Marcus Mecum - A Simple Secret That Can Restore You
I wanna talk to you for just a few minutes on, «A Simple Secret That Can Restore You». A simple secret that can restore you. Restoration is a biblical promise. And it just simply means to take you back, to circle back, to go back to how something was before some of the chaotic things happen, some of the confusing, or maybe the mistakes, or failures that have happened. God has a way of helping us to circle back and I wanna show you a very, very famous scripture. You’ve heard it before, but we’ll walk through this story again from a brand-new angle, and I think it will speak to each of you.
Let’s look at verse 27, «You will fall away». This is Jesus speaking to his disciples at the last supper. So, he’s not encouraging them for some reason. He’s like, «Hey, every one of you, all of you, all of you that saw the miracles, all of you that walk with me, all of you will fall away». It’s quiet. 7 hills get religious on me, is that what’s happened? All of you will fall short. They’re serving him. They love him. They’ve had intimate moments where they’ve heard the parables broke down. «All of you will fall away,» still quiet. «I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter. But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee». Of course, «Peter declared,» what some of y’all were saying, «Even if I fall away, I will not,» right? I’ll never betray you. I’ll never turn my back on you.
Jesus says, «Oh yeah. Actually, by three times before the rooster crows, you will». And so, if you look at the scene here, Jesus is about to go to the cross. He’s about to suffer and die. But he’s not focused on his suffering, he’s actually focused on helping the apostles know what to do when they fail. So, if you look at the cross, you look at the arrest in Gethsemane, that he would go face to Sanhedrin, that Jesus would stand before Pontius Pilate. Of course, they would let a known murderer, Barnabas, go and Jesus would be the innocent one that would end up being executed via crucifixion.
So, the apostles are watching the arrest. They’re seeing the Sanhedrin and all the court cases, and they’re watching the persecution. And just like Jesus said, the scripture says, every single one of them would desert Jesus. But before they deserted him, before they failed, before they ran like the cowards that they were, Jesus gave an invitation, «After I have risen, I’ll go before you to Galilee». All the apostles would be from Galilee except Judas. Matthew, Mark, and Luke would focus on the life of Jesus that was centered, of all places, in this little town of about 800, maybe 1,000 people called Galilee. Nazareth would be in Galilee. Of the 32 parables Jesus would teach, 19 are in Galilee.
Of the 37 miracles, about 25 to 30, depending on who you ask, of the 37 miracles around 25 or 30 were all performed in Galilee. Galilee was the starting place. This is the place he said, «Follow me». This is the Genesis. This is the beginning of their relationship with the Lord. They heard that call. They were there at the wedding at Cana of Galilee. You might remember the very first miracle where John 2:11 says that, «Here it was the beginning of miracles where they would all believe in him». So, every one of the apostles knows where Galilee is. This is not an obscure place to them. This is not unfamiliar. It’s not going to be a hard place to find. It’s where it all began. They all knew Galilee. So, here they are being told after he is risen to go to Galilee.
«Go to the place that’s unforgettable to you, where you were born and raised, where you experience that miracle of the water being turned to wine. That’s where I want you to go». Now, if you go to the place that we’re reading about, it’s 3 years since they’ve been in Galilee. A lot has happened since those beginning stages, since those moments that they met him. A lot has transpired. There’s been a lot of failure. There’s been a lot of hurt. Jesus has been arrested. He has now died via crucifixion. All of this has happened, and so things, at this point, because they failed, because they’ve messed up, things are not quite like they once were. Things aren’t fresh. Things aren’t new. They’re lonely. They’re scared. They’re hiding. They’re running from the possible persecution that would come on them like it did Jesus. They have fallen. They’re spiritually bankrupted and crushed.
And so, Jesus would say, «After the resurrection, I want you to meet me in Galilee». Now, if you know much about Galilee, it’s not very dramatic. It’s not the kind of place I would say Jesus should have gone after his resurrection. Now, I’m not Jesus. I’m just saying, if you are going to tell a story, it’s an anticlimactic place. He could have done so many things that would’ve been better ideas, would have been a way better catch at the end. A way better turn at the end. For example, we would know that Jesus' mom, Mary, was there at the cross, at the crucifixion. She would have watched him be beat, watched him be stabbed in his side. He’s bleeding, he’s nailed to the cross, and she’s there weeping. Is there a more traumatic experience that a mom could go through than watching her son die in that kind of a way?
