[0:00] It is now turn to the New Testament scriptures and read from the Gospel of John and chapter 21.
[0:15] The last chapter of the Gospel of John. Reading at the beginning.
[1:00] They said unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth and entered into a ship immediately, and that night they caught nothing.
[1:11] But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus said unto them, Children, have you any meat?
[1:25] They answered him, No. And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and you shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.
[1:40] Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fishers coat unto him, but he was naked, and had cast himself into the sea.
[1:56] And the other disciples came in a little ship, but they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits, dragging the net with fishes. As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon and bread.
[2:14] Jesus said unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught. Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land full of great fishes, a hundred and fifty and three.
[2:28] And for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken. Jesus said unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples doth ask him, Who art thou, knowing that it was the Lord?
[2:43] 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, after that he was risen from the dead.
[2:55] So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.
[3:10] He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.
[3:22] He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved, because he saith unto him the third time, Lovest thou me?
[3:37] And he saith unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkst whither thou wouldest.
[3:56] But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God.
[4:09] And when he hath spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me. Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following, which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?
[4:28] Peter, seeing him, saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will, that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?
[4:42] Follow thou me. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die. Yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die, but, If I will, that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?
[4:57] This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true. And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which of they should be written every one.
[5:14] I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen. And may the Lord bless to us, that reading from his holy word, to his name, be all the praise.
[5:32] It is again saying to his praise, this time from Psalm 36. Psalm 36, verses 5 to 9. Thy mercy, Lord, is in the heavens, thy truth doth reach the clouds, thy justice is like mountains great, thy judgments deep as floods.
[5:56] Lord, thou preservist man and beast, how precious is thy grace! Therefore in shadow of thy wings men's sons their thrust shall place. They with the fatness of thy house shall be well satisfied.
[6:10] From rivers of thy pleasures thou wilt drink to them provide. Because of life the fountain pure remains alone with thee, and in that purest light of thine we clearly light shall see.
[6:26] These stanzas, verses 5 to 9 of Psalm 36, to God's praise, thy mercy, Lord, is in the heavens. Amen. Amen. Thank you.
[6:42] God bless you. You won't hurt you.
[7:01] Amen. Amen.
[8:01] Amen. Now as the Lord enables us, let us turn again to the Gospel according to John, chapter 21.
[8:52] And I'd like to read again from verse 5. Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have you any meat?
[9:10] They answered him, No. And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it, for the multitude of fishes.
[9:27] Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fish of coat unto him, for he was naked, and he cast himself into the sea.
[9:41] And the other disciples came in a little ship, for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits, dragging the net with fishes.
[9:53] And particularly also, at the end of that section in verse 9, Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine.
[10:08] Come and dine. Come and dine.
[10:21] The Lord Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. The disciples, according to what we have in chapter 20 and the other gospels, didn't expect him to rise from the dead.
[10:43] And the women who went to the sepulcher early in the morning, went there to anoint his body, not expecting to meet up with a risen saviour.
[10:57] And in chapter 21 here, we have an account of the risen saviour and his dealings with these disciples who are mentioned in this context.
[11:13] And I'd like just to say a few words under probably five headings, five short headings. First of all, the account we have here of the risen saviour.
[11:31] Jesus Christ died, but he is now risen from the dead. That's the first thing. Secondly, he is a loving saviour.
[11:44] Remember when he says in verse 5, Children, have you any meat? And they answered him, no. He shows his love to them, even using that word, children, have you any meat?
[12:03] Thirdly, he proves that he is a caring saviour. When he hears that they had not caught any fish, having laboured all night, he said, cast your net on the right side of the ship and you will find.
[12:23] And then they enclosed a large shoal of fish, a hundred and fifty and three. He cares for them. And fourthly, he's an inviting saviour.
[12:37] Having prepared, before they actually came to shore, he had prepared himself fish and bread on this fire that he had set up.
[12:52] And he invites them, come and dine. And finally, a questioning saviour. Having finished their meal, he turns to Peter with this very searching question.
