things that sometimes you might look so fondly on, they matter so little in light of eternity as you're following after Christ, as you submit yourself to the Lord and His will. So, when it comes to following Christ, there is a past. that Jesus will bring you from. But then also, second, there's a potential. There's a potential that Jesus will bring out in you when you come to Christ, a potential. And we see this in the rest of verse 18, where Jesus adds this. So he said, I knew you when you were young, Peter, and that's the way you were. And some of that kind of still stuck with you. You're still a little impulsive, Peter, and that's something you need to work on, okay? But when you shall be old, when you grow old, the process of growing old naturally, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird you and carry you whither thou wouldest not." Or, they will carry you where you are not wanting to go even now, Peter. Now this might have been some kind of proverb back in Jesus' day, you know? Some of the things that older people like to say to younger people. You know, when you're young, this is what happens, but when you're old, this is what's going to happen. This might have been some kind of proverb, but Jesus ultimately is not trying to describe the difference between young and being old. Jesus uses it to describe and to prophesy the future of Peter's own life and Peter's own death. And so Jesus is telling Peter that as he grows older, he will be given greater perspective, just like those who grow older in life in a natural way. He will have a greater perspective, a greater understanding than what he had when he was young. Now, it's not always true. But usually, and hopefully normally, maturity and wisdom comes with age. I mean, that's the way it should be. But that's especially the way it should be for those who are growing old in the Lord, growing old in the faith, growing old in the church, knowing the Lord Jesus as their Savior, having been saved from that young life, that old life, and behold, all things have become new, because when you put your faith in Jesus and you follow after Jesus, God himself will bring you to put away those childish things. so that you're no longer living like that young man in those fallen conditions, but rather that new man, even though you might be growing older in faith and in the flesh. As you put away those childish things and maturity and growing older in their place, the Lord will also give you not just a greater perspective, but greater purpose. Greater purpose. Now, when Jesus tells Peter here, thou shalt stretch forth thine hands." It probably reminded Peter of what happened to Jesus just a few weeks earlier. When Jesus stretched forth His hands on that crossbeam of that old rugged cross, and had His hands nailed to that crossbeam so that they could not be pulled out But there were other times that Jesus stretched forth His hands that we find in the Gospels, in His life and ministry. There were times when Jesus stretched forth His hand to touch, and to serve, and to heal others. You don't need to turn to these passages, but they use the same word that we find here. Peter, you're going to stretch forth your hands. But in Matthew 8, verse 3, Jesus, we're told, put forth His hand, stretched forth His hand, and touched a leper. saying, I will, be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy of that man was healed. Jesus started his life and his ministry by stretching forth his hand and his hands to those who needed help, to those who needed his healing, those who needed his grace and his mercy. There were other times when Jesus stretched forth his hands to rescue and to save. In fact, Peter was one of those men. In Matthew 14, 31, remember when there's a great storm on the Sea of Galilee, which is the same sea that they are talking by and eating by and having fellowship with Jesus by here? There was that great storm. Jesus was not in the boat at this time, and Jesus was found walking on the water. They were afraid. They thought it was a ghost. They thought it was some kind of spirit. And yet when Jesus said, be not afraid, it is I. Peter said, if it's you, call me forth so I can walk in the water. And so Peter takes that step when Jesus says, come. But as soon as he sees the storm and he sees the waves and he senses the fearfulness of the situation, he takes his eyes off of Jesus and starts to sink. And we know what Jesus does. even as Peter cries out to the Lord, Save me! Jesus stretched forth. He stretched forth His hand and caught Peter as he was sinking and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? Jesus' whole life was a life of stretching forth His hands in order to serve and to save those who were in need. And all of this would lead to the time when Jesus would finally stretch forth his hands to suffer and to save us from our sin, when we turned to and trusted him, and he did that on the cross. And so now here, Jesus tells Peter, Peter, you will stretch forth your hands. You will stretch forth your hands. And the way it's put here is not that someone will stretch your hands out for you, but you will stretch forth your hands personally and willingly and actively And so, Jesus is telling Peter, Peter, as you're growing older, and you're putting away those childish things, you're putting away those childish impulses and that childish independence, and he says, you're going to serve with your hands, the way I serve with my hands. You're going to serve others with your hands, stretching them out. You're even going to save with the gospel the very people that I died for and died on the cross for. And yet, there's more to it. We know this because of what John will say later on, but ultimately, Jesus is telling Peter that as he suffered