Not DISQUALIFIED: How Jesus RESTORES You After Sin // Death, Defeated (Part 4) // Pastor Drew

Heat. Heat. N.

Heat. Heat. Heat.

Heat

up here.

Amen. Come on. Is God good?

>> I love what he's doing. This is do we do

we I don't know if it's always apparent

how incredibly

odd what is happening here is how

incredibly uncommon it is in our world

and how incredibly grateful I am for

that that we get to experience here not

only the presence of God not only the

ministry of what he's doing but we've

got a whole bunch of people in this room

worshiping wholeheartedly

seeking the Lord,

weeping, praising, shouting, jumping

because not of who we are but what he

has done for us. Come on, can we give a

hand for the Lord? Let's go.

I find Jesus says uh when when a a an a

a previously adulterous woman, a a a

demon-possessed woman and was freed and

comes over and anoints his feet and

cries over his feet and washes them with

his hair. And people are like, "What's

going on? This is weird. What is

happening?" And he says, "You have no

clue what she is experiencing because

you think you've got it all together."

and maybe you need to be forgiven of a

little bit. She recognizes how much she

has to be forgiven of and so therefore

her worship is extravagant.

If you see people around you and you're

like, I'm not sure exactly what's going

on with them. Maybe you're new here.

Maybe you're just like, what what is

going on? Is that a personality thing?

Is there something happening? I want to

tell you that you are surrounded by

people who recognize the incredible

love of Jesus and what it has done to

save us. And if you're grateful for what

he's done for you, come on. I want to

hear it this morning. Let's go. Let's

go.

He's changing lives all the time. I'm so

grateful. Uh just incredibly that that

he would it just it astounds me that

he'd do this. But um one of the one of

the things in this season of life, we

got three kids and they are a blast. Uh

one of this in this season of life, one

of my favorite things that I get to do

is I got to coach my kids in sports. And

uh one I I am uh uh I help out a little

bit, not much with with baseball. He's

outgrown me. He's too good for that. Uh

but then with soccer and with my

daughter in softball, uh I get to help

out. And one of the interesting things

that I found out uh as I started

coaching, I went to coach Zion in his

first soccer game this year and uh I

people, multiple people actually his

first couple soccer games came up and

made a comment that I had totally

forgotten about and uh they said, "Hey,

going to be a good game." Yeah. Yeah.

you're going to get carded again.

And I got to confess,

last season,

multiple times I got a card. I got a

yellow card from the referee and I

wasn't even officially a coach.

And and I want to clarify, I'm not an

I'm not like I'm not like that dad,

right? Like, what are you doing? Get

over there. You got to be back. I'm

like, I'm not that. I am You may have

noticed I'm passionate. I'm energetic.

I'm like eternally optimistically that

way and I don't always realize the

boundaries. I don't know all the rules

of soccer and certainly not all the

rules of coaching soccer. And so there's

been a couple times I uh I I crossed

into the enemy's territory. I I I walked

across the other uh where where the the

other coach was and I just walked over

to the other side and I was trying to

coach one of my kids over there. Yellow

card. You can't do that. You're stealing

their signals. I was like this is fourth

grade, bro.

I was not prepared for that. I was not

Oh, thank you, Russ. Uh, and and then

the the other time I was I was coaching

the goalie back behind the goal and I

was like, "You got to It's his first

time." And I was like, "You got to watch

it when the ball's coming up. You got to

go up there. You got to come back at

this time. You got to slide over this

way." And another yellow card. And I've

got I've got carded more times than I

would like to admit as a soccer coach.

And uh now I didn't even realize that.

That was the past, right? Amen. It was

gone. It was done. That was all last

season. And first thing that one of the

parents said to me is talking about how

am I going to get carded this game and I

haven't praised the Lord. I haven't yet.

So I'm learning.

But I think some of us view the Lord

this way. I think a lot of times we see

God as like the referee of life that's

just watching us and waiting and he's

got a he's got a card in his pocket and

he's waiting and he's like, "Oh, that's

a mistake. We got a yellow card." Yeah.

And if you don't know much about soccer,

there's two you get you get a you get a

warning, the yellow card, and then you

get a red card or and sometimes if

you're real bad, if you're real stupid,

I've had those times as well. Uh but uh

but you'll get a you'll get a red card

right away. Luckily, I haven't got a red

card coaching my kid. Amen. So, I'm

grateful for that. That would be

embarrassing. I'm not sure what I'd

supposed to be do. Like, go sit in the

car for the last 20 minutes of the game.

like I don't know exactly what they tell

me to do, but I'd be kicked off the

field. When you get a red card, you're

gone. You got to leave the premises,

right? It's getting teed up in

basketball. Get out of here. Right? That

that idea. And so I I think we view God

that way where we're like, "Okay, oh,

you made a mistake. Here's your one

warning. Here's your yellow card.