[13:13] Do you love me more than these? And there's a sense in which we have to ask ourselves that question. Every day of life, in every circumstance of life, Jesus needs to be answered.
[13:33] Do you love him more than these? Well, one or two words on each of these five short headings. First of all, this is an account of the risen saviour.
[13:47] Now, we mentioned in the morning in 2 Timothy chapter 2, that there were two men who were wrong in their understanding of the resurrection.
[14:01] Hymenaeus and Phagellus. And they turned the faith of some completely upside down. We don't know what they were preaching, but they didn't have the biblical view of the resurrection.
[14:17] But the Bible tells us clearly that Jesus who died did rise again. And I'm going to mention three different texts from the scriptures that prove to us that this Jesus who is speaking in John 21 to the disciples is indeed the risen saviour, having risen from the dead.
[14:43] Firstly, 1 Corinthians 15, we have this. Paul says, He rose again the third day according to the scriptures. It wasn't that the women at the sepulcher in the morning were mistaken.
[15:12] And they thought it was Jesus, but it wasn't because he was still dead. And it wasn't that Jesus' body had been removed so that people would believe that he was risen from the dead.
[15:26] It was actually that he rose triumphant over death and the grave. And our Lord Jesus Christ rose triumphant, breaking the shackles of death.
[15:39] And he was seen, it says here, by over 500 brethren at once. The next quotation I have is from Hebrews chapter 7.
[15:53] Therefore, the apostle says, He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God by him since he ever lives to make intercession for them.
[16:09] The Jesus who was dead not only rose from the dead, but also has ascended to heaven and there, as our great high priest, continues to make intercession for us at the right hand of God.
[16:26] We have a living saviour who will live to make continual intercession for his people. And the third one I wanted to quote is from Revelation chapter 1, verse 18, when he is addressing the seven churches in Asia.
[16:45] And John beholds the glory of the risen Christ, and he bows before him as one dead, as it were. And Jesus speaks to him, I am he who lives and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.
[17:06] Amen. And I have the keys of hell and of death. We are introduced to him who is the almighty saviour, who is able to make new our broken lives, able to give us a spiritual resurrection, able to give us to rise from a sinful, God-hating, and self-loving life to giving us a desire and an ability to follow him and serve him.
[17:51] And we see here that this risen saviour is a loving saviour. The disciples are here and they're named in verse 2, and in verse 3, Simon Peter says, I go a-fishing.
[18:11] Some people say that they were so dejected by the fact that Jesus had died that they were, as it were, turning away from any involvement with gospel and Jesus Christ and that they were going back to their old trade of fishing.
[18:32] That's not true. Because Jesus had told them to go to Galilee and there he says, you will see me.
[18:44] And here they are at the Sea of Galilee waiting for the Lord to reveal himself to them, just as he promised. And as they were waiting, well, they had to survive.
[18:56] And they decided to do some fishing, just to feed themselves. But that night they caught nothing.
[19:10] And we see the way the Lord Jesus addresses them as he calls over the waters to them.
[19:23] Verse 5, Children, have you any meat? Now in the original Greek language, that question is set in such a way as to expect a negative answer.
[19:38] as if Jesus was saying, Children, you haven't caught anything, have you? He knew very well they hadn't caught anything.
[19:51] But what I want to talk about for a moment is his use of the word children. Jesus saith to them, Children, have you any meat? Have you any fish?
[20:04] Have you any food? The word children is not used throughout the Gospel of John, but in this particular verse.
[20:16] Throughout the Gospels it's used of little children. For example, he's talking about the little children who are present at the feeding of the 5,000 and the feeding of the 4,000.
[20:31] there were 4,000 or 5,000 men as well as women and children. He's talking about very young children. And also, he says, when the parents brought the young children to him, he says, Let the children come unto me and forbid them not.
[20:54] He's talking about very young children. And now that he is calling to these disciples who were waiting for him at the Sea of Galilee, it's interesting that he calls them by that diminutive name, little children.
[21:15] I wonder why he calls them by that name. He doesn't say men, but he says little children.
