John chapter 21, please.
We're going right through from verse 4, right
to the end of the Gospel of John
the Baptist.
Just for anyone who may not have been
present last week, there is a phrase at
the end of John chapter 20 that we
want to look at once again.
John 20, verse 30, And many other signs
truly did Jesus in the presence of his
disciples, which are not written in this book,
is the phrase.
In this book.
But these are written, that you might believe.
You see, when John says, in this book,
and these are written, well, many believe that
John's Gospel finishes there.
In fact, many scholars say, that's where John's
Gospel finishes.
In fact, there is an argument among scholars
of whether John 21 is really belonging to
John's Gospel or not.
But there is no argument in my mind,
and I trust when I finish with John
21 to write, there will be no argument
in your mind.
You see, I believe this.
I believe that John took twenty chapters to
show to the whole world the greatness of
our Savior.
And he took us through all the messages,
and all the miracles, all the preaching, and
all the performance of our Lord Jesus in
twenty chapters, just to show to the world
the greatness of our Savior.
And I think that when he finished the
book, just like any other one might do,
writing a letter, he put a postscript.
That's another chapter on this occasion.
Just to show the tenderness of our Lord.
Twenty-one, a very precious chapter.
Twenty chapters to prove the greatness of our
Savior, and one more chapter just to show
the great, the tenderness of our Lord.
That's what we're after this evening, and it's
a very wonderful chapter.
You remember, we set the stage last week.
Let's look at it just quickly again.
Verse one of chapter twenty-one, After these
things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples
at the Sea of Tiberias, that is, the
Sea of Galilee, and on this wise showed
he himself.
Now, he was revealing himself in another way
altogether.
That's why I'm persuaded, you see, that it's
a revelation of the Lord, not an exposition
of the Savior.
And on this wise.
And then we notice the disciples who were
together.
Watch them again.
Simon Peter, and Thomas, and Nathanael, and the
sons of Zebedee.
Nowhere in the Bible do you get these
men split together either before this or after
it.
When we're reading of the disciples, it's always
Peter, James, and John, or not so on
this occasion.
You get Peter, he was the one who
denied.
Next to him you get Thomas, he was
the one who would not believe.
Next to him you get Nathanael, he was
the one who despised.
Next to him you get the two sons
of Zebedee, they were the ones who quarreled
for place.
And the other two disciples are not named
maybe any two of us would fit in
for them.
And so we are getting failures all placed
together, and again they fail.
You see, Peter stood up in verse three,
Simon Peter says unto them, I do a
fishing.
A dreadful thing when a leader among God's
people makes a decision that leads other people
astray.
He said, I do a fishing.
They say unto him, we also go with
them.
They went forth and entered into a ship
immediately.
That night they caught nothing.
It was a night of disappointment, it was
a night of defeat, because it started with
disobedience.
You see, at this very spot on the
Sea of Galilee, three and a half years
before this, our Lord Jesus Christ had walked
along the sand, and he had looked into
the eyes of Peter, and he said, follow
me, and I will make you fishers of
men.
And you remember how they laughed all, and
followed him.
They were called into full-time service for
the Lord.
But on this particular day, Peter was going
back on it all.
He was getting the boot out again.
He's going back to the fishing.
He was disobeyed, and the night was a
night of disappointment, a night of defeat.
Now that's where we start the revelation tonight.
And I want you to notice this fourth
verse that we're starting with.
But when the morning was now come, Jesus
stood on the shore.
But the disciples knew not that it was
Jesus.
You know, here he is coming, visiting them.
Oh, you know, when he had risen from
the dead, and met the woman at the
tomb, he said to them, go tell my
disciples.
I go before them into Galilee, and there
shall they see me.
And he appointed a mountain in Galilee where
he would meet them.
These fellows didn't go to the mountain, they
went to the sea.
And this is the shore of their disobedience.
This is the very shore of their disappointment.
This is the very shore of their defeat.
How very tender it was for our Lord
Jesus to come and stand on the shore
of their disappointment.
Is there a defeated believer here?
Is there someone here who has disobeyed the
word of the Lord, and you're disappointed?
Well, somewhere on the shore, you'll find people
looking for him.
Oh, yes, he could have turned his back
and said, let them go there.
But no, he came and stood on the
very shore of their disappointment, and the very
shore of their defeat, the very shore of
their disobedience.
And that's where you'll find him.
There's a tenderness in his visitation.
