John 21:1-25 (Teaching)

[0:00] Thank you. Evening. Evening. I guess y'all guessed from my cup placement.

[0:13] Oh. Now I'm going to teach tonight. I really thought this was where I was going to preach for the regular morning service this morning, but evidently Lord had other plans.

[0:25] And that's fine. That's fine. We'll still be in the Gospel of John tonight in chapter 21. We went to John chapter 20 twice today.

[0:39] And I don't know if we'll go through the whole chapter tonight or not, but looking around, everybody here claims to be saved, and I hope that everybody is.

[0:50] Only you and the Lord know that for certain. Now Sandy was just speaking about, you know, it's, you know, we get hints. We, you can normally tell because the Spirit bears witness, the Spirit of bear witness one with another.

[1:04] And so, you know, we can, we can generally tell, tell that. However, and the Bible confirms it, Jesus Christ talked about it himself. That they, these goats mixed in with the sheep, these tears mixed in with the wheat.

[1:19] And the good Lord will separate those one day. It's not our job to judge who's who. You know, the Word of God judges us. The Word of God condemns us.

[1:31] You know, the Scripture has condemned all is what Paul wrote to the Galatian church. But when I said everybody, everybody here tonight claims to be Christian, and I hope that everybody is.

[1:44] And everybody's assuming forth evidence of that. So this is a good lesson to teach actually. It's on servitude. It's on serving. And Jesus Christ is teaching the disciples here about servitude in John chapter 21.

[2:00] Now, the rest of the gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, they pretty much end with the crucifixion of Christ and His resurrection.

[2:11] Now, there are extras that go along with it like a Matthew's gospel. I mean, you know, we, we have Jesus and He beats up with them. And the end of Mark's gospel, Jesus meets up with them just before the ascension.

[2:25] The end of Luke's gospel actually in some of the old Greek, Greek manuscripts, Luke's gospel goes straight into the book of Acts, which is great because that's where Luke's gospel ends right before the ascension.

[2:42] The book of Acts begins right at the ascension of Jesus Christ. And Luke wrote both of those books. So yeah, there's a few extras, but John's got a really interesting extra chapter in his gospel, chapter 21.

[2:58] And it talks about servitude. And it's just like I preached about Mary this morning. If you, if you think about it while we go through it this evening, you know, Mary, she had to be shown some things.

[3:11] Her faith, her faith was tried. Mary Magdalene, her faith was tried. And Jesus had had to show her who, who He was and had to, and he, and once, once he reestablished that with her, then he sent her forth to serve.

[3:28] And he does the same thing with these disciples here in John chapter 21. So keep all that in mind as we read this, we're going to do at least, at least 14 verses.

[3:40] We may go on through the whole chapter. There's only another 10 or 11 verses to finish off the chapter and finish off the gospel of John. But something important, and I read it this morning and didn't really expound a whole lot or preach or preach on it at all, but the last two verses of John chapter 20 says, and many other signs truly to Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book.

[4:07] You know, there's things that Jesus did, but it specifies in the presence of His disciples, not amongst the crowds, not, not amongst the Pharisees or the Sadducees, not in people's houses, unless just the disciples who were there.

[4:24] But it says they're not written in this book and it says, but these are written, the ones that we know of, the ones that we have here within the pages of Scripture, and in particular with this line, within the gospel of John.

[4:37] It says, but these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Not that we can perform miracles ourselves, not that we can work wonders ourselves.

[4:50] Now listen, hey, I'm all for the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Y'all should know that by now. I believe the gifts of the Holy Spirit, I do. But these things are not written that we can necessarily perform those wonders and perform those works and do those things.

[5:05] These things are written that we can believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that anyone can believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. That's why they're written. I know that because the Word of God tells me that.

[5:18] So we've got to keep those things in mind and that believing you might have life through His name. That leads us up to chapter 21 and verse 1. It says, after these things, Jesus shoot himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias.

[5:32] And on this wise, shoot He Himself. This is oddly, oddly phrased. Why is that? Jesus Christ was resurrected at this point.

[5:44] It says, after these things, after what things? Everything that I preached about in the sunrise service this morning, everything I preached about in the regular morning service this morning after those things.

