In this sermon, Steve Hopkins examines John 21, discussing the profound lessons from the final chapter of the Gospel of John. The disciples, led by Peter, revert to fishing at the Sea of Tiberias, experiencing a fruitless night until Jesus, unrecognized at first, instructs them to cast their nets on the right side. This miraculous catch of fish serves as a reminder of the futility of human efforts without divine guidance. Hopkins highlights the importance of acknowledging one's emptiness before God can fill it, emphasizing that divine power, not human strength, brings forth results. The sermon delves into the dialogue between Jesus and Peter, where Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves Him, mirroring Peter's three denials. This exchange signifies Peter's restoration and the necessity for humility and self-awareness in spiritual leadership. Hopkins underscores the pivotal role of love for Christ in pastoral ministry, asserting that true service must stem from a genuine affection for Jesus. The sermon concludes with a call for personal reflection on one’s love for Christ and a reminder of the ongoing need for sanctification and reliance on divine strength.

Good afternoon once again. What a blessed day as every Lord's day. Let's turn in our Bibles once again to the Gospel of John. How many remember when we began to go verse by verse through the Book of John? Does anyone remember?

June 3rd, 2018. And now we're coming to the last message. We're going to be reading the entire chapter together. If you would read with me the word of the Lord. After these things, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias.

And on this wise showed he himself. There were together Simon Peter and Thomas called Didymus and Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth and entered into a ship immediately, and that night they caught nothing.

But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then saith Jesus unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No. And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and you shall find. They cast therefor, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.

Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loves, saith unto Peter, it is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher's coat unto him, for he was naked, and did cast himself into the sea, and the other disciples came in a little ship, for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits, dragging the net with fishes. As soon as then, as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon and bred. Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught. Simon Peter went up and drew the net to the land full of great fishes, one hundred and fifty and three, and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.

Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine, and none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou, knowing that it was the Lord? Jesus then cometh and taketh bread, and giveth them and fish likewise. This is now the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples after that he was risen from the dead. So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.

He saith unto him, feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me?

Peter was grieved because he had said unto him the third time, lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee? Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou was young thou girdest thyself, And walkest whither thou wouldest. But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not." This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God.

And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me. Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following, which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter seeing him, saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me.

Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die. Yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die. But if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true, and there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which if they should be written, every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.

Let's be seated. So as we begin with chapter 21, Peter and the other disciples have decided to go fishing. They decided to go fishing at the Sea of Tiberias. The Sea of Tiberias is also known in Scripture as the Sea of Galilee. And Peter, we see here, is out front.

He's the front man. He says, I'm going fishing. And the other disciples following Peter's lead, they say, well, we're going with you. We want to go with you. We want to go fishing with you.

And our text tells us that they all entered a ship immediately. Peter says, I'm going. They all say, we're going too. But there's no indication here that any one of them sought the Lord's direction. So they get a boat and they head out to do what most of them had done all their lives, and that's fish.

Jesus hasn't appeared now since His resurrection for a few days. We haven't seen Him again. They've seen Him already after His resurrection, but they haven't seen Him for a few days. Let's go fishing. When Jesus called His disciples back in Matthew chapter 4, many of them were fishermen by trade.

And remember what Jesus told them back at the beginning concerning their trade. He said, follow me. He said, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. Follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. And immediately they left their nets.

They left their nets. They left their nets. They left their nets and followed Him. Now, as I said, Jesus hasn't appeared to them again for a few days. Peter suggests, well, Let's go get our nets and start fishing again." No indication that they sought the Lord before picking up their nets again.

No command from Jesus to go back to their nets. You may remember back in Matthew chapter 17, Jesus did at one point tell Peter a command to go fish. Does anybody remember that? He did tell him to go fish at one point. He said, go catch a fish, go catch one fish, And when you catch that fish, you bring it to shore, look in its mouth, and you'll find a coin.

And you can take that money then and go and pay my taxes in yours, your taxes in mine. That's the only command we have from the Lord Jesus for any of the apostles to go back to fishing. And it's a night of utter failure. It's a night of futility. It's a night where all their labors are absolutely wasted.

And Jesus here leaves the disciples to themselves the whole night. Okay, go ahead. They go out, spend the whole night laboring in futility without a command of Christ to go, And he leaves them. He leaves them for a time to themselves, to their own thinking, just like he does with us many times, to experience failure and futility apart from him. I wonder if they remembered at this point Jesus' words when he said, apart from me you can do nothing.

