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| > Sermon Archive > Sermons by Author > Dr. Wes Bredenhof > Those who fall hard *can* be restored | Previous Next Print |
| Order Of Worship (Liturgy) All songs are from the CanRC/FRCA Book of Praise Psalm 146:1-3 Psalm 143:1,4,5 (after the law of God) Psalm 85:1,3 Psalm 80:1,3,8 Hymn 46 Scripture reading: Matthew 26:17-35 Text: John 21:15-19 |
Beloved congregation of Christ,
The Old Testament describes King David as a man after God’s own heart. He was a godly man who sought to do God’s will. His heart for God is evident in the many Psalms that were written by him. Yet we also remember David for his tragic fall into sin. He fell hard, not only into sexual immorality, but also into deception and murder. There were consequences for his sins, but because he humbled himself and repented, David also found grace and forgiveness from God.
If David is the classic Old Testament example of someone falling hard, then Peter is the classic New Testament example. In fact, our Canons of Dort mention both of them in chapter 5, article 4, “Saints May Fall Into Serious Sins.” David and Peter show how true believers can “turn aside through their own fault from the guidance of grace and be seduced by and yield to the lusts of the flesh.” They can be drawn away by “the flesh, the world, and Satan into serious and atrocious sins.”
If it could happen to David and to Peter, it could happen to us too. All of us have daily sins of weakness. But we can also fall into serious sins. Maybe it’s an adulterous relationship, perhaps it’s an addiction, or maybe theft. Whatever it is, it’s something horrible and we shouldn’t downplay it. However, the Bible teaches us that our God is gracious with those who are humble, with those who truly repent.
When Christ came to this earth, he showed this to us about God. He’s showing it to us this morning with how he interacts with Peter. This is an encouragement to anyone who has fallen hard – there is a way back. You can be restored. So that’s the theme of the sermon this morning: Those who fall hard can be restored.
In our passage we’ll consider:
1. Peter’s hard fall
2. Christ’s gracious restoration
In the verses before this, we see how Jesus had revealed himself to be the same. The resurrection didn’t change his power or his love, and it didn’t change how much his disciples needed him. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He miraculously provided a super abundant catch of 153 fish and then he served breakfast to these seven disciples on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.
After they’d eaten, Jesus turned to Peter. What he said to Peter was said in front of all the disciples. It wasn’t said in private, but before the other six men sitting there on the beach. They all heard these words, including John, who then recorded them in this Gospel.
Three times Jesus asked Peter whether he loved him. There are two things we need to notice here. First, notice how Jesus addresses him as “Simon, son of John.” In Matthew 16, Jesus had said to him that he is Peter, which means “rock.” But here Jesus doesn’t call him “Peter,” but “Simon.” This is intentional. It’s a subtle reminder that Peter hadn’t been steady like a rock.
The other thing I want to point out briefly is the word “love.” Some commentators will alert you to the fact that there are two different Greek words used for “love” in this passage. Some make a lot out of that. However, those two words can be used interchangeably in the New Testament. I don’t want to dwell on this, but I’d just point out one such example. In both John 3:35 and John 5:20, it says that the Father loves the Son. One passage uses the one Greek word for love, the other the other. They mean the same. It’s the same here in John 21. We shouldn’t read anything into the different Greek words here.
Each time Jesus asks him, Peter affirms that he does indeed love him. And he also indicates that he knows that Jesus knows this. If Jesus knows this, why is he asking? When Christ asks him the third time, it dawns on him. He’s asking because of what happened before the crucifixion. That gets to Peter. That breaks his heart as he recognizes what’s really happening here.
Christ is telling Peter that he’s well aware of his hard fall. Peter had insisted even if everyone else were to abandon Jesus, he never would. He said it most emphatically. This is why Jesus said, “Do you love me more than these?” It was a subtle way of saying, “Do you remember claiming that you would never abandon me or deny me?”
But then, there was Peter in the courtyard of the High Priest. There he was, standing around a charcoal fire. Here he is now on the beach before a charcoal fire. In the courtyard of the High Priest he had an opportunity to show that he loved Jesus. But he blew it.
He blew it three times. Three times he was asked just whether he had been with Jesus as one of his disciples. If he’d really loved Jesus as much as he claimed to have, he would have boldly and gladly confessed his connection to him. But no, instead three times he denied it. What’s worse, he even denied it by taking God’s name in vain. Matthew 26:72 tells us that he denied Jesus with an oath. And in verse 74, he invoked a curse on himself and again swore that he didn’t know Jesus. This was a serious sin.
