John chapter 21. And I want to remind you that for the book of First Thessalonians tells us that as you turn to this text and God's word, that you are turning to the word which performs its work in you who believe. So do you believe this morning? If you believe, then God is going to perform a work in you. As you consider this text together this morning in worship under the Lord. John, chapter 21, verses one through 14, if you'll follow along as I read 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 Nathaniel 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 you will find a catch. So they cast and then 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 his outer garment on or he was stripped for word 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 the land full of large fish, 153. And although they were so many, the net 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 manifested to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. Father, we thank you that You have given us this opportunity to hear what your son, our Savior Jesus, did for his disciples after his resurrection. So thankful for the truths that we will learn from this text. We pray that in your good kindness, in your grace, that you would perform the work that you have designed this text to perform in the hearts of your people. That each one of your people here this morning would be believing that their hearts, all of our hearts would be united together with faith in the hearing of this word. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. Last week, we came to a climax of this gospel. And I say a climax because certainly the cross and the resurrection is the climax of this gospel, the theological climax. That's the climax of human history. But we came to a climax of this gospel last week in terms of it being a book of literature. This is God's Word, right? God's literature to us, His revelation. In fact, the literary climax is a call for faith in Jesus Christ. The theological climax is that Jesus was lifted up in our place and rose again. From the dead, the whole gospel opened up with this statement about Jesus in the beginning was the word, the word was with God and the word was what was God. All right. And then throughout the whole gospel, there are various testifiers that are showing and saying who Jesus is and central in all of those testifiers is none other than Jesus himself. And he says of himself that he is the I am, that he is one with the father, that he is In fact, worthy of all the honor that we are to give the father himself. Then after Jesus rose, after Jesus died and rose again, he appeared to 10 out of the 12 disciples. Of course, Judas not being there and Thomas was not there. But then one week later, as we saw last week, Jesus revealed himself to the disciples again, but with Thomas there. And Thomas was transformed from a doubter into a confessor. And the climactic testimony of this whole gospel, really the the climax in terms of a book of a whole book, the climax theologically is the cross and resurrection. But the climax of the book in terms of how it was written to drive a point home was his confession when he said, my Lord and my what? My Lord and my God, that's the climax. And why is that the climax? Because it's pointing back to the fact that what Jesus actually did do, that he died and he rose again and all of it showed who, in fact, he was. And Jesus let that confession stand, didn't he? He said, my Lord and my God, and Jesus said, do you believe? Assuming that he believed right, didn't he? Blessed are those who believe that don't see. Right. And his point was, blessed are those who accept eyewitness testimony of my resurrection, just like you should have or could have from the other disciples who actually had seen me risen. And we know that this is really the climax in terms of the book because of what comes after that. And we closed with this last week. Look at chapter 20, verse 30. Therefore, many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book. But these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. All right. So from those verses, we get this theme of the gospel, select signs testifying that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, who gives eternal life through faith in his name. So we come to the climax of this gospel last week. All right. So here's my question. Why are we turning back to this gospel if we already got to its climax? Right. I mean, the climax is last week. In fact, if we just read those verses, that's almost like a perfect ending, isn't it? These things were written. These things were written down, the signs that Jesus did so that you would believe that he's the Christ, the son of God, and you might have life in his name. Done. That would be an amazing ending, wouldn't it? So why are we turning back to this gospel? Because there's another chapter. In fact, because this is so much the case that chapters 20, verse 30 and 31 is so climactic, there are some that say there's no way that 21 was even here in the beginning. This must have been added later. But let me ask you a question. How many times have you read a book and it got to the climax and then it just stopped and it was over? Probably sometimes, maybe, but most of the time when you read a narrative, a story, you remember that little graph in high school, the literature class maybe that says, You know, the plot's thickening and then there's a climax. And then what happens? Resolution? Chapter 21 is resolution. That's what this is. It's a resolution. The main body of the gospel concluded in chapter 20. But if you'll remember, when we started our study in this gospel, chapter 1, verses 1 through 18 was really like a prelude of the whole gospel, right? So if you have a or a preface or a prelude to the gospel, it would make sense that you would have an epilogue, right? And that's exactly what chapter 21 is. So what is this epilogue of the Gospel of John, why is it here, what's in it? Well, there's a couple of things we're going to see over the next few times that we study, we're going to take a little break from the Gospel of John in the next two weeks after today. But when we conclude in the new year, we're going to see these things. One is what we're going to see this morning, that that there's another appearance of Jesus to his disciples. We're going to see that this morning and we're going to see resolution in that. There's Jesus confronting