by stretching out his hands on the cross, so would he. But it would all be according to the Lord's plan and purpose for his life. What a change! What a transition! What a difference between the self-made, self-interested young man of Peter's past, to what Peter will be as he grows older in the flesh and in the faith. Jesus changed him and was going to change him so that Peter would willingly, personally, actively, voluntarily even stretch forth his arms for the Lord and for his people. This is what following the Lord gives you as well. A greater perspective and a greater purpose to willingly stretch forth your hands for Jesus. Do you realize that's one of the reasons why we're here today as Christians? We are the very arms and hands and feet and heart of Jesus in this world. When people look at you, they ought to see Jesus. When people hear you, they ought to hear Jesus. When they sense your presence, they ought to recognize the presence of Jesus in you. And that's what the Lord is saying here. Peter, you're gonna be stretching forth your hands just like I stretched forth my hands, leading me to suffer, bleed, and die for you. You will do so for my church. You will do so for my sheep. You'll do so for me. What a change. But that's what it's like to follow Jesus, even if it leads to suffering. Keep stretching forth your hands, willingly, voluntarily. You might say, well, you know what? Somebody else is gonna do that, so I'm gonna keep my hand closed. You don't know that. Keep stretching forth your hands, or maybe I don't know how to help that person, so I'm gonna draw my hand back. Keep stretching forth your hands in service. to bring salvation to people, and even if necessary, to suffer for the Lord and for what's right. That's a great purpose to live for. But then in addition to this, the Lord will also give you greater patience, greater patience. Because in addition to this, Jesus says to Peter there in verse 18 next, even as you are stretching forth your hands, Peter, in life, even to death, there will come a time, and here's the great, here's the prophecy, There will come a time when another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not." At this point, Peter probably has some feelings of fear and foreboding. Perhaps it's clear that Jesus has in mind something that will hurt him instead of help him. And at this point in Peter's life and ministry, he has no desire to go down that path. He wants to be with Jesus and he wants Jesus to be with him. It's a path where he's not yet willing or ready to go down. That's the idea here. Peter is not yet willing to go down that path. But Jesus here wants to encourage Peter and equip Peter that when the time comes, even though you're not ready to face it now, the time will come, Peter, that you will embrace it. Even the very death on the cross that will come your way, you will embrace it because it's God's will and God's plan and God's work for your life. He will even stretch forth his hands personally and willingly when it's time for him to do so. And you and I might say, well, that's maturity. That's growth. That's grace. There might be things that you say, well, I don't know if I can do that for the Lord. I don't know if I could go there for the Lord. I don't know if I'd be able to suffer through that for the Lord. It may not be something that you're willing to go through now. But by God's grace and through His strength, because you're His child, He will help you and enable you and equip you to that point so that you will, when the time comes, be able to willingly stretch forth your hands and do what God calls you to do. It may not lead you to the same thing, the same end, the same destiny as Peter, but certainly whatever God has for you, you can do by his grace through his strength. You see, this is the potential, the great potential that God can bring out in any one of us who follow Jesus. As you grow old in both faith and age, God will give you this kind of perspective and kind of purpose and kind of patience as well. It's not something to dread, but rather it's something that you can face and embrace with open arms. You know, maybe there's something that you feel God wants you to do, and you think, I am not able to do that. You know, maybe God wants you to share your faith with someone that you work with, or someone that you live by, and you know, you've known them for a long time, you've never really brought it up before, and you haven't really said anything to them before, and so you have that kind of, that desire to, but you just don't feel like you can. There's fear there. You struggle with that. You realize that the Lord can help you, and the Lord will give you grace and strength to fulfill His work, to fulfill His plan, His purpose in your life. Go to Him. Don't dread those things, but rather, when you face them, embrace them with those open arms, so that even if you are called to suffer for His sake, you can rejoice that you are counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. So when it comes to following Jesus, there is a path that Jesus will save you from. There's a potential that Jesus will bring out in you. But also, third, there is a point. There's a point to following Jesus in this way. And that's what John then brings out in verse 19. So after Jesus tells these things and gives this prophecy to Peter in verse 18, now John in verse 19 explains to his readers what Jesus ultimately meant. He explains, this spake he, this spake Jesus to Peter, signifying by what death Peter should glorify God. So even though Peter was willing to die for the Lord back in the upper room, remember? I am going to lay down my life for you, Jesus. Peter is now told by Jesus that he would die like the Lord. But instead of being a death of