King of Sardines and Servants

if God’s people would take their
Bibles and turn to the last chapter of John, John’s Gospel, John
chapter 21. John chapter 21. And so we’ve really have finally
come to the end of John’s gospel, the real end of John’s gospel. This particular chapter, chapter
21, is unique entirely to John’s gospel, and it chronicles the
longest account of Jesus’ appearance in Galilee. None of the other
gospel writers address it at all, and given the nature of
the exchange at the end of the chapter, we have a clear indication
as to why the Holy Spirit would have insisted and breathed this chapter into God’s
heart, into John’s heart and mind. As we learned last week,
some people think, incorrectly, I think I made my point, that
John’s gospel was originally designed to end at chapter 20
verse 31. They suggest that it was a summary
statement of Thomas’s declaration of faith and also a summary statement
for the entire gospel of John. And the way they look at this
chapter 21 was kind of an afterthought, an addition that was provided
later. And so their conclusion is that
Chapter 21 might not have even been written by John. There’s
absolutely no documentary evidence, no versions of the Gospel of
John were ever recovered that were missing John Chapter 21. In fact, some of the early church
fathers, Tertullian, treated Chapter 21 as God-given scripture. early church father origin wrote
a commentary on this gospel in which he treated chapter 1 as
true and of God and so as I said no copy of the scriptures was
ever recovered or noted even in allusions that chapter 21
did not exist from the very beginning
and so I prefer a more reasonable approach to chapter 21. The Apostle has completed the
majority section of his gospel and he closes out with what I
suggested last Lord’s Day would be an epilogue to the main section
of his gospel. Kind of a mirror image of those
opening 18 verses of chapter 1. And so all that to say that
we believe that in the account, or in the end, this account of
our Savior’s earthly life and ministry is precisely as the
Holy Spirit purposed and breathed it from the very first. Chapter
21 represents no clumsy afterthought by a bumbling apostle who threw
in this fascinating story about the apostles fishing trip as
a last add-on. The gospel as we have it is exactly
what the Holy Spirit prompted John to write. Let’s enjoy it. John chapter 21 beginning in
verse 1 and I’m not going to read, yes I am, I’m going to
read the whole thing. After these things Jesus manifested
himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. and he
manifested himself in this way. Simon Peter and Thomas called
Didymus and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee and the sons of Zebedee
and two others of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said
to them, I am going fishing. They said to him, we will also
come with you. They went out and got into the
boat and that night they caught nothing. But when the day was
now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach, yet the disciples
did not know that it was Jesus. So Jesus said to them, Children,
you do not have any fish, do you? They answered him, No. And he said to them, Cast the
net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you will find a
catch. So they cast, and they were not able to haul it in because
of the great number of fish. Therefore, that disciple whom
Jesus loved said to Peter, it is the Lord. So when Simon Peter
heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for
he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. But
the other disciples came in the little boat, for they were not
far from the land, but about 100 yards away, dragging the
net full of fish. So when they got out on the land,
they saw a charcoal fire Already laid and fish placed on it and
bread Jesus said to them bring some of the fish which you have
now caught Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land full
of large fish 153 And although there were so many than that
was not torn Jesus said to them come and have breakfast None
of the disciples ventured to question him. Who are you? knowing that it was the Lord
Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them and the fish
likewise this is now the third time that Jesus was manifest
to the disciples after he was raised from the dead so when
they had finished breakfast Jesus said to Simon Peter Simon, son
of John, do you love me more than these? He said to him, yes,
Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, tend my lambs. And he said to him a second time,
Simon, son of John, do you love me? He said to him, yes, Lord,
you know that I love you. He said to him, shepherd my sheep. He said to him the third time,
Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved because
he said to him the third time, do you love me? And he said to
him, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. Jesus
said to him, tend my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you that
when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever
you wished. But when you grow old, you will
stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you and bring
you where you do not wish to go. Now he said this signifying