[5:55] But it says Jesus Christ shoot himself. He showed himself to his disciples. He was resurrected. In chapter 20 we read where the disciples, they were all gathered together at the 11 because Matthias hadn't been chosen yet to replace Judas Iscariot.

[6:13] That don't happen until the book of Acts. But they were gathered together and it says Jesus appeared. He appeared and the scripture specifies the door was shut.

[6:25] He just appeared before him. He shoot himself to his disciples. He wanted them to see him. At this point or before the crucifixion, Jesus Christ didn't do that. He had a physical body.

[6:36] He had power now. He could appear and disappear anytime he wanted. Don't you think when the mobs of people were coming after him and it says Jesus Christ had to weave in and out of the mobs to get away from him?

[6:48] If he could have, he could have just snapped his fingers, disappeared, reappeared somewhere else in the world. But here he shows himself to his disciples. He wanted them to see him.

[7:00] He wanted them to. Before the crucifixion, he didn't do that. He was just like me and just like you. If he fell asleep in one place, somebody walked in that room, they saw him laying there.

[7:11] If he was walking down the street, they saw him. Everybody saw him. But here he had power to appear and disappear. He wanted the disciples.

[7:22] He wanted them out there on that lake to see him. Now where is the Sea of Tiberias? It's the Sea of Galilee. If you read John chapter 6, the very first verse will tell you the Sea of Tiberias is the Sea of Galilee.

[7:33] So there's no difference in the seas there. John chapter 6 verse 1 will tell you that. But they're out there on the sea. Why were they there? Why were they on the Sea of Galilee? Why were they in Galilee anyway?

[7:45] If you turn to Matthew chapter 28, you'll see where the women went to the sepulchre. Again, that's Matthew's account. Not just Mary Magdalene, but it says that the women went to the sepulchre to anoint the body of Jesus.

[8:00] To embalm basically the body of Jesus, take care of it. The women went there and Jesus sent the women to tell the disciples that Jesus Christ had risen.

[8:11] He sent a group of them to tell the disciples that he was indeed written. But the message was, tell them, actually it wasn't Jesus, it was an angel, it wasn't it, that told the women that.

[8:23] I'm getting my gospels confused. But anyway, they were told to tell the disciples, go into Galilee and he'll meet you there. Go into Galilee and he'll show himself to you there.

[8:37] That's why they were in Galilee to begin with. Because there was a promise given by angels that Jesus Christ would meet them there. So that's why they were here. Now what do they do once they got there?

[8:50] We're about to read it. We're about to read it. They got bored. They got bored. They got anxious. They got everything.

[9:01] They were together, there were together Simon Peter and Thomas Caldidimus and Nathaniel of Canaan Galilee and the sons of Zebedee and two other of his disciples.

[9:15] We've got seven people here. Seven people. Now notice the order that they're listed in. You can't see this order again in the gospels. It's the only time they're listed in this particular order.

[9:27] I don't know for certain. I think they're, but me personally, this is Spencer or Saint Bible. This is my personal opinion. I think they're ordered in measure of grace.

[9:39] Peter receiving the most of that grace. Why? Peter denied the Lord three times. He's the only one in Scripture that we saw now. Listen to chapter before this. Thomas said, I will not believe. They never denied the existence of the Lord.

[9:51] Never denied that he knew the Lord. Never denied anything like that. But Thomas did say, I will not believe unless I thrust my hand in his side, unless I put my finger through the holes in his hand.

[10:02] In the chapter right before this. I said, this is just me. I think they're ordered in measure of grace. John is listed last in this.

[10:13] The sons of Zebedee. We know two other disciples. We don't know which disciples it was. But John was one of the sons of Zebedee. James and John were. So, but it says Peter and Thomas, and Thomas called diddermas.

[10:30] Nathaniel of Canaan and Galilee, the sons of Zebedee and two other of his disciples. Simon and Peter sayeth unto them, I go a fish. I'm tired of waiting.

[10:42] They said he would be here. He's not. I go a fishin. What was Peter's trade? He was a fisherman. Peter was going right back to what God called him out of.

[10:56] Jesus Christ. In Luke chapter five, you'll read this account. Jesus Christ was on the sea. There was a mob of people coming after him. And there were men that were right there at the edge of the water.

