Well, if you're new here, I want to say personally, I'd like to welcome you to City Reach Church. If you come here once or a thousand times, your family, we love you. We don't have membership here, you don't have to sign a form, you don't have to jump through hoops, you come to our church, you're part of our church, and we'll worship together. So I want to bring a post-resurrection message today about the third time that Jesus appeared to his disciples.
And we're going to read, it's going to be a lengthy chapter, John 21. I want to read the whole chapter first, and I want to go back and make a few points about it, but I want to talk to you today about restoration. I want to talk to you about how Jesus restores things. And when Jesus restores, he doesn't just put things back together the way that they were.
Jesus actually restores better than they were before. So if you look at the word restore in the English language, the word restore means to return something or bring something back to its original condition or state. That when something is, we think about things that get restored, my wife and I are restoring two old buildings right now. Can you just say, money pit.
But you know, we restore things. You know, we're going through the historical preservation society, and they want things to be like they were before, at least as close as can be. So people restore buildings, they restore cars, they restore pieces of art. There's a lot of things that we restore, and when we think of restoration, we think of bringing that thing that was broken or fixed or worn out back to the condition that existed before it got worn out or before it got old.
But Jesus, when Jesus restores, Jesus does not just bring you back to the way that you used to be. He actually restores better in Psalm chapter 69 verse 4. Now this is a Messianic Psalm, it was written by David, but Jesus applies this verse to himself because in John chapter 15 verse 25, Jesus says that the scripture were fulfilled and where it said they hated me without a cause. Remember the dialogue between Jesus and his disciples?
He said, though because they hated me, they'll hate you. And when they hate me, they'll hate my father also. And then he goes on to say that they hated me without a cause. And Jesus, or David prophetically says this about Jesus in Psalm 69, 4.
He says, they that hated me were more than the hairs of my head. And they are mighty who would destroy me, being my enemies wrongfully. So the people that were Jesus' enemies did it, they didn't understand, they did it wrongfully. And he said, though I have stolen nothing, I must restore it.
But Jesus never stole anything. Jesus said, though I've stolen nothing, I must. I must still restore it. And if you look at what restoration took place under the law, and when Jesus brought in grace, grace is greater than the law, grace actually increased, they raised the bar.
But under the law, when somebody would steal something, if you look in Leviticus chapter 6, if you stole something when you were under the law, you had to bring a trespass offering. But when you stole it, you had to not just return. If I took $100 from Seth, and I stole $100, I had to add a fifth part to it, which means I had to add 20% to it. And if I took $100, I had to give him 120 back.
It might be the best investment you ever made. Can I sign up for that? There were even times in Exodus 22 when God's given the law to Moses that there were some things instead of somebody stole an ox, and you stole one, and it died, you had to replace it five with five oxen. Or if you stole a sheep, you had to replace it with four sheep.
If it was found alive, if the ox was found alive, you stole one, you had to return it and replace it with two. So that when restoration took place when something was stolen, it wasn't just that what was stolen was given back, it was and then some. And so when we look at God's intention for mankind, we look at the Garden of Eden. I love studying Adam in the Garden, in the fullness, in the provision, and all that God provided for him.
And when Adam surrendered and submitted his will to what the enemy wanted to do, and he forfeits what God had given him, and he loses it for us. And Jesus comes back to restore what Adam lost. He didn't just give us back what Adam lost, but he gave us that and then some. That if, because of Adam, all man died, see Jesus, when he came and he restored it, he didn't just give us life, he did, like last week we talked about resurrection life, but where Adam, where I have more than Adam, is that God not only brought me back from the dead, he gave me life, but he also seeded me in heavenly places.
He actually put me in a place that Adam never had access to. Adam had fellowship with God, but Adam was not in the Father the way that we're in Christ, who is in the Father. So that when Jesus restores something, he restores it better. And so sometimes, you know, we've lost things in our life, we'll either buy our own fault, maybe we fumbled the ball, maybe we made a bad decision, maybe we messed up, maybe somebody did something to you that got you off-rail.