by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had
spoken this, he said to him, follow me. Peter, turning around,
saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who had
also leaned back on his bosom at the supper and said, Lord,
who is the one who betrays you? So Peter, seeing him, said to
Jesus, Lord, and what about this man? Jesus said to him, if I
want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow
me. Therefore, this saying went out
among the brethren that the disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did
not say to him that he would not die, but only if I want him
to remain until I come, what is that to you? This is the disciple
who is testifying to these things and wrote these things. And we
know that his testimony is true. And there are also many other
things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail,
I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the
books that would be written. What a remarkable chapter. And
this thought, as I suggested last week, that this is just
an add-on, an afterthought that even some other writer wrote
and appended on to kind of explain away this interaction that Jesus
had with Peter about the Apostle John, that some other writer
felt like it needed to be explained, it just is foolishness. It’s
just foolishness. This is part of God’s inspired
Word, chapter 21. I’ve entitled the message this
morning, King of Sardines and Servants. I am not for a second
suggesting to you that he is king only of sardines or only
of servants. Jesus Christ has had all of creation
submitted to him, placed under his feet. He is in absolute sovereign
control over the entire world, but especially of sardines and
especially of servants as we see in this passage. We will
see in the course of this passage that Jesus exercises his sovereign
providence. And we’ll see it in three distinct
phases. Look, if you would, to begin
with in chapter 21, verse 1, where it just says, after these
things, Jesus manifested himself again at the Sea of Tiberias. and he manifested himself in
this way. It’s as if the writer wants to
grab our attention, set the scene, and now he wants to tell us exactly
how it unfolded. This word manifested points to
a very real existence of Christ that kind of to human eyes came
and went. He revealed himself, that he
was in a sphere that we cannot understand, some kind of a spiritual
realm where he was able to present himself and then fade back into
that spiritual realm. Jesus Christ and His glory were
occasionally manifested, presented, revealed. It wasn’t constant.
It wasn’t chronic. It wasn’t a continual presence
from the time that He was resurrected from the dead. No record records
a constant, chronic presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. It
points to these decisions that Jesus made to reveal himself,
these occasions where he revealed himself according to his will.
He revealed himself when he wanted, to whom he wanted. One of the
commentators made a very special note and I looked and so far
that I saw it was true. Jesus never revealed himself
to his enemies. He chose to reveal himself to
his friends. And we said when we started this,
when he revealed himself to Mary Magdalene, I had a long list
of people that, man, if I came back, this is where I would go.
I’d want to show people, I’d want to take some, you know,
some human revenge. Not Jesus. Jesus picks and chooses,
and he was pleased to reveal himself at certain times to certain
people. self-disclosure, if you will,
his revelation. The word is, as many different
commentators characterize it, it’s a visible revelation of
a spiritual reality, of a spiritually resurrected Savior. It’s a manifestation,
it’s an unveiling. And so that has led people throughout
centuries to ask, so where is he in The meantime, when Jesus
fades into the spiritual realm, where exactly is he? And I loved
J.C. Ryle’s reply. He wasn’t in heaven
because he had not yet ascended. And so it’s useless, says Ryle,
to speculate. It’s enough for us to know that
our Lord, between his resurrection and ascension, was visible or
invisible. He appeared suddenly in one place
or another place and assumed one form or another form at his
own will after a manner that we cannot understand. And so
in a very real sense, why try? It’s enough for us to know that
Jesus manifested himself. He displayed his glory. He allowed
us to see who he wanted to see and when. And primarily, the 11, the 11
apostles were the special recipients of these manifestations. Look
again at verse 1, Jesus manifested himself again to the disciples
at the Sea of Tiberias. And on this occasion, John begins
to give us at least a partial list of who was present. John tells us of the place, it’s
the Sea of Tiberias, which you might know because scripture
refers to it likewise as the Lake of Gennesaret. It’s also
known as the Sea of Galilee. It was a freshwater lake, very
similar in description to our Horsetooth Reservoir. It’s about
12 miles long, a narrow body of water, fresh water, but it
was 655 feet below the Mediterranean Sea, a deep valley through which this river
flowed, the Jordan. And Matthew records an occasion
where on a completely different occasion, Jesus had told them
to meet Him in Galilee. And here they are at the lake.