[11:08] Jesus Christ stepped into one of those boats. He said push out from the land, just a little ways. Get me, and he didn't do that to get away from the crowd. He did that so the sound of his voice would bounce off the water.

[11:21] And everybody that was present could hear him. You ever been out on the lake late at night? When there's very few planes going by, no cars on the highway behind you. You can hear somebody on an island a half a mile out in the lake.

[11:34] You can hear their conversation because it's bouncing across the water. Jesus Christ did not shove out from the land to get away from the crowd. He wanted the crowd to hear what he had to say.

[11:45] But that was Peter's boat. That was Peter's boat. You keep that in mind as we read this account because it goes hand in hand with what we're going to go over tonight. It goes hand in hand with every bit of Simon Peter's saith unto him, I go a fishing.

[12:00] He went right back to where God had caught him out of, where Jesus crossed himself and said, from now on you're not going to catch fish. From henceforth, you shall be fishers of men. He went right back to what Jesus had caught him out of.

[12:13] He went right back to what Jesus said, you're not going to do this anymore. Now listen, I ain't saying it's sinful to go fishing. I'm saying Peter never had a commission in this passage of scripture from God to go fishing.

[12:25] What was he supposed to be doing? Fishing for men. He was supposed to be fishing for men, but he went out on the water fishing for fish. Fishing for fish.

[12:36] Now listen, I've heard it taught just like this, he was expecting the Lord to come. So he went out on the water to catch fish to make a meal for the Lord.

[12:47] If you don't take a big fishing vessel out on the water, cast nets over the side to make a meal for just a few people. You don't do that. You don't catch, you'll read later on in this scripture, 153 fish.

[13:01] You don't have a net that size for seven people plus Jesus Christ, for eight people all together. You don't need 153 fish for that. Peter had gone back to what he was doing before.

[13:15] Shame on Peter and shame on us for doing the same thing. Simon Peter says, I go fishing. They say unto him, we also go with thee. Everyone of them was fishermen.

[13:27] That's what they done. And that's one of the most amazing thoughts of this whole thing. Jesus Christ could have come, he could have come and specifically called kings to follow him.

[13:38] He could have come and specifically called the Pharisees. Those that were looked upon by the Jews as great and holy and separated and consecrated under God.

[13:50] He could have called anybody, but he went to these lowly fishermen. You know who the only way he could have really went lower as far as occupation went, was going to the prostitutes and went to shepherds.

[14:02] David was a shepherd in the Old Testament. That was a lowly thing for Jews. It was a lowly thing for Egyptians. It was a lowly trade to be a shepherd, to be a watcher of critters, of animals.

[14:18] But he went to these fishermen, smelly, stinky, nasty, good for nothing fishermen. And he went to them and he said, follow me. He went to a tax collector named Levi.

[14:31] One that was despised by the Jews and despised by the Roman government all the same. He went to him and said, follow me. He went to the ones that were persecuted, the ones that were hated, the ones that nobody cared about.

[14:44] And he told them, follow me. He went to these fishermen. And every one of them here when Simon Peter says, I go a fishing, every one of them says, hey, I'm all for that. I'm just as anxious as you are.

[14:55] I'm just as bored as you are. We might as well do something. Let's go out here and do what we know how to do. Keep that in mind. Let's do what we know how to do.

[15:06] They say unto him, we also go with thee. They went forth and entered into a ship immediately. And that night, they caught nothing. These fishermen, that's all they've done. Their entire lives.

[15:18] Outside of these three years they spent with Jesus Christ and his ministry. That's all they knew was fishing. That night they caught nothing. But when the morning was now come, now we've gone from night to morning.

[15:32] When the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore. But the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. What's that remind you? It reminds me of John chapter 20 from this morning. Mary Magdalene thought Jesus Christ was the gardener.

[15:45] She didn't recognize him. She was that tore up. These disciples were that tore up. And they were that anxious. Folks, it ain't no different than Luke's account.

[15:57] Luke's account, Jesus Christ walking on, hoops up with those two disciples on the road to Emmaus. They had their heads down. Their countenance was falling. Everything about them was distraught because they didn't have faith in the resurrection.