But when Jesus puts it back together, like when he restores your marriage, I can attest to this, like mine wasn't completely broke, but we had our issues like everybody else does. And we still do, but when God put that back together, my marriage is so much better today than it ever was, because when Jesus restores, he restores better. And so, whatever has been lost, whatever has been broken, whatever has been stolen in your life, I want you to believe that Jesus is not just going to put it back the way it was, but he's going to put it back and then some. It's going to be better.
You're going to be healthy, you're going to be more complete, you're going to be whole, you're going to be provided for. All those things that he does, he does it better. And so today, I want to look at Jesus' restoration of Peter. And we look at John, chapter 21, and it's a very familiar passage, and a lot of times we, you know, I hear a lot of people say how they relate to Peter, right?
Because when was Peter famous for? Like talking out of turn, putting his foot in his mouth, like assuming something. And I mean, this guy got so brazen, he even reviewed Jesus the one day. Like, it was right after he has revelation, he says that, you're the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and Jesus says, blessed are you Simon, Bargeona, for flesh and blood, and didn't reveal it to you by Father's heaven.
And then Jesus is going to say, I'm going to be killed, and I'm going to be crucified, I'm going to die, I'm going to raise again the third day. And he says, hey, hey, did you forget who I am? I'm the blessed one, I'm not going to happen like that. And Jesus says, get behind me, Satan, are you mindful not of the things of God but the things of man.
But I want to ask you this, if you relate to Peter, that's great, but what Peter are you relating to? Are you relating to the BC Peter, the before Christ Peter, or are you relating to the Peter that was restored and filled with the Holy Spirit, and after the day of Pentecost, preach a message where 3,000 people got saved, the next day he heals a man that's lame at the temple, that this is the Peter that gets released from prison because he's between two guards and an angel comes and the chains fall off and he gets led out in the middle of the night. Like that's the Peter that I want you to identify with, the restored Peter, the Peter that gets restored better than when he broke. See Peter had some real highs, he was one of the initial 12 apostles, he was one of Jesus's inner circle, I believe of the three Peter, James and John, he was probably the number one guy, he's mentioned more times in the New Testament than any other apostle.
He's with Jesus on the amount of transfiguration, he gets direct revelation from the Father about who Jesus is. Peter walked on water, but Peter also denied Jesus. And so we know that from other scriptures that sometime on resurrection day Jesus had a personal appearance with Peter. This is not that, this is when Jesus appears, there's seven guys in this group, he appears to them and it says it's the third time he appeared to them after the resurrection.
And so I want to read this, if you have your Bibles, if not, it will be up on the screen as always, but John chapter 21, and we're just going to read the whole passage. So a couple things I want to look at today, I've got four points, I think I'm only going to preach three, so we'll do this. It'll be three plus a bonus if we have time, if not it's just going to be three. But the first thing I want you to see, this is not so much about the revelation or the restoration of Peter, but I want this to be about the revelation of Jesus.
I want this to be, I want you to see Jesus and how he restores things. And as we go through the story, I'm going to look at a couple things and look at that, that Jesus reminds Peter of his calling. Jesus reminds Peter of his calling. Jesus reveals to Peter his cleansing, and then Jesus relates to Peter's condition.
And then if time permits, we're going to look at that. Jesus refocuses Peter's commission, but I don't know that we'll get there. John 21 says this, after these things, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberius. You know what that says, in this way he showed himself.
The word showed means to reveal, to make manifest. So it's just not a story about that, boom, Jesus popped up on the shore one day. So it says that Jesus appeared to them, but it says in this way, in this manner, he appeared to them. So there's something about the way that Jesus did what he did that actually makes manifest and reveals something about the nature of Jesus to us.
It says, Simon Peter, Thomas called the twin, Nathaniel came in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, I'm going fishing. And they said to him, we're going with you. Now we don't know why Peter went fishing.
Some people say, well, you know, he was bored. He wasn't sure what his call was. He wasn't sure what to do next. He fell back into what he was comfortable doing.