And then, look what he said.
Verse 5, Then Jesus said unto them, Children,
have ye any meat?
Now, I think there are one or two
very tender things here.
You see, after all they had disobeyed, after
all had taken the bit between their teeth,
and they had gone their own way.
I want to tell you this, that Jesus
spoke first.
Sometimes, you know, when there's a break in
fellowship, some people are very slow, you know,
to speak first.
Well, you ought to learn from your master.
Some of the believers here, you know, would
nearly die before they would speak to somebody,
when the Lord Jesus spoke first.
Yes, there are a hundred yards from the
shore.
We'll measure it when we'll get down to
it.
And when there are a hundred yards out,
he cried, and there's a tenderness in the
first words.
Children, didn't say that title.
Children, have ye any meat?
You know, if there's a tender touch in
his visitation, when he stood in the shore,
there's a very tender touch in his investigation.
Have you any meat?
I would like to say this, you know,
because some people don't seem to get this.
When the Lord asks questions, it's not because
he doesn't know the answer.
Well, there's a lot of people who don't
teach, and a lot of silly stuff like
this.
When God came into the garden of Eden,
and said, Adam, where art thou?
Do you think he didn't know?
And there are a thousand questions in the
Scriptures like that.
It isn't that God doesn't know the answer.
My, he's only asking questions to bring forth
a confession.
Because when you get out of fellowship with
the Lord, the only one way that you'll
get in again, don't forget that.
Lots of people think, you know, that they
can say things about other people, behind their
backs, and tear them into pieces with their
tongues.
And then they can go and suck up
with the Lord, but you can't.
My dear sister, there is one way of
getting into fellowship with the Lord, and it's
when we confess our sins.
And God won't alter that word for anybody
in this place.
That's God's Word.
If we confess our sins.
And mind you, it doesn't mean this.
It doesn't mean that you come at night,
and you feel you're a miserable creature, and
you get down on your knees and say,
Lord, Lord, forgive me for what I've done
today.
I've confessed enough.
But you know, if some of you businessmen
in this place today have told lies behind
the counter, well, there's one simple word that
brands you, you're a liar.
That's all about it, you know.
I can't find any other word in the
English language.
You're a liar.
And if you get down on your knees
tonight, in the middle of the night, and
say, Lord, I'm a liar, it'll help you
much.
And if any man or woman in this
place has put forth their hand in work
today and taken something that didn't belong to
them, you're a thief.
That's what you are.
And when you go crawling into God's presence
and say, I'm a thief.
And when the believers are taught to drag
their sin out in the open, and all
the great saints fully confess it, you'll get
back into fellowship.
That's what He wants you to do.
He says, have you any meat?
Oh, He knew what the night had been.
He knew that it may well be that
He directed the fish away from the net.
Oh, He knew.
But you know, from out of that misty
morning came the charge.
No, it was an honest confession.
They were just confessing the disappointed, defeated night
that they had passed through.
That's where He was leading them to, leading
them to the place of confession.
Now, there's a tenderness in the visitation, and
there's a tenderness in the investigation.
And now we really come to the manifestation,
and that's what we're really after this night.
He revealed Himself in this way.
Now, watch this very carefully.
See, verse five again, Then Jesus saith unto
them, Children, have ye any meat?
They answered Him, No.
And He said unto them, Cast the net
on the right side of the ship, and
ye shall find it.
They cast therefore, and now they were not
able to draw it from a multitude of
pictures.
Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved.
Now, I don't want to miss the point,
but I shall have to miss this one.
Right through this gospel, when John's been writing
about himself, this is the very signature that
he uses.
He always calls himself the disciple whom Jesus
loved.
You see, he hid behind that.
He didn't say, I, I said, or I
did.
Now, I don't believe that any other man
adding a chapter would have used this particular
signature of John.
Surely it's John still writing.
I think it's quite clear when you see
it.
It's John still writing.
He's using his own signature.
But here's the bit that's most important.
Verse seven, Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved
saith unto Peter, It is the Lord.
You know, he wasn't, he wasn't too slow.
The moment the net was over, and it
filled with a multitude of pictures, John says,
It's the Lord.
Well, he knew who was there, and it's
the Lord, mind you.
That's why I'm perfectly sure that John is
expounding the tenderness of our Lord.
Yes, it's the Lord.
Why did he come to the conclusion so
quick a touch?
Oh, he'd learned something a long time ago.
Let's go back to Luke's gospel just for
a moment.
