John chapter 21. John chapter
21. I want to thank you all very
much for this wonderful privilege being here. And Bruce, thank you for that
message. Oh, God bless you. Bless me through
you. Always has, always does. And
you too, Larry, Don. A fellow stopped by the study
Friday morning before I left and was talking about you. He
said, well, I'd like to hear old Larry preach again. I said,
boy, I'd love to hear him preach. So, you know, come up. And I love him, known him for
a long time. And I hope that the Lord will
be pleased to meet with us tonight. Got a lot of wonderful friends
here, a lot of people that we've known and loved for many, many
years. and want to be a blessing to one another and ought to be
a blessing if God will help us. Here in John's Gospel chapter
21, after these things Jesus showed
himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias and on
this wise showed he himself. There were together Simon Peter
and Thomas called Didymus and Nathanael of Canaan, Galilee
and the sons of Zebedee and two other of his disciples. Simon
Peter saith unto him, I go a fishing. They say unto him, we also go
with thee. They went forth and entered into
a ship immediately, and that night they caught nothing. But
when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore, but
the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus saith unto
them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, no, And he
said unto them, cast the net on the right side of the ship,
and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now
they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.
Therefore that disciple, whom Jesus loved, saith unto Peter,
it is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that,
it was the Lord he girded his fisher's coat unto him, for he
was naked, and did cast himself into the sea. And the 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. As soon
then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there,
and fish laid their own in bread. And our Lord saith unto them,
bring of the fish which ye have now caught. Simon Peter went
up and drew the net to land full of great fishes, a hundred and
fifty and three. And for all there were so many,
was not the net broken. Then Jesus saith, come unto them,
come and dine. None of the disciples durst ask
him, who art thou? Knowing that it was the Lord.
Jesus cometh then and taketh bread and giveth them and fish
likewise. You get my subject there in verse
one. And Jesus showed himself again
to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and on this wise, or
in this way, he showed himself. After the resurrection of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the only way anyone could see him was by an
act of his will. And he only revealed himself
only to his people. So many instances after His resurrection
like they were in a room and He appeared in the room and He
had to show them His hands and feet to show them. And here they
didn't know Him. Mary didn't know Him when she
was at the tomb looking for Him. And the only way that they could
ever see Him was by an act of His will making them to see Him.
Him revealing Himself and He only revealed Himself to His
people after his resurrection. And I say this now that he only
reveals himself to his people yet today. Only his people's
the only one who sees him. And he shows himself to his people
in his way and at his time. And that's what always happens.
And like the two disciples on the Emmaus road, they walked
seven miles with the Lord Jesus Christ and doesn't know who he
was in the seven mile walk with him until he sat down and broke
bread. And he opened her eyes and they
knew immediately that it was the Lord. They turned around
and went back and said, we've seen the Lord. We've seen the Lord. But
there's ways that our Lord Jesus Christ reveals himself and makes
himself known. And I'm gonna give you a few
of them here if I can. What time did he show himself
to these disciples? Look down at verse three. Simon Peter saith unto them,
I go a fishing. They say unto him, we also go
with thee. And so they all got together
and they went forth and they entered into a ship, seven of
them, seven disciples. Simon Peter said, I'm going fishing.
Six other fellows said, we'll just go with you. We'll just
go too. And that night, watch what happens
here. They caught nothing. You know, when our Lord Jesus
Christ reveals himself to people after a night of failure, when
everything's a failure, you labor in the dark, you're laboring
in the night, When Simon Peter says, I'm going to go back fishing,
it's not like you fellas say, I'm going to go fishing tomorrow
afternoon. When Simon Peter says, I'm going to go back fishing,
what he's saying is that I'm going back to my former occupation. Just Jesus and Nazareth that
I put all my hope and trust in. He said, I got to make a living.
And so I'm gonna go back doing what I did before. He called
me to be a fisher of man, but I'm gonna go back to what I did
before. And James and John, you go with me. Thomas went with
him. Oh, Nathanael, seven of them
went. And so this is not like you or
I. I'd go fishing. He is going back to his old ways
instead of living by faith. Peter, good, always true to his
nature, so impetuous, so impulsive. He just jumped up and said, I'm
gonna go back fishing. I'm gonna go back fishing. I'm
gonna go back to making a living. And they went, and what did it
say there? They went forth immediately. They never once stopped and said,
well, would it be the Lord's will? I thought the Lord told
us to quit this fishing and follow him. I thought he told us to
go preach the gospel. And here they went back fishing.
