Address—Dave Spence
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Our shepherd is the Lord. The living Lord who died with all His fullness can afford. We are supplied. He richly feeds our souls with blessings from above, and leads us where the river rolls of endless love. Our souls he doth restore.
And keeps us in his way. He makes our cup of joy run o'er from day-to-day.
Through love so full, so deep, anointed is our head. Mercy and goodness us shall keep wherever we tread.
So this afternoon we'll just devote ourselves a little bit, dear young folks, to the subject of failure and restoration. And if any of us have been in the pathway of following the Lord Jesus Christ any measure or any time at all, it could be a short time. It could be a longer time with some of us. We know that we fail, and sometimes we almost despair because of such failure that comes in.
And we know when failure comes in, the enemy of our souls occupies us with that departure, with that sin in our lives. And I wonder if you have come here to these meetings this year, this time at Lassen 1997, being occupied with yourselves, with your sin, with a problem that is very deep down in your heart, that you have not disclosed to anyone else.
But I will say this, there is a remedy.
The problem is we continue to go on maybe for months or even years with a non disclosure of that problem.
This is what will destroy our not only our testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ, but it will destroy our joy in the Lord and keep keep us from following Him in the pathway of faith. And He wants us to follow as we've had before us.
So let's turn to Luke, chapter 22. And these are very simple things, but precious things. Practical things.
We're so thankful for the truths have been brought before us in the morning meetings. Those things are so vitally important, the blessings that we've been blessed with.
In the heavenly places, those spiritual blessings in Christ, and they are all ours available to us. But the enemy of our souls is so busy to bring about impediments in our relationship between our hearts and Christ, and it is unbelievable how long we can go on. And we say to our hearts. And I ask you, if you have not said the same thing to yours tomorrow, Lord, it's going to change.
Tomorrow comes and you say tomorrow, Lord, it's going to change.
And the next day comes and this kind of commitment, if you want to call it that. And I don't believe in commitment necessarily.
But that kind of commitment goes on and on and on, and no change is affected because there is a deeper problem in our lives, and the Lord knows how to undo that problem to bring it up to the surface. He did this with Josephs Brethren, did he not? There was one time in their lives when they said we indeed are true men.
That was their estimate of themselves. They had buried the problem of the sin in their life, but when Joseph dealt so graciously with them for at least later, perhaps earlier, he had to deal roughly with him. It says he spake roughly to them, and then he dealt graciously. But sometimes we have to go over the road in order for us to go down, down, down to search for the real root problem in our life.
So that they speak this way.
We are verily guilty men.
When we saw the agony of our brother.
You see, beloved brethren, young people, all sin is against the Lord.
David sat against thee, and thee only have I sinned. It may be true that you have hurt someone else and brought pain into the life of someone else because of the sin that you've committed.
And you've brought harm and pain to your own life as well. But many times we try to cover it up, we smother it and we think it will go away.
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It won't go away.
We've talked about scars in the Christian life, scars that we bring upon ourselves because of acts of disobedience, and we fall and fail, and we have to bear those scars, some less and some more. It's better to learn the lessons of the Lord in private rather than to have the problem exposed publicly. And we know that.
But I would say this. You know what is worse than a scar?
A wound within the heart.
That never heals.
Until confession is made of that sin.
And we're living in such a time beloved young people, when there are so many things all around us. It's not just you who are young that feel that. We who are older feel these things too. With all of the things that press in upon us to attract our natural hearts, we feel the natural bent of our own, of our own frame, because we we give ourselves many times our minds first of all, to these things.
And then finally, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. It'll come out oftentimes, that sin.
But maybe it's still hidden and you can go an entire lifetime smothering covering that sin. And the scripture says in Proverbs, if you cover your sin, you will not prosper, but who, whosoever confesseth and forsake of them shall have mercy. And we're going to read about a man very near to the lives of all of us, as our brother Tim mentioned at the scene the other night. And that's Peter. We're going to go back to Peter, who originally had this marvelous experience in his life.
Of having such a fullness of heart, of blessing, that was just poured out to him, and now he has followed the Lord over three years.
But he's carried along in his heart a problem that has not been dealt with. You know, it doesn't make any difference what the problem Satan brings into your life is, as long as he can use it to divorce and alienate your heart from the preciousness of Christ, He will bring anything in between you and Christ in following him just to dissuade you.
That this is the path of happiness and he is so successful.