Apart from me, you can do nothing. Our text says in verse 3, and that night they caught nothing. And apparently they worked at it all night long because verse four tells us that when morning comes they're all still out there at it but when the morning was now come Jesus is standing on the shore so they're still out there they've been engaged in futility and the entire night and they're still out there when the morning comes, and all of a sudden Jesus is standing on the shore. But the disciples don't know it's him. And Jesus speaks to them, but he doesn't reveal to him that it is him.

And he starts off, children, children, have you any meat? Of course, he knew they didn't. He knew that they had spent the night laboring and they caught nothing. He knew they didn't have any meat. He knew they hadn't caught anything.

But he would have them to admit it. They answered him, no. No, we didn't. Whoever you are out there on the shore, We didn't catch anything. We haven't caught anything all night.

Oh, okay. Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and you'll find some. Cast the net over on the other side of the ship, and you'll catch some. Which I'm sure to experienced fishermen would be like, this side of the boat, that side of the boat, but they don't know it's Jesus. And they might as well take this man's advice that's standing out there on the shore.

Maybe what he's suggesting will work. They're probably reasoning, all our efforts have failed to produce even a single fish. Might as well take his advice, whoever that is out there, and they do. AW Pink comments here, before Jesus furnishes the abundant supply, We must first be made conscious of our emptiness. How many of us here today have had situations in our lives where we really wasted a lot of time because we didn't seek God.

We didn't go to the Lord in prayer. We didn't consult God or even His Word first. We just went on. We just said, oh, okay, this seems like a good thing to do, and we just went on. And it was a disaster.

Or if it wasn't a disaster, you spent a lot of time trying to get back to where you were before. If I could just start this whole thing over again. Before Jesus furnishes the abundant supply, we must be first made to feel our emptiness or be made conscious of our emptiness, Pink says. Before he gives strength, we must be made to feel our weakness. This is important going forward.

We must be made to feel our weakness. At any rate, they do what Jesus said. They cast their net on the right side of the boat, and now they're not able to draw the net in for the multitude of fishes. Jesus is Lord of the seas because Jesus is Lord of all. In their own strength, they toiled all night and nothing came of their labors.

Divine power made the difference. Divine power made the difference. And in this, before we go forward, I want you to look at this passage and get this picture of the power of God that draws men to Christ. Think about this for a moment. This futility here, toiled, worked, labored, used all their strength, all their ingenuity, all their human resources, nothing, nothing, futility.

The word of Christ, throw your net on the right side of the boat, they draw in this massive haul of fish. Ministers labor in vain unless God puts forth his power. Do you believe that? Ministers labor in vain except God put forth His power. The same power that drew in those 153 fish into that net will shortly draw 3, 000 into the kingdom at Pentecost.

It is divine power that makes the difference. We need to always remember it's God that brings forth the fruit. And if we remember that, we give God the glory. Otherwise, man gets the glory It was my efforts my ingenuity My strength our strength our plan our church plan our missionary concept No God when we labor in the Word and God brings forth the fruit, he gets the glory. He gets the glory.

And we should say, it is the Lord. It is the Lord. John here recognizes that a miracle has taken place. Look at the text, look at verse seven. He recognizes the miracle.

And he says to Peter, it is the Lord. Peter, it's the Lord. It's the Lord up there on the shore. No one on earth but Jesus could have performed the miracle we've just witnessed. It's gotta be Jesus.

It's Jesus, okay? Trust me. John says, it's Jesus. It's the Lord. When Peter hears that it is the Lord.

It says he puts his fisher's coat back on, but he immediately dives into the water and he heads for the shore. And you know, I was looking at this and I thought, John outran Peter on the way to the empty tomb. Peter's the first on the water now. He's the only one in the water. The rest of them are on the boat.

When he says, when he finds out, man, this is the Lord, this is the Lord, he dives in. He's all in. He's headed for Jesus. No one's going to outrun him this time or out swim him this time. He's going to be the first to reach the shore.

Wouldn't it be wonderful If we were all so motivated to be in the presence of our Lord, wouldn't it be so wonderful to be so motivated as Peter? Just want to be near Jesus. If that's Him, that's where I'm going. If Jesus is there, I'm getting away from here and I'm going there. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we were all so motivated to be in the presence of our Lord.

You've heard me preach again and again on on prayer and private prayer and communion with the Lord and reading His Word and in prayer. I hope we've all taken that to heart and if not that we would change our lifestyle and our practice and we would we would have scheduled time every day be with the Lord, speaking to God in prayer and Him speaking to us in His Word. Do you want to be with the Lord? Do you want to be with the Lord? Do you want to commune with the Lord?

