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Clay Curtis

From Fishermen To Fishers Of Men

John 21:1-14
Clay Curtis March, 19 2023 Video & Audio
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John Series

The sermon "From Fishermen To Fishers Of Men" by Clay Curtis focuses on the calling of the apostles and their transformation into ministers of the Gospel, as highlighted in John 21:1-14. The preacher emphasizes that the power to evangelize comes not from human effort but distinctly from Christ and the proclamation of His Word. Key arguments include the notion that Jesus is the source of revelation, which empowers believers to share the Gospel effectively. Curtis refers to Jesus' instruction to cast the net on the other side, underscoring that true success in ministry is rooted in obedience to Christ's guidance (John 21:6). He highlights the significance of acknowledging one's sinfulness and dependence on Christ for righteousness, thus reinforcing crucial Reformed doctrines such as total depravity and justification by faith alone. The sermon concludes by affirming that the preaching of Christ is the sole means by which God draws His elect to Himself, allowing the realization that all glory belongs to Him, not to human efforts.

Key Quotes

“The power is not of us. It is all of grace. And it is all by the power of our Lord and Savior through the means that He’s pleased to use, which gives Him and the Father all the glory.”

“The only means, the gospel, the preaching of Christ in the crucifixion, the only means that God’s true fishers of men use.”

“He already provided fish. He’s not getting anything from you and me. But then he told them, now you bring the net with the fish and cook some. He’s given us the privilege of His grace to use us.”

“When He breaks the heart, you hit the dust. And here’s why He uses the Gospel. That no flesh should glory in His presence.”

Sermon Transcript

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And Paul said, and pray for me
that I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. John 21. I won't read the text again,
but they're at the Sea of Galilee. And this is where the Lord first
called these apostles. And this scene reminds us of
our Lord's promise when He called them. He called them and he told
them he would turn them from being fishermen to fishers of
men. From fishermen to fishers of
men. Matthew 4.18, Jesus walking by
the Sea of Galilee, that's the same place he's at here. He saw
two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting
a net into the sea for they were fishers. They were fishermen.
And he said to them, follow me and I will make you fishers of
men. and they straightway left their
nets and followed him. And going on from thence, he
saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee and John his
brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, men in their nets,
and he called them, and they left the ship and their father
and followed him." Revelation is by the Word. by Christ the Word speaking the
Word. And that's the only way we know
Him. That's the only way we see Him. The only way we see Him.
It says there in verse 1, after these things, Jesus showed Himself
again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and on this
wise showed He Himself. After His resurrection, whenever
anybody saw the Lord, and He only revealed Himself to the
disciples after He arose, But anytime any of them saw him,
it was because the Lord revealed himself to them by speaking and
making them see him and know him. Mary Magdalene didn't recognize
him until he spoke and revealed himself to her. The two on the
road to Mass didn't know it was him they were talking to until
he spoke into their heart and made them know it was him. And
they don't know him here either until he speaks and reveals himself. That means God's pleased, if
He's pleased to use us to fish for men, the means that He's
going to use is the preaching of the Gospel of Christ, the
preaching of Christ and Him crucified, and prayer. And here's why. Because we need Christ to be
the preacher. We need Christ to speak the Word
into the heart of His people. He must give revelation in the
heart of sinners. That's why Paul said, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ. What he's saying is, I'm not
ashamed so that I'm going to preach the gospel of Christ.
Men that won't preach the gospel of Christ are ashamed of it.
He said, I'm going to preach the gospel of Christ because
I'm not ashamed of it because it's the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believe it, to the Jew and the Gentile, the
powers of God. We can preach and preach, but
the powers of God, He's the power. Christ, the power and wisdom
of God. And therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. That's Christ, our righteousness.
He's going to speak and He's going to reveal Himself to them.
He speaks and reveals to his people, I'm your only righteousness. Nothing you've ever done is righteousness.
