Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:04 Well my name is Dean Anon and I'm the discipleship pastor here at Village Church and I'll be right down here afterwards. I'd love to get to meet you. Well welcome If uh, maybe you're watching online first time or maybe you're here just visiting or first or second time here, I really mean that when I say welcome. So please, um, before you leave here, touch base with somebody, let us know where you came from. You can fill out one of those connect cards and there'll be more on that later. So welcome today. Well, because we're not always like God is and because sometimes in our own family we even tend to sometimes give up on people. Maybe we try to reach out to people in our family. Maybe there's people in our family that have just disappointed you over and over and over again and it's really hard.
Speaker 1 00:00:54 Maybe you've rebuked them, maybe you've thrown them a lifeline. Maybe you've begged them, maybe you've pressured them. Maybe you've done all you can and maybe you're still praying and then you get to a point where you're not sure is it worth it? You can only take so much and maybe just maybe you've given up. The question is, will God ever give up on his family, his followers us? Will he ever give up on your soul? Will he ever give up working in your life? Today what we're gonna see is even after Peter betrayed Jesus and Jesus knowing that he was betrayed, Jesus didn't give up on Peter. Well, last week I wanna take you back to last week Eric's sermon. We are in John chapter 21 and we're gonna continue in John chapter 21 today. Also kind of a part two from last week. And the theme, one of the themes we saw last week was this, we can't, we won't, but Jesus does and he will.
Speaker 1 00:01:51 We heard that last week and got us faithful. Of course he's faithful even to Peter. We know that we also heard last week, don't give up hope. Never give up hope cuz the gospel mission is still on and we're called by God to still be part of that gospel mission. And here's kind of the kicker, we're still called to be part of that mission. Even though God knows you're gonna mess up, he knows that already as if he didn't know. Of course he knows that, but he still calls you to be part of his mission and that's so encouraging to me. So we're gonna continue on kind of a part two. You can turn to John chapter 21 if you have your Bibles or maybe turn on and we'll be in verse 15 in a minute. We're gonna see this very personal and intimate conversation between Jesus and Peter.
Speaker 1 00:02:39 And our big idea today is this, Jesus knows your failures. Come to him again and we're gonna be on the beach and that's the scene. We're gonna see repentance, we're gonna see rebuilding, we're gonna see restoration. All of that and Jesus' personal plea will be follow me. So I'm gonna read all eight verses of our passage from 15 all the way to 22 and then a few comments and then we're gonna dig a little deeper. So verse 15, when they had finished breakfast, this is about seven disciples and Jesus, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, 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 a second time, Simon son of John, do you love me? He said to him, yes Lord, you know that I love you.
Speaker 1 00:03:30 He said to him, 10 my sheep, he said to him a third time, Simon son 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 him, Lord, you know everything, you know that I love you. Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. Verse 18, Jesus continues, truly, truly I say to you, he's talking to Peter 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. This he said to show by what kind of death he was going to glorify God. And after saying this, he said to him, follow me. Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved. That's John following them.
Speaker 1 00:04:22 The one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, Lord, who is it that is going to betray you? When Peter saw him, meaning John, he said this to Jesus, Lord, what about this man? Jesus said to him, if it is my will that he remained until I come. What is that to you? You follow me? So they've just finished this breakfast on the beach, fish and bread. And although there's a debate about this, there was no Taco Tuesday back then there was no breakfast burritos most likely. Um, clearly we have an advantage, but regardless of what it was, these meals these times together like this scene on the beach, Jesus uses food and meals often to teach his disciples like he did at the Passover not too long ago in the upper room. We were in that for several weeks.
Speaker 1 00:05:13 John chapter 13 through 17, Jesus after meals often teaches and that's what he's doing here. And so they're probably walking along the beach, maybe still sitting, not sure but, but John is one of the disciples there also seven other disciples with an earshot of Jesus. And Jesus is this is important center stage, it's, it's not Peter. It's important what Peter's going through obviously, but Jesus is the rabbi and he's teaching again and again like he always does even on the cross He taught us how to forgive over and over again. And maybe Peter though he's important in this story and is important in this story and maybe you can relate to his story. Some of you as we move through the message today, you see maybe how you can relate to Peter. In some ways this story is more more about the gospel movement and moving forward because Peter needs to be, here's that word undone.
