We find our text in John 21.
To reach to the very depths of our
hearts.
That you would reach the uttermost parts by
your grace.
Amen.
From John 21.
From verse 1, I will read quite a
few verses even though I'm not going to
comment on all of them.
After these things Jesus manifested himself again to
the disciples at the sea of Tiberias and
he manifested himself in this way.
They were together Simon Peter and Thomas called
Didymus and Nathanael of Cana and Galilee and
the sons of Zebedee and two others of
his disciples.
Simon Peter said to them, I'm going fishing.
They said to him, we will also come
with you.
They went out and got into the boat
and that night they caught nothing.
But when the day was now breaking Jesus
stood on the beach yet the disciples did
not know that it was Jesus.
Jesus therefore said to them, children you do
not have any fish do you?
They answered him, no.
And he said to them, cast the net
on the right hand side of the boat
and you will find a catch.
They cast therefore and then they were not
able to haul it in because of the
great number of fish.
The disciple therefore whom Jesus loved said to
Peter it is the Lord and so when
Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord
he put his outer garment on for he
was stripped for work and threw himself into
the sea.
But the other disciples came in the little
boat for they were not far from the
land but about 100 yards away dragging the
net full of fish.
And so when they got out upon the
land they saw a charcoal fire already laid
and fish placed on it and bread.
Jesus said to them, bring some of the
fish which you have now caught.
Simon Peter went up and drew the net
to land full of large fish, 153 and
although there were so many the net was
not torn.
Jesus said to them, come and have breakfast.
None of the disciples ventured to question him,
who are you, knowing that it was the
Lord?
Jesus came and took the bread and gave
them and the fish likewise.
This is now the third time that Jesus
was manifested to the disciples after he was
raised from the dead.
So when they had finished breakfast 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, tend my lambs.
He said to him again a second time,
Simon son of John, do you love me?
He said to him, yes Lord, you know
that I love you.
He said to him
again a third time, Simon son of John,
do you love me?
He said to him, yes Lord, you know
that I love you.
He said to him again a
third
time, Simon son of John, do you love
me?
He said to him again a third time,
Simon son of John, do you love me?
He
said
to him again a fourth time, Simon son
of John, do you love me?
He said to him again a fifth time,
Simon son of John, do you love me?
He said to him again a sixth time,
Simon son of John, do you love me?
There is a text, a word that hasn't
left me these days.
And as I read this story, it returned
to me yet again.
We parents often assume that the children know,
but you'll find a child gets to 10,
even 20 or 30, and they don't know
the things that we assume that they should
know.
There were many people, there were tents, the
tents were pitched and we slept in tents.
In the Old Testament And there was a
certain man, his name was Lorry Veet.
He hadn't been a Christian, and he started
a business there.
In the
Old
Testament
And so his crop of tomatoes which he
had planted was really enormous and he filled
lorries.
In the Old Testament Everything he planted was
successful and money poured in.
In the Old Testament He became a rich
man.
In the
Old
Testament
But then he became anxious about his riches,
remembering the word of the Lord where it
says, It is difficult for a rich man
to enter into heaven, it is impossible.
It's easier for a camel to go through
the eye of a needle than for a
rich man to go to heaven.
He said, I'm rich, I'm on the way
to hell.
He got such a fear, he said, I'm
damned and doomed with my riches.
He said, I must seek the kingdom of
God, I must repent, I must get right
with God, otherwise this will lead me to
hell.
In the Old Testament And
indeed he repented.
Became a child of the Lord.
And as a child of God he said,
I can't just sit here enjoying my wealth,
I must use it to further the gospel.
And so he invited people to come and
hold a convention yearly on his farm.
He said, at no expense I will arrange
the tent and the food, all of that,
it will be my own expense.
And so in 1951 we went to his
place.
Do you young people know that in 1951
we went there?
If you remember that, put up your hands.
I'm asking the young people.
I'm just probing a little, just checking because
you might say that you were born in
1971 if you're a young person, just to
see whether you're lying.
I just wanted to see whether there's some
liars amongst the young people.
They all seem to be honest.
Now we got there, the tents were pitched.
There were young men busy pitching the tent
as I looked on.
They were rough men.
And they would answer each other in a
very rough way.