[16:12] They didn't have faith in what Jesus said. They didn't have faith that he was going to come back. And here's Jesus walking along with them. It ain't no different right here in John chapter 21.

[16:24] It says Jesus stood on the shore and it was morning. Jesus stood on the shore but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No.

[16:37] He forced a confession out of them. Have ye any meat? You're out there doing what you've done all your life. You're doing this thing that you know exactly where to go in this sea.

[16:50] They'd fish that water all their lives. They knew where the fish would be. They knew how to catch them. They knew how deep to drop their nets. They knew how to corral the fish to a certain area.

[17:02] They knew all this about these waters because that's the only waters they had ever fished. And he forced a confession. You've put forth all this effort all night long, your own effort, your own work.

[17:16] And you've done nothing. He forced that confession out of them. When the Holy Ghost got ahold of me, it forced a confession. It forced me to confess that I was wrong and that God was right.

[17:30] That I've been wrong for 33 years of my life. That's all that was when I got saved. That I've been wrong all that time. And it forced me. It forced me to either say, yes, Lord, you're right and I'm wrong.

[17:44] Or to say, I still think I'm right and go on with my hard head and my hard heart. And not let God do anything with it. It forced a confession out of me. Jesus Christ forced a confession out of these fishermen out there on the water.

[17:57] He already knew that they didn't have any meat. He knew they hadn't caught any fish. He knew these things. So Jesus said, none of them children have any meat. They answered him, no.

[18:08] He spoke to them. They still don't know who he is. They just think he's some fellow up there on the sea shore. And he said, none of them cast the net on the right side of the ship and he shall find.

[18:21] They cast there for and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. Just like Luke chapter five. And folks, that's when the calling came.

[18:32] That's when the calling came. You will no longer fish for fish. You will fish for men. And the same thing happened. And Peter told Jesus in Luke chapter five, Jesus asked him, have you caught anything?

[18:46] Have you done any good tonight? Are the fish biting in other words? What we would say around here? And Peter said, nope, not a thing. He says, but that's your work. Oh, Jesus told them.

[18:57] He said, cast over here. And Peter, I'm getting all my people mixed up tonight. Peter said, Peter said, we have told all night.

[19:09] We have told all night and not caught a thing yet at thy word. At your word. I'm going to do this thing. And they did it. They cast the net over and they drew in so many fish in that net and Luke five that the net broke.

[19:24] The net broke with all those fish. He said, I'm going to cast it on the right side of the ship and you shall find they cast therefore now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.

[19:36] You keep that in mind because we're going to continue reading. They, they, seven of them were not able to draw the net because of the multitude of fishes. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved, who's that?

[19:50] John. In fact, up here in twenty twenty one and two, when he just refers to him to himself as the sons of Zabadi, James and John, they were brothers.

[20:03] That's the only time in his gospel. He doesn't refer to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. Every other time you see John refer to himself, it's the disciple whom Jesus loved. And he did.

[20:15] Jesus loved John greatly. He goes on to say that at the end of towards the end of this chapter, he goes on to expound on that the scripture does. John wasn't bragging when he was writing. It's true.

[20:26] It's true. John was the beloved. And that's why his gospel is called the gospel of love. But anyway, we won't get into all that. John, John is who we're talking about here though in verse seven.

[20:39] Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved, sayeth unto Peter, it is the Lord. What I preach this morning. Who got to the tomb first?

[20:51] John did. But he didn't go in. John tells Peter it took John, the disciple whom Jesus loved. It took John with his with with his acute vision and his and his discernment.

[21:07] That's why he's at the bottom of the list of grace here in verse two. Those who had received more grace than others. Now listen, and y'all can do with that what you want to. I think that that that list shows that because John had more discernment.

[21:22] He had more belief. He had more faith in Jesus Christ and who Jesus Christ was and what Jesus Christ said he would do and all these other things. That's why I think he's towards the bottom of the list.

[21:33] But he still needed grace. He still needed salvation. He still needed Jesus Christ to give it to him. But it took John to tell Peter it is the Lord. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter it is the Lord.

[21:46] Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girded his fissures coat under him for he was naked and did cast himself into the sea. Just like at the tomb, John got there first.

