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Crows, today you will deny me three times. And he went out and he wept bitterly. We will learn more through our tears than we ever will our laughter. I love to laugh. It's kind of like a psychological laxative. But we're going to learn. I'm sorry, we're going to learn more from our tears than we ever will our laughter. And Peter shed bitter tears that early morning. And what happened was this. He had dedicated himself to do the same thing Jesus was going to do. Friends, I need to know that the minute I try and be spiritual, I'm not by virtue of the fact that I tried. The only thing that is spiritual about me is the indwelling spirit himself. And Peter tried to do what Jesus did with the sincerest desire in his heart, and he fell flat on his face. Next slide. I take my runs, you know, back in the countryside behind where we live. We live in a key wine area, winemaking area, and we are surrounded by orchards. And when I take my run in a certain area, I pass this crucifix. And on the bottom of the crucifix is this wood carving. And on that it says in German, das tat ich verdich was tu stu vermisch. That means translated, I did this for you. What do you do for me? It sounds good, but Jesus never said it. That was my philosophy, the Christian life. Soon after I received Christ, I figured, well, if Jesus did so much for me, for dying on the cross, for me, the very least I owe him is a godly life. And I put myself to that, and it was sincere because my conversion was so clear. And as I got into my high school years, I felt myself being pulled in the opposite direction. And I would always have these dedication moments where I would dedicate myself to live for Christ. And I don't know how many times I went to camp and they would preach this evangelistic service message. And, you know, I had assurance I had received Christ. And then they'd tack on a second half of it. And then they would say, well, if you're not living for Jesus, we would invite you tonight to come and read rededicate your life to Christ. So I came to these camps and I re. Re. Re Rededicated my life to Christ. I don't know how many times that happened. I remember one year they said, if you're really serious for Jesus, you go and throw all of that horrible secular music into the garbage can when you get home. So I went home after re. Re. Rededicating my life to Christ. And I threw Charlie Daniels I threw Kiss, I threw the Stones, I threw ZZ Top and Led Zeppelin, you know, worst, worst decision. And I think I kept the Bee Gees, you know, you don't want to be too. My dedication only went so far, but, you know, that was my experience. It was just dedication, trying harder and then falling deeper and more shame and more discouragement. Then I went to Bible school. I was 18 years old, 1979, and the first lecturer lectured on the book of Hosea. I had never heard of Hosea before because in my read through the Bible in a year plan at age 16, I'd gotten the Leviticus and got discouraged and never continued. So Hosea was a foreign book to me. And I can't remember much of what this speaker said, but I will never forget when he stood in front of us and he said, you need to know that the Christian life is not difficult. And when he said that, I'm sitting in the second to the last row and I said, what do you mean the Christian life? I've been giving my best. Well, he continued and he said, the Christian life is not difficult. It's impossible. And it's like I'm sitting back there with my new ryrie study Bible and the pages were so gold that you had to, you know, wear sunglasses to look at him. It's like I just closed that thing. I said, I just flew 5,000 miles to this Bible school to listen to this guy tell me that the life that I've been trying to live is impossible. I've been trying to make the impossible possible with my dedication. I didn't understand what he was talking about. And my confusion at that statement was indicative of the spiritual deception under which I had been suffering for the first five years of my Christian life. And I heard that statement. It took about five more years of sweating for Jesus until I came to the end of myself and realized I can't do this unless Christ does it in me. Sometimes disciples discover why they need a savior a number of years after they've initially received him. It's an interesting phenomena, and that was certainly the case with Peter. And when Peter denied Christ the third time, Jesus wasn't shocked. Peter was shocked, but not Jesus. He said it in advance. He said it in John 18, Peter, before the rooster crows, you're going to deny me three times. So Jesus knew what he got. It's just that Peter was suffering from a heart sickness that I suffer from. And that is very simply this. He was deceived about himself. He was suffering from self deception. Paul put it this way in Galatians chapter 6 and verse 3. And he who thinks he is something when he is nothing deceives himself. And Peter had been living in self deception about who he was. He thought that he had what it took. He thought he had more dedication than the other ones. In fact, in the present of the other disciples, he said to Jesus, Jesus, everybody else may fall away, but not me. And yet he's the very one that fell