Oh, you messed up bad.

You've messed up big.

You messed up so bad. I'm I'm red car.

You have been rejected. You have been

disqualified.

You are no longer allowed to play in

this game of church. You can't do that

anymore. Go home.

A lot of times I think we view God this

way.

And it can't be further from the truth.

As we're going through this series,

we've been talking about how death is

defeated. And and what we're talking

about today is that we are not

disqualified.

And Jesus wants to restore you after

your sin.

And this is this is part as we've been

covering in death defeated. We've been

talking about how uh Jesus turns death

to life. He turns the mundane into

mission. He turns pain into purpose. And

if you haven't caught these messages

last week, we talked about pain and

hurts and scars. And if you missed that,

please, I want to encourage you guys,

go, you can watch it online. Maybe you

need to have it ministered to your soul

again. It's one of those things that I

got to have the Lord heal me again and

again and again. Uh, but I I believe I

just believe down to the the depths of

me that church should be the safest

place to admit our pain and not be

defined by it.

>> Right?

And so today, what I want to talk about

actually the topic that we're hitting on

is if you were to if you were to do a

study in the New Testament on what did

the resurrection of Jesus destroy

mo like what what is it what does it

highlight the most? What does the New

Testament highlight more than anything

else? It doesn't talk about it it

destroys the mundane as much. It doesn't

talk about it destroys this the the the

story of pain and the hurt. Yes, all

that is. But actually, the number one

thing that scripture talks about is it

destroys sin. That's what we're talking

about today. Talking about sin, about

how sin does not disqualify us and how

God wants to restore us. But what I want

to do is I want to get some awkward

pride out of the way. Right? It's easy

in a message to go, "Amen. I'm gonna I'm

gonna amen that one real loud for the

person beside me. They needed that." Oh,

Pastor Drew, that was good. That person

up there looks like they really

That was for them. I'm going to Amen.

So, the kids, they didn't look like they

were paying attention. I think they're I

think they're scrolling on their phone.

Amen. That was so good. That was so

good. Right. Like we're we're trying to

signal to other people and we'll amen

for someone else. But I got a question

for us. Who in this room is a sinner?

>> All right. You better get your hand up.

You better get your hand up. Who's a

sinner? All right. Who in this room is

is is qualified

has has been good enough by their own

works to be able to get into heaven. Get

your hand down. Get your hand down. No.

No. No. Right. That is not any of us.

Who in this room has sin in your past

that you go, I am not proud of that.

Come on. Right. who has sinned in your

past that you're like, I just try to

keep it hidden as much as possible

because I I I got stuff behind me. I got

stuff in my past that I don't like.

There's a reality that a lot of times

when we think about ourselves and when

we think about where we're at right now,

we often think, I've been redarted.

I've been disqualified.

I'm not one of those people that Jesus

goes after. I'm not one of those churchy

people. I'm not one of those like

shiny smile on all the time Christians

that got all the right words and say all

the nice things and and and when they

serve people like all all that I I just

that's not me. I haven't been that way.

And we pass it off as if we have been

disqualified because of our past,

because of our current attitude or

things that we call our as ourselves,

our identity and our personality. When

in reality, some of those things may be

you. Some of those things may just need

to change, but they can't change without

a savior.

And I think one of the best pictures of

how to handle my own sin and my

sinfulness actually comes after the

resurrection as Jesus meets with Peter

for the first recorded meeting that

Peter has with Jesus after he denies

him.

Keep in mind the last conversation that

this is a summary of the last

conversations that they had, right? Do

you love me? Yes, I love you. I love you

so much. I would never reject you. I'd

never deny you. Everyone else may may

give you up, but I will never. Peter

declares, "I will never I would die for

you." And then he says, "Okay, great.

Thank you. Let's come over to this

garden. Let's pray together. Just stay

awake and pray. That's all I ask." Falls

asleep.

Falls asleep again. Falls asleep again.

And then when when Jesus is getting

arrested, they all run away. And then

Peter, not only does he not confess

Jesus as his Lord, denies him three

times over and watches Jesus be murdered

brutally on a cross.

And then

it's almost like it's worse for Peter

that Jesus rises again

and he's like, I gotta come face to face

with him.

