God Wants...Me?

It does give me great joy to be back in this pulpit to be able to serve the Word of God to you today. What a special time this is. It is hard for me to believe that it has been, as of this July the 1st, five years since I retired after 26 years, 26 and a half years as you're seeing your pastor and 45 years of full-time ministry, but it has been almost five years and it's hard to believe. We are so grateful that God has given us opportunities to serve Him and to preach His Word in many different places for different interim pastures and other lots of other churches in several states. We're grateful for that. I've always wanted to preach. I want to preach until that was my calling and that's what I want to do until I die before the Lord gives me the help and strength to do that. We are so grateful that He has given us that opportunity without all of the additional responsibilities of a full-time pastor. We just finished up an eight-month interim pastorate in Lewisburg, the first Baptist church of Fairleigh, the end of the year. And so since the first of the year we have been able to be here more regularly. It has been such a blessing to our hearts. There's so much that I see it here at Johnston Chapel that I love. I love the preaching and teaching ministry of pastor Dan. I love the ministry and being blessed by the ministry of all of our pastors. I love what I see here at the church happening and I love most of you. I probably ought to clarify that a little bit. I love every one of you that I had the privilege to serve in my time as one of your pastors, I look out and see so many faces that I'm not familiar with. And many of you have come into the church in the past five years and I have really not been able to be here consistently enough to get to know you, much less to come to love you. But that gives me another reason to love what's happening here at Johnston Chapel. I love seeing God continuing to grow His church and the church is growing and being blessed and I'm grateful for that. Again, I'm so thankful for Pastor Dan's faithful ministry. I love what I see there. I love what I see and the church as a whole and I'm so grateful for what God is doing. So I am deeply grateful to be here today. One of the most iconic images in American history is the Uncle Sam, I want you posters. You remember the elderly gentleman and the patriotic uniform with the stern look on his face and the bony finger pointed right at you, I want you. Those posters were used for recruiting for the army in World War I and World War II and they became one of the most iconic images in all of American history. Well, the death and burial and resurrection of Christ serves as God's statement to us, I want you. God wants you to be a part of His family and beyond that, God wants you to be a part of His work through His church. God does want you but the response of many when they hear that is this. God wants me. The resurrection of Christ which we celebrated last week, the resurrection of Christ shows us that His death was not the end. It was not the end of His life. It was not the end of His work on earth. In fact, it was a beginning. The death of Christ was not a period at the end of a sentence. It was a comma in the middle of a sentence which led to a new thought, a new work, a new effort, the church, which would be established in the book of Acts. But before the church was started, before that new work of God was begun, Jesus was here on earth for 40 days, after His resurrection before His ascension. And during that time, He met with many of His disciples. The Bible even says up to 500 at one time were gathered to meet with Him. And He instructed them as to what part He wanted them to play in this new work, the church. What I want to do this morning is to focus on two individuals and one couple that Jesus met with during those 40 days because I think those people represent people who wonder how God could ever love them, who wonder that God would ever want them and who doubt whether or not God could ever use them in His work. The first of those people is Thomas. Thomas's post-resurrection story is given to us in John chapter 20. So I invite your attention to John chapter 20 in your Bible this morning, please, where we find Thomas's post-resurrection story. If you have your place there in John chapter 20, I want to read verses 24 to 29. Now Thomas, also known as Dittamus, one of the twelve was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him we have seen the Lord. This was Jesus first appearance to his disciples. The evening of his resurrection in the upper room, Thomas wasn't there. So verse 25. So the other disciples told him we have seen the Lord, but he said to them, unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. A week later, his disciples were in the house again and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you. Then he said to Thomas, put your finger here, see my hands, reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe. Thomas said to him, my Lord and my God, then Jesus told him because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. This