Luke's gospel, chapter five, please.
I want you to watch this because there's
a great lesson here.
We'll read from verse one just to get
the proper connection.
And it came to pass that of the
people pressed upon him to hear the word
of God.
Now, it's been noted down through the years
that where the word of God has been
honestly expounded, you always get the people.
I believe that's what this class means.
I'm not much to look at.
I know that a long time ago.
And there are no trumpets blowing here, and
we sing too old-fashioned hymns, but here's
this place filled with people with a Bible.
You've come to hear the word of God,
dear, and I'm delighted that you do.
And no matter where you come from, or
what denomination you belong to, the word of
God is yours.
Never belong to the Baptists, you know.
Thank God for that.
It belongs to the saints.
And here is the Lord Jesus, and the
people pressed upon him to hear the word
of God.
He stood by the lake of Gennesaret.
That's the same lake.
It's Galilee.
Sometimes it's called Tiberias.
That's the Roman word.
Sometimes it's called Galilee.
That's the Jewish one.
Sometimes it's called Gennesaret.
Verse 2, And saw two ships standing by
the lake, but the fishermen were gone out
of them, and were washing their nets.
He entered into one of the ships, which
was Simon's, and prayed to him that he
would trust out a little from the land.
And he sat down and talked to the
people out of the ship.
And when he had left speaking, he said
unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and
let down your nets for a drop.
And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we
have toiled all the night, and have taken
nothing.
Nevertheless, at thy word I will let down
the nets.
And when they had done this, they enclosed
a great multitude of fishes, and here's a
wee word for it, under their bridge.
That's a terrible thing to happen to fishermen.
You know, I used to preach in Porto
Borghi for many years.
And I'd gone out at night with the
Porto Borghi fishing fleet, time and time and
time again.
Used to be seventy men on the fishing
fleet, and they had wireless that they could
talk to one another out at sea at
night.
And they used to take me out with
them to preach a message in the middle
of the night to all the fishermen.
It was a great delight, and I had
the great joy of seeing a great number
of them gloriously saved.
But you know, there is one thing that
really annoys a fisherman, and that is when
he loses his net.
You know, today a fishing net would cost
you about a hundred and twenty pounds.
He says, that's a bad night's work if
you lose the net.
And I feel that, in comparison, the nets
were just as dear then.
And to lose a net was something.
Now, something must have gone wrong here.
What went wrong?
Surely the Lord wouldn't break anybody's net.
Well, now, you watch it, and you'll find
out what went wrong.
Watch what the Lord said in verse four.
Launch out into the deep and let down
your nets.
There's a net there, N-E-T-S,
nets, for a dart.
And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we
have torn all the night, and have taken
nothing.
Nevertheless, if I were, I would let down
the net.
This told him to take the ass off.
Well, nobody told him.
He just did that.
Let me tell you this, dear.
If you take one letter out of that
book, you'll be the loser.
That's what the modernists are doing with some
of the translations.
They're taking wee bits out, and they'll be
the loser.
You take one letter from God's Word, and
you'll pay for it.
Let anybody take one word out of this.
And if you're in an old modernistic church
where the minister tears up the book of
Jonah, he says, we won't believe.
And the book of Genesis, and the book
of Daniel.
My dear young woman, get out.
Don't give your money and your support to
somebody who tears up God's Word.
Don't ask me to come here.
I'm just telling you to get out.
My, you'll be the loser.
And I'll tell you this, your children will
be the losers.
And if some of you who aren't supporting
these damnable modernists, you'll damn your children.
So get out.
That's what to do, get out.
For your children's sake, if not for the
Lord's sake.
Peter thought he was a big fellow.
He was a fisherman, he knew all about
it.
He'd been out, and he had toiled all
night.
He'd taken nothing, didn't like to upset the
Lord too much.
He said, nevertheless, I would have let down
the net.
How dare him?
If you read it carelessly, you would almost
think he was obeying the Lord.
Ah, when you've got bitter to God's Word,
you're not obeying the Lord.
My dear believers, watch what happened the moment
he let down the net.
It was enclosed with a great multitude of
fish and a bridge.
And oh, there were very humble men that
came in.
You say, are you sure that this exposition's
right?
My, I'm sure.
Watch this bit.
Look here.
Verse 7.
And they beckoned unto their partners which were
in the other ships, that they should come
and help them.
And they came and filled both the ships
so that they began to sing.