Peter about his love. Right. And there's resolution in that. And there's also information given about the futures of both the Apostle Peter and the Apostle John, and there is some resolution there as well. And we'll see in the next few messages that all of these are related to a mission, to a mission, to the mission that Jesus has been teaching his disciples even before the cross and the resurrection. So why is our text in this chapter 21 verses 1 through 14? Why is this text in the Bible? OK, if the Bible is God's word. And he actually meant to say something when he had it breathed out, then we need to know what he was trying to say, because that's God's Word, right? I mean, if we get the wrong reason it's here, we don't have God's Word. We're not talking about God's Word. So why is it here? Well, it is true that this gives another proof that Jesus is what? He's alive because he appeared to the disciples. But I don't think that's the main reason it's here. That's a sub reason. It's definitely another proof. But the proofs, resurrection proofs, the focus was really in chapter 20. But as we look at this text, we're going to see that Jesus, after his resurrection and before he ascends to heaven, is providing for them. He's still providing for them and he continues to provide for them. And he's talking about really a provision that we'll see has to do with a mission that they're called to. So this morning, we need to worship Jesus as the one who provides for his own. And we're going to as we go through this text, we're going to see what specifically that provision is focused on. Now, certainly we've already been compelled by this gospel to worship Jesus. as the one who's provided for us, haven't we? I mean, the biggest way he's provided is on the cross, right? Every good thing given and every perfect gift comes down from the Father of life with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. How do we even know any of those good gifts? How are we the recipient of those good gifts? Because in the exercise of his will, he brought us forth by the word of truth, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The only reason we have any good gift that we know the good gifts of the father, that we can truly worship him for those good gifts is because of Jesus Christ. But specifically, what's the provision that Christ provides for his redeemed that's in this text? We're going to see that the Lord on the cross and the Lord of the empty tomb is the same Lord who provides for his disciples after his resurrection. And really, the first thing we want to notice is this. It's a provision through manifestation. A provision through manifestation. Look at verse 1 of chapter 21. After these things, Jesus what? What is it? Bonalong? After these things, Jesus manifested Himself. Okay? Look at chapter 21, verse 14. This is now the third time that Jesus was what? You can go and say it. He was manifested. OK, so this is provision through manifestation. The word manifestation means to make visible. And what's clear from the Gospels is that in his resurrected body, Jesus had to make himself visible to his disciples. So here we see that Jesus provides for his disciples through manifestation, his own manifestation. And in our text today, Jesus manifested himself by actually physically showing up, right? But I want to point out that even now as God's people, that Jesus provides for his own by manifesting himself, not physically, but spiritually by manifesting his glory before his people. What do I mean by that? Well, I mean, when we read God's word, when we hear God's word preached, Christ is pleased to manifest his glory to us, isn't he? And he provides for us in that he opens our eyes to spiritual reality in a way that we often don't see since we are so tied to what we can only see with our physical eyes. As New Covenant believers, the Spirit of God ministers the presence of Jesus in our lives and He manifests Himself to us each time we are convicted of our sin, each time we are enabled to truly exalt the Lord from our heart and truly to exalt Him from our heart. It's a wonderful thing of how Jesus provides for his own through manifesting himself to us. But let's talk about this manifestation he has here. First of all, what's the timing of the manifestation? Look at verse one. After these things, that doesn't tell us really anything specific about the timing of this manifestation. It just happened to happen after the two appearances of Jesus to his disciples in the upper room, OK? So we know the second appearance to Jesus, to his disciples of the upper room when Thomas was there was how long after his resurrection day. Eight days we saw last week. So we know at least this, that this appearance happened somewhere between day eight and day 40 of his after his resurrection, because he appeared among his disciples before his ascension for 40 days. So between 8, day 8 and day 40 is when this happened. We don't know anything more specific than that. Where did this happen? Look at verse 1. After these things, Jesus manifested himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. So I'm going to say it this way. The location is in Galilee. All right. So why do I say Galilee if it says the Sea of Tiberias? Well, if you'll remember, John 6 verse 1 identifies the Sea of Tiberias as the Sea of Galilee. And we won't go back into all the details there, other than to say this, that there was a prominent city on the southwestern side of the Sea of Galilee named Tiberias. And by the time of the writing of the Gospel of John, the Sea of Galilee had also become known as the Sea of Tiberias. That's why I say it was, in fact, in Galilee. So we've considered the timing of the manifestation, somewhere between 8 and 40 days after the resurrection. We've considered where it was in Galilee, and now we're going to consider what number of manifestation this was. When we do something a little different, we're going to actually look at verse 14 to see that, okay? So look at verse 14. This is now the what time that Jesus was manifested? The third time. Now if all it said was, this was now the third time he was manifested, you'd say, what? Didn't he manifest himself more than that? going on there? Well, it doesn't just say that it says something else. And I want to point this out. Jesus has appeared many times, right? He's appeared to Mary Magdalene. He's appeared to the women who she initially had come to