Or are you, can you spend your life without Him? Are you content? Well, I don't really, I'm content to just, you know, I've got lots of things to do in my life. I don't really want to be where Jesus is. It's an important question to ask ourselves.

When Peter hears, he hears it's the Lord and he heads towards Him. He wants to be with Jesus. The other disciples we read here following the ship, they're dragging the net with the fishes in it. It says about 200 cubits in modern measurements, that would be about 100 yards. So it's about a 100 yard swim for Peter and about 100 yard drag as they're bringing the boat in and dragging this net filled with fishes.

And their text says when they come to land, they see that Jesus has this fire going. There's a fire of coals there, and there's already fish laid there on and bread. And Jesus, verse 10, says to them, bring of the fish which you've now caught. He's already got fish, he's already got bread, he's already has a meal prepared for them, doesn't need anything that they're bringing in, but bring of the fish which you've now caught. Jesus will have the miracle, the evidence of the miracle that he's just performed displayed.

Bring in the evidence of the miraculous catch that Just was made after you obeyed my word. All night long you caught nothing. Bring in the evidence of obedience to my word. Bring in the evidence. The disciples will learn here that to toil in the flesh is futile, but that when we are obedient to the Lord, our labors are not in vain.

Jesus says in verse 12 here, come and dine, come and dine. No one asked him, all doubts vanished, they knew it, they know it's the Lord. And Jesus gives them bread and fish to eat, he provides not only spiritual nourishment for his people, but also gives us each our daily bread. And our text tells us that this is the third appearance to his disciples since he rose from the dead. And after they finished eating, Jesus sets his focus on Peter.

And This is where we're going this afternoon. He sets his focus now on Peter. I've learned something from this before we go forward, and that is when you—husbands, wives, elders with those in the church, parents with your children, don't use going out to eat. Don't unload on them when they're at the meal. You know what I mean?

You got something to say, say it later. Jesus will say, I've got to run your appetite here. It's something I've learned over the years. You know what I'm saying? You don't go out when you go out to eat.

You're like, hey, let's go out to eat. And then you just sit down to eat. You say, you know, honey, I've got an issue. Let's talk about this later or what have you. Son or daughter, oh, it's your birthday.

It's your birthday. Lunch, let's go out to eat. By the way I've got some things I want to bring out. No, it's not a good time for it. Wait until after you eat.

Do it later. Okay, all right. So here's where we've been going. Jesus now, the meal's over, everyone's comfy, Jesus sets his focus on Peter, and this is going to be a time for Peter that is going to be, Oh, he's going to be changed so much in these minutes. He's gonna grow so much in these next few minutes of conversation with Jesus.

He's gonna be encouraged by the time Jesus is done. But first, oh first, Jesus says to him, Simon doesn't call him by the name that he gave him, calls him Simon, his old name from his old life. And I don't think this is like a rebuke, an outward rebuke, but I think it sets, maybe sets him for what's coming, to take very serious what's coming. Simon, son of Jonas, loveth thou me more than these? Do you love me more than these?

Do you love me more than these?" And the first question we have to ask ourselves here is, what or who is Jesus talking about when He says more than these? And I don't remember if it was last night or this morning, I think it was probably this morning, I was asking my wife, I said, what do you think on this? Because I labored on this. I listened to sermons by the greatest of the greats. I read all the commentaries on John 21.

I went to the Greek. I looked at everything. What do you think? Is he asking Peter, look at the text everyone, is he asking Peter, he's asking him one of three things for sure. Is he asking Peter if he loves him more than these other men standing there with him?

Do you love me more than you love these guys? Is that what he's asking him? Or one. Is your love for me more than it is for these other men? Or, second choice, is he asking Peter if he loves him more than these things of his old life.

You love me more than your old life, your fishing life. You love me more than your former career as a fisherman. You love me more than your boats and your nets and your hooks and your bait and your, you know, all that stuff. You love me more than that, these things. Do you love me more than these things?

Or third, is he asking Peter if he loves him more than the other apostles love him. Do you love me more than these men love me? By the way, they're all standing or sitting there with them right now, right, in their presence. Peter, you love me more than these guys do? Like I said, I labored in this question, I studied it, prayed, and concluded the latter.

