The Church of Eleven22 - Grace for Breakfast - Wk 9

Episode Date: November 11, 2024

Jesus doesn’t give second chances at life- He gives new life. - The Church of Eleven22® is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Eleven22 is led by Pastor Joby Martin and based in Jacksonville, Florida, with multiple campuses throughout Jacksonville and the surrounding areas. To find out more about how God is moving at Eleven22, go to CoE22.com

Amen and amen. How we're doing, church? Good? You look great. Are you ready for the ninth and final week of run over by the grace train? How many of you need grace again and again and again? Right?

We're going to do a little grace for breakfast. That's what we're going to do. If you got your Bibles and I hope you do, make your way to John Chapter 21. And as you are on your way to John 21, on behalf of 40,000 babies a year in the state of Florida, I want to thank you for voting no on Amendment 4.

Way to go. Way to go. Now, a little prophetic encouragement, why you're all excited about everything. And it is this, that is not the finish line. That is the starting line. It's easy to vote because of our veterans, thank you. It's easy to vote and it's easy to cheer. Now we have an opportunity to love 40,000 babies and 40,000 mamas and to help every single image bearer of God know that they are dearly loved by Jesus Christ.

Amen? So we're not done. We've just got the right to now take care of some people. Amen, amen, amen. All right, if you got your Bible, I want you to get it out. If you don't have it, get one. If you don't have a Bible, there's a free copy in front of you. That's our gift to you.

Feel ready to take it home. If you've got seven or eight of our gifts, bring about six or eight of them back, please. But I want you to see these things. Okay, we're going to talk about grace. We've been talking about grace for nine weeks. And this is a very familiar passage. I've taught on it, I think four or five times in our 12 years as a church here. And it gets really familiar.

So let me just set this thing up for us, okay? Anybody need grace? How about I say this way? You ever royally screwed up? I mean, like, real bad. You ever over-promise? And you couldn't do the things that you said you were going to do, but you promised? Had the words ever come out of your mouth?

And they betray what you thought you believed in your heart? And you go, what's wrong with me? You ever do it in front of your friends? You ever make promise? promises in front of your friends, you say, I'll never do this. And then you lied and they found out. Or you cheated and they found out. Or you drank it again, or you took it again, or you called him back, or whatever the thing is that you swore you would never do. Get that in your mind. And then can you imagine, what if after making a promise, the person that you loved and respected the most

wanted to talk to you about it in the presence of the people that you made the promise in front of? that's what's going on here. John chapter 21. It says this, after this, and the this is that. Peter, the apostle Peter, has made a promise, and he lied. He denies Jesus. There's a lot going on. It's the night that Jesus was betrayed.

The disciples meet together in the upper room. They prepare what's known as the Passover meal. The Jewish people have been celebrating this all the way since the days of Moses. It was to commemorate when God set his people. free that he sent the angel of death through Egypt and whoever had the blood of a lamb on the doorpost of their house, that angel of death would pass over. And then they remembered it because God was their redeemer. God was their savior.

He heard the cries of his people. And whoever had the blood of a lamb on the doorpost would not be inflicted with death of the firstborn. But they were set free. They walked on dry ground through the Red Sea and eventually they made their way to the promised land. And Jesus gathers everybody together that night. And as they're celebrating the last supper, he's instituting the last supper, what we know is the last supper. He says, fellas, one of you tonight is going to betray me. And Peter, who's always going to talk first and most? Peter.

Peter's like, guess who has two thumbs and won't? This guy. And Jesus is like, no, actually, before the rooster crows in the morning, bro, you're done. He goes, nope. Peter constantly puts Jesus in his place. Can you imagine? Hey, listen, rabbi. Won't you hang on for a second?

I don't think you know who you're talking to. Even if all these other cracker jacks that you picked, they may deny you, but I would never leave you. I would lay down my life for you. A little while later, they go to the Garden of Gassimony. Jesus gets arrested, and they're taking him to Caiaphas' house, to try him, to beat him, to brutalize him, to begin the journey that will eventually lead to the cross. Peter kind of sneaks along. He's outside of Caiaphas's house. Caiaphas is a high priest.

And while he's there, he walks up and a guy comes up. and a guy comes up to him, he's like, hey man, I heard your accent, you sound like a Galilean. Are you one of Jesus' followers? And Peter goes, not me. A little while later, the Bible says that Peter is warming himself by a charcoal fire. This matters. And the reason that the Bible points out that it's a charcoal fire, that's not a normal fire. Any of you have a green egg, all right?

You know, like you grill real boozy, right? That's you? You know how much they charge you for that charcoal? It's expensive, right? Can you imagine what a waste it would be if you warmed your hands over? to that charcoal. If you were just building a fire to warm yourself with, it would just be like sticks and trash. But this is a charcoal fire. It has a distinct smell. And Peter is outside of Kaifers' house warming himself with some other guys, and a servant girl walks up to him and says,

you're one of his, right? And he goes, nope. Now here's what's crazy. Based on Roman and Jewish culture, this servant girl in the first century, she did not even have the authority to give her testimony in a court of law. In other words, she can't even do anything about it. She goes in checks and and say, no, no, no, no. My uncle told me you cut off my cousin's ear. And then the Bible says that Peter curses and says no. So he says, I don't say bad words, whatever you would say, blank, no. That's what he says. Strike two and three. And then the Bible says that Jesus is led out of Caiaphas's his house. He's on his way to the Pontius Pilots. He's going to be crucified. He makes eye contact with Peter, and the Bible says that Peter weeps.

bitterly. Jesus is crucified, dead, buried, but on the third day is resurrected. The women see him at the tomb. The angels say, hey, hey, go tell the disciples that Jesus is not here, he is alive, and tell Peter. Why? Peter thinks he's done. Peter thinks he's screwed up.

