Latest / Off The Kirb Ministries / Off the Kirb Ministries Preaching on How Jesus Restores Failures (John 21)
Transcript
- 0:00If I asked the middle row, has anyone in the middle row ever
- 0:03messed up before? What would you say?
- 0:07What if I went to the back row and I said, is anyone in the
- 0:10back row ever messed up before? What would you say?
- 0:14Absolutely. OK, what if we came to the front
- 0:17row? I know some of you on the.
- 0:18I know the answer to that one. If we came to the front row and
- 0:21said have you ever messed up, what would you say have?
- 0:24The reality is there's not a soul in this room today.
- 0:27You can honestly say I've never messed up.
- 0:29None of us are perfect. So if that's you, you need to
- 0:32pay attention right now because we are going to look at how the
- 0:35Lord Jesus Christ dealt with failures.
- 0:38So here's where I'm going today. I've got 3 headings for you.
- 0:41My first heading is 1 Maverick, my second heading is 2 fires and
- 0:46my third heading is 3 questions, 1 Maverick, 2 fires, 3
- 0:51questions. OK firstly 1 Maverick.
- 0:55Let's be honest Peter, he was a non conformist wasn't he?
- 0:58He was unpredictable, he'd blow hot and cold and that's why we
- 1:02love him so much, because he reminds us of ourselves.
- 1:04He reminds us that OK, we're flawed and so was Peter.
- 1:08Peter was always the first one to open his mouth.
- 1:11He was the first one to get violent.
- 1:13Do you remember when he chopped off the the high priest's
- 1:15servant's ear and Malchus's ear? Do you remember?
- 1:18And he was the 1st to get wet, as we've seen in this passage
- 1:21here. But I wonder how many people in
- 1:23this room today concern yourselves with what other
- 1:27people are doing, just like Peter did.
- 1:29I wonder how many people concern themselves with what other
- 1:32people are doing. Because have you ever questioned
- 1:35this? Why is it that Peter denied the
- 1:38Lord? If you ever ask that question,
- 1:41well, I think the answer's in John chapter 18.
- 1:43If you've got a Bible, just turn to John chapter 18, and we're
- 1:46going to look at verse 15, John 18, verse 15, Simon Peter and
- 1:57another disciple. Now, it's important to remember
- 1:59that the early church and the early church fathers believe
- 2:02that this other disciple was John.
- 2:04OK. And I think he was, too.
- 2:06Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus.
- 2:10Because this disciple was known to the high priest.
- 2:13He went with Jesus into the high priest's courtyard, but Peter
- 2:18had to wait outside at the door. The other disciple who was known
- 2:22to the high priest came back, spoke to the servant girl on
- 2:25duty there, and brought Peter in.
- 2:28Did you catch that? So here we find Peter was locked
- 2:33outside. John went in, but Peter was shut
- 2:36outside. And here's the question, Why was
- 2:39Peter shut out? Was it just a chance, just an
- 2:43accident? Or could it be that God, who
- 2:45knows all things, was warning Peter?
- 2:47Peter, if you go through this door, something bad's going to
- 2:50happen. If you walk through this door,
- 2:51bad things will happen to you right now.
- 2:54But Peter waited and waited and waited.
- 2:58He couldn't take no for an answer.
- 2:59If John's going through, I can't be the only one to be left
- 3:02outside. If John's the one who looks like
- 3:04the loyal one to Jesus, I have to go through too.
- 3:06And he couldn't take no for an answer.
- 3:09So can I ask you a question? How many times has the Lord God
- 3:13slammed the door shut in your face, so shut you can't get
- 3:16through it? But you couldn't take no for an
- 3:19answer, and you kept waiting. You kept waiting until
- 3:22eventually the Lord allowed you to go through it.
- 3:24Not because he wanted it to happen, because you were so
- 3:27stubborn, you wouldn't take no for an answer.
- 3:31I hesitate to say this, but I do wonder, do you think that Peter
- 3:36was a little bit jealous of John?
- 3:39Nod your head if you think he might have been.
- 3:41What do you think? At the very least he was nosy,
- 3:43wasn't he? Verse 21 of of chapter 21, we
- 3:46see when Peter saw him again, that's John, he said, Lord, what
- 3:50about him? Isn't that quite relatable?
