John 21. What a blessed gospel. The Word of God. Just a joy to read it, isn't
it? Just a joy. The Lord showed Himself
again, verse 1. After these things, Jesus showed
Himself again. Verse 14 says this is the third
time. that He showed Himself. He showed
Himself again and again to His disciples. To the disciples. In 1 Corinthians
15, Paul recounts of how the Lord was here 40 days after He
arose and He appeared to over 500 brethren. He shows Himself to His disciples.
Oh, the heavens declare His glory, and the firmament showeth His
handiwork. Day unto day utter His speech. There is no language
where this voice is not heard. But do men see Him? No. Do they acknowledge Him? No. Do they follow Him? No. But His disciples do. And they are without excuse. His eternal power and Godhead
is clearly seen, and they are without excuse but God. in great mercy and grace, sovereign
elect in grace, yes, hath revealed himself. We know the Son of God
has come, John said, and given us an understanding that we might
know him as true, and we're in him as true, even in his Son.
What a blessing. Has he revealed himself to you
again and again? And again. You must be one of his beloved
little children. Do you get tired of hearing about
him and hearing his voice and seeing his glory? Do you get
tired? Oh, no. Like Simon Peter said, this is
words of life. You're our life. Christ is our life, not part
of our life. The Lord wasn't a part of their
life. He's their life. Peter, if you look over chapter
20, it says, verse 30 and 31, 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, you might
have life through His name. That you might believe. Do you
believe? I quoted that last Wednesday night, remember? And I said,
I believe. And for lack of a better way to put
it, you know something? I can't believe it, but I believe.
You know what I'm saying? I can't believe that I'm here. I can't believe it, but I do.
I am. I believe. If you'd have known
me, you couldn't believe it either. She did. She did. She can't believe it. This is God's work. And some of you came up to me
afterwards and said, you said the same thing to me. You said,
I believe. I really do. What? No, what? Him. Christ is your life. Peter said
it this way. He said, whom have you not seen,
you love. You don't just believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ, you love Him. You're going to look at that
Wednesday, Lord William. Lovest thou me? More than this. Whom now you see Him not, yet
believe Him. and rejoice with joy unspeakable. Do you happen to go out of this
place? Isn't that wonderful? Isn't he wonderful? One of our
ladies, you know who it is, always says, that was wonderful. Why? Because I spoke of him whose
name is wonderful. And he's wonderful to her. And
it's just wonderful any time she hears about him. How about Jesus? That's the way
it is with all His disciples. There's no spent stragglers here. These disciples followed Him.
They hung on Him. They loved Him. His words were
life. He showed Himself again to His
disciples. He didn't have to, but He did.
They left Him. He shouldn't have showed up again.
He shouldn't have showed up again. Thomas wasn't there. He shouldn't
have showed up. But he did. Why? Because he's
faithful. He'll not leave his own. Thomas,
don't be faithless. You notice who was there? Verse
2. They were together. Simon Peter,
Thomas. Thomas didn't want to get away
from them from then on. Where y'all going? They were
going over here. I'm going too. They were together. Who? The disciples. You see any
names other than disciples here? No, they weren't. The world wasn't
their companions. No. Two altogether except to be agreed.
No, can't. Going different directions, had
different goals, different eyes on different things. These men,
while they were together, what do you suppose they were talking
about? None of what? Him. Now, this was the time, the time
that went by our Lord was 40 days on the earth, all right?
And he had already told them that, you know, in Galilee and
all, And I'll meet you there. And he already told them that
I'm sending you forth to preach the gospel. I'm sending you out
all over the world to preach the gospel. Go into all the world
to preach the gospel. He was baptized, believeth, and
baptized, and he's saved. And they're waiting on him. Well,
some time went by, and they don't know where he is, and they don't
know when he's coming back. That's what has happened here,
okay? And Simon Peter. Simon Peter. Oh, don't you love
Simon Peter? I love this man. I can't wait
to meet him. Dan, believe it or not, he can't wait to meet
me. Can you? Yes. Simon Peter. He spoke up. Now,
people, it takes all kinds. You know that in God's Kingdom?
