I’ll ask you to turn to John 13, if you would again—John 13.
Once again, chapters 13 through 17: these marvelous words and events which took place, as far as the record goes, one day before the cross. Although what is written here—what is recorded for us—was one day before His death, the end of that portion of His redemptive ministry, yet it is not how man would write it. It is not what you would expect if you were going to write something the day before you died and knew full well all that death would mean.
Maybe your chapters would be a little different than these chapters. It is amazing: there is no gloom in these chapters. They are not filled with anxiety and fear and despair and so on. You would never guess, on the level of earth, that these chapters were just before a violent death—and written by One who knew all of that.
Let me give one Bible illustration, not from John, that simply sets this before us again. I want you to sense these chapters before we begin to look at the heart of God.
I am referring to that marvelous event, the transfiguration of our Lord Jesus. You remember the story. Peter, James, and John were there, and suddenly before their eyes they saw the Lord—the brightness of the Lord and all the Shekinah glory. His flesh was actually glowing brighter than the sun in full strength.
And in that light Peter, James, and John saw three men. Remember? They saw Elijah, and they saw Moses, but of course the Lord Jesus was in the center.
Now, the Bible tells us that a conversation was taking place on top of the mountain. I am not talking about Peter, James, and John—what they were talking about—but the Bible tells us that Moses, Elijah, and Jesus were talking. You know, the Bible tells us what they were talking about. What a conference! What tremendous fellowship. What a discussion.
Luke is the only one who tells us what they were talking about. It is in Luke 9:30-31, and I’ll quote it for you here:
And behold, two men were talking with Him;
and they were Moses and Elijah,
who, appearing in glory, were speaking of His departure
which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
That is tremendous. They were on the Mount of Transfiguration talking about His departure that He was about to accomplish. We are talking about what we are studying: the day before His death, His suffering, the cross.
But I love the wording of Luke, where he says, “the death He was about to accomplish.” We do not usually talk about death that way. He accomplished death.
If our loved one dies, we do not say, “Well, my mother, dear Mom, just accomplished death.” We do not think of it that way. She succumbed to death. She submitted to it. She was overpowered by it. I can see how we might say she accomplished life if she knew the Savior, but this idea of accomplishing death—that is why these chapters are not filled with anxiety.
Yes, the next day He would die a violent death. He was going to accomplish it.
I have a Webster’s dictionary that was sent to me about a month ago from a brother in the Lord. It is a first-edition facsimile of the 1828 edition—the original Webster. It is very interesting how words change and all. I looked up the word accomplish. It says, “To complete; to finish entirely; to obtain by a successful exertion.”
John 13 through 17: the Lord Jesus was not succumbing to death. He was about to accomplish death—to succeed by successful exertion. He was going to accomplish that.
Of course, the disciples, as we discussed yesterday, did not have this view of death. So there were a few frustrations that they expressed, a little anxiety. But as far as our Lord Jesus was concerned, this was a time of victory for Him, a time of triumph and glory. These chapters carry that spirit. They are all-conquering chapters.
I suggested that one of the main contributions of these five chapters is to unveil the heart of God. The Lord Jesus was saying, in effect, “I came to earth as God the Son in order to reveal the Father. And now, just before I die, let us sort of review. I want you to see that.”
It is not that He had a text. It is not that He had notes and was saying, “All right, now here is my next point.” In fact, the revelation of God’s heart that we are going to look at this morning—He did not teach it. He did not review it. He did not say, “All right, now here is the next thing.” But you see it by watching Him. You see Him move, and you see His own heart.
Last night we looked together at that first burden He had, which He wanted, it seems, to release: that God Himself is the Servant. God is the foot-washer, the Refresher, the One who ministers unto us.
We expressed that principle: we are not saved to serve, not primarily so. We are saved in order to be served by Him, in order that we might serve. That is a spiritual principle. That is a law of heaven. That is a law of God, and He wanted us to understand that.