The trauma is not over as you could imagine. She’s still suffering from the experience that she had watching her son die in that way. I’m guessing she’s still devastated. I’m guessing that she’s still heartbroken. And if I was Jesus, I would probably say, «Hey, the first thing I’m going to do after I’m risen is I’m going to go check on my mom. I’m gonna go make sure, I can’t leave her in that traumatic place by herself». And if you could imagine the ending of the movie being that the door swings open and Jesus walks in, and there the mom looks up, sees them and they hug. I mean your heart is pulled out of your chest. That’s a climactic ending. Or, what about Jesus going on a revenge tour? What about, maybe, visiting Pilate’s house, like he’s sleeping and he goes and nudges him? «It’s me. I’m back».
What if he, one by one, visited those who took that cat of nine tails and ripped his back open? What if he, maybe, decided to go visit some of the bullies that sucker punched him? What about, maybe, going to check in on the people who made that sign and put it over his head that mocked who he was, «King of the Jews»? Put that over his head on the cross. What about, maybe, going to visit them who’s laughing now, who’s mocking who now? What if he would have grabbed the Hammer from some of those that nailed his hands and his feet to the cross and said to them, «It’s my turn now»? Talk about a movie, talk about a story, the whole world would want to see, come on, an innocent man getting justice. Oh, that’s the kind of story I would have wanted. But there’s one place on his mind, Galilee.
He’s saying, «I wanna go back to where we started. I wanna go back to where we began, where our relationship began. I’m gonna get back up again, and when I do, there’s a place I’m going to meet you. Now, I already know ahead of time that you’re not gonna understand a lot that’s gonna happen in this next season of your life, and you’re gonna feel hopeless, and you’re going to feel broken, and you’re going to feel like you have nowhere to turn. You’re going to look at your life as an utter failure. I’m asking you, when I am risen, to meet me in Galilee, to go back where we started. To go to the place we first met, we first talked, and church made sense, and you couldn’t wait for the doors to open. When the altars would open and it made sense, you couldn’t wait to go and meet with him again. When reading the Bible was new, when preaching you couldn’t get enough of. In worship and prayer, tears would stream down your face».
Jesus is saying, «Hey, listen, there’s gonna be a lot that goes on in life. There’s gonna be a lot that takes place, but I’ve got the answer for you. What I need you to do is know that there’s a place that we can meet called Galilee. It’s the place we met for the first time». Now, a lot’s going to change from the first time you meet him to other points in your life. There’s gonna be a lot of seasons that take place. There’s a lot that will change, but there’s one thing that will never change, and that’s him. «He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever». He is the God that changeth not. And if he’s risen, what that means, if I have breath, I’m not done. There’s still a chance for me.
So, the Bible says in Mark 16 that Jesus, his body, is in the tomb. That Mary Magdalene, the other Mary, and some other women have brought spices, and they’re going to anoint Jesus' body. Now, their concern, at this point is, how are they gonna move the stone? So, the Bible picks up and tells us that, «When they looked up, they saw that this stone,» this is verse 4, «Which was very large had been rolled away. So, they entered the tomb, they saw a young man or an angel,» some translations would encourage that he’s got this white robe. «And he’s sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. He says, 'don’t be alarmed. You’re looking for Jesus of Nazarene, who was crucified. He is risen. He’s not here. You can look at the place that they laid him, but go tell the disciples and Peter, '» what? «He’s going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him just as he told you».
The angel has a message to the disciples. «After he’s risen, you’re gonna wanna get to Galilee». The last words, instructions, that he would give before the crucifixion, «After I’ve risen, I’ll need to meet you in Galilee». Now, he’s risen from the dead, the angel, the first instructions they give, «You’re gonna wanna meet him in Galilee. Just simply saying what he wants to do, if you wanna know where Jesus is going to be, he wants to take you back to where it all started. To the place that you can remember that you left your boats, and you left your nets. Where you would forsake all and follow him, where nothing in this world mattered to you more than hearing that clear call to follow him». He’s saying, «Can we get back to that? Can we meet there again? Can we get back to where it all started before the offense, before the unforgiveness, before the letdown, before the disappointment, before all of those things»?
