Today, on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. On this important subject of spiritual restoration and recommissioning, we must understand that before there is a spiritual restoration, before there is spiritual recommissioning to a position of usefulness, it is important that there is biblical repentance. Without repentance, there can be no true spiritual restoration. Welcome to the verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. When a follower of Christ falls from grace, perhaps publicly, It can impact relationships and cause questions.
How should we respond? And if it's us, is our testimony ruined? Today, we're learning more about the truth of repentance and the joy of spiritual restoration.
Now, with his message called Restoring the Fallen, here's Pastor John Monroe. We've almost concluded this series, Encountering Jesus from John's Gospel. I find it very encouraging to see how the Lord interacted with all kinds of people from all walks of life and in all kinds of circumstances, and the responses from these people. Have you responded to the Lord Jesus? Have you had a personal encounter with him?
Today we come to John 21, which is the last chapter in John's Gospel. Previously we've learned of Peter's devastating denial. the outspoken leader of the disciples fell badly. He denied knowing Jesus not once, but three times. How does Jesus respond?
How do you respond when people fail? I've called this message restoring the fallen. Let's learn how Jesus, with perfect love, grace, and truth, interacts with Peter. Over the last couple of weeks, we've considered two disciples who fell. Peter And Thomas.
Last week we thought of Thomas, doubting Thomas, who refused to believe that Jesus was raised from the dead, yet the risen Christ graciously appeared. It's a Thomas. From the lips of this former doubter we have that brilliant climactic confession. Of Thomas, which neatly summarizes the whole Gospel of John, as Thomas says, my Lord and my God. And I challenged you last week to live in the good of that, that every day, every moment of our lives, we would look at Christ and say, My Lord, and.
My God. Two weeks ago, we considered the fall of Peter, the strong, outspoken, dynamic, impetuous leader of the twelve, Peter. But when the pressure was on, we learned that Peter not only deserted the Lord, he denied the Lord. In fact, he denied the Lord not once or twice, but three times. What are we to do?
When a fellow believer A fellow Christian falls, that is, falls. Spiritually, how are we to react? Madeleine Murray O'Hare, for a long time, America's best-known atheist.
Some of you will remember her provocative bumper sticker, Apes Evolved from Creationists. to give you an idea of where she came from. She said, quote, the church is the only army who shoots their own wounded. Is that right? Do we, the people of God, shoot our wounded?
How are we to respond to those who are spiritually wounded? How are we to respond to that fallen brother? How are we to respond to that defeated sister?
Some of you sitting here. Today. are fallen, you are wounded, you have failed. Do you realize that? And you long to be restored to spiritual vitality, spiritual usefulness.
What are we to do in the circumstances when we fall? And how are we to react when our fellow brother and sister falls spiritually? In this message in the series on John's Gospel, we want to learn of restoring the fallen. As we do that, as we've read from John chapter 21, I ask you to open your Bibles there again, John chapter 21, as we learn how our Lord restores this fallen man, this fallen leader, Peter. Simon Peter.
Isn't it wonderful as we read John chapter 21 to look at the big picture, as it were, and to realize. That Jesus restores, not only does he restore, he recommissions. Christians Do fall. Spiritually. It's a devastating thing, isn't it, to fall spiritually?
We think how could we ever have done such a thing? The devil whispers, Because you have fallen, because you have failed, you can't be a true follower of Jesus Christ. Or someone who does such a thing as you have done will never again be used by Jesus Christ. He's finished with you. And I've known Christians, as probably you have.
Who have been paralyzed, paralyzed into spiritual inactivity because there never has been true spiritual restoration nor true spiritual repentance in their lives. And they go through life haunted by their fallenness, haunted by their failure.
sometimes becoming very bitter haunted by these destructive memories. A couple of weeks ago, As we looked at Peter's fall, we learned that failure in the Christian life, while it is not uncommon, failure in the Christian life is not final. And when that cock crew after Peter's third denial. Remember how Luke records it in Luke 22, the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the words of the Lord, and he went out.
And wept. Bitterly. In a moment of failure, Peter's restoration, in a sense, begins, and it begins with his true repentance. He saw the Lord. which meant that not only was the Lord looking at Peter, but Peter was looking at the Lord.
