Déjà Vu All Over Again

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

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Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern

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Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

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And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according to St.

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John, chapter 21, verses 1 -19. After this,

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Jesus revealed Himself again to the disciples by the sea of Tiberias. And He revealed

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Himself in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas called a twin, Nathaniel of Cana and Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and the two others of His disciples were together.

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Simon Peter said to them, I'm going fishing. They said to Him, we will go with you.

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They went out, got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

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Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore. Yet the disciples did not know that it was

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Jesus. Jesus said to them, children, do you have any fish? They answered

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Him, no. He said to them, cast the net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.

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So they cast it. And now they were not able to haul it in because of the quantity of fish.

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The disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, it is the Lord. And when Simon Peter heard that it was the

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Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off.

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And then when they got on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place with fish laid on it and bread.

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And Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish that you have just caught. So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them.

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And although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, come, have breakfast.

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Now none of the disciples dared ask Him, who are you? They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish.

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This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after He was raised from the dead.

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And when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?

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He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, feed my lambs. He said to him a second time,

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Simon son of John, do you love me? He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you.

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He said to him, tend my sheep. He said to him the third time, Simon son of John, do you love me?

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Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know everything.

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You know that I love you. Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. Truly, truly,

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I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted. 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 to glorify God. And after saying this, he said to him, follow me.

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In the name of Jesus. So have you ever had that feeling that you're walking around or maybe you're in your house, and all of a sudden you feel like, this has all happened before.

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I've seen this happen before. They call that deja vu. And I think about the old

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Yankee catcher, Yogi Berra. He's famous for saying, it feels like deja vu all over again.

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Well, today's text is just chock full of deja vu. And there's something that Jesus is up to.

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He's up to something very important. If you remember, on the night that Jesus was betrayed, the night that the

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Lord's Supper was instituted, Simon Peter, well, Jesus revealed that he was going to betray him.

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And Peter says, no, I'm ready to go to prison and die for you. And well, it didn't all pan out that way, did it?

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So here we are, the third Sunday of Easter. And today we're going to be looking at the third appearance of Christ after his resurrection.

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And Jesus has some unfinished business to tend to. Now, I would note something here in the beginning.

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Let's pay close attention to the mercy and the grace of God. We Christians have this really bad habit. You want to know what our bad habit is?

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We shoot our wounded. I hate to say this, but this is, I've seen it happen over and over and over again.

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Somebody who is a Christian brother or sister falls into sin. And you know what we do?

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We take the hammer out and we beat them with it. Till they stop moving spiritually.

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This is not what Jesus has done. And keep in mind, Peter's sin is grave. And we'll explain that along the way.

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So we'll return to our gospel text. We'll explain how all the deja vu elements work.

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I'll point them out along the way. In fact, if you want to know what they are ahead of time. Deja vu elements. Think of this whole scenario.

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The fishermen don't catch fish. Throw the net on the other side of the boat. This should sound familiar to you.

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It's like deja vu all over again. Charcoal fire. It's deja vu all over again.

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Bread and fish. Deja vu all over again. And then the fact that Jesus asks

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Peter three questions. It's deja vu all over again. So we return to our gospel text.

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Gospel of John chapter 21. After this, Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the sea of Tiberias.

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He revealed himself in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas called the twin, Nathaniel of Cana and Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, the two others of his disciples were together.

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And all of them being fishermen. Peter kind of being a fisherman himself says, I'm going to go fishing.

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They all go, yeah, we're with you. We're going with you. So they went out, got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

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Fishermen are always really excited after having caught nothing. All right. Scott Erickson will tell you about that.

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Devil's Lake, right? No, actually, fish, never mind. And that's a different story. Different sermon altogether.

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Now, the deja vu element here, this should all sound very familiar to you. Well, it's almost like a one for one recreation of the calling of the

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Apostle Peter himself. Luke chapter 5 verses 1 through 11 records how Peter himself was called to be a disciple, not only a disciple, but a fisher of men.

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Here's what it says. On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, that's

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Jesus. He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret. He saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.

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Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land, and he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

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And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into the deep, let down your nets for a catch.

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Simon answered, Master, I'm the fisherman here. You're a rabbi. We toiled all night.

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We got nothing. All right, but at your word, I'll go ahead and let down the nets. All right.

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So Jesus, I mean, it doesn't say that Jesus looked at him, you know, with the laser beam eyeballs or anything like that, but you could tell he kind of backs down pretty quick, right?