When it happened, Jesus was aware of it. He knew it. In Luke 22, we read of how the rooster crowed after Peter’s third denial. Then it says in verse 61, “And the Lord turned and looked at Peter.” Can you imagine that look? That look cut Peter to the heart. Verse 62 says that Peter then went out and wept bitterly. Jesus knew what he’d done. He couldn’t hide it from him. Peter knew what he’d done too. He’d committed a horrible sin against his Lord and Saviour. By doing that he’d contributed to his suffering.
You and I are not Peter. He had a unique place in the history of salvation. But yet God has included his story in the Bible to also speak to our lives in the here and now. There are two things we can note already at this point.
First, notice how gently Christ confronts Peter with what he did. He didn’t come out with guns blazing, but with compassion and kindness. He phrased everything so perfectly. It’s what you would expect from a friend. Christ has a tenderness with his disciples and that tenderness extends to us as well. That compassion and gentleness is a reflection of how our Father deals with us as his children. This morning, God is speaking to us out of his Fatherly love. He’s gently prodding us to consider our lives and whether there’s some serious sin that we’re not dealing with. He’s saying, “I love you and I want what’s best for you. Having serious unconfessed sin in your life isn’t good for you. Do you love me? If you do, see that serious sin and deal with it through repentance and confession. Ask for forgiveness through what Christ has done on the cross. When you do, as your Father I will forgive you.”
Second, just as Peter’s sin contributed to Christ’s suffering, so did all our sin. While we weren’t there when it happened, Christ bore the penalty for all our sin, whether sins of weakness or serious sins. Because this is true, we should abhor all our sin and be committed to fighting against it. One of the Puritans used this example: if there were a knife in your house that had been used to kill one of your children, you would hate that knife. You’d probably get rid of it. You wouldn’t want to see that knife. Well, it was our sin that put our beloved Jesus on the cross. Our sin brought down God’s wrath on him. Shouldn’t we then hate sin? Shouldn’t we want to fight it and get rid of it in our lives? The ongoing presence of sin in our lives should grieve us, just like the reminder of Peter’s sin grieved him. We shouldn’t be callous or indifferent to our sin. We need to ask for the help of the Holy Spirit to feel the awfulness of it so that we take the right approach to it.
So Peter had a hard fall, but thankfully he also had a gracious Lord and Saviour in Jesus. Our passage reveals how Christ graciously restored him. He restored him in three ways.
After Jesus asked Peter each time whether he loved him, and after Peter answered positively each time, Christ commanded him to fulfill his ministry as an apostle. He said, “Feed my lambs…tend my sheep…feed my sheep.” Like with the use of the word “love,” here too we shouldn’t make too much of the different terms that are used. Feeding and tending are similar and so are lambs and sheep. The lambs and sheep make up the flock of Christ. It’s a reference to the people of God. Peter is to be one of those responsible for the care of the people of God, those who have been bought with the blood of Christ.
Remember that Peter buckled under pressure. More than any of the other disciples, he talked big about never abandoning Christ. But when the pressure he came, he didn’t stand. Knowing that there’s going to be even more pressure in the future, would you want to have Peter as one of your representatives? You see, Christ knew what was going to happen in the apostolic era. He knew that there was going to be persecution and trouble ahead for the apostles and for the whole church. Yet here he still commissions Peter to care for his flock. He doesn’t throw him to the curb, but graciously maintains his place among the apostles. Remember that the other disciples are there too as Jesus says this. It’s an encouragement for them too. If Peter could be restored to ministry after what he did, they are graciously restored too.
If we have sinned in a serious way, there is a path to gracious restoration through Christ. Where there is confession and repentance, people can be restored. To be clear, some serious sins have serious consequences. For example, if a crime has been committed, justice has to be served. If someone has betrayed trust, it wouldn’t be wise or appropriate to have them in a position of trust again. You see, part of being humble about our sins is recognizing that we have no right to demand anything.
We’re now at verse 18 and here we see another way Christ graciously restores Peter. It’s not something you would expect. Jesus refers to suffering and death, to martyrdom.