passage tells us that Thomas would not believe in a resurrected Jesus until he saw the proof. That's the very definition of a skeptic. Thomas represents the skeptic. Now there are many who are skeptics, but Thomas provides us of a wonderful example of a skeptic. Jesus had appeared to his disciples on the evening of the resurrection, but Thomas was absent. Why? Why wasn't he there? We might wonder. Well, we don't know. The Bible doesn't tell us why Thomas wasn't there. It really is not fair to him to begin to conjecture why he wasn't there. He surely was not fearful. He had plenty of courage. It was not for a lack of courage that he was with the disciples. After all, it was Thomas who in John chapter 11, when Jesus said, we're going to go to Jerusalem after Lazarus death and the disciples were trying to discourage Jesus because of all the intense opposition of the Pharisees by telling Jesus, we can't go to Jerusalem. Not now. It's too hot there. And it was Thomas who said, let's go with him and all die with him. So it was not like a courage, not for Thomas. You know, we all process grief differently. And maybe on that weekend of the death and burial of Christ, he just needed to be alone. You don't know. Maybe he just needed to be alone. But for whatever reason, Thomas was not there, getting credit for his honesty, however, with the disciples that, hey, I don't care what you guys tell me, unless I see it for myself, unless I can actually touch Jesus, I don't believe it. I'm not going to believe it, getting credit for his honesty. At least he expresses his doubt honestly, give him credit for still being there with the other disciples. Give him credit for not abandoning the disciples, for still showing up. The next week he's there, at least give him credit for that. What that says to me is he is an honest, skeptic with real serious questions. And how does Jesus respond to that kind of skeptic? An honest skeptic who has real questions, well, Jesus comes back the next week when he knows that Thomas is there. And after greeting all of the other disciples, he looks directly at Thomas. That's the reason for his visit this week. Is to be with Thomas and to give Thomas everything he needs all the evidence he has asked for. Have you ever noticed when you read this passage, how Jesus specifically addressed everything that Thomas questioned? Back in verse 25, Thomas said, unless I see the nail marks in these hands. In verse 27, Jesus says, see my hands. In verse 25, Thomas had said, unless I put my finger where the nails were in verse 27, Jesus said, put your finger here as he offers his hands for Thomas to see. In verse 25, Thomas had said, unless I put my hand into his side, I will not believe. In verse 27, Jesus says, reach out your hand and put it into my side. Whatever Thomas needed, whatever skepticism he had, wherever his doubts lay, Jesus answered every one of them. He answered all of Thomas's doubts. His words were gentle, but they were direct and they were convicting. And there's no evidence that Thomas ever touched Jesus. He simply exclaimed, humbly, my Lord and my God. Now maybe some of you here today would consider yourself a skeptic. There are many skeptics when it comes to the faith. And maybe you're one of those that you're just kind of here kicking the tires. You're checking out Christianity to see what it's really like. And you've got a lot of doubts and a lot of skepticism about what Christians believe. It's not impossible. There are some like that here this morning. Maybe you're skeptical about God. Is there really a God? Really? Maybe you're skeptical about the Bible. Is it really a revelation of God that's fully trustworthy? That really is trustworthy enough to be our authority for what we believe and how we're supposed to live? Is that really what the Bible is? Maybe you're skeptical about Christ. Was he really God? Was he really the son of God in human flesh? Maybe you're skeptical about his miracles. Surely there's some natural explanation for all of that. Maybe you're skeptical about his resurrection. Not sure you can really believe that. Maybe you're skeptical about other things. You have honest questions. And maybe your questions run something like this. If there is a God who is all powerful and all loving, then why is there so much evil in the world? If there really is a God, then what about all that evidence that I've heard about in my science classes for evolution? Maybe you're asking questions like this. Really aren't all religions basically the same. And you're telling me that your way Christianity is the only way to heaven? What about all those people who are just as sincere about their religion in places that have never heard the gospel? Maybe more sincere than many Christians. You're telling me they're not gonna be in, maybe those are your kind of questions. And you're really a skeptic. You have a lot of doubts or maybe my friend this morning, your questions are more personal. Like where was God when I needed Him? I prayed that my father still abandoned our family and I prayed to all of my heart, but my child still