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And this is not typical behavior for a manly fisherman. So, I'll go ahead and let down the nets.

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And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking.

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Just so you know, these small fishing boats on the Sea of Galilee, 60 fish, that's considered a pretty big haul.

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100, the nets are starting to break. They're not designed for that. And 150 in our story today, that's a huge thing.

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But so, at this point, they enclosed a large number, and the nets, they're breaking. And so what does

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Peter do? Peter is a good fisherman. In business, you know, he's in competition with other fishermen.

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So he signals to his business partners. He doesn't go, Hey, we got a large number of fish, because he doesn't want to broadcast it, right?

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You don't want the competition to come in and, you know, pick some of this stuff off. So he's like, you know, right?

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This is what he's doing. So, they come. They fill both boats.

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So they began to sink. And Peter, being a good businessman, realizes something very profound here.

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Jesus is able, at will, to cause fish to jump into nets.

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If Jesus wanted to, He could be the wealthiest man on the Sea of Galilee. And this convicts

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Him of His own sin. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus' knees saying,

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Depart from me. I'm a sinful man, Lord. For He and all who were with Him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken.

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And so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Jesus said to Simon, Do not be afraid.

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From now on, you will be catching men. And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything.

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And here's the important words again. They followed Jesus. So this is the calling of Peter.

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Peter's going to become a fisher of men. At least that's how that originally went. But here we are again, post -resurrection.

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And Peter, well, we've got some unfinished business to tend to. So we turn back to the

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Gospel of John. Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore. Yet the disciples did not know that it was

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Jesus. That's fascinating. This is a lot like the road to Emmaus account. In the

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Gospel of Luke, we have the account of the road to Emmaus. Two of Jesus' disciples on the resurrection day are traveling from Jerusalem to Emmaus and they're talking.

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They're talking. The buzz has gotten out. The body's missing. The women have said He's raising from the dead.

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They don't know what to make of this, but they're on their way to Emmaus. And while they're walking along, Jesus comes alongside of them.

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And then the text says something fascinating. It says their eyes were held. Jesus can hold eyes.

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That was important because Jesus had something to teach them. And so they start lamenting, you know, this is terrible.

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And Jesus says, what are you guys upset about? Haven't you heard about Jesus? We thought He was the Messiah, but they killed Him. And then our women marveled at, amazed at saying that He's been raised from the dead.

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And then Jesus opens up the Scriptures, the Old Testament, and tells them all the things concerning Himself.

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Right? When they get to Emmaus, the day is far spent, and they, well, they beg

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Jesus to stay with them, although they don't know it's Jesus. Right? And Jesus stays, and they have a meal together, and it says that when

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Jesus had given thanks and broke the bread, they recognized who He was. They recognized who

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He was by the sign. Right? You're... And then He disappears. Right?

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And then the statement is, were not our hearts burning within us as He opened up the Scriptures? The answer is absolutely.

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So this is kind of like that. Jesus is there on the shore, and the disciples, they don't recognize

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Jesus. And then He says to them, children, do you have any fish?

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Look at that. Jesus calling grown fishermen, children. It's a term of endearment.

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And we, like them, are also His children. You think back to our first reading today. Saul of Tarsus, breathing out murderous threats against the

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Christians, against those who followed Jesus. Jesus knocks him off his horse on the road to Damascus, blinds him, and says to him,

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Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? What do you mean I'm persecuting you, Lord?

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Right? Anyone who persecutes Jesus' kids is persecuting

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Him. You are one of Jesus' children as well. Children, do you have any fish?

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They answered Him, no. So He said to them, cast the net on the right side of the boat.

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You will find some. That makes no sense. But they don't protest this time.

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So they cast it. And now they were not able to haul it in because of the quantity of fish.

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That disciple whom Jesus loved, this is John, therefore said to Peter, it's the Lord. He doesn't recognize

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Him by sight. He recognizes Him by sign. It's the Lord. It's deja vu all over again.

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I feel like I've seen this all before. And when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, threw himself into the sea.

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Fascinating little bit of garment theology going on there. He was naked and he clothed himself. Fascinating.

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The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, about 100 yards off.

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And when they got out on the land, they saw a charcoal fire. Hmm. Deja vu all over again.

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Where have we seen this charcoal fire? Hold it for just a second. In place with fish laid on it and bread.