I gota now this is this is interesting

what we see in in the response

of how Jesus restores Peter. This is in

John 21. In fact, today we're going to

be in two different passages. If you got

a paper Bible, this will help keep a

finger over in Romans chapter 5

Romans 5 · chapter mention

through8. And then we're going to be

focusing today on the story in John

John 21 · chapter mention

chapter 21. John 21:1 if you got a

John 21:1

digital Bible. Uh you can't do that as

easily. So, uh that's fine. But open up

to John 21. That's where we're going to

start. Start. Uh we can't go through all

of Romans 5 through8. That's a big

that's four chapters. We can't go

through that. But I want to encourage

you guys. John 21 talks about what

happens. Romans 5 through8 talks about

how it's made possible.

Please, I want to encourage you guys.

Would you go home and read? Just make a

note. Make a bookmark in your phone on

your Bible Romans 5 through8 and start

reading through that. It's hard to read

Romans and not actually study Romans. So

it will be as you read it and you go, I

have no clue what that just said. That

is really hard. That's actually the

purpose of Romans to read a passage and

go, I'm going have to reread that and

reread it again and again and again. And

what's going to happen is it starts to

get inside of you and it starts to

really build life inside. And I I'm I

may read there's some passages that I'm

like I'll read the sentence. I'll read

the sentence again. I'll go back and

I'll read before and I'll kind of skim

over what comes after and then I'll read

the passage again and okay, now it's

starting to come alive. Now I'm starting

to understand it. And the cool thing

about Romans is you don't have to have

like a deep knowledge of the Old

Testament and all this like theology

stuff in order to get it. But it does

take a little bit of digging. So it

becomes your own. And it's really so I

want to encourage you guys read Romans 5

through8 on your own. We're going to

skim through some verses around there.

But this is what happens. Uh Jesus, this

is the third time he appears to his

disciples. It's a little over a week

after the resurrection and says later

Jesus appeared again to the disciples

beside the Sea of Galilee. And this is

how it happened. Several of the

disciples were there. Simon Peter,

Thomas nicknamed the twin, Nathaniel

from Canaan and Galilee, the sons of

Zebedee and two other disciples. Simon

Peter said, "I'm going fishing."

That's important. Bookmark that. I'm

going fishing. He says, "We'll come

too." They all said, "So they went out

in the boat, but they caught nothing.

All night. And at dawn, Jesus was

standing on the beach, but the disciples

couldn't see who he was." So this is

what I want to real quick. Well, I'm I'm

gonna I'm gonna keep going before I get

ahead of myself. Let's keep going. Verse

five. He called out, "Fellows, have you

caught any fish? Any any guys that like

to fish? Any people like to fish? Guys,

ladies, come on. There you go. When

you're having a bad fishing day, how

great does it feel when it says, "Hey,

the fish biting."

>> No, bro. Actually, no. They're not at

all. Terribly. No. I haven't caught a

single thing. Huh? Well, that's just

you. All right. Like, I don't know what

they're thinking. It's a shame. You

don't You don't like to admit that. No,

we haven't caught anything. Thanks for

asking. Then he said, "Why don't you

throw your net out to the other side of

the boat, the right hand side?" Now,

that's usually where some of the the

ores would be kept. And so, it was they

wouldn't always throw the net. It

usually was over on the left side of the

boat. And so, they did and they okay,

we'll try it out. And they couldn't haul

in the net because there were so many

fish in it. Then the disciple Jesus

loved, that's John who wrote this book,

John said to Peter, "It's the Lord." And

when Simon Peter heard that it was the

Lord, he put on his tunic for he'd

stripped for work. He'd have like a

little like skirt like uh loin cloth

kind of thing on and that's not

appropriate to go greet someone in. So

he throws on his tunic, jumps into the

water and heads to shore.

Now this is there there's a couple

things in here that I want to highlight.

First of all, uh we talked about this a

little bit. talked about the beginning

of this passage two weeks ago. When the

disciples go back, they're about 60 to

75 miles north of where they last saw

Jesus in Jerusalem. They've gone back

home. It takes a very intentional trip

to go up to Galilee from Jerusalem. This

was not an accident. They are going back

and then Peter says, "I'm going

fishing."

Peter says that he wants to go back to

the old things. God's never never never

never ever go back. Once you've

experienced the father, once you

experience his love, once you experience

his grace, you can't live the same. You

can't walk the same. You can't operate

the same. In fact, what ends up

happening is similar to what you see

here. That you'll toil, you'll work all

night long and catch nothing. you'll

find that everything I'm I think I'm

doing the right things. I'm trying and

yet the fulfillment's not there. I'm

working. I'm laboring and yet there's no

fruit in it. That's that's life. when

I've tasted it and then I try to go back

and I try to do life the same way I've

always done it. That will be the most

hollow experience you can have when

you're when you've once tasted the light

in the life of Christ.

