Our scripture this morning comes from the 21st chapter of the Gospel of John, verses 15 through 17. John, chapter 21, verses 15 through 17. Hear the word of God. When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, feed my lambs. A second time he said to him, Simon, son of John, do you love me? He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, ten my sheep. He said to him a third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you. Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. First of all, I want to thank this seminary family for your prayers on my behalf as I had the privilege of visiting in certain parts of the United Kingdom in the last few weeks. And I'm grateful for the interest you've shown. I've been gratified by having the opportunity of giving a brief report on that trip to so many of you. And I really am tempted to deal with that this morning and give a report on blessings I received and what I saw and how I interpret those things. But I resist that temptation to do a better thing and let us talk about this wonderful word that we have here just written in our presence. I read you this passage that makes it clear that Jesus three times thrust a very penetrating question right into the heart of Peter. Three times this question, do you love me? How would you handle that question if you were face to face with Jesus in visible form? You could really see his eyes looking at you. And you knew what Peter knew. You see, as Peter faced this question and as he prepared himself to answer it and did answer it, he knew that Jesus already knew the answer. He said so, you know he said, Lord, you really know the answer to this question. And then Peter gave his answer. But when you know that the other person knows the truth about you, you're more apt to speak the truth about yourself, aren't you? And Peter did speak the truth about himself here. But it would be interesting to know just how would each one of us handle that question if Jesus were personally particularly to face us with it. Do you love me? What would be the honest reaction of your heart? What would really come to your lips? And would it really match what's in the heart when you answered Jesus here? Questions are tremendous verbal vehicles. They're very useful. All of us would probably be surprised if we knew how many questions we asked each day. If you had to live one day without asking questions, you'd find how handicapped you are. And questions are valuable for reasons like these. By questions we get information. We ask questions often in order to get information from people that we don't have that we think they do. How do you get to a certain place and so forth? But this question that Jesus asks Peter here is not out of that source. Jesus isn't seeking for information that it doesn't already have. We also use questions to test people. Our faculty uses questions to put on tests so we want to test to see what people know. I don't think this explains Jesus' threefold question to Peter. I don't think Jesus was really really. I don't think Jesus was putting Peter to the test here. We do use questions to teach too. We use questions to make people think. We use questions to help people see what the truth really is. And I think that's what Jesus is using these questions here far with Peter. Now the general setting of this incident that brings these questions on the lips of Jesus. The general setting is this. It's post-resurrection. It's pre-essential and it's during those 40 days when Jesus was with his disciples often on after his resurrection and before his ascension. The particular setting goes like this in verse 4. This happened on the beach just as they was breaking Jesus stood on the beach. The setting was this. On the beach at daybreak and verse 15 tells us it was shortly after breakfast. That's the time setting and the place setting for these three questions. Now just a bit of interpretation. What is happening here? Well I certainly joined with those commentators who believe that we have here a marvelous depiction of a shepherd restoring a sheep. Peter being restored in the fullest of restoration following his denial. I accept that I believe that's true. I think what we have here is what Jesus referred to in Luke chapter 22 when he made this prophecy regarding Peter. Simon, Simon, this is verse 31 of the 22nd chapter of Luke. Simon, Simon, behold Satan demanded to have you that he might sit you like weathe but I have prayed for you that your faith failed not and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren. I hear Jesus really turns his disciples fully to him now and gives him his commission to feed the sheep. I think here we have that very thing taking place in the 21st chapter in the book of John. You know John tells us the first and the last miracles that Jesus performed. None of the other gospel writers do that. The first of these miracles, the changing of water and the wine. The last of the miracles, the filling