Simon Peter - From Independence to Faith (John 21:15-19 Jeff Kliewer)

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Sermon Notes: notes.cornerstonesj.org Simon Peter - From Independence to Faith

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Morning! Thank you, Tom. All right, everybody, we're going to get started with some announcements this morning.
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Then we'll have a word of prayer and we'll jump right into worship. So the first announcement is the men's and women's retreats.
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Make sure you sign up for that. Guys, we need every guy who could possibly go to attend because we're going to have to pay for the 45 guys even if we don't fill all those spots.
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So if you're on the fence, jump in on this. We need you to come be a part of it April 12th to 14th.
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And then a couple weeks after that is the ladies retreat at the same place. There is a couples dinner.
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Couples dinner on March 2nd for married couples. So guys, maybe you can get away with using that as your
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Valentine's Day dinner. Maybe that would work. I don't know. No, you also please sign up for food to bring some kind of covered dish to the couples dinner on March 2nd.
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Tonight we are having the prayer meeting. That's impressive, isn't it? The Super Bowl will not stop us from praying here at six o 'clock for those who can make it.
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Prayer meeting at the church. And not this, not tonight, but a week from tonight on the 18th, we're going to devote the prayer time to Israel, praying for the nation of Israel.
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And we'll think about what's going on there and really take some time in the Word and in prayer to lift up the chosen people.
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There will be a congregational meeting on March 11th and that's the usual meeting that we have to approve the budget and the new elder and deacons.
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So let's go to the Lord in prayer. Gracious Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this day.
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This is the day that the Lord has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it. Thank you for the glory of this day and the opportunity to serve you well.
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Help us to listen for your voice and do as we're told to do, that we would love you well.
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Thank you, God, for this opportunity to come into this place and put all the distractions out of our minds and to focus our minds on worshiping you.
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And we pray that you would come and help us, Lord. Send your Holy Spirit to fill us anew,
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Lord, that we would truly worship you in spirit and in truth, Lord. We pray that our hearts would be poured out to you as we sing songs to our
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King. We love you, Lord Jesus. In your name, we pray. Amen. Amen. And as we're standing,
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I'd just like to read to you from Isaiah 44, starting in 22.
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It says, I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like a heavy mist.
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Return to me for I have redeemed you. Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it.
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Shout, O depths of the earth. Break forth into singing, O mountains, O forest and every tree in it.
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For the Lord has redeemed and will be glorified. Amen. I'll bless your name,
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O God, each day that I await. From dawn to setting sun, your greatness
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I'll prolate. Your glory far exceeds all human thought.
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So with each breath, I'll bless your name, O God. Your name will be revered by children yet to come.
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As generations sing, the wonders yet have done.
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Your strong and mighty deeds are always near.
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O God, most high, your name will be revered.
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How great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised.
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How great is the Lord, our God. How great is the
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Lord, and greatly to be praised. Your gracious hand provides for all who live and breathe.
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Your mercy runs to find the helpless and the weak.
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When we call out to you, you hear our cries.
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And all our needs your gracious hand provides.
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How great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised.
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How great is the Lord, our God. How great is the
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Lord, and greatly to be praised. Forever without end, creation will rejoice.
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When works of wicked men you finally destroy.
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Your power will proclaim, till Christ is sent.
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And you will reign forever without end.
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How great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised.
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How great is the Lord, our God. How great is the
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Lord, and greatly to be praised. And greatly to be praised.
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Amen. Lord God, we worship you. We look forward to the day when you gather around the throne.
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Before the throne of God above,
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I have a strong and perfect plea. A great
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I preach whose name is love. Whoever lives and pleads for me.
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My name is graven on his hands.
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My name is written on his heart. I know that while in heaven he stands, no tongue can bid me this depart.
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No tongue can bid me this depart. When Satan tempts me to despair, and tells me of the guilt within.
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A part I look and see in there. Who laid an end to all my sin.
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Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free.
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Oh God, the justice satisfied, to look on him and pardon me.
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To look on him and pardon me. Behold him there, the risen lamb.
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My perfect spotless righteousness. The great unchangeable
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I am. The king of glory and of praise.
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One in himself I cannot die. My soul is purchased by his blood.
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My life is hid with Christ on high. With Christ my
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Savior and my God. With Christ my
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Savior and my God. Before the throne of God above.