But what's interesting here is uh if you

if you study there's a lot of

theologians and a lot of scholars and I

I I didn't even realize this just as I

was studying this passage and then I

realized that a lot of people agree with

me that when Simon can we go back to 1

through 4 can we get that? Uh when Simon

says, "I'm going to go fishing,"

what he's doing is he's inviting the

other disciples to come back to the old

life with him.

And there's a couple different things

that happens that makes me realize not

only this, but also how Jesus talks to

Simon and and uh in in the verses follow

that but but then also how the angel at

the tomb

talks about the disciples and the angel

at the tomb says go and tell all of

Jesus's disciples that he is risen. also

tell Peter

there's now a separation

that's happened and I think what happens

is Peter has denied

the commission that Jesus gave to him

not his love for Jesus not his his

belief in Jesus Peter didn't stop

believing in Jesus but I do think he

stopped believing in himself myself.

I've tried.

I did that. I went all in. I failed so

hardcore. I gave the public affirmation.

I would never in front of all his

friends. I love you more than all of

these folks. In front of them, he stands

up that boldly. I'd give my life for

you. Public affirmation in an extremely

public failure.

rejecting Jesus three times before the

sun had risen that next morning.

And he

by his own selfassessment

disqualified himself.

I did that. I tried. Jesus himself said,

"If you deny me before man, I will deny

you before the father. I know what

happens. I know what I did. I am no

longer one of those guys. I'm no longer

one of the disciples. I have received

the red card. I know it. I can feel it.

I'm done. But I still love him.

I still believe. I just I've

disqualified myself.

This is

this is how so many of us live. In fact,

it's the it's the reason why so many

people will live say, "I'm a believer.

I'm a follower of Jesus." And yet for

for 10, 20, 30, 40, 60, 70 years, we

will live the exact same way

as the world that is not following

Jesus. And be amazed, why is my life not

changing? And be amazed, why does

nothing feel different? Why do I still

feel in bondage? Why do I still feel

stuck? Why do I still feel like there's

not a freedom in where like in in this

life? is abundant life. And a lot of

times that's a result of I'm trying I'm

I'm saying I'm following Jesus, but I'm

trying to live like someone who doesn't.

And it's going to kill you. It's going

to destroy you because

Jesus

Jesus doesn't want to reject you. He

wants to restore you. And that's what we

see next in

in John 21:15.

John 21:15

It says what happened what happened next

after Peter goes on land. Jesus is like,

"Help your help help the dudes bring the

fish in, man. You're a little bit too a

little too excited. Help him." So he

helps him bring it in. They cook some

fish up. They have some breakfast

together. And so then it says, "After

breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter,

Simon, in front of the other guys, son

of John, do you love me more than

these?"

Now, this is curious because

in this, in order to understand this

passage, you got to dive into the

original language, the Greek that it was

written in. So, I'm going to give you

guys a little bit of insight into that.

Uh, but there's no like noun that it's

highlighting here. Do you love me more

than these?

And I think the reason is is because

there's supposed to be a little bit of

ambiguity here.

Now, what is he referring to? The only

two the only two things that we know

that they're surrounded by is Peter's

surrounded by his disciples, by his

other by by the friends, and he's

surrounded by the fish and the nets and

the boats and all of that stuff. I think

I think Jesus probably was going, "Do

you love me more than these? Do you love

me more than the than than the fishing?

Do you love me more than that old

calling?

Do you know that fishing was actually it

was a decent job? And so it was it it

was do you love me more than maybe the

wealth that you could get from this

role?

Do you love me more than the things of

this world?

But I think the other double on tandra

that Jesus is doing here

is do you love me more than these

disciples?

Not saying do you love me more than you

love the disciples, but do you love me

more than the disciples love me?

Calling back to that that same thing

that Peter had said.

And the word that he uses here, there's

a few different Greek words for the word

love. And Jesus says, "Do you agapa? Do

you agape?" And what that word means is

agape is this like intentional

decision, committed unconditional love,

right? Like I I'm not changing. I've

made the decision. That's the type of

love that we're called to in marriage.

Not ju not not just to uh to feel the

butterflies at all times. The the agape

love. you're not going to feel

butterflies your entire whatever however

long till death do its part in marriage.