of the nets as Jesus told them where to put their nets in chapter 21 and they were filled with fish. But I think also the gospel of John begins and ends with another mighty wondrous work of Jesus Christ in the spiritual realm. I think it's a wonderful work in which Jesus changes water into stone. In John chapter 1, we find Jesus first speaking to Simon who has come to him and he makes a prophetic statement to him. He says, you are the son of John, you will be seaface. That is a stone. He will be Peter. Jesus is predicting here that he's going to turn Peter, petrify him in a way. He's going to turn him into a stone in a sense. Now by John chapter 6, his faith has solidified. Jesus said, will you also go away in Peter? Often the spokesman for the group said, Lord, to whom should we go? We know, believe that you really are the Holy One of God. It was Peter who already had said you know as we found it in Matthew 16. You are the Christ, the son of the living God. Now Peter's faith had solidified all right, long before chapter 21. But his faithfulness was a problem as it often is to us. Those of us who really have solid faith in Jesus often do have problems with faithfulness. We are more solid in our faith often than we are in our faithfulness to Jesus Christ. I believe that Jesus here in chapter 21 is solidifying in a sense the faithfulness of Peter in a wonderful, egregious way. He's turning this man who is in some regards unstable as water. Remember what Jacob said about Rubin? The old his oldest son when he was making prophetic utterances about him. He said, Rubin, you're unstable as water. Now Peter seems to manifest some of this. It was Peter first who said, you're the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus said, look that was the heavenly Father who taught you to say that. And then just a few moments later Peter is saying something that causes Jesus to turn to him and say, get behind me Satan. In one minute Peter is speaking with God teaching him and in another moment Peter is speaking as if Satan were speaking through him with his little understanding. One time Jesus came walking to the disciples out on the sea and they were all surprised and amazed and Peter cried out and said, if it's really you Lord, bid me an outcome and walk to you. And Jesus said, well, let's I come on to me. And Peter did an amazing thing. He jumped out on solid water and started to walk toward Jesus. And if you think it was a miracle for Jesus who is God to be walking on water, here is Peter walking on water just like Jesus is. For a moment it's a great triumph of faith. Peter is walking on water but it didn't last long. We don't know exactly all the thoughts that came to his mind but something must have caught his attention to those waves and the wind and the impossibility. And he could not do this. And so he began to sink and Jesus caught him and brings him on back in. In one minute he's doing a great thing. Getting credit for that, he's the only disciple that went over the side of the ship and even tried to walk on water. If he failed, he failed making an effort toward faith. Nevertheless, here is Peter impulsive, a great act of faith and then in just a little bit he's sinking. And then you remember all that last night when Jesus told him that he would deny, prophesied the wandering and the scattering of all those disciples. Peter said, Lord, I'll die before I ever deny you. And you know he proved that that was true. That very night, just a short time afterwards, Peter really did prove that he was ready to die for Jesus. When the soldiers came to arrest Jesus with spears and swords, Peter had a sword hidden under his cloak all the time they were out in the garden of his sanity. He pulled that sword out and stepped out in front of his Lord Jesus and took a quack at that nearest soldier. Now Peter knew when he did that that he might get speared to death. He knew that might cost him his life. He had stepped out there with the sword to defend his Lord. That's a brave act. Jesus had gently rebuked him for that, but still there's some heroism in Peter here. He's impetuous and a heroic way here. He steps out ready to die for Jesus. I used to wonder about what happened there. I really did this. I mean, I don't know why I was so long getting the picture on it. It said that Peter cut his ear off, you know. He did take a swing at that man. And it always bothered me how Peter always imagined Peter chopping down like this on him, you know, and just cutting his ear off. And I always wondered why, you know, if you're hitting that hard, why didn't go on down and cut his arm? Perhaps Loppy's arm off. And then it came to me that what happened was that soldier saw Peter taking that swing and Peter wasn't chopping down like this. He was trying to be hitting my guess. I think he was cutting like this and that man just dodged and it just got his ear. And Jesus had to restore it. All right. But this is Peter. A moment of heroism. Unwise, uncalled