Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / “. . . And What about This Man” │ Msg 1516

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“. . . And What about This Man” │ Msg 1516 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Ever play follow the leader as a child? It's that
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Speaker 1: backyard game where one child is the leader and everybody
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Speaker 1: else does their best to follow in a single line
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Speaker 1: wherever the leader goes. Inevitably, one of the kiddos takes
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Speaker 1: his or her eyes off the leader and one by one,
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Speaker 1: the rest of them bump into each other and tumble
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Speaker 1: like dominoes. You remember the game. Well, Thankfully, Jesus had
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Speaker 1: not ordained that we, as his followers, tumble like dominoes.
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Speaker 1: On the contrary, his desire is that we each learn
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Speaker 1: to fix our eyes on him, our faithful leader, as
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Speaker 1: diligent and obedient disciples, and then follow him completely. In
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Speaker 1: these last few verses of John's gospel, Jesus delivers a
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Speaker 1: compelling message to Peter and also to all of us.
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Speaker 1: When Peter takes his eyes off Jesus to concern himself
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Speaker 1: with John, Jesus draws Peter's attention back to himself with
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Speaker 1: an urgent, follow me. Let's read about that. As you
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Speaker 1: turn with me in your Bibles, I'll be reading from
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Speaker 1: the New Living Translation, John 21, verses 17 to 23.
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Speaker 1: Though it's a brief passage of scripture, this section provides
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Speaker 1: us with an important lesson to learn about following our leader,
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Speaker 1: Jesus the Christ. Now, John 21, 17 to 23. A
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Speaker 1: third time he asked him, Simon, son of John, do
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Speaker 1: you love me? Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the
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Speaker 1: question a third time.
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Speaker 2: He said, Lord.
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Speaker 1: You know everything. You know that I love you. Jesus said,
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Speaker 1: then feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when
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Speaker 1: you were young, you were able to do as you liked.
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Speaker 1: You dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go.
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Speaker 1: But when you are old, you will stretch out your
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Speaker 1: hands and others will dress you and take you where
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Speaker 1: you don't want to go. Jesus said this to let
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Speaker 1: him know by what kind of death he would glorify God.
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Speaker 1: Then Jesus told him, follow me. Peter turned around and
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Speaker 1: saw behind them the disciple Jesus loved, the one who
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Speaker 1: had leaned over to Jesus during supper and asked, Lord,
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Speaker 1: who will betray you? Peter asked Jesus, what about him, Lord?
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Speaker 1: Jesus replied, If I want him to remain alive until
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Speaker 1: I return, what is that to you? As for you,
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Speaker 1: follow me. So the rumor spread among the community of
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Speaker 1: believers that this disciple wouldn't die. But that isn't what
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Speaker 1: Jesus said at all. He only said, if I want
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Speaker 1: him to remain alive until I return. What is that
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Speaker 1: to you?
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Speaker 2: The White House hatchet man was the name they gave
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Speaker 2: Charles W. Colson, and he lived with it for the
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Speaker 2: better part of his time in the Nixon administration. It
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Speaker 2: was said that he said on one occasion that he
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Speaker 2: would run over his own grandmother to see Nixon reelected.
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Speaker 2: And he lived like that. An ex-Marine officer, he was
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Speaker 2: assigned as a personal confidant of the President, and he
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Speaker 2: witnessed both the rise and the fall of the Nixon Empire.
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Speaker 2: Colson was a man who had deep, deep commitment in
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Speaker 2: the areas of loyalty and dependability. And for a period
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Speaker 2: of time, he was wrapped up in the whole Watergate
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Speaker 2: mess without realizing the full extent of it until finally
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Speaker 2: when it became obvious to him and unfortunately many in
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Speaker 2: the public, he began to face facts as they were.
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Speaker 2: At this same period of time, God was doing a
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Speaker 2: great work in his life. As a matter of fact,
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Speaker 2: it was during this time He came to know the
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Speaker 2: Lord Jesus Christ in a personal way. It's a magnificent story.
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Speaker 2: He records it in his own book entitled Born Again,
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Speaker 2: which I'm now reading with fascinating interest. Mr. Colson came
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Speaker 2: to know Jesus Christ and in doing so made a
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Speaker 2: decision that he would declare his guilt. With that decision,
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Speaker 2: there came the byproduct of great criticism. He was called
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Speaker 2: no longer a hatchet man, but now a turncoat. He
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Speaker 2: was told by some to be a cop-out, by others
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Speaker 2: a foolish fanatic. But he let the chips fall where
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Speaker 2: they were, and he served a period of time in
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Speaker 2: the federal penitentiary. I find in his book a fresh
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Speaker 2: breath of air politically because as many of you know,
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Speaker 2: there came to the bookshelves a number of similar kinds
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Speaker 2: of writings when the truth became evident to everyone concerning
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Speaker 2: Richard Nixon and the details of his fall. They were
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Speaker 2: for the most part predictable written about the same time.
