If I asked the middle row, has anyone in the middle row ever messed up before? What would you say? What if I went to the back row and I said, is anyone in the back row ever messed up before? What would you say? Absolutely. OK, what if we came to the front row? I know some of you on the. I know the answer to that one. If we came to the front row and said have you ever messed up, what would you say have? The reality is there's not a soul in this room today.
You can honestly say I've never messed up. None of us are perfect. So if that's you, you need to pay attention right now because we are going to look at how the Lord Jesus Christ dealt with failures. So here's where I'm going today. I've got 3 headings for you. My first heading is 1 Maverick, my second heading is 2 fires and my third heading is 3 questions, 1 Maverick, 2 fires, 3 questions. OK firstly 1 Maverick. Let's be honest Peter, he was a non conformist wasn't he?
He was unpredictable, he'd blow hot and cold and that's why we love him so much, because he reminds us of ourselves. He reminds us that OK, we're flawed and so was Peter. Peter was always the first one to open his mouth. He was the first one to get violent. Do you remember when he chopped off the the high priest's servant's ear and Malchus's ear? Do you remember? And he was the 1st to get wet, as we've seen in this passage
here. But I wonder how many people in this room today concern yourselves with what other people are doing, just like Peter did. I wonder how many people concern themselves with what other people are doing. Because have you ever questioned this? Why is it that Peter denied the Lord? If you ever ask that question, well, I think the answer's in John chapter 18. If you've got a Bible, just turn to John chapter 18, and we're going to look at verse 15, John 18, verse 15, Simon Peter and
another disciple. Now, it's important to remember that the early church and the early church fathers believe that this other disciple was John. OK. And I think he was, too. Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. Because this disciple was known to the high priest. He went with Jesus into the high priest's courtyard, but Peter
had to wait outside at the door. The other disciple who was known to the high priest came back, spoke to the servant girl on duty there, and brought Peter in. Did you catch that? So here we find Peter was locked outside. John went in, but Peter was shut outside. And here's the question, Why was Peter shut out? Was it just a chance, just an accident? Or could it be that God, who knows all things, was warning Peter? Peter, if you go through this door, something bad's going to
happen. If you walk through this door, bad things will happen to you right now. But Peter waited and waited and waited. He couldn't take no for an answer. If John's going through, I can't be the only one to be left outside. If John's the one who looks like the loyal one to Jesus, I have to go through too. And he couldn't take no for an answer. So can I ask you a question? How many times has the Lord God slammed the door shut in your face, so shut you can't get
through it? But you couldn't take no for an answer, and you kept waiting. You kept waiting until eventually the Lord allowed you to go through it. Not because he wanted it to happen, because you were so stubborn, you wouldn't take no for an answer. I hesitate to say this, but I do wonder, do you think that Peter was a little bit jealous of John? Nod your head if you think he might have been. What do you think? At the very least he was nosy,
wasn't he? Verse 21 of of chapter 21, we see when Peter saw him again, that's John, he said, Lord, what about him? Isn't that quite relatable? Because we are all busy bodies, aren't we? You know, what about John, What about his retirement plan? What about his bank balance? What about the trauma he's been through, What about John? I want to know all about John. Well, jealous people, Jesus has a message just for you.
And it's this. Don't worry about John, Don't worry about Jane. You know, stop looking sideways all the time at other people and fix you. Set eyes on me. Look upwards at me. You see, we're all called, aren't we, as Christians to to run a race. And who is at the end of the race? It's Jesus. So here we are. We're in this lane and we're running this race. And the problem is I'm running this race. I'm meant to be fixing my eyes on Jesus, but at times I'm looking in your lane and at
times you're looking in my lane. And the issue is this. Paul said that we are to take care of ourselves. Now again, I know some of you in this room and aren't you guys enough trouble yourselves? Some of you are you trouble yourselves without worrying about other people. But there is one accusation about Peter that I believe is totally false and it's this. Peter might have been many things, but Peter was not a coward. Quite the opposite. He he was brave and he was loyal. May I go deeper?
