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Book: John
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John 13:36-38 Will You Die For Me?
Intro. Jesus has just celebrated the Passover supper with His disciples.
The supper is now over, and John gives us a little insight of the
conversation that followed the dinner. There is a series of
questions by the disciples and the answers of Jesus.
I. The question of Peter, "Where are you going?"
A. In verse 33 Jesus had said, "I will only be with you a little
while longer, and where I am going you can not come."
1. In the 7th chapter of John Jesus said to the Jews, I
will be with you just a little while longer then I'm
going to Him that sent Me. You will seek Me but you
will not find Me, for where I am going, you cannot
come. Then the Jews said among themselves, "Where is
He going that cannot find Him? Is He going to those
who are dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the
Gentiles? What is He talking about?"
2. The disciples were just as confused about what Jesus
meant when He said that He was going away and where He
was going they could not come, as were the Jews. In
the next chapter Jesus will say to the disciples,
"You know where I am going and you know the way."
To which Thomas will respond, "We do not know where
you are going, and how can we know the way?"
B. In verse two of the following chapter Jesus answered the
question Peter had asked, "Where are you going?" He said,
"In My Fathers house are many mansions, and I'm going to
prepare a place for you that where I am, there you might be
also." In verse 28 He said, "You have heard Me say that I
am going away, and I will come again. If you loved Me, you
would rejoice for I said that I was going unto My Father."
II. Jesus restated His assertion, "Where I am going, you cannot follow
Me now, but you shall follow Me later."
A. To this Peter replied, "Why cannot I follow you now? I will
lay down my life for You."
1. Peter is affirming His love and commitment to Jesus.
Lord, I love you so much, I will lay down my life for
you.
2. Words are oftentimes cheap and easy. It is one thing
to say it, and quite another thing to do it when the
time comes.
3. I think of the many times I have said things to Jesus
that in the emotion of the moment I really meant, but
when it came right down to the place where the rubber
meets the road, it became another story.
B. Now I think that it is good to get emotional about the Lord.
I am in favor of making a commitment to Him. I think that it
is good to express our love and total surrender to Him.
1. I can remember as a teenager singing, I surrender
all, I surrender all, all to Thee my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.
2. It is one thing to sing it, and quite another to do
it.
3. I sang, "Not what I wish to be, or where I wish to
go, for who am I that I should choose my way, the
Lord shall choose for me, tis better far I know, so
let Him bid me go or stay."
4. My commitment was stronger in words than in actual
practice.
III. Jesus answered Peter, "Will you lay down your life for Me?"
A. He took the words of Peter and gave them back to him in the
form of a question.
B. He then predicted Peter's denial.
1. Jesus knew that when Peter was making this rash
statement of his willingness to lay down his life
for Jesus, that in reality before the Sun would rise,
Peter would deny three times that he even knew the
Lord.
2. However I do not hear harshness or condemnation in
the voice of Jesus when He informs Peter of this
fact, but contrariwise great tenderness.
3. Jesus knows the difficult test that Peter will face.
Luke records that Jesus said to Peter, "Satan has
desired you that he might sift you like wheat, but I
have prayed for you.
C. When we make our statements of devotion or commitment
to the Lord, I wonder how many times He repeats back
to us our words, as He knows that rather than
standing for Him, or committing all to Him we will
be failing under the pressure of the moment.
D. The thing I note and love, is how gentle Jesus is with him
in the light of what He knew about him.
1. He did not make a big issue over Peter's false
boasting.
2. He did not tell Peter about his failure in a
condemning way.
3. He was not harsh with Peter, just very matter of
fact.
E. In fact in the next verse Jesus said, "Let not your heart be
troubled."
1. I believe that this was directed to Peter in light of
his failure.
2. Because it is the end of a chapter and the beginning
of a new chapter, we often divide these words in our
minds.
3. In the original Greek manuscripts, there were no
breaks in the text. No chapter distinctions. So often
when we come to the end of the chapter, we make a
break in our minds.
4. Jesus also knew that Peter was going to have a
troubled heart over his failure to stand in the time
of testing.
5. We read that after his failure, he went out and wept
bitterly.
F. We have all of us made promises to Jesus that we have not
kept.
1. Many times I have tasted the bitter tears of failure.
2. Satan likes to take advantage of these times to try
to separate us from Jesus.
a. He would like us to think that Jesus is
disgusted with us, He wants nothing to do with
us any more.
b. He would like us to believe that Jesus has
rejected us because of our weakness and
failure.
3. The truth of the matter is that Jesus is saying, "Let
not your heart be troubled, you believe in God believe
also in Me."
a. You see we believed in ourselves.
b. Peter was boasting of his steadfastness to
Jesus.
c. Jesus is basically saying, "Don't believe in
yourself believe in Me. Don't trust in
yourself, trust in Me."
d. Later in the evening He will say to Peter,
"The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh
is weak."
4. We must acknowledge that when the soldiers came into
the garden to arrest Jesus, Peter drew his sword and
tried to defend Jesus from arrest. He showed his
willingness to lay down his life for Jesus.
5. It is interesting to me how that in the big tests we
can come through with flying colors, but we often get
tripped up in the small things.
a. I think that in the big things we know that we
must rely on Him fully.
b. In the little things we often feel that we do
not need His help that we are perfectly able
to handle this ourselves.
c. Standing by the side of Jesus, Peter was
willing to take on the whole band of soldiers,
but he wilted before the question of a little
maid.
G. Why do we make promises or vows to Jesus?
1. Usually we are seeking some benefit from Him. "Lord
if you will do this for me, here is what I will do for
you."
2. Many times the vows are made right after failure on
our part. "Lord, I will never do that again." We are
seeking to remain in His good graces.
H. The problem is that He knows the future, He knows if we are
going to fail or not, thus the promise never to do it again
means nothing, if He knows that I will being doing it again
before the day is over.
I. As I see it, to promise or to vow to the Lord is only to
trust in my flesh.
1. I may mean it and be very sincere, but my flesh is
weak.
2. So it is better not to vow, especially in hopes of
receiving a favor from Him.
3. He is so loving that He grants us blessings and on the
basis of His grace toward us in spite of our weakness
and failure.
4. He prefers it that way so that when His blessings
come, I am not patting myself on the back and saying,
"What a good boy am I." He rather wants me to be
saying, "What a good God I serve. Praise God from whom
all blessings flow."
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