So they're waiting. They're hanging out in the upper room. They're afraid, right? Because if you take out the leader, maybe they're coming for us next. And Jesus appears two more times. everybody they got the locked door because they're afraid that the Romans are going to come get them so they're afraid and the door is locked and all of a sudden Jesus doesn't knock on the door doesn't open the door just shazam he's in the room and he says peace be still why because everybody just messed themselves a little bit because they saw Jesus dead now he's alive he's standing in the room he appears to him Thomas isn't there and when Thomas gets back they're like hey dude you ain't going to believe this Jesus was here and he's right you're right I ain't going to believe it unless I see it with my eyes and touch his wounds with my

hands and put my hand in the side. He's weird. That's why they call him doubting Thomas. That's why you don't want to miss church. You never know what might happen. Jesus might show up. And then sure enough, Jesus shows up and proves himself to Thomas. And then Jesus says, y'all hang out in this room until the Spirit of God shows up one day. And then Peter, though, Peter, after this, says after this, Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberius and he revealed himself in this way. Verse two, John wants to let us know who is in this situation. Simon Peter, Thomas called the twin, Nathaniel of Cana and Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, that's James and John, and I love this so much, especially older I get. And two of his disciples were together. Do you know why it says

this? Because John wrote this when he was an old man. He can't just make stuff up. This is the word of God. You can't be wrong. You ever do this, especially when you get old? You're like, you know, Thomas was there and Peter was there and then you know what's his face and what's that guy's name they were there too why does it say this because this is not a Bible story this is not a long time ago in a galaxy far far away this is an actual event and these men were actually in this event another thing just to point out especially in this time the amount of unity that was happening in the church is supernatural it's exactly what Jesus was asking for in John chapter 17 when Jesus says and they, the world, will know that we are Christians,

by the way that we love one another. If I had time to go through all the people that are named here as the disciples, the amount of diversity that is unified around the cross here is mind-blowing. You had royalty like Nathaniel, and you had blue-collar fishermen like Peter James and John. You had people that politically were way over here on one side.

Simon the zealot, he had like a Make Jerusalem Great Again hat on, and Matthew is collecting taxes and giving it to Rome who's trying to kill Jerusalem. These people could not be more politically divided, and yet their political division and opinion was not the primary thing that defined them. They were defined by the blood of Jesus because they were primarily children of God,

made in the image of God, and they were following Jesus, and that unity changed the world. And this is who's there. Okay? So all these guys. And then verse three, check this out. And Simon Peter said to them, I'm going fishing.

And they said, we will go with you. All right. This is different. This is different. All you gifted class. Do you remember what Peter did before he ever started following Jesus?

He was a fisherman. So when Peter says, I'm going fishing, this is not like, just, it's not like a hobby. It's kind of like in 1995 on ESPN, there was a news break. And the news anchors from ESPN come on, and the greatest basketball player

of all time is giving an interview. His name is Michael Jordan. If you don't believe me, make a fist, punch yourself in the face because you're too dumb to talk to, okay? He's the greatest basketball player of all time, and he simply says this, I'm going to play basketball. Now, when he says I'm going to play basketball,

it means something different that if we say we're going to play basketball. If I were to say, Gretchen, I'm going to play basketball, she would say, please don't get hurt, take Advil. I hope you make it back without a pulled hamstring. Because she thinks I'm going to my neighbor Sean's house to play basketball with the kids. When Michael Jordan says that he's going to play basketball, He says, I don't know what I was thinking about the baseball thing.

I'm going to return to the thing that I know how to do best. Do you understand? When Peter says I'm going fishing, he does what so many of us have a propensity to do. When something happens to us, or we happen to us, or we sin, we're filled with shame, we're filled with embarrassment. We think we're too far gone and God is done with us. We have a propensity to hit the reset button and return to the old lifestyle, the old ways, the old things. that we used to do. Peter is probably thinking God must be done with me because I let him down. I'm too far gone. I've screwed up too bad. I mean, I bragged in front of everybody that I would

never leave him. I would never forsake him and I can't even admit that I know who he is. So I guess I'm out. It's one of the primary schemes of the enemy is to try to get you to define you by your past, by your mistakes, by your sins, and by your scars. And one of the things that we're going to see is Jesus is going to show up and say, no, no, no, no, no, you don't let the devil define you by your scars. You're going to be defined by my scars, only I get to tell you who you are. And by the way, you don't have to do the things you used to do because you're not the person that you used to be. The old you is dead and the new you in Christ is alive.

So you don't have to go back to that old lifestyle. And I promise you, if you go back to your old ways, if you go down that road that you used to live on, you're going to wake up just as empty as you used to. Don't believe me, read the Bible. Here's what it says in 3B. And they went out and they got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Bummer.

Verse four, just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore. Yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus, verse 5, and Jesus said to them, children, here's how you know that the resurrected Jesus is about to jack with the disciples. Because this word, He doesn't say fellas, doesn't say brothers, doesn't say men.

He calls them little boys. He's like, hey, little guy, that's what he does. And you know, they're like, who does this guy think he is calling us little boys? That's what he does. And a part of the reason I want you to see this is, I don't know why it is necessarily, but the resurrected Jesus jacked with everybody that he appeared to. Do you know this is? Remember Mary shows up at the tomb and she's looking for Jesus and he's standing right there

and she's crying? and he's like, excuse me, why are you crying? He knows why she's crying. You ever ask questions, but you know the answer, but you just want to mess with people? All right? That's what he's doing. And she thinks he's the gardener.

