Open—Bob Thonney
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Before.
It's great.
The last.
Verses that our brother Bruce mentioned in his address in Hebrews 13.
Touched on something that has been on my heart, brethren, and I'd like to just go back there again.
13.
Hebrews 13 verse 20 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep.
Through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Like to speak about the subject of shepherding and how important it is. One of the gifts that is given by an ascended Christ is the gift of shepherds.
And the Lord Jesus is.
In John 10, the Good Shepherd that gives his life for the sheep.
Here in Hebrews 13 he is the great shepherd in resurrection, and in first Peter chapter five He is the chief shepherd in that coming glory.
But I'd like to go back first to a verse in Matthew 26.
To kind of set the.
Tone for what I want to say Matthew chapter 26, something the Lord says here before he goes to the cross in verse 31.
And saith Jesus unto them all, ye shall be offended because of Maine this night. For it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.
Interesting. The smiting of the shepherd resulted in the scattering of the sheep.
Something that's pretty common in our day when you see how many of God's dear redeemed people are scattered.
And I just like to take up briefly 3 different persons that the Lord Jesus shepherded back after his resurrection, The first one we find in John chapter 20.
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It's Mary Magdalene that I want to speak up first. To me, it is extremely beautiful.
This dear lady that had been under the power of demons and the Lord had delivered her.
She was not one of the most intelligent.
In of the Lord's disciples, but.
She her heart, my what a heart. Mary Magdalene, the first one to see the Lord in resurrection, was not a disciple, a man. It was a woman. To me, that speaks volumes.
Let's just read it because I think it's so touching here. First day of the week. This is John 20. Verse one cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark unto the sepulchre.
How many of you ladies like to go to the cemetery alone when it's still dark? I don't think there'd be very many.
But here she was because she wasn't thinking about herself.
She was thinking about the one she loved.
And see if the stone taken away from the sepulchre, Then she runneth and cometh to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved.
Saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.
Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple came to the sepulchre.
So they ran both together, and the other disciple did outrun. Peter came first to the sepulchre.
Not sure why.
John outran Peter, some suggest maybe he was a little younger. Could be the case. But I wonder if poor Peter, his conscience was bothering him because of what he had done in denying the Lord. Maybe for that reason he didn't run quite as fast as John. I don't know.
And he's stooping down and looking in. This is John saw the linen clothes line, yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lying, and the napkin that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.
Pretty evident that it was not thieves that took the body.
Because he had simply vacated those grape clothes. Now he was in his resurrection body. And so they just kind of settled down right where they were.
And it's interesting because verse 8 says when he came in, they went in, then went in also that other disciple which came to the sepulchre and saw, and he saw and believed. For as yet He, they knew not the Scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.
Then the disciples went away again into their own home.
They had other reference points.
Mary, didn't she have a place to stay in Jerusalem? We don't really know.
But Mary stays right there, this is the last place you'd seen his body. She doesn't know where to go. Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the sepulchre and see a 2 angels in white sitting one at his head and the other at his feet were the body of Jesus had lain.
And they say unto her, Woman, Why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.
When she had said thus said, she turned herself back.
Often like to ask people if they've ever seen an Angel.
Most people say no.
I really think we probably all have seen angels without realizing that they are angels.
Because they appear as.
People at times, like it did in the case of Abraham, he lifted up his eyes and saw three men standing there. Of course, one was the Lord and the other two were angels.
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I think it'd be pretty interesting to see an Angel.
But I noticed the stories I hear about angels that when they do appear, they generally are gone before people realize that they're an Angel because they don't want the glory. They want God to have the glory. And so they get out the picture before people recognize who they are. Well, Mary must have realized that they were angels. What did she do to them? She turns her back on angels.
And this beautiful brother, the heart of this woman.
She could be satisfied with nothing less than the person of the Lord Jesus.
And when she turned back, she saw Jesus standing. Verse 14.
And knew not that it was Jesus. It's interesting that those that saw the Lord in resurrection.
At first glance did not recognize him to me, maybe gives us to understand that the body and resurrection is different.
Mary knew the Lord Jesus in his life down here pretty well, but she didn't recognize Him.
