The Alternative

Dr. Tony Evans: Every man and woman in the Bible whom God used greatly, He humbled first. God's Spirit won't fill the person who's already filled with themselves. If you're going to love Christ, your failure and correction must be broken before Him.

This is the Alternative broadcast, featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans.

Guest (Male): Broken bones sometimes need to be re-broken before they can heal properly, and there are times when our fractured spiritual life requires the same drastic procedure. Today, Dr. Evans tells us how one biblical character's life changed after going through that process. Let's listen.

Dr. Tony Evans: You turn your Bibles with me to John chapter 21 that will serve as the centerpiece for our discussion today of loving Christ. So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord, You know that I love You." He said to him, "Tend My lambs."

He said to him again a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord, You know that I love You." He said to him, "Shepherd My sheep." Verse 17 and said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me?" Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, "Do you love Me?" And he said to Him, "Lord, You know all things. You know that I love You." Jesus said to him, "Tend My sheep."

This story comes on the heel of a great event in Peter's life. He had failed Christ and the question of love became the question of the day. These three verses come on the backdrop of a climactic event that raises the question about love. Does Peter love Christ? And it is Christ's question. Hopefully, as we look at this story, we will be able to answer it ourselves once we come to a conclusion.

I want to state three things about our love for Christ. First of all, our love for Christ is tested in the context of opposition against Him. It's easy to love Christ if there's no competition in the house. It won't be hard in this environment to say, "Amen, praise the Lord, and I love You, Jesus." But try that in a world that doesn't agree with your presuppositions and it can become quite tough.

It is amazing how silent we can become when we are in an environment of people who do not buy where we're coming from. Turn with me, please, to Luke chapter 22 and let's look at verse 31. "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail and you, once you have been turned again, strengthen your brothers."

And he said to Him, Peter says to Jesus, "With You I am ready to go both to prison and to death." And He said, "I say to you, Peter, the cock will not crow today until you have denied Me three times that you know Me." Peter was the impetuous one. Sometimes he was on target, other times he blew it. The first problem is he boasted too much. You see, he miscalculated a couple of things.

The first thing he miscalculated was himself. He thought he was spiritually stronger than he really was. He had forgotten that his own evil heart could betray him. And many of us are self-deceived to think we're more spiritual than we really are. He thought he was spiritually mature, spiritually responsible, and spiritually on target. He was about to become a spiritual catastrophe.

Luke chapter 22, verse 49, let me read it for context. And when those who are around Jesus saw what was going to happen, they said, "Lord, shall we strike with the sword?" They were coming to take Jesus after Judas had betrayed Him. They say, "Should we take our swords out and fight?" And a certain one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear.

Let me read it to you from John chapter 18, which tells the same story. Verse 10 says, "Simon Peter, therefore, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's slave, cut off his right ear, and the slave's name was Malchus." So Peter, impetuous Pete, they're coming to get his master. He takes out his sword and swipes off the guy's ear.

And while it looked good that he was protecting Jesus, it sounds good that he was protecting Jesus, he was outside of the will of God. Jesus says in Luke 22, verse 51, "Stop, no more of this!" And He touched his ear and healed him. Now, I don't know why they didn't believe in Jesus right there. If I was a Roman soldier, I'd have to say, "Hmm, let's rethink this deal."

But miraculously healed Malchus's ear right there. John chapter 18 says that He then turned around and told Peter, "Shall I not do My Father's business?" In other words, this is part of the plan. There's a great lesson here. Before you act, make sure you're in concert with God's will. Don't just do it instinctively. Don't just do it because it seemed like the right thing to do. Not when God has revealed what is the right thing to do, which He had to Peter. He had already revealed it.

So he acted too fast. He lost sight of God's purposes. Look at verse 54 of Luke 22. "And having arrested Jesus, they led Him away and brought Him to the house of the high priest. But Peter was following at a distance." They come, they arrest Jesus, they're taking him on, and after they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter was sitting among them.

Now watch this now. He follows at a distance, and in verse 55, he is now sitting with the enemy. He has gone one minute from slicing somebody's ear off to if he can't have it Peter's way, he'll have it no way. He now drifts from Christ; he follows from a distance. Watch out when there's space between you and the Savior because whenever there's space between you and the Savior, it opens up the opportunity for Satan's crowd to grab you up. Keep close contact with Jesus Christ.

Secondly, our love for Christ is corrected by our brokenness before Him. Go back to John chapter 21, verse 15. All the disciples are gathered there minus Judas. "Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?" "These" can only refer to one thing: the other disciples. You see, Peter had told Jesus, "I love You more than these. If they all leave You, I will not leave You. If they all forsake You, I will not forsake You."