He is very successful. He's a master of of deceit as well as imitations and he gives us all kinds of things to fancy our hearts, to attract and allure us and take us down the road. Even if it's the sin is we're going to read about here of self-confidence because it will lead to a greater sin. And you say, well that's not really too bad, is it the sin of self-confidence.
We all have that, don't we? And in fact all around us. The world preaches self esteem, so it's good. It's good to have some self-confidence, isn't it? And the schools and education today promote having this thing of self-confidence. So we are really waging a war so to speak, inside with all of these teachings and influences from the outside, whether it's educational circles or occupational circles, whatever it might be.
They do bring these thoughts upon it, and pretty soon we begin to think that way.
Well, here's a man in Luke chapter 22 and verse.
24 that we'll read about who was given to this problem of self-confidence and pride.
Luke 22, verse 24. And there was also a strife among them. Which of them should be accounted the greatest verse 31.
And the Lord said, Simon Simon, Behold, Satan hath desired to have you.
Think about young folks.
There is an attack being waged against you by the enemy of your soul and my soul. He desires to have you.
Just the minute that you get up out of your seat and go outside, many thoughts come into your mind.
That will take the precious things that you've heard in this meeting away from your heart. The minute you go back home, they all start to come back back again. You have companions and friends that were an influence over your life and other things too as well. And perhaps that sin that you're covering, you're covering up is still there and haunting you, so to speak. Because it does. I know.
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Satan desires to have you, that he may sift you as as wheat. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee both into prison.
End to death. Now here is one point we see here, beloved young people, and it's a very difficult one to.
Perhaps understand or accept in one sense.
The Lord saw Peter needed sifting.
In such a way it brought tremendous sorrow into the life of Peter.
And the Lord prayed for him, not that he would be saved from the sifting, but that he would be saved through the trial, that his faith would not fail. And I believe that simply means that he prayed that Peter would repent.
Judas Iscariot has also sinned against the Lord. He had betrayed him, but he went out and hung himself.
And the Lord prayed for Peter that his faith wouldn't fail, that it would bring him to repentance, to a complete self judgment of that root problem within his life, which is suggested in verse 24. There was a strife among them as to who would be the greatest, you say? Well, that doesn't sound too bad.
But it goes back to Chapter 9, when they reasoned among themselves who would be the greatest.
There had been no self judgment in any of them.
Not only Peter.
As to who would be the greatest?
This was the thin edge of the wedge, as we say, that came into Peter's heart and life.
That the Lord was putting his finger on. That Peter had not put his finger on it yet. He didn't look at it as a very serious problem in his life. And maybe there are things in your life that you don't think are very serious, but it's the thing that the problem grows into, because the little fox soon becomes the roaring lion in your life. And in my life, it's the little foxes that spoil the vines. There are so many things that nibble away at our fruitfulness for Christ that just takes.
The joy of the Lord out of our hearts, and the praises to him that should be expressed every day of our lives. Singing praises to him that he looks for.
He looks for that fragrant Christian, and we've seen fragrant, overflowing Christians that are right here among us, happy in the Lord. Their cup is overflowing like we heard the little group sing to us last night. I enjoyed that hymn.
Cup just overflowing with love, overflowing with the preciousness of Christ. A vessel that is really enjoying Christ within the heart, that Christ might dwell in our hearts By faith, there are those that express that. It's wonderful to see that. And many of us who have grown up in the assembly, and not only in the assembly, but other Christians too, have been happy. We've seen happy men and women in our lives that impressed us.
That tells US1 message that Christ is the answer. He is the answer.
And so we find the the Lord telling Peter, warning him ahead of time, there's going to be a problem. Satan, first of all seeks to sift you. And the Lord prayed for Peter that his faith wouldn't fail, not that he wouldn't fall.
But his faith wouldn't fail.
And he says, when you're converted, strengthened thy brethren. You see, he goes a little bit beyond to encourage Peter that even though there is a fall coming, there's going to be a time when he will be restored to the the blessedness of fellowship with Christ, that he'll be useful again.
Isn't that wonderful?
So he talks about the problem. He talks about Satan's business, and he talks about the fact that he's prayed for Peter. But he goes beyond that and says, Peter, there's going to come a time in your life when I'm going to use you again. You're going to strengthen your brethren and young folks. That's the kind of God we have.
A God of love, yes. A God of light as well. But one who is a God of restoration? It's it's something we don't hear a lot about nowadays. But I do believe this problem of our wandering away as Peter did, falling in, afar off, and finally falling into a sin. I believe believe this kind, this these kinds of things have affected the health of our assemblies. Am I not right in that?