When Simon Peter thought he fell down at
Jesus' knees, saying, depart from me, for I
am a sinful man.
I am a man, a woman, that cuts
a bit out of God's Word, a sinful
man.
I'm not particular what he wears, my dear.
But if he cuts God's Word in pieces,
he's a sinful man.
Don't ever forget it.
Yes, Peter knew what he'd done there.
Now, John never forgot that.
Let's go back to where we were.
That's how he knew this was the Lord's.
You see, the same thing had happened, only
with this difference.
Now, watch it now, do you see?
Verse 6.
John 21, verse 6.
And he said unto them, cast the nets.
He didn't put any s in this time
at all.
Cast the nets.
The last time he said, cast the nets.
Let go your nets.
This time he's just saying, cast the nets,
making it easy for them.
Wonderful Lord, isn't it?
And it says in verse 6, they cast
therefore, and now they were not able to
draw up for the multitude of fishes.
Therefore, just because of that, that disciple whom
Jesus loved said unto Peter, this is the
Lord.
Oh, he knew it was the Lord.
Now, here's a lovely wee bit just down
here.
Let me pass by a verse or two.
I'll come back in a moment.
See, verse 11.
Simon Peter went up and drew the net
to land, full of great fishes.
And hundred and fifty and three, and for
all there were so many, yet was not
the net broken.
Well, if you do as you're told, you'll
not lose anything.
You see, this time it's the net.
And the Lord imposes the multitude of fishes
again.
When they're doing as they're told, the net
doesn't break.
See how carefully it's put in.
Yet was not the net broken.
Now, I'm not too sure about the hundred
and fifty and three, why the number's there.
It's not there just for fun, you know.
I shall try to make inquiries about this.
I'm going to visit the Sea of Galilee
in a few weeks' time, and I shall
try to make inquiries.
I've got a lot of inquiries to make,
and I want to know this.
I'm told by those who know best, that
in the Sea of Galilee there are one
hundred and fifty-three different kinds of fish.
I don't know.
I'm only taking that from those who know
better than me.
But if that is true, then this was
a mighty miracle.
The Lord got every one of them and
put them into the net.
And the rule of the net was full
of great fishes, yet it didn't break.
Now, if you're doing as you're told, you'll
never be the loser.
Do you think you'll lose something obeying the
law?
Well, God pity your mentality if you think
like that.
If you obey men, men, you'll be the
loser.
Wasn't there a tenderness in the manifesting?
Think of him taking the net to let
them see who he was.
That was the why, the way on which
he revealed it.
And this why?
He took the net.
Oh, if there's a tenderness in the visitation
of his children ashore, and there's a tenderness
in the investigation when he cried, children, how
do you know me?
There's a tenderness in the manifestation when he
took the net.
How wonderful is the law.
That's my law.
He just knows what to do to reveal
himself to you.
Now, there's a lovely wee bit here that
we need to notice.
I don't want to pass it by.
Verse 7, Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved
said unto Peter, it is the Lord.
Now, when Simon Peter heard that it was
the Lord, he kept his faithless coat unto
him, for he was naked.
Now, that naked is not in the absolute
sense, of course.
You see, these fishermen on Galilee, while working
with these great nets that they've got to
cast in around Churchill, they can't work with
these long eastern robes on.
So they simply take them off, and they're
wearing a loincloth.
But the moment that Peter heard it was
the Lord, and he's going to go onto
the shore to meet him, he put the
coat off.
There's a lot of them would need to
read this wee verse two or three times
over, because their preaching at the shores these
days were no clothes on.
They have no reverence for the Lord.
But Peter has.
He was a man, of course he was,
but he wouldn't go to meet the Lord
with no clothes on.
And some of his support sank to Pyrenees,
and stranded the beach with a bare back.
Well, Peter didn't.
And your books instruct you, you know, if
you're running a boat half-naked on the
shore, you have very little reverence for the
Lord.
But just let it, that's all.
Just let it.
So we bet for you.
You can see it, can't you?
Now, let's get the next bit in.
Verse nine.
And as soon then as they were come
to land, they saw a fire of coals
there, and fish laid thereon, and bread.
You know, that's lovely, isn't it?
That's preparation.
You know, the Lord knew all about them.
He knew that he had told them to
go to one of the mountains, and they'd
gone to the shore.
He knew that in disobedience they'd gone back
to the fishing.
He knew they'd been out all night and
disappointed and defeated.