Whatever the reason, he abandons the call that's on his life, and he goes back to the thing that he knows best, at least didn't think that he knew best, previously in his life. And it says they went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing. But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore, yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Now they'd seen him a couple times.
They're about 100 yards out. Maybe they couldn't make it out, you know, exactly seeing it. But for whatever reason they didn't know. It says, Jesus called to them and said, now I don't, this is the new King James, this probably isn't how he talked.
He didn't say children have with you any bread. He says, children, do you, I like the new living translation. It says, hey, fellas, did you catch anything? Fellas, did you have any fish?
You know, what I know about Jesus, I feel like he got more mischievous after the resurrection. Like, I think he liked the mess with people. Think about it. Last week we talked about Jesus and Mary Magdalene on Easter morning, or resurrection morning, we'll call it.
He comes up to her in the garden and he says, and he's like, and she thinks of the garden and he says, why are you weeping? He knew why she was weeping. And then he says, who are you seeking? Like he's messing with her.
And then he's like, later in the day the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. What's he doing? He sneaks up by them and says, what are you guys talking about? He knew what they were talking about.
And they're like, are you the only person in Jerusalem that doesn't know about these things? And he goes, what things? Like, he's messing with people. And then resurrection night, what's he do?
The disciples are in the room behind closed doors for fear of the Jews. And he pops up and says, peace be with you. Like, he's just, like, he's got that little, like, I could see him laughing as he's doing this. He's having fun.
But he says, hey boys, did you catch anything? And of course he knows that they caught nothing. He said, cast the net on the right side. This we're going to pick up what we come back to.
He's casting down on the right side of the boat and you will find some. So they cast and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish. Therefore, the disciple whom Jesus loved, that's John, said to Peter, it is the Lord. Now, when Simon Peter heard that there was the Lord, he put on his outer garment for he had removed it and plunged into the sea.
But the other disciples came in the little boat for they were not far from land, about 200 cubits dragging the net of fish. Then as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there and fish laid on it and bread. And Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish which you have just caught. Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land full of large fish, 153.
And although there were so many, the net was not broken. Jesus said to them, come and eat breakfast. Yet none of the disciples dared ask him, who are you, knowing that it was the Lord? Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them and likewise the fish.
This is now the third time Jesus showed himself to his disciples after he was raised from the dead. So when they'd eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon son of Jonah, do you love me more than these? And he said to them, yes Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, feed my lambs.
And he said to him a second time, Simon son of Jonah, do you love me? And he said to him, yes Lord, you know that I love you. And he said, pen my sheep. And he said to him a third time, Simon son of Jonah, do you love me?
Peter was grieved because he had said to him a third time, do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. Jesus said to him, feed my sheep.
Most assuredly I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walk where you wish. But when you were old, you will stretch out your hands and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish. This he spoke signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he said to him, follow me.
Then Peter turning around, saw the disciple of Jesus, love following, who also had leaned on his brass at the supper and said, Lord, who is the one who betrayed you? Peter seeing him, said to Jesus, but Lord, what about this man? And Jesus said to him, if I will, that he remained till I come, what is that to you? You follow me.
Father, I just ask now that you make your word understandable. Father, break it down for us so that everybody can have something to eat today. Teach us, feed us, open our eyes to what you have for us in Jesus name. Amen.
The very first thing we see, number one, is this, is that Jesus reminds Peter of his calling. Jesus reminds Peter of his calling. What did these guys are out fishing, you know, kind of throw up her hands, Jesus died, he came back, we've seen him twice, don't really know what my future looks like. I did just deny my Savior, not once, not twice, but three times.
I know he's forgiven me, but I've had a major failure in my life. And so he says, I think I'm gonna go fishing. And when he says he's going fishing, six people follow him. And so what's Jesus doing?
When Jesus appears, he does this. It says, and he said to them, cast the net on the right side of the boat, go back one slide, and you will find some. So they cast and now they're not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish. You know, I think when this happened, all of a sudden they begin scratching their heads like, wait a minute, something seems really familiar about this.
