00:00
00:00
00:01
Transcript
1/0
Amen. So open your Bibles tonight
to the Gospel of John chapter 21. I have not forgotten that
we haven't completely finished John yet. I want to begin reading
in verse 13 of John 21. 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 died, Jesus
saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me
more than these? He sayeth unto him, yea, Lord,
thou knowest that I love thee. He sayeth unto him, feed my lambs.
He sayeth to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest
thou me? He sayeth unto him, yea, Lord,
thou knowest that I love thee. He sayeth unto him, feed my sheep. He sayeth 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. For when thou shalt be old, thou
shalt stretch forth thy hands and another shall gird thee.
and carry thee whither thou wouldest not this fake he signifying by
what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this
he saith unto him follow me my title this morning is the return
of Peter. The return of Peter. I take this
title because Jesus said in Luke 22, Simon, Simon. Satan hath
desired to have thee that he may sift thee as wheat, but I
have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. And when thou
art converted, strengthen your brethren. The word converted
means to return. A turning, a repentance, a change
of direction, a reversal. Now. Conversion is not an ongoing
experience when we think about coming to faith in Jesus Christ
for the first time, when one of God's people is regenerated
and they come to faith in Christ, that is a conversion experience
that is a one time experience. But from that point on, like
in the case of Peter, we are returning. returning and turning,
we are coming again and again to the Lord Jesus Christ. And
so in this sense, Peter has reached the point through the words of
Christ that he is. returning to the Lord Jesus Christ
and Christ is strengthening him so that he's ready to strengthen
and encourage and establish the brethren. This word is used in
many different ways. The English word conversion in
the book of Acts to turn and to return in Acts 15. Paul told
Barnabas, let us go again and visit the disciples. To go again
means to return, simply means let's go back, let's return again
to the place where we came from. And then Peter uses the Greek
word when he says, you were a sheep going astray, but now have you
returned to the shepherd and bishop of your souls? And so
all of us need a restoration, a returning continually to Jesus
Christ. We need renewal. We need, as
Psalm 23 says, he restoreth my soul. Something in our experience
we need time and time again and to be used of God. Like Peter,
to strengthen others, albeit not in. an apostolic office,
but yet with your spiritual gifts in the church of God and the
kingdom of God to be used of God means that Jesus is going
to strengthen your faith to Jesus is going to bring you through
similar processes, similar experiences so that you may keep returning
to the Lord Jesus Christ as he draws you and he equips you to
strengthen the brethren. Now, there are three things I
want us to note in these passages we read tonight. the return of
Peter by way of confidence. Secondly, the return of Peter
by way of grief. And then thirdly, the return
of Peter by way of weakness. First, by way of confidence. Now, this is the third time that
Jesus showed himself to his disciples. And the number three is no mistake
with Jesus Christ when it comes to Peter. It was three different
times that he called Peter to follow him early in the ministry.
One of those would have been the call to the apostolic office.
But three times he told him to follow him. One time he left
his net. The next time he forsook all
to follow Jesus Christ, and the third time he called Him to be
an apostle. of Jesus Christ. It was three
times that Jesus said in the Garden of Gethsemane, watch and
pray. And he found Peter asleep three
times. It's three times that Jesus Christ
is going to ask him, lovest thou me? It's three times that Peter
will respond because it was three times that Peter denied the Lord
Jesus Christ. Jesus is using these questions
to bring Peter back to a full return. not where he was in self-confidence,
but with a confidence in Christ. The first question is designed
to note that fact in verse 15. So when they had dined, Jesus
said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more
than these? That's exactly what Peter had
claimed, wasn't it? Although all may be offended
this night, yet not will I be offended. Now, can't you see
Peter pointing to the other disciples? All these may be offended tonight.
Others may depart from you. But I will not be offended. I
am ready to die for you, Jesus Christ." In other words, Jesus,
I love you more than these. And so Jesus poses the question
very directly, Simon, son of Jonas, do you love me more than
these other men here with you around the fire eating the fish
and the bread? Peter's problem was that of self-confidence. We see some of that in chapter
21, although now his confidence is a confidence in Christ. He's
the first one to jump out of the water to go see Jesus. He's
the first one when Jesus says, bring of the fish you have caught,
he goes and he takes of the fish and brings them to Jesus Christ.