So the reality is is I've got to make a

decision and I've got to be committed.

>> I've got to I got to make sure that this

is something that I've made as a choice

now and I'm deciding it every morning

every day for the rest of my life. And

Jesus says do you agape me?

Yes, Lord. Peter replied, you know I

fileo you. He uses a different word for

love. What this fileo means is it means

kind of like a a friendship, but like

it's this deep affection love. It's it's

kind of the more emotional side of it.

It's the I I care. I love you. Um and

and almost like he's saying clearly my

love commitment

is terrible.

So yes, Lord, I fileo you. I have a deep

affection for you, but my commitment is

lacking.

I have shown that.

And then Jesus says, "Then feed my

lambs." And he and he begins to

introduce this recommissioning of Peter.

Feed my lambs. Be a shepherd. Care for.

Give the gospel to the children of the

faith. Right? Feed my lambs. Jesus told

him. Then Jesus repeated the question.

Simon son of John, do you agape me?

Yes, Lord. Peter said, you know, I fileo

you.

I do. I love you, but I can't love you

to the level of love that you love me.

I've witnessed that. I found that.

Then take care of my sheep. Jesus said a

third time. He asked him, "Simon, son of

John, do you agileo

me?"

Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the

question a third time. And Jesus is now

pulling that back to the level of love

that Peter is capable of.

He says, "Lord, you know everything. You

know that I fileo you." Jesus said,

"Then feed my sheep." And later next

verse it says then Jesus told him follow

me

and he restores the whole the whole

heart of Jesus

after the resurrection we see that

there's that what Jesus reveals when he

meets us in the midst of our sin and the

first thing is that his resurrection

breaks sin's authority

>> see I don't think when Jesus is saying

do you fileo me the last time he's not

saying Listen, your your imperfect love,

you just got to stick with it where it's

at, right? I think what he's saying is,

I'll take what you can currently give

me.

I'm calling you higher.

I'm calling you to agape love.

But if that's all that you have right

now, I'm meeting you where you are at.

Keep in mind, Jesus appeared to them at

the Sea of Galilee. Jesus is the one

pursuing them. Jesus is the one pursuing

Peter when Peter's been the one that

rejected Jesus. And now he says, "I must

have been rejected. I must have been

disqualified because of the way that I

rejected." But here's the reality. Jesus

shows that his resurrection breaks sin's

authority.

Jesus denied Peter. Sorry, Peter denied

Jesus three times. Jesus restores Peter

three times over. again and again and

again to the fullness of your failure.

He wants to restore you.

>> Amen.

>> This is why your sin, it's amazing

because sin when when when we talk about

how sin is broken, how sin is powerless

to Jesus, the reality is is that one of

the things that sin does is sin

separates us from God and it makes us so

that we do not have access to him

because he's perfect. He created the

design of all this and sin is missing

the mark. And so when I am imperfect,

when I miss the mark, when I do things

that misaligned with the design that he

has, now I'm no longer perfect. I'm

automatically naturally separated from

him because of my sin.

And what it does is it produces death

inside of me.

And it it creates this this stain on me.

Yet

in Jesus,

he says, "Your sin

actually becomes your testimony." He

wants to restore it so that you come to

him. You give it to him. You give your

mess to him. your sinfulness, your all

the all the ugly the things that only he

knows.

You give that to him and he says, "I'm

building a testimony out of this.

>> I will restore you to the level of your

failure

to the level that you have rejected me.

I actually want to restore you." This is

this is what's crazy because Romans 5:8

Romans 5:8

says God demonstrates his love

for us. How does he show his love to us

is that while we were still sinners,

Christ died for us. Do not think for a

second

that you got to first clean some crap up

before you come to Jesus. Do not think

for a second that you got to fix a

couple things and then you're good

enough to step into church. Don't think

about it for a second. Sometimes people

go, "I got to get a little bit of

restoration before I come and approach

someone and and and talk about my sin

and talk about my mistake." But because

I've already started to do this and I've

already got some restoration. Jesus

wants you right now.

He wants you so desperately right now in

the midst of it to come to him while we

were still sinners. He died for us.

Jesus resurrection frees us from the

power of sin. Romans 6:14 says it this

Romans 6:14

way. Sin will have no dominion, no

power, no authority over you since you

are not under law. But now you are under

grace.

See Jesus Jesus sacrifice it paves the

road that grace rides in on.

