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[0:00] take your bibles and turn to the last time oh are you crying you need a tissue john chapter 21 the last chapter in john's gospel john chapter 21 we finish up john's gospel this morning john chapter 21 if you need a bible black bible in front of you take that go towards the back find page 90 page 90 90 to 91 actually in that black bible john chapter 21 starting in verse 15 to the end of the chapter 15 to 25 15 to 25 john chapter 21 sorry i forgot to turn my microphone on when i was we did jesus i and i cross and take i'm like oh i didn't turn my microphone to this right like why can't we hear him sorry i figured it out after the first verse my wife looked at me she went oh she just smiled oh so nice john chapter 21 verse 15 let me read so when they finished eating jesus said to simon peter simon of john do you love me more than these he said to him yes lord you yourself know that i love you he said to him tend my lambs and jesus said to him a second time simon of john do you love me he said to him yes lord you yourself know that i love you he said to him shepherd my sheep and jesus said to him the third time simon of john do you love me peter was grieved because he said to him the third time do you love me and he said to jesus lord you yourself know all things you know that i love you jesus said to him tend my sheep truly truly i say to you when you were younger you used to dress yourself and walk where you wanted and when you grow old you will stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and bring you where you do not want and he said this indicating what kind of death he would glorify god and saying this he said to him follow me turn around peter saw the disciple whom jesus loved the one who also had leaned back on his breast at the supper and said lord who is the one who betrays you therefore seeing him peter said to jesus lord what about this one jesus said to him if i want him to remain until i come what to you you follow me therefore this word went out among the brothers that the disciple would not die jesus did not say to him he would not die but if i want him to remain until i come what to you this is the 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 which jesus did which if they were written in detail i suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books which were written stories told about me when my aunt maxine my dad's sister was in the hospital i don't know if i said this no i told you story maybe maybe years ago

[4:02] i don't remember my aunt maxine um i don't remember at all my sister does my aunt was in the hospital because she had lung cancer that was what took her life i was i don't know maybe two three years old maybe four somewhere around there so anyways my dad was standing against the wall there in the hospital room um i'll do it like this it was actually on that side but he was standing like this that's kind of like my dad's trademark that's how he's standing so then my aunt maxine she said bobby joe look that my uh maxine that was my dad's nickname bobby joe and so here i was my here my dad was standing like this and i was just behind him you know two three four years old standing like that oh it's so cute i think my mom loves that story doing the same thing copying him and when jesus calls us to follow him we do what he does that's what it means to follow jesus we act how we acted and we're ready to give our lives because we love him we trust him and love him and as we come to this last message 61 weeks today in john's gospel come receive jesus believe into jesus know jesus today we'll see how it ends it ends like this come follow jesus come follow jesus come follow jesus interesting these are jesus last words follow me the last words of jesus recorded in john's gospel and following jesus means you love him and obey him love jesus and obediently follow him those are other ways to put this other ways to sum up what this chapter the last few verses in chapter 21 15 to 25 that's how we can sum it up here following jesus means you love him and obey him you love jesus and obediently follow him this is god's work inside his church verses 1 through 14 of chapter 21 was god's work outside the church in order to begin the church and we were called to join him in that mission reminding ourselves that jesus was with us and we needed him these verses 15 to 25 tell us god's work inside the church not to begin the church but to continue the church so regardless of what others do or what jesus has planned for other believers we are called to follow christ by loving and obeying him regardless of what others do that's not your problem that's not my problem regardless of what jesus has planned for you or you or you you you you you you you call to me to you you follow jesus again last week corporately we saw that christian life is about the need for missions in and to the world and we remind ourselves that missions is not possible without jesus we need jesus to do missions to go out or on mission to the world proclaiming christ we have received mercy we give mercy