died. Don't tell me there is a God of love in heaven. Maybe those are the deep questions you wrestle with. Well, friend, you and Thomas were not the first skeptics about Jesus. Back in John chapter one, when Jesus was calling his first disciples, he called Philip and Philip went and found a friend, the Samuel, and said to Nathaniel, we have found the Messiah Jesus of Nazareth. You know what Nathaniel's response was? A Nazareth? Can't any good thing come out of Nazareth? He was skeptical about Jesus. And I love what Philip said to me. He didn't have all the answers to the Messiah coming out of Nazareth. He didn't maybe have even the knowledge that Jesus had been born in Bethlehem. Maybe he didn't know. He didn't have the answers. You know what he said? Come and see. And that's what I would say to you this morning. If you have doubts, if you would consider yourself a skeptic, come and see Jesus will prove himself to you. He will give you all the evidence you need if you simply come to him. There was one man who did that very honestly by the name of Lee Strobel. Lee Strobel, and I'm going to quote parts of his own testimony as recorded in a study Bible that I have, the apologetic study Bible. He says this, skepticism is a part of my DNA. That's probably why I ended up combining the study of law and journalism to become the legal editor of the Chicago Tribune. A career in which I relentlessly pursued hard facts in my investigations. And that's undoubtedly why I was later attracted to a thorough examination of the evidence, whether it be positive or negative, as a way to prove the legitimacy of the Christian faith. He goes on to say, a spiritual cynic, I became an atheist in high school. To me, the mere concept of an all loving, all knowing, all powerful creator of the universal sub-served on the surface that it didn't even warrant serious consideration. I believe that God didn't create people, but that people created God out of their fear of death and their desire to live forever in a utopia they called heaven. I married an agnostic named Leslie. Several years later, she came to me with the worst news I could imagine. He goes on to say she had become a believer. She'd become a Christian, and he immediately expected the worst. He said, I'm sure, we'll probably end up divorced. But what he saw instead was an amazing difference in his wife, as a woman, as a wife, as a mother. And when she kept inviting him to go to church with her, he finally relented, and he writes, I was still not convinced, I decided to investigate thoroughly. So I read and interviewed both atheists and Christians, scientists and theologians. I studied archeology, history, and world religions. I focused on science, particularly cosmology, physics, and biology. He says, however, the pivotal issue for me was the resurrection of Jesus. Anyone can claim to be the Son of God as Jesus clearly did. The question was whether Jesus could back up that assertion by miraculously returning from the dead. One by one, the facts built a convincing and compelling case. Jesus, death by crucifixion, is as certain as anything in the ancient world. The accounts of his resurrection are too early to be the product of legendary development. Even the enemies of Jesus conceded that he's too was empty on Easter morning, and the eyewitness encounters with the risen Jesus cannot be explained away as mere hallucinations or wishful thinking. He goes on to write, all of this just scratches the surface of what I uncovered in my nearly two-year investigation. Frankly, I was completely surprised by the depth, depth, and breadth of the case for Christianity. And as someone trained in journalism and law, I felt I had no choice but to respond to the facts. So it goes on to say I gave my heart to Jesus as my Lord and Savior. He would go on to write some 11 or 12 books, including the case for faith, the case for Christ, and the case for Easter. Are you a skeptic? Come and see, let Jesus prove himself to you. But you know, skeptics are not just in the side, or in the company of unbelievers. There are skeptics among believers too. And maybe some of you hear as Christians, you know Jesus as your Savior, but you have doubts. Maybe you doubt whether or not he keeps, really keeps all of his promises. Maybe you doubt whether or not he could really love you. Maybe you doubt whether or not he really has the power to work out that seemingly impossible situation in your life. Maybe you doubt his assurances of eternal life. Maybe you have other questions. I would simply say to you, like Philip said to Nathaniel, come and see. You know, doubt flourishes in isolation. So come, like Thomas, don't abandon the company of believers. Come where you can hear answers, and you can ask honest questions, and you can have your doubts and your skepticism addressed by people who love you. Come to this place and hear the word of God. And church, we must always be the kind of place that welcomes skeptics. Don't ever, when someone starts questioning certain truths of the Bible or cardinal aspects of the faith, don't ever, you wouldn't question that. You don't