Listen to the audio above while following along in the transcript below which is also available for download at www.biblestudyministriesinc.com
As we look into the word, I remind your heart and mine that indispensable principle of Bible study that only the Lord can reveal the Lord. We thank the Lord that He uses instruments, but God is the One who must be our Teacher. I want to share a verse from Psalm 67. I call it the missionary psalm because it gives us the key to missions. The reason I’m using that this morning is because we are going to look at John 21 and the Great Commission. Here are the first two verses of Psalm 67, “God be gracious to us and bless us and cause Thy face to shine upon us,” and here is the reason, “that Thy way may be known on the earth, Thy salvation among the nations.” We wouldn’t normally think that the way to missions, evangelism and soul winning is to let the Lord bless us and let His face shine upon us. It says that when He does that, that’s missions. Here is the last verse of the same psalm, Psalm 67:7, “God blesses us, so that all the ends of earth may fear Him.” So, we don’t run after souls; we run after the Lord, and as He blesses us, then it’s going to be redemptive. With that in mind, let’s commit our time to the Lord.
Heavenly Father, we thank You again that You’ve gathered us together, and know we just ask that by Your grace and Your indwelling Holy Spirit You might turn our eyes to Christ afresh and that You might clinch all that You’ve been teaching us in this wonderful gospel of John. We thank You in advance that you are over answering our request because Jesus deserves it and we come in His all-prevailing name. Amen.
For several weeks I’ve been saying that we’re coming close to the end. We’re on lesson #77. So, for 76 hours we’ve been stressing the same thing; we want to see Jesus in the gospel of John; that’s the goal. Now, I’m not going to say that we’re coming close; this is our final lesson in the gospel of John. That’s not saying we have exhausted everything; we haven’t scratched the surface of the gospel of John. As far as my life is concerned, this will be the final lesson. I’m going to give a short review because I want to get into the chapter before us.
When we left off, we were discussing the appearance of our Lord Jesus the very day He rose again from the dead—His appearance in the Upper Room, John 20:19-24. As we closed, I focused on verse 21&22, “Jesus said to them, ‘Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’ When He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” When He said, “As the Father has sent Me, I send you,” that’s the shortened form of the Great Commission. That’s in verse 21. As God the Father lived in the Son, God says, “That’s how I lived, and now I want you to live the same way, by the God that lives inside of you.” So, it’s exactly the same way. But the question was, and we closed with this idea, verses 21&22, “And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” Again, that’s the short answer. How am I going to live as He lived, the exchanged life? The answer is that He will breathe on you, and that’s a new creation; that breath of God began before man sinned, and now He breathed again and then said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” The only way to live as Jesus lived is to become a new creation and to have the Holy Spirit live in your place, live in your heart.
In John 20 we have that short answer, but now in John 21, the last chapter of the book, I’m suggesting that He gives the full answer. The short answer is, “You’ll be a new creation, and you’ll be indwelt by God’s Holy Spirit.” That’s the short answer, but this morning I want to show you how God demonstrates the Great Commission in John 21. John 21 is the last chapter in John, so it’s the clincher chapter, but it’s also the last chapter in the gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. So, it’s not only the clincher of the single book of John, but it’s the clincher of the message of all four gospels. The way it ends, let me read from Matthew 28, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I’ve commanded you, and Lo I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” And then it ends with the Great Commission, “Go into all the world.” Mark 16:15 says, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” I used the KJV when I first came to the Lord. That’s the one they gave me, and it says, “Preach the gospel to all creatures.” I had no background whatsoever, so I took my little beagle aside and I told him how to get saved, because it said to preach to all creatures.
We see that the end of the gospels is the Great Commission, and there are two parts—go and preach, and then disciple, teach. That’s the two parts of the Great Commission. Bible commentators tell us that the Great Commission is mentioned four times in the New Testament—Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15-18, Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:8, and they leave the gospel of John out. They say that John doesn’t mention the Great Commissio. But I think the very opposite is true. I not only think that John contains the Great Commission, but I think it’s the Great Commission in it’s fullest form, in its most complete form. When you read John 21, it does more than Matthew, Mark, Luke and Acts does. They tell you what to do; John alone tells you how. We need to know how to do the Great Commission. Only John gives us the how in the simplest form whatsoever.