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I have a strong and perfect plea. A great
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I preach whose name is love. Whoever lives in peace for me.
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God, we just know that your word says the just shall live by faith.
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Lord, it's not by works. You've made the way where we could never hope to go,
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Lord. You are the prototokos, Lord. The first and foremost, Lord. We give you praise and glory and honor,
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Lord, because it's even through you that we have faith to believe, Lord. You're so good to us.
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By faith we see the hand of God.
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In the light of creation's grand design. In the lives of those who prove his faithfulness.
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Who walk by faith and not by sight.
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Who did their fathers roam the earth. With the power of his promise in their hearts.
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Of a holy city built by God's own hand.
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A place where peace and justice reign. We will stand as children of the promise.
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We will fix our eyes on him, our souls reward.
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Till the race is finished and the work is done.
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Who walk by faith and not by sight. By faith the prophet saw a day.
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When the longed for messiah would appear. With the power to break the chains of sin and death.
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And rise triumphant from the grave. By faith the church was called to go.
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In the power of the spirit to the law. To deliver captives and to preach good news.
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In every corner of the earth. And we will stand as children of the promise.
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We will fix our eyes on him, our souls reward.
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Till the race is finished and the work is done.
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Who walk by faith and not by sight. By faith the mountain shall be moved.
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And the power of the gospel shall prevail. For we know in Christ all things are possible.
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For all who call upon his name. And we will stand as children of the promise.
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We will fix our eyes on him, our souls reward.
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Till the race is finished and the work is done.
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Who walk by faith and not by sight. And we will stand as children of the promise.
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We will fix our eyes on him, our souls reward.
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Till the race is finished and the work is done.
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Who walk by faith and not by sight. That's all we see.
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And let's pray. Father God, thank you so much for your word.
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Thank you for the opportunity now for me to preach your word. Lord, my desire as a pastor this morning is to feed the sheep.
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To tend the flock. And Lord, I know that the only thing
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I have to offer is your word. So I pray that you would take from what is yours, your holy scripture, and use this vessel to deliver what you would say to your people.
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And Lord, give all of us ears to hear what you say. I pray God that we would leave this place changed.
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That you would increase our love for you. And how we show that love in our ministry.
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In Jesus name, amen. It's been a year since the beginning of what was a very interesting occurrence in Wilmore, Kentucky.
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Wilmore, Kentucky is the small town in Kentucky that is home to Asbury University.
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On February 8th of 2023, they had a chapel service in the morning at Asbury University.
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And the chapel service never ended. The preacher named
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Zach Meerkrabs gave a wonderful call to repentance and faith.
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And the students came to the front to begin to pray and to seek God's face. And an hour later, they were still there praying.
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Before long, students began to text one another and say, hey, something's happening at the chapel. And before long, all the students came back to the chapel and continued to pray for the rest of the day.
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Soon the chapel filled to overflowing. And this continued on in a constant prayer and worship meeting for 16 days.
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16 days. Some called it an outpouring, others an awakening, others dared to call it a revival.
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In all, more than 70 ,000 people descended on Wilmore, Kentucky to experience this mighty move of God.
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Samuel Say, spelled S -E -Y, is one of my favorite authors. I read his articles that he posts online.
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He writes under the moniker slow to write, which I like because we're supposed to be quick to listen and so slow to speak.
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So he's very deliberate in his writing. He takes time to consider and then he offers a perspective.
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But his perspective of the quote unquote revival, as he puts it in square quotes in his article, is very different than the amens and the excitement that I heard in this room.
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Here's what he has to say. The pastor whose sermon apparently started the revival said no one would know if it was a real revival until months later.
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A year later, it looks like what happened at Asbury was a fad, not a revival.
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Seemingly, its only lasting impact is that the university had the biggest enrollment in its 133 year history.
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Through the churches, no sorry, though the churches near Asbury haven't been impacted by the quote unquote revival,
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I hope somewhere at a church, these students are listening to ordinary preaching that produces an extraordinary change in one's soul.
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Why the negativity? Well, the reason is Samuel Say, this last month, called all of the churches in Wilmore, Kentucky, and began talking to the pastors and asking them, what lasting effect have you seen in your local church related to this great work of God?
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And to a man, every pastor said they can see no impact of the revival.