So Simon was impatient, impulsive, outspoken, rushed headlong into
things. John and Simon Peter ran up to the tomb and John stopped. Peter went and rushed in there.
It takes all kinds. Yes, it does. Simon Peter was
bold and brash when they did like that. Didn't the Lord use
him? Didn't the Lord use him maybe the most in preaching early
on? Didn't it? Yes. Simon Peter stood
up on behalf of all of them. Before the Sanhedrin, before
all those Pharisees, he said, should we obey men of God? Didn't
he? He said, we can't help but speak
the things we've seen and heard. On Pentecost, they were all preaching,
but Simon Peter stood up before the whole crowd. Simon Peter.
The Lord used him. Yeah, he spoke ill-advisedly.
He spoke when he shouldn't. And the Lord rebuked him for
it, and the Lord chastened him for it. But buddy, he was not
afraid to speak out when it needed to be. I love Simon Fitt. Love him. Well, Simon loved fishing. I do too. Anybody? John? Kelly? Tom? Anybody? Loved fishing. And a little while
later, the Lord's going to ask him, you love me more than fishing? But Simon Peter said, well, I'm
going fishing. Think I'll go fishing. And I
can't help but think the Lord's tearing, tearing. The Lord's
not here. And what are we going to do?
We don't know what to do. And so let's go out fishing with
our little money. I can't help but think that's
what he thought. He loved fishing. He loved the
sea. He loved nets and boats. If you've ever done it, Lord,
you'd love it. Well, did he pray about death? Did any of them? Did any of them
pray about death? No. Did he say, well, let's stop
and see what we're... Let's ask the Lord if it's the
Lord's will, what we should do, where we should go. Like Abraham
and Sarah. If the Lord's terry and He's
promised us a child, what are we going to do? Well, let's do
this. No, you don't run before the
Lord. You ask in everything, by prayer and supplication, make
your request in everything. Old Brother Bruce Crabtree said
that somebody came to him one time, and they were thinking
about getting a dog. And they said to him, we're going
to pray about it. And Bruce just thought, that's
a silly thing to pray about. But he thought, no. In his vernacular, he said, no,
they might get a biting dog. A biting dog. Bless his heart. Man, I love
that man. He's right here. But anyway, did they pray about
it? No. None of them. I'm going fishing. We'll go too. What happened? They went, and
they pissed all night. Pissed all night. Immediately. They didn't wait. Wait on the
Lord. They went in immediately, and
that night, all night long, they caught nothing. Nothing. All their labor, all night long,
was for naught. For nothing. It was all in vain. They started out, maybe it was
daylight. I never fished at night. I don't, you know, it scares
me. Some men do it. Ron's done it
and caught big fish. I fish in the daytime. All day
long I catch anything. I was out with Cody and Walter
one time on the ocean. Those men knew the ocean. They
knew the fish. They've been doing it all their
life since they were boys, like Simon and Andrew, okay? Went
out in the boat with them all day long. I'm talking about from
daylight until dark. We didn't catch one thing. We
caught nothing. And after it was all over, I
said, Brethren, why do you reckon that is? Why do you reckon it
is that we've been all day out here on this water and caught
nothing? The Lord's reminding us what
we really do. But this is not our life. They all went. They all labored
all night long. The sun began to rise, I believe. The morning was now come, verse
4. Yeah, the sun began to rise. Our Lord stood on the shore.
Jesus stood on the shore. Which shore? Eastern. That's
where the sun rises, he said. Perhaps one of them, maybe one
of them said, you know, while they were out, they kept getting
closer to land. They went out in deep waters
first. They're not catching anything, they're dragging those nets in.
