You got your Bibles, turn to John chapter 21 on your phones, your Bibles. I get to wrap up this series we started eight weeks ago in the gospel of John. And so we're gonna step into a series from Jude, the letter of Jude next week. And so we're excited about that. But before we do, I wanna jump into John chapter 20 and verse 30 and 31 as we exit this gospel, just to remind you why John wrote this. Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples. which are not recorded in this book. He said, but these are written, chapter 21 of John, are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing that, you may have life in his name. It's the whole reason we preach this eight-week series to start the year, because our hope and our desire, I hope that we make it plain every week, is that you will know Jesus, and that you will believe in Jesus, and that by doing so, you may have eternal life. Amen, church? It's our goal, right? It's our goal. And so, as we close out this book of John, we're left with another story that's a reason for you to believe in Jesus. So, when I was in high school, My dad was not a Christian, we did not grow up in a Christian home. My dad was not a terrible human being, but he wasn't a Christian. But he did have a few rules. And my dad was about five foot 11, ex-military, he was big, he was rough, and he didn't have a lot of rules, but one of the rules was this, you don't drink. For him it was a non-negotiable, right? And so we grew up in a house where that wasn't the case. Well, as a junior in high school, I decided to test that theory, and I got drunk the one time that I drank in high school. It was October, my junior year. I had been to a birthday party, and all I remember is this, that sometime around 2 a.m., one of my buddies drove me home, and another one of my buddies drove my car home. And just so you know, this was the kind of home that lived out in the country, away from town. And here's the thing, back in the day, people were so scared of my dad that nobody ever bothered to teepee our house, right? And if you don't know what teepeeing is, just look it up, right? But nobody ever did it because nobody wanted to mess with my dad. So at two in the morning, when my buddy rolls into my driveway in the country, we had dogs that lived outside. And at two in the morning, on an October night, and a strange car pulls in the driveway, our dogs went crazy. And when my dogs went crazy, my dad went crazy. And the next thing I know, he comes out of the house, pair of shorts, no shirt, cussing a blue streak, yelling about what is going on out here. Didn't take him long to realize that his son was a moron, right? And all I remember is around sometime in the morning, before it was fully bright, I got a tap on my shoulder and a voice in my ear, and it said this, get up, brush your teeth, Your mom's never gonna hear about this, and we'll talk about it later. Here's the thing, it was October. I didn't go to church. My dad didn't go to church. Everybody else in my family were starting to go to church. And so it was October, it was football season, it was me and my dad. The problem was, there was this matzah ball hanging over me, right? That I knew when he got up, we were gonna have to discuss my decision making process from the night before. You can imagine, as a 17 year old, I was terrified, right? I was anxious, I was nervous. And that is John 21, right? Listen to this, I want you to get a feel. I said to you this last week, said this to you last week. Listen, you're a human. These are humans in the book. If you're not reading scripture through the lens of humans, you're not going to understand how amazing God is. Listen to this in Matthew 26, right? Jesus denied of being arrested, they sung a hymn, they left the Mount of Olives. And Jesus told them this, this very night, all of you will fall away on account of me. Not some, but all of you. It's written, I'll strike the shepherd, the sheep of the flock will be scattered. But after I have risen, I'll go ahead of you into Galilee. Here's what Peter said, right? And listen, Aaron has never spoken truer words. when he said, he's a much like Peter, and puts his foot in his mouth. Peter replied, even if all, that means even if every one of these other cats fall away on account of you, say it with me, I, I never will. He goes on to say, I tell you the truth, Jesus said, this very night before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times. Peter hadn't had enough. Peter declared, even if I have to die with you, read it with me, I will sown you. Get the picture, right? Listen to this account, Luke 22, same night, right? They seized Jesus. They led him away and they took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed where? Not a good start for a guy who wants to die with him, right? When they kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and it sat down together, Peter sits down at the fire with him, right? A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and she said, this man was with Jesus. He denied it. Woman, I don't know him, he said. A little later, somebody else comes up to him and says, you are one of them. Man, I am not, Peter replied. An hour later, another asserted, certainly this fellow was with Jesus because he sticks out here like a sore thumb. He's a Galilean, and listen to Jesus. or listen to Peter, Peter replied, I don't know what you are talking about. Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. And then listen to these words. And now you picture you. Picture this moment. Because every one of you in here, every one of you in line, you've said to somebody, I will never. I would never, that'll never happen. Every person in here, don't have to be a Christian or not, that's not the issue, but all of us know the power of a promise, the power of a declaration, and the failure of that declaration. Yes, we all know that. Bible says the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. And Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him before the rooster crows, today you will disown me three times. And he went outside and wept bitterly. And as powerfully difficult as that is, I can imagine, and I'm guessing that all of you watching online in here can imagine a moment where you said, I will never, that will never, and you failed. Jesus happened to be in hearing distance of it and sight distance of it. And they turned and they locked eyes. And in that moment, one felt the pain of betrayal and one felt the pain of being the betrayer. You know those feelings. Some of you have been on both sides of those conversations. You know what that feels like. But here's the thing, it gets worse. Because once Jesus is arrested, and he's crucified, and he's buried, and he rises from the dead three days later, he has already seen Peter twice. Now some of you, when you argue, you use the, I'm gonna give him the silent treatment technique, yes? I won't embarrass you by asking who's the silent treatment person, right? But that is a mean strategy, right? There's this anxiousness filled, and one of you just shuts down. I'm not talking, right? Imagine Peter carrying this failure, and Jesus resurrects. And Jesus and Peter see each other. And Jesus says nothing. That's once. Second time it happens, they see each other. And guess what? Jesus doesn't even mention it. I don't know about you, but the morning I waited for my dad after my drunken debacle, I can't imagine if he'd have made me wait three days to have that conversation. I would have been beside myself. And so here's Peter in Galilee, seeing the guy twice, and Jesus hasn't even mentioned it. So what do you do when you're that person? Because here's what I'm gonna guess about every one of you in this room, every one of you online, and the guy sitting on this platform. We've all done that. We've all made declarations either to a person, or to the Lord, or to God, or to our church, and we've all failed. I'm gonna guess that we all understand that concept. Here's the reason why you should believe in Jesus. Because unlike most other things in the world, this system, the gospel, works best when you fail. My guess is through 40 years of doing this, lots of people don't understand the power of the gospel when you fail. If you fail at work, you can get fired. If you fail in your marriage, you can end up divorced. If you fail as a parent, your children may grow up and never speak to you again. There's many things in the world that if you fail, the system breaks down. But here's the thing about the gospel, and here's the thing you'll learn about Peter today. The gospel is at its best when you fail. Let's talk about three truths about this journey. Here's the first one, a moment of hope. A moment of hope, right? Listen to John chapter 21, right? This is in verse one, listen to the story. Jesus appears again to his disciples by the Sea of Tiberias and it happened this way. Simon, Thomas, Nathaniel, Canaan, right? Sons of Zebedee, James and John, two others, they're all there. And here's what Jesus said, go to Galilee, wait for me there. They're in Galilee, they're waiting for him there. If you study this passage, a lot of people are gonna say, when Peter says I'm gonna go fish, that it's a monumental failure and a sin. I'm telling you, that's not true. They're waiting where they were told to wait. You know what it's like when you're waiting. You find a million stupid things to do when you're waiting. Anybody ever get hungry while you're waiting and go to Taco Bell and get a burrito? Yeah, right? Peter just says, we're not fishing. I'd rather fish than to go into town. So they go fishing, right? And here they are. And Peter has got this anxiety hanging over him for this monumental betrayal. And the last moment of that betrayal was the eye contact between him and Jesus. And he's seen him twice. Nothing has been said. Shows up again. He said, I'm gonna go fish. They said, we'll go with you, right? Because that's what friends do, right? They went out, got in a boat, they caught what? They didn't catch anything, right? So they come back in the morning, Jesus is standing on the shore. Disciples didn't realize it was Jesus. He called to them and said, friends, I mean, I don't know about you, but I can sort of see the smirk on Jesus' face, right? Friends, haven't you any fish? No, they