Alright, we're here in John chapter 21, and the name of this sermon, as we're finishing up with John, is how to encourage a backslidden soul winner.
How to encourage a backslidden soul winner. This is a really interesting topic that really this chapter focuses on.
And let me say this, that this is an important sermon for all of us, and if you one day do get backslidden, the sad reality is you're probably not going to remember this sermon,
because these things are going to fade out. But if you know someone who has gotten backslidden that you're a friend with,
you know this is something you can encourage them and show them what the Bible says, because what we're seeing in this chapter is that the meter and all the disciples are completely backslidden.
And they have forsaken so many, they've just kind of given up the fight, and yet at the very end they are very encouraged against it.
So we're going to see why that is pretty good verse by verse here.
And it says in verse number one,
After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberius, and on this wise showed he himself.
And so he's showing them again, so this is not the first time after he's risen again that he's come to the disciples.
You would think that when they saw the resurrected Jesus Christ, they would immediately just be back into it.
That is not what took place.
He shows himself to them, and you know they realize it's him, and they want to start living for God, and yet they don't start living for God.
You say, why is that? Well, let me give you a logical explanation of this.
And see, the Bible talks about, you know, basically climbing a mountain to get close to God.
You always see the analogy in Exodus 34, I believe it is, where Moses is climbing a mountain to get close to God.
And he's given very simple instructions of what he needs to do.
They're not very easy to do, but it's simple to understand what he needs to do.
And he gets to the very top, and then afterwards he's with the Lord for a while.
And then he comes back, and he actually has physically changed, and the people don't recognize him.
So basically it's symbolic of someone getting close to God, okay?
But I want you to think about climbing a mountain, okay?
What do you think is faster, to climb a mountain or to fall down a mountain?
What's going to take more time to climb a mountain? Isn't that true?
I mean, you fight and fight and fight.
But what if, you know, have you ever been climbing a mountain, and you grab a board of, like, roots that are in the ground,
and you think it's really solid, and then it just pulls up right out of the ground,
and then you tumble down the hill or tumble down the mountain?
That's happened to me before.
I remember I spent about an hour climbing up this really steep hill with my friend.
I get near the top, and then I grab one of these things that I thought were rooted into the ground,
and it just pulls out of the ground, and I just go tumbling down the hill.
Now, it doesn't take long to fly down the hill, but quite honestly, it takes a lot of time up a hill.
And what you have to understand is when your momentum starts going down and you start backsliding,
why do you even get this phrase?
It's like you're sliding down a mountain. You're backsliding.
It's very hard to stop and get your momentum going forward.
It's not that easy.
It's very easy to live for God when things are going well.
You're reading the Bible. You're going soul winning. It's really easy.
Man, nothing can stop me, but if you fall into some sin or something happens in your life,
you start to backslide a little bit, and it's just very hard to stop yourself and get going again.
And that is what we see with them, where they were living for God, very devoted, they get depressed,
and even though they see the risen Christ, they're backsliding and they cannot stop.
They just keep backsliding even though they've already seen the risen Christ.
And so in this chapter, this is kind of how it shakes them out of it.
But they basically are backsliding, and they cannot stop.
Now, the sad reality is that this is Peter.
This is one of the greatest men who ever lived.
And if this could happen to Peter, then I promise you it could happen to one of us.
I mean, Peter literally sees the risen Christ, and yet that doesn't shake him out of it.
For us, if we start backsliding, we're not going to see the risen Christ.
And if you do see the risen Christ, you've got real problems in his backside.
You either got a problem with Drogas, or you got a little bit of a Pentecostal problem happened yet.
But I mean, you know, that does not shake Peter out of it.
He's backsliding, and he cannot stop himself, okay?
You have to realize you do not want your momentum to be going backwards.
You must just be every day faithfully just reading your Bible and doing your prayer time.
And you might think, oh, I'm just skipping a little while, it's not that big of a deal, I'm busy.
But once you start getting your momentum going backwards, you could just keep falling backwards and not be able to start again.
Just think logically in a day. Let's say you have a day where you're not really living for God.
The day you just got started off rough, you woke up late, didn't have a chance to read the Bible.
You're just kind of in a bad mood because you haven't really been serving God that day, you know.
And then isn't it pretty hard to just stop at the end of the day and say, I'm going to read my Bible before you go backwards?
It usually doesn't work that way.
When your momentum's going back in a day, you usually have to stop until the next day to really start living for God.
And from a logical perspective, it's kind of like at the start of a day, you're basically not moving, okay?
This is what you need to understand. But you're facing uphill to a mountain, okay?
This is kind of the analogy God's giving you. Basically, you're stopped at the start of a new day.
So whether or not yesterday you went soloing for five hours and then got eight people staying and read the Bible for hours,
or whether or not you got drunk the day before, you're still at a stopping point at the start of the next day.
And so you must start your momentum every single day getting going forward.
Now, if you've ever seen a car that is, I know there's not really a hill here in the Philippines,
but, you know, back in West Virginia in the mountain state, you know, we have a million mountains,
and you'll see a car that will get stopped on a hill.
And you know, it's really hard to get that car going.
But you know, once it gets its momentum, it's very easy to get it to go.
You just got to push, push like four or five people. Push it, push it, it will be stopped.
Then all of a sudden it gets going, and then it's fine.
It's kind of the same thing in a Christian life. You know, you must start the day for God,
and it takes a little bit of emphasis to get it going.
And once you start living for God, it's a lot easier.
