The Gospel of John: The Lord Jesus appears a third time to His Disciples (2)

Our New Testament, and our brother elder,

Dave Farrar, is going to come read for us Acts chapter 2. And I might just again point out in your bulletin today you have four bios of folks that are going to be formally joining our church, and we'll be bringing them up before the congregation on the day of the annual meeting.

And so we have Heather Lee, we have Seth Joubert, and then

Zach and Amanda Wetzel. And we'll be baptizing Zach and Amanda on Sunday morning, the 24th,

Lord willing. And so those bios are there to introduce you to them. We're living in difficult days.

It's hard to get to know one another, you know, when we come in and then get out suddenly and we're all wearing masks and it's difficult, but let's attempt to do so.

Pray for these folks and for our church. The Lord continues to bless. It's really quite amazing, and may

He continue to do so. So Acts 2, come on up Dave, is of course the day of Pentecost.

Peter's preaching, and he's basically declaring that what we read about in 2 Samuel 7 has been realized through Jesus Christ.

Many people, good people, but we would differ with them, argue that Jesus is not currently reigning as the son of David.

That won't take place until the future thousand year earthly millennium when He will literally sit on a throne of David in Jerusalem.

That's not what Peter said in Acts chapter 2. By the power of the Holy Spirit, he declared the son of David was raised and enthroned.

Jesus Christ is Lord, the son of David. Dave, thank you. Please turn with me to the book of Acts chapter 2.

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.

And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the

Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.

And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in their own language.

And they were amazed and astonished, saying, Are not all these who are speaking

Galileans? And how is it that we hear each of us in his own native language,

Parthians and Medes and Lamanites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus in Asia, Phrygia in Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both

Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians. We hear them telling in their own tongues the mighty works of God.

And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, What does this mean?

But others, mocking, said, They are filled with new wine. But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them,

Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words, that these men are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.

But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel. And in the last days it shall be,

God declares, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams, even on my male servants and female servants.

In those days I will pour out my spirit, and they shall prophesy, and I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and vapor of smoke.

The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the day of the

Lord comes, the great and magnificent day, and it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the

Lord shall be saved. Men of Israel, hear these words.

Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know.

This Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.

You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pains of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.

For David says concerning him, I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.

Therefore, my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced. My flesh also will dwell in hope.

For you will not abandon my soul to Hades or let your Holy One see corruption.

You have made known to me the paths of life and will make me full of gladness with your presence.

Brothers, I may see to you with confidence about the patriot

David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us this day, being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had set one of his descendants on his throne.

He foresay and spoke about the resurrection of Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.

This Jesus God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses, being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received them, the

Father, the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this, that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, the

Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.

Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both

Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do?

And Peter said to them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the

Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the

Lord our God calls to himself. And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, save yourselves from this crooked generation.

So those who received his word were baptized, and they were added that day about 3 ,000 souls.

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

And awe came upon each soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.

And all who believed were together and had all things in common, and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need.

And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking the bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising

God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

So, Father, we give thanks for this day that you have brought us together.

It brings great joy to our hearts to be able to gather in your house.

We heard this morning the question, why me, Lord? Why should it be me?

But when I think about the goodness of the Lord for each one of us, we can only bow down and say, thank you,

Lord. Thank you for all that you do for us, for this church.

And now we ask, Lord, that you would bless your word that is preached to your people in this place.

We pray in Christ's name, amen. Well, today we're concluding our study of the

Gospel of John. It's been an enjoyable and spiritually profitable journey for me these past two years and almost eight months.

I've learned much and learned to appreciate and esteem this gospel much through this study.

I see it today in ways I had never seen it before, and I trust and pray that you've benefited also.

We've been in this so long, I'm thinking two years and eight months. I think we began this just about the time the

Austin family joined us. That's how long ago it was. And so here we are.

John 21 details the third appearance that our Lord appeared to his disciples, and that should be understood as the third appearance as recorded by John.

The first two were in Jerusalem. This third was in Galilee, as we have read, we read last week.

Now, the other gospel writers record other appearances of our

Lord also, but John chose to record these three, obviously moved by the

Holy Spirit. Now we've already addressed the first 14 verses of chapter 21, in which our

Lord revealed himself to seven of his disciples there at Galilee.

The disciples had been fishing all night in the Sea of Tiberias, as John calls it, but they had caught nothing.

The next morning, they saw a stranger on the shore who had called out to them, have you caught any fish?

No, was their one word answer. He instructed them to cast forth their net once again, this time on the right side of the boat.

And they had this immense catch of 163 fish. But the net did not break.

Well, this amazing catch, of course, revealed to John, he's the one who picked it up first, that this was the

Lord Jesus who had called to them from the shore. And so they all went to the shore,

Peter, of course, had dove in and got there first. They got to the shore, and there the disciples enjoyed a meal together that Jesus himself had prepared.

Although the disciples contributed to it as well, Jesus told them, bring some of the fish that you caught, even though there was already fish there being cooked on a fire on the shore.

Well, after they had this meal, we now read this verbal exchange between Jesus and Peter, in which the

Lord Jesus restored Peter to his position and role as a responsible apostle, even a leader of apostles, it would seem, one of the pillars, as Paul called him.

