Now in John 21 verse 1 the Bible reads,
after these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias.
And on this wise Shodi himself, there were together Simon Peter and Thomas Caudidimus
and Nathaniel of Cana and Galilee and the sons of Zebedee,
and two other of his disciples, Simon Peter saith unto them,
I go a-fishing, they say unto him, we also go with thee.
They went forth and entered into a ship immediately, and that night they caught nothing.
And of course this is a famous passage, this is right after Jesus has already been crucified,
he's been buried, and he rose from the dead.
And in chapter 20 the Bible records him showing himself to his disciples,
all the events surrounding his resurrection.
But in John chapter 21 here we see him appearing to them,
basically for the specific purpose of speaking with Peter,
because of the fact that Peter had become backslid at this point,
and he basically quit serving God and gone back to his way of life
of before Jesus Christ came and recruited him to be one of his disciples.
Now, go back if you would to John chapter 20.
I don't want you to misunderstand this passage,
a lot of people might look at this and say,
well, you know, Peter just wanted to go fishing
because he just didn't really know what he was supposed to be doing at this point.
Maybe he's just kind of in this limbo period,
and he doesn't know what God wants him to do,
so he figures, well, let's just go fishing while we're waiting.
But that's not the case at all, because look at John 20 verse 21.
The Bible reads, then said Jesus to them again,
Peace be unto you, as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
So are they being given a clear directive of what they're supposed to be doing?
They're not supposed to be going out and fishing and fooling around with everything else.
He said, I'm sending you, and he said in verse 22,
And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them,
Receive ye the Holy Ghost, whosoever sins ye remit, they are remit done to them,
and whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained.
Now, back in Matthew chapter 4, you don't have to turn there,
but Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee saw two brethren,
Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother,
casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers,
and he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
So what Peter would, back to John 21 if you would,
Peter was supposed to be out being a fisher of men.
He was supposed to be sent, as Jesus said,
I have come to seek and to save that which was lost.
And Jesus said, as the Father hath sent me, so send I you.
He wanted them to go out and to seek and save that which was lost.
Of course, the other four gospels record him saying things like,
what we see above my head, go ye therefore into all the world,
and preach the gospel to every creature.
He was supposed to be out serving God and preaching the Word.
This isn't just anybody here, this is one of the twelve apostles,
and instead of doing that in verse 3,
Simon Peter saith unto them, John 21, 3, I go a-fishing.
Now, the first thing I want you to notice is that when people get backslidden,
and they quit serving God, they always take other people with them.
They have an impact on the people around them.
Because he said, I go a-fishing, they say unto him, we also go with thee.
Now, I bet you if Peter would have said, hey, I'm going soul-witting,
you know what they probably would have said?
We also go with thee. Yeah, let's go.
And you see, the actions that we have, they impact the people around us,
and they influence the people around us.
Peter had a strong personality, he was a born leader,
and when he says, I go fishing, he's taken other people out of church, so to speak.
He's taken other people away from serving God, other people away from soul-witting.
And so whenever people get backslidden, they take other people with them.
I've seen it over and over again in my life, and it's definitely clear in the Bible.
It says, they went forth and entered into a ship immediately.
Now, the funny thing about how the Bible used the word immediately,
when Jesus first found Simon Peter, when he was casting an end to the sea,
for they were fishers, he said, follow me, and I'll make you fishers and men.
And it says, they straightway left the ship and followed him.
And then when he recruited James and John to be his disciples,
it says, they immediately left the ship and their father and followed him.
And you see here, they immediately get backslidden.
Just as easy as it is to get into church, it's even easier to get out of church.
It's even easier to quit soul-witting than it is to start soul-witting.
And so we see here that Peter, he's not doing what he's supposed to do,
and he's going back to where he was three and a half years before,
hence the term backslidden.
He's grown, he's grown, he's grown.
Now he's got all the way back to where he was three and a half years ago,
back to fishing, not soul-witting, not doing what he's supposed to do.
And look what it says, and that night they caught nothing.
And I think what God's trying to show us right there is that, you know,
a lot of times, people who are now living for God and serving God,
sometimes they think back to the worldly days.
And they think, oh, it was better back then, maybe.
Because at first when people get saved or they get in church,
they turn their life around, they start living for God.
They, all of a sudden, they're excited about it.
But then after a while, bad things happen.
And I'm going to explain in a little bit one of the main reasons why people get backslidden,
that is the case in point here.
But we see people, when they stop being excited about it,
and it becomes a drudgery, and they start just going to church out of character,
not because they're excited about coming to church and hearing the Bible preached,
and going out soul-witting and seeing people say, the newness has worn off.
A lot of times, people can entertain thoughts of the past
and think back to the worldly lifestyle that they used to live before they got in church,
and start to think to themselves, you know what, that was pretty fun.
Things were pretty good back. I think I might like to go back to that time.
And the Bible says in Hebrews 11,
truly, if they've been mindful of that country from whence they came out,
they might have had an opportunity to have returned.
But you see, when you go back, it's not going to be the same as you thought it was going to be.
Because once you have tasted of the Lord and His Word,
and once you have been saved, or once you live for God,
and obviously those two are two very different things,
but once you have been on fire for God and serving God,
you know, you try to go back and enjoy the world.
You're not going to enjoy it the same way you enjoyed it.
You know, and he goes back, and he's just going to go back to fishing, right, and he catches nothing.
Because God's not going to let him succeed at that lifestyle without serving Jesus,
just going back and just living that life.
God's not going to let, and you know what, God's not going to let you enjoy sin
if you were to give back something quicker.
You know, unsaved people, they go out and they enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, don't they?
But once you're saved, you know, you have the Holy Spirit living inside you,
there's a lot more guilt that's going to be there.
And not only is there going to be more guilt because you know what's right,
and you know what you're doing is wrong, you're not doing it out of ignorance.
Not only is there guilt there, but also the Bible says,
whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.
So God's chastening is there to make you fail, to make you fall,
to make you catch nothing when you go back to the fishing life.
Now you say, what's wrong with going fishing?