And yet, in tenderness, he thought about their
physical state.
Oh, how lovely he is.
Wonderful Jesus.
He said, oh, yes, you've been out.
You've done the thing you shouldn't have done.
You've run all night in the cold.
You shouldn't have been there when a later
fire soared.
And there'd no fish.
But he got the fish, all right, and
bread.
Now, when this meeting's over, don't tell me
you young ones come and ask me where
he got the coals.
I don't know.
But it would teach me that there must
be coal somewhere about the Sea of Galilee.
The master who put all treasures in
the earth, he knew.
He could find them, all right.
And in the middle of the night, when
they had turned their backs on him, and
gone the way they shouldn't have gone, he
kindled the fire, and put the fish, and
prepared the bread.
Let me say this to you.
He was acting like a lord.
Don't you big fellas come home from your
work these nights cold.
And you know, he has the fire flaming
up for you, and the food on the
table, thinking about you.
And it was the man that wasn't playing
the game.
There was a tenderness in the preparation, wasn't
there?
Very lovely.
Now we are, I've already done verse, verse
11, look at verse 12.
Jesus says unto them, come and dine.
You know, that's invitation, isn't it?
I think there's a tenderness in the invitation.
You know, this is the last time that
we get the word come.
This gospel is saying come.
You see, he wants them back into fellowship
with himself again, that's the idea.
You know, the Lord just won't go on
with you out of fellowship.
And how very tender all this was.
Think of the tenderness in the visitation, how
he stood on the floor.
Think of the tenderness of the investigation.
Children, the enemies, think of the tenderness of
the manifestation when he used the old neck
over again.
Think of the tenderness of the preparation, he
built the fire.
Think of the tenderness of the invitation.
Come and dine.
You know, we were dealing last Sunday morning
in the church here, with the Church of
the Laodicea.
What a miserable crowd they were.
You remember how they, they were neither cold
nor hot.
Oh, they were not that cold, you know,
that they took themselves absolutely from the Lord.
Oh, no, no, no.
They were not that hot, but they gave
themselves absolutely to the Lord either.
Oh, no.
They were just lukewarm.
You know what they really were?
They were a bunch of hypocrites.
That's what they were.
And they could stand up and say, we
have needed nothing.
And the Lord had to look into their
eyes and said, thou art wretched for Jesus
to use to a believer.
Thou art wretched and poor and miserable and
blind and naked.
And when he put his finger on their
hypocrisy and put his finger on their poverty,
then he said, here I am.
I'm still standing beside you.
Open that door and let me take the
light.
And we'll stop together.
Isn't it the same thing?
Oh, he was standing at the door and
he's standing on his shoulder.
He says, come and die.
Come and let's put things right.
Come back into fellowship with me.
Come and let us stop together again.
Oh, there's no place so sweet as when
you sit at the table.
There was a tenderness in this invitation.
See verse 15?
So when they had dined, you know, they
got down into fellowship and they stopped together.
Now, when they had dined, Jesus said to
Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonah's, lovest thou
me more than thee?
This is an interrogation.
And I think there's a tenderness here.
You know, Peter was the one who said,
I'll go fishing.
Actually, he was to blame for taking all
these fellows into that night of disappointments.
And now when the Lord has put a
lot of things right, he's looking into his
eyes and he's asking one question.
He's interrogating Peter.
It's a powerful question.
He says, lovest thou thee, and the emphasis
is on the more, more.
It's a very hard question for exposition, mind
you.
There are three ways you can look at
it, and I'll tell you which one I
believe in the moment.
You see, he could look into the eyes
of Peter and he could say, lovest thou
me more than your lovely fellows that you
went away with.
Actually, I mean now, there is no difficulty
in the Greek there.
He could have said, do you love me
more than the fellows you ran away into
the night with?
Or he could have said, lovest thou me
more than these fellows love me.
And there is no difficulty in the Greek
there either.
And he could have said, lovest thou me
more than these fish, nets, boats.
And I believe that's the one he said.
I believe it was the lure of the
chain.
I believe it was the love of the
fishing.
I believe it was the touch of the
net.
I believe it was the old boat that
took Peter away from the Lord.
Do you love me more than these fish?
I wonder what's yours?
Oh, there are so many besetting things.
I've had so many confessions in my life
that I could sort out a string of
them now and it wouldn't be fair to
this congregation.
If anything that's confessed to me is a
secret forever.
