Today's scripture reading is John chapter 21 verses 20 through 25 Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them the one who also had leaned back against him during the suffer and Had said Lord who is it that it's going to betray you when Peter saw him. He said to Jesus Lord what about this man? Jesus said to him if it is my will that he remained until I come what is that to you you follow me So the same spread a broad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die Yeah, Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die But if it is my will that he remained until I come what is that to you? This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things and who has written these things and we know that his testimony is true Now there are also many other things that Jesus did where every one of them to be written I suppose that the world itself could not contain the book that would be written May the Lord add a blessing to the reading and the hearing of his words Good morning. He's point church Hey man. Hey man. Hey man. What a wonderful morning. The Lord has given us here As we are once again reminded of his many blessings to us particularly those those greatest gifts of all our children and what a privilege it is That he allows us to encourage them and nurture them and to bring them up in the fear of the Lord amen Amen amen Congratulations to all of our graduates this year for the pleasure to see them Moving up and moving on We are getting to we are very close We are getting very close to that first generation of Babies who were born The year we started This is getting amazing It is getting there amen amen amen and amen well our time has been well spent this morning I'm always feeling a bit insufficient After Reverend Kimberley-Bino speaks every year I'm like Lord, how am I going to follow that? Amen. I think she has given us a sufficient word this morning
Maybe we need to call Allen back up. No, I don't have to feel would not like that at all
Amen amen, so Lord willing will be briefed this morning As we look at these Final words of our Lord Jesus Christ in the gospel of John We've been going through this series of Messages on the gospel of John for a couple of years now and we have finally come to the end of the gospel And so what we'll do this morning is reflect a bit on the overall message of the gospel of John and then At the end we'll spend a few minutes reflecting on our Lord's last conversation With Peter at the instruct Peter the disciples Peter and in doing so disciples us and the church as Well a man a man, well the word of God has been read and I hearing this morning Let us pray the Lord make it a factual as we meditate upon it together Let's pray Heavenly Father, we do thank you Lord That you are faithful You are just That you are God who has been given all of our sin Brought us into covenant relationship with you Established us in your beloved and granted us the hope and The assurance of eternal life Thank you. Thank you for the messages that you have given us from the gospel of John We do pray even now as we reflect upon this Blessed gospel that we would be reminded Of Jesus that we would hear Jesus That we would see Jesus That we would love Jesus again Again And his name
Port by the name of Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Most of you probably are not familiar with Her name, but they're saying I bet you are familiar with the opening words of her Sonnet 43 it reads How do I love thee? Let me count the waves I love thee to the depth and breath and height My soul can reach when feeling out of sight For the end of being And I feel great Then she concludes the Sonnet by saying I love thee with a love I Think to lose with my lost think I love thee with the breath Smile tears of all my life and if God choose I shall love the Better after death when you listen to these words of Mrs. Browning And you hear the quality of her Portray and the intensity of her affection You cannot help but wonder to whom is Browning speaking whom is she referring Is it some male suitor or lover? Or perhaps it is a fantasy of Someone that she envisions herself speaking to Or perhaps and therefore be more important me Speaking about the Lord The one who is the ultimate desire of our affection What's she speaking of a lover of some fantasy or what's she speaking of the Lord? We may never know for sure But what we can be sure of this beloved and that is that the love of God does and should Produce great love and devotion in those whom he loves and if that's the case then It would not be surprising to us if she was actually speaking of the Lord The weather and I she was speaking of the Lord is not the case I would want to make this morning the case that I would want to make this morning is that these words could be and are spoken to us by the Lord How do I love me the Lord?