That brings us this morning, then, as God graces us, to this next unveiling of God’s heart toward us—a revelation that is precious beyond words. What I trust the Lord will enable us to do this morning is just catch a glimpse of the heart of Christ.
All through these chapters, we see the Lord in connection with His disciples. There is a revelation as He touches Judas. There is a revelation as He touches Peter. There is a revelation as He touches Thomas. There is a revelation as He touches Philip. There is a revelation as He touches the other Judas—not Iscariot. Every time He communicates, something is shown of His heart.
What I would like us to look at this morning is really one principle, one truth, but it is illustrated twice: once as His heart reached out and touched Judas, and then good old Peter again—once as He touched Peter.
I pray that, as we see the Lord Jesus in connection with Judas and in connection with Peter, we will be able to see this second unveiling of God’s heart.
Obviously, any time you come to this Book, you do not study the Bible to know the Bible; you study the Bible to know the Lord. We are going to look at Judas, and we are going to look at Peter, but we do not want to get lost in Judas, and we do not want to get lost in Peter. We are looking at Judas in order to see Jesus. We are looking at Peter in order to see Jesus.
Because He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Whatever He ever was, He is now; and whatever He is now, He ever will be. So we want to see what He was in order to know what He is.
I will ask you to follow along, please, from John 13:21 through John 14:3. It really does not end there, but that is a place where we can stop comfortably. John 13:21-30 talks about Judas, and then the rest begins to talk about Peter.
Beginning at verse 21 of chapter 13:
When Jesus had said this, He became troubled in spirit, and testified and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you will betray Me.”
The disciples began looking at one another, at a loss to know of which one He was speaking.
There was reclining on Jesus’ breast one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.
Simon Peter therefore gestured to him, and said to him, “Tell us who it is of whom He is speaking.”
And leaning back thus on Jesus’ breast, he said to Him, “Lord, who is it?”
Jesus therefore answered, “That is the one for whom I shall dip the morsel and give it to him.”
So when He had dipped the morsel, He took and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.
And after the morsel, Satan then entered into him.
Jesus therefore said to him, “What you do, do quickly.”
Now no one of those reclining at the table knew for what purpose He had said this to him.
Some were supposing, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus was saying to him, “Buy the things we have need of for the feast,” or else, that he should give something to the poor.
So after receiving the morsel, he went out immediately; and it was night.
When therefore he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him.
If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately.
Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You shall seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, I now say to you also, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another.”
Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?”
Jesus answered, “Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you shall follow later.”
Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You.”
Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a cock shall not crow until you deny Me three times.
Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.
In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going.”
I will leave the text there.
I am going to ask you, in your imagination, to come back again to the night before our Lord Jesus was to die. I speak sort of as a fool when I say this, because we try to put so much humanity into our study of the Scriptures. But do you think the Lord Jesus had anything on His mind that night—the day before His death? Do you think there was anything He was thinking about?
Do not forget: with omniscience—yes, He was Man, and He was going to suffer as Man—but He was also God. This whole section begins, “Jesus, knowing…” He knew that the Father had given all things into His hands, and knowing that He was going back, He knew.
By nine o’clock in the morning, He would be hanging on the cross. And He knew it. He knew He would be unjustly tried. He knew He would be cruelly treated, shamefully treated. He knew He would be forsaken by those who claimed to be true to Him.
Whatever it meant—and we wrestle with these big things—He knew what it meant to bear the sins of the world, to become sin for us. Somehow there would be the mocking of Satan and the demons around the cross.
In three hours, because He was infinite, He would crush eternity; and in three hours He would suffer what finite man would have to suffer for eternity. Do you think He had anything on His mind?
He was going to experience, for the first time in His unbeginning beginning, broken fellowship from His holy Father God. Do you think He had anything on His mind—anything to trouble Him, to agitate Him, to move Him?
That is why John 13:21 is so amazing to me:
When Jesus had said this, He became troubled in spirit.
