Latest / Off The Kirb Ministries / Why God Restores Chosen Ones Who Have Messed Up

Transcript

Why God Restores Chosen Ones Who Have Messed Up · Off The Kirb Ministries

0:00
Hey, I need to ask you something.
0:03
Have you ever messed up before? I think the answer, if we're all
0:09
honest, is yes. There's not a single person
0:11
who's watching this right now who can honestly say I have
0:15
never messed up. So if that is you, you need to
0:17
pay attention right now because we are going to look at how the
0:21
Lord Jesus Christ deals with failures by looking at the life
0:25
of Peter. So I've got 3 headings for you
0:28
today. My first heading is 1 Maverick,
0:31
my second heading is 2 fires, and my third heading is 3
0:37
questions. 1 Maverick 2 fires 3 questions.
0:43
OK firstly 1 Maverick. Let's be honest, Peter was a non
0:48
conformist. He was unpredictable.
0:50
He'd blow hot and then he'd blow cold.
0:53
And that's exactly why you and I love him, because he reminds us
0:56
of ourselves. He's not this polished guy who
0:58
got everything right. No, Peter made many mistakes.
1:01
Peter was the first one to open his mouth.
1:04
He was the first one to get aggressive.
1:05
Do you remember when he chopped off the high priest ear,
1:08
Malchus's ear? And it was the first one, as
1:10
we're going to see in a moment in John chapter 21, to get wet.
1:14
But I wonder, I wonder how many of you listening right now are
1:18
like Peter and you concern yourself with what others are
1:22
doing. I mean, have you ever asked the
1:26
question, why is it that Peter denied the Lord in the 1st
1:30
place? How did he get into this
1:31
situation? Well, I think the answer is in
1:34
John chapter 18 and verses 15 to 16.
1:38
So if you've got a Bible there, just turn to John chapter 18.
1:41
I'm going to read verses 15 to 16.
1:44
And Simon Peter followed Jesus and so did another disciple.
1:48
Now that disciple was known to the high priest and went with
1:52
Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest, but Peter stood at
1:56
the door outside. Then the other disciple, and
2:00
it's believed that this disciple was John, who was known to the
2:04
high priest, went out and spoke to who kept the door and brought
2:08
Peter in. So did you notice that here
2:11
we've got Peter, OK, and he's trapped outside John who the
2:16
early church. And I think as well, John is the
2:18
disciple who goes through, but Peter is left outside.
2:23
Peter is shut out. And here's the question, why did
2:27
that happen? Was it a chance?
2:30
Was it just an accident? Or could it be that the Lord was
2:33
saying something to Peter? Peter, you go through that door
2:37
right now and you are going to make a big mistake.
2:41
Peter, this door is shut for a reason.
2:43
And if you go through it, bad things will happen.
2:47
Wonder how many times there's been a door that's been shut in
2:50
your face and you couldn't accept it.
2:54
Even though when you went through that door bad things
2:56
happened, you still you could not accept it.
2:59
That's what happened to Peter here.
3:01
It was almost as if he was saying, OK, well, if John is
3:04
going through, I've got to go through.
3:06
John can't be the only one who's loyal to the Lord Jesus Christ.
3:09
Wherever John goes, I need to go to.
3:11
I need to be near to Jesus. I cannot accept no for an
3:14
answer. I hesitate to say this, but I
3:16
can't help but wonder, was Peter a little bit jealous of John?
3:22
Do you think he was? I can't help but wonder that.
3:25
I mean, look at John chapter 21 verse 21.
3:29
At the very least, he he was nosy towards John.
3:31
Look at what he says in in that famous verse.
3:36
Peter seeing him that's John said to Jesus.
3:39
But Lord, what about this man? Oh, how relatable.
3:43
Isn't that relatable for you and me?
3:45
You know, we're all busy bodies, aren't we?
3:47
At times? We always want to know what
3:49
about John? What about his bank accounts?
3:52
What about his business plan? What about his retirement
3:54
scheme? What's going on with John?
