Why Jesus Told Peter "Feed My Sheep" — John 21 Explained

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, once again, we'll get right back into the book, and I've told you here in the class, I guess, to turn to John's Gospel, chapter 21. And again, for those of you joining us on television, how we appreciate hearing from you. My, we just live for our mail. And we just appreciate so much when people tell us that they're studying with us. And then especially when you order the tapes with the express reason of starting a home Bible class, because this is where people learn. You get into a little home setting, and it's informal, and I know what a lot of people are doing. Excuse me, they are running the tape, maybe for 30 minutes, and then they have a discussion, and then they can back the tape up or use the books, and that's popping up all over the country, literally. So for those of you on television, if you are interested in starting a home Bible class, just call us on our 800 number. And that's not into an office, per se, that comes into our kitchen. But anyway, catch us when you can, and Iris takes the orders, and so far she's been keeping up with them. And we just love to hear that people are studying the Word. As I've said so often, we don't try to twist arms. We don't try to get people out of one organization into another. That's not the name of the game. But what's so important is that we get people back into their own study of the Word. And the book isn't that hard to comprehend. Naturally, you have to have a little guidance. But if you learn to search the Scripture and compare Scripture with Scripture, it all begins to fall into place. All right, John's Gospel, chapter 21, and let's start right at verse 1. I'm going to use this last chapter of John just exactly as it sets in your Bible, and that is as an introduction to the book of Acts, because a lot of you folk have been reminding me, and our mail has been reminding us, that they're anxious for us to start in Acts. Well, here is the beginning of it. His resurrection, 40 days' experience again, and verse 1 of 21 says, "...after these things Jesus showed Himself again," beyond those things that we rehearsed in our last program, "...to disciples at the Sea of Tiberias," or up at Galilee, "...and on this wise He showed Himself. There were together Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael of Canaan, Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples." That's a total of five, if I'm counting right. And Simon Peter said unto them, I love this, I mean, it says so much more than what we normally get by just reading it, I go fishing. Now stop and think. Peter I think was probably the eldest of the twelve. I have several reasons for thinking that. I think he was probably up in his forties, and the rest of them were probably in their early thirties. But what has been his lifestyle? Fishing! I think old Peter just loved that Sea of Galilee, and those of you who've been there, you can understand why. It's a beautiful setting, and so everything is gone. Even though he's seen the resurrected Lord by this time, it still hasn't registered. And I think what Peter says here, I'm just going back to where I come from. And so he says, I'm going fishing. And they, the other four, said, we go with you. And so they went forth and entered into a ship immediately, and that night they caught nothing, and we covered all this several programs ago. And when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. And again Jesus said, like He did back in Luke 24, Have you any food? And they answered, No. And then you know the account, how He told them to cast on the other side of the ship, and all of a sudden their net was full. And yet it didn't break. Now we covered all this several weeks ago in our teaching of the signs of John's Gospel, and this is the eighth sign. And again, eight is always the sign of new beginnings. And so what we have here then is the picture of Israel coming back into the kingdom, that every Jew that's supposed to be in the kingdom is going to be there. God's not going to lose a one of them, no more than Peter lost any of these 153 fish. All right, so now then you come down to verse 12. And as they bring this great net full of fish to shore, Jesus already has fish in the pan waiting for breakfast. And He says unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples dared ask Him, Who art thou? For they would like to have. And yet on the other hand, have you ever been in that kind of predicament? You know you know somebody, and yet you're not sure. And I think that's where they were. And so they dare not ask Him who He was. Verse 13, And so Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise. Now this is the third time that Jesus showed Himself to His disciples after He was risen from the dead. So when they had dined, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon son of Jonas, Lovest thou me more than these? Now the commentators, I guess, have got a running argument. Who are the these? Who is Jesus referring to when He says to Peter, Do you love me more than these? Well, some will say it's His fellow disciples, and some will say it's the fish, and I've even read some where they've got something else, and I don't remember