Well, jump back if you were to Luke chapter 5.
Luke chapter number 5.
Now obviously there's nothing wrong with going fishing,
there's nothing wrong with having a job.
You know, the average person in our church, myself included,
does work out in the world, just a physical job,
that would be akin to us going fishing.
You know, he was a fisherman by trade.
I'm an electrician, other people have various jobs that they do.
And there's nothing in the world wrong with that, that's very biblical.
But the reason that it was wrong for Peter to be going to fit back to fishing
is evident in Luke chapter 5 verse 1.
Let me read you this story.
And just to get it in context, chronologically,
when Jesus walked by the boat and saw Peter and said,
follow me, and I'll make you fishers of men,
that was before this took place.
Okay?
This is a little bit later, just very shortly thereafter in the chronology.
It says in Luke 5, when it came to pass, that as the people pressed upon him,
talking about Jesus, to hear the word of God,
he stood by the lake of Gennesaret and saw two ships standing by the lake,
but the fishermen were gone out of them and were washing their necks,
and he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's.
That's Simon Peter.
And prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land,
and he sat down and talked the people out of the ship.
And when he had left speaking, he said to Simon,
launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a drought.
So here, we've got Jesus.
He's going to preach, but there's too many people there.
He can't preach to everybody that's there.
And so, in order to solve this problem, he gets in Simon Peter's boat,
they push it out a little way from the shore,
which will cause his voice to carry across the water.
So basically, this is their version of a sound system, okay?
This is the PA system.
He pushes out on the boat, he preaches, and the water helps carry the sound,
and then everybody's just gathered on the shore to be able to hear Jesus preach.
Well, when he's done preaching, he says to Simon,
launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a drought.
How many nets? One or more?
More.
More, because it says nets, plural, right?
He says, let down your nets for a drought.
And Simon answering, said to the native master,
we've toiled all the night and have taken nothing.
Basically, what he's saying there is, you know what?
There's really no point.
This is obviously a bad day for fishing, a bad fishing spot.
Now, I'm not an expert fisherman.
Maybe somebody can help me out here today.
Isn't fishing at night better than fishing in the daytime?
Don't you catch more?
Sometimes.
Sometimes? Okay.
I don't know that much about it.
I know that I went fishing one time with my brother-in-law,
and he wanted to go in the middle of the night,
and we were there at midnight, one in the morning fishing,
and supposedly, that was a good time.
I know a lot of animals seem to do more at night,
but I'm not an expert on that.
But either way, he toiled all night.
He didn't think it was going to work at this time,
but he says, nevertheless...
So, he doesn't really have a lot of faith in what he's doing here.
He says, look, we've toiled all night and got nothing.
Nevertheless, if thy were it, I will let down the nets, plural.
No, he says, I'll let down the net.
I'll let down one net, okay,
just because you're telling me to do it,
but I don't think it's going to work.
Look at verse 6.
And when they had done this,
they enclosed a great multitude of fishes,
and their net break.
Should have done nets, right?
So, he didn't listen, you know, and that's why the net break.
And it says in verse 7,
and they beckoned them to their partners,
which were in the other ship,
that they would come and help them,
and they came and filled both the ships
so that they began to sink.
So, they're loading these ships down with fish
to where it's actually making the ship sink down a little bit.
When Simon Peter saw it,
he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying,
Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.
For he was astonished in all that were with him
at the draft of fishes which they had taken.
Now, I think this right here is part of an insight
into why Peter later became such a great man of God,
because he was humble.
I mean, isn't this humility?
He sees the mighty power of God
and basically saying, you know what?
I'm not worthy of even being your disciple,
of even following you.
Just pick someone else.
Depart from me.
I'm a sinful man.
You don't want me.
And that shows the humility of the man,
the greatness of the man.
And it says in verse 10,
And so was also James and John, the sons of Zebedee.
They were also astonished, is what that's referring back to,
which were partners with Simon.
And Jesus said to the Simon,
Fear not, from henceforth, he's saying,
from here on out, that's what from henceforth means,
from here forward, from here on out,
thou shalt catch men.
And when they had brought their ships to land,
they forsook all and followed him.
So here Jesus is making it clear to him.
He'd already told him once, but here he's made it clear.
You're done fishing.
You don't need to forsake everything.
From here on out, from this day forward,
you're going to catch men.
So he's clearly being told here
that he's not a fisherman anymore.
He is now to catch men.
He's now a preacher of the gospel.
Full time, that's what he needs to spend his time doing.
This is no longer his livelihood.
Now, why did Peter, in John 21,
why did he go back to fishing?
Why did he quit soul winning?
Why did he not go out to preach the gospel to every preacher?
Why did he not go out to seek and to save that which was lost?
And how many people did he take with him?
There were eleven disciples that were left.
Of course, Judas was the traitor that hanged himself.
There were eleven disciples that were left.
He took six of the remaining disciples fishing with them.
So out of eleven people, seven of them go fishing
when they're not supposed to.
When they're supposed to be out serving the Lord and doing all that,
they just quit and go fishing.
Seven out of eleven.
You see how much damage one person can sometimes do
when they get backslidden and, you know,
probably not even realize it.
But why did Peter get backslidden?
Go to Luke 22.
Luke check number 22.
And I think this is an insight into why a lot of people get backslidden.
People can quit church or quit soul winning
or come backslidden in their lives for a lot of reasons.
But here's one really clear reason in Luke 22, 31.
This is when Jesus is predicting that Peter is going to betray him,
or not betray him, I'm sorry, deny him.
He says in Luke 22, 31, the Lord said,
Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you,
that he may sift you as we.
Again, very important.
This is part of why it's important to have a King James Bible
because in the King James Bible the words ye and you are plural
and the words thee and thou are singular.
This is plural.
He's saying Satan has desired to have you,
not just he's desired to have Simon,
he's saying he's desired to have all of you disciples.
And of course in John 21, by attacking Peter,
he's taken seven of them out of the gate.
And so he says Satan has desired to have you,
that he may sift you as we.
But I have prayed for thee, is thee singular or plural?