But once you're in this perpetual state of backsliding, each and every day you just don't feel like reading the Bible.
You don't feel like praying. It's really hard.
It's like, for example, if, you know, you're someone who runs a lot.
Has anyone in here ever done a lot of running? Anybody?
Yeah, when you run a lot, think about when you take a break from running for a week or so.
You're not as good at running anymore.
Isn't it pretty frustrating to retread the ground that you used to be able to do?
I mean, it's frustrating when it's just like, man, I'm working out, but I'm not as fast as I used to be.
I'm not as strong as I used to be. It's very difficult.
And see, that's what's happening with Peter and the disciples.
They have to now retread the same mountain that they've already climbed up,
because they've fallen down that mountain a long ways. It's very hard.
So, how do you encourage a backsliding slider?
A backsliding slider. How do you get him back in the fight?
Well, let's notice what it says in verse 2.
There were together Simon Peter and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathaniel of Canaan and Galilee,
and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples.
Simon Peter saith unto them, I go fishing. They say unto him, we also go in.
They went forth and entered into a ship immediately, and that night they caught nothing.
And so, Simon Peter says, you know what, I'm going to go fishing. What does everybody else do?
Hey, let's go fishing as well.
Now, we obviously know that Peter was not the first pope.
But I will say that Peter was kind of the leader of these certain Christians.
That's the reason why they say, well, it's Peter.
You know, obviously the leader of the pope.
But what I'm saying here is that Simon Peter's kind of the leader.
Because when he decides to backslide, everyone's like, I'm going to backslide too.
And what you have to realize in this room, that if you're somebody that people look up to as kind of a leader in our church,
or someone who's really serving God, if you quit, you're probably not the only one who's going to quit.
There's probably going to be other people that follow you.
And at the very least, you're going to discourage people that were in this church and faithful.
I've seen it many times in my life where somebody leaves a church, they get backslidden,
and when they get backslidden, other people are just like, man, you know, I don't know if I can keep going.
And then other people sometimes leave the church once one person falls.
You have to understand the importance that you have in this room.
And the reality is, from the people that are in this room right now, all of you are considered leaders in our church.
All of you are considered people that are very faithful.
And if you fade out of church one day, you're going to affect other people's lives.
And our lives are not about us. It's about other people.
So even if you get mad at me, you know, I preach that one thing you're really offended by,
you know, I can't think of anything that would really offend you guys. I'll think of something and I'll really offend somebody in this room.
And you know what, you get really mad at me or whatever.
Look, you have to realize that even if you get mad at me if you leave this church, you're going to affect other people.
And you want them to follow as well. That's not what's happening with people.
But notice as he's going back to his old lifestyle, they catch nothing.
You say, why? Well, because God's obviously not blessing them.
See, before they met the Lord to begin with, they're just kind of hardworking people, they're fishermen.
So basically, you know, God specifically wanted to use Peter and these other disciples.
These are his closest people. He wanted to use them to really be devoted to the Lord,
to start churches, to preach sermons and things such as that.
And so he doesn't want to be fishing.
It'd be like if somebody was a pastor or an evangelist and they just decided, you know what, I've had enough.
I don't want to do it anymore.
Here's the thing. If God wants you to be a pastor, he wants you to be an evangelist,
if you just pull a Jonah on God, what's going to happen to you?
God's not going to be happy with you.
And they're catching nothing. You say, why?
Well, God's not blessing them.
And it doesn't matter how good your job is if you don't have God's blessing.
It really is kind of meaningless.
Verse number four,
For when the morning was now calm, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.
Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat?
And they answered him, No.
He said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find it.
They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.
Notice how they're able to catch nothing.
They're clearly backslidden.
They're really doing nothing for God in their lives.
And now all of a sudden they have a great multitude of fishes.
You say, what is the Lord trying to teach them?
Well, he's not really trying to teach them about literal fish.
He's not talking about the son of Jesus.
He's talking about the son of the Lord.
He's talking about the soul, getting souls saved.
Because we're fishers of men.
So he's reminding them.
They don't realize it's Jesus.
And all of a sudden they get a great multitude of fishes.
And immediately, immediately it reminds them.
Okay?
Great multitude of fish, right?
I think plural of fish is plural.
Sorry about that.
Anyways, let me see.
Verse number seven,
Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord.
Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he burned his fishers coat on them, for he was naked.
It cast himself into the sea.
Now, let me just say that there's a lot of confusion about this version.
The Bible says that Simon Peter was naked.
Okay?
Now, if you understand what the Bible speaks about when it talks about nakedness,
it's not just saying you're fully naked.
Okay?
Look, Peter was not fully naked.
He was not fishing with zero clothes on.
Okay?
That's ridiculous.
Okay?
Of course he's not going to do that.
For one, none of his friends would want to be around.
He was fishing with absolutely no clothes on.
He said, how was the fishing?
Well, turn to Exodus 28.
Exodus 28.
Now see, here's something that the world has a double standard on.
They have a double standard on what nakedness is.
Because, see, the world will say, well, you know what, if you're not wearing any clothes, you're naked, which I agree with.
But, you know, depending on who you talk to,
they'll say that if you go to the beach with, you know, a bathing suit, that you're not naked in the beach.
But if you wore that same clothing inside of a church building, you're naked.
Isn't that what the world would say?
Right.
You come in here and they say, we're not letting you in.
You're naked.
This is the house of God.
But yet you can go to the beach and wear a swimsuit and it's not naked.
Now, how does that work?