And then he's like, ha, ha, Jesus. She's like, what? Then he leaves. Same thing, rode to Emaeus. Remember the two guys are walking along seven miles away to Emaeus, and they're talking about Jesus being crucified? And he walks over. He's like, what you guys talking about?

He knows what they're talking about. And then at dinner, he breaks the bread. It's like, ha, ha, it's me. And then, p-boom, disappears. This is what he's doing. Children. part of the reason I want you to see this is because oftentimes we think

when we screw up royally, we think the voice of God towards us is condemnation and he's going to look at us and go, how dare you? It's not what he does. He doesn't wait for them to get their act together and make it back to the holy city. That's the last place they saw it.

But he relentlessly pursues his rebellious kids all the way to the sea of Galilee and he starts out with a playful tone in his voice and he says, children, and then he jacks with him. Do you have any fish? He knows he ain't got no fish. Husband, you ever go fishing Mr. Johnny and you don't catch nothing? It's a bummer, right?

And then you get home, and your wife's like, did you catch anything? And you're thinking, woman, you know I didn't catch anything? Because I would have texted you, my Instagram would have been like, big old fish, pictures, you know what I mean? Day on the boat, better day at work. All the things, man. You say all that on the inside. And then he says to them,

do you have any fish? And they answered him, no. And he said that him, cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you'll find some there. And they're thinking, what? Who is this guy? The Bible's going to tell us a minute, he's like 100 yards away. And they're like, what does this guy do it? On the right side of the boat, that don't make no sense.

Have you ever been fishing in the first century in the Sea of Galilee? Not let me tell you. A fishing boat was about seven feet wide. The steering mechanism was on the right side of the boat. and a hundred yards off the shore, there's no sides of the boat. There's just water all under there. And they're like, okay, you think they're not over here, but they're going to be over there. You dummy, what are you talking about?

But listen, somehow, they do what Jesus tells them to do. By the way, the best thing you can do with your life is do whatever Jesus tells you to do. In John, chapter 2, verse 5, I think it's the greatest advice in all of the world. He's at the way to get Cana, they run out of wine. his mama comes to him, son, they're out of wine. He's like, what's this got to do with me? It's not my time yet. And then she gets the servants together, and she says this, John 2.5, do whatever he tells

you to do. Now, listen, if you think Jesus is going to tell you to do things that makes sense in the natural, then you don't know who you're talking to. Because he tells these servants, and he tells these fishermen to do things that don't make any sense in the natural. He tells the servants at the wedding to go get those water jars where people have been washing their hands with the nasty water, fill it up, scoops them out, take it to the master of ceremonies.

They're like, that don't make no sense. And little do they know there's a miracle on the other end of about four steps of obedience. These guys are in the boat. It don't make no sense to throw the nets on the other side. And yet, little do they know, there's a miracle on the other side of a step of obedience. My question for you is, what is he telling you to do? And if you can't look back over your life in the past month and see some things that did not make any sense in the natural, but you did them anyway, it could be because you're not listening to the voice of God. God. He's a good shepherd. He speaks to his sheep and every single time we do what he tells us to do,

it always leads to abundant life, not cash and prizes. It leads to him because he is our ultimate reward. And so what is he telling you to do? This is what they do. But if you keep doing what you've been doing, you're going to keep getting what you've been getting. If you keep doing what you've been doing, you're going to keep getting what you've been getting. And so many of you are doing life the world's way. And all you're getting is what the world offers. Like you're doing money, God's way. Though he's calling you to be generous and trust him with it,

you're not, you're trusting in you with it. And no matter how much or little you have, it's not satisfying you and you say what's wrong. Or some of your relationships are jacked because you're doing it the world's way. You are, man. You're hooking up, shagging up, breaking up, and repeating, and thinking that that's going to lead

to this deep and abiding marriage that glorifies God. Or some of you are dating the world's way and you wonder why it ain't working. You dummies? You go out every Friday night and meet some dumb boy at Jack's Beach Bar. And you think, oh, but I could fix him. Listen, if you want to fix something,

go to the pound, get you a puppy, all right? You want to meet a man and make babies. You don't want to meet a baby and try to make it a man. That's never going to work for you. You understand? Do it God's way. I promise his way is better in our ways. And so they try it, man.

They're like, all right, and they throw the nets over. So they cast it. And now they were not able to haul it in because of the quantity of fish. And that disciple whom Jesus loved, I love this so much. That's John. He's only called this in the book of John, written by John. But there is some legitimacy here. Remember last week we talked about the word beloved?

Can you imagine the confidence you could walk around with if you knew? Like, hi, I'm the disciple that Jesus loves. Because he does, man, he does. Maybe if you can begin to see yourself the way God sees you, maybe you could speak on behalf of God. It's a really big deal. And the disciple whom Jesus loved, although earlier he does let us know that in a race to the tomb, that John can outrun Peter.

I don't know why he didn't choose that. I think it's his insecurity, but whatever. The disciple whom Jesus loved, therefore said to Peter, it's the Lord. What he's talking about here is this has happened once before. all the way back in Luke chapter 5, the first time that James and John and Peter and Andrew meet Jesus, they were fishing. Same place, same sea of Galilee, same seashore.

And that night they caught nothing. And Jesus walks up to him and says, push out again, and why don't you try this side of the boat? And when they did it back in Luke chapter 5, they caught an enormous amount of fish just like this. And so they're fishing all night. They don't catch anything. Guy on the shore says, children, have you have any fish?

No, try the other side. they do it, boom. And then John goes, this smells like Jesus. Peter, look what he does. And when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment for he was stripped for work, and he threw himself into the sea. Oh, I love this so much.

I love it for so many reasons. First of all, Peter's kind of a son's out, guns out guy. You know, he's always looking for an opportunity to take a shirt off, so he's out there getting some son. He sees Jesus, they recognize Jesus. And I don't know if you remember this back Luke 15, the prodigal son. It was dishonoring for a person, for a grown man, to, like, hustle to see another person.

