The Four Comes - Part One

 

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, “Feed my lambs.”He said to him 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,“Tend my sheep.” He 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 everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”

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I want you to look at the word come in four different contexts. I want you to see it first of all in John 1:39. This was the come of salvation, the come of invitation to meet the Lord Jesus Christ. It was at a time when one of the disciples had been chosen. John the Baptist and two of his disciples had just seen Jesus, and in verse 36, John said, "Behold, the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.... They said unto him, Rabbi, (Master,) where dwellest thou?" And Jesus said, "Come and see." (See John 1:36-39.) This invitation is offered to "the whole world," to every individual that ever lived. Come. God so loved the world, the world of sinners, not merely the world of the elect, but the world of sinners. God loved them. God is not engaged in a fantastic mockery. He is calling men to believe. It's true that there are men who are dead in trespasses and sins; their will is turned away from Christ. When Jesus said, "Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life" (John 5:40). He was telling the truth.

 

It's interesting, as we note the context of that first chapter of John, that He uses different methods in inviting different people. He does not violate human personality. God does not go to a man who is a great mathematician and speak to him in a way that is contrary to science. He does not go to a humble person who has no education and talk to him in words of five syllables. He accommodates Himself to the mind and the heart of each.

 

Here were two disciples. They followed Jesus. Jesus said, "Come and see." One of these men then went and found his brother and said, "We've found the Messiah." He brought his brother to Jesus and Jesus walked up to this man and said, "Your name is Wishy-Washy." (That's the real meaning of Simon.) "Your name is Wishy-Washy and it's about to become Rock. You're going to be petrified Peter-fled." Instead of that gelatin down his spine, he was going to get a ramrod. Now this was going to be by the nature of Christ, but you'll notice how different the approach. He walks up to a man and changes his name by announcing a change of nature.

 

A little farther down in John 1 Jesus meets Philip and says, "Follow Me." And Philip then finds Nathanael and says, "We've found the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth." Nathanael replies, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" And then Philip repeats the words that Jesus had said, "Come and see." How does the Lord meet him? By a miracle. He says, "I saw you when you were there under the fig tree." And when Nathanael suddenly realizes that he is in front of Somebody who can reveal his heart and his thoughts and his mind, he says, "Thou art the Son of God. Thou art the King of Israel." (See John 1:4349.)

 

In the same way, if you turn to the end of John, you'll notice that after the Resurrection, Jesus reveals Himself to different people in different ways. He does not violate human personalities. Here is Mary and He walks up to her. Blinded with her tears and fatigue, she thinks He is the gardener. And then He says, "Mary. When she hears that tone of voice, right away she knew Him.

 

I suppose you have had the same experience with the telephone as I have. When the telephone rings, I say "Hello," and there are some people that start to talk right away. They recognize my voice, and after they say "Hello," they just go right on talking. I never have to say, "This is D-G-B talking," and they don't have to say, "This is So-and-So talking." We can walk right into a conversation, so well do we know each other's tone of voice. And this was so when the Lord Jesus rose from the dead. "Mary," He said. Thus He revealed Himself to her by the mere pronouncing of her name.

 

He comes to the disciples in the upper room and suddenly, with the door shut, He appears in front of them. They recognize Him immediately, by this astounding thing He has just done. But Thomas, the doubter, says, "I won't believe unless I see." And the Lord comes right to him and says, "That's all right, Thomas, I can get along with men who have this desire to see before they believe. I wasn't timid when I started salvation. I'm not touchy," says God. Oh, you see, if God had been touchy, He never would have come to this earth. If God had taken offense at the way people do things to Him, He never would have come. But the Lord Jesus came. He never was offended by anybody, He never took offense, He was moved by compassion. So when He talks to Thomas, He says, "Oh, you're the one that wanted to see. Come, put your fingers right here in My hand, and in My side. Be not faithless but believing."

 

The Lord does not violate human personality. I tell you, whoever you are, that God will meet you on your own ground. He will make Himself so clear that if you say no to Him, you will be a hypocrite when you are saying it. And forever after, you will never be able to look yourself in the eye again and call yourself an honest man. For the Lord Jesus Christ will meet you on your level.

 

Now I want you to turn to Matthew 11 and see the come of security. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28). Come. I believe that this goes much further than salvation. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light" (Matt. 11:28-30). It's well to note that the word rest is found twice here. Two centuries ago, Charles Wesley wrote the hymn, "Let us all in thee inherit, Let us find the second rest. Take away our love of sinning. Alpha and Omega be." This was a declaration of the two kinds of rest. And what Wesley was singing was, "Let us find the second rest." Jesus said, "Come ... and I will give you rest. Take my yoke ... and ye shall find rest." They are quite different. The one is peace with God; the other is the peace of God. One is a rest that is given; the other is a rest that is found. "Come unto me ... and I will give you rest" is the rest of security and the "take my yoke" is the rest of surrender. The first is a sign that the war is over and you can enter into peace, the second lets you enjoy the peace.

 

So many Christians are like the man in the old story in England, back in the days of coaching. There was a man riding along with his horse and carriage, and there was a peddler walking along with his pack on his back. The man on the carriage stopped and said to the peddler, "Would you like a lift?"

 

And the peddler said, "Oh, thank you, you're very kind.

 

After he had climbed on and sat down and the horses were moving ahead, the man said, "Why don't you take off your bundles?"

 

"Well," the peddler said, "you're being so kind as to carry me, I just didn't want to put you to further trouble."

 

And yet that's the way a lot of Christians live their lives. They say, "God, You saved me, but oh, what a burden I have." Well, brother, let your burden go too. You're not only saved but you're safe. God didn't give you six-months' life. He gave you eternal life. God didn't give you ten-year life. He gave you eternal life. And it's a present possession. You shall never perish but have everlasting life.

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