Well, it is good to see all of
you. I'm gonna ask you to take your Bibles and turn with me
to the book of John, chapter 21. John 21. I'd like to read the first three
verses. John 21. After these things, Jesus showed
himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and on
this wise showed he himself. There were together Simon Peter
and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee,
and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples. Simon
Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. And they say unto him, we also
go with thee. They went forth, entered into
a ship immediately, and that night they caught nothing. Now we're reading the account
of the very end of our Lord's earthly ministry. We're reading
the ending days of his ministry. Soon he will be taken back into
heaven. He'll rise again in the clouds,
the clouds will receive him. And right in these ending verses
right here, I was looking at the last two verses of chapter
20, talking about the things that
the Lord had done while he was here. This passage of scripture
has always just intrigued me. Verse 30, John chapter 20, and
many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples,
which are not written in this book. But these are written that
you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that believing ye might have life through his name. I think about that and I think
about the amazing, amazing mercy of almighty God that would tell
us what we need to know, what we need to know. There were a
lot of things that the Lord did that the Spirit of God was pleased
to omit out of the scriptures, showed them to his disciples.
But those things that were omitted were omitted according to God's
good pleasure. Many things that were done. And this passage of scripture,
it deals with the Lord's disciples right after the resurrection. It's just been a few days since
his resurrection. And the scripture declares that
a few days after the resurrection, Something was said by the Apostle
Peter that just is very sobering. That third verse, Simon Peter
saith unto them, I go a fishing. And they say unto him, we also
go with thee. And they went forth and entered
into a ship immediately. That night they caught nothing.
Now, think about these men, who these men were. The scripture
says in verse 2 of our passage, chapter 21, Peter, Thomas, Nathanael,
sons of Zebedee, two other disciples. Think about who these men were
by the grace of God. The Lord had called these men
out of the darkness of sin and unbelief. He had revealed Himself
to them. These men knew God. He had taught them, breathed
upon them, and said, Receive ye the Spirit. These men knew
God. They were children of God, born
from above. These men in the same place,
that's what verse two said, they were together. These men that
were named Simon Peter, this man had denied the Lord three
times after the Lord had told him before the cock crows twice. You're going to deny me. Three
times. That was the same man after he
denied the Lord. And whenever many of the disciples
walked no more with the Lord, that same man that denied the
Lord, three times. It just, humanly speaking now,
it just, you'd think if the Lord God himself, and he, Peter knew
who he was. He knew who he was. If the Lord
told me, told you, you're gonna deny me three times. We would say, left to ourselves,
we'd say just exactly what Peter said. It ain't gonna happen. If the Lord said it was gonna
happen, it's gonna happen, and it did happen. That was one of
these men right here. Thomas, called Didymus, though for a while was not convinced. Right, I'm talking about right
at the end of the Lord's earthly ministry. The disciples told Thomas that
we saw the Lord. Thomas said, except I see the
prince in his hands. The side appears. I'm not going
to believe you. That was the, this is me, right
here. and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee. Nathanael was one of whom the
Lord said in John 147, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom
is no guile. Then there were the sons of Zebedee,
James and John, and these, these were the men, and two others,
the scripture says, two others that The disciples that the Spirit
of God was pleased to leave silent, didn't tell us who they were,
but they were there. And these were the men that we
would think, if anybody would be found consistent, it's going
to be the Lord's apostles. They walked with him. Three and
a half years, they walked with him. They walked with him. They heard him. He taught them
the gospel personally. That was one of the demands of
being an apostle. You learned the gospel from the
Lord himself. It was right. What they heard
was right. These were his apostles. But, but the scripture declares after the Lord had risen, after they had heard the testimony
of some that said, we saw him, he was seen by these, and seen
by these, and seen by these. It came a time when, according
to this scripture right here, after these things, verse one,
Simon Peter saith unto them, the others that were there, I'm
talking about those other disciples. I'm talking about those men that
were not just fly-by-night people that just, you know, that they
found somewhere. These were apostles. Peter said,
I go a fishing. They saying to him, we also go
with thee. And they went, they went. Now
I've preached on this before, but I wanted to check it out
again, just to make sure. Peter said, I go, I go efficient. That word right there, to depart. To go without noise or notice. It's from a root word that means
Go by stealth. I'm just going to slip out. I'll just slip out. It wasn't
the same word go that the Lord used when many of the disciples
forsook the Lord when he was preaching to him and he talked
to him. They said, that's a hard saying.