I'm your righteousness. That's what he's going to speak
to the heart and make you to know. And he's going to reveal
it from faith, from the faithful one, to you who he's given faith. For it's written, the just shall
live by faith. This is how we first are going
to live, and this is how He's going to make us live the rest
of our days. Speaking to our heart, revealing He's our righteousness
and our power, and keeping us walking after Him. Now, before
we go further, it's important to understand who the Lord used
here. Who it was He came, and this
is the very beginning, this is the foundation, the church that
He uses to begin ministering and preaching the gospel. There
was together, verse 2, there was together Simon Peter, and
Thomas, Carl Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana, and Galilee, and the
sons of Zebedee, and two other of His disciples. They were together. The Lord used men, and He's going
to use men that He calls to preach. But everybody He assembles in
a local church by His Spirit, we're together preaching the
gospel. It's not any one person's ministry. We're together sending
forth the gospel. We're together preaching the
gospel. Well, who were they? This is so very important. They
were sinners. And they had to know this about
themselves. They had to know this about themselves. They're
being sent to minister to sinners, and to minister to believers
who are yet sinners. And they need to know they're
sinners, because it's the only way that they're going to know
how to minister. You have Simon Peter, he's impetuous,
he's self-willed, one who had denied the Lord three times,
and at this time right here, he's led these others out to
go fishing. You think, you know, well, maybe
he learned something. Well, he's learning and you and
I are learning too and it takes a long time. Then you have Thomas
called Didymus, willful, unbelieving Thomas, pessimistic Thomas. Thomas
was good at finding the cloud in the silver lining. You know,
when the Lord said, When I'm going to raise Lazarus, they
said, Lord, they've tried to kill you, Bethany. If you go
back there, anywhere near there, they're going to try to kill
you. And finally, they saw the Lord was going, and Thomas said,
well, let's just go that we can die with him. He said to them,
told them, you know the way. Thomas said, we don't know the
way. How do we know the way? And then you find him off by
himself. I'm not going to go gather with the people. And here
he is now, gathered together with them. You have Nathanael
of Canaan, Galilee. You know, we're not told a whole
lot about Nathanael, but this is what we are told. When he
heard that the Lord had come out of Nazareth, this was his
response. Can anything good come out of
Nazareth? That's pretty bigoted. That's
taking a big brush and going thumbs down on a whole city.
Pretty bigoted. And yet, because the Lord had
created a new spirit in him, That didn't come from a new spirit
looking down on people. But because the Lord had created
a new spirit in him, when he came to the Lord, the Lord said,
here's an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile. That's holy
in that new spirit. That's holy. And then you have
the sons of Zebedee. This is James and John, ambitious,
prideful, wanting to sit on each side of the Lord in glory. Sons
of thunder. These are the two that said,
Lord, These ones that rejected you and didn't believe in you,
you want us to cry down fire on them. That's the one we call
the loving apostle. It took a while for him to become
the loving apostle. That's not where he started.
That's why he became the loving apostle. He saw the Lord's love
to him. in spite of it. You ever noticed
how the Lord taught his apostles through their besetting sins?
Through whatever it was. Everybody's got them. Some are
more proud and self-righteous. Some are more self-willed. Some are covetous. But the Lord's going to use those
things as he teaches you so that you can minister to others. You
take Peter for example. He resisted the Lord When he
spoke the word, the Lord said, you're going to deny me. He resisted
that. He denied it. He boasted, I will
not, you know. And later he writes, submit to
one another. Humble yourselves under the mighty
hand of God that he makes all to you in due time. Cast all
your care on him. He cares for you. And know he's
accomplishing the same affliction in your brethren. You take John. He thundered about crying out
fire on unbelievers. He filled the other apostles
with indignation when he went and asked the Lord. We saw this
last week when they asked the Lord could they sit one on each
side of the Lord in glory. And then you find him writing
three epistles encouraging brethren to believe the Lord and love
one another. The Lord taught him, didn't he? Taught him through all his besetting
sin. You got James. James is maybe
Best example. He did the same as John. Another
time he looked to his own wisdom and strength and he thought,
Paul, if you want these believing Jewish brethren to receive you,
then here's what we can do. We can make that happen. You
just come under a Jewish vow and pay what they owe and then
they'll see that you're under the law and they'll receive you.