Many, many Christians, and I promise you I know what I’m talking about, get frustrated when you know the will of God, but you don’t know how to do it. When you know you should obey the Lord and follow the Lord and stop sinning, and so on, but you don’t know how to do it. You know you’re supposed to present the gospel, but you don’t know how to do it. So, the deep heart, the real me, the real you, the spiritual part cries out, “Help! Show me and make it simple. I really want to do Your will, but I need some help; I need to know how.” John 21 takes the great truth of the Great Commission, and its story form and it tells you how. I love stories; it’s a lot easier for me to study a story in the Bible, than some of the doctrinal sections where my head swims in some of those sections, like, “My life is hidden with Christ in God in heavenly places.” I like the Old Testament, “God is my high tower; I run to my tower and I’m safe.” That’s easier for me. “Once upon a time, and they lived happily ever after.” Give me a story anytime. That’s why we have the Old Testament; it’s the truth in story form. That helps us; we need both, but I love the story.
John 21, if you glance on the sheet, I printed it out so you can see what I emphasized there. The first part, the first 13 verses, is all about missions. If you look through it, you’ll see missions. Those verses tell us about seven disciples that came to the Sea of Tiberius and they went fishing, and the Lord did a miracle and filled their nets with 153 fish. The first 13 verses are about fishing. And then the second half, I’ll give you the select verses, so you’ll see it, verses 15-23, if you asked the average Christian what it’s about, they might say, “Peter’s restoration.” That’s true; that’s in there, but what’s Peter’s restoration? John 21:15, “Tend My lambs.” John 21:16, “Shepherd My sheep.” John 21:17, “Tend My sheep.” God restores Peter so he can be a shepherd. The first part of the chapter is about fishing; the second part is about shepherding. The first part of the Great Commission is about fishing; go out and catch the fish; be fishers of men. The second part is about shepherding, and so in story in John 21, as you go through the story, you’re going to see how to fish, and you’re going to see how to shepherd. That’s why this chapter is so wonderful.
It’s not my bright idea to use fishing as a picture of missions. Matthew 4:19, “He said to them, ‘Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.’” That’s God’s idea, and Matthew 13 gives a parable of the drag net, the fishing net. It’s God’s idea that as you were catching fish, now I’m going to send you to catch men, to catch people. So, I want to look at those two sections with you this morning, the first 13 verses on how to fish and then the last of the chapter on how to shepherd.
John 21:1-13, I’m not going to quote it again, but I want to tell the story in my own words; I’m just repeating what is in the scriptures but in my own words. Seven disciples were sent to Galilee for one purpose and one purpose only, to meet the risen Savior. God said, “Go to Galilee and I will meet you there.” That’s why they went to Galilee, to meet the risen Savior. They were clearly given the commission to go to Galilee. Listen to these verses, Matthew 26:32, this is Jesus before Gethsemane, “After I’ve been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.” That’s what Jesus said. And then, the angels spoke to the women, Matthew 28:7, “Go quickly, and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead, and behold, He’s going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him. Behold, I told you.” And then Jesus talked to the women, Matthew 28:10, “Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead, and He’s going into Galilee, and there you will see Him.” Mark 16:7, “Go tell His disciples and Peter, He’s going ahead of you to Galilee, and there you will see Him, just as He told you.” That’s the background for this chapter. The disciples receive the commission, “Go to Galilee, and there you are going to meet the risen Lord.” They had a word from the angels, they had the word from Christ Himself, and they had the testimony of human witnesses that He’s going to meet us in Galilee; go to Galilee. You need to not forget the reason they’re going. They’re not going to win souls. They’re not going to shepherd souls. They’re not going to go fishing. They’re going to see Jesus, a risen Savior. That’s the only thing on their minds, “We’re going to Galilee to meet the risen Savior.”