3:56
Tell me more about John now. If you are a busy body, if you
4:00
are someone who is a little bit nosy, I think Jesus has a
4:03
message for you and I. And it's this.
4:06
Forget about John, forget about Jane.
4:09
Stop looking sideways all the time and look upwards to me.
4:13
You see, you and I were called to be runners in a race, aren't
4:16
we? Now, who's at the end of the
4:19
race? What's the prize for the race?
4:21
Well, the Bible says it's Jesus Christ, and here we are.
4:24
We're running in our race. But the problem is you, aren't.
4:27
You keep looking into my lane and I keep looking into your
4:30
lane and we keep taking our eyes off Jesus and we keep getting
4:33
distracted. Friends, we mustn't do this.
4:36
The apostle Paul once said take care of yourselves, and aren't
4:42
you enough trouble in and of yourselves to be worrying about
4:45
John or Jane or all these other people?
4:47
Now there's one accusation about Peter that I think is totally
4:52
false. Peter might have been many
4:59
things, but no one could ever say Peter was a coward.
5:03
No, he's quite the opposite. He was brave and he was loyal.
5:06
Who was it who first said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me to come to
5:11
thee on the water? When the other disciples were
5:14
scared in the boat, Peter bravely was the one to take the
5:17
first step to walk on the water. Who is the one who was there who
5:21
was ready to risk his life to protect the Lord Jesus Christ?
5:25
Who was the one who didn't abandoned Jesus when the mob
5:27
came out of all of their clubs? It was Peter.
5:30
You know, it's absolutely critical that we understand just
5:34
how much Peter loved the Lord Jesus Christ.
5:37
You see, we're always so quick to point the finger at Peter,
5:42
and yet we forget that the only reason Peter denied the Lord is
5:45
because he loved the Lord so much.
5:47
He was only in that situation in the 1st place because he did
5:50
what the other disciples failed to do.
5:53
You see, there was a point when, as the Bible says, strike the
5:56
shepherd and the sheep will scatter.
5:59
And here we have the disciples. They're running down the Mount
6:01
of Olives. They're running away as fast as
6:03
they can. And there came a point when
6:06
Peter decided he too would stop running.
6:09
He'd stop running on that mountain and he'd turn around
6:12
and he'd risk his own life and he'd go back to help the Lord
6:16
Jesus Christ. And it is there when he fell
6:19
into trouble. And then, of course, there was
6:21
that beautiful answer from Peter.
6:24
You remember all the disciples started to leave Jesus.
6:27
And Jesus looked at the remaining disciples and said,
6:30
will you also leave? What did Peter say?
6:34
Where else would we go for? You alone have the words to
6:38
eternal life. OK, secondly, 2 fires.
6:42
Now I can hear exactly what some of you are saying.
6:45
You're saying Joe, there's not 2 fires in John chapter 21.
6:49
There's only one fire. Where's this second one?
6:52
Well, before I reveal to you fire #2 let's have a look at
6:55
fire number one first and let's see if you catch it.
6:58
John 21 verse 9 says this. Then as soon as they had come to
7:03
land, they saw a fire of coals there and fish laid on it and
7:08
bred. So take this into your mind now
7:12
and stop me if I get something wrong.
7:14
Here we find Peter and he's trying to get some kind of
7:17
relief from activity. You and I, we've all been there
7:20
before, haven't we? You know, when we've had a
7:22
bereavement or we're mega stressed and we think, listen, I
7:27
can't just sit around. I can't just sit on my hands.
7:29
I've got to do something. I've got to find some way of, of
7:32
keeping my mind busy. Well, I think that's exactly
7:35
what Peter was doing here. I think he felt inadequate, he
7:39
felt useless. I've really botched up.
7:41
I've really made a mess. So he is the leader.
7:44
What does he do? He leads the other disciples
7:48
back into secular work. Now here's a question for you
7:52
all. I wonder when was the last time
7:55
you did an all nighter? Hopefully it wasn't last night,
7:58
otherwise you're going to be really struggling to stay to
8:00
stay awake in this message. But when was the last time you
8:03
did an all nighter? We've all done them before,
8:06
haven't we? You know what it feels like?