And God did not let that come to pass because that was all
of James. His sinful flesh and wisdom.
And James, wrote his epistle telling us what works of faith
are. It's a great trial of your faith
when you're ministering to sinners and ministering to brethren who
are sinners and they're not receiving and they're doing all kinds of
things and they just are not looking to Christ. That's a trial
of your faith. And you have to be patient, you
have to ask God, you have to believe He's able and not waver. That is what James learned through
what he went through. You have to use only the gospel by which
God made you to be born again. Be no respecter of persons, rich
or poor. That means good works are bad,
preach the same gospel. Rejoice in mercy rather than
judgment. Don't be masters, don't be judges. Remember, Christ is the lawgiver. He was able to make you stand.
That's the only way we'll know this. If He was able to make
you stand when you fell, then you'll know He's able to make
my brother stand. Like Job, use your riches to
further the gospel rather than saving them to be witness against
you in the last day. Submit to the Lord's will saying,
if it's the Lord's will, we'll do this or that. And like Job,
you have to patiently wait on the Lord to establish your heart
and establish the heart of your brethren. And while you do it,
don't be grudging against one another. And then for lost sinners
as well as for brethren that are sick sin. That's what James
is talking about all through it. Those that are just fallen
miserably. Both are as helpless as orphans
and widows. Don't visit them with the law,
visit them with the one message of the good news of Christ, pray
for them, trust God to anoint them with the Holy Spirit, knowing
that if they've sinned, God will forgive them. James knew this
by his own errors in not doing any of that. And yet Christ restored
him and forgave him and taught him. That's what we have to experience. Abraham believed God was able
to raise from the dead. He believed God was able to raise
from the dead. People look at the works of faith
and they'll use it to condemn. Think about Abraham. Abraham
has to offer his son, his only son Isaac. He's going to have
to deny himself. He can't look to any other means.
He has to just trust God, believe God's able. And as he's Doing
that, he's having to deny his son he loved. His son says to
him, Daddy, we've got to go get a lamb. We've got to look to
ourself and we've got to do something or we can't go up here and offer
this. And he denied him that. But as he did it, he comforted
him with the gospel. And he said, my son, God will
provide himself a lamb. It's an ironic thing that the
very works of faith This is how He did it. He comforted
His brother with the Gospel, His Son. And we're going to have
to be brought to believe God is able to raise from the dead,
and so that we trust Him and believe Him. Now notice verse
2 there. At the end, two other of His
disciples, and we're not told who they are. And that's the
lesson. It's not our name. If He's going
to use us to minister, it's not our name that's important. We're
preaching one name. We're preaching the Lord Jesus
Christ only. Whenever they came and Peter had been used to heal
that impotent man, And Peter said, if you want to know the
means by which this man was healed, he said, be it known to you all
and to all the people of Israel by the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead,
by Him does this man stand here before you all. Neither is there
salvation in any other. There's none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. It's not our
name we're preaching. We're preaching His name and
His works. Because that's the name that
matters. That's the name that's going to save. That's what we're going
to see here in just a moment. The reason that they were taught
these things and they ministered the way they did is because they
had experienced that they were the sinner. They had experienced
it. Abraham had denied the Lord in
the way he had. The reason he had Ishmael was
because he completely failed as a believer and God taught
him. God did that before He gave them that great trial where He
had to trust the Lord's able to raise from the dead. Well,
they had all left the Lord when He was crucified, the shepherd
was smitten, the sheep were scattered, and yet here they are back in
Galilee together for one reason. There's one reason they're together
there. Because the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished the redemption
of His people and He gathered them together. That's why they're
there together. Back there in Galilee where everybody
knows them. They are the disciples of our
Lord and they are there because He is going to teach them and
make them fishers of men. Now here is the first thing. The power is not of us. It is the first thing He is going
to teach us. The power is not of us. It says there in verse
3, Simon Peter said to them, ìI go a fishing.î And they said
to him, ìWe also go with you.î And they went forth and they
entered the ship immediately and that night they caught nothing.