- 3:52Because we are all busy bodies, aren't we?
- 3:54You know, what about John, What about his retirement plan?
- 3:58What about his bank balance? What about the trauma he's been
- 4:00through, What about John? I want to know all about John.
- 4:03Well, jealous people, Jesus has a message just for you.
- 4:08And it's this. Don't worry about John, Don't
- 4:12worry about Jane. You know, stop looking sideways
- 4:15all the time at other people and fix you.
- 4:17Set eyes on me. Look upwards at me.
- 4:20You see, we're all called, aren't we, as Christians to to
- 4:22run a race. And who is at the end of the
- 4:24race? It's Jesus.
- 4:27So here we are. We're in this lane and we're
- 4:28running this race. And the problem is I'm running
- 4:30this race. I'm meant to be fixing my eyes
- 4:31on Jesus, but at times I'm looking in your lane and at
- 4:34times you're looking in my lane. And the issue is this.
- 4:37Paul said that we are to take care of ourselves.
- 4:40Now again, I know some of you in this room and aren't you guys
- 4:43enough trouble yourselves? Some of you are you trouble
- 4:46yourselves without worrying about other people.
- 4:50But there is one accusation about Peter that I believe is
- 4:53totally false and it's this. Peter might have been many
- 4:57things, but Peter was not a coward.
- 5:00Quite the opposite. He he was brave and he was
- 5:02loyal. May I go deeper?
- 5:05Who was it who daringly said Lord, if it be thou bid me to
- 5:08come fence to thee on the water. You remember it, don't you in in
- 5:12the boat. They saw this figure out on the
- 5:15water and all the disciples that are shaking with fear but Jesus
- 5:20sorry, but Peter bravely takes a step onto the water to meet the
- 5:24Lord Jesus. Who was it who was first to risk
- 5:27his life protecting the Lord Jesus?
- 5:29Who didn't abandoned Jesus after the mob ambushed him with clubs?
- 5:33You know, it's so strange that we are so quick to to point the
- 5:37finger at Peter, but we forget that if he ran like the rest of
- 5:41the disciples, he would never have been in this position in
- 5:44the 1st place. He was only in this position to
- 5:47deny the Lord because he did what the disciples failed to do.
- 5:51It's absolutely critical to remember just how much Peter
- 5:56really did love the Lords. You see, as the, as the Bible
- 5:59says, strike the shepherds and the sheep will scatter.
- 6:03There was a point when all the disciples, when, when, when the
- 6:06mob came with their clubs, all the disciples started running
- 6:09down the Mount of Olives, running as fast as they could.
- 6:12And there was a point when Peter was running with them, but he
- 6:15decided to turn back to to not save his own skin, but but to
- 6:19risk his life to go back to try and do something in some way to
- 6:23help the Lord Jesus Christ. Why?
- 6:26Because he was loyal and because he loved Jesus very deeply.
- 6:30You remember that famous answer, don't you?
- 6:32There was a time when the disciples were leaving and Jesus
- 6:35looked at the disciples and said, will you also leave?
- 6:40What did Peter say? Where else would we go for you
- 6:44alone have the words to eternal life.
- 6:48OK, secondly, 2 fires. Now I can hear exactly what
- 6:52you're thinking right now. You're saying to me, two fires.
- 6:55There's only one fire here in John chapter 21.
- 6:59Where is this second fire? Well, before I reveal fire #2
- 7:03for you, let's start with fire number one.
- 7:05Look at John 21 verse nine with me.
- 7:09When they had landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with
- 7:13fish on it and some bread. So take all of that into your
- 7:17mind and stop me now if I get something wrong.
- 7:20Here we see Peter, and he's trying to find a sort of relief
- 7:24from activity. You know, he's trying to do
- 7:26something. We all know what it's like.
- 7:27You know, when you're stressed out, maybe you've had a
- 7:29bereavement or something's going on in your life and you think, I
- 7:31can't just sit still. I can't just let my mind run
- 7:34away. I need to do some.
- 7:35I need some kind of activity. That's what Peter's doing here.
- 7:39And I think Peter, he felt sort of inadequate.
- 7:42He felt useless. You know, I've messed up.