And sometimes, we just have to realize how far we’ve gotten from where it all started. Jesus said, «Meet me in Galilee. Go back to Galilee». Now, think about this. This is a big statement to these disciples. They followed him in Galilee. They not only experienced that first miracle of the water being turned to wine. They also would experience the dead being raised, the fish being multiplied and the bread being multiplied to feed the thousands. They would experience one miracle after another miracle, after another miracle. They would experience moments where Jesus told them, for example, to Simon Peter in Matthew 16 that, «Upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it». Then he goes to say, «And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven. Whatever you bind in heaven is bound on earth».
So, they’ve been given the keys to the kingdom. They’ve had an intimate relationship with Jesus. They saw the mountain of transfiguration. You name it, they were there for it. They experienced the best, the most intimate possible touches and talks with Jesus of anyone that’s ever lived. But now, he says, «Tell the disciples and Peter,» why Peter? Why emphasize, «And Peter»? You know the story. He said, «I’m the one that will never fail». Now, all of them are utter failures. They’ve ran, they’ve walked away when he needed them most. And so, the message is, «I want you to go tell the disciples and Peter to meet me in Galilee». And so, Peter hears what the angel had told the Marys, and he listens, and he goes back to Galilee. But the Bible says, he goes back, not to the place he first met him, but he actually goes back, and he decides to start fishing again.
So, he goes back to the life he was living before Jesus. Notice what our nature tends to do. Notice when we hear, «Okay, fine. I’ve been running from God. I’ve been doing my own thing». Maybe it’s not even like some crazy sin. Maybe it’s just, you’re not serving like you once did, you don’t worship like you once did. Maybe you used to couldn’t wait to get up on a Sunday be at church. You couldn’t wait to spend time with God. And all that, you know, it’s not like crazy sin. It could be some of you really experiencing like an absolute you’ve turned your back on it. But others of you, you’re just kind of just finding yourself a little bit more apathetic and complacent than what you once were. And here they are going back, but they’re going back fishing because that’s what shame does to you.
Shame says, «Okay. You can start going back to church, that’s fine. Go back to church, but you can’t ever return back to how it was before the failure, before you pulled back. You can’t ever really go back to the fire, the intensity, the passion, the freshness, before you made some mistakes, or before you listened to some wrong opinions, or before you started hanging out with some wrong, you can’t really go back before that. You can come back, but you’re always going to be an inferior version of what you were before the failure».
And so, Peter goes back, but the Bible says when he goes back in his mind, he has to stay down, which is the lie of the enemy. Remember the prodigal son. He comes to his senses in the pig pen. He says, «I can go back to my father’s house and at least be a servant, for the servants in my father’s house have it better than me». He doesn’t think it’s possible that he can go back and have a renewed sonship. He can go back and, again, have some reduced, inferior relationship of what he once had. Are you listening to me? You see, the enemy might let you come back. He might let you slip online and watch for a little bit. He might let you spend a little bit of time saying, «I guess I’ll listen again for a lit», you can go back, but he wants you to believe that you can’t really fully make the comeback, you can’t really fully circle back to where you started.
You can circle back but when you do, he’s there to remind you, «Remember that failure, remember that mistake, remember how you started out, remember how on fire you were, remember, but you failed». And now, you can come back, but you’re never going to get that back, and the enemy is there to remind you of that. But what the enemy forgets sometimes is what we need to remember, is when we go back, when we circle back, when we make a decision to visit Galilee again, guess what happens? God is there. And the God that found you the first time can find you again, and again, and again, and again. He’s not just the God of second chances, he’s a God of a hundred chances, a thousand chances. You come back because when he’s there, his assignment is to help you get back up again.
So, Jesus gives the invitation, «Meet me in Galilee». It’s not a command. There’s nothing required. There’s no forceful message, just an invitation, «If you want to, meet me in Galilee. That’s where I’ll be. That’s where you can find me. If you’re trying to figure it out, you’re trying to figure out, 'how do I get that back'? If you wanna know where I’ll be, it’s in Galilee». You see, God knows our nature and he knows our enemy. So, he knows how shame and guilt work. He knows how that mistake in the enemy’s hands is a life sentence. For you, Simon Peter, there’s no chance of parole for you. You didn’t just fail three times in a day, you cursed him at the fire, denied you ever knew him, or walked with him, or talked with him.