And of course, we just read about his sermon, he stepped forward on the day of Pentecost, taking the lead representing the others, and declared to them that the day of Pentecost was a realization of Old Testament prophecy, and that indeed

God had inaugurated the kingdom of David through his son, Jesus. That the

Old Testament prophecies of the Davidic kingdom was not of David, but of his son, and that he raised him from the dead and enthroned him in heaven.

He's David's son, enthroned. And so, Jesus here also foretold that Peter would one day be martyred for his faith.

And then we read how Peter wanted to know about John, what about this fellow, what's going to happen to him?

And of course, Jesus told Peter, that was basically none of your business,

I'll take care of that my own way. And then we read the conclusion of John about the episodes that he chose to display before us in this fourth gospel, indicating that they're nowhere near the number of signs that Jesus had performed.

And so here is John 21, 15 through 25. So, when they had eaten breakfast,

Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?

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

He said to him again a second time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? He said to him, yes,

Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, he said to him, tend my sheep.

He said to him the third time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me?

And he said to him, Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you. Jesus said to him, feed my sheep.

Most assuredly. That's one of those accounts. Verily, verily. By the way, where that word is repeated, it's found in John's gospel,

I forget, over 20 times to precede an important word of Jesus. Most assuredly,

I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.

This he spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he said to him, follow me.

And Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on his breast at the supper and said,

Lord, who is the one who betrays you? Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, but Lord, what about this man?

And Jesus said to him, if I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you?

You follow me. Then this saying went out among the brethren that this disciple would not die.

Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but if I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you?

This is a disciple who testifies of these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true.

And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one,

I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

Amen. And thus, this fourth gospel concludes. We can consider this passage with four divisions.

First, we have Jesus Christ examining Peter's love for him, giving him a commission.

And then Jesus Christ revealed to Peter his future suffering and death. And third,

Jesus Christ responded to Peter's question concerning John's future. And then lastly,

John concluded his gospel by glorifying what Jesus had done. We're going to give most of our attention to this first of the four divisions, and toward the end of the time we have, we'll probably rush through the last three rather rapidly.

And so Jesus Christ examined Peter's love for him, giving him a commission. We'll not re -read those verses, we just did so.

In which the Lord asked Peter three times, do you love me? Peter responded three times, and then

Jesus gave him a commission. Our Lord and his disciples finished the meal that he had provided and prepared for his disciples, although they had contributed to the fare.

Jesus said, bring some of the fish you caught. And we would assume that they must have had a rather lively and informative conversation while eating that meal.

Our Lord gave his disciples a great amount of instruction over the course of 40 days between his resurrection and his ascension into heaven.

And I imagine much instruction was given while conversing together, while eating together. Sharing a meal with our

Christian brethren can be both an enjoyable and spiritually beneficial occasion.

Our own church fellowship has suffered loss because we haven't been able to do that now for the last year.

But after their supper was completed, Jesus would speak with Peter alone. John was present, however.

John's detailed account of this verbal exchange, as well as what seems to be John's close proximity, suggested

John had listened to what transpired between Jesus and Peter. John seems to be recounting what he had heard.

It's an eyewitness account. And so we would affirm what Donald Carson wrote, respecting the setting.

We're probably to think of Peter walking down the beach with Jesus, the beloved disciple not far behind, certainly within earshot.

And I think that's the case. Our Lord desired to speak with Peter apart from the gathering.

This is instructive. Jesus would not trouble Peter while eating or while in the hearing of all.

Thankfully, our Lord commonly comes to us when we're alone with him. And he seems to confront us in our conscience and speaks to us through his written word as he rebukes and corrects us of our failures and sometimes our defections.

Thankfully, he doesn't do everything publicly. I doubt not that Peter was uneasy while they all sat and dined together for his former defection and failure.

Remember, he denied the Lord three times. Perhaps he felt he no longer deserved to be among Jesus's followers.

After all, he failed and he denied the Lord in a way that was more egregious than the others.

They all fled. But Peter, of course, seemed to fall hardest.

They all proved to be unfaithful and cowardly. The shepherd was struck and the sheep scattered.

Peter had failed and denied the Lord three times, just as Jesus had told him and warned him in advance.

But our Lord would now restore Peter fully. And though he did so rather indirectly, he did so thoroughly, didn't he?

He didn't upbraid Peter severely, but he certainly addressed the situation.

As Peter had denied Jesus three times, Jesus posed a question to Peter, not once, but three times.

Peter, no doubt, saw the connection. Jesus then gave Peter instruction on what to do in his future service for Jesus as one who loved him.

Some may one day find themselves as Peter because of their past failure. They believe that they have forfeited any privilege or opportunity to serve the

Lord and his people. That happens. They do not question Jesus in any way regarding the identity of his person or the glory of serving him, but they question the

Lord's willingness to ever use them again because they fell hard, perhaps.

Peter did. If anyone could have thought himself no longer useful or usable, it would have been

Peter. But our Lord restored him, and the Lord did so in a wonderfully gracious manner.

And it's clear from Peter's usefulness in his apostolic ministry, again we saw it just a few days later on the day of Pentecost, the prominent role in leadership in the early church, his failure in subsequent recovery, rather than disqualifying him, it actually better equipped him so that the

Lord could and would bless his ministry. For the experience of Peter in his fall and recovery had surgically removed his pride, which had been the greatest barrier of him receiving

God's grace, which was needful for a fruitful ministry. Not only do servants of Christ need to be instructed in his word and ways, the

Lord needs to correct errant thinking and amend wrong ways of behaving, and he often does this in ways that are not always fun.