Who was it who daringly said Lord, if it be thou bid me to come fence to thee on the water. You remember it, don't you in in the boat. They saw this figure out on the water and all the disciples that are shaking with fear but Jesus sorry, but Peter bravely takes a step onto the water to meet the Lord Jesus. Who was it who was first to risk his life protecting the Lord Jesus? Who didn't abandoned Jesus after the mob ambushed him with clubs?
You know, it's so strange that we are so quick to to point the finger at Peter, but we forget that if he ran like the rest of the disciples, he would never have been in this position in the 1st place. He was only in this position to deny the Lord because he did what the disciples failed to do. It's absolutely critical to remember just how much Peter really did love the Lords. You see, as the, as the Bible says, strike the shepherds and the sheep will scatter.
There was a point when all the disciples, when, when, when the mob came with their clubs, all the disciples started running down the Mount of Olives, running as fast as they could. And there was a point when Peter was running with them, but he decided to turn back to to not save his own skin, but but to risk his life to go back to try and do something in some way to help the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because he was loyal and because he loved Jesus very deeply.
You remember that famous answer, don't you? There was a time when the disciples were leaving and Jesus looked at the disciples and said, will you also leave? What did Peter say? Where else would we go for you alone have the words to eternal life. OK, secondly, 2 fires. Now I can hear exactly what you're thinking right now. You're saying to me, two fires. There's only one fire here in John chapter 21.
Where is this second fire? Well, before I reveal fire #2 for you, let's start with fire number one. Look at John 21 verse nine with me. When they had landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it and some bread. So take all of that into your mind and stop me now if I get something wrong. Here we see Peter, and he's trying to find a sort of relief from activity. You know, he's trying to do something. We all know what it's like.
You know, when you're stressed out, maybe you've had a bereavement or something's going on in your life and you think, I can't just sit still. I can't just let my mind run away. I need to do some. I need some kind of activity. That's what Peter's doing here. And I think Peter, he felt sort of inadequate. He felt useless. You know, I've messed up. I've really botched up here. So what does he do? He leads the disciples as the leader back into secular work.
Now can I ask you a question? How many of you in this room have ever done an all nighter before? Have you ever done an all nighter? Hopefully you weren't doing one last night. I know I saw some of you in King Street last night, but hopefully you weren't all doing an all nighter last night. But you know what it's like, don't you? You know, you feel that kind of cold, clammy feeling. You've got bags under your eyes, your face is that sickly pale.
You just feel exhausted, you know, doing nodding Donkey. You're exhausted. And that's what the disciples had done. They'd done an all nighter. They'd got their Nets, they'd thrown it into the water, they'd pulled it back in, nothing. They'd got their net. They'd thrown it into the water, pulled it back in, nothing. They'd got their net, they'd thrown it into the water, pulled it back in, nothing. They've got their net. They've they've just done it all nights, all nights and they've
caught absolutely nothing. Now this part I absolutely love because it shows us just how human the Lord Jesus Christ was. Jesus asks a question that we always ask fisherman, every single one of us asks it. He says have you caught anything yet lads? We've all asked that before. And what was their answer? 0 We've caught nothing. May I ask you a, a personal question?
I wonder if there's anyone in this room today, whoever feels tempted to feel like Christianity is clipping your wings in some way, you know, you feel tempted to, to think, you know, if I went off on my own, if I did my own thing, you know, Christianity, it's holding me back. If I didn't, if I wasn't a Christian, I'd have a better job. I'd have more success. I'd have so much more fun. There's so much things out there I'd enjoy. I've got all these ideas.
If I wasn't a Christian, I'd really do a lot better. Well, here we see Peter and he's gone out without the Lord telling him to go out. He's gone out on his own accord doing his own thing. And has Peter had any success? He's caught nothing. So then Jesus says to him now the that the net was on the left side, and he says, take the net and put it on the right side. Now, it's important to remember that Jesus wasn't making a political statement here.
You know, it's not about whether you you vote Kamala or Trump. He wasn't trying to say left or right. You know, now, what was Jesus trying to say here? He was trying to say that I can do more in five seconds than you can do in five years. And if you're in any kind of Christian service, this is just for you. So you know the story. They get to shore and here we see, you know, Peter, he jumps in. They get the net, they bring it in.
