Our scripture reading today is found in the book of John, chapter 21, verses 15 through 19. 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. He said to him a second time, 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 the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you. Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go. This, he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God. And after saying these, after saying this, he said to him, follow me. May the Lord add a blessing to the reading and hearing of his word. Well, some, some experiences in this world are unique. Meeting, not everyone can relate to those experiences. Not everyone will know the experience of dunking a basketball. Not everyone will know the experience of flying an airplane. But there are some experiences that are universal. One of those experiences is failure. Failure. We are all well acquainted with failure on a, on a public scale, right? We know this well. Just recently we know of the public failure of Will Smith who walked on stage in a moment of not being clear had a public failure. We know of the betrayal of Benedict Arnold. And sadly, we even know of the failure of Ravi Zacharias. The list could go on and on and on. We are well acquainted with public failure. But we also know it personally. The truth is, we have all failed at something. Perhaps put a better way. We have all made a mistake. Some of us have made bigger mistakes than others and the consequences of those mistakes bear out that truth. I can certainly testify to you this morning of that fact. I have made big mistakes and I have made small mistakes and I know the consequences of those mistakes and failures. The reality is that mistakes and failure are a part of the human experience existence because you do understand that sin is a part of our existence. However, you define sin whether it is missing the mark or falling short of the glory of God. The essence of it is that you fail. You fall short of perfection. You and I do not measure up and therefore we will inevitably make mistakes. You and I will fail. However, few of us make mistakes that get recorded and rehearsed for millennia. Hardly any, if any of our mistakes have the shelf life of Peter's mistake, his failure is recorded in the most red book in the history of the world. But not only was his failure recorded, we also have the testimony of his prideful arrogance that it wouldn't happen. You remember when Jesus told Peter that he and the other disciples that they were going to desert him, they were going to abandon him in his greatest hour of need and what did Peter stand up and say? In John 13 and 37, he says, he says, Lord, they might desert you, but I will never desert you. I will lay down my life for you. I think Proverbs says something about pride going before the fall. Peter proved that to be true. It turns out that he really wasn't actually willing to die or to lay down his life. He instead sought to save it and therefore ended up denying Jesus. Peter's failure has been rehearsed throughout histories throughout centuries. But thankfully, brothers and sisters, Peter's story does not end there. We have John 21 that has also been recorded for us. You see, you do understand, our text this morning is about restoration. It's about restoration. Brothers and sisters, here is what I want you to understand this morning. I want you to walk out of here this morning knowing this as a fact that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is greater. It is stronger and more powerful than all of your sin. You cannot outrun or outsin the grace of God. And just because you messed up doesn't mean the Lord can't use you. That's what I want you to walk out of here believing and knowing and understanding.
Here's the reality. We all say amen to that. It's easy to say yes now that I want to believe that but let me tell you that is a really hard and difficult truth to believe in the wake of failure.
Listen to me, the enemy. I know because he has done it to me. The enemy will use your mistake to accuse you and to discourage you. He'll use it. And so in those moments, my prayer is that you would remember this text because believe you, me, you will mess up. You will have a colossal failure.