He saw the Lord. And he remembered the words of the Lord. On this important subject of spiritual restoration and recommissioning, we must understand that before there is a spiritual restoration, before there is spiritual recommissioning to a position of usefulness, it is important that there is biblical repentance. Without repentance, there can be no true spiritual restoration. You say, well, it was obvious that Peter was repentant, he was crying.
No, there can be tears. without repentance. Over the years, I've met many Christians who've wept when they have fallen, but their tears have been because they have been found out, because of humiliation, because of the consequences to them and their family, because of their sin. It doesn't mean because someone cries that there is a deep spiritual repentance. In Peter's case, however.
There was. It was not just regret, it was not just remorse. Peter is truly repentant. You say, what brought him to repentance? Two things.
He saw the Lord, he looked at the Lord. And you remembered the words. of the Lord. When you fall and when I fall, what's happened? Our eyes are off Jesus.
They're on ourselves, they're on our pleasures, they are on our own desires, our agenda. Any one of us, when we get our eyes off the Lord, very easily and very quickly fall into sin. Biblical repentance begins when we get our eyes off ourselves and our sin and begin to focus once again on Jesus. And then secondly, he remembered the words. of the Lord.
And it is God's word. That brings us to conviction. That is why it is so important that every day we are in the Word of God. That is why it is so important that as a church, we are committed. To the preaching and teaching of the Word of God as the inspired, inerrant Word of God.
And God's Word. Brought Peter to a point of conviction and repentance. Repentance is a turning from my sin and a turning. To a holy God. And the individual who is truly broken.
The individual who is truly repentant doesn't excuse his sin. She doesn't gloss over it. No, repentance is brokenness before a holy God. We're not very good in our society in dealing with things that are broken. What do we do?
We throw them out. We discard them. You break a cup, you throw it out. Your TV doesn't work. Who wants to pay to get it repaired?
Who can repair TVs in these computers nowadays? We throw them out and we get a new one. That's what we do generally with something that is broken, but that's not how God deals with the broken. Our gods In fact Values. The broken.
And unless we are broken before God, there will never ever be true biblical repentance. Or there may be a charade, there may be tears. But there will be no true Biblical repentance. But our God values that which is broken. Listen to David, who knew about spiritual fallenness.
He knew what it was to fall spiritually. King David did with the sin of adultery. He knew what it was. The Lord is near. to the broken hearted.
and saves The crushed in spirit. Psalm fifty-one, David's great prayer of repentance after his sin of immorality. He prays the sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken Spirit. A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Others may despise it, others may push it aside and say, Well, you failed, we can have no time for you.
We're not giving you a second chance, but God in fact values, deeply values, and does not despise the individual who is truly broken and contrite and humble. before him. God values. The broken. Remember the words of Isaiah in Isaiah 42 as he prophesied regarding the coming Messiah?
He says, A bruised reed he will not break. and a dimly burning wick he will not extinguish. And these, of course, become true in the Gospels as that verse is quoted in Matthew chapter twelve regarding Jesus. What does Jesus do? He does not break the bruised reed.
the first century. Little boys might take a read. put a few little holes in it to play a simple tune. on the little rudimentary musical instrument. They would get bruised.
They might become difficult to play, and so they would throw them away. Not when the Messiah comes to the individual who is bruised. The Messiah will not discard. Similarly in that culture, obviously before electricity, uh they would have the wick as they would be generating some light. it would get smouldering, it would get rather Black, it would become difficult, it would smolder, and so they would throw it away and get another one.
And Isaiah is saying, No, when the Messiah comes, when Jesus comes to an individual like that. Not much light, you might say, not much usefulness. What can this individual do? Let's push him aside. nor the Messiah will in fact gravitate to such People.
to the broken, to the contract, to the poor. to the bruised. to the needy. to the sinful. That is the heart.
of God. Because God is in the restoration business.
Some of you are good at restoring furniture. Or restoring cars. I have a friend of mine who buys cheap motorbikes that most people want to get rid of. And he takes them and he restores them to their usefulness, so they're almost as good as new. That takes skill, that takes time, that takes patience, that is costly.
But God is in the restoration business. David says he restores my soul. And although Peter had denied the Lord, It's interesting in the beginning of the gospel record after the resurrection. It is Peter, along with John, who runs into the empty tomb. He's repentant.