I feel like it was like they're like, wait a minute, deja vu, right? I've been here before, I've done this before. I know there was a time when he said, put it on the other side and we call it in fish. And so what Jesus is doing, Jesus is taking Peter back to the very moment where he called him to be a disciple.
He says, I want to recreate the miracle that took place three years ago and reveal to you and remind you that I still choose you. That the calling that's on your life, the thing that I've called you into to follow me didn't change just because you messed up. And I so want to prove that to you and remind you that I'm gonna recreate the miracle that took place the day that I called you into ministry. And in Luke chapter five we read this, it says, when he had stopped speaking, he said to Simon, launch into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.
But Simon answered and said, Master, we've toiled all night and caught nothing. Nevertheless, your word, I will let down the net. And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them and they came and filled the boats so that they began to sink.
Going to verse eight, it says, when Simon, Peter, saw he fell down at Jesus' knees, apart from me, I am a sinful man, O Lord, for he and all here with him were astonished at the catch of the fish which they had taken. And also, so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, do not be afraid for now when you will catch men. Other versions of them make you a fisher, a fisherman.
So when they had brought their boats to land, get this, they foresook all. They didn't bring the nets with them. They didn't bring their fishing garb with them. He didn't say, hey, I'm gonna bring my pole with me.
It says they foresook all and followed Jesus. And Jesus is saying that the day that I called you, the day that I brought you into ministry, there's a call on your life. And I didn't change my mind on that. You might have changed your mind.
You might have decided to go fishing. You might have decided to bring people with you. But I didn't. See, what happens a lot of times in life is when we have a failure, we have a hurt, we have some issue in our life that causes us to stumble in our walk.
What we tend to do is we drop our calling and we walk forward with our failure. And I think what Jesus is saying, he's saying you need to do the opposite. You need to drop your failure and continue to walk forward with your calling. It might not even be that you failed.
It might be that somebody else's failure caused you to get off track. See, Peter's the one that denied Jesus. Peter's the one that said I'm going fishing, but guess what? Six other people came with him.
And sometimes it's not your mistake that caused you to abandon the call in your life. It could be the mistake of somebody else. They failed and you followed them into their failure and left your call behind too. See, Jesus wants you to know this.
He wants you to know that the call that's on your life is still the call in your life. That your failure doesn't forfeit what I gifted and called you to do. Paul says this in Romans, he says the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. They're irrevocable.
Several years ago, I restructured some things at work and home and and Christ and I put together some trusts. And some of our trusts are what are called irrevocable trusts. Right? And so if you know anything about trust work and irrevocable trust is one that can never be terminated.
And it's one that can never be changed by the person that set it up. So like when we're designing these things and laying them out and say here's what we want to happen after we die. Here's what I want this business and this kid and this and this and this and this and this and this. And this we're gonna say all these things.
And the attorney will say, are you sure? Oh yeah, are you sure? Because when you sign this, it's an irrevocable trust. Like you can't change your mind a year later.
We've even had some things happen recently in our family. I look at Chris and like, we better go back and look at that. I don't know. We might have just messed up.
Because when you sign an irrevocable trust, it can't be changed or altered by the person who wrote it. But it can be changed if the beneficiary or beneficiaries agreed to change the terms of it. And so when God puts an irrevocable call on your life, he doesn't change his mind about you. But you certainly as the beneficiary can change your mind about your call.
See, he's still there. I called you. I called you. I gifted you uniquely to do XYZ.
I didn't change. But you decided to change the terms of the agreement as a beneficiary of what I've laid up for you, you've gone a different direction. And you abandoned the call of God on your life. But that's not what I want for you.
The second thing Jesus does, he reminds Peter that his call is still his call that the call is not gone. But then he reveals to Peter his cleansing. It says when he came on shore, as soon as they come to land, they saw a fire of coals. Everybody say that fire of coals.
And on it and fish laid on it and bread. They saw a fire of coals, fish laid on it on the fire of coals and bread. And so I looked up the word fire of coals. It's only used twice in the entire New Testament.
