Aug 25
17
Psa. 31:23 O love the LORD, all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.
Psa. 31:24 Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.
“Thou Knowest”
John 21:17
When the Lord asked his fallen servant, Peter, “Lovest thou me?” Peter replied with these words of confident, comforting faith – “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love the.e” Knowing his terrible sin, his miserable failure, and knowing that none of his brethren could see beyond his actions, the fallen saint took refuge in his Saviour’s perfect knowledge of him. He was saying, Lord, you see beyond what I am by nature. You see beyond my sin. You see me as I really am by your grace. In spite of what I am, in spite of the evil I have done, “Thou knowest that I love thee.”
Don Fortner
“He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.” John 21:16
Octavius Winslow
“God is love,” and the expression of that love is the
sending His own Son into the world, to achieve what the law, in its weakness,
could not do. Was ever love like this? “God so loved.” And was Jesus
willing to engage in the embassy? Did He voluntarily clothe Himself in our
rags, stoop to our poverty, consent to be arrested and thrown into prison for
us? Was He made a curse that He might deliver us from the curse? Did judgment
pass upon Him, that we might be saved from the wrath to come? Oh here is
infinite, boundless love! Then let Him have in return our love; it is the least
that He can ask, or we can make. Let it be a hearty, cordial, obedient,
increasing love. Alas! it is but a drop, when it should be an ocean. It is but
a faint spark, when it should be a vehement flame.
How should our best affection flow out toward Him who assumed,
and stills wears, our nature! What an attractive, winning object is the
Incarnate God, the God-man Mediator! Fairer than the children of men, the chief
among ten thousand, the altogether lovely, He is the wonder and admiration, the
beloved and the song, of all heaven. Why should He not be equally so of all
earth? Did the Son of God take up our rude and suffering nature, and shall we
be loth to take up His lowly and despised cross, and follow hard after Him?
Forbid it, Lord! Forbid it, you precious Saviour! What humiliation, what
abasement, can be too much for us, the sinful sons of men, when You, the
sinless Son of God, did so abase and humble Yourself! Let Your love constrain
us to stand firm to You, to Your truth, and to Your cause, when the world
despises, when friends forsake, when relatives look cold, and all seem to leave
and forsake us. And as You did condescend to be made in the likeness of our
human and sinful nature, oh conform us to the likeness of Your Divine and holy
nature. As You were a partaker with us, make us partakers with You. As You were
made like unto us, in what was proper to man, make us like You, in what is
proper to God. And as You did come down to our sinful and dim earth, lift us to
Your pure and bright heaven!
What a privilege is nearness to Christ! Yet, dear and precious
as it is, how sadly is it overlooked! We may trace this, in some degree, to the
believer’s oversight of his oneness with Christ. Yet to forget this truth is to
forget that He lives. As the branch has one life with the vine, the graft one
life with the tree, so he that is united to Christ, and grafted into Christ,
has one life with Christ. Go where he may, he is one with Christ. Be his
circumstances what they may, he is one with Christ. And as he is in Christ, so
Christ is in him. And if Christ be in him, dwelling in him, living in him,
walking in him, so also is Christ in every event, and incident, and
circumstance of his history. He cannot look upon the darkest cloud that
overhangs his path, but he may say, “Christ is in my cloud; Christ is in
my sorrow; Christ is in my conflict; Christ is in my need; Christ is all to me,
and Christ is in all with me.”
His
sheep feed in the midst of wolves!
(John newton)
“The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want!” Psalm
23:1
The Lord is my Shepherd! This is a
comprehensive word. The sheep can do nothing for themselves. The Shepherd must
guide, guard, feed, heal and recover. It is well for us–that our
Shepherd is the Lord Almighty! If His power, care, compassion and
fullness were not infinite–the poor sheep would be forsaken, starved and die!
But we have a Shepherd full of care, full of kindness, full of power, who has
said, “I will search for My lost ones who strayed away, and I will bring
them safely home again. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the
weak!” Ezekiel 34:16. How tender are these expressions, and how well
fulfilled! His sheep feed in the midst
of wolves–yet are safely preserved; for, though they cannot see
Him–His eye and His heart are ever upon
them!
Which of God’s children have not cause to say, “My
soul is among lions!” But our Shepherd stops their mouths, or
only permits them to gape and roar, and show their teeth. He does not allow
them to bite and tear us at their will. Let us trust our Shepherd–and all
shall be well.
As to daily occurrences, it is best to trust that a daily
portion of comforts and crosses–each one the most
suitable to our case–is adjusted and appointed by the hand which was
once nailed to the cross for us! We must trust, that where the path of
duty and prudence leads us–that there is the best situation we could possibly
be in, at that time.
Clowns
entertaining the goats!
(C.H.Spurgeon)
“Feed My sheep.” John 21:17
A time will come when instead of shepherds feeding the sheep,
the church will have clowns
entertaining the goats!
“I charge thee therefore before God, and
the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing
and his kingdom; 2 preach
the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all
longsuffering and doctrine. 3 For the
time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own
lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 and they shall turn away their ears
from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables!” 2 Timothy 4:1-4
A Shepherd feeds his sheep. It is his daily care to lead them to the pastures where the best food abounds. He guards them from unwholesome fields, in which herbage is rank, and weeds might injure, and thorns and thistles mock the hungry mouth, and poison lurks in a beguiling form. Thus he nourishes, and the flock thrives.