The original language is very, very strong. He became agitated. He became moved back and forth—bothered, disturbed, upset. And He says, “Truly, I say to you, one of you shall betray Me.”
Now, with all that was on His mind, all that He could have been troubled about, what was troubling Him that night? What was agitating His spirit?
According to that passage, He was bothered about Judas—agitated about Judas. Not because Jesus was going to be the victim of a betrayal; that was not the point. Not because their friendship was going to be broken. I do not even think He was troubled because of this gigantic satanic sin that was about to take place.
But He began to be moved. He began to be stirred. He began to be agitated—troubled—not in some surface way, not just some sympathy or pity. His great heart began to pound hot for Judas.
He loved Judas. He was troubled over Judas, concerned for his destiny. Judas was quickly slipping away, and that touched the heart of the Savior so much. He was so moved.
Troubled that night, when so much was about to happen, He looks at Judas and His heart begins to stir. A million reasons to be concerned for Himself, and He is moved over Judas.
I believe you will miss one of the beauties of these chapters if you do not see the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ beating hot in love for Judas.
He did not just discover this. It was not as though all of a sudden He realized, “This is the one.” John 6:64 says Jesus knew from the beginning those who did not believe and who would betray Him. He always knew that.
I want to spend a couple of minutes showing you the heart of Christ stretching out for Judas. I want you to see that, because Christ’s heart for Judas magnifies Christ’s heart. If He would stretch out for Judas, the Bible says the Lord’s hand is not shortened. This display of love shows you how long His arm really is.
Again, I do not want to get lost in Judas, but I want to give a few things about Judas—things you already know—but put them in perspective in order that we might see Christ’s heart as He reaches out for Judas.
Almost universally, every time someone hears the name Judas, they sort of cringe. He is known as the infamous disciple. Proverbs 10:7 says, “The name of the wicked shall rot.” Well, his name has rotted.
My son David and his wife Sandy are expecting their first child in August. Every now and then we get a phone call: “What do you think of these names?” They are already naming the child. In fact, I think she was one day overdue when he started naming the child, you know.
But since he has called, he has never mentioned these names: “Dad, what do you think of Jezebel, if it is a girl? Think that would be a nice name? How about Judas? Or twins—Judas and Jezebel?” He does not mention those names.
The name of the wicked shall rot. In fact, he did not even say Adolf or Benedict. He does not mention those names. Judas.
I have a book at home discussing whether Judas was saved or not. It is amazing how many arguments go in one direction as well as the other. We do not know that. I do not want to deal with that. I want you to see the heart of Christ as it reaches out for Judas.
We have all kinds of things—you find them in a dictionary. Look up Judas and you read about a Judas trap, a Judas light, a Judas tree. You know, when you go into a motel and they have that little hole in the door where you can see down the hallway? That is called a Judas hole—a peephole. Any hole that peeps through the door is called a Judas hole.
That is the sad story of Judas. He has just got that reputation.
By the way, his last name was not Iscariot. That was the town he lived in. If we named ourselves like that, I would be Ed Waterbury, because that was just the place he came from.
Anyway, away from Judas. On the night before the Lord Jesus was to die, His heart began to be moved. He was stirred, agitated for this man.
We need to understand that Judas was just a sinner like we are. He was just another man, a sinner. Now, I realize there are all kinds of theories about Judas, and some would want to take him right out of the pale of humanity. If you do that, you miss the heart of Christ. He was just another sinner.
Here are a couple of theories I have read about Judas. Some say he never existed, that he was just a creation to make the story flow. I will throw that out right away.
Some say he was an incarnation of Satan, because Jesus said, “One of you is a devil,” and so on. They say this was not even a man; this was Satan incarnate—again, the ape of God mocking the incarnation of Christ.
Others say he was a misunderstood hero: that really he wanted Jesus to play His hand, and Christ was dragging His feet. So, in order to force Him, Judas exposed Him, saying, “Now Christ will show His hand.”