How is it that God changes the standards depending on what location you're in?
So tell me, what is the standard on when it's okay to wear a bathing suit?
What's the standard?
And, see, the world's standard doesn't really make sense.
If you ask the average person, you know, is this nakedness, people would vary on their opinion depending on how much skin you're showing.
Some people would say, well, it's nakedness if your shirt goes to here.
Some would say if it's here.
Look, there's no real standard.
People don't have a standard.
They don't even know what their standard is.
Some people think that it would be, you know, there's just completely different standards.
But, see, obviously on topics like these, the Bible is going to give us the answer.
What does that say in Exodus 28 verse 42?
And thou shalt make them linen bridges to cover their nakedness.
From the loins even under the thighs they shall reach.
And, see, the Bible says your nakedness from the loins even under the thighs.
Look, it's not saying from the loins to the top of the thighs because that's no area whatsoever.
It's saying from the loins, your waist area, to the bottom of your thighs, to your knees.
This is nakedness according to the Bible.
Look, we have to have a standard of what's naked and what's not naked.
If there is no standard to who will know, God has a standard.
You say, well, that can't be nakedness, Brother Stockton, because I walk outside, that means everybody's naked.
Yeah, when you walk outside, pretty much every girl walking around is naked according to the Bible.
Look, I didn't write the Bible.
That's just the reality that we have today.
And, look, as I've said before, when it comes to preachers from the past, they would preach against going to the beach
because they said you don't want to be around just a bunch of people that are naked.
But, see, nowadays, good night, man, you can't even step outside.
There's like no area you can go to where you're avoiding seeing people that are naked according to the Bible.
Now, this goes for both men and women.
It doesn't say, well, if you're a woman and this area is exposed, you're naked.
No, it's whether you're a man or a woman.
Quite honestly, we're talking about Linda Bridges, we're talking about a guy, but it applies to both men and women.
So, whether you're a guy showing off your thigh or whether you're a lady showing off your thigh, it's naked according to the Bible.
Now, let me say this.
I do my very best.
I mean, I never show off my negatives when I'm outside of my house.
Like, if I take out the trash just 10 feet outside of where we go is where we dump the trash,
I always make sure that I'm completely covered up and nothing indecent.
You say, why?
Well, for one, I'm married and you owe that to your spouse.
But for two, you're naked according to the Bible if you're showing off your thigh.
And I'm not going to do that.
See, the Bible is very clear here in Exodus 28, verse 22.
Now, see, the world standard is not very clear at all.
Ask people out there, hey, what's naked?
They're not going to tell you what's naked if they're wearing a miniskirt, do you hear?
You say, why?
Because that's what they're wearing when you ask them a question.
And, you know, I remember hearing a sermon a long time ago.
The first sermon I heard from Jack Hyers was called Miniskirts in Light of Life, okay?
Now, let me say a few things about this sermon because it's been 15 years since I heard this sermon.
But I remember the first time when I heard that sermon, I thought he was a little bit crazy.
And I'll tell you why.
Because I went to college at the time and when you see it all the time, you think, oh, that's ridiculous.
That's too strict.
I was like, why does he care so much about how people dress?
I listened to it because it was a curious title, but I was just like, it seems too intense.
I mean, big deal.
Let them dress how they want.
But, see, that's what happens when you're around the world.
You get brainwashed.
You start not realizing how important things like that are.
Now, look, when you're a married person or when you're dating someone, obviously you don't care about that.
You don't want somebody lusting after your spouse.
And so, you know, what the Bible says, though, is nakedness is if your thigh is exposed.
That sort of preaching you're never even going to hear in churches.
Right.
You won't even hear Baptist pastors say anything against wearing miniskirts.
You say, why?
Because many of his members probably wear miniskirts outside of their time.
That's the reality.
And so what it says next is 28 verse 42.
It says you're nakedness is when your thigh is exposed.
I go back to John 21.
So what was Simon Peter wearing?
Well, according to the Bible, he was naked.
And I can promise you he's not 100% naked.
He is wearing some clothes.
And, you know, honestly the most likely thing is the fact that his thigh was exposed.
That he was wearing shorts.
Because the Bible specifically says that that is nakedness to have.
Obviously he's not going to have other areas that would be considered naked, exposed.
Okay.
It's probably his thigh.
Now, you say, well, what about if he was not wearing his shirt?
I don't know of a verse that would specifically say that if a guy doesn't wear a shirt that he's naked.
Okay.
I will say this, though.
I think it's the monist, though.
Yeah.
A guy to walk around without a shirt on.
I don't think it's naked.
And I'm not even necessarily arguing it's a sin.
But I'll tell you this, I'm not going to walk around without my shirt on.
Look, when I was in college, you know, I was a lot younger at the time.
I remember because, as I've said before, I had very pale skin.
And I remember I was like, man, I'm going to the beach this summer.
And I went running a lot.
So I'd go running without my shirt on.
Okay.
It was a long time ago.
But, you know, I don't believe that's very modest.
Looking at what I believe the Bible says now, I don't think that's right for a guy to do.
Is it naked?
It might not be naked, but it's not very modest.
You say, why?
Because, you know, they can cause women to look at you or whatever.
Look, you know, you ought to cover up.
And that goes for both men and women.
Even if it's not naked, you know, you want to be modest.
And so, you know, this could go with, like, women wearing really tight clothes.
It's like, well, how modest is that?
Are you still showing off your body even though you're covering up your thigh in certain areas?
Look, we ought to dress and try to be modest.
Okay.