So, God knows exactly how Peter and the disciples would do it. They’ll go back to Galilee, but they’re going to go back fishing, the picture of them giving up. But the Bible says, Jesus would go before them to Galilee, so he got there before they did. So, he knows what they’re going to do just like he knew they would fail. He knows what their reaction is going to be to their failure. So, he goes ahead of them. And I don’t know exactly what happened here. This is my imagination and you cannot agree with it, that’s fine. This is just me wondering how exactly did God do. Maybe, maybe, maybe, Jesus walked out on the water again, had a little committee meeting with all the little fishes.
Just a few minutes, all of you need to know what’s gonna go down. Some expert fishermen are gonna be here. You haven’t seen these kind of fishermen for a little while. They know exactly where to throw the net and you have one mission, do not get in that net. Tell everybody. So, sure enough, they show up. They start fishing. They throw it on the right side, then swing to the left. Throw it on the left side. Over and over, and over, they throw their nets until finally, they are so tired, and they are so exhausted that they completely give up because the Bible says, «They have caught nothing». There is something about God, when you try to go back to your life before him, that he will not let you get out of it what you used to get out of it.
And no matter how much you try, you will come up emptier and emptier, and emptier. And so, watch what Jesus does. He says, «Hey, little children, have you any fish? Maybe try throwing on the right side». They didn’t know it was him, but Jesus had already told the fish in the committee meaning, «This is what I want you to do. When you hear me say, 'throw the net on the right, ' I want every one of you. You tell every little fish in the sea, I want you to go around, find all of 'em. I want you to find your brothers, your cousins, your nieces, your nephews, your colleagues, you go to school with a fish, I don’t care how full it looks, I don’t care if you think there’s no way another fish can get in that net, I don’t care if the net breaks, I want everyone of you to get in that net.
Because I also wanna teach them, that no matter how far they’ve gone, no matter how much they failed, that if they’ll just hear what I’m saying, if they’ll just know the kind of life I wanna give them. Their failure in no way is going to stop me from wanting to bless their life». And what we tend to do is we think we earn the blessing. I’m not saying that there’s not obedience that God blesses. But what I’m also not saying is that you and I have a tendency to forget that we never really deserved or earned any of this. That’s grace. It’s unearned, it’s undeserved. And every now and then you gotta remind yourself, you really didn’t position yourself for the love and the grace that God has given you.
The Bible says that even when they were pulling in that great catch, Peter did not recognize him. So, Peter is slow like some of you. Like me, where we don’t really think that that’s how God can do it. Let’s be honest. «I’ve failed. I’ve messed up. I can come back as the servant. I can come back to God and have some empty nets. But there’s no way I can come back to how we first met,» which, by the way, was their nets were breaking. That’s how they first met him. «There’s no way that I can return to that».
But John, the Bible says, says to Peter, «It’s Jesus». John got that that’s who Jesus is. My responsibility as a pastor, this is my responsibility, is to not impress religious people because you cannot do it. Because they’ll always find a hole in anything you say. My responsibility is to do my best through the complication of 66 different books and unimaginable different scriptures. More than I can number off the top of my head, that’s for sure, is to give you a picture of who Jesus is. And this right here is not all there is to the gospel. But a big part of the gospel is that you accurately see who Jesus is, and the way he handles your mistakes, and the way he handles your failures.
So, the Bible says Peter jumps in the water. He swims. The rest of the disciples pull up to the shore. Jesus already has the bread and the fish made. He’s already got breakfast made. They come and sit down he gives them breakfast. Total silence, no one saying a word. Why would they talk? They’re there wondering, «What is he gonna say? How is he going to handle this? He knows what we’ve done. He knows we turned our back on him. He knows we denied him».
Finally, the words that would break the silence, «Do you love me? Peter, do you love me more than these»? No indictment. No, «You shouldn’t have turned your back on me». No, «After all our talks, all the things I did for you, all the doors I opened for you, you were there, and you experienced walking on the water with me. Peter, I was there. I let you experience that kind of a Mira,» none of that is brought up, just a simple question, «Do you love me»?
And Jesus really does live in that place. He can fix anything and anyone if you love him. It don’t matter how far gone you are, if you love him, he can fix anything. You can beat yourself up if you want to, but it’s of no benefit to him. Do you confess your sin? Absolutely. But Galilee is about coming back to the place over and over, and over, that I first him. And the place that I first met him is the place where I woke up to the fact that nothing could separate me from his love, nothing.