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Speaker 2: They seem to have the same flair, though written from
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Speaker 2: different standpoints, some by diplomats, some by politicians, others by
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Speaker 2: newspaper men. But when this man wrote the book, I'm
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Speaker 2: not through with it yet, but I'm discovering that there
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Speaker 2: is a perspective that's altogether unique because I find in
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Speaker 2: the writing of this book a Christian perspective that seems
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Speaker 2: to open the shadows and pull back the curtains and
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Speaker 2: give a ray of light in some intimate conversations that
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Speaker 2: are now correctly or more completely interpreted. Colson writes this,
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Speaker 2: I have prayed especially for honesty in my writings. knowing
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Speaker 2: only too well that my basic nature would want to
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Speaker 2: present myself in the most favorable light. As I have
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Speaker 2: fallen down, picked myself up, and fallen down again during
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Speaker 2: the past few years, I am learning how God can
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Speaker 2: break us in order to remake us. And through my
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Speaker 2: dependence on him has come a surprising sense of freedom
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Speaker 2: and an exhilaration in my spirit. He's now a free man,
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Speaker 2: but will live with the scars of Watergate for the
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Speaker 2: rest of his life. As we come to the New Testament,
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Speaker 2: we find four accounts to an enigma. The enigma is
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Speaker 2: not Watergate nor the Nixon administration. It is the birth, life, ministry, death,
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Speaker 2: and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, the greatest story ever told.
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Speaker 2: The first three men who wrote of it wrote from
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Speaker 2: a predictable standpoint. They wrote pretty much at the same
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Speaker 2: era And pretty much from the same perspective, give or
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Speaker 2: take a number of details, they were predictable. One man, however,
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Speaker 2: who knew the inner workings, the inner circle, the nerve center,
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Speaker 2: the inner sanctum of conversations and events waited 60 years.
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Speaker 2: Do you hear that? 60 years after the death of Jesus.
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Speaker 2: before he ever wrote a word. During that waiting period,
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Speaker 2: he thought long and hard and deep about some of
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Speaker 2: the unique experiences and conversations that had never been made known.
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Speaker 2: And from his perspective, he has added a wealth of
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Speaker 2: information that we have been enjoying for now 41 years. Sundays.
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Speaker 2: We turn to John 21 to another unique account not
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Speaker 2: found in Matthew or Mark or Luke. I'll tell you why.
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Speaker 2: New Testament scholars tell us that those three gospels are
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Speaker 2: the synoptic gospels. The word soon in Greek, S-U-N, means
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Speaker 2: together with. It's the idea of putting something together or
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Speaker 2: seeing something together. Optic obviously means that which is seen
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Speaker 2: or viewed. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are viewed together. That is,
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Speaker 2: they viewed in a collective similar fashion the miracles, the parables,
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Speaker 2: the birth, the death, the resurrection of Jesus. But when
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Speaker 2: you come to John, you have an altogether unique account.
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Speaker 2: There's not a genealogy. There are not the parables, there
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Speaker 2: are not the events that you're familiar with in the
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Speaker 2: first three accounts, but there are in this gospel account, personal,
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Speaker 2: behind the scenes, unique conversations. That suddenly when you put
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Speaker 2: that together with the other three, you have a fairly
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Speaker 2: composite picture of what must have taken place. Actually, the
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Speaker 2: Gospels are not lengthy accounts. You could read all of
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Speaker 2: them in probably less than 10 hours. They're like four
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Speaker 2: slender pamphlets, which are inspired of God and preserved for
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Speaker 2: our instruction. We have almost come to the conclusion in
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Speaker 2: our study of John, and as we come to chapter 21,
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Speaker 2: I am pleased that it ends on a personal note.
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Speaker 2: There will be one more message And then we will
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Speaker 2: complete our study. But look with me, if you will,
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Speaker 2: to John 21 in verse 15, and you will get a,
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Speaker 2: once again, a reminder of how unique John really is.
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Speaker 2: In verses 15 through 23, we have Peter learning three lessons.
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Speaker 2: We want to learn them with him. And as is
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Speaker 2: John's custom, they are very practical. I'll have to draw
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Speaker 2: on your memory of last Sunday and hope that you
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Speaker 2: have not forgotten that they were by the sea, sitting
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Speaker 2: together in a little group, and Jesus has probed Peter's love.
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Speaker 2: He has asked him on two occasions, do you love me?