Speaker 1 00:06:04 I'll come back to that before he can be that leader that Jesus has for him. So there's gonna be some undoing of Peter and there'll be a movement of repentance. You'll see here certainly before he is restored. And Jesus promised Peter a while back, something important in Peter's future. You might remember this in Matthew chapter 16, verses 18 through 19, Jesus is talking to Peter, he says this, and I tell you, you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound, bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. It sounds like Peter has an important role, doesn't he? <laugh> Jesus told him that he knows that he has the keys of the kingdom of heaven, which is the gospel message, the gospel message for salvation that opens the door, that sets us free from sin to eternal life for with Christ forever.
Speaker 1 00:07:07 And Peter has this future if he remembers that Jesus begins in verse 15 by addressing Peter as Simon son of John. It's kind of funny because in the gospel whenever uh, Jesus says Simon son of John, Peter listens up because um, I don't know, maybe he's in trouble or maybe he's something important to say. I remember when I was young, my mom would say, Dean Allen. And there it's out. Alan's my middle name, you have it. She would say that neither I was in trouble or not very likely or um, or she just wanted to get my attention and I would have to listen up. Something important is coming. And Jesus said, Simon, son of John, he only said that at the most significant times when Jesus was going to teach and this was one of those times. So we're gonna see undoing, repentance, reinstatement, all of this stuff.
Speaker 1 00:07:54 But we're on the beach right now and this is the beach outline. The first thing is this first point restoring Peter's soul and mission. This is verses 15 through 17, but it's gonna start with the undoing of Peter because something was untreated, something was unaddressed between Jesus and Peter at this point. And so Jesus is stepping into this with all intensity and he's asking questions and he's guiding Peter somewhere. Verse 15 again says, this says, do you love me more than these? This is what Jesus is asking Peter, it's interesting. Do you love me more than these? There's a comparison there about love. That's weird, right? I mean Jesus is using a comparison type thing and love in the same sentence. Certainly Peter could be thinking maybe uh, Jesus could be addressing several things here. One is Peter was a fisherman that was comfortable, him comfortable to him.
Speaker 1 00:08:50 He could go back to that for sure. But I want to go a different route for a moment and I wanna take at some look at something that's very ugly in Peter's past. And I think what we see here from the gospels with Peter is this. Peter seemed to have a very high view of his love for Jesus, his devotion, his loyalty for Jesus compared to the other disciples, he seemed to have a higher view of love and loyalty in his own mind. He seemed to think he was the model of what it means to be loyal to Jesus. You can see this throughout the gospels, but in Matthew chapter 26, here's Peter talking. He says, though they may fall away because of you, he's talking about the other disciples. What does he say? I will never fall away. This is Peter. Peter in John 1337 says this, Peter said to him, he's speaking to Jesus Lord, why can I not follow you now I will lay down my life for you.
Speaker 1 00:09:53 Peter's claimed over more than a few times that his love is here and perhaps he's even implying the other disciples. Love is here, his greater love. He surely is sure of himself and he'll never let the exterior or what people say, confuse you with what is true or fool you. Instead let their actions over time speak words instead. Remember that Jesus is using Peter's own comparison of his love over other people's love for Christ and Peter's failings to confront Peter. This is part of the undoing. You know this, this issue of persecution in the early church and this issue, and I think John is partially writing because of this too, of what happened in the early church. People were denying Christ at times under pressure, under persecution. This can servee as a model of reestablishing people back to the church after denying their savior. You know it's, it's not just a snap like that. There's a testing, there's a commitment to the Lord Jesus and love for the Lord that Jesus is putting peter through.
Speaker 1 00:11:07 But here's what Jesus isn't doing. I love this. He's not blasting him, right? If somebody deserved blasting, it would've been Peter. But Peter wasn't blasted by Jesus. Now he wasn't harsh with him, but he questioned him and then he gave him something to do. Jesus says, do you love me? And Peter responds, yes. And Jesus says, feed my lambs. Then after the second question, Jesus says, 10 my sheep, like we saw many times in the gospels, when someone is down the master teacher Jesus, what does he do? Does he bash 'em? No, he doesn't bash him. He comes to them often with questions. He guides them through what they have done to where they need to be, not with criticism.