Interesting. It's where we get the word anthrax from. You want to do a little deeper dive into the Greek word. But it's only used twice in the entire New Testament.
You know the other place it was used? John chapter 18 verse 18. It said that Peter went outside the high priest courtyard and there were servants and soldiers there who had made a fire of coals. And Peter stood by the fire of coals and warmed himself.
And a servant girl came up and said, you were the one that was with him. And he said, I don't know the man. It was at the fire of coals that Peter denied Jesus. And now when they come on land, what's the first thing they see?
Fire of coals. And as I read this this week and as I studied this this week, I said, Lord, it doesn't feel right because I know you don't remind us of our sin. I said, show me what you're trying to tell me what you're trying to see because the first thing he sees is the first reminder of his failure, the fire coals. And so I asked the Lord, I said, Lord, teach me.
He said, what else was on the fire? And I reread it and said that there was fish laid on it and bread. The word laid on means to be appointed or destined. It's not that something just haphazardly ended up there.
It's not like a turtle on a fence post. Right? Say, if a turtle's on a fence post, he didn't get there by himself. Somebody put him there.
And so this word laid has a connotation of purpose, of destiny. It's the same word Jesus uses in the sermon on the Mount when he says a city set on a hill cannot be hid. A city placed, a city appointed, a city that's destined for something cannot be hid. And it says on top of the fire of coals was placed, was destined, was set, fish and bread.
I said, Lord, what does that mean? I looked, you know, the only time fish and bread are using the New Testament together? When Jesus fed the 5,000. The only time.
Fish actually means a little fish. Remember the story of the 5,000. The disciple says, all these people that send them home, what's 200 in area among all these people? There's no way we could buy enough to feed everybody.
Jesus says, what do you have? They went out, they find a little kid that has what? Two fish and five loaves of bread. And they said they brought it to Jesus.
He broke it. He blessed it. He gave it to them. They gave it to the people.
And it said he dispersed to them that they were able to eat all that they wanted. And then after they ate all they wanted, they went around and collected what? 12 basketfuls of leftovers. And so what the Lord spoke to me this week about that was I didn't have the fire of coals there to point out Peter's sin.
But I wanted him to see the fire of coals with the bread and the fish on top of it to speak of my provision is always greater than your mess up. That what I provide, that my forgiveness is greater than your failure. That you have to see the failure in order to see the provision. Because sometimes when you don't realize that you're living in sin, you don't realize what God's done for you.
That you've got to get lost before you can get found. See what does Paul say? Paul says, as he said, where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. It wasn't like grace abounded equal to sin.
Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. The weird abounded peruse, I think it's peruseo, but where it talks about grace abounding, it says that grace hyperabounded. It's Hooper in the Greek, but we would use the word hyper. I love people say, don't get into that hyper-grace movement.
Well, the apostle Paul was into the hyper-grace movement. He said grace hyperabounded. That we're sin abounded, grace hyperabounded. It increased even more.
And of course he could want to say, well, should we sin so that grace could abound? Absolutely not. But no matter what the fire of coal was in your life, the fish and bread that Jesus provides is greater than your failure. His provision will always be greater.
Later in John 6 after he feeds the 5,000, what's he talking about? He says, your father's ate manna in the desert and died. But I am the true same word bread that's come down for heaven, that if you eat of me, you will live. And so no matter how big your failure was, no, like I don't care how bad it was, how intricate it was, how many people were affected, the repercussions, the fish and bread of Jesus' provision is greater.
It hyperabounds, it super abounds. Later in life, Peter would write about this very thing when he would write in 2 Peter 1, it says this. It says for this very reason, giving all diligence to your faith, or add to your faith, virtue, to your virtue, knowledge, to your knowledge, self-control, perseverance, perseverance, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, love. Sounds very similar to the fruit of the Spirit.
A lot of the same things that the Apostle Paul write about in Galatians 5. So Peter is saying, I want you to have this and add this and add this and add this and this and this and this. And then he says this in verse 8. Next slide.