But you just sort out the thing, the
thing that you love, the thing that grips
your heart, the idol in your life, and
let the Lord look into your eyes and
hear him say, lovest thou me more.
Mind you, he was getting down to the
spot now.
I honestly believe that the touchstone of Christianity
is this, when Jesus Christ looks into your
faith and says, lovest thou me more.
Mr. Mung, do you love me more than
the message?
Mr. Mung, do you love me more than
the doctrine?
I can say, praise the Lord, I do.
Mr. Mung, do you love me more than
the place?
Mr. Mung, do you love me more than
the crowd?
Eric Clark at the back there, do you
love him more than the crowd?
Oh, I could tighten up the whole congregation.
I could.
Oh, it would be possible for me, Dr.
Clark, more than possible.
You just sit down in your seat and
answer for yourself.
Lovest thou me.
And you know the word that our Lord
used there is the word for divine love.
And you can't see this in the English
at all.
Because Peter answered back in verse 15, he
said, yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love
thee.
And he used a different word when he
answered back.
There are two different Greek words.
The one the Lord used is, do you
love me with divine love?
And the one that Peter used is the
one for affection.
He says, you know that I have affection
for you.
He was afraid to use the other one.
And the Lord said, feed my lambs.
And I always like to think that when
he looked into Peter's eyes and said, feed
my lambs, and then again the next time
he said, feed my sheep, that if the
Roman Pope would just listen for a moment,
my he, he's the post of the following
people.
And he says the sheep belong to him.
Well, the Lord was teaching Peter something different
from that.
He thinks that all the lambs and all
the sheep belong to him.
He says they're mine.
The Lord says they're mine.
Very careful.
He says, Peter, feed my sheep.
Feed my lambs.
Look, friends, let's get this down to verse
16.
He says to him again the second time,
Simon, son of Junius, lovest thou me?
He says unto him, yea, Lord, thou knowest
that I have affection for thee.
He says unto him, feed my sheep.
He says unto him the third time.
It almost seems that he's putting Peter over
those very times when he denied him, three
times.
And Peter comes right out of the opening
here.
Peter was grieved, and the word there that
rendered grieved would have been better rendered touched.
It doesn't mean he got cross or was
angry.
It's a Greek word that means his soul
was stirred.
He was touched.
He was moved.
The master should not get into his faith
for three times.
Lovest thou me?
He was really touched.
He comes out in the open, and he
says, Lord, thou knowest all things.
Thou knowest that I love thee.
Jesus said unto him, feed my sheep.
I think there was a tenderness in that
interrogation, how lovely the Lord was.
Now, following that up very closely comes something
that's very important.
He says, verily, verily, I say unto thee,
when thou wast young, thou dreaded thyself, and
wanted whither thou wouldest.
But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt
set forth thy hands, and another shall judge
thee, sorry thee, whither thou wouldest not.
Let speak he signifying by what death Peter
should glorify God.
Now, this is a revelation, and it's a
very tender one.
You know what he's telling Peter?
He's telling Peter, you can't die young.
Oh, that must have thrilled Peter, you know,
in a certain sense.
He says, when thou shalt be old, and
when our Lord says, you shall be old,
you won't die young, you know.
You know, some of us, when we turn
to Acts chapter 12, and we find Peter
in prison, and Herod, Herod says, this very
night I'll bring him forth, and I'll put
him to death.
We find Peter fast asleep, and we say
he's not concerned.
He's just lying there like a dead sinner.
He doesn't know his danger.
It may be the old way round.
It may well be that Peter knew, or
he had come to me this way, for
the Lord says, I'll be old.
It may be that he believed the Lord's
word and went to sleep.
We should go slow in condemning.
You see, the Lord was telling Peter, when
thou art old, and he actually signified the
death, he says, another shall take me, and
stretch forth thy hands.
Just look at me on the platform, do
you see?
He says, another shall take me, and stretch
forth thy hands, signifying what death he should
die.
And Peter died on a cross, crucified.
And I'm told from historians that when they
were nailing him to the cross, he said,
don't just let me die like the Saviour,
turn the cross upside down.
And he died on a crucifix upside down.
But the Lord knew why he would die.
But where do we all you old ones
listening?
This said he, signifying by what death?
Listen to us.
Peter should glorify God.
Oh, what are you all worried about?
Do you not know that you can die
to the glory of God?
A lot of people get annoyed about that.
What's exciting?
Dear, you can die to the glory of
God.
