Restored
“So he went out and wept bitterly.”
Probably one of the saddest scriptures in the whole Bible - We are talking about the apostle, Peter, the leader of the pack. He denied his Master three times. I want to ask you a question this morning. Is it possible for God to restore us, once we have let Him down? Peter was restored but not before he was totally broken.
You see, he had taken the Lord aside... He had rebuked the Lord when he heard the story that Jesus told the disciples: “I am going to be crucified.”
And the Lord said, “Get behind me Satan!” Then he denied the Lord three times. I want to say to you, maybe you have let the Lord down. Maybe you have not fulfilled what the Lord has asked you to do but the Lord never gives up on His children. Right at the end of the Gospel of John, you can read it yourself, you will see when Peter was totally destitute with the disciples - They had gone back fishing, their Hero had been crucified. A man was standing on the shore who said: “Boys, have you caught anything?”
“No, we have been fishing all night.”
“Throw the net on the other side”
And they pulled in 153 of St Peter’s fish.
And then the Lord asked Peter three times, “Peter, do you love me?”
“Yes Lord, you know I love You.”
“Feed my sheep.”
Paraphrasing John 21:15-17
You see, Peter started as a worldly Christian and he ended up as a spiritual Christian. We really need to seek the Lord in these last days. You know, in the first sermon that Peter preached 3,000 souls came to Christ - the same man that went out and wept bitterly because he had let the Lord down. The Lord Jesus loves you so much today. He says, “Confess your sins.”
If we confess our sins is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9
And then go out... Go out and throw the net out and tell people about the soon-coming King because He loves you so much. You know I want to say to you in closing, the thing I love about the Lord Jesus Christ more than anything else is that He has a bad memory. That’s right - You see, when He forgives, He forgets. He didn’t bring it up and say to Peter: “You know Peter, you denied me three times and you said you would die for me.” No - He said:
“Peter, do you love me?”
“Yes Lord, You know I love you.”
“Feed My sheep.”
And the Lord has done that for me, not once but many times and He wants to do it for you today. Get up, dust yourself off - get back in the race, the Master is going to run with you all the way to the finish line.
Have a wonderful day.
God bless you and goodbye.