And that's what he called them. They went back to the reasoning
of nature. And here's what they did. They
went out at night, laboring in the dark. And without Christ, everything
we do is in the dark. You go to your carnal reasoning
and your natural reasoning and your rationality, and the next
thing you know, you're in the dark. And our Lord, let me tell you
something. He didn't appear to them when it was dark. He didn't
come to them at night. He waited till the morning came.
And they had to learn, and they had to go, and after all night
long, fishing all night, and had caught nothing, absolutely
nothing. They had to learn by experience
what our Lord said to them in John 15, five. He said, without
me, you can do nothing. Now, that's what he means. That's
a hard lesson to learn, but we learned that. And he says, you
go, fellas are gonna learn. You go out and go fishing. He
said, what have you caught? Nothing. And he says, without
me, you can do nothing. And oh, beloved, without our
Lord Jesus Christ, everything's a failure. It's bound to fail. It's already failed. Don't attempt
a moment without the Lord Jesus Christ. How many people think
that their life has been a success, and they have their money, and
they have their cars, and they have their homes, and they have
their vacation homes, and they have all kinds of material possessions,
and they're successful, and they're lauded, and they're praised,
and they're great successful, but will find out at the last
day their whole life has been nothing but a failure. Everything
they've got has amounted to nothing. That everything they've got,
absolutely, well, as Henry Mann said one time, the day will come
down that money will be as worthless as toilet paper when a fella
comes time to face God, and no matter what he's got, it'll be
nothing. And that's what these fellas
done. God help us never, never to attempt anything without our
Lord Jesus Christ. Oh my, what, get up in the morning
and say, Lord, this is your day. Give it to me as you seem good.
This is your night, give it to me as you seem good. They're
my children, do with them as they seem good to you. I tell
you, my children and my grandchildren, they don't deserve anything from
the hand of God. They've got this, they think
that they got everything that they need and they're doing what
they want to do. And they do everything they do. No matter
what you say to them, they go on without Christ. They keep
saying, Papa, I know. Papi, I know. Papi, I know. No,
they don't know. If they ever knew, they'd do
it. But look what happens in verse four. They went out at
night and they caught nothing. But when the morning was come,
when they were all a failure, when they had caught nothing,
when those other six men followed impulsive and petulant Peter.
The sun come up, and guess who come up with it? You know, weeping
endureth for the night, but joy comes in the morning. And here
our Lord Jesus, here he comes. And he's standing there on the
seashore, and he stood on the shore. Now look what he says
there, but disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Oh my, knew not that it was Jesus. He was there, but the disciples
knew him not. And what a sad, sad, sad state
of heart, not to recognize their master, to get so taken up with
their life, with their fishing, and with their past life, and
their faith, and all that they was doing, to not recognize the
Lord Jesus Christ standing there on the seashore. Look over here
in John 20, verse 19 with me for just a moment. Oh my. It says here in verse
19, then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week.
Now watch what it says here. When the doors were shut, where
the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, they all
got behind locked doors, Don, scared to death of the Jews and
what the Jews were gonna do to them. You as followers, this
man's a follower of Jesus. Simon Peter said three times,
no, nope, nope, nope, I don't know that fella, I don't know
that fella. And now they were scared of the Jews and they,
beloved, had to walk with our master for three years. After
they had heard him preach. And there they was assembled
inside doors because they was afraid of the Jews. And our Lord
then came and stood in the midst of them and said, peace be unto
you. Oh my, what a message. When you're standing there scared
to death and he comes in, peace be unto you. But when men have
failed miserably, when men have failed miserably, and oh, and
it's the darkest night and ain't nothing going on and you got
nothing but zero after zero after zero. How many, if you had one, two,
three zeroes, what would you have? If you had one, two, three,
six zeroes, what would you have? One, two, three, nine zeroes,
what would you have? But you put one in all them zeroes,
and then the zeroes become worth something. And that's what our
Lord Jesus does. He takes all these zeroes, all
this failure, and makes it worth this, that one, Just him, by
himself. Bless his holy name. Oh my. When we fail, he brings the mourning
with him. Mary, when her heart was immersed
in sorrow, occupied with death, and the Lord Jesus appeared to
her, she thought he was the gardener. Thought he was the gardener.