He's usually the first one to speak, as he did on the Mount
of Transfiguration. And he says, let us make three
tabernacles, one for Moses, one for Elijah and one for you, Lord.
And God spoke and said, this is my beloved son. Hear ye him. Peter was often impetuous and
quick and hasty. He was a man of great self-confidence. But in order to strengthen the
brethren, he needs to become a man of great Christ-confidence. No longer a self-confidence,
but a confidence in Jesus Christ. You can see now his confidence
in Christ by his answer to the question. Three times he draws
attention to the knowledge of Jesus Christ. He would not say
directly, I love you, Jesus. But his answer is designed to
tell Jesus that by resting on Jesus love and Jesus knowledge
of his love. He saith unto him, yea, Lord,
thou knowest that I love you. As if to say, Lord. You know
how weak I am. I know that I failed you. And
you know better than myself that my love for you is not what it
should be. But you know that I love you. Oh, how stabilizing it is for
us to rely upon, stand upon, and have confidence in the love
of Jesus Christ for us, in the knowledge of Christ for us, in
His grace for us, which is unending, unchanging, immovable, rock solid,
So that even on that days when you feel like your heart is condemning
you, when you feel like your conscience is pressing upon you,
maybe in a way that it shouldn't be. Because sometimes as God's
people, we can feel a guilt that we shouldn't feel, and sometimes
we should feel guilt that we don't feel. But Peter is going
to be strengthened by the experience in his return to the Lord by
coming to the place where he's no longer looking to his own
ability, his own confidence, his own self. As he often did,
as we see through those periods of three years as a disciple
and follower of Jesus Christ, he now is going to rest more
fully, more confidently on Jesus' knowledge of him and Jesus' love
for him. John, the same apostle that writes
the gospel, And 1 John chapter 3 speaks about this confidence
more than once in this epistle when he wants to tell us about
the confidence in the knowledge of God, His love and what He
knows. Turn to 1 John chapter 3. Verse 18, My little children,
let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in
truth. Let's not just love with our
words only and say we love Jesus and say we love our brother.
Let us love in deed, action and in the truth of God. And the
result will be hereby we know that we are of the truth and
shall assure our hearts before him. Now, some people approach
this epistle And they come away with a lack of confidence because
they see those texts that are designed to confirm our salvation.
And they end up looking at themselves and becoming introverted and
walk away with a lack of assurance. But John writes this letter that
you may know that you have eternal life. And that you may assure
your hearts before him. But John is not going to give
us a false standard whereby to assess things. He wants us to
assess it in light of the truth of Christ, his knowledge, his
love and his power. The problem is all too often
I'm looking at my love, my deeds, my faith, something about me
and I lose confidence. But John always wants to direct
our faith to look at Jesus Christ and make the adjustment in our
life by what we see in him, which will help us to see our weaknesses
and failures. So he says, I want you to be
assured of the truth and your hearts before him that is before
Christ. Verse 20. For if our heart condemn
us, God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things. Now,
in one sense, your heart could be your conscience here condemns
you because you're not loving indeed in truth, you're just
loving in word, and that's the case. That's a good guilt. That's
something we need to look to the cross and confess our sins
and turn from it. But also sometimes because your
conscience is not infallible, it's not a completely reliable
guide. It's not that we should always let conscience be your
guide. Conscience must be informed from the word of truth. And so
there may be times when your conscience is giving you guilt
and maybe it's a misplaced guilt. So how would we know if our conscience
is fallibly telling us you're condemned, you're condemned?
We go back to the word of truth. So he says this. If your heart
is condemning you in a way that is not accurate, God is greater
than your heart and your conscience. And he knoweth all things. He knoweth all things. Now, that's
what Peter's resting in in our text. Lord, you know all things,
you know, That my love is not what it should be. Now, how would
that give Peter confidence? And what kind of love does God
expect? How could you find confidence with a God that says, love me
with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your
strength? And Peter says, I just I don't have that kind of love
for you. You know my weakness. You know that what's lacking
in my love. And yet Peter is supposed to have a confidence
now to go out and strengthen the brethren with a confidence
that says. I don't measure up. What kind of measure of love
does God require? The kind of love that Peter has,
is that the kind of love that God accepts, what kind of love
will God accept as his throne of judgment, what kind of love
will God say, you know, I think that's good enough, you've loved
me as good as you could come on into the pearly gates and.