Seven disciples went, and the Bible mentions five of the seven: Peter, Nathanial, Thomas, James and John. Vernon McGee, the radio preacher, he’s in glory now, but he was from the deep south; if you turned over a rock, there’s Vernon McGee. He had that southern twang. He said, “There are five mentioned, Peter, Nathanial, Thomas, James and John, and two are not mentioned, and that’s you and that’s me.” So, those are the two that aren’t mentioned. Anyway, when they arrived, by divine appointment, they had a problem. “The problem is where’s Jesus? He said He was going to meet us here. We came here and He’s not here.” You have to admit that when you read the record, that it’s sort of a general commission and it’s a little vague, “Meet Me in Galilee.” Galilee is pretty big, and all He said was, “Meet Me in Galilee.” That’s like saying, “I’d like to meet you tomorrow in Salisbury,” and that’s all you got. Where would you go? “I want you to meet me; I’m going up to Wilmington. I want you to meet me in Wilmington.” All they really know is that Jesus wants to meet them in Galilee. Amos, the prophet, 3:3 says, “Can two walk together unless they agree?” You’ve got to agree on a place, “I’ll meet you by the store or by the fire hydrant or in front of the post office or by the police station or in the park.” You have got to have some kind of information. It’s not only where, “Meet Me in Galilee.” When? What day? Monday, Tuesday, Sabbath Day? On a Sunday? What time? Is it morning, afternoon, what hour are we supposed to meet? Is it going to be by the temple, by the fig tree?” All they got was, “When Jesus is risen, He’s going to Galilee. Go there and meet Him.” That’s the information they had.
I used the illustration of Wilmington and Salisbury. Wilmington is about ten square miles and Salisbury is about 14 square miles, and Galilee is 1500 square miles. “I’ll meet you in Galilee.” Would you go to Upper Galilee, or would you go to Lower Galilee? According to when the land was divided in the book of Joshua, four tribes were sent to Galilee—Asher, Napthali, Zebulon and Isachar. When Joshua mentioned the cities in Galilee, he names 69 cities. “I’ll meet you in Galilee.” There’s 69 cities. That was the Old Tesament. Where would you meet Him? Would you go to the forest, would you go to the mountainside? Where would you go? I can picture, this is not in the Bible, but I can picture a discussion, and one of them says, “You know, He did His first miracle in Canaan of Galilee. He turned water to wine. Probably He wants us to go to Canaan. Let’s go to Canaan.” Then someone else says, “But you know, His boyhood town was Nazareth; He grew up there. I think we should go to Nazareth. That’s in Galilee, as well.” Someone else says, “That’s not His only hometown. For a while Capernaum was His hometown according to Matthew 9. I think we should go there.” Another says, “The city is where we should go; that’s where Philip is from, and that’s the family of Zebedee, and that’s where James and John are, and Peter and Andrew. We should go there.” And someone says, “He did heal the blind man in Tiberius. I think we should go to Tiberius.” “But He appeared first to Mary Magdalene; let’s go to Magdala; that’s where we should go.” Someone says, “Well, you know, there is a city of refuge in Galilee, Kadish. Let’s go to Kadish.” I can picture them discussing this. And Peter says, “You know, He really gave me credit, ‘Flesh and blood hasn’t revealed it; My Father in heaven. That was Caesarea Philippi. Let’s go there.” What would you do? Would you go to a mountain, would you go to the bottom of Horeb, would you go to the mountain range of Samaria? Where would you go? Somewhere on the banks of the Jordan, all north of the Sea of Galilee, that’s Galilee. One third on the south of the Sea of Galilee, that’s all Galilee.