[21:29] Well, it may be that in his knowledge of them, he knows that they have made a very little spiritual progress progress up until now.
[21:46] It's as if he is saying that they are children in the faith. It is as if he is saying of them, well, I am your elder brother and I care for you and I see that you need to grow and I am going to demonstrate to you that I am able to give you the ability to grow by trusting in me.
[22:19] Children, have you any meat? And they said no. Sometimes this is the way we are ourselves, isn't it?
[22:34] Having come to our service, feeling empty, and then after the service is over, still feeling empty. It's as if we haven't had any meat to nourish our souls for any number of reasons.
[22:53] But Jesus here shows that he is a caring, a loving saviour and he asks them, do you have any meat?
[23:05] And they said no. And then as the caring saviour he is, he directs them in a particular way in order that they might have something to feed upon.
[23:21] Cast your net on the right side of the ship and then you shall find. And they were willing to do that.
[23:32] although they had laboured all night, nevertheless they did what he asked of them. And no, they were not able to throw the net for the multitude of fishes.
[23:46] I wonder if Peter's mind went back to an incident we have in Luke's gospel chapter 5 when it says at verse 4 when he had Jesus had left speaking he said unto Simon launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught.
[24:13] Simon answering said unto him Master we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.
[24:23] And when he had this done they enclosed a great multitude of fishes and their net break. I want to highlight something here about the word nets in verse 4 Jesus said let down your nets plural for a draught.
[24:45] Simon answering said to him Master we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net singular. I wonder if Peter was doubting whether there was any fish at all and just because of his knowledge as a fisherman did he just set one net singular rather than what the Lord asked nets plural.
[25:18] Anyway when they had this done they enclosed a great multitude of fishes and their net broke. That was one incident in Luke chapter 5.
[25:30] Now after the Lord's death and resurrection and now they are on the shore of the sea of Galilee and they once again have been fishing and have caught nothing.
[25:43] And Jesus said have you any meat? No. Cast he said your net on the right side of the ship and you shall find.
[25:55] And they did that according to what the Lord asked. One net singular and they were not able to draw the fishes. And John knew it is the Lord.
[26:10] And when Peter heard that it was the Lord he gave his fishers coat unto him for he was naked and it cast himself into the sea. Here the disciples came in a little ship they were not far from land but as it were 200 cubits dragging the net with fishes.
[26:28] See the care of the Savior. He made sure that this shoal of fish were tangled in that one net.
[26:40] And that is still the minute providence of God. He brings people and circumstances together. He brings you under the sound of a particular service, of a particular teaching of scripture that the Lord knows your heart needs more than anything else.
[27:02] And he applies it with such minute accuracy that he answers your questions and he gives you to know the peace of God that passes all understanding.
[27:16] We have to cast our net forth. We have to be under the sound of the gospel. This is what he asks of us.
[27:27] We have to be where he promises to be because he says where the two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them.
[27:41] So the disciples complied with what the Lord asked of them. He as a caring saviour they as needy children needing to be taught needing to be fed needing to be directed needing to grow in grace now the Lord has taken as it were the burden of teaching them and showing them who he is and what he is able to do for them.
[28:08] But then it goes on and it comes down to that verse where Jesus says in verse 12 come and dine.
[28:29] But before I come to that there's a point in verse 10 I want to highlight and that is that he's asking them to bring of the fish which you have no caught.
[28:42] It says in the previous verse verse 9 as soon then as they were come to land they saw a fire of coals there and fish laid thereon and bread. That is the Lord's provision for them.
[28:57] But then he invites them to bring some of the fish that they themselves had no caught. I think there's a lesson there for us that we need to be obedient to bring what the Lord has done for us as it were into play in our life.
[29:25] What I mean by that is that we need to be careful to be obedient to everything that the Lord asks. And bring it as it were to the whole provision that the Lord has made.