- 7:45I've really botched up here. So what does he do?
- 7:49He leads the disciples as the leader back into secular work.
- 7:53Now can I ask you a question? How many of you in this room
- 7:57have ever done an all nighter before?
- 7:58Have you ever done an all nighter?
- 8:00Hopefully you weren't doing one last night.
- 8:02I know I saw some of you in King Street last night, but hopefully
- 8:06you weren't all doing an all nighter last night.
- 8:08But you know what it's like, don't you?
- 8:10You know, you feel that kind of cold, clammy feeling.
- 8:13You've got bags under your eyes, your face is that sickly pale.
- 8:16You just feel exhausted, you know, doing nodding Donkey.
- 8:19You're exhausted. And that's what the disciples
- 8:21had done. They'd done an all nighter.
- 8:23They'd got their Nets, they'd thrown it into the water, they'd
- 8:26pulled it back in, nothing. They'd got their net.
- 8:29They'd thrown it into the water, pulled it back in, nothing.
- 8:33They'd got their net, they'd thrown it into the water, pulled
- 8:35it back in, nothing. They've got their net.
- 8:38They've they've just done it all nights, all nights and they've
- 8:41caught absolutely nothing. Now this part I absolutely love
- 8:45because it shows us just how human the Lord Jesus Christ was.
- 8:49Jesus asks a question that we always ask fisherman, every
- 8:52single one of us asks it. He says have you caught anything
- 8:55yet lads? We've all asked that before.
- 8:57And what was their answer? 0 We've caught nothing.
- 9:03May I ask you a, a personal question?
- 9:07I wonder if there's anyone in this room today, whoever feels
- 9:09tempted to feel like Christianity is clipping your
- 9:12wings in some way, you know, you feel tempted to, to think, you
- 9:16know, if I went off on my own, if I did my own thing, you know,
- 9:20Christianity, it's holding me back.
- 9:21If I didn't, if I wasn't a Christian, I'd have a better
- 9:24job. I'd have more success.
- 9:26I'd have so much more fun. There's so much things out there
- 9:29I'd enjoy. I've got all these ideas.
- 9:30If I wasn't a Christian, I'd really do a lot better.
- 9:34Well, here we see Peter and he's gone out without the Lord
- 9:37telling him to go out. He's gone out on his own accord
- 9:40doing his own thing. And has Peter had any success?
- 9:44He's caught nothing. So then Jesus says to him now
- 9:48the that the net was on the left side, and he says, take the net
- 9:51and put it on the right side. Now, it's important to remember
- 9:54that Jesus wasn't making a political statement here.
- 9:57You know, it's not about whether you you vote Kamala or Trump.
- 10:00He wasn't trying to say left or right.
- 10:01You know, now, what was Jesus trying to say here?
- 10:04He was trying to say that I can do more in five seconds than you
- 10:08can do in five years. And if you're in any kind of
- 10:11Christian service, this is just for you.
- 10:14So you know the story. They get to shore and here we
- 10:17see, you know, Peter, he jumps in.
- 10:19They get the net, they bring it in.
- 10:21It's full of fish, 153 fish. They get to shore and here's the
- 10:25Lord Jesus Christ and he's got a fire there and he's got some
- 10:29fish on the fire. Now here's a question.
- 10:31Where did Jesus get those fish from?
- 10:34Because it wasn't from the net before.
- 10:35Where did Christ get those fish from?
- 10:37But then what does Jesus do? He feeds the disciples.
- 10:42He's showing them that I, I care about you.
- 10:44I, I want to, to look after you. So what's the lesson for us as
- 10:48Christian workers? It's this if you're starving,
- 10:50hungry, you're not going to feed anyone.
- 10:53If you're constantly giving out and you've got nothing inside
- 10:56you, you're not going to get very far, are you?
- 10:58That's a lesson for us. We've got to eat to, to, to give
- 11:01out. We've got to feed on the word of
- 11:02God. But on the flip side, however,
- 11:04if you're someone in this room and all day long you're
- 11:07listening to sermons, all day long you're feeding on the word
- 11:10of God, all day long you're eating all the time, all the
- 11:12things of God, what's going to happen to you?