We've all been through things. I remember, we all go through difficulties and times of purification.

Some of us, we learn over time, and sometimes the Lord just strikes one big blow and fixes everything at once.

It happened to me once, I don't, we don't have time to recount it. Remember a good friend of mine, an elderly man,

Leland Davidson, talking about his wife Mary, who suffered just terrible, terrible difficulties in many way over months and months.

And I remember him telling me, I'd sooner die by being swallowed by a whale than nibbled to death by minnows.

And I think of the Lord's dealings, I think I'd sooner go down in one, you know, big act rather than just prolonged hardship and difficulty.

It's better to learn lessons quick and clearly and fully. And this is certainly how the

Lord surgically addressed Peter's situation. Matthew Henry described this work of Christ in restoring his apostle.

I wanted to relate this. Christ foresaw that what he had to say to Peter would give him some uneasiness and therefore would not say it till he had dined because he wouldn't want to spoil his dinner.

Peter was conscious to himself that he had incurred his master's displeasure and could expect no other than to be upbraided with his treachery and ingratitude.

Was this thy kindness to thy friend? Imagine what Jesus could have said. Did not I tell thee what a coward thou wouldst prove?

Nay, he might justly expect to be struck out of the role of the disciples, to be expelled from the sacred college.

Twice, if not thrice, he had seen his master since his resurrection and he said not a word to him of it.

We may suppose Peter full of doubts about what terms he stood with his master, sometimes hoping the best because he had received favor from him and common with the rest, yet not without some fears lest the chiding would come at last that would pay for all.

And now at length his master put him out of his pain, said what he had to say to him and confirmed him in his place as an apostle.

He did not tell him of his fault hastily but deferred it for some time, did not tell him of it unseasonably to disturb the company at dinner, but when they had dined together in token of reconciliation, then discoursed he with him about it, not as with a criminal but as with a friend.

Peter had reproached himself for it and therefore Christ did not reproach him for it, nor tell him of it directly but only by a tacit intimation and being satisfied in his sincerity, the offense was not only forgiven but forgotten and Christ let him know that he was as dear to him as ever.

Herein he has given us an encouraging instance of his tenderness toward penitents, that is those who repent of their sin, and has taught us in like manner to restore such as are fallen with the spirit of meekness.

That's a wonderful description of exactly what happened, I don't doubt. Now, this is a common experience among disciples of Jesus Christ, particularly in a local church setting.

We learn to appreciate and value others gifts and service, but we all see one another's weaks and faults, don't we?

They show up over time. Well we should not view these so as to dismiss them or discredit their usefulness, but rather as opportunities to serve them by patiently and tenderly restoring them.

We are to deal with them as we would have them deal with us. Each of us have areas of deficiency and have had occasions of weakness and failure, may others help us as we help them through these difficulties.

Paul wrote, brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.

Keep watch on yourself lest you too be tempted. We're not to discredit, disregard, dismiss another brother or sister, but rather it may be if God has revealed something to us that he's calling us to help that brother or sister be restored.

We read our Lord queried Peter three times and Peter answered the same three times with little variation.

Jesus repeated the question so that the lesson learned by Peter would be settled and secure. Peter would be assured that his failure had been just that, it was a failure.

But Jesus was also showing Peter that his past failure was no hindrance or encumbrance to their relationship going forward and it would place no limitation on his service.

Wonderfully, I blew it, how could

I ever be of any good anymore? So our

Lord also, however, was equipping and preparing the apostle for his great responsibility that he was entrusting him to the care of his people.

The Lord does not entrust the people he loves to just anyone, but only to that one who truly loves him.

If someone does not love Jesus, he's not qualified to care for the Lord's people.

As one wrote, his function would give occasion for the exercise of his love.

Before Christ would commit his sheep to his care, he asked him, Peter, lovest thou me?

Christ has such a tender regard to his flock that he will not trust it with any but those that love him, and therefore will love all that are his for his sake.

Those that do not truly love Christ will never truly love the souls of men, or will naturally care for their estate as they should have.

Remember, that's how Paul described Timothy, I'm sending Timothy, I have no one like him who will naturally care for your souls.

Nothing but the love of Christ will constrain ministers to go cheerfully through the difficulties and discouragements that they meet within their work.

He references Paul here, the love of God constrains us, is what he said. But this love will make their work easy, and them in good earnest in it, in other words they'll work hard at it if they love the

Lord. The first question asked by Jesus was this, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?

It seems to have been a rather formal inquiry, doesn't it, in that Jesus addressed him using his full family name.

Perhaps Jesus may be likened to a father or mother when upbraiding a son who calls him by his first and middle names, and really perturbed the last name too.

Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these? Jesus didn't call him

Cephas or Peter, which means rock. The name Jesus assigned to him, that appellation, that name signified that he would be a rock of stability, strong conviction, uncompromising in his witness.

Peter had not shown himself that way recently, but Jesus calls him by his birth name,

Simon, son of Jonah, perhaps to remind Peter of his insignificant background and that he had nothing which had commended him to the privileged office to which

Jesus had advanced him. Again Jesus asked

Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these? Well, to what then does the pronoun, has a demonstrable pronoun, these refer to?