[8:03] we've received peace we give them this peace look at that that's corporately here in these verses individually the christian life is about loving christ and obediently following him this is what it means to be a true disciple of jesus and it also means that the loss of one's life is a real possibility you deny yourself you take up that cross you follow him discipleship means we love and follow jesus as he shepherds us he's the senior pastor in this church it means that when one trusts jesus she or he participates in his life in this life and strives for his glory alone following him and we'll see how peter was publicly restored and reinstated as an apostle and then you'll see john testify to the truth of jesus being a true disciple of jesus himself and really an example so three points rise up from the text so we have the the main driving force and really not just of these few verses 15 to 25 come follow jesus that's almost how you can sum up the whole gospel john's gospel come follow jesus right come follow jesus just here's the first aspect that comes up forgiveness for failure when we fail to follow jesus his forgiveness is graciously given isn't that good to know there's days where you're not going to be following jesus i hate to break it to you i do all the time but you on the other i'm just kidding you know it's my family they know dad doesn't always follow jesus nor do you but praise god his forgiveness is graciously given look verse 15 through 17 verse 15 they finish eating jesus questioned the object of peter's love simon of john do you love me more than these you may remember the last time someone asked peter a question before a charcoal fire remember that that was when he denied jesus three times now jesus is going to question the object of his love three times he asked peter about his love to restore people peter and reinstate peter as one of the apostles and by the way love is a major theme in john's gospel god loved the world the father loves the son the father loves his children the way he loves the son the son loves his followers the way he loves the father but jesus says do you love me more than these who does this refer to or what does this refer to it seems to be the disciples more than these disciples but did jesus mean more than the disciples love him in other words peter do you love me more than the disciples love me or peter do you love me more than you love these disciples kind of tough right trying to figure out what to what he was referring here jesus i slightly go with the fact that jesus asked peter do you love me more than you love these disciples

[12:06] am i the sole focus and notice what peter does again verse 15 he said to him yes lord you yourself know that i love you he appealed to jesus knowledge you know interesting here peter used a different word for love that you don't see in the english but you see in the greek jesus used the word agape the first two times he asked peter peter answered with phileo all three times and then jesus used phileo the last time agape means kind of a sacrificial love phileo means more of a brotherly love but is there any kind of significant difference with the word here i lean more in the direction that there's not a significant difference but that the two words are simply being used in the same way interchangeably especially because of verse 17 what peter says it's hard to know for sure but before you start getting entangled within that minutia here's the point the point is this jesus pushed hard against peter as a way to actually show him god's amazing grace and mercy towards him towards peter that's what's going on and jesus was restoring and reinstating peter but notice he was also challenging him notice the end of verse 15 he said to him ten my lambs if you do love me peter then here's your commission as my apostle serve as my under shepherd in my absence because these are my sheep not your sheep jesus is the senior pastor of this church really he's the senior pastor of every church right not me jesus says care for my sheep as i peter as i care for my sheep peter by feeding them and performing all the duties of a faithful shepherd that's how you're going to do this not like the hired worker remember that in chapter 10 where jesus compared himself to the hired worker the hired shepherd he's just hired for money don't be like them feed them and perform all the duties of a faithful shepherd who is completely different from the hired worker clink says this to love jesus and pastor his church are interrelated for peter verse 16 said to him a second time simon do you love me yes your lord you know that i love you shepherd my sheep a third time why did he do it because again peter denied jesus three times so he asks him three times the object of his love but these next two times a second and third notice jesus changed things a little bit the focus was totally upon loving jesus do you love me do you love me shepherd my sheep he says here in verse 16 which means to take care of the sheep involving all those responsibilities feed them take care of them but notice verse 17 simon of john do you love me here peter was grieved it was that third time that peter became sorrowful or grieved because jesus asked him do you phileo me grieve means to have emotional distress irritation insult sadness sorrow peter did not understand jesus intention of restoring