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Sometimes we relegate the problems in our assemblies, and it's true to a state of soul. We're in a low state and we just pass off the fact that, well, these are days of declension, days of decline, and we're not in first love. And that's true.
But let me say this, dear young folks, if there is a sin in your life that needs to be confessed.
To your brethren.
It will continue to be a wound in your soul all of your life.
And it affects the assembly that you're connected with.
Do we, as brethren, provide a platform of grace?
Do we for one who has failed and who has missed the path and maybe fallen into a moral sin, do we provide a platform of approachability?
To us concerning these things.
Could we ever think of the Lord Jesus Christ himself as one that couldn't be gone to with a certain problem, no matter how great?
So that the heart could fully confess it and pour out the problem to him, and he would just sit down and understand and perhaps pray with that one.
Have we put fear into the hearts and lives of our beloved young people and older ones too? Because if they fail or if there is an exposure, it's ruined their lives.
Have we?
That's not the kind of God we have.
Judah was a.
Was spoken of in Jeremiah chapter 3 and verse 10 in the days of Josiah. It says of them.
That they returned not with a whole heart, but faintedly fainted.
You cannot return to the Lord with a whole heart until you get to the root of the problem in your life, I know.
Nathan came to David, and he said, thou art command, and David had been covering his sin for how long?
Quite a while. He must have been miserable. That wound was just oozing with pain and discomfort in his life.
And then he said, I have sinned, and Psalm 51 read it. He says against thee, and the only have I sinned.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be whiter than snow, and so wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
And then at the end of the chapter, how wonderfully he goes into the blessedness, that he can build the walls of Jerusalem again, and offerings and sacrifices can be made, there will be complete restoration. And think of the sin of David, the sin not only of adultery, the sin of murder.
The Lord loves to magnify his grace.
Where sin abounded, grace doth much more abound.
But the way the Lord reached Judah in this particular problem, we mentioned in Jeremiah chapter 3 in the days of Josiah, when there was a tremendous outward revival, a tremendously wonderful revival, he says. They've returned not with a whole heart, but faintly.
How does he restore them? How does he seek to reach them, I should say.
The Lord says I remember thee.
In the days of our youth.
When thou wentest after me in the wilderness.
He remembered their first love.
And he brings before them what they were. And that's what we have in Revelation chapter 2. It says there that thou hast left thy first love. Remember. Remember from when thou art fallen.
And repent.
It could be a loss of first love. It could be that you've fallen into a sin in your life. It could be simply declension, defilement. Whatever the case may be, there are different states of soul represented here in this room in all of our lives.
The Lord wants.
Us to return.
A brother read to us the other night in the singing up at the fire in the lake. Return unto me. I believe that was Brian. Thank you, Brian. Return unto me. Not just return unto the path of the truth, return unto me. Those at Ephesus and Revelation were going on well outwardly. But the Lord said, I have somewhat against thee.
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You've left your first love.
Do you want that, dear young folks?
Do you want a love so full and so rich?
And so eclipsing to everything else in this world that you'll go home with a satisfied heart because you're walking with Jesus.
And you're following him. He has won your heart. That thing that has come between you and Christ has been judged. It's been removed. There couldn't be anything happier to ever be affected in the life of an unhappy Christian that's fallen into a sin, or one that simply departed from.
First Love.
It says in Hosea Chapter 7 that strangers have devoured thy strength, and thou knowest it not. There are many thick strangers in our lives, things that come in to our lives at home, a multitude of things, strangers that devour our strength. And we feel powerless. We feel without strength, and we know that I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me. We quote those verses, but we feel powerless.
And also in Hosea it says.
Here and there there are Gray hairs upon the.
Thou knowest it not.
There's nothing like a vibrant Christian, whether he's 7080 or 90 years of age, that maintains that youthfulness of first love, so to speak, where there is a such a testimony of joy in his or her life. It affects all of us and it is infectious. We want that for our lives. We've seen that in our older brethren and perhaps in our younger brother, because I've seen it and it infects me. I've seen it here.
I've seen it right in my own cabin.
It's true.
Can we go on with that thing that is dispelling the joy, the victory, the gladness in my heart and life?
Can we go on with it?
And find happiness. No. Peter however, had to go through the process. In fact, here he initially he was reasoning in Luke Chapter 9 and in Luke 22 he was striving.
The third thing he was boasting. In fact he says right here I'm ready to go both to prison and to death with the verse 33 boasting. And then we find that he was sleeping in the garden. You see it's a continual path. The thin edge of the wedge leads to a greater departure. We say just a little problem with Peter self-confidence. What's wrong with that? He was he was trusting his love for Christ because.