In Resurrection, she didn't know it was him.
Jesus saith unto her woman, Oh, I weepest thou?
What a story. Didn't he know? Sure he know that part. Part of shepherding brethren, bringing people back.
Is probing their hearts and finding out what's troubling them. And what was it that was troubling her. I think this is so beautiful.
Said She's supposing him to be the gardener. Said unto him, Sir, if thou hast borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.
A woman.
Burying a dead body.
Is that possible? I don't know.
But she thought she could take him away.
But notice.
Jesus said unto her.
Mary.
All the beauty of this moment.
When this dear sheep.
That have been scattered.
Recognized not by his physical appearance, but by his voice.
It was he.
Mary she knew immediately who it was, and said unto him, She turned herself. She had turned her back on the gardener. She supposed it was the gardener. She turned her back on it.
Because she couldn't be satisfied with any other but the Lord Jesus.
And so she turns herself, and says unto him, Raboni, Which is to say, Master Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father, but go unto my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your father, and to my God and your God.
You know, I've heard a lot of reasons given why the Lord said don't touch me because.
Later on in Luke's gospel when he appears before the in the midst of the disciples, he says, handle me and see, for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see me have. Why did he say to Mary, don't touch me?
A brother pointed out a number of years ago and it was a help to me. Second Corinthians chapter 5.
Let me just read it because don't lose this place because come back Second Corinthians chapter 5. This really explains the reason why he said touch me not.
In verse.
16.
Wherefore, henceforth.
Know we no man after the flesh? Yeah, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know he him no more.
So what the Lord Jesus was basically saying to Mary, Mary, you're not going to have me back as you knew me in life. You're going to have me now in a way that's supremely better.
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Oh, brother, and what a beautiful thing, dear Mary.
Her heart was right, but she didn't understand so many things as we don't understand so many things. But the Lord revealed himself to her, and Mary was restored to the Lord. She was the 1St to see Him. She was the one to go to his disciples, and to say, I ascend unto my Father.
And your father into my God and your God. What a privilege to carry that message to the disciples. That's the first one I want to speak about, that the Lord shepherded back of the sheep that were scattered.
In Luke chapter 24 is the next one well known portion that you're all acquainted with I'm sure.
But this involves two people.
Verse 13 Matthew Luke 2413 Behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem, about 3 score furlongs.
That's about 7 miles where I can have calculated it.
And I think you realize that a person can walk approximately 3 miles an hour. So we're talking about a walk of.
Somewhat over.
Two hours walk. That's quite a why, Quite a walk.
And as they are walking, verse 14, they talk together of these things that had which had happened came to pass that while they communed together and reasoned.
Jesus himself drew near and went with them. Like this is so amazingly beautiful.
What? How encouraging these two that were evidently discouraged. One of them was named Cleophus.
Quite a few people think there are two men.
I don't know, I tend to think it must have been a man and a wife, but.
We can't say for sure. The point was that they were discouraged.
Have you ever been discouraged?
I think we all have experienced discouragement.
It's a tough thing to deal with. Things don't go like we had expected.
It's hard. How can you understand that they were reasoning together?
How do we understand it? Brethren? We got to learn that we are limited in our understanding.
Just the other day I was talking to a brother I trust. He's a real believer.
But he's straight.
And he said to me.
You know I believe in God.
I don't think God's fair.
Wow, I said. That's a pretty hard.
Sentence.
I said to him, how much do you think you know of all the information that can be known? What percent do you think you know?
I don't know. So how about you? So you asked me, I said, well, I think I would put it .000001%.
Because I know so very little. In fact, the more you learn, the more you realize how little you really know.
He said, well, I guess I'm about there too. I said, With that amount of knowledge, you think you're in a position to judge God who knows everything?
I would say you are in a pretty precarious position by saying that.
And I think he backed down a bit.
Brethren, we don't know very much. That's why when things don't make sense, we try to reason. What in the world is going on? How are we supposed to understand this? Here's these two. They can't figure out what's going. But here's another.
One that's going along the road and he joins them and they don't know.
