Seeking the Lord's help for a
little while this morning, turn with me to the chapter we read,
St. John's Gospel, chapter 21, and
reading, verse 5. St. John's Gospel, chapter 21,
and reading, verse 5. Then Jesus saith unto them, Children,
Have ye any meat? They answered him, No. Then Jesus saith unto them, Children,
have ye any meat? They answered him, No. I wonder whether the children,
and indeed whether all of us, realise how many days have passed
since Christmas Day. And Christmas Day doesn't seem
to be that long ago, does it? Well, interestingly, that 40
days have passed since Christmas Day, December
the 25th. That's the same amount of time
as Jesus was on the earth in his resurrected body when he
rose from the grave on Easter Sunday. And between that time
and he ascended to heaven, there were 40 days. And so as we think
of the time since Christmas, that time has gone very, very
quickly, hasn't it? And we think that Jesus, that
he was on the earth, as I say, for that same amount of time. And he had said that he would
go before them into Galilee. He had promised them that. He
said, when I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee. I will be there. And you'll remember that he showed himself to his disciples
on two occasions before he did on this third occasion at the
Sea of Tiberias. We read in the 14th verse, this
is now the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples
after that he was risen from the dead. He first showed himself
to them, didn't he, when he met them in the upper room. And Thomas
was not there. And he wouldn't believe, would
he? And he came again eight days later when Thomas was there. And so that was the first two
times. that he showed himself to his
disciples, and this here, in the narrative that we have read,
is the third time. Well, we don't know how far into
that 40 days this happened, this third visit, but what we do know
is that even if it was very close to the end of 40 days, it wasn't
very long It wasn't very long since he'd been crucified. It wasn't very long since Peter
had fallen, that Peter fell, didn't he? He had denied his
Lord, and before he denied the Lord, He was certain. He was quite certain that He
would never, ever deny Him. He was quite certain that He
would always be there. In fact, He would go to death
instead of Jesus. In St Luke chapter 22, we have
in verse 31, and the Lord said, Simon, Simon, Behold, Satan hath
desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I
have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not, and when thou
art converted, strengthen thy brethren.' And he said, Peter
said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison
and to death. And Jesus said, I tell thee,
Peter, the cock shall not crow this day before that thou shalt
thrice deny that thou knowest me, that thou knowest me. Now this word that we have for
our text is a convicting word. It's a convicting question. Then Jesus said unto them, children,
have ye any meat? This chapter 21 of St John really
is for the most part all about Peter. there have been those
that have erroneously said that the 21st chapter was added and
it's not by the same author John, it's been added because of the
way that chapter 20 finishes 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 ye might believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have
life through his name. Friends, this inspired chapter
of St John, written by John, that it is for the sake of the
Peters, It is for the sake of those that know a troubled pathway. It is for the sake of those that
believe that they can get on in life. It is for those that
believe that they can manage their affairs. It is for those
that are the impulsive. It is for those whom the Lord
has a favour towards. And He will not let them go. And He has a favour to them. And He'll use whatever He will
to convict. To convict. Dear Peter, how that
he must have felt, oh, as he went out, didn't he, having denied
his Lord. And as we think about it, that
he had even tried to prevent his Jesus being taken, being
delivered into the hands of evil men, that he cut off the high
servant Malchus's ear. and how he could have made a
very, very bad situation, a lot worse. But Jesus, that last miracle
that he did before he was taken, he healed, touched a man and
his ear was healed. Think of it, if Peter had had
his way, and he had prevented Jesus from going to the cross,
all hope of you and I being saved would be lost. We would all be
heading for an eternity in hell. And then we read, don't we, that
Peter followed, followed Jesus from a very far off. And there
he is when Jesus is being mocked and humiliated and cruelly spat
upon and Oh, and Peter is there warming himself, isn't he, by
the fire, and first he's asked by one, and then another, and
then another, that you're one of them, you was with him. No,
I'm not. And he's left. He's left to deny
his Lord. Even he goes back into his old
fisherman's language of oaths and curses. And then the cock
crew, exactly, exactly as Jesus had said, and we read that Jesus,
he looked in all of his sufferings, in all of his humiliation, knowing
that the cross was still before him, that he was still to bear
the sins of the whole of the election of grace upon that cross. And he looks at Peter, he looks
at Peter, and Peter went out and he wept bitterly, he wept
bitterly. always been known hasn't he as
the leader always been known as the tough fisherman always
been known as as being impulsive being impulsive and scripture
is largely silent as to what he endured in his heart, in his
soul, in that three days that he went, since he went out and
wept bitterly until he went to the sepulchre. But what we do
know is that from his writings that he knew what it was to suffer. He knew what it was to suffer.