And they left. The Lord said to his apostles,
will you go away also? Will you leave? No, this, this
word is, I'm leaving. I'm going back to fishing. I'm going back to my old profession. That's what I'm going to do.
And when the disciple said, we go with thee, Word that they used was, we will
accompany you. They were going back to doing
what they did before. Now just think about this. They've seen the Lord. They've
seen His miracles. They've watched Him, heard Him. Who do men say that I, the Son
of God, am? Some say this prophet, some say
that prophet. Who do you say that? Peter said, you're the Christ.
You're the son of the living God. The Lord told him, he said, God
taught you that. Only a believer knows God. An unbeliever can be religious. An unbeliever can be Show we
outwardly only God's people know Him, know Him. This is life eternal,
that they might know Thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ,
whom Thou hast sent. These men who had been fishermen
for a living before the Lord called them, These men were going
to leave. That's what, that's what the
words mean. I'm going fishing. I've told
you before, not just, I'm just going out this afternoon. We
just go, let's just go out there and catch a few fish. No, that's
not what the words mean. We're leaving. We're leaving.
Now you think about this. I've dealt with this before.
When I was preparing this message this morning, I got to thinking
about this. And I thought, how susceptible would I be to
leave the Lord if he didn't keep me by power and grace and mercy? How susceptible would I be? Here's
how susceptible I'd be. I'm gone. I'm leaving. I will leave. We're kept by the
power of God through faith, ready to be revealed the last time.
Prone to wander. Lord, I feel it, prone to leave
the God I love. These men, these men that God
had loved and called, here they are. Peter said, I'm leaving. And they didn't argue with him.
They didn't say, Peter, no, wait a minute. You can't just up and
no. They said, we're going with you. Well, as I was considering these
things, my heart was drawn back. I was looking at those three
verses this morning. My heart was drawn back to verse 1 of chapter 21. After these things, not only
the things that we read in the closing verses of chapter 20,
but everything that we can consider, everything that you consider
before, after these things, the Lord called them, follow me,
I'll make you fishers of men, After all these things, after these things, Jesus, the Savior, call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. After these
things, Jesus, showed himself, made himself manifest. Jesus made himself manifest. He made himself known, that which
had been hidden from men by nature. Man by nature does not know him. After these things, Jesus showed
himself. Oh, what peace, joy, and comfort
in the Lord that he would manifest or show himself. That in itself is a miracle of
God's grace, that he would reveal himself to you, to me, call us
by grace, keep us. And as I looked at that passage
of scripture, just reading it this morning again, After these
things, Jesus showed himself. Now this next word is the word
that just arrested me. Again. After these things, Jesus
showed himself. Again. To the disciples. The Sea of Tiberius. Oh, what a word. Of comfort. to me, that the Lord who revealed himself,
and here again, here's the heart of this message right here, again,
again, he showed himself again to his disciples. Oh, we're weak vessels, and that
he would show himself again And again, and again, let me ask
you this. Why are you here tonight? You've
heard me say this so many times. Why are you here tonight? I'll tell you why. I need to
see him by faith. I need to hear of him by faith. I want to know him by faith again. again. Last Sunday, the message last
Sunday, Wednesday before that, Sunday before that, Wednesday
before that. A believer cannot feast on those things that are
in the past. I need to hear again. Tell me
again. Tell me again what he has done
for me. And every time you tell me, Lord,
would you make it real to me again? I want to feast again. That word just blessed my heart. I thought, how easy that is for me to miss
it. After these things, Jesus showed
himself And that word, but for the grace of God, wouldn't have
been there. He could have said, after these things, Jesus showed
himself to the disciples at sea. And it would have been right.
