Go to the book of John. The book of John. We're gonna look at a passage of scripture that occurs pretty recently after the events that we celebrate this morning, or celebrate today, Easter. Not immediately after, but pretty soon. In John chapter 21, I'm going to ask a simple question, a question that I will not be rhetorical. I'm not going to ask for you to answer me out loud, but I'm going to ask for you to answer the Holy Spirit. We'll get to that in just a moment. But John chapter 21, I'd ask for you, if you don't mind, would you mind standing with me as you're physically able? I'll just read about six and a half verses or so. John 21, we won't go long this evening. John 21, I've learned you can lull people into a sense of complacency. If you go about 30, 35 minutes Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, you can go like three and a half hours and fool them on Wednesday. Man, they're already here. I won't do that to you. Don't stay away on Wednesday. I will not do that to you, all right? It'd be a ghost town around here. John 21, in verse number one, the Bible says this. After these things, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and on this wise showed he himself. There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana, and Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples. Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They saying to him, we also go with thee. They went forth and entered into a ship immediately, and that night they caught nothing. But when the morning was now come, 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. Can you imagine how dejected, how disappointed, No, and he said unto them, verse six, 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. In the first half of verse seven, therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, it is The question I'd like to ask this evening, as we look at these men, you realize they walked three plus years right in lockstep with Jesus Christ. They were not unfamiliar to him. He was not some enigma. He was not constantly cloaked in some large robe to disguise himself. People knew who this was, and no one should have known him better than these men. My question though is, do you know him? Do you know him? We're gonna ponder that this evening. Father, we thank you for this night. Thank you for the opportunity we have to gather around your word. And as we really launch into these services, I ask that what's spoken about tonight from your word would be a help, be a conviction, Lord, it would be precisely what you'd have for this hour. Thank you for your goodness to us, and we thank you for what you will do. And your sons and me pray, amen. You may be seated there. I'll kind of give you an introduction to this passage and break it down. In verse number one, you realize this is one of the last appearances of Jesus Christ. This is one of the last times he appears robed in human flesh. Now, we realize he was the God man. He was 100% God and 100% man. My daughter, we were driving up 135. And when I say up 135, I mean up 135 with the RV. And talking to Pastor, he counseled me not to go back down 135 with that RV. But we'll be careful about that and go a different way. But my daughter, for some reason, they were in the back of the RV. And it stopped somewhere and she came up and she asked if she could sit by me and the other ones were in the back. And she started asking me some questions about the Trinity. Now, you've never figured out whether you know a Bible doctrine or not until you've tried to explain it to a six-year-old. Now, the nice thing about the Trinity is, I can honestly say, no man really understands it. Intellectuals try to explain it. It's like water. It can be three, you know, gas, liquid, or solid. Some people talk about it being an egg, and use that illustration, the shell, and the yolk, and the egg white. Kind of tell you, at the end of the day, we're not going to know until we get to heaven, right? I can't explain it to you, and I did my best to explain. I wanted to sound like a smart dad and just lay it all out for her. I had to tell her, at the end of the day, we're going to find out when we get to heaven. I can't tell you how three in one works. The same is true for the God-man, Jesus Christ. I'm not sure how he could give up some of his, I wouldn't say give up his ability, but he decided to become humanity and divinity all at the same time. Honestly, I can't explain it. Maybe some far smarter than me can. But wouldn't it have been something to be able to see him? Wouldn't that have been wonderful to be able to walk alongside him? to actually maybe, just maybe, speaking of fast food and all that type of stuff, can you think of what a privilege it must have been to go into that village and while he was talking to the Samaritan woman, to go find Jesus some food? To come back and say, here, here Jesus. To just be a, to wait hand and foot on him, robed in human flesh. But can I tell you, for as much of a blessing as it would have