for, but it's a heroic moment for Peter. And then just a little later, three times he really does deny that he's a disciple of Jesus Christ. I mean, how do you explain a man like this? I have to explain him in terms of understanding Sam Patterson. Maybe you can explain Peter yourself too. Sort of an instability here. Now then we find Jesus dealing with him. I think in verse two and three, verses two and three, we have a rusty disciple. Now I'm interpreting here. It doesn't really say that Peter is rusty here, but I believe the evidences are there. Look at it in verse two of chapter 21. Simon Peter, Thomas called the twin, Nathaniel of Kena Galilee, the sons of Zebedee and two others of the disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, I'm going fishing. And they said, we'll go with you. And they went out and got into a boat, but that night they caught nothing. Why did Peter want to go fishing? Well, he was backed by the See a Galilee. He saw those boats that he was very familiar with them, those ships. He saw the sea. It had met a lot to him in his lifetime. He spent a lot of his life on that sea. There was something that was making the sea and the ships pull at the heart of Peter. What could it have been? Now I'll just make an interpretation here. I believe that those things that belonged so much to his life before Christ met everything to him. Met a great deal to him now because he was not completely restored in his fellowship with Jesus. True Jesus had sent for him and said, tell Peter to come to when he rose into dead. True Peter had come. Peter had been around on some appearances of Jesus, but there's no record that Peter had ever really talked to Christ about this failure of his and had communication with him about it. There seems still to me to be some alienation here. The Bible doesn't say that's true. I'm just saying that I believe that explains the rest of this here. I do know this that whenever one of Christ's disciples are estranged in any way in heart from him, the flesh takes an opportunity to make attractive the experiences we had before we ever knew Christ. I do know that whenever a disciple of Jesus Christ is in a strange spirit with Jesus, the flesh makes attractive once more ways and days before Jesus ever became Savior. More than one man has been in this seminary, become strained in spirit, and begun to think about those days back before you ever made the sacrifices to come here. You begin to think about all the joys and pleasures that were years back before you were committed to any great calling such as this. It's easy to do that. And when there's an astrangement of spirit, the flesh will use that occasion to call to our attention those happy occasions. And sometimes Christians will fall back. Sometimes Christians will turn back to experiences and things that Christ called them away from. Now Christ had called these disciples away from the ships and this kind of fishing. But here they go back to it. I think it's a rusty spirit on the part of Peter who gives the leadership. But the thing I really am interested in is the restoring Savior. Beginning there with verse 4 and going on down, we have one of the most beautiful pictures I believe we have in the Scripture of a great, wonderful shepherd restoring the sheep. We find the shepherd pursuing an airing sheep. One that belongs to him and is long belonged to him. We find the secret of the perseverance of the saints. That it isn't that we persevere, but we've got a shepherd who pursues us. And the same grace that saved us keeps us and stays after us and recovers us and brings us back. Thank God for this grace. The same grace that saves us has to keep us saved. And just as we would never have come to Christ, had it not been for his sovereign grace, we would never come back to him in our astrangements, where it's not for his grace. So we need to ship everything in. They need the carcass of a shepherd. We need to restore his disciples. So in verse 4 of this, Jesus is here. And just as they was breaking, Jesus stood on the beach. The light was just coming on to show that they'd been out there where Jesus had called them from. And there he was. Jesus cares. He was right there on a wonderful moment. I was here. I was here. I was here. For this is the Lord God. I behold I myself will search for my sheep. I will seek them out as a shepherd seeks out his flock when some of his sheep have been scattered abroad. So I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from the places where they have been scattered on the big clouds and the big clouds. The shepherd cards the words of the shepherd when he says. The hard man flees when the wolf comes and scatters the sheep, but the shepherd doesn't because he cares for the sheep. And John 13, John, records this about Jesus. And having loved his own, he loved them to the end. And then he shows how true that is. In the 17th chapter, he shows the Savior now. He's bringing out there in