Peter: Assurance of Forgiveness

In 1879 in Switzerland, a child was born to a poor Jewish family. During his growing up years, the little boy developed a haunting sense of inferiority because of the anti-Semitic feelings he ran into on every hand. He became shy and introspective. When he went to school, he did so poorly that his parents took him to a specialist to see if he might have had a learning disability.

He somehow managed to struggle through grade school and high school with mediocre marks. Clearly, he was not a first class student. In 1895, he failed his entrance examination to the polytechnical college in Zurich. A year later, he tried again; this time, he succeeded barely. When his education was complete, the only job that he was able to obtain was an obscure post as an examiner in the Swiss patent office. That certainly didn’t promise much in the way of fame and fortune.

His early years were undistinguished; his future looked mediocre at best. Many people would say that this man’s life was a failure. But this man’s name was Albert Einstein. He would go on to discover the theory of relativity, a discovery that would utterly revolutionize the world.

Someone has said “Failure is the back door to success.” We delight in hearing the stories of people like Albert Einstein or Thomas Edison, who overcame their early failures on the way to brilliant accomplishments.

But it is equally true that failure can be the front door to more failure. It is very possible for a person to become so crippled by failure that he gives up. He stops trying. He becomes convinced that he’s no good, that he’ll never succeed, so he throws in the towel. And nowhere is this more possible than in a person’s relationship with God.

Up at the Bronx Zoo, there is a cage with a single bird in it. That bird is a magnificent bald eagle, the national symbol of the United States. But there is something wrong with the bald eagle at the Bronx Zoo. One of its wings is permanently broken.

That bald eagle was found in that condition on Eastern Long Island. Someone had shot it, but the bullet had only shattered its wing. So now the eagle sits quietly on a perch in his cage in the zoo. He was created to be the king of the sky, but he’ll never fly again.

There are a lot of Christians like that. Maybe you’re one of them. People who are living with the broken wing of failure. It may be the wreckage of a marriage that didn’t work. It may be a broken relationship between parent and child. It may be a painful secret from the past that only you and God know about. Because of it, you’ve crashed and burned and now you’re grounded spiritually, and you’re sure you’ll never fly again. Your world is broken and your life is on the shelf.

That’s where we find the apostle Peter in John 21. His world was broken. Certainly he was happy that Jesus had risen from the dead, but where did that leave him? At Jesus’ trial, when Peter could have stood up and been counted on the Lord’s side, when he could have been a champion for Christ, he responded with the greatest failure of his career.

Peter had always been a “larger than life” kind of guy. Maybe that’s why his name always appeared first on the list of Jesus twelve disciples. He was a natural leader. When there was something to be said, Peter was the one to say it. He was the spokesman for the group. He was impulsive and impetuous and a big talker.

Peter always claimed that he loved Jesus more than any of the other disciples did. When Jesus warned these men that they would all fall away, Peter said “Not me. Maybe those guys will fall away, Lord, but I won’t. I’ll hang in there, you can count on me. I’ll be there for you.” On another occasion, Peter said to Jesus “I will even lay down my life for you.”

When they went to the Garden of Gethsemane, the night that Jesus was arrested, Peter had somehow gotten hold of a sword and he actually used it on the servant of the high priest before Jesus rebuked him. I guess he though he was going to be Jesus’ bodyguard!

But then later that night, in the courtyard of the high priest where Jesus was standing trial, Peter’s bravado all started coming undone. A little servant girl accused Peter of being one of Jesus’ followers. There were a lot of soldiers and police standing around and they pricked up their ears.

Maybe by this time, Peter was starting to realize that it was getting dangerous to be a follower of Jesus. His master was under arrest, and there was a very good chance that he might soon be under arrest too. So he said “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He denied knowing Jesus.

A little later, another servant pointed to him and said “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.” But again Peter denied it, this time with an oath. He said “I do not even know the man.”

About an hour later, some of the bystanders said to Peter “Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean. Your accent gives you away.” Well, now Peter was really scared, so he began to call curses down on himself and he swore to them “I don’t know this man you’re talking about.”

That’s when the rooster crowed. Peter remembered what Jesus had said to him. “Before the rooster crows twice, you will disown me three times.” And Peter went outside and broke down and wept.

Big Peter - the guy who was going to die for Jesus; the guy whose name means Rock - crumbled into dust when a little servant girl questioned him. What a fiasco! He had blown it big time - he had struck out spiritually - he had sinned against his Lord, and all the other disciples knew that he had. He had let the Lord down. He was a total failure, and he was convinced that the Lord would never even want to see him, let alone use him again.