They don’t know when Jesus is coming. There was no specifics
to the announcement. He just said, behold, the angel
told the women, behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee
and there you will see Him. This is the fulfillment of that
promise, this John chapter 21 experience. Matthew’s gospel,
as he chronicles the resurrected Christ, he only speaks of those
in Galilee. Luke and Mark give us a little
of each. Rather, Luke and Mark give us
only Jerusalem, and John gives a little bit of each. Regarding
this particular region, it’s important for us to know, and
I’ll do a recap at the end, but it’s important for us to know
and remember specifically about this region and even more specifically
about this body of water. This is where Jesus did some
of his most astounding miracles. Remember the disciples crossing
in a boat, that body of water, crossing in a boat in a storm-tossed
sea. They see what they believe is
a ghost walking on the water. It was the Lord Jesus himself.
During the course of that, He even invites Peter to come and
walk at least for a few moments in faith on that water. In the
same lake, Jesus stilled the waves, stilled the wind and the
waves with the Word. There were many miracles that
Jesus worked in and on and around this particular lake, the Sea
of Tiberias. But I want you to jump down also
to verse 14, because it also talks kind of as a recap, a bookend
if you will, to this little narrative that John records in verses 2
through 13. And in verse 14 he says, this
is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples
after he was raised from the dead. Those two previous Manifestations
that he speaks of or John chapter 20 to a group that included the
ten apostles remember that There was a large group of people not
just apostles But it included at least the ten because it noted
that one apostle specifically was missing Thomas in That same
chapter in verses 26 and 29 Jesus appears again to a group that
included all 11 apostles and including Thomas. And so what
this refers to is the disciples as a group, not that Jesus had
revealed himself to every disciple at every single occasion. It
speaks of the disciples, the apostles, if you will, as a group. And so now I want to get into
the heart of this story that begins in verse 2 and courses
down through verse 13. I have announced that Jesus is
indeed the king of all things he is the king including of sardines
and even servants and I want to show you that Jesus exercises
his sovereign providence in this particular passage look if you
would at verse 2 where we see first of all is this providential
deficiency we tend to look at deficiency in a funny way don’t
we We have been largely influenced by the health and wealth mindset
that if we are not prospering, something’s wrong. If we are
not prospering, you know, we’re not measuring up spiritually.
We’ve displeased the Lord. If difficulty comes into our
life, it’s because we did something wrong. And I think as we begin
to look at this passage, we’ll see that that’s not always the
case. that God has providence in the palm of his hand. God
can do what God wants to do for his own purposes. Verse 2. This is where John begins to
list out some of those in attendance. Simon Peter, Thomas Calditimus,
Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, James and
John specifically, and two other of his disciples were together.
They all belonged to this general vicinity, if you want, to call
it a neighborhood, I guess. And there’s this lingering age-old
question that just stymies and stumps and occupies commentators
well beyond what is necessary and even proper. They wonder
were these other two, were they disciples? And they spend a lot
of time arguing who that might have been. And if they were apostles, why
would John not name them? Did he forget? One suggested
that they are unnamed, has been regarded as an indication that
they were not two of the twelve apostles, and that is absolutely
possible. To refer to this body as disciples
generally, some apostles and some who were just disciples,
that’s possible, but it’s not a necessary conclusion. There
have been many different attempts to figure out who these men were,
Throughout the centuries, many have suggested that Andrew would
have been one of the two. Philip is another candidate. The bottom line, at the end of
the day, we have no idea. And we have no idea of figuring
it out. We can conjecture who might have been there, and that’s
fine, fun if that’s what you want to do. But at the end of
the day, God himself has not chosen to reveal their identity. He revealed five of the seven.
their identity, these two unnamed disciples, is not important.
Look at verse 3. Simon Peter decides, I’m going fishing. Now these
men the ones that we know, most of the ones that we know, were
fishermen by trade. And in that sense, this somewhat
impulsive decision was not surprising. It isn’t that Peter was directed,
and so we say that it’s impulsive. It wasn’t like he suggested it
and threw it out and took a vote on it. It was what they did,
and Peter very impulsively suggests it, that he was going fishing
whether anyone wanted to come or not. Peter very often takes
the lead. He was probably a natural leader. And in this interim period where
Jesus hasn’t really given him specific marching orders, Peter
may have, and I believe likely was, even wondering whether he
was still on the team. One famous preacher explained
the decision this way, since neither Christ was with them
continually, nor was the Holy Spirit yet given. And those two
things are important to note. it’s not like Jesus was walking
with them moment by moment directing them as to what he would have
them do nor were they indwelled by the Holy Spirit as they would
be in just a month nor were they at this time entrusted with anything
specifically Jesus had trained them generally as we’ll see in
a moment and so having nothing to do they went away to their
trade so says famous preacher Chris Austin from early church
history, but I would suggest you let’s reserve judgment on
that Because I think that Peter has been told I do think that
Peter had plenty to do But the impression is left that
this was completely spontaneous and There’s no plan. There’s
no real clear intention to it. Was it a money-making venture?