I noticed that they would get upset with
each other easily and in passing a hammer,
they wouldn't just pass it, they would throw
it.
Speaking together in an unkind way.
And I said to myself, these people still
need to get saved.
That night we went into the tent and
there were at least 600 white people there.
We sat down and the chorus leaders came.
As I looked at those who were the
chorus leaders, I was confused.
I thought, are they the same men who
pitched the tent earlier on, those who were
getting angry and losing their tempers?
It can't be.
And it was them.
I was disappointed.
Then it was announced that before the preacher
comes, there are going to be people giving
their testimonies.
Who were they who gave their testimonies?
The very same people who were pitching the
tent.
I lost my respect for them.
I said to myself, such a thing I
do not know.
I was young myself.
I was still immature and didn't know much,
but I did know that this wasn't right,
that the same people who were getting angry
and that were the ones singing and giving
their testimonies.
And so you make sure, you person, if
you lead in some way, maybe you lead
in singing, that your life, remember it's observed
by others, witnessed by others around you.
I didn't listen to them.
God, we are born.
You see, you husband, you demand respect from
your wife, but don't be surprised if she
doesn't take notice of who you are, doesn't
respect you, because she observes how you are
and how you are not alive spiritually and
the life you live.
And with women, vice versa.
It's the same.
Man and wife, wife and husband, and children.
If you pray for them, let them live.
If they live in holiness, let them live
in holiness.
Stop the beck.
Our German says so.
It's not a mountain.
It's a beck.
It's a mountain.
The first day, the second day, the third
day passed there at Khartmaden, until I said
to myself, well, I'm just going to go
back home to our home in Mbalana.
I'd rather be a farmer, make money, and
I'll propagate the gospel with money.
I'll allow missionaries and them to come to
our home and we'll assist.
Let them do the work.
But that I should go, no, never.
But the pastor with whom I was with
was a very wise man and he was
nicknamed Mapiga.
He was the father of people like the
manager of our shop here.
As I tried to explain to him what
I'd made my mind up to do, he
wisely pointed out that I was being double
-minded and he said, didn't you say this
just the other day?
Now you're saying something new.
You've got to make up your mind.
You can't speak two things otherwise you are
mentally deranged.
Schizophrenic.
Troubled are such people who cannot stand solidly
on one thing.
On one day they make a certain claim,
the next day it's a different one.
Now there every morning one went off to
a prayer meeting.
But I decided I'm not going to the
prayer meeting, I'm going to go with my
Bible and go and pray on the other
side of a little hill that was off
on one side.
I sat down there on a rock.
I said, oh God, I want to go
back home.
And I don't want to preach the gospel.
And I laid out before God all my
conditions.
I said, Lord, I will certainly support the
work of the Lord.
And if there are missionaries who need a
rest, they can come by me there and
I will support the work financially.
I continued to say, Lord, and I want
your seal of approval upon this plan of
mine.
And I need you to say something because
then it will justify my going to my
pastor and saying the Lord has said I
should go back home.
God said to Abraham, slaughter your child, kill
him, bring him as a sacrifice.
And when God saw that he was willing
to do it, God held his hand to
the angel and said, don't kill him.
I've seen that you are going to do
it.
Here's the lamb.
And so God has seen that I was
prepared to become a preacher.
And now he says, all right, I've seen.
You can go home.
You needn't do it anymore.
And then I go to my minister and
I say, I was prepared to be a
missionary.
But now I got the word.
And God says I can go home.
Now that's foolproof.
What will this clever preacher say now?
He can't say anything against it.
That's foolproof.
If God speaks to you, what can we
do but obey?
Then I say, Lord, give me a word
that will be a soul on all my
plans.
Even in the smallest detail I went.
And then there was a word that just
stood out to me.
You know, in our Lutheran Bibles, we've got
some verses that are printed with bigger letters
than the others.
So this verse just stood out.
I just saw that verse.
Afterwards I looked in my Bible and they
weren't in capital letters, just as the others.
But God just did it to arrest my
attention, to catch my attention to that word.
Well,
Well, I started reading.
I read Matthew 4, verse 19.
He then said, follow me and I'll make
you fishes of men.
It was as if the lightning from heaven
had struck me.
I closed the Bible.