been to be able to see him there, I'm glad he left us something so we could know him. I'm glad he also didn't leave us comfortless either. But this is, in verse number one, one of the last appearances of Jesus. But then, you notice here, the Bible, I believe we do have an every word Bible, in verse number two, there was, maybe I'll call it a limited attendance. There were more than seven disciples, but there were only seven here in this list. They were together. Verse two, Simon Peter and Thomas called Didymus and Nathanael of Cana and Galilee and the sons of Zebedee. There were two of them, right? And two other of his disciples. So we add up to seven there. Sometimes I realize we can feel like our group is small. Sometimes we can feel like, we talk about, for Baptists and just in general, it being a small world. Probably you have friends, and we don't even know we're friends with each other, but we have friends, and can I tell you, no matter how small you think your group is, God's always big enough. I'm glad for the fact, there was a, used to say, one of the old statesmen said something along the lines of what used to be said, you and God make a majority. But then one of the old statesmen of the faith said something along the lines, he doesn't even need you. He's got a majority all by himself. Aren't you glad for that? Unlimited attendance. But then I notice, and this is where it kind of hits me, I see in verse number three a lacking attitude. Look at verse number three. Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. Is there anything wrong with fishing? Now, I am horrible at fishing. I do a lot of fishing, I don't do a lot of catching. There's nothing wrong with going fishing, but this, you know as well as I, this is Peter turning back to an old lifestyle. This is not just recreational fishing, this is Peter rejecting where God put him and going back to something he should not have been doing. I go fishing. Then I see, Continue to verse number three there was a losing attempt. They didn't do very well. They said to him We also go with thee they went forth and entered into a ship immediately and that night they caught Nothing it doesn't it seem like when you go without God it never works out the way. It's supposed to There's an old song how many know that song come thou found you know that song come thou found no I That song was written by a man named Robert Robinson, all the way back in the 1700s, long time ago. Robert Robinson accepted Christ at about 20 years old or so, under the leather-lunged preaching of a man named George Whitefield. George Whitfield, obviously you'd name this, we still remember hundreds of years later. Robert Robinson, maybe not so much, but he wrote that just three years after his conversion, after he got saved. He went on to become a Baptist preacher, had a church running almost 1,000 people later on in life. But towards the very end of his life, he did not finish strong. He strayed. He went away from the Lord. He backslid, if you want to call it that. But he had written that song many years ago. And he was riding in a carriage. He had lived for many years at this point now, astray from God, the God that had maybe inspired him to write those words. And he was riding in a carriage. And to save money, there was another young lady splitting the fare. They were going between cities. And she, to pass the time, realized they didn't have phones. And they didn't have all those types of things. And she began to sing a song. You want to guess what song it was? Come thou fount. And then she got to that last verse, prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, oh, take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. You think about an ice cold dagger to the heart, that was. And she, not looking for a compliment, she turned to Mr. Robinson and said, sir, what do you think of that song? Asking the author himself. And he said this, ma'am, I would give a thousand worlds if I had them to feel now as I felt then. I'm the man that wrote that song. You ever been away from the Lord? Maybe, just maybe. It could be that you came to Easter Sunday services in that place, and maybe you're tired of the attempts to salvage what you've made of your life away from the Lord. I see here a losing attempt, but I also see in verse number four, but when the morning was now come, I'm glad the sun's coming up in the morning. I'm glad the light arises and illuminates the Lord's arrival. But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore. Aren't you glad? I want you to notice here, verse number five. Then Jesus saith unto them, this is kind of introduction, long introduction, very short message. Then said Jesus unto them, children, have ye any meat? I am so glad, now we serve a God that always deals with the root of the issue. You ever notice that about God? He is able to cut right down to where the crux of the matter is. But I am so glad that he is kind enough when he deals with the cause, He also gives loving attention and deals with