- 11:15Well, if you don't give out, you're going to get bloated,
- 11:17you're going to get lethargic. It's just simple maths.
- 11:19You take in, you give out. So here's the part you've been
- 11:24waiting for. Have you guessed what the second
- 11:27fire is? Do you think it's any accident
- 11:31that Jesus lit a fire in front of Peter?
- 11:34Could it be that he's saying to Peter, come on, Peter, let's go
- 11:38on a trip down memory lane? Peter, when when you look at
- 11:41this fire in front of you, does that ring any bells?
- 11:43Does that fire remind you of anything?
- 11:46The fact is, this Peter messed up when he warned himself up in
- 11:51the courtyard of the high priest, he warmed himself up on
- 11:53that fire. And it is true, isn't it?
- 11:56The Bible doesn't deny this. There is a a temporary warmth
- 12:01that the world's fires give to us.
- 12:03The Bible doesn't pretend there isn't pleasure out there in this
- 12:05world. When we warm ourselves up on the
- 12:07world's fires, it does give us a temporary warmth, doesn't it?
- 12:10But it always, always, always leads to regret.
- 12:16So over to you this week. Which fire have you been warming
- 12:20yourself up on? The world's fire or the fire of
- 12:24the Lord Jesus Christ. When I was, I used to work with
- 12:31Vinny a lot. You know, Vinny's a very good
- 12:33friend of mine and I used to work for his organization at
- 12:36Young Life. And over the years, doing Young
- 12:39Life and doing beach missions, I've come across a lot of young
- 12:42people. And there is a trend that I seem
- 12:44to have noticed with a lot of young people.
- 12:46You go on a beach team and you see these young people, you
- 12:49know, 181920 years old and they're on fire for the Lord
- 12:53Gods, they're waking up early. They can't wait to get into the
- 12:56words. They want to share the gospel.
- 12:57They want to do evangelism and then something happens to them.
- 13:01They go to university. Now please do not misunderstand
- 13:05me. University can be a wonderful
- 13:06thing. It can either make you or it can
- 13:08break you. But you see these young people
- 13:11and perhaps they go to university or they get into a
- 13:14relationship with a a non Christian and slowly as time
- 13:18goes on, they start warming themselves up on the world's
- 13:22fires and what happens to them? They grow cold to the Lord Jesus
- 13:26Christ. And then you see on Facebook or
- 13:28on social media, they're in the nightclubs.
- 13:31They're not coming to church anymore and we don't hear
- 13:33anything of them. Charles Spurgeon once was after
- 13:38his preaching, a young girl came up to him and said, Mr.
- 13:40Spurgeon, I've got an issue. I'm kind of struggling with what
- 13:44it is to be a lukewarm Christian.
- 13:46You see, there's a big part of me I look out into that world
- 13:49and I see there's so many amazing things out there.
- 13:52There's so many exciting pleasures and I'm attracted to
- 13:55that. But at the same time, I do love
- 13:58the Lord Jesus and I I want to follow after him and I want to
- 14:00obey him. How do I sort this, this idea of
- 14:03being lukewarm? Spurgeon said, young lady, you
- 14:06need a good lesson. And he said I want you to go
- 14:08outside. It's before the times of, of
- 14:10cars. And he said, I want you to go
- 14:11outside and I want you to go outside and find the nearest
- 14:14carriage. And I want you to put 1 foot on
- 14:17the carriage. And I want you to put the other
- 14:19foots on the pavement. And then I want you to say to
- 14:22the driver, drive on. And the girl looks at Mr.
- 14:26Spurgeon like he's got 3 heads and says, Sir, Mr. Spurgeon,
- 14:30I'll fall flat on my face within a few seconds If if that
- 14:32happens. And Spurgeon said, so it is,
- 14:35young lady. If you put 1 foot in heaven's
- 14:38Kingdom and 1 foot in the devil's Kingdom, what's going to
- 14:41happen? Eventually you're going to fall
- 14:43flat on your face. Hey, this next bit's a little
- 14:47bit important, so you might just want to catch this, but three
- 14:50times Peter denied Jesus. But I can't help but wondering
- 14:55if the initial challenge was just so direct, so straight to
- 14:58the point. Do you love Jesus?