Speaker 1 00:11:55 So if a child messes up, if a child does something wrong, mostly they know they've done something wrong, right? <laugh> or your spouse or your friend or your coworker, do they need more criticism? No. But instead what we see today and what would work for us best is a clear, concise guiding people through the wrongdoing moving forward to the new future. And that's what Jesus is doing. And so we continue in this as Peter soul and mission in verse 15 through 17. The undoing part, if you think back, if youer with us in John chapter 18, a while back, this is where Peter was publicly denying Jesus three times just before Jesus' crucifixion. He said he didn't know Jesus three different times. We won't talk much about that. That came up again last week. But the fact that Jesus asks Peter three times, do you love me? Seems to counteract that event in the past. It's like three opportunities for Peter to show before his friends. Some of the other disciples are there. Jesus is guiding him through this and that's huge. And so verse 17, we'll put it on the screen again and it says that he is grieved. Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me honestly? Three times Jesus. Really? Yes, it was necessary always for a reason, always the perfect teacher.
Speaker 1 00:13:29 But I think it's possible that Peter's feeling some trauma here. This is hard. This is real. This was his rabbi for three years who he followed. He know, he knows he denied him,
Speaker 1 00:13:45 But he's being guided back to a new path and and Peter needs to be undone before he can be rebuilt. That's important by now. Some of you at this point, because I've been hammering on this so much over and over again, some of you might be inserting part of your story into Peter's story. Maybe you feel there's a part of your story that's like Peter, but know this in your trauma, loneliness, P p uh, pain, grief, whatever it is, Jesus like he was with Peter will always be with you. He will not leave you. For some of us though, we might have an opinion of ourselves. I know I've done that more than a few times up here. And some of us frankly as followers of Christ, maybe we need a little undoing before repentance can seek in. Uh, looking back at verse seven in this chapter, if you have your Bibles open, you might remember this from last week.
Speaker 1 00:14:42 Disciples, some of them are out in the boat and they say, Jesus, finally they realize it's Jesus on the beach. And what does Peter do? Here's what it says in verse seven. He threw himself into the sea because he wanted a bath. No, doesn't say that he threw himself into the sea. Why? Because he wanted to get to Jesus. But why did he want to get to Jesus? I think one of the key factors here is because he knew Jesus' character. I can't tell you how many times I have the opportunity and just love talking to people about Jesus' character because somehow they've grabbed onto the character of Jesus from the world and what they think Jesus is. Oh, he's just a good teacher but I know he'll never forgive me or I know he has something against me or what I'm going through is because of Jesus. No, Jesus' character is good and faithful and loving and merciful and compassionate. It's all of those things and more. And he wanted to get to that Jesus because he knows Jesus. He'd been with Jesus And so he threw himself over the boat into the water to get to the beach. So if you need to do that, do that.
Speaker 1 00:15:50 Maybe put a life preserver on. But I mean do that <laugh>, get to Jesus. However you need to get to him. That's the undoing part. But now I want to go to the mission again, we're on the beach and it's the restoring Peter's soul and mission, the undoing. But also in verses 15th through 17, we see the mission. Jesus said, feed and tend the lambs and the sheep. That means from the youngest to the oldest, all types of care, all types of guiding. Peter would be that man. But there's more because we're talking about sheep here and lambs. And so in Peter's mind, he would've gone back to what we read in the gospel of John John chapter 10, this good shepherd, Jesus being the good shepherd. So in John chapter 10, verse 11, it says this, this is Jesus speaking. I am the good shepherd.
Speaker 1 00:16:44 Jesus says, the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep five times. You see that phrase in John chapter 10, that he will, Jesus will lay down his life for his sheep. That is the call to serve and to proclaim the gospel sacrificially. Not to dominate the church, not to hold something over the flock, but to serve them, to sacrifice for them. That's what Jesus is calling, not just himself. That's what he called peter to do. He's really getting a lesson from his rabbi and a spiritual leader must be willing to do this. It's not a just about the mission only here in restoring Peter's soul and of course the mission, but it's about love, love for Jesus. Of course, I'm not gonna skip this, right? Love for Jesus because love is the number one qualifier for ministry. Period. Number one, qualifier for ministry.