answered. He said, throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some. When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. And here's the interesting thing about this story. This happened the very first time that Jesus met Peter. You can read it for yourself, Luke chapter five, Peter's fishing, they fish all night, they catch nothing. They park the boats on the shore, Jesus gets in one of them, Peter rows him out, Jesus does his teaching. While they're out there, while they're out there, Jesus says to Peter, first encounter, throw your net down. He throws it down after telling Jesus, we fished all night, dude, we're professionals, we didn't catch anything. They throw the net in and the catch is so full it begins to break the net. Think about this, Peter's here, with this failure hanging over his head. They're out fishing, they've caught nothing, and this guy on the shore that's 100 yards away says, hey, throw your net on the right side. And he do, and they catch fish. What do you think Peter remembers immediately? I know who this guy is. It's Jesus. I don't know, I only know my story. And I can tell you there were moments in my failure as a follower of Christ that I had lost all hope, that I had no idea how to get from where I was at to where I needed to be back into relationship with Jesus. My guess is some of you sitting in here, some of you watching online know exactly what I'm talking about, right? And even if it's not about that, my guess is most if not all of you in here and online know the power of feeling hopeless, yes? And here's the thing about hopelessness, man, it is all-encompassing. It will shut you down to where you don't wanna do the simplest things, like just getting out of bed. It just permeates every aspect of your life. Jesus reveals himself to Peter in a way to communicate to Peter, hey, I know you did this thing and it was the worst thing you've ever done in your life, but just so you know, there's hope, I'm right here. I'm right here. You see, here's the thing about going from being broken because of your failure to being restored because of who God is. You're gonna have to have a moment of hope. How many of you have ever said, I just don't feel close, I just don't feel close to God? Anybody, right? Even though we say this all the time, facts or feelings aren't facts, right? Feelings aren't facts. They're not, but they're true because it's how you feel. In this sense, when you feel hopeless, there's only one thing you need. You need to feel hope. What a hopeful moment for Peter. What a hopeful moment for Peter that he's triggered that Jesus would still reveal himself to us. We tend to hide, Genesis 3, eight, right? When Adam and Eve sinned and God went walking, right, in the cool of the garden, and Adam and Eve, what was their response? The end of verse eight says that they hid from the Lord among the trees of the garden. How many of you in here online, when you've messed up, when you've made mistakes, the first thing you wanna do is hide, right? We wanna hide, we wanna cover it up. Listen to David's Psalm, in Psalm 32, when he slept with Bathsheba, who wasn't his wife, scheduled a murder for hire to get rid of her husband, and then takes in Bathsheba as a grieving widow because she'd gotten pregnant during the sordid affair. Listen to his psalm about this and see if you can relate. Blessed he whose transgressions are forgiven. Blessed is the one whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit there is no deceit. Anybody grateful for that? Right? Listen to what David says. When I kept what? When I had no hope. When I hid. He said, what happened? My bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. Day and night, your hand, your oppression, your conviction was heavy upon me. My strength was sapped as in the heat of the summer, Selah. Then I acknowledged, then I acknowledged my sin to you and I did not what? I didn't cover up my iniquity. I said I'll confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the guilt of my sin, right? So what should you do? Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found. Surely the mighty waters rise. They won't reach you. They won't reach you. You're the hiding place. You'll protect me from trouble. Surround me with songs and deliverance. Selah, here's what I want you to know. As a person who is a PhD in failure, at times in following Jesus, you need hope. And the most hopeful thing that we learn from this story is that in the midst of the failure of Peter, Jesus still showed himself to him. He revealed himself. Listen, you may feel far away from God, you're not. You're not, you simply need to ask God to reveal himself to you. Because here's the thing, the greatest thing that I've learned about this vertigo process is this, there is power in somebody showing up for you when you feel hopeless. There's power in that. Jesus gave Peter that hope. And because of that hope, we get the second moment, right? We get this moment. A moke, a moment of smelling like smoke. Right? We all love to smell like smoke, right? Right? Like, if you've ever been around a smoker and you smell like smoke, it's permeating, is it