The prophet takes up the image, and exclaims, “He shall feed His flock like a shepherd.” (Isa. 40:11) They need nourishment, and largely He supplies. Their appetite is spiritual, and spiritual is their regalement. He brings them to the fertile meadows of the Word, and says, “Eat, O friends; drink, yes, drink abundantly, O beloved.” (Song 5:1) Bodies retain not life except through food, and sheep would perish without pasture. But the Word supplies abundantly. Around the camp of Israel the angels’ food fell only in the morning dew; but at all times the Word is near. The power of the Word to strengthen and revive consists mainly in its revelations of the Saviour. “The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy.” (Rev. 19:10) Here the hungry soul is cheered by gladdening views of His wondrous person, His everlasting love, His tender grace, His willing sufferings, His atoning death, His rising power, His ascending glory, His interceding might, His coming kingdom. Invigorated by views of their ever-present, ever loving Lord, they are strong for toil. They renew their strength in His appointed ordinances, and mount with wings as eagles. In the congregation of the saints, in united prayer and praise, they brace their nerves and gird up their loins. They see their Lord uplifted in His courts, and they return “rejoicing as a strong man to run a race.” (Psa. 19:5) A table is prepared before them in the house of their pilgrimage—even the sacramental feast. Here is much-loved refreshment. In these green pastures they lie down with great delight, and the food is sweet to their taste. Thus tender is the heavenly Shepherd. Thus nurtured is the happy flock. They feed and sing, He is indeed “the Good Shepherd!”
Henry Law
We have the nature of the trust committed of old to the Levitical priesthood, and now to the ministers of Christ.
“My covenant was with him of life and peace.” Malachi 2:5
That covenant — the everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure — by which God designed to convey life and peace to His people, was entrusted to the care and guardianship of the priesthood. It was deposited in their hands for the benefit of Israel. They were not merely to enjoy its provisions of grace themselves, but to make them known to the people, that they might become partakers of its unsearchable riches.
Brief, but full, is the sum here given us of its blessings — “life and peace” — eternal life and peace with God. Their daily sacrifices and ceremonies pointed to these, and their daily instructions opened up the glad tidings of great joy, which these rites both foreshadowed and contained. Such was the office of the sons of Levi under the law — and such is still the office of Christ’s ministers under the gospel.
Jehovah’s covenant of life and peace is still with us; nay, more truly and really with us now than it was of old with the legal priesthood. For now the darkness is past, the shadows have fled, and the true light has risen. Now the mere figures of the truth have vanished away, and the truth itself has come! He who is our life and peace, has, in the fullness of time, been revealed. Our covenant, then, is especially that of life and peace. Our office, our embassy, our message, are of life and peace. Ours is the silver trumpet that proclaims the dawn of jubilee. Ours is the olive branch that speaks of abated waters and indignation over and past. Ours is the ministry of reconciliation that tells of “glory to God in the highest, peace on earth and goodwill toward men.”
It is through Jesus, then, that we are commanded to proclaim life and peace. It is through the blood of the Lamb that these blessings flow. It is Jesus, the life of the world that we preach to men — Jesus the light of life — Jesus the fountain of life — Jesus the bread of life and the water of life — Jesus the resurrection and the life — Jesus the way, and the truth, and the life — Jesus the living and the life-giving One! It is through Him alone — through His finished work and perfect righteousness — that we proclaim lasting life to lost sinners; testifying, according to His own words, that “whoever believes in Him though he were dead, yet shall he live”; and that “this is life eternal, to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.” It is thus that we are “to preach the gospel with the Holy Spirit sent down from Heaven.”
Horatius Bonar
Jesus shewed himself again
John 21:1 After these things Jesus shewed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and on this wise shewed he himself.
1. The Lord Jesus Christ must Himself show Himself – that is simply what the scripture declares.
It is always His coming to us which is the vital matter. There will be “a time of love” for all He loves everlastingly.
2. The resurrected Christ is only known by revelation but His revelation is a repeated revelation – again. He only revealed Himself to His chosen, His elect, those for whom He bore those wounds unto death.
3. on this wise shewed he himself.
Everything about this event every detail is full of gospel truth for our believing.
This is how the resurrected Christ reveals Himself again.
4. The resurrected Christ meets with His gathered ones at the place promised but at a time and in a way in which they were not expecting to meet Him. He reveals Himself always as He sees fit.
5. When the Lord reveals Himself – He will find us in darkness and bring light again. He will find us having toiled and been empty – weary and heavy laden.
6. When He reveals Himself He will reveal us to us. Isaiah 6:1-7
7. When He reveals Himself His word will come to us with the power to obey.
All His “I wills” and “they shalls” will be fulfilled.
8. The deity of Christ will be revealed. He Who commanded ’let there be light.” Can command fish – “get into the net.” The wind and the waves obey Him. He worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.
9. When He reveals Himself His loved ones will know it is THE LORD.
10. When He reveals Himself His loved ones will know it is THE LORD and tell others immediately.
11. When you see Him revealed you have got to get to Him – nothing else matters just getting to Him being with Him is vital. Peter heard and ‘did cast Himself into the sea.’
12. When He reveals Himself we come to Him seeing that everything about my salvation is already done.
Come and dine. Not ‘come and do’ but ‘come and dine’ on what you did nothing to earn nor deserve.
13. Such is the glory of the revealed Christ that He delights in the gift of giving from His servants.
Grace abounding to the chief of sinners. “Bring the fish you have caught” Who was the one alone who sovereignly ruled the sea and there fish?
14. When He reveals Himself we will rejoice to be called “children.” One who: belong to a Father, one who has an elder Brother, one who is birthed from the same Mother, from the same seed, one who is born to a place of dependence, needy and teachable but mostly one who trusts with the innocence of a child loved dearly.
Lord reveal Yourself in Your resurrected glory again to Your children.