8:08
Your face is sickly pale. You've got big bags under your
8:11
eyes. You know you're playing Nodding
8:12
Donkey. You feel that cold clammy
8:15
feeling. It's horrible when you've done
8:16
an all nighter. Well, here we see the disciples
8:20
have done an all nighter. They've got their Nets, they've
8:23
thrown it into the water, they've pulled it back in and
8:26
nothing. They've got their Nets, they've
8:28
thrown it into the water, they've pulled it back in and
8:31
nothing. They've got their fishing Nets,
8:33
they've thrown it back into the water, pulled it back in and
8:35
nothing. They've done this all night, all
8:38
night and they've caught nothing.
8:41
How frustrating. And then Jesus appears and I
8:45
absolutely love this because this shows us just how human the
8:49
Lord Jesus Christ really was. He was fully God, but he was
8:52
also fully man. Jesus Christ asked the question
8:55
that we always ask fishermen, we always ask this question.
8:58
Have you caught anything yet, lads?
9:01
And what was their answer? Nothing.
9:04
Can I ask you a personal question right now?
9:07
I wonder if there's anyone listening right now who's ever
9:13
tempted to feel like Christianity in some way has
9:16
clipped their wings or they feel like, you know, if I wasn't a
9:19
Christian, I'd be able to do so much more, you know, I'd be able
9:23
to have so much more fun. I'd have so much more success.
9:26
I've got all these ideas, but but Christianity in some way is
9:29
pulling me back. Well, here we see the apostle
9:33
Peter, we see Peter himself, and Peter decides to go out on his
9:37
own. He decides to do his own thing.
9:39
The Lord God didn't send him to go out fishing.
9:41
He did his own thing. And did Peter have success when
9:45
he decides to go his own way? No, he caught 0.
9:50
So if you are a Christian worker, if you're in any kind of
9:55
Christian service, this is just for you.
9:58
They get to shore and there we see the Lord Jesus Christ and
10:02
the Lord has a fire and he's got some fish on it.
10:06
Now here's a question for you. Where did Jesus Christ get get
10:09
those fish from? Because they weren't from the
10:11
net of fish that they've just caught.
10:13
As you know, Peter's pulled in this, this massive net.
10:15
They've all brought all of this fish to shore.
10:18
But these fish weren't the ones that Jesus had.
10:20
Where did he get them from the Lord of all creation.
10:23
Did he go and buy them at the market or did he make them
10:25
appear? Because he can produce anything
10:28
from nothing. That's what God can do.
10:30
So here we have Jesus and he's got breakfast of the disciples.
10:35
Why is this important to us as Christian workers?
10:38
I'll tell you why, because it shows that the Lord Jesus Christ
10:42
cares about his workers. And there's a message here for
10:45
you and I. You and I need to feed before we
10:49
can give out. You know, if you're always,
10:51
always giving out, if you're doing all of this service, all
10:54
of this preaching, all of this ministry, helping others, and
10:58
you never take in yourself, what's going to happen to you?
11:01
You're going to become starving, hungry, you're going to become
11:03
empty. You're going to have no energy.
11:05
But on the flip side, however, if you're the kind of Christian
11:08
who watches Christian YouTube videos all day long, you listen
11:12
to sermons, you, you read in the word, you read good Christian
11:15
books, you listen to worship CDs, you're always taken in, but
11:19
you never give out. What's going to happen to you?
11:22
Well, you're going to get bloated, aren't you?
11:24
You're going to get lethargic. So it's just simple maths.
11:27
We take in to give out, we take in to give out, we feed on the
11:31
word of God. So we've got something to give
11:33
out to the people and that's a lesson that you and I all need
11:36
to learn. So over to you.
11:39
Have you guessed the second fire yet?
11:41
Well, do you think it's any accident that Jesus lit a fire
11:45
in front of Peter? Could it be he was saying to
11:49
Peter? Peter, when you look at that
11:52
fire in front of you, does it ring any bells?
11:55
Come on Peter, let's go on a trip down memory lane.
