The First Men's Fellowship Breakfast

Jesus had told his disciples in the upper room, I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you. And we saw that a few weeks ago when we were in that section of John, and as this morning we finished out the gospel of John, we find once again the disciples in a precarious situation where they could have easily felt like they were alone and yet Jesus comes to them. And we'll see in what way he does that in a few moments. Well, the picture you see on the screen is our men's fellowship breakfast. Once a month we gather as men in the fellowship hall, 8 o'clock on a Saturday morning, and we just have a great time. If you've never been, you ought to try it sometime. We have wonderful cooks, guys who get here at 5-5-30 in the morning and begin cooking the breakfast and laying things out for us. And then the rest of us gather to partake of their hard work and enjoy the time of fellowship together around the table. And then we always have someone to speak. Usually just a guy in the church will give his testimony or someone will share a brief devotional from the word, and so it's always a great time together. Well this morning we're going to look at what might be considered the first men's fellowship breakfast. It's in John chapter 21. So I invite your attention to the last chapter of the gospel of John. And yes, after about 20 months, we finish the gospel of John this morning. So we're going to look at the first men's fellowship breakfast. The interesting thing about this men's fellowship breakfast is that Jesus cooked the food, Jesus served the food, and Jesus was the speaker. He took care of the whole breakfast on this first men's fellowship breakfast. And let's see what this was all about. Actually the whole incident in John chapter 21 around the fire as Jesus cooks breakfast for seven of his disciples, that whole incident was designed to remind them of their original call to ministry. It was designed to be a training session, kind of a recalling of them back into ministry. If you remember back in Luke chapter 5, Jesus first called these disciples, four of them, actually we're here on this occasion, first called these four into the ministry. They had been out fishing all night. They had caught nothing. Jesus encourages them to go back out on the water, cast their nets again, and you remember Peter said, Lord we've fished all night. We haven't caught anything, but at your command we will go. And they went back out and caught a huge amount of fish. They couldn't even get them all to shore. Almost the exact same thing is going to happen here. So I'm convinced that Jesus purposely puts his men in this position and does what he does to remind them of their call to ministry. Now think about how critical that is for them at this juncture in their lives. It's probably a couple three weeks after the resurrection. We will find in our text this morning the Bible says they have seen Jesus as a group twice. There have been some individual appearances of Jesus, one to Peter, and a few other folks, in addition to those two occasions, but they've only seen him as a group two times. So Jesus has not yet given them the commission that he will later in Matthew 28 to go into all the world. They've still got a job to do. He has worked for them to do. They don't know that yet. And so they've seen him a couple times. They're still trying to wrap their minds around. What's happened? And that he really is alive. And so they don't have any clue what the next step is yet. They don't know what they're going to be doing. You see, we look back on these events from hindsight, thinking, you know, from the book of Acts. Surely Peter knows he's going to preach on the day of Pentecost and the church is going to start. They have no clue that's going to happen yet. They're still trying to figure out what's going on with the resurrection. And why isn't Jesus with us all the time? And so Jesus needs to once again thrust them into ministry and call them once again. And the way he does it leaves such an indelible impression. It takes them back to their first call. And they will never be able to forget this. What Jesus does. They're going to be responsible for the beginning of the church. And so he will remind them on this occasion of their call and their commission to follow him and be fissures of men. And the great thing is, the lessons Jesus taught that morning are still needed as we serve him today. As we do his work today, these lessons are still needed for us. And so let's take note. Let's gather around the fire on the beach of the Sea of Galilee. On that morning, when Jesus reintroduces his men to what it means to serve him. And let's all take note of the lessons we can learn. The first lesson is the need for his power. In the first 14 verses, we find an amazing miraculous powerful display of our Lord that encourages these men as he thrusts them back out into ministry. And we need the same assurance of his power as we do our work for Christ as well. Let's look at his power on a fishing trip in the first 14 verses. Verse 1, after where Jesus appeared again to his disciples by the sea of Galilee, it happened this way. Simon Peter, Thomas, also known as Dittamus, that simply means twin. Nathaniel from Canaan in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, that's James and John, and two other disciples were together. I'm going out to fish. Simon Peter told them