And so whether you're a guy or a girl, the way you dress, you shouldn't be modest.
You know, when you're outside of your home,
you know, it's different if you're just around your wife or whatever,
or if you're a single guy or you're in a room by yourself or whatever,
you're fine.
But if you're going out in public, you shouldn't be running around without your shirt on.
Right.
It's not modest.
Now, some people would disagree with me on that, but you know what?
That's not something that I would do.
Now, turn to John 20.
As I said, you know, I used to run without a shirt on,
but honestly, that's not something I do now.
When I go swimming, I wear a shirt.
I don't go without a shirt on.
Now, somebody could disagree with me on that standard,
but you know what?
That is my standard, and that's the standard I came to.
If I go swimming somewhere, then you know what?
I make sure I wear a shirt on.
That's what I do.
When I went to the beach last year in North Carolina with my family,
it was a very secluded time of year.
When I went out to the ocean, you know, I had a shirt on.
And, you know, there weren't a whole lot of people there,
but I remember people just thinking it's kind of weird,
but it's like, well, I guess I'm a peculiar person in the world sometimes.
But I want to be modest, and I believe that's that.
Now, that might not be your standard.
You might say, I don't agree with you, and that's fine.
But you need to find out what your standard is,
and you need to hold to that standard.
Now, the standard of nakedness is not hard to figure out
because if I was set to advise exposure, you know, then that's naked.
Whatever your standard of modesty is, you should hold to that,
no matter what the world does.
See, the world could mock you and think you're too extreme,
but the world mocks you so much anyway.
Who cares what the world says?
We didn't know what our standard is,
even if people think that we're too extreme.
John chapter 21, verse 8.
And the other disciples came in a little shift,
for they were not far from the land,
but as it were, 200 cubits dragging the net with fishes.
As soon then as they were come to land,
they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid there on, and bred.
Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught.
Simon Peter went out and drew the net to land full of great fishes,
and hundred and fifty and three,
and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.
Now turn to Matthew 13, Matthew 13.
And so 153 fishes, and this is, you know,
obviously a pretty big fish, it says great fishes.
And in Matthew 13, starting in verse 47, the Bible reads,
Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net,
that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind,
which when it was full, they drew to shore,
and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels,
but cast the bad away.
The Bible says the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net.
You're basically putting it out there,
and you're catching whatever comes in.
That is what we ought to do.
We go soul winning, we throw out that net to anyone who will listen,
if they're worthy, according to the Bible.
But when you throw out that net,
I want you to notice what it says in verse number 48,
that you're going to get some good,
and you're going to get some bad.
And the bad, you cast away.
What is it talking about about the bad?
Well it's basically talking about someone who's a phony,
a false prophet, someone who didn't get saved,
and someone who ends up just causing problems at the church.
And you say, well I want to avoid that.
Well then just don't do it in soul winning.
You'll never bring anybody bad to church.
But if you're bringing people to church,
and going soul winning,
you're going to have a mix of both good and bad.
Yes, that's what the Bible says.
Now let me give you a couple stories that I know of,
of examples where you caught something bad.
A friend of mine, actually brother Richie,
brother Richard Saenz,
I remember there was someone he brought to church in West Virginia.
And both of these people in these stories are named Joe.
So I don't know, maybe be careful
if you know somebody named Joe who wants to come to church.
I don't know.
But anyways, Richie brought this guy named Joe.
And so he brought him and immediately this guy
had to kind of hang out with us in fellowship with us.
The guy was different.
You know, people that are kind of weird,
when you feel guilty about thinking that.
Just kind of strange, and you're like,
I don't know about this person.
But you feel guilty because you feel like,
we ought to love everyone.
He's a Christian brother.
He just had this weird look in his eyes.
You know, sometimes people just have a weird look.
He just acted kind of effeminate too and everything.
And Richie was giving him a ride to church.
Now Richie's story about this guy
was that he gave him the gospel,
and the guy did not get saved when Richie was there,
but the guy basically told Richie he got saved that night.
He was thinking about it,
and he prayed he got saved later on.
Now that's not crazy because sometimes that happens.
You hear it because you don't immediately get saved.
You know, it takes you a little bit of time maybe.
I know a lot of people that heard the gospel,
and it wasn't immediately there.
The seed was there, and they knew,
and then they thought about it, and they got saved.
Well, this person Joe, though,
he was kind of weird.
Richie told us, you know,
yeah, I don't know if I want to keep giving this guy
a ride to church and everything like that.
He said, I don't know, it's just kind of strange.
And so I remember I was,
basically he wasn't going to give him a ride anymore,
and this guy was texting me because he had my number,
and obviously me.
He said, no, Richie won't give me a ride anymore.
And so I was thinking, if this guy's a bad guy,
let's try to catch him
because his old background was fantastic.
So I started just asking him questions,
and I asked him, hey, did you ever speak in tongues?
He's like, yeah.
And I said it in a way where I made it seem
like speaking in tongues isn't that weird.
And I said, do you still speak in tongues
from time to time?
He said, yeah, from time to time,
I still speak in tongues.
I was like, there's our clue.
We can show the pastor this guy's not safe.
When he's saying he's speaking in tongues
because you're possessed when you're speaking in tongues.
Or unless you're actually speaking with tongues,
you're speaking in real language,
you're speaking in tongues like the Pentecostals say,
you're possessed according to the Bible.
And so this guy ended up being a bad bitch.
He came to church and, you know,
ended up being a phony.
And so obviously he stopped giving him a ride now.