He says that when Peter was young, he could do whatever he wanted. He could dress himself, go where he liked. Humanly speaking, he had control over his life. But Jesus tells him this is going to change. Some day he will lose control. He’ll have to stretch out his hands on the cross bar of a Roman cross. He’ll be “dressed” with that cross bar, tied to it like you would tie a piece of clothing to your body. Then they’ll force him to carry that cross bar to the place of his crucifixion. In verse 19, John makes it clear that this was about how Peter was going to die, and how his death would glorify God.
Peter’s death isn’t recorded for us in the Bible. But other early Christian writings tell us of how he died. He was crucified, like Jesus was. However, unlike Jesus, he was crucified upside down. Regardless, it’s an accepted historical fact that Peter was killed for his Christian faith.
The Bible tells us that it is an honour to suffer and die for Christ. In Acts 5:41, Peter and the other apostles had been beaten by the Jewish religious leaders. Then it says, that they rejoiced “that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonour for the name” of Christ. In 1 Peter 4, Peter himself wrote that believers are blessed if they’re persecuted and that “if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God.” If that’s true for persecution, it’s even more true for paying the ultimate price in martyrdom. Indeed, the book of Revelation speaks of the martyrs in terms of blessing and honour.
So here in John 21, Christ was restoring Peter by telling him that he was going to have the honour of suffering and dying for him. That was how he was going to glorify God, make much of God. Now again, you and I aren’t Peter. If we’ve sinned in some serious way, we’re not going to be restored in the same way he was, with this prophecy of martyrdom. There’s a unique character to Christ’s restoration of Peter.
Nevertheless, when we are restored after a serious sin, and after confession, repentance and forgiveness, we are restored to living and dying for the glory of God. We are restored to the privilege and honour of dedicating our lives to magnifying God’s worth. When you get caught in a serious sin, you’re not glorifying God, not making much of him. You get caught up in yourself. Turned in on yourself and what you want. But when Christ restores you, he points you in the right direction, orients you to the right purpose: living for the praise of our Creator.
So we’ve seen that Christ restored Peter to ministry, to the honour of dying for him,and now last of all, Christ also restored Peter to discipleship. This is at the end of verse 19. There Christ says those two simple words to Peter, “Follow me.”
At the beginning of his earthly ministry, that’s exactly what Jesus said to Peter and the other disciples. In Mark 1:17 Jesus says, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” That language of following is the language of discipleship. A disciple follows his or her Master. It’s not just a matter of walking with the Master, as in physically following him wherever he goes. It’s a matter of watching him, observing him carefully, so you learn to do what he does. You learn to say what he says. You learn how to think like he does, how to react to situations like he does.
When Christ said, “Follow me,” the grammar tells us that he was saying, “Continue following me.” Peter had been following Jesus, had been his disciple for three years. Now even after Peter’s hard fall, Christ tells him to keep on being a disciple.
Loved ones, all Christians are disciples of Christ. We’re all called to follow him. We learn from his words in Scripture, but we also learn from his life and aim to be like him. When you have fallen into a serious sin, you’ve lost the discipleship plot. But when the Holy Spirit brings you to your senses, and you repent, there is restoration back to discipleship. You can pick up where you left off as a disciple. Christ calls you to again follow him. He calls you to again walk in his footsteps. Christ calls you to again love what he loves and hate what he hates.
Let me ask you: do you think there is any sin so serious that you can’t come back from it? I’ve known church members to say that. They said it about themselves. But what does the Bible say? The Bible says otherwise. The examples of David and Peter say otherwise. Believers may fall into serious sins. But the gospel always gives us a way out and a way back. There is always a way back with our gracious Saviour Jesus Christ. He restored Peter and he can restore you too. AMEN.
PRAYER
Gracious Saviour,
We praise you for your love for fallen sinners like Peter and like us. Thank you that in your great love you were willing to suffer and die for our sins. Lord, thank you that there is grace even when we have committed serious sins. If there’s anyone here this morning who has been caught up in a serious sin, please work repentance in their heart with your Spirit. Show them your grace and restore them. Should any of us ever fall into a serious sin, we pray that you would continue to hold on to us like you held on to Peter. Please continue to be patient with us and show us your tender kindness and compassion. But we pray for help from your Spirit to take sin seriously in our lives, to hate it, and to fight it. Please help us to follow you, to live as your disciples each day.
* As a matter of courtesy please advise Dr. Wes Bredenhof, if you plan to use this sermon in a worship service. Thank-you.
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