Let's take our Bibles now and
turn with me to the 21st chapter of John, John 21. I'd like to look at the first
seven verses of John 21. I've entitled this message, Have
You Any Fish? Verse 1, John 21, after these
things, after showing himself to Mary Magdalene, after showing
himself to the women that were with Mary Magdalene, after showing
himself to the two on the road to Emmaus, after meeting with
his disciples twice, after these things, Jesus showed himself
again. That is, he rendered himself
apparent. He caused himself to be manifested. Jesus showed himself to the disciples
at the Sea of Tiberias, and on this wise showed he himself. This is the way, the scripture
says, this is the manner, on this wise, on this wise, in this
manner, in this way, in this fashion, the Lord showed himself. Now, you know, man by nature
thinks that he can behold the glory of God in the face of the
Lord Jesus Christ in the power of his flesh. He thinks that
he can do that, but the scripture reveals that only by grace do
men spiritually see the Lord. Now think about how many different
times it's recorded that They looked at him after his resurrection. Mary looked at him, thought he
was a gardener. He asked her, Woman, why weepest
thou? Whom seekest thou? She knows him. But when he said
Mary, she knew. The two on the road to Emmaus,
he was talking to them. Their eyes were holding that
they shouldn't know Him. Why didn't they know Him? The
Lord was not pleased to reveal Himself to them. Until... Look at this, look at Luke. Luke
24. The scripture says, this is when
they knew. Luke 24, 30, 31. You remember
they were on the road to Emmaus, their eyes were holding, they're
talking to him. They don't know who he is. Asked
him a question, when he asked him, he said, what are y'all
talking about? They said, you're not from around
here, are you? This is concerning Jesus of Nazareth.
We thought. Crucified three days ago. Today's
the third day. And here's the Lord talking to
them. They don't know who He is. Look at 30-31. And it came
to pass as He said it, meet with them, He took bread, blessed
it, break it, gave it to them, and their eyes were opened. And
they knew Him, and He vanished out of their sight. Until He
opened their eyes, listen, until the Lord manifests Himself. You don't know Him. No man knoweth the Father but
the Son, and to Him whom the Lord shall reveal Him. Man thinks,
I know the Lord. Not until the Lord manifests
Himself. After these things, Jesus showed Himself. That's what He's talking about.
Manifested Himself. And then I want to look, on this
wise showed he himself. Now here's what I want us to
do. I want us to look in these first seven verses, how did he
manifest himself? How did he do it? On this wise,
that's what it says, in this manner, he manifested himself. Well, how did he do it? Well,
first of all, I want to look to whom he manifested himself. Look at verse 2. Well, there
were together Simon Peter and Thomas called Didymus. Now look,
Thomas is there now. And Nathanael of Cana in Galilee,
two sons of Zebedee, James and John, and two other of his disciples. Now here's the setting. These seven men, and the scripture
says in verse 1, where were they? Well, they were at the Sea of
Tiberias. That's where they were. There
were seven of his disciples. Seven of his apostles. Seven
of them. And they're at this sea. They're
at the Sea of Galilee, the Sea of Tiberias. And these men, you can go back
and look, but I can tell you this, these men were from there.
