When you work in a profession where the majority of your clientele are very elderly people, you're prone to see very interesting things. One of the most interesting moments when I worked at an eye clinic was, it was at the end of the day, and we were wrapping up the last two or three patients, and out of nowhere, you just hear this loud boom. And so we start looking around, seeing where the noise came from, And as we walked past the accountant's office, what we saw was this young lady staring at the wall in shock, and all the bricks had been pushed in. And so, you already know what happened. And so we walked out, and what we saw was a sweet 80-something-year-old woman who drove her car into the clinic. She was in the parking lot waiting for her friend to get done with her appointment and instead of putting the car in reverse, she accidentally put it in drive. And when the doctor asked her if she was okay and if anything was hurt, her response was, I'm okay, but the only reason this saddens me is today is my birthday. Yeah, worst birthday of her life probably. And so she reached out to her insurance company and They showed no mercy. She was held liable for everything, the damage on the car, the damage on the building. And when you look at that, you saw someone who made a big mistake and no mercy was shown. We're gonna look at a story where we see Peter in the exact same situation, except he's shown an overwhelming amount of grace and mercy. Turn with me to John chapter 21. at the very end of John's Gospel. And we're going to look at verses 15-19, and we're going to be looking at two observations concerning Peter's restoration and commission as a pastoral martyr. two observations concerning Peter's restoration and commission as a pastoral martyr, and my goal is that in light of all of our past, present, future failures, that you see the redemptive power of Christ's grace and mercy. The text, starting at verse 15, it says, So when we had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? And he said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And he said to him, tend my lambs. He said to him a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And he said to him, shepherd my sheep. He said to him a third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? And Peter was grieved because he said to him a third time, do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. And Jesus said to him, tend my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you that when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished, but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you and bring you where you do not wish to go. Now this, he said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he spoke in this, he said to him, follow me. This is the word of the Lord. See, the trap we often fall into is when we make mistakes such as Peter did, we are overwhelmed with shame where this leads us to isolate ourselves. It leads us to avoid approaching the throne of grace where we just stop praying. We punish ourselves and we end up just ceasing to serve Him altogether. And the reason whenever you see a Christian fall into this trap is always the same. It's that we are failing to realize the redemptive power of the cross. We're failing to realize the mercy that Christ has demonstrated through His sacrifice. And as we look at this text today, verses 15 through 19, we're going to see a glimpse of Christ's divinity. His love, His mercy, His compassion. And we're gonna see just how transformative the redemptive power of the cross is. Now, as we look at the Gospel of John, out of every gospel in the Bible, this is the only evangelistic book. The purpose in John 20 verse 31 is, he says, but these things have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. The whole purpose for John writing this gospel is so that you may believe. And because that is the main purpose, you're gonna see the word believe heavily used all throughout this letter. So when you look at the Gospel of Matthew, he uses the word believe nine times. When you look at Mark, he uses it 15 times. When you look at the Gospel of Luke, the book Pastor Rob is currently preaching through, he uses it 10 times. Guess how many times John uses it? 85 times. Right, so this is a big deal for John. He wants to push this. And when you, because that is the purpose of this letter, every chapter that you read throughout this gospel, it's gonna say something about who Christ is. Because it's trying to get you to believe that he is the son of God. And as we were in this section right here, what we have is a picture of a sheep who just broke his own leg. Out of his own prideful arrogance and self-confidence, he had injured himself. And what we see is the perfect shepherd gently restoring the sheep and calling him to follow him. And so to recap as a broad overview of this book, the first 12 chapters of John, it's emphasizing Jesus's miracles and teachings that point to him being the Messiah, his messianic calling. And the second half of this book, chapters 13 through 21, it's focusing on the hour of Jesus's crucifixion and also his resurrection. Now, I want you to think about the weight of this, because as you look at the entire letter of John, we see the entire three-year ministry of Jesus, and most of it is just glossed over. Where the first half of this book, the first three years