He says, if these things, the things he just listed, if these things are yours and what? Abound, if these are yours and abound, you will neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of Jesus for he who lacks these things is shortsighted. So he says, if you don't have these things, you're going to experience barrenness. You're going to experience unfruitfulness.
You're going to experience shortsightedness all the way to being spiritually blind. If you have these things, you'll not be barren. You'll not be unfruitful. You'll not be shortsighted.
You'll not be blind. It says, even, it says, he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed. You want to know why people aren't operating in the fruit of the Spirit more? It's because they've forgotten they were cleansed from their sins.
See, the law brought about a remembrance of sin every year. Jesus wiped sin out once and for all time. Hebrew said so that we should no longer have consciousness of sin. And Peter says this.
He says, I didn't get it right away, but Jesus spoke to me and Jesus revealed to me that I need to be conscious of my cleansing because when I'm conscious of my cleansing, all of a sudden the fruit of the Spirit begin to be evident in my life. And the more I try to do it, the more effort I try to do it, the more I try to earn it and deserve it and all of those things and keep this law and keep that law, it doesn't work. It says this in Hebrews, chapter 10, verses 1 through 3, it says the law can never by the same sacrifice as which they offer continually every year make those who approach perfect. Otherwise they would have ceased to be offered because the worshipers once having been cleansed would no longer have had a consciousness of sins, but in the sacrifices thereof there was a reminder every year.
Every time somebody would bring an offering in the old covenant, every offering was a reminder, sin, sin, sin, sin, sin. It said it couldn't make you perfect because you continually were conscious of your sin. And it's unfortunate that there are so many churches today and believers today that want to make you conscious of your sin, but Jesus said if you'll just be conscious of your cleansing, the sin thing's already taken care of, I'll begin to change your life so that you can live holier now being cleansing conscious than you ever were being sin conscious. He never got soft on sin, like sin will destroy you, but he hated it so much, he said Jesus to pay for it and he didn't just cover it, he wiped it away.
He said I want you to not to see your sin, I want you to see my provision, I want you to see my son Jesus because when you see him and when you're conscious of him, he will change you. So he says Peter I want to remind you of your calling, I want to reveal to you your cleansing and it says also that Jesus related relates to Peter's condition. The third time Jesus asked, he says Simon do you love me? Peter says yes Lord you know all things you know I love you.
Now when we say I love you, we could say I like I love ice cream, like if I love cookies, like if you ever wanted like get your past or something, I love cookies, I really love cookies, I kind of love our dogs, Christian loves their dogs much more than I do, I mean I could care less, I could put that dog out of his misery because I love him, but we say things like I love ice cream, I love cookies, I love my job, I love my wife, I love my dog, all in the same sense. The Greeks were a little different, they had different descriptions of love, there was four predominant words for love, eros, which means sexual love where we would get the word erotic, storgae, which means familial or family love, which would be the love between a mother and a child, a father, son, that type of love. And then there was filleo, which is brotherly love where you might get the word philadelphia for a city, the city of brotherly love, or as my brother pointed out the other night of Bible study, he said phil, oh did you say philanthropy, philos, philos is a love of mankind philanthropy, and then also agape, which is what we call the supreme kind of love or God's kind of love. So the, so if you were a Greek person, you wouldn't just say I love my wife in the same sentence that you would say I love ice cream, like there's varying words and different degrees to express that much more colorful language.
So when Jesus comes to Peter, and he says to Peter, he says Jesus said to Simon Peter, he says Simon son of Jonah do you love me, now this is agape in the verb or agape, he says Peter do you agape, and Peter answers him and says you know I filleo you. So Jesus says do you supreme kind of love me, do you, God kind of love me, and Peter says I brotherly love you, I filleo you. And a second time Jesus says it again, he says do you agape, oh me, do you love me Peter, and again Peter says I filleo you, I brotherly love you. And the third time Jesus asking this, he says this, he goes from asking do you agape, oh me, Jesus comes down to Peter's level, he relates to him where he's at, and he says do you filleo me, and says that Peter was distraught because he'd asked him the third time but he says yes Lord you know all things, you know that I filleo this is the gospel, this is the gospel because we have a Jesus that relates to us where we're at in the moment.