and they said, we'll go with you. So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Now Jesus had appeared to them a couple of times, but as I said earlier, and I remind you, they still are growing in their understanding of the resurrection. They have no clue what they're supposed to do next. And so here they are in Galilee. The bills have to be paid. Peter loves fishing. It's always brought him great joy before. I don't think he's leaving any ministry. There are some who say he's abandoning his call to be a disciple, and he's going to go back to his fishing business. He hasn't gotten these marching orders yet. Jesus hasn't told him what they're going to be doing. He has no clue about what's happening now. And so he's just going to go back to do what he knows best to pay the bills. He's got to put food on the table, got to provide for his family. And so he's going to go back out, fish all night, who knows whether he's one night or a week or whatever. He doesn't know he's going to go fish tonight, sell it in the market the next morning, and he'll be ready to go for a while. So that's his idea. And the other guys who are with him say, hey, we're on for the ride. Let's go. And so they go out, they work all night. Fish all night. That was the time to fish. In that day in particular, if you were a commercial fisherman, you fished at night because the fish would come closer to the surface with no sun shining down on the sea of Galilee. And they fished by nets. And so it was easier to catch fish at night. So they would fish all night. They'd been out there all night. They caught nothing. These professional fishermen have caught nothing. So let's look and see what happens in verse four. Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore. But the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, friends. Haven't you any fish? No, they answered. He said, throw your net on the right side of the boat. And you will find some. When they did, they were unable to haul the net end because of the large number of fish. It's morning. And these guys are ready to head home. They've worked all night. They're ready to head home. But they see Jesus. There's still a hundred yards off the shore. They see Jesus on the shore. But they don't know it's him. Why? We don't know. Was it because as on a few other occasions, he withheld the recognition of himself or was it simply because there are hundred yards away? It's morning. There may be some mystery fog on the shore. There could have been a number of reasons why they didn't recognize him. The point is, they didn't know who he was. But whoever it is on the shore is calling out to them, friends. Haven't you any fish? And they answered, no. That's very uncharacteristic for fishermen, isn't it? They don't want to admit they haven't caught any fish. No fisherman wants to admit he's been a failure and caught any fish. And if you do catch some, you want to make them real, real big. So this is not a typical answer for a fisherman, but at least they're honest. They say, no. No. So Jesus says, throw your net on the right side of the boat. You'll find some and of course they're not able to haul in the net because of the great number of fish. An amazing display of his power. What happens in verse seven? Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, it is the Lord. As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, it is the Lord. He wrapped his outer garment around him before he had taken it off and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish. They were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When John sees the great catch of fish, he puts the pieces together. And he remembers, no doubt, he has a flashback to that morning or that early morning when they'd come in from fishing all night. They'd call it nothing and Jesus tells him to go out before. And Jesus says to them, follow me and I'll make your fishers of men. That's a flashback. Peter remembers or John remembers that that was how Jesus first called them into ministry. And so he immediately recognizes, this is the Lord. And when Peter hears that, he does a cannonball out of the boat right into the lake. Now I know that's not in the text. But I can't imagine Peter doing a beautiful swan dive. Peter is going to do a cannonball into the lake and does a world record, a yard free style, a Olympic record all the way to shore. The boat has trouble catching up with him. And I can just imagine Peter coming up on the shore, madded hair, water dripping from his beard, big toothy grin as he runs up to greet the Lord. I think Peter has learned something. If you remember the story back in Luke 5, when they caught the great number of fish, Peter said, Lord, depart from me. I'm a sinful man. Now the Lord's going to deal with some things like that and Peter here. But Peter is rushing to get to the Savior. Now I think he's learned something over the years about grace. Yes, he is a sinful man. And Jesus will deal with that. But he knows that Jesus will receive him. He's learned something about grace. And so he's the first one on the shore. I imagine the other guy was kind of pee that he didn't help him get the fish in. But they catch up with him. They get on shore and here's what they find in verse 9. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it and some bread. Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish you've just caught. So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153. Now that sounds more like fishermen, right? They're large and there's a bunch of them, right? But even with so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, come and have breakfast. None of the disciples dared ask him who are you. They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead. Third time as a group that he had appeared to them. What an amazing scene. Jesus fixing breakfast for these seven disciples on shore. He demonstrated to them amazing power. He has used that amazing power to remind them that three years ago or so, he called them in the ministry and nothing has changed. Nothing has changed about what he wants them to do. He's going to call them again right here and nothing has changed about his power. And so this story, this amazing visual lesson has lessons for us too. So let's leave his power on that long ago fishing trip and let's look at what is needed by way of his power on our work. Because these lessons are not only for his disciples, they are also for us. So as we do the Lord's work and whatever capacity we are involved in serving God, we need these lessons of his power. There is really, in a sense, here, a picture of our work as we work for Christ on the restless sea of this world. There is evidence of his power and the need for his power upon us as well. Several things come to mind as I think about the lessons of this story for us. The first one is that our primary task or one of our primary tasks is evangelism. Remember Jesus is using this fishing expedition as a reminder of their initial call to follow him and that he would make them what? Fissures of men. You're going to leave the fishing business and you're going to become fishers of people. You're going to reach people from now on. He's reaffirming that call. He's re-instituting that commission on this fishing trip. And so Jesus is reminding us that one of our primary tasks is evangelism. We too are to be fishing for people just like those early disciples were. It is a primary task. It should be involved in everything we do at Johnston Chapel. In our services, the gospel ought to be clear. It's not the only thing that is to be preached. The whole council of God's word and the teaching of believers is just as important. It's a part of the great commission too. But before people can be taught as believers, they need to be reached with the gospel. And so we've got to make the gospel clear. The fact that Jesus died for sinners. And thus we are all sinners in need of a Savior. We all have fallen short of the requirements to get into heaven. And that is God's glory. The Bible says we've all sinned and fall short of Uncle Joe or neighbor Dan or sister Linda. No, no, no. We all fall short of the ultimate standard. And that is the glory of God. That's what's required to get into heaven. The perfect, matchless, unstained holiness of God is required to get into heaven. And the Bible says we all fall short of that. And so we need to be reminded of the fact that Jesus came and took our sins on Himself on the cross. And died to pay the punishment for those sins. So that as God punishes Him, He can legally, righteously remove that punishment from us. If we place our faith in Christ as our Savior, we need constant reminders of that gospel. And we need to make sure the gospel is clear from this pulpit and the services of John. But the gospel also should provide every ministry of the church. I am so thankful that this church has a heart for outreach, a heart to get the gospel out into the community. And all of these target ministries we talk about, we phrase them that way. We call them that because all of those ministries target a particular need in people's lives and reach out to people at that point of need. But seeking ultimately, not just to meet that need, but to draw them to the Savior. So the purpose for grief share is not just to help people deal with grief. That's an important part of it. But through that process, as we reach out with the love of Christ to help them with a very real need, we also introduce them to the Savior who alone can heal their hearts. The same is true for divorce care and divorce care for kids and mobs and 3D archery and celebrate recovery. And so many other target ministries that we have at Johnston Chapel, the purpose of those is ultimately to get people to the Savior. We can't forget that ultimate purpose. We can't stop short of that in the ministries of this church. And we can't neglect it. We must emphasize the gospel. A great task, one of the most important tasks we have, is getting the gospel to the lost. We're fishing for people. But Jesus teaches another lesson that's important for us. And that is that sometimes our efforts appear to be failures. Just like these disciples, these professional disciples who knew what they were doing went out all night, fished and caught nothing. Sometimes we work hard. We pray. We are faithful to the task God's given us. And there is no apparent fruit. There are no visible results of that. I would remind you again as sometimes we do, it is dangerous to base success on seeing visible results in God's work. That's the world's measurement. The world always measures the bottom line. What can you see? How does it tally up at the end of the day? God doesn't work that way. Thank God sometimes we are allowed to see the results of what we do. Often times we do not see those results. God is at work through His