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Book: John
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John 21:18
I. Verily, verily. The Greek word 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 gird you and carry 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 is 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 Peters 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. On 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 you spirit be right than your
actions.
a. The Pharisee's actions were right, but their
spirit was wrong.
b. There are still many who belong to the sect of
the Pharisee's 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 advise 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.
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