Others think he was a loyal patriot—that before Judas betrayed Jesus, Jesus betrayed Judas. They say Judas found out that He was false, and because he was such a true Jew, he was going to expose Him to the Jews. Besides, he was just submitting to authority. Christ had told him to do that, and the Jews had said, “If you know where He is, tell us.”
Others think he was just a puppet of God, a victim of providence, predestined. He did not have a choice. It was all prophesied. Instead of using the sovereignty of God to cut the knot, they use the sovereignty of God to create the knot and problems that are not really there.
The point we would like to see, and then we will move right into what I want to show us, is that if you make Judas less or more than a plain old sinner who needed the Lord, you are going to miss this heart of Christ as He reaches out to us—plain sinners.
You might not like the idea of being thrown in the same pot with Judas, but I will tell you one thing: there is tremendous hope if you dare to do it and dare to see yourself this way, because you see the heart of Christ.
The only difference between Peter and Judas—between Peter’s denial and Judas’s betrayal—is Matthew 26:41, and that is the only difference:
The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Peter had a willing spirit, and Judas did not have a willing spirit. That is the only difference between them. Sin was the same.
Let me begin the principle by stating it this way: I want to show you the way Jesus reached out for Judas. I have to use human words, but you know what I am saying. Jesus did His best for Judas.
Jesus always does His best. He never goes halfway. Jesus did everything for Judas, and especially as it came to the end, when His spirit became agitated, He was reaching out for that man.
For our discussion, it is sort of incidental whether Judas responded. Leave that. The point is that Christ kept reaching out and reaching out. I would like to show you several ways, and I will go through it rapidly, how Jesus reached out for Judas.
First of all, why was he chosen as one of the twelve? Not theologically—there might be some fancy reason. I think he was chosen as one of the twelve because that was the opportunity that would give him the greatest advantage of receiving the Lord.
That is why you came the path you came. That is why I came the path I came. The Lord engineers our path to give us the greatest possible advantage of knowing a full God. That was the best path for Judas. That is why he was chosen: because he had the most opportunity as one of the disciples of Christ.
You know how privileged he was as a disciple of Christ: chosen by Christ Himself, an eyewitness of the miracles and the ministry of Christ. According to Mark 6 and Matthew 10, Judas worked miracles. He was sent out by the Lord, and he worked miracles.
He was trusted by the others, had an office, and broke bread with the Lord Jesus. The Bible records that when Jesus spoke about worldliness, greed, anxiety, and the love of money, Judas was there—hearing that from the lips of Christ.
When Jesus gave that parable of the camel passing through the needle’s eye and the difficulty of the worldly rich making it, Judas was there. Christ was always reaching out for Judas.
Matthew 20:18: He warned that someone was going to betray Him, and He kept bringing that up. John 6:70: He said, “One of you is a devil.”
I do not know—if I were Judas, as I read the record, my heart would almost say, “You know, why don’t I come around?” He warned them, “It is better for the one who betrays Me that he had never been born.” If you were Judas, would that not begin to stir things up inside?
He told them when He washed their feet that one of them was dirty. They all began asking, “Is it I? Is it I?” Even the fact that He washed these feet—let me ask you this, brothers: if you knew someone was going to betray you tomorrow, would you wash his feet tonight?
Break his toe.
Jesus kept exposing it gradually, little by little. He did not just come out—He could have stood up and said, “That is the one. That is the one who will betray Me.” Of course, I think He would have had another problem on His hands if He had done that. Peter would have leaped over the table and grabbed him by the neck, you know.
Even the one to whom He gave the morsel—in that day, that was a sign of intimate friendship, the one who received that morsel. Then, when all the disciples began asking, “Is it I? Is it I? Is it I?” the Bible says Judas asked the same question.
The Lord Jesus answered, “Thou hast said.” Would you not think by that time that he would come around? But Christ is constantly reaching out for him.
John 13:30 says Judas went out, and it was night. I know that was physical night, but it was night in another way too.
