Turn together in scripture to the book of John, chapter 21. The text for the sermon is verses 18 to the end of the chapter, which we will only read once this morning. John, chapter 21. After these things, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and on this wise showed he himself. There were together Simon Peter and Thomas Chaldidamus and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples. Simon Peter saith unto them, I go fishing. And they say unto him, we also go with thee. They went forth and entered into a ship immediately, and that night they caught nothing. But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus said unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No. And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast, therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. Therefore, that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher's coat unto him, for he was naked, and did cast himself into the sea. And the other disciples came in a little ship, for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits, dragging the net with fishes. As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread. Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught. Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land full of great fishes, and hundred, and fifty, and three. And for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken. Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou, knowing that it was the Lord? Jesus then cometh and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise. This is now the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples. After that, he was risen from the dead. So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. 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? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkest whither thou wouldest. But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. Despake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me. Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following, which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter, seeing him, saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. Then went this saying abroad 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? This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true. And 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 grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God shall stand forever. Beloved in our Lord Jesus Christ, the amazing end of the gospel story told in the four gospel accounts is when Jesus rises from the dead. You would think there's nothing left to say after a dead body is laid in a tomb and buried. After Jesus' death was a time of perplexity and fear for the disciples. Their expectations concerning who Jesus was and what He had come to do had all been broken and dashed. These were days of weeping and of hiding behind closed and locked doors. But then a series of revelations begins to change fear into a question mark and then a question mark into great joy. First, the tomb where Jesus' body was buried was found empty, with the grave clothes perfectly intact and the head covering folded in a place by itself. Then there were multiple witnesses who spoke with angels on the site of Jesus' tomb who told them that Jesus was not there because he had risen from the dead. And then, of course, they saw Jesus himself more than once glorified and very much alive. And so the gospel story ends not on a note of despair, but on a note of triumph and hope. Christ the Lord is risen today as we sang earlier today. Alleluia. The end of the Gospel story in the four Gospel accounts, therefore, becomes the beginning of a new story. The story that has been unfolding since the resurrection of Jesus is the story of the growth and expansion of Jesus' kingdom. It is the story of the many disciples of the risen Jesus following him now by their faith until the day of his return, which he promised would come sometime in the future. That story of the expansion and growth of Jesus' kingdom and the following of his disciples begins here at the Sea of Tiberias with the smell of fish cooking in the air. The crucified and now risen Jesus is sitting with seven of his disciples on the shores of the sea, serving them literally, in the text, breakfast. And then he begins to speak to Peter about the path that Peter's life will follow in the days hereafter. And through Peter, he speaks to all of us as well who believe in him and who live by the power of his resurrection. And his word to Peter and his word to all of us is this, follow me. So I call your attention this morning to our text, and the theme is called to follow the risen Jesus. First, we'll see that this is a high calling, a high calling with a cost attached to it. Secondly, that it is a personal calling, that is an individual calling that comes to each personal disciple, Peter and John and each of us as individuals. And then finally, that it is a sure calling that is based on the finished and perfect work of Jesus himself. Called to follow the risen Jesus. Well, the risen Jesus said to Peter in verse 19, follow me. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, follow me. They were all sitting around a fire of coals by the sea, having just finished the meal that Jesus had served them. It's likely that Jesus literally stood up and began to walk away from the group as he spoke to Peter. And then Peter got up and physically followed after Jesus in obedience to that call, follow me. And then John, seeing Jesus get up, and Peter following him, also gets up and begins to follow behind. Yet it's clear that Jesus did not only mean for Peter to walk behind him on that moment by the Sea of Galilee or the Sea of Tiberias as it's called in the chapter. Peter and the disciples had been doing that. They had been doing that for three and a half years until the night when Jesus was arrested and then crucified. They had walked behind Jesus all over Galilee and Judea and Samaria and ministered to His needs as their master, as He taught them. They could literally see the back of His head as they walked behind Him, following Him day after day. But now things have changed. Now Jesus has been crucified and He has risen from the dead. And the life that He lives now is not the kind of life that He lived before during the period of His earthly ministry that He had lived with His disciples. He was risen now to a heavenly existence with a new and glorified body that was not like the body He had before. And soon he would be departing. He would be departing from this earth and going into heaven where Peter could not physically follow him, at least not yet. Peter would actually watch him go, standing on the Mount of Olives, rising up into the heavens and disappearing behind a cloud. So when Jesus says to Peter, follow me in verse 19, he clearly doesn't only mean get up from your seat and walk apart from the others for a little bit, but he means something spiritual. Follow me. And that spiritual calling that Jesus has for Peter is closely tied to what Jesus has just done for Peter in the previous verses. Remember that the night when Jesus was arrested and before he was crucified, Peter had denied Jesus. And he had denied him not once, not twice, but three times, each time getting more vehement. By the end, he was cursing and swearing in order to prove to those who were asking him that he had never even met Jesus before. And that denial made an end of his following of Jesus. He was disassociating himself from the Master. But now, Jesus restores him. by leading him through a threefold affirmation of his love. Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He says to him again, Simon, son of Jonas, do you love me? Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He says again, Simon, do you love me? So that Peter is grieved. But he says, Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you. And then Jesus says, feed my sheep. That is the calling that must occupy Peter's mind and attention now for the rest of his earthly days. And that is how Peter will follow Jesus. He will follow Jesus in his love for Jesus. And in his love for Jesus, he will feed Jesus' sheep. So notice, beloved, how the resurrection of Jesus serves as a springboard for the ministry of the apostles and then through the apostles for the ministry of the New Testament church. Not long after this conversation with Jesus, Peter will be standing before the men who had clamored for Jesus' crucifixion, and he will preach to them the resurrection, and he will call them to repentance and faith and to be baptized. After that, he will go on to perform wonders and miracles of healing that echo the wonders and miracles that Jesus himself had done while on this earth. And then Peter eventually will leave Judea and he will go and visit the many Gentile churches that were established by the Apostle Paul. And as the end of Peter's first epistle seems to indicate, Peter will eventually find himself as far away as the city of Rome. And he will do all of this, his preaching, his miracles, his traveling to visit the churches, his ministering as far away as Italy and Rome. He will do all of this to obey Jesus' calling to feed his sheep and as a follower of the risen Lord. That call of Jesus to follow Him was not only for Peter, however, that call of Jesus is for you as well, and for me, who call ourselves Christians. The risen Jesus calls you as the great shepherd of your souls. The risen Jesus calls you as His sheep who recognize His voice and can distinguish His voice as the shepherd from all wolves and false teachers. The risen Jesus calls you to a true and living faith by the power of the Spirit that He sends to you and pours out upon you. The risen Jesus calls you to know Him To know that He is the risen Lord who feeds you and cares for you with His broken body and shed blood. The risen Jesus calls you to a new life. And He calls you to service. Which is to say, He calls you to follow Him. Follow me. That's Jesus' word to you and to me. That doesn't mean that we are all called to be apostles as Peter was. There was something unique about Peter's calling to follow Jesus as an apostle. But the question that Jesus asks Peter is a question that we all as Christians ought to examine ourselves upon and consider. Lovest thou me? We saw on Friday night that all of us as disciples, in a sense, have forsaken Jesus and fled. We're not better than Peter, who denied the Lord. We have our own sins, our own weaknesses, our own failings. And so the question becomes a pretty poignant one. Do you love me? Yes, Lord. You know that I love you. And we would all say that, I hope. All right, then. This is how you demonstrate your love, Jesus says, by having a care for my sheep. It's one thing to profess love for Jesus. It's one thing to profess even an ardent and zealous love for Jesus, like Simon Peter professed often. But those professions of love mean precious little if they end in denial and forsaking of Jesus and denying Him. So this is how you show love for Jesus. When you show love for the people for whom He died. This is how you follow Jesus. by dwelling with fellow sinners in the church who need patience, forbearance, grace, and forgiveness from you. This is how you show yourself to be a disciple of the risen Lord. By having compassion on the little ones, the little lambs that Jesus specifies in verse 15. Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, feed my lambs, specifically identifying the little ones, the children, the vulnerable ones in the flock. Feed my sheep. Feed my lambs. That's how you love me. That's how you follow me. that this is a high calling is evident from where it will lead Peter in the end. We can gather the following details from what Jesus says in verse 18. First of all, Peter will live to be an old man. There are many days ahead for Peter. When Jesus rose from the dead, Peter was probably a man in his thirties, still a fairly young man. But tradition says he did not die until the reign of Nero, which was 30 years in the future. So Peter will have a long period of time in order to minister to the church of Jesus Christ and in order to feed Jesus' lambs and his sheep as an apostle. The second thing that we can gather is that Peter's days of freedom will eventually come to an end. When Peter was young, he put his own belt around his waist when he got up in the morning and went about his business seeking to serve the Lord. He took care of himself and was free to go where he wanted or where he needed to go. But when he does become an old man, someone else will wrap a girdle around his waist. And this time it will not be his belt to hold up his pants, but it will be the ropes of bondage that will pull Peter where he doesn't want to go. And then the final thing that we can gather from verse 18 is that Peter's life will certainly end in martyrdom. John tells us that explicitly, that that's what Jesus means in verse 19. After he says, But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. Then in verse 19 he says, This spake he signifying by what death he, Peter, should glorify God. The church father, Eusebius, tells us that Peter was crucified upside down. and upside down specifically at his request so that he would not be crucified the same way that Jesus was, not considering himself worthy enough for that honor. The church father Tertullian says that Peter was girt by another when he was made fast to the cross. And traditionally it is said that Peter was executed in the Hippodrome, which is the stadium where chariot races were held in Rome. under the order of Nero, who was conducting the first systematic persecution of Christians around 66, 67 AD. And all of this happened to Peter as a consequence of his obedience to the calling of the risen Jesus to follow him. Following Jesus was a high calling and therefore it required a big sacrifice. And even that martyrdom that Jesus predicted of Peter was only the end of many years of suffering for the Lord. Like Paul, Peter was no stranger to being imprisoned, nor was he a stranger to being beaten up for the sake of Jesus. And yet, this calling that Peter received from the Lord to follow him, even though it would result in his death, was viewed by Peter as a privilege. By this death, Peter will glorify God. That's what it says in verse 19. There's no higher honor for a man in life or death than for it to be said about him or her that he glorified God. That's the reason for our existence. That's why we're here. And that is especially the reason for our discipleship in following Jesus to glorify God, even at the cost of blood, even at the cost of death. Have you counted the cost of following the risen Lord, beloved people of God? I want to be careful here as we apply this so that we avoid a certain misunderstanding that has arisen throughout different times in church history. Because martyrdom is shown here to be a privilege, there have always been some in the church who then seek it out on purpose. That might seem strange to us, but in the days of the early church, there were Christians who wanted to be seized by the authorities. They saw it as a glorious thing if they should be beaten up or put to death as Christians. And they saw that as a glorious thing for its own sake. There's a real temptation in the church to develop a kind of martyr complex. That's the thing that I want to warn about here. That can take the form of becoming very conspiratorial. Of looking for persecution behind every little thing that happens. Well, my neighbor never talks to me. He kind of looks the other way when I walk by. That must be because I'm a Christian. Well, maybe. Or maybe it's because you never talk to him. Or maybe there's some other reason. Not everything that happens to us and not everything that happens to us negatively is because we are Christians. That kind of martyr complex I'm referring to can also take the form of manufacturing the circumstances in which this alleged persecution takes place. Like if a man hits the streets with a bullhorn, and tells everybody walking by that they're going to hell and then claims to be a martyr when those people react against that rather obnoxious behavior which doesn't fit the pattern of the kind of witnessing that the Bible teaches. There's a certain validation one feels in being made a martyr for the cause which really is a form of self-justification. Those people say I'm wrong. Those people oppose me. Those people react when I say such and such, and that must mean that I'm doing the right thing. That must mean that I'm right. Maybe, but maybe not. That's not true martyrdom, nor is it following Jesus. It's probably actually just being a busybody in other men's affairs. Or at worst, it's taking the spotlight off of Jesus in order to focus it on