Well actually the grammar of the question itself lends itself to three different interpretations. Different commentators will make their choice of one of these three.

First Jesus may have been asking Peter if he loved him more than Peter loved his fellow disciples.

That is, Peter, do you love me more than you love these men, these brothers? But this would involve a concern that's nowhere suggested in this fourth gospel or any other gospels that I can think of.

Do you love me more than you love your fellow brothers? Second, the grammar could be understood as Jesus asking

Peter if he loved him more than Peter loved his fishing. Do you love me more than these fish, these nets, these boats?

Those who believe the disciples' fishing excursion that night was a departure and defection argue this.

Peter, do you love me more than these fish? Probably the third possibility is most likely,

Peter, do you love me more than these other men love me? Do you love me more than these? Remember Peter once claimed he did.

Remember that? Peter made this claim when he was so certain he would never deny the

Lord. Matthew records Peter essentially making this claim. Jesus said to them, all of you will be made to stumble because of me this night for it's written

I'll strike the shepherd, the sheep, the flock will be scattered, but after I've been raised I'll go before you to Galilee.

Peter answered, said to him, even if all, all these other guys might do it, are made to stumble because of you,

I will never be made to stumble. Basically, Peter is saying, I love you more than these guys love you.

And now, you know, the Lord asked Peter, Peter, do you love me more than these guys love me?

He doesn't, he doesn't make that claim anymore, does he? Peter had thought at the time he loved

Jesus more than all the others. Although they might deny Jesus, he never would because he loved

Jesus more than they did. And so it's, I think it's apparent, Peter, Jesus asked

Peter, do you still want to claim you love me more than these other disciples? As one described Jesus' action, here's the sore spot on which

Jesus now lays his finger in order to heal it completely from the inside out. Well this question that Jesus asked

Peter may be one that he might ask you or me. Do you love me more than these?

That is, more than other people do? I would hope we would be wise and answer, no,

Lord, I would never make that claim. Or you might ask us, do you love me more than these, that is, more than other matters in your life?

That's a legitimate question. More than your work, your hobbies, your sports, your kids, your spouse?

And I would hope we'd answer, no, Lord, granted there are too many times when too many things become too prominent in my heart, but when

I'm thinking rightly and soberly, I certainly affirm, I love you more than these things. Notice Peter didn't really answer the question fully, do you love me more than these?

Peter responded, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He didn't make a boastful claim, I love you more than, yeah,

I love you, but that's as far as he went. And he acknowledged it, he knew that Jesus knew he loved him.

But he didn't boast to the great degree of love he had formally, he learned better than to ever make that claim.

You know, I remember as a young man, a young Christian, and by the way, this is, what, the second week of January?

I've been in the Lord 49 years this week. And I remember, however, in my early years, thinking my love for the

Lord was so great and intense that I could, you know, I could do anything, accomplish anything.

Love for the Lord brings no power with it, ultimately. That can fade real quickly.

It takes the power of the Holy Spirit more than, you know, the affections of your heart, because that can, you know, it didn't help

Peter very long, did it? And he was ready to, you know, play the coward when a young maid beside the campfire, or the fire, challenged him.

We shouldn't think that somehow we have the ability in and of ourselves, because God has given us a love, a new nature for him, that somehow we inherently have the ability and the power to accomplish these great things.

You and I could do nothing without him now. We need the power of the

Holy Spirit. Peter wouldn't make this claim. And then

Jesus asked the second time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? And in this second question, notice,

Jesus dropped the comparative clause, more than these. In his answer to the first question,

Peter left that off. So Jesus, in his second question, left it off. We cannot say that we love

Christ more than others, but it's enough that you can say honestly and sincerely, I love you,

Lord Jesus. And I trust that every one of us as Christians affirm that.

And so Peter responds, yes, Lord, you know I love you. And then Jesus responded, tend my sheep.

Again, the third time Jesus asked Peter the same question, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?

And this time, John described Peter as being grieved by Jesus' asking the same question the third time.

And he responded the same way, but with his added word, Lord, you know all things.

You know that I love you. So we're not to think or boast that we love

Jesus more or better than another. In fact, the scriptures tell us that we are to think better of others than ourselves.

You know, we're all little Pharisees, and we all have a measure of self -righteousness, and we tend to think that we're the more devout, more committed

Christians than others about us. That's the wrong thinking. Paul wrote, let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself.

That is a different way of thinking, isn't it? But that's the Christian way of thinking. Certainly we're to strive to be the best,

I would say even better than others if possible. Paul described he outdid everybody as far as labor.

That was his intention, his desire. Yet in the end, if we are assessing matters spiritually, we'll tend to think others better than ourselves.

And the reason is we know much more about the evil within ourselves than we know about the evil in them. We might think we know about the evil in them, but we really don't.

Those that dismiss or marginalize other Christians in a church reveal they've not learned the lesson our

Lord taught Peter through this failure. Those who fail and refuse to be with other believers in the local church, and as a pastor

I hear that rather frequently, have over the years, I don't want to be around them because they're not as good as Christians as they should be.

I heard that three weeks ago from an individual, indirectly. Tells me a lot about his spiritual condition.

Those who fail and refuse to be with other believers in the local church show themselves to think too highly of themselves and they think too lowly of others that are in Christ.