He knew what the trial of faith was and he was deeply taught,
I believe, and particularly in those three days. But the point
that I'm coming to is this 40 days, 40 days, that Peter how he must have trembled
mustn't he how he must have trembled as what will Jesus say to me
I've been such a sinner I've been such a backslider he chose
me three years or so ago when I was fishing and he chose me
as one of his disciples And one of us twelve chosen has
betrayed him, has betrayed him. And I've been left to do almost
as bad. If not worse, he would have heaped
many hard things against himself, wouldn't he? And yet Jesus comes,
doesn't he? He comes on that day, on that
first day of the week when he rose from the dead, from the
grave, and he comes into the disciples. Peace be still, peace
be still. And he says nothing to Peter
about his backslidden state. Eight days later when he comes,
he reproves Thomas. But he says nothing to Peter. He says nothing to Peter. Friends, and as we think of this,
that they're at the Sea of Tiberias, which is Galilee. And doubtless
that they are conversing, talking amongst themselves, saying, well,
Jesus said that he would go before us into Galilee. But he's not here. But he's not
here. And Peter, Peter, he's the one that
speaks, isn't he? He's the one that says, oh, let's
not wait any longer. Let's not wait any longer. Let's
go fishing. Let's go back to our old trite. It's all finished now. It's all
finished now. Let's go back to fishing. And so, he says in the third
verse, Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. And they say unto him, we also
go with thee. They went forth and entered into
a ship immediately, and that night they caught nothing. That night they caught nothing. There were seven of them. There
were seven of them in the boat. Doubtless, they were the ones
that were fishermen, experienced fishermen. Though they hadn't
gone fishing, they left their trade three years or so ago. But they still know how to fish. They still know how to fish.
They still know where to fish. And friends, that is how the
Lord, this is how the Lord leads his people, isn't it? This is
how he leads his people when there are times when we are left
to unbelief, when we are left to go our own way, when we are
left to seek, to scheme our way along. But the wonder of it all is that
though Peter is impatient again, is impetuous and will go fishing,
but he spends, along with those other six disciples, spends the
whole night. And it's not that they catch
just a few fish, they catch nothing. They catch nothing. And as Jesus, as Jesus comes
along and they know not that it is Jesus. It's the morning
and they're coming in, coming into shore. And he stands on the shore. The
disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus saith unto
them, Children, have ye any meat? Children, have ye any meat? And they gave that honest answer,
didn't they? It was a night of failure. And
doubtless they realised that they should not have been out
fishing. They should have continued to
wait for Jesus. But they had followed Peter and
they were all in it guilty. And they'd had a night of failure. It had been a complete waste
of time. And they answered honestly. They didn't, there was no ifs
or buts and they were blessed for that. You and I, you and
I as we're challenged, as we're challenged and we try and we
try to make excuse after excuse and what happens? We get further
and further into darkness, into distress. But they answer, nothing. They answer to him, no. Children,
have ye any meat? No. Just a little word. Just a little word. But it contains
so much teaching. No. An honest answer of no. And friends, and that is, isn't
it, Oh, you'll know those of you that have to deal with people,
well indeed, as parents. And how often it is, isn't it,
that you find that you get a lot more, you get a lot more honesty,
you bring a lot more out, if instead of making an accusation,
that you ask a question. You ask a question. And Jesus,
he could have followed up that question, couldn't he? Children,
have ye any meat? They answered him, no. He could
have said, well, are you surprised? Are you surprised? Were you in
the will of God when you all decided that you'd go off fishing? Were you doing God's will? Were
you trusting Him? Were you tired of waiting for
me? Or did you just not believe me
when I said to you that I will go before you into Galilee and
there will I see you? But no. Oh how precious, how precious. Do you bless God that he doesn't