Rest with me. You see, John's point. in John
21 and here is that we know that God knows all things. The first
thing we know about God in Christ is that his love is infallible. His love is eternal. We know
God. Which is another way of love
in John's theology, because he says we love God because he first
loved us. We know God because he first knew us. And so we're
resting in his knowledge of us, his love for us. And we know
because of Christ's love for us, his love measures up to the
standard of God. His righteousness measures up
to God's standard. And so it's not that I need to
look at my love and say, how much love will God accept in
order to be right with God? Jesus has made me right with
God. And so it's not about the degree
of my love. It's about pursuing love, walking
in love, as John says, continuing in love and continuing in good. And John makes a similar statement
with the word confidence in First John, 228, when he says this,
and now little children abide in him that when he shall appear,
we may have confidence. And not be ashamed before him
that is coming, just have confidence of the coming of Christ. Now,
what kind of love do you think you could look to in yourself
and have confidence when Jesus comes? He says, you know what?
You have been loving enough all your life to meet the standard. I can't say that. And you can't
either. But verse 29 helps us have this
confidence. If you know that he is righteous,
you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of God. And if you're born of God, you're
righteous already. You have faith in Christ and
his righteousness has been imputed to you. And so he is righteous
for you. And therefore, your confidence
is not in the degree of your love. Your confidence is not
in the degree of good deeds you've done. Your confidence is that
Jesus knows all things. He knows. How much you've loved, but he
also knows it was his love, his life that counts for yours, and
that's Peter's confidence now, you know, in the past, he was
looking to himself. And now he's looking to the knowledge of Christ,
the love of Christ, the righteousness of Christ. And in that now he
has the strength. To strengthen the brethren. He
now has the confidence to strengthen the brethren, how would you like
someone to give you confidence by talking about their confidence
in themselves? That's not going to get you very far. You think
Peter is ready now to say to the Christians as he strengthens
them and writes those epistles, say, brethren, if you just do
it like I did, what you need to do is pull yourself up by the
bootstraps. When the going gets tough, the tough get going and
you just need to keep pressing on. That never has helped me.
Never has. I know my week. I know I can't
keep going on. I know if I look to myself, there's
no way that I could keep running the race. But the Bible doesn't
say look to yourself to run races. Look to Jesus Christ. Look away
from yourself. Peter now is ready to strengthen
other Christians with the strength that God supplies because. He knows that Jesus knows all
things and knows that He truly loves him, even though that love
is lacking. Jesus, how could you accept such
a love as Peter's that's lacking? Because God has accepted Peter
on the basis of the love of Christ and the deeds of Christ and the
righteousness of Christ. That's how you're accepted. That'll
give you a soft pillow to lay your head on at night. Has your
conscience ever said to you, you know what, I'm just not doing
enough deeds, I'm not doing enough good. You know, brother, so and so,
he's so much better than I am. And then you start taking that
to the place where you're really thinking that you need to do
enough good so God would love you. You need to do enough deeds
so God would accept you. You need to do enough righteousness
so God will have you. Now, when we see that there's
deeds lacking in our life, what needs to happen? We need to confess,
repent and return and start doing the truth that Jesus calls us
to. But not by expecting or thinking that somehow that deed is going
to make a difference with God. It won't. You can't do enough
deeds. You can't love enough. You can't be right enough on
your own. You can't be strong enough. You can't talk enough.