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No more people, no stronger desire for the word of God, no growth that they can trace back to the revival.
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I'll offer a different position than Samuel Say, and also one that's probably different from what many students recorded.
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But first, I want to share a few of the stories that came from what happened that week in Kentucky.
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A young man, whose name is Gabe, spent those days in the revival praying with other students.
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And he said he's probably spent with all of those hours combined, time spending with 60 different students over the course of these 16 days.
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Prayer like he had never experienced before. And in his heart, he determined that week that he was called to become a pastor, to shepherd
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God's people, because he saw God using him to minister in ways he had never experienced before.
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His heart for ministry grew. A young girl named Evangelina, also a student at Asbury, a pastor's daughter, had always felt this strong weight of doubt that maybe her faith was only grounded in the faith of her parents.
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But that week in the revival, this weight of doubt was miraculously lifted off of her shoulders, and she felt a freedom that she never experienced before.
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Another girl, whose name is Summer, also on this podcast telling her story, had never been free in worship.
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She never felt like she could express herself in any way in worship, and never felt joy in the presence of the
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Holy Spirit. And she said during that time of revival in that Asbury Chapel, she felt the
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Lord like she never did before. She experienced Christ, and she began to praise God from the depths of her heart.
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She experienced a love that just washed over her, and set her free, and helped her to worship.
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That's her testimony. So I'll offer my interpretation now. The Asbury revival led to an increase in a certain kind of love that's very important, that the
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Bible calls phileo. Phileo. This was very good, and it did accomplish much, but the students still need to grow in agape.
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I'm making a distinction between two Greek words that are both translated in our
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English New Testament as love. There are different kinds of love, and the revival, so to speak, that happened in Asbury was an outpouring of affection, of a desire, of burning passion, of fire in the heart that could well be described as phileo, and it is an important part of the
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Christian life. But there's something more that's needed.
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Revivalism, if you make revival into an ism, revivalism lacks the element of feeding the sheep to grow in what the
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Bible calls agape. Strong's is an online Bible dictionary that gives us helpful word studies.
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So if you were to look up phileo, the word for love, in Strong's, it says it comes from philos, to be a friend, to be fond of an individual or an object, i .e.
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to have affection for, denoting personal attachment as a matter of sentiment or feeling.
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Did you follow that? Phileo deals with feelings of affection and of sentiment.
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While agape, according to Strong's, is a wider embracing, especially the judgment and the deliberate assent of the will as a matter of principle, of duty, of propriety.
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The former, phileo, is chiefly concerned with the heart. The latter, agape, is chiefly concerned with the head.
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I want you to turn with me to see how these two words, love, have been translated as love in every case, but how phileo and agape are both important.
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The Christian ought to have deep burning fire for Christ, a passion in the soul that we could describe as affection or phileo.
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But Peter will teach us today from John 21 and following, don't go there yet, that it needs to mature to something that's an even stronger form of love, and that is agape.
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I want to show you how both of these words have been used in John already. John 335, and then we'll go to 520.
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In John 335, it says, the father loves the son.
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And the word which we translate loves in John 335 is agape.
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Turn a couple pages in your Bible to John 520, and you get the same expression, but the opposite word is used.
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In John 520, it says, for the father loves the son. Reading the English, you think you just read the same thing.
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But in truth, the first one, John 335, is agape, and this word is phileo.
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And so the point is that the father loves the son in every way.
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In the affection of phileo and in the willful mind as well.
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But how are we taught to love? What do you do if you love
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God? According to John 1423, turn a few more pages, this word is agape.
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Agape love ought to be expressed in commandment keeping.
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It's more than a sentimentality, it's more than a feeling. Here in John 1423,
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Jesus answered him, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word. So love, to be mature, must progress beyond phileo to agape.
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Mature love, agape love, keeps his word. There is an activity that attends to it.
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It is more than just the feelings of the heart. This is precisely the lesson that Peter needed to learn.
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Let's see it now in John 21, verses 15 to 19.
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When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you agape me more than these?
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He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I phileo you. He said to him, feed my lambs.
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He said to him a second time, Simon, son of John, do you agape me?
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He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I phileo you. He said to him, tend my sheep.
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He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you phileo me?
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Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you phileo me? And he said to him,
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Lord, you know everything. You know that I phileo you. Jesus said to him, feed my sheep.