Spirit in the hearts and minds of people in ways that we will never see or never know. I was reminded of that just a couple of weeks ago when a young man emailed me, a young man who was a little guy, a little children, a little child and a teen in my first ministry back in North Carolina in the 70s. I remember interacting with him and he would ask a lot of questions and I would give him books to help him study and read and think he is now in the past. He was telling me about what God was doing in his church and he was writing after these 40 years to thank me for the impact on his life. I had no idea that was happening. That was something God was doing and now he is reaching people. There are many examples in all of our lives of people that we touch that we really never know about or never know the extent to what God has been doing in their hearts and lives. Sometimes our efforts may seem like failures but God is at work and that leads me to the third lesson of His power on our work and that is that Christ is the Lord of the results. He is the one that says, OK, drop the net on the other side of the boat and I will give you a harvest. He is the one that is in charge of when people come to Christ, when people make decisions. People getting saved is not because we are smart or because we are eloquent or because we have the right evangelism tactics or we have tweaked ministries in ways that enable us to get more results. Again, that is a business model. The model of ministry and the Bible is that God produces the results. Last Sunday night, for those of you that were here, I was preaching in 1 Corinthians 3 and we were talking about the fact that Paul was addressing the tendency of the Corinthian church to compare preachers like a polys and Peter and Paul and he was saying that is sinful, that is fleshly, that is carnal. And he went on to say, who are we anyway? We are just slaves, he says. You don't build monuments to slaves, you don't build a movement around a slave. Paul says, we are just slaves of Christ. So I planted a seed of polys water but God gave the increase. It is God who produces the results. Any results that come from ministry are because of his working in the hearts and minds of people, not because of what we do. And we need to keep that in mind. It is God's power at work in the hearts of people. And if God is not moving, any results that we obtain are fleshly, carnal, non-lasting, not eternal results. The fourth lesson about his power on our work is this. Christ gives us strength to accomplish what he wants us to do. What you notice in verse 6 here, the Bible says that when they call all these fish, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. But then in verse 8, they are towing the net full of fish. So what Christ wanted them to do even though they were not able to do it in their own strength, he enabled them to do. That is a great lesson of his power in ministry. Whatever God wants us to do, he will give us the ability to do. It looks like the net is going to break. It looks like we are not going to be able to pull this thing off. And there are so many times in ministry when you will find yourself asking how in the world are we ever going to accomplish this. How are we ever going to make any difference with the vast needs? And the answer is Jesus will give us the strength to do what he wants us to do. His strength is sufficient when ours isn't. When we feel like we can't haul the net, he gives us the strength to haul the net. So it is his power, his strength that we need to rely on in whatever ministry you are doing. Please, please do not go out in your own strength and energy and effort to do it. Cast yourself continually upon the grace and power of God to do what you cannot do. We will find his strength to haul the net. And then one final lesson about his power on our work is this. It is grace, Christ rewards faithful service. I love the scene here. Jesus is already cooking some fish and bread on those coals on the seashore. But he asks them for some of the fish they have just caught. So he takes some of the fish they have just caught which he has provided by his own power, by miraculous display of power, and returns them to these disciples in a delicious meal. And that is their reward. I am reminded of what will happen someday at the judgment seat of Christ. In an amazing display of grace, God will reward us for faithful service when it is him that gave the strength to do it, him that gave the vision and focus and energy to do it, and he that gives the results. And yet he rewards us for being faithful. What grace, his power on our work is needed more than ever. If we are to do what God wants us to do in this community and in this world, we must depend on his power. Lesson one for ministry is the need for his power. But there is a second lesson that God teaches these men, particularly Peter. He is in need of this more than the others, and that is the need for pardon. The need for his pardon, the need for God's forgiveness. It is a beautiful story of how God bleeds Peter through this restoration process, verse 15. When they had 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 him, 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. Now, I want us to look at how Jesus restores Peter, and Peter was in need of being restored. Even though Peter has seen the Lord himself personally on the day of resurrection, and even though he's seen him in