the tomb with, but then she departed from those that were coming back from the empty tomb. He appeared to them. He appeared to Cleopas and another companion on the road to Emmaus, to Simon and Simon Peter. He appeared to the twelve disciples except for Thomas and of course Judas. He appeared to the twelve disciples except for Judas but also with Thomas. And then Jesus appeared to his disciples here in this text. So how can it say this is the third manifestation of Jesus? Well, look what it says again. Verse 14. This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples. And I think the point there is this. There were three times, especially recorded in this gospel, that Jesus manifested himself to at least a significant group of the twelve disciples. First to the ten, then to the eleven, and now we're going to see to the seven. So that's the point, I believe. If it's not that point, it's the point that it's the third time to the disciples specifically in this gospel. But either way, I think it's pretty much saying the same thing. So we're focusing in on Jesus as the one who provides. He provides by manifesting himself to his disciples. But who exactly is the provision that Jesus has? Who is it for? What's provision? Secondly, for his disciples. And so we're going to work through that. Verse two, Simon, Peter and Thomas called Didymus and Nathaniel of Cana and Galilee and the sons of Zebedee and the two others of the disciples were together. All right. So that's seven people. Let's work through that. First of all, Simon Peter. Do you remember how Simon Peter met Jesus? Turn back to John chapter one. In this series, we're turning back over two and a half years ago, and in the chronology of the ministry of Jesus, we're turning back over three years ago, right? So turn back to John chapter one. It might be a little hazy in our minds if you were here for that and remembering how Peter first met Jesus. John chapter one, verse 40. One of the two who heard John speak, John the Baptist, and followed him was Andrew, Simon, Peter's brother. He found first his own brother, Simon, and said to him, We have found the Messiah, which translated means Christ. He brought him, Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him, Peter, and said, You are Simon, the son of John. You shall be called Cephas, which is translated Peter. So Jesus meets Peter or Peter meets Jesus. This is the initial meeting, even before some others that we'll see later. Next in John, you keep a finger there, but turn back to John 21. Next we see that Thomas was there. Didymus, right? That means twin. Fresh off of his transformation from being a doubter to a confessor of Jesus. Then who's next in verse two? Who's the next disciple that Jesus manifested himself to? Nathanael. All right. And you can put in that blank Bartholomew, if you can spell it right off Bartholomew. Turn back to John, chapter one, and I want to show you this. If you remember. Right after what we read already in verse 43, the next day, he he purposed to go into Galilee and he found Philip and Jesus said to him, follow me now. Philip was with was from Bethsaida of the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found who? Nathaniel and said to him, We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Nathaniel said to him, Can anything come out of any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him, Come and see. Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to him and said to him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit. Nathaniel said to him, How do you know me? Jesus answered and said to him, Before Philip called you, When you were under the fig tree, I saw you. Nathaniel answered him, Rabbi, you are the son of God. You are the king of Israel. Jesus answered and said to him, Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe you will see greater things than these? He said, and he said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man. Now, I read that just to remind us how Nathanael came to meet Jesus, but I said Bartholomew. Why do I say that? I just want to remind you that Nathanael, the name, doesn't show up in any of the other Gospels. And Bartholomew, who does in the other Gospels, doesn't show up where? In John. And we're not going to do all the details, but if you look at it and eliminate things, it's pretty clear that's who he is. So why is he called Bartholomew sometimes? Well, bar means son of. And Tholomew is probably his father's name. So that's just a way of saying son of Tholomew. Or you might know him as Nathaniel. Look back at John chapter 21. Look at the next disciples. And the sons of who? Zebedee. Do we know who that is? Well, yes, we do. In Matthew 4, 21, going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother. So who is this? James and John and then two other unnamed disciples. So we don't know who the others were, but we know there were seven of the eleven disciples there for this manifestation. Right, so we're worshiping Jesus who provides for his own through manifesting himself, as he did here physically, because he's bodily resurrected, bodily resurrected from the grave. Well, what exactly does he provide for his own? Biblically, we could answer that question in many ways. What doesn't Jesus provide for his disciples, right? But what's the provision of this text? I think it's faithful to the text to put it this way. Next on your outline, provision for his powerless disciples, provision for his powerless disciples, a provision that meets the powerlessness of their need, OK? So we'll continue to work through this and see why I say that. Why do I say powerless? Well, as we work through this text, first thing you want to notice is this. They can't even catch what? Not even one fish, right? Some of whom, these men were professional fishermen. They can't even catch one fish. which I believe is pointed out to highlight the powerlessness of these disciples and that Jesus is needed to provide for them. Second, and really connected to the first reason, they don't even come close to resemble themselves later when they're in the book of Acts. They don't look like the same people right now as they will later in Acts, do they? In Acts, they are proclaiming Jesus is alive and they're doing it in front of people that they know are going to kill them for doing so. What's a little different here, doesn't it? So Jesus gives provision to his powerless disciples, and we're