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Speaker 2: Using the word for the highest form of love, Peter's
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Speaker 2: response has been yes, but he's qualified his answer by
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Speaker 2: using a term from John's pen that means, I'm fond
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Speaker 2: of you. Now the third time, Jesus asked yet again.
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Speaker 2: It occurred to me as I was sitting here this morning,
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Speaker 2: only those that sit through three services can appreciate the
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Speaker 2: same thing being said three times. And I hope their
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Speaker 2: response is not like Peter's, because he was grieved. Grieved.
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Speaker 2: because he said the third time, are you fond of me?
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Speaker 2: Are you just fond of me? And Peter's response is, Lord,
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Speaker 2: you know everything. You know by experience, that's the best
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Speaker 2: I can say. No longer, Lord, am I making these
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Speaker 2: great gigantic promises about how everybody else may fail, but
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Speaker 2: I won't. I've got to say, Lord, the honest, transparent
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Speaker 2: expression of my life is, I'm fond of you. And
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Speaker 2: to Peter's magnificent amazement, Jesus said, tend my sheep. Now,
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Speaker 2: Let's learn the lesson and then let's apply it even
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Speaker 2: further to our lives. That's what we've put on the
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Speaker 2: insert that you've received this morning. Stop and hear his message.
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Speaker 2: Let's do that. First, lesson A. We'll weave the lesson
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Speaker 2: through the message. Past failures can be forgiven in love.
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Speaker 2: Don't quit. Don't quit. I want you to hear that,
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Speaker 2: even though that may sound like what you've heard before
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Speaker 2: on other occasions. I think it needs to be heard again.
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Speaker 2: Past failures can be forgiven in love. Don't quit. Now,
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Speaker 2: why would I draw that lesson from this 17th verse? Well,
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Speaker 2: you see, Peter's concept, because of his temperament, was false.
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Speaker 2: In order for you to be used, you need to
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Speaker 2: earn the right to serve. In other words, you need
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Speaker 2: to either be perfect or as near perfect as possible.
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Speaker 2: Cholerics think like that, by the way. We have a
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Speaker 2: tendency to have a performance concept. You work hard and
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Speaker 2: long and usually loud at getting a job done and
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Speaker 2: you rest a great deal on competence, putting together the
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Speaker 2: right procedure and doing it to the very best of
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Speaker 2: your ability. But when one of this temperament fails, it
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Speaker 2: is easy for there to be a deep sense of remorse.
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Speaker 2: I quit. It's a message from the enemy that says, aha,
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Speaker 2: see there? When Jesus was tried and being found guilty, you, Peter,
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Speaker 2: had a chance to stand in the lurch and to say, wait,
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Speaker 2: I'm one of his followers. But you didn't. Now, all
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Speaker 2: of this is in Peter's head, you see. And he
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Speaker 2: failed miserably. In fact, he swore against heaven that he
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Speaker 2: did not know the Lord. He denied the Lord three times, publicly.
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Speaker 2: Now it's on the heels of that failing experience that
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Speaker 2: Jesus says to him, do you love me? But surprises
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Speaker 2: him with, tend my sheep. Peter long since forgot about serving.
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Speaker 2: He's the man that wanted to go fishing, remember? In
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Speaker 2: his mind, he was a loser. He hadn't come through
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Speaker 2: when the chips were down, and because of that, because
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Speaker 2: of that sense of failure, what I call the loser image,
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Speaker 2: he has just planned on quitting. Ever feel like that? Well,
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Speaker 2: sure you have. Some of you look like you agree
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Speaker 2: with me. Others of you give me a quizzical look
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Speaker 2: like I'm not sure. Others of you are now awake
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Speaker 2: looking back at me. I've done a study of the
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Speaker 2: scriptures just in survey fashion and I have found that
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Speaker 2: there's hardly a man or woman in scripture used greatly
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Speaker 2: of God that didn't fail miserably. You know that? You're
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Speaker 2: in pretty good company if you fail. Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, Jonah,
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Speaker 2: John Mark, Apostle Peter. Almost makes you want to fail
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Speaker 2: when you hit a list like that, doesn't it? Whoever
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Speaker 2: said you must be perfect to be serving Jesus Christ?