You can't have a knowledge of the truth enough. What you need
is a perfect savior that became your penal substitution, which
means in a law room, law courtroom, he was your. Penalty for you,
he bore the penalty, you don't have to bear the penalty, there
is therefore now no condemnation that are in Christ Jesus and
never will be no penalty whatsoever. For those who are in Christ,
the wrath of God has been absorbed on your behalf. So this is how
we know we are of the truth. And when your conscience condemns
you rightfully, confess it. If it condemns you wrongfully,
go back to the Word of God and it says these things about Christ. And when you find your stability
in His love, His righteousness, His knowledge, the upshot is
that it will make and produce deeds in your life. You see,
we're not negating the fact that the Bible tells us to do good
works. We're talking about how they come. See, if you look at
yourself, they won't come. You'll be fearful. You'll be
distressed. You'll be in despair. I'm not
doing enough. But if you find the joy that's in Christ's righteousness,
then they start flowing. Like we said this morning, when
you're with God, then you're with Christ. And when Christ
is with you, his righteousness is for you. And when it's for
you, you don't have to pay that debt. It's been paid. You can't
pay that debt. And in that joy, John says in first John one for
what happens. You start bearing fruit, you
start doing good deeds, you start doing good works. Oh, beloved,
it makes so much difference of how you think about what you're
doing and how you're relating and having fellowship with God. Peter was having fellowship with
himself because, by and large, he was self-confident. I love
you more than these guys. I don't know about them, but
I'll never do that. So Jesus says, Peter, do you want to confess
that again? Are you still that confident? He basically says,
no, I'm not. You know, you know that I love
you, Lord. And so in 1 John 3, verse 21,
then he says, Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then we
have confidence toward God. If our conscience is condemning
us and we look to Christ's love and his righteousness and his
knowledge to help our conscience, then when our conscience does
not condemn us because we have a clear sight of Christ, how
much more then do we have confidence toward God? So Peter is returning. He's returned. And now he's resting
in the love of Christ. He's resting in the ability of
Christ. He's resting in Christ like the
true vine. And Peter is a branch for which
he draws the life giving sap. of the life of Christ day by
day to do anything good and beloved, if we try to do anything good
on our own without faith in Christ, without a branch to a vine, God
says you're relying on yourself and it's sin rather than faith. And so be encouraged with Peter
that. We may have confidence in Jesus
Christ, the second thing in John, Twenty one is that this return
happens by way of grief. The third time. That Jesus asked
this question, it was grieving. To Peter. And so John records. In verse
17, Peter was grieved because he had 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,
feed my sheep. He was grieved. The word grieved
is to experience pain or sadness, sorrow. Now, beloved, that was
Jesus intent. was to cause grief for Peter. That's the whole reason he said
it three times. He was aiming at Peter having sorrow because
godly sorrow work with repentance. So Jesus so loves Peter that
he's going to give him short term pain so they can experience
long term peace. We do that all the time just
in the world we live in. We will take medicines and take
shots and go through procedures that hurt. Some of the terminology and things
I've been hearing lately of some of the brothers in the church
going through makes me a little bit apprehensive about growing
older. When Brother Jesse told me they chiseled his vein, I
thought, I never heard of chiseling a vein. I thought you gently
poke it or you just kind of easy push the stuff out. But chisel
a vein? Never would have used that word. Chisel. But the short
term pain We're trusting is going to give Brother Jesse a long
term health, longer term health. So we do that all the time. Jesus
wants us to have short term pain and grief to experience the outcome
of that grief, which is a return to him. Now, you can do one of
a few things when you experience. A guilt that is good. It's not
your conscience fallibly informing you. It's what the word of God
says is truly a guilt you should own. You can just deny it. Say, well, you know, I just I'm
just having a bad day. And, you know, my this this feeling
of guilt I have is just it's just something that's that's
not true. And you ignore it. Secondly,
you could redefine sin. That's what some people do. You
try to use different terminology and they say, well, I'm just
sick. I've got a disease or, you know, it wasn't exactly the
best thing to do in this case. Could have done something better.
All kinds of words that our culture will bring in for people who
commit sin. And we adopt the words of our
culture sometimes. We say, well, I've got a disease.