the symptoms too. Say, what are you talking about here? Do you think in the grand scheme of eternity, God cared if they caught any fish? But I can tell you it meant something to those disciples. You ever had your head down just plowing forward, seemed to be failing at everything? Isn't it such a blessing when God just comes alongside and helps you in your present? Even when your present distress is a place you put yourself, it's a blessing when he comes alongside. Children, have ye any meat? Showed some loving attention. I'm glad for the fact that we serve a God. He doesn't just give us the medicine, but he gives us a spoonful of sugar to take it with. He gave this loving attention. But then I noticed there, verse number five, Bible says, then Jesus said unto them, children, have ye any meat? They answered him, no. And in verse number six, I see a leader's authority. 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. And in verse number seven, finally, we see a logical acknowledgement. Oh, that's Jesus. But we go through those six and a half verses because I want to ask the question, we've already asked, do you know him? But I want to figure out why it was, do a little detective work, how and why was it that the disciples finally figured out who it was? It took them a little while, didn't it? Now, I realize that it may have just been the beginning of the day. I realize that the light was just coming up. Maybe it was shading him just a little bit. But I'd like to look at why and how they figured out this was Jesus, because it might help you figure out where Jesus is in your life, too. I think sometimes I can only speak for myself. I think sometimes we get out, as with Dale, I think you said, we take things into our own hands sometimes. We get out a little ahead of God. We get behind God a little bit. And we forget the last place we left him. But then when we try to get back in fellowship, get back in lockstep, it's hard for us to recognize him sometimes. I want to talk about that for just a moment here. How did they know him? First, was his presence evidence enough? Was his presence evidence enough? We're not going to, for sake of time, we're not going to look at all of what we call Christophanies. times when Jesus Christ came, maybe pre-New Testament appearance of Jesus Christ, but there are often times, and I would tend to agree with this, when you see the phrasing Angel of the capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, Angel of the Lord, it very well could be that that was Jesus Christ coming and spending a little time with his people. Would you like to guess where the very first time that he visited, I would say his people, but it wasn't his people. The very first time that he did that was to speak to a little Egyptian named Hagar. Can you believe that? It wasn't Abraham, wasn't Isaac, wasn't Jacob. Speaking of him having time for the little people, I'm glad that he gave us that little help. We could look through all the times he spoke to Abraham, to Isaac, Jacob as I mentioned, visited Moses, Gideon at the threshing floor, those three Hebrew children. Aren't you glad there was a fourth man in the fire? You would think, now, I'm not trying to be spooky here or anything like that. For me personally, I tend to shy away from these grandiose conversations or ideas about, you know, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. It's like, that may be a little bit much for me, but you would think, think about this, you would surmise that when God shows up like he was in John 21, you would think people might take notice You would think it might feel just a little bit different. You might think the disciples might figure out, that's Jesus over there, but apparently his presence wasn't evidenced enough. One of my favorite studies, number two that I've done in recent days, asks this question, did his posture expose him? You think about this, moms, dads, moms probably more than dads, but when you see your kids, you see a pack of kids like they were all running out here a second ago, you can figure out which ones are yours pretty quickly. Not even by the squeals of delight or the crying. You can figure out, just in a silhouette, you can figure out, that one's mine. You can look at the back of your husband from across the way. He might be wearing something different than you thought he was. And you can figure out, I know that guy. Just by the way he holds himself, by the way he carries himself. Our posture is our own. It's very individualistic, is it not? Jesus, 100% God, yes, but he was 100% man, too. You ever want to do a fun study, look at the postures of Jesus. I see a few different ones in scripture. Apparently, this wasn't enough for them to figure out who he was, because he's standing over there on the shore. You would think it was the same old Jesus. You'd think they would have been able to figure out who it was. If you ever want to do a study, you can look at the sleeping posture of Jesus. Think about a little baby in a manger. Aren't