This is why the dad, you know, most dads didn't run, but the dad in Luke 15 runs. But Peter doesn't care, man. He doesn't care what it looks like to anybody else. Also, can you just see Peter's a mess? Peter's still a mess. He puts on his cloak to go swimming. That doesn't make any sense at all. And how about this?

The Bible does not say he dove into the sea. It says he threw, he says, whirr, he just kind of throw it. himself into the sea. And how great is this, man? Jesus is not waiting for you to clean yourself up to make yourself presentable before him. The man, when you see him, when you recognize him, then you just throw yourself on him. And something's changing in the heart of Peter in the life of Peter. Back in Luke chapter 5, the first time there was the catch of the miraculous fish, then what Peter does when he recognizes, uh-oh, I think this is actually the son of God. The Bible says that Peter falls on his face and says, get away from me because I am.

I am a wicked man. He runs away from him. Now, even after he's screwed up royally and he knows it, he runs to him and not from him. Listen, the grace of Jesus Christ poured out at the cross invites us when we sin to run to him and not run from him. If when you sin, you run from him, it means you don't understand the good news of the gospel. It's like this. Let me put it on the bottom shelf. You ready? you don't get the gospel if you think, oh, no, I've messed up. Don't tell dad. You begin to understand the power of the gospel in your life when you begin to think, oh, no, I've messed up.

Somebody needs to call dad. This is what's happening here. He hurries to him. Verse 8. And the other disciples came in the boat dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land about 100 yards off. By the way, there is a leadership lesson here for all you, like bosses, CEOs, if you lead team or whatever.

Services is something you do with people, not two people. So don't get so far out ahead of them that you leave them for do all the work while you've got this great vision, you know? Can you imagine Peter's like swimming and they're rowing by him? Like, what are you doing? But they're left to do all the work. They're bringing into the fish. Back to the sermon.

Verse 9. And when they got out on the land, they saw a charcoal fire in place. Now why a charcoal fire? I told you. There's only two times charcoal fires mentioned in the whole Bible. And Jesus is putting this. thing way down here on the bottom shelf just to make sure Peter understands what's going on. He's actually converging about three different things in one event just to make sure that Peter

understands what's going on. He's resetting the scene because it was by a charcoal fire that Peter denied Jesus. Don't want to spoil this for you, but Jesus is going to ask Peter three times if he loves him. Why? Because three times Peter denied him. He's doing it on the same seashore that he met him the very first time. He does it right after a miraculous catch of fish. And the reason that sometimes God has to put things way down on the bottom shelf is, I don't know if you know this, but sometimes church people can be a little slow to get it. Have you met anybody like that? Let me give you an example. Have you realized that for the last nine weeks of this series called run over by a grace train that we have been looking at a train?

Has anybody noticed that the set that we made up here is the front, the grill of a train with lights and the grill, and I talked to my staff and so many people didn't get it. And so just to make sure you don't get it, our lighting director, Dallas, help them get it. All right, you get it? It's been a train the whole time.

And you're like, oh, right. In fact, after one of the service, I heard somebody asking, you have a lighting director on your staff? Yeah, his name's Dallas. He's awesome. By the way, I don't know if you've read about heaven. They're not going to be any preachers in heaven, but there'll still be lighting directors and worship leaders. So put that in your pipe and smoke it. All right. So, that's just true. So I got really good news for you, by the way. If it takes you a couple times to get your head around what the Bible says, if you're a little slow on the uptake on the whole Bible study thing,

if it takes you a little while to understand the words of Jesus, I got some really good news. You could make a great disciple. This is why he puts it on the bottom shelf. This is also why the Bible calls us sheep, because we're dumb. That's what it means, all right? And so he's got this charcoal fire. He has recreated the scene. There's a charcoal fire in place with fish laid out on it and bread. This is grace for breakfast, man.

I'm telling you, if we got up every morning and we ingested a good, healthy dose of grace, it would change every day of our life. And grace is being invited to a breakfast with Jesus that you don't deserve to be invited to. and all you need is already there. That's what he invites them to. And so Jesus said to them bring some of the fish that you have just caught. So Simon Peter went aboard

and he hauled the net ashore full of large fish, 153 of them. Do you know why the Bible says 153? Because they call it 153 fish. This is an actual event. This is not a made-up story. Have you ever been fishing and not count them?

Of course you count them. One of the about 153. People make up all kind of stuff and what it can mean. Maybe it does, maybe it don't. I don't know. It actually happened. 153 fish. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. And Jesus said to them, come and have breakfast. Now none of the disciples dared ask him, who are you? They knew it was the Lord. And Jesus came and he took the bread and he gave it to them and sewed with the fish.

This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. And the Bible wants you to know, John wants you to know, that this is an actual, physical, resurrected Jesus. He was doorknob dead in the tomb, and now he's alive bodily and physically. This is not a ghost. This is not a dream. He ate fish. This isn't like cookie monster. He's like and it just all fell on the ground. The Jesus was bodily and physically resurrected, and he is the prototype, prototoko from the dead. And just like he was resurrected from the grave and went first, all who believe in him, we will be resurrected with him. And so after they had finished breakfast, verse 15, when they had finished breakfast,

Jesus says to Simon Peter. Now, it doesn't even say that he like pulls him aside. Apparently everybody's still there. And what do you think he's going to say? And Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, are you going to do better next time? He said, yes, sir, you know that I will. Simon, son of John, are you sure? Are you sure you're going to try harder and get it right?

