All right, if you would please turn with me in your Bibles to the Gospel according to John, chapter 21. This is our final sermon in the Gospel according to John for now. We're going to be in verses 15 through 25. 15 through 25. The title of the sermon today, church, is New Beginnings at the End. New beginnings at the end. So starting in verse 15 of the gospel according to John chapter 21, hear now the inerrant and infallible words of the living and true God. So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, tend my lambs. He said to him again a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And he said to him, shepherd my sheep. He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. Jesus said to him, tend my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you and bring you where you do not wish to go. Now this, he said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he said to him, follow me. Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back on his bosom at the last supper and said, Lord, who is the one who betrays you? So Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, Lord, and what about this man? Jesus said to him, if I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me. Therefore this saying went out among the brethren, that the disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but only if I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and wrote these things. And we know that his testimony is true. And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written. Thus ends the reading of God's holy and marvelous word. Let's pray as a church. God, I come before you today I thank you for this wonderful gospel. I thank you, Lord, for all that we've learned and all that we've seen. I pray, God, that we have seen Jesus in a more marvelous light, that we've seen more of his glory these past almost two years. God, I know I was so touched this week preparing this final sermon for John. It's meant so much to me, Lord. I pray that it's meant so much to your people. So God, as we complete it today, as always, I pray that you would impress upon us what we must know and learn, what we must store in our hearts. Those of us who have forgotten important things that we might remember today, those of us who have gone the wrong way and need to be convicted and corrected, that you would do that. And Lord, those of us who are down and we're simply laid flat by all the obstacles of this life, Lord, that we would remember our mission, that we would remember what we're here for and where we're going, and that would make what we're doing then bearable because you're with us. And so Lord, please speak through me today. Please give your people this message. Please feed your people. I pray this in the Holy Spirit and I pray this in your name, Jesus, amen. So we're here, we're at the very end of the gospel according to John. and the Synoptic Gospels, that is Matthew, Mark, and Luke, have given so many details of Jesus's earthly ministry. You read those gospels and you see all these miracles, all these things he did there in Judea and Galilee and all around that area. But John, John has been diligent to show us the eternal, pre-incarnate Son of God. From eternity past, the Son was with God and the Son was God. He shared glory with the Father before the world was. That is before time and space even occurred. John told us in chapter 10, when Isaiah had his heavenly vision of the throne room, Isaiah sees the one sitting on a throne, high, lofty, the train of his robe filling the temple. You have continual praise from the mouths of seraphim angels. And John says in chapter 10 of this gospel, this was Jesus. He said, Isaiah saw his glory in that vision. Jesus said in this gospel, he is the I am, the one before Abraham, the one before Moses, the one who wasn't only before them, but made them and then came pre-incarnate and counseled them. and led them. Then John showed us, through the rest of the gospel, these incredible seven signs. Talked about that two weeks ago. These signs that pointed to the realities of who Jesus was prior to His coming. And not just that, but what He intends to accomplish. He is the creator. He is the re-creator. He makes those born, but he also makes those born again. That's who he is. We got the privilege to see even from chapter 13 onward, the private instruction and counsel and encouragement of Jesus Christ with his disciples. The other Gospels don't show you that. For many chapters, we got to see the upper room experience, the Last Supper. What did Jesus tell these men before he was going to the cross? We got to see it. His encouragement and instruction even proved invaluable to us as we went through it. And then we went through, what, a few weeks ago, the scourging and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. And I saw it in many of you. I felt it myself. There were tears in our eyes. We went through in such detail the level of scourging and torture that Jesus went through. And not only was the crucifixion, the atonement, simply nails in wrists or nails in ankles or feet or whips across the back. We talked about the fact that the crucifixion, the atonement, even had a spiritual anguish to it. This spiritual wrath of God was poured out on his one and only son. It's not that he was just a man who died on a cross. Many men have died on a cross. This was different, especially because he was perfect. But there was that spiritual aspect we talked about again. And then, boy, we went over the blessed resurrection, right? The blessed resurrection was coupled with the best sunrise the world has ever seen. Every gospel said when the empty tomb was shown and the angels were there, it said that the sun was rising. And I tell you, you might've seen amazing sunrises in your life. I bet you that day that the sun rose, the son of God rose, that when the sun rose, it was the most magnificent of them all. that empty tomb moment. And that empty tomb was the seal and guarantee of all that he had spoken, all that he had promised, all that he performed. The fact that Jesus lives means that we will again. Then John also gave us a taste of what Jesus would do after this point. He said he'll return to the father. He's going to his father. To the glory he shared with his father before the world was. That's what he said. He's the king. The king must go home after the battle. The king must come back from waging war against sin and death. And after he's won in triumph, he'll be welcomed into heaven as a hero that he's always been. And the coronation was set. The