It's a reality. You will have what will seem like an insurmountable mistake. In fact, I don't doubt that some of you right now this morning are right now in the midst of a mess up and you're fighting you're trying. You're trying to believe that the grace and mercy of Jesus is real but the enemy is doing, you're doing battle with the enemy trying to believe it. And the evil one is bombarding you with discouragement and lies. Oh, don't believe the lies. My prayer is that you would see Jesus this morning, not only just speak into Peter, but that you would see him and hear him speaking to you this morning. Let's get started with the restoration. And let's start by stating the obvious. Let's get the obvious out of the way regarding restoration. First of all, you have to understand that the only reason restoration is even possible is because Jesus is alive. The resurrection means that restoration is even possible. When Jesus got out of the grave, he was proclaiming that all that was wrong not only could be made right, but would be made right. And so the story was not over for Peter and the story is not over for you and me. You do understand what Jesus starts. He finishes what he redeems he can and he promises to restore. He does. He does. Several years ago, I was on Craigslist. And I came across an ad for a TV. I see some people laugh because they know this story. Came across an ad for a TV. It was a big screen TV. And the ad said it was only $50. Now this was long before LEDs and all that good stuff. It was one of those big Stan TVs. And I said, for only $50, sure. But the ad said that it was broken and you would need to fix it. I said, I could restore this TV. I can do a little handy work. So sure enough, I bought the TV for $50. And I got to trying to restore this TV. Dollars later, it looks so easy on YouTube. It just looks so easy to fix this TV on YouTube. You know what that TV ended up? Yeah, in the dump was never able to restore that TV. When Jesus redeems you brothers and sisters, he is not only able to restore you. He will restore you brothers and sisters. He will, he will do it. Jesus not only promises to restore you. He was able to put back together that which was broken. Jesus is a reconciler and a restore. And we know this because the Bible bears it out and also because of what we see in our text. We see Jesus. You know what we see him doing? We see him making the first move. Jesus makes the first move. Our text begins by saying that when they had finished breakfast. Now you remember the last time Jesus had cooked his disciples breakfast on the shore of Galilee after a night of fishing and catching nothing. That was until Jesus showed up and then they had a large catch. And so after breakfast, John says Jesus called to Simon Peter by the sisters. I want you to notice something right off the bat about this exchange that is about to happen between Jesus and Peter. You have to remember that the last interaction that you and I have recorded for us between Peter and Jesus is one that roost the crowed three times. Peter who said he would never leave Jesus that he was willing to even die with him denied Jesus not once, not twice, but three times. And when that rooster crowed Peter knew. And Jesus knew and the Bible says Jesus looked at Peter and Peter came undone. He knew he had messed up. He knew he had failed. And so I've got to imagine that as the events of the day of the good Friday, they began to play out in Peter's mind, his denial at least in part had led to the crucifixion of Jesus.
He was devastated. That is until the resurrection. Jesus showed up. He got out the grave which was amazing. Now remember, this is not the first time Peter had seen Jesus after the resurrection, but it appears that this is going to be the first time they are going to address what happened in that courtyard. And so we've all been there, right? You messed up or wrong someone and you've kind of seen them in other places. And it's a little awkward, right? You don't know what you're supposed to say to them or if they're supposed to say something to you. And it just seems like there's just a lot of tension there. I imagine each time he saw Jesus after the resurrection, whether it was with the disciples, those two times. Whatever it was, I wondered, Peter going to his mind was like wondering if it would even come up or maybe he wrestled with whether or not he should bring it up. We've been there,
but that was no matter. Our text reminds us that Jesus always makes the first move. He always makes the first move. The offended party acts first. Jesus moved towards Peter to rectum style. This is what Paul reminds us of in Romans 5, 8, but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, while we were still sinners, while we were still running away from the Lord, Christ died for us. Jesus makes the first move. O brothers and sisters, if you have messed up, you do understand that Jesus desires to draw you back. Draw you back to Himself. He is not going to hold your offense against you. He is going to give you, he's not going to give you the silent treatment. Jesus is always there like the song says calling you. Come home. Come home. You who are weary. Come home. Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling. Calling O sinner. Oh, come home. Come home. Come home. Oh, yes. Yes, you have offended the Lord and yet he still takes the first step in restoring the relationship. Now, Jesus is calling. He's calling. Won't you hear his voice this morning? Oh, and just a point of application. Can I encourage you to follow the example of Jesus here this morning? Can I urge you that if you are dealing with a strange relationship and you are the offended party, it's okay to make the first move towards reconciliation. You might say, but you don't know what they did. You don't know how much they hurt me and you are right. I have no idea. I probably don't know what they did, but can you imagine if Jesus said that? It would be. There would be no reconciliation. Oh, Hosea didn't wait for Gomer to return. He, the offended party, takes the first step. Jesus moved toward Peter. He took the first step in restoring Peter back to himself and did so by using a three step process in restoring Peter. He first reminded Peter of Peter's first love. He reminded Peter of his first love. Three times Jesus asked Peter if he loved him, but you see, Jesus was not trying to beat a dead horse. Jesus was not hard of hearing. I think it is clear that Jesus was linking Peter's concession of his love for Jesus back to when Peter relinquished that love. Three times in that courtyard, Peter didn't just deny Jesus. He denied his love for Jesus. That is what we do when we sin, you do understand. When we sin, we declare that our love for whatever sin we are engaged in is greater than our love for Jesus at that moment. Second Timothy 410, for demons, what in love with this present world has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Why did he leave? Why did he deny Jesus at that time? Because he was in love with the world. The Apostle John tells us in 1 John 215, do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him linking your actions, your sinful actions to not loving Jesus at the time. When Jesus, when Peter was confronted by the servant girl about knowing Jesus at that moment, the love he had once professed to have for Jesus was being called to account. And in that moment, Peter demonstrated he loved his reputation, he loved his life and he ultimately loved himself more than he loved Jesus. That's why that's why he denied knowing him in that moment. Fast forward now to the scene on the shore. When Jesus seeks to restore Peter, what does he do? He draws him back to where he went off track. He calls his love for him to account again. Peter, do you love me more than all these other disciples love me? You were the one who spoke up when I told you that you all going to desert me and you were boasting about your love for me then Peter, do you love me Peter? And he asked him three times the same amount of times Peter denied Jesus. What a question. What a question to be asked by Jesus. Do you love me? Jesus was asking Peter the sufficiency question. Am I enough Peter? It is a question Peter had been confronted with before and you do understand that he answered correctly in those situations. In a sense Peter is taking Jesus taking Peter back to those moments. Like you remember when all those followers left Jesus and he turned to the disciples and he says are you going to go and leave too? And what does Peter say? Oh no Lord, where am I to go? You are the ones you are the one that has the words of eternal life. Peter in that moment was answering the sufficiency question correctly and declaring his love for the Lord above all.
Jesus is drawing him back there. You see this is what this is the loving, corrective discipline of the Lord. This is what it looks like. He comes and he doesn't beat you over the head with your sin. He doesn't come rehashing the mistake you made. Peter knew as soon as Jesus looked at him that night that he had betrayed him that he had messed up. You and I know when we mess up we know when we have failed so when Jesus comes to restore you he comes to remind you of a greater love of a greater satisfaction. He comes and says remember your first love. Do you love me Peter? Peter says yes. Yes, Jesus. I love you. In fact, I know you know I love you. He says you know I love you. In a sense I have stopped trusting in my own assessment of my love for you. You search my heart, Lord. You show me my love for you three times. Peter responds in the affirmative that he loves the Lord and Jesus each time responds with the next step in Peter's restoration process. Namely serving the Lord. Jesus says to Peter if he loves me Peter then go ahead and feed my sheep. Feed my sheep Peter. Shepard them is what he is saying. This is an amazing responsibility that the Lord bestows upon Peter. After his colossal failure, after denying and abandoning Jesus the Lord chooses to use him and commissions him into his service. And listen, he doesn't just commission Peter to any old task. He calls him to be an elder and overseer, a shepherd of his people. Please do not miss that point. Jesus did not say to Peter, Peter go feed the sheep. Jesus says to Peter feed my sheep. Jesus restored Peter to a position and calling that will have him watching and caring over those for whom Christ purchased with his own blood. That is the calling of a shepherd to care for, to tend to, to watch over those who Christ has purchased with his own blood. This is what Paul tells the elders in Acts 20 and 28 pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the Church of God which he obtained with his own blood. Peter was to care for the people of God by feeding them with the word of God, by teaching them what the Lord had taught him. And now we see this playing out in his epistles. And first and second, Peter, we see Peter feeding the sheep, feeding the exiles in disperse, that were dispersed throughout Pontius and Galatians and other places. And also, listen to the commissioning he gives to the elders and the shepherds in 1 Peter, chapter 5 verse is 1 through 3. So I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. This is what Peter was commissioned to you. And in being commissioned to that, he then teaches others in terms of how they ought to shepherd the flock. Oh, this restoration of Peter to this position, to this type of service in the kingdom is a foreign concept to our culture. Oh, Peter today, I can most assuredly assure you today, would be the victim of cancel culture. I am sure of it. His denial of Jesus on such a public stage would have sent the twitterverse into a frenzy.