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Speaker 2: You'd have no preacher today if that were true. would
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Speaker 2: have no board to serve in any official capacity. There
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Speaker 2: would be no message of hope. But you see, the
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Speaker 2: marvel of God's grace is that His love covers a
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Speaker 2: multitude of sins. And when I'm at my lowest valley,
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Speaker 2: His grace is brighter than ever. Who can appreciate the
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Speaker 2: grace and love of God like one on the heels
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Speaker 2: of a terrible, remorseful, guilt-ridden conscience over past failure. And
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Speaker 2: the enemy comes and he says, you see, you cannot
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Speaker 2: be used of God because the bird with the broken
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Speaker 2: pinion can never soar as high again. I had a
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Speaker 2: time recently, just this past week, frankly, with a man
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Speaker 2: who believed that lie. He had been fed the lie
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Speaker 2: since he was a little boy raised in another church many, many,
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Speaker 2: many miles from here. He had been told by his
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Speaker 2: mother that even though he trusted in Jesus Christ as
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Speaker 2: a little boy, Jesus Christ no longer was in his
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Speaker 2: life because he has had a series of failures. And
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Speaker 2: he has admittedly backslidden. And in this particular church where
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Speaker 2: he was raised, he was told that you If you
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Speaker 2: slip far enough, you've lost the joys of eternal life.
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Speaker 2: You must earn your way back in. And I asked him,
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Speaker 2: by the way, at what time did you lose your salvation?
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Speaker 2: He said, I don't know. I said, neither does anybody else.
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Speaker 2: That ambiguous sometime is never really there. The prodigal didn't
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Speaker 2: Gain a father? He always had a father. He just
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Speaker 2: left home. And the father was waiting for the prodigal
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Speaker 2: when he returned. When I told this man the story
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Speaker 2: that he had heard since real small, his eyes lit up.
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Speaker 2: There's only grace can do, by the way. When he
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Speaker 2: thought that a loving father stayed by his side through
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Speaker 2: this moment. miserable experience, discipline him. Man, he had been
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Speaker 2: in the woodshed so long he didn't know what the
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Speaker 2: outside looked like. And he said, my, to think of it,
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Speaker 2: that I can simply claim his forgiveness, deal directly with
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Speaker 2: this life of mine. He can use me. Man, it
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Speaker 2: was just like a burden off his shoulders. Peter needed
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Speaker 2: that reminder. The Lord said, tend my sheep, Peter. But
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Speaker 2: I'm a loser. Get at the sheep business. But I
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Speaker 2: denied you. Get at the sheep business, Peter. You see,
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Speaker 2: what do you gain by sitting on the sideline licking
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Speaker 2: your wounds? The great detergent of God's forgiveness is still there.
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Speaker 2: Holds you firmly. In 1937, there was completed the building
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Speaker 2: of the great Golden Gate Bridge. It cost $ 77 million
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Speaker 2: of our money. It was built in two stages, the
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Speaker 2: first very slowly and the second very rapidly. In the
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Speaker 2: first stage, 23 men fell to their death and the
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Speaker 2: work ground to a halt because fear paralyzed the workmen.
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Speaker 2: as helplessly they saw their companions plummeting from the structure
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Speaker 2: to the water far below. Finally, an ingenious person thought,
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Speaker 2: there needs to be a net. And so they put
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Speaker 2: together for $ 100, 000 the largest net that's ever been built.
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Speaker 2: and they hung that net beneath the workmen so that
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Speaker 2: phase two, when it began, 10 were saved who fell
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Speaker 2: into that net and the work proceeded 25% faster. The
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Speaker 2: job was done. Now there are some who will say
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Speaker 2: to you, oh, you teach that kind of love and
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Speaker 2: grace message You'll build a cheap life into your people. Really?
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Speaker 2: I don't think there's anything like security and love and
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Speaker 2: mercy to give quality to life. That's a message of
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Speaker 2: intelligent hope. That's an intrinsic motivation that takes all the
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Speaker 2: work away from me and gives all the glory to
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Speaker 2: the one who deserves it. That's what happens. When you
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Speaker 2: know you are secure in his love and you know
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Speaker 2: that no matter how deep you may stoop, he's there
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Speaker 2: to pick you up. That's grace. And that's what Peter
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Speaker 2: heard that day. Don't you forget it now. You that
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Speaker 2: are on the backwash of a very remorseful experience, let
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Speaker 2: me say to you, you can still be used. The
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Speaker 2: Bible is strewn with the litter of failures. And it
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Speaker 2: didn't stop with the end of the writing of Revelation.
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Speaker 2: The history of the church is filled with leaders who
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Speaker 2: have a track record of failing. Now let's look at
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Speaker 2: the second lesson. Look at verse 18. Truly, truly, I
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Speaker 2: say to you, When you were younger, you used to
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Speaker 2: gird yourself and walk wherever you wished. But when you
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Speaker 2: grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone
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Speaker 2: else will gird you and bring you where you do
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Speaker 2: not wish to go. Now this, he said, signifying by
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Speaker 2: what death, what kind of death he would glorify God.