It's full of fish, 153 fish. They get to shore and here's the Lord Jesus Christ and he's got a fire there and he's got some fish on the fire. Now here's a question. Where did Jesus get those fish from? Because it wasn't from the net before. Where did Christ get those fish from? But then what does Jesus do? He feeds the disciples. He's showing them that I, I care about you. I, I want to, to look after you. So what's the lesson for us as
Christian workers? It's this if you're starving, hungry, you're not going to feed anyone. If you're constantly giving out and you've got nothing inside you, you're not going to get very far, are you? That's a lesson for us. We've got to eat to, to, to give
out. We've got to feed on the word of God. But on the flip side, however, if you're someone in this room and all day long you're listening to sermons, all day long you're feeding on the word of God, all day long you're eating all the time, all the things of God, what's going to happen to you? Well, if you don't give out, you're going to get bloated, you're going to get lethargic. It's just simple maths. You take in, you give out. So here's the part you've been
waiting for. Have you guessed what the second fire is? Do you think it's any accident that Jesus lit a fire in front of Peter? Could it be that he's saying to Peter, come on, Peter, let's go on a trip down memory lane? Peter, when when you look at this fire in front of you, does that ring any bells? Does that fire remind you of anything? The fact is, this Peter messed up when he warned himself up in the courtyard of the high priest, he warmed himself up on
that fire. And it is true, isn't it? The Bible doesn't deny this. There is a a temporary warmth that the world's fires give to us. The Bible doesn't pretend there isn't pleasure out there in this world. When we warm ourselves up on the world's fires, it does give us a temporary warmth, doesn't it? But it always, always, always leads to regret. So over to you this week. Which fire have you been warming
yourself up on? The world's fire or the fire of the Lord Jesus Christ. When I was, I used to work with Vinny a lot. You know, Vinny's a very good friend of mine and I used to work for his organization at Young Life. And over the years, doing Young Life and doing beach missions, I've come across a lot of young people. And there is a trend that I seem to have noticed with a lot of young people.
You go on a beach team and you see these young people, you know, 181920 years old and they're on fire for the Lord Gods, they're waking up early. They can't wait to get into the words. They want to share the gospel. They want to do evangelism and then something happens to them. They go to university. Now please do not misunderstand me. University can be a wonderful thing. It can either make you or it can
break you. But you see these young people and perhaps they go to university or they get into a relationship with a a non Christian and slowly as time goes on, they start warming themselves up on the world's fires and what happens to them? They grow cold to the Lord Jesus Christ. And then you see on Facebook or on social media, they're in the nightclubs. They're not coming to church anymore and we don't hear
anything of them. Charles Spurgeon once was after his preaching, a young girl came up to him and said, Mr. Spurgeon, I've got an issue. I'm kind of struggling with what it is to be a lukewarm Christian. You see, there's a big part of me I look out into that world and I see there's so many amazing things out there. There's so many exciting pleasures and I'm attracted to that. But at the same time, I do love the Lord Jesus and I I want to follow after him and I want to
obey him. How do I sort this, this idea of being lukewarm? Spurgeon said, young lady, you need a good lesson. And he said I want you to go outside. It's before the times of, of cars. And he said, I want you to go outside and I want you to go outside and find the nearest carriage. And I want you to put 1 foot on the carriage. And I want you to put the other
foots on the pavement. And then I want you to say to the driver, drive on. And the girl looks at Mr. Spurgeon like he's got 3 heads and says, Sir, Mr. Spurgeon, I'll fall flat on my face within a few seconds If if that happens. And Spurgeon said, so it is, young lady. If you put 1 foot in heaven's Kingdom and 1 foot in the devil's Kingdom, what's going to happen? Eventually you're going to fall
flat on your face. Hey, this next bit's a little bit important, so you might just want to catch this, but three times Peter denied Jesus. But I can't help but wondering if the initial challenge was just so direct, so straight to the point. Do you love Jesus? Like if I got any of you Christians now and I sat you down and I looked you straight in the eyes and I said, do you love Jesus Christ? What would your answer be? Of course I do. I love him to pieces, you'd say.