It was only by God's grace that I
didn't discard the Bible altogether.
I got angry.
When you're at a dead end and you
can't go further, the only way is to
get angry.
And those that use alcohol, that's the time
they go to the pub and go to
the bottle like a little child when it
cries, it wants the bottle.
I said, Lord, I'll show you I won't
do it.
I went to my pastor.
I said, pastor, I'm going back home to
Natal.
I kept quiet for a very, he kept
quiet for a very long time and then
asked me, hello, he said in a quiet
voice.
Are you sure that this is the will
of God for you?
I blurted out, yes.
Indeed, even children of God can lie.
And I lied.
I packed my suitcase.
I went to Pretoria, took
a train to Pietermaritzburg, phoning on the way
that they should fetch me the following morning
at Pietermaritzburg station.
I had said, God, no, I will not
do it.
Because what you say is in contradiction to
what I feel and my own plans and
ambitions.
The next morning I got off at the
station in Meritzburg.
And there was my brother, Uncle Heinof from
Tunzini, and I, we got along well.
We were very used to each other.
And so he greeted me warmly and said,
oh, how great it is to have you
here.
It is God's love to bring you safely
back home again.
But he didn't know that it wasn't God's
love.
It was because I had become a Jonah,
a Jonah who had been sent to Nineveh,
but who had gone off to his own
place, to Joppa.
The love story can go very far.
Even here in South Africa, when a man
loves another man, or a woman another woman.
It's not bad, it's an act of love,
but a dirty love.
When I came to South Africa, I didn't
know that there was such a thing as
love.
And now you find the situation And now
you find the situation Parents, here is my
wife, but it's another man.
How will you feel, father, mother?
Here your son comes along.
Mom, here's your daughter-in-law.
In Romans 1 it says they go against
what is natural.
Okay.
And so I arrived home.
Now when I'd left home to go up
to that convention, I told them that the
Lord has called me to go there and
here I was arriving back again.
I told them that the Lord has called
me to go there and here I was
arriving back again.
My mother didn't utter a word.
And after some days out there on the
porch in the morning, in the enclosed veranda,
she asked me, what do you say about
your calling?
I replied in a way that I am
now ashamed of.
I said to her, look, mom, if you
don't want me here, just say so.
And I went off in a huff and
slammed the door behind me.
If you don't want me here, tell me,
then I'll go.
Young people can be cheeky.
If it would have been a man, he
should have kicked me that I flew out
of the door.
Maybe I would have got to my senses.
And then for 18 months, I went through
hell.
I would hear a noise and I'd say,
is it judgment day?
Have I got to appear before the throne
of Christ?
I went through hell.
That's when I learned that to be disobedient
costs thousands of times, ten thousands of times
more than being obedient.
I feared the day when I would have
to stand before God on judgment day.
I look at the clouds and say, what
if suddenly a cloud comes and he stands
on there and the last trumpet will sound?
What will happen to me?
To stand before the judgment seat of Christ,
it's good if we remember it.
He'll judge all our works.
He'll have to give account of every idle
word we have spoken.
He'll even judge our thoughts.
We are five boys in the family.
The youngest one is a girl.
When she was still small, I was alone
with her at home.
The rest of the family had gone.
I could show you the place where we
stood outside of the yard.
I said, Imgat, you know Jesus is going
to come again and he's going to judge
us.
She started trembling, shaking.
She started crying.
I couldn't stop her crying.
I didn't know how to help her.
So I said, Sister, I've just told you
a lie.
He's not coming.
That was the only way to comfort her.
If I see her the next time, I
must ask her whether I have apologized to
her that I told her that lie.
Most probably, I've made right with her.
But I want to make double sure.
If I haven't confessed to her that I
told her a lie, I said I'm doing
it now, I'm repenting of it, forgive me,
he's coming.
And then to make it clear what a
day that will be.
That one day will be more than 10
,000 years.
And hotter than any oven can be.
After 18 months, I went into my bedroom.
And I knelt by my bed.
I somehow felt I've got to draw close
to God.
I opened the Bible, kneeling at my bed.
And I read that God was still loving
me.
I've made him sick and tired with my
sins.
But he's still loving me.
My hardened and hard heart just melted.
And I began to cry and to weep.