Singular.
But I have prayed for thee, Simon,
that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren.
Now, Peter is taken aback by that,
saying when I'm converted, Satan's not going to have me.
And the Bible of course says,
let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
And Peter here is just taken aback,
thinking there's no way I can ever become backslid.
There's no way I'm ever going to quit or need to be converted.
I've already forsaken everything and followed you.
What do I need to be converted?
I'm fine.
And at that time he was.
But this is where Jesus explains to him why.
He says in verse 33,
and he said unto him, Lord, I'm ready to go with thee
both into prison and to death.
And he said, I tell thee, Peter,
the cock shall not crow this day
before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me.
And of course he protests that he would never do that.
The rest of the disciples all protest the same thing.
Jump down to verse 54.
Verse number 54.
Then took they him and led him, talked about Jesus,
and brought him into the high priest's house,
and Peter followed afar up.
And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall
and were set down together, Peter sat down among them.
But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire
and earnestly looked upon him
and said, this man was also with them.
And he denied him, saying, woman, I know him not.
And after a little while, another saw him and said,
thou art also of them.
And Peter said, man, I am not.
And he followed the space of one hour after another,
confidently affirmed, saying of a truth,
this fellow also was with him, for he is a Galilean.
And Peter said, man, I know not what thou sayest.
And immediately, while he yet spayed, the cock crowed.
And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter.
And Peter remembered the word of the Lord,
how he had said unto him, before the cock crowed,
thou shalt deny me thrice.
Peter went out and wept bitterly.
And so here we see two things.
First of all, we see the reason why
Peter committed this grievous sin.
I mean, this is a pretty bad sin here,
where Peter denies that he even knows Jesus.
I mean, look, if we were in a situation
where we were in a place that was hostile
unto the name of Jesus Christ, and we said,
oh, I'm not a Christian, I don't believe in Jesus,
wouldn't you say that's a pretty bad sin?
When the Bible commands us over and over again
to confess his name before men, over and over again,
he says, be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me as prisoner,
but be thou a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel
according to the power of God.
Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
for it is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first
and also to the Greek.
Jesus Christ said, whosoever therefore
shall be ashamed of me and my words
before this evil and adulterous generation,
of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed
before his Father and before the heavenly angels.
He says, if you're going to be ashamed of me
in front of worldly, sinful people
that are as dust before the Lord,
he said, I'll be ashamed of you
before people that really matter,
like the Father and the holy angels.
I'll be ashamed before then.
You're going to be ashamed before a bunch of Sodomites.
You're going to be ashamed before a bunch of derelicts
and deadbeats and fools and atheists and ungodly,
wicked, sinful, adulterous.
He said, I'll be ashamed of you
before those who dwell in the kingdom of heaven.
And God over and over again tells us to stand,
to stand and not be ashamed, to not deny the Lord.
And yet Peter here, because of fear,
because of being ashamed,
lies and says that he doesn't even know Jesus.
This was a very bad sin.
He goes out, he weeps bitterly.
He immediately realizes what he's done.
Jesus happens to be coming out at the same time,
looks him right in the face as the cock crows,
and he instantly knows what he's done.
He realizes that he's failed.
He goes out and weeps bitterly.
And so I think that the reason why
Peter committed this grievous sin,
part of it could be that he was a little bit overconfident.
Because before he said, oh, I'd never do that.
And that a lot of people that fall into sin,
it's because they have this attitude, I'll never do that.
And then they let their guard down.
They're not careful.
You know, if he would have really taken it seriously,
think about it.
As he's denying the Lord,
and this is what I want you to see about this.
Look at verse 61.
And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter,
and Peter remembered the word Lord.
Now, don't you think it's weird?
He didn't even remember it while he was doing it.
Wouldn't you have thought the first time he denied him,
he would have thought, oh, yeah, Jesus said
I'm going to deny him thrice before the cock crows.
It was so far out of his mind,
because when Jesus told him that, he wasn't listening.
He blew it off.
He must have totally blown it off,
because he didn't remember it until he heard the cock crow.
Oh, yeah, that's right.
The cock crow, that's what he told him.
He forgot it so much that even while he was doing it,
it wasn't even coming into his mind.
And see, a lot of times you hear preaching
and you hear warnings, right?
And they go in one ear and out the other,
because you just think, I'd never do that.
I'd never fall.
I'd never quit.
And there are so many people that have quit church,
that have quit soul,
that probably never thought they would
and no one else thought they would,
or people who have gone out and committed horrible sins,
and nobody thought they would do it,
and everybody thought.
And that's why the Bible says,
him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
Make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof.
We are sinful people and our flesh,
and we will commit sins if we do not put on the new man,
if we don't walk in the Spirit,
if we don't constantly read our Bibles,
pray and pray not to be led into temptation,
and constantly keep guard of our heart with all diligence
for out of it with the issues of life.
And so Peter was overconfident.
He didn't listen to the preaching that told him,
be careful.
You're going to sin.
You're going to do wrong.
Watch out for this.
Beware of this.
This is going to tempt you.
He said, yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever, whatever.
I can handle it.
I can handle going to the bar.
You know, I'm not going to get drunk.
I can have a little drink without getting drunk.
Next thing you know, you have that little drink.
Then you're drunk.
Then you're committing adultery.
Then you're committing whatever other sins.
And so people are overconfident.
They fall into sin.
I'll never quit.
I can take a little bit of time off from Bible reading.
I can miss a bunch of church.
A lot of people, they get totally out of church.
They think they can handle it.
I'll just keep reading my Bible.
I can go without the preaching for a while.
I can go without the fellowship for a while.
I can go without soul winning for a while.
And they don't realize that that's what's
going to get them back.
But here's the thing.
I think the reason why, just because you commit one sin,
that doesn't make you back.
Because Peter, he committed a really bad sin, right?
But he could have just got right back on the horse, right?
He could have just said he went out and went bitterly.
I'm sorry.