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Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted.
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But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.
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This he said to show by what kind of death he was going to glorify God. And after saying this, he said to him, follow me.
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As we approach this passage, where clearly Peter's love is brought into question, and Jesus is seeking to elevate his love to something stronger, something bigger, more mature, we have to remember that John has a purpose in every story he tells.
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Each of the appearances of Jesus after the resurrection carries with it a purpose of bringing faith where faith is lacking.
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Mary Magdalene was prone to delusional thinking. She had this delusional thought that someone had stolen the body of Jesus and put it somewhere.
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And even after being presented with evidence of the resurrection, she was still fixating on that train of thought.
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But Jesus appears to her and brings faith. And the word of God triumphs over this delusion.
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Still in John 20, you have another account. This time, the problem is not delusional thinking.
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It is fear. The disciples know that Jesus has risen from the dead, but rather than proclaiming it from the mountains or going on the rooftops, where are they?
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They're hiding behind closed doors. The door is barred, it's locked, and we're told they're in fear of the
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Jews, that the same thing will happen to them as what happened to Jesus Christ on the cross.
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So they're bound in fear, they're not walking in faith, and Jesus comes into the room and overcomes their fear, installing faith in place of that fear.
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And then who was next in John 20, remember? Thomas. Thomas' problem was not fear, he was ready to go die with Jesus, we were told earlier.
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His problem was doubt, and he wasn't in the room at the last appearance, so he doubted that Jesus really rose from the dead.
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Jesus comes again into that room and shows Thomas his hands and his side, and faith overtakes doubt.
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Last week we saw that faith also overtook the idleness of the disciples, the fishermen that were just sitting around hoping for another appearance when they needed to get to work, and when they did, they encountered
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Jesus and their faith increased, and now they didn't even doubt that it was him. Faith overcoming this idleness.
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So what's Peter's problem? He's next up in our story. Well, he's got a lot of them, doesn't he?
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Remember the stories about Peter? They all can be summarized, though, in this independence, this independent streak that's in Peter.
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Remember a few of the episodes. Independent Peter was overconfident.
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Matthew 26, 33. After Jesus had said that they strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered,
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Peter says, what? Though they all fall away because of you,
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I will never fall away. That was an emotional response.
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Peter loved Jesus, and he was in his heart burning with passion and convincing himself,
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I would never fall, even if these guys are about to fall away. These guys over here, yeah,
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I can see them falling. Not me. Peter knew who he was. He had this independent mind, but it was overconfident.
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Independent Peter was impulsive. John 18, 10. Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear.
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The servant was named Malchus. He was impulsive. He operated on what came into his mind.
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His first thought was to strike with the sword, and he cut off Malchus's ear. And Jesus had to rebuke him and tell him to put his sword away.
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Independent Peter did whatever he wanted to do, whatever came into his mind to do.
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Independent Peter was willful. Jesus began to tell the disciples that he must be handed over to the
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Gentiles and crucified and buried and to be raised on the third day.
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And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
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Never, Lord, he said. This shall never happen to you. Peter was willful and independent.
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So much so that he stood up and rebuked the Lord Jesus, telling him his will that would be accomplished.
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Jesus points to where the problem was in Peter. It wasn't in his heart.
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The problem was not Peter's heart. The heart was ablaze for the glory of God. When he saw his
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Lord being captured, he drew the sword because his heart was with the Lord. He was willing to fight to the death in that moment.
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The problem was not his heart. Jesus says, but he turned and said to Peter, Get behind me,
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Satan. You are a hindrance to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.
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Passionate devotion to Christ is not enough. Let's look now at John 21 15.
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When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John.
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Do you love me more than these? Have you ever wondered to what does these refer?
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What is the referent? The Bible doesn't tell us.
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John MacArthur wrote a wonderful commentary on the entire Bible, but his commentary is not the
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Bible. We need to be reminded of that sometimes. Probably my favorite commentator, but MacArthur holds here that these refers to the fish, the 153 fish and the implements of fishing.
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It's a possibility because we're not told in the text to what Jesus refers. However, I think from the context and from Peter's own personality that these refers to the other disciples.
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Do you love me more than these? As in, do you love me more than these do?
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Because remember the context when they saw Jesus on the shore, one of them dove in the water.
