Welcome to Reign of Grace. This program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And now for today's program. Welcome to our program today. I'm glad you could join us. If you'd like to follow along in your Bibles, I'll be preaching from the Book of John, the Gospel of John, Chapter 21. This is the last chapter of the Gospel of John, and I'm going to be focusing on the portion of scripture here where Christ sitting down on the shore after he had called his disciples in from fishing. And you remember, if you are familiar with this, the disciples after Christ, after his resurrection, and they'd seen him. I think the Bible here says this was the third time that Christ had appeared to them after the resurrection. and he set them down and he talked to them about the ministry. Now the title of the message is Loving Christ and His Sheep. Loving Christ and His Sheep. And you'll see why I got that title when we get into our text here, beginning at verse 15. It's going to go through verse 15 through verse 17. And so, Loving Christ and His Sheep. Well as I said, after they had seen the risen Christ, and they had been convinced of the truth in him and they'd seen all these miracles of God's power and grace. They knew that Christ was and is the Messiah, the anointed one of God, the salvation of his people. They did not yet understand their role as apostles and ministers of the gospel. And that's what he's going to show them here. After they had seen him this last time before chapter 21, Peter just looked at the other disciples and he said, well, I'm going fishing. Well, that was his profession. And so what he was actually saying is, well, I'm going back to my profession. You know, Christ has done his work and he's brought salvation. Now I'm going back to fish. But that was not his commission from God. And he was to leave that practice, that profession, and he was to make it his business to preach the gospel. And so Christ appeared to him on the shore, and they didn't recognize him because he was so far off. And Peter jumped out and went to him and all that. And they had fished all night and hadn't caught anything. And Christ told them to cast their nets on the right side of the ship. And when they cast their nets on the right side of the ship, they drew up a multitude of fishes. and brought them in so that the net was full, but it didn't break, and it came in. And that was a picture. The Lord was gonna use that as a lesson to them, that I'm gonna make you fishers of men, he said in another place. I don't want you to be a fisherman anymore, Peter. I want you to be a clarion for the gospel. to go out into the world and preach the gospel calling in my sheep and just like those fish and that net's going to be full and God's going to save his elect he's going to save every one of them and they're called his sheep and so here they are sitting down And Christ even cooked for them. He cooked some fish, and he told them, he said, come and dine. And they knew who he was, and they sat down, and they took bread, and he gave them the fish. And it says in verse 14 of John 21, this is now the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples. After that, he was risen from the dead. Well, beginning at verse 15, listen to what happens here. It says in verse 15, so when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? Now, a lot of commentators go all over the place on this thing. Some say, well, he's talking about, do you love me more than fishing, these fishes? Some say, well, he's talking about the other disciples. In other words, do you love me more than these other disciples? And I believe that's what he was actually saying here, and let me show you why. Verse 15, he said, lovest thou me more than these, and Peter saith unto him, yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. You know I love you, Lord. You don't need me to fill you in on this, you know all, you're God manifest in the flesh. And you know everything, you know Peter, he knew Peter's heart. And then he said unto Peter, feed my lambs. In other words, Christ was saying, Peter, if you love me, you'll feed my lambs and later on my sheep. But here's the key. When Christ asked Peter this question, lovest thou me, the word love there is a Greek word. You may have heard this word in the Greek. It's called agape. and a form of agape. And you see in the Greek language that the New Testament was written in, there's more words for love than what we have in our English language. But when Peter responded, you know that I love you, he used a different word for love. It was a form of the word phileo. Now why is that significant? Well, Christ asked him, Peter, do you love me more than these? Do you love me more than these other disciples? Well, Peter, as you know, he was considered to be a leader, considered to be a spokesperson often for the other disciples, not because Christ had appointed or the Lord had appointed him to be there, just because Peter, to be honest with you, was a loud mouth. He spoke up, sometimes when he shouldn't have spoken up. He was the first to talk about, and he even bragged about his faith. When Christ was talking about his going to the cross and suffering, and he talked about how he would tread that winepress alone, the winepress of God's suffering. And he said that you all would scatter and leave. Peter spoke up and he said, well, though these other guys leave, not me, I won't leave you. Well, Peter was bragging. He was boasting of his faith, boasting of his love for Christ. And of course, you know what Christ told him. He said, Peter, Peter, he said, before the rooster crows three times, you're going to deny me three times. Well, Peter, when that happened, you can just imagine the shame and the humility that fell over Peter. And what you have here, sitting here, talking to the Lord, is a Peter who'd been knocked off his high horse. His bragging ways were now gone. And so here's the key. When Christ said, Peter, do you love me? Do you agape me? What Christ is talking about is that divine, serious connection and devotion to Christ that only believers have. That's this agape love. This is divine love. And it's love that is God-given. Listen to me now. This is love that you and I, nor any sinful fallen human being, that we have, we don't have it by nature. It's not in us. It's a godly love. It's that love that Paul wrote of in Romans chapter five that is shed abroad in the hearts of God's people by the Holy Spirit when the Holy Spirit brings us to hear and believe and understand the gospel of God's grace in the salvation of sinners based upon the perfect righteousness, the blood of Jesus