And then our Lord Jesus says unto her, Mary, ah, that's a
sweeter verse of scripture in the Bible. Mary's standing there
and she's weeping and she's weeping and she's weeping. Christ, she
went to the tomb and he was gone. She's going all over the place
looking for his body. The angel said he's not here.
And there's a man standing there, and she said, boy, this is the
gardener. Maybe she knows. He's the one taking care of this
gardener. Maybe he knows where she's at, where he's at. She
said, Lord, she said, sirs, if you've taken away my Lord, my
Lord, show me where you've laid him,
and I'll go. I'll take him any way I can get
him, on any terms I can get him on. Just tell me where he's at. And our Lord Jesus says, Mary. She said, Master! That's the
first thing she said, Master! And she started to get down. Oh, men, when they returned to
their worldly callings, occupied with the bodily needs, here these
men were, and they didn't recognize the Savior. And sometimes, and
I hope you're not like this. I hope you're not like this.
Sometimes we get so taken up, I say I do, with things that
absolutely, when it's all said and done, don't mean anything.
But you get so occupied, you get so, get caught up in other
people's problems, and your kids' problems, and your finances,
and your sickness, and things of this life, and your property,
and houses, and keeping things up, and cars, and all that. Next
thing you know, You don't recognize the Lord. That's why they go
into these meetings. It's so wonderful. That's why
it's so wonderful. You know. These men get up and
they preach in such a way, they preach in such power and they
bring our hearts and they brings our minds and our souls back
to the things that's so necessary, the things that we desperately,
desperately have to have and brings us and focuses us back
once again. As old Scott Richard said, we're not mules but if
we was, we'd want blinders on so we couldn't see nothing but
Christ. And then it says in verse one,
look at, he came to them at a night after a night of failure, when
they had taken nothing. Here's the second thing, the
way he manifested himself, showed himself to them on this wise.
Look what he says in verse five. They said, then Jesus said unto
them, children, have you any meat? They said, no. They're gonna
confess that they ain't got nothing. He gonna lead them to confess
their failure. You got anything to eat? You catch anything? Got anything to do? No, they
answered, no. They had taken nothing. Oh, they
said, we've taken nothing, we failed. You listen to me, our
Lord knew they hadn't taken anything. Our Lord was, that's why, when
our Lord asks questions, he's not asking for information. He's
not asking for information. He said, Adam, where are you?
He asked Adam where Adam was so that Adam would know where
Adam was. And when he said, how can a man
be just with God? He asked that question for giving
us information to make revelations to our heart. And he said, have
you taken anything? They said, no. And he asked that
question so that they would understand in their own hearts how useless
life is without him, no matter what you do. No matter, these
fellas had fixed all their lives what they know. And yet, beloved,
without Christ and out of the will of Christ and away from
Christ, they took nothing. And he says, you're gonna own
up, you ain't got nothing. You're gonna confess it that
you didn't do any good. And I'll tell you, beloved, there
was no use pretending they had something. And that's just the
way, oh, God help us to do this. There's no use us pretending
we've got something when we don't. Beware of misrepresentation,
beware of exaggeration. Oh, we don't wanna profess more
than we got. I tell you what I've done, I've
made promises to myself that I ain't never been able to perform.
Have you ever done that? Made promises to yourself you
couldn't perform? And then look what happens. What he says here
now in verse six. Now he's gonna try their faith.
Made them admit and confess their faith. You got any meat? No,
no, no, no, no. He said unto them, well, cast
a net on the right side of the ship and you shall find. Now
remember, they don't know this is the Lord. It's a man standing
on the seashore. Cast your net on the right side
of the ship and you shall find. Wondrous sovereign of the sea. Oh my, cast your net on the right
side of the ship and you will find. Oh, isn't this the God-man
who knows all, sees all, has all power? Test your net! Well,
you know, they could have said, now wait a minute. We've been
out here fishing all night. And we know how to drop nets.
We know how to fish. And there ain't a bit of sense
putting this net back in the water. We ain't took nothing.