They go a little further back home and they throw out the nets
and nothing. And till now they're a hundred
yards offshore. And maybe one of them, what's
this? There's a fire on the, somebody's
up on the shore, oh well. And they're casting and finally
the sun's coming up and there's a man on the shore. There, the
sun's coming up over his head. Maybe one of them said, who's
that? Look at that. It looks like the
sun's coming up over his head. It's got a glow about him. You reckon? Well, the disciples didn't know
it was him. Like Mary thought it was the
gardener. Who's that? It must be another
fisherman. It is. The one that caught you. And our Lord said unto them,
they were a hundred yards away. Children! A hundred yards, not
twice as long as this parking lot within earshot. Children! He always called them that. Didn't
he? You always call them, my little
children. Are you? Are you? You know, except you
repent and become as a little child, you're not in the kingdom
heaven. Except you become as little children,
you're not in the kingdom heaven. Does that offend you? Little
children, weak, helpless, dependent, don't know anything, need to
be led, easily misled? Gullible, weak, stupid. I said it again. Silly, simple. Children, have you any meat? Oh, the Lord can say so much
in one line, can't He? That's the title of this message. That's the theme. That's the
subject. After all of your labor, all night long, do you have any
meat? Any substance? Anything meat? Meat is the only thing that really
will fill you up. I used to be a vegetarian. I
did, back in the 70s. They used to do it. Sit cross-legged
and I'd gaze at my navel and eat herbs and other things. And you know what? I was hungry
all the time. All the time. Meat. Anything of substance. Anything that really satisfies
you. Anything that fills you up after you've eaten. You're
full. Anything. After all this time, after all
this time in the dark, laboring and toiling, have you found anything
that fills you up? Anything. Can you hear their response? Now they toil all night. And
the saying is, and it's true in the time, if you have to ask
a fisherman if he caught anything, don't. You won't have to ask
him. You'll already get three texts
of pictures that he caught. Right? He'll be bragging and
boasting. But if he doesn't tell you, don't
ask him. Don't ask him. Can you hear their
response? Bless their hearts. I know exactly
how they feel. All night long, dagging those
necks, toil and labor, trying to get something and getting
anything. They're getting irritable with each other, getting mad
at each other, getting mad. What's the problem? Children, have you any meat?
No! No! Like Simon Peter, the first
time the Lord revealed Himself to them. Same way. He got in
his boat. The Lord Jesus Christ got in
his boat without asking him. And said, cast out the lamb.
He said, we want to go get a draft of fishing. Master, now pick
teacher. Can you hear him? Kelly, can
you hear Simon? Now, teacher, we've been fishing
these waters all our lives. Well, did you catch anything
last night? Well, no, but God, we know these waters. Oh, do
you now? Any man thinks he knows anything, you're not going to
tell me anything. Children. Children. Well, no, we haven't. I love the thought, Amy, I love
the thought that our Lord never got irritated, irritable with
his children, with his wife. He never lashed out at her. Never
lashed out at her. Never lashed out at his children.
They said stupid things. They said things like they'd
never heard a thing he said. And they were always wanting
him to do things for them. Always. Thousands of them, really.
Do for me. Do for me. Help me. Help me.
Help me. He never once. He was so patient, so kind, so
pitiful, so compassionate, so merciful, so great, so loving.
He never said, just leave me alone. I love that thought. Never got
irritable with his wife. I would have been like Jesus Christ.
Never snapped. No, but they did. Now, he said
unto them, verse 6, cast the net on the right side of the
ship, and you shall find Cast the net on the right side. They
fished all night long and caught nothing. Listen to this. I love
this Ecclesiastes. It tells us of the preacher.
