February 13, 2025 • 25 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
God has a general will for us all, but then
He has a specific will for each of us individually.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Doctor Tony Evans says, God calls each of us to
a unique purpose.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
It is your personal walk with God that reveals to
you what He wants to do with you.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless Biblical teachings
from the archives of doctor Tony Evans. Distractions are a
common part of life, whether they pull us away from
everyday tasks or more significant spiritual pursuits. Today, Doctor Evans
highlights how our love for God, though often interrupted by sin, limitations,
(00:40):
and circumstances, can grow stronger as we grasp the profound
significance of jesus resurrection. Let's join him as he begins.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
The Gospel of John was written so that men might
believe in Jesus Christ, and by believing, have life in
his name. So the Book of was written for eternal life.
Eternal life is not merely the length of time you live.
Eternal life involves the growing knowledge of God. So God
(01:14):
gives us eternal life to give us the experience of
coming to know Him and eternity it will be the
uninterrupted knowledge of God. We ended last time with the
greatest miracle of them all, and that is the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. So it's now Sunday evening,
(01:38):
Verse nineteen, first day of the week. Very interesting. When
the doors were shut where the disciples were for fear
of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their minst
and said that them, peace be with you. Okay, did
you get that? I don't know. I hope you didn't
miss that. Jesus stood in amidst of them when the
(02:01):
doors were shut. When he had said this, he breathed
on them and said that them received the Holy Spirit.
This was an anticipation, a prophetic anticipation of what was
going to happen on the day of Pentecost, and he
prepares them. He preps them, if you will to receive
the Holy Spirit, the third member of the Trinity, who
would carry on the work of Christ in Christ's physical absence.
(02:25):
With this work of the Spirit would come spiritual authority.
Kingdom authority is tied to the presence and work of
the Holy Spirit. He even tells them in the Book
of Acts, don't do anything until the Spirit has come
upon you, because then you will have power. Thomas, who's
known as Didamus verse twenty four, is not with them
(02:46):
when Jesus shows up. But this is why we call
him doubting Thomas. Right, unless I see the hands, the
imprint of the nails, and my finger into the place
of the nails and put my hand and to his side,
I will not believe. So eight days later they're inside,
(03:07):
and now Thomas is with them. Here we go again.
The doors have been shut, and he stood in their
midst and said, peace be with you. So again he
can walk through a door or a wall or whatever
he walked through because it was shut. But yet he
is appearing in their midst in his glorified resurrection body.
(03:30):
And he says to Thomas, reach here with your finger,
and see my hands. Reach here your hands, put it
into my side, and do not be unbelieving but believing.
Now he does a gracious thing. He helps out his unbelief.
Now what's interesting is Thomas's statement. Thomas didn't say I'm
(03:53):
struggling to believe. He says, I will not believe. So
he was a determined unbeliever. So this shows the grace
of God in meeting him in his unbelief. Thomas makes
a statement first, a very important statement, verse twenty eight.
Thomas answered and said to him, my Lord, my God.
(04:16):
So guess what Thomas does. He acknowledges Jesus, Jesus's deity.
He calls him my God. So unless Jesus's God, that
would have been idolatry. Jesus doesn't reject it. In fact,
he accepts it. He says in verse twenty nine, because
you have seen me, you have believed, and he expresses it,
(04:37):
my Lord, my God. Blessed are they who did not
see and yet believe. God wants you to believe him
before you see him work, not after you see him work.
He wants you to believe his word while you're waiting
on his work. Therefore, many other signs Jesus also performed
(05:03):
in the presence of the disciples, which are not written
in this book. So this is a highlight page. This
is a highlight book. He doesn't show you everything Jesus did.