But that wasn't how the the the challenges. That wasn't how the questions were phrased. It was aren't you one of his disciples? Or sorry, didn't didn't I see you earlier in the garden? And here we see Peter. He's demoralised, he's weak and he's tired. And Satan, who's the master of manipulation, takes him down inch by inch, subtly. And we see this, don't we in, in the real world, you know, we see, we hear stories of, of the church, you know, that Deacon
or, or that minister. And, and they had a heart of gold. They wanted to help the church, but they started counselling, perhaps a young woman. And then what happened? An affair started. Or we've got that high flying businessman. And again, he wanted to make lots and lots of money. So he was able to, you know, fund missions, fund the work of the Lords. But because he was so stressed out, he started to drink a little bit and that bottle got a
grip of him. Well, the person who was devoted to Jesus at one time, but you know, because of looking after elderly parents, because they had so much on their plate, they stopped reading their Bible until eventually they're asking the question, do I even believe any of this anymore? Friends, be wary of the schemes of the devil. Oh, it's subtle, the collapse, when it happens, it's very, very sudden and it looks very, very instant. But it's often just a little bit here, a little bit there.
And the devil, bit by bit, he just chops down at your tree one bit at a time until eventually crash. And then people say, where did that come from? I never saw that happening. How did this happen? How did it happen so quickly? I'll tell you how it happened. It happened 8 years ago when that man or woman compromised on an issue on a principle that they once held so very dear.
OK, lastly, 3 questions. Now here's something you are not going to want to admit to me, but I reckon pretty much every person in this room today probably at some point has watched the Jeremy Kyle Show. You probably have or Trisha or or Jeremy Springer. We've all watched those trashy television programmes at times. And what do they often have in those shows? At the end of the show, they
have a lie detector, don't they? And you see the contestant that it looks like they've not had a shower in 30 weeks, you know, and they, you know, you've got Jeremy Kyle, he's abusing them. He breaks them, gets them really wound up. And you, you do feel sorry for them. But then in the end, you know, after they put the lie detector on them, and I don't know how they do it, but they put something on your fingertips and they, they measure your nervous
system. They, they measure your, your sweat and your, your heart beating and your breath. And somehow the lie detector is able to tell whether you're telling the truth. So he pulls out the results. Jeremy Kyle. And what does the contestant often do? He says I'm innocent. I'm telling the truth, that the lie detector is broken. And often you watch it and you think, I think the lie detector's probably telling the truth. But here we see Peter. And if you like, he's in a sort
of lie detector. The Lord Jesus asks him three questions. But here's the thing. This is a lie detector that has 100% accuracy. You cannot pull the wool over God's eyes. Just flick over to John 21 verse 15 with me. When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon son of John, do you love me more than these? Yes, Lord, He said, you know that I love you. Jesus said, feed my lambs. Did you see that? Then do you notice how we called him Simon Peter?
This is the first time that Jesus is using Peter's old unconverted name. It's almost as if he's saying, OK Peter, you're acting like your old self right now, so I'm going to call you by your old name. But I was kind of taken aback the first time I saw this. Not only are there 2 fires, but they're actually also three questions. It's not a mistake. Three questions each for the occasion of when Peter denied the Lord. Let me go deeper again. What was this threefold question?
Was this, Do you love me? You see, Peter's actions had brought his love for the Lord into question. Did he ask him? Do you love Scripture? No. Did he ask him? Do you love the people of God? No. Did he ask him? Do you love creation? No. Do you love? No. He said Do you love me? So guys, I apologise to be so direct with you right now, but can I ask you the exact same question? Do you love him? Do you really, really love the
Lord Jesus Christ? If the lie detector fell on you right now, what would the results come out to be? Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? Oh, you might be earnest. You might preach on street corners. You might teach in Sunday school. You might listen to sermons all day long. You might love Christian music. But do you really love him? You might visit the poor you, you might show hospitality you, you might have outstanding church attendance. And we admire this zeal.