And he said, I'll do my best. and Simon, son of John, promise me you won't screw up anymore. Is that what he said? No, that's why I told you to get your Bible out in the beginning, but you didn't. I just made that up. Don't trust what's on the screen. I mean, look what's on there now. That's a hot mess.

It's not what it says. But that's how we act. That's how we act. You know when Jesus gave us this promise, he said, all right, I'm going to leave, but I'm going to send you a helper. And he's going to help you understand everything. I've taught you. And a reality of one of God's prophecies that gets fulfilled in my life is when he teaches me new things in his word. I've taught this, I've taught John 21, five or six times at 1122 in the last 12 years. I wrote a chapter of a book on it and edited it and read it for

an audible. And for the first time this week it occurred to me that Jesus didn't say, are you going to do better? That's how we act, didn't it? How many parents, honestly. Isn't that what we That's how we get after our kids. You, you from now on. And when we screw up to God, isn't that the promise we make? God, I'll do better. I'll try harder. And it's not the question that Jesus asks.

The question that he asks is the foundation of the whole gospel. Do you love me? Do you love me? Now, belief is important because you can't have right, you can't rightly worship God without right. thoughts about God. So doctrine matters, man, and belief matters. That stuff matters. But the core is, do you love me? Because if you love him, I promise, over time, maybe not overnight, all of these things will line up. Jesus says, if you really love me, then you'll do what I say, because to love me

is to trust me and know me. And then you'll trust that my ways are better than your ways. And even and especially when it doesn't make sense, then you'll follow me and do what I say. He says, do you love me? And then the Bible tells us what love is. He says, this is love, not that we love God, but he first loved us. And he sent his son as the propitiation for our sin. And you know, if you know any theological term of 1122, you know perpetuation. Propitiation is a payment that satisfies. Satisfies the justice of God, the law of God, the holiness of God.

That when Jesus died on the cross and said, it is finished, then God's wrath was fully and finally satisfied with Christ. Therefore, if you are in Christ, then God cannot be dissatisfied in you. So when you screw up, you don't have to run from him. you can run to him. And he invites you once again. Do you love me? Do you love me?

You know what the greatest commandment in the whole Bible is? There was this lawyer in the New Testament. Don't trust those people. Okay? And they're always jacking with Jesus. And he comes to Jesus and he says, hey, I got a question. What's the greatest commandment in all of the Old Testament?

What's interesting is what happened is in the first century, people would gather around and they would watch like religious leaders fight about doctrine. That's what they would do. And there was like a game to it. You were supposed to ask a question at a 30,000 foot level, very general. And then another guy would answer it. He'd go down a little bit. And eventually they'd get down to a point of disagreement and they would fight it out,

have a little like, you know, biblical jiu-jitsu. And then people would watch because, you know, there was no Netflix. So what else are you going to do with your time? And so this lawyer comes up to kind of pick a fight with Jesus and says, well, it's the greatest commandment. And Jesus goes, what do you say? And the guy's like, that's not what you're supposed to say. And so he says, I guess it's, and he quotes Deuteronomy, six.

He says, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And the second one's like it, you should love your neighbor as yourself. And Jesus is like, yep, you nailed it. That's it. Are you doing that? He gets very, very personal.

He says, the greatest commandment is to love God and because of that love, then we love one another. And there's no need for a law if you do these two things. Now think about this. All right, all you were covering Catholics and Anglicans and Episcopalians and, you know, all you real high church people, thinking about how many creeds that you know. You could pop up right now, you could probably do the Nicene Creed and the Apostles Creed because you grew up saying it over and over and over and over.

Do you know how hard it is to find a creed in the early church that says anything about loving God? It's just, I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe. Believe is important. I'm not saying it's not important. Jesus just said the most important commandment is to love God. let me ask you this, do you love God? Sometimes I have these conversations. I have these two conversations that go the same.

One is sometimes I have these conversations with people that claim to be Christians and essentially what they're asking me is what's the minimum amount I have to do or what's the maximum I can get away with and still be a Christian. And I'm like, what? Hold on.

Do you love God? Because if you love him, if you call him your Lord, what you want? to say is, I'll do whatever you want me to do. And if I'm doing something wrong, examine me and show me that so I can walk in your ways. The other time is sometimes I'll be talking to a couple. And I'm going to, and the husband will basically ask the same question. What's the minimum I have to do to get what I want to out of this? And I'm like, well, hold on, dude, hold on wait. Do you love your wife? Because if you don't love her, this whole thing is jacked. The usual is to love her like he loved

you. That's what we're called to do. And so Jesus is just asking, us, do you love me? So the first thing he asked, he says, Simon's son of John, do you love me? More than these. I think John's like, I mean, I think Peter's like, more than these what? Like more than these other disciples? Because that's what he promised at the last supper. He's like, these cracker jacks may leave you, but not me. Is that what he's asking? Or he may be saying, do you love me more than these fish and boats and nets and lifestyle? You see, because on this seashore three and a half years ago, I came and called you out of all of this.

And I had a higher call and a higher purpose. And that was to come and to follow me and I was going to make you a fisher of men. So why have you reverted back to the things that you used to do? So let me, I'm going to tell you, man, when it hits the pan in your life, you will revert to the things that you love the most.

And if you love your job and if you love your house and you love your car, you love your stuff, and you love your status, and you love your own self-determination most, that is where your affections go. And Jesus will say, do you love me more than these? Because those things will always let you down, and he never ever will.

And so he says, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? And he says, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And he says, feed my lambs. In other words, be a pastor. Pastor and shepherd are the same thing in Greek. Here's what he said, I'm not done with you, man. Why do you think you're disqualified?

I haven't disqualified you. Feed my lambs. And he said to him a second time, Simon's son of John, do you love me? And he said, yes, Lord, do you know that I love you? And he said, tend to my sheep. He's like, all right. Verse 17. And he said to him a third time, Simon's son of John, do you love me?