11:58
As you look at this fire, what do you see?
12:00
When you look into those flames? Does it remind you of anything?
12:04
The fact is, this guys, Peter denied the Lord when he warmed
12:08
himself up on a fire in the courtyard of the high priest.
12:13
And it is true, isn't it? Is there anyone who would
12:15
disagree with this statement? The world's fires do offer us a
12:19
temporary warmth, don't they? The Bible doesn't hide from
12:22
this. The Bible says that sin has its
12:24
pleasure for a season. It doesn't pretend that sin is
12:28
is very exciting and pleasurable for a time.
12:30
But as Peter found out, everyone who warms themselves up on the
12:33
world's fires, it will always, always, always lead to regrets.
12:39
So again, I'll ask you another personal question this very
12:43
week. What fire have you been warming
12:46
yourself up on? Have you been warming yourself
12:49
up on the fires of this world or have you warmed yourself up on
12:53
the fire of the Lord Jesus Christ?
13:00
Many of you know that before I did YouTube work, I was an
13:04
evangelist. I worked as a youth evangelist
13:06
for an organization called Young Life, National Young Life
13:09
Campaign. And I also was involved with
13:11
United Beach Missions, which I still go on now.
13:13
So if you are a young person and you're watching this, especially
13:16
in the UK or Europe, I highly recommend you do a United Beach
13:20
Mission. But over the years of doing
13:22
youth work and making videos, I've I've seen a trend that
13:26
seems to happen with a lot of young people.
13:28
You'd do a beach team and he'd get these young people and
13:31
they'd wake up early and there they would be in the word of
13:34
God. They were, they were so zealous
13:36
for the word of God. They had a zeal about them that
13:38
they desired to get the gospel out.
13:40
They were keen. They wanted souls to get saved.
13:43
They were lovely young Christians.
13:45
And then something happened to them.
13:47
They went to university. Now please, please, please don't
13:52
misunderstand me. University can be a wonderful
13:54
thing. I met my wife at university.
13:57
It can either make a person but it can also break them.
14:00
So they'd go to university or they would get into a
14:03
relationship with a non believer and then what would happen?
14:06
Over time, they would slowly start warming themselves up on
14:10
the world's fires until what happened eventually they grew
14:14
cold to the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we don't see them
14:18
anymore. We don't see them on beach teams
14:20
anymore. I'd go on social media and
14:21
they'd be in the nightclubs doing all kinds of things.
14:23
They join the communities that are so very different to the
14:26
Lord Jesus Christ. They'd be openly against
14:29
Christianity. Why?
14:30
Because they weren't careful of what fires they warn themselves
14:35
up on. I guess many of you would know
14:37
the name Charles Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers, A Victorian
14:40
preacher, I think it was in the Victorian era.
14:43
He was a great, great man of gods.
14:46
And one day after he was preaching one of his messages, a
14:48
young lady came up to him and said, Mr. Spurgeon, I have a
14:54
problem. You see, I want to follow the
14:56
Lord Jesus Christ. I love the word of God.
14:58
I love being in church. But the same time, there's this
15:01
other part of me, this, this pull, and I look out all the
15:05
fancy things in the world, all the exciting pleasures, and I'm
15:09
drawn to that. I want that, but I also want
15:13
Jesus at the same time. Well, Spurgeon looked at the
15:16
woman quite sternly and said, Young lady, you need a very,
15:20
very hard lesson to be taught to you what I want you to do.
15:23
And this is the time before motor cars, before we had cars
15:27
like we have today. He said, we need to go outside
15:29
and I want you to find a carriage and I want you to put 1
15:32
foot on the carriage and then put the other foot on the
15:35
pavement. And then I want you to say to
15:37
the driver, drive on. Well, the girl looks at Spurgeon
15:41
as if he's got 3 heads and says, Mr. Spurgeon, if I do that, I'll
15:46
fall on my face within a few seconds, straight into a puddle.