- 15:01Like if I got any of you Christians now and I sat you
- 15:03down and I looked you straight in the eyes and I said, do you
- 15:06love Jesus Christ? What would your answer be?
- 15:09Of course I do. I love him to pieces, you'd say.
- 15:12But that wasn't how the the the challenges.
- 15:14That wasn't how the questions were phrased.
- 15:16It was aren't you one of his disciples?
- 15:21Or sorry, didn't didn't I see you earlier in the garden?
- 15:25And here we see Peter. He's demoralised, he's weak and
- 15:28he's tired. And Satan, who's the master of
- 15:30manipulation, takes him down inch by inch, subtly.
- 15:34And we see this, don't we in, in the real world, you know, we
- 15:37see, we hear stories of, of the church, you know, that Deacon
- 15:40or, or that minister. And, and they had a heart of
- 15:43gold. They wanted to help the church,
- 15:45but they started counselling, perhaps a young woman.
- 15:47And then what happened? An affair started.
- 15:50Or we've got that high flying businessman.
- 15:52And again, he wanted to make lots and lots of money.
- 15:54So he was able to, you know, fund missions, fund the work of
- 15:58the Lords. But because he was so stressed
- 16:00out, he started to drink a little bit and that bottle got a
- 16:03grip of him. Well, the person who was devoted
- 16:06to Jesus at one time, but you know, because of looking after
- 16:09elderly parents, because they had so much on their plate, they
- 16:12stopped reading their Bible until eventually they're asking
- 16:14the question, do I even believe any of this anymore?
- 16:18Friends, be wary of the schemes of the devil.
- 16:22Oh, it's subtle, the collapse, when it happens, it's very, very
- 16:25sudden and it looks very, very instant.
- 16:27But it's often just a little bit here, a little bit there.
- 16:30And the devil, bit by bit, he just chops down at your tree one
- 16:34bit at a time until eventually crash.
- 16:38And then people say, where did that come from?
- 16:41I never saw that happening. How did this happen?
- 16:44How did it happen so quickly? I'll tell you how it happened.
- 16:47It happened 8 years ago when that man or woman compromised on
- 16:51an issue on a principle that they once held so very dear.
- 16:56OK, lastly, 3 questions. Now here's something you are not
- 17:01going to want to admit to me, but I reckon pretty much every
- 17:04person in this room today probably at some point has
- 17:07watched the Jeremy Kyle Show. You probably have or Trisha or
- 17:12or Jeremy Springer. We've all watched those trashy
- 17:14television programmes at times. And what do they often have in
- 17:17those shows? At the end of the show, they
- 17:19have a lie detector, don't they? And you see the contestant that
- 17:23it looks like they've not had a shower in 30 weeks, you know,
- 17:26and they, you know, you've got Jeremy Kyle, he's abusing them.
- 17:28He breaks them, gets them really wound up.
- 17:30And you, you do feel sorry for them.
- 17:32But then in the end, you know, after they put the lie detector
- 17:34on them, and I don't know how they do it, but they put
- 17:37something on your fingertips and they, they measure your nervous
- 17:39system. They, they measure your, your
- 17:41sweat and your, your heart beating and your breath.
- 17:44And somehow the lie detector is able to tell whether you're
- 17:47telling the truth. So he pulls out the results.
- 17:49Jeremy Kyle. And what does the contestant
- 17:51often do? He says I'm innocent.
- 17:54I'm telling the truth, that the lie detector is broken.
- 17:57And often you watch it and you think, I think the lie
- 18:00detector's probably telling the truth.
- 18:02But here we see Peter. And if you like, he's in a sort
- 18:05of lie detector. The Lord Jesus asks him three
- 18:09questions. But here's the thing.
- 18:11This is a lie detector that has 100% accuracy.
- 18:14You cannot pull the wool over God's eyes.
- 18:17Just flick over to John 21 verse 15 with me.
- 18:24When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon
- 18:28son of John, do you love me more than these?
- 18:32Yes, Lord, He said, you know that I love you.
- 18:35Jesus said, feed my lambs. Did you see that?
- 18:40Then do you notice how we called him Simon Peter?