One reason is he thought he loved them more perhaps, than the other disciples, and he wanted to be the greatest one. They'd been arguing about that. Who was going to be the greatest?
So we find him sleeping.
And then he's fighting. He cuts off the ear of Malchus, and then we find in.
Perhaps it's. Oh, here it is in verse 54. He's following afar off.
And then the next thing is the seventh thing is he's denying Christ in the verses that fall.
And the Lord had said before, the **** shall crow, thou shalt have denied meth rice, Peter. He let's him know the exact thing that's going to happen.
It shows you, beloved friends, how helpless we are in the hand of the enemy. And Peter was walking in the flesh, so to speak, with Satan seeking to sift him. We are a helpless victim in the hand of the enemy. We think, oh, it's just a little thing, but if we're not walking in fellowship.
With Christ in independence upon him for His strength and power in our lives, strong in the Lord and the power of His might, we're a victim. We are victim and will be victimized by the enemy of our souls. And let me say this, let's not just blame the devil for it.
Because we have a nature.
That is incompetent, a nature that is despicably, incorrigibly wicked, that cannot be converted, and oftentimes that leads a young believer to doubt their own salvation. Your intellect begins to work instead of your faith and trust from that new life that you have in in the Word of God. And the conflict is so great. You see, I can't be a Christian because there's confusion.
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It's many times because we're walking in the flesh and not in the spirit.
Verse 62.
I'm sorry, verse 61.
And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter.
Beloved friends, this is a marvelous statement. May we spend just a moment to say something about it?
The Lord Jesus Christ was.
Being engaged by a crowd that was plotting his death.
They were mocking him.
And they were going to soon spit upon him and buffet him.
And they were arranging to get rid of this blessed one.
That's what he was engaged with, but he had to turn around and look at Peter.
Because he remembered Peter and his failure.
And that's what occupied his heart. Does he ever forget you?
When you fail and fall, does he say, well, I'll have to write that one off? I I expected that there was hope for this one or that one. I have to write that one off and he goes on about his business and maybe takes up the business that he would have you take up with someone else.
Never I have loved thee with an everlasting love.
You are as valuable to the heart of Christ as the Apostle Paul.
Oh, if it's like a young man who started off his college career and had set out to.
Put the Lord first in his life.
And he every morning he would get up and read the Scriptures and enjoy the Lord and and have time with Christ. His heart was filled to overflowing, and he left day after day with his burning heart, seeking to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. And he did.
But as the pressures from school became so heavy upon his life and he was distracted by so many things. And of course at the end of the semester the tests came and.
He just felt he didn't have the time.
And one morning, he walked by the door.
Of the study where he used to go in and sit at the feet of Jesus.
And he looked in there and he saw Jesus. Not literally.
He went in and sat down.
And he had a little conversation with the Lord.
This unseen guest, one who had been dwelling in his heart, occupying his time, and that was such an object for him to live by.
And Jesus said to him in so many words.
You know, son, you've been thinking about what you can get out of our relationship together and the time that you spend with me. But I want to tell you something.
I want to tell you how much you mean to me.
And how much that time that you spent with me when you were so happy to sit at my feet like Mary and to hear my word, how much that meant to my heart.
The fragrance of those moments will never be forgotten. That first love and that first joy that evident flowed from your heart when you became a Christian and you sat at my feet, I will never forget.
That's why he turned and looked upon Peter. He would not let Peter go.
Not only did he want him to become a valuable servant, but he could only become a valuable servant based upon that intimate relationship with him that would be maintained.
And Peter had fallen. Peter had denied the Lord, and not only denied him three times, but with oaths and curses. And so you see how the sin of self-confidence.
Degraded into the sin of oaths and curses.
And the look that he gave Peter was a look of wounded love.
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In a wounded heart. Because he had dishonored the Lord, yes, but he had broken fellowship with him.
Let's keep our priorities straight, beloved.
He wants intimacy. He does not want familiarity. Judas had familiarity with the Lord. In fact, it speaks of him in the Old Testament as his own. My own familiar friend, Christ wants intimacy.
And we can hold truth over the heads of one another and say do this and do this, don't do this and don't do that.
No power there. I know We're responsible. That's another subject. But where power comes in the Christian life is through intimacy with Christ, the enjoyment of the love of Christ.
Will give you power and love to live for him and worship and service in your life for him. Verse 62, Peter went out and wept belief. One look from the Lord undid all of the devil's work.