the darkness before the cross. Father, not for the world, but for my people. I find that great petition. The love of the shepherd coming out for his sheep that will be so attempted and tested and many of them will be scattered. And then in John 19, he shows the shepherd dying for the sins of his sheep and his people. Now here in John 21, thank God, God led John to record this. The shepherd now gathering back his sheep. After his resurrection, he had to gather them all back. They were so scattered. But Peter isn't completely, I think, in part yet back. And Jesus is dealing with him here. He really cares. And he comes. They weren't really coming to him. They were going somewhere. But Jesus had to come to them. The divine initiative of this grace that restores us as well as Jesus. And just as they was breaking, Jesus stood on the beach. He had come to them. He reminds us of the Garden of Eden. Tragedy all over again, doesn't it? One Adam and Eve sent. And it was God who came to them. God, they were going away from God, trying to get away even as God approached them. They were seeking to hide from Him. What a beautiful picture of divine initiative. Or think about David. When David, on his 50th birthday, if you had been there then, and had said to some common citizen of Israel, who is the Godliest man in Israel? Anybody who talked to it have said that Godliest man in Israel is our King David. He wrote our hymn book. He wrote our prayer book. He's a great godly man. That's what they just said. And yet in that 50th year, you know, David made that big break with God. He committed adultery, committed murder, and then he continued in an unrepentant state. God gave him a week. David never repented. The man who had so honored God, who walked closer to God than perhaps any man in Israel. A week goes by, and that doesn't mean he's seen the dead of the fish. A month goes by. God lets nine months go by, ten months go by. A year goes by, and David has not manifested any spirit of repentance. And so God has to go get him. He sends his prophet, Nathaniel. He brings him into repentance. Or it's the same grace that brought us to first repentance that brings us to every subsequent repentance. And never forget it. And then here's Peter. That hears Jesus moving out. To meet them and call them back, and to make a restoration that will get everything that could be between them and spirit out of the way. And so he comes, and he calls. First he calls out a question, and that's rather illuminating, too. He says, have you caught anything? And their answer is nothing. And then he gives a command. Well, drop your nets over here, and they drop their nets over there, and they're filled. And then he gives them an invitation. He says, come and die. Peter isn't such a big hurry. He jumps over board and rushes on ahead of the rest of them. And so they sit around the fire there, and everybody who ever commentated on it, commented on this, pays attention to the fire and the fish there. That's an amazing thing, sure enough. Look, the one who made that fish is the one who caught that fish, I guess. I mean, I guess he caught it. I believe it was his hands to scale the fish, and cut the fish open, and clean the fish, cooked the fish. I mean, those were great hands. And this is a great condescension. And he has those fish cooking there. And he built that fire. The one who set all the stars aflame, is now down on the beach using those hands to the flesh, to the little little little little baby. And these cycles, he were coming back into them, and particularly one of them. And he does it. Now, again, the Bible doesn't tell us exactly what happened, but imagination can give us some truth, I think. I doubt if they'd ever eaten such good fish. Don't you know that was true? I assumed that after a little bit, they sought a fell salad as they enjoyed that food together. It may have been that all the others had finished up before Peter did and he was still working on the fish there and eating away when maybe that uneasy feeling came over him that comes over sometimes when we've got the idea that all at once were the center of attention, and he looks up and sees everybody looking at him, and then he looks at Jesus and Christ's eyes around him. Maybe it was about that time that Peter realized there's some sort of a showdown as a fan. Here's a fire, a charcoal fire. It was around a fire like that that he first entered Jesus. Now, Jesus bought charcoal fire three times, penetrating with this question. Do you love me? Now, what was Jesus doing? Well, again, this is interpretation. I believe that Jesus was compelling Peter to affirm verbally what Jesus knew was really true, and Peter needed to know it. Don't you imagine after Peter denied Jesus, he must have been that bitterness when he went out there, must have said over and over again to himself, oh, I don't love him. If I loved him, I could never do this. Who am I anyway? What kind of a monster am I? What kind of a