The preacher, we believe it's Solomon, that he said at the
beginning, the book of Ecclesiastes is about life in general. Everything
we'll ever do will go through. The Lord put Solomon through
it. And he began by saying the words
of the preacher, son of David, king. King is in small K and
Preacher is capital P. He said, Vanity of vanities saith
the Preacher, vanity of vanity, all is vanity. What profit hath
a man of all his labor which he taketh unto the Son? He worked
all your life for what? Nothing. Naked you came in this world,
and it is certain That naked you shall return. Peter is naked
in the book. That's how the Lord painted,
and that's how he is now. And then old Solomon or whoever
wrote this says, I hated life. The work that's wrought under
the sun is grievous for me. It's all vanity. He said, I hated
my labor that I'd taken under the sun because I'm going to
leave it to the fellow after me. And I labor for all this
savings, and my son's going to blow it. That's what he said. Had yet
he meet. Nothing. Nothing. Long night of labor. Long night. Brother, our brother preached
on this, and oh, man, he touched us preachers where we live. He
said, you know, we labor in the Word. We labor in prayer, we
labor in study, and sometimes a long, long time, and we catch
nothing. In fact, it seems like we lose a
few. And it's grievous. It's grievous. You know why? Because our Lord
said, now, they went without calling. They went without asking.
They went without praying, seeking the Lord's will. And our Lord
said, without me, you can't do nothing. If you don't seek my
face. The Lord commanded those fish,
don't get in their nets. Don't let them catch a thing.
Don't let them have any satisfaction. Those fish are talking to one
another. They say, don't go around my left eye. Where are you going,
Skeeter? Don't get on the left side. The
Lord told us not to get in that bed. You reckon? Yes! They're not going to find anything. And here's what the Scripture
says. The Lord, in the day of prosperity,
rejoiced. Thank the Lord. But in the day
of adversity, consider that the Lord has set the one over against
the other. to this end that we might find
nothing after us. Nothing here. And no one and
no thing. Nothing. Nothing. That you might
find in Him your all and in all. That way, if you lose everything,
you end up completely naked without anybody or anything. You'll be
like Job. You'll say, I know my Redeemer
lives. All my children are gone, but
I know my Redeemer lives. My home and family's gone, but
I know He's given me a place not made with hands. I can't
find any happiness here on earth, but blessed be the Lord, I rejoice
in the Lord. Nobody can take that from you. Though He slay me, I'll trust
Him. And I'm going to see God someday,
and David said, that's my heart's desire. Have you any meat, children?
Have you? Well, he said, cast your net
on the right side, verse 6. Cast your net on the right side
of the ship. I can't help but think the Lord
is alluding to the fact that there's a right side and there's
a wrong side. There's a right way and there's a wrong way.
There's a right crowd to hang with and there's a wrong crowd,
isn't there? There's truth and there's error. There's light
and there's darkness. Right? Who's on the Lord's side?
Where, let me ask you, especially young people, with whom do you
cast your lot? With whom and where and with whom
do you cast your lot and cast your cares? I was going to turn
to Proverbs, but I'm running out of time. Proverbs 1 begins
this way. It says, We could say, come with
us. Cast in your lot with us. We're going to make great gain.
That's what they said. Cast in your lot with us. You'll
make great gain. But the Lord says, no, cast your
cares upon Him. Cast your line. Your line of work. People do
this all the time. What line of work are you pursuing?
Well, somewhere where there's no gospel. That's not of the
Lord. Go to school somewhere, there's
no gospel church. That's not up to the Lord. That's not up to the Lord. And
after it's all over, you'll find nothing. And hopefully, you belong
to the Lord and He'll bring you back. Well, they did, at His Word.
They cast their net on the right side of the ship. He said, you'll
find. And they cast their four, and
now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. The multitude of fishes, they
did at His Word. Now they cast their net upon
the Word of the Lord, and now their cup runneth over. Now their net is full. This is an absolute prophetic
picture of a great multitude of people that the Lord will
save through the preaching of the gospel that began with these
apostles. 153, exactly at this time, which
represent a number which no man can number, 153 zillion. But all will be gathered one
way. This is a prophetic picture of
how the Lord gathers his people from every tribe. One of the
preachers said this at the Sea of Galilee. They did a study
and they actually found exactly 153 species of fish in it. I don't know if that's true.