What's your disease? I can't stop saying evil things
about people. Well, no, the Bible says that's
sin. Say, I'm sick. I've got a sickness that I need
some help with. What's your problem? Well, I
can't stop looking at images that are not good for me. Well,
the Bible calls that sin. And so if we don't call it sin,
guess what? You don't have a remedy. And
you don't have a savior to deal with it. But the best thing you
can possibly do is say it's sin because there's a remedy for
sin and his name is Jesus Christ. When Christians are convinced
that they don't have sin, when the Bible clearly says they do,
what happens? Long term pain is what they're
after. a departure from Jesus Christ rather than a return through
a short, short term grief. Paul writes about this in his
epistle to the church at Corinth when he said he was he wrote
to make them sorry for their attitude and for their sin against
God. So Second Corinthians chapter
seven, he says these words for though and verse eight, for though
I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent. Though I did
repent or I perceived that the same epistle had made you sorry,
though it were but for a season. At first, he was sorry, but then
he decided, you know, it was the best thing because your sorrow was just
short lived. short term pain Paul saw was
long term benefit for the church of Corinth. Now, if Paul doesn't
write the letter, Paul says, you know what? It's just not my place
to tell them that. I mean, I know I'm an apostle,
but, you know, I don't think they're going to listen and they're
too far gone. And anybody would look at that
church and say this church is going downhill. Now, would you
have applied for membership at this church? So, you know, I
want to be a member of Corinth. Let me tell you what's going on here.
OK, I think I'll go somewhere else. But, you know, Paul never
told anybody to leave that church. It was reported to me in the
house of Chloe. You never told Chloe, you know what? Run. He
said, no, love these people. Work through it, love them. So
it made you sorry for a season, a short while. Jesus made Peter
sorrowful, grieved for a short season so that he could gain
something in the process. Verse nine. Now rejoice, not
that you were made sorry. That wasn't my joy. I know sometimes
you You meet people and you think they're just happy that I'm sorrowful.
That was not Paul. I didn't rejoice because you
were made sorry, but that you sorrowed to repentance, turning,
change, returning to Jesus Christ. For you were made sorry after
a godly manner that you might receive damage by us in nothing.
For godly sorrow work is repentance to salvation. Not to be repented
of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death. There is a sorrow
of the world that does not have God as its aim or Jesus Christ. There are people that are sorry
all the time. There are people that feel guilt all the time,
but their guilt is not associated with sin against a savior. It's
associated with hurting a person. And that's that's not saying
that's a bad sorrow to not feeling the pain because you hurt someone
when a society gets to the point where they can just run over
people and treat people with evil and never feel any guilt.
The conscience is not functioning as God designed it. The conscience
is vanishing. But for a believer, it's more
than just I'm sorry I hurt you. It's a sorrow directed Godward,
or it could be just the sorrow of the world. I'm sorry I hurt
you. I'm sorry that happened. I'm sorry I got called. I'm sorry
that I'm in jail. I'm sorry that I got hurt by
what I did. Paul says it's godly sorrow.
So verse 11, for behold, this self same thing that you sorrowed
after a godly sort, a godly manner or a God word sort. It was a
sorrow, a grief and a pain that Peter felt connected to whom
Jesus Christ. What was the biggest pain that
Peter was experiencing? It had nothing to do with a human
being. It had nothing to do at this
point with a consequence, although he got some. He lived with some
things that he didn't forget. It had one thing to do with it
was against the Savior that he desperately loved. It was the
pain of sinning against Jesus, the one who died for him, the
one who loved him, the one who knew him, the one who was his
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. He had sinned
against His Savior. What was David's greatest pain?
In the sin against Bathsheba and against Uriah. Having Him
slain. And against the people of Israel
for which he received great consequence. The death of a child. Warfare would not depart from
his own household. His greatest, greatest pain above
everything was I've sinned against God, my savior. I have despised
God. That must be the aim of our repentance. That must be the focus for it
to be a godly sorrow, Peter is grieved because he knows he has
not loved Jesus as he should. He knows he was self-confident.
He knows he ran from Christ. He knows that he left him. He
knows all about his sin, and it grieves him. Beloved, it's
the goodness of God that leads us to repentance, not even the
threat of hell. Nobody repents because of hell
alone. The threat of hell can move us
in the right direction. Jesus uses that often in his
teaching. He reminds us of the reality. of what's coming to unrepentant
people that can move us and start us down the path of repentance.