what it was. But my own impression, and again, I'm not saying it's absolutely right, I think when Jesus said, Do you love me more than these, He's looking at that net full of fish. So that's His life. This is what He's done since He was a child. And so now the Lord is putting Him on the spot. Peter, do you love me more than your fishing? Now I could say, others will say, those fellow disciples. But Peter said unto Him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love you. And He said unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith unto him again the second time, Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me? And again Peter said, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. And Jesus said unto him, Feed my sheep. Now I made the statement several weeks or maybe even a few months ago that I don't say some of these statements locked in concrete, but I throw them out to just make you think and to make you search the Scriptures. But it's my impression that the sheep of Scripture are the Jews. Now the reason I say that is because when we get to church portion of our Bible, Paul, he never refers to us as the Lord's sheep. But see all up through the Old Testament we have that analogy, the sheep and the shepherd. The Psalms 23, you're all acquainted with that. And I think the same thing here. I think that when Jesus said to Peter, Feed my sheep, and of course He says it three times in a row to compensate for what other three? His denials. First, He denied the Lord three times in a row, and now the Lord gives him the opportunity to come back and compensate for that by three times promising, I'll feed your sheep. I love you. All right? Now why do I say that I think He's confining Peter to the nation of Israel? Let's go all the way back to Galatians, if you will, and I'm doing this to prime you for a study of the book of Acts, which again I'm going to probably look at quite differently than most people do. And that doesn't disturb me because I've always said, you know, when it comes to the things that are spiritual, the majority is almost always wrong. Always has been. The majority said there was no flood. The minority said, yes, there is. And oh, at the time of Elijah and the prophets of Baal, Elijah thought it was down to a minority of one. Well, it wasn't quite that bad. God said, no, Elijah, there are 7,000 that haven't bowed the knee to Baal. But what was 7,000 compared to the five or six million? See, just a small, small minority. And then the Lord Jesus made His own analogy in that classical verse, and you all know it. Wide is the gate, and wide or broad is the way, and many that go in thereat. But narrow is the way, and narrow is the gate, and few there be that find it. Never lose sight of that. The majority is usually not right. All right, Galatians chapter 2. Remember now I'm saying that I think the Lord is confining Peter's ministry to the sheep, to the Israelites, to the Jew, and we're going to see Him do that in the book of Acts. But here in Galatians, Paul is rehearsing an event that takes place in about 51 A .D., so that would be, oh, 29 from 51, that's 22 years after Pentecost. And now look what they agree on in Galatians chapter 2. Oh my goodness, where are we going to start? Verse 6, Galatians 2, I really normally start verse 1, but for sake of time, let's just go to verse 6, where Paul has been brought back down to Jerusalem now from Antioch to confront the Jewish believers, that Jesus was the Christ, about His ministry to Gentiles. And so verse 6, But of these who seem to be somewhat, he's making reference, of course, to the leaders, the disciples, and probably others, whatsoever they were maketh no matter to me. God accepted no man's purse, for they who seem to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me. In other words, when they brought Paul down to Jerusalem, and they literally put him on the carpet as to his ministry to these Gentiles, and he had to, you might say, stand on his own two feet. And now this is where he is being instructed to write by the Holy Spirit, remember. He says in verse 7, But contrarywise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision, now those are Gentiles, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision, the Jew, was committed, I'm just putting the word back from the first part of the verse, as the gospel of the circumcision was committed unto whom? Peter, see? Now who are the circumcision? Jews, Jews in Scripture. Verse 8, For he, speaking of God, that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the, whom? Circumcision. The Jews, see? So the same God that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, or the nation of Israel, the same God was mighty, Paul says, in me toward what people? Gentile. Do you see that? And so when James and Peter and John, in verse 9, who seemed to be pillars, they were seemingly in the leadership role down there at Jerusalem, perceived or understood the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship, in other words what did they do? They shook hands, they shook hands, it was an agreement. And so they gave unto me the right hands of fellowship, that we, that is Paul and Barnabas, should go to the heathen, the Gentiles, and they, Peter, James and John, would