Remember, Judas had made preparations with the high priest to identify the Lord Jesus with a kiss. I am going to ask you, brothers, to turn to John 18 just for a moment—verse 3.
Judas then, having received the Roman cohort and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and weapons.
Jesus therefore, knowing all things that were coming upon Him, went forth, and said to them, “Whom do you seek?”
They answered Him, “Jesus the Nazarene.”
He said to them, “I am He.”
And Judas also, who was betraying Him, was standing with them.
When therefore He said to them, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground.
Again therefore He asked them, “Whom do you seek?”
And they said, “Jesus the Nazarene.”
Jesus answered, “I told you that I am He; if therefore you seek Me, let these go their way.”
Did you ever get the context of that tremendous passage? Judas had prearranged to identify the Lord Jesus with a kiss. Jesus would not let that happen.
Here they come—the whole army—and Jesus sees them coming. He runs out before Judas can kiss Him and says, “Who are you looking for?” “Jesus.” “It is Me.”
He does not need to be identified anymore, does He? “It is Me.” When He said that, they all fell down, and Judas fell down. He had to get back up again.
He gets back up, and Jesus is almost sick at heart. He says, “You do not have to go through with this. You do not have to kiss Me. I have been identified.” Then He says to them the second time, “Who are you looking for?” They said, “Jesus.” He says, “It is Me.”
Then Judas goes up and kisses Him. How the Lord Jesus was reaching out constantly.
In Matthew 26:50 we have another little insight. As Judas approaches Him to kiss Him, Jesus says:
Friend, do that for which thou art come.
Friend? Friend? He called Judas friend. He called the Pharisees whitewashed sepulchres, snakes, goats, an adulterous generation, and hypocrites. He calls Judas friend.
You have to see the heart of Christ longing for this man. Here He is, a day before the cross, going to bear the sin of the world, and His heart is, “Judas, Judas.” He is agitated. He is troubled for Judas. He calls him friend. What a heart.
The last words Jesus ever said to Judas that are recorded are in Luke 22:48:
Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?
The fact that those are His last words, and that they are in the form of a question, implies that they could be answered. That question could be answered. It was the last reach of Christ. He said, in effect, “You do not have to do this. Friend, are you betraying Me with a kiss?”
And Judas could have answered, “No.”
I think even after he betrayed Him, though there is no record of it, the door of mercy was still open. He still could have come. Joseph’s brothers sold Joseph as a slave, and they found forgiveness later. I do not have any doubt that the Lord Jesus loved Judas more than Joseph loved his brothers.
I just know that if Judas would have come and fallen down at the feet of Christ looking for mercy, even then Christ would have ministered unto him.
The principle is just this, brothers: Christ always does His best, no matter how willful we are against it, no matter how we resist, no matter how stubborn we become. Judas is a marvelous illustration of someone who keeps saying, “No, no,” while the heart of Christ keeps reaching and reaching.
There is never a time when you can say, “Well, He has given up on me.” Never a time. Because you bear in mind Judas: He just kept going and going and going, reaching and reaching and reaching.
All right, if you can put that in one of your cabinets, put it away for a moment. Turn back to John 13. I will not read it again; I will read a couple of verses—John 13:36-39:
Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?”
Jesus answered, “Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you shall follow later.”
Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for You.”
Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a cock shall not crow, until you deny Me three times.
Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.”
Before we look at the principle here, let me remind you that it was man, not God, who gave us chapter and verse divisions in our Bible. They are not always in the right place, I do not believe. Sometimes they help us, and sometimes they are broken up in the wrong places.
Acts 21 always amazed me. That chapter ends with a comma. I just thought they could have gone a few more words on that one.
The chapter division between John 13 and John 14 is very unfortunate, I believe, because it breaks the content of what is being communicated. It interferes with the message.