My point is that they didn’t have a lot of light. They had a mission, “Go to Galilee,” but where in the world should they go? They had a dim light but a heart that said, “We are going to obey the Lord to meet the risen Jesus.” That’s why they went. So, they finally made their decision, “We’re going to the Sea of Galilee.” Maybe it was because there He walked on water, maybe it’s because there He multiplied fish, maybe because there He fed the thousands on the shore, maybe it’s because there He first borrowed Peter’s boat as a pulpit. Whatever the reason, they chose to go to Galilee.
Now, there’s another question. If you went some place some time to obey the Lord and see the risen Savior, and He wasn’t there, how long would you wait? How long would you stay there before you said, “I wonder if we’re in the wrong place. He says He’s going to meet us here, but how do we know where?” And then they would quiz each other, “Are you sure He didn’t give more details? Are you sure He didn’t give a clue or something where to meet Him?” All of that that, of course, God was writing a Bible, and it’s all set up because He’s going to teach us about the Great Commission, about fishing. I think one of the key expressions in verse 3, “Simon Peter said to them, ‘I am going fishing.’ They said to Him, ‘We’ll also come with you.’ They went out and got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing.” That expression, “I am going fishing.” I realize that many earnest Christians honestly believe that Peter was having a hard time because He denied the Lord, and at one time he left his boats and nets, and now they’re saying, “He’s discouraged and feels disqualified, and now he’s going back to his own way of life, his occupation, ‘I’m quitting; Jesus didn’t show up. I’m just going back to my own occupation.’”
I personally think it’s deeper than that. If it were Matthew or Zaccheus, and they said, “I’m going back to tax collecting,” then I’d be a little bit worried. Or if it was the Apostle Paul who said, “I think I’m going to go back and persecute Christians,” I would say, “He’s going back to the old way.” But I think that fishing is different. This is not the first time since the resurrection that Peter has met with the risen Christ. He has already seen the Lord three times, once privately recorded in Luke 24, and we don’t know what took place at that private meeting. By the way, if you deny the Lord or you know someone who has fallen from Lord and they’re getting right with the Lord, that’s none of your business. That’s private. Just leave that with the Lord.
That’s the first meeting, and then both times in John 20 in the Upper Room, one time with Thomas absent and one time a week later when Thomas was there. So, Peter had already seen the risen Christ, and now he’s going for one purpose, to meet the risen Christ. I’m not calling fishing returning to his old ways. I think Peter is saying, “I don’t know if this is the right place and I don’t know if it’s the right town and I don’t know if it’s the right time and I don’t know where Jesus is, and I have no idea how long it’s going to be before He finally shows up, so what do I do in the meantime? I’m going to do what I do. I’m a fisherman and I’m going fishing. That’s what I do; that’s my life.
Dear friends in Christ, when you have in your heart the desire to meet the risen Savior, and you are confused about, “Am I doing it right and am I in the right place? What am I supposed to do until He shows up?” Do what you do. Live and be yourself. That was his vocation; that was his personality and that was his interest and that was his life. He knew about boats and he knew about fish and he knew about the sea and he knew about storms that came in and he knew when to fish and when not to fish and he knew about nets. That was his life. I think he’s saying, “Until Jesus shows up, I’m going to be me. I’m going to do what I do and I’m a fisherman and I’m going fishing.”
I think, as an application, that can be anything. If you have in your heart that you want to see the risen Savior, be who you are. If you are a salesman, sell. If you are a teacher, teach. If you are a singer, sing. If you play an instrument, play the instrument. If you are an inventor, invent something. If you are a doctor or a lawyer or a salesman, if you drive a cab or bus or work at Jiffy Lube or you sell pencils, I don’t care what it is. The first part, the key to the Great Commission, is to just live. The only thing God has required of us, He wants to be Him and He wants you to be you. Don’t you try to be somebody else. Jacob tried that in order to get a blessing, and you know what happened to Jacob when he faked who he was. Just be yourself and do what you do. And, of course, we’re talking about, if you are in an honest trade, do what you do.