After all, they did this as a trade. Maybe. That’s possible. Doesn’t
say. Paul? Paul, you know, had a tent-making
ministry. It’s not that Jesus would be
against such a thing. If you have to work, you must.
If you must work, it’s good to have a trade to fall back on.
The tent-making ministry mentioned in Acts, mentioned in 2 Thessalonians
3.8, that this is what freed Paul up to be able to do ministry. But perhaps these men thought
that they had to support themselves maybe they thought that they
were on their own and after all they needed to make some money
they needed to support themselves or did they? Jesus had already
given these men at their initial sending he had given them clear
instructions to trust him for their supply turn if you would
to Luke chapter 9 In Luke chapter 9, Jesus is sending
the apostles out. This is their first big opportunity
to go and do ministry. In Luke chapter 9 verse 1, He
called the 12 together and gave them power and authority over
all the demons and to heal diseases. And He sent them out to proclaim
the kingdom of God and to perform healing. And He said to them,
take nothing for your journey. neither a staff, nor a bag, nor
bread, nor money. And do not even have two tunics
apiece. Whatever house you enter, stay
there until you leave that city. And for those who do not receive
you as you go out from that city, shake off the dust from your
feet as a testimony against them.” In other words, Jesus said, I
will supply through the people to whom you minister. Now does that mean that in going
fishing Peter was turning his back on Jesus Christ? That he was turning his back
on his calling as an apostle? That he was just going to chuck
everything and go back to fishing? I don’t think that you have to
conclude that. But this fishing trip was not
a sanctioned event. This is not something that Jesus
told him to do and Jesus is going to graciously correct him. in
time. And not just him, but his friends.
Because look again at the passage. Guess what leadership does? It
creates followers. And they said to him, the rest
of his friends, the other six, we will also come with you. What
a great time this will be. And so the disciples are here
in Galilee. They’re kind of waiting further
instructions from the Lord. And be mindful, Jesus never rebukes
this per se. But Jesus had given them a calling.
They had plenty to do, even if nothing else. Go home and study
your Old Testament. Here’s what you’d want to do. And so the fishing expedition,
points to a group of men that just were kind of aimless at
this point, at this juncture, not necessarily sinning in going
on a fishing trip, just kind of idle. So Peter’s plan to go fishing,
the others seize upon it, they went out and got into the boat
and that night they caught nothing. The commentators were quick to
point out that, especially in that region, night was the best
time for fishing. Points out that this was a nighttime
fishing trip. And even though they went out
at the right time, and even though these were seasoned, trained
fishermen, even though these were experts at their job, they
didn’t have a typical night. It was a surprising bust. And
John makes that clear when he uses a very subtle reference
to this fishing trip. He just refers to it as that
night. This probably resonated with
them. Remember that night? They’d probably been out hundreds
of times. And very rarely had they come home completely empty-handed.
But that night? That night was memorable for
a number of things, but it started with a dearth. It started with
a lack. It started with a complete deficiency
of any catch at all in contrast to the many previous evenings. They caught nothing. And so Jesus, and I absolutely
believe this, sovereignly prevented these seasoned fishermen from
catching anything so that he might display his glory in bold
relief. That shouldn’t surprise us, should
it, when we see God at work throughout the pages of the Old Testament?