going to spend the remainder of our time this morning considering that reality. First of all, it's a powerlessness evidenced by a low sense of something. A powerlessness evidenced by a low sense of mission, a low sense of mission. Look at verse three. Simon Peter said to them, I am going fishing. They said to him, we will also come with you. All right. I'm saying it's a powerlessness evidenced by a low sense of mission. Now, immediately, we need to raise a question and deal with it and try to answer it. Are we to view Peter's decision to go fishing and the other disciples to come with him as somehow unfaithfulness to Christ? That's the question. Are they to be are they defecting from Christ by going fishing and going back, some would say, to their old occupation? Are they to be rebuked for forgoing fishing? Well, let's try to work through that first, the text doesn't in any way reprimand them for doing this, does it? In fact, it's a very natural way of explaining how it was they were out on a boat and couldn't catch any fish, right? And when Jesus appeared to them. Second, Jesus had actually told them before his death and his resurrection that afterwards he would be in Galilee and that they would be there as well. that they were beaded there as well. Matthew 26, 32, But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee. So the fact that they're in Galilee is not a problem. Third, and some of you are going to really like this one, there is nothing inherently wrong with fishing. Aren't you happy about that? Some of you are like, oh man, I thought I had an argument against my husband on that. Seriously, I point that out to say just because disciples, even though those soon to be apostles decided to go fishing, that doesn't mean that they're defecting from Christ, right? In fact, Paul would later be a tent maker, wouldn't he? Is he being unfaithful to Christ? I don't think we can say they went fishing, therefore they were defecting and deserve a review. That's just not something that I don't think we have authority to say. But I do think we have to all admit that this is a bit of a strange picture. And let me try to paint that, point you to that picture. This is certainly not the tone of what we would expect from people that just found out that Jesus is what? Alive. Hey, let's go fishing. All right, let's go. In fact, I'm going to go back. To that example, the Apostle Paul literally being a tent maker, you know, we use the word tent maker, meaning you work a job. He was literally a tent maker. That was a job. All right. Was that OK for him to do? Yeah. And he was doing it to support himself for the what? For the mission. Right. And do you need to work? Right. Do you need to provide for you? Yeah. Is there any wrong in going fishing? No. But but for Paul, the focus was for the mission. So why did these seven disciples go fishing? There's no indication that it had anything to do with this remarkable mission they were supposed to be on. So I don't think that we can say it was wrong for them to go fishing, and I don't I do not believe that they were defecting from Jesus. They do certainly seem very different here after the resurrection than they will after the spirit comes, don't they? Just think back to how many times Jesus had told them of their future mission after his hour, Jesus said in John 14, 12 to 14, that they would do greater works than him. As they prayed. Jesus said in John 15, 26 to 27, that they would testify about him to an hostile world. OK, Jesus prayed that they would be sanctified by the truth of God specifically for the mission that he would direct them in. Even as the father sent the son, so the son sends his disciples. And now Jesus is alive and he has said these things about to his disciples in the past and this mission that they would be called to because he would die and rise again. But here there is little indication that they are focused on that mission. I just remind you, they were afraid in the upper room as well, we saw last week. Do they love Jesus? Very obviously, they love Jesus, right? Do they acknowledge him as the resurrected Lord? Yes. But are they all about the mission of Christ yet? No, no. It comes down to what we saw on the first time Jesus appeared to the disciples in the upper room, the time without Thomas. If you remember, turn back to chapter 20. He previewed the mission that they were to be about now. All right. And it helps us understand what is missing here for them. Look at chapter 20, verse 21. So Jesus said to them again, Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you. So that's their mission, right? Look at that. And secondly, in verse 22. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. And that refers to a symbolic bestowal of the Spirit of God, which would actually come in the future at Pentecost. OK. And that's the empowerment for the mission. So and we know that is a symbolic thing here because they were told to wait in Jerusalem until the spirit comes. That didn't happen until Acts 2 and Pentecost. And we also know that you can see that they're not boldly proclaiming yet. So they obviously did not receive the spirit as he was speaking of yet. But also, then there's this message of proclaiming the sins are forgiven. Here's the point. Our text this morning confirms that they actually don't yet have who in their lives. They don't yet have the Holy Spirit in their lives. Jesus has risen from the dead. They know that they know what Jesus said about his mission, and yet they seem a bit listless. Was it wrong to go fishing? No. But do they look like a disciple yet on a mission? Empowered by the spirit of God yet? Not really, no. And what we see here is that Jesus manifests himself to them to provide for them, for his powerless disciples. And we know this from earlier teachings of Jesus, that Jesus, after he ascends, would actually ask of the Father and he would send who? The Holy Spirit, the Comforter. That would be the great provision for his disciples after his resurrection. But he is before he ascends, providing for his disciples even now. Now, before we move on, I think there's an important question that ought to arise in our minds that arose in my own mind as I studied this this week. How often do we as God's people actually today resemble these disciples in this state? How often do we look powerless? Notice I didn't say how often are we powerless. We are in and of ourselves powerless. God has provided