He just shows you some of the highlights. He comes
down to the last chapter, having just concluded his statement
about the resurrection. The resurrection is God's chief sign because
(05:26):
it is what distinguishes Jesus Christ from all other so
called messiahs, and that is the resurrection. So after these
things verse one, Jesus Christ manifests himself again to the
disciples at the Sea of Tiberius. And he manifests himself
in this way. So Simon and Thomas and Nathaniel and
(05:49):
to the other disciples, they all together, and Simon says
in verse three, I am going fishing. Now we know
Simon is a fisherman, as his history, his background, and
his business. So they went out and they get into
the boat. But when the day was now breaking, Jesus
stood on the beach. Yet the disciples did not know
(06:11):
that it was Jesus. Now that could be for three reasons.
One it's still somewhat dark, so they can't fully make
him out. Two, there's a distance between him standing on
the shore and where they are fishing. And three he's
in his glorified state. So just as Mary didn't fully
recognize him at first, there may have been this delay
(06:33):
in recognize him in his glorified state, although he was
the same physical person, but now in a glorified body.
So they do not fully recognize him on the beach.
So he's close enough for them to hear him. He
says to them, children, you do not have any fish,
(06:54):
do you. You haven't caught anything, have you? They say no.
He said, cast the net on the right side of
the boat and you will find a catch. So they cast,
and then they were not able to haul it in
(07:15):
because of the great number Jesus had taught his disciples
in the upper room. If you remember John fifteen, he says,
without me, you can do nothing. That was a principle
he laid on them. Well, now Peter says, I'm going fishing.
They say we're going fishing too. But it wasn't working
(07:37):
because they were catching nothing. So Jesus asked them, how
y'all doing out there, and they say, we've caught nothing.
We've been out here, you know, the day is breaking.
We've been out there all evening and the fish are
not biting. Jesus said, because you're fishing in the wrong spot.
(07:57):
Put it on the right side, and they got a
catch that they couldn't handle. This is actually a repeat
of an earlier event in Luke five when he first
met Peter. He first met Peter and they had caught nothing,
and Jesus said, here's what I want you to do.
(08:20):
He was hesitant, but he finally did it and he
got this big catch. So here's the principle. When you're
doing what you think you know how to do because
you got background, history, experience, money, and edumacation or whatever
the attributes happened to be, and it is not working.
(08:43):
How much have you caught? How's it working out for you?
It's not working. This could be a prime experience that
God is offering you to see. Without him you can
do nothing, which means with him you can do something
that there's a flip side of that coin. He only
(09:06):
says without me, you can do nothing, to say, with me,
you can do something, which he illustrates here by telling
them to do something opposite to what they were doing.
When God wants to show you, me, or us a
(09:27):
deeper level of his manifestation, his illumination, his power, his demonstration,
he will allow us to be failing in our own efforts.
He will allow us to not be achieving what we
(09:50):
thought we ought to be achieved. Because when Peter said
I'm going fishing, he means I'm gonna catch some fish.
Now I'm going out there all night, Nothing's gonna happen.
This is my history. My background is this So when
the Lord allows you to be in a situation where
it's not working and you're doing what you know to do,
(10:12):
maybe have a whole history of doing it, you have
to look at the strong possibility that God is wanting
you to do something different and outside of your normal
way of doing it. Now, he tells them throw it
on the other side of the boat. That you remember
(10:34):
one of the principles we try to teach you about faith.
It's acting like God is telling the truth. So it
wasn't just that they could say, well, okay, I believe
you know. They had to throw it on the other
side of the boat. There was an action that had
to accompany his word. So his word was throw it,
But the action was they threw it. Not till they
acted on the word did they see the word work.
(10:56):
And it was a great number of fish.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Doctor Evans will tell us what the disciples did next
when he returns in just a moment. First, though, today's
lesson is the final installment in doctor Evans' fourteen part
sermon series on the Gospel of John, where we've been
learning of Jesus divinity and how his love and personal
sacrifice transform the lives of those who accept him. This
(11:21):
in depth study of his interactions with others inspires us
to reflect christ like love in our own relationships and
encourages us to see the world from God's perspective. Contact
us right away to get this complete audio series for yourself,
along with Tony's encouraging book Dry Bones Dancing, a helpful
(11:41):
resource for revitalizing your faith. Just visit us today at
Tonyevans dot org or call us at one eight hundred
eight hundred thirty two twenty two. Make a contribution and
let us send you the Gospel of John audio series
and Dry Bones Dancing once again. Get the d details
for this special offer today at Tonyevans dot org or
(12:05):
by phone at one eight hundred eight hundred three two
two two. Well, let's return now for the conclusion of
this message from doctor Evans.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Therefore, the disciple whom Jesus loved, that's John. The writer
of this book, said to Peter, it is the Lord.