Such was the case in the famine with the manna, remember? that
God’s glory was on display when the manna was provided. Such
was the case with the thirst of the nation of Israel when
God produced water from the rock. And such is often the case, not
just in Old Testament accounts, but in our lives even now, that
sometimes God for a season, even for a lengthy season, produces
a deficiency in a supply. He builds up a lack. He builds
up a want, a thirst, a hunger for something for God to provide
so that He might display His glory in time. The first sign of God’s sovereignty
that we see in this was Jesus’ providential deficiency, that
He withheld a providential catch from these men. so that he might
display it in his time, and that’s second. Secondly, as Jesus exercises
his sovereign providence, we see not only a providential deficiency,
but we see a miraculous supply. Look at verse four. It says that
when the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach, yet
the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. It isn’t said that
he walked up onto a hill, or that he, it just, presents the
scene that he was suddenly there. He was a sudden presence. That
it was instantaneous in some sense. Spiritual. Mysterious. Unexplained. Jesus stood and
even though he was there, the disciples did not know that it
was him. And I know where you’re thinking. This is Don. He’s up
on the hill. He’s on the shore. They’re on
the boat. perhaps through the mist and
the dark and the dimness of the light, they didn’t recognize
Jesus. And I think it’s easy to try
to explain that away, and yet Jesus’ physical appearance, while
He manifested Himself on many occasions, was not immediately
recognized. Once Jesus was raised, His appearance
was different. And perhaps even supernaturally,
they were prevented from recognizing Jesus. And so Jesus calls out
to him, and I want you to put yourself in the boat. I want
you to fashion yourselves as expert, seasoned, trained fishermen,
who, by the way, had been up all night fishing and waiting,
and at this point, completely unblessed by any catch. And suddenly a voice calls out
to them, children, you do not have any fish, do you? This word children really is
a kind of a friendly homespun way of referring to one another.
We might say, hey guys, my boys, young people, dudes. And it should be noted that he
doesn’t actually ask them about fish specifically. In the Greek,
it’s the simple word for food or edibles, vittles, snacks. You don’t even have a snack,
do you? In so doing, he’s referring to the ultimate purpose of the
very fish, any fish that they might catch, if they only caught
one, they were all going to have to split it. And he’s reminding
them of their daily need of sustenance, and he wasn’t asking them for
breakfast. He was pointing out to them that
they had had a completely fruitless night, a completely fishless
night, and he was asking if they’d even caught enough to feed themselves
a small breakfast. And so, and I take this that
it was probably a curt reply. One word answer. They answered
him, no. That would have been a humbling
admission for you if you were a seasoned fishermen on that
vessel having worked all night, catching nothing. And he said
to them, cast the net on the right hand side of the boat and
you will find a catch. Okay. This would be even more
humbling. It’s enough to have somebody,
hey, how’s fishing today? But now to have a stranger call
out from the shore and issue advice on how you are supposed
to catch fish. And so they did it. That’s even
more surprising. They cast and they were not able
to haul it in because of the great number of the fish. They
didn’t discuss it. They didn’t debate it. They didn’t
roll their eyes. They didn’t say, what does he
know? They did it. They threw their
net. and suddenly they had a catch. It was a miracle. And the question has been raised
that did Jesus suddenly create all these fish, even in the net? He certainly could have, couldn’t
he? Jesus commanded the fish. I’m
fine with that. God did the great fish that swallowed
Jonah, remember? He commanded that fish to go
up and make a meal of the prophet. And he compelled these fish by
command to swarm perhaps as they did, when they did, and they
were captured according to Jesus’ sovereign plan. Simple as that.
Although it’s certainly possible that Jesus could have created
the fish on the spot, in the net. God’s capable of that too,
isn’t he? Therefore, and this is where
John begins to put two and two together, Therefore, that disciple
whom Jesus loved, always referred to in John’s gospel, that it
is the Apostle John, he said to Peter, it is the Lord. He
pieced this all together, this call out, this command, this
presence on the beach, and now this sudden miracle. Was it Christ’s familiar voice
that drew him to this conclusion? As one characterized Christ,
it would have been a voice of calmness and yet majesty there
standing on the beach, certainly one with authority. Was it the
confident suggestion to try the other side of the boat? Was it
the great catch? Was it the recollection of a
similar blessing earlier in Jesus’ ministry? Was it the spiritual
lesson that now came flooding into John’s mind? All of these
things played into John. And the characteristics of these
two men immediately are seen again, aren’t they? John is the
first to spiritually apprehend that this isn’t just anybody
on the beach. This isn’t just a curious passerby. This is none other than the Lord
Jesus himself. And yet Peter is the first one
to act. I mean, of all the things that
Peter did, get this one. When Simon Peter heard that it
was the Lord, Simon Peter didn’t conclude this. Simon Peter didn’t
weigh all the data and all the things that had transpired. Simon
Peter didn’t come up. Simon Peter heard John say, it’s
the Lord, why it’s the Lord. So he put on his outer garment
and threw himself in the sea. When it says that he was stripped
down, it’s most likely that he was stripped down to some kind
of a loin cloth around his waist. He put on his upper garment.