Once he saw Jesus die and be buried and rise again,
and once Jesus came and breathed on him and spoke to him
and said, receive the Holy Ghost,
and basically commissioned him to go out and preach
the gospel to every creature, couldn't he have just
put it behind him at that point?
This one bad sin?
And just gone for it, but is that what he did?
No.
He got backslidden and said, you know what?
I'm just going to throw in the towel.
I'm going back to where I was three and a half years ago.
And so what I want you to see with that
is that a lot of times, the reason why
people would come backslidden, this
is a big reason why, because they make a mistake,
they commit a sin, and then they get discouraged
because they've sinned.
And then they just basically throw in the towel
and say, what's the use?
I mean, look, and that's what Peter had originally said.
He said, you know what?
I'm a sinful man.
Depart from me.
And I think that's kind of where he's
at again here, saying, you know what?
I'm a sinful man.
I'm an idiot.
I've gloated.
And you know what?
Every single person that's here today has made mistakes,
has done things, has committed sins,
where afterward you felt bad about it.
And you just feel like, why did I do this?
I'm a loser.
I'm no good as a Christian.
I'm no good as a soul winner.
I failed here.
Why am I even trying?
Who am I kidding?
I might as well just quit.
I'm never going to succeed for God.
And you know, that's the danger that
causes people to get back to them.
What happens is, people commit a sin,
and then they get out of church.
And look, when you sin, that's probably the time
you need to be in church the most, to get restored,
to get renewed, to get things back on track.
But a lot of times, people commit sin,
and they feel so guilty about the sin they've committed,
they don't want to face people.
They don't want to face church.
They don't want to be in church.
They don't want to hear the preaching.
It makes them feel bad.
It makes them feel guilty.
And so they quit, and they become backslidden.
Because a lot of times, they feel so bad
about what they've done that they feel guilty.
They just feel like a loser.
Another thing is, let's say, when it comes to soul winning,
because that kind of ties into your with the fishers of men
thing that is tied in with this.
You quit going soul winning for a while, right?
And then you're just kind of embarrassed to come back.
You just kind of feel like a loser.
You know what?
If you used to go soul winning, and you've been out of it
for a while, then get right back into it.
Jump right back in.
A lot of times, people, and if you would,
go quickly to Galatians.
Go to Galatians 6.
A lot of times, people will be in church,
and they'll be coming to church faithfully,
and then they'll get out of church for a little while, right?
And then you know what they do?
They're embarrassed to come back.
You know what I mean?
They get out of church, and they're embarrassed to come back,
or they just feel like, whatever, I've already quit.
Might as well just stay out.
And they're embarrassed to come back.
Look at Galatians 6, verse 1, if you will.
It says in verse 1,
Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault,
ye which are spiritual restore such a one.
Do you see how somebody can sin and have a fault?
Maybe they quit church.
Maybe they quit soul winning.
Maybe they commit a bad sin.
Maybe they get drunk.
But whatever they do, okay?
It says, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness.
Basically, humility.
But he says this,
Considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
So he's saying, you know, try to restore those
that are overtaken in a fault.
But he says, be careful that you don't go too far to restore them.
Don't go into the bar after them.
Because he's saying, you better consider yourself
lest you also be tempted.
So you don't want to get too buddy-buddy
with people that are real worldly and excellent
because you don't want to actually go the way that they're going.
But you do want to reach out to them
and try to restore such a one in the spirit of meekness.
And what is meekness?
Humility.
Basically not just, you idiot.
Why have you quit the church?
You fool.
Get back to them.
He's saying the spirit of meekness.
You know, understanding that, hey, you know what?
We're all human.
We all make mistakes.
We all get discouraged.
You know what?
Man, we'd love to have you come back.
That's what he's saying
when he says restore such a one in the spirit of meekness.
And by the way, this isn't just talking to the pastor.
I mean, he's talking to all of us.
You know, and by the way,
there are some people in this church
that you probably have a better relationship with than I do.
You know, because different people
are friends with different people.
You know, I hope everybody considers me their friend.
But honestly, there are probably some people in the church
that you're closer to that person than I am.
You know, you could be someone
that God could use to restore them, okay,
if you come to them in a meek way
and try to help them.
Bury one another's burdens
and so fulfill the law of Christ.
For if a man thinks of himself to be something,
when he's nothing, he deceives himself.
He's saying, look, be meek about it,
because you're nothing.
You're not so great.
You're not perfect.
And so restore them in a spirit of meekness.
And I've seen so many people,
they go out and they commit some sin.
You know, whether it's, you know,
they start dating an unbeliever.
You know, that's a sin.
They start dating an unbeliever.
They go out and they drink.
They go out and do whatever.
And then it's like that person just is never the same again.
They just never get back into it.
They just want to just go fishing
and just throw in the towel.
And this is how a lot of people get back slim.
They don't know how to confess and forsake their sins
and get back on the horse and get back up and serve God.
I mean, the Bible says a just man
falls seven times and rises up again.
And there are people who don't realize
that, you know, you can win the fight
without winning every round.
You know, you might not win every round in your life,
but don't just quit.
Don't just throw in the towel.
Get back up.
And, you know, I think when most people think of Peter,
they don't think of a guy denying the Lord.
I mean, I don't think that's the first...
If you say Peter, what do you think about Peter in the Bible?
Is he a good guy or a bad guy?
You know what the evidence is?
Look at all the people that are named Peter.
And you don't see a lot of people named Judas and Ahab.
You don't see a lot of people that are named that
but people in the Bible who failed.
People in the Bible who failed
usually you don't see people naming their children
after people who failed.
It's people that succeeded who they named their children.
Now, look, think about this.
David and Saul.
Are a lot of people named David?
Yeah.
How many people are named Saul?
They're rare.
Rare.
Okay, Paul...
Have you met a lot of Pauls?
Oh, yeah.
Why?
Because Paul was a great man of God.
Saul was also a great man of God.
Okay?
But he failed.
And in the end he failed and therefore
nobody wants to name their child.
Now, look, I think that David sinned worse than Saul.
I mean, the way I look at it,
if I look at David's life and Saul's life,
I think that David's sins were at least as bad as Saul's sins,
if not worse.