Now, some will attempt to draw some distinctions between these questions of Jesus because two different Greek words are used for the

English word love. In the first two questions, Jesus asked Peter, John used the

Greek word agapos, which actually is a plural form of the verb agapo.

Some say agapi, that would be the noun, agapo would be the verb. But in the third question of Jesus, the

Greek word phileis is used by Jesus. Do you love me, phileis? And this is from the

Greek verb phileo, Philadelphia, brotherly love.

And so much popular preaching declares the first of these, agapos is a word that speaks of a greater or higher degree of love than phileis or agape, greater than phileo or phileis.

And this indeed may be true in various places that these words are used in the scriptures, but it's been demonstrated that in John's gospel, these two different Greek words are to be seen as synonymous in meaning.

There's no difference between agapo and phileo. Donald Carson got this right.

We've already seen that the two verbs, and he's talking about the two verbs for love, two Greek words, are used interchangeably in this gospel.

The expression beloved disciple, more literally disciple whom Jesus loved, can be based on either verb.

In other words, beloved disciple, the adjective, both, it's actually an adjective in English, it's a verb in Greek.

He says both these Greek words are used for the same expression, same idea, they're synonymous. The father loves the son, and both verbs are used.

The father loves the son, okay, agape, and then philei.

Jesus loved Lazarus, both verbs are used. Again, both verbs serve.

And so in John's gospel, these two Greek words do not show a great difference in meaning, but rather they are synonymous, they show a little variety in the verbal expression, but they mean the same thing.

And yet commonly, you'll hear popular preaching make a distinction here that they shouldn't if they read earlier.

By the way, there is a different opinion, Lenski, Richard Lenski, who was a Lutheran, who wrote a whole number of volumes,

New Testament commentaries, and he dealt a lot with the Greek text. I was reading, I had to pull it out this morning just to double check myself, and he gave several pages where he argued for this distinction, this nuance between these two words.

But he was of an older generation, and scholars have shown that this is just not the case in John's gospel.

Interesting, I found that interesting, that was new to me until I read it. The answers of Jesus vary slightly.

In the first and third responses of Jesus to Peter, he references his sheep. However, in verse 15, we read the word lambs, sheep, lamb, or lamb, sheep, sheep.

And then he used the two different Greek verbs to command Peter to care for his people.

So in verses 15 and 17, Jesus told Peter to feed his own, feed my lambs, feed my sheep.

But in verse 16, he told Peter to tend to them, tend the sheep. The word translated tend is the verb form of the word that is often used, translated by the word or the idea of pastor or shepherd.

Feed the sheep, pastor them, shepherd them, Peter. And so the verb carries the idea of pastoring or shepherding his flock, which was to be specifically directed toward his lambs.

And so here are the three verses with their difference in words in English.

Jesus directed Peter, feed my lambs, secondly, tend or shepherd my sheep, and then thirdly, feed my sheep.

A little slight difference. Peter was to show forth his love for Jesus by spiritually caring for his people.

He was to feed them the word of God, the teaching of Jesus and the scriptures. He was to shepherd them by spiritually protecting them and directing them in the course that would prove most spiritually helpful for them.

Now, the question we need to answer is, do these words of Jesus apply to Peter alone or do they apply to the apostles or only to pastors?

Or are they our Lord's words to all of his disciples at all times?

And we would say these words are applicable to all these people. Roman Catholicism has always asserted that our

Lord was referring to Peter directly, but also to all those popes that followed and replaced him in his office.

They think this is papal authority being conferred upon Peter. And so they say that Jesus here exalted

Peter to the position of Holy See, which that expression itself is blasphemous in my opinion.

On his webpage, the pope's webpage, it's asserted that he is the Holy Father.

Now you think about that. The Roman pontiff as the successor of Peter is the perpetual and visible principle and foundation of unity of both bishops and of the faithful.

Holy Father that you call a man on earth. And we would regard this as great error and we would even say it was blasphemous without apology.

Our Lord declared, our Lord Jesus declared, call no man on earth, on your father on earth for you have one father in heaven, but Rome says you're to call the pope,

Holy Father. There's a problem there. This is a blasphemous departure from the word of God.

No, we shouldn't restrict our Lord's words to Peter so narrowly. I don't see it as an unreasonable application of these words to affirm that this is the responsibility of every

God called pastor, elder of every true local church. Our love for our

Lord Jesus may be best shown by our spiritual concern and care for his people, his lambs and sheep.

And we have the responsibility, but also the loving privilege to feed the sheep belonging to our Lord, to shepherd them, to care for them, both lambs and sheep, both younger and more mature

Christians, as one wrote. Those whom Christ committed to Peter's care were his lambs and his sheep.

The church of Christ is his flock, which he hath purchased with his own blood. He is the chief shepherd of it.

In this flock, some are lambs, young and tender and weak. Others are sheep, grown to some strength and maturity.

The shepherd here takes care of both, and of the lambs first, for upon all occasions he showed a particular tenderness for them.

He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them in his bosom. And so in response to each of our

Lord's three questions, Peter confessed he knew that Jesus, he knew that Jesus knew that he loved him.

And I suppose Peter was also acknowledging he knew, Jesus knew how much he loved him. Upon our

Lord's first question, Peter answered, yes, Lord, you know I love you. Then upon the second same question, yes,

Lord, you know I love you. But then Peter was grieved on the third question, answering,

Lord, you know all things, you know I love you. It doesn't seem to me that Peter was all that comforted by knowing that Jesus knew him.