power through the ministry of the Spirit. But how often do we just look powerless? Doing things that are certainly OK, even necessary, but doing them without any urgency for the mission. Doing things as if Jesus isn't actually what? As if he isn't actually alive. These disciples have an excuse that we don't have, though. Think about this. They don't have who? They do not have the Holy Spirit, but we do, but we do. So let's grasp and grapple with that for a minute here. If we are truly God's children, we have the indwelling spirit of God available to empower us to boldly proclaim the gospel and live our lives on mission to tell others about Christ. Let me ask you, then, why is it that especially the American church is so focused on things? and earthly things and building a happy life instead of the mission. Why is that? Why is it that even this own church isn't more passionate about getting the gospel to people around us? Why is it that we personally sense very little urgency on this mission? Well, I can think of two reasons. And both of them aren't really good reasons, right? Both really have eternal ramifications, ramifications for each one of us. One of them is really an internally damning reason. First, it could be that someone here this morning who professes faith in Jesus Christ, but has no real heartfelt burden for sinners around them is because, in fact, that person is one of those very what? unredeemed sinners. It could be the reason why the church is so lackadaisical about the mission is because they themselves have not yet been saved by Jesus Christ. That would be one reason. It could be, dear friend, that though you profess faith in Christ, the reason you have no burden for unredeemed people around you is that you yourself have not yet been redeemed. You yourself have not yet come to Christ as your only hope. You have not yet seen yourself to be bankrupt before God and him alone to be your hope. So, dear friend, why is it that you have no real burden for sinners around you? It could be that you are not saved. Right. But secondly, it could be this. It could be that the reason we look so much like these disciples is because though we have the spirit and we truly are saved, we are grieving him and we are quenching his work in our lives through playing around with sin and the world and wanting its approval and loving the happy life. Building the American dream all the while people are dying and going to hell today. Again, Jesus literally rose from the dead, let that sink in. How often do we look like these disciples doing things that are OK, but without any reference to the point, reference to the fact that Jesus is alive. He died for sinners and rose again from the dead. They might have life in him. The songwriter puts it this way. I grew up in a little town, used to sing in the old church house there in the pews where I used to hide, learned the story about the man who died. Well, I was sure I heard that he got back up. But as we broke the bread and drank the cup, steams the faces called another tale. They were as dry as the bread was stale. Did I miss something? Was I not supposed to cry? Did they hear preacher? Jesus is alive. Now, I've got a wife and a family. We live in a land that's safe and free and on every corner of steeple shines where I'm taught to build a happy life. I've been taught to build a happy life. Did we miss something? Are we not supposed to cry when so many people don't know Jesus is what? Alive? Oh Lord, have I become a man too scared to be a child again, too comfortable with amazing grace, familiar with the empty grave? Did I miss something or have I begun to lie? Do I really live like Jesus is alive? If this is true, this changes everything. If this is real, I've got to tell the world if he is God and I've got a choice to make, if I believe that I must follow him because this is true and this does change everything. This is real. So I've got to tell the world. That he is God, and now there's a choice to make. If you believe, you must follow him. And the implication of the song is this, to follow him is to tell people about the risen Savior. And that's absolutely biblical. Jesus manifested himself to his powerless disciples to provide for them. We've seen that their powerlessness was evidenced by a low sense of mission. How is their powerlessness illustrated in this text? Well, look at verse 3. 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 what? They didn't catch anything. So here's the point. The powerlessness illustrated by inability to catch fish. Now, it's been pointed out, and this is an interesting thought, I never thought of this before, that every single time you see the disciples fishing in the Gospels, it's not told they caught a fish. But if they did, who helped them? Jesus did. Look at verse four, but when the day was now breaking, which means they had been fishing wind. All night, and that was very normal to do, the problem that night is that they caught nothing. These were professional fishermen, and yet they caught zip zero, not up right. If anything was if anyone was going to catch fish that night, they were going to catch fish, but they did not catch any fish. Their powerlessness, powerlessness is illustrated by that. Now, now is when Jesus enters the picture. Look at verses four through six or five. So Jesus said to them, children. I'm sorry, verse four, when 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. All right, so here's Jesus enters the picture, and this is what we're going to find out. It's provision for the powerless provided by Jesus. And who is this Jesus? He's the all-knowing and sovereign Lord. The all-knowing and sovereign Lord. Look what it says, verse 4. When the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach. Now, stood on the beach. That's pretty abrupt, right? And that probably goes along with what happened in the upper room. Suddenly, who was there? Jesus. Suddenly, Jesus is on the beach. But we're also told the disciples did not know that it was Jesus there. Why is that? Well, they're about 100 yards away. So just picture we've got a we've got a field here a little bit too close to the building, but it's here and it's 100 yards long. OK. And imagine in the early morning, maybe a little dust, you're looking across a hundred yards from water, no doubt, maybe some mist coming. I don't know. And they can't recognize Jesus. That might be why. It also might be because often