humiliation, you know, when Jesus died on the cross, it was truly a picture of the curse of sin being laid on him. But now that Jesus bore that curse, that curse is gone for those who believe in Christ. And what happens is it turns the cross, instead of an object of humiliation like it was for Jesus, it turns into an object of honor for someone who believes in Jesus and follows after Jesus. Whether it is a literal rugged cross like we find here in John, or if it's that cross that Jesus says you ought to take up and follow Him, whatever it is. You see, Jesus is telling Peter that through your death, it will honor and glorify God. Isn't that an amazing thing? For someone who knows Jesus as their Savior, even though death is still somewhat of an enemy to us, if you follow after Christ, your death can and will glorify God. It'll glorify Him. And so for those who follow after Christ, your death can be for the glory of God. And that is true, not only for Peter and the way that he would die, but for you and for me, no matter how we die. In fact, the way John puts it here in verse 19, he says, by what kind of death he should glorify God, implying that there are other ways to die that still glorify God. You see, it's not the manner of death that brings glory to God, it's the manner of dying that does. You know, around Easter time, Good Friday time, sometimes you'll see on the internet that there are people in other countries, maybe even some in this country, that they will literally, thinking that it gives honor and glory to God, have themselves crucified or nailed to a cross. Obviously, they're not going to die on that cross, but they do so to show that they're willing to suffer for the Lord in that way. That's not what Jesus is saying here. He doesn't say that you have to die like me in order to glorify God in your death. You see, there are other kinds of ways that people die in this world. But if you know me, it's not how you die, but it's how you're dying. And what is life, really? I mean, for us as sinners, we know that living is dying. You know, the older you get, the closer you are to the end of the line. You know that death is coming, apart from the coming of the Lord Jesus for you. But what we learn is that even as Peter, from this time on, would continually stretch forth his hands, not just on a cross like Jesus, but from the cross to others, extending His hands, embracing those who would come in faith to Christ. That's what we're to do. Our whole life is to be dying for Christ. That is, sacrificing ourselves for Christ, for others, not in an actual death, but in a life that is service for Christ and others. You see, your death, can be for the glory of God when you die and live for Him. But also, your death and life can be for the good of others as well. You see, the whole point here was to show Peter that he would die well and glorify God because he lived well for the good of his sheep. Remember last time? How many times did Jesus ask Peter, Do you love me? Three times. And three times Jesus said, if you love me, Peter, feed my lambs, feed my sheep, feed my sheep. Give them my word, shepherd them as my flock. Do so because that's how you show your love for me. And the way that you die well for the Lord is because you live well for the Lord and you serve the Lord well in your life. And by God's grace, Peter would be faithful and persevere to the very end. Do you realize that this can be a picture of your life and death as well? If you're a Christian today and you strive to be faithful to the Lord and persevere through whatever challenges and whatever opportunities come your way, keep your hands stretched out to serve others, to bring the gospel to others so that they might be saved, and even, perhaps, to suffer for the Lord when called upon to do so. But remember, you can only persevere in this way because God Himself is faithful to His promises. You know, earlier we sang about the faithfulness of God. We cannot be faithful apart from God's faithfulness. We cannot persevere apart from God's promises. So remember these promises that God gives us in His Word. In 1 Thessalonians 5, 24, we're told, When you persevere, it's not just you and your strength doing it with that youthful impulse, youthful strength, it's God doing it in you and through you and for you, and you give Him the glory and credit and praise. Or what about this other promise, Philippians 1.6? We can be confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. We persevere because of the foundation of God's promises to us. And that is the point of our life, to live well for Jesus so that we might die well in Jesus, because He is faithful to us. But in the meantime, when it comes to following Jesus, not only do we see the point of following Jesus, to ultimately glorify God even to death, Not only do we see that perspective and that potential that God gives us, and the path that he saves us from, fourth, there's also a pursuit, a pursuit of Jesus. This is what it means to follow after Jesus. And that's one of the reasons why at the very end there of verse 19, after John's little editorial comment, when he, Jesus, spoke this, he said to Peter what? Follow me. How many times have we heard Jesus say those words in this gospel? And not just in this gospel, but in all of the gospels. Jesus says, follow me, follow me. And so as Peter and the other disciples, we need to keep on pursuing and following the Lord in life, in our lives. You see, what Jesus says here is an echo from all the way back at the very beginning of this gospel. John 1.43 is the very first time we hear that call. Jesus tells one of his disciples, before he's one of his disciples, he says to Philip, follow me. Just follow me. And, of course, there's a lot implied in that. Obviously, you've