See it wasn't that Jesus only had agape love, Jesus actually also had filleo love. In John 11 where it says the shortest verse in the Bible that says Jesus wept when he was weeping over Lazarus death, the people surrounding him that see him weeping over Lazarus death, he they say look how he loved Lazarus filleo. So Jesus knew what brotherly love was but he also infinitely knew what supreme God love was but he realized where Peter was in his life right at that moment Jesus had to come down to Peter's level. See a great leader doesn't stand up here and say get your butt up and get up here.
See a great leader that goes to the mountaintop comes down off the mountain and brings people with him. It says in Philippians it says that let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man where it says made it no reputation it means he emptied himself. He took all of his godness and he laid it aside so that he could come to earth, lay that aside and come where we are. See as Lewis says it like this in mere Christianity he says the son of God became the son of man so that the sons of men could become like the son of God.
See Jesus came to where we are so that he could relate to us so that we could then be where he is and Jesus relates to Peter. See what happens so often I see Christians do this all the time you get delivered you get set free you were living one way and now you're living for the Lord and the year goes by and your poop no longer stinks and you're up here on the mountain condemning somebody for the way they are instead of getting your rear end off the mountain putting your arm around them where they're at and leaving them where you've been. See Jesus becomes the one who relates to Peter where he's at in that moment. It says in Hebrews it says that we do not have a high priest who cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities which is the opposite way of saying we have a high priest who can identify with the things that we feel because he was made like us he went through everything we go through and he did it without sin and it said because of that because he came down guess what we can do we can approach with boldness the throne of grace that we can find grace and mercy to help in the time of need but have he not come down we can never go up because he can relate to you he know like he said Peter I know what you're going through I experience what you're experiencing I get that you feel a certain way but that's not the truth but I'm going to come down put my arm around you and bring you up to where I am that's the Jesus we serve see it's the same thing with your faith you realize that like you know I talked a few weeks ago about you don't need like a lot of faith you just need to get rid of the unbelief see Jesus meets you at your point of faith the Father that had the epileptic son probably had the smallest amount of faith in the entire Bible what did he say he said get this he says this to Jesus like Jesus works miracles he says that Jesus if you can do anything the if you can do anything have compassion on us and help us that's like a little bit of faith and guess what Jesus didn't say well of course I can do anything good you know no he said bring the child to me he came to the Father's level of faith if you can do anything have compassion on us and help us the leper in mark chapter one says this he says I know you're able so for him it wasn't a question whether Jesus could do it he says I know you're able to do all things but if you're willing like a little bit more I know you can do but I know you want to and Jesus says I'm willing stretch out your arm he meets the leper at his point of faith a little bit more faith you have the woman with the issue of blood you know the story if I could just touch the hem of his garment I will be made whole and she touched him and it said virtue was released from Jesus and she was made whole in that instant Jesus met her at her point of faith or you take somebody had great faith the centurion whose servant was dead Jesus is on the way to his house and he says no don't come to my house just speak the word and my servant will be healed and he says he was healed from that hour Jesus met that man in his level of faith so none of them had the same level of faith but nonetheless Jesus meets you at the level you're at like he'll meet you there the same thing's true like I don't know if I can love that much he'll meet you where you're at he will meet you where you're at because he can relate to you individually because he's lived what you've lived he can be there he will and the final one is this it says Jesus refocuses Peter's commission Jesus said him follow me Peter turning around all the disciples in Jesus love following so so Jesus said you know what I'm reminding you of your call like the call is still the call I'm revealing to you that I've cleansed you with that sin my grace is greater than your sin I've related to you where you're at right now in this moment now I want you to follow me I want you to follow me I've come to where you are and I want you to follow me and it says but Peter look what he did he turned around he looked left he looked right it says he turned around salt John and Peter said to Jesus but Lord what about this man and Jesus says if I will till he remained all I come what is that to you you follow me you know Peter got what a lot of us get he got a case of