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Speaker 2: Jesus is still staring at Peter. Hasn't taken his eyes
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Speaker 2: off that old, wiser disciple. And he told Peter about
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Speaker 2: his past, and then he said something about his future.
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Speaker 2: As he looked into his past, he told Peter the
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Speaker 2: kind of man he used to be. You read the
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Speaker 2: words in verse 18. You used to gird yourself. You
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Speaker 2: used to walk wherever you wished. It's a picture of
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Speaker 2: a self-assured young man, independent, strong-willed, determined, disciplined, capable kind
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Speaker 2: of person. But he said to Peter, you won't always
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Speaker 2: be that way, Peter. Now that my life and the
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Speaker 2: cross life has come across your steps, your path is different.
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Speaker 2: When you grow old, there will be something else that
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Speaker 2: will happen. You won't any longer stretch out your hands
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Speaker 2: where you wish. They'll be stretched out for you. You
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Speaker 2: won't any longer take life as you wish. It will
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Speaker 2: be taken from you. And you'll be led where you
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Speaker 2: do not want to go. What does that mean? Well,
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Speaker 2: it's the picture of a submissive spirit. But the Bible
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Speaker 2: never does tell us how Peter died. Eusebius does in
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Speaker 2: his book on Ecclesiastical History, the third volume. He opens
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Speaker 2: the veil in Peter's life as he died. It was
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Speaker 2: in about 61 AD under Nero's rule that Peter and
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Speaker 2: his wife were imprisoned. He had wanted to escape from Rome,
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Speaker 2: but the Lord appeared to him in a vision and
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Speaker 2: told him to go back. He did. On the one
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Speaker 2: bleak morning, he was brought to a place of execution
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Speaker 2: and he witnessed the crucifixion of his wife who was
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Speaker 2: killed before his eyes. He stood before her and he
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Speaker 2: said to her, remember the Lord. He was taken back
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Speaker 2: to his own dungeon, stayed there overnight and his submissive
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Speaker 2: spirit to what was ahead of him caused the jailer
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Speaker 2: to embrace Christianity. Just before he died, the jailer received
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Speaker 2: Jesus Christ and received life. Peter, when he came to
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Speaker 2: the place of his crucifixion, stood before it and said,
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Speaker 2: I'm not worthy to be crucified as my Lord. And
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Speaker 2: he requested that he be crucified feet upwards, head downwards.
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Speaker 2: And he was. He was led to where he did
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Speaker 2: not wish to go. His arms were stretched out against
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Speaker 2: his wishes, his flesh. And his life was taken from
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Speaker 2: him as he was crucified upside down. It's a moving picture,
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Speaker 2: isn't it? Vivid. It's the picture of a man who
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Speaker 2: really could not predict his future. And that's the lesson
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Speaker 2: God wanted him to learn. This we'll call lesson B.
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Speaker 2: The first lesson had to do with not quitting. God
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Speaker 2: can still use you even though you failed, Peter. Here's
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Speaker 2: the second. Present lifestyle is no guarantee of the same future.
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Speaker 2: Don't predict. Present lifestyle is no guarantee of the same future.
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Speaker 2: Don't predict. I want you to listen to that through
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Speaker 2: the ears of Peter. The Lord told him what kind
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Speaker 2: of death by which he would glorify God. I think
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Speaker 2: that's significant. Not just what kind of death circumstance would
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Speaker 2: bring to pass, but the kind of death God has
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Speaker 2: ordained for you, Peter. With a willing heart, you'll give
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Speaker 2: yourself to death and God will be glorified. Turn to
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Speaker 2: James chapter 4, will you? Hold your place right here,
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Speaker 2: we'll be right back. Look at James 4, beginning at
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Speaker 2: verse 13. Settle on verse 13 of James 4 for
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Speaker 2: a moment. And I especially want you who feel self-assured, confident, secure,
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Speaker 2: and a bit strong-willed to pay close attention to what
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Speaker 2: we're going to read. It has to do with your future.
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Speaker 2: Come now, you who say, today or tomorrow we shall
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Speaker 2: go to such and such a city and spend a
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Speaker 2: year there and engage in business and make a profit.
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Speaker 2: Yet you do not know what your life will be
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Speaker 2: like tomorrow. Mark those words. You do not know. You
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Speaker 2: are just a vapor. The Phillips paraphrase says, a puff
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Speaker 2: of smoke. The Living Bible renders it as uncertain as
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Speaker 2: the morning fog. You are just a vapor that appears
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Speaker 2: for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you
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Speaker 2: ought to say, if the Lord wills, we shall live
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Speaker 2: and also do this or that. You hear what James
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Speaker 2: is saying? If the Lord wills, first of all, we'll live.
