Old story, tell me the old, old
story of Jesus and his love. Tell me the same old story when
you had cause to fear. Glory is costing me too dear. Yes, and when that world's glory
is dawning on my soul, Tell me the old, old story, Christ Jesus
make me whole. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story. And his love. Thank you, Hannah. That is a good charge to preachers,
isn't it? Tell me the old, old story. Tell it to me simply. Tell it
to me slowly, so I can take it in. Tell it to me softly, but
earnest tones engraved. Tell it to me always, if you
would really be a comforter to me. Tell me the same old story. Okay. We'll try to do that. Go
back to John 21 now. John 21. This was a great blessing to
me in reading it, just merely reading it, and especially in
studying it. I want you to look at the last
verse of this, a little side note. There are also many other things
which Jesus did, of which if they should be written, every
one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain
the books that should be written. A man's greatness is often defined
by the magnitude of his works, isn't it? A man's greatness is
fame. If a man is a doctor or a surgeon,
the number of surgeries that he performs will tell you of
his greatness. A builder. the number of structures
or buildings that he has erected. If an author, the number of books
or volumes which he has produced, well here it says, if everything
he said and did was recorded, the world couldn't contain the
books. Because he's the greatest of
the great. And in one book, One chapter,
one verse, one line concerning the Lord, a multitude of sermons
have been preached and a multitude of books have been written. And
in this chapter alone, There's infinite wisdom and infinite
truth and infinite power and glory to be seen. That's how
you know this is God's work. And that's how we know this is
God's Son. In chapter 20, look at this before we get into, this
leads into chapter 21. Verses 30 and 31 of chapter 20
say this, 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. These things are written. What
God purposed for men to write down is all we need. And these
things are written that we might believe that that one named Jesus
of Nazareth is indeed the Christ, or sent one of God, the Son of
God Himself, that is, God who came to earth. Now these things
are written, and this, because this is life eternal, that you
might know him. that you might know Him. When
we say we preach Christ and Him crucified, that's not just a
slogan. We really do because we know
that Christ is the wisdom of God and the power of God. That
Christ is the salvation of God. That knowing Him, looking to
Him, believing Him, trusting Him is salvation. So, like Moses lifted up the
serpent on the pole in the wilderness. So, the preacher should lift
up Christ for sinners to see, to look to, to believe on. Because
this is life. This is life. And the more we
get to know Him, the more we grow in grace and in the knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the more our peace grows. Think about that. Perfect peace
where nothing and no one would bother you. How do you do that? Well, keep looking to Him. Keep learning of Him. And our
joy increases, our strength, and so that's why we preach Christ. Okay? All right. Chapter 21. After these things, Jesus showed
himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. And on
this wise showed he himself. The Lord showed himself again
to his disciples. Not everyone. Not everyone. Throughout his life on earth, many believed on him, but many
did not. Many knew who he was. Why? He showed himself to them. He
revealed himself to them. Many did not. Why? Because he
hid himself from them. And if you and I know who he
is, If we really know who He is and believe on Him and love
Him, we must be one of His disciples, because He only shows Himself.
to his disciples, his elect, his chosen. He said, I have chosen
you. He didn't choose me. And I have
chosen you that you might know me, that I am Him, God, come
to save you. And so we are saved by seeing
Him, looking to Him. We're kept by seeing Him, like
I said a moment ago. were kept by the power of God,
by seeing Christ. And so through preaching of the
gospel of Christ, he reveals himself to his disciple again
and again and again. He shows himself again. This
is the third time after he arose that he showed himself to them.
But it's not by any means actually the third time that he showed
himself. He showed himself on this wise,
in this way. This is how he showed himself
to them. They were together and they were
fishing and they toiled all night and caught nothing. The Lord
calls them. They realize it's Him. They all
know Him. They all come to Him. Does that
sound familiar? That's the way that He showed
Himself to them in the beginning. When they first met Him, when
they first met the Lord, when He first revealed Himself to
them, this is exactly the way that He showed Himself to them. He shows himself to them exactly
the same way. And I want us to see tonight
how that this is what he does to all of his disciples. The
way he reveals himself in the beginning is the same way he
keeps revealing himself over and over again and again. And
in the end, we will see him as he is, John. He will reveal himself
the same way, same way in the beginning. All right? The Lord
showed himself. Look at verse 1. It says this
twice. Jesus showed himself to the disciples. On this wise showed he himself. As we said, this is salvation.