And so the story that I know
is somebody that I work with named Joe,
who is also a little bit strange, okay?
And he was like a little bit different.
And I go back to this guy
because everybody at work made fun of him.
And so I was just trying to be a nice person
and I kind of reached out and said,
hey, let's have lunch somehow.
And so, you know, I had lunch with him
and I gave him the gospel
and he didn't get saved immediately.
But that night, supposedly, he got saved.
And so I don't know, maybe there's a connection there.
I don't want to make too strong a connection
because that's kind of how I got saved.
I heard the gospel and then that night I got saved.
But with this person, it's the same as this other Joe.
And so he calls me that night and he says,
hey, you know, I got saved and everything like that.
And so, you know, I was around this guy at work all the time.
And over the next couple of years,
he'd come to church from time to time.
But, you know, once again, he was a little bit effeminate.
He started to act effeminate and strange.
And he had a story that he had been in a car wreck
and had, you know, really messed up his brain.
So I thought maybe that's why he's kind of weird.
But, you know, he's kind of effeminate and everything.
And me and my friends were just like, yeah,
there's something off about this guy.
And I remember he started to get connected to church
and then he got baptized at the church we went to and everything.
And he said, yeah, I really want to start getting involved in church.
You know, what I really want to help out with is the children's ministry.
And so, you know, that night I called the pastor
and just told him, hey, you know, I don't think we can trust this guy.
One thing I forgot to mention is like during the time period,
he had lived with a gay guy and he said he was trying to save money.
But he said there's nothing between us.
And I was just like, I don't know, there's too much about this guy.
He's kind of weird and it's like that's really weird.
And so, you know, he was just a little bit effeminate, also named Joe.
But what I'm trying to tell you is, you know what,
when you go soloing, there's going to be some bad fish you bring in at least.
Right.
We're happy to have visitors, but, you know,
every once in a while there's going to be some weird people.
But that's what happens when you're actually getting good fish.
See, if you don't cast out your net, you won't get good fish or bad fish.
But, you know what, if you don't cast out your net, you're going to starve to death.
And a church that doesn't cast out their net, they're going to starve to death as well.
Of course the devil's going to send weird people away and cause confusion and stuff like that.
That's going to happen.
But you know what, you have to cast out the net.
Otherwise, what are you doing with your life?
And so, yeah, you know, we'll have some bad fish along the way.
It doesn't mean we should stop casting out the net.
Turn to John 21.
John 21.
Now, obviously this is not 100%, but I'll say this, that what I've noticed is when people are kind of new to church,
if they get like instantly excited and connected like 100%, sometimes it's kind of like a little bit too much.
Like the one that my friend Richie brought, like from day one he's coming to all the services.
He's excited, man, he's going to go preach.
He can go bowling and everything like that.
And it's just like it seemed like too much.
Because quite honestly when you first start living for God, it's not just like you go from here to just like here overnight.
Usually it's like a slow steady climb where someone, they come on Sunday once a week from time to time.
They'll miss every once in a while.
They slowly start to come to more services, slowly start to come to events, slowly start to get to know people.
Now, I'm not saying, I mean, obviously if people jump in right away, that's great.
But I will say I have noticed that sometimes when people come from nothing and jumping in straightaway,
oftentimes there's something there.
They end up being a weary person.
But what it says here in John 21, verse 12 is this.
And so what I want you to understand here, you say, well how to encourage backslid soul members.
Well, what I want you to realize is that Jesus does not just rip their heads off.
Jesus basically just reminds them about the excitement of soul members.
He says cast in the net.
He doesn't just rebuke Peter for being naked out there on the boat.
He doesn't just like yell at them for being backslid.
What he does is he reminds them about the excitement of soul members.
And so if there is a backslid soul member, I believe the best way we can get them excited about the things of God
is to try to remind them about the excitement of soul members.
Right.
Try to get them back involved in a soul-winning event like Bulla Khan or whatever events we might have going on.
But help them be reminded about the excitement.
Because all of us can have the excitement kind of wear off because we get used to it.
Try to remind them about the excitement because nothing is more exciting than soul-winning.
When your life is really difficult, you're really tired of yourself, you can fade out very easily.
That's the way it works.
Verse number 12.
Jesus saith unto them, Come and die.
And none of the disciples started to ask him, Who art thou? Knowing that it was the Lord.
Jesus then cometh and taketh bread, and giveth them a fish like wine.
This is now the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples after that he was risen from the dead.
This is the third time.
This is not the first time.
It's not the second time.
It's the third time.
And what that shows you is that if you're backslid, just coming to church one time might not fix that.
It's not the first time.
It's not the second time.
It's the third time.
Because as I mentioned, when you backslide down a hill, it is very hard to stop and get your momentum going again.
Quite honestly, it's frustrating.
If you used to be very zealous and you fade out on the things of God, it's going to be hard to be motivated again.
To get back to where you once were.
It's difficult.
And look, we're going to have ups and downs in our lives.
But I kind of look at backsliding as kind of two things.
Basically short term and long term.
I'm not saying this is necessarily directly what the Bible says.
It's just kind of my opinion.
You can kind of have short term backsliding where maybe you're really busy or something.
Maybe you kind of fade out of reading the Bible for a little while.
That's kind of short term where basically you're really tired, exhausted.
Then there's long term backsliding.
Where basically you're just slowly going further down, further down, further down.
And you know, it kind of works both ways.
You have both of those things.
All of us are going to have short term backsliding from time to time.