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Speaker 2: And second, if the Lord wills, we will do this
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Speaker 2: or that. Those are the words of a submissive heart.
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Speaker 2: But as it is, verse 16 adds, you boast in
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Speaker 2: your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. What's it saying?
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Speaker 2: We shouldn't plan. We shouldn't map out our lives with
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Speaker 2: goals in mind. That doesn't say that. It says leave
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Speaker 2: room in your life for those uncertain parentheses, which are inevitable.
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Speaker 2: Leave room for a premature death. Leave room for failure
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Speaker 2: in business. Leave room for God to interrupt and say, no,
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Speaker 2: that's not the direction. You now go in this direction.
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Speaker 2: You want to know the best proof of the unpredictability
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Speaker 2: of your future? Your past. Okay? Five years ago. Can
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Speaker 2: you believe what's happened in these last five years? There's
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Speaker 2: a smile on most of your faces. Some of you
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Speaker 2: have gotten married and you swore you would never get married.
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Speaker 2: Others of you have gotten married and you're now swearing.
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Speaker 2: Some of you had plans for a business and it
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Speaker 2: fell through. Others of you had plans for a corporate
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Speaker 2: planning program, sort of a composite or group work, and
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Speaker 2: it never multiplied. Or I should say, on the other hand,
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Speaker 2: it has gone crazy. You've never made so much money
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Speaker 2: in all your life. Others of you five years ago
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Speaker 2: were up here on the scale. Now you're down here economically.
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Speaker 2: Some of you thought you would be on the mission
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Speaker 2: field and you're at home. Others of you thought you
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Speaker 2: would be home and you're in the mission field. That's
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Speaker 2: what Peter has to learn here in verse 18 of
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Speaker 2: John 21, verse 19. Peter, you're strong now while you're young,
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Speaker 2: but let me say to you, Peter, back off. Your
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Speaker 2: hands will be stretched and your body will be girded
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Speaker 2: and you will not plan it that way. William Ernest
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Speaker 2: Henley composed a humanistic piece of philosophy that all of
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Speaker 2: us have heard. It matters not how straight the gate,
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Speaker 2: how charged with punishment the scroll. I am the master
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Speaker 2: of my fate. I am the captain of my soul.
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Speaker 2: Henley was a disillusioned man He hadn't heard God's voice.
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Speaker 2: You're never the captain of your fate. You're never the
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Speaker 2: master of your soul. You try to be. You see, Christians,
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Speaker 2: our problem is we don't want to be sheep. We
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Speaker 2: want to be shepherds. Right? Right. We don't want to
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Speaker 2: be the bride. We want to be the groom. We
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Speaker 2: don't want to be the recipients. We want to be
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Speaker 2: the movers. We're Peters by nature. I had walked life's
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Speaker 2: way with an easy tread. I had traveled where pleasures
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Speaker 2: and comfort led until one day in a quiet place,
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Speaker 2: I met the master face to face. with station and
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Speaker 2: rank and wealth for my goal, much thought for my body,
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Speaker 2: but none for my soul. I had entered to win
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Speaker 2: this life's mad race when I met the master face
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Speaker 2: to face. I built my castles and reared them high
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Speaker 2: till their towers had pierced the blue of the sky.
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Speaker 2: I'd sworn to rule with an iron mace till I
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Speaker 2: met the master face to face. I met him and
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Speaker 2: knew him and blushed to see that his eyes full
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Speaker 2: of sorrow were fixed upon me. I faltered and fell
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Speaker 2: at his feet that day while my castles melted and
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Speaker 2: vanished away. Melted and vanished and in their place, naught
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Speaker 2: else could I see but my master's face. My thoughts
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Speaker 2: are now for the souls of men. I've lost my life.
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Speaker 2: Like Colson. Like Peter. I've lost my life to find
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Speaker 2: it again. Since that day in the quiet place where
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Speaker 2: I met the master face to face. There was a
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Speaker 2: third lesson Peter had to learn. Beginning in verse 19.
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Speaker 2: When he had spoken this, he said to him, follow me.
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Speaker 2: Now mark verse 20 very carefully. Peter turning around saw
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Speaker 2: the disciple whom Jesus loved. Now this was John whom
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Speaker 2: he saw. He saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them.