Yes, you can, you know.
That's what Peter did.
He died to the glory of God.
Mind you, I've seen this on more than
one occasion.
Oh, I couldn't take this meeting through the
days that I've been.
But I sat one night, in the middle
of the night, beside a wee woman, and
she was dying with not two ounces of
flesh on her bones.
Her very bones were rattling.
And yet in that hour, when she couldn't
see and couldn't breathe, she was whispering, soon
I'll see his face.
Oh, I never, I came home and said,
I said to the Lord, Lord, if ever
I must die, let me die like that.
Dear friends, don't let the devil scare you
too much, you know.
You know what death is?
It's a passing out of this body, and
you enter into the presence of the Lord,
to see his lovely face, and to be
with him forever.
I went to see a sister in a
hospital some years ago.
She'd got cancer, through great lumps, and I
said to her, I said, I know what's
wrong with you.
She said, I know, I know.
I said, what am I going to do?
I said, well, as far as I understand
this oracle of death, my dear, this is
your last act of faith down here.
Oh, no more faith after that, you know.
That's the last act of faith.
I said, you should make it as bright
as you can, and from that little simple
word, you know, she got a grip of
it, and my friend, she just brightened up,
my sister brightened up, and she was determined
to die for the glory of God.
I'll tell you what happened.
You know, the Lord came in in the
middle of the night and removed the lump,
and she's still living yet, in spite of
all the professors of the day.
She's on the hospital floor again.
I'll let you learn lessons here.
Wasn't there a wonderful tenderness in this revelation?
He said, Peter, you'll not die young, you'll
die old, and you'll die for the glory
of God.
I said, and when he had said that,
he put this behind him.
Verse 19, This spake Jesus, signifying by what
death Peter should glorify God.
And when he had spoken this, he saith
unto him, Follow me.
Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom
Jesus loved.
There it is again.
John writes it.
Seeth John, following, which also leaned on his
breast at supper.
Now, make sure that it's John.
The one that said, Which is he that
betrayeth thee?
There's no doubt about it now that it's
John.
My, it's all there.
The one that Jesus loved, the one that
leaned on his breast, the one that said,
Which is he that betrayeth thee?
Peter, seeing him, saith to Jesus, Lord, and
what shall this man do?
Jesus saith unto him, If I will that
he die till I come, what is that
to thee?
Follow thou thee.
That word coming out like that is exhortation.
Do you know what he said to Peter?
You see, Peter was one of these fellows
who always got into trouble.
You know, just as soon as he'd got
this revelation from the Lord that he would
die old, and the Lord said, Follow me,
he turning around, he saw John.
He says, Lord, what will this fellow do?
Do you know what the Lord said?
In every day language, he said, You mend
your own prison.
Do you follow me?
What is that to thee?
They're always desperately fond of getting to know
what the other fellow said.
I know people, and they could tell everybody
in the world the will of God for
them, and they've never been able to find
out the will of God for themselves.
They knew to enter every...
Just mend your own prison.
But how tender it was to him.
He said, If I will that he die
till I come, what is that?
A wonderful book, isn't it?
A wonderful Lord.
Did you see the tenderness?
All there was a tenderness revealed in his
visitation.
He stood on the shore.
There was a tenderness revealed in his investigation.
He said, Children of the enemy.
There was a tenderness in his manifestation.
He used the nets.
There was a tenderness in the preparation, the
fire, the coal, the fish, the food.
There was a tenderness in his invitation, come
and die.
There was a tenderness in his interrogation, lovest
thou me.
There was a tenderness in his revelation, you'll
die all for the glory of God.
There was a tenderness in his exhortation, follow
me.
And twenty-one chapters, half lifted up before
us, the greatness of our Saviour, and the
tenderness of our Lord.
And is the great, tender, wonderful, muchless, marvellous
Christ stands before you tonight.
The last word in a great bouquet, follow
me.
May God bless you.
Let us pray.
Let us just be still.
We'll not say any more.
Precious Lord, we bow before thee.
We feel that thou hast searched us, and
touched us, and taught us, and moved us
this evening.
And as we lift our eyes of faith
to gaze upon the glory, and beauty, and
majesty that belongs to thee, Lord, draw us
through confession into fellowship with thee again, that
the whole world might know that we really
love thee.
And as we love thee, let us neither
fear death nor enemies, but let us follow
thee all the days of our lives.
Pass this meeting with thy blessing for thy
glory.