treat you in the degree of your sins of how
we deserve? He said unto them, cast the net
on the right side of the ship and ye shall find. now these are experienced fishermen
they could have thought well this is a bit patronizing what
does Jesus know about fishing that we don't know and and the width of the boat
is that not a very wide boat it just doesn't make sense to
To do as he's saying, cast your net over to the other side. If there's no fish that side,
this is the same lock, there'll be none at the other side. But oh friends, how often it
is in the Lord's dealings with us, isn't it? That there are
those things that he says to us that they seem to be impossible. They seem to be impossible. They
seem to jar. They seem to jar. They irritate. They irritate. But they said
nothing. They said nothing. Though experienced
fishermen, though it seems it doesn't make sense. It doesn't
make sense. It goes against all of their
experience as fishermen. And yet cast the net on the right
side of the ship and ye shall find and we read they cast therefore
and now they were not able to draw for the multitude of fishes
oh what abundant grace isn't he the god of all grace there
is peter He's been the one to lead them all off into the night
against the will of God. Jesus has come along. He hasn't
said anything to Peter still about him denying him. And yet he says, cast the net,
cast the net on the right side of the ship. unusual finds. They cast therefore and now they
were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. For doubtless, doubtless Peter,
though he's a hard, tough fisherman, doubtless he has an uncomfortable
conscience that as he comes to understand, because John realizes,
doesn't he, John sees that this is Jesus. After they caught all
these fish, he said, it is the Lord. It is the Lord. And friends, this is how the
Lord, the Lord is pleased in his mercy, in his mercy to deal
with his people in love, but in conviction. As they had to honestly answer,
and they did honestly answer, no. Children, have ye caught
any meat? Have ye any meat? They answered
him, no. They answered him, no. So it
is with you and I, dear friends, as we prove it, as we go on in
our experience, in life's experience. that the more that we try to
bring excuse upon excuse, look for this, look for that, look
for the other, but anything but the truth, anything that prevents
us from looking at our own wretched hearts. But when? It's that time, isn't it? Then
at last. To Him we cry. Then at last we submit to Him. And we see, we see the wonder
working hand of God. That He is the God of the impossible. And so it is with you and I often,
isn't it, that we fret, we fret, we worry, we cannot see, we cannot
see where the end will be. But what do we have of dear Hagar,
don't we? Dear Hagar, the bondwoman, as
she's cast out with Ishmael. And she goes, and she goes, and
she can see no water. There is nothing that she can
see. And she's in darkness. We have it in Genesis chapter
21. And we read that in verse 14,
and Abram rose up early in the morning and took bread and a
bottle of water and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder
and the child and sent her away. And she departed and wandered
in the wilderness of Beersheba. And the water was spent in the
bottle. They'd finished it. They'd used
it all. And there was nothing, no more
water. And she cast the child under
one of the shrubs. It appeared to be a hopeless
case. There was death, there was death. And the baby is cast, or the
child rather, is cast under the shrub. And she went and sat down
over against him a good way off, as it were a bow shot. For she said, let me not see
the death of the child. What a hopeless, helpless, wretched
case. She had born this, the Bond,
the Bond son. She's a Bond woman bearing this
Bond son. This he shall be a wild man,
and all of the consequences that have followed ever since. But the Lord is going to appear
for her in this. Let me not see the death of the
child.' And she sat over against him and lift up her voice and
wept. And we read and God heard the
voice of the lad, doubtless, whimpering with weakness as his
life is going from him. And the angel of God called to
Hagar out of heaven. and said unto her, What aileth
thee, Hagar? What's ailing you, dear friend,
this morning? What is it in your life, in your
pathway, that's of such a grief, such a burden, such a trial? You can see no way out. The way