And Peter was grieved because he said to him a third time, do you love me? See, Peter was like you with the train thing. He's like, oh, I see what you're doing. I denied you three times by charcoal fire, and now you're going to ask me three times. But here's what I need you to hear. This is, Jesus is not condemning Peter. He's inviting confession and repentance. Listen, sometimes God will take you through the place of pain for your own healing.

Like, what are he talking about? The Bible says that Jesus is the great physician. And you know what a great physician does? A great physician that is for you and wants to heal you, does not mind you going through a temporary amount of pain in order for you to get healed. Like if you went to see an orthopedic with a broken arm and you walked in with a broken arm,

guess which arm he's going to put his hands on? If he began to reach for the broken arm, you're like, whoa, whoa, no, no, no, no, no, work on my foot. It feels good. That doesn't make any sense at all. and he's putting his hand on that arm to reset it, which is going to cause an immense amount of pain, but it's only through that pain that you're going to experience the healing.

So when you come into this place and you begin to get stirred up because you begin to feel conviction, condemnation is the devil saying he's done with you. Conviction is the warm invitation of the spirit of God is saying, hey man, I'm just getting to work on you for the sake of healing because I'm not done with you. That's what's happening. Jesus wants Peter to know there is more grace in me than sin in you.

I know you've sinned. I know you denied me three times, but three times I'm just going to ask you so you can hear you say it out loud. And listen, he's not making light of sin. He's not saying sin's not a big deal. Sin is such a big deal that Jesus, just a few weeks earlier, went to the cross to die for the sin and pay for the sin. that he is now getting Peter to experience. That Jesus on the cross, when he says, it is finished, paid in full, Peter, that counted for you.

So you don't have to live like you used to live because you're alive, and you get to walk in a newness of life. And he says, Lord, you know everything, you know that I love you. And Jesus said to him, then feed my sheep. Look, man, Jesus isn't condemning him. He's restoring him. You can't out sin the grace of God. You can't out sin the grace of God.

And if you hear that as freedom to sin, then you haven't been hit by the grace train. The good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is not free us to sin. It feeds us from sin. Billy Graham used to say this. We're freed from the penalty of sin. We are being freed from the power of sin. And one day we'll be freed from the very presence of sin. That's what's happening.

Yeah, there's a thing that's happened recently in our culture called cancel. culture. That if you did something in the bass, if somebody finds out about it, you're canceled. Thank God we didn't have social media when I was in high school. Good gracious. That'd be done. Jesus isn't into cancel culture. Jesus is into canceling your sin so that you could be restored. I mean, there are some institutions in this world that should be canceled, okay? Again, abortion for no reason or any reason. That whole institution should be canceled. The pornography industry should be canceled. And even in light of that, Jesus, Jesus,

would come along, and if you are a person who's had an abortion, performed an abortion, paid for an abortion, or participated in pornography as a recipient or even a maker of the stuff, Jesus would come along and want to redeem you, not cancel you. Colossian says that he nailed the record of debt to the cross, canceling it effects, so that he could transfer you from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. This is what he wants Peter to know right here. It's grace, man. It's grace.

And then he says this, he gives him a prophecy. Who wants a prophecy from Jesus? I want to do a calendar one day of promises from God, the ones that nobody quotes. In this life, you will have trouble of many kinds. January, right? Like that. This world hated me, it will hate you.

Happy Valentine's Day. Here's what he tells him. Listen to this. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself, and walk wherever you wanted. As Americans, this is how we describe freedom. I do whatever I want.

And Jesus says, but when you were old, you will stretch out your hands and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go. And then parenthetically, John tells us what this means because John outlived Peter so he knows how Peter dies. This he said to show by what kind of death Peter was to glorify God.

He's saying this, Peter, it would be better for you, to follow me and live a shorter life and die a gruesome death with me than for you to live your life without me gain all that this world has and to die and live in a Christless eternity without me. Hey listen, man, there's this thing that gets peddled on Christian TV called the prosperity gospel that if you believe in Jesus, he'll give you life, health, happiness. There's only one problem with that.

It's called the Bible. That didn't happen to anybody in the Bible. God does wants to prosper you, but the prize that you get is you get Jesus. We don't follow Jesus because he makes our life better. We follow Jesus because he is better than life. And he looks at Peter and says, if you follow me, it's going to end real bad, but it's better that you follow me, get me than for you to do whatever you want for all of your days and live without me.

Listen, if you're a Jesus follower, your best life is not now. Your best life is then. Listen, if you're a Christian, if you're a Christian, You follow Jesus. This is as close to hell as you're ever going to be. This is it. The flip side's scary. If you don't know Jesus, this is as close to heaven as you're ever going to be.

Because it's by him and him alone that we get to be with him forever. This is what he's telling him. And after saying this to him, he says two of the most encouraging words in the whole Bible. He says, follow me. Anybody want to take a guess at the first two words Jesus ever spoke to Peter? you see Peter's like man I screwed up I screwed up so bad I'm gonna have I mean surely you're gonna reject me because I rejected you and so I'm gonna go back to my old lifestyle I gotta figure my life out I'm gonna go back to the things I used to do Jesus chases him down graces him

and then gives him the first words he ever gave him in mark chapter 1 verses 16 and 17 this is the first time they meet and passing along the sea of galilee same seashore he saw simon and Andrew the brother of simon casting the net into the sea for they were fishermen and josephers Jesus said to then, follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men. He says, hey man, why don't we start over? First graders have this theological term called the do-over. You know what a do-over is? You ever play in a game and something screws up and you just yell do-over.