I think that’s the key to this first section. If I’m going to do the Great Commission, I’m going to have to learn to be who I am, and we’re all different. He’s made every one of us different. I need to be who I am, and if I am, everything will fall into place, as we’ll see here. This is wonderfully illustrated in the record. I think the key is, “I’m going fishing.” Now, let’s break that down, because there are wonderful principles, and one of the early principles is, “If I’m going to do the Great Commission, fulfill the Great Commission, the fishing part, I have to know how inadequate I am to fulfill that part. I’m not a soul winner, I’m not an evangelist, I’m not a missionary. I have a missionary living in my heart. I have a soul winner living in my heart. I need to know how inadequate I am. They are about to learn it. Verse 3, “They went out and got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing.” That’s important because, nothing, they are net fisherman. They don’t have a pole and a hook and a worm; they’re using a net, and you always get something. It might be a poor catch that night but you’re going to have something. That night they pulled in the nets and they got nothing. This is very, very important because three years earlier you remember that Jesus already taught Peter the first time who the Fisherman is, and that I cannot catch fish, and He’s showing them that. On the level of earth these are skilled fisherman. They aren’t just fisherman; that’s their business and their life and livelihood. They fished at the right time, and they fished at night and they fished in the right place, and they were in the shallows, and they fished with nets, and they were all well prepared first; they mended their nets and all of that, and they aren’t lazy. It’s not easy pulling up nets and casting out nets.
But in the morning Jesus calls from the shore. It’s an interesting Greek word that’s used. He called to them, “Children, did you catch any fish?” The Greek word is not children. It’s the word for babies, and He calls from the shore, and He says, “Babies, did you catch anything?” They had to admit that they were failures. If you are going to be fulfilling the Great Commission, there must be no confidence in the flesh; we can’t do it, you can’t do it, I can’t do it and the church can’t do it; only the Lord can do it.
After He shows them their inadequacy, He proceeds to show them His marvelous adequacy. I can’t but He can. John 21:6, “He said to them, ‘Cast the net on the right hand side of the boat; you’ll find a catch.’ So, they cast, and they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish.” Don’t read that la, la, la. This is after the resurrection. When He appeared this time, as far as we know, this is the only miracle without counting the ascension and all, that He did after the resurrection. I think it’s interesting that the first time He did this miracle it says that the nets broke. This time the nets didn’t break. There’s something about supernatural fishing, and we’ll get to the nets in a little bit. I think what He is saying is, and they didn’t get it right away, “I want you to do the Great Commission; as the Father sent Me, I send you. I made you a new creation, and I’ll breathe My life in you, and I’ll put My Spirit within you, and I’m going to send you out into the world. Just be who you are and just live and be yourself,” and then He says, “I will tell you where to fish, and I will tell you when to throw out your net, and I will bring fish into your net, and I will use the fish that I bring into your net.” This is such a marvelous story, and it’s the how of the Great Commission. The whole thing is a miracle. If God is going to use you to win anyone to the Lord, and He’s going to use me, I need to know that I can’t do it; He can. He will use me; He will bring fish into my net. He will show up, and He will do the work of missions. It’s a glorious thing. It’s an amazing thing here.
I went fishing one time, and my son, Dan (He didn’t come with me), wanted to know if I caught anything to send him a picture. I don’t know if you are familiar with fresh water and sunfish, a little tiny fish. So, I took a picture of it and even back then we could enlarge it. So, I made that fish look Iike I caught a whale. There was a big sunfish on the end of my line to send to him. Anyway, that’s what you do. If you catch a lot of fish, you are going to boast, but watch what happens here. John 21:7, “Therefore, the disciple who Jesus loved said, ‘It’s the Lord.’ So, when Simon heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, he was stripped for work, and he threw himself into the sea.” It’s the Lord. When you are who you are and the Holy Spirit lives in you, when you have His life, when you can’t do it, and when He does, you aren’t going to say, “Look at the fish I caught.”