But the difference is that David confessed
and forsook those sins,
got back on the horse,
got back to serving the Lord,
whereas Saul didn't.
He just stayed backslidden,
he got worse and worse and worse,
and he failed.
Peter did something very wrong,
but people do not have a bad feeling about Peter
because even though he lost this round,
he won the fight.
I mean, in the long run,
he was one of the greatest apostles.
Look at him in the book of Acts,
just shortly thereafter,
preaching with power,
just shaking the city and the nation
with the gospel of Christ.
They described it as,
hey, turn the world upside down.
I mean, he became a great man of God
even though he failed here.
And so what we see here
is that a lot of people become backslidden.
Go if you would to John 21.
Let me show you a little further.
People become backslidden because they mess up
and they don't know how to move forward with it.
They don't know how to go to Psalm 51,
where David got right with God
and confessed their sins to God
and say, you know what, God?
I am a sinful man.
What I've done is wrong.
I'm not making excuses for it.
I'm not going to justify it.
What I've done is wrong,
and I want to do better,
and I'm going to forsake that.
Please help me to do better,
but I'm going to get back up,
and I'm going to keep on.
And look, in Psalm 51,
when David gets right with the Lord...
In fact, we got to quickly turn it.
I want to show you one quick thing.
Go to Psalm 51,
right in the very middle of your Bible book of Psalms.
Keep your finger on John 21.
We're going to be there in just a moment.
But in Psalm 51,
where David is confessing his horrible sin
of committing adultery with Bathsheba,
and he confesses that sin to God in Psalm 51,
and he says in verse 10...
And, of course, we could read the whole chapter,
but for sake of time, just go to verse 10.
Created me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from my presence,
and take not by Holy Spirit from me.
Again, not referring to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
The indwelling of the Holy Spirit did not come
until John chapter 20,
when Jesus was glorified.
But this was...
He had the Holy Ghost upon him.
And remember in the Old Testament,
the Spirit of the Lord would come upon men?
Just as the Spirit of the Lord comes upon men
in the New Testament in the book of Acts.
But this is not the indwelling, okay?
Once you're indwelled by the Spirit of the New Testament,
that never departs.
But the Holy Ghost upon you
certainly can depart just as it departed from David.
Or he was afraid that it would.
Look, if you would, at Psalm 51.
The Bible says,
Cast me not away from my presence,
and take not by Holy Spirit from me.
Verse 12...
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.
Again, not restore the salvation.
You can't lose your salvation.
Just restore the joy of thy salvation.
Because we can definitely lose our joy
when we get into sin.
And he says,
And uphold me with thy free spirit.
Look at verse 13.
Then will I teach transgressors,
thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
Is he quitting?
No.
God can't use me.
I've messed up.
I'm a failure.
I'm a loser.
God, no, he says,
You know what?
Not only am I sorry,
not only am I confessing it to God,
not only do I want to do better from here on out
and live a clean life,
but he's saying,
Do not remove thy Holy Spirit from me,
because he says,
I want to teach transgressors thy ways
and I want sinners to be converted unto you.
He's saying,
Hey, I'm still going to be winning souls.
I'm still going to preach the Word of God.
I'm still going to serve you
and I'm not going to quit.
Go if you would to John 21.
Now certainly there are consequences to our actions.
I'm going to get to that later.
You know, obviously,
let's say, for example,
let's say I, as a pastor,
went out and did something
that violated the qualifications for being a pastor.
Well, guess what?
I can never be a pastor again.
You know, if I go out and commit adultery,
like David did,
I'm never going to be a pastor again,
because the Bible gives clear qualifications.
Now, I'm supposed to be the husband of one life
and blameless
and having a good reputation and all that.
I cannot pastor anymore,
but you know what?
That wouldn't mean that I wouldn't quit.
Now, God forbid
is such a wicked, horrible thing.
God forbid it would be wicked as hell.
And it's something that God said,
you know, stone them with stones, okay?
And so, God forbid,
I'm going to take heed lest I fall,
but let me tell you something.
If I were to do something awful like that,
God forbid,
that would cause me not to be a pastor anymore,
because there are pastors who've done such things,
are there not,
that have committed,
and obviously a lot of them are just phonies
and reprobates in the first place.
But I guarantee you,
there are saved people
who have fallen into sin
and gotten into pornography,
you know,
and look,
if I'm into pornography or something,
you know what?
Then, you know what?
I'm going to have to step down
and I shouldn't be a pastor.
But let me tell you this, though.
Let me say this, though.
That doesn't mean that that person
should quit serving the Lord,
because you know what?
He still goes solo.
There's no qualification for going solo
except just being saved.
That's the qualifications.
And so, what I'm saying is,
yeah, there are consequences to your actions.
You know, you might not be able to serve God
in the exact same capacity that you did before
when you make a big mistake like that,
but you know what?
You can still be used by God.
You can still serve God.
And I guarantee you
that there are people
that are under the sound of my voice right now
that have done awful things in their life,
very sinful things in their life,
and today they go out and they knock doors
and they win souls to Christ.
Those people exist.
I promise you that.
I guarantee it.
Because God uses people that are sinful,
they can still be used.
They're not...
And look, when God's through with you,
you'll be dead.
I mean, sometimes God does get upset
with His people to the point
where they're just dead.
He basically just brings them home
because they're of no use to Him anymore.
If you're here and you're breathing air,
God still wants to use you.
Get back up.
And you say,
this sermon doesn't apply to me.
Yeah, but in the future it might,
because someday you might do something bad.
And I hope you don't.
I hope you take heed.
But someday you may commit a bad sin.
Someday you may fail.
And it might not be something as bad
as what David did like adultery,
but you know what?
It might be something like where you deny
that you know Jesus.
That could happen.
It might be something like that.
It might be something where you get embarrassed
and say something stupid
and basically deny something
that the Word of God teaches
because you're embarrassed to stand up
for what the Word of God says
and you feel like a loser
and you feel like a failure.
Get back up.
Get back in church.
Get back on the horse.
Keep serving God.