[22:00] But Peter's the one that took action. John got there first and he stooped down and he peered inside. But Peter was the first one to take action. Peter went past John, he went into the tomb.

[22:13] It ain't no different in this account here. John recognized that it was the Lord. John saw that it was the Lord. He tells Peter the one that sticks his foot in his mouth. The one that takes actions before he takes too much.

[22:27] He tells Peter and Peter dirts his fisherman's coat about him because he was naked. Folks, you know what that tells me? Peter was not expecting the Lord to show up.

[22:39] Even though the angels had told him Matthew 28, go to Galilee. Jesus will meet you there. Peter wasn't expecting him to show up. He was out there naked on the boat.

[22:50] And listen, that was a common thing back then. Why I don't know, I'm glad it ain't now. But he wasn't expecting the Lord to be there. He wasn't expecting him to show up.

[23:02] So he throws a coat on him and he jumps out of the boat. He didn't follow. He didn't trip. Peter wanted to be where Jesus was.

[23:15] And he wasn't going away on that boat to get him to land. Peter's the one when they came and arrested Jesus. Peter's the one that followed the far off.

[23:26] He's the one that, yeah, he warmed himself by the enemy's fire, but he was still trying his best to follow Jesus. That was Peter. And this is Peter here.

[23:37] It's the same Peter doing the same things. He says, that's my Lord. That's Jesus. I want to be where he's at. And he wasn't going to wait on six of his buddies to get him to the shore.

[23:52] He forgot about the fish that they had just netted. That this huge multitude of fish, he forgot all about that. He forgot why he was out there. He was out there off his own accord.

[24:04] He was out there of his own flesh, of his own want. He forgot all about that when he saw Jesus. He said, I want to be in his presence. And Jesus, a far off on the shore, far off, couple of hundred cubits, far off from the shore.

[24:21] That would have been about a hundred yards, or, yeah, a hundred yards, about 300 feet. But Jesus was speaking to him a far off. Jesus knew exactly where they were at.

[24:32] They saw Jesus, but it took him a while to figure out who it was. Well, sometimes we'll stray from the Lord. We'll stray from the Word. We'll stray from our prayer life.

[24:44] We'll stray from our devotion. We'll stray from all kinds of things from the Lord. But he's still there far off, and he's still watching me because I am his own. I belong to him.

[24:56] Jesus knew exactly where Peter was. He knew exactly where these other six were. He knew exactly what they were doing. He knew exactly why they were doing it. He could have left them. He could have said, I spent three and a half years trying to teach them, trying to preach to them, trying to show them, and they're still out there doing their own thing.

[25:13] Why don't they remember the account in Luke 5, which it wasn't Luke 5 then, but why don't they remember that account of the multitude of fish that I caused them to draw in?

[25:24] Folks, this showed his deity. He showed that he is indeed Lord over earth because it wasn't just that this school of fish happened to swim by. Jesus Christ had all power given unto him in heaven and in earth, and he could have caused any school of fish to swim at that time straight into that net.

[25:43] That's what happened. It wasn't coincidence. It wasn't happenstance. It wasn't. Therefore, that disciple whom Jesus loved, say, the Lord, now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he geared his fishers coat unto him for he was naked and did cast himself into the sea.

[25:59] And the other disciples came in a little ship for they were not far from land, but as it were, 200 cubits dragging the net with fishes. So as I said, 200 feet offshore, or 200 cubits offshore, which would have been about 300 feet, about the length of a football field, they were offshore.

[26:17] Now listen, they were behind this little ship, which would have been called a punt nowadays. It's the one that helped get the netted fish as opposed to the bigger fishing vessels.

[26:31] It was further out than the big vessel was. It says they were behind. In other words, they had cast this net out in area where there shouldn't have been any fish.

[26:43] They had thrown this net out on the right side. They should have been out beyond the punt, beyond the little ship. They should have been further out in the water, but they were closer to the shore than the punt ship was, than the little midget ship was.

[26:59] So Jesus had caused them to catch all these fish, and you read only in the Scriptures, 153 of them. He had caused them to catch all these in an area where they shouldn't have done it. In other words, Jesus is telling them, when I tell you to go catch men, I mean go catch men.