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Fish and bread. Where have we seen that before? Oh yeah, the feeding of the 5 ,000.

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Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish that you've caught. So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore full of the large fish.

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153 of them, which is a ginormous catch. But unlike the first time, this time, their nets were not breaking.

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They were not torn. Now it's funny. You read the church fathers. You read the commentators on this. All right.

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These are not throwaway details. What's with the 153? Now I've said this publicly, and I'll reiterate it.

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Math is evil. Okay. It's absolutely a dark art. I clearly have raised my daughter wrong.

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She's a math major. All right. Something is going really amiss here. But everybody kind of, because of all of this deja vu stuff going on, realized that maybe there's something significant with the number 153.

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So those of you who are deceived and think there's nothing wrong with math, let me explain to you the mathematics of this.

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153, if you take 1 plus 2 plus 3 plus 4 plus 5 all the way up to the number 17, the number you come up with is 153.

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And you're sitting there going, yeah. So some have speculated that maybe somehow typologically, symbolically, this 153 may be pointing to, because these guys are being, well,

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Peter in particular, is being reinstated as a fisher of men, that somehow it's symbolic of the great catch of fish that the gospel will catch between Christ's ascension and his return, kind of like the uncountable multitude kind of thing.

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I think that's a good way to put it, but the thing is you can't push too hard on that, because otherwise you start sounding like end times crackpots, right?

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So, I said charcoal fire was deja vu all over again. Let me remind you now from the gospel of Luke, what

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Luke records regarding Peter here. On the night Jesus was betrayed, Luke 22, 31 through 34 states,

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Jesus says to Peter, Simon, behold, Satan is demanded to have you so that he might sift you like wheat.

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And here are the important words, but I have prayed for you. I have prayed that your faith will not fail.

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And when you have repented, when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. At that time,

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Peter said to Him, Lord, I'm ready to go with you both to prison and to death. Yeah, really?

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No. I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day until you deny me. Not once.

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Not twice. Three times. Luke then records

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Jesus' kangaroo court trial. Verses 54 through 62 in chapter 22.

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They had seized Jesus, led Him away, bringing Him to the high priest's house. So there He is at the house of the high priest.

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That seems like an official place to have a trial, don't you think? Yeah. And Peter was following at a distance and when they had kindled a charcoal fire, there it is, uh -huh, in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together.

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Peter sat down among them and then a servant girl, seeing Him as He sat in the light and looking closely at Him said,

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This man was also with Him. A girl? She's not even wearing a sword.

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Right? A servant girl. Oh, you were with Jesus. But He denied it.

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Saying, Woman, I don't know Him. A little later, someone else, Matthew records that it's another woman.

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Someone else saw Him and said, You also are one of them. Peter said, I am not. And after an interval of about an hour still, another insisted, saying,

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Certainly this man also was with Him, for he too is a Galilean. But Peter said, Man, I don't know what you're talking about.

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And immediately, while he was speaking, the rooster crowed. And watch this.

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And then the Lord turned and looked at Peter. So Peter remembered the saying of the

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Lord and how He had said to him, Behold, the rooster crows today. You will deny Me three times. And he went out and he wept bitterly.

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Now you may be thinking, Well, it's no big deal. He's just trying to save his own skin. I mean, how is he supposed to be the great apostle,

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Peter, if they kill him the same night they killed Jesus, right? Well, keep in mind what

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Jesus says. Matthew 10, verses 32 -33 Everyone who acknowledges

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Me before men, I also will acknowledge before My Father who is in heaven. Whoever denies

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Me before men, I also will deny him before My Father who is in heaven.

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If we were Roman Catholics, we would say that Peter had committed a mortal sin. Revelation 21,

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Jesus speaking the Alpha and the Omega, says this about the last day.

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He who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. This is Jesus talking. Also He said,

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Write this down, for these words are trustworthy, true. He said to me, It is done. I am the Alpha and the

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Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.

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The one who conquers will have this heritage. I will be his God. He will be my Son. And here's the big but.

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But, as for the cowardly, uh oh, the faithless, uh oh, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with sulfur and fire, which is the second death.

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Apparently it is a big deal to deny Christ. It numbers you with the cowardly, the faithless.

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Peter may as well have committed adultery, or been a wizard, or an idolater.

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And you'll notice in the list, cowardly is the first. Yikes.

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The reason why that's scary is because each of us are tempted in many ways to deny

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Christ. You're in that uncomfortable conversation with that person whose friendship you don't want to lose.