not? Right? It's all encompassing. If you go out camping and you build a campfire, it takes you three days of showering to get that smell off of you, right? Like, it's easy. Listen to the story, listen to the story in John chapter 21 as Peter in his hopeful state, swims to the shore. Disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, that's John, that's the Lord standing on the shore. Read this with me. As soon as, as soon as he heard John say, it's the Lord, he found hope. And what'd he do? He wrapped his garment around him and he jumped into the water and can you, you can picture it. You think he swam slow? No. He splashed water like a crazy person. He is beating feet to get to that shore, because in hope, he was driven to that shore. The disciples followed in the boat, right? They towed the fish, right? Because they weren't far, just about 100 yards. Now I want everybody online, and I want everybody in here to read this with me. When they landed, they saw. So Peter, swimming. wet, soaked, hopeful, lands on the shore, gets out of the water, soaking wet and exhausted, because I don't know the last time you swam 100 yards, but that's exhausting, right? And he gets out of that water, and the very first thing that happens is he smells smoke. This is my son, Japheth. I wanna show you a picture of my son, Japheth. He's weird, right? That's my beautiful daughter-in-law, Brittany, and my gorgeous three-year-old granddaughter, Adeline. Japheth is my favorite child to see. I wanna be clear, he's not my favorite child, okay? I have one, and it's not him, okay? He, however, is my favorite child to see. And here's why. He smells just like my dad. And so every time I see him, the first thing I do is hug him. And the last thing I do before I leave is I hug him and he smells just like my father. Because of that, he's my favorite child to see. There are times. that I will do anything I can to get in a plane or get in a car and go see him if it's just for a couple hours so I know that I can. Now listen, I love my son. He's a genius, he's smart, he's handsome, he's tall, he's great. But his best attribute is the way he smells, right? And here's the reason I say that, because everybody online and in here knows this. Smell is an unbelievably powerful scent, is it not? You can be transported to some pretty amazing places through the scent of smell. Listen to John 18, and think about Peter standing on the shore, soaking wet after the swim, and the first thing he's confronted with is the smell of a charcoal fire. Listen to John chapter 18, where this, Fire, as mentioned before, John 18, right? It's right there at the beginning of point two, David, right? Jesus, Simon had been to a fire before. Simon and another disciple, right? Bring that verse back up, David. Simon, Peter, and another disciple were following Jesus. Right, because this disciple was known to the high priest. This is a rest night, right? This is crazy night, right? He went with Jesus into the high priest's courtyard, right? Peter had to wait outside at the door. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, came back, spoke to the girl on duty there, and brought Peter into that place. You're not one of his disciples, are you? The girl at the door asked Peter. He replied, I am not. Listen to this, read this with me. It was cold and the servants and officials stood around a fire they had made to keep warm. I love the Bible. I love its unique language. I love learning what those words mean. Here's the cool thing about that word. Hey, bring that verse back up, David, right? The cool thing about that Greek word fire is it's the Greek word anthraxia. And here's what it means. It means a fire built by charcoal. So the night that Jesus was arrested and the night that Peter betrayed his Lord three times, he stood around a fire that was built of charcoal. And Peter jumps in a boat in a moment of hopefulness, swims a hundred yards, stands on the shore soaking wet, and he's confronted with the smell of, you guessed it, The only other place in the Bible the word anthraxia is used is in John chapter 21, and it was the fire that Jesus built. And here's the crazy thing. Any amount of research will tell you if you build the fire around the Sea of Galilee, you build it out of driftwood, because there are tons and tons of dried driftwood laying around the Sea of Galilee. You don't build a charcoal fire at the sea. You have any idea how much intentionality Jesus had in building the exact same fire then as the one that Peter stood around and smelled? Think about that. It's pretty powerful, isn't it? That all of a sudden, in this remembrance of this greatest failure of his life, Jesus decides not to cover it up. He decides not to bury it. He decides not to ignore it. And he decides to confront Peter with it in a moment of smelling like smoke. Listen, none of us online, none of us in here like to be reminded of how terrible a person we are, correct? None of us like it. We don't like it, and yet there are songs, there are places, there are meals, there are looks, there are words that trigger us all to remember some of the greatest failures of our life. And we now live in a world