We're going to have weeks where we're just not doing very well spiritually.
We're going to have days where we do not feel like coming to church at all.
We put on the smile.
We put on the baroque or whatever.
We put on the dress.
But we do not feel like being here.
We're just, during the sermon, we're just thinking about, oh, I can't wait until it's one o'clock.
I can get home.
It's like, yeah, yeah, you hate the Catholics, big deal, blah, blah, blah.
You know, we're all going to have those times.
I've had plenty of times I've been in church and I just didn't feel like being here.
Because the reality is, honestly, there's times you just feel exhausted.
You want to rest.
You want to relax.
It's like that for everybody.
But it's very dangerous when you're in a long term backsliding.
Because short term backsliding will happen to all of us.
You go through waves.
You go through ups, downs, ups, downs.
Even in the Bible, Elijah wishes himself to die.
He gets depressed.
This happens.
But when you're in a long term backsliding process, that's difficult to repair and fix.
And that is what's going on here.
Because they have backslidden on the Lord and they just cannot get motivated again to live for God.
How does Jesus resuscitate them?
Kind of just reminds them about the excitement of the soul.
Reminds them of what they left behind if they go back to their old careers.
They go back to their old careers.
And you're going to leave behind all this multitude of fish that you can get saved.
Notice what it says here in verse number 15.
So when they had died, and Jesus saith to Simon Peter,
Simon, son of Jonas, loveth thou me more than these?
He saith unto them, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.
He saith unto them, Feed my lambs.
He saith to them again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, loveth thou me.
He saith unto them, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.
He saith unto them, Make my sheep.
He saith unto them the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, loveth thou me.
Peter was grieved because he had saith unto them the third time, loveth thou me.
And he saith unto them, Lord, thou knowest all things.
Thou knowest that I love thee.
Jesus saith unto them, Feed my sheep.
Now, this is one of the most debated passages in the entire Bible.
Verses 15 and 17.
Verse number 17 is one of the most debated verses in the Bible.
Because the question is, why does Peter get grieved on the third time?
He didn't get grieved on the first time.
He wasn't grieved on the second time.
Why is it on the third time that he's grieved?
Well, let me give you the typical Baptist answer about this,
and then I'll give you the biblical answer, okay?
This is what the typical Baptist says.
Well, if you go back to the original three, in verse number 15,
you know, there's basically agape love and phileo love.
And see, I could be wrong.
I think phileo loves the brotherly love.
You know, phileo love, probably it's because, you know,
the city of Philadelphia is the city of brotherly love.
P-H-I-L, they're probably like their phileo, P-H-I-L.
But anyways, phileo is like brotherly love.
And agape is like this, you know, a much stronger love.
I think I got, those are the words, I think I got them right,
that phileo love is the brotherly love,
then agape love is like the, you know, much stronger one.
And so basically, you know, in the first two times,
it's just like, you know, it's just a phileo.
And then it's like, no big deal.
How can you say that about the agape love?
And it really breathes people, okay?
Now, anyone who says that is basically saying
that the King James Bible is perfect.
Right.
What's sad is I've heard a lot of King James only people.
And honestly, most IFBs rule the same things.
Yeah.
And it's just like, you know, well, obviously,
you don't really believe the King James is perfect
because you seem to think there's some hidden meaning in it.
I don't believe that.
I believe we don't even know the King James.
We can just read the Bible in English
because I believe the King James Bible is perfect.
I believe that.
And it's not such big words.
I actually believe that.
So then you have to ask yourself, why is it then, sir?
Well, let me give you two reasons.
And the first one is kind of partially why.
But the second one is the main reason why.
Yeah.
One reason why you might be dreamed is this.
Because typically when you ask someone a question
and they give you the answer, they just give you the answer.
You ask them again, they might be kind of annoyed.
But then on the third time, it's just like, dude,
you've already asked me this question.
Do you not believe me?
Now, I don't think that's the main reason why.
I'll tell you the main reason why Peter's dreamed.
Let me ask you a question.
How many times did Peter deny Jesus?
Three times.
So what's happening in the story?
Peter has been back sitting for a very long time.
And remember how he said, I love you.
I will never deny you because I love you so much.
And what is the Lord doing?
He's reminding Peter, hey, before you told me
you were going to love me.
And then you denied me three times.
It's not about how they love, how they lay a love.
It's just reminding Peter.
Peter's reminded the fact of man that he did deny him.
And he used to be very zealous.
He was the most zealous person at that time.
And yet at this time, Peter's just a backslidden soul winner.
Yeah.
Peter at this moment, during this time period,
if he got up to preach a sermon, it wouldn't be that powerful.
Now, he's a very powerful preacher.
I'm sure he's probably a lot better than me.
Probably need a scripture a lot better.
But at this stage, when you're backslidden,
there's going to be no power in your words.
Because you're backslidden.
Say, why is it so many pastors and preachers
have no power when they speak?
Because they're not really serving God.
Right.
Even if they are saved, if they're not really serving God,
they're not going to have much power in your words.
And this is the state that Peter's in.
He's one of the greatest Christians who ever lived.
But you know what?
He's backslidden.
And when you're backslidden, it's
hard to shake you out of this.
And so what you notice is that Jesus
does not just immediately rebuke you.
He kind of reminds him about the excitement.
And in this kind of in a loving new way,
he kind of gives him a small rebuke here, saying, hey,
you told me you loved him before.
Feed my lambs.
Feed my sheep.
What does he say about feed my sheep?