That's Jesus. Oh, how often, brethren, we don't realize His presence with us. We think we are justified in taking the conclusions we have taken. We don't realize, brethren, there's another there with us. Their eyes were holding that they should not know them.
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And he said unto them, What communications are these, that you have one to another as you walk, and are sad? He could tell that they were sad.
Why did he ask that? Didn't he know? Of course, didn't he know? Sure he knew.
But you know it's important to draw people out sometimes, see what's troubling them in their hearts, and so they begin to tell them. Verse 18. One of them, whose name was Cleopas answering, said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?
And he said unto them, What things?
Do they have to advise him because he didn't know? That's not the point, brethren. I think this is such a beautiful thing and shepherding souls to draw them out.
What things they said unto him concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel. Beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done.
Yeah, and certain women also of our company made us astonished.
Which were early at the sepulchre, and when they found not his body, they came saying that they had seen a vision of angels which said that he was alive. Certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre and found it Even so, as the women had said, but him they saw not. So he listened to them for a good while.
Brother. And in all this story, all this time that they were walking together.
He never said here I am, I'm the Messiah, I'm the Christ. Why are you going this direction? Go back to Jerusalem. Never, Never did he say that to me. That is a tremendous lesson.
He walked with them all that way.
For probably over two hours they were walking along.
Verse 25.
Then he said unto them, O fools.
He's not very.
Easy on them fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. O brethren, how slow of heart we really are to believe all the Scriptures.
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory, and beginning at Moses and all the prophets he expounded?
Unto them all the things concerning himself.
What a exposition that must have been as he went through the scriptures.
I would have loved to have heard some of his explanations of those Old Testament scriptures that spoke of him in his fulfillment of the scriptures.
And they drew near into the village, whether they went. And he made as though he would have gone further. He did not force himself upon them. To me there's another beautiful characteristic of a shepherd. It does not force himself on them.
And.
They constrained him, verse 2529 saying, Abide with us for distorted evening, and the day is far spent, and he went in to tarry with them.
It came to pass, as he sat at table with them, he took bread and and blessed it and brake and gave to them.
And their eyes were opened, and they knew him.
And he vanished out of their sight. Tell me that's so beautiful.
Did he ever say go back to Jerusalem? Never.
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Wasn't that the place that she'd remain? Yes, that's what he told them before. Before. But he never tells him to go back.
But they knew exactly where they belonged once they got their eyes opened to him, to who he was. Oh, brethren, that's what's going to be the drawing power so often in our assembly difficulties. I see that.
We present ourselves instead of Christ, brethren, there's so much of that and it doesn't seem to help.
Yes, there are principles of God's Word we must go by cannot neglect, but it's the vision of His person that is the drawing power in restoration and in shepherding.
And it says in verse.
32 They said one to another. Did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us, by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
All the while their hearts were burning in them. They were going the wrong direction.
And he never told them to go back. But notice verse 33.
They rose up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem.
I think this is so beautiful. They didn't wait. Even the next day they might have said, well, kind of late tonight, we'll just go tomorrow morning. Nope. They knew where they belonged. And that same hour of the night, another 2 1/2 to 3 hours a walking didn't matter.
And when they got to Jerusalem, they found the 11 gathered together. And then there were with him, saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.
And it's so beautiful.
Now this the third one I want to talk about in the Lord shepherding is this one Simon, Simon Peter. Of course we know.
This is the only reference I believe we have of this private encounter of the Lord Jesus in resurrection with Simon Peter. We don't know anything more about it.
Because restoration, brethren, on the individual scale, is individual with the Lord, as it says in first John chapter one, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So that personal restoration is an individual thing between ourselves and the Lord.
Poor Peter.
Remember how he had said to the Lord so vehemently, I'll never deny you, not even if I have to deny you, will I deny you?
Not even if I have to die will I deny you.
But Peter didn't know his own heart, and it wasn't too long after, wasn't even before a man, it was before a maid at the door. He said You're one of his disciples. No, no, no, no, no, no.
Poor Peter didn't know his own heart.
And when he denied the third time, Luke's gospel gives it to us that the Lord Jesus turned and looked at Peter.