seems to get rougher and rougher. What aileth thee, Hagar? Fear not, for God hath heard
the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, arise, lift up the
lad, and hold him in thine hand, for I will make him a great nation,
And God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She saw a well of water. And she went and filled the bottle
with water and gave the lad drink. And friends, how often it is,
isn't it, when you and I are left, are left to dwell upon
ourselves, are left that we lose sight, we lose that sweet communion
that we had with Jesus. Oh, where is the blessedness
I knew when first I saw the Lord? And even that desire goes. Even that desire goes. And we're
left, we're left, as Peter was, to go into a backsliding, unbelieving
condition. But as Hagar proved, to her it
was, death is certain. The water is gone that Abraham
gave. There's no more. Death is the
only answer. And yet, doubtless, doubtless,
there was that water, there was that water, there was that well,
had been there all the time, just very close to her. But she
couldn't lift her eyes to see it. And friends, and that's how
it is with you and I. We may have been in the way for
years, for years and years. The scales of our eyes perhaps
came away when we were blessed with living faith in a precious,
bleeding Jesus. We saw him as our substitute,
as our redeemer, as our friend, as our deliverer, as our saviour,
as our brother, a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
And how precious were those days. And yet now, now we have other
scales, scales of unbelief, scales that we cannot see our way through. And the enemy, as you've often
heard me say, the enemy, he loves to play a pretty tune. He loves to play a pretty tune
and he'll play on that and he'll have you dwell on it and he'll
have you seek some sort of weird comfort in it all. But oh to be blessed, to be blessed,
to be favoured, to be favoured as those disciples were on the
sea. Caught nothing to be favoured
as Hagar was. But the led, the led God, hears
the whimpering, the crying, the voice of the led. And he's a
merciful God. Lift up thine eyes, there is
water, water, much water, a well of water, more than enough. Fill the bottle with water and
give the lad drink. And friends, and that's how it
is as God leads his people along. He sees it, it is in his wisdom
that he brings us into various trials and temptations. Oh, as you think of Hagar, there
she was, she was going off, wasn't she? And she was going to go
into that land of idolatry, and yet there was something she would
never forget. There was something she would
never forget. And that was the Lord appearing
in that most remarkable way. And when the Lord has a favor
towards a poor sinner, he will dispense his favor, he will dispense
his blessings in whatever way he will. And though at times
it seems that all these things are against me, Oh, as dear old
Jacob, wasn't it? That you, you must, you must
let us take Benjamin. And he says, no, no, no. If Joseph is not, Simeon is not,
and you will take Benjamin also. All these things are against
me. I shall come. It'll be bring my gray hairs
down to the grave. But what he didn't know was that
Joseph, he was the Deliverer, he was the Saviour, he was a
type of Christ. And Simeon, he's in good company,
he's with Joseph. And Benjamin, he'll be brought
safely through. And Jacob, Joseph is yet alive. And so I will go down, I will
go down. He's willing, isn't he, as the
Lord appears. and that's how it is with you
and I isn't it dear friends that we have to go through many many
things and then he commands the blessing he commands the blessing
and so with dear Peter here this chapter that we have before us
of Peter Peter loved his master well yet a loving Peter fell
But it was Him that hauled up. It was Him that hauled up this
net of fishes. What do we see? We see there
that as soon as Simon Peter went up in verse 11, and drew the
net to land full of great fishes, and a hundred and fifty and three,
and for all there were so many, Humanly speaking, practically,
the net should have broken. But no, it's Jesus. It's Jesus. He has it all under control.
Oh, when everything around us, it's
sink or swim. And it'll be with Christ that
He'll see that you swim. He'll see that you're delivered. He'll make his glory known. And then they dine with Jesus. But oh, and then we come to this,
don't we? That there's some more questions.
There's some more questions. And Peter knows, doesn't he?