where we do not want anybody to feel hurt. We don't want anybody to feel bad, right? You don't wanna really talk about sin at church, because you don't want people to be offended, because offended people don't ever come back to church. I want you to understand the power of the gospel. First, it'll give you hope. In your greatest moments of failure, Jesus will still appear to you. He will not abandon you or forsake you. Somebody say, thank you, Jesus, right? But then, but then. If you truly want to be restored from your failure, you're gonna have to sit in the smell of the fire of your failure. You're gonna have to have a moment where you come face to face with the fact that I did this. I did it. Jesus was so intentional about building this specific fire just so Peter could smell it. And you know as well as I do, the first thing he remembered was the sound of that rooster. And he knew Jesus had forgotten this. And the coolest part about the whole story is they sit around the fire and they eat breakfast in complete silence. The whole time, Peter has to smell the fire of his failure, and Jesus won't say a word. Why does he do that? Listen to Hebrews 4. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than a double-edged sword. Guess what it does? God's word will penetrate to the point that it divides your soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It will separate what's alive and what is dead. It judges, it separates the thoughts and the attitudes of our heart to where these are good and these are bad. Everybody say that first word. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Read this first word. Everything is uncovered and it's laid bare. Everything is laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. We've used those verses to scare the daylights out of people. God knows everything, right? He's watching all the time. Here's the thing. Some of you in your failures might want to avoid, might want to avoid your sin because you don't wanna feel bad. You don't wanna remember. Jesus says, here's the thing. It's all out there anyway. You might as well just come and sit in it with me for a minute. Because if we're ever gonna get past it, we're gonna have to come face to face with it. Listen, and there's no promise that what you did won't cost you your marriage. There's no promise that what you did won't cost you your job. There's no promise that what you did won't cost you your family. There's no promise of those things. But there is this, there's hope, and there's a moment of smelling like smoke that is necessary for being restored. And the great thing about Jesus is he uses the same fire, not only to remind Peter of his sins, he will use that same fire to restore him to full use in the kingdom. What an amazing God we have that he'll do that. But you can't avoid the moment. Because I don't know what you think, but every stupid thing you've thought, every sinful thought you've thought, every sinful word you've uttered, everything you've done in secret, every text you've sent and deleted, every email you've sent and deleted, every lie that you've told, everything you've done, nothing is hidden and everything is laid bare. We all have a charcoal fire. The question is, are you gonna take a moment and sit in it? because the only way to get back from where you are when you fail is to find hope and then eventually sit in that fire. And here's the best thing about Hebrews 4. It doesn't stop at, hey, God knows everything, tighten it up, right? No, verse 14 says this. We have a high priest who's gone through the heavens, right? Jesus, the Son of God, so let's hold firmly to the faith that we profess. Well, I need a reason. Well, here's the reason, because Jesus, isn't unable to what? Sympathize with your weakness. Listen, I'll bet you dime to a dollar there are people watching online and in here that if you told them your weakness, they would be unable to sympathize with you, right? They wouldn't give you an ounce of compassion like, what are you talking about? Your husband's great. Why are you looking for somebody else? Right? What are you talking about? Your wife is amazing. You're lucky to have her thinking about somebody else. Right? You've got people that you could tell your weaknesses to, they wouldn't get it. Jesus sympathizes with our weakness. And condone it, sympathizes. Because we have one who's been tempted, tried, put through it, in need. just as you and I are, yet he did it without sin. So what should you do? What should I do? Say it with me. Let us then approach the... Stop. Most of us, when we sin, hide from God, run from God, can't pray to God, surely don't go to church with God, right? Just can't do it. What did he say? We're all prone to weakness. We're all prone to failure. And Jesus sympathizes with that. And when you're in your worst moment, don't hide. Get in front of the fire. Because it's all laid out there. It's all laid bare. Everything is revealed. Nothing is hidden. Why hide? Instead, he says this. that's so contrary to us, but this is why the gospel is great and why you should believe in Jesus, because at your very worst, at your very worst decision, at your very