Oh, that look didn't say anything. I suppose maybe it was across the hall from where Peter was. But he looked at Peter. Peter went out and wept bitterly. He recognized how badly he had failed.
Do we fail, brethren?
We do. I have to confess, brethren, I fail.
Does that mean that God's done with this?
O brethren, this is such a beautiful thing to me and the Lord's workings with dear Peter.
The Lord saw him, I'm sure, when he appeared in the midst of the disciples the end of this chapter, but it doesn't really specifically say that he addressed Peter. I'd like to go over to John chapter 21 to speak about Peter's public restoration because he had.
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Sinned publicly, it was necessary a public.
Restoration.
Chapter 21 of John After these things, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias.
And on this wise he showed he himself.
There were together Simon Peter.
And Thomas called Didymus.
2 The Nathanael of Cana and Galilee three, and the sons of Zebedee, 4-5 and two other of his disciples. 677 people.
Peter was always kind of a leader.
So verse three said Peter said unto them, I go fishing.
I don't know exactly all that was in Peter's mind when he said this. Perhaps he thought.
I've made such a mess of it.
I think I better just go back to fishing like I used to. I know how to fish.
That's where the Lord found me, so I'll just go back to fishing.
And so he says, I go a fish.
They say we also go with thee rather.
We affect others.
In the decisions we make, like it or not.
Our way of the way we follow the Lord is going to affect others. And so here Peter is a kind of a leader, says I go fishing, they all go with him.
They went there forth and entered into a ship immediately, and that night they caught.
Nothing.
Do you hear that? Nothing.
That kind of discouraging.
When the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore.
His disciples knew not that it was Jesus.
Oh brother, this speaks to me so much. How often we don't recognize his presence with us.
Oh, it didn't recognize it was Jesus. Jesus said unto them, Children, have you any meat?
They answered him.
No.
Pretty short answer.
You can almost hear the discouragement in their voices.
No.
Pretty hard to work all night, no results at all.
But that's what's happened.
Verse He said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find.
They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.
Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said unto him, said unto Peter, It is the Lord.
This had happened before.
Remember in Luke chapter 5?
The Lord had used Peter's boat to speak to the multitudes on the shore.
And afterwards, I suppose to pay Peter back, he said. Now Peter, lunch out into the deep, and let your Nets down for a haul of fishes and.
Peter probably thought, well, you know, Jesus is a Carpenter. He doesn't really know much about fishing. I'm a fisherman, Lord. We've carried all night and caught nothing, but because of your word, I'll let down the net.
He said let down the Nets.
He says I'll let down the net and what happened? The fish piled into that and that's so much that it broke.
It's because Peter didn't pay attention to what the Lord had said. I think it's so beautiful, brethren. God is a God that wants to fill us with His blessing.
And so they recognized it was the Lord, not from his physical appearance, but from the circumstances that had taken place.
The other disciple.
Excuse me verse 7 Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his Fisher's coat unto him, for he was naked, and did cast himself into the sea.
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The other disciples came in a little ship, for they were not far from land and but as it were 200 cubits dragging the net with fishes. I love this about Peter, even though he had made such a mess of things.
He knew his Lord well enough that he knew he could go straight to him and he said I want to be the first to get to him.
And so he jumps in and gets to the Lord. First of all, the others came behind.
And soon then, as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid there on, and bread, and this beautiful.
He knew that they were hungry, working all night, and before addressing a deeper need, he addressed a simple physical need for food. I think these are so beautiful, beautiful principles of shepherding. Brethren, this is the great shepherd of the sheep shepherding back.
His scattered sheep. Where did the Lord get the fish?
And the bread never says, does it? We don't know.
But he knew of their need. Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have not caught. He didn't despise what they had brought in their hall.
Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land full of great fishes, and 150 and three for they and for all. There were so many. It was not the net broken. Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine, none of the disciples. Durst asked him, Who art thou, knowing that it was the Lord?
Jesus then cometh and taketh bread and giveth them, and fish likewise.
This is now the third time that Jesus throwed himself to the disciples. After that he was risen from the dead. It's beautiful.
Now, in the verses that follow, he deals with the question of restoring Peter.