So when Simon Peter missed their impetuous heard that it
was the Lord, he put his outer garment on, for
he was stripped for work. You know, they wore the
kind of the towel around them while they were fishing
(12:36):
and not not the full garb, and threw himself into
the sea. But the other disciples came in the little boat,
for they were not far from land, but about one
hundred yards away. Peter couldn't wait. Peter dove in the water.
So when they had gotten out on land, they saw
(12:58):
a charcoal fire already left, and fish placed on it
and bread. Jesus said that in verse twelve, come and
have breakfast. None of disciples venture to question him. Who
are you? Knowing that it was the Lord, then we
come to this concluding section. So when they had finished breakfast,
(13:21):
Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do
you love me more than these? Now? Why would he
ask him that question? Because in Luke twenty two, Peter said,
if everybody else leaves you, I'm not gonna do it.
(13:43):
You know, if all of the other guys walk out
on you, I'm your ace. You can count on me.
I'm your number one. I'm gonna stick by your side.
He was claiming spiritual superiority over the other disciples. He
was saying, I'm more committed than they are. That's when
(14:05):
Jesus told them before tomorrow morning breakfast time, you're gonna
deny me three times? And now I want to know,
are you still the most committed? You love me more
than these? Are you? You're still number one? He said
to him, Yes, Lord, you know I love you. Now
(14:30):
you need to know two things about his response. You
cannot see it in English, but in Greek he uses
a different word. Jesus says, Peter, do you a god
pay me? Peter says, yes, Lord, I for let owe you.
(14:50):
For let o is where we get the word Philadelphia
from brotherly love. Brotherly love. So if I were to
translate it, but it's translated love, but it's it's not
the self sacrificial love of a god pays. It's more
(15:12):
like I like you. See, Peter made a self sacrificial statement.
Look twenty two. If they of forsake you, I'm willing
to go all the way with you. But now he says,
I'm not going out on that limb again. Last time
I went out on that limb, I hadn't messed myself up,
(15:34):
denied you three times, cried like a baby, you know,
and went back to fishing. So I am not jumping
out there again. No, I forelet oe you. I love
you like a brother. I like you a lot, but
I ain't putting myself out there on that a god
pei kind of love, Jesus says to him, ten, my lambs,
(15:56):
you're not thinking as highly of yourself as you used
to think. So guess what, Peter, Now I can use you.
Now you can be a shepherd. Now you can you
can lead people, because now now you got to you're
not this prideful person anymore. He said to him a
second time, Verse sixteen, Simon, son of John, do you
(16:20):
a god?
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Pay me?
Speaker 1 (16:22):
He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I
for let oe you. He said, shepherd, my sheep. Okay,
well he just got a promotion from Lamb the sheep.
He says to him a third time, Simon, son of John,
(16:44):
Now watch this, do you for let owe me? The
third love is not a gope. The third love is
for leto. So Jesus comes down and meets Peter where
there he is. He knew Peter wasn't gonna jump out
there again and go up. He had had learned his lesson,
(17:07):
and because he learned his spiritual lesson, Jesus came down
and joined him, says, I can work with you where
you are, because right now you're in the right place.
And he said to him, Lord, you know all things.