And then he hit rock bottom. Jesus now, "Do you love Me more than these?" Peter had become a broken man. You cannot see it in the English, but let's go to the Greek. Jesus literally says, "Do you agapao me?" Agapao is the Greek word for love, from agape—God's self-sacrificing sacrificial love. Peter's answer is, "Lord, You know I phileo You." Switch words.

Can't see it in the English because both words mean love. Big difference. Agapao means God so loved the world, that is the idea that self-sacrificing, give up your own rights for the benefit of somebody else kind of commitment. Phileo means friendship, running buddies, kinship. It's more like saying, "I like You." In order for you to love Christ, you must first be broken by Christ.

Christ breaks him. As you'll see in a moment, this man is crushed, and all of a sudden boastful Peter is humble Peter. Humble Peter now. He's not braggadocious anymore. Every man and woman in the Bible whom God used greatly, He humbled first. Moses was going to lead the children of Israel from slavery to freedom. And so he goes out and kills the Egyptian. Now, I don't know what this man is thinking. Is he going to kill them all one at a time and free the Israelites? I don't know.

But when he met God at the burning bush and God said, "Take off your shoes, the place you're standing is holy ground," and He says, "Now you're ready after working with sheep for a long time to go set My people free." Now what does Moses say? "I can't do it. I can't talk." He starts giving excuses right. "I can't do this. Who shall I say sent me? Why should they believe me?" What had happened? He had lost his independence and he had become dependent. Dependent.

Over and over again through the Bible, God breaks people. Did you know that agonizing thing that you hate the most, that you regret the most, could be, if you allow it to be, one of the greatest blessings of your life because you're now going to not make any other steps without consulting Him first? He has shown you and me your humanity. And now you have become broken and dependent.

Guest (Male): Dr. Evans wants to describe what God has in store for us next and he'll return to do that after these words. Don't go away.

Chronic illness, long hospital stays, questions with no clear answers. On the Unbound podcast, Dr. Tony Evans talks with New Testament scholar Dan Wallace about faith when suffering doesn't have a timeline. "I ended up going to hospital after hospital and for the next five years, I kept coming back to the hospital." Real pain, real perspective. "Trials produce perseverance, perseverance produces character, character produces hope." Unbound with Dr. Tony Evans. Listen now.

Dr. Evans has hosted a number of teaching trips to the Holy Land. It's an incredible experience for those who are able to make it. But we realize it's something that's not possible for everyone. In light of that, Tony invited a team to document a previous tour with photos, talks, and insights that were captured and have now been beautifully presented in a large, high-quality picture book called Experiencing Israel.

This book is perfect for those who are planning on traveling to the Holy Land in the future and for those who think they may not have that opportunity firsthand. Tony's current teaching series is all about developing personal intimacy with Jesus. This book will help you do that as you visit and learn about the places the Lord walked during His time on Earth.

And that's why for a limited time, we're making both resources, Experiencing Israel and the eight-part CD series Pursuing Christ, our gift to you when you make a generous contribution toward Tony's ministry. To get all the details, just visit tonyevans.org or call our resource center at 1-800-800-3222. I'll have that information for you again after part two of today's lesson. Here's Tony.

Dr. Tony Evans: So Peter now is in the process of restoration because he has come face to face with his failure and has been humbled by it. Number one has now been humbled. He has become humble. But that is the process to restoration. "Do you love Me more than these men?" "No, no, I phileo You." Jesus says to him a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me?" Now this time He doesn't add "more than these men," just forget the men now. Do you love Me?

"Yes, Lord, I phileo You." I am not going there. Jesus used agapao again. "I am not going there." And look at verse 17. And He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you," now watch this now, "phileo Me?" Do you get the switch? Third time, the Greek word that Jesus uses for the question is not agapao anymore. It's now phileo. That's very important. I'll explain in a minute, but keep that in mind.

But here's what I want to show you right now. Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, "Do you love Me?" He said, "Lord, You know all things. You know that I love You." He was grieved, hurt, broken, in pain, sad, disturbed. Why would he be disturbed? Was it that Jesus was asking him the question too much and he got tired of being bombarded with the same old question? No.

He was grieved when Jesus asked him the third time. You remember what happened? "Before the cock crows, you will deny Me three times." Do you follow me? "Do you love Me?" One. "No, I phileo you." "Do you love Me?" Two. "Am I even your friend? Do you phileo me?" Because when he heard the third time, he remembered three times.

And it was that third time when the cock crowed. It was that third time when it was revealed to him he had failed Almighty God who he had made the promise with. It was that third time when his failure caused him to run outside, the Bible says, and he wept sorely. The third time. So when Jesus asks him about the love for the third time, he is reminded of the pain of his failure. Anybody ever been reminded of that?

Well, if you're going to love Christ, then your failure and correction must be broken before Him. The greatest need in my life, the greatest need in your life today is for brokenness. We have too many self-sufficient Christians. Jesus had told His disciples, and they soon forgot, John 15:5, "Without Me you can do nothing." Peter says, "I can do something. I can do this on my own."