have, why would you have, don't ever do that? This ought to be a safe place in the company of believers for people to express their doubts. And for us, like Philip, and as Jesus did with Thomas, say here, are the answers. And if I don't know the answers, I love you enough to help you find them. Always be one who reaches out with love to skeptics. I would say to you this morning, if you're the skeptic, like Thomas, be willing to let Jesus prove himself to you. Be willing, and you will see that faith is more than answers to questions. Faith is a personal relationship with the God who loved you so much that he sent his son, Jesus, to die for your sins on the cross, to pay the penalty for all of your sin. Come and see, experience his love and his grace, and bow humbly before him as your Savior and your Lord. You may never understand all the complexities of the universe. You may never understand all the complexities of life. But you can have a personal knowledge of the God who loved you so much that he sent his son to die, be buried and be resurrected for you. If you are the skeptic, come and see. Then there was a couple. Secondly, who Jesus also met with early in his post-resurrection ministry, and that couple is the two Emmaus disciples. The two Emmaus disciples, their story, post-resurrection story, is given to us in Luke chapter 24. So I invite your attention out to Luke chapter 24. I believe this couple, these two disciples, represent the insignificant. And I put insignificant in quotation marks because nobody is really insignificant in God's sight. But there are many people who feel insignificant in their own sight, in their own eyes. But what this passage tells us in Luke 24 is that Jesus made time for two insignificant followers. If you're there in Luke 24, let's read just a few verses in beginning of verse 13. Now that same day, two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. This is the day of the resurrection, by the way. And in the context, it's the afternoon of the resurrection. So you know what they're talking about. They're talking about all that's happened the last three days in Jerusalem. Verse 15, as they talked, and discuss these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them, but they were kept from recognizing him. Now this is an absolutely fascinating story. I believe one of the most fascinating in all of the Bible. These two downtrodden, discouraged, depressed followers of Jesus are trudging their seven miles home toward Emmaus, and all of a sudden Jesus comes up behind them. Maybe he came in from a side road, maybe he just appeared, and they didn't see him, but he walks up to them, and he engages them in conversation. But they don't recognize him. Now don't misunderstand that. Jesus was recognizable for exactly who he was after the resurrection. He looked the same with the exception of the marks in his body. People recognized him easily, but for whatever reason, God kept these two from recognizing. Notice it says they were kept from recognizing him. I believe it was so that they could honestly and completely share the anguish of their hearts. So Jesus engages them in conversation. I love this conversation. He says, what are you discussing as you're walking along? He knows what they're discussing. He's God in human flesh. He knows what they're talking about, but he wants to hear them say it. And so they just stop, and their heads drop. It's almost as though they're saying, where do we even start? And so if I leave one of them named Cleopas asks him, are you the only one in these parts that doesn't know what's happened in these last three days in Jerusalem? And Jesus says, what things? Unbelievable. I mean, he is the one to whom all of those things have happened. Why did he say, what things? Why didn't he just start right in? I know what you're talking about. I know what things you're talking about. Look, who I am. I'm the one to happen to. Nobody didn't. He didn't. Why? I believe again, he wants to hear them express, get out the full burden of their hearts. And so he just lets them talk. And they pour it all out. We had hoped that Jesus of Nazareth would be the Messiah, they said, but the religious leaders arrested him and tried him and put him to death and all of our hopes have been dashed. We thought he was going to be the Messiah, but that's all gone. And today, even this morning, some of the women said they went to the tomb and it was empty. And some of them even said they saw him, but a couple of our disciples went to the tomb. They saw it was empty, but they didn't see Jesus. You can hear the despair in their hearts. And then finally, Jesus opens their hearts by doing a Bible study with them. He starts back with Moses and goes all the way through the Old Testament prophets, describing how the Old Testament showed that the Messiah must first suffer and then be raised from the dead. So he opens their hearts to the Scriptures and by that time, which must have taken quite a while, wouldn't you like to have been a part of that Bible study? Wow. After that, they are at the road that cuts off into a mess and Jesus