You know that I fillayl you, And Jesus said, okay, ten,
my sheep. This is called a ministry recall. He gets
(17:31):
recalled back in the ministry into usefulness. This is why
repentance is so important, because repentance allows for restoration. Now
God decides what it is, where it is, how long
it is, but it opens the door for it at
whatever level the Lord wants to allow it to happen. Truly, truly,
(17:54):
I say to you, talking to Peter, when you were younger,
use to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished. And
when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands
and someone else will gird you and bring you where
you do not wish to go. When he is restored,
(18:18):
he gets a prophetic statement about his life. Now this
he said, signifying by what kind of death he Peter
would glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he
said to him, follow me, He says, let me repeat
(18:41):
myself verse twenty two. Follow me, don't follow John, follow me. Therefore,
this saying went out among the brethren that the disciple
would not die so they kind of carried us to
the extreme. They said, we ain't gonna die. He might
be here that Jesus come. So that's how wrong information spreads.
(19:07):
Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would
not die, only if I want him to remain until
I come. What is that to you? Which means you
got to pay attention to what Jesus says. That's why
we believe in believing in errancy. The Bible is without
error and plenary verbal inspiration, which means that every word
(19:32):
of God is inspired because the words can make a
big difference. Paul, even when we study the Book of Galatians,
Paul even makes a difference between a plural and a
single use of a word, the word seed, and he
says that the difference between whether it's plural or single
makes a big difference. So the words of God are
(19:52):
very specifically stated. And here you have somebody taking a nuance.
It just took a little nuance, and they gave a
whole different interpretation. He said, Jesus didn't say that this
is the disciple who is testifying to these things. So
it's John and wrote these things, and we know his
(20:15):
testimony is true. Because we know because we were there.
And I love this closing verse of the Book of John.
And there are many other things which Jesus did, which,
if they were written in detail, I suppose that even
the world itself would not contain the books that would
(20:41):
be written. Did you read that? He says, what has
been written about Jesus is it's ABITSI he says, if
we told you everything and worked out all the details
(21:02):
of everything, the Library of Congress couldn't handle all the
books that would be written. I have maybe I'm guessing
I have maybe three thousand books in my library. So
I have built up over the many years since I
(21:23):
was twenty two years old, studying the Bible, studying theology,
accumulated books and books and books and books and books
and books and books, and most of them, in one
way or another, deal with the Word of God and
Jesus one from another. I have been preaching for many years,
(21:49):
and I haven't yet dented the Bible. I haven't dented it.
There's so much stuff that I'm finding out, new stuff
I'm discovering, and nuances, and sometimes it's the same thing
but with a new twist that you discover. I haven't
dented it, he says. If we told you all that
(22:13):
Jesus did, he says, I don't know that the world
could hold it all. So we just gave you a
highlight reel. All you have is a highlight reel of
Jesus Christ. But the highlight is enough. You know, in football,
when they show you a highlight reel, it shows you
(22:35):
enough that you know this player can do something. You
don't have all that Jesus did, but you got enough
that if you take him seriously, you know he is
who he declares himself to be, the Son of God,
the son of Man, the Savior of the world, Messiah
who has come to give life to those who come
(22:56):
to him for it.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Doctor Tony Evans wrapping up the final message in a
lesson in Eternity from his in depth study of the
Gospel of John. Now, as I mentioned earlier, this is
your last chance to take advantage of our current special
resource bundle, all fourteen messages from both volumes of Tony's
audio series on the Gospel of John, along with his
(23:21):
encouraging book on revitalizing your faith called Dry Bones Dancing.
They're yours with our thanks when you make a donation
to help keep this listener supported program coming your way.
Just visit Tonyevans dot org today to make the arrangements,
or call our resource center at one eight hundred eight
hundred thirty two twenty two, where team members are standing
(23:43):
by to assist with your request. That's one eight hundred
eight hundred three two two two, or online at Tonyevans
dot org. One final reminder, this weekend marks the premiere
of the latest episode in Stories from the Storyteller. This
family friendly animated series follows the Evans family as their
(24:05):
everyday experiences become lessons in biblical truth. Let your kids
watch the newest episode now, or catch up on any
they may have missed from seasons one and two Stories
from the Storyteller. Learn more at tonyevanstv dot com. That's
tonyevanstv dot com. On Monday, we begin a new series
(24:27):
from Doctor Evans on the Book of Acts, exploring how
Jesus followers took seriously their mission to advance God's kingdom agenda.