[16:08] and also reinstating him but notice what peter does he said to him lord you yourself know all things he he appealed to jesus omniscience you know all things you know that i love you jesus said to him tend my sheep peter i have restored and reinstated you do the work of the ministry shepherd my sheep pastors are called to shepherd jesus sheep pattern on jesus himself who is the chief shepherd stated in kind of ironic in first peter chapter 5 it's peter who gives the command to elders to shepherd the flock of god among you he's the one who exhorted them to do that just as a side note the roman catholic church they've used this passage to say that peter was the first pontiff but this is absolutely absurd and asinine nothing could be further from the truth it's nothing to do with that peter represents all pastors in jesus church who are given the role and authority to pastor the sheep jesus has given to them again one writer says this and their love for christ is directly reflected by the manner in which they feed and shepherd christ's flock end quote so for me on a personal level i guard the word of god and guard the people of god and i take it very seriously to the point where i will fight hard to guard against things or people that may threaten to come in to distract the sheep divide the sheep or to destroy the sheep you know i'm not perfect you've been here a while in this church you know i'm not perfect at that no one is but it's true and all the conflicts here at conway bible church have been to distract the sheep or to divide the sheep or to destroy the sheep and it's my calling to shepherd god's flock it needs to be done with great patience and gentleness so true though passionate about it i cannot sin but what's so good here that what we see is the forgiveness is given to peter the fact that peter was forgiven for denying jesus three times it gives great hope to all of us believers who've been faithless to the gospel in some way he calls us to repent and calls for our love that's why jesus asks peter about his love isn't it so good we are not faithful all the time there's days and weeks where we're not following christ like we should and we can have the assurance when we fail to follow jesus his forgiveness is graciously given so christian hold on to that let this part of the passage here forgiveness for failure that jesus will bring forgiveness and give you grace and mercy when we fail at following jesus because you will it'll happen but notice the turn here there's forgiveness for failure that's the first aspect and number two we're called

[20:09] to follow jesus we're called to follow jesus verses 18 through 23 look what peter jesus says about peter here in verse 18 truly truly i say to you when you were younger you dressed yourself and walked where you wanted when you grow old you will stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and bring you where you do not want and jesus gave a prophetic comparative illustration when peter's younger he dresses himself walked where he wanted gets older he'll stretch out his hands and lose his ability not to go where he wanted it's drastic here this phrase stretch out your hands in the ancient world it denoted crucifixion and sure enough the writer john tells us that jesus said this as a way to indicate the kind of death he glorified god notice verse 19 and this he said indicating what kind of death peter would glorify god glorify god glorify god glorify god peter would glorify god in the way he would die giving himself on behalf of the gospel just like jesus gave himself when a christian follows christ to suffer and die that gives praise and glory to god when a christian follows christ to suffer when you face suffering for speaking about christ when you face persecution persecution when you get ostracized when you get pushed away people want to talk to you because they know you're following jesus that gives praise and glory to god and church tradition says that peter was crucified and he did not feel worthy so it says to be crucified like his lord so they crucified him upside down this is what it means to be a true follower of jesus the loss of one's life is a real true possibility deny himself take up his cross daily and follow me said jesus and notice it just wasn't the way he would die it'd be the way he would glorify god just like jesus and then notice how he closes off here verse 19 when he said this he said to peter follow me it's like he looked right and follow me peter he gave peter the office of being one of jesus under shepherds and called him to follow jesus by giving his own life for jesus sheep jesus challenged peter to steady faithful discipleship to steady faithful following of jesus the christian life is about love for christ which is shown by obediently following him love is action in this gospel god loved the world how did he love the world he sent his son there's action there right displayed by the father sending the son and the identity and mission of the son he came he died

[24:10] he rose there's there's the action of god love is action love is put into action a disciple makes his or her life a subset to the life of christ jesus loved the father and did whatever the father told him to do because he loved the father not because he had to i don't want to do what the father says no he didn't have that attitude i want to do what the father says because i love the father so true biblical jesus focused discipleship is love for jesus obediently and sacrificially following jesus christ showed his love at the cross giving his life for us we are show our love for christ following him we give our lives as gifts to god so true jesus discipleship is ready to give one's life for the sake of christ for the sake of the gospel ah peter look at verse 20 turn around peter saw a disciple whom jesus loved following the one who leaned back on his breast at the supper and said lord who is the one who betrays you peter would once again misunderstand his calling his role and what it truly meant to be a jesus follower he stooped to comparing himself to another disciple to john notice verse 21 if you've ever seen him peter said lord what about that guy what about him this one john was the one who reclined intimately on jesus chest at the passover meal on thursday night asked jesus who was to betray him was there a rivalry starting between these two i don't know but peter who just heard how he give his life for the glory of god wondered what would become of of his fellow disciple of john what about him what about his assignment lord what do you have purpose for her lord what about that church father what do you have planned for that church what do you have planned for them why do we need to deal with this while she does it or he does it or they don't deal with this why me lord not them you see verse 22 jesus said to him mind your own business boy that's the gem translation if i want him to remain until i come what to you you carson says this in his commentary in short peter mind your own business shut your trap his counter question rebuked peter it's none of your business if i want him to remain until i return is that any of your business and notice the last words of jesus here in john's gospel recorded you and this emphasis in the greek you follow me don't worry about him none of your business you follow me a true disciple of jesus has a single minded focus