crown was given. Jesus took his throne. He rules and reigns to this moment, not just over the heavenly realm, but over this realm too. And we as Christians, we proclaim it. The king is on his throne. The king offers pardon. Come, hear what the King has to say, and we give the gospel. He said that he'd always be with us. The Holy Spirit is part of that. The ministry of Jesus goes beyond one physical locality in Judea now, and by the paraclete, by the comforter, the Holy Spirit, Jesus will minister across the world and across time. You see, He made space and time. That's no obstacle to Him. He'll take care of all of us over space and over time until He returns again. He's with us. Before He goes back to the Father though, we saw last week, Jesus supernaturally appeared on the beach of the Sea of Galilee. while the apostles awaited their mission, the gospel orders. And so Jesus, as this loving rabbi, gives one last lesson to his dear disciples, to his dear students. What was the lesson we saw last week? That you men must know now, even after my resurrection, that apart from me you can do nothing. Just because I'm resurrected and you have power in the Holy Spirit doesn't mean that the power comes from you. You still need me. And so what? They went fishing in the dead of night and they caught nothing. And Jesus provides fish. Jesus comes in the light and he shows them, you still need me. You're going to need me until the end. You're going to need me for all eternity. That was the lesson he gave. In this mission I'm giving you to gather my sheep, to throw out the nets to the fish, to my fish, you need me to tell you what to do, how to do it, where to do it, and I'll put my people there. He put the fish there, and he said, throw down the net, and they caught tons of fish. And that was representative of all the people who will hear the gospel through the words of the apostles from Christ's commission. And so basically what we learned is that Jesus gives everything we need for this Christian life and for this great commission that he instituted before he left. And so now he's about to ascend. Acts chapter one, they look up, Jesus gives his final salutations and he goes up to heaven. And they stare, we don't even know for how long. And an angel says, why are you staring? He's gonna come back the same way he went up. And before he does that though, he's going to address two of the main ministers of this gospel. These two men who will, along with the other men, see the mission of Christ continue on even after he departs and goes to heaven. So we're gonna take a look now at what happens to Peter and John, okay? First, we have Peter, verse 15, if you wanna follow along in your printout or in your Bible. So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Jesus said to him, tend my lambs. So Jesus had just provided the disciples a meal after they endured a long night of fishing and catching nothing. All seven men are still here at the beach with Jesus. They aren't dismissed so that he can talk privately with Peter. That's at least not yet. He addresses Peter publicly right in front of the other men, right in front of them. And that makes sense because every boastful display of Peter was in front of these men as well. In John 13, eight, Peter said to him, you shall never wash my feet, Jesus. And Jesus answered him, if I do not wash you, you have no part with me. And he was rebuked. John 13, 37 through 38, Peter said to him, Lord, why can I not follow you right now? I will lay down my life for you. I'll die for you. And Jesus answered, will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny me three times. In front of all his peers, I'll die for you. No, you won't, at least not now. You'll deny me three times. And then you have the time in chapter 18, excuse me, where Peter actually thought that killing with a sword would accomplish what Jesus came for when he cut off Malchus's ear in the Garden of Gethsemane. And so even that was in front of a couple of disciples. Each of these moments were in front of, if not all, most of these men here at the beach. And so public sin calls for public confession and public repentance, but it won't stop there. It won't stop there. Jesus will give Peter public restoration. That's important. The confession, the forgiveness, all of it will occur. And at the end, public restoration. So as I told you the previous Sunday, the last time Peter was asked a question about Jesus, it was in front of a charcoal fire at night, chapter 18. And three times in front of that charcoal fire, Peter is asked about if he knows this Christ, right? But now this time, in front of a charcoal fire on the beach, the resurrected Christ comes to Peter and three times Jesus asks him about the object of his love. Do you love me? This time, the accusers of Jesus don't question Peter. The one who was accused questions Peter. That way we can think about this, that the questions don't come in the shadow of an imminent death. These questions come after this wonderful moment of light and risen life with Christ. And since Jesus took the punishment of Peter's infidelity upon himself on the cross, the questions aren't meant to condemn him. They're meant to restore him. And so Jesus says to him, Simon, son of John. By the way, this is not the John who wrote this. This isn't John the Apostle. Peter's father's name is John. That was a common name at that time. And so Jesus says to him, Simon, son of John. And the last time Jesus called Peter Simon, son of John, this formal name, was in chapter one, verse 42. When he called Simon to follow him, And at that moment, in chapter 1, he gave Simon a new name. You will be Rock. You will be Peter. But in this moment, this is a serious moment, and Jesus calls him Simon, son of John again. It's like Jesus is saying, not just not just the name that I gave you during my earthly ministry, not just your identity as Peter, but your past identity as Simon, son of John, all that you are, Simon, son of John, Peter, the rock, all that makes up you, do you love me? Do you love me? And immediately what we see in that question, is that the gospel of the kingdom, the mission of God, will not be founded on misguided courage. Courage is needed for the mission of God, but it's not the main thing. The foundation of this great commission in Christian life is and always will be love. And it's not the kind of subjective love that the world displays on things or people where it can be altered or withdrawn. This love is the objective love that comes from the communicable attributes of God. This