go to whom? The Jew, plain as day. Your Bible, if it doesn't say it, you better get another one. This is the old King James and it makes it just as plain as day that there was that stark difference. Peter and the eleven confine their ministry to the Jew, Paul, Barnabas, later on Silas, they're going to go to the Gentile. All right, now then come back to John 21 and this will all begin to make sense, how that Jesus now realizing, He knows the end from the beginning. He knows that when they come into the Acts account, it's going to be only to the nation of Israel. Now show that so vividly when we get in there. The language is so plain, a sixth grader can read it and understand that there's no language in there addressed to Gentiles, it's all to the Jew. And it comes right back to this setting right here where Jesus says to Peter, "...feed my sheep, the house of Israel." Oh, you remember that verse we looked at several months ago? You know, I can't help it honey, these things come to mind. You know, she doesn't get any advance notice of what we use. Go back to Matthew, Matthew chapter 10, Matthew chapter 10. You all know these verses, we've touched on them more than once. Matthew chapter 10, start at verse 5, Matthew 10, verse 5, He's just chosen the twelve up there in Galilee. So these twelve Jesus sent forth and commanded them, saying, "...go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans, enter you not, but," now this is Jesus speaking, "...but go rather to the," what? "...lost sheep of the house of Israel." And so He has that analogy all through His earthly ministry, that Israel is the sheep of His pasture. And we picked it up, as I already said, from the Old Testament, "...the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." Now that doesn't mean we can't use Psalms 23, don't get me wrong. But in its original setting, it was the Lord's dealing with His nation, covenant nation, the children of Israel. All right, back to John 21. So now He says the third time, "...feed My sheep." And then verse 18, Jesus again speaking, says, "...verily, verily, I say unto thee," that is to Peter, "...when thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkedest whither thou wouldest. But when thou shalt be old," now where is Peter age-wise? Well, he's somewhere in between. He's no longer young. He's not yet old. So I'll peg him at somewhere in the 40s, 40-something. Because they had to be 30 in Israel's economy to become priests and so forth. So I'm sure that they were all over 30. But Peter's a little more than that. I think Peter, like I said, I'm guessing he's 40-something, just from the language. And then he says, "...when thou shalt be old, thou shalt strut forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldst not." This speakee signifying by what death he, Peter, should glorify God, which we know from legend at least that He was crucified upside down. But nevertheless, Jesus comes back now in the last part of the verse, and when He had spoken this, He said unto him, "...follow Me." And then, of course, very human. Everybody's human, even in Scripture. And Peter's just as human as the rest of them. So now he hears these words that don't sit, I don't suppose, too comfortably. So he looks at the younger man, John, and he says, now, what about him? So Peter, verse 20, "...turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also leaned on his breast to supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? Then Peter, seeing him, saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do?" In other words, John. "...And Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry, or continue living, until I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou Me." Well, then, verse 23. See how people misconstrued the language back then, just like we do today? And so from that statement, you see, the rumor went out that John wasn't going to die until the Lord came. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die. "...Yet Jesus did not say unto him, He shall not die. But, if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?" In other words, Peter, it's none of your business whether John lives to be a hundred or if he lives until I return. Well, we know he did live to be almost a hundred. And then, verse 24. John, closing his gospel account now, says, "...This is the disciple who testified of these things, and wrote these things. And we know..." See, I like that word. "...We know that his testimony is true." And then, verse 25. I made reference to a week or so ago. "...And there shall also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose, that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written." All right. Now, then, we're going to go right on into an introduction of the next book in your New Testament, the book of Acts. We have seen the unfolding of the gospel accounts, Christ's earthly ministry, His crucifixion, His resurrection, His 40 days after resurrection, and now we are about to see His ascension. And so, the first thing I like to do in a few comments of introduction is that you have to realize, number one, that the book of Acts is transitional. I remember several years ago when the parlor game, the table game, trivia came out, and everybody was playing