group settings a couple of times, there's no question in my mind, but what the events of the denial are still very fresh in his mind. We're only a couple, maybe three weeks out from that. And if something that dramatic had happened to you or me, we would certainly still have it very fresh in our minds. So I'm sure Peter is still haunted, if you will, by the words that he spoke, words of denying Christ. I don't even know the man, he said. And then he calls down God's judgment on him, if what he's saying is not true. He calls down God's curse upon him. I mean, I'm sure those words are still ringing in his mind. I'm sure the sound of the rooster crowing, the visual image of Christ looking directly at him, and their eyes locking in that moment when Jesus looked at Peter as he was leaving the judgment hall. I'm sure he can't get that out of his mind. The tears that he cried that night, and maybe throughout that whole weekend, I'm sure are still there in his heart. What a miserable failure Peter has been. And no doubt it's still fresh in his heart and mind, and the question has to be there. Am I done? Have I failed him so that I could never be used again? Am I disqualified from service? Would I ever be able to be restored? Can Jesus ever love me again? Well, Peter is about to find out, because in an amazing way, Jesus restores him, and he does it in a way that reaches out to each of our hearts and gives us strong, loving, gracious message of restoration as well. So I want us all to gather around that fire. I want us all to sit beside Peter. I want us to look into the eyes of Jesus. I want us to hear these words and understand their significance and realize what Jesus is saying to me and to you, because in these statements and in this encounter, there are three critical elements of restoration that we need to get. We need to understand and grasp and bring into our hearts. The first is this. If we're going to be restored from a failure, we have to face up to our failure. So first of all, face up to your failure. Not exactly what Jesus was doing with Peter. Think of the setting itself. They are gathered around the fire with the image of Peter's denial, still fresh in his mind, it took place around another fire. Three times Jesus will ask, do you love me? It was three times that Peter denied Jesus. And no doubt he remembers that well. And I think it's part of what it means at least that Peter is hurt when Jesus asked him the third time, because I think by that time he understands what's going on. Lord, I've denied you three times and now you're giving me three opportunities to proclaim my love for you. And I think Peter was crushed by the guilt of what he had done, but also amazed by the grace that Christ was showing him. Jesus asked Peter, do you love me more than these? And I know there are various interpretations as to what that means, the fish or whatever. But I think in the context of what Jesus is doing, I think he's talking about the other disciples. Do you love me more than these? Because the whole purpose of this is to take Peter back to his denial and cause him to face it for what it was. And just before Peter denied Jesus, he had said in the upper room, though all these others deny you, I will never deny you, I will go to death for you. I love you more than any of these other guys. Peter, do you love me more than these? I think Jesus was reminding him of his brash, fleshly boldness, because that was part of the reason why he failed. And then notice that Jesus calls him Simon. That was his natural given name. But Jesus had told him when he first met him, I'm going to rename you, I'm going to call you Peter, because you're going to become a rock. But Peter has not been a rock in recent days. Why is Jesus brutally making him face all that in the past? Why does he go back to his given name of Simon and not call him Peter? Why does he remind him of his threefold denial? Why does he say, do you really love me more than these? Reminding him of his brash bold statements before his denial? Why? Why are they gathered around the fire? Why is Jesus seemingly driving a dagger into his heart? Because sometimes God is brutally merciful with us. Now I know that seems like a contrast in terms. But you will never get anywhere in recovery. You will never get anywhere in restoration until you first of all come face to face with the glaring and sinful failure of your life. And you're willing to admit it, you're willing to recognize it. I'm sure as Jesus was asking those three questions, Peter's heart raced. I'm sure that he stomach was churning. I'm sure that these cheeks were burning and tears were flowing down from his eyes. This is hurtful, this is harmful, but it is healing, it's where healing begins. Healing begins with facing up to our failure. What have we done? How have we failed? How sinful is it in the holy eyes of God? Because if you just wallow in self-pity, if you never really address the sin and failure of your life and look it in the face, then you will never begin the process of restoration. You will always run from what you've done or you will hide from what you've done or you will wallow in self-pity because of what you've done, but you've got to face what you've done. You've got to face it squarely. The sins of your heart and mind and words and life, you have to face up to your failure. And the second part of restoration then, once Jesus brings us to that point of brokenness