He is towards the Lord. And here, as we read chapter 21, verse 7, when they realize that it is Jesus who's on the beach of the Sea of Galilee, who's the man who is so impatient that he can't wait till the boat gets ashore, that he throws himself in the water and swims to be with Jesus. Who is it? It's Peter. It's Peter.
His heart is towards The Lord. indicative of the fact that he is truly repentant. His past is now behind him. His life is now towards the Lord. He wants to be with the Lord, and he is restored and recommissioned by Jesus.
Look again at verse fifteen. John 21:15.
So when they had finished breakfast, I'm reading now from the New American Standard Version. Jesus said to Simon, Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? He said to him, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, Tend my lambs. He said to him again, a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me?
He said to him, Yes, you know that I love you. He said to him, Shepherd, My shape. He said to him the third time. Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, Do you love me?
And he said to him, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. Jesus said to him, Tend my Sheep. How wonderful. Here is a man who is fallen.
who has been not only restored, but is being re Commissions. Three times Jesus refers to Peter as Simon. Simon. Simon. A reminder By using the word Simon.
A reminder of Peter's failure to live up to his name. Remember, it was Jesus that gave Simon this name, Peter, in Matthew 16, that wonderful confession. You are the Christ. And Jesus says to Peter, You are he. Peter.
You are the rock. It's upon this rock I will build my church. You are Peter the rock. And Peter began to think of himself as this wonderful rock, stronger and more spiritual than the other disciples. Here Jesus doesn't refer to him as the rock.
No, it's Simon. Simon. He'd been reminded that if he's going to be useful as a follower of Christ, His dependence and his scale must not be on his rock-like qualities. No. He's not a rock, really.
He's demonstrated he's just like everyone else, just one of these insignificant pebbles on the beach, just like everyone else. Ah, but Jesus is saying, I haven't finished with you. And you're going to be used. And my purposes and with Christ. He is.
A rock. And perhaps Peter remembered the teaching of Jesus in John 15: apart from me, you can do nothing. Peter had tried to do things on his own strength, but he realizes that is impossible. By himself, he's just a pebble. With Christ, he is.
the rock. Warming himself with a charcoal fire in John 18, he had denied the Lord.
Now he's recommissioned by a charcoal fire here in verse 9. He had denied the Lord three times, now the Lord asks him three times if he loves him. And three times, Jesus commissions Peter to shepherd his sheep.
Now much has been made about the different Greek words for love, ten, shepherd, lambs and sheep in verses fifteen through seventeen. And if you noticed, there's a difference in the translation between the NIV, which I earlier read, and the New American Standard Version between all of these different words. Much of the difference, I think, is largely stylistic. The basic point is this. Peter is being recommissioned by Jesus.
Peter had denied the Lord publicly, now he is being recommissioned publicly. Rita Snowden says, You ask me what forgiveness means? It is the wonder of being trusted again by God in the place where I disgraced him. And the Lord is publicly restoring Peter and recommissioning Peter. You see the Christian message.
is one of hope. It's one of a second chance. It's one of new beginnings. It's a message of forgiveness, it's a message of grace, a message of repentance, a message of restoration. God is in the restoration process, like Peter.
Some of you here this morning have fallen. I want to remind you that Jesus restores and recommissions. But the question is: are you broken before? God. Are you broken?
If you are broken before God, God looks down on you. His grace comes to the humble. He has always opposed. to the proud.
Now what does restoration involve? Restoration involves relationship with Christ. This is at the very heart of the Christian faith, relationship with Christ.
Someone who is being restored is being renewed in their relationship with Christ. Restoration, as Jesus is teaching Peter, involves a relationship of love. Three times, Simon is asked if he loves Jesus. In the past, Peter had said, Even though all of the disciples, Lord, fail you, they run away, I will be there. In fact, I'm prepared to die for you.
But he denied the Lord. And now comes the penetrating question or questions. Does Peter love Jesus? More than the other disciples do. Must have been very hard for Peter to hear the question.
three times. Yet he had denied the Lord three times. And Peter humbly acknowledges that he does love Jesus and that Jesus knows all things, including his heart. Why is Jesus going through this? Jesus is calling for a relationship.
of love. A relationship of love. And this penetrating question from Jesus comes to you and to me this morning. A simple question. Don't answer it too quickly.