yourself. So we need to be cautious. But that caution being made clear, we do need to understand that following Jesus does come with a cost. And it may be the cost of actual, literal martyrdom. Without falling into the temptation of seeing persecution everywhere, the idea of violence breaking out against Christians is not so far-fetched. Christians in other places in the world today do experience such persecution. And someday we may experience that here as well, as Christians have in the past. We have enjoyed life in a free society where we can gird ourselves and go wherever we want, as Peter did when he was young. But maybe the day will come when you will be girded and taken whether you do not want to go. But even without martyrdom, following Jesus is a high calling. It's a demanding calling. It's demanding in a way that nothing else can be demanding. To follow Jesus is to love Him more than anything else in the world. Lovest thou me more than these? Yes, Lord. To follow Jesus is to love Jesus more than your house. To follow Jesus is to love Jesus more than your car. To follow Jesus is to love Jesus more than your father and your mother, your children, your spouse, your friends, your family. To follow Jesus is to give him everything that you have. It's to lay down your life for him. It's a high calling, but it's a privileged calling for in this way, a man or a woman glorifies God. But now we need to see that this calling to follow Jesus looks different for everyone. It's a personal and individual calling. When Peter started to walk away from the fire with Jesus, he turned around, looked over his shoulder, and he saw that John was following after them. Now we're not told exactly why John got up and followed them, but we do know is that Peter and John were very close friends. Even in the circle of the 12, Peter and John were very close friends. And we know that John is the disciple whom Jesus loved. So it's not unusual to think that if John would see Jesus and Peter walking away, that John would take the cue and get up and follow along himself. But when Peter looks behind him and sees John following, it sparks a question in his mind. Verse 21. Peter seeing him, and by the way, John is the one who is described here as the disciple whom Jesus loved in verse 20. He's the one who was closest to Jesus during the Last Supper, who was closest enough to ask who betrayed him? That was John. So Peter, turning around and seeing John, says to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus had just said to Peter, follow me. Peter looks and sees John. What shall this man do? Now, it's possible to see that question as motivated by a kind of jealousy. Peter had just been told by Jesus that he's going to die a martyr's death when he becomes an old man. And then he sees John following behind him and he wonders, what's going to happen to him? Lord, what shall this man do? Is he going to suffer the same way that I do? Or is he going to get out of it? But it's actually more likely that Peter was thinking along the opposite lines. What Peter has been told is not only that he's going to die a martyr's death, But that by dying that way, he's going to glorify God. He's going to be given the opportunity to prove his love for the Lord by his suffering and death. He had denied Jesus three times. Now Jesus says, you are going to prove your love for me by living a life of ministry and then laying down your life for me at the end of it. And Peter wonders, will John also receive the same privilege? Will John be allowed to glorify God in this way as well? Whether Peter is asking that question out of jealousy or whether he's asking it out of concern that John be allowed to glorify God the same way that he is, it makes little difference in terms of how Jesus responds to Peter's question. Verse 22, Jesus saith unto him, if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. What if it's my will for John to go on living for hundreds and hundreds of years until I return and establish my kingdom? What is that to you, Peter? What difference does that make when it comes to my calling for you to follow me today? Now, Jesus isn't being harsh to Peter here, but it's hard not to Read this exchange without gathering a little bit of a hint of something like this. Peter, mind your own business. You focus on you. Don't worry about John. You follow me. John will follow me as John. I have a path for him. That path will involve certain ups and downs. He will suffer in his own way. He will minister to me in his own way. And I have a calling for you, Peter. You follow me as Peter all the way until I take you to myself through martyrdom, and John will follow me as John." It's a personal and individual calling that Jesus has on these men and on us. That this is a difficult word for us to absorb is clear from how it was misunderstood already at this time. The early Christians in the early New Testament church evidently missed the point that Jesus was making. They thought something like this, it must be that John is going to go on living forever. That John is not going to die. You can imagine Peter and John talking among the brothers and sisters in the early New Testament church, telling them the stories about the last times when they had seen Jesus, telling them about sitting there on the Sea of Galilee and reflecting on this incident that happened. And Peter saying to the brothers, Jesus had said, These words in verse 21, And then the disciples in the early church begin to speculate about what that means. And this rumor goes around that John is never going to die. Verse 23, So John, who by the time of