Speaker 1 00:17:46 That is the love in our hearts to our savior Jesus Christ, in a saving relationship for sure, for sure to know him as savior, to come to his him as savior, but then that love overflows and must overflow to others, loves the number one qualifier for Christian ministry. You might remember some people were questioning Jesus. And Jesus responds what is oftentimes known as the greatest or the great commandment. And this is in Matthew chapter 22 and we'll have it on the screen, I'll read it. And he said to them, this is Jesus talking to the crowd and to others you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself on these two commandments. Depend all the law and the prophets.
Speaker 1 00:18:39 In other words, all the scripture, all the revelation from God, everything that has come to God to his people, to share with the entire world about this good God that we serve love first to God and then love your neighbors. It all ties together, all of it. Love is indispensable. We see that, don't we? In 15 through 17, as Jesus keeps questioning him over and over again seven times, few different variations in the original language of of love, but seven times he uses this word love in verses 15 through 17. So you might be the best speaker, you might be the best coordinator, administrator, you might be the best hands-on server in your community or in the church. But if you don't have love, you don't have it. You just don't have it <laugh>. You don't have what God wants for you and your life. Certainly God wants the intimate relationship between you and him, a saving relationship and to know him and to love him. And Jesus is calling Peter back to that, but also a sacrificial love for others.
Speaker 1 00:19:47 So yes, Peter needed undoing and repentance before being restored. And Peter kind of talked big but needed to come down to reality a bit. But remember the first step was Jesus saying to Peter Simon, son of John, do you love me? And Peter said, yes. Well this passage doesn't end there. There's something else as we move to 18 through 19 these verses. Remember that big idea? Jesus knows your failures come to him. And I purposely put hyphen <laugh> dash again cuz sometimes it's kind of a process, isn't it a thing that we just have to circle back on again and again. So the second main thing on the beach, at this beach scene is the cost of ministry. And Jesus says, follow me. This is 18 through 19, I'll put 18 through 19 back on the screen again. Jesus is always calling us to grow. Okay? He is the rabbi for a reason. He's our teaching God who teaches his disciples, his students, us. He's always teaching.
Speaker 1 00:20:55 And he used his words to Peter like Peter, you're gonna stretch out your hands and Peter. And then it says later John is telling us this is the kind of death love. And then he says, follow me. Well lemme put this another way. Maybe in modern day terms for us it might be something like this. Jesus might be saying to Peter, Peter, your arms will be stretched out like mine. Peter, you're going to be crucified Peter. This is what it means for you to follow me. But in doing so this time, not like last time Peter, it's gonna be different. Like if it gets rough Peter or you're at the charcoal fire again and somebody asks you, do you know Jesus this time you're gonna say yes, I know the risen save savior Peter. You're gonna say that and you're gonna be glorifying me this time as a faithful disciple of your master by following in the footsteps of your master's death. That's what those verses are saying. Peter knows stretch out arms when he gets older, he's gonna follow his master even to death. This will be the cost of Peter's ministry. Now, history indicates later on there that Peter in his old age was, was crucified. He died. And by the time the apostle John wrote this would've been much later. So Peter would've already died by now.
Speaker 1 00:22:08 Nero began persecuting Christians around 64, 80 or so. But before that time, before Peter's death, Peter wrote a couple letters, uh, the first one to modern day Turkey, the Christians there and and you're gonna see that Peter understood at that time later on when he's writing about the sacrificial life for Jesus and what that means. So he's encouraging in one Peter, chapter four, he's encouraging the Christians, he says this, beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes, uh, figuratively and literally fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. Verse 16. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. That means the name of Christ. Did you pick that up? That as Christians, if we withstand these tests, these trials, these problems in our lives and lean into Christ, we're glorifying God in all we do all the time, even in these trials.