is the kind of love that God has for us. Does Peter have it toward Jesus? And that's what Jesus says. Do you love me? And love has always been a major theme in this gospel. Well, you have John 3.16, for God so loved the world in this way that he gave his one and only son, the unique son, that whoever would believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life. John 13.34, Jesus to all his disciples says, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another even as I have loved you. In John 3, Jesus said that the Father loves Him. In John chapter 14, Jesus said, I love the Father. And it is really that Trinitarian love that brought love to the world. It's that Trinitarian love that came to us, that it was extended to us, that even gives you and I the ability to love rightly. And so will this love be reciprocated by those whom the love was poured out? Do you love Jesus? Do you love Jesus? Do I love Jesus? And so the Lord asked Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? Do you love me more than these? Who are the these? And some have said, Jesus is referring to the fish and the netting and the tackle and everything. Do you love me more than these? Do you love me more than your old vocation, your old life of fishing? But those who typically hold to that view believe that Jesus, I'm sorry, that Peter committed apostasy, as I told you last week, that Peter went back to his old life of occupational fishing. He gave up on the mission of Christ. But I told you, I explained that all those reasons that we ought to reject that, that they were simply awaiting their mission instructions from the risen Christ. And so if they just finish eating and everyone is sitting there, it seems clear Jesus is referring to the other disciples around them. They're right there in front of the fire. They just ate fish and bread. And he said, Peter, or Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? More than these men? Obviously the question again is, Do you love me more than these love me? Or do you love me more than you love these? Does that make sense? Do you love me more than these disciples love me? Like it's a competition. Do you love me better than they love me? Or do you love me more than you love them? And I happen to believe that it would be strange for Jesus to say, do you love me better than these men? I think he's saying, as he points out these disciples, that he says, do you love me more than you love them? You have to understand, in the North, in this region, most of these disciples were actually kin related to Peter. Many of them were even related by in-law, by marriage. They all had some sort of relation. Peter grew up with these men his whole life. They ran through the villages in the north. They would go down to Jerusalem together with caravans as families. They were related in many ways. Peter had a business, a fishing venture with these men. Peter loved these men fiercely. He loved them so much, and so Jesus says, do you love me more than you love them? And also, when you look in the gospels, Jesus often compares his disciples' love for him against the love of a father, the love you have for a mother, the love you have for a brother or sister. Do you love me more than your own family? You see, that night that Peter denied Christ, he loved himself more than Jesus. Peter loved his old life, his way of life in that moment more than Jesus. Peter has sought to show his courage and bravery and devotion in front of these men. And that's the key. Do you do your loving acts for Jesus in front of other people so they'll love you and you can somehow show you love them? Or do you do loving acts because you love Jesus? And it's arguable that Peter often did these things in front of these men to show his pure devotion. But will he put that all away? Will he put that love away or will he make it secondary To the primary love that he ought to have for his Savior and Lord, do you and I love Jesus more than we love our closest family member? Do we give Jesus our love and our loyalty and our devotion more than even our spouses? We ought to. In fact, I would argue that for you to properly love your spouse, for you to properly love your children, you must love Jesus first. Then you will love best. You know, today's Mother's Day. The only way to love your wife, the only way to love your mother best is to love Jesus first. And then you will love rightly. So, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? And Peter responds emphatically, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And it's not that he's trying to insult Jesus, like, you know, buddy. Peter is grounding the proof of his love for Jesus in Jesus's own knowledge. You know, the good shepherd knows his sheep. He knows when love is genuine. And notice Peter doesn't mention even the comparison to the other disciples. Peter doesn't respond, Lord, you know I love you more than I love these. He directs his love to the only object that's important, Jesus, who's in front of him. You know I love you, despite my shameful failure, I love you. The Lord doesn't challenge Peter's words. but simply says in the imperative form, the command, tend my lambs, tend my lambs. And the word for tend also contains in it the meaning, herd them, feed them, tend them and protect them. And this isn't like a correction that Jesus is giving, like as if Peter wasn't doing this before. He wasn't doing it before, but Jesus didn't expect him to do it before. This is the mission order, this is it. When Jesus dies for you, and Jesus saves you, and you're given the Holy Spirit, and He restores you and He forgives all your sin and you confess Him, Lord, this is all that I've done, then just like Peter, He'll say, do you love me? And you'll say, Lord, you're everything to me. I love you. And He'll say, here's your mission then. And that's what He does. That's what He does for you and me. That's what He did for Peter. Tend my lambs. He did that, Jesus did the tending of the lambs personally and physically prior to this point, but he is departing. He is departing and Jesus will continue to tend his own sheep, but he's going to do that by way of the Holy Spirit and through his people. His people will be a part of it now, Peter being the first to receive the orders. And so the fishing lesson, get this, the fishing lesson was more of an evangelistic lesson. And this one is more pastoral. Take care of my flock, Peter. The ones who are caught with my net, the sheep who are gathered in my name, care for them. Be an under-shepherd for the one flock that is made