15:50
And Spurgeon said, ah, so it is, young lady, you cannot have one
15:55
foot in Christ's Kingdom and 1 foot in the devil's Kingdom,
15:59
because if you do that, sooner or later you'll fall flat on
16:02
your face. Hey, this next part's a little
16:08
bit important, so you might just want to catch this.
16:11
But three times we see that Peter denied the Lord Jesus,
16:15
don't we? But I often wonder if the
16:18
initial challenge was more blunt, more direct, I think it
16:22
would be a different story. I mean, imagine now I sit down
16:25
with any of you Christians, I look you straight in the face
16:27
while we're drinking our coffee and I say, do you love Jesus?
16:33
Do you love Jesus? What would your answer be?
16:37
You'd say, of course I do. He's I love Jesus, He's my
16:40
saviour. And yet that was not how the
16:44
question was phrased to Peter. It wasn't as blunt as that.
16:47
It was way more subtle. It was your accent.
16:52
That sounds familiar or sorry, didn't I see you the other day
16:58
in the garden? Or I think you're one of his
17:01
disciples. And here we have Peter, who's
17:04
demoralised and weakened and Satan, who's the master of
17:07
manipulation, takes him down inch by inch subtly.
17:12
And we hear stories of this. We've got, you know, people in
17:14
the church, deacons who they wanted to serve God, they loved
17:18
God, they wanted to do everything for him.
17:21
And yet there was a young lady that came up to them and wanted
17:24
counsel and feelings started to develop.
17:28
And then until one day they ran away from their wife with this
17:31
other woman. You've got stories of, of rich,
17:34
high flying businessmen who again, they had a heart of gold.
17:37
They wanted to make lots of money to fund ministry to, to do
17:41
lots for the Kingdom. And yet because of the stress of
17:45
their work, they started to pick up the bottle and the bottle got
17:48
a grip of them until eventually they could not put it down and
17:53
they lost everything. Or even way more ordinary,
17:58
you've got the lovely Christian man or woman whose parents were
18:02
elderly and they had to spend so much time looking after these
18:05
elderly parents that they missed church meetings.
18:08
They they stopped reading their Bible.
18:09
And years went by caring for these elderly parents until one
18:13
day they came down and they looked at their Bible and they
18:15
thought, do I even believe this stuff anymore?
18:19
Oh, my dear friends, be wary of the schemes of the devil, the
18:24
collapse. When it happens, it looks
18:25
instant, but it's way more subtle because the devil, he
18:29
takes your tree with his axe and he just chops it down inch by
18:34
inch until eventually here you come crashing to the floor.
18:39
And people say, where did that come from?
18:41
I never imagined that would happen to that person.
18:44
How did that happen so suddenly? Well the reality is it didn't
18:48
happen suddenly. It happened eight years ago when
18:51
that man or that woman compromised on an issue that
18:54
they once held so very dear. OK, lastly, 3 questions.
19:00
Now I'm going to say something and I don't think anyone wants
19:02
to admit to this, but it's OK. It's just me and you now.
19:05
No one else will know if you say yes to this, but I wonder how
19:08
many people listening to my voice right now have ever
19:12
watched the Jerry Springer show or in my country it was Jeremy
19:16
Kyle Show or Trisha. Have you ever watched that trash
19:20
trashy daytime television before?
19:22
Just nod your head shyly if you have.
19:24
I'm sure you have. Well, what happens in them shows
19:27
very often is they have a lie detector test, don't they?
19:30
And here you've got this contestant who's been accused of
19:33
something and they put him under this lie detector.
19:36
They, they put things on the fingertips, they put something
19:38
on the head. And by listening to the way that
19:40
person breathes, the way they, they sweat their heartbeat,
19:44
somehow this test can tell whether that person is telling
19:47
the truth or not. And here you've got Jerry
19:49
Springer or Jeremy Kyle. And they ask them three
19:52
questions. And very often the contestant,
19:55
the person in the chair, when the results come out, they say
19:58
I'm innocent. I promise you I'm innocent.
20:00
I'm telling the truth. The lie detector test is broken.
20:02
It's it's all a scam. And you watch it and you watch
20:06
their reaction. You kind of think, I actually
20:08
think the lie detector test is actually accurate.