[27:16] And he's teaching them what happens when they do what he tells them to do. He's teaching them servitude, and he's teaching them his own guidance. He says, you don't go places to catch men that I don't send you to.

[27:30] You don't preach sermons that I don't give you to go catch men. You do what I say, when I say, and how I say, and this is the result that you'll get.

[27:42] Over there in Luke chapter 5, those fish were not numbered, the neck broke. That was a picture of evangelism. They were supposed, and they went out for three years, they evangelized.

[27:55] Jesus would send them out. Sometimes he'd send them out just a few at a time. Sometimes he'd send them out 70 at a time. But either way, they were evangelizing then. He's teaching them pastorship, and he's teaching them how to teach in this.

[28:09] He's teaching them, you'll have a number. You'll have a specific number. 153 fish were in that net. I ain't even got to my favorite part of that yet. Praise God.

[28:20] The other disciples came in a little ship, for they were not far from land, but as it were 200 cubits, dragging the net with fishes. As soon as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid there on, and bread.

[28:34] I don't read anything about Jesus having a Zepto 33, and a diable fishing rod out there. How did Jesus feed the multitudes in this miracle?

[28:47] He created extra. We talked about this just a little while ago. Orville done the offering, as you see, $770 this morning. Roger said, we're going to let Orville take it up more often.

[29:00] Praise God, it multiplies like loaves and fish. Hallelujah. That's how Jesus did it, though. Jesus wasn't running out to the banks, and catching more fish, and tossing them into the baskets.

[29:14] It was a miracle that Jesus wrought with His power, and with the power of Almighty God, to multiply the loaves, and to multiply the fish. Jesus simply created fire, and He threw these fish on there.

[29:28] From the fish from the nets that they caught, they were still dragging them up to the land. Jesus Christ feeding them by a miracle. But what's amazing to me, what's most amazing about that particular account, Jesus Christ resurrected Savior.

[29:42] I had all power in heaven and in earth. I was concerned about those men out there on the water, and if they had eaten or not. He was concerned about their physical bodies.

[29:53] And He was also concerned about their spiritual state as well. He was concerned about their physical bodies. Are you hungry? I've got your breakfast here. Now, folks, that don't sound like much breakfast to us, bread and fish.

[30:05] But hey, that was breakfast of champions back then, especially for a bunch of fishermen. It wouldn't have bothered them a bit. But Jesus Christ had created the fire of coals, and there was fish already on it, and there was bread there.

[30:20] He had simply made it Himself. I don't read nothing about an oven where He could have baked His bread. I don't read nothing about a fish and run. I don't read nothing about a fish and net that Jesus had here. He simply created it via another miracle.

[30:35] And Jesus raw. It had to have been that. It had to have been. Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now called.

[30:46] Bring of the fish which ye have now called. Simon Peter went up and through the net, through the net to land full of great fishes, and 150 and three, and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.

[30:59] 153 fish. Now did you catch what we read? Who dragged that net up there? Simon Peter, by whose command, Jesus Christ, all seven of them couldn't get that net earlier.

[31:16] Seven disciples, just a few verses before this, could not lift that net. Yet one man at the command of Jesus Christ, went down and got that net by himself, and dragged it to where Jesus was.

[31:32] That's my favorite part, by the way. One man. But it was because he was doing it as Jesus commanded it. As Christ commanded it.

[31:43] He was able to do that. In other words, I could go out here on these street corners and preach till I was blue in the face. And not when one soul undercrest. If God tells me to go out there, though, it's because he's got people out there that he knows will be passing by, and he knows needs to hear the gospel.

[32:02] Evangelizing, no idea how many souls any preacher has ever won. And they shouldn't know. In a pastor type situation, like I'm in, I should know how many people, approximately anyway, are within the congregation.

[32:18] In Luke chapter five, no idea how many fish was in that net when it broke. But nevertheless, they were caught. And this right here, 153, a specified number.

[32:30] A specified number of fish was in there. How many fish are we catching? We don't know in Luke five here, it's 153. And Peter by himself was able to lug 153 fish in a net up toward Jesus, because that's what Jesus told him to do.

[32:48] That's when he told him to do it. That's how he told him to do it. The power of one man. In other words, when we do what Jesus says and when Jesus says it, the power of God could be sevenfold with us.