He was grieved by it. Yes, Peter knew that Jesus knew he loved him, but Peter knew also

Jesus knew exactly to what degree he loved him. Peter had learned something about his own heart, and it wasn't pretty.

Peter knew that the Lord knew perfectly well the weak nature of Peter's affection when he was confronted. And the fact that Peter had shriveled so quickly and completely by the words of a young maiden around a fire pit must have all the more troubled him.

It's as though Peter would say, yes, I love you, but it must not have been all that great a degree of love, otherwise

I would have never denied you as I did. I don't know that it was all that comforting to Peter that he knew

Jesus knew all about the measured degree of love that he had for Jesus.

Some people try and encourage other Christians, the Lord knows your heart, as though that's a comforting thing.

And I remember vividly, I can see it just as vividly in my mind right now as I talk about this.

For the one on whom the Holy Spirit has been doing a deep soul -worshipping work, that is a little comfort.

And I recall very vividly one well -intentioned Christian lady, and she was a Christian, but she wasn't all that long in the

Lord. And she tried to console a younger lady who was distressed over her sin, Betty, don't be so upset, the

Lord knows your heart. And I can see Betty right now, she rolled her eyes, she threw out her hands, that's the problem,

I know he knows my heart. I was sitting there watching the ladies as this was undergoing, and I was pretty young at the time in the ministry, learning things, and when she expressed her concern,

I immediately thought that's the devil troubling her heart. And I asked the question, how do I know it's the devil?

How do I know it's not the Holy Spirit? And then I watched this interchange, Betty, Betty, the

Lord knows your heart, that's the problem, I know he knows my heart. And I immediately concluded, that's the

Holy Spirit at work, that wasn't the devil. The devil wants to prop up false delusions, the

Holy Spirit wants to reveal just how shallow and fallacious they are. And so some people attempt to encourage others, the

Lord knows your heart, well that may be comforting I guess to some, but I don't know,

I don't think that that's the answer. I suspect Peter was quite grieved because he knew, the Lord knew, just how weak his love was for him, and how he'd been so mistaken about the degree of his own love until his own failure had revealed it to him.

But the Lord knew Peter before Peter knew himself, Jesus warned him, Simon, Simon, indeed

Satan has asked for you, that he may sift his wheat. Again, Simon's love for Jesus was no protection against a foe far more able to cause him to stumble than he was able to stand stable.

No, it was not the degree of love for Jesus that would keep Peter, but it was the knowledge of Peter that Jesus possessed, and the fact that Jesus interceded for Peter, that Peter was not destroyed by the devil.

Remember what Jesus told Peter? Simon, Simon, indeed Satan has asked for you, that he may sift his wheat, and he would have done so.

But Jesus said, but I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail. It wasn't

Peter's love for Jesus that made the difference, it was Jesus' intercession for Peter that preserved him.

What was the difference between Peter and Judas? Jesus prayed for Peter, Jesus didn't pray for Judas, Judas' faith failed,

Peter's didn't. Peter had formally asserted rather foolishly,

Lord, I'm ready to go with you both to prison and to death. It was then that Jesus said to him,

I tell you, Peter the rooster shall not crow this day before you'll deny me three times that you know me.

And so it was really Jesus' prayer for Peter that distinguished him from Judas, they both in effect denied the

Lord. The fact is that our Lord Jesus is omniscient, he knows all things, and Peter knew and acknowledged this.

Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you, and he knows your heart. He knows if you have a burning affection for him and his cause, and he knows if you show forth your love for him in your care and concern, your prayers, and your assistance of his sheep, of his lambs.

Jesus is a living word, and as the writer of Hebrews said, he's living and powerful, sharper than any two -edged sword.

He knows, he's a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. We can't put anything past him.

And it's to him that we have to give an account, is what the scriptures say. When the apostles were selecting a replacement for Judas, they prayed to the

Lord for wisdom and direction, and they prefaced it by saying, Lord, you, O Lord, know the hearts of all, and he knows our hearts, whether we love him or not, and he knows what degree we do.

To what degree? And one day, of course, he'll judge us on the condition of our hearts, even the secrets of our hearts, that is, our thoughts and affections.

Paul wrote of the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

You can fool others. You can fool your parents as to whether or not you love Jesus. You might be able to fool your friends.

You can't fool Jesus. You might even be able to fool yourself. That won't wash.

He knows. He knows if you love him supremely more than so many other things that vie for your attention and your heart, your focus and your strength and your effort.

May the Lord help us, our God, and wean us from things so that our love would be right for him.

And this should be a prayer of ours. The psalmist expressed it. Create in me a clean heart,

O God. Renew a right spirit within me. That should always be our prayer, shouldn't it? Walk through this world a week, you know, for a week, and the degree of grace that you have will wane, won't it?

One of the old Puritan writers said grace is a fragile thing. And then

King David prayed, set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips. Do not let my heart incline to any evil.

Your heart will incline to evil unless the Lord prevents it. You better be praying.

Your love for Jesus isn't going to sustain you. That's not the means of grace. It was

Solomon who pronounced this desire. It wasn't realized in his life, of course. May the Lord, our

God, be with us as he was with our fathers. May he not leave us nor forsake us. That he may incline our hearts to himself, to walk in all his ways, to keep his commandments, his statutes, his judgments, which he commanded our fathers.