[28:10] upon jesus alone the christian life is about loving christ and obedient following him this is what it means to be a true disciple of jesus you're not supposed to worry about that person or her him or that church a true disciple has a single minded focus on jesus i put this up here earlier regardless of what others do or what jesus has planned for other christians you you you follow christ and these are jesus last words and these are words to you if you're here do you need to come and follow jesus today do you need to embrace him as his identity and mission do you need to trust christ that he's the god man who died for your sins repent and trust christ here is the gospel to you come follow jesus and this tells us something clink says this quote following jesus is not a one size fits all end quote yes we have a single minded devotion and focus on jesus but what that means for me doesn't necessarily mean the same thing for you and what that looks like for one church will be different for another church we're just called to follow jesus and be faithful to him and not compare ourselves to others or to other churches not compare ourselves to other christians or to other churches no jesus says you just worry about you what i'm calling you to do and we must beware of the flip side of that having a fatalistic type mentality by no way of accident the book of acts follows interesting what happens in acts chapter 12 at that time herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them and he had james a brother of john put to death with a sword and when he saw that it pleased the jews he proceeded to arrest peter that was during the days of unleavened bread and when he seized peter he put him in prison delivering him to four squads of soldiers to guard him intending after the passover to bring him out before the people so peter was kept in prison but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to god and the very night when herod was about to bring him forward peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains guards in front of the door were watching over the prison and behold an angel of the lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell and he struck peter's side and roused him saying get up quickly and his chains fell off his hands and the angel said to him gird yourself and put on your sandals and he did so and he said to him wrap your cloak around to him follow me and he went out and continued to follow and he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real but thought he was seeing a vision when they passed the first and second guard they came to the iron gate that leads into the city which opened for them by itself and they went out and went along one street and immediately the angel departed from him and

[32:10] when peter came to himself he said now i know for sure that the lord has sent forth his angel and rescued me from the hand of herod and from all that the jewish people were expecting and we realize this he went to the house of mary the mother of john was also called mark where many were gathered together and were praying excuse me and when he knocked at the door of the gate a servant girl named rhoda came to answer and when she recognized peter's voice because of her joy she did not open the gate but ran and announced that peter was standing in front of the gate and they said you're crazy you're out of your mind but she kept insisting no no it's so and she kept saying and they kept saying no no it's his angel but peter continued knocking and when they opened the door they saw him were amazed but motioned to them with his hand to be silent he described to them how the lord had led him out of the prison and he said report these things to james and the brethren and he departed and went to another place why do i bring that up because you have two aspects going on here one aspect is not comparing yourself to other people but the other aspect is oh well there's just my time nothing i can do about it the church didn't do this they were praying that he'd be released yet when he was they didn't even believe it what does that tell you we follow jesus we passionately and intentionally follow jesus individually and corporately as a church we do what we can do to show that we're following jesus not comparing ourselves or resigning ourselves we're on mission we trust christ we proclaim christ we follow christ and he does the rest look at verse 23 back to john gospel verse chapter 21 verse 23 therefore this word went out among the brethren the disciple would not die yet jesus did not say that he would not die but if i wanted to remain to like come what to you this is how rumors get started john's not going to die wow he's going to live for the next 2,000 years he's still around this rumor stirred up the disciples in the early church he's not going to die no jesus did not say that the point again one writer says this all disciples must learn to commit themselves to a single-minded following of jesus all must be solely focused on following jesus and each one of us will serve a different purpose in god's big plan one is called the pastoral ministry one is called to quick sudden martyrdom james peter james and john acts chapter 12 gone he was beheaded one is called to a life long excuse me long life of discipleship whereby he writes as an eyewitness about the identity and mission of jesus this leads to the third aspect the first first is forgiveness for failure second call to follow jesus here's the third aspect a true example of following jesus john the apostle look at verse 24 this is the disciple who testifies of these things and wrote these things and we know that his testimony is true this is john's purpose i'm here to testify the truth of jesus by way of this gospel he gave the purpose of writing the gospel in john chapter 20 verse 30 and 31 now he gives the origin of the gospel it's for me he reveals himself i'm the one about whom peter spoke which means i