his writing of this is himself an old man, has a burden to correct that misunderstanding and set the record straight. He wants to set the record straight for one thing because he doesn't want them to be discouraged when eventually he does die. John's not going to live for hundreds and hundreds of years until Jesus returns. And he knows, it's clear to him, he's an old man. He's going to die. And he doesn't want them to be discouraged thinking that Jesus was wrong or that he made an incorrect prophecy. That's not what Jesus said. Jesus did not say unto him, he shall not die, but if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? But more importantly, that's not the point Jesus was making either. Jesus' point was, Peter, mind your own business. You focus on you and your path of discipleship and let John focus on his path of discipleship and let me take care of both him and you. You follow me. I think there's two temptations we can fall into as Christians that this story addresses. One temptation is the desire to know more than what is good for us about our future path. We want Jesus to tell us the way he told Peter what's going to happen to us down the road. What's going to happen to me down the road if I marry this young man that I'm dating or if I marry this young woman that I'm dating? What will I have to go through in the future if I feel a calling to be a pastor and start studying in the seminary? What will be my experience if I commit myself to helping out my neighbor who is caught in a tough spot? Will it be easy or will I have to suffer? Will it be successful? As in, the situation is resolved and we can move on? Or is it going to be very painful and result in even more difficult situations? Just tell me, Lord. And we think that it would be good for us if you would just tell us. This is the path. This is what's going to happen to you. And Jesus reminds Peter and John, that's not what Jesus is here to do. He's not here to tell us every step of the way what's going to happen. And He doesn't tell John what's going to happen. He tells Peter some things, but He doesn't tell John. And He doesn't tell us. The other temptation is the temptation to compare our path of discipleship with that of other disciples. Lord, what about him? What about her? Maybe we're tempted to make the comparison out of motivations that are less than noble. How come I have to suffer all of this grief when that other Christian in the church gets to sleep on a bed of roses, as it were? Or maybe we're tempted to make the comparison out of what we imagine are good motives. How come I have been given this privilege of serving the Lord in this way and that person isn't given that privilege? But either way, when we compare ourselves to other disciples in the church, and when we think along the lines that Peter is thinking here in this text, we're forgetting something important, which is that the Lord doesn't call us to worry about that other disciple in that way. He says to us personally and individually, you, I have my eye on you. You follow me. No, don't worry about him. Don't worry about her. They have their own path. I'll take care of them. I'll worry about them. You worry about your path. You're my disciple. Follow me. You follow me. When we hear that calling from the Lord in the right way, then it does a couple of things. One thing it does is it frees us from all kinds of false pressures that we may mistakenly put upon ourselves or that others may put upon us. It was not Peter's job to make sure that John had the opportunity to serve him in the same way that he, Peter, had the opportunity to serve him. Peter's job was to worry about Peter and the burdens that Jesus laid upon him. Now, that doesn't mean Peter is allowed to do whatever Peter wants to do, as if he's just following along in his path, which is vaguely No, the Bible gives us clear instruction about how we are to live as disciples of Jesus, what commands we are to follow, and what instructions we are to submit to. But Peter's job is to worry about Peter. Peter isn't Christ. It is another way to sum that up. Peter isn't Christ, and neither are you. And neither Peter, nor you, nor I are called to be Christ to anyone else in the church. We're just followers, one follower among others. And the real burden, the most consequential burden, is the burden that Christ has already borne in his death and resurrection. The other thing that this should do when we hear the calling of the risen Lord Jesus to follow him personally and individually, the other effect this should have on us is that it should bind us ever closer to the Lord himself. If my job is to follow Jesus, nothing else, then I'm going to be spending my days looking at him. Not looking over here and worrying about my brother over here or my sister over here. And again, I understand we care about each other in the church and there are ways in which we are worried about them. But my eyes are on Jesus and I'm following Him. Walking with Him, listening to Him, believing in Him, loving Him, serving Him. When I'm doing that, when I'm hearing that calling, when you're hearing that calling, following the risen Jesus, what's going on? Well, the spirit of the risen Jesus is binding you, heart, mind, and soul, closer and closer to himself. And the more you are bound to Jesus as his disciple, the more your eyes are fixed upon him, all the more you are also bound to the other disciples as well. You see, the best thing that Peter can do for John is not to worry all about John and John's path of discipleship. The best thing that Peter can do for John is to follow Jesus as Peter, knowing that Jesus will also take care of John. The calling is personal. That doesn't mean it's individualistic, but it's personal. The Jesus who personally calls us to follow him is the glue that holds us all together as we collectively keep our eyes on him. Then finally this morning, let's notice that because this calling is to follow the risen Jesus, that it is a sure calling. It's a sure calling because it rests on the sure foundation of Jesus' victory in the resurrection. That final verse in the chapter is an amazing verse. 