where we must face our failure is to be honest about where you are now. So once you face your failure, be honest about where you are now. Jesus asked him, do you love me, Peter, more than these? And there's some different, a couple of different words used here. And I understand that there may not, it's difficult to put a lot of significance in the change of words, but because of the setting and what Jesus is accomplishing, I think there's something to this. All the words are love in our English translation, but there were a couple of different words used then. When Jesus said, do you love me more than these? He used the word for sacrificial love that would be willing to give anything, the last bit of your life that would be willing to die if necessary. Do you love me like that, Peter? And Peter is not willing to say that anymore. So he uses a different word in his response. Yes, Lord, I love you, but it's a family kind of love. It's a friendship kind of love. I can't use the word you're using, Lord. So Jesus asking the second time, do you love me, Peter, using the same word he used the first time? Do you love me without self-sacrificial willing to go to death for me, kind of love? Peter says, Lord, I love you, but I can't say I love you that much. It's a friendship kind of love. And the third time Jesus asked, Jesus condescended the Peter's word. And he says, Peter, do you love me with a friendship family kind of love? And I think that's part of why Peter was hurt when Jesus asked him that because Jesus changed the word. I think that's the reason why I said, Lord, you know all things. You know where I am. Yes, I love you that way. At least I can say that much. But you see what God is doing here in Peter's life. What Christ is doing is exploring the deep recesses of his heart to find out and to help Peter see where he really is right now. The night before he denied Christ, he was willing to say, I love you enough to go to death for you. I love you more than any of these other guys. And now he's broken. And he's facing where he really is. And he's saying, Lord, I can't make those words. I can't make those bold, brash, fleshly claims anyway. But you already know that, don't you? You know where I am. And you know all I can say is that I have a love for you. Yes, but I know it's not as strong as it should be. That's all I can claim right now, Lord. I'm not going to make any more brash claims. The only way to restoration and recovery is to be humbled to recognize where you really are in the eyes of God. Yes, face up to your failure. And be honest about where you are now. I wish I were more committed. I wish I were more faithful. I wish I were more dependable. But, Lord, you know, I'm not. I'm just not. And all I can say right now is where I am right now. If you want to boot me out, I'm sorry, but I've got to be honest with where I am. And that's when the whole thing turns on grace. Because what Jesus does next, and what He models for us is this. Okay, now that you've faced up to your failure, now that you've been honest about where you are now, the third element of restoration is look forward to a useful future. I've got something for you to do, Peter. I've still got work for you to do. And it's amazing that He basically gave him three different kinds of things to do. First of all, He says, feed my lambs. Lambs are baby sheep. They need milk. They need fresh, simple things. They can't take a lot yet. And so what He's saying is in the church, that's part of what you need to do. Peter, you'll need to feed lambs. You'll need to give those who are young in the faith, simple truths to help them grow. But then He says, take care of my sheep. That's doing pastoral work, caring for the needs of the flock. That's reaching out in love and helping people in their times of hurt and need. And challenging them in their times of sin. So take care of my sheep. And then He says, feed my sheep. Those are the full grown adults. They'll need a little more than the lambs. They'll need some meat. They'll need some more teaching. They'll need a little more deeper truths. And so feed them too. Feed the lambs, feed the sheep, and take care of my sheep. So Peter, I've got work for you to do. Plenty of work. This is a full time job, Peter. I've got a lot to work for you to do. Peter, no. No, I'm not discarding you from ministry. Your failure does not rule you out. It does not disqualify you. I've still got work for you to do. And my friend, whoever you are, whatever you've done, please don't wallow in self guilt. Don't hide from the Lord or try to because of your failure. Don't run from your failure. Running from the Lord. When He's reaching out to you in grace, just like He did, Peter. Walter McMillan was convicted of killing 18-year-old Rhonda Morrison at a dry cleaner in Monroeville, Alabama in 1986. There were three witnesses that testified against him, but there were six witnesses that testified that Walter McMillan was at a church fish fry at the time of his crime. The weight of evidence seemed to be innocent, but he was convicted, found guilty, and held on death row for a number of years. Probably a lot of that was motivated by race. All the time, he claimed his innocence. I didn't do this. That was in the day before DNA testing and so forth could establish reasonable innocence or guilt. But a lawyer heard about his case and decided to look further at the evidence and found that the evidence really