If You Really Love Jesus . . . Series

Well, finally, some of you must be thinking, we come to the end of the Gospel of John. And I must say, personally, along with others who have thoroughly studied this book, that it is very likely the most profound book I have ever preached through.

And that’s because it’s all about the most profound subject that could ever be studied—the most extraordinary, amazing and greatest man who ever lived, Jesus Christ. Here is a man who, ethically, lived the greatest life ever lived, hands down, who is the greatest personification of love we could ever imagine, who spoke the greatest wisdom ever spoken, who repeatedly demonstrated an omniscience beyond our comprehension and who repeatedly did astounding miracles, not just daily, but moment-by-moment, sometimes thousands of times a day—any one of which had any other man done one of them would have been the greatest and most amazing accomplishment of a life-time. But though they were so incredible for the rest of us, they were the norm for Jesus Christ.

And the questions this book answers are these: Who was this man, Jesus? What was He all about? And what difference should it make in our lives?

And the answers are the Son of God, the man who was God. That He came to seek reconciliation with mankind and save us from our sins, as well as to reveal what God was really like. And the difference He should make is that we should believe in Him, love Him and follow Him.

And it’s those final two answers which form the topic of our message this morning, “If you really love Jesus, then what? If you really love Jesus, what, ultimately, will that look like? What, ultimately, will that involve? How will you show it? And yet another question that we ought to ask ourselves, “Do I really love Jesus?”

And that brings us back to John 21 this morning and that scene on the Sea of Galilee when seven of the disciples went fishing for a night and caught nothing. Then, in the dim light of dawn an apparent stranger shouts from the shore about 100 yards away from their boat and advises them to let down their nets on the right side of the boat, and suddenly they’ve got such a huge load of large fish they can’t pull them into the boat. And the Apostle John, the writer of our Gospel account, recognizes that the stranger is Jesus.

What ensues is a breakfast prepared by Jesus for the disciples. All of this is after Jesus’ resurrection. And following the breakfast Jesus has a serious talk with Peter, a talk in which Jesus restores Peter to his position of leadership and ministry within and to the group of the other disciples. As you’ll remember, Peter had sworn that no matter if every other disciple abandoned Jesus in his trials, Peter would not, even if it meant his own death, and thereby had declared on the very night of Jesus’ arrest that He loved Jesus more than any of the other disciples. And then Peter had proceeded to fail in an even greater way than any of the other disciples and denied even knowing Jesus on three occasions that night.

And so Jesus had asked Peter after the supper three times if he loved Him. The first time He had asked if Peter loved him more than these—referring to the other disciples. Peter had answered, yes, he loved Him, with a lesser word for love, indicating he only had a great affection for him, and he refused to compare his love with that of the other disciples. Finally, Jesus had indicated he now accepted Peter’s humbler confession of love by using the word phileo, for the lesser kind of love Peter offered, rather than agapao, for the kind of love Jesus had offered Peter. And on each occasion after Peter’s confession of having a great affection for Jesus, Jesus had said, Feed My Sheep, Tend My Lambs, feed My Sheep. In other words, he had indicated, that if Peter really loved Him, that love would not merely be a sentimental love, a love consisting only of feelings, or a verbal profession of love, but if he really loved Jesus, that love must be an active love, it must be a love accompanied by action, and the action of spiritually teaching and caring for those whom Jesus loved, namely, His sheep, that is other believers.

And that brings us to our text for this morning. Verse 18: Jesus then says to Peter, “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 where you do not wish to go.” And our eyewitness the Apostle John in verse 19 clarifies precisely what Jesus meant here in verse 19: Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God.”