up of Jews and Gentiles that has become one. Those who look to the Good Shepherd. And so this will be the outworking of true love, you guys. If you love me, Jesus says, and you obey my commandment to love one another, you will express that love through shepherding my flock. No hired hands are allowed here. No hired hands are allowed to touch Jesus's flock, only commissioned individuals. And notice the sheep aren't Peter's like Roman Catholics would think. Oh, look, Jesus gave his flock to Peter. This is Peter's church now. That's not the case. Jesus says, 10 My lambs, 10 My sheep. They aren't Peter's. This passage is not about setting Peter up as the first pope or the leader of even these men. We see in the book of Acts that even Peter subjugates himself to the will of the elders at the council of Jerusalem. That Peter even looks to Paul and Barnabas and considers their word as equal as his own. He's just one among equals. Elevating Peter here, which is what some people do, above everyone else would be disregarding the context completely. Why? Get this, because Jesus is seeking to restore Peter not from ground level to a pedestal, Jesus is trying to restore Peter from a low place back to ground level. You get that? He's not elevating Peter from ground level up above everyone else. Peter was brought low by his sin, and then in this restoration, Peter's brought at ground level with everyone else who's been saved. He's not brought above everyone else. Each time, there's three times total. Three times Jesus says, do you love me? And that points of course to the three denials of Christ by Peter. And they're never to be remembered again. In fact, John purposefully numbers verse 16 the second time. Verse 17, he even says the words the third time. These moments with Jesus and Peter obliterate his previous betrayals. Fear brings about denial. True love brings about righteous confession. And righteous confession of the love for Christ creates an outpouring of love for God's flock. Feed my lambs. Previously Peter ran and the flock was scattered. Now he will remain steadfast and he'll care for the flock. This is a 180. This is the fruit of true repentance. Now, before Peter can even respond to Jesus' imperative to tend his lambs, verse 16, he said to him a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, shepherd my sheep. So this time, the love isn't compared to the other disciples. Jesus just says, do you love me? focuses entirely on the love that Peter has for Christ. And what does Peter say? You know that I love you. And then shepherd my sheep, poimeno my sheep. And this is where we get the word poimenos. And that's literally the word in the Greek New Testament for pastor, poimenos. And so the title pastor, specifically has to do with being a shepherd and tending a flock. An under-shepherd over the good shepherd. Paul told this to the Ephesian elders in Acts chapter 20. Paul sails to the shores of Ephesus and he sends a messenger to call all the elders of the church in Ephesus. And all these men come forward, all these elders, all these under shepherds, these pastors. And Paul says, you're never going to see me again. It's one of the most amazing chapters in all of the Bible, Acts chapter 20. And the speech that Paul gives these men, it brings me to tears often. But he tells them, shepherd the flock of God. Shepherd the flock of God, the one that Jesus purchased with his own blood. And he says, wolves are coming. Wolves are coming, guard against the men who will arise within our midst and they'll speak perverse things and they'll take the sheep away from the flock. Guard from them, watch for them, be on the alert always. And so when you think about it with that first lesson at the beginning of chapter 21 with the net and the fish, evangelists gather the sheep. but pastors are to tend or shepherd the sheep. Evangelists gather the sheep into the fold by the power of the Holy Spirit. And by the same Holy Spirit, pastors then are to care for or tend the sheep. And that's what's happening in chapter 21. Many have wondered why the epilogue is here. Why is chapter 21 here after the momentous blessed resurrection? Why is it here? Because they need the mission orders. You're going to evangelize. You're going to get all my sheep. You're going to get all my fish. I'll put them there. I'll tell you how to get them. You're going to take all of them. And once you've gotten them and you continue to get them, and then he goes to Peter and he says, you're going to tend them. You're going to shepherd them. It's twofold, the lesson here. And the other disciples are in attendance because they're a part of this. They're going to catch the fish, they're gonna gather the flock, but they're also gonna help feed and shepherd them. So verse 17, he said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. Jesus said to him, tend my sheep. He repeats himself. In the previous two verses, Peter first says yes. Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. This time, he doesn't say the word yes. And I don't think that that's actually less powerful. I think it's more powerful in this third response. It's more emphatic. I think this incredulity came over Peter. He doesn't even say properly the word, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. It's like, Lord, you know all things. He's overcome now. How could you ask me a third time? I've followed you for three years. You know I love you. He's visibly and audibly distressed. He's grieved by the third question. And it shows that maybe in this moment, Peter didn't recognize what Jesus was trying to do, which was reverse each of the three denials. Three denials, three restorations, three restoring questions. He probably understood it later. And so whatever is happening here in Peter's mind, he tells Jesus, Lord, You know all things. Essentially, there's nothing I can hide from You. Jesus, You know our thoughts. You know what we've even spoken when You weren't there. We saw that in the previous chapter. You are the all-knowing, eternal Son of God. You know that I love You. And Jesus just says, tend my sheep. Tend my sheep. From that point, Jesus continues without letting Peter get in a word. And what we understand was they were all sitting around that fire. Jesus had just fed them. Jesus asked these three questions. Peter's getting audibly and visibly distressed. And then Jesus, I'm sorry, Jesus ends with saying, tend my lambs. And the image we have here is that Jesus had the other disciples stay back and he motioned to Peter and said, come with me, follow me. And they started walking down the beach. They left the group of men, they started going on their own. We'll see that later, especially because Peter will gesture to John following them. And he'll point out John and say this, you know, what about this man? Right. We'll see that in a moment. But go to verses 18 and 19. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, this is just Jesus and Peter. You used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wish, but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you and bring you where you do not wish to go. Now he said this, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he said to him, follow me. So Peter was right. Jesus indeed knows all things. He even knows the time and the way we die. These words are prophetic in nature. Jesus gives an illustration to the way Peter's life will end after tending to Christ's flock. It's a symbolic saying. You see, the younger Peter had all this freedom to go where he wished. Peter freely chose where to go, what to do, how to do it. He did these things by himself, for himself. However, when Peter grows old, when time has passed, he will lose freedom. We have an image of Peter not gaining more freedom, but more restriction. Restriction will come upon him. And what we see with Jesus' words is martyrdom will follow. Martyrdom will follow. Death will follow. Simon, son of John, even recognizes that Jesus is talking about death. And there is also a possibility that Jesus is indicating to what kind of death by which Peter would die. This word ektaino in the Greek, or stretch out your hands, was the word that was associated with crucifixion. Your hands will be stretched out. The patibulum, the horizontal cross member, we talked about that. That horizontal cross member, the patibulum from the Romans, will be placed upon Peter's shoulders, and his hands will be stretched out on that horizontal cross member, and he will be brought with his arms stretched out, it says, to a place he does not wish to go. He'll go to the place of execution. He'll go to the place of death. Tertullian said Peter died of crucifixion. Eusebius was the one who said Peter wanted to be crucified upside down, feeling unworthy to be killed in the same exact way as his Lord. And we don't know for sure what orientation that Peter was crucified, but it does seem that Jesus is indicating that it was crucifixion. But what we do know for certain is that the bitter denials of Christ and the horrific betrayal that Peter saw in Jesus's eyes when the Lord passed through the priestly courtyard was completely and totally forgiven. Gone. Gone. At the time of Peter's death, all of his sins were washed away. They were washed away in this moment. You see, his executioners were confident that this crucifixion would kill Peter. But Peter was infinitely more confident that this death would take him into eternal life with Christ. And church, that's my admonishment for you too. Be more confident that you have coming life than coming death. Do you have that? Are you more confident that you have coming life than coming death? And so John tells us this kind of death would glorify God. Peter will imitate his Lord's death, and likewise, his death will glorify God. Peter's death will point back to Jesus. And that crucifixion after a life of shepherding Christ's flock. Peter even said in his first epistle, chapter four, verses 14 through 16, he says, if you're reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the spirit of the Lord, because the spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If anyone suffers as a Christian, he is to never be ashamed, but he is to glorify God in his name. And that's what Peter did. On that day, when the patibulum was put across Peter's back, and he was taken by force to a place he did not want to go, and he was executed by crucifixion, he was forgiven. He glorified God in his death. He did not stand ashamed, but he stood ready to meet his Lord once again. He had an expectation. And John affirms here in the epilogue that Jesus meant Peter would do just that. He would glorify his name. And just like the initial call in chapter one, Jesus lovingly commands Peter, follow me. Don't worry where you'll be taken or where you'll go by force. Follow me now and you'll follow me to the place where I am on the way you die. And the same goes for you and me, church. Wherever you're taken in this life, Wherever you might be forced to go, you follow Christ and you'll go to where he is. Go to verses 20 and 21. Peter turning around saw the disciple whom Jesus loved. This is why I say that they possibly left the charcoal fire in the circle of the disciples. Peter and Jesus went off and here you have John is following them at a distance. Peter turning around saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who had also leaned back on Jesus's bosom at the supper and said, Lord, who's the one who betrays you? So Peter seeing John said to Jesus, Lord, and what about this man? And so after being commissioned, after even being commanded to follow Jesus, Peter turns and in Peter fashion, like all of us would, takes his focus off of the Lord and puts it on someone else. The one who wrote this, the disciple whom Jesus loved, the apostle we know to be John. Interestingly, John is following That is, John is looking towards Jesus, but Peter's looking back at John and not at Jesus next to him. That's the posture here. Why is Peter not solely focused on Christ in this moment? And I'll tell you, Peter is comparing. Peter's comparing. He's comparing himself to the disciple whom Jesus loved, and no doubt, Peter noticed that great love and affection that Jesus had for this young man. This is the one who even got to lean on Jesus' bosom like a son comes affectionately up to his father and lays his head on the chest of his father. And this was the special relationship that John had with the Lord Jesus Christ. And Peter has thought about this. All of this is ruminating and coming up to his mind. This is the fifth comparison of Peter and John in the gospel. And Peter finally reveals what's been in his heart. If this one is in such a close relationship with you, Jesus, what happens to him? What happens to him? Maybe he's even thinking, why am I to be the one who dies a martyr's death? Is it because you love John more? Do you love John more than me? It's possible he's thinking that. It would be sinful, sinful thoughts. Comparison of ourselves with other believers is sure to always result in the worst thing that we can do as believers, taking your eyes off