That's where they're from. And these men from this area,
most of which had all been engaged in the fishing industry. That's
what they had done. And the Lord has manifested himself
to them after his resurrection two other times. Now, here they
are, 7 of the 11, they've witnessed the Lord, they've seen the Lord,
Mary, the women, two on the road to Damascus, two on the road
to Emmaus. And here's the Lord, and here's
what they said. Now here's who they are. Think
of who these guys are. These are the apostles. They've
seen the Lord. That's what they just told Thomas. We saw the Lord. Simon Peter
saith unto them, I go a fishing. And they saying to him, we also
go with thee. They went forth, entered into
a ship immediately, and that night they caught nothing. Now, it might appear that these
fellows We're just gonna go fishing. I think what we'll do, let's
just, y'all wanna go fishing this afternoon? Y'all wanna go
out and, you know, take a little time off and, you know, that's
not what they said. And I'm going to prove to you
by the scriptures what I'm saying is so, because this is a very,
very convicting passage of scripture. When Peter said in verse 3, I
go a fishing. Now I've heard many men preach
on this passage of scripture, listening to them on tapes and
stuff like that. And what the men that I listen to and know
and love and appreciate and believe, they're preachers of the gospel,
they said exactly what I'm about to say. What they said was truth. But here was the only problem
I was having. Prove it to me. Prove to me what you're saying
is so. When Peter said, I go a fishing,
the key to what he meant was in the word go. The word he used,
and again I encourage you to look this up. What he used was,
here's the word he used. It means to depart, to go without noise or notice. And it's from the root word that
means to go by stealth. I'm just going to slip away. I'm just going to leave. I'm going back to my old job. I'm going back to fishing. I'm
going back into the fishing business. I'm going to go back and be a
commercial fisherman. I looked up that word right there. I want you to turn, just hold
your place, turn to John 6, John 6, 67. John 6.67. There was a lot of
folks that had been following the Lord, and the Lord speaking
to them, and He told them, you know, the truth. They heard the truth. It said
in verse 60, this is a hard saying, who can hear it? Jesus knew it
Himself that His disciples murmured at it. He said unto them, does
this offend you? What if you shall see the son
of man ascend up where he was before? It's the spirit that
quickens. The flesh profiteth nothing. I can do by my own will. No, you cannot. No, you cannot. The flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
they're spirit, they're life, but there's some of you that
believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believed not, and who should betray Him. And
He said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come, no
man has the ability to come unto Me, except it were given unto
him of My Father." From that time, Pat, when He said that,
when He declared Himself sovereign, that God's an electing God, No
man can come to me except it were given unto him by my Father.
You can't come to me. So I'm going to come to the Lord,
not unless God calls you, not unless God permits you. From
that time, verse 66, many of his disciples went back and walked
no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve,
Will you... You see that next word right
there? Same word. Same word that Peter used over
in John 21. Will you go away? Will you depart? He looked at
his disciples, Mike. He said, will you just slip away
too? Is that what you want to do? You want to leave? And Simon
Peter answered him and said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ,
the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered them, Have
not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? Will you go away too? Is that
what you want to do? Peter said, Lord, where are we
going to go? We believe you're the Christ. We've cast ourselves
upon you. Back in John 21, Simon Peter
saith unto them, I go a fishing. I depart. I'm going to leave
quietly. I'm not going to make a big deal
out of this. I'm just going to walk away. What? And the Scripture says, and they
say unto him, we also go with thee. Now that word that they
just used, go, is not the same word that Peter used. Not the
same word. It means this, well, we'll accompany
you. Same meaning. Different word. Peter said, I'm going to depart.
The disciple says, we'll accompany you. You say, well maybe they
didn't understand. They knew what he said. If I
use a certain word in English, and I'm not very good at English,
but you know what I'm talking about. If I say I'm going to
forsake, you know what that word means. I'm going to depart. I'm going to leave. I ain't coming
back. You know what I'm talking about.
They were not just going fishing. They were going back to what
they were doing before the Lord called them. They were going back to fishing
for a living. These men had just beheld the
risen Savior and obviously thought that it was okay to just pick
up where you'd left off three years ago. You know the amazing thing? We're
going to talk about it in just a minute. Obviously, their boats
were still there. They got into their boat. It's going to be okay. Let's
just cast out in the sea and let's just throw the nets into
the water. Now let me tell you the amazing
thing about this. Now you think about this, you
know, you check these words out and see if I'm not telling you
the truth. Check and see if it's not what these words mean. Wasn't
that he was just going to go out and enjoy himself for that
afternoon? He said, I'm going to depart. I think, but for the grace of
God? He said, no, a believer won't do that. Oh really? His disciples did. A believer would never take another
man's wife and commit adultery with her and have her husband
killed. Really? A believer would never forsake
the Lord on the very day and deny Him on the very day that
the Lord told him, you'll do it today. Really? Not long before, turn to John
1.42. Let me show you the first meeting that the Lord had, or
one of the first, if not the first, with Peter. John 1.42. Well, I'll read to 35. Let's look at 35. And the next
day after John stood, two of his disciples looking upon Jesus
as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God." Now here's
where they're introduced to the Lord. And the two disciples heard
him speak. They followed Jesus. Then Jesus
turned and saw them following and said unto them, What seek
you? They said unto him, Rabbi, which is to say being interpreted,
Master, where dwellest thou? And he said, Come and see. They
came and saw where he dwelt. and abode with him that day,
about the tenth hour, and one of the two which heard John speak
and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. And he
first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We
found the Messiah, which is being interpreted to Christ, And he
brought him, that is, he brought Peter to Jesus. And when Jesus
beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah. Thou
shalt be called Cephas, which is, by interpretation, a stone. Now here's the fact. The Lord met Peter, allowed Peter
to meet him, and this is what he said. Your name is Simon, son of Jonah. You're going to be called The
Rock. And here's Peter, now back in
John 21. Here's Peter. He's seen the Lord. They're at the Sea of Tiberias.