Do you love me more than these others love me? And you may be looking at these three options and say, well I don't agree with that one, but just stick with me for a few minutes. Remember back at the Last Supper when Jesus said, all of you are going to be offended because of me this very night. I will strike the shepherd and the sheep are going to be scattered. You're all going to abandon me.

It's written. You're all going to forsake me in my darkest hour this very night. Remember how Peter responded? Anyone remember how Peter responded? He set himself above everyone else, didn't he?

He did. He responded, in effect, maybe them but not me. Maybe those guys, maybe these guys, but not me. Not me. Though all should be offended because of thee, Matthew's account, yet will I never be offended.

Never? No. If I should die with thee, says Mark, I will not deny thee in any wise. Die with me? Never?

You could never be offended? You'll die with me tonight when they take me in the Garden of Gethsemane? Peter, this very night before the cock crows, you're going to deny three times that you even know me. And you're going to even do it in front of a little girl, a little servant girl. Simon, do you love me?

Lovest thou me? I want us to understand something here also. I know we're going to be going a little longer this afternoon, but there's two, there's three Greek words actually in using the New Testament for love. I won't go into the third because it's not in our text here, but the two Greek words that are used in the text here for love, or that are translated love in this passage are phileo love, phileo love, which is deep affection for someone. And the other that is used in this text is agape, agape love, which is the highest form of love that is used in Scripture.

As Jesus leads off here, he uses this word here for the highest love possible. He says to Peter, do you agape me? Do you love me? With the highest degree of love that's possible, the highest love, more than these others standing here with us. And I think Peter has to be remembering his former boasts at this point, that his love, his former boast was this in the upper room, my love is such that all of these, all men might forsake you.

The word says all might forsake you, but I won't. I, Peter, never would do such a thing. I would die with you. At the same time, Peter knows his utter failure, and he knows now that he can't trust his own strength and force of will. He can't rely on Peter.

He can't rely on his own strength, but he also knows that he loves Jesus. He knows he's forgiven, And he who is forgiven much loves much. He knows that. But Peter's not going to put his love, his devotion to Christ, above that of his fellow apostles here. And when he responds, he's going to use a different word than Jesus used.

Jesus says, you agape me, you love me with as highest love as possible, and he's going to respond with the word phileo, deep affection, deep affection and attachment, kind of love. And he's going to rely on Christ's omniscience this time. He didn't before. Please look at your text here. He didn't before.

He's going to rely on Christ's omniscience. You know. You know, Lord. You know. You know.

I don't know. You know. I just know I love you, but you know the degree of my love. Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee, You know, you know that I filet-o you, that I have a love for you that is deeply affectionate. You know the degree of my love and affection for you.

But again, remember back in the upper room, Peter was saying, you don't know. Remember? He contradicted Jesus back then. He said, you don't know. Jesus said, you're all going to forsake me.

No, maybe them, but not me. He said, no. In effect, he was just, you're wrong, Jesus. He's through contradicting Jesus or trying to say that Jesus doesn't know what's going on inside of him. You know exactly what's going on inside of me.

You know I love you, Lord. You know my affection is deep for you, great for you, Lord. I'm not going to put it on the plane of Agape with, you know, the highest love, And I'm not going to say it's more than any of these guys. You know my love for you, God. You love my love for you, Jesus.

You know my love for you, Jesus. He's not questioning Jesus' knowledge of him at all. He's not questioning Jesus' knowledge of him in all that's going on inside of him. Yes, I love you, he says, and you know that I love you because you know all things. Listen to what I'm saying here.

Please listen. I think Peter is saying, Lord, You know my utter weakness. You know the utter weakness of my flesh. You know that I have failed you terribly. And you know, in spite of all my deficiency, that I love you." That's what I think Peter's saying here.

Peter doesn't pretend to love Christ more than the rest of the disciples do, says Matthew Henry. Peter does not pretend to love Christ more than the rest of the disciples do. Though we must aim to be better than others, says Henry, yet we must in lowliness of mind esteem others better than ourselves. We know what we've done, right? We may not know the depths of it, God knows that, but we know what we've done.

We know our weaknesses to a certain degree, so when we compare ourselves with others, we don't know everything that's going on in their minds and their lives, and we know what's going on in our minds and our lives. We know our weaknesses, we know our failures. How many know their failures? You know your failures before God? Is there enough sin in your past that you've been humbled by it and you say, I know my weakness and my sin and my utter failure.