Speaker 1 00:23:23 I wanna get back to verse 19 in our passage cuz verse 19 for me is really a, a key verse. The terms follow me, the words follow me is a call to obedience. And it's absolutely critical in this small passage. And this is one of these things where it's a, it's an application to the universal church. This wasn't just for Peter, this is for us. We know that obedience has no limits. Obedience has no expiration date. If you walk into the mini mart and you pick up a can of Christianity and you look at the ingredients, it's always gonna say, everyone on the shelf is always gonna say one, it's gonna say obedience every single time it's gonna say it might be gluten free, but it's gonna be obedience every time. Can't get away from that. Obeying Jesus, following Jesus should always come from a place of love.
Speaker 1 00:24:12 We don't obey to obey, we obey because we love. John 1423 concerning following me in obedience says this, we obey Jesus because we love him. That's why we obey. You know people sometimes from the outside might look at the crazy Christians, right? Like you people here, you're all crazy. Did you know that <laugh>, you follow a dead savior? Well, no, you follow a savior who's alive, but one who is put to death. You follow one who is tortured. Really? Yes. Because he did it for you out of love. And so we love him and we obey him. Always. We're getting a glimpse of this personal, intimate conversation between Jesus and Peter. But we wanna make sure we get things straight and here's the right order. The first concern is, do you love me? By now we've picked that up. I don't know if I've said that 20 times yet, but I'm gonna say it more.
Speaker 1 00:25:13 Do you love me? That's always the first step. Then the second is follow him. Get that in the right order. Love him first. Following Jesus takes sometimes recalibrating our understanding of our savior. Getting back to the truth, our savior is a crucified savior. And frankly, Peter didn't have a place in his brain early on, he didn't have a space in his brain, any place to put this file on a crucified savior, A tortured savior. It just doesn't make sense. And by pre previous actions of Peter's, he didn't really grab onto this version of his savior.
Speaker 1 00:25:51 Peter wished he would be something else that he wouldn't have to go through this, but he did. And Peter needed to look back at what Jesus had taught him earlier in the disciples and he would've known, yes, this is his savior. Risen savior, yes, crucified savior. Yes, as Christians we never wanna get past the cross, over the cross, done with the cross, do we? No go to the cross, always in gratitude thanking our savior, our savior who suffered, sacrificed himself and all of his disciples should expect to do the same. Wow, that was a lot <laugh>. Now we can follow Peter's example. You know Peter, what Peter didn't do is he didn't say, I'm done with you. P Jesus. Peter didn't say, that's it, I'm over. It's a little too heavy, little too much. Wasn't my version of religion. Now he didn't do that. You can see Peter version 2.0, you look in the apostle or look in the book of Acts other places, you're gonna see Peter on fire for God moving into this master good and gentle savior, his rabbi and God was glorified. So Peter is getting past his failures, his overinflated view of himself. He's being reinstated. But there's one more thing in this passage
Speaker 1 00:27:11 That Peter had to deal with, and I'm gonna go back to this word again and the word I'm landing on here again is this idea of comparison or the comparison bug versus 21 through 22.
Speaker 1 00:27:28 Because yes, he had a high view of his loyalty, even higher than the other disciples. But what that did for him and his view of the savior, what that meant, there was a lot of distractions then and misunderstandings. When we do this, when we look outside, when we look to somebody else, when we have a false view of things, we get distracted from our mission. We misunderstand the mission. And that is partially because of this comparison bug that Peter suffered from. I'll get there, I'll get there now remember, Jesus had just told Peter that Peter was eventually going to be crucified. That probably would've kicked in his mind by now. And Peter I think is legitimately concerned and here's why. Because he's legitimately concerned about John. Were they rivals? I don't know. But certainly they were friends. They had spent years together in ministry. And so Peter now knows he's going to be crucified. And so he's concerned about his friend John. And so he sees John and he says this, when Peter saw him, this is in verse 21, meaning John, he said to Jesus, Lord, what about this man? Jesus said to him, if it is my will that he remained until I come. What is that to you? You follow me?