worst moment, you have a high priest who sympathizes and says, listen, don't hide. Burn it on the fire of your failure and get to my throne with what? With truth. Come on, with what? Confidence. The greatest power of the gospel is that it doesn't leave you laying face down in your failure and tells you, get up, let's move on. Some of you still, still are at church and can't let go, can't move on. And the people around you are suffering because you don't get this. The gospel has freed you from how many sins? And for how long? Why would you run in the worst moment of your life? Because the writer of Hebrews says this, go to the throne of confidence, why? Verse 16, so that we may receive mercy. We won't get punished for what we did and find grace. We'll get something we don't deserve and it will help us in our time of, we do it wrong. because we think the gospel is built on my performance being perfect. It's built on the performance of Jesus being perfect. But sometimes when you fail, you have to smell the fire. Amen, church? And then here's the last part, because then you get to a moment of honesty. And here's the thing, you're never gonna be free until you get to this moment. Eventually they sit around the fire and Jesus eventually says this to Peter, do you love me? You ever been asked by somebody, do you love him, yes or no? And you say, yes, of course I love you. And then they look at you and they go, I'm gonna ask again, right? Do you love me? First time's okay, second time you're a little bit unnerved. If they ask you three times, you know what they've just said? I don't believe you, right? Jesus asked Peter three times, and we don't have the time to get into all of this, right? But here's what you need to know, ultimately, What Jesus was asking Peter to do was to be honest about who he was and where he's at. It's easy to come to church and you guys look amazing. You sound amazing, right? Anybody that would look at you on the surface and go, those people are good with Jesus, right? Trust me, you don't feel that way when you see Saturday night's crowd, right? Anyway, you, you. I digress, right? But you look at this crowd and you're like, man, these people are good with Jesus, right? They look good. Listen, part of the reason why some of you can't get past your failure and can't get back to where you're at, because you just won't be honest. Eventually, Peter had to admit to Jesus, you know what? I don't, I don't love you like I said. I don't have the kind of love I told everybody I did. I said I was here, but I'm really just here. And when you can finally be honest about where you're at, it'll make a difference. No matter what I'm doing, giving communion, welcoming, or preaching, There's a room behind the baptistry. I go to it every time before I step on this platform. And in the wall it says, I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son, the living God. And no matter what I'm doing, before I step on stage, I go to that wall and I pray. I say those words and I tell God exactly what I already know he knows. I'm completely honest with him before I step on this platform. And sometimes that honesty isn't very pretty. Sometimes I have to tell him, I'm not ready to preach. You saw the day I had, you heard the thoughts I had, heard the words I said, you know what I've done. I'll stand there and I'll be honest. For some of you, the only thing you need to do to experience the power of the gospel is just be honest about where you're at. If you're not a Christian, you can do that online by hitting I Have Decided. You can do it in room three at Guidance Point if you're not a Christian. If you are a Christian, listen, we get tons of pastors in here. Tons of people in here that would love to help you figure out a way, but if you want to get the power of the gospel to work for you, you're gonna have to find hope, you're gonna have to sit in the smell of that smoke of that failure, and then you're gonna have to be honest. And the great thing about the gospel is it works. Jesus concludes the reason for it. You saw all these mission trip leaders out here on stage? He said this, feed my lambs, tend my sheep, and feed my sheep. You wanna know why you're important? Every one of you in here are important. All of you online are important. It's because the mission needs you now more than ever. Stop messing around with believing in a savior that you think can only save you eternally, but the only way for you to be okay here is to lie about who you are. If you've messed up, great. Find hope. Get in that smoke and sit in it for a minute, and then just be honest with your savior, and he'll say to you, get up, feed my sheep. Amen, church? So God, today my prayer, listen, my prayer is for us to experience the power of the gospel, to do what John said, that when reading these words, we could believe in Jesus, and that believing him, we could have eternal life. We're all broken, we all mess up. Remind us that gospel doesn't work unless it works for us when we're broken. Help us to be restored to where we need to be so that the whole world can hear about Jesus. We pray in his name and all of God's people said amen. God bless you.