And he showed them himself as Lord and Master. First thing. First way that they came to know
who this was. was He's Lord and Master of that
ocean they're fishing on. He's Lord and Master of the sea,
all the fishes under the sea, all the birds in the sky, and
the men in those boats. They're all going to know that. They all do know that. They all
find that out. You remember the story. It's
recorded in Luke chapter 5. The Lord chose the boat. He came
to this same lake. The same sea. And there were
many boats there, weren't there? We just were in several fishing
villages up the New England coast. There's a lot of boats up there.
Well, there were a lot more back then in these fishing villages
where their lives depended on. Well, the Lord chose this boat,
this particular boat that belonged to two particular men, Simon
Peter and Andrew. Alright? He chose that boat.
He got in that boat. Remember me telling you about
Brother Greg and I standing there by his boat washing his net?
And I asked him, Greg, what would you do if a man came up and just
got in your boat and said, come on, shove off? And Greg said, well, he'd have
to be the Lord Well, it was. Simon Peter, you
know, Greg's a gracious man. Greg's a regenerative man. Simon
Peter wasn't at this time. Simon Peter, you know how quick
he was to pop off. Well, the Lord chose his boat.
This rough, gruff, tough fisherman, you know, chose his boat, got
in and said, you, shove off. And boy, he'd never heard a voice
of authority like that. The eyes that pierced his. And
so he did what he was told. And they shoved off, and then
the Lord preached that message, and they heard it. The Lord preached
that message. Then he turned to Simon Peter
again and said, let's go out into the deep. Do you remember
that story? Let's go out into the deep. We're
going to let down the net for a draft. He didn't say, we're
going to try to catch some fish. He said, we're going out and
we're going to catch some fish. Well, they went out, and you
remember, they went out there and they let down the net at
His Word. And the Lord does not make requests. When He reveals
Himself to His disciples, the first way He reveals Himself
is as Lord. Not a figurehead. Not a wannabe
Lord. God. Sovereign. Doing as He will, with whom He
will, simply because He will. This is the I Am. This is He
who says, I will and you shall. That's the God of Scripture.
That's the Christ of Scripture. That's how Barnard used to say,
you can't call Jesus Savior unless you first bow to Him as Lord. Every time those two words are
together, those two titles are together, they're in that order.
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Lord and Savior. And every believer
first comes to know Him as Lord before they even know or even
believe or have any hope of Him being their Savior. Isn't that
right? When you first heard the gospel,
God's sovereign, sovereignty, you thought, I believe that,
but I don't know if I'm one of His left. You think, I'm unworthy. Isn't
that what Simon Peter said? Isn't that what Simon Peter said?
When they took in all those fish, and Peter saw that this One who
gave me order, got my boat, chose me, told me what to do, and I
couldn't help but do it, made me willing in the day of His
power. And this One who knows all the fish in the sea as if
they belonged to Him, He knows my thoughts. He knows me, everything
about me. And he hid his knees before the
Lord of glory and said, Lord, depart from me. I'm a sinful
man. Isn't that how the Lord reveals
himself to you? And he does it again and again
and again. And in the end, Even in the end,
this is how we love to hear Him declared as our sovereign Lord. What struck fear in us, and still
we fear the Lord. But in the end, He gives us great
peace. He is the Master of the sea,
billows His will obey. He, your Savior, willed to me,
you will be saved today. He's the Lord. He showed Himself
as Lord. When He shows Himself to you,
He will reveal yourself to you, like old Simon Peter. And he
fell and said, Lord, depart from me. Now, the Lord, no. The Lord is not going to depart.
He wouldn't have come to him. He wouldn't have chosen him.