Look what it says in John 21.
Let's keep reading the story.
We only got to verse 3.
They went in the ship.
They went fishing.
They caught nothing.
Verse 4.
But when the morning was now come,
Jesus stood on the shore,
but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.
So they didn't know it was him.
Jesus saith unto them,
Children, have ye any meat?
They answered him, no.
Do they know it's him?
No.
No, they're just wondering
why this guy's calling them children,
you know, when they're grown men.
But anyway, he calls out to them,
and they don't know it's him,
and they say, nope,
we don't have any meat.
And he said unto them,
Cast the net on the right side
of the ship, and ye shall find.
They cast therefore,
and now they were not able
to draw it for the multitude of fishes.
Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved
saith unto Peter,
It is the Lord.
So John recognized at that point
the miracle.
When they had a net full of fishes,
they said, this is familiar.
So John says to Peter,
It is the Lord.
Now when Simon Peter heard
that it was the Lord,
so Simon Peter is the one
who figured it out.
He heard it from John.
When he heard that it was the Lord,
he girt his fisher's coat unto him,
for he was naked,
and had cast himself into the sea.
And that's a funny thing to do.
Put your clothes on,
and then jump in the water.
Usually it's the opposite.
Again, more symbolism here.
You know, when you get backslidden,
you get naked.
You know what I mean?
You start dressing in a way
that's scantily clad.
And especially the ladies
need to be careful of that.
And it says in verse 8,
And the other disciples
came in a little ship,
for they were not far from land,
but as it were,
two hundred cubits,
that's about three hundred feet,
dragging the net with fishes.
As soon as they were come to land,
they saw a fire of coals there,
and fish laid thereon,
and bread.
Jesus saith unto them,
Bringeth the fish which you've now caught.
Simon went up,
and drew the net to land,
full of great fishes,
a hundred and fifty and three.
And for all there were so many yet
was not the net broken.
Because this time they did
what he told them to do.
You know, this time he said,
Throw one net,
and they threw it,
good to go.
Last time they threw one net
when he said nets,
and that's why it broke.
So it didn't break.
See, God can keep the net from breaking.
The only reason it broke
is because they didn't do it
the way he told them to do it.
It says,
Jesus saith unto them,
Come and dine.
And none of the disciples
did it.
Now the word ders means,
it's the past tense for dare.
It means they dared not.
They dared,
they did not dare.
They did not dare ask him,
Who art thou?
Knowing that it was the Lord.
And you say,
Why are they so nervous?
He said,
Well,
because guess what,
he just caught them,
he caught Peter with his pants down,
you know, literally.
But anyway,
he caught them,
you know,
he had to put that coat on.
But anyway,
he caught them doing
what they were not supposed to be doing.
I mean,
isn't that right?
I mean,
they're supposed to be out,
you know,
preach the gospel to every creature.
And look,
these aren't,
this isn't just your average Christian.
I mean,
these are the 11 apostles
whom he specifically chose.
These guys aren't supposed
to have a day job.
I mean,
these guys are supposed
to be doing this all day long.
They are the 11 apostles.
Seven of them are out fishing
and fooling around
and he shows up
and they're embarrassed.
They're ashamed.
You know,
because they got caught
doing what they weren't
supposed to do.
And look what it says
in verse 13,
Jesus then cometh and taketh bread
and giveth them
and fish likewise.
This is now the third time
that Jesus showed himself
to his disciples
after that he was risen
from the dead.
Now,
I'm running out of time
but go quickly to Revelation 3.
Revelation 3,
let me tie this in here
to us today.
Revelation chapter 3.
So we see here
that as soon as Peter
gets backslidden
and he takes other people
with him,
Jesus is basically
reaching out to him.
Isn't he?
Jesus shows up
and reaches out to him.
And let me show you
a parallel of that
in Revelation 3,
verse number 14.
And the angel of the church
of the land of the sea
is right.
These things saith be amen,
the faithful and true witness,
the beginning of the
creation of God.
I know thy works
that thou art neither
cold nor hot.
I would thou work
cold or hot.
So then because thou art lukewarm
and neither cold nor hot,
I will spew thee
out of my mouth.
Now, does God sound
like he's pretty mad?
Yeah.
He's saying,
you're not cold,
you're not hot,
I'm going to spit you
out of my mouth.
That's anger.
That's not a happy story
right there, okay?
And then it says,
because thou sayest,
I am rich and increased
with goods and have need
of nothing.
And knowest not that
you're a little bit backslidden.
No.
He says,
knowest not that thou are
wretched and miserable
and poor and blind
and naked.
Again,
a little bit of symbolism
tied in there with John 21.
I counsel thee to buy at me
gold tried in the fire
that thou mayest be rich
and white raiment
that thou mayest be clothed
and that the shame
of thy nakedness
do not appear
and anoint thine eyes
with eye salve
that thou mayest see.
As many as I love,
I rebuke and chasten.
Of course,
chasten means punish.
I rebuke and chasten.
Be zealous,
therefore, and repent.
Behold,
I stand at the door
and knock,
if any man hear my voice
and open the door,
I will come in to him.
Often misquoted as into him.
Now, into is a different word.
I-N-T-O,
all one word.
That's different than in to.
Okay?
Because into him
would be going inside of him.
In to him means
he's going to come into the house
where you're at
and sit down with you.
He says,
I will come in to him
and will sup with him
and he would be.
Now, what does sup mean?
Does anybody know what
supper is?
Now, here in Arizona,
and I grew up in California,
we do not use the word supper.
We have three meals.
Breakfast,
lunch,
and dinner.
Okay?
And that's it.
Who agrees with me
that those are the only
three meals?
Breakfast,
lunch,
and dinner.
Now, supper?
Supper was something
that was on Little House
on the Prairie or something.
You know,
it's just not something
that you heard.
I didn't grow up with it.
So when I first read this verse
for a long time
when I saw the word sup,
you know,
I didn't know what it meant.
You know,
I mean,
you might think it's odd.
It's like,
sup.
Like a greeting,
like,
sup.
But anyway,
sup is from supper.