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One of them was so overtaken with love, he lost his mind and put his coat on and dove in to swim to Jesus while the others came by rowing.
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And you see in the interactions of the disciples as we read the synoptics, you see a competitive spirit among them.
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In Matthew 18, they want to know who's the greatest among them. And I think
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Jesus seeing the heart of Peter recognizes that Peter considers himself not just the leader of the troop, but a little bit more spiritual.
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Peter thinks that his love for Jesus is at least a little bit stronger than these.
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He's elevated in his mind his own love for the Lord. And this precisely is what
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Jesus is calling into question. So I think more than these has to do with comparative love.
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He's looking at his love. Peter is looking at his own love as greater than the others. So notice what happens next in the text.
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Do you love me more than these? He said to him, yes, Lord. Mark that.
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Yes, Lord. Again in verse 16. Yes, Lord. And what follows is interesting because he does not answer with the same word for love.
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The question was, Simon, son of John, do you agape me more than these?
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Peter in his rashness substitutes a synonym that also conveys the idea of love, but it's a different word.
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What does Peter say in verse 15? Yes, Lord. You know that I love you.
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Why would he use a different word? Clearly, he had not read
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C .S. Lewis's The Four Loves, as many of you have.
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And you understand that there are four Greek words for love, agape and phileo, also storehey and eros.
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But here in John, the interplay is between phileo and agape. You see,
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Peter hasn't read that book and he doesn't understand what we're going to learn from the passage in the moment he's using the koine
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Greek as he understood it. And in his mind, what he's doing is strengthening his own statement.
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That's why he answers in the affirmative both times. Look at verses 15 and 16. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord.
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He doesn't think he's contradicting or saying something different. He's affirming his love, but trying to do it with all the heart that he has.
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He's putting his heart into it. And so he uses the word phileo to communicate,
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Lord, it's not just intellectual. I love you from my heart. I phileo you.
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He's strengthening his point by changing the word. That's why he does it twice.
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Yes, Lord, he affirms. I phileo you. That's what he's trying to do.
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But Jesus's point is to take Peter's burning heart and direct it to ministry, to a greater kind of love that Peter is not yet aware of.
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So notice verse 15, how Jesus answers him. He said to him, feed my lambs.
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He tells the one who truly loves him, obey my commandments. Here, feed my lambs.
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If you love me, take care of the lambs that I love. Jesus does not direct him to feel something more deeply.
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Peter pretty well has phileo down. It's his mind that is not disciplined and controlled in discerning the will of God and doing it.
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In Romans 12, one and two, we're to present our lives as living sacrifices. This is
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God's will. And we're told that when we do that, not being conformed to the patterns of this world, but transformed by the renewing of our mind, we are able to discern what his good, perfect, and pleasing will is.
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The will of God is a matter of a renewed mind. And this is Peter's problem.
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He's kind of the opposite of Solomon. In 1 Kings 3, verse three, we're told that Solomon loved the
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Lord. Isn't that interesting? Solomon loved the
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Lord. He was a shepherd to Israel, we're told in that verse, although he did not tear down the high places.
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Solomon, his mind was as wise, and he receives this gift of wisdom in 1
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Kings chapter three. By chapter six, he's serving the sheep. He's a shepherd to Israel.
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Israel never thrived better than under Solomon. Solomon built the temple, although he didn't tear down the high places.
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And he married 700 wives, and he took 300 other concubines.
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And he allowed the worship of these false gods, the Asherim, and Baal, and the gods of the surrounding nations to be worshiped by his own wives and the people of Israel on the high places, 1
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Kings 3, three. Do you see what Solomon's problem is? His mind is strong.
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He's disciplined in his thinking. He's a shepherd. And I looked that up in the Greek. I thought, well, the
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Old Testament doesn't have the same words, agape and philea. So how would we know what was meant in 1
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Kings 3, three, when it says Solomon loved the Lord? So what I did is I looked at the
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Septuagint because the Septuagint was a Greek translation of the
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Old Testament. And when we read the New Testament, what we're dealing with is the Septuagint in most cases.
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When Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, they quote from the Old Testament, they're actually quoting from the
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Greek translation of the Old. They're quoting from the Septuagint. And the word in the
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Septuagint was agape. Solomon had the agape right. His mind, his willful duty, he was willing to check the boxes.