When Augustine and some of the early church fathers read their Bibles, they did not have chapter and verse divisions. There were none then. In fact, it was not until twelve hundred years after Christ that they had chapter and verse divisions. So thank you, Mr. Cardinal Hugo, who gave us these chapter and verse divisions as he was trying to write a concordance back then. He has helped us in many ways.
But I think in a few ways he divided it in the wrong place. Our English Bible, since the Geneva Bible in 1560, has had chapters and verses.
Let me back into the principle by beginning in John 14:1:
Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.
What was Christ referring to when He said, “Let not your heart be troubled”? There were many things, but I think in the context it goes back to His comment in verse 33. He said, “I am leaving.” Then there was this whole discussion: “Where are You going? I want to go,” and all that. “I am leaving.”
In verse 36, Peter asks again, representing us, “Lord, where are You going?” It is a simple question. Of course, Peter is on the level of earth, and he is saying, “I want geography. Where are You going?”
But Christ is talking spiritually again, as He so often does. He is not talking about going from point A to point B. In effect, in the context, He is saying, “Where am I going? I am going to accomplishment. I am going to fulfillment. I am going to completeness. I am going to a finished work.”
“My mission is done. My job is finished. I have finished the work. I have run the race. I have finished the course. Where are You going? It is over for Me. I am going to My reward.”
“It is not a place. I am not going to Bethany. I am not going to Galilee. I am not going to Jerusalem. I am not going to Nazareth. My mission is over. I am going to My holy Father God. My race is done. I have finished My course. It is finished.”
Then He said this to Peter, and it is marvelous:
Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you shall follow later.
This is bigger than announcing martyrdom. “Where I go, you will not follow Me now, but you will follow Me later.”
Notice the emphasis on now and later. Jesus said, “Later, Peter.” Peter said, “Now. I am ready now.” Jesus said, “No, no. You cannot follow Me now. You will follow Me later.”
There is a process that must take place in your life. You are not ready now. It takes time. “I have finished My course. You will finish yours later—not now.”
Peter did not understand, and he did not like the word later. So in verse 37 he said, “Lord, why cannot I follow You right now? Do not talk about later. I am ready right now. There is nothing that process can do for me. There is nothing that time can do for me, or waiting.”
“I will prove to You, Lord, that I am ready right now. I will lay down my life for You.”
I personally believe that was Peter’s greatest statement that he ever made on his own. He made greater statements, but not on his own—like Matthew 16, where the Lord said, “Flesh and blood has not revealed it unto thee.” But I think this—“I will lay down my life for You”—is the greatest thing. This came right out of Peter’s heart.
This is the greatest statement he ever made on his own: the most honest, the most sincere, the most loving confession he ever could have made.
But Peter not only did not know Christ; Peter did not know Peter at this time. He did not know the awful possibilities of his own heart. He did not know the weaknesses of his flesh.
Then the Lord Jesus disclosed to Peter a shocking reality: “Peter, I say you need a process. Later you will follow—not now. You say, ‘I am ready now.’ You say, ‘I am going to lay down my life for You.’”
“Peter, the fact is, you are not going to make it through the night. Before the morning comes, you are going to deny Me.”
What you aspire to is one thing; reality is another thing. Instead of laying down your life by being true to Me, you are going to save your life by being false to Me.
By the morning—and this is not some little denial that takes place in your head—you are going to deny Me so publicly. You are going to curse and swear and yell and scream, and everybody is going to know about it. That same tongue that is boasting tonight is going to curse Me, deny Me tomorrow.
In the context, that troubled Peter. That upset Peter, because the whole thing was absurd. It was ludicrous. “You have got to be kidding me, Lord. Here I am talking about the ultimate sacrifice: ‘I will lay down my life for You,’ and You are saying I am going to scream my head off and deny You by morning. What kind of a man do You think I am?”
“I am a loyal disciple.”
Now try to catch God’s heart. First, He says, “There is a process. You will follow Me.” Every one of you—Peter is a representative—you will follow Me later. You are not ready now.