20:12
Well, here we are. Very interestingly, we have
20:14
Peter. And if you like, he's put under
20:16
a sort of lie detector test. The Lord Jesus Christ asks him
20:20
three questions. And yet here's the catch, this
20:23
lie detector test has 100% accuracy.
20:27
Why? Because you cannot pull the wool
20:29
over Jesus eyes. Just look at John chapter 21
20:32
verse 15 with me. So when they had eaten
20:36
breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon son of Jonah, do
20:41
you love me more than these? He said to him, yes Lord, you
20:46
know that I love you. He said to him, feed my lambs.
20:52
Did you see that here he calls him Simon Peter.
20:57
Here we find the Lord Jesus Christ calling Peter by his old
21:02
unconverted name. It's almost as if he's saying,
21:04
OK, Peter, you're acting but like your old self right now, so
21:08
I'm going to call you by your old name.
21:11
But I was quite taken aback the first time I saw this.
21:14
Not only are there 2 fires in John chapter 21, but there are
21:19
also three questions. Three questions because Peter
21:24
denied the Lord three times, so he asks him three questions.
21:28
So may I go deeper? What was this threefold
21:31
question? It was this.
21:34
Do you love me? You see, Peter's actions had
21:39
called his love for the Lord into question.
21:43
Did he ask him, do you love the church?
21:45
No. Did he ask him, Do you love
21:47
Scripture? No.
21:48
Did he ask him, Do you love the people of God, prayer, creation?
21:51
No. What did he say?
21:51
He said, do you love me? So guys, can I ask you very,
21:57
very plainly right now, do you love him?
22:03
I mean, do you really, really love the Lord Jesus Christ?
22:08
If the lie detector test was put on your life and that very
22:11
question was asked to you, what would the results come out as?
22:15
Oh, you might be earnest. You might preach on street
22:17
corners like me. You might teach in Sunday
22:20
school. You might listen to sermons all
22:21
day long. But do you love him?
22:24
You visit the poor, you cook, you show hospitality, you have
22:27
outstanding church attendance, you listen to worship CDs all
22:31
day long. And we admire this zeal.
22:33
But do you love Him? You know, it's so strange, but I
22:37
do think there is a zeal which fuels an awful lot of our
22:40
activity in Christianity. And it's this, it's the opinion
22:45
of others. You see, I care what you think
22:48
of me and I'd expect you probably care what other people
22:51
think of you. And this zeal, don't get me
22:53
wrong, it's achieved great things for the Lord.
22:55
It's it's filled churches, it's filled missions, it's even cast
22:59
out devils. But when it's all said and done,
23:01
if we're doing all of this activity and we have not yet
23:04
loved, we're just like 1 Corinthians 13 says we're just a
23:09
clanging instrument. We're just a musical instrument,
23:12
all noise, but no love. Does that sound harsh?
23:16
Well, Jesus raises the bar even more.
23:19
He says, do you love me more than these?
23:23
Now, for years theologians have argued, what are the these that
23:27
he's talking about? Is he talking about these
23:29
fishing Nets, these boats? Peter, do you love me more than
23:32
your recreation, than your work? Or is he talking about do you
23:36
love me more than these disciples?
23:38
You see at one time? Peter, you're going to stand
23:40
there and say, listen, when all these other guys, when all of
23:43
these deny you, I won't deny you.
23:45
I am the one who loves you the most.
23:47
Lord, I love you more than all these other disciples.
23:50
Peter, can you really say right now that you love me more than
23:54
these? And it has made me think, do I
23:57
love Jesus more than my work? Do I love Jesus more than my
24:03
YouTube channel? Someone put that to me very
24:08
recently in a comment. It wasn't a kind comment, but it
24:10
made me think. They said Joe Kirby just loves
24:13
his YouTube channels too much. Made me think, do I love Jesus
24:17
more than my YouTube? Do you love Jesus more than your
24:21
work? Do I love him more than my
24:23
hobbies? You see, Do I love him more than
24:26
than the things I do that I spend my time with?