A wonderful word of comfort. The Lord wouldn't have gotten
in Peter's boat. He knows who he is. He knows he's sinful. That's why he came. That's why
he chose him. That's why he got in his boat,
Kelly. He needed saving. Depart from me, Lord, I'm a sinful
man. I know that. That's why I came.
And he's not going to depart because he's a sinful man. That's
what we're going to see. I hope the Lord will not depart
from his people, sinful though they be. And that's the reason.
Because they need him. And that's his name, Savior of
sinners. Oh, my. The Lord comes and reveals
himself. He shows us that he chose us,
or that he has an elect anyway. He shows us that we're lost.
He shows us we're nothings and nobody, just fishermen, not wise,
mighty, or noble. And so he revealed himself to
them in this way. Well, that was in the beginning.
Now, in our text, three and a half years later, the same way. The same Lord, because there's
one Lord, one faith, one way. The same Lord, same sinners. Old Simon Peter now feels worse
than he did in the beginning, doesn't he, John? Now, three
and a half years later, Now, a little while back, he thought
he was something. But the Lord quickly showed him.
And now, he feels worse than he was when the Lord first found
him. But you won't hear him say, depart
from me. No. But the same Lord, same sinners,
in verse 2, it says, they were together. They were together,
Simon and Thomas, Nathaniel and some others. That's a good place
to be, you know, together. Together, that's what sheep do.
That's how you know they're sheep. They gather together. That's
the nature of the animals. All the clean animals in the
ark, the clean animals are gregarious. Means they flock together. They flock, all the clean animals
flock together. Clean. Unclean? No. They're roaming, nomads. Like
a lion or a tiger. But his sheep, that's what they
do. They gather together. Congregate. That's where sheep
are. That's where you'll find them.
Our Lord said that, didn't he? There shall be one shepherd and
one foal. I know my sheep, and I'm known of mine. I call them,
I go before them, and they follow me. And there's one shepherd
and one foal. That's where the sheep are, and
that's where the shepherd is. That's where the shepherd is
promised to be. He'll always be with the flock. Shepherds
always with the flock, watching over them. That's what a good
shepherd does. Feeding, leading, guiding, guarding. No good shepherd
would ever leave his flock for anything. Like no good mother
would leave her child for very long. The grandbabies were with
us today, and I had charge of Isabella for a little bit. She's really starting to roll
around now. You've got to watch her, don't
you? Well, I sat her down. Don't worry. I'm just illustrating
it. Nothing happened. But anyway,
I laid her down there and I thought, no, I'm not going to leave her.
I can't leave her. I didn't take
my eyes off her. I didn't leave her. And a good
shepherd won't either. He's called the good, the great
shepherd. And he said, John, I will never
leave you. I will never leave you, nor forsake
you. The last thing he said to his
sheep, Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.
That's a good shepherded. That's where he's promised to
be, where two or three are gathered together. The Lord doesn't say
things in a mere figure of speech. No, no, no. The Lord said, where
two or three are gathered together in my name, worshiping me, there
am I in the midst of them. So, together is a good place
to be. A good place to be. A bunch of sinners hoping the
Lord and Savior will meet with us. And He said He would. So
there He was. There He was. There he was, where
they were. They didn't see him. That's who
he was. I didn't say, there he came. I didn't say that. There he was. You see, in him
we live and move and have our being. God came, became a man. The Lord Jesus Christ one time
in a body. He limited himself to a body.
Okay? But now, he's omnipresent. He's everywhere. The Lord Jesus
Christ. Everywhere. And don't ask me
to explain that, but it's just so. It's so. There he was. Verse 3, Simon Peter said unto
his buddies, I go a-fishing. I go a-fishing. Well, they all
said, all of them said, well, we'll go with you. We'll go with
you. Now, I've heard people, I've
done it actually, not given Peter Simon the benefit of the doubt
here. He's not leaving the gospel. He's not leaving the faith, is
he, Dad? He's not leaving the faith. He's
not leaving the gospel. Oh no, no, no, no, no. Do you remember not too long
before this, the Lord said, who do men say that I am? Simon,
thou art the Christ. He said, blessed are you, Simon
Bar-Jonah. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
this to you, but my Father which is in heaven. Do you remember
the Lord said, thou art Peter the Rock. Didn't He? A little stone. Remember, Peter said, Thou art
the Christ. Remember, the Lord said, when
a bunch of people left, will ye also go away? Remember, Simon
Peter said, To whom? Where would we go? You have words
of life. Your life. We depend on you.