The Lord has now manifested Himself again to them. And Peter and
the other Apostle seven of them, I don't doubt for one second,
Peter looked at the Sea of Tiberias, the lake, I'm sure it just seemed
to smile and glitter in the setting sun. Just at that moment, that
old man, Peter, that old carnal heart raised its ugly head and
said, Let's leave. Peter said, I go fishing. I'm going to leave. I'm going
to depart. That old man and every believer, now you listen, is
unchanged. I've read this passage of scripture
so many times and prayed and sought God's direction and guidance
on it and I thought, how needful we are to be kept. I mean, we're so arrogant. We're
so, you know, we think. I think to myself, Marvin, you're
standing here by the grace of God. Now, the best thing for
you to do, Marvin, is just shut up and thank God that you're
still standing here. There has been some that have
left. And you know why they left? Because they wanted to. They
wanted to. Here I am. And old Peter says,
I'm leaving. Oh, we sing that song all the
time, prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave
the God I love. Don't tell me that a believer
doesn't have a nature in him that's like that. This scripture
proves it right here. Now I want you to hold your place
right there and turn to Luke 5. I'm going to take just a few
minutes before I wrap this up. Look at Luke 5, 1 to 11. Luke 5, 1 to 11. It came to pass
that as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God,
he stood by the lake Janessaret and saw two ships standing by
the lake, but the fishermen were gone out of them and washing
their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's,
and prayed him that he'd thrust out a little from the land. He
sat down and taught the people out of the ship. Now when he
had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Lodge out into the deep
and let down your nets for a draught. Simon answered and said to him,
Master, we tolled all night. They've taken nothing. Nevertheless,
at thy word, I'll let down the net. And when they had this done,
they enclosed a great multitude of fishes in their net break,
and they beckoned unto their partners which were in the other
ship, that they should come and help them. And they came and
filled both the ships, so that they began to sink when Simon
Peter saw it. He fell down at Jesus' knees,
saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he
was astonished, and all that were with him at the draught
of the fishes which they had taken. And so was also James
and John, sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And
Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch
men. And when they had brought their
ships to land, they forsook all and followed him. What had they done? Forsook. They departed. They let it go. They disregarded it. They neglected
it. They laid it aside. Been in the fishing business
now all my adult life. I just... I'm going to follow you. They
forsook all. Depart from me, Lord, I'm a sinful
man. The Lord said, Fear not, from
henceforth thou shalt catch men." This is what I called you to,
Peter. This is what I called you to. The Lord had given them
a commission to fish, but not for creatures of the sea anymore,
but for men. These were converted men. Peter had just said, when others
left, the Lord said, you're going to go also? Peter said, where
are we going to go? We believe you're the Christ. They forsook all. But if the
Lord allows us to do the dictates of our old man, I'll tell you
what, there is no depth to the bottom. Oh, how needful for us to be
kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to
be revealed in the last time. There's not one person that wouldn't
go back if the Lord didn't keep him. Well, back in John 21. Well,
they're out in the boat, and they're fishing. Scripture set
forth, last part of verse 3, went forth and entered into a
ship immediately. That night they caught nothing."