I also know that you've forgiven me. I also know that you know all things and you know that I love you even though my love is not what it ought to be. We must aim to better ourselves he says yet we must in lowliness of mind esteem others better than ourselves. Peter had to fall, please hang with me here, Peter had to fall. Was it better that Peter hadn't fallen?

No, Peter had to fall in order to see his great weakness. Peter had to see his heart and be humbled. Have you ever seen your great weakness? Has God ever shown you your heart enough to humble you? Peter saw it.

Peter was shown a picture of his heart and his great weakness, And he was humbled. He who abandoned his Lord and denied his Lord with cursing must abandon self-confidence. He who had abandoned his Lord and denied him with cursing must abandon self-confidence. No more confidence in the flesh, Peter. What about you and me?

Confidence in the flesh? We have to come to the place that Peter did. Peter came to the place where he owns his weakness and he owns, he acknowledges his utter dependence on Christ. That when we are weak, then are we strong. And that Christ's grace is alone sufficient.

And that his strength, Christ's strength, is made perfect in our weakness. Amen? Jesus responds with just three words, Feed my lambs. Okay? If you love me, Peter, feed my little lambs on my flock.

Feed my lambs. And what Jesus says to Peter, he says to every man called to serve in the church. No man is going to be able to do what is required of him as a pastor or shepherd under Christ who does not love Christ. I read volumes on this and the lamentations of pastors who said, if you're not looking at Christ and you're serving because you love Christ and that's why you feed his lambs, you do what you're required to do, you're in for a big surprise because you're going to meet with all kinds of things in the ministry. You're going to meet with all kinds of things.

You're going to meet with opposition. You're going to meet with trials like you never thought could possibly happen in your own churches. No man's going to be able to do what's required of him as a pastor or shepherd under Christ who does not love Christ. Calvin comments here, quote, no man can faithfully serve the church and employ himself in feeding the flock if he does not look higher than to men. In other words, do we suppose to love the flock?

Love the church, love the church, love the people of God, but you're going to have to look higher to that if you're going to be able to feed my lambs. You're going to have to look higher than the men." He goes on, they who are called to govern the church ought therefore to remember that if they are desirous to discharge their office properly and faithfully, they must begin with the love of Christ. Amen. The pastor who truly loves Christ is required here to feed and care and tend his lambs. Second time, Jesus asks him, Simon, son of Jonas, do you love me?

He says to him again, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. And he says a second time, feed my sheep. But Jesus doesn't stop here. He will ask Peter again. He will ask Peter again one time for every denial.

One time for every denial. One questioning of Peter's love for him for every one of Peter's denials of him. He says to him a third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said it to him the third time, lovest thou me? Peter's now painfully aware of the purpose, I think, of this threefold repetition.

He asked him a third time, you think conviction didn't hit him in a major way when he said a third time and he remembers three times, I denied my Lord that I even knew him. Peter's grieved, Peter's sorrowful, and every one of us does well to remember our former sins from time to time. Please apply this to your own lives. Reflect from time to time on your former sins and reflect on the mercies of God that have been shown you in Christ Jesus and the great love of God and sending his Son to suffer and to die for you in your place and to deal with the judgment of God in your place. Please apply this to your own life.

Peter is now emptied of self. This third time, he's empty. Empty of self, empty of any self-confidence, empty of any possible reason to boast, he's emptied of self. And Jesus has mercifully brought him to this place of contrition and humiliation. Peter says, Lord, how knowest all things, how knowest that I love thee.

Now Peter's prepared. Now he's where he needs to be. Now he's where he needs to be to go forward in that office to which the Lord has ordained him. Peter's prepared for and will be assured of the work that is being set before him. How do we know?

Because Jesus answers for the third time, responds for the third time, feed my sheep. Okay. Same thing is saying, okay, feed my sheep. You're where you need to be now, now you can feed my sheep. You're where you need to be now.

Now you can carry this out. This is the work that's been invested in you. This is the office to which you are called. Feed my sheep. They're mine, Jesus is saying.

And you love me, now feed them. Feed them my word, care for my sheep, tend to my flock. And this call, of course, is that it's upon Peter, this call that's upon him and the other apostles is not only upon Peter and the other apostles, but upon all the shepherds, all the elders, all the pastors, all the overseers of Jesus' sheep. You say, how do we know? Turn with me to Acts chapter 20.

Acts chapter 20, verse 28, take heed Therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers." Overseers, same word used, it means bishop actually, It's translated bishop in some versions. Made you overseers. A bishop is an overseer, is a pastor, is an elder, is a presbyter, is a shepherd. All the same words used interchangeably. Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood." Your blood wasn't shed for them.