24:29
Because that's how we'll see what we love, is it not?
24:33
Do I love him more than my family?
24:35
Than my children? Than my spouse?
24:38
Well again, I can promise you this.
24:40
I can tell what you love by watching what you do.
24:44
You see, surely if you love someone, you want to spend time
24:47
with them. So when was the last time you
24:50
opened the Bible without a pastor or even without a Bible
24:54
study, without someone else leading you to do it?
24:56
If you love someone, you want to be with them.
24:58
You want to learn about them. When was the last time you read
25:01
Scripture and you prayed? If you love him, tell him.
25:06
Do you tell him that you love him?
25:07
There's nothing Jesus loves more than to hear his children say, I
25:11
love you, Lord, I really love you.
25:14
And here's the big one. Do you Does the way you live
25:19
show that you love him? Jesus Christ once said, finish
25:22
the sentence. If you love me, keep my
25:26
commands. So what does your love for
25:29
Christ say about you late at night, all alone with your mouse
25:33
on the computer, on your phone, no one's in the house, on the
25:36
Internet? What does your love for Christ
25:38
say in that moment? What does your love for Christ
25:40
say about you when a customer comes into your business and
25:44
they pay you with a nice wad of cash and after all, you give
25:48
enough to the tax man, You give all this money to the government
25:51
and they're spending on use of stupid, dumb things, especially
25:54
in the UK, they're spending all of our money on silly things.
25:58
Why would I, why would I give that to the tax man?
26:02
And yet Jesus says pay your taxes, give to Caesar what is
26:06
Caesar's? What does your love for Christ
26:08
say about you when here you are, you've been single for so many
26:13
years, you're on your own and a nice, attractive, unbelieving
26:18
man or unbelieving woman asks you to go on a date.
26:21
They're not a Christian. And the Word of God says do not
26:24
be unequally yoked. What does your love for Christ
26:26
say in that moment? Are you going to be faithful to
26:28
the word of God? Well, I don't want anyone to
26:32
leave here without remembering Peter's answer.
26:35
Just jump over to verse 17 with me, please.
26:44
He said to him the third time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love
26:49
me? Peter was grieved because he
26:52
said to him the third time, Do you love me?
26:55
And he said to him, Lord, you know all things, You know that I
27:01
love you. Jesus said to him, Feed my
27:04
sheep. So I have to be impressed with
27:07
the same question over and over. Peter responds with the same
27:11
answer. Now what we have in our versions
27:14
of the Bible is I love you. That's a strong way of putting
27:18
it. But actually the what Peter said
27:20
was actually quite a lot less. It's almost as if he's learnt
27:23
his lesson. He's not going to speak in
27:25
hyperboles. I love you more than all of
27:27
these. I love you so much.
27:29
I will never deny you. I'll never.
27:30
He's pulled it back a bit and the actual word is more closer
27:35
to this. I like you a whole lot, Jesus.
27:39
I have a fond affection for you, Lord.
27:42
I have a 60% love for you, Jesus.
27:45
And this is the bit that I just find so beautiful.
27:48
Here we have the Lord Jesus Christ as we've just read, who
27:51
knows all things. You cannot pull the wool over
27:53
his eyes. And he says, in other words,
27:56
Peter, now you're being honest with me.
27:58
OK, now you're being honest with me.
28:00
You have this 60% love for me. As you say, I can work with
28:03
that. And now I'm going to give you
28:05
one of the highest callings. I'm going to make you into a
28:09
shepherd, feed my sheep. Why does he say that?
28:14
Well, I think the message is quite clear here.
28:16
He's saying, listen, if you love me, if you love Jesus, you'll
28:21
look after my sheep, OK? But I'm not going to trust
28:24
anyone who doesn't love me with my sheep.
28:28
And that's really a message for any preacher, any pastor.
28:32
We've got to love the people we preach to.
28:34
And I hope those of you listening right now, you know
28:37
how much I love you. You know how much I see it as a
28:40
privilege to share the Word of God with you.
28:42
It's a tremendous privilege. But here we have one shepherd.