Can you imagine the tweet? The prominent follower of Jesus denies him in his greatest hour of need proving he was a fake. Unfollow him. Cancel him. Public mistakes in our day. Bring out the public mob. Making restoration nearly impossible. But Jesus doesn't see as we see it. He doesn't cancel those who are his. He restores those who make mistakes and calls them to service in his kingdom. Listen brothers and sisters, the hall of faith that you and I read about in Hebrews chapter 11 isn't filled with people who walk straight past and never messed up. You ever read the story of Samson? You ever read the story of Jebsa and guess where they are? They're in the hall of faith. No, it is filled with broken people who Jesus chooses to restore and then put back into his service.
Listen, your failure, your mistake doesn't disqualify you from being used by God. He will take what is broken and make it beautiful. He will take your mess and turn it into a ministry. Listen, don't get caught up in how he uses you. Some of you want the prominent position. Don't get caught up in how he uses you. Just be thankful that he uses you. He uses you wherever and he will use you and notice that Jesus ties Peter's love for him to his service. Peter, if you love me, then feed my sheep. Take care and tend to those I love and died for. Here is the takeaway for us, brothers and sisters. You and I demonstrate our love for the Lord by our service and care for the people of God. Oh, put it differently if you love the Lord and surface church, surface church. Oh, John tells us in his other, in his epistle, by this, we know love that he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's good and sees his brother in need yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Oh, little children, let us not love in word or talk, but indeed, and in truth, your love, your love for Jesus and demonstrated in how you care for the flock. This is the type of service God desires from his people, a service that is motivated by a love for Jesus, not a love for status, not a love for a title, not a love for recognition. This type of service is not selfish. It is not boastful or transactional, but it is carried out with joy and gratitude for your highest love, namely, namely Jesus. Oh, you love Jesus and surface church. Peter's restoration included returning to or a reaffirmation of his first love. It included a commissioning into the Lord's service. And lastly, it empowered Peter to live a life, live to the glory of God. Jesus, after commissioning Peter, tells him to do what he has always told him and the other disciples to do, namely, to follow him. But following Jesus is never easy. It's never easy. Peter and the other disciples were going to face difficulty and hardship just as Jesus promised. You read through the book of Acts and you see it on every page, they face difficulty and a hardship. But Jesus promised them that in John 15 and 20. A servant is not greater than his master, if they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. It was coming. They knew it was coming, but that morning on the shore of Galilee, Peter got a prophetic word about his days that were head for him. We read this in verse 18, Jesus says, truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go. That idea of stretching out your hands was a term used for crucifixion. Now, we don't have to make the link ourselves in verse 19. John tells us that he says, this he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God. Historians tell us that this is exactly what happened to Peter. His final days were found in Rome and he was crucified just like his Lord, but with one difference. It is believed that he was asked to be crucified upside down because he didn't think himself worthy to be crucified the way his Lord was. Jesus' prophetic word that morning in many respects was telling Peter that there was coming a day, that it was coming Peter, there was coming a day when his commitment, when his love for Jesus was going to be called to account again. But this time, Peter would deny himself rather than deny Jesus. And brothers and sisters, that is what a life lived to the glory of God looks like. It looks like denying yourself. It looks like what Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 1624. If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take of his cross and follow me. A life lived to the glory of God is a life that will be marked out. It will be marked out by suffering, persecution, difficulty, hardship, but by Holy Spirit, all those who follow Jesus are indeed able to endure. They are able to glorify God with their lives because they are empowered to do so. Paul tells the Philippians in Philippians 129 for it has been granted. It has been given to you for that for the sake of Christ. You should not only believe in Him, but also suffer for His sake. You are empowered to suffer for Jesus,
there, there on the shore of Galilee. Peter was restored by Jesus. But it was just a foretaste of the full restoration that was to be His. And it is the hope of all those who trust the in Christ. Peter believed that final restoration was worth the suffering even if it meant suffering to the point of death. How do I know that's what he believes? How do I know that? Because I read about how he fed the sheep in 1 Peter 5 and 10, where he says, and after you have suffered a while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ. What will he do? He will himself restore, confirm and strengthen and establish you. And he did that and Peter believed that so he could endure the suffering. He could endure suffering even to the point of death. Brothers and sisters, you have failed, I am sure. Or maybe better yet, when you fail, it is never the end of the story. If you are in Christ, he will restore you. He will strengthen you. He will encourage you. He will establish you in Jesus. Let's pray.