I was a little shocked at a mission in Chicago. You walk into the mission and there’s a big sign that says, “Billy Sunday was saved here.” That’s not for us to brag about. When they caught these fish, the first thing they said was, “It’s the Lord.” If God uses you to lead someone to Christ, your heart will be so full, and you aren’t going to take any credit, and you aren’t going to enlarge, “You should have heard me preach. There were between fifteen and maybe three thousand people there.” And you say, “Wait a minute. I was at that rally. There were only twenty people there.” And he says, “Yeah, that’s between fifteen and three thousand.” We exaggerate and we try to take credit, but you are going to say, “It’s the Lord.”
Peter, he’s dressed for work, he’s going to go swimming. He jumps into the water and he’s going to swim to shore. I think he’s anxious to see the risen Christ. Or why did he put his shirt on? I wonder if he thought, “I’m going to walk on water. Last time I blew it. I took my eyes off the Lord. This time I’m focused, and I know it’s the Lord and I’m going to keep walking.” So, he puts his shirt on, and steps out and then has to swim to shore. I don’t know if that’s what it was but it’s interesting that God said he got dressed and then jumped into the water.
Anyway, He shows me I’m not adequate, He shows me He is adequate, and then there is a third revelation in John 21:9, “When they got out on the land, they saw a charcoal fire all ready laid and fish placed on it and bread.” He already had fish on the shore. I’m not going to get into the arguments of the commentators, “Where did that fish come from? Did it represent the 153? Is that the nations of the world and the known nations at the time? Did He create fish on the spot? I don’t know where He got the fish. It’s not important. The important thing is that he doesn’t need us; He doesn’t need your fish. He doesn’t need my fish. But look at verse 10, “And Jesus said, ‘Bring some of the fish which you have caught.’” He doesn’t need our ministry, but He wants to use it. This is His graphic way of teaching us the Great Commission; He wants to join our fish with His fish, and we give Him the glory. The only thing you can ever give the Lord, and the only thing I can ever give the Lord is what He has first given you. So, He gives the fish and then we give it back to Him.
Once again, the net didn’t break. I think that’s a miracle. I think there’s a principle to repairing the nets. The net was sort of how they did it; that was their program. I remember before I understood or began to understand, and still don’t understand, the exchanged life. I thought I was a soul winner, and I actually promised God that I wouldn’t even go to bed unless I led somebody to Christ. I was out looking for some drunkard to say “yes” so that I could get credit because I wanted to be a great soul winner. But my net always broke. Even when I became a pastor, without the light of the Lord, I tried this program, “Oh boy, we’ve got to repair that. Maybe we need to invite somebody with a big testimony. Maybe we need to saturate the area with gospel literature. Maybe we need to train the people on soul winning and teach them the four spiritual laws or teach them the bridge or teach them the Roman Road, so that they’ll know how to do it, and how to witness. All of these programs all fell apart as I’m repairing the nets. But when you know who you are in Christ, and when the living God lives inside of you, and when you just live and He does the fishing and He uses you and you are glorifying Him, your nets are not going to break. I just think it’s all part of the miracle. Anyway, that is the first part.
Let’s look briefly at the second part, the shepherding part. Once again, we don’t know what was going through Peter’s mind. All I can do is try to put myself in his shoes, and I think if I had denied the Lord, I would be so ashamed to see Him in Person. But he had already seen Him three times, and I think jumping in the water and swimming to shore is anxiousness. When he heard it was the Lord, he wanted to get there. I think he wants to see the Lord, but I also think he feels a little disqualified because he had denied the Lord and messed up, and when he first met the Lord, he said, “I will make you fishers of men,” and maybe he’s thinking about that and saying, “Well, maybe that was then and this is now.” I don’t know what was going through his mind, but the story tells us we can guess a little bit.
In order for Peter to really fulfill the Great Commission, Peter representing all of us, we need to be free from all condemnation of the past. No matter what we’ve done in the past, we need to be free from that. The first freedom that Peter needed to be free from was the freedom from condemnation. We sort of read this la, la, la, but if you put yourself in Peter’s shoes, he had denied the Lord, he had failed the Lord, and I think as far as the Great Commission is concerned, he felt very disqualified. Notice what the Lord does, and I think it’s deliberate. He stirs up memories that Peter would be glad to forget. “I don’t want to hear about this.” God is not being cruel. The Lord says that you need to face these things.