is kind of just walking right along and they say to him, wait a second, wait a second. Wouldn't you come home and have the meal with us? It's late in the day, it's almost evening. Come home and have a meal with us. And so Jesus goes to their home. And as the meal is prepared, no doubt they are continuing to talk. And then as the meal is served, the Bible says that Jesus took some bread, broke it. Thank God for it and gave it to them. And maybe that's when God opened their eyes because it says they recognized him. So Jesus opened their hearts to His Word and their eyes to His person. And they rust back to Jerusalem where the disciples were gathered to tell their encounter with the risen Jesus. That's an amazing story. But you know what amazes me most about this story? We know so little about these two people. Only one of them's name, Cleopas. John's Gospel tells us that there was a woman named Mary among the women who were at the cross. And her husband's name was Cleopas. If Cleopas and Cleopas are the same person, and we don't know that for sure, but if they were, then possibly this was a married couple who had been following Jesus. The fact that they invited him into their home for a meal would seem to indicate that as well. But we really don't know. You know why? Because there's nothing said about them before this event. And there's nothing said about them after this event. There's no mention of them in the book of Acts. There's no mention of them being a strategic part of the early church. There's no mention of them at all. There's no mention of them in church history about what happened to them. No mention at all. They are what you would consider the insignificant. Not really the top layer of disciples, the top shelf of followers of Christ. And yet, Jesus spends significant time with them. Possibly hours. When you consider the walk, the going into the home, the meal being prepared, before they recognize who he is, possibly several hours. Don't forget, this is the day of his resurrection. He is just fresh from the glory of a resurrected, glorified body. He's fresh out of that victorious coming out of the tomb. And you know how I would write the story, probably how you would write the story. If we were charged with writing the script for a movie of this, where would we put Jesus? We probably would put Him in heaven, the centerpiece, the focus of a great celebration in heaven, as all of the angels proclaim glory to Him for His victory over death. And all of the Old Testament saints proclaim with joy that their hope of the Messiah who would certify that their sins had been forgiven in the past, he's done it. And their sins really are now forgiven. And to see the smile on the Father's face as he is satisfied with the glory of the work that His Son has done on the cross. That's probably where we would put Jesus in the midst of that celebration. Or maybe as we wrote the script, we would put Him with the 500 of His disciples, you know, just proving to them, showing to them who He is, and that He is alive, and that He's had victory over death, and the grave and sin. That's probably where we would put Him. Or maybe even with the 11 disciples, and He'll do all of that later, but before He does any of that, get this. He takes possibly several hours with two people we've never heard about till now, and we'll never hear about again. That blows my mind. I don't get that. I don't understand that. On Resurrection Day, we think of Jesus as the mighty God, the sovereign conqueror, the triumphant Savior, the glorified Lord. And yet, He is also the compassionate friend who wants His followers to pour out their heart, their anguish. He cares for them, He comforts them regardless of who they are, regardless of their so-called pecking order, place in the pecking order, or stature among the disciples, two people that we might think of as insignificant are the people of Jesus Jesus to spend the most time with on Resurrection Day. It blows my mind. But it also gives me hope. Do any of you feel insignificant here this morning? No show of hands. Probably a lot of us would raise our hands. Any of you feel insignificant, maybe because of a perceived lack of ability, or education, or financial standing, or societal connections, and you look around at other Christians and you think, I just don't have much to offer. Do you feel insignificant this morning, maybe because of past hurts, or disappointments, or even failures, and you look around at other Christians and you say, I just don't measure up. Do you feel insignificant, maybe because of past or present abuse that has left you feeling absolutely worthless, or maybe a past light so chock full of sin that you think you have nothing to offer God now? Do you feel insignificant? How could God even care about me? How could He want to help me? Much less want me to help Him in His work? How could He ever use me? Here's the answer to that question, my friend. The answer to that question is that it's all about Him and not about you. It's all about Him and it's not about me. You see, Jesus loves you. He cares deeply for you. You are