We're wore out. We're going to go home and go to bed. Our Lord
said, in this part, they didn't know it's Christ yet. They said,
just cast your net over on the right side. He didn't say, put
it on the back, go to the left, move the boat just a little bit
over there. I mean, they're going to do what he said, cast your
net, whoop, over went that net. And look what it says next. They
cast therefore, and we're now not able to draw for all the
fishes. Oh my, this is the only miracle
recorded after the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here
when he said, cast your net on the right side of the ship. These
men had fished all their lives, caught nothing, but they heard
that voice of certainty, that voice of power, that voice of
authority. And they said, listen, let's
throw it in. And all the way they went. And
our Lord Jesus Christ is so gracious. so blessedly gracious and kind
and pitiful and merciful. He brings something out of these
men who had nothing. Ain't that what he does with
us? As you said tonight, we're all falling in Adam. By one man's
disobedience, we became sinners. Now how in the world if we become
sinners, how in the world are we going to be made righteous?
Our whole life is a failure without Christ. So our Lord Jesus Christ,
he comes and he restores that which he took not away. He gave
us a righteousness. He gave us an obedience. He gave
us a life. He gave us a salvation that we
couldn't produce. We told all our lives in the
dark. And he says, now I'm the light of the world, and he that
walketh in me shall not walk in darkness, but shall walk in
the light. And oh, beloved, they obeyed
his word, and look what happens to the results. Look what happens, and they go
all that, and then verse seven, that disciples whom Jesus loved,
always says that about John, the disciple whom Jesus loved.
People talks about loving the Lord. I'll tell you what, I have
a, I get more comfort in him loving me than I do in loving
him. But he said, whom Jesus loved, said, Peter, I know who
that is. I know who that is. That's the Lord, Peter. Oh, who
else could do this? Who else would know we took nothing?
Who else could tell us to cast the net on the right side? Who
else could do this? Who else could take the weak
to confound the mighty? Who else could take the foolish
to confound the wise? And beloved, when we failed miserably,
miserably, that's when our Lord Jesus Christ comes and shows
himself. And this is just like our blessed
master. Quit laboring for nothing. Believe
his word. Look what it said over here in
John 20 and verse 30. Just believe his word. John 20
and verse 30. And many other signs truly did
Jesus in the presences of his disciples, which are not written
in this book. But what is written? These are
written. Everything that's been written.
that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that believing you might have life through his name. That's why he wrote this blessed
book. That's why he gave it to us for. And old John recognized
him. Now you watch what happens to
what Simon Peter does. Now Simon is true to his nature.
Oh, you find him sometimes, but now what? He said, when Simon
Peter heard that in verse seven, He is naked, now he is out there
fishing naked, didn't have a spot of clothes on him. And just as
quick as John said, that's the Lord, he grabbed his fisher's
coat, thrown it on him. Now here's the man that had denied
the Lord three times. Here's the man that our Lord
Jesus Christ looked at. He's looked over, it tells us
over in Luke. 2462 I think it is or 2352 that
our Lord Jesus Christ turned around and there was and he looked
at Simon Peter when the third time that he denied him he saw
turn around he saw and he went out and he wept and cursed bitterly.
Now this is the fellow that done all that. but now just the minute
that he heard the Lord. Now this is what grace does for
your heart. This is what grace does whenever
you, I don't care what happens to a believer. Simon Peter throwed
that coat on and he wasn't gonna wait for the ship to get there.
You fellas take care of the fish and the boat. I'm gonna go to
the Lord. I'm gonna go right, I'm gonna go get to him. I got
to get to him. Now with all of his sin and with
all of his failure, he still knew that Christ would take him
just as he is. He did not stay away from Christ.
That's why I never have had any confidence. Now, I don't want
to hurt anybody's feelings. Wouldn't hurt your feelings for
nothing. But when folks start having troubles and when they
start having aggravation or they start having things going on,
the first thing they want to do is stay home and not come
hear the gospel. And when I get in trouble, that's exactly where
I want to go. Or I'm gonna call somebody. I'm gonna let somebody
know, say, if you pray for me or do, you know, I've got to
be with the Lord's people. And that's why Simon Peter says,
he said, well, Simon, I wouldn't go up there if I was you. Look
what you've done. You denied him three times. You
went out and wept and cursed bitterly, and you took all these
fellas and you took them back fishing with you. I'd be ashamed
to go to the presence of the Lord. Well, where in the world
else is he gonna go? He's a sinner. Where else is he gonna go? And
oh my, it's like that Samaritan woman. He left the fish and he
left everything. He left all them other disciples.