Speaker 1 00:28:43 It's never a good thing to compare whether it's in ministry, whether it's in your life, at home, relationships, none of that, anxiety, worry, depression, all these things they just creep in, whether it's from your phone or whatever. It always keeps us from our mission. And by the way, not that I'm a prophet, but I have something for you today just for free. I know what your mission is, <laugh>. It's to give God glory, to depend on him, believe in his son, wherever and with whatever is happening in your life today. That's the truth. That is your mission right now. That means following him in that way you can give him glory. Anything else is distracting, frankly. Anything else is distracting. So the third main beach outline point is this, after the cost of ministry and follow me as comparisons, distract from ministry,
Speaker 1 00:29:37 Jesus says to Peter, what is that to you? John's future though Peter cares for him, is in the hands of Jesus. It's not in the hands of Peter. Peter needs to get back at this point the rabbi is teaching. Peter, get back to your mission. And what was that? Certainly we see it right here. You follow me? There's the gospel proclamation that Peter's been promised he needs to do. He will do along with the other disciples. There's a shepherding, the church, we talked about that, right? The lambs and the sheep. He's to guide them, take care of them, protect them, teach them in every way, feed them all of this. But also it's even to the point of death. This is you follow me, this is what Peter is being told.
Speaker 1 00:30:26 So for a minute, let's just use our imagination. And by the way, it's okay to use your imagination, <laugh>. Just envision your version of the future. Think ahead 2, 3, 5 years. Think about things like maybe what does it look like for you? Maybe serving Christ? What does it mean in a relationship or relationships, maybe family or more. Think about that for a minute. Now, if you would just stop for a moment, come back, back to planet earth where we are <laugh>, and ask this question, where does that come from? Now for some of you, it comes from knowing generally what the will will of God is in scripture. Maybe you've been praying about it, looking forward to what he has for you. But as you know, and I know if you lived long enough, it's very possible that may not pan out. But here's something to be careful about.
Speaker 1 00:31:19 What if your vision of the future for you and your mission comes from you comparing yourself to other people? What if be very careful. That's a dangerous place because that will always distract you and will lead to heartbreak. And if you've lived long enough, and I know I have, you're gonna see that the future rarely listens to your current plans, right? Rarely. The future is often deaf, frankly. So before you look around and see what other people are doing, forming your views on your future, instead remember these words, you follow me, whatever God has for you, we're not always gonna know it 100%, but we are gonna know it in the moment. And it is to follow him, depend on him, come to him in the difficulties. Whatever it is that is a higher and better mission and it is good gohar. Mark Bailey says this following Christ means following him in spite of circumstances and without comparisons. Yes, that's a lot of wisdom in that Peter needs to learn full devotion, full devotion to his Lord who was crucified by the way, Peter. And he's getting that now <laugh>, he sees that this is who his savior is. There isn't Lord, yes, but the sacrificial savior certainly.
Speaker 1 00:32:46 So I'm not sure your number one reason today why you're following Jesus, but for me I'm thinking, well it's because he gave himself up for me. He died for me and he saved me certainly. And there's so many other reasons why I wanna follow him. But one is this. I know he'll never give up. There's songs like that, isn't there, he'll never give up on you. Something like that. I won't sing 'em. Don't worry. A couple of you guys in the band, were worried about that. No, he will never give up on you. The Bible calls this God's faithfulness. The original word behind that is steadfastness, fidelity. Um, all kinds of firmness, all this stuff not wishy-washy, not changing. God doesn't change in the way we think of change. He will not turn away from us. Lamentations, did you think I'd go to Lamentations today?
Speaker 1 00:33:31 Verse three. This is from prophet Jeremiah. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. That was a song then written a poem. And it's still true today, but today you might be sitting in a place or have in the past a weird place, a very weird place. And that place might have you say something like, forget you God. But here's what God says in the book of Isaiah 49. I will not forget, you see, I have engraved you on the palms of my hand. Or you might be in a place where you say something like I have sin too much God. But the word of God says this, where sin increased grace increased all the more. And it also says, but God shows his love for us. And that while we were still sinners, what he died for you.