We love you. We live because of you. That's
what Simon Peter said. That's what Simon Peter believed.
He believed the Lord. He did. Thomas. Remember Thomas? Oh, he doubted briefly, but the
chapter before he fell on his face and said, My Lord and my
God. He knew who Christ was. They're
not leaving the gospel. They're not leaving the faith.
I'll tell you what they're doing. And this is a good lesson. We're
often too hard on the disciples. They didn't have the advantage
that we had. We're reading a story. We read
the end of the story. We ought to be harder on ourselves.
We repeat what they did. We have the greater condemnation.
No. We do the exact same things that
they did. They couldn't have the last chapter.
We do. We shouldn't be so hard. We ought
to judge ourselves. Scripture says we judge ourselves.
We won't be judged. Judge not. Judge not your brother.
And had we been in their shoes, we would have done the exact
same thing. So that's a lesson in itself,
isn't it? They're not leaving the gospel.
They're not leaving the church. They're not departing from the
Lord. They're going fishing for something to do. See, the Lord hasn't been back
in a few days. He stayed on earth quite a long
time. And they hadn't seen him in a
little while. And what can we do? Peter said, I'm going fishing. They said, well, we'll go too.
Okay. You see, they didn't have jobs.
They're preachers. They're all preachers. And they
all said, well, let's go fishing. Give us something to do. And
perhaps, I know they thought that. I know they thought that.
They thought, well, we can earn a little money. Earn a little
extra money. I never thought of this, but
this is exactly what they... I don't know why. You see, they
hadn't had any money for about three and a half years. They didn't have a dime. Right? They hadn't had any money. They
didn't need any money. The Lord provided for them. They had everything. And that's just the way it is
in the beginning. Most preachers don't earn much
money. They don't need it. The Lord promised that those
that preach the gospel will live by the gospel. Well, that's what
they were doing. For something to do and to earn
a little extra money, they said, let's go fishing. And so they
went, it says, immediately. Look at verse 3. They went forth,
entered into a ship. Immediately. Whose ship was it?
I believe it was Zebedee's. James and John's. He was still
a fisherman. Maybe he still had their old boat. Probably. James and John said, I know where
we can get a boat. And so they went back immediately, it says,
immediately. Nobody gave it a second thought.
Nobody said, well, let's seek the Lord's willing. Anybody guilty of this? Immediately. They ran back to those boats.
Back to those boats. Now, look at verse 3. It says, Immediately they entered
the ship, and that night they toiled all night and caught nothing. Now, here's a lesson to preachers,
to myself and other preachers, and a lesson for all of us. The
lesson to preachers is this. We don't need something to do. We need, the Scripture says,
to give ourselves to prayer and study. We don't need something
to do. Now, the Lord is not forbidding
recreational fishing, but He is forbidding vocational
fishing for preachers. or vocational golf for preachers. In other words, that's not your
life. That's not what you give yourself
to. That used to be. Not anymore. Not anymore. And the Lord is
teaching us preachers that we don't need to earn ourselves
a little extra money. We've all done it. Don't fault
the man for doing it. Don't fault the preacher that's
done it, me included, because you haven't been him. Alright,
but the fact is, the Lord has always and has always promised
to provide. Or what? No matter how many or
how few. Now here's a lesson to all of
us. Here's a lesson to all of us. Simon and Andrew, James and John,
they loved those ships. They loved those ships. Fishermen
just loved fishing them. And that was their love, their
first love. The sea, they loved the life
of the sea. I could easily be a full-time
fisherman. What about you, Kevin? I'm not
even going to ask Ron. And there are lots of men like
that. Maybe women. There are some women
in here that love it. But fishing has such an allure,
such an appeal, and the ocean and the boats. The things of this world may
not be the sea and boats. It may be something else for
you. All of us, we have something that was once our life, our love,
our pursuit. our conversation, what we love
to talk about, what we love to do. It was our first love. Then Christ comes and reveals
Himself to us. It could be family. Christ comes
and reveals Himself to us, then He becomes all and in all. And these other things become
nothing at all. When Christ reveals Himself to you, this is how He
reveals Himself. I'm all you need. I'm all you
desire, aren't I? I'm all and in all. And everything
else, Barbara, becomes vanity. Vanity of vanity. She said, why
was I so taken up with this and that? And you look at the whole
world with totally different eyes, don't you? A completely
different perspective. You see it all as vanity, perishing
things of clay, born but for one brief day. And you see, Christ
is all in all. That's what these men experienced. But now, just three and a half
short years, right back in there again. Anybody guilty? Anybody? Anybody? We're all guilty of
this. We're all guilty. that it doesn't take long. It doesn't take long for us to
get right back caught up in the things of this world. Things
that we know are vanity. Things that we know are perishing,
yet like sheep prone to wander. Well, there's greener grass over
there. You know it's not greener, you were there. Or like the prodigal
back in the hogpen. You know, we all play the prodigal.