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Here was Solomon's problem. He didn't have deep phileo for the
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Lord. This brotherly affection like Peter had, he lacked in that department.
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He was willing to tolerate the worship of false gods. Peter would have taken out his sword like Gideon and chopped down the
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Asherim. Solomon and Peter kind of are missing on the opposite sides.
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Solomon was all mind and Peter was all heart. And what
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Jesus is dealing with Peter here in John 21 verse 15 is a lack of love.
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You say, wait a minute, Peter's all love. No, he's lacking something in his love.
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He's very strong in his phileo. But notice what
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Jesus does here. He says, tend my sheep, feed my lambs.
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Peter is not yet disciplined in building up the church. He's not yet become a pastor. He's not a minister.
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He's emotional and he's affectionate, but he hasn't learned how to feed the flock.
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If you notice in verse 15, that first word for lambs is arnia. Later it will be probata, which is sheep.
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Just meaning sheep. And why are Christians so often called sheep?
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Because we're dumb. And because we're so easily led.
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But that first word arnia is in the diminutive. What does that mean?
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It's made small like a child. Little sheep, a little lamb, a lambkin.
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A very small sheep that's very dependent. That can do nothing.
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That's easily led this way or that. Peter is being told in verse 15, you need to feed the sheep.
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You need to take care of the little ones and lead them because they're easily led astray. There are many wolves, sometimes dressing in sheep's clothing, other times not.
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But many wolves that would prey upon the sheep. We're warned of this in Matthew 7. And we see this in the culture.
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Even this week, I was at a pastor's breakfast down in Hamilton. And my friend
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Sean Highland, who's one of the leaders in the New Jersey Family Policy Center, told us about something that's happening in New Jersey right now.
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They're calling it the Freedom to Read Act. Sean Highland calls it the
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Freedom to Distribute Obscene Materials to Minors Act.
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What this bill would do in New Jersey is it would give exemption to teachers and librarians if they were to give out obscene materials to children.
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The law as it stands in New Jersey applies to teachers, librarians, and everyone. The man on the street cannot distribute obscene materials.
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It's the penalty code 2C34 -3, Obscenity for Persons Under 18.
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This bill would give immunity, exemption to teachers and librarians that they could introduce these materials with impunity, leading the little ones into sin.
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And Jesus will say of the little ones in Matthew 18, Temptations will come, but woe to the one through whom they come.
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It will be better for them if a millstone were tied around their neck and they were thrown into the sea than to lead one of these little ones into sin.
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The little one, the little lambkin, the little lamb, can be led this way or that.
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And the ones who lead them into sin stand in danger of great judgment.
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And what Jesus is telling Peter is, I'm calling you to lead these sheep in the right way.
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It's great that you love me and you dive in the sea, and I love that. Just like the
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Asbury Revival, we affirm that. We want to see young people pouring out their hearts in worship and praying all night long and sleeping in the chapel.
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But we want to see these young people grow up to be young shepherds, like this one young man,
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Gabe, who now wants to devote himself to ministry, to teach the word of God, to teach a
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Sunday school class and lead the little ones in the right way, the straight and narrow path, to be a part of a community group and care for the kids and the adults.
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And incidentally, in Matthew 18, Jesus at first begins speaking of children.
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Let the children come to me. But his larger point is that unless you adults change and become like a child, you have no part.
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Meaning all of us are the little sheep in this passage. Even the adults need to be led.
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All of us are prone to wander. We all, like sheep, are prone to go astray and turn each one after our own way,
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Isaiah 53. So what's needed is a kind of love that tends the sheep.
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See that in verse 15 and 16? At this point, where Jesus has twice told him, feed the sheep, tend the flock.
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Peter is not yet understanding the distinction between phileo affection, like falling in love.
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All that our culture seems to understand about love is the phileo aspect.
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And store has this meaning as well. And certainly eros, the erotic love, which isn't mentioned in the
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New Testament, this form of love, our culture understands. The culture thinks love is sentimentality.
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They think love is feeling. And that's what Peter is understanding here as well.
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He thinks because he's got this burning heart that he is mature in love. And now look, he finally gets the point in verse 17.
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When Jesus said the third time, the definite article, third time.
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Sometimes a question is more than a question. He's asking it a third time, which itself is saying something.
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Jesus is questioning Peter's love. And that's a tough pill to swallow, isn't it?