And it doesn’t mean that he literally heaved himself head first into
the sea. He was liable to jump over the
side of the boat and wade into shore. It doesn’t mean that he
was soaked head to toe. But it is graphic language. It
was impetuous, it was impulsive, it was hasty, but it was passionate,
and that’s Peter. It’s exactly what we might think
impetuous Peter would do. After all, this is the same Peter
that did not dare to climb out of the boat onto a storm-toss
sea in the middle of the night to go and meet with his Lord.
This time, however, he jumps over into the shallows and begins
to wade to shore. Meanwhile, look at verse 8, the
other disciples came in the little boat. There they are, just the
six of them, rowing along, now tugging this heavy load of fish
behind them, not far from land, about a hundred yards away, dragging
the net full of fish. And we see this third mark of
God’s sovereign providence, where Jesus had shown not only a providential
deficiency and a miraculous supply, but now Remarkable hospitality. Remarkable hospitality. Look,
if you would, at verse nine. So when they got out on land,
they saw a charcoal fire already laid. And I want you to notice
this fish already placed on it. And bread. And the scene that
you have is they walk up onto the shore and breakfast is ready. And all they can think of is
that initial question. Hey, guys, you don’t have any
breakfast, do you? And now they see that their friend,
their Savior, their Lord is provided, even as the psalm says, a table
in the wilderness. We have to note that the fish
that are already roasting on the fire, already ready for breakfast,
were not part of the miraculous catch. Did you notice that? The net full of fish is still
in the water. Jesus already had these fish. Did he graciously stop with forethought
in the marketplace in town and purchase fish? It’s possible.
We’re not told. Were they miraculously supplied?
Either way, Jesus made the fish. Jesus providentially supplied
this breakfast, and as the creator and sustainer of all things,
Jesus Christ provided them. Look at verse 10, he said, bring
some of the fish which you have now caught, and that is designed
to point out that these weren’t the same fish. There’s already
fish on the grill, but go ahead and bring some of, let’s see
what you got, fellas. He wants them to marvel at the
miraculous catch. He wants them to see the providential
hand of God so that they could begin to meditate and be astounded
at what God had done. And yet nothing is ever said
about cooking these fish. Jesus had already providentially
supplied breakfast. Simon Peter went up, and I don’t
I don’t think that this suggests that he drew the net up all by
himself. Simon Peter went up, drew the
net to land, full of large fish, 153. And although there were
so many, the net was not torn. It’s not necessary to conclude
that Peter did this very difficult task completely by himself, but
he did take the lead. And the miracle was so astounding
that it led them to count the fish, 153 fish. And that number
stuck with John for years. He could never forget this astounding
miracle, the very reason that Jesus had them go, bring the
fish, let’s see some of the fish you caught. The fact that these
seasoned fishermen counted their haul isn’t surprising, right?
If you’ve ever talked to a fisherman, the first thing a fisherman wants
to do is to recount to you his entire story, right? which is
often embellished, but here it’s the plain truth. This was a great
catch, a miraculous haul, 153 in all. And Jesus said to them, come. He
beckons them away from ogling at their net, and come have breakfast. And in the context of this miraculous
catch, Jesus calls these friends of his to breakfast food which
Jesus not only cooked but which he providentially supplied. How
difficult a breakfast must this have been for these men to swallow?