It's it's incredible. His so his

resurrection is revealing this

powerlessness of sin. Romans 6 1-4 says

it this way. What shall we say then? If

I've got all this grace from God, if

that's this good thing, should should I

go on sinning so that grace may continue

to increase? If he if my sin just

becomes a story, becomes a testimony,

why don't I just like keep building my

testimony, right? I can live the way I

want. No,

we are those who have died to sin. How

can we live in it any longer? There's

two options with sin, two products of

sin, two responses. It'll either kill me

or I got to die to it.

>> Those are the only things that I can do.

I've got to die because it's not I got

to overcome it. It's not I got to work

beyond it. It's not I got to outdo my

dirty with my clean. It's not got to be

better good than I am being bad. It's

I've got to die to that. There's a part

of me that needs to be killed,

needs to be crucified. I need to I need

to destroy that thing. Or don't you know

verse three, don't you know that all of

us who were baptized into Christ Jesus

were baptized into his death? We were

therefore buried with him through

baptism into death in order that just as

Christ was raised from the dead through

glory of the father we too may live a

new life. This is what baptism is guys.

It's just a couple what three weeks I

think it is until we have our baptism

Sunday. I want to we we got new life

Sunday. Please I want to encourage us if

you have made the decision

in your in when when you can make your

own in your valitional life. I can make

my own decision. It's not my parents

making the decision for me because I'm a

kid. It's not anybody else baptizing me

when I was a baby. If you've never been

baptized, that's what this passage is

talking about. Dying to your old self.

Give it up. Put it in the grave. And

it's the public declaration of that.

That's why we see baptism as both it's

both as a result of my own decision. So

it's not it's we don't see baptism ever.

We don't see infant baptism ever in

scripture. And so I don't I don't I

don't I mean we could get into the

church history as to where that came

from, but uh what we do here, what we

see, we practice what we see in the

word. And I'm not going to build on it.

I'm not going to put anybody else's word

above what I see in the word. And so

this is what we see. We see baptism

dedications for a child. I will dedicate

them. I will give them to the Lord. And

I'll say, I will raise this child

according to the ways of the Lord. And I

give this child. I pray that Lord, you

would hold this child in your hands. And

I pray that you would lead this child

their entire life. And that someday they

will make that same decision that I have

made. And that's where baptism is. It's

I have made the decision. I have decided

to follow Jesus. I have died. I've been

buried. And that's why we do baptism.

Not a little sprinkling. You've been

buried. Baptizo lit the Greek word

literally means to submerge. It's been

you it's been interpreted in in certain

context. The best word to interpret it

is to drown to die under the water. This

submission I'm buried in the grave.

Baptism is both a burial and a birth at

the same time. I am baptized and then

I'm given new life in him. I've died to

my old self. There's a new life. We got

a QR code. If you want, if you got

questions about baptism, if you've never

made the decision to get baptized, but

you've made the decision that I want to

follow Jesus, or you're curious about

that, we want to invite you into that.

Would you scan this QR code so that you

can jump in? We're going to have a

conversation about and and and I'll I'll

chat with you. Hey, what do we need?

What questions do you have about

baptism? Are you ready? Are we ready?

Because this is a public declaration of

a private reality. And I pray, I

believe, I know there's people in this

room that God is leading you into this.

Would you respond

when we're called? How when when people

say to Peter, "How do I respond to the

gospel of Jesus?" Later, Peter says,

"You repent," which is what we're

talking about today. It's turning from

my old ways, and then you be baptized.

Those are your responses. And so we see

here, I I got to I got to keep this

rolling because this is this is what

what I find is so powerful. The second

thing that we see from the resurrection

is not that just it it breaks sin's

authority. It's not that just uh uh that

but it's also that grace. There we go.

Thank you. Grace makes sin okay. Doesn't

make sin okay. It makes new life

possible.

I think when we think about sin, we got

to understand what it is.

Jesus doesn't look at us and say,

"You're sinning, therefore you're bad."

Sin doesn't make you bad. It makes you

dead.

Sin separates me from God. God is the

carrier of life.

What do I get when I'm separated from

life? Death is the only option. What do

I get when I'm separated from love,

hate, wrath? What do I get when I'm

separated from grace, judgment, my

decision?

It's not that God's not God's not

waiting to pull this red card out. He's

waiting to restore you. He's desperately

waiting. Is it's And so I got to take

here's the thing I find we got to take

our sin more seriously. Our sin is more

severe than we yet even know. It is

causing it has us caught in this trap of

death that I cannot escape on my own.

has me standing on one side of a

millionmile chasm and God standing on

the other side. And I cannot bridge that

on my own. I got to take my sin

seriously.