[33:02] Because seven of them couldn't drag that net earlier. I'm not saying that's what it will be. I'm just saying, per the scripture, it's a possibility that very thing could happen.

[33:15] But when we do it outside the way God says to do it, hopefully we ain't going to have much result. We will not have much result. I don't go to bars and preach.

[33:26] I don't go to strip clubs and preach. As much as those people need to hear the gospel, I don't do it. Now, if God truly laid it in my heart, you go down wherever the Nashville Sound, you go here, you go there, you go to the parking lot, you just light into a hellfire and brimstone sermon.

[33:45] If God truly laid that on my heart, I would do it. But if I do it up myself, I'm probably going to get beer bottles thrown at me. I'm probably going to have the tar beat out at me.

[33:57] There's going to be all kinds of bad stuff go down if I do that up myself. I've never been on a street corner that I didn't really and truly feel like that's where God wanted me at that time. Most of that's a dangerous thing to do.

[34:09] It is dangerous. But now if God puts me there, He's got a reason. He's got even if it's for one individual that's never heard the gospel, it's going to be passing by there at a certain time. God's got me or somebody else there to get the gospel into those years.

[34:23] Anyway, Jesus saith unto them, Come and die, and none of the disciples thirst ask Him, who art thou, knowing that it was the Lord.

[34:34] Come and die, not how you been, why ain't you up there in the Ramada in Galilee, like I told you to be, not why are you down here fishing?

[34:46] I never told you to do that. Come and die. That's the last invitation you read in the gospels of Jesus Christ.

[34:57] Come, come, come. But He says it to His disciples. He says it to those that are already His. He says it to those that He's called. Come and die.

[35:09] I understand revelation. I understand, it says, behold, I stand at the door and knock, any man that'll open up to me, I'll come in and suck with him, and he with me, I understand all that.

[35:20] That's great, and that's fine, and that's well. I'm talking about a gospel, and I'm talking about invitation after invitation after invitations have been given throughout the pages of these 21 chapters of John. This is the last point that He's given, and it's to His own disciples.

[35:35] Come and die. Come and die. None of the disciples dourced ask Him, who art thou knowing that it was the Lord? They knew, every one of them knew, at that point all seven of those knew, Jesus didn't come with them, take it to the grave and give it to them, and give it to them, and fish likewise.

[35:51] And this is now the third time that Jesus shoot Himself to His disciples after that He was risen from the dead. Now we know several days had passed at this point. This was only the third time that He had shown Himself to His disciples.

[36:05] Now you go on over to the book of Acts, chapter one, and you'll read where 40 days. For 40 days, Jesus Christ showed Himself to His disciples. That doesn't mean He was constantly in their presence, and that doesn't mean that they could constantly see Him.

[36:18] That means that it is just as this account was. When Jesus wanted His disciples to see Him, they saw Him. When He didn't, He disappeared. It was just as this account right here is.

[36:29] Why are that 40 days? Because there was a lot of time that Jesus was in the grave. And the book of Leviticus chapter 23, you read about those feasts. Jesus Christ had to wait on the feast of Pentecost or right before the feast of Pentecost in order for all that to come together from the Old Testament.

[36:47] There was written 1500 years before any of this ever happened. There was the Passover feast. There was the feast of Unleavened Bread, which was seven days. And then there was the feast of Pentecost.

[36:59] The Sabbath had to pass. On the evening of that seventh Sabbath, all that, the feast of Pentecost, then after that you had the feast of the first fruits.

[37:12] That's when the wave offering was given. That's when Christ ascended. When Christ ascended, it was the day of the wave offering. Jesus Christ went to heaven, and He stood there before God.

[37:26] I don't know that He did that, but He would have done that. He would have done that. He would have done that wave offering. That's what the priest did. He would stand before God with whatever was offered, whether it was old, whether it was bread, whatever it was.

[37:42] That priest would stand there before God in the temple or the tabernacle, wherever he was, and He would wait before God. He would say, God, this is what I'm giving to you. God, this is for you.

[37:54] This is what we've done for you. All of it falls perfectly in line. You read the crucifixion, the whole passion week, the week before Jesus Christ was crucified, up to where we're at right now.