- 18:44This is the first time that Jesus is using Peter's old
- 18:48unconverted name. It's almost as if he's saying,
- 18:50OK Peter, you're acting like your old self right now, so I'm
- 18:54going to call you by your old name.
- 18:57But I was kind of taken aback the first time I saw this.
- 18:59Not only are there 2 fires, but they're actually also three
- 19:03questions. It's not a mistake.
- 19:06Three questions each for the occasion of when Peter denied
- 19:09the Lord. Let me go deeper again.
- 19:12What was this threefold question?
- 19:15Was this, Do you love me? You see, Peter's actions had
- 19:22brought his love for the Lord into question.
- 19:25Did he ask him? Do you love Scripture?
- 19:27No. Did he ask him?
- 19:29Do you love the people of God? No.
- 19:31Did he ask him? Do you love creation?
- 19:33No. Do you love?
- 19:34No. He said Do you love me?
- 19:37So guys, I apologise to be so direct with you right now, but
- 19:42can I ask you the exact same question?
- 19:46Do you love him? Do you really, really love the
- 19:51Lord Jesus Christ? If the lie detector fell on you
- 19:55right now, what would the results come out to be?
- 19:59Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ?
- 20:02Oh, you might be earnest. You might preach on street
- 20:05corners. You might teach in Sunday
- 20:06school. You might listen to sermons all
- 20:08day long. You might love Christian music.
- 20:10But do you really love him? You might visit the poor you,
- 20:14you might show hospitality you, you might have outstanding
- 20:17church attendance. And we admire this zeal.
- 20:19It's wonderful to have zeal for the Lord.
- 20:21But the question needs to be asked, Do you love him?
- 20:25You know, I think it is so strange.
- 20:27There is a zeal that sort of funds a lot of our activity.
- 20:30It fuels what we do. And it's the the opinion of
- 20:33others. I really care what you think
- 20:35about me. And I guess many of you in this
- 20:37room also care what other people think about you.
- 20:41And this zeal, it is a great thing.
- 20:42It's it's done wonderful things for the Kingdom.
- 20:44It's filled churches. It's it's cast out demons.
- 20:47It's, it's done wonderful things, wonderful missions.
- 20:50But when it's all said and done, if it's all we've got is zeal,
- 20:54we don't have love. Just like 1 Corinthians 13 says
- 20:57we're just a clanging cymbal. We're just a musical instrument
- 21:02without love. I wonder if you think that
- 21:05sounds a little bit harsh now or Jesus raises the bar.
- 21:10He says, do you love me more than these?
- 21:14Now theologians for centuries have argued, what are the these
- 21:18that he's talking about? Is he talking about, you know,
- 21:20these boats behind me? You know that your recreation,
- 21:22do you love me more than fishing than your work, Peter?
- 21:25Or is he saying, do you love me more than these disciples?
- 21:29You know, at one time you, you were saying, you were saying
- 21:31you're the big shot, Peter. You were saying, listen, when
- 21:33all these other guys leave you and all these other guys forsake
- 21:36you, I will die for you, Lord Jesus.
- 21:38Are you still going to say that? Now Peter, do you really love me
- 21:42more than these men? And it has made me think, do I
- 21:46love the Lord Jesus more than my work?
- 21:50Do I love him more than my hobbies?
- 21:53Now the proof is really in the pudding here.
- 21:55You know, I don't know how many of you are football fans, but
- 21:58every four years we have something called the World Cup
- 22:00and then we also have the Euro Cup as well.
- 22:03And it's a real test for many men, isn't it?
- 22:05You know, because England, let's be honest, they don't do well.
- 22:08They might get to the quarter finals, maybe in every blue moon
- 22:11they might get to the semi finals.
- 22:13But what day do those games always fall on Sundays?
- 22:18And the men have to ask the question.
- 22:20I go to church every week. Maybe the women as well.
- 22:22I love the Lords. Am I going to get crucified and
- 22:26am I going to go to church or am I going to watch the football?
- 22:30I'm more of a boxing fan, believe it or not.
- 22:32I know I'm a bit of a dweeb, but I love boxing and I'll stay up
- 22:34till 3:00 AM watching Tyson Fury getting battered by you sick.