It's wonderful to have zeal for the Lord. But the question needs to be asked, Do you love him? You know, I think it is so strange. There is a zeal that sort of funds a lot of our activity. It fuels what we do. And it's the the opinion of others. I really care what you think about me. And I guess many of you in this room also care what other people think about you. And this zeal, it is a great thing. It's it's done wonderful things for the Kingdom.
It's filled churches. It's it's cast out demons. It's, it's done wonderful things, wonderful missions. But when it's all said and done, if it's all we've got is zeal, we don't have love. Just like 1 Corinthians 13 says we're just a clanging cymbal. We're just a musical instrument without love. I wonder if you think that sounds a little bit harsh now or Jesus raises the bar. He says, do you love me more than these? Now theologians for centuries have argued, what are the these
that he's talking about? Is he talking about, you know, these boats behind me? You know that your recreation, do you love me more than fishing than your work, Peter? Or is he saying, do you love me more than these disciples? You know, at one time you, you were saying, you were saying you're the big shot, Peter. You were saying, listen, when all these other guys leave you and all these other guys forsake you, I will die for you, Lord Jesus.
Are you still going to say that? Now Peter, do you really love me more than these men? And it has made me think, do I love the Lord Jesus more than my work? Do I love him more than my hobbies? Now the proof is really in the pudding here. You know, I don't know how many of you are football fans, but every four years we have something called the World Cup and then we also have the Euro Cup as well. And it's a real test for many men, isn't it?
You know, because England, let's be honest, they don't do well. They might get to the quarter finals, maybe in every blue moon they might get to the semi finals. But what day do those games always fall on Sundays? And the men have to ask the question. I go to church every week. Maybe the women as well. I love the Lords. Am I going to get crucified and am I going to go to church or am I going to watch the football? I'm more of a boxing fan, believe it or not.
I know I'm a bit of a dweeb, but I love boxing and I'll stay up till 3:00 AM watching Tyson Fury getting battered by you sick. But I've got to ask myself, you know, I'm staying up so late and then the next day I'm, I'm shattered for, for, for church. Why do we do these things? Do I love him? This is a big test for many of us parents. Do I love the Lord more than my children? Do I love him more than my spouse?
I remember watch once watching a YouTube video of Cristiano Ronaldo. A day in the life of Cristiano Ronaldo and Ronaldo wakes up at 5:30. He drinks a litre of water, he goes to the gym and then he goes back to bed for a nap. He then gets up, he has breakfast with his family, he studies football, and then he goes back to bed and has another nap. He then gets up, he goes to the pitch, plays football with his teammates, he has a cold shower and then he goes back and has a
nap. He has five naps every day. Now, if you watched Cristiano Ronaldo, if you just spent a few hours with him, it wouldn't be hard to figure out what does this man live for? He lives for football. Football is his God. Fitness is his God. And I can promise you this, I can tell exactly what you love by watching what you do. So let's get real practical now. When was the last time you opened the Bible without a preacher or a pastor or a church?
Surely if you love someone, you want to be around them. When was the last time you told told the Lord Jesus Christ, I love you? Do you know there's very few things the Lord loves more than to hear his children say I love you Jesus. If you love him, tell him. And then the question needs to be asked, do we repent of the things that Jesus hates? Jesus Christ said, if you love me, keep my commands. What does your love for Christ say about you late at night on your phone, on the Internet?
The house is empty. What does your love for Christ say about you in that moment? What does your love for Christ
say about you at your business? And one of your customers comes in and they pay you in a nice big wad of cash and you give the government, you give the tax man enough money and, and after all, they're going to fund it. On all these things you don't agree with, I could just put it away and no one will know about it. What does your love for Christ say about you when that handsome man or that handsome woman who's not a Christian asks you to go on a date, but Jesus says don't
be unequally yoked? What does your love for Christ say about you in those moments? I don't want anyone to leave here without remembering Peter's answer though, because I think it's very, very beautiful. Just look at verse 17 with me. The third time he said to him, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, do you love me? He said, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. Jesus said, feed my sheep.