got to believe Him, but even that faith is going to grow. You've got to know something about Him, but that knowledge is going to grow. You're going to love Him, but that love is going to grow. But it will grow as you follow Him. So follow Me. And what we see all throughout John is that following and pursuing after the Lord involves change. It involves listening to Him. It involves serving Him. To follow Jesus involves change. Jesus said in chapter 8 verse 12, he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. To follow me, Jesus says, you need to change. He will change us. He's faithful. Faithful is He that calls you who also will do it. So we rely upon the means of His grace. We rely on His word. We rely on prayer. We rely on each other to help us to change. To follow Jesus involves listening to Him. Back in chapter 10, verse 4, Jesus says, the sheep follow Him for they know His voice. That's why you're here today, so you can listen to his voice, you can hear his voice, and you can follow him, because my sheep hear my voice. To follow Jesus involves service. Back in chapter 12, verse 26, Jesus said, if any man serve me, let him follow me. And where I am, there shall also my servant be. If any man serve me, him will my father honor. Keep on following, keep on pursuing Jesus in life, but then keep on serving and keep on following him to death. to death. It is clear from what we find in both scripture and church history that Peter did keep stretching forth his hands for the Lord. He served so many others. He continues to serve us with what we find in the Bible, in 1 Peter and 2 Peter, the very words that God gave to him. But after nearly 30 more years of service, during the reign of one of the most wicked Roman emperors by the name of Nero, Peter became a martyr for his faith in and service for the Lord. He was faithful in following after Jesus in life, and he was faithful even unto death. In fact, it's reported that not only was Peter crucified as Jesus was, stretching forth his hands on a cross, he also might have asked that he be killed in a different way than Jesus. Legend has it that he asked that he might be hung upside down on the cross. And so according to Jesus' own words, Peter embraced his cross. Peter embraced the object that would kill him. Because like Paul would come to say, he had fought a good fight, he had finished the course, and he had kept the faith. And so as it was for Peter, So it is for us. It's for you and me. When it comes to following Jesus, there is a path that he will save you from. There is a potential that he will bring out in you through his grace, through his word, through his power. There is a point to all of this. It's so that you will die well. You will die in serving the Lord. As you live, so you will die. And that is why there's a pursuit. Keep on following after Christ. You're never too old to keep pursuing Christ. Don't let yourself live on a plateau thinking that there's no more mountains to climb in your knowledge, in your relationship, in your worship, in your service for Christ. Keep climbing, keep pursuing, keep following, because in life and to death, it will be worth it all. You know, you may never be called to die a martyr's death like Peter, and like so many others have and are. Do you know that today there are more martyrs among the people of God, among the church, amongst Christians, than there have been in history? This is the age of the martyrs. We're living in that age right now. There are brothers and sisters in Christ who are dying well for Christ because they have lived well for Christ. And that might be true for us, too. But even if we don't face that, by God's grace and through His strength, you can still embrace whatever it is you face and be faithful unto death. Be faithful to the Lord unto death. knowing that Jesus himself will give you a crown of life. Let's close in prayer. Father, we thank you again for the privilege that we've had to consider your word today, these words that, yes, were meant for Peter, but also, since they're recorded in Scripture, they're also meant for us, to show us what is involved in being a follower of Jesus, a believer in Christ. Lord, I know that for many here, their past is under the blood of Christ. And we thank you, Lord, for that. We praise you, Lord, for that. But Lord, if there's someone here who, as they think back to their past and even their present, they still realize that no matter how old they are, they are lost. and they're undone. Their sins have separated them from you, and they need a savior. Oh, Lord, will you quicken them? Oh, Lord, will you awaken them to their need of Jesus? That, Lord, they will call out to you, be merciful to me, a sinner, knowing that then that past will be in the past and will stay in the past because it's under the blood of Christ, and they will experience the forgiveness of their sin so that then you can bring out that spiritual potential as they grow, as they grow older in faith and in body, that, Lord, you will show them that there's a point to all this, so that they might live for Christ and ultimately die for Christ and live well, so that they might die well, so that, Lord, they might persevere by your promise and by your strength, your power. Then Lord, help us all to realize that there's a pursuit. There's a pursuit that we are on, and that is to follow after Jesus. Looking unto Jesus as the author and finisher of our faith, laying aside all of those weights and those sins that so easily beset us. And so Father, I pray that you'll help us to follow after you, and to be faithful, to be faithful in life, and to be faithful unto death, even as Peter was. Not for his credit, not for his glory, but for yours. We ask these things in Jesus' name, amen.