weighed on the side of him being innocent. And so he took up his case and appealed. And he said this, this lawyer Brian Stephenson said, it's a pretty clear situation where everyone just wanted to forget about this man. Let him get executed so everybody could move on. There was a lot of passion, a lot of anger in the community about the young lady's death. And I think there was a great resistance to someone coming in and fighting for the condemned person who had been accused and convicted. But with Stephenson's representation and the clear presentation of the facts, McMillan was exonerated in 1993 and was released from prison eventually. But not without some very serious scars. He had seen eight people executed on death row while he was waiting to be the next one, always wondering if he would be the next one. Knowing that he was innocent and yet knowing that he was going to be executed. And it just messed so much with his mind that he began to develop early stage dementia. The doctors felt like it was due to the stress he had been under in prison. It was so bad that when his lawyer would go visit him at home or in the hospital when he would be in the hospital. McMillan would tell him every time you've got to get me off death row, you've got to get me off death row. He was already freed from prison. He couldn't shake what he had experienced. And there are probably some of you like that here today. Maybe you were guilty. Maybe you have sinned. Maybe you have failed the Lord. Maybe in dramatic ways. And you carry that around and you can't escape and it haunts you and it weighs you down and it keeps you from ever feeling like you can serve the Lord again. I'm here to tell you that Jesus comes to you like he comes to Peter. And he wants to forgive you. He wants to restore you because that is how Jesus restores us. How Jesus restored Peter is how he restores us in the very same way. He wants us to clearly face our failure. He wants us to honestly declare where we are. He wants us then to accept his forgiveness and his challenge to serve him. That's how he forgives us. When you think of all the people that God used in the Bible, most of them had a serious failure on their record. Noah, most righteous man of his day, but he ends his life with an abysmal failure. Moses called the meekest man, the most humble man in all the earth, had such explosions of anger on three different occasions. The last one, finally, God said, okay, that's enough. You're not going to go see the promised land. I mean, this is the most humble man in all the earth, but he had a terrible blot on his record, Abraham. God's example in the New Testament of a man of faith had at least two glaring lapses of faith where he couldn't trust God to protect his wife and lied about her being his sister. David, a man after God's own heart, a man through whom 75 of the 50 Psalms that we have in the book of Psalms were written, passionate about God, but had a moral weakness that led him to such terrible sin and cover up. Elijah, powerful prophet will stand up against. Abraham, and the most, Abraham, and the most, Abraham, and the most humble man in the book of Psalms, will be scared and scared by the queen. And get so depressed, he wants God to take his life. Jonah, a prophet who obeys God after a little bit of going out of the way, obeys God, but then gets mad at God when God gives repentance. He's a great prophet, a great prophet. And then there's Peter, and then there's you, and then there's me. Have you failed the Lord somewhere along the line? All of us have. In some way, to some degree, maybe yours has been life-changing, glaring, catastrophic. Maybe it's just in daily life, you're consistently failing the Lord. Jesus wants to restore you, just like he restored Peter. Some of you, many of you, probably have been to the built-more house and ashful. It's a beautiful, beautiful place, isn't it? It was under the care for many years owned and managed by George and Edith Vanderbilt. They were an elegant couple known for their lavish entertaining of wealthy people. But if you hear the stories about the Vanderbilt today, you might also hear another story of how George Vanderbilt treated someone who was hired to the house. And then there's someone who was hired to work in their home. Bessie Smith was a teenager when she was hired to work at the Vanderbilt castle. She hadn't seen anything like that. She wasn't used to that kind of opulence. And so on her first day on the job, she walks into the great banquet hall with a tray full of China and food for some of the guests. And she is so taken aback by the size of the room and the opulence that she sees, that she stumbles and drops the tray in all the China shatters. She's devastated. And the guests gasp. And they watch as George Vanderbilt gets up from his chair and walks over toward her. And they're all waiting to see what kind of tirade is he going to go into. What is he going to say to her? He didn't say a word that anybody else could hear. He knelt down on his hands and knees and got together the shards of China, helped her put her to back on the tray. And then he kind of leaned toward her and said, come see me in the morning. She thought for sure she would be fired that next morning. And she went into his office. He promoted her to a different job at the Vanderbilt Mansion, the Built More House. So that in his words to her, she would not have to carry such heavy dishes