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And Peter finally gets it. Jesus uses Peter's language now, condescending to say, do you phileo me?
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Is that how you love me? And Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you phileo me?
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And he said to him, he's exasperated now, he's heartbroken. He's cut deeply.
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Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you. He's pleading with the
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Lord. And Jesus answers him the same way, meaning he wants to turn that phileo, that affection, that warmth of heart to something deeper, a stronger love.
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And there is no greater love than agape. We only understand agape because God agapes us first.
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Greater love has no one than this, that he laid down his life for his friends. That's agape. And when
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Paul will say, now faith, hope, and love abide these three, but the greatest of these is agape.
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This is the point. There is a kind of love that's not so much about what's happening on the inside of you, as important as that is.
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It's about what you do for the sheep that Jesus loves. It's about laying your life down.
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It's about ministering in Sunday school or at a community group, giving yourself, pouring out your life like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith.
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As Paul will say, this is the kind of love that Peter needs. Feed my sheep.
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Feed my sheep. Tend the flock. What happened at Asbury was good.
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And it was a blessing to those who experienced that love. And surely their love got stronger in their heart, but they need to hear as we all do.
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Feed my sheep. Tend the flock. Feed the sheep. I think this is especially a passage that God intended for every pastor to think about.
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Because we are the poi men. Acts 20 talks about the overseer, the bishop. The preacher is a shepherd.
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When it says tend the flock, the word there means shepherd. And so every pastor, every shepherd needs to remember, it is our role to feed the sheep.
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My job on a Sunday is to tell you what the word of God says. And that's the food that will make you grow.
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Spurgeon is always very witty. And he said, a time is coming when pulpits will have clowns entertaining goats rather than shepherds feeding sheep.
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I think that's happened. And it's only gotten worse since Spurgeon's time in the 1800s.
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It's become very much an entertainment driven church culture. But if it's my job to feed the sheep by telling you what these words mean and how they fit and how it fits in the context, is it not also your job to do the same for your family members and every little sheep that you influence?
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Is it not your job also to have a ministry in this church serving and feeding the sheep?
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See, in verse 18, Peter's problem was he just did whatever he wanted. Remember?
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Whatever came into his mind. It wasn't a disciplined mind focused on the commission.
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And so when he's told here in verse 18, I don't think Jesus is telling him gratuitously how he's going to die.
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Think about this for a moment. If someone told you how you were going to die, wouldn't it be a bit much for you?
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Wouldn't you fixate on that all day long? But we don't know when we're going to die.
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And so we must learn to trust God with our lives, our very heartbeat.
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God, you know my times. They are in your hands. I'm not going to worry about that because I trust you.
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Here, Jesus does not tell Peter that you will be crucified upside down.
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But that's what he's referring to, that you will be led away to martyrdom. Peter knows from this that he's going to live at least a number of decades.
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He's probably in his 30s, 40s when he hears this, and he's going to make it to old age. It says in verse 18, when you were young, what did you used to do?
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You dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted. That's the issue here. Peter just does what he wants to do.
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He serves his own pleasures. He's an independent man, and it's because he's a robust, strong fisherman.
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He doesn't depend on anyone. He's not a little kid anymore. He's a grown man, and he does grown things, and he does what he wants to do.
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But Jesus is telling him enough about his death to keep that independent streak at bay.
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So he tells him here, but when you are old, so Peter knows he's going to make it to old age, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.
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And we're told in the note, the parenthetical, that Jesus is telling him by what kind of death he will die.
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Peter needs to know this so that he lives the rest of his life for the will of God.
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Guys, you have freedom. Your life is your stewardship. You choose to do with your time what you want to do, but do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh.
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And by the flesh, I mean here just the emotional desires of that day.
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Don't structure your day according to whatever you freely want to do.
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But if you love the Lord, if you say your heart burns, you have phileo like Peter did, hear what
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Jesus says to him. Discipline your life to the feeding of his sheep.
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You want to love him? Here's how you do it. Feed the sheep. And I think this is the point that Jesus makes to Peter and to all of us.
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This has already been a major theme in John 15, three and four. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.
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Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.
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If you love God, abide in Christ. Daily seek the will of God for what he would have you do.
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Because love is more than affection. It's more than the fact that you like to worship him or to listen to worship music.