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Best if we not talk about Jesus. Or you know what the truth is, and you don't speak the truth.

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You go along with the crowd. This is a sin. It's a grievous and grave sin.

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So now we've got a problem. The great apostle Peter has disqualified himself from being an apostle.

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He's disqualified himself from even being a disciple of Jesus. How is it that he can now go and proclaim the good news?

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If Jesus doesn't do something definitive here, and everyone thinks he should, what are people going to think about Jesus?

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I can tell you where, going back to my original point, we Christians have this really bad habit.

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When somebody stumbles and falls into sin, our solution is a mercy killing.

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Euthanize them. And we all think that's the right thing to do because after all, sin is sin.

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And that person blew it. Jesus does something that I don't think any of us would expect when you start to think about it along these lines.

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So there's Jesus. Deja vu all over again. The nets, the fish, the casting on the other side of the boat, the fishermen being skunked all night, the charcoal fire, the fish, the bread.

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Man, there's something going on here. Maybe he's going to let Peter have it. Once and for all say,

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I gave you chance after chance after chance and you just squandered every opportunity.

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It's time for us to part ways, Peter. Is that what Jesus does?

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No. Jesus says to them, come and have breakfast.

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Jesus, still serving, took the time to cook them a meal. None of the disciples dared ask

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Him, who are you? They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread, gave it to them, and so with the fish.

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This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after He was raised from the dead. Pay attention to that three stuff in the

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Bible. It's important. And when they had finished breakfast, here it comes.

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Jesus is going to let them have it. Jesus said to Simon Peter, and boy,

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I need to help you out a little bit here. In the English language, how many words for love do we have?

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One. In Greek, there are four. A little bit of a play on words.

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Jesus says to Peter, Simon, son of John, do you agape me more than these?

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Agape. Unconditional love. Peter, do you agape me more than these?

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Talking about his boat, his fishing nets, the fish, the sea, even his buddies.

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Do you love me? Do you agape me more than these? What should he say?

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If Peter answers, Lord, you know that I agape you, he's a liar.

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His denial and his actions show that he does not have unconditional love for Christ.

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The truth of the matter is my actions say the same thing. So he humbly responds, yes,

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Lord, you know that I phileo you. I have strong feelings for you.

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I love you. It's kind of a sentimental in the heart kind of thing. He knows that's true, right?

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And here it comes. Jesus said, feed my little lambs.

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And with those words, Jesus now starts to restore Peter to the apostolic office by putting into his care the most precious ones that Jesus cares for.

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The littlest, the smallest, the weakest, the most who need to be cared for, intended to.

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This is amazing. So Jesus says to him a second time,

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Simon, son of John, and notice here he's not calling him Peter, the rock. He hasn't been behaving like a rock.

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We're all the way back at the beginning. It's deja vu all over again. Simon, son of John, do you agape me?

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He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I phileo you.

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So he said to him, tend my sheep. It's twice.

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So he says to him a third time, three denials, three questions. Simon, son of John, and watch this,

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Jesus says, Simon, son of John, do you phileo me? Man, that had to sting to hear

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Peter's own words. Now, asked back to him. Peter was grieved because he'd said to them the third time, do you phileo me?

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So he said to him, Lord, you know everything, and you know that I love you.

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I phileo you. That's right. Jesus does know everything. And Jesus does know that Peter loves him.

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And Jesus said to him, good, feed my sheep. Now, remember on the night that Peter denies

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Christ, he claims I'm ready to go to prison and go to death for you,

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Lord. Was he? Not at all. But these next words are absolutely amazing because Jesus now is saying, yes, now you are ready.

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To die, says truly, truly, amen, amen.

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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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And this he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God. Peter was now ready to die for Jesus.

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The coward, the forgiven coward, now restored to ministry, emboldened by the mercy and grace of Christ.

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And you know what Peter did? He did do this. Church history records his death for us.

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It's awful. It's absolutely awful. Peter eventually made his way to the city of Rome where he was preaching the gospel.

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And many were brought to penitent faith in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. And Nero, the sick puppy that he was, had

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Peter arrested, both him and his wife. Neither one of them being

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Roman citizens got to enjoy the privilege of dying the most shameful death that the

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Roman Empire could concoct. They were both found guilty and both sentenced to crucifixion.