But it's the goodness of God that leads us and moves us to
repent. It's Jesus Christ that moves us. It is God himself that
we have so defamed and belittled with our sin. If we don't call
sin, sin, then it will not produce a godly soul. The Holy Spirit
is going to use his word, his truth about Jesus, the son of
God, to prick our hearts and to bring us to the place of repentance
and what pricked the hearts in Acts chapter two. Was it, man,
you've ruined the traditions. You have messed up your family
life. You've ruined all your Israelite friends and all that
you've done. No, you crucified the man that
died for you. And it pricked them. And it produced
what? Repentance, returning, change,
conversion and joy. All because of a message Peter
preached. Now look at the upshot of their
repentance that's going to work out in Peter's life too. Verse
11. You sorrowed after a godly manner. What carefulness it wrought
in you. Carefulness is eagerness and
earnestness. You see, true repentance is going
to produce some things in someone's life. There's a false repentance.
I'm sorry, I've sinned. Pharaoh said that. I've sinned
against the Lord. But it never produced this stuff
in his life, which means it was just a false repentance. John
the Baptist said, bring forth fruit worthy of repentance. There'll
be a fruit in your life. It may take a while to express
that. And so we're not waiting for
people to show that fruit before we restore people, before we
accept forgiveness and give forgiveness and seek repentance, says forgiven. But there should be a fruit that's
coming out of the life of someone who has experienced godly sorrow,
eagerness for God's glory, eagerness and earnestness to serve God. Yea, what clearing of yourselves
apology is the word to give an answer, except now it's no longer
a defense of self. We've done that right. What do
you mean is sin? Was her fault was his fault. We are good at giving a defense
apology, but here now the apology to give an answer to give a defense
is an answer of a confession of sin. You confessed it. They
answered rightly. Their godly sorrow brought what?
We've sinned against God and are no more worthy to be called
his son. Yea, what indignation against
their own sin and against sin in general it brought. Yea, what
fear, fear of God it brought. Yea, what vehement desire, a
longing for Paul himself, which they had pushed aside. They longed
to see Paul. Now it was a longing to honor
God. Yea, what zeal, passion for God's glory, yea, what revenge
in all things you have approved yourselves to be clear in this
matter, not a revenge on other people, but a revenge on their
own sin, a wanting to put it away, a wanting to to trust God,
a wanting to serve again. And so they prove themselves
to be clear. What was the proof of the clearance?
It was a godly sorrow that led to some activity. in their life. Peter, you can tell when he writes
his epistles, Peter, you can tell him the book of Acts is
a man that returned to Christ with a true, genuine sorrow. He's grieved, but his grief is
a short season, a short term that led him to a long term restoration
and peace with God. But that's a perpetual process,
isn't it? Repentance should be that godly sorrow that we find
from God's word. We've offended God. We've sinned
against God. And then that sorrow should lead
us to restoration, should lead us to more fruit bearing, should
lead us to more joy in Christ because we find that we confess
our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. See, what is God requiring when
you sin? A year to make it right. Is it requiring so many good
deeds and so many acts of love before you get forgiveness from
your father? No, just confession. Agreement with God. Peter is
agreeing with Jesus now. He's grieved. I've sinned. And
now he's agreeing with the remedy. It's Jesus Christ. It's the knowledge
of Christ. It's the love of Christ. And
then lastly, he's going to be restored. He's going to return
through weakness. Because that's where Christ is
bringing him to in his conversion experience, in the sifting of
the devil. He's going to pray that his faith does not fail.
And when it doesn't fail, And when you are returned, the experience
of that return and what Christ is after in Peter's life is for
him to strengthen others, to strengthen others. So after the
questioning of Jesus and Peter's response, because Jesus designed
for Peter as an apostle to shepherd the sheep, to be an oversight
of the sheep, to feed the sheep with the word of God in the apostolic
office, what he needed to do that was confidence. What he
needed was restoration through grief. And now what he needs
to be very weak. to be very weak in order to do
so. And so verse 18 says, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast young, you girded yourself. You walked wherever you wanted
to walk. But when you shall be old, thou shalt stretch forth
thy hands, and another shall gird thee and carry thee, whither
thou wouldest not. Now, he spake this signifying
what death, Peter, was going to glorify God. And that's what
death should do, shouldn't it? Your death and my death should
glorify God. It's not the case for every single
Christian, but it should be a moment in time at the end of life that
our life is going to glorify God. Now, Jesus here doesn't
say exactly how he's going to die, and some say he was crucified
upside down. That's not in the scripture.