When I was in the first grade, we had a bunch of kids that would come over to our yard and we'd play kickball in my backyard. And in Wright Field, this was Dillon, South Carolina. They were very South Carolinian, which means they didn't take care of their yard. So we just called it the thicket. And so if you kind of shanked it and sliced it, it should be a base of it in the right field, but it landed in their thicket.

So you could just yell, do-over, and everybody would return to where you were previous to where the mistake was. Isn't that a grand theological idea? Can't you imagine, wouldn't it be great if we had this as adults? Like the blue lights hit, blue, do you know how fast you're going? I'm going to take a do-over, carry on. Would it be awesome?

Now, it breaks down theoretically a little bit because, maybe you've heard it this way. Maybe you've heard this. You've heard people say, we serve the God of second chances. I know what people mean, but the problem of the second chance is what? You know what you'd get if you get a second chance? You'd be O for two. We'd be right back in the same bucket.

We don't need a second chance. We need a substitute. We need somebody to do for us what we can't do for ourselves. Jim Bergen, Dern saturated, he said it this way. He says, there are no second chances. There's just the blood of Jesus and from now on. And the blood of Jesus washes away ourselves. in and the life of Jesus gives us a new life. There's the blood of Jesus and from now on.

How many of you need to have breakfast with Jesus and he looks at you and go, I ain't done with you? To which some of you go, yeah, but you don't know my life, pastor. You're right, bro. But you probably don't know the life of Peter. Do you know who we're talking about here? He's the biggest screw up in the Bible. His whole life is just these high highs, these moments of faith and he's just, he royally screwed up. One time about three or four years ago, we did a, we did a series on the life of Peter called Lessons from a Loudmouth. And somebody email me. He's like, why do you hate Peter? I'm like, what? You heard it wrong? I love him so much. He is Exhibit A that people like me can make it because he screwed up everything. Sometimes he did awesome stuff like Walk on Water. And then,

in the same event, he jacked up the miracle because he was afraid and he began to sink. Or he got invited up on the mountain of Transfiguration. He sees the Transfigured Jesus in his His glory, and then he chases off the presence of God, because he sticks his dumb head in there and goes, It is good that we are here. He always made everything about him. Or he prepared the Passover meal. That was a big deal.

And then Jesus is showing the disciples his love by serving them by washing his feet, washing their feet, and then Peter screws it up. He gets to Peter, he's washed everybody else's feet, and he gets to Peter, and Peter's like, you don't ever wash my feet. Jesus is like, what? If I don't wash your feet, then you have no part with me.

In other words, you're going to hell. And he's like, all right, well, then give me a whole bath. in front of everybody. Jesus is like, what in the name of me are you talking about? You ever have somebody make Bible study weird all the time? That's Peter. It's like, why do you got to make everything weird, man? He does that. He gets asked to pray with Jesus in the garden, he keeps falling asleep, and then he wakes up, he overcorrects, cuts the dude's ear off. That's not good. Peter helps feed the 5,000 in John chapter 6, and then later in that same

chapter, when Jesus begins to describe the gospel, that unless you eat my flesh or drink my blood, you have no part with me, Peter starts to leave. He's going to abandon Jesus. And Jesus says, you don't want to leave too, do you? And he doesn't go, no, not me. I would never leave. He goes, I got nowhere to go. That's what he says.

And then maybe the worst one of all is that Jesus takes Peter and the disciples to Cessori of Philippa, Sin City. And he says, who do people say that I am? And they're like, eh, they give all these answers. Then he says, who do you say that I am? By the way, the most important question you'll deal with in your life, who do you say Jesus is? And Peter, who's going to talk first and most, he goes, you were the Christ, the son of a living God.

And Jesus is like, winter, winter, chicken dinner, bro. Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every once in a while. You did not make this up. This was a review, not a direct translation, but you understand what I'm saying. This was revealed to you by my father. I'm going to change your name. I'm going to give you a new name. Your new name's going to be Petra, the rock.

Rocky, that's his new name. And upon this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And the rock that he's going to build the church on is the declaration that Jesus is the Christ, the son of a living God. And Peter's feeling awesome. Got his new nickname. Rocky, man. He's got the keys to the gates of heaven. That's what Jesus says.

And then Jesus begins to tell them the gospel. So this is how it's going to go down. I'm going to be betrayed, tried, crucified, dead, buried. And on the third day, resurrected. And Peter rebukes Jesus. And he's like, not on my watch. You know who you're talking to? I'm the rock.

And the rock says, you ain't going to die. And Jesus says, get behind me. Satan. You think you're a screw up? Imagine the son of God calling you the devil. He went from the Pope to the devil on the same page in the Bible. You know what we would do with a guy like this

on our team? We'd fire him. You know what Jesus does? I think you should be in charge. He denies him three times. Jesus prepares a charcoal fire breakfast. He says, come on, buddy, I ain't done with you. Do you love me? Do you love me?

Do you love me? And then I don't have time to go through it. But if you know the end of John, he says, follow me. I mean, hey, there's a blood of Jesus from now. I'm not done with you. And Peter screws up the do-over. If you keep reading in John 21, Peter goes, well, what about John? And parents, you ever do that?

You're talking to your kid? They're like, we'll be able to him. We're not talking about him right now. We're talking to me you. This is what Peter does. Well, what about John? Jesus is like, oh, my gosh, I can't even with you. What does this have to do with John?

We're not talking about John. We're talking about you. If I want to leave him alive until I return, that's up to me, man. And then he says, so would you just follow me? He has to give him do-over on his do-over during the meeting about the do-over. That's what a screw-up he is. I hope it makes you feel better. This is my testimony.