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Speaker 2: The one who had leaned back on his breast at
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Speaker 2: the supper and said, Lord, who is the one who
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Speaker 2: betrays you? So there's no question, but this was John
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Speaker 2: the writer. Now, what was happening? Well, Jesus stood up
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Speaker 2: and he said to Peter, Peter, follow me. Well, Peter
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Speaker 2: stood up, brushed the sand off, started to follow him,
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Speaker 2: and he heard some footsteps. And so on his way
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Speaker 2: to following Jesus, he turned around and he saw John,
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Speaker 2: who was following them. And in typical Peter fashion, verse 21,
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Speaker 2: He said to Jesus, Lord, what about this man? A
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Speaker 2: person who is capable in managing his own life is
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Speaker 2: very interested in managing other people's lives as well and
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Speaker 2: makes it his business to be very curious about why
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Speaker 2: God isn't saying this to him. as well as to me. Now,
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Speaker 2: I know none of you have had that experience, but
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Speaker 2: I've had that experience on occasion. The Lord says to me, Swindoll,
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Speaker 2: you do this. And I start doing this, and nobody
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Speaker 2: else is doing this. And I say, hey, Lord, what
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Speaker 2: about him? You asked me to do this. What about him?
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Speaker 2: Isn't that typical of Peter? And of you, look at
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Speaker 2: the verse 22. Don't tell me Jesus doesn't have any backbone.
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Speaker 2: Jesus said to him, if I want him to remain
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Speaker 2: until I come, that's none of your business. You follow me.
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Speaker 2: In fact, the Greek puts it very directly. You, me,
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Speaker 2: keep on following me. You and I, let's get our
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Speaker 2: eyes together, our hearts together. I'll take care of John.
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Speaker 2: You have children in your family that want to be
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Speaker 2: dad and mom sometime? Oh, yeah, we do too. As
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Speaker 2: a matter of fact, there are occasions that I will say,
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Speaker 2: hold it, wait, remember, I'll take care of her. You
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Speaker 2: take care of you. That's what the Lord's saying to Peter. Hey, Peter,
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Speaker 2: don't try to be John's mother. Don't try to be
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Speaker 2: John's dad. I'll take care of John. You follow me
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Speaker 2: and you leave John to me. Now Jesus is not
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Speaker 2: teaching an unhealthy independence but a very mature interdependence here.
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Speaker 2: Here's the lesson and then we'll amplify it. Personal obedience
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Speaker 2: is an individual matter. Don't compare. Peter tried to switch
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Speaker 2: the attention of Jesus back on John from himself And
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Speaker 2: the Lord caught him and he said, oh, wait a
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Speaker 2: minute now. You obey me. That's an individual matter. Stop
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Speaker 2: comparing yourself to somebody else. See, when the Lord saved you,
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Speaker 2: he saved you independently. Nobody's ever saved as a group
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Speaker 2: or in a group. And God doesn't deal with you
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Speaker 2: in a group. He deals with you individually. God will
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Speaker 2: reward you individually. That's the wonder of his future plan.
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Speaker 2: Each one of us. will stand before his throne for reward.
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Speaker 2: I will never receive rewards deserved by you nor you
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Speaker 2: because of me. You will not get my rewards nor
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Speaker 2: I yours, nor will we get the same punishment on earth.
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Speaker 2: Perhaps discipline is a better word. Let's say that you're
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Speaker 2: a missionary under a sun helmet sitting out in the
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Speaker 2: heat of some tropical climate. Your first term on the
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Speaker 2: field and you've done your best to get to that place.
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Speaker 2: You've been there five, six years. You get a little
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Speaker 2: weary and you get the paper from back home, the
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Speaker 2: alma mater newsletter where you went to school, okay? And
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Speaker 2: you read where John Dingaling, who is a classmate of yours,
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Speaker 2: could hardly make it through school, just got an honorary
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Speaker 2: doctorate and was promoted to general secretary of your mission.
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Speaker 2: Or you could even say chairman of the board of
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Speaker 2: some business or president. You say, Lord, what about me?
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Speaker 2: You're a conscientious mother. You've committed yourself to your family
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Speaker 2: and the rearing of your children. You have a neighbor,
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Speaker 2: a Christian friend who is not conscientious, cares little about
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Speaker 2: the cares and needs of her family, and all of
42:59
Speaker 2: a sudden, time has passed, and most of your children
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Speaker 2: have tubed out spiritually, and all of hers straight as
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Speaker 2: an arrow. Lord, what's going on? You see how it works?
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Speaker 2: The favorite indoor sport of Christians is comparison. We compare
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Speaker 2: preachers to godly men. We will compare until we have
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Speaker 2: them naked with our feelings or our criticisms. We compare
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Speaker 2: churches We compare salaries. We compare staff members. We compare
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Speaker 2: people's children. We compare singers and singing groups and bands
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Speaker 2: and colleges until there's nothing else to talk about. And
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Speaker 2: all the while, we've been talking about nothing. If... If
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Speaker 2: you want to waste time, you compare. It's the quickest
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Speaker 2: way to waste time I know anything about. In fact,
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Speaker 2: there's an old 14th century motto that says, comparisons are odious.