Oh, what the night symbolizes. The Lord had said in John 12,
36, "...while you have the light, believe in the light, that you
may be children of light." Now here, these disciples were children
of light. But walking, right now, like
children of darkness, and the Lord allowed them to go that
way all night. But let's consider the fruit
of what was produced. The scripture says, that last
line in verse 3, this is what they caught. Nothing. Now if you want to read a passage
of scripture, a verse of scripture that reveals the entire ability
of a man doing the best he can without God's blessing, without God's direction, and
apart from God's will, you read this one right here. These guys
were fishermen. They knew what they were doing.
These guys were fishermen, professionals. And the scripture says, they
fished all night and didn't catch anything. Surely, the Lord said, without
me, you can do nothing. Nothing. All their energy, all
their experience, all their manpower, and not one fish? All night they
fished. You know, I've heard some of
the best fishing. I don't know a whole lot about fishing. But I'm from
Louisiana. And I can tell you this, I can
tell you this, in Louisiana, the little bit that I did, I
can tell you this, that night fishing is probably some of your
best. Let me tell you a little secret,
if y'all want to try this one time. Get out there in a boat
and get your light and put it over the water. You're probably going to find
you're going to do a whole lot better. Fish, they'll come to that light. Night fishing, you know, attracted
to it. These men had fished for years. Probably know every spot. I mean,
they're from that area. All the little honey holes and
all that kind of stuff. And they caught nothing. Oh, may we learn. Lord, teach us to wait. Wait,
wait. Well, the scripture says back
in John 21, they fished all night, that's the last part of bursary,
and they caught nothing. Now I want you to look and consider
this. To whom? He showed Himself. He showed Himself to those that
are wandering sinners, but for His grace that keeps them. left
to themselves. That's who He showed Himself
to. But look how He showed Himself now in this next one. He showed
Himself as the faithful witness, the omniscient Lord and the sovereign
God of the universe. He showed Himself on this wise. Last part, verse 3, that night
they caught nothing, verse 4, but Oh, how thankful for that precious
word. He fished all night and caught
nothing, but when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on
the shore, but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. The
day was breaking. He'd been out there all night
long. Don't have anything. And now the bright and morning
star himself, as the day's coming about, He who is the splendor
and the glory of God's kingdom stands on the shore looking at
them. And they don't know it. They don't know who it is. Now
you listen, listen to this. He showed himself on this wise.
Here's the first thing I know about him showing himself. He
is the faithful witness. Without a doubt, I don't doubt
for one second. He watched them all night in
their fruitless toil. And they'd caught nothing But
he was there. They had purposed to go back
to fishing. That's what they said. I'm going
back. I'm leaving. Quietly. But he
never forsook them. Isaiah 54 10, For the mountains
shall depart, the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart
from thee. Neither shall the covenant of
my peace be removed, saith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee."
2 Timothy 2.13, if we believe not, yet he's faithful. He abideth
faithful. He cannot deny himself. He was standing in front of them
and they did not know him. Oh, how dull are our senses when
the Lord is ever near and we don't know it. Behold Him who is the omniscient
Lord. Look at verse 5. Jesus saith
unto them, Children, have ye any meat? And they answered Him, No. Now, the Lord, who knows all
things, asked His disciples a question, not for information. He knew
that they had caught nothing. But he asked them a question
in order to cause them to confess their failure. You know that
happened one time before I just thought of. Adam, where are you?
You think God couldn't find you? Where are you? Well, I realized
I was naked and I hid myself. Really? Did you eat of the fruit?
He knew he ate of the fruit. Well, my wife. Well, the serpent. Do you have any meat? But you
know, that word children right there, that's an amazing passage.
If you have a margin there, it may tell you that. Mine says,
sirs, that word he used right there, children, it was not the
term of endearment that he used before in John 13, 33. Little
children, yet a little while I'm with you. You shall seek
me. And as I said unto the Jews, whether I go, you cannot come,
so now say I unto you. Wasn't that word? Not the term
of endearment. This right here is just a common
word. It just means, lads, hey, fellas, sirs, do you have any meat? No. Now look at him as he shows
himself now as the sovereign God of the universe. Look at
verse 6. He said unto them, cast the net
on the right side of the ship, and you shall find. They cast
their fore and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude
of fishes. These men had fished all night
long with this attitude. I'm going to leave him. I'm going
to depart. And I'm not coming back. I ain't coming back. You know, Jeremiah said that.
