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The Blue Letter Bible

Chuck Smith :: Sermon Notes for John 21:18

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I. "VERILY, VERILY." THE GREEK WORK IS AMEN, WHICH IS A TRANSLITERATION FROM HEBREW.
A. "Truly, truly." It is an affirmation of the truth that is to be declared.
B. It is as though Jesus was saying, "I who am the truth are declaring to you the truth."
C. When you were young, you girded yourself and went where you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch forth your hands and another girds you and carries you where you do not want to go.
1. John explains to us that Jesus was explaining to Peter by which death he was to glorify God.
2. They will tie you to a cross.
3. Tradition has it that Peter was crucified in Rome, others question that. According to early traditions, Peter was in Rome and Nero was seeking an occasion to accuse, so that the believers in Rome, after much pressure, persuaded Peter to leave Rome for his own safety. According to the story, as Peter was leaving Rome Jesus met him on the Appian way, and Peter worshipped the Lord and asked Him, "Quo Vadis?" To which Jesus answered, "I am going to be crucified." Peter took this to mean that he was not to try to flee, but to face the crucifixion. Jerome, one of the early church fathers declared that as they crucified Peter, he requested that they crucify him head down for he did not feel to be worthy to be crucified as his Lord.
4. By the time John had written the epistle, Peter had already been martyred.
D. John speaks of Peter glorifying God in his death.
1. Paul declared his desire for Christ to be magnified in his body, whether by life or by death.
2. Jesus spake of His death as the hour of His glory.
3. Surely God can be glorified in death, and how we face death.
a. When Stephen was martyred, he prayed that God would lay to their account the sin of those who were stoning him.
b. As he died, he said, "Father into thy hands I commend my spirit.
c. I believe that this was the beginning of the whole re-evaluation of Christianity by a young Jewish man who had voted for his death and was assisting in his death. For when Jesus apprehended Paul on the road to Damascus He said, "It is hard for you to kick against the goads."
E. Some foolishly look upon death as Satan's victory. They think of death as defeat.
1. Paul speaks of death being swallowed up in victory. He therefore cried to death, "Where is your sting?" and to the grave, "Where is your victory?"
2. To the child of God death is not defeat, but it is the gate through which we must pass to enter into the eternal kingdom.
F. "When He had spoken these things to Peter, He said, Follow Me."
1. He had earlier said, that if any man would come after Him, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow Him.
2. As He speaks of Peter's future, and the cross by which he would glorify God, He said, "Follow Me."
G. Jesus did not call His disciples to the life of purple velvet.
1. In his conversion, the Lord told Paul all of the things that he was to suffer for the sake of Christ.
2. The Christian life is not for spineless wimps.
H. In calling Peter to follow Him, the restoration to the ministry is complete.
1. Peter may have failed miserably because of the weakness of the flesh, but Jesus saw the willing spirit.
2. On more than one occasion, Peter's actions were wrong, but his heart was right.
3. Man may look upon the outward appearance, but God looks upon the heart.
4. It is more important that your spirit be right than your actions.
a. The Pharisees' actions were right, but their spirit was wrong.
b. There are still many who belong to the sect of the Pharisees today.
II. "THEN PETER TURNING ABOUT, SEEING THE DISCIPLE WHOM JESUS LOVED FOLLOWING, SAID, LORD, WHAT SHALL THIS MAN DO."
A. John tells us many things to identify himself to us.
1. He was the disciple whom Jesus loved.
2. The disciple that was leaning on Jesus' breast at the table.
3. The disciple, who at the table, asked the Lord who it was who would betray Him.
B. Notice how quickly Peter lapses back into the old patterns.
1. Saying or doing something wrong.
2. He has just been challenged to follow Jesus. Now he is looking around and seeing John asks, "What shall this man do?"
3. How quickly we get our eyes off of Jesus and on to others.
a. You would think that Peter would learn to keep his eyes on Jesus.
b. It was when he got his eyes off of Jesus and began to look at the boisterous waves, that he began to sink.
c. Now again he takes his eyes off of Jesus and begins to look around.
d. The best advice I could possibly give to you is to keep your eyes on Jesus. There are many distractions in this world today. Keep your eyes on Him.
4. Peter has been informed that he is going to die by crucifixion and he is asking now about John. "What's going to happen to him?"
C. "If I will that he tarries till I come, what is that to you? Follow Me."
1. Peter, you take care of yourself, I will take care of John.
2. It is interesting that we so often are saying, "But what about him, Lord?"
3. The Lord will deal with him. The Lord wants to deal with you. He will not deal with him through you, but he will deal with you through you.
4. I have a keen interest in what God wants to do in and through my life.
5. I want to keep my eyes upon Him so that He can deal with me.
D. Jesus came back to the basic issue and calling, "Follow thou Me."
III. THE CONFUSION THAT AROSE IN THE EARLY CHURCH CONCERNING THIS SAYING OF JESUS.
A. The rumor went about that Jesus would return before John died.
1. The older John got, the closer they felt they were to the coming of Jesus.
2. John points out that that is not what Jesus said. He said, "If I will that he should tarry until I return." Not that he would not die.
B. This is the disciple that testified of these things.
1. He also wrote of these things.
2. He knows that his testimony is true.
3. John in his first epistle said, "That which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you."
a. There are some who have never seen or heard, yet they are sure that his testimony is not true.
b. Whose word is apt to be more credible, one who was there, saw it, and was convinced, or someone 2,000 years later who never saw, touched, or heard, but has his own theories and ideas of what happened?
C. A lot of confusion has been generated lately by those who have taken the words of Christ, and sought to determine which of the sayings attributed to Him are really His. They have determined that He never gave the sermon of the mount.
IV. JESUS DID MANY OTHER THINGS, SO MANY THAT THE WORLD ITSELF COULD NOT CONTAIN ALL THE BOOKS THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN WRITTEN.
Sermon Notes for John 21:15-17 ← Prior Section
Sermon Notes for John 21:18, 19 Next Section →
Sermon Notes for Luke 1:5 ← Prior Book
Sermon Notes for Acts 1 Next Book →
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