But we see here,

I love this.

I want to I want to I want to jump into

this. Romans 6:11 says, "Count

Romans 6:11

yourselves dead to sin."

Count yourselves dead to sin and alive

in God in Christ Jesus. Do not let sin

reign in your mortal body so that you

obey its evil desires. I got to treat it

seriously. I got to I got to come

forward in this thing. I don't try to

abuse God's grace. I try to get rid of

this thing. I try to die to this thing

every day. Do not offer part of your sin

yourself as sin as an instrument of

wickedness, but rather offer yourselves

to God as those who have been brought

from death to life. Offer every part of

yourself to him as an instrument of

righteousness. For sin no longer can be

your master. It has been overcome

because you are not under the law. You

are not under performance. There's no

red card and yellow card waiting over

you. You are under grace. And so this is

this is where I want to get into the

last point. His grace is greater.

This is this is the most powerful thing

about this. I guys, I want you to look

at the two the two miracles of Jesus

catching the fish or or of Jesus having

the disciples catch the fish. And both

times he says, "Try again." And then

they get this enormous catch of fish.

They recognize something miraculous just

happened. And there's two different two

different times that this happens. This

happens right when he's about to call

the disciples. Peter being one of those

first disciples. And he says, "Come

follow me and I will make you fishers of

men." The second is after Peter has

rejected Jesus. Jesus has risen again.

Now Peter has to come face to face with

a guy who died for him and he couldn't

even give a positive word for him.

Peter's sin was greater

the second time that the miracle

happened.

And we see the first time, how does

Peter respond? Matthew or Luke 5'8. When

Simon Peter saw that this man was

supernatural, when saw who who who Jesus

was, he fell at Jesus' knees and he

says, "Get away.

Leave." Can you imagine that? Leave me.

I'm a sinful man. I see my sin. I see

that you're good. And it's the response

that many of the times we have. We see

our sin. I see his glory. I see his

righteousness. And I say, "Get away. Get

away. Please. I'm pushing you away.

Please back away. I am not the person

that you want. I am not the type of

person that you need. I am a wretched

wretched sinner. Don't Don't come near

me, please." And we try to hold him at

at arms length. But here's the thing.

Then Jesus spends three years with Peter

and Peter sees not just his power, not

just his authority, but he sees his

love. What happens the second time that

he recognizes who Jesus is? Miraculous

catch of fish. And then we see in John

John 21:7

21:7 that John, the disciple Jesus love

said to Peter, "It's Jesus."

Peter heard that it was the Lord, threw

on his tunic, jumped in the water, and

he runs to Jesus,

not because his sin was not even

greater, but because he recognized the

incredible love of Jesus that when I see

his love, when I see his grace, I must

come to him in my sin.

Would you can we stand up? I want to ask

for us to respond the same way because

the the one who had heard I don't know

how many times Jesus gave the parable of

the prodigal son in front of Peter but

he heard the story again and again and

yet now the prodigal the one who had

heard the story of the prodigal son was

now returning

was the child returning to their master

to their savior

and this is the response because I got

to recognize that My sin is more severe

than I think it is,

but his grace is greater than I realize

it is.

And it's in that place that I want to

encourage you. You got two options here.

You're coming face to face with the

father. You're coming face to face with

the savior.

Which Peter are you going to model?

The Peter that turned Jesus away said,

"Please leave me." And rejected him.

Or the Peter that after the rejection

sees the incredible love of Jesus

and runs to him with everything in his

heart, jumps out of the boat, swims

across the sea so he can get to his

savior and fall at his feet. And in

saying instead of saying leave me, he

says help me.

And then that is the that is the only

way. If Peter runs to Jesus, he's

restored. If he runs away, he misses it.

And he will never be the Peter that we

know him to be.

He would be the the the disciple that

was just a little bit better than Judas.

And yet he runs to Jesus. Will you run?

So, I got a couple things

I want to see. Grace is found at the

altar. Grace, the altar is a place where

they'd bring their sacrifice where

they'd say, "I I I I'm bringing my

sacrifice to you. My lamb, my my grain,

my whatever offering and I bring it."

Now, Jesus said in in Romans talks in

Romans chapter 12 is, "I'm going to be a

Romans 12 · chapter mention

living sacrifice. I'm going to live. I'm

not going to I'm not literally

physically dying, but I'm going to be a

living sacrifice that lives on the

altar. Lives on a place of regularly

killing the things inside of me that

need to die.

Grace is found at that altar at the feet

of Jesus. So what I want to ask is I

want to invite us.

