“Forgiven To Follow The Risen Lord”
John 21
Sermon Series: “Getting Acquainted With Jesus”
Introduction: Our mission statement at True Life is “meeting people where they are and helping them become fully devoted followers of Christ.” I think that is a very biblical mission because Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). In the South, it is common to divorce believing in Jesus from following Jesus, but the Bible does not give us that option. The ending of the gospel of John is very interesting. The climax of the book is found in verses 30 and 31 of chapter 20, which tell us why the book was written. However, chapter 21 is a very important epilogue. It teaches us that if Jesus has found us and we believe in Him that we are to follow Him whole-heartedly. Now, I am not saying that salvation is based on my ability to follow, but I am saying that true salvation gives us a desire to follow Jesus. I am regularly frustrated with my sin and shortcomings as a follower of Jesus. However, I believe this type of frustration is scriptural evidence of a genuine believer who is saved and transformed by grace but knows he (or she) is not everything God wants him (or her) to be (yet) [see Paul in Romans 7]. With that said in the way of introduction, let’s break this down and look at both sides of the equation. We’ll look at God’s side as far as Jesus seeking us, and then we’ll look at the human response by looking at characteristics of genuine followers of Jesus.
1. Jesus seeks us out (v. 1-19)
God always takes the initiative. We can only come to Him through the drawing ministry of the Holy Spirit. We are saved because we are chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). We can only come back to God and be restored and forgiven as a Christian because God graciously continues to work with us and forgive us. This passage reminds me of the parable of the prodigal son where the Father (representing God) was looking for and then ran to his wayward son. Jesus sought them out, spoke to them, served them, and publicly restored Peter. He called Peter to fully follow Him and even revealed part of His plan for Peter’s life. He is the gracious God of the second chance. What is Jesus seeking you out for today? Is it salvation, is it forgiveness and restoration as a Christian, is it a special calling, or something else?