28:47
All the rest of us are under shepherds.
28:49
But here we have the chief Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ,
28:53
who we must love. And it's not just the guy at the
28:56
front or the guy on a YouTube channel who's a shepherd.
28:59
We're all called to be shepherds.
29:00
We've all got people in our family on believers, sheep who
29:03
need care and they need love. So yes, Jesus Christ, he was
29:09
called the Good Shepherd, but he also has another name very
29:13
close. And what's that?
29:15
He's the Lamb of God. Now I don't know if this story
29:18
is true, but let me tell it to you, Arizona.
29:23
Is anyone from Arizona listening right now?
29:25
Well, there was a little boy about 5 or 6 years old, and he
29:28
was running in a field in Arizona and out of nowhere a
29:32
rattlesnake appears, a poisonous rattlesnake.
29:35
The little boy is paralysed with fear, he's so scared, and the
29:39
rattlesnake lunges up ready to strike.
29:43
At that very moment, before the rattlesnake strikes, out of
29:46
nowhere, a lamb appears and takes the snake bite.
29:51
The snake slivers off into the distance, and the lamb falls
29:54
down as though it's dead. The little boy, crying his eyes
29:58
out, cuddles the lamb, crying. This, this lamb, it laid down
30:03
it's life for me. But then, unbelievably, the lamb
30:08
stands up absolutely fine. Now as I said, I don't know if
30:11
this story's true, but there's one thing I do know that is true
30:14
and I challenge any of you to Google this right now.
30:17
Inside the blood of sheep is an anti venom that can overcome the
30:22
poison of a snake bite. So much so that in Wales, where
30:27
near where I'm from, they have loads of sheep and they have
30:30
sent sheep's blood over to a university in Arizona to be used
30:34
as anti venom. Isn't that incredible?
30:37
The Lord God makes no mistakes with his creation, does he?
30:41
There's lessons through it all, isn't there?
30:43
And what's the lesson here? Here you and I are.
30:46
We're like that little boy. We stand there scared.
30:49
Here we have sin ready to lunge at us.
30:52
The devil is ready to lunge at us.
30:54
Death is ready to lunge at us. But the Lord Jesus Christ comes
30:58
in the way, that Lamb of God, and he takes the snake bite for
31:01
us. He dies on the cross, paying the
31:04
price for all of our sins so that you and I can be forgiven.
31:07
And everyone looks at that lamb. He went into a tomb.
31:11
The devil, all the enemies of Christ, they looked at him, they
31:14
laughed, they thought it was over.
31:16
But out of nowhere, on the third day, he rises from the dead.
31:20
Why? Because he is the King of kings
31:22
and there is an anti venom in his blood that can overcome the
31:26
snake bite of sin, the snake bite of death.
31:29
The very one who rose from the dead right now can remove the
31:33
sting of death for you and me and give us eternal life if we
31:37
trust in Him. Have you trusted in Him?
31:40
Have you put your trust in the Lamb of God?
31:42
I hope you have. Here we have Peter.
31:44
He'd made a mess. And the Lord Jesus Christ, the
31:47
one who can read our hearts and minds, he saw he'd made a mess,
31:51
but he also saw that Peter loved him deeply.
31:54
And so you and I, we may have made a mess.
31:57
We may have made a mess this year, today, whenever it is.
32:00
But the Lord God knows in your heart if you love Him and he's
32:04
willing, just like he did with Peter, He's willing to restore
32:07
you and restore your dignity. But you've just got to come to
32:11
him and receive his love and his forgiveness.
32:14
Before you go, I just want to say again, thank you to those of
32:17
you who've got one of these mugs.
32:18
It really blesses me. I will be putting the pictures
32:21
up in our next video when I'm a bit more organized.
32:23
Thank you to everyone who praise everyone who supports us in in
32:28
various ways. Couldn't do it without you.
32:31
Hopefully we'll see you again for another cup of coffee if you
32:33
want to watch one right now you feel like you've not finished
32:36
your coffee? Well you better check out this
32:38
video here. God bless you all and thank you
32:41
for watching.