special to Him. Not because of what all you have to offer Him, or how little you think you have to offer Him. That has nothing to do with it. Jesus cares about you, loves you, you're special to Him because of who He is. How did He comfort these two insignificant disciples on the day of His resurrection? By some kind of self-help message? Oh, I know you're not feeling very good today, but come on. Look up. The sun will be brighter tomorrow. You have it within you to do better and to look on the bright side of things. Be positive. Did He do that? No. He took them through the Old Testament. He showed them everything that related to Him. He pointed them to Him. So that's the answer. It's not about you. It's not about what you may have to offer or you think you may lack to give Him their hearts burned as they said. How He showed us in the scriptures how they pointed to Him. It's all about Him. Not about us. Those of you who have known me for years know that I was blessed to grow up in a loving Christian family, a godly family. My sister Jan and I both and our three other sisters. I had four sisters. Didn't I? Thank you for your prayers. We had a wonderful loving godly family. All five of us, myself and four of my sisters went to the same Bible college to train for ministry. And two of my sisters married pastors who are still in ministry today. My other two sisters married faithful men of God who together with my sisters have served God every place they've been in whatever church they've been at. I got to thinking about this one day that in our family. I don't say this boastfully. This is totally by the grace of God in our family with our five siblings. There is somewhere around 250 years aggregate of serving Christ. But that never would have happened at least probably never would have happened. Had it not been for a very meek quiet and mild mannered man named basal selfie. A man who worked on the railroad with my dad. And who faithfully witnessed to my dad until my dad came to know Christ. But my dad didn't know of any good churches. They were going to a church but they never heard the gospel. So it still may have never happened except for that person who invited my mother to sing at a revival meeting. My mother was very religious. My dad and mother both worked. The kind of religious people would never miss a Sunday in church but they never heard the gospel. But somebody and I don't even know who it was invited my mother to sing because she did a lot of singing in places. Singing in a revival meeting and the speaker at that revival meeting I think it was in a little church down near Oakvale or Nero somewhere in that area. The speaker at that revival meeting was Jimmy Jones. And my mother heard the gospel for the first time in her life clearly. She came home convicted and excited at the same time. And she told my dad I want to go to the church where I hear that guy's preaching. And that was their introduction to Johnston Chapel the late 50s somewhere around 1960. And that's how all five of us children heard the gospel and came to know Jesus. I shudder to think where we would be today if it weren't for that mild mannered quiet railroad worker. And that person who invited my mom to sing at that meeting. Don't ever think you are too insignificant for God to love you and want you in His family. And to want to use you in His work. Nobody is insignificant in His eyes. And then finally there is Peter. The final person that Jesus encountered that I want to deal with this morning for just a few moments. Peter represents the failure. His post-resurrection story is described for us in John chapter 21. So flip over a few pages in your Bible or scroll down a little bit on your phone to John chapter 21. You see Peter had miserably failed Jesus. And by the way all four gospels recorded. There are not a lot of events in Jesus' life that all four of the gospels record. Not just here Peter saying thank you Lord. You didn't want anybody to not notice this. Did you? All four gospels tell about my failure. And so it's there. It's there. All four gospels. Let me just summarize it for you quickly the night before Jesus died in the upper room. John 13. Jesus says to His disciples. All of you will turn against me. And Peter says Lord I will not. I would die for you. And Jesus looked him in the eye and said before this night is over before the rooster crows. You will deny me three times. Matthew's gospel said that they were on their way then from the upper room to the garden of Geth simile. And Jesus looks again at all the disciples and says all of you will forsake me this night. His heart was so heavy. And Peter once again spoke up and said even though every other one of these forsake you I will never abandon you. And Jesus looked him in the eye again and said before the rooster crows in the morning you will have denied me three times. And Peter for the third time boasts his loyalty and says I will never deny you. I will die for you. So three times in no uncertain terms he is voiced his loyalty to Jesus and yet then comes the arrest of Jesus in the garden. All of the disciples flee. Peter