[29:42] Another point I want to say in relation to that is when the Lord Jesus in another situation when he knocks at the door of the church at Laodicea and the same kind of thing he says if anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come in and sup with him and he with me it's as if the Lord is saying you are going to bring something to the supper I'm going to bring something to the supper you you you will sup with me I will sup with you and what were they going to bring to this supper if they were to open the door in obedience to him they were going to bring their obedient spirits they were going to bring the submissiveness of spirit that they and we always need to bring if we are going truly to feast with the
[30:48] Lord we need to have an obedient spirit and a spirit that complies with what he asks of us and this is what he says here bring of the fish that you have no caught you were obedient enough to do what I said now bring as it were the fruit of your obedience and enjoy that fruit in my fellowship and in my friendship so they brought the fish to shore and Jesus said come and dine come and dine some people believe that this word dine it points to the meal being the most important meal of the day in the Gaelic have your dinner well it was early in the morning
[31:55] I'm sure they were tired they were hungry and the Lord had provision for them to meet their deepest physical needs as well as their deepest spiritual needs come and dine an inviting savior isn't that the way our savior still is he invites us to himself he invites us to look to him and be saved from the ends of the earth he invites us to trust in him he commands us to do so and he says come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn of me I am meek and lowly in heart you shall find rest unto your souls my yoke is easy my burden is light he says elsewhere in one of the parables where the invitation was given by the king who made the big feast and the order was going out by the servants tell them to come that all things are now ready and amazingly so many people refused to come one said
[33:29] I have bought five yoke of oxen I can't come I've got to test them another said I have bought some land and I have to go and see it doesn't sound right what these people were saying they were fobbing the man off I mean who would buy a piece of land without seeing it and who would buy some oxen without having first tested to see if they were able to do the work that he wanted them to do and the third man said I have married a wife and I cannot come they were just disregarding which so many people nowadays do when the Lord Jesus says all is now ready people can have forgiveness in all of their sins people can have eternal life only if they look to me only if they trust in me only if they hate their sin and confess it and come to me but sin is so sweet to so many come and dine come and dine at the gospel table come and dine and when you think of the people he was inviting to come
[34:51] I mean the list is there at the beginning Simon Peter the man who had denied the Lord three times Peter come and dine what about Thomas called Didymus who refused to believe and he said unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands put my finger into the mark of the nails and put my hand into his side I will not believe what about Nathanael of Cana in Galilee when he was first spoken to about Jesus by his friends when they said we have found the Messiah Jesus of Nazareth oh can any good thing come out of Nazareth he spoke with disdain looking down on Nazareth the sons of Zebedee James and John you know their mother came to the Lord and she wanted the best place in the organisation that she believed
[35:58] Jesus was establishing for both of her sons one on his right hand one on his left and he obviously went along with that suggestion we're all like that we have all of us some kind of sin like the sins of these poor men and if the Lord were to mark our iniquities none of us could stand this is what it says in Psalm 130 we've just been singing it if the Lord were to mark our iniquity who would stand but with thee there is forgiveness that thou mayest be feared he said to these men whose lives have been full of shortcomings and failures upon failures come and die and he says to us come and die the gospel table is full has been laid by Christ
[37:06] Jesus himself what is on the gospel table well it's Jesus Christ isn't it and he said except you eat of the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood you have no life in you and some people who are following the Lord Jesus at that time they couldn't take that to change and they decided not to follow him anymore and Jesus said to the other disciples are you also going away Peter said representing them all I believe to whom shall we go you have the words of eternal life what does it mean eating the flesh of the son of man and drinking his blood it means receiving a savior who took bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh and looking to him and trusting in him alone for salvation because he alone is the one who is able to save us from all of our sins the Jesus of the gospels the man