anymore. What grace. And that's exactly what Jesus does. Have you failed? If your life is shattered on the floor, on the ground, Jesus will get down on his knees, hands and knees, condescend to help you pick up the pieces. And then he'll give you some more work to do. That's what he did for Peter. It's how he restored Peter. And it's how he'll restore you and me as well. There's one final thing that we need to look at. We're just going to mention it and summarize it briefly. And that is the need for his perspective. What Jesus does with Peter next. Now that Peter is back on board and he's going to serve Christ again. Peter needs a few adjustments in his perspective as to how he looks at things. And so very quickly, Jesus first of all says to him, Peter, here's something about your perspective. Expect trouble. He actually prophesies the way Peter will die with his arms outstretched. Some people think it's just an evidence of Peter's dependence on others in his old age. But verse 19 tells us that Jesus was talking about his death. The way he would die, Peter did die by crucifixion. Tradition tells us that he did not feel worthy to be crucified like Christ. And he asked him to turn him upside down. But surely he was crucified. And Jesus is telling him, Peter, you can expect trouble. Contrary to what the health and wealth gospel, what you hear on TV a lot, you can expect difficulty and trouble in the Christian life. God has never promised to exempt us from the natural curse on this world caused by the fall of man and descend. We are susceptible to the illnesses, to the tragedies, to the natural calamities that anybody else is. We are not promised that we will escape those. We are promised his never ending presence through them and his glorious purpose to be accomplished through them. So expect trouble. Secondly, Jesus tells him avoid comparison. Peter starts looking around and he sees John. And he says, Lord, what about this guy? And Jesus basically says none of your business. I mean, seriously, he does. Look at it. He says, what is that to you? What I do with him? What is that to you? None of your business, Peter. Peter is guilty of comparison. Peter is guilty of wondering how others are going to be treated in God's providence. There is nothing profitable about comparing God's providence in our different lives. God has different things for each of us to do. He gifts us in different ways. He gives us different passions. He leads us in different paths. He blesses us or withholds blessing in different ways. That is all in his sovereignty and in his providence. And if you go through life looking back around at other people, you are going to fall into a ditch or walk into a tree. You are not making any headway for the Lord if you are always comparing yourself with someone else. And so do what he tells him thirdly. He says expect trouble, avoid comparisons. And then lastly, he says follow Christ. Three times in this passage he says follow me. Stop looking around at John trying to figure out what is going to happen with him. Just follow me. Keep your eyes on me. Look at me. And that is what we all need to do regardless of how God deals with us in his providence. Our focus is to be on following him. We can't do that looking over our shoulder at someone else. We can't do that looking off in the distance that someone else hoping to be more like them. Or do what they do or have the gifts they have or the opportunities God has given them. No, no. We have to keep our eyes on Jesus and follow Him. Fix our eyes on Him. What He says we will do. Where He leads we will go. Follow me, Jesus says. What great lessons for us today. You see God wants us to be busy about His work. And thank you for the ministry surveys you've turned in. We've received about 340 of those. And I think there is a passion on the part of many people to be involved in service. Thank you for that. God bless you for that. We're compiling all those results now and no doubt we'll be coming back to many of you saying you showed an interest in this. Are you willing to serve? God wants us to be busy about His work. But we must understand that the fishing we do for people must be done in His power. We have a need for His power. And then we must remember that when we fail, if you mess up, just face it, honestly admit where you are and be restored. Let Him restore you to do His work again. And when He does, put your eyes on Him and follow Him. Those are the lessons He wants us to learn about how to serve Him. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this breakfast where Jesus challenged His disciples encourage them and instructed them. And we know this is food for us as well. It is instruction, challenge, encouragement for us as well. As we serve in this world, help us to remember the lessons you taught these men as you recommissioned them to be fishers of men. Father, I pray that you'll speak to our hearts. I pray first of all for any who do not know Jesus as Savior, that they will understand the gospel. The Spirit of God would be at work in their hearts this morning. And they would be willing to embrace Christ by faith as their Savior. I pray, Father, for those of us who are seeking to follow you, that will do it better than we've done it before, that by your grace will drop on your strength, will come to you when we need restoration, and we will keep our eyes on you in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.