later finds himself in the courtyard next to the pavilion where Jesus is being tried and he's warming himself around the fire three times. He is asked. You want of his disciples? Don't you know him? And the first two times he says no I'm not one of his father. I'm not one of his disciples. And the third times third time he asks God to curse him if he's not telling the truth and says I don't even know the man. And at that moment Luke's gospel tells us Jesus turned and looked Peter in the eyes. I don't think it was a look of anger. I believe it was a look of love combined with sadness. And at that moment Peter was piercing his heart and the Bible says he ran out and wept bitterly. We don't know how long he wept was it all night? Was it all a Thursday? He is such a failure in his own eyes. Even though by the time John 21 happens Peter has seen Jesus at least twice maybe a third time the gospel say that he may have met with Peter separately on the day of his resurrection. So maybe three times he's already seen him but I'm confident he doesn't feel comfortable in the presence of Jesus. It's impossible to forget about his strong boasts. I will never abandon you. I'll never forsake you. I'll die for you. I would never deny you. It's impossible to forget that. It's impossible to forget that he did deny Jesus three times. The crowing of the rooster is still ringing in his ears. The look of Jesus is still embedded in his brain. He can't get out. He has an overwhelming sense of failure. No doubt he has asked himself every moment since that time. Am I disqualified from ever serving God again? Will I ever be restored? Well he's about to find out. In John 21 the Bible says that Peter had gone with six other disciples fishing and Bible students are this agree as to whether or not they were just going to go fishing for an afternoon or whether or not Peter had said there's nothing left for us with this disciple business. I'm going to go back into the business of fishing. We don't know for sure but he goes fishing and as they're fishing they toil all night. Haven't caught anything and they look under somebody on the shore and he's got a fire going there on the shore and he hodders out to them. And he caught anything and they say no. No. And he says put the net over on the right side of the boat and you'll catch fish and that's all of a sudden the clue. They remember that's exactly what was done when Jesus first called them to be disciples in Luke 5. And so John says it is the Lord and Peter doesn't even wait for him to bring the fish in because by now the fish are all over the place that they're bringing in Peter doesn't even wait for that. He pulls his cloak around him, jumps into the water, sets an Olympic 100 meter freestyle record as he gets toward the shore. And when all of the disciples get under shore Jesus has got fish and bread cooking on that fire and asks them for some more fish and he says let's have breakfast the first men's fellowship breakfast. And after they eat look at verse 15 when they finished eating Jesus said to Simon Peter Simon son of John do you love me more than these? Yes Lord he said you know that I love you Jesus said feed my lambs. Again Jesus said Simon son of John do you love me? He answered yes Lord you know that I love you. Jesus said take care of my sheep. The third time he said to Simon son of John do you love me Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time do you love me? He said Lord you know all things. You know that I love you Jesus said feed my sheep. Jesus confronted and restored Peter on this occasion. He confronted him with his failure. He confronted him with his sin and he restored him. Everything about this encounter is designed to remind Peter of his denials. Here they are gathered around a fire just like Peter was the night he betrayed Jesus. Jesus has something to give them. He is offering something to them just like through that look he offered love and sadness to Peter. Jesus on this occasion uses the name Simon which was his name before Jesus gave him the name Peter which means a strong rock. And then he asks him do you love me more than these possibly pointing to the other six disciples after all that's what Peter had boasted right? So all these others abandon you and do not I never do it I'll die for you I don't care. All these other guys can do what I'll die for you. Peter do you love me more than these and three times he asks him the question do you love me? Just like three times Peter had denied him. So everything here is engineered to remind Peter of his failure you know sometimes God is mercifully brutal. It is mercy sometimes he deals very harshly with us why? Because he knows that we will never be what he wants us to be. Unless we recognize our sin our failure see what we have done see how sinful we are and confess it to him. And Peter did Peter was honest the first two times Jesus asked him do you love me he used a word that meant to give everything up sacrificially for me and Peter couldn't boast that Peter couldn't say that so he used a word and answering Jesus yes I love you. That simply