as we consider today this, coming to this last chapter in John. We don't get to all of it today. I'm gonna look today, Lord willing, at the first 14 verses. And we see here a miracle that is performed. That's what we're gonna focus on today is the miracle of the draw to fishes. Then you're gonna have the reconciliation of Peter and the rebuke of Peter, only Peter. Only Peter, be reconciled and rebuked in the same conversation. And that takes place in the latter part of this chapter. We won't try to get to that today. It's one of my favorite passages of Scripture. I absolutely love this passage for the reconciliation that the Lord shows to Peter here. And how poignant he is, not only just to say, Peter, I forgive you, for what you've done, but he even three times asked Peter, do you love him? For each of the, I don't know him, that Peter stated on the day or the night of his arrest. And so we, a wonderful pastor, but again, he's reconciled and then he questions the Lord and he's rebuked even in the same conversation here. But we'll get into that, Lord willing, next week. I want us to look today at the first part of this chapter, the first 14 verses, in regards to this miracle that the Lord performs here. John only records seven miracles that the Lord performed. He only records for seven. There's 35. between the Gospels that are given to us that we know that the Lord, and John even tells us in chapter 21 here that the world couldn't even contain the books if all of them were known, all the works of the Lord were written down. We don't even, just in his earthly ministry, the world couldn't contain the books of all that the Lord did. They record for us a total of 35. John only focuses on seven of those. And this is that seventh one. John tells us of this miraculous draught of fish that the Lord brings to the disciples here. And it begins in verse 1, he says, after these things, Jesus showed himself again. After these things, of course, is in reference to his showing himself to Thomas that we looked at last week there in chapter 20. He made himself known to Thomas after Thomas had said, I'm not going to believe that it's him until I stick my finger in his wounds and my hand in his side. I'm not going to believe it. And of course, the Lord shows himself to Thomas and says, here I am, Thomas. Here's my hands. Here's my side. Reach into thy finger. Reach into thy hand. And Thomas, of course, bows at his feet and says, my Lord and my God. Thomas recognizes him right away that it is indeed the Lord Jesus. resurrected from the grave. So after these things, after this has taken place, the Lord shows himself again to his disciples, John tells us. And John says, and he shows himself in this way. So John is accounting to us the story of how he revealed himself to his disciples. After these things, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and on this wise showed he himself. This is how he did it, he says. And of course, he's at the Sea of Tiberias, which is also known as the Sea of Gennesaret, also known as Lake Galilee, or the Sea of Galilee. And so this is the same body of water, it's got three different names. It may be more than that, but we know three anyway, that it's called in the scriptures. And so here on Lake Galilee, or the Sea of Galilee, Jesus reveals himself again to his disciples. And it says, verse 2, there were together the seven of them, Simon Peter and Thomas called Didymus, or twin, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, which of course, James and John, and two other of his disciples. Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. And they went forth and entered into a ship immediately. And that night they caught nothing. Peter had come to a place. He's excited about the Lord's return. He's excited that the Lord has resurrected from the grave. Peter's one of the first, according to, besides the women, he's the first of the men that see the Lord Jesus alive after his resurrection. That's one of the first man that Jesus revealed himself to was to Peter. And so, Peter, no doubt, is excited about the Lord's resurrection, but he feels, apparently, at this point, he's not worthy to do anything for the Lord. I'm gonna go back to this. Obviously, the Lord's done with me. Obviously, I can do no more for Him. I've messed up too bad. I've sinned too harshly. I am no longer capable of serving Him. I'm thankful He's alive. I'm so thankful that He's with us. But I'm going to go back to fishing. And so He goes back to His earthly pursuit. And these others go with him. All right, we'll go fishing. And this is not, understand he's not saying, oh, I've had a long week and I think I'll go fishing. That was not, he wasn't going there for a leisurely cast and reeling. He was going back to work is what he's telling them. He's going back to work as a fisherman. This is what they, this was their job originally. They were commercial fishermen. And so he's going back to this life. That's what he's saying. I'm going back to this life of commercial fish. I can't be used to the Lord any longer. I denied him three times. And this is not something that Peter has addressed with the Lord yet. And maybe because the Lord's already been with them several days and he's not said anything to Peter yet, perhaps Peter was feeling a little bit of pressure. In that, you've been in that room where the 400 pound elephants there among you and nobody wants to say nothing about it. And you've just the tension of it all. And every time, no doubt, Peter's feeling the same way. Every time the Lord comes in her presence, suddenly his anxiety rises and he's feeling that pressure. Okay, when's the Lord going to say something? When's he going to say it? When's he going to? And there's, he hadn't done it yet. And he says, Peter, I'm going fishing. Lord's done with me. I'm going to go back to my old life. And so he goes fishing. These others are fishing with him and they spend all night working. Guess what they find out? They're not good fishermen. They