That's what many people have said through writings that have
been written, extra biblical writings may be true. You can't
hang your hat on that. But we do know this. Jesus is
expressing something about Peter that he would be weak where he
was once strong in himself. Now he would be weak and he expresses
it by a willingness to stretch forth his hands and let someone
bind him and carry him and lead him to a place that he would
not choose normally himself. Now, it doesn't mean he's fighting
and kicking, saying, I don't want to die that way because
that wouldn't be glorifying to God. When you stretch forth your hands,
you're putting out your hand saying, take me, Lord, where
you want me to go. Take me to the death you've designed
for me. Take me to the place you want
me to go. Now, when Peter was young, he
was self-confident and. A proud burly fisherman. And he just simply went where
he wanted to go and did that which he pleased. But Jesus said
now through this experience, he would become weak so that
the strength of Christ would be seen and known through Peter
and he would glorify him in his death. You know, Peter. Spoken. or wrote, rather, in 1 Peter
chapter 5 about humbling yourself into the mighty hand of God.
When I think he's using terminology about this very chapter, feed
my sheep, feed my lambs, he tells the elders of that day, feed
the flock of God and take the oversight thereof, not by constraint,
but willingly, not for filthy lucre's sake, but with a ready
mind. Peter was ready to take the oversight of the flock of
God. Peter, as an apostle, was willing, ready and confident
in what? In Jesus Christ. How? Through humility, weakness. There's
no place for self-confidence in a pastor or church members.
We need to battle that. Peter's not saying, Brethren,
just be confident and feed the flock of God. He says, Be humble
under the mighty hand of God. Likewise, ye younger, submit
yourselves to the older. Yea, every one of you submit
yourself to one another. Be clothed with humility, a lowliness,
a weakness that Peter came through to through this experience. Humble
yourself under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you
in due time, casting all your care upon him, for he careth
for you. And then he says to resist the devil, who's like
a roaring lion walking about seeking whom he may devour. And
who is it that the devil so easily devours? God resisted the proud,
but giveth grace to the humble. When we become self-confident,
like Peter was, what happened? The devil came in and rustled
him up and chewed on him. Spit him out. Now, the only reason
Peter's faith didn't fail is because the intercessor Christ
prayed that it did not fail. But in Peter's pride and self-confidence,
young men, what happened? He fell. He fell because the
devil preys on proud men and women. And as J.C. Ryle writes
in his book, Thoughts for Young Men, young men, your greatest,
greatest threat at young age is pride. Of course, I can say
that from experience, and it doesn't just go away because
you hit your 40s and 50s. The greatest threat for young
men is self-confidence and pride. Be aware of that, because the
devil is seeking to devour you and to chew you up with his jaws.
So Peter comes to the place of weakness. He writes about his
own humility and he says, be clothed with humility, clothe
yourself with it. Put it on every day. Humbleness
of mind, lowliness, meekness, long suffering. Be humble as
a pastor. Be humble as a church member.
Yea, the younger submit yourselves. Every one of you yield to one
another or the devil will chew you up and devour. And then Peter says, but the
God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by
Jesus Christ, after that you suffered a while, make you perfect,
establish, strengthen, settle you." Peter uses the same Greek
word for strengthen the brethren in Luke 22 that he does in 1
Peter 5, 10. See, the return of Peter was
also the perfecting of Peter. How is God going to perfect you?
How is God going to make you more complete? How is God going
to bring you to greater weakness, greater confidence in Christ?
It's through. grief and sorrow of repentance,
but it's also so through trial and hardship and challenges and
difficulty as he continues to push out the self-confidence
and show us our weaknesses so we can get lower and lower and
lower so that we can look up and see Christ higher and higher
and higher. So he says it's a short season.