[38:23] Christ Jesus who died and rose again and now he is at the right hand of God the scripture account of him is like food and drink to the soul of the hungry and thirsty sinner come and dine the gospel table is still set the invitation is still here what about the lord's table come and dine who should come to the lord's table well those who have had the blessing of god upon their lives in the new birth birth and those who have had the experience of the new birth have had a new beginning in their life they are obedient to god they don't trust themselves anymore they trust him they lean upon jesus christ as their savior whom have i in the heavens high the psalmist said but you o lord alone and on the earth whom i desire besides thee there is none those who have that living vibrant relationship with the lord jesus christ as the savior of their souls and what other marks do they have well they love the scripture and they love the people of god and they love the means of grace they live as those who are journeying through this world to a better world looking for a city that has foundations whose builder and maker is god and they are thankful to god for jesus christ who is the savior able to save them from their sins but that's not the last invitation to come and dine isn't it true that the people of god are invited at last to the marriage supper of the lamb those who have tasted that the lord is gracious at last will take their seat at the marriage supper of the lamb where they shall hunger no more nor thirst any more where the lamb in the midst of the throne will feed them and lead them unto living fountains of water and god shall wipe away all tears from their eyes have you come in response to the invitation to come to the lord jesus finally the lord's turning to focus upon the apostle peter verse 15 when they had dined jesus said to simon peter simon son of jonas lovest thou me more than these well this is a whole section on its own really but i just want to touch on it because it's a challenging question to us all as if
[42:25] jesus is asking him do you love me more than this fishing boat and everything in connection with fishing with the lifestyle you had before i made you and do you love me more than these other men because you said once that you were going to stand by me whatever they did that you wouldn't let me down i'm asking you now simon do you love me more than these and simon answered him lord you know that i love you it's very interesting in the original jesus uses one word for love and peter uses another jesus uses the word agape which means the love that god has and god's people have for him in response but peter uses another word phileo as if peter says i like you peter answers the strong word that jesus asks do you love me and peter says i like you and then the second time do you love me yes lord you know that i love you you know that i like you he says unto him feed my sheep and the third time jesus asks simon son of jonas do you like me he brings the word into play that peter has been answering with all the time do you like me and jesus peter says i was i'm grieved because you said to me do you like me and he said lord you know everything you know that i like you you know that i love you feed my sheep jesus recommissions peter as it were squaring up the account because peter had denied the lord three times and he's under that cloud until this time when the lord as it were recommissions him to feed his lambs and feed his sheep and feed his sheep the lord knows who likes him the lord knows who we like best the people of god like the lord best however high they can pitch their love as it were however high they can reach in their estimation of their love they never fall below this do they well i like the lord better than anyone or anything else he is my lord i want to follow him all the days of my life i'm not what i was i'm not what i yet will be but i know who is able to improve me and make me what i need to be the lord jesus christ he undertook to care for his people and to forgive them all of
[46:25] their sins may god bless these few thoughts to us let us pray lord have mercy upon our souls we thank you that you're able to make your word a living word an effectual word in the experience of each one of us and we pray that we would all benefit for eternity from having met around your word today and tonight bless the congregation here during the days coming and we ask that the preaching and the observing of the lord's supper would be owned and blessed by your lord jesus go before us now lord and forgive every sin we pray in jesus name amen i will bring your worship to our close now singing to god's praise from psalm 65 psalm 65 and verses 4 and 5 blessed is the man whom thou dost choose and make approach to thee that he within thy courts o lord may still a dweller be we surely shall be satisfied with thy abundant grace and with the goodness of thy house even of thy holy place o god of our salvation thou in thy righteousness by fearful works unto our prayers thine answer dost express therefore the ends of all the earth and those afar that be upon the sea that confidence o lord will place in thee these stances of psalm 65 verses 4 to 5 to god's praise blessed is the man friend the who northraph
[48:56] This year I'm well-known We sure he shall be satisfied With light upon God's grace And with the goodness of thy house In love thy holy grace O God, proper salvation Thou live thy righteousness Thy fearful word
[49:57] Undo the prayers Thy answer thou's expressed Thy fall to the ends of all the air And Lord, how might I be And promise me Their confidence O Lord, will place in me Now, after the benediction, please allow me to go to the door. The elders have asked me to meet you at the door on the way out.
[50:51] Now, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, rest upon and abide with you all, now and forevermore. Amen.