Until you believe that, then you'll always try to do something until God breaks you and me so that we learn we can do nothing. We can go through the motions, but we cannot have any spiritual victory apart from Christ's provision. Third point, last point: our love for Christ is protected by the provision of grace from Him.

The first point is our love for Christ is tested in a context of opposition against Him. Secondly, our love for Christ is corrected by our brokenness before Him. But then our love for Christ is protected by the provision of grace from Him. Let's look back at John 21. He fails Christ, he runs outside and cries, weeps like a baby, cries sorely.

And then we find him at the beginning of chapter 21, verse 3. Simon Peter said to him, "I am going fishing." You remember what fishing was to Peter? His old job. "I've already blown it. I've already messed up. I'm going fishing." They said to him because he's still the leader, "We going fishing too." Verse 4 says, "But when the day was breaking, sun was coming up, Jesus stood on the beach, yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus."

So what I want to say is, while Peter went back fishing, Jesus came looking for Peter. That's called grace. Grace is when you mess up and He still come looking for you. Verse 5. Jesus therefore said to them, "Children, you do not have any fish, do you?" They answered, "No, no fish." He said to them, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat and you will find a catch."

And they cast therefore and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number. According to verse 11, there were 153 fish on the net. Verse 7 says the disciple who loved Jesus, that's John, said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" Nobody else can pull this one off but the Lord. It was a little dark outside so they couldn't fully see, but based on that miracle, "It is the Lord!"

Now look at Simon Peter. So when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment for he was stripped for work and threw himself into the sea, began free-stroking to the shore. It wasn't that Peter didn't love the Lord; it's that he messed up. So he didn't feel like he loved the Lord anymore. But what made this man jump in the water? Knowing Jesus was on the shore meant that Jesus still loved him.

And just knowing that He still coming after you, even if you messed over Him, is enough to make you want to come back to church, swim back to shore, to come back home. So Jesus came to him, gave him a miracle on the sea—153 fish—cooked breakfast for them, or to put it another way, it was called grace. He was still giving even though they were denying.

He was still giving even though they were afraid to be identified with Him. He was still giving even though they were doubtful. And isn't that just like grace? Not giving you what you do deserve, giving you what you don't deserve. So Jesus meets him in his failure, meets him in his rejection, supplies them fish. Peter's pain and grief wouldn't let him come up to Christ's level. So isn't it just like Jesus to come down to Peter's level?

The good news of the cross is God came down. The good news of Calvary is that He left heaven, came down to earth to lift us back up to heaven. That's grace. So wherever you see the gap between where you are and where Christ is, you don't need the power of positive thinking; you need the grace to come down. That's what you need. You need grace to come down.

One of the great failures today is Christians who say, "Well, I'm going to," and sometimes we do it in counseling. "Do you promise to fix this and stop that?" "Yeah, I promise," and they mean it. They just don't have the power. That's where you need grace. Grace comes along and it makes up the difference. Now God doesn't want us to sin and want us to fail, but when we do and when we are restored, then we should become a minister of grace to other sheep like nobody else because we know what it's like to be lost.

We know what it's like to wander down the wrong road. We know what it's like to be confused. We know what it's like to get caught in the thicket and to be released. And if you've never had to be released from God, I hate to pray this prayer on you, but you need a thicket. Doesn't have to be a sin, but you need a circumstance, a trial, a challenge in your life that only God can get you out of so that you will have a sensitive heart toward others.

Guest (Male): Dr. Evans will return in a moment with a surprising epilogue to today's message. Stay with us for that. First though, a quick reminder that today's teaching is part of Tony's eight-lesson series, Pursuing Christ. And it's available right now with our thanks when you make a contribution to support this ministry. Along with it, we'll include the gift-worthy hardcover picture book, Experiencing Israel, that I told you about earlier.

This special combo offer is only available for a short time, so we encourage you to contact us right away. You can get all the details at tonyevans.org or call our resource center at 1-800-800-3222, where team members are standing by day and night to help you. That's 1-800-800-3222.

The whole idea of following someone is to go where they go. But tomorrow, Dr. Evans talks about why some people who call themselves Christ-followers aren't always willing to do that. For right now, though, he's back with a final note on today's lesson.

Dr. Tony Evans: The story doesn't end here. In Acts 2, when the church was born, guess who stood up and gave the opening sermon for the church? Impetuous Pete. Scaredy-cat Peter who denied the Lord. When you read about him in Acts chapter 4, he stands up after they beat him on his back and say, "I can't tell you what to do, but as for me, I have to speak those things that I've seen and heard. And I've got to give God what God belongs." And then he gets on his knees and says, "Thank You, Lord, for Your boldness." What happened to the boy? He ran into grace. And if God can do that for old Pete, He can do that for you and me.