- 22:38But I've got to ask myself, you know, I'm staying up so late and
- 22:41then the next day I'm, I'm shattered for, for, for church.
- 22:44Why do we do these things? Do I love him?
- 22:47This is a big test for many of us parents.
- 22:49Do I love the Lord more than my children?
- 22:52Do I love him more than my spouse?
- 22:54I remember watch once watching a YouTube video of Cristiano
- 22:58Ronaldo. A day in the life of Cristiano
- 23:00Ronaldo and Ronaldo wakes up at 5:30.
- 23:04He drinks a litre of water, he goes to the gym and then he goes
- 23:08back to bed for a nap. He then gets up, he has
- 23:11breakfast with his family, he studies football, and then he
- 23:14goes back to bed and has another nap.
- 23:16He then gets up, he goes to the pitch, plays football with his
- 23:19teammates, he has a cold shower and then he goes back and has a
- 23:22nap. He has five naps every day.
- 23:25Now, if you watched Cristiano Ronaldo, if you just spent a few
- 23:28hours with him, it wouldn't be hard to figure out what does
- 23:30this man live for? He lives for football.
- 23:33Football is his God. Fitness is his God.
- 23:37And I can promise you this, I can tell exactly what you love
- 23:40by watching what you do. So let's get real practical now.
- 23:46When was the last time you opened the Bible without a
- 23:48preacher or a pastor or a church?
- 23:51Surely if you love someone, you want to be around them.
- 23:55When was the last time you told told the Lord Jesus Christ, I
- 23:59love you? Do you know there's very few
- 24:01things the Lord loves more than to hear his children say I love
- 24:05you Jesus. If you love him, tell him.
- 24:08And then the question needs to be asked, do we repent of the
- 24:11things that Jesus hates? Jesus Christ said, if you love
- 24:15me, keep my commands. What does your love for Christ
- 24:20say about you late at night on your phone, on the Internet?
- 24:24The house is empty. What does your love for Christ
- 24:27say about you in that moment? What does your love for Christ
- 24:30say about you at your business? And one of your customers comes
- 24:33in and they pay you in a nice big wad of cash and you give the
- 24:37government, you give the tax man enough money and, and after all,
- 24:40they're going to fund it. On all these things you don't
- 24:41agree with, I could just put it away and no one will know about
- 24:45it. What does your love for Christ
- 24:47say about you when that handsome man or that handsome woman who's
- 24:50not a Christian asks you to go on a date, but Jesus says don't
- 24:54be unequally yoked? What does your love for Christ
- 24:57say about you in those moments? I don't want anyone to leave
- 25:01here without remembering Peter's answer though, because I think
- 25:04it's very, very beautiful. Just look at verse 17 with me.
- 25:09The third time he said to him, Simon, son of John, do you love
- 25:15me? Peter was hurt because Jesus
- 25:18asked him the third time, do you love me?
- 25:21He said, Lord, you know all things.
- 25:24You know that I love you. Jesus said, feed my sheep.
- 25:30So here we have Peter and is after being pressed with the
- 25:33same question, he responds in the same way.
- 25:36It's like he's learnt his lesson.
- 25:37I'm not not going to make something hyperbolic,
- 25:39hyperbolic. I'm not going to exaggerate the
- 25:41truth. I'm just going to tell you the
- 25:42truth. And it is interesting.
- 25:44If you look at the original Greek we see here, I love you.
- 25:47That's what it says here. But you know what the original
- 25:49Greek says that the accurate translation.
- 25:52It says I like you a whole lot. I have a fond affection for you,
- 25:57Lords. I have a sort of 60% love for
- 26:01you, Jesus. That's what I'm saying right
- 26:02here. And this really melts my heart.
- 26:05Shall I tell you why? Because here we see the Lord who
- 26:08knows all things says, OK, Peter, you're being honest now.
- 26:13So you have this 60% love for me.
- 26:16OK, well, do you know what I'm going to do?
- 26:18I can work with that. I'm going to give you one of the
- 26:20greatest callings. I'm going to make you into a
- 26:23shepherd Now, never think that the shepherd is just the guy at
- 26:26the front or the, you know, a bit like what Jamie was saying
- 26:29earlier. You know, we're all called to be
- 26:31shepherds in one way. If we've got children or
- 26:32grandchildren or that weak person in the family, we're
- 26:35called to, to be shepherds. And there's no higher calling
- 26:38to, to be a shepherd to, to look after the lambs because we've
- 26:41got 1 chief shepherd and all the rest of us are under shepherds.