Basically, he's talking about believers.
There's sheep, and there's ghosts.
We as believers, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them,
and they follow me.
What is he telling Peter?
I don't want you to be a fisherman anymore, Peter.
You're too valuable to be a fisherman.
You're too good of a preacher.
I specifically chose you.
It's not that you're just a normal person, I've got to say.
I specifically chose you to be an apostle.
I expect you to be a leader.
And look, as I said earlier, the Catholics
are wrong to say Peter's the first pope.
But at this time, Peter really is the main leader.
Because once he decides to be backslidden,
everybody's backslidden.
And so the Lord reminds him, hey, you know what?
You're too valuable to be sitting on the sidelines.
You're too valuable to be kind of half in and half out.
No, I want you to be one of my leaders.
That's what the Lord's saying.
He needs it.
He says, feed my sheep here in verse number 17.
Now, I look at verse number 18.
Bible reads, barely, barely I say unto thee,
when thou wast young, thou girdest thyself,
walkest whither thou wouldest.
But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth
thy hands, and another shalt heard thee,
and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.
You say, what in the world is this talking about?
Verse 19, this faith he signifies by what debt
he should glorify not.
When he had spoken this, he saith unto him, follow me.
And so in verse 18, isn't it very clear
it's talking about Peter basically being martyred
for the cause of Christ?
I mean, he says in verse 19, this
is what debt he should glorify not.
That's what the Bible says.
Very clear, this is talking about him being martyred.
Could we agree on that?
Now, I remember somebody who was considered
like-minded the one time until he became a heretic.
I'm not going to name the name of the sermon.
I'll tell you afterwards.
But anyways, he told me this privately.
He's like, you know what?
I don't think that Peter was martyred.
And I'm just like, you don't think Peter was martyred?
And it's like, when people say stuff like that,
it's just ridiculous things.
Because the Bible literally says in verse 19,
this faith he's signified by what debt he should glorify.
I mean, isn't that just clear as day
that this is him being martyred, this is how he's dying?
And when people say really weird things like that,
either they're just trying to be cool
and come up with some new theory that will make them look great,
or it's because there's some weirdo, some devil,
or whatever, or both.
And usually probably both.
But it's just very clear this is how he's martyred.
Now, what it doesn't say, though,
is it doesn't say he was crucified upside down.
Yeah.
Now, he might have been.
I'm not saying he wasn't crucified upside down.
He might have been crucified upside down.
But quite honestly, we don't really
know about the early apostles, how most of them
died, and by what way they died.
Now, probably most of them were martyred,
because at this time there was real persecution
to serve God.
We know Peter was martyred, but we do not
know exactly how he died.
Was he crucified upside down?
I don't know.
Maybe.
Maybe not.
We don't really know.
And so we don't want to add to the scripture.
I mean, it makes your sermon a lot cooler.
It makes it a lot more exciting, right?
And Peter loved the Lord so much.
He felt so embarrassed.
I can't be crucified just right side up.
Just crucify me upside down.
Because now, first off, honestly,
I don't believe they would honor your request
if you said that.
If they're going to kill you, they're
just going to tell you that you might kill me.
You say, wait, wait, stop.
You've got to make it upside down.
Because I don't want to be crucified the same way as Jesus.
Honestly, I don't really think they'd honor that request.
So honestly, I don't really believe
that's how he was crucified.
And quite honestly, logically, it
seems to me like he would die quicker if he
were crucified upside down.
It wouldn't be as painful.
You say, why?
This is not helping me upside down for that long
of a period of time.
So I don't even know if that would be a more honorable way
to die.
I don't know.
The Bible doesn't say this.
Maybe he was crucified upside down.
Just we don't know if the Bible doesn't say that.
And you never want to add to your sermon
to make it more exciting.
And honestly, I've heard many preachers
that will preach a sermon.
And they kind of just add little things like that.
And you just kind of naturally assume it's in the Bible.
Because they preach it as if it's in the Bible.
They make it a point to not show you what the Bible's saying.
And they preach it as if the Bible specifically says it.
And I've heard it in sermons about how Peter
was crucified upside down.
Well, before you're dogmatic on that,
show me some sort of reason to think that.
It's certainly not in the Bible.
And I don't really think we can trace historical evidence back
2,000 years with much accuracy.
And so in verse number 20, the Bible reads,
Then Peter turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved
following, which also leaneth on his breast and suffer,
and said, Lord, which is he that betrayedeth it?
Peter seeing him, saying to Jesus, Lord,
and what shall this man do?
Jesus saith unto him, if I will, then he tarry till I come.
What is that to be?
Follow thou me.
What is it saying in verse number 22?
It's saying that the Lord's saying to him,
if he is still around until I come,
well, what difference does that make to you?
Basically, and the next verse kind of clarifies that.
Then went the saying of broadening the brethren
that the disciples should not die.
Yet Jesus said, not only shall he not die,
but if I will, then he tarry till I come.
What is that to be?
And so basically, the idea, that's why Peter's asking.
Because it was going around as kind of a rumor
that this man's never going to die.
And so I don't really know why that became a rumor.
But then Peter's wondering about it.
Is it true that he's never going to die?
And then Jesus is saying, well, I mean, if he's still around,
what difference does that make to you?
What can we learn from that?
Well, we don't have to worry about everybody else's life.
I mean, it doesn't really matter what so-and-so's going to do.
Just worry about your own self.
Now, he just told you how you're going to die.
He told you about your life.
You don't have to know about everybody else's life.