fished all night and caught nothing. I fancy myself a hunter, but I know I'm not a good hunter. I like going hunting, but I'm not a good, yesterday we were in the blind and we was hunting and my back got so stiff, I said, I've got to get out and stretch. I unzipped the blind and I stepped out and I was back there stretching around and I looked down finally after I made two or three stretches and Josh was going, what? There's a deer right there. I should shoot it. By the time he was already gone, by the time I even looked and tried to see where it was at. So I like to go hunting. But I'm not a hunter. I'm not a good hunter anyway. This is what they're finding out here. They're out there fishing, fished all night, didn't catch nothing. They were not, if I had that real quick. But if they have anything, it is of God. He is the provider of it all. They caught nothing, fished all night. Here Peter's returned to his old life. And he's even a failure at that. He's appeared that morning as the dawn arises there. It says verse number four, but when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore, but his disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then sayeth he unto them children, have you any meat? I answered him, no. And he said unto them, cast an end on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find nothing. How often has the Lord, or how often have we tried, let me put it this way, how often have we tried to do something our way? And it just absolutely flopped. I mean, just failed miserably. But we watched it crumble right in front of us. And then we have the Lord come along and say, do it this way. Now do it my way. And it's the same thing. I mean, it's the exact same thing I was doing before, but now it's by his direction instead of mine. And then he works and miracles are performed. Work is accomplished. Grace is poured out. How often he works like that when we're holding to self and doing it our way, doing everything we know to do, but doing it in our own strength and watching it crumble around us. And then the Lord coming along Suddenly we have everything we need. Suddenly everything is accomplished like he is set for it to be accomplished. He tells them, cast out on the right side of the boat and you'll find your fish. If it ain't on this side of the boat, where in the world is it on this side of the boat? You can just hear those disciples. We've, this guy on the shore acts like, yeah, like he knows what, how to fish. Like he knows what we've experienced, all that. Like he knows which side of the boat we've been casting on all night. But they do. They do. Fishermen know that. I mean, that's what, We ain't catching something. Somebody said, well, you got to use this bait. OK. We'll try that bait. Jonathan and I went fishing one time in Alabama. We stopped at the bait shop. We asked the guy at the bait shop what bait we needed. He gave us the bait that we needed. Asked him where we needed to go. And he said, go down this spot. He said, they're catching them like crazy down there. So we get back with the guys, those guys we was fishing with, and we tell them, the guy says, go down here. No, no, no, we're going to this place. It'll be good up there. We'll go down here. We'll fish on the pier. We won't go where he said to go. And we went all day and didn't catch nothing. Got back to the hotel that evening. These old boys from over here next to Glasgow, they were down there fishing at the same time. They had fish galore. They caught their limit that day. Big old crappie, these guys had caught. I said, my goodness, that's a massive, weren't you all fish? Down there where we were supposed to go again. So fishermen, they know, you know, if somebody says, try this, they'll try it. And so the Lord says, cast on the right side of the boat and you'll find your draw, so they did. Casting the net over on that side, it filled up their net so much so they couldn't even pull it in the boat. but it had to be dragged to shore to even get the fish out of the water. And it says there, verse six again, it says, they cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. Therefore, that disciple whom Jesus loved, again, that's John, he saith unto Peter, it's the Lord. He recognized it right away. This has happened to us before. This has happened. He's told us how to fish before. Recognized right away. That's the Lord. It says, now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fish's coat unto him, for he was naked, or he had his, all he had on was his undergarments. He put on his outer cloak. He jumps in the water. Cast himself into the sea, and the other disciples came in a little ship, for they were not far from land, but as it were 200 cubits, so they're about 300 feet from shore. Peter swims to shore. He didn't walk this time, he swam. And they dragged the net of fishes in with them. And it says, as soon as they were come to land. I always thought this interesting, they saw a fire of coals there, fish laid there on and bread. Nobody asked the Lord, Lord, where'd you get your bread? Where'd you get your fish? They've seen that before too. They've seen that before. But there he is, he's got a meal prepared for them. Fish already cooked for breakfast, bread there for them to eat. Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which you have now caught. Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land full of great fish. This wasn't minnows that they caught. These were big fish. This is gonna be big money for them. And this draw the fish that they caught that day. John says 153. It was a fixed, a fixed number. For all there were so many, yet was not the net broken. They were so many and so full, it was a miracle that the net survived, is what John's telling us. 153 fish. I've studied this for years. I've looked at it over and over again. I don't know what the 153 means. I still don't know. I've read all sorts of different commentators in regards to it, and they all have come up with some wild notions. I mean, to the point even of some of the second century commentators. almost 2,000 years ago, and they're writing these mathematical algorithms of what 153 stands for. I mean, they've gone all out trying to figure out what that 153 means. The simple explanation is John gives the exact number as a point of reference to prove it was an eyewitness account that he saw here. But even to the point that John numbered the fish, he could tell you exactly how many fish. And so when he says, for instance, in chapter 20 there, in verse number 31, he says, but these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name. John says, I've recorded a miracle of what the Lord did, and I'll tell you exactly how many he did, how many he caused for us. And so he gives that exact number, 153. I think it's deeper than that, though. But I don't know what it is yet. I still, I don't know. If you've got any insight on it, if you've got any idea, I'd like to know. I'd like to know what it means. Because God didn't just give us a number for nothing. It could be just that he gave the number as a point of reference, but I believe it's deeper than that. Every other time he gives a number, it's deeper than that. And so I don't know what that 153 is, I'm seeking it. I want to know what it is. And it may be eternity before I get to find out, because I've been looking for this for years, trying to figure out what is that significance of 153. There's a lot of numerology involved. There's a lot of the importance of numbers given in the scripture. Seven, the number of completeness. Forty is the number of of a generation, one is the number of power or seat of authority, four is, or three, rather, is the person of the Trinity, six is the number of man, all those numbers that stand for something in the scriptures, and I looked through that trying to figure out, and 153 has its significance in that because of this story, that's all. It doesn't give any other reference, so I know it's deeper But what I'm able to find, I'm just not, I don't know. I don't know what it is, but the Lord has given us this number to reveal something to us, but it is a fixed, it is a fixed number. One of the better explanations that I like that's given in regards to this is that it is referencing the elect. What did he tell his disciples to begin with? Not that that's how many there are, don't misunderstand what I'm saying. What did he tell his disciples to begin with when he called them to himself? Come follow me, I'll make you fishers of men. And then here John numbers as the Lord is reiterating his call on their lives to do his work. Remember Peter gave up. But the Lord's about to reconcile him here in this passage of scripture. He's reiterating to them, you're still mine. You still have a job to do. You still have a mission set for you. And he has for them here a specific number that they are caught. He has a specific number that they're going to go out to catch. and that that 153 represents the number of the elect in the sense that God has a fixed number. He knows, he knows who are his, and he knows whom he is sending his disciples to. That, I like that, I still yet think that 153 is a little bit deeper. But there's a fixed number of fish that they caught, great fish that they've caught here. It says in verse 12, Jesus saith unto them, come and die, come and die. He is still as he was to his disciples here. He is still the provider of our everything. Still the provider of our everything. Even when we do our best, even when we use our talents and our strengths and do the best that we can do in and of ourselves, we still are not capable of providing the least for ourselves. He is still and has always been and will always be our provider. What they could not catch themselves, the Lord caught for them. Not only allowing him to enjoy in the catch, But even after coming to shore, he's already prepared the meal for them, the fish and the bread. He's done it all. Come and dine. Come and dine. And none of the disciples, none of the disciples durst ask him, who art thou? There's no doubt in their minds about this stuff. It's the Lord. Jesus then cometh and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise. This is now the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples. And that's the third time John has recorded. We know on the first day, he showed himself four times to different people. But this is the third time that John records for us. This is the third time. He says that Jesus showed himself to his disciples. After that, he was risen from the dead. After that, he was risen from the dead. Now, that is at this meal, beginning in verse 15, that we'll, Lord willing, look at next week, on to the end of the chapter. Well, on through verse 23, and then John gives his conclusion there, verse 24 and 25, which are two wonderful verses that John gives us there as well. But there in verse 15, down through verse 23, we have, again, Peter's reconciliation. The Lord restores him to his task and to the job that he is to perform as his disciple. I mean, Peter gives up. on service of the Lord, goes back to fishing, fails miserably at fishing, in and of his own strength anyway. And the Lord, the Lord reconciles Peter to his work, and not only reconciles Peter to his work, but he puts Peter in charge in this sense. It's Peter's responsibility to feed the rest in this reconciliation. But then we have almost immediately following the reconciliation, Peter's rebuked as well. He's rebuked immediately after being reconciled to the Lord for questioning what the Lord was doing. And so we have, again, only Peter be reconciled and rebuked in the same passage of scripture. I love Peter for that. Absolutely, because I know if I was there, he would be me. He would be me. So I'm so thankful that Peter's done that for us, that we can see this example But we have Peter's reconciliation and his rebuke in that very next section that we'll look at next time. So let's all stand and we'll be dismissed today.