Let me count the way here is an amazing truth love it loves
That doesn't hit us like it should Because we trivialize love
And we say it so clippantly meaninglessly But God love us At all that love really He cares about us He cares what we think He cares what we know He cares what we believe He cares because he loves and in fact beloved it is because of the love of God That we have the gospel of John Because God so loves isn't that the key verse in the whole gospel? Don't three 16 if you know no other verse in the gospel of John Then you know this one For God so loved the world That he gave his only son That whoever believes in him shall not perish But what have everlasting love The gospel of John You know what it does It tells us who that son is the one through whom God has loved the world the gospel of John
The gospel of John is God explaining Jesus John chapter 20 Verse 31 Reminds us right that the gospel was given so that you and I might know Jesus is And annoying him Have eternal life through him that's what love is I believe I was for who I was at that right Well those of us who have a certain age and To me with pop music where's a man than when I need it? I want to know what love is I
Won't you to show me I want to feel what love is I know you can Show me that's what love is love desires the best We'll love them a husband Love this wife At the it's helping her be the best her a wife Loves her husband by helping him be his best parents love Their children by encouraging and helping them Become their best This is God love for us He wants us to have the best life eternal life Through Jesus Christ. That's what love is You want to know what love is? This is love Jesus Christ revealed in the gospel of John The logger The lamb The Lord as we is That's love the revelation of Jesus Christ as the logger the lamb And the Lord that's the love of God For you and I this morning For you and I this morning Jesus Christ revealed As the logger the love of God The love of God Is Jesus Christ revealed as the logger of God
John chapter one verse 14 The Bible says and the word Logger Became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory Glory as of the only son from the father full of grace and truth Jesus came to the world as the revelation of God He is the revelation of God's compassion He is the revelation of God's wisdom He is the revelation of God's mercy. He is the revelation of God's grace He is the revelation of the love of God Everything the Bible wants us to know about God is revealed in Jesus The logger The word of God the mind of God the heart of God John chapter one verse 18 The Bible says no one has ever seen God But the unique one who is himself God is near to the father's heart He Has revealed God to us. That is the revelation Of Jesus Christ as the logger He revealed God to us He revealed God to us and John chapter 14 in verse 8 when Philip asked the question Lord show us the father and that will be enough For us Jesus replied in John 14 in verse 9 Anyone who has seen me had seen the father I am the revelation I am the revelation of God I am the revelation of the father I am the logger The logger of God I keep saying logger for love. But what is that? That's a cool word Logger People like to say it. They like to say it People with the Bible teaching and Sunday school. They like to say the word logger because it's easy to say Give people impression that you've been paying attention And that you can speak Greek It's cool. It's cool logger But what does it mean? What does it mean, beloved? And John chapter 1 in verse 4 The Bible says the word logger gave light to everything that was created And his light brought light to everyone Simply put the love Logger is the word of life
The eternal life of God And that life has come to us. This is life And if this is life, this is love. It's better life The life of God You want to love someone. Do you really want to love someone? Make their life better How do you know? How do you know that that young man or that young woman is for you Ask the question Does he or she make your life better? The song reminds it up You can do bad all by yourself. He or she Makes life Better. That's what God does. That's the revelation of the Logger That's what God did and sending Jesus Christ as a logger He sent him so that you and I would have better life He revealed him as better life better love The gospel of John Says that's why Jesus came and John 10 verse 10 Jesus himself says I came that you might have what Life and not just any life But better life Abundant life Because that's logger That's what love is Do you want to know what love is? It's the logger of God He revealed through Jesus Christ Coming To make your life better to give you eternal life. That's what love is God loves us Unto that's what love is Jesus Christ revealed as the logger But he's also revealed as the Lamb
Love is the logger But also Loves the Lamb From the very beginning of the gospel of John Jesus is revealed As the Lamb of God Beloved it Is the love of God That's it the Lamb of God Don't miss that It is the love of God That brought forth The Lamb of God and When Jesus first appeared on the scene The Bible says that John the Baptist saw him And when John the Baptist saw him he declared and John chapter 1 in the verse 29 Behold the Lamb of God Come to take away the sin of the world The Lamb of God Behold the Lamb of God He is not just any Lamb He is the Lamb of God He is the Lamb from God He is the Lamb provided by God And he does not just cover sins beloved That's what the Lamb's in the Old Testament did No he does not just cover sins The Bible says that he takes away sin Take away sin all sin Now we don't have time to dive into it this this morning But I wish I could just take some time and help you to unpack What I am confident that we have failed to graphs What it means for Christ to have taken away your sin