Now, quite honestly, the Lord doesn't tell us
what our next steps are.
But here with Peter, he doesn't.
Verse number 24, this is that disciples testify
of these things and wrote these things,
and we know that his testimony is true.
And there are also many other things, which Jesus did,
in which that they should be written every one.
I suppose that even the world itself could not contain
the books that should be written.
Amen.
And so if every single thing was written about Jesus Christ,
everything that he said, the Bible says that, you know what,
we wouldn't even be able to contain all the books
that he did so many things.
Now, we have a little bit of extra time,
so I want you to go back to Exodus 34.
I'm going to go to the passage that I was referencing earlier
to give you more insight about climbing a mountain,
and I'll explain it real quick.
It's kind of a mini sermon.
I realized my sermon was a little bit too short tonight.
I got to hit that nice 40-minute mark.
I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to stop.
I can't do anything on short chapters.
But I want to show you in Exodus 34.
I've actually preached a full sermon on this before.
It's a really interesting passage,
especially when you notice certain things in here.
There's a lot of symbolism here in the Old Testament.
But what I want you to notice here in verse number 1
is the vibrates.
And the Lord said unto Moses,
Queue thee two tables of stone like unto the first.
Now write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables,
which thou breakest.
If you remember the two chapters earlier,
when there was to be the golden calf,
Moses comes down from the mountain,
and he's free angry,
and he destroys the same commands.
And be ready in the morning,
and come up in the morning unto Mount Sinai,
and present thyself there to me in the top of the mountain.
And no man shall come up with thee,
neither let any man be seen throughout all the mountain,
neither let the flocks nor birds be before that mountain.
And so I want you to notice that the instructions
God gives to Moses are actually pretty simple instructions.
He tells them exactly what I want to take place.
This is the way it works in the Christian life.
The Christian life is not some complicated maze
that you've got to figure out.
Man, I don't know what to do.
Man, does God want me to read the Bible?
I just don't know.
I don't want to do it if God doesn't want me to do it.
I mean, we know we're supposed to read the Bible.
We know we're supposed to pray.
We know we're supposed to go to church.
We know we're supposed to consult.
It's not complicated to figure out what we need to do,
but you have to keep in mind at this time
how old was Moses when he started his ministry?
80.
80 years old.
Right?
His life was in the stages of 40,
and he's 80 years old.
And let me ask you a question.
Is it easy to climb a mountain?
No.
It's not easy when you're in your 30s,
much less when you're 80 years old.
You say, well, people will live to be 900 years old.
No, they didn't at this time,
because Moses said that basically we live 3 square 10 years,
and if by strength it's 4 square,
then, you know, even the better, right?
70 to 80 years is what he said.
And he starts his ministry at 80 years old.
He dies at 120.
His older brother actually outlives
and dies at 123 there.
But Moses is not a young man at this time.
Now, it's not easy to climb a mountain,
but it's not easy to climb a mountain
if it happens in your hands either.
Okay?
And so it's very difficult what he's doing.
He's actually in pretty good shape.
We could presume from this.
But go to the end of the chapter,
and I want you to notice that he's with the Lord for 40 days,
and I want you to see the reaction here.
And let's look.
Verse 29.
And it came to pass when Moses came down from Mount Sinai
with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand,
when he came down from the mount,
that Moses whisked not the skin of his face shown
while he talked to him.
What is it saying in verse 29?
When it says he whisked not,
basically he is not aware that the skin of his face shone.
His skin literally was basically shining bright.
Literally, he physically was changed
after being close to the Lord.
Okay?
The reason why this is in the Bible
is because it's giving us symbolism here.
Verse 31.
And Moses called on to them,
and Aaron and all the rules of the congregation
were turned on to them, and they'll just talk with them.
And afterward, all the children...
Actually, look at verse 30.
I skipped it.
And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses,
behold, the skin of his face shone,
and they were afraid to come nigh.
So basically, Moses is with the Lord for 40 days,
and the result is his skin actually changes,
and everybody else is afraid to be around him.
What does that teach you?
What teaches you when you get close to the Lord,
all the people that you used to know,
they think you're kind of different.
Right.
All your old friends before you went soloing,
and they were good friends.
Now that you're going soloing,
they're afraid to come nigh you.
Yeah.
They think you're weird.
See, when it comes to separating from your friends,
look, you really don't have to separate from your friends.
If you're serving God, they separate from you.
Yeah.
That's the way it works.
And so he's there for 40 days and 40 nights,
and guess what?
He's changed, and all his friends are God friends.
What that shows you is that,
you know, you can use the analogy of a mountain.
He basically is climbing a mountain.
He's given very simple instructions,
and he gets close to God after he changes.
And so the idea of basically climbing a mountain
to get close to God,
it's something that is in the Bible.
It is a biblical concept.
And, you know, honestly, going back to that point, though,
we are all going to have stages in our life
where we're struggling.
You're short-term backsliding, and you know that's okay.
You're busy, you're scheduled, you know,
you didn't get much Bible reading in.
But, you know, long-term,
you've got to find a way to shake that out of yourself.
You've got to find a way to give back the excitement
and the joy of living for God.
Because if you're not excited about going soul-winning,
you're only going to go through the motions of your soul.
You must find a way to actually enjoy going out there
to get people saved and remember the excitement
and the joy of soul.
Let's close the Word prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father,
thank you for allowing us to be here in your house.
We ask you to just help us to apply these words
to our lives.
God, help us in this room to stay faithful to you.