Be sure to join us for that
God has a general will for us all, but then
He has a specific will for each of us individually.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Doctor Tony Evans says, God calls each of us to
a unique purpose.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
It is your personal walk with God that reveals to
you what He wants to do with you.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless Biblical teachings
from the archives of doctor Tony Evans. Distractions are a
common part of life, whether they pull us away from
everyday tasks or more significant spiritual pursuits. Today, Doctor Evans
highlights how our love for God, though often interrupted by sin, limitations,
(00:40):
and circumstances, can grow stronger as we grasp the profound
significance of jesus resurrection. Let's join him as he begins.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
The Gospel of John was written so that men might
believe in Jesus Christ, and by believing, have life in
his name. So the Book of was written for eternal life.
Eternal life is not merely the length of time you live.
Eternal life involves the growing knowledge of God. So God
(01:14):
gives us eternal life to give us the experience of
coming to know Him and eternity it will be the
uninterrupted knowledge of God. We ended last time with the
greatest miracle of them all, and that is the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. So it's now Sunday evening,
(01:38):
Verse nineteen, first day of the week. Very interesting. When
the doors were shut where the disciples were for fear
of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their minst
and said that them, peace be with you. Okay, did
you get that? I don't know. I hope you didn't
miss that. Jesus stood in amidst of them when the
(02:01):
doors were shut. When he had said this, he breathed
on them and said that them received the Holy Spirit.
This was an anticipation, a prophetic anticipation of what was
going to happen on the day of Pentecost, and he
prepares them. He preps them, if you will to receive
the Holy Spirit, the third member of the Trinity, who
would carry on the work of Christ in Christ's physical absence.
(02:25):
With this work of the Spirit would come spiritual authority.
Kingdom authority is tied to the presence and work of
the Holy Spirit. He even tells them in the Book
of Acts, don't do anything until the Spirit has come
upon you, because then you will have power. Thomas, who's
known as Didamus verse twenty four, is not with them
(02:46):
when Jesus shows up. But this is why we call
him doubting Thomas. Right, unless I see the hands, the
imprint of the nails, and my finger into the place
of the nails and put my hand and to his side,
I will not believe. So eight days later they're inside,
(03:07):
and now Thomas is with them. Here we go again.
The doors have been shut, and he stood in their
midst and said, peace be with you. So again he
can walk through a door or a wall or whatever
he walked through because it was shut. But yet he
is appearing in their midst in his glorified resurrection body.
(03:30):
And he says to Thomas, reach here with your finger,
and see my hands. Reach here your hands, put it
into my side, and do not be unbelieving but believing.
Now he does a gracious thing. He helps out his unbelief.
Now what's interesting is Thomas's statement. Thomas didn't say I'm
(03:53):
struggling to believe. He says, I will not believe. So
he was a determined unbeliever. So this shows the grace
of God in meeting him in his unbelief. Thomas makes
a statement first, a very important statement, verse twenty eight.
Thomas answered and said to him, my Lord, my God.
(04:16):
So guess what Thomas does. He acknowledges Jesus, Jesus's deity.
He calls him my God. So unless Jesus's God, that
would have been idolatry. Jesus doesn't reject it. In fact,
he accepts it. He says in verse twenty nine, because
you have seen me, you have believed, and he expresses it,
(04:37):
my Lord, my God. Blessed are they who did not
see and yet believe. God wants you to believe him
before you see him work, not after you see him work.
He wants you to believe his word while you're waiting
on his work. Therefore, many other signs Jesus also performed
(05:03):
in the presence of the disciples, which are not written
in this book. So this is a highlight page. This
is a highlight book. He doesn't show you everything Jesus did.
He just shows you some of the highlights. He comes
down to the last chapter, having just concluded his statement
about the resurrection. The resurrection is God's chief sign because
(05:26):
it is what distinguishes Jesus Christ from all other so
called messiahs, and that is the resurrection. So after these
things verse one, Jesus Christ manifests himself again to the
disciples at the Sea of Tiberius. And he manifests himself
in this way. So Simon and Thomas and Nathaniel and
(05:49):
to the other disciples, they all together, and Simon says
in verse three, I am going fishing. Now we know
Simon is a fisherman, as his history, his background, and
his business. So they went out and they get into
the boat. But when the day was now breaking, Jesus
stood on the beach. Yet the disciples did not know
(06:11):
that it was Jesus. Now that could be for three reasons.