He's called you to glory. So the calling ensures that all
that are called all get to glory. Those that are called are justified
and those that are justified are glorified. So the called
affectionately by God make it to glory and on the pathway from
the calling to glory is a pathway of perfecting through what? The jaws of the devil. The persecution
of the Roman Empire, which is the backdrop of first Peter,
the whole epistle. through suffering according to
the will of God, 1 Peter chapter 4, 1 Peter chapter 3. If you
suffer according to the will of God, through suffering, through
trial, through pain, Peter's going to suffer in his death.
But he's going to come to the place of weakness that he's relying
upon what? The God of all grace. He's relying upon the God of
all grace. He knows that he's been called.
He knows that he's headed for glory by the righteousness of
Christ. And now he knows that God is just perfecting him. God
is perfecting him. And Peter wanted to strengthen
you today, you tonight in 2012 on this day. He wanted to perfect
you and to tell you that God is going to perfect you the very
same way that he did Peter. Maybe the devil is going to sift
us, maybe there'll be other ways which we are tested and tried
so we can discover more of our self-confidence, more of our
weakness and more of those things we need to grieve over. And through
that process, we find Peter writing that God is making us more like
Christ so we can have more joy in Christ and so that we then
would be able to strengthen one another. You know, you could
go talk to somebody who has simply head knowledge and they could
tell you about what to do and how to handle the situation from
Scripture, which is fine. If that's all we have at a certain
point of life, then that's good. But when you're sitting across
from someone who knows the Bible, but also knows the experience
of the ways of God through trials, There's something about what
they're saying and telling you that they can enter into and
they can know what you're dealing with. Now, that's not required. A person can help and encourage
straight from scripture. But God is going to bring through
you through trials and process so that when you strengthen the
brethren, you're using a word that you experience comfort from
yourself by the trial that you went through. Second Corinthians
chapter one. Paul says the God of all comfort that comforts
us in all of our trials. What does he do? He brings you
through the trial so that you could comfort other people with
the same comfort that you received of God during your process of
being perfected. That's how God works. Paul says
my suffering. My being perfected was so that
when you're suffering, I can comfort you with the same comfort
that I received of God, and where did he get that from a word spoken? From Scripture, from a truth
spoken. from someone else. From God speaking to him through
the truth. And now God was equipping Paul
to be better able to comfort others when they went through
the same struggles. Some for which you have gone
through. Some for which you could help someone and strengthen them
in their race in looking to Jesus Christ. Not by saying, this is
what I did. Not by saying, this is what I
think you should do. But by saying, this is what God did through
His Word. How that strengthens us to know.
You mean God came to you? Yes, and he said he's going to
do the same. Maybe a different way, but his truth is it abides
still. He's going to be with you and
help you through the trial. And so Peter writes. First and
second, Peter, as a result. Largely upon not only the Holy
Spirit that inspired him, but through you can see his experience.
through the trials he went through and through this return to Jesus
Christ. So the return of Peter was by
means of confidence, confidence in Christ. Secondly, it was through
grief. So the grief that we experience
through repentance and sorrow or the grief of trial, God is
using the pain and the grief and the sorrow to bring about
a turning again and again to bring about a drawing closer
to him and then by weakness. Peter would stretch out his arms
and somebody else was going to carry him. And we look in Scripture,
we find that Jesus in Isaiah 40, when it talks about the Messiah,
He gathers the lambs in His bosom and He carries them all the day
long. He carries. So Peter just needed
to rest in the power and sufficiency and the supremacy of Christ.
But to do that, He had to come to the place of what weakness,
lowliness, humility, because nobody is going to climb up into
the arms of another if they think I can carry myself. That's what
Peter thought. But now he knows I need somebody
to carry me. Do you? Let's pray.
The Return of Peter
Series John
| Sermon ID | 9911517329140 |
| Duration | 49:15 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - PM |
| Bible Text | John 21:13-19 |
| Language | English |
Documents
Add a Comment
Comments
No Comments
© Copyright
2026 SermonAudio.