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These things are good and they're good for the heart. But here we are called to a mental discipline that expresses love in action.
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And that is to disciple others, to abide in Christ and go out and bear much fruit.
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The particulars of the kind of death that Peter was destined to glorify God, which is crucifixion upside down, it would have been too much for Peter to know.
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But he needed that vague prophecy to keep his independent streak at bay. In the same way, we need this.
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One day, all of us will be disillusioned of our independence. We're not independent.
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It's good to be independent of others, but we're dependent upon God. And we need to learn to trust him and listen for his will in how we live our lives.
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Peter, interestingly, will teach this same lesson. In 1
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Peter 1, 22, you don't have to turn there. He appeals to the phileo, the brotherly love.
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And then the next part of the verse, you can look it up later, 1 Peter 1, 22, he gives the imperative to agape.
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By your obedience to the truth, you have brotherly love for one another. You love one another here.
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It comes with being born again. If you don't love the brethren, you're not born again. But born again
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Christians just phileo one another. We have an affection for other Christians. But then he says, so agape them.
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You see the difference? Use your mind in obedience to the will of God to feed one another, to serve
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God in ministry. How could we serve the children who would fall victim to this bill that's being passed or being proposed in New Jersey?
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How could we love them? I'll give you an example. You can call your congressman, your
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New Jersey congressman for the New Jersey state. This is not federal. This is local. We have three of them in District 7.
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What if everybody, every adult in this room were to make a phone call to our three representatives, two congresspeople and one senator, and tell them that we do not support the quote unquote freedom to read act?
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Would you be willing to do that? Would you be willing to take action that actually makes a difference in the lives of little children?
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It's one thing to feel an outrage against those who harm children, but it's agape to do something about it.
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Do you see the issue? So take out a pen if you have one or grab your cell phone if you have a notes app.
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In the New Jersey congress side, in the assembly side, the very sponsor of that bill comes from our
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District 7. His name is Herb Conaway. I would like everybody here to make a phone call this week to express your displeasure with the bill he's proposing.
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And his phone number at his office, his district office in Delran, is 856 -461 -3997.
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I'll say it one more time. If you miss these numbers, just ask somebody that seems to be keeping up with it.
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856 -461 -3997. Our senator is
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Troy Singleton, and his number is 856 -234 -2790.
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Every Christian that loves the little flock, the little sheep, should make a phone call this week.
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856 -234 -2790. And lastly, the assemblywoman Carol Murphy can be reached at 856 -735 -5334.
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This is an example of how to turn our filet -o into agape.
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To know the will of God and to do the kind of things he's calling us to do. We're going to close in prayer.
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Father, we have heard, we have overheard how Jesus spoke with Peter.
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But we know that these words are intended not just as a portrait of Peter as if he's some quirky example or illustration.
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The truth is he is an illustration of each one of us. Our love is often only sentimental but not active in feeding the sheep.
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And so we ask, Lord, that you would increase our love, that you would help us to love in word and in deed.
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Help us, Lord, to put legs to the things that we believe.
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I pray, Lord God, that each one of us would mature in our faith. We would go beyond revivalism and chasing after feelings and mature as those who feed the sheep.
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Help us, Lord, to tend the flock.
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Increase our love, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Let's stand for a final song.
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Praise the Lord His mercy is more
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Stronger than darkness and new every more
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Our sins they are many His mercy is more
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What love could remember No wrongs we have done
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Omniscient, all -knowing He counts not their sum
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Thrown into a sea without bottom or shore
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Our sins they are many His mercy is more
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Praise the Lord His mercy is more
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Stronger than darkness and new every more
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Our sins they are many His mercy is more
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What patience would wait as we constantly roam
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What Father so tender is calling us home
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He welcomes the weakest, the vilest, the poor
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Our sins they are many His mercy is more
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Praise the Lord His mercy is more
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Stronger than darkness and new every more
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Our sins they are many His mercy is more
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What riches of kindness He's lavished on us
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His blood was the payment His life was the cost
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And we stood knee -to -knee We could never abhor
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Our sins they are many His mercy is more
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Praise the Lord His mercy is more
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Stronger than darkness and new every more Our sins they are many
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His mercy is more Our sins they are many
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His mercy is more Our sins they are many
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His mercy is more Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God.
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And whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know
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God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent
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His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved
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God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
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Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.