Yeah, you don't believe it And I don't believe it You don't believe it because we don't live it We don't live as if we are totally accepted by Jesus We don't live as if all of our sins have been forgiven We don't live free In Christ And let others do so also
Because the idea of our sins being totally taken away Has reached our heads But has yet to get to our heart
They will someday But this is the love of God for us That in the Lamb of God He has taken away all your sin He had taken away That which separated you from God You do know that the separation between God and you was sinned That's what separated you from God
And all the lambs in the Old Testament did was cover that up for a moment
But the Lamb of God come at which separated you Is not now covered up But that which separated us from God has totally been taken away And so now the Bible says in Romans 8 and 37 that there is nothing That now separates you and I Of God in the Christ of God It reconciles Love breaks down barriers Love overcomes obstacles Love pairs down Walls Love so love does that's what love is And Jesus is the loving lamb of God The lamb who willingly came Who willingly came The lamb who willingly and graciously gained The lamb who gave his life For all the other lambs
The sacrifice who put an end to all sacrifices You do know for love it That in the Old Testament the High Priest Had to tie the Lamb to the altar Why? Why would you tie the Lamb to the altar? You tie the Lamb to the altar Because the Lamb didn't willingly go And if you didn't tie them down He was going to get up and run away
You know they nailed Jesus to the cross But as the old choir would say It wasn't the nails that held the man The ransom was hot and only he could pay the cost It wasn't the nails that held into the cross
It was love Love held in there And because he loved the love it He wasn't going anywhere
Jesus knew why he was there He knew that he was the loving lamb of God Laying down his life for us Come to take away our sin Now behold the Lamb The precious Lamb of God Why he loved us so I shall never know
precious precious Lamb You want to know what love is
That's the revelation of God and God The love of God As the Lord God The love of God As the Lamb The love of God And Jesus As the Lord of love This is who Jesus is He is the Lord of love He's revealed as the loving lamb But this is because he is the Lord of love The life of Jesus in the gospel of John Is a life of love This is why he came again John 3.16 tells us that for God so Loved the world that he sent his son His son was sent in love He came as the Lord of love To lay down his life in love To lead his people in love
To show for us to demonstrate The love of God Like the world has never seen before That is Through the Son of God in The embodiment of the love of God And you see this And it's final interaction with Peter At the end of the gospel His last words with Peter in the gospel of John Last words and his loving Revelation Is a revelation again of the love of God
Know the gospel of John reveals to us about Jesus And no uncertain terms for love you can you cannot miss this if you are reading the gospel of John With any type of attentiveness you cannot miss this and that is that Jesus is the sovereign Lord That he is the Lord He is the Lord who declares That he will not lose one sheep He is the sovereign Lord who declares that no one takes his life But he lays his life down He is the sovereign Lord who declares John 6 and 35 that I am the bread of life who declares and John 8 and 12 that I am the light of the world Who declares and John 10 and 11 that I am the good shepherd who declares and John 11 and 25 That I am the resurrection and the light who declares and John 14 and 6 that I am the way the truth and the light Who declares and John 15 that I am the true bind These are the declarations of Jesus
Make such statements CS Lewis has suggested that if you are to take someone serious Who said such things like this Then that person would have to either be a liar a lunatic or the Lord
Well John is clear Jesus is no liar And Jesus is no lunatic But the gospel of John says Is that Jesus Is Lord The Lord of love And this is what we see as he comes to his last interaction with Peter here in this gospel this last section appeared To have been given to us in order to demonstrate Jesus loving discipleship and discipline of his disciples Because you do realize right that in John chapter 20 and verses 30 and 31 It would seem like the gospel of John had come to its conclusion Telling us why the book was written But then we have chapter 21 and why is chapter 21 given to us Because Jesus is going to demonstrate His loving discipline and discipleship of his disciples And reminding us of how he continues to disciple his people today The Lord Have saved Peter This is the Lord who's going to speak to Peter. This is the Lord who is going to discipline Peter This is the Lord who's going to disciple Peter. It is the Lord who had saved Peter It is the Lord who had forgiven Peter This is the Lord who had loved Peter This is the lord who continues to love his disciples now It's the Lord who loves you It's the Lord who saved you It's the Lord who had forgiven you