of Jesus's entire ministry is quickly glossed over, and the entire second half of the book is focused on that one hour of his life. That one hour when Jesus was dying on the cross, that is the most crucial hour in all of humankind, all of history. And as we're in this chapter, chapter 21, this is the epilogue. This is John coming to a close in his letter. And now just prior to the account that we are currently in, when you look back at John chapter 13, we see Jesus telling Peter and his disciples about how he's about to go and they can't follow him yet. And what we see is Peter and the other disciples, they're filled with sorrow. They're filled with anguish. They're depressed over this. Here's the perfect God-man who's been pouring himself into these disciples for three years, and now he's saying, I'm about to leave. And Peter says, why can't I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you. And it's there that Jesus tells him that you're gonna deny me three times. You can't follow me yet. And then we know how the story ends. But before you are too quick to judge Peter and his self-confidence, I want you to keep your finger here, but look at John chapter 18. So this is as Judas had just betrayed Jesus. And look at where verse three describes the scene as. Verse three, it says, Judas then having received the Roman cohort and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. Now look at what Peter does in verse 10. Simon Peter then having a soul, drew it and struck the high priest slave and cut off his right ear and the slave's name was Malchus. So we look here, there was a degree of truth in what Peter was saying. There's an entourage of men with weapons, and Peter, he defends Jesus with his sword. And we eventually see that what Satan uses to make him fall isn't a Roman cohort with weapons, but a little servant girl who causes him to deny him. Where, as Jesus is reprimanded, as he is taken into custody, Peter begins to follow, but he follows from a distance. And then he runs into that servant girl who questions him on asking, are you a disciple of Christ? He says, no. And then a couple other people ask him. He says, no. And then a third time, someone interrogates him and he says, no. And it is during that time that we see Jesus crucified. where just earlier in the book, chapter 12, we see the same God, the same man God, who has large crowds surrounding him, shouting, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the king of Israel. And now chapter 19, he has large crowds around him, but what are they crying? Crucify him, crucify him. And it's here that we see the king of kings slapped, flogged, crowned with thorns, and the soldiers mock him by throwing a purple robe on him. And then we see the same God-man who just in chapter two, in the very beginning of this letter, turned water into the best wine that the head waitress ever tried. And now he's hanging on a cross drinking sour wine. And then three days later, he's resurrected and he appears to Mary who clings to him. And then he appears to the disciples who Thomas is missing in that first appearance. And when the disciples see Jesus, they are rejoicing. And then eight days later, Thomas still doesn't believe him. And then Jesus appears to the disciples and Thomas, and now everyone's rejoicing. And then as we get to today's text, we see the third appearance of Jesus to his disciples, the last appearance he made to them. where all the way back in verse one of chapter 21, we see it start off with Peter and all the disciples going on the boat, and they go back to the old profession, where they start fishing. They fish all night, and there's nothing there. They spend all night on the ocean, and they don't catch a single thing, and then the next morning, they see a stranger come up who tells them, cast your nets on the other side. And they do that, and they catch 153 fish. Now one thing, just a quick rabbit troll, don't put too much symbolic meaning on 153 fish. I saw on YouTube someone make an 18-hour video series on what that means, 153 fish, and when you look at the titles, you saw the quadratic equation, the Pythagorean theorem, and then 666, and there's no symbolic meaning behind that. The key takeaway is they just saw a miracle. They saw Jesus testifying to his deity. And so what does Peter do? He instantly recognizes Jesus. He jumps off the ship into the ocean and swims to Jesus. And then they have a meal. They have breakfast together. I want you to think about how beautiful this scene is. The fact that Jesus is eating a meal with his disciples who just scattered. Keep your finger here, but turn to John chapter one, and I want you, as we have just looked at how this letter ends, look at how John begins his letter. Verse one, it says, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. And then as you get to verse 14, It says, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory and the glory as the only begotten from the father, full of grace and truth. So the letter begins with talking about how Jesus was with the father and attorney. He's God, this is the king of kings. And then at the very end, you don't see a king sitting at his table being waited on by his servants. You see a king making breakfast for his disciples. You see Jesus in flesh dwelling with his people, being God. And what you see here is a fulfillment of what the prophets have been