when Jesus appeared to people after his resurrection, he had to open their eyes up that it was him, right? We don't know for sure, but they did not know it was him. And that's important. Look at verse five. Jesus points out that they do not have fish. Now, in their mind, this is a stranger talking to them, right? Children, you do not have any fish, do you? He knows it. He's just pointing out that you don't have any. The assumption is no, you don't. Now, that sounds a little funny, right? Children, some stranger walks up. Children, you don't have any fish, do you? And even almost sounds a little strange to us because we know that we are the father's children, right? So that's a little funny, too. What's going on here? Well, probably that parallels the idea of when a British person says, lads, or maybe an American person says, boys or guys. Really, guys, you don't have any fish, do you? Boys, lads, okay, you don't have any fish. The answer, what? No. Imagine being the disciples, you fish all night, you consider yourselves only some of them certainly professional fishermen, but you caught nothing. You're tired, no doubt, a little frustrated by that fact. And here comes this stranger that points out the obvious. You don't have any fish, right? So Jesus forces them to face and acknowledge their powerlessness, doesn't he? You know, that is one of the most loving things that Jesus ever does to people. To point out their powerlessness, because when people think they're powerful, they don't need who? They need them, but they don't think they need them. They don't think they need Jesus. So here they were, and Jesus gives them instructions. What does he say? Look at verse six. Cast the net on the right hand side of the boat and you will find a catch. Now I want to emphasize that again. Cast the net on the right hand of the boat and you might find a catch. Is that what he says? You will find a catch. This isn't some experienced fisherman says, I know that's a really good spot. I bet you're going to get some there. You know, I think you really will. No, that's the sovereign Lord saying, I directed him there. You're going to catch fish there if you fish there. Cast the net on the right side of the boat and you will catch fish. Now, how do the disciples respond to this seeming stranger pointing out that they've been unsuccessful? Well, you could see them responding with, who are you? Frustrated, right? But what do they do? They do it. Well, how do you explain that they listen to a stranger's command? Well, the same reason why you sometimes, instead of getting angry at someone that does that after a whole frustrating time of doing something, some random stranger comes up and says, hey, why don't you do this? That'll help you. You say, I've got nothing else to lose. Let me try it, right? That's what they're doing here. So what happens when they do it? Look at verse seven. Therefore, the disciples in Jesus love said to Peter, I'm sorry, verse six. So they cast. So they cast and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish. Now, there are three different kinds of. three different kinds of nets that might have been used in that day. And I just want to point that out real quick. One was cast by hand. Another was cast. It was stretched out in the in the deep water. But probably this is what's called a prawl net, which is used with poles on the boat. And you put out the water and you drag it with the boat. That's probably what it is. Many commentators point evidence out for that. And that's what Jesus says here. Cast the net on the right hand of the boat and you will catch fish. So they did it. And what happened? They caught a bunch of fish, didn't they? So the provision for the powerless is provided by Jesus, the all-knowing, sovereign Lord. Jesus knew they didn't have any what? And he knew that there were fish on the right side of the boat. Now, we're not told this exactly, but it's interesting that they didn't catch any fish all night. My assumption is Because this is God that he ensured there were no fish around him all night so that when he showed up, he would show them that he's the one that provides. So my assumption is he kept those fish away and then when it was time for him to show up and provide, guess who brought those fish there? This is the Lord. This is God. Now, remember, up until this point, the disciples don't know who this stranger is. But now we see this, the provider is identified as Jesus by his disciples. Look at verse seven. Therefore, the disciple whom Jesus loved, who's that? John, the apostle. And you can say the same thing about if you're a child of God, you're a follower of Christ, you can say the same thing. The disciple who Jesus loves, you can say that just like he does. He says, look, verse seven, he says to Peter, it is the Lord. So John recognized the Lord. And once again, John, the apostle, identifies himself in this way. And John's the one that often sees things, understands things quickest. But who's the one that acts quickest? Peter, right? So John understands Peter acts. What does Peter do? He throws himself into the, he puts his garment on. It says that he was stripped for work. Don't think that means he's naked, OK? That means he's got his fishing coat off and then he puts it back on and he gets into the water and he goes. They're a hundred yards away. And I'm told that at most places in the Sea of Galilee, the water drops off pretty quick. So he's probably fishing, I mean, swimming for a hundred yards. Normally you take things off to go swimming. He put it on, right? He puts it on, he's swimming, he's throwing himself in the water to go see Jesus. The others come in the boat. They had not been able to haul the fish into the boat earlier, so they are dragging the fish with the boat as they come to the shore. So their powerlessness is evidenced by a low sense of mission. It's illustrated by their inability to catch fish, but the provision for the powerless is provided by Jesus, who is the all-knowing, sovereign Lord, and he is identified as Jesus. And you say, well, how is he identified? Well, it was remarkable, wasn't it? All of a sudden there's fish there and they've been fishing all night. That has the mark of who on it? Jesus. They've been with him for three years. This is Jesus. It's him. Next, it's an abundant provision from Jesus for the powerless, an abundant provision. Look at verse 9. So when he got out on the land, so when they