- 26:45Let us never forget that. But I think what Jesus is trying
- 26:49to say here is this. If you look after my sheep, you
- 26:52know, if you love me, you're going to look after my sheep.
- 26:55OK? I think that's the message here.
- 26:58And I'm not going to trust my sheep with anyone who doesn't
- 27:00truly love me. So before we part ways, let's
- 27:04finish with one final thoughts. So Jesus, yes, he's often
- 27:09referred to as the Good Shepherd, but he's also called
- 27:12the Lamb of Gods. One day there was a little boy
- 27:17and he was running in a field in Arizona, and here he is, he's
- 27:20running, he's having a great time, just a little 5 year old
- 27:22boy. And then suddenly, out of
- 27:24nowhere, a rattlesnake appears. The little boy is paralysed in
- 27:28fear and sure enough, the snake comes towards him.
- 27:32And then it gets itself up like you see snakes do, and it lunges
- 27:36for the little boy. At that very moment, out of
- 27:39nowhere, a little tiny lamb stands in front in between the
- 27:42boy and the snake and takes the snake bite for him.
- 27:45The snake then slivers off and the lamb lies there on the
- 27:50floor, dead. The little boy huddles over the
- 27:53lamb, starts to cuddle it, crying his eyes out, saying this
- 27:56lamb laid down his life for me. I'm I'm so upset, I can't
- 27:59believe this. But then suddenly the lamb
- 28:03stands up alive. Now, I don't know if this story
- 28:07is a true story, but I do know this.
- 28:09If you go home and you Google this fact, did you know inside
- 28:13the blood of sheep there is an anti venom that can overcome a
- 28:16snake's bite? There is an anti venom that can
- 28:18come over that that toxic, that poisonousness that comes out of
- 28:22the snake, It can defeat it. And that's what happened.
- 28:25That lamb stood up. Now do you think this, do you
- 28:27think that God makes any mistakes in his creation?
- 28:31You know, there's so much anti venom in these blood, in the
- 28:34sheep's blood that in Wales, they literally sent a ton of
- 28:37Welsh Welsh sheep over to Arizona to help with anti venom.
- 28:41But is there any mistakes in that?
- 28:42Of course there isn't. You see here you and I stand,
- 28:47were guilty before the Lord gods.
- 28:49And here the devil is, he's ready to lunge at us.
- 28:52His sin is ready to lunge at us. Death is ready to lunge at us.
- 28:56But the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God stands in our place
- 29:00and he takes the snake bite for us on the cross.
- 29:04My sin, your sin, everything we've ever done, every wrong
- 29:08thought, every wrong action was laid on the Lord Jesus Christ.
- 29:12And there he died in our place. There he took our punishment so
- 29:16you and I can be forgiven and safe and then you know the
- 29:20story. They put him in the tomb and the
- 29:22Pharisees, everyone, they looked at him and said it's over.
- 29:25Everyone thought it was over for on the third day because there's
- 29:28an anti venom in the Lord Jesus Christ blood.
- 29:31He rose from the dead and if you like, he takes the sting of
- 29:35death out of anyone's life. Anyone who puts their trust in
- 29:38him, he can take that sting out of your life and give you
- 29:41eternal life. Have you trusted in him?
- 29:45Have you trusted in the Lamb of God?
- 29:47Perhaps there's someone here and you are already a Christian.
- 29:50But yes, you are living in sin and you know you're, you're
- 29:54making a mess. Well, let's learn from Peter.
- 29:57What did the Lord do with Peter after he messed up?
- 30:00He said feed my lambs. He didn't write him off.
- 30:02He didn't say that's that you've finished.
- 30:04He gave him a second chance. My dear friend, Jesus is willing
- 30:08to do that with you today. He'll give you a second chance
- 30:12if you come to him. Why?
- 30:14Because it's all in the blood of Christ.
- 30:16That blood can wash you white than snow.
- 30:19So come to Him today and receive that forgiveness.