testifying to for thousands of years. When you look at the prophets, there's three promises that are constantly being drilled into us, where God is promising, I will be your God, you will be my people, and I will dwell with you. And now we have a beautiful picture of what that looks like, and this is gonna be what heaven's like, where we are eating a meal with Christ at his table. And so that leads us to our first point, point one. The first observation concerning Peter's restoration and commission as a pastoral martyr is that Christ commissions him to shepherd his sheep. that Christ commissions him to shepherd his sheep. That's point one. Look at verses 15 through 17 with me. So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? And he said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And he said to him, tend my lambs. He said to him again a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? And he said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, shepherd my sheep. He said to him a third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? And Peter was grieved because he said to him a third time, do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you. And Jesus said to him, tend my sheep. I don't want us to gloss over the first part of this in verse 15. Look at the timing of this conversation. It says in verse 15, so when they had finished breakfast. Now I want you to keep in mind, this is the first time Jesus Christ is bringing up Simon's failure. This is the first discussion they're having on his denial. Jesus appeared to them already two times before, he never brings it up. And when you do the math, this has been over eight days since Jesus' resurrection, and this is the first time they're actually talking about the issue. This is the wisdom of how Christ shepherds his people. He knows the exact time to bring up our failures and to address them. And when you think about what Jesus has done, well, I want you just to think about this. Imagine you being in Peter's situation, where eight days went by and you still never addressed the issue, and now you just ate a meal with the one that you denied. You would be flooded with thoughts on, should I apologize? Is he gonna bring it up? Should I bring it up? Are we just gonna forget about it? And I want you to think about what Christ has done for Peter prior to him even bringing this up. When you look at John 17, right after Jesus tells Peter that he's gonna leave and he's filled with anguish and says, I want to follow you, I will lay my life down. Even when Jesus says, truly, truly, you are denying me, what does he immediately do after that for Peter? He floods him with encouragement. When you look at that second part of John 17, a lot of that encouragement is directly applied to Peter. And so Christ floods Peter with encouragement prior to Peter's sin and failure. And then what is Jesus Christ's first words out of his mouth when he sees Peter and the disciples? Peace be with you. Peace be with you. And then the second time he pierced him, what's the first words out of his mouth? Again, peace be with you. There is no resentment. All those sins that have been committed by Peter have been nailed to the cross. And then Christ makes him breakfast. And so what Jesus has done is eight days have went by since they even, of just silence on this issue, and Jesus has allowed Peter time to meditate on his failure. has allowed him time to think about it, to meditate on it, and the whole time, Jesus has saturated Peter with love and encouragement. This is what it looks like for the perfect shepherd to do painful surgery, where right now, what you see Jesus doing is he's surgically removing the tumor of self-confidence and pride out of Peter. And that's gonna be what equips him to do what Jesus calls him to later on. I remember years ago, at my old church, I went to a small group, and as I'm at my old pastor's house, he had a three-year-old son. We call him D3. He was the cutest kid you would ever see. Very, very active, to say the least. And in this house, they had a very unstable table, and this kid, what he would regularly do was he would jump on the table and just start dancing on it. Right? And so one day we were having a small group at this house and the son jumps on the table and what do all the moms do? They immediately get up and they want to catch the kid. They want to pull him off the table. And what you saw the father do was he said, no, we've been telling him all week to stay off that table. He needs to learn. Ten seconds later, bumps his head, falls, starts crying. And the father, without hesitation, jumps up, grabs him, gives him a big bear hug, kisses him, grabs his hand, and puts it against the table and says, no, no, no, no. That's what it looks like when Christ is teaching us through our failures. He's gentle, he's kind, he's merciful, but he's firm. Thomas Watson says this about Peter's failure. and the way he came into temptation from Satan. He says, when Satan foils a saint by temptation, he cures him of his careless neglect. He makes them watch and pray more. When wild beasts get over the hedge and damages the garden, a man will make his fence the stronger, so when the devil gets over the hedge by a temptation, a Christian will be sure to mend his fence. He will become more fearful of the sin and careful of duty. Thus, the failure of the saint works for the good." Meaning, because of what Christ has done for the cross, everything works for the good of the believer, even our own failures. where Christ uses our own failures to cure us of our careless neglect, he uses it to strengthen us and to make us more vigilant, and ultimately he uses it to drive us deeper into his arms. And so Jesus, as he's addressing Peter and doing this surgery on him and helping him, he starts off by asking a three-fold question. Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? And the whole time what we see here is the perfect shepherd recreating the scene of Peter's denial. Where if you remember, Peter denied him a round of fire, he denied him three times, and now where are they at? The round of fire is reaffirming his love for him three times. Now, one thing I need to clarify, this is my biggest, biggest pet peeve whenever someone is talking about this text. people make a big deal out of two Greek words, agape and phileo. So when you look at this text in the Greek, when Jesus is asking Peter, do you love me, he uses the word agape, do you agape me? And every time, Peter's response is, I phileo you. And the way people claim these words to mean is agape love is this deep, affectionate love you have for someone. And then the phileo love is just this, I kind of like you. And so the way people often present this text is, Jesus is saying to you, agape me, but Peter is so broken over his sin, all he can say is, I like you. I used to believe that, and then I took first semester Greek. These words, agape and phileo, are used interchangeably all throughout John and all throughout the Bible. You see Jesus' love for Lazarus used interchangeably with these words. You see the Father's love for Christ used interchangeably with these words. These words mean the exact same thing, and the only reason John is alternating between these terms is stylistic variation. is to keep things interesting. It's the exact same reason Jesus says, tend my lambs, shepherd my sheep, and tend my sheep. He's saying the exact same thing, just in different ways. So that being said, if I ever hear someone here make a big deal out of agape or filet, I will rebuke you. I would be gentle, but I will say something. And so, as we look at verse 15, I want you to think about the weight of the question Jesus is asking Peter. So verse 15, he says, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? And one question we're gonna ask is what is Jesus referring to? When he says more than these, what is he speaking of? He could be talking about the bread and the fish that they just ate, where he'd done this massive miracle where now there's this influx of food, where he's saying, do you love me more than this food? Or he could be pointing out the other disciples, where he's saying, Peter, do you love me more than these disciples? Because if you remember in Matthew, the account, how does Peter respond when Jesus says he'll deny him? Everyone else may deny you, but I won't. Originally, I believed that Jesus was referring to the disciples when he said this, until two days ago, when I found out I was going to preach from this text. I believe Jesus is referring to the bread and the fish, and here is why. For one, John never mentions Peter's remark about everyone else may follow you, but I won't. That's in Matthew. We're not in Matthew. I'm not gonna allow Matthew's gospel to affect how I'm interpreting John's gospel. But the big reason is, look at verse 13. So Jesus had just done this miracle where he multiplies the fish, and then we see this phrase in verse 13. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them and the fish likewise. Now, I want you to think about, as we are in John, when's the last time we saw Jesus multiply the fish, and when did we see a phrase like this? It was when the group of 5,000 came to Jesus. So keep your finger here, but turn to chapter six of John, and look at verse 11. where we see a very similar phrase used. Chapter six, verse 11, it says, And now you think about what happens in this account is you have a group of 5,000 people who are following Christ, but deep down, they just love the fish. They just love the food. Jesus rebukes them, he calls them out, and what do they do? They stop following him. Now think about what Peter did. He followed Jesus for a little bit, but then he denied him. And so you think about what Jesus is asking here. It's almost as if he's saying, Peter, the crowds who rejected me love the bread more than I. Which one do you love? It's a weighty question. Peter is remembering this whole situation as he's being asked this. And how does Peter respond? Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Two times. And we know that this is true because look at what John says earlier in this chapter. Look at verses seven through eight. Now I want you to compare how Peter responds versus the other disciples when they see Jesus. So they had just caught the 153 fish. In verse 7, it says, therefore, that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, it is the load. So when Simon Peter heard it, that it was the load, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work and cast himself into the sea. But look at what the other disciples do in verse eight. The other disciples came in the little boat, for they were not far from the land, but about 200 cubits, and they were dragging the net full of fish. So what you saw was Jesus just brought this huge amount of fish in, and Peter doesn't care about these fish. All he cares about is getting to Jesus. He jumps up, off the ship, goes to Jesus. But what did the other disciples do? They focused on the fish. And so when Peter is saying, I love you more than these, he is being genuine. And John wants us to know that. And so Jesus asks him a third time, do you love me more than these? And he is grieved at this point. He's remembering the third denial he gave to his savior. It's like a scab that just reopened for him from his failure. Now I want you to think of, I want you to keep this in mind. Keep your finger in chapter 21. But turn all the way back to chapter two, near the beginning of this gospel. Chapter two, and I want you to look at verses 24 through 25. It says, but Jesus on his part was not entrusting himself to them, for he knew all men. And because he had no need that anyone bear witness concerning man, for he himself knew what was in man. So think about what John's saying. He's saying because Jesus is God, he doesn't need anyone to tell him what's in man's heart, what they're thinking, who they are. And what did we just see Jesus do for Peter? He's asking him to testify about his love three times. Peter, do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? Jesus didn't need to ask him this. He already knew it. And when you look at John, Right after he made the statement that Jesus, because he was God, doesn't need anyone to testify what's a man, what's the very first thing that happens after that? Jesus runs into Nicodemus, a guy who seems very well-behaved, he seems to be a fanboy of Jesus' club, and Jesus sees right through him. He calls him out and says, you need to be born again. And then what happens right after Nicodemus? He runs into the woman at the well. where he sees right through her. He knows all about those men in her life, all about those five husbands. And then after that, he sees the crowd of 5,000 who are following him. They seem committed, but he sees right through them. He knows that they only want the bread, not him. And now we're at the very end of this letter, and we've looped all the way back around where he knows what's in Peter. He knows his love for him. And what we have here is a demonstration of Jesus being God, his deity, his omniscience. And when you look at how Peter is responding to this, all sense of self-confidence and pride and self-assurance is stripped from him. God has used his failure to humble him at this point. Keep your finger here, but turn back to John 13, and I want you just to look at how he was prior to his mistake. John chapter 13, and look at verses 36 through 38. Verse 36, it says, Simon Peter said to him, Lord, where are you going? And Jesus answered, where I go, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow later. And Peter said to him, Lord, why can I follow you right now? I will lay down my life for you. And Jesus answered, will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny me three times. And so you look at that situation, and what you saw was an apostle, who thought he knew himself better than Jesus did. Where Jesus told him what he would do, he told him he would deny him and said, you cannot follow me yet, and what does Peter do? Well, I know I'm not gonna deny him, I know what I'm like, and he follows him anyway, and then immediately denies him. And so now Peter is at a point where as Jesus is asking him, do you love me, he's no longer even appealing to his own knowledge of self or his own assurance of his love, he's appealing to Christ's knowledge of him. And it's almost like Peter is saying, Lord, in the same way you knew that I would deny you and fail you, you know that I love you. And that's how we should respond. I mean, you know, the one temptation that we often have is we fail Christ and we fall into this crippling state where we start second guessing all of our motives, all of our heart, where we become so introspective And what it turns into is that we're not content with God knowing our hearts, we have to know it. And at that point, you just have to rest in the fact that Christ knows your hurt. Even though you fail him, even though you messed up, if you are a Christian, Christ knows your love for him. Now I want you to notice what Peter does not do with this whole situation. You don't see a man who's trying to earn Christ's forgiveness. You don't see him doing an act of penance. You don't see someone who is trying to prove or argue his love for Christ. You don't see someone who's punishing himself for his failures. And here's the crazy thing. You don't even see someone who is making a verbal repentance. I mean, you look here, where do you see Peter actually verbally apologize? You don't see that right here. but you see his heart of repentance. You see those fruits. And what you do see is maybe not someone who is punishing himself or earning God's forgiveness or trying to earn brownie points with Christ. You see a man who is filled with joy when he sees Christ. A man who's on the boat and he sees the Christ who he just failed recently, miserably, And he's overflooded with joy. You don't see someone who's self-pitying. You don't see someone who's wallowing in despair over his failures. You see someone who just loves Christ. And he jumps in the ocean and he eats a meal with