creature am I? How could I ever do that to him? Don't you imagine that Peter really felt that he didn't love Jesus over and over again after that time of denial? Now, Jesus compels him to say something. Peter has to tell the truth. He compels Peter to make an affirmation that he needed to make. He was making Peter come on out and say it. Oh, I'll tell you, look, we disciples of Jesus need to say that. It's sanctifying to say it. We'll see it's the truth too, but it's sanctifying to say it. I mean, we ought to often tell the Lord Jesus that we're loving. A commitment comes with that. I mean, here's a young man who involves certain things. He can't answer. He can't enjoy his accompaniment. He's dating. Everything seems to be going on. But he's miserable. There's no reason to be miserable. He's got an identity. He likes real well. He likes to date this. He's going along. All right, but he says something. What's going on? I mean, it is real anymore. I mean, it's all clear. That feeling he had that was sort of confusion. He knows that he's in love. And that night, when he tells her, I love you. From that moment on, he's committed. His whole life is going to be different. Now, there's going to be action in his life. He's going to be seeking marriage. He's going to be seeking to be a husband. Seek to be a father. The rest of his life is committed. The moment he says, I love you. And Jesus is bringing this affirmation out of Peter. I love you. And every time he said it, Peter said, Jesus said, feed my sheep. Ten my sheep. Feed my lambs. But I believe he's really eliciting what Jesus knew was there. An affirmation. Look at the accommodation of Jesus Christ. The first time he says, do you love me and he uses that strong word for love used in John 3.16? Do you love me more than these? And probably it means the other disciples. Peter had seen to imply on the night of the Lord separate that he was more loyal and maybe loving than the other disciples. And so, he first when he asked Peter about his love, he says, do you love me more than these? And Peter answers him, yes, Lord, I love you. But he didn't say that he loved me more than anyone else now. Now Peter wouldn't compare himself with anyone else. He had broken such faith with Christ. He had denied him. The others had been scattered. But none of them had really denied him and Peter had. No, he would no longer say that he ever loved Jesus more than anybody else. Never again. So Jesus, the second question accommodates himself to that. Peter's learned that lesson. So the next time Jesus asked him, he doesn't say anything about the others. They're not in the picture anymore. He says, Peter, do you love me? And Peter says, yes, Lord, you know I love you.
And then the third time he makes the maximum accommodate me. He really hasn't been using the same word as Jesus did as you know. Jesus was using that word that most believed to be a stronger word for love, a richer word, than the one Peter has been responding. Jesus has been using the word that is used in John 3.16, for instance, about God's love. Peter is using another word that probably reflects the other than Peter's approach to this question. So the third time, Jesus drops down and takes the word Peter uses. Peter, are you really fond of me and love me in this way? And Peter says, Lord, you know everything. And you know my heart, and I'm telling the truth I do. You see what Peter was doing? Every time he refused to take that big word that Jesus used, it was showing that he really had become an humble man now. He was saying, well, it seems to me kind of. If earlier, before the crucifixion, before that last night, Jesus had said to the disciples, or said to Peter, Peter, do you love me? I think Peter would have said, Lord, I just wish it was a bigger word than the one you just used. I could use to tell you how much I love you. Because the Peter seemed to be bold in his affirmations, you know. But now he does the very opposite. In a way, saying, Lord, I care not to take that word you use. I'd be proud of you. That's what he's saying. That's exactly what he's saying to Jesus. Lord, I love you. I know that. Jesus said that. Everyone infested it. Jesus did that. He was deceiting the sheet. Because the highest motive of the day, none of our service was righteousness. Loving the Lord Jesus. Paul tells us that there are two evidences of the false prophet. One comes in Galatians chapter 1, when he calls a curse upon these. But even if we are an angel from heaven, we should preach. We should go contrary to that, which we preach to you. Let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now say we again. If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that attribute, you will receive. Let him be accursed. That preaching is not. But in 1 Corinthians chapter 16, at the end of that book, Paul writes this in verse 21, verse 25. If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. We who served Jesus Christ, serve Him in