flat on his face, trying his best. And when he went out that early morning in the dark streets of Jerusalem, he was not necessarily under the Spirit's conviction. He was suffering from self condemnation. And he was terribly disappointed in himself. And friends, when I'm disappointed in myself, it's proof that I had been trusting in myself in the first place. And that's what was happening to him in those dark streets on that early morning in Jerusalem. The essence of self deception is that you don't know that you don't know. And its cure can be kind of messy. And this is why Peter is an apostle of hope for those like him who went out with a sincerest desire in their heart to dedicate themselves to do the kinds of things that Jesus did. And in dedicating themselves to do that, fall flat on their face. Can you imagine that? From that day forward, every time the rooster crowed in the morning, it would be a gentle reminder to Peter, just remember how much you need me. Isn't that great? There's a field near this one. In fact, it's just to the. To the right of it. There are not only orchards where we live, but there are just small fields with grain or corn on it. And in the winter, in February, these very thrifty, wise southern German farmers spread manure on the field. I think the euphemism that we use in English is they call it the honey wagon. And they spread this liquid manure on the field. And it's like I run past this and I hit this field that has the liquid manure spread all over it. And it's a great training effect because you hold your breath, run for about 200 meters, and then you can breathe again. I'm not a farmer. All I know is that those farmers have taken something out of the past that stinks. And they prepare the ground for a future harvest. Jesus is like those farmers. He takes things out of my past that stink, and he creates a culture for future spiritual growth. And that's all he was doing here with Peter. If all you knew about Peter was his crash, you would have thought that Guy's never going to amount to anything in the kingdom of God. And I have to admit to you that sometimes I've looked at a teenager or a student at one of our centers and I've drawn a conclusion. And I'm ashamed of this much too early. And I've thought in my heart, they'll never amount to anything. Shame on me. Our thinking needs to be more spiritual. I'm from Minnesota. I don't need to tell this to this audience because you probably experience similar things in this part of the country. But inevitably, when we go back to Minneapolis, there's road repair going on because of the climate. In the summer, it's really hot. It's the Gulf Stream coming up to Minnesota. It's going to be that way next week. I looked at my weather app. I'm not looking forward to that. And then the winter, it comes down from the Arctic, goes over Canada, comes over us, and goes back up. So these weather extremes meet in Minnesota, plays havoc with our asphalt streets. And inevitably there will be road repair going around Minneapolis. And when you get to these places, it's kind of an irritation because there are detours, there are traffic jams, et cetera. There are various signs around a building site where something's torn up and you need to go around it. There might be a sign that says detour. There might be a sign that says it's going to be done by the fall of 2031, or, you know what, whatever it is. And sometimes there's a sign there that says, danger. Men at work. I know that might be debatable at times, but. But it's there. And you would have to hang a sign over Peter's life at the end of Luke 22. Danger. Don't draw your conclusions too soon. Got it. Work. Got it? Work. And then we come to John 21. If I could have the next slide. And we have an event that only John records. And John wrote his Gospel at the end of the first century. Jesus, excuse me, Peter was crucified in the year 58 AD in Rome. So he's with the Lord. John feels free to talk about this now, and he knew that the church needed encouragement. And he's the only one who records this event. I start reading in verse three. They go back up to Galilee, where many of them came from. And Simon Peter said, I'm going fishing. And they said, we'll also come with you. And they went out and got into the boat. And that night they caught nothing. And when the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach. And yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. And yet the disciple. And so Jesus said to them, children, you do not have any fish, do you? And they answered him, no. And he said to them, cast the net on the right hand side of the boat and you will find a cast, a catch. And so they cast. And when they were not able to haul it in, of the great number of fish, One of the 35 questions is Jesus, did you catch anything? No. Well, throw your boat, your net on that side. And they caught a great quantity of fish. What's Jesus saying? I can do what you can't, Peter. I'm the one to fill your nets. Peter went out and he tried to do the thing that he was good at, and he couldn't even do that anymore. And it's the miracle of the empty net. And all night, Jesus is just guiding those fish around that one net. Don't go there. Don't go there. Just wait until morning. And he's standing there, and he asked one of the questions. He caught any fish? No throwing it on that side. I'm the one who does what you can't. Therefore, that disciple whom Jesus loves said to Peter, it is the Lord. And so when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, threw himself into the sea. And so they. When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire already laid and fish placed upon it, and bread. And Jesus said, bring some of the fish which you have now caught. And Simon Peter went up, drew the net to land full of large fish. 153. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. And Jesus said to them, come and have breakfast. They get on shore, and lo and behold, there was a charcoal fire there. The only other place in the scriptures where those two words appear are John 18:18, where Peter was warming himself around a charcoal fire. Is that an accident? No. They got up to shore and this net full of fish. And John is careful to mention they were large fish and there were 153. So I go fishing, and to catch a lot means I catch four bass. John says there were 153. Just to drive home the point. This was a large catch of large fish because that is the quality of the work of Jesus. And lo and behold, they get on shore, and Jesus didn't need their fish. He didn't need their fish. Friends. Jesus only has voluntary relationships, never necessary relationships. And that may be a big fat blow to my ego, but I take comfort in that because if Jesus was dependent upon me to build his kingdom, he has a problem. No person is indispensable to God, but God is always indispensable to man. It says in Acts chapter 17:25. Nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything, since he Himself gives to all people, life and breath and all things. Before Peter ever served Jesus, he needed to learn to allow Jesus to serve him. And Jesus was going to serve his disciple by coming to live within him, beginning at Pentecost, and impart all of the resources of resurrection, eternal life to him. Next slide. So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? And he said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And he said to him, tend my lambs. And he said to him again a second time, simon, son of John, do you love me? And he said, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And he said, shepherd, my sheep. And he said to him the third time, simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me? And he said to him, lord, you know all things, and you know that I love you. And Jesus said to him, tend my sheep. Three denials at a charcoal fire. Three questions at a charcoal fire. Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? The fact of the matter was that Peter did love Jesus. It's just that Peter couldn't turn his love into action. He wasn't able. And when it says that Peter was grieved the third time Jesus asked the question, it was because Peter got the message. I do love you, but I can't turn my love into action when the nets are full. Peter was all there. And when the going got tough, he crippled. We're going to go back on Friday, and some of us are going back home to difficult situations. Praise God that the presence of Jesus goes with us because he lives in us. And he would be the same at home as he is at Gull Lake. He doesn't change. And I can go back knowing that, yes, maybe I'm heading back to a place of failure. And maybe there's a sting in my heart when I look at my future and the things that I'm going back to. Do you know what? I don't know if you've ever thought about this, but when Jesus was in Galilee with the disciples at the Sea of Galilee here, he said, go to Jerusalem and wait for the coming of the Spirit. Do you know what Jerusalem was for Peter? That was the place where he failed miserably. And that's where Jesus was going to prove himself as one who was more than enough. And sometimes he's going to send us back to the very place or area of our life where we have failed in order that he might prove the sufficiency of his indwelling Spirit. Three questions, three denials. Peter's love was a conditional love. Christ's love is an unconditional one. And we don't always think about it this way. But I put this word up here, commission, because three times Jesus said, tend my lambs, tend my lambs, tend my lambs. And now the fisherman becomes a shepherd. And I'll tell you something about a good shepherd. A good shepherd is sometimes the very one who has tasted his own depravity so that he isn't judgmental, impatient and angry with the sheep under his care. He's had a good whiff of himself. And so he's going to have a lot of compassion, a lot of mercy, a lot of understanding with those he leads. I was speaking with somebody this week, and we both knew the quote by A.W. tozer who said, never follow a leader who doesn't limp. And so we read in Acts chapter 2 and verse 14, at Pentecost, back in Jerusalem, the Spirit came. Christ came to dwell in his church. And it says, but Peter, taking his stand with the 11, raised his voice. And you think to yourself, somebody tackle him. We all know what happened the last time he was going to try and give a good testimony about Jesus. How bitterly he failed. Well, he stood up in the power of Christ. And Christ, who had been with him, now lived