And Jesus is here.

He sees your sin

more clearly than you even see your own

sin.

I say, "I'm a wretched man." And he

says, "You actually have no idea.

The things even the things that you

thought were good, you're actually doing

in the wrong way.

And yet, I want you. I love you. I

desire you. I'm calling you and ready to

restore you.

So if I if you've seen Jesus as the as

the giver of red cards

who wants to reject you, he wants to

restore you. And what I want to do is I

just want to invite would you

would you respond?

Run to Jesus. Run to the feet of Jesus

and come up here. We're calling this the

altar.

There's nothing special about these

tiles up here, but there is something

special about physically responding. If

that's you, would you come on up and

say, "I need to run to Jesus. I need to

run to him in all my imperfection. I

need to run to him in all my mess. I'm

going to choose after whatever else I

may have done at whatever whatever sin."

Remember, we already all admitted it. We

already are all in the exact same boat

of the person that has rejected Jesus

and desperately needs him. If you go,

I'm coming to the feet of the father

right now for the first time ever, for

the first time in a long time, or maybe

just I need to I need to repent. And

what repentance is is is I'm I've been

walking my own way. I've been doing my

own thing. And instead, I'm going to

turn.

I don't have it all figured out. I'm not

way over there. There's other people who

I feel like are spiritually in a

different place than I am, but I'm just

going to turn. I'm just going to face

him, and I'm going to start my journey

of walking towards him. That's this

repentance. If that's you, would could

we get could we get some of our prayer

team to come up here first? And as our

prayer team comes on up, you can come up

and respond as well. Come on up. And I

want to ask for us if you need to

respond, if you need to repent, if you

need to turn from your old ways, if you

need to say, "Jesus, I give you my mess.

I give you my sin. I give you my my

pain, my issues, my dirtiness, all of

it. Would you meet me with your grace?"

He wants to meet you. Come on up. Come

on up. And I want to pray, heavenly

father, in the name of Jesus, I pray as

I as I we lift you up right here in this

place. I pray God that you would so

establish your love here.

That our sin is not the cause of

rejection. You have defeated the power

of sin. It no longer separates us from

you. It now draws us toward you. And so,

Father God, would we respond with a

genuine, humble, broken repentance as

you restore us? God, I pray for those

who are here that need to respond still.

That need to respond still

to say, "Yes,

I will give my mess to Jesus."

Would we make the decision in all of our

shame and all of our sin and all of our

guilt?

Would we make the decision to run to the

cross instead of running away from it?

And may that become our habit. May that

become our lifestyle.

In the mighty name of Jesus,

in the mighty name of Jesus, I pray your

victory. I pray you would turn these

sins into a testimony.

God, I pray you would turn this

sinfulness into righteousness.

I pray that you would show those who

think they are disqualified that you are

about to restore them. That they are not

rejected,

but you want to build

a new life

and we give it to you. We lay it at the

altar. all of our sin, all of our mess.

In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray.

Amen.

Amen. What I want to do real quick,

your your response here, we we're going

to we're going to let them continue to

do ministry here. What I want to what I

want to do is I want to ask there's not

a single person in here that doesn't

have sin, that doesn't have guilt, that

doesn't have that that that need to run

to the father. And so what I want to ask

is before you leave, can you do

something a little bit uncomfortable

and find someone that can that you can

go to and you can give a little

confession and say, "Hey, here's here's

where here's the what I'm dealing with

and what I want to say. Someone talks to

you about sin, you meet them as best as

you can like Jesus, okay? You meet him

with grace.

And we're what we're going to do is is

then we can actually battle with each

other. You don't have to do this alone.

Find some accountability. And then what

do we do together? We turn towards the

father.

>> Together we go to him. Together we fall

at his feet. And I will intercede. I

will pray with you. I will I will

minister with you at the feet of Jesus.

I encourage you, find someone before you

leave who can walk with you in the

journey

to becoming more like him every single

day.

>> Can we give a hand for the word of the

Lord? Amen.

>> Hey, thanks so much for watching today's

message. Our prayer is more than the

words that were spoken in the message

that you would remember the things that

God spoke to your heart.

>> Yeah. And no matter what it was that God

spoke to you, I know that part of your

journey is other people being in a

community because we are better

together. So if you made a decision to

follow Jesus today, would you click the

link below and fill out the form? This

is going to help us so that we can

celebrate with you and equip you with

some tools so that your next steps are

great steps.

>> Yeah. Thanks so much for watching. We're

praying for you. We're cheering you on.

We believe that the best days are ahead

of you.