It caused Peter to weep because he saw that he had sinned against love.
A lot that had won his heart in the very beginning, and a love that was fully displayed to him in his life, in his relationship with the Lord, in his pathway here while the Lord was here.
He had sinned against not just against God, but against love. And that's the worst sin.
Dissent against God and dissent against God as love.
Now we know. As time went on, Peter went out. I don't know, don't ever read of him being at the cross. Perhaps he was weeping.
And after three days, we know the rest of the story. Perhaps we'll just look at the verse in Luke 24.
Verse 34 The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. Now dear young folks, you know that after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The first one he appeared to was Who?
Mary Magdalene.
Here is a heart that had been won by Christ.
She would not let anything come in between her soul and the Lord Jesus Christ.
And she was seeking him, and he reveals himself to a seeking heart.
And secondly, those two on the way to Emmaus. Those were the second two he reveals himself.
To them on the way to Emmaus, and he makes them seekers of himself. They return that same hour and go back to Jerusalem.
Here's the third one the Lord appeared to.
And it was Simon.
Simon's heart was broken. It was burdened.
And there was only one way that it could be taken care of.
And that was by getting into the Lord's presence.
But remember, it was not.
It was not his seeking the Lord. It was the Lord seeking him in this case.
Perhaps I'm wrong and some brother could correct me. Perhaps Simon was the second one that he sought.
Is that correct?
But anyway, the point is Simon was sought by the Lord.
He would not let him go.
His heart was broken and burdened with his sin.
And the Lord saw fit to urgently bring him back to himself.
You know that meeting is never disclosed that the Lord Jesus Christ had with Peter never disclosed as to the intimate conversations that went on. I wonder if the Lord didn't reveal to him what he suffered for him on the cross.
He bore his sins in his own body on the tree and Peter. This is the righteous basis by which you can be brought back.
Because I have paid the penalty for your sins.
I don't know what went on.
And that old nature, or that old man that you have, was judged and condemned at the cross.
So that the very root of the problem can be taken care of. Now if we turn to John chapter 21 lastly.
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We find that there is evidence that this man has been restored. John 21 and verse seven Peter at this time, and it's interesting just to make a note of this, Dear young people have seemed to go back to his previous occupation after the Lord Jesus had called him to be a Fisher of men.
And he takes others with him, he said. I go fishing, And there were these others at the beginning of the chapter who accompanied him on the boat.
Was he thinking it was all over?
Was he possibly thinking that now he would not be fit for service again?
Or since the Lord Jesus Christ was going away, he was ascending.
That this was the cessation of his service.
I don't know.
The point was in verse 7 after they had fished all night and caught nothing again as the first experience was in Luke chapter 5.
And the Lord saw to it that they caught nothing.
Because he was going to have breakfast ready for them on the beach or on the seashore.
But here when John said it is the Lord, he's the one that had perception because he was nearest to the Lord Jesus Christ and he identifies it as Christ. What does Peter do? He girds his fishers coat about him and he casts himself into the sea and he swims to shore to get to Jesus. There was nothing between his soul and Christ. That work of the conscience had been taken care of. The sin had been confessed, no doubt to the Lord. Peter had wept with repentance.
Bitterly. And that's the route we must go, beloved young people.
Repentance not godly sorrow, which worketh repentance not to be repented of. And that man in First Corinthians 5 that was put out of fellowship in the second epistle of of Corinthians. It's chapter 2, I believe.
Paul speaks to the Saints there. Confirm your love to him, lest he be swallowed up over much sorrow.
There had been sorrow and bitterness and weeping. No doubt in this man's life, as well as Peter's repentance is necessary. Tears need to be shed. A broken and a contrite spirit I will not despise, saith the Lord. Psalm 51 Peter's heart had been broken.
And now the healing process.
In Numbers, Chapter 19, the Third Day, the ashes and the water were applied the cross of Christ.
Comes into view. The word of God comes to our conscience, to cleanse, so to speak, to cause us to judge, to confess. But it's all in the light of what Jesus bore upon the cross. That sin has been paid for, but Peter had contributed to his suffering.
And when you and I sin, it's not just a matter of confessing, but it's owning the suffering, the added suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross that we put him through in the agony from just one more sin that we've caused him to suffer.
That's how serious sin is. It should be to the heart of the believer.
So Peter goes to shore, and he founds finds as the others, that Jesus did have breakfast ready.
Didn't need to worry about fish. The first fish that he caught for Peter was several boats full, and here he's got fish laid on coals and he feeds them.