I said, God, I showed you my fist
in your face.
I went against you, I rebelled.
And you still love me.
My heart melted.
I think it was the next day or
after three days.
I went into my bedroom again.
I knelt down on my knees next to
the bed.
I said, God, please speak to me.
I just opened the Bible at random and
started reading.
And this is what I read.
This is John 21.
Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?
Just a few days prior to that, he
showed me his love.
And when we see that, we can't but
love him.
We love him because he first loved us.
Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?
Just a few days prior to that, he
showed me his love.
Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me
more than these?
It was as if Jesus Christ himself was
right there in the room asking me this
question.
Peter said, yes, Lord, you know that I
love you.
Then he said, tend my lambs.
And then the second time he asked him,
Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?
For me, it wasn't like just a text
or a question asked of Peter.
For me, it was directly aimed at myself.
Then tend my sheep, shepherd my sheep.
Then he said to him the third time,
Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?
And Peter was grieved because he said to
him the third time, do you love me?
And I too at that point, I grieved.
I stood up, I went to the kitchen,
found my mom standing at the stove, at
the pots.
She was cooking.
I said, mother, Jesus
has called me.
I have no other choice.
I have agreed to do his will.
She said, I'm glad, my child.
I went out looking for my dad.
I was afraid.
I was scared because we did have a
fear of my dad.
I was scared what he might say.
I found him on the yard.
I said, father, I have something on my
heart.
I feel that the Lord has called me
to follow him and preach the gospel.
I received a reply which was totally unexpected.
He said, Olo, I am grateful.
I will have a child among my children
who will always carry me in prayer.
You will always pray for me and you
will always remember me.
I am thankful and I agree.
I was astonished.
Some parents get upset if a child says
to them, I feel that the Lord has
called me to work for him, and they
start asking questions like, well, how will you
survive?
Look at all the things you've got to
leave, but I'm grateful that both my parents
said we agree and we are grateful.
A certain Afrikaans girl from our country of
South Africa, who was 18 years at the
time, went to a meeting, a service, came
back at night, touched by the Lord, went
to her parents' bedroom.
She knocked.
I said, come in.
And as she entered in, her father was
a very rich and renowned man.
They had only this one child.
Troubled are parents who don't have children.
There are some people that haven't got a
child, but not of their own choosing.
We feel with them.
There are some mothers that don't want a
child.
Some have only got one child.
They can't have more.
And some rich people can't afford it.
It's always a strange thing that the poor
people have many children and the rich few.
But this rich man had just one child.
I feel that God has called me to
China as a missionary.
The father said, no, definitely not.
What will happen to your inheritance?
I've got no other child, I've got no
boy.
Look, my child, you're going to inherit all
the farms.
Everything that I've got.
You can't go to China and be a
missionary there.
He said, I won't say yes.
The girl stayed at home, obeyed her father.
After two years she got very ill and
she died.
She was 20 years old.
When the coffin went down into the grave,
suddenly he said, Oh God, if I would
have said yes, this daughter of mine would
be alive far away in China.
But I would still have a daughter.
But I said no.
And now you've taken her and I've got
no person for my inheritance.
This is a true story that happened here
in South Africa.
To be disobedient costs much, much more than
to be obedient.
And he who wants to save his life
will lose it.
After I told my parents, brothers, family, God
opened the door and I could go.
I said to my brother Heino, Heino, as
I walk out of this house, my father's
house, it's like death.
As if I'm in a coffin, I've got
to die.
But because of the love to Jesus, I
do it gladly.
Now let's get back to the text.
Jesus asked Peter, Simon, son of Jonah.
Now, his name was Peter.
Jesus gave him that name.
Simon, son of Jonah, was his name before
Jesus named him Peter.
Jesus asked Peter, Simon, son of Jonah, Do
you love
me?
At that time when I read it, I
didn't know what the Greek text said.
We in our translations, we just read, Simon,
do you love me?
Jesus said literally, Simon, son of Jonah, do
you love me?
Do you love me as God loves, with
a godly love?
Jesus asked Peter, Simon, son of Jonah, Do
you love me as God loves, with a
godly love?
He said, yes Lord, you know everything.
It's good for us to know that Jesus
knows everything.