The Lord had sent word for them to wait for Him in Galilee. And perhaps the others that aren't
there, that's where they were. They were there waiting for the
Lord. But Peter, being quick to act, slow to wait, he said,
I'll go fishing. And being influential, he led
the others with him and they said, we go also with you. There
wasn't any waiting. It says they entered into a boat
immediately. Now some think Peter left the
ministry and went back to his former occupation. And that certainly
would magnify the Lord's grace and His sovereignty, His unchanging
love and grace. But this much is certain right
here. The Lord didn't tell them to
go fishing. They just did it. Just like the other times they
sinned and fell. But that night, they didn't catch
a thing. They fished all night and did
not catch a thing. And that was on purpose. That
was on purpose. The power is not of us. Each of us together must wait
on the Lord. That's not practical teaching
to a man unless he's got the Spirit of God in him. He don't
hear that. You've got to tell him, do, don't,
do, do, don't. But waiting on the Lord is the
hardest thing you'll ever do when it comes to other sinners.
You have to wait on the Lord. You can't use our wisdom. We can't use our own thinking
in how this is going to be done. We can't use our own strength.
Everything God does in this thing of fishing for men is grace.
It's all of grace. And it is all by the power of
our Lord and Savior through the means that He's pleased to use,
which gives Him and the Father all the glory. I'm not telling
you that He's not going to do some things with you and that
you're going to respond to what He does to you. You know that.
You know that. but I'm not going to let you
glory in it. It's all of Him. The power is not of us. The power
is not of us. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not
of us. That's so of the next breath
you take, believer. That's so of this ministry. That's
so of preaching the word and all of us together worshiping
and sending the gospel forth. Nothing is of us, it's of Him.
Secondly, the power is our Lord by His Word. The power is not
of us, the power is our Lord by His Word. But when the morning
was now come, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples
knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus said to them, children,
have you any meat? And they answered him, no. And
he said to them, cast the net on the right side of the ship,
and you shall find. And they cast therefore, and
now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes."
What a picture and what a lesson this is right here. When the
morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore. Now, the sun had
began to rise. And there, standing on the shore,
is the true Day Star, the Son of Righteousness, Christ Jesus.
There He stands. He promised He's going to gather
His people and He promised He's going to be present where He
gathers His people. There He is. He gathered them.
There He is. But our light to behold Christ
is nothing of us, and it's nothing natural. They had that light
of the natural sun, and they did not know it was Him. And
they weren't very far off the shore. That's what the Scripture
says here. They weren't very far out there. And there He stands,
and the sun's coming up, and they have no idea who that is. We know Him by revelation. We know Him by His voice. We
know Him by His Word. We know Him by Christ who is
the wisdom and power of God speaking into the new spirit He's made. He said, My Word quickens. He was made a quickening spirit.
He said, My Word quickens your flesh, profits nothing. By His Word, He's going to make
each one of us personally confess our own sin to Him only. He's going to make us personally
confess our own inability to Him personally. That's not a one-time thing.
That's going to go on and on and on and on and on. These are
believers here. And that's the picture we're
seeing here in them and this is where it all starts from when
he first calls you and this is where it's going to start anytime
he's restoring you or renewing you or teaching you or whatever.
He's first going to bring you to confess you're nothing but
a sinner and you have sinned and you have no ability in yourself,
period. You can't learn anything until
you know that because you won't receive anything until that's
so. What is it when we hear a word that comes and the Lord speaks
and rebukes? What is it that causes that, you know, that heat
to stir up in you? What is it that does that? You're
proving the word that's being preached to you. You're proving
it's true. It's nothing but pride and sin and rebellion. And the
Lord has to bring us each personally to say, there's not a good thing
in me. Not a good thing in me. I've
never done a good thing at all. Now the Lord, He came there and
He's standing on the shore there. And He says, children, have you
any meat? These are old fellas. These are
fishermen, you know. These are fellas out there fishing.