means I love you with the love of a friend. The third time Jesus asked him he used Peter's word I think that maybe one of the reasons why Peter was greed that Jesus asked him that way. It's almost as though Jesus was saying Peter I can see now you no longer any boast about you. There's no longer any claiming with all of your power that you'll do whatever from there you'll get there's no more confidence in you Peter you're being honest with me you can only say that I love you like a friend so Peter I'm just going to ask you for whatever you've got. Whatever you've got right now I'll take but I will forgive you and I will restore you because three times he said take care of my lambs and feed them. You know why I take such comfort from that passage because we are all failures in need of restoration we are now that may sound harsh but think of some of the greatest servants in all the world. Think of Abraham who is used more than anyone else in the New Testament as the example of faith by the Apostle Paul and yet on two occasions Genesis 12, Genesis 20 whenever they went into some area not their own home area Peter Laerced Peter Abraham lied about his wife Sarah said she's my sister which was a half truth but still the intent was to deceive and lie lie about his sister and the second time in Genesis 20 when he explained to him that he was a liar. He said oh we have an agreement that whenever we go somewhere that's not our home territory that's what we do so this probably happen more than twice. What an allocophate and God could call him the man of faith. Think of Moses God called him the meekest man and all the earth in the book of Deuteronomy and yet on four separate occasions that we know of that are recorded in the Bible Moses lost it. He lost his temper and in anger struck out and God called him the meekest man and all the earth. Think about David God calls David a man after my own heart and yet we all know about the immorality with Bathsheba. You might say well God called him the man after his own heart before he did that but what about afterwards in Psalm 78 written by ASAP, not David. After David's life ASAP says about David he ruled Israel with integrity of heart. How could God call him a man after my own heart a man of integrity after what he did. Have you ever read Hebrews 11? I'm sure you have. Dan took us through a study on that on Wednesday nights. Have you ever noticed some of the people in there, Barrett, who was so timid he wouldn't lead the armies of Israel in judges and Deborah had to do it? Didian who lacked confidence in the Lord's promise that he was going to use him and tested God by saying prove it to me. I'll put this lease out and make it wet and in the office of the next one. Didian, Sonson who obviously had a problem with lust and yet they are lauded in the hall of faith in Hebrews. How could God do that? There's only one word to explain it. Grace, God's grace. Because when you own up, when I own up to the fact that we've failed, we've sinned, and we come honest with God like Peter did. God in his grace forgives us and restores us to be used by him. So if you consider yourself the failure, recognize that as with all these other people in the Bible, if you come clean with God, God will not define your life by your failure. He will define your life by the overall direction of your life, just like you did David, Abraham and Moses and Barrett and Gideon and Samson, the overall direction of your life. And by his grace, he will forgive you and restore you. Maybe you failed in some of the ways they did, deception, anger, immorality, undisciplined behavior, fear, doubt, or maybe you failed in some other way. Allow him to confront you. It will be uncomfortable. Allow him to forgive you and allow him to restore you. So what's the takeaway this morning? The takeaway is this, don't let your skepticism and your doubts define you, come and see, and let Jesus answer all of your objections and fill you with resurrection life and confidence. Don't define your life with feelings of insignificance. Let him fill you with a hope that is focused on him, not you. Don't let your failure define you. Be honest with God about it and allow him in his grace to wrap his arms of forgiveness around you and restore you to be used of him. Why? Because God really wants you in his family and God really wants you in his work of the church to serve him. Father, thank you for these examples in your word which give us such hope. Father, fill our hearts with resurrection hope, with resurrection life and confidence, not in ourselves, but in you. We are all such weak people. Our desire and heart to follow you is so scarred by our own selfishness and sinfulness. We thank you for your grace. I pray for your grace to reign in the heart of every person here this morning. If any do not know you, save your Lord that they will come to know Jesus today. If any are in need of forgiveness, to own their failure, to put their eyes on you rather than themselves to overcome insignificance, I pray Father, they will look to you today in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.