The first memory had to come into his head, that this is not the first time that He’s multiplied fish by telling me to throw my net on that side. That’s the first memory. At that time, in Luke 5:8, his response was, “Lord, depart from me; I’m a sinful man.” Well, if he was a sinful man the first time, I think he’s saying, “Lord, it’s over, as far as evangelism. Depart from me.” When he gets to shore, what’s the first thing that he sees? It’s in verse 9, “When they got out on the land they saw a charcoal fire.” We just read “charcoal fire”. When is the last time Peter saw a charcoal fire? The answer is John 18:18, when he was in the courtyard, he was warming his hands with the enemy at a charcoal fire. Do you know how many times charcoal fire is mentioned in the Bible? That’s it—here and when he denied the Lord. When he got to shore dripping wet, and he looked up and saw that charcoal fire, I have an idea that memories came to his mind that he did not want to remember.
So, he gets up, and verse 15, “And when they had dined, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?’” Just take the first part, “Simon…” That had to kill Peter, to hear Him say “Simon”. In John 1:42 when he first met the Lord, the Lord said, “You are Simon, but from now on you are going to be called Peter, a rock, a stone.” But now He calls him “Simon” again. What’s going on in the heart of Peter? “I had this miracle before, a charcoal fire, and now He’s calling me by my pre-salvation name; He’s calling me “Simon”.” Don’t just read this la, la, la. And then, three times, John 21:15, “Do you love Me?” John 21:16, “Do you love Me?” John 21:17, “Do you love Me?” Three times—how many times did Peter deny the Lord? Three times. Peter has got to be thinking out these, and then he said, “Do you love Me more than these?” What are these? Do you love me more than these boats and fish? Do you love me more than these men? You boasted that you did, “They might forsake you, but I never will.” All this is going through Peter’s mind, and it looks like, and I speak as a fool, Jesus is rubbing it in. It looks like Jesus is deliberately trying to stir up painful memories to make him feel bad.
John 21:12, “Then Jesus said, ‘Come, let’s have breakfast.” I love KJV, “Come, and dine.” “After all I’ve done, you mean I can come and have fellowship with you at the charcoal fire, the very place I denied You? I can have fellowship?” And it’s as if the Lord is saying, “Peter, I know you, and I’ve known you from the start. I always have known you; I know you inside out. I know about your failures, I know about your denials, I know about your weakness, I know about your guilt, I know you feel ashamed, but you can come and fellowship with Me at the charcoal fire. I know all about it, and it’s not going to condemn you. Come, let’s fellowship.” I’m glad that He chose us even before we were born, or we might have those arguments, as well.
The Lord is saying, “Peter, be yourself. I want to fish through you, but I also want to shepherd through you.” Peter has to learn this second part, “I want to use you to feed My sheep.” I think he felt like it was all over and I’ll never be loyal again, and that he’s disqualified, and he can’t trust himself. In verses 15-17 there is this three fold challenge, “Do you love Me?” I’m going to suggest to you, and I’m not sure how it will fly, and they say like a lead balloon. I think something has destroyed this passage for many Christians, and the thing that has destroyed it is the little knowledge of the Greek language. I think that has killed this passage. A little knowledge of the Greek, because sometimes if you know a little bit, you can get proud, “The Greek says this, and the Hebrew says this, and the Aramaic says this.” I think if you study the nuances of the Greek in this passage, you are going to miss the main point. Is it true that there are different Greek words for “love” and that they are used differently here? The answer is yes. There are different Greek words for “love”, but that’s not all. There are different Greek words for “feed” that are used here, “feed My lambs,” “feed My sheep.” One is to spoon feed. And there are different Greek words for “sheep”. There’s the lamb, and there’s the sheep. People ask, “What “love” did He use, and what for “food”, and who gets spoon fed, and who are the sheep and the lambs, and how do you know the difference?