But a man or a woman who isn't
in right standing with God, it's a fearful
thing to hear.
He knows everything and he will run away
from it.
But the person who walks with God, it's
a comfort that God knows everything.
We are glad that there is nothing hid
from his eyes.
He sees everything.
That's a comfort to us.
But if we allow and give room to
the devil and sin, it's a terrible thing,
we'll commit.
And then Simon Peter said, Lord, you know
everything.
You know that I feel for you.
Two different words.
Peter said, you know everything.
You know that I feel for you.
Jesus asked him, do you love me?
Do you love me with a godly love?
And Peter said, you know that I love
you as a friend loves his friend.
You know that I love you in the
way a child, a brother, loves his brother.
He said, and feed my lambs.
Then he said the second time, Peter, do
you accompany me?
He says, Lord, you know everything.
You know that I love you as a
friend loves his friend.
But the third time, Jesus came down to
his level and said, Simon, do you fill
me?
And Peter was heartbroken that he should say,
fill me.
He couldn't say I love you with a
divine love.
He had just denied his Lord three times
before the croc was thrown.
And he was heartbroken because Jesus the third
time used the word he used.
Jesus came down from that level, that godly
level, to that of a friend, of just
a brother.
And said, Simon, do you love me?
Do you fill me?
I hope that you've got that straight.
Another point.
He said, Simon, son of John, do you
love me more than these?
He didn't only say, do you love me?
Do you love me more than these?
Now, there are a few points concerning that
matter.
There were seven.
Seven disciples that went with Peter when he
says, I'm going fishing.
Six said, we're coming along.
Nathaniel was there.
Thomas is the one, Thomas, who's mentioned next
to Peter.
Peter and Thomas.
You remember Thomas' experience.
And now he was there before he wasn't.
They were seven there.
It's nice when disciples of Jesus, when God's
people are together.
It's hell if they're not one.
That's the dirty work of the devil, to
separate them.
But when they're together, my, it's like that
precious oil flowing down from the high priest,
down his beard, his garment.
That's a sweet perfume, sweet scent to God.
When one doesn't find fault with the other,
or criticize him, or speaks behind his back,
it's the worst kind of criminality.
Worse than those criminals that kill people and
steal cars, etc.
Because you kill them spiritually.
That's worse, much more, worse, much more than
just killing the body.
It's enough not to say, you love him
as much as the others love him.
Jesus says, you love me more than these
love me.
Jesus, in other words, he expects more from
you than from the others.
Who studied it?
Doesn't help to say, I love him similarly
to the others.
Jesus wants you to love him more than
the others.
Jesus was speaking to Simon Peter.
The man who said, the others can deny
you, I won't.
You can expect that of them, but not
from me.
I lay my life down for you.
He looked down on the others.
But he failed miserably, just as the others.
Maybe more than the others.
Jesus was speaking to Simon Peter.
The man who said, the others can deny
you, I won't.
You can expect that of them, but not
from me.
I lay my life down for you.
Jesus was speaking to Simon Peter.
Now listen to this.
I want you to get this straight.
When you remain on the right path, you
know more about your own sin than the
sin of others.
You will see your own sin.
You will be kept busy more with your
own sin than the sin of your colleagues.
Do you understand?
You keep yourself busy with a bunch of
hypocrites.
And hypocrites they may be.
But know one thing.
In God's eyes, you are a greater sinner
than what they are.
And then you say, well, what shall I
do, what shall I say, look what they
are.
Do you compare yourself with others?
He says more.
Do you love me more than those love
me?
And you are guilty in the sight of
God if you don't love him more than
what the others do.
And if the whole world is wrong, God
expects from you, Jesus expects from you, more
than he does from the others.
Do you love him more?
One person said do you love me more
than these?
And he pointed to the fish, do you
love me more than you love the fish.
Do you love me more than you love
the fishing?
Do you love me more than you love
the fish?
Do you love me more than sport?
Do you love me more than silver and
gold, riches, money?
Do you love me more?
Do you love me more than you love
your work, your ambition, your goals, your dreams,
your Do you love me more?
What kind of a life must that be
if you agape, not phileo, agape him more
than the others and you don't, you won't
judge the others, you'll love them as well.