He says, children, why didn't that just offend them to no end
when He called them children? These men had walked with the
Lord for three years. And He calls them children. And they didn't... He's talking
to us. He's calling us children. Because
it was the Lord that spoke and He spoke to their heart. If that's
our attitude, the Lord didn't speak into our heart, or at least
He hadn't finished the work yet. But He said, children, have you
caught anything? I hear every one of them answering
for themselves from their own heart simultaneously. No. No. Because that's what He's
going to do. He's going to bring you personally to hear Him personally,
and you're going to answer Him personally, I have produced nothing. Nothing. That's His power and
His wisdom speaking to the heart. He makes you confess your own
sin and your own inability. Here's what we're confessing
when He brings you to that place. In my flesh dwells no good thing. The Pharisees were offended when
the Lord told them that. But, you know, it's not that
those sinful things he talked about, it's not that they have
to even come out of your heart. He's saying that's what your
heart is. That's what your heart is. And
he brings us to say in our flesh dwells no good thing. We have
accomplished nothing. Nothing. And then by His Word,
He made them willing to cast the net on the other side and
He filled it. That's an amazing thing that
He says to them. They don't know who's talking
to them. And He says, cast the net on the other side. I've been
a fisherman. I grew up fishing. I was at the
river more times than I was anywhere else. We had a camp there. You
know, fishermen don't like you to tell them how to fish. Fishermen
do not like to be told where to fish or how to fish, and they
won't tell you where they're fishing or where they caught
them. And he tells them how to fish. He told them to put your
cash in there on the other side, and they did it. They did it,
no questions asked. When we look to our wisdom and
our strength and our means and our works and what we've accomplished,
we're always fishing on the wrong side of the boat. Mark it now. Mark it down. And we're not accomplishing
anything. And again, this is personal.
It's Christ alone who's going to make us personally know and
cast the net on the right side. He has to do this. And he alone
fills the net. He fills us with His Spirit by
His Word personally, just like He filled that net with all those
fishes. See, He's filling us first. For you can be used to fish for
men, He's got to fill you first and show you this. You have to
have received everything by His mercy and grace and power if
you're going to trust His mercy, grace, and power to work in those
to whom you minister to. Otherwise, you'll be casting
the net on the wrong side. He alone fills the net. He's
going to fill you with His Spirit by His Word personally. And that's
how He's teaching us each one. He's the one who fills the pew.
He's the one who fills the hearts of those in the pew. He's the
one who fills the net by His Word through His Gospel. He's
the one that calls people in. Listen to me now. If that's too
dogmatic, let me get more dogmatic. He's the head of the church. He filleth all in all. End of story. We don't do it. We don't fill it. He does. He
does. Now that's how and when we know
Him. That's how and when we know Him.
