LOVE TO JESUS

JOHN 21:1

A. "SIMON, SON OF JONAS, LOVEST THOU ME?"
  1. This appears to be the first conversation between our Lord and Peter after our Lord's resurrection:
    1. You will recall Peter's experience during the trial of Christ - Mark 14:54-72
    2. What people forget -- Peter's deep sorrow after his denial of his Master - Matt. 26:75
  2. Our Saviour's compassion, His forgiveness, and reassurance:
    1. He knows our frame and the infirmities, and He has compassion upon us - Ps. 103:13, 14
    2. This is plainly indicated in the conversation between the Lord and Peter.
    3. He had confidence in Peter, "feed my sheep" "feed my lambs" - John 21:17
B. "SIMON, SON OF JONAS, LOVEST THOU ME?"
  1. Why this searching question, when the Lord knew Peter far better than Peter knew himself?
    1. Peter knew only too well that His Lord and Master knew him, "Thou knowest all things" - John 16:30; 21:17
    2. The question was asked for the benefit of Peter and all the 'Peters' that would come afterward.
  2. The searching question of our opening text has a threefold basis:
    1. To reveal to Peter, and to us, the only heaven accepted basis for service -- love.
    2. We love to serve the Lord because we love Him, "For the love of Christ constraineth us" - 2 Cor. 5:14
    3. Sincere and abiding love has the only ingredient to stand up under the trials which are a part of the service for Christ - 2 Tim. 2:3; Matt. 24:13
  3. The testing question of our Lord to Peter indicates further:
    1. That severe trials or tests were awaiting Peter - John 21:18, 19
    2. Peter writes about the fiery trials that would come upon the saints - 1 Pet. 4:12, 13
C. CHARACTER OF THE LOVE THAT JESUS DESIRES IN US
  1. It is far more than paying lip-service to Him, His cause, and His children:
    1. There was considerable dissimulation going on among the disciples - Gal. 2:13. Even Peter and Barnabbas had been influenced by this weakness.
    2. Paul admonishes the believers to love without dissimulation - Rom. 12:9
  2. The nature of service for Christ demands more than superficial formalism:
    1. It demands self-denial in the highest degree - Matt. 16:24; Luke 14:27
    2. It implies the bearing of our cross - Matt. 10:38; Luke 14:27
    3. For Peter, it meant to lay down his life in his old age for the Son of God - John 21:17-19
  3. Such love must have a sure foundation:
    1. It must rest upon heaven born convictions -- "We love Him, Because He first loved us" - 1 John 4:19
    2. It must rest upon unshakable confidence in the cause of Jesus Christ - Rom. 8:38, 39
    3. Such love is the fruit of the Holy Spirit - Rom. 5:5; Gal. 5:22, 23
  4. Love, fervent and abiding love for the Lord is the only basis:
    1. To be entrusted with the care of God's sheep and His lambs - John 10:11-15
    2. It was when Peter repeated, "Lord, I love you", that the Lord said to him:
    3. "Feed my sheep . . . feed my lambs" - John 21:16-18
    4. Christ will not entrust his sheep and lambs to an hireling - John 10:13
    5. Forty years of labor in the field of evangelism have taught me that only the abiding love of God in our hearts can and will give strength to endure and give all to the cause of truth.


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