It wouldn't surprise me. But this is a picture of how
the Lord is going to gather and has gathered a great multitude
of people, a mixed multitude, by one mean, the gospel. Our Lord said that the kingdom
of heaven is like a net. You've heard this before. Maybe
everyone hasn't. But the Lord used it. They used this net to enclose
these fish. A net, not lures. They weren't
fishing with lures. Man-made bait to entice, to trick,
to deceive the fish into biting it. That's false religion. This place over here in this
Franklin Heights community is having a 12-week seminar on the
Constitution of the United States. Fifty dollars a head. Subtle deception to try to get
people to come in. My house shall be called a house
of prayer. You've made it a den of thieves.
God's not in that. He doesn't trick people into
coming. He lays hold of them. The gospel is the power of God
and the salvation. Preach the gospel. You know what
the gospel will do? You know what God will do? You
know what Christ will do? Apprehend them. Annette encloses
them. Annette encircles them. Annette
surrounds them. Annette grabs hold of them. Annette
can't get out. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad? That salvation is by command,
by power, sovereign power. Aren't you glad that the Lord
sent the Word? Cast the net right there. There's 153 fish on the right
side of the boat. Cast it right there. I don't
see them. Cast the net. Oh, look! And John, you see, the Lord knows
who. The foundation of God stands
assured having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are
His. And they're going to hear the gospel. We don't have to
resort to means and trickery to get them to hear the gospel.
Our Lord said in Isaiah, bring My sons from afar. Bring them
from the north, from the south. They're going to come. Yes, we're
to tell them. You don't beg them, no. God's
not a beggar. We are. God doesn't deceive. Satan does. God doesn't trick us into coming.
Satan does to hear lies. God says, stand on the rooftop and cry,
behold, you're gone. Now, here's the thing about man's
depravity. You can put a sign up in your yard, yard sale, junk,
junk, useless, worthless stuff. Cast off rags, come. I now come
from far and wide. Fill that place up. But you stand
up and say, I've got the unsearchable riches of Christ here. Got treasures
of God here. Got righteousness here. Got wisdom
here. Got truth here. Who's going to
come? God's people. Now, Dad used to say, I'm not
looking for goats. I'm on a trail of God's sheep.
You can throw anything out there and goats will take it. They'll
fall for it. We declare to hold your God. We tell all men, what are you
doing there? What are you doing for your young people? What are
you doing for your people? One thing. Preaching Christ. Anybody? Yeah, his people, they'll
come. They'll come and they'll stay.
And they'll live. John, now they were not able
to draw. They were not able to draw. What
a good illustration that is. No man can come except the Father
which has sent me draw him. They're not able to draw. But
lo and behold, a little while later, Peter's going to draw
him on him. That's amazing. There's so much
here, there's not enough time to tell it. The Lord has used
one man here and there for a great multitude, but it's not Him.
They're not able to draw it. John said to Simon Peter, he
said, it's the Lord. Now they recognize the sun has
come up, lights, and the light, they see His face. from afar,
but they see it. They hear His voice. They've
heard that voice before, John. They've heard that voice before.
John said, it's the Lord. The old Simon. This is me. Now, Simon had just denied Him. Simon had acted like he didn't
know Him. Simon reverted right back. The Lord hadn't been gone
two or three days until Simon reverted right back to that old
cussing sailor that he was before. That old sinner just like he
was when the Lord found him. But when he heard his voice,
you know what he did? He dove in to see. He's cast in his nets before.
Now he's casting himself, all that he is and all he is.
What he's saying to him is, sink or swim. I'm going to him. But you just denied him. Now
I know it, but I know this. He can't deny himself. That's
my Lord. Like an old dove. Anybody? Anybody? Any Simons out there? He was naked. What's he doing
naked? Well, he could say he got hot
and tired and sweaty and took his clothes off. Yeah, but this
is a certain picture, an evident picture that brethren, if the
Lord believes us any time at all, We're going to end up naked. Right? And he castigured himself
with his fisher's coat. What's that? That's his fisher's
coat. What's that coat all about? It's just like, it's the righteousness
of Christ. It's the robe of righteousness.
It's what warmed him. That's crying. He cast himself
into the sea. Cast your care upon the Lord.