This is the Lord who disciples you He disciples you The Lord disciples you. I know, I know, I know, I know, we like to disciple each other and we cause, you know, well, you know, disciple heard me disciple in me disciple heard me disciple and I get it. But Jesus reminded Peter, I disciple John and I disciple you. Don't get it twisted. It is the Lord who disciples you. And so we see here is the one who disciples, he is the one who who disciplines. He is the loving Lord who told Peter after he had forgiven Peter, after he had welcomed Peter back into the fold and John 21 and verse 17 okay now Peter you feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. Point my sheep Peter. Point my sheep to me. Feed them the words of life that they might see me. Point them to me. And I will disciple them. He is the same Lord then after he tells Peter to feed my sheep who then tells Peter after Peter takes his eyes off Jesus and puts his eyes on John and says yeah but what about him just says to Peter mind your own business. Follow me. I'll disciple John and I'll disciple you because he is the loving Lord. He is the loving Lord who loves. He is the loving Lord who leads. He loves Peter back into the fold and now then he leading Peter into path of righteousness. That's what he does. But you know Peter, Peter is like you if he's like me. You know, Peter is like you if he is like me. We're Peter. And when the Lord tells us to do something, immediately we want to know what he said to everybody else. Amen. Immediately as the Lord is leading us, we want to look around and see if he leading everybody else the same way. He's beloved. Peter is safely in the kingdom.
But like many of us, he is still thinking in worldly way. And before he could do what the Lord had told him to do, he wanted to know what the Lord had called John to do. Beloved, this is as old as the Bible. This is Cain and the Abel. This is Jacob and Esau. This is Joseph and his brothers. This is you and me. Concerned with God, with John, get a better calling. He was concerned with John have more followers. Would he get more likes? Would God be more gracious to John than Peter? Would John be more loved and regretted more favor? You see how the Lord speaks and responds to Peter by saying as he said to us today, you see how he disciples and how he disciplines. What does the calling and gifts of John have to do with the calling and gifts that I've given to you? Why don't you mind
why is it important to love it? That is important because don't miss it. John won't have to answer for Peter and Peter won't have to answer for John. In Romans chapter 14 and verse 12, the Bible says that each of us will have to give an answer for ourselves before the Lord. And no offense beloved, no offense, but I'll take God's judgment over yours. I'll trust his grace and mercy over yours. This is the love of Christ to Peter. I got you, Peter. I got John. Don't worry about John, Peter. I got you. I got you. Why? Because the love of God is a particular love. It is fashion just for you and you don't have to be jealous. Over God's love for others, beloved. His favor is not limited. His love does not have a cap on it. And Peter, you should know this, beloved, it is, if anybody should know this is Peter. And the reason that Peter should know it, it's because it is in the times when I am acutely aware of my sin that the love of God becomes most precious and apparent to me. And if you have ever been aware of your sin, then you would know this. That the love of God is greater far than any tongue or pen could tell. And it goes beyond the highest star and it reaches to the lowest hell far, far, far greater. It is indescribable. It is inexhaustible. It is undeniable, beloved. And the grace and the love that God gives to another does not in any way form or time hinder the grace he has for you. Peter is not getting John's grace, but John is not getting Peter's grace. Believe me, beloved, believe me when I say you are not getting past the tonis grace and mercy. And the reason I know that you're not getting it because you don't need that much, eat more than anyone I know. And that's why I'm not getting yours. There wouldn't be enough. You're not the worry, Peter. You're not getting John. You're getting yours. And you know what the Bible says? St. Corinthians chapter 9 of verse 8, that you get the grace and mercy that is sufficient for you. That is enough for you. That is enough to help you. I can't or needed to hear the song that we sing. And he give us more grace as burdens grow greater. He send us more grace and burdens grow greater and send us more strength as labors increase out of the afflictions he added in mercy to multiply drive. And multiply. That's what love does. That's what love does. It disciples us. It disciplines us. And it directs us to Jesus where we find grace when grace is needed, where we find help when help is needed. Love gives forgiveness when forgiveness is needed. And this is why Jesus is the Lord of love. How do I love you? He says, let me count the way. I love you in life. I love you in death. I love you with my very last breath. I love you to start. I'll love you to the end. And I'll keep on loving you until you see me come again and beloved that that's the way the gospel of John is.