I want my master. I want to get into my master.
It's like that Samaritan woman. She left her water pot and said,
come see a man. And then look what our Savior
had done down here in verse nine. They brought all them fish. And they got down there and it
says there in verse nine. And as soon as they come to land,
they saw a fire of coals there on and fish laid there on and
bread. Now, where in the world did he get fish? Where did he
get bread? And where did he get fire? You know, these fellas,
he knows they're hungry. They've been out all night. And
just like our blessed master, where did he get that fire? You
reckon he rubbed sticks together, had a match, struggled? No, he
was the same one that was in that burning bush when Moses
stood there in his presence. I mean, beloved, there's the
fire, and there's some fish, and there's some bread. Where'd
the fish and the bread come from? From the same place he feeds
us every single day. It comes from his blessed hand
to our mouth. And you imagine, they got up
there and they are starved to death. And I'll tell you what,
these fellas, and they get up there and there's fire. And this
is exactly what our Lord fed the multitude with, fish and
bread. Where in the world did the fire
and the fish and bread come from? It wasn't no great feast, but
it's what the Lord provided. And it was sufficient. And I
tell you what, he saw some of his sheep just like without a
shepherd. And he said, I am the, you know, like David said, the
Lord's my shepherd, I shall not want. And because he's his sheep,
they shall not want. And then look what he says to
them. In verse 12. Not only did he reveal himself
as their provider, their sustainer, and meets all their needs and
provides their bodily needs. Look what it says here. And he
saith unto them, Come and dine. Y'all sing that song. Come and
dine, the master calleth, come and dine. We may feast at Jesus'
table all the time. Oh, come and dine. Best I can
do. Say, stick to preaching. But all, listen to what he says
here, come and dine. He said, come and dine. And he
takes that bread, look what it says here now. And none of them
dare ask him, who are you? They wasn't gonna ask him. They
know that it was the Lord. You know, the Lord reveals himself
in such a way that you know that it's him. You know it's him. There's no doubt about it. There's
no question in your mind that this is of the Lord. This is
the Lord's providing. This is the Lord's doing. This
is the Lord's way of dealing with me. This is the Lord's way
of revealing himself. This is the Lord's way of meeting
my needs. And then he says, come and dine. So they didn't ask
him. And then look what happens. Jesus then cometh and taketh
bread. He's the master, he's the Lord,
and he's gonna feed his sheep from his own hand. He took the
bread. And what did he do, says, He gave it to them. He didn't
say, fellas, here's some bread, reach and get you some. He took
the bread and said, here. I'm telling you, beloved, this
shows us that our master has to do it all for us. He took
the bread and he gives to them. Then he took the fish and he
done likewise, done likewise. And our Lord has a way of giving
whereby he makes himself known. The law demands, as Bruce said,
but Christ gives. Grace gives. Christ gave himself. And oh, let me show you one other
thing, and I'm done. Look down in verse 20. Oh, they
sat and they ate. They had fellowship. Simon Peter,
our Lord, told him three times to feed my sheep. You deny me
three times, you feed my sheep three times. Gave him three commandments. told him how he's gonna die.
Then they got down there, and then Peter, turning about, seeth
the disciple, John, whom Jesus loved, following, which also
leaned on his breast at supper and said, Lord, which is he that
betrayed thee? John asked the Lord Jesus, which
one of them betrayed you? And Peter, seeing him, said that
to the Lord Jesus, and said, Lord, what shall this man do?
Who betrayed you, what shall he do? Now look what our Savior
said. Jesus saith unto them, if I will
that he tarry till I come, what's that to thee? Follow thou me. John and Peter have already forgot
what a sad state they was in, and now they're worried about
something somebody else is gonna do. What's gonna happen to that
fellow that betrayed you? What's gonna happen to him? And
our Lord Jesus says, there's one thing you ought to be concerned
with, my will and following me. If I will that he tarry till
I come, that ain't got a thing in the world to do with you.
Nothing to do with you. Follow thou me. Follow thou me. And all beloved doing, they followed
them. Followed our blessed master. Things was well from then on.
Well from then on. May Christ show himself, reveal
himself. He has ways of doing it. that
you know it is Him. Thank you, preacher. Thank you,
dear saints. Appreciate you very much.