So here we have Peter and is after being pressed with the same question, he responds in the same way. It's like he's learnt his lesson. I'm not not going to make something hyperbolic, hyperbolic. I'm not going to exaggerate the truth. I'm just going to tell you the truth. And it is interesting. If you look at the original Greek we see here, I love you. That's what it says here. But you know what the original Greek says that the accurate translation.
It says I like you a whole lot. I have a fond affection for you, Lords. I have a sort of 60% love for you, Jesus. That's what I'm saying right here. And this really melts my heart. Shall I tell you why? Because here we see the Lord who knows all things says, OK, Peter, you're being honest now. So you have this 60% love for me. OK, well, do you know what I'm going to do? I can work with that. I'm going to give you one of the
greatest callings. I'm going to make you into a shepherd Now, never think that the shepherd is just the guy at the front or the, you know, a bit like what Jamie was saying earlier. You know, we're all called to be shepherds in one way. If we've got children or grandchildren or that weak person in the family, we're
called to, to be shepherds. And there's no higher calling to, to be a shepherd to, to look after the lambs because we've got 1 chief shepherd and all the rest of us are under shepherds. Let us never forget that. But I think what Jesus is trying to say here is this. If you look after my sheep, you know, if you love me, you're going to look after my sheep. OK? I think that's the message here.
And I'm not going to trust my sheep with anyone who doesn't truly love me. So before we part ways, let's finish with one final thoughts. So Jesus, yes, he's often referred to as the Good Shepherd, but he's also called the Lamb of Gods. One day there was a little boy and he was running in a field in Arizona, and here he is, he's running, he's having a great time, just a little 5 year old boy. And then suddenly, out of
nowhere, a rattlesnake appears. The little boy is paralysed in fear and sure enough, the snake comes towards him. And then it gets itself up like you see snakes do, and it lunges for the little boy. At that very moment, out of nowhere, a little tiny lamb stands in front in between the boy and the snake and takes the snake bite for him. The snake then slivers off and the lamb lies there on the
floor, dead. The little boy huddles over the lamb, starts to cuddle it, crying his eyes out, saying this lamb laid down his life for me. I'm I'm so upset, I can't believe this. But then suddenly the lamb stands up alive. Now, I don't know if this story is a true story, but I do know this. If you go home and you Google this fact, did you know inside the blood of sheep there is an anti venom that can overcome a
snake's bite? There is an anti venom that can come over that that toxic, that poisonousness that comes out of the snake, It can defeat it. And that's what happened. That lamb stood up. Now do you think this, do you think that God makes any mistakes in his creation? You know, there's so much anti venom in these blood, in the sheep's blood that in Wales, they literally sent a ton of Welsh Welsh sheep over to Arizona to help with anti venom. But is there any mistakes in that?
Of course there isn't. You see here you and I stand, were guilty before the Lord gods. And here the devil is, he's ready to lunge at us. His sin is ready to lunge at us. Death is ready to lunge at us. But the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God stands in our place and he takes the snake bite for us on the cross. My sin, your sin, everything we've ever done, every wrong thought, every wrong action was laid on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And there he died in our place. There he took our punishment so you and I can be forgiven and safe and then you know the story. They put him in the tomb and the Pharisees, everyone, they looked at him and said it's over. Everyone thought it was over for on the third day because there's an anti venom in the Lord Jesus Christ blood. He rose from the dead and if you like, he takes the sting of
death out of anyone's life. Anyone who puts their trust in him, he can take that sting out of your life and give you eternal life. Have you trusted in him? Have you trusted in the Lamb of God? Perhaps there's someone here and you are already a Christian. But yes, you are living in sin and you know you're, you're making a mess. Well, let's learn from Peter. What did the Lord do with Peter after he messed up? He said feed my lambs. He didn't write him off.
He didn't say that's that you've finished. He gave him a second chance. My dear friend, Jesus is willing to do that with you today. He'll give you a second chance if you come to him. Why? Because it's all in the blood of Christ. That blood can wash you white than snow. So come to Him today and receive that forgiveness.