That won't happen unless he does it, unless he inclines your heart, my heart. And then

I thought about this. The poor substitution that we have in today's world in so many evangelical churches.

That somehow we are going to produce this kind of spirit to entertaining people in church ministry.

And so I came across, once again, this sermon by Spurgeon. And he denounced this in the 19th century

London. And the sermon was entitled, Feeding Sheep or Amusing Goats?

All right. And you think about a lot of churches today, philosophy of ministry.

And you forgive me for the length of this, but I thought it would be good for us. An evil is in the professed camp of the

Lord, so gross in its impudence that the most short -sighted can hardly fail to notice it during the past few years.

It's developed at an abnormal rate even for evil. It has worked like leaven until the whole lump ferments.

The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people with a view to winning them.

From speaking out as the Puritans did, the church has gradually toned down her testimony, then winked at and excused the frivolities of the day.

Then she tolerated them in her borders, and now she's adopted them under the plea of reaching the masses.

Seeker -sensitive ministry, he's really hitting on before it was called that. My first contention is that providing amusement for the people is nowhere spoken of in the scriptures as a function of the church.

If it's a Christian work, why did not Christ speak of it? Go you into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature.

That's clear enough. So it would have been if he had added and provide amusement for those who do not relish the gospel.

No such words, however, to be found. It did not seem to occur to him. Then again, he gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers for the work of the ministry.

Where do entertainers come in? The Holy Spirit is silent concerning them. Were the prophets persecuted because they amused the people or because they refused?

The concert has no martyr role. Again, providing amusement is indirect antagonism to the teaching and life of Christ and all his apostles.

What was he added to the church of the world? Your salt, not the sugar candy, something the world will spit out, not swallow.

Short and sharp was the utterance. Let the dead bury their dead. He was an awful earnestness.

Had Christ introduced more of the bright and pleasant elements into his mission, he would have been more popular when they went back because of the searching nature of his teaching.

I do not hear him say, run after these people, Peter, and tell them we will have a different style of service tomorrow.

Something short and attractive with little preaching. We will have a pleasant evening for the people. Tell them they will be sure to enjoy it.

Be quick, Peter. We must get the people somehow. Jesus pitied sinners, sighed and wept over them, but never sought to amuse them.

In vain will the epistles be searched to find any trace of this gospel of amusement.

Their message is come out, keep out, keep clean out. Anything approaching fooling is conspicuous by its absence.

They had boundless confidence in the gospel and employed no other weapon. After Peter and John were locked up for preaching, the church had a prayer meeting, but they did not pray.

Finally, Lord, grant unto thy servants that by a wise and discriminated use of innocent recreation, we may show these people how happy we are.

If they ceased not from preaching Christ, they had not time for arranging entertainments. Scattered by persecution, they went everywhere preaching the gospel.

They turned the world upside down. That is the only difference. Lord, clear the church of all the rotten rubbish the devil has imposed on her and bring us back to apostolic methods.

Lastly, the mission of amusement fails to affect the end desire. It works havoc among young converts.

Let the careless and scoffers who thank God because the church met them halfway speak and testify.

Let the heavy laden who found peace through the concert not keep silent. Let the drunkard to whom the dramatic entertainment has been

God's link in the chain of the conversion stand up. There are none to answer. The mission of amusement produces no converts.

The need of the hour for today's ministry is believing. Scholarship joined with earnest spirituality.

The one springing from the other is fruit from the root. The need is biblical doctrine so understood and felt that it sets men on fire.

And we would say, you know, Jesus said, if you love me, feed my sheep.

And we feed lambs and sheep, providing the milk of the word of God for lambs and meat that they may grow thereby.

And it's the duty of all churches. This is their mission to feed lambs and sheep.

This is what we're called to do. Now, as I said, we've got to run through these last few verses rather quickly.

Jesus Christ revealed to Peter his future suffering. Verses 18 and 19. Most assuredly, barely, barely.

I say to you, when you're younger, you girded yourself, walk where you wish. But when you're old, you'll stretch out your hands.

Another will gird you, carry you where you do not wish. This he spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify

God. And when he had spoken this, he said to him, follow me. Most people feel their younger lives are lived with earnest work, hard work, labor.

Saving until the day they're free in retirement to do what they always wanted to do, but weren't able to do.

It seems like our Lord reversed that for Peter, didn't he? He said, you're going to be free early on to decide for yourself where you want to go, what to do.

But the time will come when you would be restricted, Peter, controlled by others. He was, of course, tradition tells us he was arrested and in prison for a time.

Again, John wrote this, Jesus said, signifying what death he would glorify God. And so most understand these words as a cryptic way.

Jesus was telling Peter the way he would die. And Christian tradition records the way

Peter died. The Bible doesn't, of course. Eusebius, who wrote the first church history in the fourth century

A .D., wrote these words. Peter appears to have preached in Pontus, Galatia, Bithynia, Cappadocia, and Asia to the

Jews of the dispersion. And at last, having come to Rome, he was crucified head downwards, for he had requested that he might suffer in this way.

What do we need to say concerning Paul, who preached the gospel of Christ from Jerusalem to Illyricum, and afterwards suffered martyrdoms in Rome under Nero?