in him by his Spirit. He opens his mouth and Jesus comes out and 3,000 are saved. And the thing that encourages me so much is that Jesus glorified himself in the life of Peter at the very place where he failed so bitterly, his mouth. That's where Jesus gave him the victory, right where he had failed. Failure is not final. Our past does not need to determine our future. And I'm personally convinced that Jesus is more interested in our future than he is our past. And he was interested in moving Peter beyond his failure. Next slide, we get to Acts chapter three. And Peter and John were walking up to the temple on the eastern side at the beautiful gate where people like, there was a lame man there who was begging. Peter says, silver and gold I don't have, but what I do have in the name of Jesus, get up. And the guy was healed. And it says in chapter three, in verse nine. And all the people saw him walking and praising God. And they were all filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened. And while he was clinging to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them at the so called portico of Solomon, full of amaz. But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, men of Israel, why are you amazed at this? Or why do you gaze at us as if by our own power or piety we made him walk? The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. Peter said, in a sense, I didn't do this because I know exactly who I am. It was Jesus who did this. And then he goes on to preach again and 5,000 people are converted. But he says, it wasn't me, it wasn't me. There was a new disposition of heart in this man's life, and it was called humility. The beginning of humility is the confession of our pride. Students come to me and they say, should I ask God to break me like Jesus, like Peter was broken? I said, for heaven's sakes, no. Because that's probably a prayer that he's going to answer. It's not the breaking that we need, it's the humility that we need. And three times in the New Testament, James, Paul, and lo and behold, Peter, all say, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, we should come and humble ourselves. It's just that humility doesn't come naturally to us. Next slide. The meek man is not a human mouse afflicted with a sense of his own inferiority. Rather, he has stopped being fooled about himself, and he has accepted God's estimate of his own life. Peter, I fill your nets. I filled your nets on the Sea of Galilee, and I just filled your nets at Pentecost. And I did it twice. First 3,000 and then 5,000. I fill your nets. It's me who does it. Next slide. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you and bring you to where you do not wish to go. Now this, he said, signifying what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he said to him, follow me. Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who had leaned back on his bosom at the supper and had said, lord, who is the one who betrays you? So Peter, seeing Him said to Jesus, lord, what about this man? And Jesus said, if I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me? Never compare yourself with somebody else. Jesus already has a copy of them. He wants to express himself and write his own history through them that he can only, only do through them. He wants to work through me in the way that he has created me. So it's never useful to compare. And when Peter started to compare himself with John, Jesus said, it's none of your business. And Jesus is going to treat each of us according to our bent, according to our personality, according to the history that he wants to write through us. Because Jesus is too big for one individual life. He needs many through which he can express himself well. Paul was the apostle of faith, this converted Pharisee who was steeped in legalism. John was the apostle of love, this self righteous, self seeking disciple whose mother came to Jesus and asked him if James and John could sit one to the right and one to the left of Jesus in his coming kingdom. The other disciples heard it and they were furious. Peter, he became the apostle of hope. He said, we've been born again to a living hope. And it's as if Jesus says to us this evening, week five at Gull Lake, if I can do it with Peter, I can do it with you. I brought this quote and then I close in a word of prayer. Oswald Chambers said, beware of paying attention to what you once were when God wants you to be something that you've never been. Praise God. Praise God. Let's pray. Let's think about that for 30 seconds and respond to the Lord in the quietness of our hearts. And then I'll close in a word of prayer. Father, I want to thank you that what you did in the life of Peter is not limited to his life. And Lord Jesus, I want to thank you that you have the wonderful habit of achieving your victory right in the place where we've failed. And Lord, where somebody needs that assurance tonight, I pray that your spirit would make that known to them. And Lord Jesus, as we leave this auditorium this evening into the rest of the evening, I thank you that we don't have to ask you to go with us. We thank you that you do. And may that make all the difference in the world. We pray this with thanksgiving in your name. Amen. Thank you very much.