trivia. Well, I guess there was a segment of trivia that was biblically oriented, and had nothing but Bible questions. And I remember one individual, I don't remember if it was a man or a lady, who came into class, just tickled his face and said, was I ever glad I'd been in your class. I won trivia the other night because of it. And I said, well, at least it's good for something. And I said, what in the world was the trivia question that you knew that no one else did? Well, she said the question was, which book of the Bible is transitional? And she said, I knew it, the book of Acts. And indeed it is. Now, what's a transition? When you're going to move from one state to another. And so we're going to be moving in this book of Acts from God's dealing with the nation of Israel, which He has been doing now ever since Genesis 12. Everything has been predominantly, not exclusively, but predominantly for the Jew only. And you remember I always put on that with exceptions. There were exceptions when God went to Nineveh. He saved the Syrian general Naaman. But other than that, it's all Jewish. And so we're going to begin the book of Acts, all Jewish. No mention of Gentiles whatsoever. But all of a sudden we get to the point when Israel is rejecting everything, continuing to reject it. And then God does something, as I've stressed so often, that's been kept secret in the mind of God that no one comprehended. And that is He would turn to the Gentile without Israel. Now you want to remember the whole Old Testament program was that God would go to the pagan, heathen Gentiles through Israel. That was the whole purpose of calling them out, and setting them apart, and making them His covenant people, that they one day could go back into those pagan Gentiles and give them the knowledge of their Jehovah God. Now some of you are looking quizzically. That means we've got to look some Scripture. Go back to Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 42. Isaiah chapter 42, Isaiah 42, and let's just start, verse 1. "...Behold My servant, whom I uphold, Mine elect, in whom My soul delighteth, I have put My Spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment or rule through the Gentiles." Who's the pronoun He? It's Christ, the Messiah, see, the Messiah of Israel. All right, let's go on over to chapter 49, chapter 49, and drop down to verse 6, 7. Isaiah 49, 6 and 7. "...And He," that is the Lord, up in verse 5, "...the Lord said, It is a light thing that thou shouldst be My servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give thee for a light to thee, whom? Gentiles, that thou mayest be My salvation unto the end of the earth." Now, who is He talking to? Well, the tribes of Jacob. Who are the tribes of Jacob? Israel. Now, we've got the Messiah in 42 who is going to be the light, but we also have the nation is going to be the light. Now, verse 7. "...Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and His Holy One, to Him whom man despiseth, to Him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers kings shall see and arise. Princes also shall worship because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of whom? Israel. And He shall choose thee." All right, come over. We're just going to do this quickly now. Chapter 59, Isaiah 59, drop down to verse 20. Isaiah 59, verse 20. "...And the Redeemer," capitalized, "...shall come to Zion," that's Jerusalem, "...and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob." Now, who is Jacob associated with? Nation of Israel. Verse 21. "...As for me," the Lord says, "...this is My covenant with them, My Spirit that is upon thee, and My words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, or out of the mouth of thy seed. Saith the Lord from henceforth forever." Who is He talking to? Jews, the nation of Israel. All right, now look at chapter 60, verse 1. "...Arise and shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." The nation of Israel. "...For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and the gross darkness the people, but the Lord shall arise upon thee," that is the nation, "...and His glory shall be seen upon thee." The nation of Israel. And then verse 3. "...And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising." Now, you see the connection? Once the light would come to the nation of Israel, the two in consort would be the light of the world to the Gentiles. All right, another verse in the Old Testament. Come all the way up to Zechariah. We've only got a couple minutes left again. Now, Zechariah chapter 14. No, chapter 8. Zechariah chapter 8. Zechariah, next to the last book in your Old Testament again, find Matthew, go back to the left through Malachi, and then Zechariah. I've only got 30 seconds left, so I'm just going to have to drop way down to verse 23. Verse 23. "...Thus saith the Lord of hosts, In those days it shall come to pass that ten men shall take hold, out of all the language of the nations, shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with whom? You, the nation of Israel." Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, OK, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, OK, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time, for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.