One it's still somewhat dark, so they can't fully make
him out. Two, there's a distance between him standing on
the shore and where they are fishing. And three he's
in his glorified state. So just as Mary didn't fully
recognize him at first, there may have been this delay
(06:33):
in recognize him in his glorified state, although he was
the same physical person, but now in a glorified body.
So they do not fully recognize him on the beach.
So he's close enough for them to hear him. He
says to them, children, you do not have any fish,
(06:54):
do you. You haven't caught anything, have you? They say no.
He said, cast the net on the right side of
the boat and you will find a catch. So they cast,
and then they were not able to haul it in
(07:15):
because of the great number Jesus had taught his disciples
in the upper room. If you remember John fifteen, he says,
without me, you can do nothing. That was a principle
he laid on them. Well, now Peter says, I'm going fishing.
They say we're going fishing too. But it wasn't working
(07:37):
because they were catching nothing. So Jesus asked them, how
y'all doing out there, and they say, we've caught nothing.
We've been out here, you know, the day is breaking.
We've been out there all evening and the fish are
not biting. Jesus said, because you're fishing in the wrong spot.
(07:57):
Put it on the right side, and they got a
catch that they couldn't handle. This is actually a repeat
of an earlier event in Luke five when he first
met Peter. He first met Peter and they had caught nothing,
and Jesus said, here's what I want you to do.
(08:20):
He was hesitant, but he finally did it and he
got this big catch. So here's the principle. When you're
doing what you think you know how to do because
you got background, history, experience, money, and edumacation or whatever
the attributes happened to be, and it is not working.
(08:43):
How much have you caught? How's it working out for you?
It's not working. This could be a prime experience that
God is offering you to see. Without him you can
do nothing, which means with him you can do something
that there's a flip side of that coin. He only
(09:06):
says without me, you can do nothing, to say, with me,
you can do something, which he illustrates here by telling
them to do something opposite to what they were doing.
When God wants to show you, me, or us a
(09:27):
deeper level of his manifestation, his illumination, his power, his demonstration,
he will allow us to be failing in our own efforts.
He will allow us to not be achieving what we
(09:50):
thought we ought to be achieved. Because when Peter said
I'm going fishing, he means I'm gonna catch some fish.
Now I'm going out there all night, Nothing's gonna happen.
This is my history. My background is this So when
the Lord allows you to be in a situation where
it's not working and you're doing what you know to do,
(10:12):
maybe have a whole history of doing it, you have
to look at the strong possibility that God is wanting
you to do something different and outside of your normal
way of doing it. Now, he tells them throw it
on the other side of the boat. That you remember
(10:34):
one of the principles we try to teach you about faith.
It's acting like God is telling the truth. So it
wasn't just that they could say, well, okay, I believe
you know. They had to throw it on the other
side of the boat. There was an action that had
to accompany his word. So his word was throw it,
But the action was they threw it. Not till they
acted on the word did they see the word work.
(10:56):
And it was a great number of fish.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Doctor Evans will tell us what the disciples did next
when he returns in just a moment. First, though, today's
lesson is the final installment in doctor Evans' fourteen part
sermon series on the Gospel of John, where we've been
learning of Jesus divinity and how his love and personal
sacrifice transform the lives of those who accept him. This
(11:21):
in depth study of his interactions with others inspires us
to reflect christ like love in our own relationships and
encourages us to see the world from God's perspective. Contact
us right away to get this complete audio series for yourself,
along with Tony's encouraging book Dry Bones Dancing, a helpful
(11:41):
resource for revitalizing your faith. Just visit us today at
Tonyevans dot org or call us at one eight hundred
eight hundred thirty two twenty two. Make a contribution and
let us send you the Gospel of John audio series
and Dry Bones Dancing once again. Get the d details
for this special offer today at Tonyevans dot org or
(12:05):
by phone at one eight hundred eight hundred three two
two two. Well, let's return now for the conclusion of
this message from doctor Evans.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Therefore, the disciple whom Jesus loved, that's John. The writer
of this book, said to Peter, it is the Lord.