These facts are related by Origen in the third volume of his commentary on Genesis. Origen lived in the fourth century, 300

A .D. And so when Jesus said to Peter, but when you're old, you'll stretch out your hands.

Another will gird you, carry you where you do not wish. It probably alludes to Peter first being shackled in a prison, but then stretching out his arms, perhaps, as he's being crucified.

And tradition says he was crucified upside down at his request. He didn't feel worthy enough to die as Jesus did.

Crucify me upside down. Whether that's true or not, we don't know, but it is a very firm and repeated tradition.

Well, then Jesus Christ responded to Peter's question concerning John's future. Peter turned around, saw the disciple whom

Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on his breast at the supper, and said, Lord, who is the one who betrays you?

And Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, but Lord, what about this man? Jesus said to him, if I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you?

You follow me. Then the saying went out among the brethren, this disciple would not die.

Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die. But if I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you?

So Peter inquired of Jesus what would fall out regarding John. Would he also die a martyr's death?

And John explains that an unjustified rumor arose because of our Lord's words. Lord basically said to Peter, that's none of your business.

If I purpose to have him live till I return, that's my business, not yours. You be concerned about your own responsibility.

You follow me. You got enough before you. You don't have to worry about him. And that's probably a pretty good counsel for some of us.

John indicated this wrong understanding of our Lord's words contributed to the wrong notion that Jesus said his second coming would be sooner than later.

Now it's commonly asserted by many evangelicals, the early Christians expected the imminent return of Jesus.

And so they argue that to substantiate a pre -tribulation rapture of the church in the future.

The early church was expecting Jesus at any moment, so we should too. And so the second coming must be different than the rapture.

The rapture must be sudden without any preceding events. And they were all expecting the return of Jesus at any moment.

No, they weren't. Peter knew he was going to die before the second coming.

John didn't know if he would. Jesus never said that, you know, he'd be living toward the second coming.

There are many things the early Christians were expecting before the second coming of Christ. They knew

Jerusalem had to be destroyed. They knew the gospel had to be taken to the Gentile world. They knew one day a man of sin, a great apostasy.

There were all kinds of events they knew would take place before the second coming of Christ.

And so the idea of this imminent return, they didn't know when he would return.

They thought he'd probably return before long. But this is how the Lord has always wanted his people to think.

We don't know. No one knows the hour. We're to be ready as if it were to happen today, tonight, now.

And then lastly, John concluded his gospel by glorifying what Jesus had done. This is a disciple who testifies to these things and wrote these things.

We know that his testimony is true. John was an eyewitness. But then he says there are also many other things

Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

So the writer never identified himself forthrightly, but he does claim to have been an eyewitness.

It's clear to everyone John the Apostle wrote. He just didn't put himself forward.

He was a young man during earthly ministry of Jesus. No doubt younger than all the others, I would assume. And of course, tradition says he lived well into his 90s.

He wrote the book of Revelation, 60 years after the crucifixion. Tradition does say some words about John.

No telling if it's true or not. But the idea is that he was arrested and they tried to kill him.

And so they threw him into a large vat of boiling oil. But he came out unscathed.

So they shipped him off to Patmos and where he had the book of Revelation.

I don't know if that's true or not. The Lord certainly can do that. If he could keep three Hebrew Jews from being burned in a furnace, he could keep

John from being boiled in a pot of oil. But he would have been the only one of the apostles that did not encounter a violent death in this world.

Because the Lord had a purpose for him. When John declared this gospel, he written was true to history.

It wasn't an exhaustive history. It was just the opposite. It was very limited. A very limited recounting of who

Jesus is and what he did. But it was sufficient to bear witness to the truth that Jesus Christ is the son of David, who is the eternal son of God.

The only savior of the world. And it's with that that the testimony of John concluded in his gospel.

Amen. And it's fitting the book concludes that way. Well, it's been quite a ride for me.

Next week we begin an important series. And that is we're going to address.

I gave one sermon on it a couple of years ago. Just before we started John's gospel, I think it was.

The unconverted believer. I want to hit on nominal Christianity in a very thorough way.

And I want to do so without. I don't want to trouble souls that are truly in the

Lord. I hope that doesn't happen. But it's probably the most important matter subject in my heart.

Always has been. And in some ways, I think my whole 46 years of ministry is contributed to this.

And so I want to be able to put it down. I really want to be able to put notes in your hand. This is how you deal with someone who thinks they're a

Christian, but they're not. And how do you make this clear to them? So that they begin to seek the

Lord. And so I don't know how long it's going to last. But I've already got about 15 subjects that I want to hit on.

And so who knows? May the Lord help us and direct us in this. Let's pray. Thank you,

Father, for your word. And for this gospel that we have had before us.

And we're just amazed, our God, at the richness of your word.

In so many ways, Lord. Phrases, clauses, words. That are so full of meaning.

And we thank you, our God, for revealing it and teaching us, our God. In these matters.

And we pray you to help us, our God, in our further studies. May your great grace be upon us, each of us.

As we go forth from this place. Help each of us to go forth in faith. And we pray, our

God, that you would. Cause our love for you to increase. Our God.

And yet we don't trust in that love. We trust in you. As our Savior and Lord to keep us.

And to guard us. And enable us by the Holy Spirit. To live for you. For we pray,