Because Jesus is in the course of teaching them a very profound
lesson. None of the disciples, verse
12 says, ever ventured to question him, who are you, knowing that
it was the Lord. They knew there was Jesus Even
though they spiritually had been prevented from recognizing Him
physically, they now know that it’s Christ. No doubts in their
minds. And Jesus comes to them. Perhaps
they were even fearful of even approaching Him. Or out of reverence,
like Peter on another occasion. Reticent to even draw near to
the Savior. And so Jesus comes to them. Jesus
comes to them and brings them fish and bread for breakfast. And you say, wow, what an interesting
story. That’s the one word that they
tell you in seminary. That’s the one word they tell
you in seminary. If they ever meet you at the
door and say, well, that was interesting, that’s not necessarily
a compliment. And so if you’re sitting there
right now and saying, well, that was an interesting little tale,
what is the significance? What’s the point? What was Jesus’
point? And to begin to answer that,
you have to remember Peter’s call to ministry. It came in
three waves. John chapter one mentions the
first calling of his disciples. Andrew, remember? John was there,
the disciple that Jesus loved. Simon Peter. Philip, who immediately
went and got Nathaniel. And then there was another occasion.
An occasion where Jesus adds the disciple. John’s brother,
James. That is recorded in Mark chapter
1, Matthew chapter 4. It’s a second interaction that
Jesus has with these same men, Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and
John the fisherman. And he said to them in verse
19 of Matthew 4, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. And I want you to note what Matthew
records in verse 20. Immediately they left their nets
and followed him. But there was a third occasion,
and for this I want to have you turn to Luke chapter 5. There was a third occasion. Jesus has seen and interacted
with Peter and others a number of different times. One recorded
in John chapter 1. Another recorded in Matthew chapter
4 and Mark. And now this third occasion. Were they dull of hearing? Did
they not hear what Jesus said? Follow me and I will make you
fishers of men. I don’t know. This is a mild
rebuke, but it is a correction nonetheless, because Jesus has
to repeat himself. Look if you would at verse 1.
Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around him,
listening to the word of God, he was standing by the lake of
Gennesaret, same lake. And he saw two boats lying at
the edge of the lake, but the fishermen had gotten out of them
and were washing their nets. And he got into one of the boats,
which was Simon’s, some of the same men at the same lake, and
asked to put a little way from land. He sat down and began teaching
the people from the boat. When he had finished speaking,
he said to Simon, put out into the deep water and let down your
nets for a catch. Simon Peter said, Master, we
worked hard, get this, all night and caught nothing. But I will do as you say and
let down the nets, the same scenario. It’s the same lake, some of the
same men, the same scenario, and look at verse six, the same
miraculous result. When they’d done this, they enclosed
a great quantity of fish. Their nets began to break. They
signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come
and help them. They came, filled both boats so that they began
to sink. This was an amazing haul. Same miraculous result. And when
that happened, verse 8, when Simon Peter saw that, he fell
down at Jesus’ feet saying, Go away from me, Lord, for I am
a sinful man. For amazement had seized him
and his companions because of the catch of fish which they
had taken. So also were James and John,
sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to
Simon, do not fear, for from now on you will be catching men. Same purpose. Same purpose that
he had issued in Matthew chapter 4. Same purpose that he’s urging
here in John chapter 21. But note what happens in verse
11. When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything
and followed Him. They left their boats. I take
that to mean they left their nets. I take that to mean they
left the fish. I take that to mean they left
their calling. I take that to mean even they
left their family and their friends. They left everything to follow
Christ. What happened? What happened
that now they stand on the shore and just because things got a
little sketchy, they’re ready to cash it in. They’re ready
to quit. There were so many similarities
in these accounts. In that one, Jesus is on the
water in the boats with the men on this particular occasion.
He’s on land and they’re on the boats. In that one, the nets are tearing.
In this one, the nets are not torn. There are no numbers of
the quantity of fish that were taken in the Luke account, in
the early account. But there are so many other remarkable
similarities in this one. Try this. The fire of coals. Does that phrase ring a bell?
The last time that Peter stood around a fire of coals warming
himself was the night Jesus was on trial. This was by God’s sovereign
design, this whole scene. This is exactly where Jesus had
fed 5,000 people with two fish and five loaves. And here he
invites them again. fish and bread. It’s exactly
the same sea where Peter in great faith had walked upon the water.