He cares for you. Oh, but I'm such a sinner. Cast
yourself upon his mercy and his grace. The other disciples came
in a little ship. They were not far from land.
A hundred yards. And dragging the net with the
fishes. As soon as they had come to land,
they saw a fire of coals there and fish laid there on and breathed. A fire of coals. You know, you go camping and
build a fire in your backyard and it takes a good while, doesn't
it, to build up a bed of coal. Well, how long had the Lord been
there? All night long. Now all that's left is a bed
of coal. That's what he's cooking on. What was he doing? Watching
them. He never took his eyes off her. Never. Well, they came, and he had fish
and bread laid on there. Fish and bread. Fish and bread. You know what the Lord fed the
multitude with in the beginning when He started preaching? What
did He feed the multitude with? Fish and bread. Meat and bread. Did He not say, My body is meat?
that I am the bread of life. Simon, Peter, Thomas, James,
and John, and the rest of the disciples, they ate that same
bread in the beginning, didn't they? You reckon they thought
in the beginning, this is so good? This is the best fish I've
ever eaten. Oh, this bread is wonderful,
isn't it wonderful? It seems sweeter than before. It's because
He handled it. Isn't this wonderful bread, this
fish, this meat? When you first heard the gospel,
The Lord first began to reveal Himself. What do you think? This
is the most wonderful thing I've ever heard in my life. I love
this. Don't you love this? Now, three and a half years later,
He's serving the same thing. And they've been out all night
and caught nothing. And now He prepares them this wonderful
meal that's a picture of Himself. And they're all eating it and
thinking, this is so good. Maybe one of them said, what
kind of fish is this? I don't recognize this. It's
Alaskan halibut. What? Alaska? Where's that? Where'd you get that? This is wonderful. Is the Gospel
still sweet to you now? You know, the children of Israel
began to loathe this light bread. We've heard this before. And
the Lord loathed them. And they were proved by that.
That's how you prove by it. They were proved by this manna.
If you ever grow tired of it, the Lord has grown tired of you.
And if you're never tired of it, if in the end, it's as sweet
as the day you first tasted it, you're one of the Lord's little
children. And it was the same one feeding
them. The same one feeding them. They didn't grow tired of Him
either. Fire of coals. And they said,
look at verse 10. Bring of the fish which ye have
now caught. They caught? What did they catch? Nothing. They told all night. Without
Him, they caught nothing. But with Christ, all thank Him. Did they catch one of these fish?
Not one. What did catch them? The net. Though I preach the gospel, I
have nothing to glory, and yea, woe is unto me if I preach not
the gospel. But it's not the preacher, it's
the gospel. It's not my outline, it's God's
Word. It's not my power, it's His Spirit. No fish is going to glory. But
He says, bring the fish, you come. How many were there? 153.
153. Why did He give that exact number? Because God's people
are numbered. He has them numbered. He has
the hair on your head number. Every one of you. Every hair
in every head. And if he has every hair in every
head, surely he has every head number. That's easy. 153. Why is that an odd number? Because we're in odd lots. It says they were great fishes,
doesn't it? It says they were great fishes.
Listen to me now. Don't let me lose you on this.
You're going to like this. They were great fishes. Now let me
ask you, what is great about a fish? Anybody? What's great about a
fish? It's some big fish. Is it greater
than a little fish? Is it better fish than a little
fish? It's still a fish. What do they
all have in common? What do all fish have in common?