Publicly.
Peter was an instrument that God was going to use.
And even though he had failed so grievously, God still had something for Peter to go do, something that was very important.
Verse 15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon son of Jonas, Lovest thou me more than these?
He had said he'd loved them more than any of the other disciples.
He said unto them, Yeah, Lord.
Thou knowest that I love thee, he saith unto them Him, Feed my lambs, He said to him again the second time, Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He said unto him, Yeah, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee, he saith unto him, Feed my sheep, he said unto him the third time, Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me?
Peter was grieved because he 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.
Peter denied the Lord three times.
Three times the Lord Jesus addresses Peter and says Peter or Simon, son of Jonas. It was his name in the flesh.
Doesn't use the name he had given to Peter.
But he says love is thummy. You know, He never said, why did you deny me three times? He never said, never mentioned that maybe that came up in that private encounter. We don't know what came up that was between him and the Lord individually. But here we have his public restoration. And what was it about?
His love to the Lord.
Peter, you said you loved me.
Do you love me?
And when he says it the third time, Peter was grieved. It was probing deep.
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And oh, brethren, when there's failure in our life, I really believe it is because.
Of a lack of love in our hearts to Christ. That's the mainspring of Christian life.
It's so beautiful to see it here in Peter.
I think brethren have probably noticed in Mr. Darby's translation it's clarifies it that the Lord in the first two instances in verse 15 and 16 he uses the word agape love.
And Peter responds with phileo love.
Lord, thou knowest all thing. Yeah, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.
That's file love. It's the love of intimacy and communion, and it's more intense. Agape love is the love that is a settled disposition of favor towards a person.
But the third time the Lord asks him in verse 17, he uses the phileo term lovest thou me? And that's probably why Peter was grieved.
And in effect, he said Lord.
I know the way it looks doesn't look like I love you, but you know all things and you know I love you.
And the Lord does know our hearts. Brethren, the point that Peter had to learn is that he could not depend on his own love to the Lord. It had to depend on the Lord's love for him. Oh, how important that is. And so he commenced to them something that is very close to his heart. Notice verse 15.
The last three words feed my lamb.
The end of verse 16. Feed my sheep.
Verse 17 Feed my sheep.
Could he do that when he had failed so grievously? Yes. He had a direct Commission from the Lord Jesus to do it. And brethren, what has impressed me is that what God's people need is good, solid food for their souls. It has impressed me so much.
In my travels in Latin America that there are places where there's not.
Exactly what you would say, a marked gift in brethren and a certain assembly, but they get together and they open the Scriptures and they read them together. And just getting the book open and reading it, there's food for the soul.
I must say, to see them enjoy the scriptures is one of the greatest recompenses for my own heart. Last year we were in the Dominican Republic, Barb and I.
Last year we flew into a town I had never been into. It's called Santiago.
It's a fairly large city and it I'd never visited there, there's about probably 25 to 30 assemblies in the Dominican Republic.
But it was the first time I was there. I'd met some of the brethren, but I hadn't been to that little meeting. And we had a meeting that night. Next day we were to fly out. And then.
It was evident their enjoyment of the scriptures. We just read a short chapter and talked about it together.
Next day on the way to the airport, my brother said to me, you know?
I would have given $1,000,000 for the richness of what we had before us last night.
That is what recompenses my own soul, to see those dear brethren being fed. I don't think I'm the feeder, but to get the Scriptures open and give God's people something of the truth, something about His glorious person. It feeds the soul. It encourages them.
It is what brings them back into line to get their eyes.
On the person of the Lord Jesus.
So the Lord said to him, feed my lambs, feed my sheep. Lambs need special attention, a little bit different than sheep.
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Just before I close, I'd like to read what Peter says in his fifth chapter of his first epistle.
First Peter 5.
He's speaking to the elders, which are among you.
Feed verse two. Feed the flock of God which is among you. He doesn't say feed the flock of God which is under your care. No.
Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof not by constraint, but willingly. Not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. Lord help us, brethren. We're living in days where there's a lot of discouragement.
The Lord grant us that we can be instruments in shepherding God's sheep.