got on the land, they saw a charcoal fire already laid and fish placed on it and bread. Now you can read that real quick, but understand, they did not catch those what? That fish or those fish. It was already there. Okay? And bread. And a charcoal already laid. You would think that if Jesus had enabled them to catch all those fish, that he would make breakfast for them out of what? Of those fish. Not so. All right. So here we'll see what we see. First of all, abundant provision directly from Jesus, abundant provision directly from Jesus. There's already a fish. They're already bred there. Already charcoal blade, and I'm not sure exactly the parallel here, but any kind of charcoal fire is going to take some time to build, right? It's just there. And fish is there as well. Where did all this come from? This is Jesus, the son of God. God spoke all things into existence, and it was by the Word of God, Jesus, through whom all things were made. If He needed to have something there, it could be there, right? But next, I want to point out this, that this abundant provision came directly from Jesus without any involvement from who? They didn't do anything there, right? But secondly, it's abundant provision from Jesus through fishing. Look at verse 10. Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish which you have now caught. Simon Peter went up and drew the net to the land full of large fish, 153. And although they were so many, the net was not torn. Abundant provision directly from Jesus. Abundant provision through fishing. So Jesus says, bring some of the fish which you have now caught. Peter goes and he gets the fish. Obviously, Peter's a strong man, right? If they couldn't even get into the boat and he gets to bring it up. All right. But probably the point that we need to come away from is this. Having a faith, the resurrected Lord, Peter was invigorated. Now, how many were caught? One hundred and fifty three. Why are we told that? Not because we're supposed to find some hidden, mysterious, symbolic meaning. We're told that because that's how many were caught. Okay? So why do they count them? Well, the same reason why you, if you're a fisherman and caught a really big fish, you weighed it and you make sure you tell people how much it weighed. You don't just guess, do you? And if, you know, you're on Facebook, you take a picture and put it on Facebook and you say, that's how much it weighed. Or I caught this many. All right? Because this is amazing, right? Here, what we need to focus on is this. Jesus provided abundantly in two ways. First, directly from him without any involvement. Secondly, abundantly through his own disciples fishing. They threw the net, right? They were fishing, right? Did God use them to catch the fish? OK. But remember, they couldn't catch anything all night. The only reason that time they threw the net down, they got fish was because Jesus is the Lord. So did Jesus provide through the disciples efforts, did he? He did, right? But was the effort the source of the provision? No, no, no. The effort was blessed because Jesus provided. And that, my friends, is a microcosm of a born again believer's life. Someone who needs to be born again cannot cooperate with God in order to be saved. The only thing you can do is simply trust Christ, collapse in his arms of grace, trust in him alone, only his provision. But once you're saved, God has ordained that you strive for holiness and you strive in the mission. And this is a perfect illustration of that. Does God produced spiritual growth and spiritual fruit through you in the mission, through your efforts, does he? Yes, but the source is who? And if you were striving and he wasn't blessing, there would be no fruit. That's the point. What a wonderful illustration there. So we see Jesus serving the powerless now. So next here, Jesus, the provider, serves the powerless. Now, remember, back before the cross in the upper room, Jesus served his disciples by doing what? By washing their feet. That was serving them. And that was pointing to the greater service of him washing them in his own blood on the cross. And now, after the cross and resurrection, Jesus is still serving his disciples. And brothers and sisters, it's a remarkable reality, as a disciple of Jesus, that he served you by dying on the cross. But did you know that the Lord, the risen Lord, still serves you? He serves you, why? So that you might advance or that the mission might be advanced through you for the glory of God, the display of his own glory. How does how does Jesus serve these disciples, first of all, by welcoming his hesitant disciples? Look at verse 12. Jesus said, then come and have breakfast. Why do I say that's a welcome come and have breakfast? Why was that needed? None of the disciples ventured to question him. Who are you knowing that it was the Lord? They were hesitant, weren't they? So what's going on? Why would they even need to ask if they already knew it? It's kind of a confusing verse there. Here's the point, I think. It's like this. No one would even say. Are you really him? Are you really Jesus? Because they know it was Him, but they wanted to. Have you ever been in a situation where you know it's somebody, but you're thinking, is it really you? Okay? I think that's what's going on here. But next, by serving them food, He took the bread and gave it to them and the fish likewise. And we're told in verse 14 that this was the third manifestation of Jesus after His resurrection to the disciples. And that is, again, to a sizable portion of the disciples. Now, I believe this is the most important part of this whole message. We're at the end of the outline. Don't think, oh, well, I can just pack up. No, no, no. This is a really important part to see. I'm going to say it this way, and I don't mean a pun, all right? To draw the net, all right? We're going to draw the net now, and let's think this through. Took some time earlier in this message to think about the fact that Jesus said after his hour, the disciples would be on a what? A mission. Right? Same mission he was, except he's provided for the mission. He came to reveal the Father and he did that through the cross and the resurrection. We are on the same mission in that we are proclaiming what he did and thereby revealing the Father in Christ, all that we proclaim him to. So we're, but the disciples were a little bit listless on that mission, weren't they? Technically, the