Exactly where Jesus had commissioned these same men to be fishers
of men. Jesus Christ had a significant
purpose in teaching these men in appearing to his disciples
here in this occasion in the way that he did all that they had seen, all that
they had witnessed in Christ’s ministry. And it reminds me of a particular
scene recorded in Old Testament Scripture. Would you turn to
the book of Jonah to close? You know the book of Jonah. He
was given a task. And the scriptures paint the
picture so graphically. He went 180 degrees in the opposite
direction. He did exactly the opposite of
what the Lord asked him to do. To go take the good news, to
take the news of God’s mercy and forgiveness to the people
of Nineveh. And he didn’t do it. And the
Lord had pointed a great fish ultimately that swallowed him
and ultimately got a bellyache and spit him up on land. and
God gives them a second opportunity and that’s where we pick it up
in chapter 3 verse 1. The word of the Lord came to
Jonah the second time saying, Arise, go to Nineveh the great
city and proclaim the proclamation which I am going to tell you.
So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the
Lord. He did exactly this time what the Lord told him to do
only he did it his way. You’ll note that as he goes through
town, he’s doing a town that would take three days to walk,
he’s doing it in one day. He’s blitzing through town, barking
out this so-called call to repentance. Only what Jonah forgets is that
God can always use his word. Look down at verse 10, when God
saw their deeds that they returned from their wicked way, then God
relented concerning the calamity which he had declared that he
would bring upon them, and he did not do that. And Jonah said,
yippee, hooray, they repented, even in spite of my unfaithfulness.
No, he didn’t. You know what Jonah did? He pouted. He copped an attitude. He went
outside a town and he began to pout. Look at chapter 4, verse
6. There’s Jonah sitting, cooking
in the hot desert sun, tried to make a shelter for himself,
but verse 6 says that the Lord appointed sovereign providence
of God. He appointed a plant, it grew
up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from
his comfort. And then in God’s sovereign providence,
he appointed a worm that ate that same plant so that Jonah
the next day was cooking just like he had been before. Pick
it up in verse 9. Then God said to Jonah, do you
have good reason to be angry about the plant? And he said,
I have good reason to be angry even to death, which God could
arrange. Then the Lord said, You had compassion
on the plant. You loved that plant. You loved
this catch of fish. You loved this sovereign supply
of God for which you did not work, which you did not cause
to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. Should
I not have compassion on Nineveh? And the amazing thing about the
book of Jonah is it just ends with a thud. It ends with an
uncomfortable silence, doesn’t it? But in Peter’s case, same
scenario. Here’s Peter, in a sense, pouting,
in a sense, uncertain, in a sense, not really sure what to do next,
and so he’s going to go fishing, and God uses the very thing the
very thing that only a fisherman would have recognized, a fruitless
catch, a fishless venture, after all that they had witnessed,
to be called to shore, and it’s not done yet, to be called to
shore in the midst of all of these memories, the memories
of walking on the water, the memories of this amazing catch,
the memories of feeding the 5,000, all that Jesus taught and did,
to have Peter second-guessing all of that. Jesus does all of this as He
does always with His sovereignty for Peter’s good and for His
own glory. And He calls Peter to repentance,
and He begins so mercifully and so graciously here by feeding
him breakfast. It is God’s kindness that leads
us to repentance, isn’t it? Just as Paul says. It’s God’s
sovereign providence. As we look up and we see God’s
hand at every turn, we know that God will work all things for
good according to his glory, don’t we? Would you humble yourself
before the sovereign hand of God? our merciful God we thank you
for this remarkable account where mere men decided to do what they
decided to do and in your sovereign plan you seized hold of their
hearts and minds with this amazing scene set up by a providential
deficiency, overwhelming them with a miraculous supply and
then so graciously calling them and giving them their basic need,
breakfast. Lord God, we know, looking back,
we see your sovereign hand of mercy in our lives. Sometimes
starving us out until we recognize our need of you, sometimes causing
us to thirst greatly for righteousness. Lord God, we thank you that now
we have seen it and now we know that Jesus Christ is your supply. That there is salvation in no
other. Lord God, we thank you for your
sovereign goodness in our lives. We know that you are working
all things together for the good. We know that. But it’s only for
those who love you. And that means, Lord, that we
love what you love. We love the Lord Jesus Christ. There are those here who do not
love the Lord Jesus Christ. He’s the only way. He’s the only
way of salvation. And He is the providential and
sovereign King of the universe. To Him, one day, every knee will
bow. Lord God, have Your way with each one of us. It’s in
Jesus’ name that we pray. Amen.