And that's when we go to Him. That's when we go to Him. Verse
7. Therefore that disciple whom
Jesus loved said to Peter, it's the Lord. Now when Simon Peter
heard that it was the Lord, he girded his fisher's coat about
him. He wasn't naked as a jaybird, but he, you know what I mean,
he had something on, but he put his fisher coat on and cast himself
in the sea and other disciples came in a little ship for they
were not far from land, but as it were 200 cubits dragging the
net with fishes. That's the only way we know that
the Lord alone is able to work in others. and that He does it
only through His voice, His Word, through His Gospel. The only
way you're going to believe that and know that and use no other
means but that is for Him to work it in you personally that
very way time and time and time again in spite of your sin, saving
you from your sin so that you are 100% persuaded He alone was
able to work it in you. Do you know that? That's what
He's got to teach us. Some people don't know it. Brethren,
it's a privilege of His grace that our Lord uses us together
to preach this gospel. It's a privilege of grace. But
watch this, verse 9. As soon then as they were come
to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid there on
and bred. And Jesus said to them, Bring
up the fish which you've now caught. You see, the Lord filled
that net with fish. And here they come with all these
fish, dragging it into the shore. And when they got there, the
Lord already had fish laying on the coals cooking. The Lord
don't have to use us. He's not dependent on us for
anything. He already provided fish. He's
not getting anything from you and me. But then he told them, now you
bring the net with the fish and cook some. He's given us the
privilege of His grace to use us. And what a privilege it is
that He would, that He would. That's a privilege of grace. Now lastly, I want you to see
this. This is what the whole point is right here. The preaching
of Christ and Him crucified is the net. It is the net. The only means The only means,
the gospel, the preaching of Christ in the crucifixion, the
only means that God's true fishers of men use. The only means. Verse 11, Simon Peter went up
and he drew the net to land full of great fishes, a hundred and
fifty and three, for all there were so many, yet was not the
net broken. There were six of them there
and there was a hundred and fifty-three big fish. They all had at least
twenty-five fish. You've heard the difference between
fishing with a hook and fishing with a net. Fishing with a hook,
you use bait and the whole premise of fishing with bait is to deceive
the fish. You're making the fish think
it's another fish and they're deceived and they bite the hook
and you catch them. Fishing with a net, you cast
it into the sea and you just wait on the lure. You just cast
it and wait on the Lord. Now scripture, I want you to
go to Habakkuk chapter 1. Habakkuk here, scripture talks
about the world's religion and their various means and their
tactics and the way they are attracting and how they are coercing
sinners into making a decision for Christ, or coerce them into
doing something that they are trying to make them do. They
are using hooks, and they are using a different kind of net.
They are using a net, but it is a different kind of net altogether,
and the end result is different. Habakkuk 1.15, it says, they
take up all of them, talking about men as fish, they take
them up with the angle. They are anglers. That's what
a bass fisherman is. He's an angler. He's using bait
and hooks. They catch them in their net
and gather them in their drag. You see, this is not the gospel
net. They're using a trawl. The description
is a trawl. You know what a trawl does? It
drags across the ocean floor and it surprises the fish and
it scoops the fish up and they don't even realize they've been
taken. That's not how this gospel net
works. It forces the fish in. Therefore,
here's the end result, they rejoice and are glad. But in who? They sacrifice to their net. and burn incense to their drag.
Because by them, by the fishers themselves, their portion is
fat and their meat's plenteous. They enrich themselves. Now that's
all false religion, false works. Anytime we look to our works,
that's what that is. It's boasting in what we've done
and trying to defend what we've done and trying to show what
good stewards we've been and all that. That's vanity. But here's the wisdom of God,
go to 1 Corinthians 1, and here's why he uses this means only,
this means only. When he breaks the heart, it
is so obvious, because there's not going to be any more pushing
and pushing and opposing and opposing anymore. When he breaks
the heart, you hit the dust. You hit the dust. And here's
why he uses the Gospel. Verse 29, that no flesh should
glory in His presence. And here's why you don't glory.
He makes you to know clearly, of Him are you in Christ Jesus. He puts you in the net. He did
it. Who of God is made unto us wisdom,
and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that according
as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." You
see there, the means is different, the purpose is different, and
the end is different. It's all to the glory of God
and we don't get any glory. Notice this net was full, brethren.
It had all those fish in it. It was full and it was not broken.
It was not broken. Our Lord is going to send this
gospel forth until each and every one of His blood-bought children
are brought in. And it's not going to be broken.
Not going to be broken. And for all there were so many,
when the gospel of Christ is preached, For all the Lord's
disciples that are hearing the gospel go forth, there is food
just for them. Preach the gospel of Christ,
there is food just for them. Just for them. The Lord gives
each one their daily bread, because He knows just what they need,
and He knows just how to give it to them. The preacher doesn't. He just preaches. But the Lord
is doing it. Try to hear the Word going forth
and stop here in the vessel and just hear the Master. Hear the
Potter. Hear Him. If it rebukes you,
hear Him. If it humbles you, hear Him.