It would have been normal. It would have been good. But
he showed himself again to them. It was repetitive, graciously
repetitive. He showed himself again to them,
and he shows himself to us by grace again. An unbeliever will say, and they
have said this, I've told you before, is that all you got? Is that all your material? Is
that all you, is that all, I mean, don't you ever preach on anything
else? Let me ask you that know him. What else do you want to
hear? Don't tell me anything. Tell
me again one more time. Tell me again one more time what
the Lord has done for me. Tell me one more time. Look at
this passage of scripture. Look at Isaiah chapter one. Isaiah
chapter one. Isaiah chapter 1, verse 9. Except the Lord of hosts had
left us a very small remnant. That remnant that needs to hear
again. That remnant that needs to hear
afresh. That remnant that needs to hear
anew. Unless, except the Lord of hosts
had left us a very small remnant. We should have been as Sodom
and we should have been as Gomorrah. This remnant never tires, never
tires of hearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. He showed himself,
manifested himself again. Turn with me to 2 Peter 3, 2
Peter chapter 3. Second, Peter chapter 3 verse
9. The Lord is not slack. Concerning
his promise, if some men count slackness. But his long suffering
to us word. Not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. He's not slack concerning his
promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering to usward. Who are these uswards? Who are
these uswards? I love doing this. Turn with
me to 1 Peter. I'm gonna wrap this up. Turn
with me to 1 Peter, chapter one, verse one. If you want to know
who this was written to, well, look back where it started. Peter
wrote these two epistles, 1 Peter, 2 Peter. Who did he write them
to? Who did he write them to? Look
at 1 Peter, chapter 1, verse 1 to 9. 1 Peter 1, 1 to 9. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ
to the strangers which are scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia. Here's who he's writing to. Elect,
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification
of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ, grace unto you, and peace be multiplied. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according
to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again, has birthed us again
unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
to an inheritance that's incorruptible and undefiled, that fadeth not
away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power
of God through faith, Unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last
time, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need
be, ye are in heaviness through the manifold temptations, that
the trial of your faith, being much more precious than that
of gold, that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might
be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of
Jesus Christ, whom, having not seen, ye love. in whom though
now in seeing him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the
salvation of your souls. These five men, or seven, seven of them got together. We're not told exactly who the
last two were, but there were There were some men that got
together. And the Lord got them together. And the scripture says
in that passage, we looked at John chapter 21. These things,
Jesus, these things, Jesus showed himself again, or after, I'm
sorry, after these things, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples
at the Sea of Tiberias. And on this wise, This is how
he did it. This is how he showed himself.
He taught him. He taught him. And this is how
the Lord shows himself to us this evening. He's teaching us. When we're prone to say in our
hearts, I'm done. Don't ever doubt that that you
don't have an old man that'll tempt you to leave. We're all
prone to wander. We're all prone to leave. But
the Lord manifested himself. He said unto them, again, again,
Lord, tell me one more time. Tell me of your grace. Tell me
of your mercy. Tell me of your compassion. Tell
me how you will never leave me. You'll never leave me. Tell me
again, you'll never forsake me, because I know just enough about
myself to know, Lord, if you dealt with me according to my
iniquity, I'd have no hope. I pray that the Lord might be
pleased to take that word that the Lord used again. Tell me again, and if we're permitted
to come back under the service by God's grace. I'm gonna tell
you what you're gonna hear again, how God has been pleased to save
his people, to not leave them to themselves, to call them out
of darkness, keep them by his power, and coming back to get
them. For Christ's sake, amen, amen.