I'm not going to preach anymore in His name. He said, but His Word was in
my bones like fire, and I couldn't stop. I ain't going to do it. I ain't going to listen. I'm
not going to listen anymore to the rebellion. I'm not going
to do it. These guys said, I'm leaving. And the Lord allowed them to
go all night long and catch nothing. Standing on the shore and then
in mercy and compassion, the sovereign of this universe says,
I want you to cast on the right side and you shall find. And they
did it. They didn't know who was speaking.
But His Word that went out of His mouth would not return unto
Him void. It accomplished His pleasure
and prospered in the thing whereto He sent it. He said, cast your
net on the right side, and now they can't pull them in. They were not able to for the
multitude of fishes. How many fish did they catch?
A hundred and fifty-three. Look at verse 11. I'll look at
this Lord willing next time. Simon Peter went up and drew
the net to land full of great fishes, 153. And for all there
were so many, yet was not the net broken. You know, the Lord
who rules in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth said to 153 fish, get in the net. And 153 fish got
in the net. The Lord had taught in a parable,
the kingdom of heaven is like a net cast, pulls them in. You know, you go fishing, get
your bait, put your worm, get your cricket, put your crawfish,
what do they call them? Crawfish. You know what you're
doing when you're trying to do that? I'm trying to deceive the
fish. I'm trying to say I'm going to fool you. This is really something
for you to eat. But really what I'm going to
do is catch you. We ain't trying to fool anybody. The Lord said
the kingdom of heaven is like a net and God will put the fish
in the net. And they drew them in. They couldn't
haul them because they were so heavy. Surely this experience
is going to come back to these men because the Lord is going
to call these men. to this calling and send him
out. When he got ready to leave, you
know, he said, you go into all the world, you preach the gospel
to every man. The Lord instructed his disciples
to do what they'd been doing all night except it was without
his blessing. Is anything wrong with going
fishing? No. Not as long as you Don't
go with that attitude that I'm going to forsake the Lord. His word commanded the success
of that catch. And when Almighty God is pleased
to save His own, let me tell you what's going to happen. He's
going to do just like He did those 153 fish. He's going to
say, you come to me. And all that the Father has given
me, He said, shall come to me, and him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. I don't want to get into verse
11, I'm going to stop right now. But I'll tell you what, it's
such a blessing. For all there were so many, yet was not the
net broken. You know back, we read chapter
1, that net did break. But here the Lord is going to
teach His disciples something. All 153 fish, and the Lord kept
them all in that net to prove to His disciples this truth. This is the Father's will which
has sent me, that of all which He has given me, I should lose
nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. Therefore,
verse 7, the disciples, The disciple whom Jesus loved said unto Peter,
he said, Peter, it's the Lord. I'm standing there watching them
all night. Bound and determined in their minds, I'm leaving.
And in mercy, the Lord comes to them. Wouldn't forsake them. Peter, it's the Lord. Now, when
Simon Peter heard that, it was the Lord, he girded his fisher's
coat unto him, for he was naked, and did cast himself into the
sea. You know, I thought about when
I read that passage there, I thought about that time that Peter was
getting that boat, and the Lord came walking on the water, and
he hollered at him, Lord, if that's you, Bid me come. He said, come. Peter got out
of the boat. And he started walking on the
water. And when he saw the wind, that it was boisterous, he began
to sink. And he cried unto the Lord. He
said, Lord, save me. And the Lord reached down, grabbed
him, pulled him up. He said, oh, you of little faith.
Wherein did you doubt? I don't doubt for one second.
When Peter jumped in that water, put his fisher's coat on, jumped
in the water, he's going to the Lord. He remembered. The Lord didn't let me perish.
I'm going to Him. I'm going to just jump in. I
pray the Lord bless these words to our hearts and cause us to
remember. Listen. There's an old man that's
prone to wander. Left to himself, that's what
he would do. But the Lord, who is ever faithful,
said, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. These words, life to God's people. May they be blessed to us this
morning. Amen. Okay, Gary.