hour of Christ was not yet complete. He had not yet ascended. Therefore, the spirit had not yet been given. So earlier we saw the disciples were powerlessness as evidenced by a low sense of mission. They went fishing, but they couldn't catch any fish. Now think about this. Does this account remind you of anything in the past and previously in the gospels? Is there anything else in the gospels about disciples and fishing? I want to show you that. Turn to Matthew 4. Matthew 4. If you'll think back to John chapter one, we read some of that this morning. That is when the disciples, really some of the disciples first met Jesus. That is not when they first were called to discipleship. And sometimes you're confused by that. You go to Matthew four and Jesus says, follow me and they leave everything. That's not the first time they met Jesus. There's several callings unto discipleship. And I want to point out that if you're a child of God today through faith in Christ, you are a disciple. There's no call to be you're born again, but now you need to be a disciple. No, you are a disciple. This was transitioning into following Christ. All right. But look at Matthew, chapter four, verse 18. Now, as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, Follow me and I will make you. Fishers of men. Turn to turn to Luke, chapter 11, turn to Luke, chapter five, so I will make you fishers of men, that's one of the calls under discipleship. Look at Luke chapter five, verses one through eleven. Now, it happened that while the crowd was pressing around him and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret 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. He got into one of the boats. This is later, by the way, than Matthew four, which was Simon's and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And 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 your nets down for a catch or let down your nets for a catch. Simon answered and said, Master, we work hard all night and caught what? Nothing. See, this happened before, didn't it? But I will do as you say and let down the nets. No doubt, by the way, the reason why in John 21, they realized it was Jesus because it all came back to them. This happened before. When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish and their nets began to break. So they signal to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats so that they began to sink. But 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 all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken. And so also were James and John and sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, Do not fear. From now on you will be catching men. So they knew that Jesus had said again and again that he would make them fishers of what? Fishers of men. And they knew that they had another night in their time during the ministry of Christ when they fished all night and caught nothing. And Jesus gave it to them and said, I'm going to make you fishers of men. And they come to after the resurrection of Christ and they decide to go fishing, kind of really not focused too much on the mission, decide to go fishing, can't catch anything. Jesus shows up, says, put it down on the right hand side, they catch fish. What do you think ought to be going through their mind right then? I will make you fishers of men. So they are powerless in and of themselves, but they are to be fishers of men, and Jesus will abundantly be their provider in that mission. He will save people as they testify of his resurrection. He will use his disciples to catch other people like the fish. 150 abundantly catch them for the glory of God. So what do we need to take away from this text? Well, first, to be a disciple, which is to be a born again person, to be a disciple is to be a fisher of what? Fisher of men, fisher of people. To be a disciple is to be on a mission to tell others about the one we follow. Are you a disciple? Are you burdened for sinners? This is a season where you're going to be with family that do not know the Lord. Yesterday, I was in a memorial service, and it was a wonderful thing for Arthur Spiel. Some of you know him. He clearly knew the Lord. But you put yourself in your mind just a few years from now with your relatives, they are going to die. Do they know the Lord? As you eat with them and you spend time with them, you just think about that. I am going to be at their service. And they need Christ. And lovingly, prayerfully, empowered by the Spirit, speak of Christ to them. and think about their eternity more than your comfortableness in that relationship. Second, we have no excuse to have a low sense of mission like these disciples did, do we? We have who in our lives? The Holy Spirit. Third, Jesus said it, and it is eternally true. I am the vine. You are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do how much? Nothing. You fish all night. Unless Jesus brings the fish there, you're not catching anything. Right? And fourth, Jesus provides for the mission. We know from Matthew 28 that all authority has been given to Jesus and we're going to make disciples, which involves going back and we're to make disciples based on that authority, which involves going, baptizing and instructing. And we're told, and lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the age. Does Jesus provide in the mission? He's there, isn't he? How's he there? He is here through the ministry of the Spirit to us. We are not orphans. Christ is with us on this mission. And we're told that we are to go and make disciples. And we can, by the power of the Holy Spirit, do that as we are submitted to him and stop grieving him. and grow in Christ. Jesus provides for his disciples who can do nothing apart for him so that they might be fishers of men as they abide in him. May the Lord help us that this season and all seasons of our lives truly be fishers of men and see that Jesus is the God who provides in that mission and has called us to it. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for this wonderful truth from your word that you called us on a mission. You know, Jesus, you're alive. And we pray that in your good grace that we would be faithful to the mission you've called us to. We pray that you would save people as a direct result of the submission of your people to this truth in your word. And we would be able to give you great praise. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.