How many times in our life do we play the prodigal? Anybody?
All of us. We all wander off back to those
things. I love that verse in Ecclesiastes.
I've read it to you many times. It says in Ecclesiastes 7, in
the day of prosperity, rejoice. But in the day of adversity,
Consider that the Lord has set the one against the other to
the end that man will find nothing. They toiled all night and blessed
be the name of their Lord, they caught nothing. They went back to those things
and they immersed themselves and they toiled all night and
they got nothing out of it. The Lord is merciful in it. The
Lord is merciful. They toiled all night. So they
all go back to fishing. Now, the Lord is watching all
this. Like I said, He's there. Verse
4 says, When the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the
shore. When the morning was come, They
had gone wandering off, but there he stands like a rock. They were out in that ship again,
tossed to and fro, but there he stands like a lighthouse. They were back in darkness, back
in the darkness again, and there he stands. Like a light. They're toiling again. They're back toiling again. There
he stands, one at rest. They're sad. They caught nothing. Toiled all night and caught nothing.
There he stands with everything that they need at his feet, waiting. Waiting for them to do all that
they're going to do. And then he ends up giving it
to them. There he stands. They don't see
him. Once again, they can't see him.
They aren't looking for him. They aren't calling on him. They
aren't seeking him. There he stands with his eye on them. That's the name of this message.
There he stands. Well, they're out going back
again. There he stands. They're not
looking. They don't see him. They don't
care. It doesn't seem. He does. He hasn't taken his
eye off of them. He's observing this whole thing.
The same one that said, cast your net in the sea, he's going
to say it again in a moment, but he made sure that not one
minnow got in their net. Oh, man. There he stands. Our
Lord. You know, I hate to bring down
a Southern icon. Sorry, you sons of Confederate
veterans. But I hate to bring down this
idol. But Dagon must follow. Back during the Civil War, the
South was losing a battle. And the men looked up and there
was General Thomas Jackson standing there on his horse. And they
all said, look, there's Jackson, like a stone wall. That's where he got his name.
Stonewall Jackson. And they all rallied, all the
troops, probably all the troops rallied, and they won that war,
that battle. They won that battle, but lost
the war. And Jackson died. He didn't save
anybody. He couldn't save himself. I will tell you about someone
who can't, who did. Barry Stance, y'all. Like a stone
wall. Like a rock. He's the one. He's
the captain of our salvation. He's the general of this army.
He's the victor. He's the one that by Himself
purged our sin. He's the one that vanquished
all the foe. He's the one that defeated hell, death, and Satan
himself. He's the one. You know, the south
is not going to rise again. Forget it! He did. He did. And He's coming again. He's coming
again. There He stands. There He stands. Well, look at it. The Lord, the
same yesterday, today and forever. The Lord, they knew not that
it was Jesus. Verse 5, Jesus saith unto them,
Children, Yeah, that's a blessed term,
isn't it? This is He whose name is Wonderful
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. Children,
have you any meat? Have you found anything? Can
you meet your needs? Can you provide for yourself?