Christ who is God manifest in the flesh. John spoke of this love in 1 John 4 and verse 10. He said, herein is love, not that we love God. You see, we don't have that love by nature, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. What is a propitiation? It's a sin-bearing sacrifice that brings satisfaction. So the only way that you and I or any sinner can have this kind of love shed abroad in our hearts, that's our minds, our affections, our wills, our conscience, is by the Holy Spirit bringing us under the preaching of the gospel and revealing the reality of salvation by God's grace to us. And what that does, it brings us to love God not perfectly, but to love him with such a devotion, with such a loyalty that we cannot ignore or deny or leave the truth and leave Christ. That's the connection, that's the agape love, that's the divine love that only believers have. But now what Peter said when he said, Lord, you know that I love thee. He used the word that's related to phileo. Now, that's more of a human brotherly love, a familia or family love, that even the natural man can have. A natural, unregenerate, lost person can love his wife or his wife can love him. They can love their families, their children. They can love their country, patriotism. They certainly love themselves. We all love ourselves. That's why Christ said, love God. Love God and love our neighbor. Love our neighbor as we love ourselves. And that's that phileo love that we can have. And what I believe is happening here is when Christ asked Peter that question, do you love me with that sincere devotion, loyalty that only God can give? Peter, in his humility, having been brought down off of his high horse, He says, well, Lord, you know I love you. You know I have that brotherly love. Well, Peter had more than that because the love of God had been shed abroad. But here's the thing about it. I can tell you that I love God with that agape love, which is the gift of God, which I didn't have by nature. Just like faith is the gift of God. Repentance is the gift of God. Godly love that brings a sinner to cling to Christ, to love Him, cling to Him, follow Him. We don't have that by nature. but God gives it to us. And we don't even have it now in perfection because of our remaining flesh and sin and self-love, but we do love God. So I can tell you as a believer, as a sinner saved by grace, I do love Christ. I love His truth. I love His people. But I don't have anything to brag about in my love. I'm not gonna go around bragging about how much I love Him. I'll tell you what I'm gonna brag about. I'm gonna brag about how much He loved me. Herein is love. Not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. And the us there is referring to His sheep, His people, who are brought to faith in Christ. And it's all a gift from God. But here's what Christ is saying here in verse 15. He said, Peter, if you love me, then you love my sheep. Feed my sheep. And let's go on, look at verse 16. He saith to Peter again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. And he saith unto him, feed my sheep. Don't go fishing, Peter, that's not your profession now. I'm gonna make you fishers of men. Verse 17, he saith unto him the third time, emphasizing this, 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. And Jesus saith unto him, feed my sheep. Now Peter's language changed. And he did say, I love you with that agape love. But still, he didn't have anything to brag about. But here's the thing. The lesson that the Lord is teaching here is this. A lot of people say they love Jesus. We sing that song as kids, oh, how I love Jesus, because He first loved me. And if I do love Jesus, really love Him, then my friend, I'm telling you, it is because He first loved me. And even though I can say I love Jesus, as I said, I don't have anything to brag about. But we sing a hymn called, isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? His love to me. And God proved that. Well, he says, feed my sheep. First of all, if you truly love Jesus, you love the truth of Jesus. You cannot say you love Jesus and hate or deny His truth, and especially the truth of the gospel, the truth of God's grace, sovereign grace. God saves sinners by grace. And salvation, with all of its blessings, The Bible says they are all spiritual, eternal blessings. Salvation, with all of its blessings, is something that I did not earn and do not deserve. Salvation was not and is not conditioned on me. That's what grace is. The Bible, we use acrostic sometimes for the word grace. God's riches at Christ's expense, or God's righteousness at Christ's expense. My salvation is totally, totally based upon the merits of Christ's obedience unto death, as my surety, my substitute, my redeemer, my life giver, and my preserver. It is not on me, it's all on Him. What I am, as a sinner saved by grace, and what I do that is pleasing to God, is the fruit and the result of God's power and grace to me in Christ. Nothing I do equals the perfection of righteousness that can only be found in Christ. And nothing I do can merit or earn God's favor for me. Nothing I do can merit or earn God's blessings. Are you saying, well, God doesn't bless us in our doing? Oh no, He does bless us in our doing. Not because we earn or merit, or deserve the blessing by our doing, but simply because that is God's channel by which He blesses His people. God's people are blessed in worship, not because they earn that blessing or deserve it, because that's how God gives it. Do you understand that? That's important now. God's people are blessed in prayer. When they pray unto the Father through the Son, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Based upon the meritorious obedience unto death, the blood, the righteousness of Christ. God blesses us in prayer. Not because we earn or deserve it because of our prayers, the length of our prayers, or the eloquence of our prayers, oh no. It's just simply that's the way God uses prayer to bless His people. The prayer of a righteous man avails much. And the same thing. Obedience, when we seek to obey God according to His Word, God blesses us in that obedience, not because we deserve it or earn it by our obedience, because that's the way God does it. That's the means by which He uses to bless His people. So understand that. We're not in a position where God owes us anything. Everything is of grace, grace, grace. And that's what the truth is. The Bible says God chose a people before the foundation of the world. That's His elect. If you love Christ, you love that. You say, well, that's not fair. Listen, the only thing, if God dealt with all of us in