You'll love them as God loved us, who
gave his only son, he didn't criticize us,
he didn't find fault with us, he gave
the best he had for us, now the
question, are you doing that?
I wouldn't like you to leave this place
with this question unanswered, if you do, I
call you a Pharisee.
And you young girl, do you love me
more than you love the boys, getting married,
having children?
I can tell you it's, nicht alles gold
was glänzt, you want to get married, but
when you're married, sometimes not only your nose
will be full, you'll be full, I heard
people saying these days, blessed are those that
didn't get married and bear children, they are
those as well.
So the best is to love him more,
he'll take care of you, get the center
right, first things must come first, and he'll
add everything that you need.
And Peter grew in this love, and Jesus
said, now in closing, Peter when you were
young, you dressed as you liked, oh dress
can spiel, play a big role in your
life, dress, dress.
Many women are like that, and some men
are women like as well, Peter when you
were young, you dressed as you liked, you
wore the clothes you liked, but when you
get old, somebody else will dress you, somebody
else will take you by your hand, you
won't be able to go where you want
to go, somebody else will take your hand
and lead you where you don't want to
go, that's the person who agapes God.
Then the things that were hard and difficult
and impossible for us, things we don't want,
we'll count as a privilege, you
won't say, Lord Jesus I spent so many
years for you, I only got this or
that, it will be a privilege, and Jesus
spoke about his death, Peter was crucified on
a cross, but when they crucified him, he
said, folk, you can't crucify me the way
you crucified Christ, I'm not worthy of that,
crucify me with my head down and feet
up, because I'm not fit, I'm not worthy
to be crucified the way I am here,
crucify me with my head down.
He honored Jesus, Jesus was precious to him,
more than his own life, or his own
pain, or discomfort.
Matthew Henry says, you know when Jesus was
in the boat, the disciples, the seven disciples,
Jesus stood at the shore, such a pity
that time is short, how wonderful if we
could talk about that.
He said, children, have you got any fish,
no, throw it on the right-hand side,
the net, they did it, 153 big fish,
and John said, Peter, Peter, it's the Lord.
When Peter heard that, he jumped into the
water, he was a hundred yards away.
Now whether it was shallow or not, Peter,
the Bible says he was naked.
Now in biblical times, when a person had
something on till here, but not on top,
they said he was naked.
So it's not necessarily that he was stark
naked, he could have a short, a bathing
trunk on, but he was naked.
And when he said, John said, it's the
Lord, John had a sharper ear, or eye,
than Peter.
The others were covered by doubts and things,
but John, this young man, he says, it's
the Lord.
Peter, what did he do?
He put on his coat.
And Matthew Henry says, he respected Jesus so
much that he put on the best garment
he had, out of respect to be in
the Lord's presence.
He says, a person will wear the best
garment he has.
When he approaches the presence of Jesus Christ,
he could have thrown it off.
To swim with a garment makes it difficult.
You throw it off.
But he says, that's my Lord, and I
want to appear before him the best way
possible, out of respect.
That's my ear.
And he didn't waste a moment when he
was told, it's the Lord.
Shall I, shall I not?
Is it too deep, is it too shallow?
He threw himself.
He wanted to be there first.
Oh, Peter, he was zealous.
Peter was fiery.
He wanted to be there first.
Not because of jealousy, being proud.
He must have loved his Lord.
Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me
more than these?
Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me
more than these?
Didma, Freel, Johan, Peter, Naomi, Este,
do you love me more than these?
Whatever the future has got in store for
us, whatever we do, we can't afford trying
to serve God and live for him without
this love.
We'll make a mess of it.
You'll be better six feet, two meters in
the ground, under the ground, than alive without
this love.
So, the great thing is, not how many
years you've suffered, how many years you've sweated,
you love me, you agape me more than
these, more than your blue-eyed child.
You love me more than these.
Can I stop here?
Is it plain to you or not?
Let's pray.
Lord, let
your return not return to you void, but
that your word would return with fruit.
May we not have cavity and our coming
here being in vain.
May our lives never be the same again.
May it not have gone in the one
ear and out the other, but may it
penetrate deep, deep, deep, down to the deepest
depths of our being.
For your name's sake and for your sake,
Lord, may we not have cavity and our
coming here being
in vain.
Amen.