If it rejoices your heart, hear Him. Whatever blessing you get
from it, hear Him and know it's Him. Know it's Him. And that's
what He'll make His people to know. The good news of the Gospel
of Christ is at the work's finish, brethren. Look what he said to
them in verse 12, Jesus said to them, come and dine. Now get this, they didn't do
anything, they didn't catch anything when they were trying to do the
fishing themselves, nothing. He told them where to fish, he
filled the net, and he already had fish on the fire when they
got there. And he says to them, come eat.
It's done. He did it all. It's done. That's
our gospel. Christ by himself purged the
sins of his people. He by himself keeps cleansing
your conscience just like he did there. That's what this whole
picture is right here. He keeps doing this and keeping
you dining on him alone. It's by His obedience because
He's our righteousness and He keeps doing this work within
us. He keeps creating this new holy heart in His image, keeps
us sanctified to Him, and that's how He keeps us knowing He's
your sanctification. He's the one keeping you separated
unto Him, in Him. Did they do it? If you'd have
left them there, would they have done it? They went away. and went fishing and tried to
do something on their own. That's where you'll go, and that's
where you'll keep going. You realize the law was fulfilled
on Calvary's cross. Our righteousness would enter
in on Calvary's cross, and the means God used to do it was Pharisees
who did it, nailed Christ to the cross, claiming they were
fulfilling God's law by their works. That's why they crucified
him. And He made you see that by Him laying down His life on
the cross, He's your righteousness, not your obedience. So He'll
make you see it. He'll make you know it. He'll
make His people know it. This is what He said. It says,
There none dare ask Him, Who art Thou? They each knew He was
the Lord. Listen to this from Isaiah 52.6.
Therefore My people shall know My name. They shall know in that
day that I am He that does speak. Behold, it is I. How beautiful
on the mouths or the feet of Him, of Christ, that brings good
tidings, that publishes peace, that brings good tidings of good,
that publishes salvation, that says to Zion, Thy God reigneth. That's what I'm preaching to
you. He reigns. He accomplishes His will and
His purpose, and He does it in His people, and He makes us delight
in it. That's how we feast with Him.
And all his watchmen are lifting up the voice together. They're
in agreement. They see eye to eye. But what's
more important than that is the voice of Christ Jesus is lifting
up his voice with ours. We're just a voice of one crying
in the wilderness. It's Christ's voice being lifted
up in the heart of his people that makes you believe him and
trust him and know it's him speaking. And they didn't dare ask him.
They knew. They knew it was him. They knew it was him. Now brethren, it says there in
verse 13, Jesus then cometh and taketh bread and giveth them,
and he gave them fish likewise. That's the sweetest part of the
whole thing. It's Christ himself giving you the bread. And he's
the bread he's given. When you hear and rejoice, it's
Christ Himself giving you the bread. He gave them to Him Himself
and they ate. That's the only way you hear
Him, know Him, do anything. It's Him. Him. Now this is the
third time he revealed himself after he was risen from the dead.
Now here's what to remember. He revealed himself to them many
times in those 40 days, but every time it was by him speaking and
by revelation and only to them making them. He kept feeding
them personally with himself, making them see him. Brethren,
Just like He did that many times in those 40 days, He's still
doing it, has been doing it ever since then. He's still doing
it today. And I pray this hour He's done
it for you and made you feast upon Him. Come and dine. The
work's finished. The work's finished. Amen.
Clay Curtis
About Clay Curtis
Clay Curtis is pastor of Sovereign Grace Baptist Church of Ewing, New Jersey. Their services begin Sunday morning at 10:15 am and 11am at 251 Green Lane, Ewing, NJ, 08638. Clay may be reached by telephone at 615-513-4464 and by email at claycurtis70@gmail.com. For more information, please visit the church website at http://www.FreeGraceMedia.com.

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