Do you love me? Do you love? Christ. Do you love the Lord? Do you?
How would you answer that? Because the Lord knows your heart. There was a church in the New Testament at Ephesus, a wonderful church. Paul writes a letter to it and commends them about the love and tells them to know more and more of the love of Christ. But over the years, something happened in that local church.
And by the end of the New Testament, as the Apostle John is writing to the seven churches, he writes to the church at Ephesus and says, I have this against you: that you have left your. First. Love. Anyone here left their first love? Over the years Quite a number of husbands have spoken to me and have said, you know, Pastor, I know I should love my wife, but I just don't.
I wish I did, but I no longer love her. What am I to do? And almost one hundred percent of the cases I've discovered And sometimes it took a little while to discover. But in almost all of the cases, Their love for their wife had been replaced by a love for someone else. No longer first love.
Someone, something had become in Between them. Is that true with your love for Jesus? You see, this is what Jesus is probing with Peter. Peter, I know you loved me in the past. But have you left your first love?
Do you truly love me? You see, our relationship with Christ, our love for Christ, is foundational and central in our lives. Have you? Today, be honest. Have you left?
You're first. Love. Christ And Christ alone must be first in our love. Not even our service for Christ and all of us should be serving Christ. Not even love for a particular doctrine about Christ.
But love for the person. of Christ. Again, the question comes to you: do you love Christ. This is a matter of the heart. It is a relationship of love, restoration.
involves A relationship of love. Secondly, It involves a relationship of commitment. When Peter was first called by Jesus by the very seashore, by the Sea of Galilee, what did Jesus say to him? Follow me.
Now at the end of the Gospel, Jesus is bringing Peter right back to the beginning. Look at the end of verse 19. Jesus said to him, Follow. Me. End of verse twenty-two.
What is that to you? You follow me. Jesus is bringing Peter back to where it all began. Back to the basic, back to a relationship of love, back to a relationship of commitment. Peter, you follow me.
The top commitment of your life is to follow me. And isn't that the central issue for all of us? Many of us here, I'm sure the majority of us here this morning say that we are followers of Jesus Christ. That we have received Jesus Christ into our hearts as our personal Savior, that we believe that He died for our sins, that He rose again, and we would say I could stand up and testify of a day in my experience when I trusted the Savior and I began to follow Jesus. I began to love Jesus.
But over the years, over the months, Something's happened. Oh, you're still following Christ. But you're following him. At a distance. You're listening to the verdict with Pastor John Monroe and the start of a message titled Restoring the Fallen.
Don't go anywhere just yet, because John will be back with some closing remarks in just a moment. As we heard today, keeping Christ first in all that we do is crucial to living a God centered life. But perhaps you've been going through a tough time. Maybe you're struggling to find hope and to put your trust in God.
Well, to help you navigate through some of life's most difficult issues, John has written a practical and straightforward guide called Trusting God in Tough Times. and we'd love to send you this helpful resource today. Just go to our website at theverdict.org and download a free PDF copy. Just go to our website at theverdict.org and request your free copy of Trusting God in Tough Times. And if the Verdict ministry has made a positive impact in your life, we encourage you to consider making your own impact in the lives of other listeners and being a part of this gospel work by supporting our ministry with a financial gift of any amount.
We've made it quick and easy to give a one-time donation by visiting our website at the verdict.org. And then, as we close today, we invite you to join us in person for Sunday morning worship at Calvary Church, Home of the Verdict. were located at the corner of Highway 51 and Ray Road in South Charlotte. To find all the details you need for planning your visit or to learn more about all of our ministries, just go to theverdict.org.
Now, here's Pastor John Monroe. No. Well, what's your verdict? Don't you find this tremendously encouraging? in our throwaway cancel culture.
Jesus demonstrates his love for Peter. I'm sure. You've sometimes failed the Lord. How did you respond? Self-pity.
Yeah. retreating into your shell. Or do you hear the words of Jesus today? Do you love me? The Lord Jesus isn't finished with you.
Join me next time on a verdict as we continue to see how the Lord deals with Peter. and learn how the fallen can be restored. Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict. I'm Michelle Davies. Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