But in John 21, after Jesus had risen from the dead, he came to Galilee for a very important appointment with Peter. Jesus sat down beside a campfire on the shore of the Sea of Galilee and he confronted Peter’s brokenness. He confronted him with forgiveness. In that lakeside meeting, Jesus communicated to Peter that he still had a purpose for him, even though Peter had failed miserably.

That encounter on the beach was going to decisively shape the rest of Peter’s life. That’s why John 21 is one of the most important passages in the Bible for people whose lives have been broken by failure. Let’s look at three lessons that God has for us.

1. Forgiveness tells us that God is not finished with us yet.

Look at the way Jesus addressed Peter in this passage. He calls him “Simon, son of John.” He doesn’t call him Peter. He doesn’t call him “Rocky”. He uses Peter’s former name, his given name, the name by which he was known before he met Jesus.

Do you wonder why we he does that? It’s to remind Peter of his old self, of his old life, of who he was before Jesus came into his life. You see, Peter stood at a crossroads. He had a choice to make. Peter was teetering on the brink of going back to that old life. At the beginning of this chapter, he had said to his buddies “I’m going fishing.” And he didn’t mean fishing for men, which is what Jesus had promised to teach him how to do.

Peter meant fishing for fish. He figured that that was all that was left for him to do. Those wonderful years of service and ministry with Jesus were over. Maybe it had all been a dream. Now, because he had denied Jesus, there was nothing left for him to do but go back to his old life. He had failed; he had blown it; he had left Jesus in the lurch. He had lost his chance to have a real impact. He’d ruined his testimony. He’d destroyed his own credibility. So God had to be finished with him.

Except for one thing: here was Jesus, sitting beside him on the beach asking “Simon, do you love me?” The very first time Jesus had said that name “Simon” was on this beach, where he had called Peter to follow him in the first place. Now, he was calling him again. Jesus wasn’t finished with him.

Jesus asked him three times “Do you love me?” Why three times? Well, the answer is obvious. Because Peter had denied Jesus three times.

I’m sure that Peter burned with shame over the memory of those three denials. I’m sure that he cringed with disgust as he thought of how he had cursed and swore that he didn’t even know the Lord. How could he ever live that down? But Jesus gave Peter another chance; a chance to say now what he could have said, and should have said, back beside that other campfire in the courtyard of the high priest.

Here on the beach, and maybe it was near the place where he had first met Peter a couple of years ago, Jesus gave Peter a chance to start over. He wasn’t finished with him. And that’s the first lesson that forgiveness has for broken people.

From this point on, Peter was a humble man. Gone was the big mouth that always got him into trouble. Gone was that reckless, impetuous nature. Jesus had brought him face to face with who he really was, and said “I love you anyway. I’m not finished with you. And I forgive you for what you did.”

When God forgives you, he takes you back to where you started and he lets you start all over again.

2. Forgiveness tells us that Jesus paid it all.

Did you know that there are some things that God cannot do? Because he is perfectly holy, God cannot treat sin as if it didn’t exist. He cannot merely sweep it under the rug. Because of his holy character, God cannot say about sin “Let’s forget it. Let’s just pretend it didn’t happen.”

Sin is a deliberate transgression of God’s will. It’s a violation of his standard. It’s a crime that must be judged; a wrong that must be righted; a debt that must be paid. God cannot pretend that it doesn’t exist.

Now how does God deal with sin? He deals with it by banishing the sinner from his presence. Anyone who sins must be separated from God forever. The Bible says “The wages of sin is death” meaning spiritual separation from God.

But this is where Jesus stepped in and said “Wait. I have a solution. In order for you to be able to have fellowship with God, I will take the guilt of your sin upon me. I will pay the debt; I will serve the sentence.” And that’s what he did when he died on the cross. He took the burden of all of our sins on himself, so that we might go free. He experienced the anguish, not just of physical death, but of spiritual death as well. He was separated from God for us.

Many years ago, a farmer and his daughter were walking through the grass on the Canadian prairie. In the distance, they saw a prairie fire. They realized that the fire was rapidly moving their way and that it would soon engulf them.

The father knew that there was only one way of escape. They would quickly begin a fire right where they were and burn a large patch of grass. When the huge fire drew near, they would stand on the section that had already been burned. As the fire approached, the little girl became terrified by the raging flames. But her father assured her, “Honey, don’t be afraid. The fire can’t get to us because we’re standing where the fire has already been.”

If you are trusting Jesus Christ as your Savior, you do not need to fear the wrath of God’s judgment against sin. You are standing where the fire has already been.

When Jesus held out a hand of forgiveness to Peter, it was a hand that had the ugly scar of a nail print in it. Jesus wasn’t asking Peter “What are you going to do to make up for what you did?” He simply asked Peter “Do you love me?” The nail print said that everything that needed doing has been done. Jesus was asking Peter “Can you love a Savior who’s done everything for you?”