Sup is like,
oh,
well,
think about this.
What's the evening meal?
Dinner is what we eat.
Well,
think about a word
that comes from dinner,
dying.
So when Jesus says,
see,
Jesus is basically,
he's reaching out to both
the southerners
and the northerners here
because he's saying,
come and dine,
in John 21,
in Revelation 3,
saying,
I'll sup with you.
Okay?
So he's talking about dinner
and supper.
Okay?
But what I'm saying is
that when Jesus says,
I will come into him
and will sup with him,
he's saying I'm going
to eat dinner with him,
would be our Arizona
vernacular.
He said,
I'm going to eat dinner
with him.
I'm going to sit down
and eat dinner with you
and you with me.
And what that signifies
is fellowship.
You know,
the breaking of bread
is something that the Bible
emphasizes.
Eating and drinking,
it makes very clear,
he ate and drank
with his disciples
for 40 days.
It's just a way
of denoting fellowship.
Obviously,
going out for dinner
or having a family dinner
is a time of fellowship.
It's a time of bonding.
You know,
a church potluck or a meal
is a time when people
come together
and have fellowship
one with another.
The Bible talks about people
that are Christians
but they're living
in awful sin,
like the man who was
committing fornication
against fire.
It said,
with such a one,
know not to eat
because eating with them
is fellowship.
And what Jesus is saying here
in Revelation 3,
a lot of times,
people wrongly attribute
this scripture
to having to do
with salvation.
He's talking to the church.
He's talking to people
that are already saved
but they're lukewarm Christians.
He's talking to the church
of the land of the saints.
They're not zealous,
the Bible says.
They're lukewarm.
They think that they're
so wonderful and they're not.
He wants to spit them
out of his mouth
because they're neither
cold nor hot.
And he says to them,
as many as I love,
I rebuke and chasten.
Be zealous,
therefore, in revenge.
He says, behold,
I stand at the door
and knock.
If any man hear my voice
and open the door,
I will come in to him
and will sup with him
and he will be here with me.
He said,
I'm waiting to have
fellowship with you.
I'm knocking at that door.
I'm ready when you are.
And the Bible says
that God's mercies
are new every morning.
Great is thy faithfulness,
Lamentations chapter 3.
And so what I'm trying
to show you here
is that just as Jesus
reached out to Peter,
called out to him,
come and dine,
and Peter responded to that
and he came and what did
he do?
He sucked with him.
He had dinner with him.
They ate bread and fish
upon the fire.
Go back if you were
to John 21.
And so what I'm trying
to say is that even a person
who is so backslidden
to where God wants to
spew you out of his mouth,
you're pretty backslidden,
aren't you?
When God wants to spew you
out of his mouth,
you're backslidden.
And God says to the same person
that he wanted to spew
out of his mouth,
he said,
I'm standing at the door
knocking.
Now you think to yourself,
wait a minute,
if you're doing so bad
that God wants to spew you
out of his mouth,
he's not knocking at that door.
He's washed his hands of you.
But here's the thing,
you're his son.
You're his daughter.
He loves you.
And just as the wayward
son or daughter
might be completely
in sin,
and you know,
the prodigal son's father
didn't go into the pig pen
after him.
But he was always waiting,
wasn't he?
He was waiting for him
to return,
and when he came back,
wasn't he ready to just
accept him with open arms?
Now did he have the same
status he used to have?
No.
Was there a consequence
for his actions?
Yes.
Did he have the same
inheritance that he once had?
No.
But he was there.
There was rejoicing.
It was good to see it.
And look,
did the dad give him
a big brow beating
about all the...
You know what?
Glad you're back.
Here you are.
Let's rejoice.
Let's kill the fatted calf.
And what I'm trying to say
is that when we commit sin
and we feel worthless
and we feel humiliated,
we should still realize,
you know what?
Jesus is still there knocking.
He wants to have
fellowship with us again.
He wants to restore us
and to use us.
And he's ready for it.
We just have to be
willing to answer the door
and be ready to answer the call
and get back to church,
get back out stolen.
And we as believers
should be the same way.
We should be willing
to restore in the spirit
of me this.
You know, one thing I do...
You know, some people
quit the church and come back.
And here's the thing.
Some people,
they didn't just quit church.
I mean, they might just be
going to a different church
or maybe they moved away.
But here's the thing.
I never know the reasons why.
But you know what?
When somebody maybe
comes to church for a long time
and then they quit for a while
and then they come back,
I never walk up to them
and say,
Where have you been?
You know what I say?
I just say,
Good to see you.
And I just pretend
like they never left
because it doesn't matter.
You know, are you here today?
That's all that matters to me.
I don't care
if you were here yesterday.
I don't care
if you were here last week.
Are you here this week?
Praise the Lord.
You know, because we ought
to have an attitude
that is a welcoming attitude
that says,
You know what?
It doesn't matter about the past.
What matters is that now
you're getting on the horse
and, you know,
whatever the reasons.
It doesn't matter.
Just are you here now?
Are you ready to serve him now?
We ought to be ready
to restore those
that have failed
because everybody fails
from time to time
and makes mistakes.
Sometimes it's just
a little mistake,
but even a little mistake
sometimes can make us
feel bad
and feel guilty
and get down
and want to quit church
and quit serving God
and so forth.
That's what we see here.
Let me hurry up
and finish here.
In verse 13,
Jesus,
we're in John 21.
We're just going to finish
out in John 21.
He says in verse 13,
Jesus then cometh
and taketh bread
and giveth them
and fish likewise.
This is now the third time
that Jesus showed himself
to his disciples
after that he was
risen from the dead.
So when they had died,
Jesus saith to Simon Peter,
Simon son of Jonas
lovest 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
lovest thou me.
He saith unto them,
Yea, Lord,
thou knowest
that I love thee.
He saith unto them,
Feed my sheep.
And look,
what does a fisherman do?
They catch fish
to feed mankind,
to feed people,
to sell food.
He's saying,
Feed my lambs.
Feed my sheep.
Be a fisher of men.
Okay?
Feed the people
with the word of God.