They speak! Huh? Have you ever... Have you
ever known a fish like steak? If there's a fish out of water,
you're going to say, thumbs me a fish in. And I know every one of you in
here say it. Now, the Lord, you see, this
is a great salvation, and the Lord does it. It's a great work,
so great salvation. It takes great mercy, great grace,
great power. It's not us, but His gospel is
great. It's the power of God unto salvation,
everyone that believes it. It's a great God. Son, a great
work of redemption. That's what it takes to save
every single fish. And you know who he saves? Great
sinners. David said it. Was David a great
man? No, he's a shepherd that the
Lord found and made a great man out of him. And David said, pardon
my iniquity because it's great. of Tarsus the Great Land? No,
he's the chief of sinners. That's who the Lord saves. Every
one of them are great sinners. You know what it took to get
these great sinners in? They couldn't draw them. They couldn't get them in the
net, the boat. But the Lord worked His power. And they drug them. 153 great sinners. And it says there were so many,
yet the net didn't break. Brethren, oh, the net ain't broken. God hadn't changed His way of
catching fish, catching men. It ain't broken. The gospel is
still the power of God. If you were caught in the net
like I was, you know what God gives us. Why don't men preach
the gospel? They don't know it. They were
caught apprehended. When you've been apprehended,
you know what the Lord uses. A net! And the net ain't broken. And
you know what that meant? Not one of those fish escaped. Are you with me? Any great sinners
in here? Not one of those fish got out.
Stephen! One of them is more stinking
than the other. I'm getting out of here. No,
you're not. The Lord gave the command. Not one of them is to
be lost. I know I've heard some of you
say, surely everybody in there, nobody's as bad as I am. Anybody? Nobody's as bad a sinner as I
am. Yes, they are. They're all just as bad. This
is why salvation is up to the Lord. And this is why if the
Lord doesn't keep you, you won't be kept. You're kept by the power of God.
The gospel's power. If you quit hearing the gospel,
you've gotten out of the net. The gospel is the power of God.
It keeps you. You don't want to get out of
the net, brother. You know if he doesn't keep you under the
sound of the gospel, you'll be gone. What do you reckon the Lord did
with all these fish? Oh, He didn't waste one fragment,
did He? Twelve baskets full. He didn't
waste one of them. What were they used for? The
poor. The needy. The hungry. Every part of every
fish was spread out. People were eating. Going on. God has a people out of every
tribe. Maybe there were 153. And God has a people out of every
tribe, kindred, nation. And then the Lord said, verse
12, come and dine. And none of them. Come and dine. What a message by itself. Come
and dine. On what? That which the Lord provides
on Himself. And none of the disciples, they
don't need to ask Him now who art thou. They know. They know
it's the Lord. They'd seen his hand before.
They saw it again. The first way Simon Peter knew
Him was when the Lord filled that ship full of fish. You know
what, Simon? He knew who this was finally.
He didn't before. He thought he was just a teacher.
When he found out this is the Lord over heaven and earth. This
is the Lord over the sea, over the creatures in it, over devils,
over men. He knows every thought in your
head. He knows every fish in the ocean and every thought in
your head. And Simon Peter hid his needs. The first time he
knew the Lord was the same way. He hit his knees. And what did
he do? He repented. And he said, Lord,
I'm a sinful man. The Lord said, no, get up, Simon. You're sinful, yes, but you're
mine. I came for you. I've caught you
now. I'm not going to let you go. And I'm going to use you that
I've caught for my glory. And tell other people how you
got caught. And the Lord takeeth this bread. Look at this, verse 13. Then
he cometh. See how this is all of the Lord?
He prepared it before they got there. He prepared this before they
got there. They're out there toiling, doing whatever in the
dark. He's waiting. Waiting to be gracious. He prepared
it all before they got there. Christ the Lamb slain before
the foundation of the world. Then He cometh. He came into
this world, didn't He? Made of a woman, made under the
law, redeemed under the law. He taketh bread. What? Himself. And breaketh it. And giveth.
Not offer it. Giveth. And fish likewise. Fish? What's that? Well, fish
lost their lives to feed these men. When you eat meat, something
died to preserve your life. Bread grew up as a tender plant.
A fish was cut down in its life. That's Christ. Crucified. Now,
this is the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples. After that, he was risen from
the dead. And the disciples, writing of
this, said, In many infallible proofs, He showed Himself to
us. And we can't help but speak the
things we've seen and heard. May the Lord apprehend
someone and through His Gospels, my prayer. Okay. Brother John,
you come and lead us. What is it, 125? Number 125. What?