Back when Peter had a big mouth, he boasted that he loved Jesus more than any of the others. But who was the Jesus he loved? The Jesus he loved was a figment of his own imagination. He loved a Jesus who was going to overthrow the Romans. He loved a Jesus who was going to march into Jerusalem and take over. He loved a Jesus who was going to set up the kingdom and let him be one of the top guys in it.

When Jesus told his disciples that he was going to die, Peter said “No! No! No! You can’t talk like that! You’re not going to die. That doesn’t fit the scenario we have going here.” Peter would not accept a dying Messiah. The Jesus that Peter loved back then was a Jesus that didn’t exist; a Jesus that wasn’t real.

Now, Jesus wanted to know whether Peter was ready to love him as he really was: a Savior who had hung on the cross in shame and humiliation because Peter’s sins had put him there.

If you ever really want to experience God’s forgiveness, you have to come to grips with the fact that it was your sin that put Jesus on the cross. It was your failure that he came to fix, and fixing it cost him his life. Those are the only terms on which God offers to forgive you. Jesus paid it all; all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain; he washed it white as snow.

3. Forgiveness tells us that loving Jesus is the only way to serve him.

As they sat on the beach eating their fish filet sandwiches, Jesus asked Peter three times, “Do you love me?” And each time, Peter said “Lord, you know I love you.” Notice the humility in that reply. The old Peter would have said “Of course I love you, Lord.” And he would have bragged and boasted about how much he loved him.

But the new Peter said “Lord, you know I love you. You know, because you know all things. You know, because you can look right into my heart and see that I really do. You know the quality of my love, and you’ve known all along. You know that my love for you used to be sheer selfishness — nothing but bravado — empty boasting. It was a bully pulpit that I used to make myself look good.”

“Jesus, you know that my love for you now isn’t based on my strength or my power. It’s based on what’s happening right here on this beach. It’s based on the fact that you still love me, even after what I did to you. Even though I let you down. Even though I put you on that tree. That’s where my love comes from now.” So Jesus said “I’ve got a job for you to do. Feed my sheep.”

The Bible says “we love him because he first loved us.” You can’t really love Jesus unless you’ve experienced how much Jesus loves you. That love flows from forgiveness. And that love empowers your service.

Hudson Taylor was the founder of the China Inland Mission. One day he was interviewing some young people who had signed up to go to China as missionaries. He asked them a number of practical questions about their qualifications, and then he finished up by asking each one of them “Why do you want to go to China as a missionary?”

Some of them answered that they wanted to go because the need was so great. Several hundred million Chinese people had never heard the gospel. Others said they wanted to go because Christ commanded us to go and make disciples of all nations. They wanted to obey that command.

Taylor looked at them thoughtfully and said, “All of your motives are good, but I fear they will fail you in times of severe testing — especially if you have to face death for your testimony. The only motive that will enable you to remain true is that the love of Christ constrains you.”

You may be a Sunday School teacher or a youth leader; you may sing in the choir or serve on one the church boards. You may have taken on that responsibility because somebody asked you to, or because there was a need, or because you knew that it was a way that you could help out.

There are a lot of reasons why people sign up to serve the Lord. Some people serve God out of a sense of duty. There’s a job to be done and somebody’s gotta do it! Some people serve God out of anger. They’re mad because nobody else signed up, so they’re stuck with it. Some people serve God for selfish reasons. You know, they like the ego strokes that come from being up front, or having a title, or being in charge. They love it when people recognize them or praise them.

There are a lot of reasons why people serve the Lord. But there’s only one reason that’s valid. Let me tell you something very carefully. If you are involved in ministry for any reason other than that you love Jesus because He first loved you, then you are in it for the wrong reason.

Sooner or later, that’s going to show up. Sooner or later the pressures of ministry are going to get under your skin. Because when you are involved in ministry, you’re involved with people. And people can be a pain in the neck.

You’re going to get frustrated with them. You’re going to get angry with them. You’re going to get resentful of them when they treat you unfairly, or when they don’t recognize what you do. And eventually, you’re going to get defeated. And when that happens, you’ll actually be a hindrance to God’s work rather than a help.

The only motivation that can sustain you in ministry is to do it because you love Jesus for loving you. Do it because you’re overwhelmed with the fact that God has forgiven your sins. Do it because Jesus loved you so much he died for you. Let that kind of love and gratitude be your motivation, and you’ll be an effective servant of God.

1. Forgiveness tells us that God is not finished with us yet.

2. Forgiveness tells us that Jesus paid it all.

3. Forgiveness tells us that loving Jesus is the only way to serve him.

Peter went to the beach a broken man. But he came back a changed man, a new man, because Jesus forgave him. And he never would have experienced that love of God unless he had known the bitter taste of failure.