If you're a minister of the gospel, Our blood wasn't shed for them. His blood was shed for them. They're his sheep. And if we love him, we're to feed them. And as we come to a close, to our close this afternoon, Last part of chapter 21, as we close out the book of John, we're going to see Peter is going to be provided, we're going to see that Peter is going to be provided another opportunity.

Look at this. Another opportunity in the face of the threat of death on account of Christ to either deny him or confess him. Look what it says in verse 18. Jesus tells Peter how it's going to happen before it happens in order to prepare him. He's where he needs to be.

He's restored. He's restored. Peter's restored. He's humbled. He's where he needs to be.

My whole confidence is in Jesus. And He knows everything. I'm relying on Him. He's completely, He's restored, He's humble, He's ready to go. Now Jesus tells him what's gonna happen before it happens in order to prepare him.

Truthfully, verily, verily, I say it to you, when you were young, oh, you girded yourself, walkest whither thou wouldest, but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands. Another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldest not." This spake he signified by what death, Peter, should glorify God. When you're old, Peter, they're going to bind you and you're going to be taken and they're going to stretch out your hands and they're going to nail them to a cross, which is exactly what happened to Peter according to the historical accounts in the tradition of the church outside of Rome. He was also nailed to a cross. This spake he, Jesus, signifying by why death, Peter was going to glorify God, martyred him on a cross.

That's what's going to happen to you. And when he had spoken this, look what he said. Follow me. Follow me. And I just have to smile here.

And I just, I just, what I, what I, I really was looking at this last night, I said, you know, it just, that just makes me smile. Follow me. The same words he said when he first called Peter to be an apostle. Same words he said when he first called Peter to be an apostle. Same words he said when he first called him to be an apostle.

Follow me. Follow me. Follow me. Don't worry about anyone else. Follow me.

And Peter turns about seeing the disciple that Jesus loved. He says, Lord, that said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? And Peter sees him, he says to the Lord, what about him? What's going to happen with John? I just, I love Peter, you know?

He's just, he's just, he's where he needs to be, but he still needs sanctification, right? Like all of us. Anybody, God's got you at this good place of contrition and humility and you're where now you can go off and you can serve him right but you still need to be sanctified what's going on here he says to to Jesus Lord what about John is he gonna die across John is he gonna get nailed to a cross to Peter come on he's been restored his Apostles ships assured his mission has been set before him, but he's not perfected yet. Flesh is still warring against the Spirit. He needs a progressive sanctification like all of us, and he doesn't need to be comparing himself with others, right?

Matthew Henry comments here, we have enough to mind our own business. I think my grandmother used to say that. You have enough to mind your own business. Might have been my mom, I'm not sure. But, we have enough to mind our own business, end quote.

And Jesus is going to set Peter back on the track of duty. Look, if I want him to tarry to live until I come back, What's that to you? That's, wow, that's direct, right? What's that to you? If I want him to go ahead, don't worry about all these other people.

What has God called you to do? Go and do it. Of course, the saying goes around, he's not going to ever die, but Jesus didn't say he's not going to ever die. He just says, what if I want him to tarry until I come? What's that to you?

As we end, this is the disciple, John. Thank you, Lord, for John. This is the disciple which testifieth of these things and wrote these things and we know that his testimony is true. This is John's testimony. He wrote it, his testimony is truth to be received by the church and preached into the world along with all that we know from Scripture which is all sufficient for us.

Jesus did a lot of other things the final verse says If every one of them was written, suppose the whole world itself couldn't contain the books that should be written. Amen. Amen. Amen, let's pray. Ah, Father, what a blessed three years this has been in this wonderful book.

Thank you, Lord, for this time in your Word. Thank you, Lord, for the work that you've done upon my soul in this time. Thank you, Lord, for the work that you've done in this church over the past three years as we've studied this gospel of John verse by verse, examining Every line. Thank you, God. Oh, I pray, Lord, I pray, God, that all that we've learned, all that I've learned, Lord, will continue, Lord, to change us.

We continue to grow, Lord, by all that you've fed us with these past three years. And we thank you, Lord, for that feeding. We thank you that you've fed us with your word. Oh Lord, let us continue to be nourished by it day by day Never neglect the reading of your word the study of your word and prayer Until the day that you return and take us home We do ask it in the name of Jesus, our Blessed Lord and Redeemer. Amen.