It's like three steps forward, four steps back, cha, cha-cha, cha, grace of God. That's what we all need. And here's what's crazy, man. It works. It completely transformed. Peter's life. See, here's the point. When Jesus says, follow me, he isn't offering a second chance at life. He's offering a new life. Because from this moment on, Peter is transformed. He says, wait for me in the upper room. I'm going to send the Holy Spirit. And you will receive power

when the Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem today of Samaria to the very ends of the earth. And sure enough, the Spirit of God falls on the believers like fire. And they begin to speak in their own language and people hear it in theirs and the word of God begins to go out. And then a huge crowd on the southern steps of the temple gathers. And again, who's going to talk first the most? Peter sees a group of people. He's like, ooh, I'll say something. And he steps up. And the very thing that keeps getting him in trouble, his mouth, God uses that same thing to preach the very first Christian sermon in the history of church. And Peter starts out his sermon this way. God gave us the author of life and you killed him. Repent and be baptized.

It's the least seeker-sensitive sermon of all time. And 3,000 people get baptized that day. A couple days later, Peter and John are on their way to the temple to pray, and there's a guy begging for money out front, and he asked for alms for a handout. And Peter looks at him and says, silver and gold, have I none? In other words, he's like, bro, we're in ministry. We ain't got no money. But what I have for you, I will give you in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior,

stand up and walk, and he reaches down, and heals this guy. and that guy goes hopping into the temple. Well, the Sanhedra and the people that crucified had Jesus crucified, they hear about it and they arrest Peter. And they put Peter and John in front of this council. There are 72 men in a circle around Peter and John. And they basically say, hey, dude, you can heal people. You just got to quit with the Jesus stuff.

And all he has to do is do what he's already done before and just say he doesn't know him. But in Acts chapter 4, verse 19, the Bible says, but Peter and John answered them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than God, you must judge. For we cannot speak, we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. And what did he see? He saw Jesus resurrected. Later in Peter's life, Peter leads the church in Jerusalem for his whole life.

Later in his life, he writes two letters that end up in our Bible, first and second Peter. And in First Peter chapter four, he says this. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the Spirit of Glory and of God rest upon you. In the next book, chapter 2, verse 1, I mean chapter 1, verse 14, he says this,

since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. Here's what he's saying. He began to see that what Jesus said at breakfast around that campfire was about to come true. He was about to have his hands stretched out. He was going to be dressed and clothes he didn't want to put on and led to a place that he didn't want to go.

He was arrested by the Romans. All he had to do is to do the thing he'd already. already done at least three times and say, he's not my Lord, and they would let him go. And yet, this man who used to be a coward is now filled with courage, and he doesn't recant. In fact, on the way to the cross, they were going to crucify him. And on the way to the cross, he says, church history tells us, he says, I don't deserve to die the same way my Lord and Savior died. And they said, we can fix that.

And so they just crucify him upside down. And you say, wait a minute, wait a minute. What happened? What happened? How in the world did this man who was a consummate screw up? How in the world did this man who was a total coward? How did he become the leader of the church and be filled with search courage? He had breakfast with the resurrected Jesus.

He was filled with the Holy Spirit. Or another way to say it? He was run over by the grace train and it changed everything about everything. about everything. I got some really good news for you. If you're a believer in Jesus and there's some things you're embarrassed about, you're ashamed of,

whether they happen to you or you happen to you, then Jesus would like to invite you to breakfast this morning and that you would have some grace for breakfast and that you would receive that and know that he's not done with you. And if you've never met Jesus as your Lord and Savior, that the same resurrected Christ that invited Peter to a new life, the same spirit that filled him

on the day of Pentecost is available to you. And you're like, how? How is it available to me? The same way it was to him. That you just admit it. I'm a sinner in need of a Savior. My way is not working. That you believe that somehow when Christ died on the cross,

somehow that counted for me. And then you call on the name of the Lord and the Bible says you will be saved. If you confess him as your Lord, this is a prayer that God answers 100% of the time. And then trust me, man, you'll get hit by the great strain. and everything will change.

Would you bow your heads? Would you close your eyes? And I would like to give you the opportunity right now, not for a second chance, but a new life. I'd like to give you an opportunity right now for the blood of Jesus to cleanse your life and you walk with him from now on. So if you are ready to admit it, I'm a sinner, I'm in need of a Savior.

And I believe that when Christ died on the cross for me, and today for the very first time, I am ready to call on the name of the Lord to be saved. Would you lift your hand as high as you can? You say, Jesus, here I am. I call on you as my Lord. Praise God, praise God. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we love you more than anything because you first loved us.

God, I thank you and I praise you that you came on a rescue mission for me. And for every single person here who would believe. And God, you come not with condemnation yelling at us, do better. But a simple question, do you love me? And God, we can love you because you first loved us and paid the price for us. And God, I pray that when we get run over by the grace train, it changes everything about our lives. And Lord, I pray that as you begin to change us from the inside out, that we move from cowards to courageous, when we move from faithless to faithful, when we move from selfish to selfless.

And somebody were to say, what happened to you that we could simply answer, that's what grace did to me. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Church, would you please stand as we respond? We're going to sing. We're going to sing a song called what Grace did for me. Gretchen wrote it a bunch of years ago.

And it is the whole sermon series. It is the whole book. It's not about what we have done for him. It is what grace has done to us. And we're going to pray. There's a bunch of us. There's a little charcoal fire, not literally. Eternally, there's a little charcoal fire

made for us down here on the same. seesore and Jesus beckons us by grace. And when you're going to spend some time with me? Some of us need to repent. Some of us need to confess. Some of us need to pray for strength because he's told us to do a thing and we know we need to do it. And we're going to bring our ties and our offerings, our first and our best because we're saying, God, I love you more than I love these things. So let's sing, let's bring, let's pray. Let's respond.