Speaker 1 00:34:19 Do you remember that? Or you might be in a weird place today, something that God, I'm not worth saving. Well, that's not the point. God's word says this for the wages of sin is death. But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. The question is not whether you're worthy or not. That's not the point. It's a free gift and he gives it to all who will receive that gift of salvation. You might also be in a place today, maybe, or in the past where you've said words like this, God's gonna give up on me. But listen, if you've never come to faith in Jesus and asked him to forgive your sins, I mean really you've come to him and put that line in the sand and walked over to where Jesus is. The Lord says this to you. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise and said he's patient with you not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Speaker 1 00:35:13 And maybe you've known Jesus as your savior a long time and you feel like maybe he's gonna give up on you. He says this, this is Paul right into the church to flip by I. And I am certain that God who began the good work within you will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ returns. Does that sound like God is gonna give up on you? Absolutely not. He will will never give up. God is faithful. He will not give up on you. So what if you're newer to village church? At the end of our sermons, we often say the so what others, what can I do with this? Well, I hope the spirit of God has been working in you through this and helping connect some dots even in your own life. But let me have three. So whats here?
Speaker 1 00:35:57 I'll just put them on the screen. The first is this, and I'm gonna steal from last week. Don't give up hope. Why? Because you're not disqualified. You're not. If you're in the family of God, God knows you. You are not disqualified. You're in his family. If it's failures and sins from the past, he forgives those, the current and the future, all of them. Recently I had a a conversation with a woman who is divorced and she just literally said, I'm disqualified. I'm disqualified from my family. I'm disqualified from following God. I'm disqualified from ministry. And I couldn't say no fast enough. I had to be quiet. Listen, but I couldn't say no. She's a follower of Christ. You're never disqualified. He loves you from failure to a future because God is faithful even when we're not faithful. So what? Number two, don't compare. Look up.
Speaker 1 00:36:59 Look up and follow Jesus. You're called to serve God, not get your marching orders from other folks. You know, look where you're at right now. Don't compare. Comparison is a prison. It's a prison with walls, 20 foot high. Hi. And there's no doors. But thankfully there's no ceiling. So the only way out is up. Look up to Christ. Look up to Christ. He will pull you out every time of this trap or this prison of comparison. What is that to you? Jesus says, follow me through third. So what? Don't be afraid. And what I mean by that is don't be afraid of being undone before being rebuilt. Maybe you're, you're at home and you're watching and you've just tuned in. You're not quite sure what Jesus is really about or Christianity, and you're checking it out, but you're really, really interested in real spirituality. That's great because the answer you're looking for is found in Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1 00:38:09 But the question is this, the question is actually this. How do I get right with God because I'm a sinner? The answer is you can't clean yourself up. It's only through the work of Jesus Christ, only by trusting on his sacrificial death to take your punishment for sins on the cross. Can you be forgiven? Can you be right with God? That's the answer to anyone seeking spiritual things, anything, every time. And we have to be undone before we can be rebuilt. But perhaps you're already following Jesus' savior. But remember, just like Peter, you can come to Christ again. Jesus knows your failures. Come to him again as we go to a time of communion. We have a good shepherd, don't we? He's so good. He laid down his life for us on the cross. And so when we take communion regularly, we do that for a reason out of obedience.
Speaker 1 00:39:16 Because scripture says to take this, the Lord's s together, it's so important. We are built up by it. We are taken down by it. And we are built up again in it because we come to our Lord Jesus, who is the good shepherd, who laid down his life for us on the cross. And so all who will come to him in faith. And even right now, if you've never come to faith in Jesus Christ, there's no formula I can give you. There's no such thing as that. It's out of the humility of your heart and the sin. You know, you have not your good works come to Christ because he can set it right. He can forgive all your sins. You can do that right now where you are. Just ask him to forgive your sins. And he will do that today. And you will be in his forever family.
Speaker 1 00:40:01 You will be with him in eternity. Believe in that. Believe in his resurrection. You will be saved and you can take communion with us today if you are a believer in Christ already. And even if you're not part of Village Church, we practice open communion, which means for all people who've trusted in Jesus for salvation, take communion with us today. But if you're still not sure, then instead of taking communion, uh, come up and see me afterwards. I'd love to talk to you more about what it means to have a saving relationship and knowing Jesus as Savior. And if you don't have the elements yet, we're gonna have a song here in a moment. And in that song, if you still don't have the cup, which has the wafer and the juice, you can get up during that song and have the column to my left, the column to my right. And back at those double doors will be the, uh, communion elements. You can grab them then. All right, so let's do like we often do before communion. Let's take a minute right now where you are. Thank Jesus for what he has done, the good shepherd. And ask him to forgive any sins this week you can think of. Let's do that now.