him. And it's interesting, because when you look at Luke's account of how Peter responds when he first sees Jesus, what does he say? Lord, depart from me, for I am a sinful man. And we see this exact same sinful man jumping off the boat and running to Jesus and eating breakfast with him. We see no shame. We see no hesitancy of knowing that you can go to your Savior. And so we have to ask ourselves is what was it that made, that drove Peter to do this? When so often we fall in the trap of isolating ourself or avoiding prayer when we make these mistakes, what is it about Peter that makes him willing to go to Christ? And the answer is 1 John 4, 18. Where John, the same one who is right with Peter on this boat, watching this whole situation, I honestly don't doubt that as John is about to write this verse, he's recalling Peter right here in this situation. Where John says, there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfect in love. So what does that mean? That means the more you love Christ, the more you cherish Christ and see him for who he is, you're not gonna be afraid to approach him. When you make the biggest failures of your life, you can approach him full confidence and you can jump off that boat and run to him. And the only way you're gonna grow in your love for Christ is by growing your knowledge of his love for you. When Peter is at this point, all throughout this gospel, we see Peter and the disciples, they're seeing all these miracles, they're seeing these signs, they're hearing Christ quote scriptures, but they don't understand it. They don't understand the scriptures, and then, when Christ appears to them, he breathes the Holy Spirit on them, and now it clicks. Peter is, he understands what Christ has done. He understands who he is on a deeper level. And Jesus, in response to to Peter's claim of loving him affirms what he is saying by telling him to tend to his lamb, shepherd his sheep, tend to his sheep. Now I want you to think about what does it mean for someone to shepherd Christ's sheep? What are they doing when they shepherd? They're loving the sheep. They're loving the old sheep, the young sheep, the stinky sheep, the sheep that bite. The sheep that are very awkward to be around, they are loving sheep regardless of who they are because they are Christ's. They're banishing the wounds of the sheep who've been hurt. The sheep who fell in ditches and hurt themselves, they are encouraging the sheep who are in the middle of the valley of the shadow of death. They're protecting the sheep from wolves, from harm, from bad decisions. And the shepherd is willing to die for the sheep, which is exactly what we see Christ do. And the sheep that Christ is telling Peter to shepherd are not just anyone's sheep. He says, shepherd my sheep. The most valuable thing for Christ, he is now placing in the stewardship of this apostle who failed him. The sheep who were bought by the precious blood of Christ are now being put in the stewardship of the one who scattered when his shepherd was taken. And so why is it that Christ is restoring Peter when he can easily just replace him? I mean, you think about Peter just messed up big time. Christ easily could've just replaced him. He could've fired him from his apostle office and got someone else, but why does he choose to keep him? And I would say there's two big reasons. The first reason is that Christ loves to redeem the failures of man. Christ loves to show the redemptive power of the cross by showing how transformative it can make all failures and mistakes and use it for something good. I mean, there are people who have gotten abortions in the past, and then Christ has saved them, and guess what they're doing now? They're on the front lines of abortion ministry, saving thousands of lives. There are people who have lived their entire lives as drunkards and enslaved to just meth and cocaine and all these drugs, and those are often people that God uses to minister to other ones like that. Christ takes a man named Paul who is murdered and persecuted thousands of his sheep, and he makes him into one of the greatest pastors we see in the New Testament. And so the first reason I would say Christ is choosing to redeem Peter is because that's who Christ is, he's a redeemer. But the second reason we see in Ephesians chapter two, keep your finger here, but turn to Ephesians chapter two. Ephesians chapter two, and look at verse 10. It says, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. So you look at Peter, and what is the good work that God has prepared beforehand for him? It's to shepherd his sheep. Here is the glorious truth for Christians who have been redeemed by the cross, is that when God has prepared a good work for you to walk in, it doesn't matter how bad you mess up, you are going to walk in it. And God is sovereign over it. He is going to make you walk in it. Where if God has prepared a good work for you to walk in, whether it's shepherding sheep, whether it's ministering to someone else, whether it's just being a good parent, a good husband, a good wife, if God has prepared that good work for you, you will walk in it. And let's say, a perfect example, look at Jonah. What was the good work that God prepared for him? Preach to Nineveh. What's he do? Runs away. God easily could have reached out to a GBTS seminary and got some pulpit supply and sent someone else there. But what