You miss the point; the point is right on the surface, verse 15, “When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon, ‘Peter Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?’” Verse 16, He said to him a second time, “’Simon, son of John, do you love Me?’ He said, ‘Yes, Lord, You know I love You.’ He said, ‘Shepherd My sheep.’” Verse 17, “He said to him a third time, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love Me?’” Do you know that Peter couldn’t answer that. He choked because Jesus was asking, “Do you love Me enough to die for Me.” That’s the word that was used, “Do you love Me that much, that you’d give your life?’” Peter said, “I can’t answer; it’s stuck in my throat. I’m fond of You, I love You, You are my best friend, I love You, but I can’t say it.” Then Jesus did an amazing thing. Look at verse 18&19, “I say unto you when you were young you used to gird yourself about and walk wherever you would, but when you shall be old, they’ll stretch forth your hands, and another shall gird thee and carry thee where thou wouldest not.’ He spake this signifying what death he would glorify God.”
“Peter, do you love Me enough to die for Me?” And Peter says, “I can’t say it.” And Jesus said, “I’ll say it for you. You will die a martyr’s death.” That was not bad news for Peter; that was the greatest news he ever heard because he didn’t trust himself. He thought he would blow it again and be disloyal, and Jesus said, “You will never deny Me again. You are going to die a martyr’s death. You’ll be faithful until the end.”
We have such ideas these days about the Great Commission. I remember I was almost expelled from Moody Bible Institute because I refused to go to the missionary conference. Every time they had a missionary conference, we had to sign our name that we were present, and I refused to go. I was called to Dr. Cuthbertson’s office; he was the president of the school. He said, “You haven’t been going to the missionary conference; your name is not there. I said, “I don’t want to go.” He said, “Why?” I said, “I’m afraid God is going to call me to be a missionary, and I don’t want to be a missionary. I want a family and I want to live here, and I don’t want to go to Africa, and I don’t want to talk to somebody who has a bone going through their lip. I don’t want that.” I was afraid of missions.
When I got to Columbia Bible College, that’s why Lillian almost ended up in Alaska. I had never faced the call to missions, and now they closed off classes for a whole week, “We’ve got a missionary coming.” It was a missionary conference. I said, “Good, at last I can go,” and there was only one missionary that came, and he was from Alaska. At that time, I was assigned to another course to do an ethnography of some primitive society, and I had to do it of the North American Eskimo, and then this missionary came, and he’s from Alaska. So, he sets up a table and I’m the only student that met him at the table. He’s showing me the literature, and I said, “Lil, are you ready to go to Alaska? Who is going to win these Eskimos?” All she said to me was, “Give me a long extension cord.” We were married and we went down and signed up to go to Alaska. We had our doctor’s thing and we had everything set, and we sent down the form. I’m still waiting for the response. God wanted me to be willing. But at that time, I thought if you are going to do the Great Commission, you’ve got to be sure you get financial support and make sure you get the proper training, make sure you have the spiritual gifts, make sure that the church agrees with you. You have to have experience in this. Do you have a call? How do you know you’ve been called to go to Japan or Korea or anywhere? Do you have a board backing you up? Do you know Greek and Hebrew and all of the rest; that’s what I thought. But here’s what Jesus said, “The Great Commission—do you love Me? Do you love Me? Do you love Me?” The Great Commission, John 21; live and love Jesus. That’s it, and God will do all the rest. That’s the gospel of John; that’s the clincher of the book. So, with that we’ll close.
Father, thank You for the simplicity of obeying You, and putting in our heart a desire to see the risen Christ, and then patiently waiting, being who we are, loving You until You show up. Thank You, Lord, that You do it all, and we’re not adequate, but You want to use us. So, we give ourselves afresh to You. Thank You for all that we’ve seen in the gospel of John but work in us all you’ve inspired in the gospel of John, whether we mentioned it or not. Thank You in advance for doing it. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.