{"id":152,"date":"2008-10-24T06:12:33","date_gmt":"2008-10-24T10:12:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/davidcprice.wordpress.com\/?p=152"},"modified":"2008-10-24T06:12:33","modified_gmt":"2008-10-24T10:12:33","slug":"extreme-grace-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/extreme-grace-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Extreme Grace, Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

So, when we last left our hero, Peter had just accused some religious officials of being really bad people because they had denied Jesus.\u00a0 As we so astutely pointed out, Peter, too, had done some denying on his own of Jesus, but worse…he actually knew<\/em> Jesus and who he was.*<\/a>\u00a0So, now Peter seems to be\u00a0lookin’ pretty bad.<\/p>\n

In the last post, I mentioned that the only way he could possibly<\/em> get away with something like is if he had experienced some kind of extreme Grace\u00a0<\/em>(or a severe lick to the head or early onset diminsia…but I’m going with grace).\u00a0 Well, take a look back at what had happened to Peter in John 21<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To set the scene, Jesus had already been killed and resurrected and appeared to the disciples.\u00a0 For some reason, Peter had decided to go fishing.\u00a0 The only thing we know is that Peter and Jesus had seen each other, but not sure of any personal conversations.\u00a0 We can bet, though, that Peter is carrying a good bit of guilt…I’m sure I would be.\u00a0 So, they’re fishing, catching nothing, until Jesus shows up and says to throw the net on the other side.\u00a0 They do and bring in a boat-load of fish…literally.\u00a0 When they get on shore, here’s how it went down:<\/p>\n

9\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span>When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. 10\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span>Jesus said to them, \u201cBring some of the fish that you have just caught.\u201d<\/span> 11\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span>So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. 12\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span>Jesus said to them, \u201cCome and have breakfast.\u201d<\/span> Now none of the disciples dared ask him, \u201cWho are you?\u201d They knew it was the Lord. 13\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span>Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. 14\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span>This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

OK, stop.\u00a0 Think for a second about the scene here.\u00a0 What was the first thing they noticed?\u00a0 A charcoal fire.\u00a0 Significance?\u00a0 Well, there is only one other place in Scripture that a charcoal fire is mentioned:<\/p>\n

17\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span>The servant girl at the door said to Peter, \u201cYou also are not one of this man’s disciples, are you?\u201d He said, \u201cI am not.\u201d 18\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span>Now the servants\u00a0<\/span><\/span>and officers had made a charcoal fire<\/em><\/strong>, because it was cold, and they were standing and warming themselves. Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself. [John 18:17-18<\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Doh! <\/em>Ever been camping and smell an open fire?\u00a0 Those are great memories for me when I was younger.\u00a0 Now every time I smell wood burning on an open fire, I’m immediately taken back in my mind to those times.\u00a0 What do you think the smell of the charcoal fire would have done for Peter?\u00a0 I wonder if he was immediately taken back in his mind to that night, standing near the guards.\u00a0 Was Jesus purposely rubbing salt into an open wound on Peter or what?\u00a0\u00a0 May be the “or what.”\u00a0 Look at what happened next.<\/p>\n

15\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span>When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, \u201cSimon, son of John, do you love me more than these?\u201d<\/span> He said to him, \u201cYes, Lord; you know that I love you.\u201d He said to him, \u201cFeed my lambs.\u201d<\/span> 16\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span>He said to him a second time, \u201cSimon, son of John, do you love me?\u201d<\/span> He said to him, \u201cYes, Lord; you know that I love you.\u201d He said to him, \u201cTend my sheep.\u201d<\/span> 17\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span>He said to him the third time, \u201cSimon, son of John, do you love me?\u201d<\/span> Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, \u201cDo you love me?\u201d<\/span> and he said to him, \u201cLord, you know everything; you know that I love you.\u201d Jesus said to him, \u201cFeed my sheep.<\/span> 18\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span>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.\u201d<\/span> 19\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span>(This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, \u201cFollow me.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Look at what Jesus did:\u00a0 At what perhaps would have been Pete’s lowest point since the denial (if our theory about the fire is correct), Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Him.\u00a0 Wait\u00a0a sec! How many times?\u00a0 And how many times had Peter denied Jesus?\u00a0 Hmmm.\u00a0 Something fishy is going on here!\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Three times Peter had denied Jesus.\u00a0 Three times Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him.\u00a0 Three times Peter said yes.\u00a0 Three times Jesus said take care of my people.\u00a0 I love the last thing Jesus said to Peter…it was one of the first things He had ever said to him…”Follow me.” <\/span><\/p>\n