does he do? He sends a giant fish to swallow Jonah and bring him to Nineveh. God is committed not only to bringing the gospel to this wicked nation, but he's committed to use this unfaithful servant. And now we see that exact same thing here. And so Christ powerfully uses Peter's failure to transform him. When you look at Acts, the first six chapters, you see someone who is cage-stage Christ. He is picking fights. He is preaching Christ like no one's business. He is quoting Joel and all the prophets. The same person who didn't understand any of the scripture that Christ told him, he is now saturated with scripture during his preaching. He becomes a bold preacher and he has written one of the most powerful texts exalting his fellow pastors to shepherd the sheep and to protect them. First and second Peter. And this leads us to our second point, point number two of the text. The second observation concerning Peter's restoration and commission as a pastoral martyr is that Christ commissions him to be crucified. Point number two is that Christ commissions him to be crucified. This is in verses 18 through 19. Look at verse 18 with me. It says, truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wish. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you and will bring you where you do not wish to go. Now this, he said, signifying by what kind of death he will glorify God. And when he has spoken this, he said to him, follow me. And as we look at verse 18, we see this picture of Christ describing Peter's death. Now, I want you to look at how he starts this off. Truly, truly. When was the last time he used those words for Peter? When he said, truly, truly, you're gonna deny me. And every time we see Christ say truly, truly, this is his way of saying this is going to happen, I don't care what you say, how you argue, this is going to happen. And that happens, Peter denies him, and in the same way that Christ was certain about Peter's denial, he's certain about how he's gonna die. And so he uses this picture of a young man who is going where he wishes and girding himself, and what he's doing is he's alluding to how Peter was right a few moments ago. When Peter is on the boat and he sees Christ, what does he do? He was stripped for work, he girds himself with the outer garment, he jumps off the boat, and he goes where he wishes. Where Christ is basically saying, Peter, in the same way that just a few moments ago, young, zealous, hot-headed Peter was on that boat, the way he clothed himself and went wherever he wished, it's gonna be different when you get older. When you get older, you're gonna stretch out your hands, someone else is gonna address you, and you are gonna go where you don't wanna go. He's alluding to him being crucified. And again, this is another demonstration of Christ's deity, his omniscience, he knows everything. But you look at the purpose of his death, look at verse 19. Now this he said signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. I want you to think of just how pagan kings are. A servant fails them, what's the first thing they're gonna do? Kill them, throw them in the stocks, send them to the guillotine. Think of Pharaoh from the story of Joseph. He threw his own baker in prison. He killed him. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if the mistake the baker made was he just brought the wrong dish out. I mean, Christ is not like these wicked kings and rulers that are so trigger happy that he's gonna send all of his servants who fail him to the stocks. He does the complete opposite. where whenever he deems worthy for his servants to die for Christ is for his glory, and here's the thing, there has never been a Christian who's died for Christ who's regretted it. You are never gonna see someone who's glorified Christ and gave up something precious that in the next life they are gonna have regrets. I love how Piper defines glorifying. So when we glorify God, what are we doing? When Peter is glorifying God in his death, what is he gonna be doing? This is how Piper defines it. Glorifying means feeling and thinking and acting in ways that reflect God's greatness, that make much of God, that give evidence of the supreme greatness of all his attributes and all the all-satisfying beauty of his manifold perfections. When you glorify God, you are putting God on great display where everyone can see all of his love, mercy, and faithfulness. And here's the crazy thing. You read John, and all throughout John, you see him referencing over and over again the hour of glorification, the hour that Jesus would be glorified. You wanna know something crazy? That's not talking about his resurrection. That is talking about his crucifixion. That all those, that hour of glorification is not when Christ was resurrected, it was when he was crucified. And you see that in John 17. And the reason that is the moment of his glorification is when you see the perfect shepherd, spotless, without blemish, on the cross, you see God and all of his attributes on full display. You will never see a clearer picture of who God is than on the cross. You see Christ's mercy, his compassion, his goodness. You see God's wrath. It's all encompassing. So why is it that Peter's death is gonna do that? Why is Peter's death gonna glorify God? One reason is, what was Peter like in the past? A scaredy cat? Hothead? Denied Christ to a serving