Grace and Restoration

See that you do not forget what you were before, lest you take for granted the grace and mercy you received from God and forget to express your gratitude each day.

Martin Luther (Founder of the German Reformation)

Let’s start in prayer.

As we have been walking in the footsteps of Peter these past weeks, we see a common theme of faith and failure.

Today, we see something very different, Christ giving grace and restoration.

An issue I see is that we look at grace as a green card to do what we want and we say...”Oh. God will forgive me!”

A famous saying we love to use is once saved always saved.

And while that is true, my question is were you saved to begin with or did you just punch a ticket to say I am good!

Christ addressed this and it is hard to hear

Matthew 7:21–23 CSB

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?’ Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!’

Now, does this mean we must be perfect all of our lives.

No! There was only perfect man and that was Jesus Christ.

So what does Christ mean here. Well, we will get into this today.

Also today, we will only have two points, and both directly effect how we look at how we look at Grace and Restoration.

The first point today is

Get Back

Let give a bit of backstory to get us where we are today.

Christ has died and has Risen and has appeared to his disciples twice.

Peter and the other disciples are waiting around and Peter pops up and declares. “I am going fishing!”

Last week we discussed at length that Peter had denied Christ three times.

Knowing Peter and what we have learned about him, it was probably eating him alive.

So instead of facing it, he did what most us guys do, we run to what we know to get out of our own head.

Let’s go to the verse where Christ appears to them again.

John 21:6–8 CSB

“Cast the net on the right side of the boat,” he told them, “and you’ll find some.” So they did, and they were unable to haul it in because of the large number of fish. The disciple, the one Jesus loved, said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he tied his outer clothing around him (for he had taken it off) and plunged into the sea. Since they were not far from land (about a hundred yards away), the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish.

So we see our merry band of misfits right back at the very beginning. In Capernaum, in a boat, fishing.

To the naked eye, it looks like they took a huge step back, but did they.

Give me a second to explain.

We know that grace and restoration are gifts given to us by the Lord.

We have always been taught that these gifts are freely given, and I agree with that, unless it is to the point of where Peter was.

Falling away and denying your faith.

Last week, that is what we saw Peter do.

So when this happens it does require something of us. It requires for us to meet Christ where we first meet Him.

The start of our journey with Peter had us at this very shore, where Peter first gave his life to the Messiah.

Now in this story here, we are talking geographically, but I am talking about us spiritually.

Sometimes we go back to move forward again.

We spoke about this Wednesday.

We must allow the brokenness of our failure to put us back to a point of reliance on Christ.

This is where we go from a good Christian, to a follower of Jesus Christ.

This is where we go from depart from me for I never knew you, to well done good and faithful servant.

I love how this story goes full circle.

Out fishing all night, no fish in the nets, to Christ asking for them to cast the net again, to the abundance of fish.

To our next point

Do You Love Him?

Let’s look at this beautiful exchange between Christ and Peter

John 21:15–19 CSB

When they had eaten breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said to him, “you know that I love you.” “Feed my lambs,” he told him. A second time he asked him, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” “Yes, Lord,” he said to him, “you know that I love you.” “Shepherd my sheep,” he told him. He asked him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved that he asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” “Feed my sheep,” Jesus said. “Truly I tell you, when you were younger, you would tie your belt and walk wherever you wanted. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will tie you and carry you where you don’t want to go.” He said this to indicate by what kind of death Peter would glorify God. After saying this, he told him, “Follow me.”

Take the time to explain lambs and sheep.

Explain the reasoning behind the feeding, shepherding, and feeding again.

Wood for the Fire

After all of the turmoil, the denying, the grief...Christ restores and then calls Peter again.

He is calling out to you today.

Follow me.

It is something we are called to do everyday

Matthew 16:24 CSB

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

Jesus tells his disciples that saving one's life means losing it, but losing it for His sake brings true life.

He is asking you today, Do you love me? Then deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.

Denying yourself involves surrendering personal ambitions, interests, and desires to prioritize God's purpose.

Taking Up the Cross: This signifies a willingness to endure suffering, or even death, for the sake of faith.

Christ tells Peter how he will die for his faith. Now instead of a personal declaration as we saw him do at the Last Supper, Peter accepts his future with boldness and humility.

Are you willing to accept him ? Are you willing to follow him? Do you love him?