[38:07] Every bit of it falls in line with those feasts in Leviticus 23. It's amazing. It's amazing that that happened. 1500 years before Jesus Christ was ever born.

[38:18] Those laws were written. Yet people doubt the Bible. And I was one of them. Now, this is the third time Jesus shoot himself to his hypo.

[38:30] After that, he was risen from the dead. Y'all want to keep on going? Praise God. We'll finish off the chapter. I enjoy teaching in case you didn't notice. So when they had dined with Jesus, say it to Jesus, so when they had dined, I'm sorry, Jesus say it to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, love us thou, may we be in heaven.

[38:52] Son of Jonas, love us thou, me more than these. May I ask you, what's the these? Love us thou, me more than these. This is Spencer's opinion.

[39:04] The Bible don't tell us. Jesus could have been talking about the disciples. He could have said, love us thou, me more than these. But what had Peter done right before this?

[39:18] He had dragged a net of fish up there. Peter had left his spot in Galilee and said, I go a fish. I'm going back to what I was done before.

[39:32] I'm going back to what I've done right before Jesus Christ called me into ministry. I'm going back to all that. I think Jesus Christ had him drag doped fish up there. Because he's the one giving commandment and Peter done it all by himself.

[39:46] I think Jesus Christ pointed to that net of fish. Maybe he waved his hand at him. He may have been holding him some of his hands and said, love us thou, me more than these. You might have smacked Peter on the nose of one of them. I don't know.

[39:58] But I think he was talking about fish. Because that's what Peter had left his spot, his designated spot that was spoken by angels to the women to tell the disciples, go to Galilee. Jesus Christ is going to meet you there.

[40:14] He had left his spot to go a fish. So I think it was fish that Jesus was talking about. I said, Scripture don't say that. But everything that leads up to that points towards fish to me.

[40:26] Love us thou, me more than these. He saith unto him Yea Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. Let's keep on reading. He saith unto him again the second time Simon, son of Jonas, Love us thou me. He saith unto him, Yea Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

[40:44] He saith unto him the third time Simon, son of Jonas, Love us thou me. Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Love us thou me. And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee.

[40:58] Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. That's what makes me think that he is teaching Peter pastorship in this. He is teaching him not only servitude in general, do what I say, when I say how I say, but he's teaching him not only to do the work of the pastor, he begins with Feed my lambs. What's the difference between a lamb and a sheep? A lamb is a young one. A sheep is a full grown one. When you read about the lost sheep in the parables that Jesus Christ talked about, he's not talking about lambs, he's talking about full grown sheep that have left the fold, they've gone out there and gotten lost, hey it's easy enough for a lamb to do that, before a sheep to do that. I could, I could but I'd probably be in myself so I'm not going to do it.

[41:46] But I'm going to teach the first one he says, Feed my lambs Feed those young ones Feed them the word of God don't feed them corn.

[42:00] Remember we're talking about fish here don't throw them corn, don't throw them carp bait don't throw them anything something I'm not going to do any good you feed my lambs. Peter would have known exactly what Jesus was talking about. He did know exactly what Jesus was talking about then the next two times he says feed my sheep in other words Peter you're going to be said over a congregation of people your your job and now listen Peter still evangelized all throughout the book of Acts Peter evangelized and we see that. But Jesus was telling him here he says you're going to be said over a flock you're going to have your own congregation you're going to do these things and you're going to have to feed the lambs and those lambs are going to grow up into sheep.

[42:46] He tells him three times feed my lamb or once feed my lambs two times feed my sheep one time for each time that Peter denied Jesus Christ he was bringing these things unto Peter's recollection. He brought Luke 5 to Peter's recollection I guarantee you that when Jesus Christ was going when we read this entire account here Peter was thinking about what happened in Luke chapter 5 as far as those that net as long as far as it dragging the side of the boat down the net breaking all these things going on I guarantee you that went through Peter's mind.

[43:26] He's bringing these things to Peter's recollection for a reason though because he wants Peter to see just like he did Mary and we talked about this morning who he is and what he and what he can do he wants Peter to see his own commission that he is giving him what a commission it is so verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18

[47:36] verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18

[51:38] verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18

[55:42] verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18 verse 18