Peter had been completely restored<\/em>.\u00a0 Somebody reading this needs to hear that again:\u00a0 Peter had been completely<\/span><\/em> restored (as though it had never…even…happened<\/em>).\u00a0 The past had been utterly<\/em> wiped away and, because of the actions of Jesus, Peter was now freed from the guilt<\/em> he had been living with.\u00a0 With the last piece of the puzzle, that being the filling of the Holy Spirit, Peter was ready to carry out The Mission.<\/span><\/p>\n

Peter experienced extreme Grace.\u00a0 I don’t know about you, but I need that.\u00a0 We carry so much guilt from the past…mistakes we have made…lifestyles we have lived.\u00a0 The charcoal fires tend to flare up every so often and we are taken back to that place of shame.\u00a0 The great news for us is it just might be that Jesus, Himself, has lit the fire so that He can take you to a place of forgiveness.\u00a0 So, breathe it in…there just might be for you extreme Grace.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tTweet<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, when we last left our hero, Peter had just accused some religious officials of being really bad people because they had denied Jesus. As we so astutely pointed out, Peter, too, had done some denying on his own of Jesus but worse…he actually knew Jesus and who he was.* So, now Peter’s lookin’ pretty bad.[Read the full post]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[8,20],"tags":[683,684,138,693],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3jKZO-2s","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":148,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/extreme-grace-part-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":152,"position":0},"title":"Extreme Grace, Part 1","date":"October 23, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Twice Peter said the they had denied Jesus. Helloooo, excuse me, Pete, but do you not remember where you were at about the time these little people were denying Him?? Peter had run away like a scared little girl from, oh, yeah, a little girl who had accused him of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christian Living"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":191,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/psi-living-the-challenge-1-2-3-john\/","url_meta":{"origin":152,"position":1},"title":"PSI – Living the Challenge: 1, 2, 3 John","date":"November 24, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday, I issued a challenge at The Gathering to begin to get into Scripture.\u00a0 (Audio can be accessed through our website, the Sermon Audio page of this blog, or iTunes, if interested).\u00a0 Looking at the Model Prayer in Matthew 6, we have spent the last three weeks on verse 11:\u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Devotions\/Biblical Insights"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":242,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/doubt-less-1-john-319-24\/","url_meta":{"origin":152,"position":2},"title":"Doubt-Less – 1 John 3:19-24","date":"December 11, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Have you ever had serious doubts about your salvation?\u00a0 I think we all have from time-to-time.\u00a0 Sometimes they're well founded because it is possible to spend an entire lifetime going to church, doing all the religious ritual stuff, \"doing good,\" never having entered into a saving knowledge of Jesus (beyond\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "PSI (Personal Spiritual Insight)"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":198,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/psi-words-in-the-end-are-still-just-words-1-john-15-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":152,"position":3},"title":"PSI – Words, in the End, Are Still Just Words – 1 John 1:5-10","date":"November 25, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"It is a popular notion, as Americans, to call ourselves Christians.\u00a0 Ask just about anybody, regardless of lifestyle, beliefs or politics, and they will tell you they are Christian.\u00a0 This just points to the fact that the word, \"Christian,\" has become meaningless.\u00a0 As a matter of fact, many would hold\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christian Living"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":219,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/the-door-1-john-222-25\/","url_meta":{"origin":152,"position":4},"title":"The Door – 1 John 2:22-25","date":"December 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"In John 14:6, John reported Jesus as having said, \"I am the way, the truth, and the life.\u00a0 No one comes to the Father except by me.\"\u00a0 With those words, there was no room left for any other way to salvation.\u00a0 Now, we can either believe it or not...that option\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "PSI (Personal Spiritual Insight)"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":252,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/a-new-kind-of-test-1-john-41-5\/","url_meta":{"origin":152,"position":5},"title":"A New Kind of Test – 1 John 4:1-5","date":"December 12, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Up to now, the tests in 1 John have been for us.\u00a0 We have been given tests to demonstrate whether or not Christ really lives in us and if we are really following after Him.\u00a0 Now, the tables are turned. 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