So when Simon Peter missed their impetuous heard that it
was the Lord, he put his outer garment on, for
he was stripped for work. You know, they wore the
kind of the towel around them while they were fishing
(12:36):
and not not the full garb, and threw himself into
the sea. But the other disciples came in the little boat,
for they were not far from land, but about one
hundred yards away. Peter couldn't wait. Peter dove in the water.
So when they had gotten out on land, they saw
(12:58):
a charcoal fire already left, and fish placed on it
and bread. Jesus said that in verse twelve, come and
have breakfast. None of disciples venture to question him. Who
are you? Knowing that it was the Lord, then we
come to this concluding section. So when they had finished breakfast,
(13:21):
Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do
you love me more than these? Now? Why would he
ask him that question? Because in Luke twenty two, Peter said,
if everybody else leaves you, I'm not gonna do it.
(13:43):
You know, if all of the other guys walk out
on you, I'm your ace. You can count on me.
I'm your number one. I'm gonna stick by your side.
He was claiming spiritual superiority over the other disciples. He
was saying, I'm more committed than they are. That's when
(14:05):
Jesus told them before tomorrow morning breakfast time, you're gonna
deny me three times? And now I want to know,
are you still the most committed? You love me more
than these? Are you? You're still number one? He said
to him, Yes, Lord, you know I love you. Now
(14:30):
you need to know two things about his response. You
cannot see it in English, but in Greek he uses
a different word. Jesus says, Peter, do you a god
pay me? Peter says, yes, Lord, I for let owe you.
(14:50):
For let o is where we get the word Philadelphia
from brotherly love. Brotherly love. So if I were to
translate it, but it's translated love, but it's it's not
the self sacrificial love of a god pays. It's more
(15:12):
like I like you. See, Peter made a self sacrificial statement.
Look twenty two. If they of forsake you, I'm willing
to go all the way with you. But now he says,
I'm not going out on that limb again. Last time
I went out on that limb, I hadn't messed myself up,
(15:34):
denied you three times, cried like a baby, you know,
and went back to fishing. So I am not jumping
out there again. No, I forelet oe you. I love
you like a brother. I like you a lot, but
I ain't putting myself out there on that a god
pei kind of love, Jesus says to him, ten, my lambs,
(15:56):
you're not thinking as highly of yourself as you used
to think. So guess what, Peter, Now I can use you.
Now you can be a shepherd. Now you can you
can lead people, because now now you got to you're
not this prideful person anymore. He said to him a
second time, Verse sixteen, Simon, son of John, do you
(16:20):
a god?
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Pay me?
Speaker 1 (16:22):
He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I
for let oe you. He said, shepherd, my sheep. Okay,
well he just got a promotion from Lamb the sheep.
He says to him a third time, Simon, son of John,
(16:44):
Now watch this, do you for let owe me? The
third love is not a gope. The third love is
for leto. So Jesus comes down and meets Peter where
there he is. He knew Peter wasn't gonna jump out
there again and go up. He had had learned his lesson,
(17:07):
and because he learned his spiritual lesson, Jesus came down
and joined him, says, I can work with you where
you are, because right now you're in the right place.
And he said to him, Lord, you know all things.