goal? And then we see the redemptive cross transform him into a bold preacher who now is willing to die for him at any moment. God is glorified because Peter is being used as an example of how transformative the gospel is. And this promise of Peter's crucifixion, this hung over him for 34 years. He didn't die until 34 years later at the hands of Nero, one of the most wicked rulers in history. And when you look at Acts and the way he preaches, you don't see someone who's fearful. You don't see someone who's complaining about how he's gonna die. You see someone who is inviting to be crucified at any moment. You see someone who, when he is persecuted, he is rejoicing that he was counted worthy to suffer for Christ. And so, we see Jesus' command to Peter, where he says, follow me. This is the perfect shepherd who had just been murdered by this pack of wolves for the sake of our sins, and now he's telling someone who he had just appointed a shepherd to follow in his steps. Shepherd the sheep and die for them. And Peter faithfully does that. He has 34 years of faithful pastoring, and as I said, he was crucified by Nero. And when Peter was crucified, he had, at least according to tradition, he had one request for Nero. If you're gonna crucify me, crucify me upside down, because I am not worthy to die the same death as my savior. And so here's my question as we close with the application. In light of all your failures, past, present, future, are you running to Christ? Are you jumping off that boat? Are you going to Christ the same way that Peter has, or are you withdrawing? Are you submitting to how Christ is using your failures to prune you? Are you submitting to his timing on when he sees fit to exalt you, to restore you? Then maybe some of you here who you have are flooded with regrets over failing as a parent. Maybe you're flooded with regrets over failing as a spouse. Maybe you're in a very similar situation as Peter, where you're flooded with regrets because you were too ashamed to share the gospel with someone. You were embarrassed. And now you have that conviction where you're confessing the sins to God, but now you still have that flaring scar on you. What are you supposed to do in that situation? Turn to 1 Peter 5, verse 6. 1 Peter chapter five, verse six. So Peter has just got done exalting the pastors to shepherd the flock. And all throughout this chapter, it's obvious that Peter is recalling his failures and what Christ has commanded him to do. Look at verse six. He says, therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you at the proper time. Meaning when you fail, and you're flooded with those regrets, humble yourself. In the same way that Christ chose to wait over a week to address this with Peter, he may be choosing to wait for you. He may want you to have a season where you're just submitting to his perfect shepherding, where you're sitting on it. And guess what happens? At the perfect time, Christ comes and he can transform you with your failures, the same way he did Peter. And this is what happens when he exalts you. You're not gonna wallow in self-pity. You're not gonna be so focused on your sins. You're gonna be more focused on Christ's mercy. And what ends up happening is when everyone looks at you and all of your failures, God is glorified because they saw someone who God used their failures. And so, I want you to imagine you being that old lady who drove her car into the clinic. When you run to Christ and you make that same mistake she did where you run your car into the clinic, you're not gonna be like her where she was shown no mercy. You're gonna be someone who God, Jesus will just flood you with five Ferraris after that. He wants to show you grace. He wants to show you mercy. In this case, how did he show mercy and grace to Peter? By granting him an opportunity to glorify God in one of the most torturous deaths imaginable. where Peter found nothing but joy in that. And so my exhortation for anyone here who's an unbeliever, all the sheep who the father gives to the son will always come to him, and this shepherd would never, ever, ever cast away a sheep. In all the thousands of years of humanity, there has never been one sheep who has went to Christ for mercy who was put to shame. All who call upon the name of the Lord will never be put to shame. If you are an unbeliever, I don't care how heinous and how frequent your sins were. Christ is a better savior than you will ever be a sinner. Let's go to God in prayer. Father, we praise you. for giving us a glorious Redeemer. Father, we ask that you help us to never forget that we can freely approach the throne of grace whenever we need. We ask that you make us into a people that rather than being focused on our failures and our mistakes, we focus on nothing but the glories of Christ. Father, we ask that you, if there's anyone here who struggles with failures, who struggles with regrets, that you will that you will minister to them the same way that Christ ministered to Peter. We ask that for all of us here that you have placed good works beforehand, that you make us willing and able to walk in them faithfully. We ask that you grant us submissive hearts that are always sensitive to what you command us. We ask that you make us into a people who will follow you wherever you've commanded us, Father, and we thank you for the cross. We say this in your son's name, amen.