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Nero's decision was to have Peter's wife crucified first. She was crucified the day before Peter was crucified.

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Peter's words, according to one historian, to his wife while she's being nailed to the cross, is, remember the kindness of our

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Lord. I can't imagine watching my wife be killed.

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And I don't think I would be talking about Christ's kindness if I had to witness such a thing. The next day, they took

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Peter to a place called the Circus of Nero.

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They didn't have the three ring circus. It wasn't lions and monkeys and things like that. It was a hippodrome, a place where they had chariot races.

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And in the infield, they had set up a crucifix for Peter. And it's fascinating, if you know anything a little bit about kind of architectural history and things like that, if you were to travel to Rome today, go to St.

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Peter's, there's a big plaza. We've all seen it in the news, you know, when the Pope preaches and speaks, all the people fill up that plaza.

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In the very center of the plaza, there is a stone obelisk. If you don't know what an obelisk is, you think of the

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Washington Monument. It looks like an Egyptian pencil, right? An obelisk.

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There's this obelisk there in the plaza, and that obelisk was there when

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Peter was crucified. That's the obelisk from Nero's circus, from the hippodrome.

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It was an obelisk that he had commissioned, and it was next to Peter while Peter was crucified.

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And when Peter drug there against his will, dressed against his will as he's heading off to be crucified, seeing that he was going to suffer the same fate as Jesus, protested strongly.

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And his protest went along these lines, I am not worthy to suffer the same death as my

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Lord. Alright. Romans, seeing that he was thrown a big stink, said fine, have it your way.

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So they nailed him to the cross and then planted the cross in the ground upside down. And it took him three days to die.

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And on day one, while he's being crucified, after he's been nailed to the cross, oh, that was the day of the chariot races themselves.

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And so Nero himself participated in the chariot race. The games commenced while Peter was glorifying

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God, glorifying God through his death. It's deja vu all over again.

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And if you don't pay attention to what Jesus is doing, you're going to miss it. And this gives us hope.

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Gives us comfort. Because if Christ can forgive Peter, he can truly forgive you.

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He can certainly forgive me. He doesn't give him what he deserves.

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Instead, he gives him grace. And how is it that he can do that? Well, this is the third time that Jesus has appeared after his resurrection.

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And remember, the first time he appeared, he showed them his hands, and his sides, and his feet.

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See, he had been crucified for their sins. Their sins were covered. Their sins were atoned for.

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They had been forgiven. Jesus, all along, knowing that Peter would deny him, as his mediator, prays that his faith would not fail.

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And then when he is risen from the grave, they make sure to send word, let the disciples and Peter know that I'm alive.

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From the outset, knowing he was going to go into this grave sin, Jesus says,

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I'm not going to let you go. And Jesus now is our great

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High Priest and our mediator between us and God the Father. And He does pray for you.

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And He intercedes on your behalf. You are one of His children.

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He's washed you in the waters of baptism. Cleansed you from your sins. Raised you from the dead.

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Circumcised your hearts. You belong to Him. And though your sins be as scarlet,

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He washes them away and makes you white as snow. Though you be naked and shamed,

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He clothes you in robes of righteousness. And now we get to participate in the apostolic work.

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Jesus says to Peter, follow Me. Having been restored,

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He does. He follows Jesus all the way to His death. And Jesus says the same to us. Follow Him.

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Follow Me, Jesus says. Follow Me. Trust Me. And we get to participate by telling people the apostolic message.

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What the Gospel says about who Jesus is. What He has done for us.

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And what our hope is. And we as penitent sinners forgiven just like Peter, now can say to other sinners, we are not better than you.

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Instead, we have good news. You can be forgiven just like we have been.

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Repent. Trust in Christ. Be forgiven. Follow Him. He is merciful, kind, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love.

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And the Scriptures say, a smoldering wick He does not snuff out. So though the devil, the world, your sinful flesh, may have taken you for a ride, and you were happy at the time, like driving in one of those convertibles on a summer day.

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Ah, the sins is wonderful. Now that you've come to your senses, and see it for what it is, know that there is mercy in Christ.

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Repent. Be forgiven. Follow Jesus. And live. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

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15950 470th Avenue NW, Oslo, MN 56744

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And again that address is Kungsvinger Lutheran Church 15950 470th

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Avenue NW, Oslo, MN 56744 We thank you for your support.

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All of our teaching messages may be freely distributed as long as you do not edit or change the content of the message.