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. That is to say, we are only told certain things about Jesus' life and ministry in the Gospels. We're told about some of the miracles that Jesus did as God witnessed to the fact that Jesus was His Son. We're told about some of the teachings that Jesus taught as He was going among the multitudes. We're told about His birth, His suffering, His death, and His resurrection. But really, in the end, all we are given there in the four Gospel accounts is the highlight reel. There was so much more that happened in the three and a half years of Jesus' earthly life and ministry. There were other events that took place in the 40 days between Jesus' resurrection and ascension. And then for 2,000 years, Jesus has continued to be busy, gathering, defending, and preserving His church through His apostles, through pastors and teachers, and through His disciples on the earth. It's not an exaggeration to say that the whole world would be full of the books that could be written about Jesus and the things that he has done. And that knowledge all by itself ought to have the effect of assuring us in our calling as his disciples. Jesus is bigger and more significant than even the inspired word of God can convey. We have a true and accurate witness from the apostles in the inspired text of scripture. But what that witness points to is a living Lord, Jesus Christ, who is still busy at this moment in our behalf. There's so much to him, so much depth to him, so much that he has accomplished and is accomplishing. So you can follow him. You can follow Him with the assurance that you're not just following an old religion or an old, worn-out set of ideas that nobody puts stock in anymore. You can follow Him with the assurance that you are following a risen Lord who has become victorious over death and hell. You can follow Him through dangers and toils, through trials. You can follow Him through death itself, knowing that He will lead you with His rod and His staff that will comfort you. Jesus holds the future in His hands. His resurrection and all of the works that He has accomplished make that clear. Therefore, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 58, Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor as disciples is not in vain in the Lord. It's a sure calling because of who Jesus is and all that he has accomplished. It's a sure calling also because Jesus is coming again, as he says in verse 22. Jesus says to him, Now I wonder if Peter and John really understood what Jesus was talking about there. What do you mean, until I come? You know, the Spirit hadn't been poured out yet, and they didn't fully understand everything that Jesus had taught. Even later on, they're still going to think that He's going to set up an earthly kingdom in Jerusalem, as Acts chapter 1 indicates. Did they really understand what Jesus meant by His return, as the rest of the New Testament teaches us about that return? Nevertheless, here we have it again, from Jesus' own mouth, from the mouth of the risen Jesus who emerged from the grave, We hear these words, I am coming. I am coming. I'm coming again. I'm coming to raise the dead. I'm coming to make all things new. I'm coming for you, Peter. I'm coming for you, John. I'm coming for each and every one of my disciples who follows me in this valley of tears. I'm coming. That's his promise. And that's our Christian hope. A hope which would be no hope if Jesus did not rise from the dead, but he did rise from the dead. So with assurance, we can follow him. We can follow him. Even if the world falls to pieces around us, we can follow him. Even if the mountains crumble into the sea, we can follow him. Even if the sea is tumultuous and the nations crumble, we can follow him. So beloved people of God, with confidence together this morning, let's hear the calling of the risen Lord Jesus Christ to us, for whom he died and for whom he rose again. And his calling is this, follow me. Amen. Let's pray. Father who art in heaven, we thank thee for Jesus. His finished work. His resurrection. And his careful ministering. To Peter and to John. Who had forsaken him and denied him. And broken their ties with him. And their fear and lack of faith. And yet the Lord restored them. He put his calling upon them and he sent them into the world to feed his sheep. And the fruits of that we are still reaping to this day as we sit in an apostolic church, an instituted church of Jesus Christ that proclaims the gospel of his resurrection. And as we hear the witness of the apostles, but of Jesus Christ through them, that he has risen. We pray, strengthen us and equip us to be followers of him. To be those who consider the needs of the sheep, our fellow sheep and lambs, and to feed them, whether we be pastors, elders, deacons, or members of the church who bear the anointing of the Spirit. Give us to love the Lord and to love Him by loving His church, investing in her and pursuing her welfare and peace. And we pray, come Lord Jesus, come quickly. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.