fairness, we'd all go to hell. That's what the Bible teaches. God has the prerogative. He's the potter, we're the clay. God sent Christ to die for his sheep, and that's where we're going to right now. He says, feed my sheep. If you love Christ, you love his truth. If you love Christ, you love who he is. He's God, man. God manifest in the flesh. I love that, because that's who it takes to save a sinner like me from my sins. His name shall be called Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. His name shall be called Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law. He had to be both God and man in one person to do the work that was required, and that is obey unto death to satisfy the justice of God and bring forth a righteousness, the righteousness of God. That's what it took to save sinners. Not the righteousness of men, because men have no righteousness. There's none righteous, no, not one. But the righteousness of God, the God-man, he who is God, Christ. And that righteousness, the sins of God's people were charged, imputed to Him, and His righteousness is charged to His people. That's the elect of God. So we love those truths, and we don't deny them, because we love Christ. Well, he tells Peter here, he says, feed my lambs. Those are His young sheep. Feed my sheep, feed my people. Now, who are these sheep? You know, one of the greatest and most beautiful illustrations of the relationship of Christ with his people is him as the good and the great and the chief shepherd and his sheep. And who are his sheep? Well, they're his people. They're God's elect. They go by many names in the scripture. They go by the elect, they go by his brethren, the chosen, they go by sinners saved by grace, as I said, his brethren, the seed of Abraham, all of that. They're his people, his church. That's who they are. Over in John chapter 10, he brought this out. In John chapter 10, look at verse 11. Christ says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. Christ didn't die for everybody without exception. He died for the sheep. Now understand that. Well, who are these sheep? Well, he goes on. He says in verse 14, I am the good shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine. He knows his sheep and they know him. In other words, if you claim to be one of the sheep, I claim to be one of the sheep, do you know him, whom to know is life eternal? This is life eternal, he said in John 17, that they might know thee, the only true and living God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. Do you know him as he is described and defined and distinguished in the Bible? And I'll give you one example of that is the Jehovah's Witnesses who claim to believe and love Jesus, but they don't believe He's God. Well, they don't love the Jesus of the Bible. And I'm not just picking on one denomination. There are a lot of people who deny a lot of things about Christ. They deny His person, or they deny the accomplishment of His work. To say that He died for people who perish? Oh no, listen to what he says in John chapter 10. He says in verse 16, or verse 15, he says, as the Father knoweth me, this is John 10 verse 15, even so know I the Father, and I laid down my life for the sheep. And then in verse 16 he says, and other sheep I have which are not of this fold, this Jewish fold. Christ preached in Judea, see? But he had other sheep, not just among the Jews. God's elect is made up of a people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. He told Abraham, I'll bless all nations through thee. The Messiah would come through Abraham's line and he would bless all nations because he has a chosen people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. And he says in verse 16, other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring. and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one foal and one shepherd. How are they gonna hear his voice? In the power of the Spirit through the preaching of the gospel, Peter, feed my sheep. They're gonna hear the voice of Christ in the preaching of that. When Peter stood at Pentecost and preached the gospel, and over 3,000 souls were converted, they all heard the voice of Christ. Peter was speaking, but he was speaking as an ambassador. He was speaking the truth that has its be all and end all in Christ, the glory of his person and the power of his finished work. And by the power of the Spirit, all 3,000 heard his voice and were brought to faith in Christ and true repentance. So he said there'll be one foe and one shepherd, not 50,000 denominations or religions, But one people. It says, look here in John 10, verse 19, there was a division therefore again among the Jews for these saints. And many of them said, he hath a devil. And he's mad, he's gone crazy. Why hear ye him? Verse 21, others said, these are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind? Verse 22, and it was at Jerusalem, the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews round about him and said unto him, how long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. And Jesus answered them, I told you, and you believe not, the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. Now he's telling him he's the Messiah, and look at verse 26, but you believe not. Why? Because you're not of my sheep. As I said unto you, He didn't say, you're not of my sheep because you believe not. He says, you believe not because you're not of my sheep. If you're of my sheep, he says in verse 27, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. And he said, I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. My father which gave them me is greater than all. When did the father give him his sheep? His elect, before the foundation of the world. And no one is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. You see that? That's plaintive. So he says, Peter, if you love me, feed my sheep. Now, what are you gonna feed the sheep with? You know, God's elect are born into this world, fallen in Adam into sin and death, just like those who are not his sheep. But at some point in time, they're gonna hear the gospel and Christ is gonna bring them to, and they feed, the preachers feed them with the word of God. That's their food. That's sheep food. That's what they have to have to live and to grow. The word of life, the light of life, all things according to God's word. The gospel and all the word of God is their food. I hope you'll join us next week for another message from God's word. We are glad you could join us for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us at 1-1-0-2-1. Thank you again for listening today, and may the Lord be with you.