the yep it's the yep it's hey better have a yep it you know what a yep it is I know what God's word says but I know it worked for you but you don't know my situation I know what you want me to do but what about them and Peter starts with the yep it's Jesus says you know what my plan for him is my plan for him my plan for you is the same plan that it's always been I want you to follow me don't worry about him Jesus was around he probably said none yeah he probably would have said you know just stay focused I've called you to this I know you got concerns I know you got questions I know you want to know what everybody else is going but you need to stay in your lane you know I've called you for this I called John for that if I want John to stay around do I return although he didn't mean that but that was the rumor that started because Jesus said that says if I want to remain that's that's my business your business is to do what I called you to do and that's follow me Jesus addressed the yep it's in Luke chapter 9 he says this he says he said to another follow me but he said but yeah but but Lord let me go first and very my father Jesus said let the dead bear the dead you go and preach the king of a god next verse says this he says another said Lord I'll follow you but let me go first bid farewell to my family and Jesus says no one having put his hand of the plow look back is fit for the kingdom of God now put in there I'm behind fit I put useful because it doesn't mean that you can't get in you get in by faith but you get used effectively you become useful or not useful when it says anybody that's put their hand to the plow like back then they had to use a plow I think now like more like a lawn mower right let's think anybody having put his hand to a lawn mower and looks back is not fit for mowing grass like I think that's what Jesus would say today because right if you're like when I was a kid my dad he'd make me mow this way this week and then the next week I had to mow 90 degrees and then the third week 45 degrees this way and then the fourth week 45 degrees that way and then week the next week and that was all summer and what I found out was as I had that mower and I'd start walking if I'd start looking at my Irish Satter over there I'd go back on track or you know my mom would say hey I got your snack and I'd be going this way but if I wanted to mow a straight line I'd pick something in the distance and I'd look straight ahead at it and walk and I could be useful to mow that grass as I kept focused on where I was going but Jesus says whoever puts your hand to the mower and you're looking this way you're looking that way I can't use that as good as I can use somebody that puts their hand on there and keeps walking and so he says don't worry don't look over here in this lane don't worry about this person doing that we're about this person I called you to mow this line to run this race to do this ministry to preach the gospel to these people and that's what I want you to do remember I said a few weeks ago faithfulness is continuing to do the last thing God tells you to do until he tells you to do something else so until God changes the call shifts it sends you to a different group of people send you with a different minute whatever it is you continue to do the last thing God told you to do until he tells you to do differently whether that's till the day you die or till the day you return that's being a faithful steward that's being useful in the kingdom there's what I want to do I want to pray for people today that maybe some failure in your life maybe some sickness maybe a bad decision has has derailed you from your calling everybody has a call in their see you might not be fulfilling your calling life because of somebody else's mistake you might have followed somebody else out into the boat 30 years ago by your fishing and not catching anything but there was a time in your life where you commit like everybody if you're saved you can probably remember a time in your life where you said yes to Jesus you can probably remember a time where you were on like fire for things of God that you couldn't wait to tell somebody about what Jesus did in your life but then you had an experience then you fumbled the ball you had a failure you had loss in your life maybe somebody died and you moved forward with your failure and left your call behind so I want to pray for you today because if you're not fulfilling God's call on your life I don't have any next way to say that there's people going to hell because you're not living up to what God wants you to do like it's serious there's people whose bodies need healed because you need to go pray for them there's people that are living in depression that God needs you to go speak and encourage you or to there's somebody sitting lonely in a room somewhere that you just need to go sit with them see our calls are all different our giftings are different but it's the same God and he doesn't change he doesn't change if anybody's changed that irrevocable call it's me like I'm the only one that can change it you're the only one that can change it good or bad like you can walk away from it or you can walk into it I want you to walk into all that God has for you I really do it's not like it doesn't it's not for me like you honor God with your life you see people that God will use you to change people's lives he really will