Did you find any meat? Anything to satisfy you? To meet
your needs? Have you found any? Children?
Children can't do that. Children can't provide for themselves.
Children, have you found anything? Have you found anything to satisfy
you? Nothing? Look at them. They said, no. No. Someone once said, Ron, that
if you have to ask a fisherman if he caught anything, don't. He's going to tell you. You're
going to find out. He's going to send you an email
or a picture. You're going to find out. Have you? Have you found it? Is there any room for boasting?
Fishermen are the biggest boasters on earth and liars. Why do I
keep looking at you, Ron? I'm sorry. Because he's an avid fisherman.
I'm one too, I know. Takes one to know one. Mosters. Look what I've done. Have you
caught anything? Now before, in the beginning,
Peter kind of wanted to argue with him. Master, now, we've
toiled all night. We know these waters. We've been
fishing all our lives. And never let Master, he called
him teacher, nevertheless, that's your word, and I think he wanted
to prove him wrong. We'll let down the net. Now, no. You have any meat? No. Plain and simple. No. Do you
find anything in yourself? Any room for boasting? Anything
to satisfy you in this world? Anything? Can you provide? No.
Are you anything now after all this time? Nothing. No. Nothing.
Nothing at all. You see, the same Lord in the
end reveals Himself to us as in the beginning, and reveals
ourselves to us in the end. But this, John, this is the beginning
of our confidence. And we are to hold fast to the
end, the beginning of our confidence. That this same Lord who came
to us as our Lord and Savior to save us, to provide for us,
to do all things for us, those who are sinful men, like Silent
Peter, Those who are nothings and nobodies from nowhere, a
bunch of fishermen, the world's full of them, that this same
Lord that came and chose them is the same yesterday, today,
and forever. He's the same Lord now because
we're still nothings and nobodies from nowhere and still unable
to save ourselves, provide for ourselves, do anything. We're
unable to do anything without Him. Without Him, we can do nothing. And the Lord said, you just hold
right there until the day you die. You hold fast your confidence. It's not confidence in yourself.
It's not confidence in your faith. It's not confidence in your progressive
sanctification. Peter didn't believe in progressive
sanctification. Did he, John? Oh, Peter thought,
I digress. What does Peter believe? That's a good hope, isn't it?
Oh, that's a good hope. Folks, this is life. This is salvation. Because in
the end, we're going to find that we need Him then more than
in the beginning. And that's how He revealed Himself
to you. He's the Lord. We're nothing. He's all. Without
Him, we can do nothing at all. He will never, never, no never
forsake or leave us because They're prone to wander. And that's why
He came. You got that? He won't leave us. Why? Because
we're so prone to leave Him. And He can't. He can't deny Himself. And he
revealed himself, it says down in verse 14, this is now the
third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples. Now all we know, John said, John
wrote this, we quote it all the time, and a good way to end this
message. John said, we know that the Son
of God has come. And He's given us an understanding
that we might know Him that is true. What does that mean? Faithful. Faithful to the end. True God. True salvation. And we're in
Him. That is true. We're in Him. He can't deny Himself. He can't
leave Himself. And even in His Son, this is
the true God and this is eternal life. With little children, keep
yourselves from idols. Those boats. It's alright to
enjoy this thing. But if you go back and try to
find anything, you won't. You won't. Bless the Lord. Okay, stand with me. Our Lord, we thank You. We are so glad that Thou art
Lord. Beside Thee, there is none else.
Our Lord and our Savior came to save sinful simons such as
we are, wandering sheep such as we are.
We are so glad that Thou art the great, good, great and chief
Shepherd. and that you came to earth to
seek and to save that which was loved. Lord, we thank you for
such great, so great salvation. Thou art our salvation. And we
ask that You would continue to show Yourself to us, reveal Yourself
to us, and cause us to look to You always. Not take our eyes
off You, and certainly not look to this world. The things of
this world have such an appeal. Lord, let us not go back, but
ever keep us to Thyself, looking to Thyself, cleaving to Thee.
Thou art our hope, our confidence, our Lord in whom we trust. Amen.