the truthfulness of these messages. And we serve Him out of the right motivation. We love Him. Not enough. We know that. But we love Him. And we affirm that. So when Peter wrote to the Christians, he wrote to any first letter. He tells them, he says, look, even though you've never seen Him have some of us have. You've never seen Him. Yet you love Him. And believe in Him. Even though you hadn't seen Him. And rejoice with great joy. And here, Peter uses that bigger word again. Now, he uses that true word because it really is true that we love Jesus Christ. And there's a sense in which we have seen Him. Peter meant you hadn't physically seen Him. But look, remember what Paul said regarding his conversion? He said, when it pleased God, he revealed his son in Me. Every one of us have seen Jesus Christ. In the eyes of faith, we've seen the wonder of His person. We've seen the magnitude of His gracious works on our behalf. It's impossible that we don't love Him for who He is. Not only that, we've had the experience of that woman that that wept at His feet and dried the tears off with her hair and smothered those muddy feet with her kisses and then tried to pour oil on it. And we've all, we, who served Jesus and know Him. We've had the experience Jesus had. Jesus turned to Simon when she did that. Simon didn't understand what was going on. And wondered why Jesus would let a wicked woman like that. Tissie's feet in Jesus told him he said, look, to whom much is forgiven. They love much. One who has a great bit forgiven will love more than one who has a small bit. And I had a minister's wife ask me once, does that mean then that you've got to be a great big sinner? More than others? In order to love Jesus more and the bigger you sense and the more you send and the more you'll be able to love Him, not at all Jesus isn't teaching that kind of doctrine. It's more the sense of sin, the sense of that indebtedness. Those who really sense what God has done for us. And I don't think anybody in this congregation would ever believe, it's probably just that at all in spots in your life. Surely you're going to identify that other relationship within and ever in a certain sense, that they come up in your life. And Jesus did that that for this sin. Here's some righteous point saying to life that he didn't have to die for. But here's another sin he's got to die for. Here's a few things you've done that he wouldn't have to die for because that's all good. But here's another thing that you did. Now I think sometimes Christians get the idea that they just don't know what to do. They don't know what to do. Certain sins but never nor have you ever one minute in my life been what I ought to have been. I've been a sinner all my life under his condemnation apart from what Jesus did. Why should I ever get a new life instead of my life because it's all been sinful and far short of what God required. And those of us who see that know that. We know what it is to fall in. Revision is necessary. Young men and sisters. Sometimes they take the food you give them. They'll criticize you. They won't understand what you said. You will say the right thing and they'll apply different motives to what you said. I tell you a lot of times it's like, it's a privilege. You're going to have to die because you're going to get a big issue. Jesus. Jesus is just scared to living the sheep. Or you're just scared to living the sheep. So that's the faculty here. You'll get worn out. You'll get dry and so. Because you'll see so many things in those of us here who have leadership here that you'll contest. You'll just feel like you know isn't exactly right. And though you know that we've been put here in some sense to be shepherds over you. And we ought to be better ones yet. If your love is just a love for the shepherds that have been put over you. Then you're going to get dry as dust in your life at times of your seminary. Or your fellow shepherds. Love for your fellow shepherds is wonderful, but it'll get tied, tried and tested all the time. And the only way we can survive those dry and misting times, and even avoid, is to have a warm, vibrant love for that great shepherd who never, never tests our love. He's always lovable. But if we're bound to him and love, we'll have a patience with our sheep. We won't have to lord it over them or get mad at them. We'll be patient with our sheep. We'll be patient with our fellow shepherds. And be patient with those dry and misting times. Just because of a fresh fountains of daily love that go out to our blessed Savior, who loved us He did Himself. And our Lord Jesus, how we praise you, and thank you for speaking words that, by your own spirit, you've recorded for our own good. Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you have recovered us from our sins. And made known some measure of your love toward us. May we see its full measure. And love you as we art, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Our closing hymn.