We are so impatient, you know. We hate this idea of time and maturing and development, especially in our society. Everything is instant: instant this, instant that. Add water and stir, and you have everything—instant pudding, instant rice, instant tea, instant meals.
My girls came home with a big ad saying, “Look at these instant pets.” You add water and stir, and these little creatures come. Amazing. Everything is instant: instant houses, instant credit.
We slap that onto our relationship with God, and we come over wanting instant holiness, instant rest, instant faith, instant surrender, instant knowledge of God. We say, “I am ready.”
Jesus said, “Oh, you do not know. You will follow Me later.” Our hearts say, “Why cannot we follow You now? We are ready. Do You not know I have listened to five tapes? I have read the books. I have been reading victorious books all my life. I have got the devotional and Christian radio every day from the time I wake up until I go to bed. We are ready.”
“Also, Lord, I am in Bible school. I am in seminary. Listen to this, Lord: I know Greek. I know Hebrew. I have got a library.”
The Lord says again to every brother and every sister, “You will follow Me later.” Well, in the meantime, there is a process.
All right, I will go back to John 13:39—not John 14:1. I refuse to separate these chapters. I have thirty-nine verses in John 13 and one verse in John 14.
Try to get this. Here is the context:
Peter, you will deny Me.
Let not your heart be troubled.
Do not separate that, brother. That is an amazing thing. Ultimately, Peter, you will arrive. There is a process. You will follow Me later. You are going to make it. You are not adequate yet.
There is an awful lot of God you need to see, and an awful lot of Peter you need to see. There is a lot.
Here is what the Lord said, and here is the principle. We will tie it together with the Judas principle. The Lord Jesus looked at Peter and said, “Peter, I am about to make you into a man of God. There is a process.”
“I have already seen the worst in you, Peter. I know I shock you by telling you what is going to happen tomorrow. I have already seen the worst in you, and I am not troubled. Let not your heart be troubled.”
Do you realize what the Lord was saying to Peter that night? “You are going to make it—later. A lot of things need to be done. There is a process. You will follow Me.”
“I have accomplished My mission. I have finished My course. I have run the race. I am done. You cannot follow Me now because you have not finished.”
Later seems so long, Peter. But, you know, he has had his later now for more than nineteen hundred years. It is not so long. In a few hours, we will all be there.
There is a process. “I have seen the worst in you, and I am not troubled. Let not your heart be troubled.”
Peter represents all of us. I think the Lord Jesus is saying, “Look, you are going to make it, brothers—not in your own strength, not in your own wisdom, not in your own power. But you are going to make it. There is a process. Let not your heart be troubled.”
You know, it is amazing. We are going to stumble along the way.
A righteous man falleth seven times, and riseth up again.
That number seven, as it is used there, is the number of perfection. He is not saying you are going to fall six plus one times. He is saying there is never going to be a day when you stop falling.
The sign of a godly man is not that he is a man who never falls, but a man who, falling, rises again. A righteous man falls seven times and rises again. He is always getting up, and nothing that is unshakable will ever be lost in your falling.
We are going to make it. Believe in God; believe also in Me.
Brothers, are you not glad this morning that the very worst in you does not stand in the way of God’s perfect plan in your life? Is that not precious? He has already seen the worst in you, and He is not troubled. My, that is tremendous. Let not your heart be troubled.
In this connection, John 15:16:
You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain.
Peter did not volunteer for this, you know. He was called. He was drawn. The Lord Jesus could never look at Peter and say, “I got ripped off.” He already knew the product before He chose it.
Let us say I went to the grocery store for Lillian. She said, “Get me half a dozen tomatoes.” So I pick out all these tomatoes, and one of them is soft and squishy—a little bit rotten.
I bring it home, and Lillian takes the tomatoes and sets them out on the table. She sees that squishy, rotten, soft tomato, and she begins to scream at it, yell at it, tell it how stupid it is.