And then he has something to say to Peter. Isn't it wonderful the way the Lord speaks to hearts?
Here it's public restoration.
But he has something to say for to Peter because he wants.
Peter to express that he's judged the root of the problem. And I say this to you and my own heart, dear young people, when we have judged the root of the problem.
In our lives.
We can follow Christ in a much more intimate.
And a wonderful way.
Peter had followed the Lord, but it was checkered somewhat by self-confidence, his own strengths, his own ideas about things. And here we find a heart, a man with a heart, completely broken.
Yes, he's still in the yoke, but now see he's come a long ways. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. He's learning not only of the righteousness of the Lord, the holiness of God, but he's learning of the love of Christ.
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His patience, his kindness, his restoring grace.
And sometimes we must and I don't condone you going into a pathway of sin, because I've seen some never restored. But it's sometimes we we have to go through a problem.
Like a fall.
We have to. Peter did.
He was sifted by Satan, but remember he was wheat and the Lord wasn't going to let him go.
Is going to bring him back and make him a useful servant. But we have to go through that sometimes to learn Grace. Our brother Doug was speaking about Grace this morning and he said to me personally, we don't know too much about Grace, and I think that's true. Here, Peter learns.
Where sin abounded grace stuff much more abound.
So verse 15 When they had dying, Jesus saith to Simon Peter. Simon, son of Jonas, Lovest thou me more than these?
He saith unto him, Yeah, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee, he saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
He saith unto him again the second time, Simon the son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yeah, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee, he saith unto him, Feed or shepherd my sheep.
Saith unto him, the third time, Simon's son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved, because he had said unto him, the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him.
Feed my sheep.
Now we could put what we've read together.
In this simple way.
Lovest thou me more than these? That was the first question. Second one, lovest thou me? The third dearly lovest thou me?
I.
The first answer is Simon's. Thou knowest that I dearly love thee.
The second answer the same Thou knowest that I dearly love thee.
The third is Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I dearly love thee. The first two times when Jesus asked, Lovest thou me more than these, And lovest thou me it was divine love.
That divine, the highest love, the greatest love, God's love.
Peter would not arise to that. He simply told the Lord that he was attached to him.
Dearly.
Lovest thou, man? Jesus comes down to that in the third question. Dearly lovest thou me? He couldn't get Peter to boast anymore. Is is the point.
He had judged the root of the problem.
Couldn't get him to have any self-confidence anymore. He just flung the door open up his of his heart and he said, Lord thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I dearly love thee, that I'm attached to thee. He wasn't boasting in his love anymore. That is self judgment.
The Acts have been on the surface. The Acts of Peter Acts had been on the surface and now the root, the root cause, the root problem has been judged.
And it can be judged in your life.
We need the washing of the water by the Word for defilement. We need the restoring grace of the Lord if idols have.
Some somewhat come in and taken over in our lives, like with Judah, that we might be restored to first love, because he says remember from whence thou art fallen and repent.
Can you imagine what this company would be if we were all in the joy of first love? That's normal Christianity. I believe that we are far below what normal Christianity can be, but it is a potential if our hearts are right with the Lord Jesus Christ and he always seeks to reach the heart. And now Peter is going to express love to Christ.
By feeding his sheep. There are some here in the business of feeding the sheep.
And we've enjoyed it this year at Lassen.
We express loved, he said. Lovest thou me feed my sheep, shepherd my sheep, feed my lambs. We express love to him by encouraging his sheep to be drawn after him, to follow him, to walk with him. There is no substitute for an experience like that in our lives.
00:45:06
The first words that Jesus spoke.
That we read were.
Come in, John, Chapter one, come and see.
And they followed to his dwelling place, and justice to make mention of that.
May we not get the ideas. Our brother Doug mentioned this morning that we are a special people in God's sight and we will be in heaven.
Will occupy a place in the glory because we were gathered to the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we're sort of a special company up there.
No, but we have special privileges here that others do not enjoy, that we need to enter into and take advantage of. And as our brother mentioned, any truth that's taken into the heart and enjoyed will humble us. It won't make us proud.
Now we read the last words of the Lord Jesus, and justice quit right there.
Verse 22 The last words that he spoke.
The last three words.
To Peter, who all of a sudden became occupied with his brother, which shall this man do? And now the end of verse 22 Jesus said, Follow thou me.
Beloved friends, he's come down to the individual.
Our individual lives.
He's speaking to you no matter how old you are. You follow me?