of Jesus. When you compare yourself to other believers, you take your eyes off of Jesus to do it, okay? And that's what Peter did. The standard isn't another believer, the standard is Jesus. When you and I think someone else here is more spiritual, more mature, Maybe we even might think that they're more highly loved by God. We don't rejoice for their maturity. We don't rejoice for their high spirituality. We can despise them for it. Right? We can want what they want versus what God offers us. That's the key. God can offer us better than we, than what we perceive others to have. That's important for you to get. God offers you better than what you perceive this brother or this sister to have. You can have better. And so when we compare ourselves to other believers and we take our eyes off of Jesus, and we look to them, and I look at my brother or my sister and go, I want what they have, and I'm even, it's like I'm talking to an idol. It's idolatry. Talk to the one who can actually give you what you need, the maturity that you need, the spiritual devotion that you want. Look to him. And social media especially makes us stumble in this. Why? Because in social media, Sure, there's like a group of people who often share the worst of their lives, and they're going through a lot, and they need prayer, and they're always sharing those hard things, but then there's the vast majority of social media users, and they're sharing the best of themselves. Look at this great day we had as a family. Look at this wonderful date with my wife. Look at my kid. He's holding a sign at the abortion mill. What a dutiful Christian boy. You know, we're showing the best of ourselves on social media. We don't post the picture of the kid yelling in the back of the van, cursing at their father, and then us growing like Stretch Armstrong and somehow being able to smack him like way in the back seat. We don't take pictures of that. Once we get there and he's doing well, we do. And so these things can lend to us comparing with others. You think about, I think about this, I don't see this as big anymore. Maybe not amongst reformed Christian women, but ladies used to go to their Instagram and there'd be just the best iPhone picture of an open Bible. to Esther or something, I don't know why. And then like a coffee cup and it says, I only need coffee in Jesus, right? They take the picture and it's super spiritual and they wait for their praise, you know? But then what happens is other women can stumble and they look at that and they go, wow. She has all these kids and somehow she's got the open Bible to Esther and she's got, I want that coffee cup. That'll make me more spiritual too. And there's this comparison, like I don't get enough time. I want that. And that's what ends up happening. Don't buy that coffee cup, by the way. We can argue whether doing something like that is right or not, but what is definitely wrong is then wanting what others have opposed to what God has given us and will give us, you know. I've seen this also in ministry in young men in the church. Young men can become jealous of other young men who become pastors first, or a man becomes a deacon when the other man was hoping he'd become a deacon sooner, or a young man gets duties from the elders before someone else, and they didn't, and they want to teach, and they want to show everyone, and they want to show everyone God, right? Because that's what we're doing. I'm the one I want people to see. And that's what happens with these competitions. And that sort of thing hurts your walk. It makes your obedience to God more about a competition with man than devotion to the living God. That's the law mindset, not the grace mindset. The grace mindset celebrates those next to me who are doing well in the Lord Jesus Christ. because they know it's not them. Goodness, you guys, we're sinners. I've talked with most of you. On your best days, it's because God gave it to you. It's not because of anything in you or me. And so that way, if I know that what they have and what's happened to them is because of God, then I can celebrate and turn to God and go, praise God that this issue was resolved in this sister's life. Praise God that this man got this position as a pastor and he's doing well with it. I'm gonna pray for him because that's a hard position. We've gotta do that. And so, Peter shows the focus has moved. We've gotta stay focused on Christ. He's the provider. Every good and perfect gift comes from above, coming down from the Father of lights. Sure, by the way, I'm not saying that God can't use a mentor or a pastor or friends or brothers and sisters in the Lord to help you, and that would be a means of maturity, but ultimately we know who it's from, okay? Ultimately, John can't give Peter what he craves, only Christ can. Yet as Peter learned the prophecy of his future, he can't help but ask, what is the prophecy of this man? What about him, Lord? Verse 22, Jesus said to him, if I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me. Basically, Jesus rebukes Peter. He just restored him. And what that shows us too is by the way, Jesus has restored you. And when you get corrected or you get rebuked, it's because you're loved. It's because you're actually a sheep of the shepherd. And so when the shepherd takes his shepherd's cane and drags you back by the neck, or you're starting to wander off towards the cliff and you get your legs taken out from under you, and then you get pulled back up by the shepherd and brought back in, that's because he loves. Not because he wants to harm you. And so that's what's happening here with Peter. He corrects him. Your focus is off. It needs to come back to where it ought to be. You follow me. And this saying is essentially, how's that any of your business? What is that to you? What is that to you? What is that when we've been talking about you and we've been talking about me and we've been talking about my sheep? What is this to you? What does John have to do with what I just commanded you to do? And what Jesus wants for Peter, get this, what Jesus wants for Peter may be different than what he wants in the end for John. And that's okay. And the same goes for you and me and every other believer in comparison to you and me. Be focused on what God is doing with you and what the Bible says he wants of you than what's going on with all the others around you. Of course, learn about your brothers and sisters and what they're going through that you may rejoice, that you may celebrate, that you may learn of your brothers and sisters to glorify