Don't do this kind
of line of work.
And he said unto them
the third time,
verse 17,
Simon son of Jonas
lovest thou me.
Peter was grieved
by the word of God.
He said unto them,
Yea, Lord,
Peter was grieved
because he said unto them
the third time,
lovest thou me.
Now, I've heard a lot
of preachers,
they go back to the
Greek here.
And they say the first
two times,
he used the word agape.
And the third time,
he used the word phileo.
And that's what
grieved Peter
was the fact
that he switched
to phileo.
And of course,
it's been proven
to be false.
This myth of agape
and phileo
being two different words
has been proven false.
When you look at quotes
that are like
the same quote
in one gospel
or another,
one of them uses phileo,
one of them uses agape
and it's the same quote.
Or they say,
well agape is a much more
you know,
selfless,
unconditional look.
And yet it talks about
the Pharisees agape
to go into long clothing.
And they agape
the uppermost room
at the synagogue.
But when Jesus
loves the Father,
it's just phileo.
You know what I mean?
When the Father
loves us,
it's phileo.
But then over here,
it's agape.
You know what they are?
They're synonyms.
Dinner and supper.
They mean the same thing.
Now look,
do you notice the Bible
uses both dinner and supper?
Did you notice that the Bible
says in Hebrews 1-1,
God who had sundry times
and in divers manners?
Okay, those two words,
sundry and divers,
are identical.
The only reason why
the word sundry is used
one time in the entire Bible
is because he didn't want to say
God who had divers times
and in divers manners.
It sounds better
to say sundry times
and divers manners.
The Bible is a beautiful book.
And that's why
the word juice.
The word juice is only used
one time in the entire Bible.
Because the most common word
for juice 400 years ago
was wine.
They just used the word wine
for all kinds of juice.
And the only time
the word juice is used
is when in the same verse,
it uses wine and juice
in the same verse
in Song of Solomon.
And it would sound redundant
or it would sound not as good
to say wine, wine,
divers, divers.
So he uses a variety of words
to make it sound better.
And we do this all the time.
In English we have two words
for almost everything.
And so in Greek they have
gape and sileo
and they just use both
and it's interchangeable
and people have created this myth
to sound smart.
And the Bible says
he that speaketh in an unknown tongue
edifies himself.
And they get up
and they basically lift themselves up
and you know
actually if you go to the Greek
and you know all of a sudden
they're oh wow man
this guy is really educated
really smart guy.
That's all it is.
The guy couldn't even order
a gyro sandwich.
You know what I mean?
He couldn't even order
you know tzatziki sauce
on the side
in a Greek restaurant.
He's the expert on Greek you know.
And it's all bogus
it's all a sham.
But here's the thing
that's not what the Bible says.
The Bible says he said unto him
the third time
love is thou me.
So if he said something different
it wouldn't be the third time.
Because it's two different things.
And then he says
he was grieved
because he said it the third time
and because he denied it three times.
That's what grieved him.
The grieving him
was when he realized
that Jesus was pointing out
hey you denied me three times
I'm going to ask you
if you love me three times.
That hurt.
That hit the nail on the head with him.
He was grieved
and he said
Lord thou knowest all things.
Thou knowest that I love thee.
Jesus saith unto him
feed my sheep.
Verily verily I say unto thee
when thou wast young
thou girdest thyself
and walkest whither thou wouldest
but when thou shalt be old
thou shalt stretch forth thy hands
and another shall gird thee
and carry thee
whither thou wouldest not.
Look at verse 19.
This spake he signifying
by what death
he should glorify God
and when he had spoken this
he saith unto him
follow me.
And look it's the same directive
he gave him in the beginning
when he caught him
when he found him fishing
and he said follow me
and I'll make a fistament
he says follow me.
And he says
there's a consequence
for your actions.
You denied me three times
you're going to glorify God
by dying a brutal martyr's death.
You're going to go to a death
that you don't want to go to.
There is a consequence
for your actions
but he says you know what
follow me.
And so I'm not saying
that sin doesn't have
its consequences.
And a lot of people
they only preach
half of this sermon.
They preach the half that says
God's the God of the second chance.
You can always come back again.
But you know what
and I believe that.
Amen.
But there is a consequence
for your actions.
So look
God forbid that we fall into sin.
God forbid that we get backslidden.
We don't want to face
those consequences
of being backslidden.
We don't want to face
the consequences
that David faced.
We don't want to face
the consequences
that every man in the Bible
committed awful sins faced.
But what we do need to realize
is that even when we do mess up
even though we do feel worthless
even though we have failed
you know what
let's get back up.
Let's keep going.
Let's stay in church.
We can still be a great person.
We can still be a Peter.
There's going to be suffering
down the road for sure
but we can still be
a great man like Peter.
We can convert many unto him.
We can be used greatly.
Don't ever quit.
Don't ever throw in the towel.
Help others to be restored.
And don't ever get this feeling
I'm not good enough.
None of us are good enough.
You know
Peter didn't think he was good enough
even before he denied the Lord.
And he dead sure didn't think
he was good enough afterward.
But you know what
at the end of the day
I look at it and say
man he did a good job.
When I read the book of Acts
he did a great job
but it's not through him.
It's by the Spirit of the Lord.
And so none of us is good.
We've all sinned
to come short of the glory of God.
If we do anything great
it's going to be through
his power anyway.
And so just let him humble you.
Being humble is good anyway.
But then keep on going.
Let's bow your eyes to that word prayer.
Father we thank you so much
for your word
and we thank you
for this great example
because it would be hard
if everybody in the Bible
always succeeded every time
and did a good job every time.
Thank you for examples
of people messing up
so that we can look at people
who've made mistakes
and we can relate to them
and see how we should handle it
and that we can realize
that even though you Jesus
are not physically at the door
you're not physically calling to us
from the shore
with the dinner of fish.
We know that spiritually
you are there
ready to sup with us.
And so help us
to never get to the point
where we think
that it's no use trying
and we'll want to throw in the towel
help us to keep going.
And in Jesus name we pray. Amen.