Peter knows that he's being questioned three times. Do you love me,
Peter? Lovest thou me? Three times. And he's convicted again, isn't
he? Because for three times, three
times he denied his Lord. And oh, and the grief, wasn't
it? Jesus didn't scold him, did he? Didn't scold him. But oh, but Peter was grieved,
wasn't he? Peter was so grieved. And he
eventually said, Lord, in the 17th verse, Lord, thou knowest
all things. Thou knowest that I love thee. And so Jesus, he said to him,
feed my lambs, feed my sheep. And again, it's feed my sheep. And then the dear man is told
of the death that he will endure. that he will follow his Jesus
even to be crucified. In that 18th verse, Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself,
and walkest whither thou wouldest. But when thou shalt be old, thou
shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee,
and carry thee, whither thou wouldest not, just as our Jesus
that he was laid stretched out upon the cross and that cross
lifted by wicked men and jolted into position and so dear Peter
dear Peter he will follow he will follow and he will become
in the meantime a fisher of men friend how remarkable isn't it
that you think of Peter and just in that 40 days 40 days had passed
and with him denying Jesus and with trying to stop him from
being taken to be crucified and and then going off fishing 40
days have passed And another 10 days after Jesus ascends into
heaven, and 10 days later, the Holy Ghost descended from on
high. And on that Pentecostal day,
who was it that preaches? None other than Peter. I believe, friends, there will
be many of our chapels that wouldn't even think of having him in the
pulpit, let alone just a few days after all of these backslidings
and things. And the Lord so blessed the ministry
of him and others that on that day 3,000 souls were added to
the church. This is our God, isn't it? This
is the way our God works. He plants his footsteps in the
sea and he rides upon the storm. His footsteps are not known,
but as many of you will have often heard me say because I
love it because experimentally we prove that when we're in these
depths when we're in these things and we're in a hopeless situation
and yet we prove that he's been there all the way along and we're
favoured we're favoured to understand that though there are the waves
and the billows and yet he's there And however deep the water
is, His feet, we cannot see them, but they're safely there, taking
us along, His footsteps guiding us, leading us. And blessed be
God, that He, our precious Jesus, that He, it was for the joy,
the joy that was set before Him, that He endured the cross, despising
the shame, and He's now seated at the right hand of the Father,
that He ever lives to make intercession for us. And blessed be God, that
this Jesus, that all those ways All thy ways and thy billows
are gone over me, as we sometimes experience, but they went over
a precious Jesus. He bore it all. He bore it all. And so, He is in heaven. He is in heaven, seated at the
Father's right hand. And He ever lives to make intercession
for His dear people. And you and I, as sometimes we
come into great trouble and we hardly know how to pray, in fact,
at the last place we go to is to the throne of grace. And yet,
blessed be God, He sees those sighs, He sees those tears, He
sees those doubts, He sees that unbelief, but thou art mine,
I chose thee, I delivered thee, that once in Christ, in Christ
forever, thus the eternal covenant stands. And so He pleads, He
intercedes for His dear people. And so we bless God that we have
not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings
of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted and tried,
like as we are, yet without sin. And so we're bidden to come boldly
to the throne of grace, not in our own strength, brought so
low and then favoured as favored, as strengthened, as led by the
Holy Spirit, that, hey, I will not leave you comfortless. I
will come to you. Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also
in me. And I have gone to prepare a
place for you. Well, may the Lord bless these
few thoughts to some poor troubled soul here today. And just a word
to seekers. Seekers shall be finders, as
we saw of Hagar, as we saw of the fish, that great draught
of fish. You carry on. You carry on. He's promised. Knock, seek, and
ye shall find. Call upon me, seek, knock, and
ask. Ask and it shall be given you.
Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened
unto you. He waits to be gracious. Amen. May the Lord help us as we close
this service by singing hymn number 576 from Gadsby's, Saved
by Grace. Saved and saved, alone by grace. Saved to see my Saviour's face.
Saved from Satan's iron yoke and the law that I had broke.
Hymn number 576 to the tune 471. Safe to see my Saviour's face,
Safe from Satan's iron yoke, And the law that I had broke. Stay from sin, that hateful foe,
Jesus, crying out, God's dead woe, Save from all its reigning
power, save to serve my God so more. ? Can I be condemned ? ? Jesus
Christ, the sinner's friend ? ? Took my place and vengeance bore ?
? Made to stay forevermore ? ? More hell, more hell, more sin
? ? Those without, nor those within ? ? Ever can my soul destroy
? ? I am saved eternally ? The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God the Father, the fellowship and the sweet communion
of the Holy Spirit rest and abide with us all. Amen.