God, to be able to pray for them if needed, but not to compare, not to compete. What's it to you if I want John to remain until I come, Peter? You follow me. Jesus is the sole focus of our devotion. And he says here that John will remain until he comes. What's it to you if he remains until I come? And you might be wondering, if this is the second coming, then shouldn't John still be alive today? Where's John now if Jesus hasn't returned yet? Shouldn't John be supernaturally alive today? He'll remain until I come. And this definitely touches a bit on the subject of eschatology or the study of last things. And I'm not gonna go off into a huge rabbit trail, but I'll just say, if you have followed Apologia's ministry for any length of time, you might have recognized that Pastor Jeff Durbin has preached once or twice on the gospel of Matthew. And, in fact, more than that. And he's taught specifically in Matthew 23. And you see in Matthew 23 the woes that Jesus gave against the Pharisees. This punishment is coming to you. Woe to you, Pharisees! Judgment! Punishment! And then Jesus ends chapter 23 right before the discourse on the Mount of Olives. He says, And all these things will come upon this generation, All these woes, all this punishment will come upon this generation, these covenant breakers. The Christians, it says, will be rescued and they'll be taken to safety. And historical record shows us that. When they saw the signs and they saw when Jerusalem's surrounded by armies, you flee the mountains. They would flee to a place called Pella. Don't go up to grab your coat. Go. And sure enough, the Roman army surrounded Jerusalem and decimated it. I mean, we're talking to the point where Jews were eating their children. They were going through so much famine and pestilence. There were signs in the sky. Jesus said, these things are going to happen in this generation. And they did. Horrific events occurred at the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. this great sort of tribulation. And it's been known in Christian history that the apostle John, who also wrote the revelation, stayed alive past all the other apostles. You see, God's purpose was for John to live. And John even writes that he was exiled to the island of Patmos. And where he saw there on the island of Patmos, he saw the revelation of God, he saw a heavenly vision, and that's where he recorded it all down. The book of Revelation was from this John, who remained until Jesus came. Revelation chapter one, John wrote all these things Jesus said must soon take place. And then John sent this revelation to the churches that Jesus told him to address. And look, I'm not sitting here telling you that all the things in the revelation or in scripture have already occurred. They haven't. There is so much that has not yet happened that we're waiting to be fulfilled, even to this moment. but to take revelation and make it Americentric and bring it to America and say that all those things haven't happened yet and that John wasn't actually writing to real churches and that all this is spiritualized in the wrong way or literalized in the wrong way is not right. It's not right. And what you have to say is, okay, then, then John should be alive to this day. What I'm trying to get at is what's called a coming day of the Lord. If you really, boy, if you read through the Old Testament, if you read, especially through the major and minor prophets, you'll see this constant theme, the coming day of the Lord, the coming day of the Lord. What were those days? Those were days of judgment, days of punishment. In the book of Malachi and Micah, it says that one will come to his temple and cleanse it, and he'll bring salvation, and then judgment. And that's what happened, is Jesus came to his own, and he brought salvation, but then those woes in Matthew 23, they are really gonna happen. Jesus isn't a false prophet. When he said, these things are gonna happen to you, they happened. And so, What occurred here is after the salvation by the Messiah judgment came upon the house of Israel, and that was carried out by God in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit in AD 70, and John lived. to write the revelation, and John lived, as far as we know, to see the destruction of the temple as Jesus predicted. That was his purpose, while Peter's life and death would glorify God in a different way. What's it to you if John remains until I come? This wasn't the official second coming that we're waiting for. This was a coming day of the Lord where God in the Trinity would come and give punishment. And that personal language of God coming is all throughout the Old Testament. He's coming. This isn't the official. final resurrection time or anything like that. So verse 23, we're getting close guys. Therefore this saying went out among the brethren that that disciple would not die, yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but only if I want him to remain until I come. What is that to you? See, even the narrator clarifies that it's not that John would die. but that John would remain or live until that coming day of the Lord. John would see the transition of the old to the new covenant, fully complete by what? fully complete and transitioned over by the destruction of the temple, the place where sacrifices were done, because now we have a sacrifice in Christ that is so powerful, so potent, that animal sacrifices at that point became an offense to God. He gave His one and only Son as a sacrifice, And so God came in the person of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and destroyed that temple because he would have no more sacrifices done. And I'll tell you what, I want you to know that not another temple has ever risen from this moment thousands of years ago. Not one other sacrifice has been done to Yahweh in a temple like that. That's because Christ is the once for all sacrifice. He did what the blood of bulls and goats could never do. The author of Hebrews says it was once for all, the one sacrifice, Christ. And so, John got to see that transition. That needs to be gone for the New Covenant to be spread. And the prophecy of Jesus indeed came true for both Peter and John. Peter was crucified and John remained to write the revelation. And so these are the conclusions of these brothers and the marching orders, not just for them, but all Christians after them. The marching orders, evangelize and shepherd. Evangelize and shepherd. That's what this church is supposed to do. That's what every church is supposed to do. Every local church