You know that I fillayl you, And Jesus said, okay, ten,
my sheep. This is called a ministry recall. He gets
(17:31):
recalled back in the ministry into usefulness. This is why
repentance is so important, because repentance allows for restoration. Now
God decides what it is, where it is, how long
it is, but it opens the door for it at
whatever level the Lord wants to allow it to happen. Truly, truly,
(17:54):
I say to you, talking to Peter, when you were younger,
use to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished. And
when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands
and someone else will gird you and bring you where
you do not wish to go. When he is restored,
(18:18):
he gets a prophetic statement about his life. Now this
he said, signifying by what kind of death he Peter
would glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he
said to him, follow me, He says, let me repeat
(18:41):
myself verse twenty two. Follow me, don't follow John, follow me. Therefore,
this saying went out among the brethren that the disciple
would not die so they kind of carried us to
the extreme. They said, we ain't gonna die. He might
be here that Jesus come. So that's how wrong information spreads.
(19:07):
Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would
not die, only if I want him to remain until
I come. What is that to you? Which means you
got to pay attention to what Jesus says. That's why
we believe in believing in errancy. The Bible is without
error and plenary verbal inspiration, which means that every word
(19:32):
of God is inspired because the words can make a
big difference. Paul, even when we study the Book of Galatians,
Paul even makes a difference between a plural and a
single use of a word, the word seed, and he
says that the difference between whether it's plural or single
makes a big difference. So the words of God are
(19:52):
very specifically stated. And here you have somebody taking a nuance.
It just took a little nuance, and they gave a
whole different interpretation. He said, Jesus didn't say that this
is the disciple who is testifying to these things. So
it's John and wrote these things, and we know his
(20:15):
testimony is true. Because we know because we were there.
And I love this closing verse of the Book of John.
And there are many other things which Jesus did, which,
if they were written in detail, I suppose that even
the world itself would not contain the books that would
(20:41):
be written. Did you read that? He says, what has
been written about Jesus is it's ABITSI he says, if
we told you everything and worked out all the details
(21:02):
of everything, the Library of Congress couldn't handle all the
books that would be written. I have maybe I'm guessing
I have maybe three thousand books in my library. So
I have built up over the many years since I
(21:23):
was twenty two years old, studying the Bible, studying theology,
accumulated books and books and books and books and books
and books and books, and most of them, in one
way or another, deal with the Word of God and
Jesus one from another. I have been preaching for many years,
(21:49):
and I haven't yet dented the Bible. I haven't dented it.
There's so much stuff that I'm finding out, new stuff
I'm discovering, and nuances, and sometimes it's the same thing
but with a new twist that you discover. I haven't
dented it, he says. If we told you all that
(22:13):
Jesus did, he says, I don't know that the world
could hold it all. So we just gave you a
highlight reel. All you have is a highlight reel of
Jesus Christ. But the highlight is enough. You know, in football,
when they show you a highlight reel, it shows you
(22:35):
enough that you know this player can do something. You
don't have all that Jesus did, but you got enough
that if you take him seriously, you know he is
who he declares himself to be, the Son of God,
the son of Man, the Savior of the world, Messiah
who has come to give life to those who come
(22:56):
to him for it.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Doctor Tony Evans wrapping up the final message in a
lesson in Eternity from his in depth study of the
Gospel of John. Now, as I mentioned earlier, this is
your last chance to take advantage of our current special
resource bundle, all fourteen messages from both volumes of Tony's
audio series on the Gospel of John, along with his
(23:21):
encouraging book on revitalizing your faith called Dry Bones Dancing.
They're yours with our thanks when you make a donation
to help keep this listener supported program coming your way.
Just visit Tonyevans dot org today to make the arrangements,
or call our resource center at one eight hundred eight
hundred thirty two twenty two, where team members are standing
(23:43):
by to assist with your request. That's one eight hundred
eight hundred three two two two, or online at Tonyevans
dot org. One final reminder, this weekend marks the premiere
of the latest episode in Stories from the Storyteller. This
family friendly animated series follows the Evans family as their
(24:05):
everyday experiences become lessons in biblical truth. Let your kids
watch the newest episode now, or catch up on any
they may have missed from seasons one and two Stories
from the Storyteller. Learn more at tonyevanstv dot com. That's
tonyevanstv dot com. On Monday, we begin a new series
(24:27):
from Doctor Evans on the Book of Acts, exploring how
Jesus followers took seriously their mission to advance God's kingdom agenda.
Be sure to join us for that
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