[36:13] was the one whom jesus loved and notice the purpose that he served was threefold first i am the authoritative witness of the gospel this is the disciple who testifies of these things he's saying i am an eyewitness to jesus testifying to his life and ministry his identity and mission and what it all means he didn't merely concoct these ideas or fabricate some ideas it's true historiography and and there's also a second aspect i am the author of this gospel and i wrote these things down notice and wrote these things he says seeing history in the making he wrote them down he stayed anonymous so that he could be a character in the true story as well as witness in the fullest sense or really be an eyewitness of everything happening but here's the third aspect i want to bring up from this point a true example of following jesus john is saying here i am the ideal disciple in that i received jesus follow jesus and have been affected by this very gospel i've written down it's affected me and i wanted to affect you too john hoped that as his readers read his gospel they'd see him to be a true disciple of jesus and they will persuade you to come and follow jesus in the same way and notice he says the last part of verse 24 and we know that his testimony is true i believe he says we here it's used to identify his authoritative testimony by the apostles he spoke for the other apostles and they gave hearty approval stamp of approval to his authoritative truthful account of jesus and his works so that's why he says john you should join me in my personal confession of faith in jesus in his identity and mission in following jesus join me and the forms of service will differ from believer to believer but what john wanted was for his readers to follow jesus becoming a true disciple of him that's the purpose and the goal and look at how he closes this verse 25 many other things jesus did there's so many other things jesus did endless things that when he was here and and in this verse john magnified jesus being worthy of endless description with all the things that he said with all the things he's done so it doesn't say everything about jesus i can't say everything about jesus because notice he says i suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books which were written the world could not contain everything what jesus has done i've just given you a snapshot more could be said about jesus that's true but john's saying this gospel my gospel john's gospel has said there's only one gospel wrapped up in the identity and mission of the son of god jesus the messiah follow him like i'm following him says john individually

[40:14] the christian life is about loving christ and obediently follow him this is what it means to be a true disciple of jesus and it means that one's excuse me that the loss of one's life it's a real possibility so regardless of what others do regardless of what jesus has planned for other believers or other churches for that matter we are called to follow christ individually and corporately follow christ by loving and obeying him may this message we believe this message may we follow this truth may we proclaim this message may we stay faithful to jesus the truth love jesus and obediently follow him following jesus means you love him and obey him come follow him come follow jesus let's pray for that jesus help us to follow you we know we fall short we're very much aware of that and i thank you that there's forgiveness for that failure and that the challenge to remains for us to follow you and really to see the example in john himself the writer of this gospel to receive you to believe into you to know you to trust you to follow you jesus may that be the cry of our hearts and by your spirits work that in us individually and corporately as a church regardless of what it is to do regardless of what you have planned for the future let us not compare ourselves let us not be fatalistic oh whatever let us be driven unequivocally unreservedly intentionally and deliberately to follow you jesus help us as a church i encourage you which we do each sunday take these few moments moments to fill your mind with truth maybe a resolve i resolve i keep following you help me by your spirit to do that whatever fill your mind with the truth of what we've seen today in god's word let your mind ponder on this truth of what god has spoken to us from his word would you please do that now you oh