evangelize and shepherd the ones you gather. Evangelize and shepherd. You see, you're not properly doing it if you're doing one without the other. Go to verse 24. This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true. The disciple whom Jesus loved, the disciple who lived on, is also the disciple who is eyewitness to these things. The one who wrote these things, he says they're true things. They're true. John is both the beloved apostle and gospel writer, and the one who remains until God takes him. And he says, we know that his testimony is true. The we here tells us that this wasn't just some sort of fiction by a single individual. John was just one of those who were eyewitness, along with many others who were a part of this. This gospel narrative and the theological interpretation John included in it was under collective authority. It was under divine inspiration. The gospel according to John then is the document of not just John, but the gospel according to John belongs to you. It belongs to me. It belongs to the church. Well, brothers and sisters, What we've seen in the epilogue is that even though Christ is ascending, he has made every arrangement necessary with the Holy Spirit in the commission of these apostles. We see here that God takes broken men, he takes broken women, he takes sinful people, even a man who denied the Lord Jesus three times and Christ restores them. And that's how he'll build his kingdom. It will be redeemed people. It will be the disciples and every subsequent generation of believers after them, including you and me, who will carry on this mission, evangelize and shepherd, evangelize and shepherd. That's what's been defined here, chapter 21, faithful evangelism, seed sowing, putting out a net to catch what God has already prepared, being faithful and doing it God's way, not our way. The church must continue in the proclamation of the gospel to a dying world. And when people from that dying world become born again, Jesus says they're his sheep, and they are part of the one flock of God. And that flock, because now they're alive and they're no longer dead, is going to need tending to, they're gonna need feeding, they're gonna need shepherding. And it starts with Peter and the apostles. And then in the book of Acts, and in the epistles, it continues with the offices of elder, overseer, pastor, and deacon, and it even includes the whole church. It'll take the whole church to care for the whole church. That's the New Testament message. And so the commission of Christ goes to all of us. And the call to shepherd goes to those in the flock that God specifically calls. But what we have seen today is that no one need to compare their calling to another in the body of Christ. Each person has a destiny that God has predetermined. Just like the evangelizing Shepherd Peter who will die a martyr's death on a cross, just like John, the elder overseer at Ephesus, the writer of the gospel, the writer of the letters of John, the writer of the revelation, who would live on until Jesus turns the page from the old covenant and opens the page to the new. But above all these things, you and I continue on. We press on. to know Christ and to make Him known. We don't get caught up in looking around us. We look to Christ. We follow Him. Because really, although everything in the world has changed from the start of the gospel in John to the end, everything's changed. Really, the focus remains the same. John wants us to look at who he started with and who he ends with. It's Christ. It's our Savior. It's our Lord. And so if during this series of John, these past almost two years, you didn't know Jesus Christ and his majesty, I really pray you do now. And if during this whole series you've already known Jesus, I pray that you've seen more of him in his majesty. I pray that you would be excited to be with him one day and to hear more that Jesus has to say. Because there's so much more to Jesus that we have yet to behold. So much more glory to set our eyes upon. So much more glory to be seen. And we'll do it for all eternity. And so fittingly, John ends his gospel with verse 25. And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written. Such is the glory of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you. for your word. Thank you for this message, God. Thank you, Lord, for the marching orders. God, we know we can't do it by ourselves. That's what you showed the apostles with the fishing, how they caught nothing. They need you, we need you. Lord, just like how we need you, to admonish us and to show us your way to know how to shepherd. Lord, I need as a pastor to know how you shepherd the flock to be able to care for your precious flock. Lord, we've treated these things so flippantly. There are so many churches who don't preach the gospel to the lost. There's so many churches that won't put the net out and just catch what you've predestined and placed there as your fish. There's so many, Lord, who neglect these things. But your people are out there and they need to be collected. And Lord, there's so many under shepherds. There's so many leaders and overseers who have abused their role. They haven't adorned the body of Christ rightly. They haven't taken care of the sheep. They haven't bandaged the sheep. They haven't fed the sheep. They've fleeced the flock. They've taken from the flock. They've left the flock destitute. False ministers coming to Africa, preaching a prosperity gospel, That if these Africans just give all that they have and all that they own, they'll have more. And these people are left naked and ashamed. These false ministers are all around us, Lord. Shut them down. Cause them to repent. Raise up more faithful men. Lord, please do a work in us. Thank you so much, Lord, that you take that witch is dead and those of us who have denied you and you regenerate us and you ask, do you love me? And we can say with confidence, we love you, but not on the basis of our own merits, but not on the basis of our some sort of inherent love inside of us. We're able to love you because you first loved us. And that's our cry. That's our confession, Lord. God, we thank you for this time that we've had in the gospel according to John. It's been so sweet. It's been so amazing, Lord. And I'm just beyond grateful, God. So please continue to bless this church. Help us as we move forward into several different topics and into the book of Ruth and possibly the first Corinthians, Lord. Thank you, God, for your word and how it continually guides us by your spirit. Pray this in Jesus' name, amen.