“You soft tomato. You are soft in the head. You are all squishy. You call yourself a tomato? What kind of a tomato are you? You cannot even hold yourself together, oozing out on all your brothers. Terrible tomato.”
You know what the tomato would say? “Hey, time out. Talk to him. He chose me. I did not volunteer for this.”
Before the foundation of the world, Christ knew all about you. He has already seen the worst in you. He chose you anyway. He is not troubled about anything that is happening in your life.
Let not your heart be troubled.
I put those two together: Christ reaching out for Judas, and Christ assuring Peter. If that is saying anything, the principle He longed for them to see—the unveiling of God’s heart—is that God is always for you.
He is always for you. He is never against you. He is always doing His best for you. There is a process, and it takes a little time.
He did not just say, “All right, now a word about heaven,” and then jump into John 14: “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places.” He is still talking to Peter. He is talking about the process, and He says, “I go to prepare a place for you.”
He is not talking about, “I am going to heaven to prepare a place.” I always pictured Him up there building something. He is talking about going to the cross.
“I am not going to heaven to prepare a place for you. I am going to the cross to prepare a place for you.” He is talking about this tremendous process. He is saying, “At the end, you are going to make it.” He showed them the end. “You are going to be there.”
Meanwhile, you have got to be prepared for the place. There is an awful lot of Christ to see.
Some of you have been saved a lot longer than I have been saved. Why did Christ not take you to heaven as soon as you trusted Him? “Oh, there is Billy. Praise God, take him to heaven.” Did He not love you enough?
You say, “Well, He left me here because I have got a job to do.” You have not got a job to do.
You have got a God to know, not a job to do.
I will tell you, there are ways that earth can show you Him that heaven cannot. In fact, every revelation of Christ in this Book is for time. There is no trouble up there. If you are going to see Him as the One who delivers you from trouble, you had better see it here.
If you are going to see Him as Advocate, you had better see it here. If you are going to see Him as Rock, as Fortress, Deliverer, Husband, you had better see it here.
You know what I am saying, brothers? I am saying that if you miss the revelation of Christ here, you miss it forever. Because even in heaven, you will not be able to see Him in the ways that you can see Him here.
That is why you are still here: to reveal Christ in ways that heaven cannot.
As ages roll upon ages, if you do not see Him that way here—here He is your Friend; here He is the Lifter up of your head; here He is your Rock; here He is your Comforter; here He is the Smelter; here He is the Potter—do not miss it.
That is what life is all about: knowing God, seeing Jesus. That is what Peter had not seen yet. He said, “There is so much you need to see, Peter. There is a process. You are going to make it because I am for you.”
“If you are going to make it, I have already seen the worst in you, and I am not troubled. You are going to make it. You are going to arrive later, when you are prepared, when you have seen this full Christ.”
Things have not changed. That still is hard for us. We say, “Well, You do not know what is going on in my life. It does not seem like God is for me. He is turning things upside down.”
Oh, He is for you. He is for you.
Sometimes it does not look like He is for you because of His marvelous wisdom. The reality is, sometimes we are not walking with Him, and so He beats you up, drags you over on His side, to show you He is for you. Once you are on His side and you know He is for you—
If He stretches out like that for poor Judas, if He tells Peter, “Peter, there is a process. You have got to see Me, and with that revelation you will see yourself”—oh, you are going to see some things that will shock you. You will be so ashamed that you will want to run to a cave and pull it in after you, be embarrassed to the dust by the possibilities of this heart.
But, “I am not troubled, Peter. Let not your heart be troubled.”
Oh, may God show us this heart of God: always for us, always on our side, always reaching out. God is never upset, never troubled.
Meanwhile, we go through the process. My heart says, “All right, Lord, now.” He says, “Later.”
Let us pray.
Father, thank You so much that You have already seen the worst in us, and You are not troubled.
Oh, teach us not to be troubled, but to have faith in God—faith also in Christ. Oh, work this in our hearts, we pray.
In Jesus’ precious name, amen.