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Speaker 2: There's another word for it, but you can work on
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Speaker 2: that one yourself. Now, you will notice in verse 23,
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Speaker 2: after Jesus says to him, you follow me, I want
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Speaker 2: you to notice what happened. Boy, the New Testament is
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Speaker 2: so practical. They garbled the message. The gossip, the scuttlebutt
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Speaker 2: got out. Verse 23, the saying therefore went out among
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Speaker 2: the brethren that that disciple, John, would not die. John's
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Speaker 2: writing this particular part of the book. You know, they said,
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Speaker 2: I never would die. Yet Jesus did not say to
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Speaker 2: him that he would not die, but only if I
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Speaker 2: want him to remain until I come. What is that
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Speaker 2: to you? Lesson number four. People will misunderstand God's message
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Speaker 2: to you. I want to add, don't sweat it, but
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Speaker 2: I won't. I'll just say, don't worry. People will misunderstand
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Speaker 2: what God's leading you to do. Don't worry. Don't worry.
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Speaker 2: You know, through this message this morning, we have touched
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Speaker 2: four of the most difficult battles of our lives, haven't we?
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Speaker 2: Just think them over. Feeling because you failed, you're going
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Speaker 2: to quit. Feeling because you're confident now, you always can be.
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Speaker 2: So the feeling of predicting. The third is... Because you're
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Speaker 2: handled a certain way, you tend to compare how someone
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Speaker 2: else is led. God tells you, look, you can't do
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Speaker 2: this and keep walking with me, so give that up.
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Speaker 2: And you give it up, and the guy next to
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Speaker 2: you doesn't. You think, well, why didn't he give it up?
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Speaker 2: I gave it up. The feeling of comparing. And fourth
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Speaker 2: is the worry about what people think. Hang it. If
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Speaker 2: you're doing exactly what Jesus Christ wants you to do,
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Speaker 2: do it! And don't feel like you've got anything to
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Speaker 2: prove to anybody else. If I lived any other way,
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Speaker 2: I'd be in a mental hospital. I guarantee you. Now,
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Speaker 2: The beauty of it all is submission to Christ, not
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Speaker 2: to people. Charles Coulson closes with these words. It was
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Speaker 2: that night in the quiet of my room that I
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Speaker 2: made the total surrender before the Lord. Lord, if this
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Speaker 2: is what it's all about, I said, then I thank you.
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Speaker 2: I praise you for leaving me in prison, for letting
47:41
Speaker 2: them take away my license to practice law. Yes, even
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Speaker 2: for my son being arrested. I praise you for giving
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Speaker 2: me your love through Jesus Christ and these men, for
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Speaker 2: being God and letting me walk with Jesus. With those
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Speaker 2: words came the greatest joy of all, the final release.
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Speaker 2: Some of you are in bondage to yourself or to
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Speaker 2: someone else. And Jesus came to set you free. To
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Speaker 2: set you free. Let's bow together. Just about out of voice.
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Speaker 2: Perhaps God would have you deal specially with some matter
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Speaker 2: that we've dealt with, or maybe something that has been
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Speaker 2: dealt with in your life that hasn't even been mentioned.
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Speaker 2: Not what about this man, but what about me? It's me, Lord.
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Speaker 2: standing in the need of prayer. I pray, Heavenly Father,
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Speaker 2: that you will do real, in-depth surgery into some here
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Speaker 2: who are so strong-willed they're not even hearing your voice.
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Speaker 2: They're so busy playing with their money that they've begun
49:37
Speaker 2: to play with their future. I pray that you would
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Speaker 2: remake them in your own way. I pray as well
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Speaker 2: for those who are brokenhearted and remorseful because of a
49:52
Speaker 2: recent bad track record. The enemy is saying, you're finished. Quit.
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Speaker 2: Deal with these. Bring them the relief that only the
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Speaker 2: forgiving blood of Christ can bring. Some have become very
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Speaker 2: narrow in the tight radius of themselves they have begun
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Speaker 2: to compare. I pray that they might have learned this
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Speaker 2: morning the futility of comparison and the sin of it.
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Speaker 2: And so many are given to worry over what other
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Speaker 2: people say and think. Oh, Father, for this especially do
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Speaker 2: I pray that you would bring release and freedom through
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Speaker 2: Jesus Christ. Amen.
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Speaker 3: The preceding message, And What About This Man?, was copyrighted
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Speaker 3: in 1976, 1988, 2000, and 2018, and the sound recording
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Speaker 3: was copyrighted in 2018. by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All
51:12
Speaker 3: rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial
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Speaker 3: use is strictly prohibited.
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Speaker 2: Thank you.
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Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you.