you glad that he was in that manger for you and me? Remember when he was sleeping in the back of a boat in Mark chapter four? You can study the sleeping posture of Jesus, but he was rarely, he was a busy man, busy God. Very rarely was he sleeping. How about the seated posture of Jesus? Aren't you glad for a Jesus that will accept the little ones to come to him? and sit in his lap. We could talk about him seated at a well in John chapter four. He must needs go through Samaria. I'm glad he went through Samaria for that woman. I'm glad he came through wherever I was when he came to get me. The seated posture of Jesus. We could talk about how the fact that he is, his posture right now, he's seated at the right hand of the father. What a blessing that is. How about the stooping? The stooping posture of Jesus. What are you talking about? Remember when he stooped over to write in the sand? We don't know what he wrote. That's one of those things I'm looking forward to, you know, the 360 camera when we get to heaven so I can watch this Bible account and I'm going to see if we can move that camera around and look over his shoulder and figure out exactly. And I think, I'm pretty sure in my glorified body I'm going to be able to read whatever language he was writing that in too. Apparently it was enough to make all those guys walk out. They wanted nothing to do with it after he started writing this in. I'm glad he stooped down. I'm glad he stooped under the weight of the cross. That leads us to, you talk about the supplicating posture of Jesus when he was in a garden, praying as it were, great drops of blood. That led to the sacrificial posture of Jesus, hung on a cross for you and for me. But one of my favorite, you may think it's not as interesting as some of these other ones, but it is to me, one of my favorite postures of Jesus is what we find in John 21. We say standing. Everyone does it all the time. My favorite example of the standing posture of Jesus is when one of his men, Stephen, was being stoned. Because before that, before Stephen was being stoned, the Bible talks about, actually in the book of Matthew, how he is seated, going to be seated on the right hand of the Father. That's where he was going to ascend to the Father. He was going to be seated on the right hand of the Father. So that's, we know, that was a posture he was going to assume when he got to heaven. And we know after that, in a multitude of places, the Bible talks about how he is now seated on the right hand of the Father. But in the book of Acts, when Stephen was being stoned, I see, him standing, almost like he was giving a standing ovation to one of his own. But did his posture expose him? Apparently not. It wasn't immediately after they saw, oh, wait a second, that's Jesus. That wasn't enough. His presence wasn't enough. How about his proclamation, the way he spoke? I've been told, I had someone ask me the other day, where are you from? Better than that, they were trying to ask about my voice. I had someone a couple of months ago, the aisle was much smaller in this church, and she kind of accosted me right here in the middle aisle. It was real tight, and I couldn't get, I wasn't trying to get around, I was just gonna step to the side so she could go by, but she wanted to talk to me. She said this, what are you? And I said, I'm sorry, ma'am, what are you talking about? She said, what are you? I am so glad for people just willing to ask the question. They want to know. And she was asked after my ethnicity, I'm actually, my mom was half Korean. So I get, I have about a quarter Korean. And my mom and dad, I mentioned this morning, both of them were half Jewish, so I get some of that as well. The other quarter, if you're doing the math, is Scottish, Irish, German, and so I am a mutt, is what I told her. That is what I am. But with that background, and the fact that we moved constantly, there was another lady at church, I was just at Washington State, she asked me, now are you from Arkansas? I said, and nobody, I'm not from Arkansas. My dad was in the military. She said, oh, that's why. And she was trying to place my accent. She said, I thought it was kind of Arkansas. And like, she added like three or four other things that could be in there as well. One of these days, I told her, I'm going to go to a dialect coach and figure out what I sound like. I have no idea what that is. It's probably an amalgamation of all kinds. And the problem is, if I'm at a place too long, you know how this is, you can kind of slip into wherever you're at and just try to blend in a little bit. But Jesus, I've got to imagine, it was pretty obvious when Jesus spoke. I've got to think that when, I mean, my sheep hear my voice, they know my voice. Yes, I realize that that's a big picture thought, spiritually speaking. But you think those disciples didn't know what Jesus sounded like? But for some reason, and you know as well as I, that water, we don't know how far they were across, but they were carrying on a conversation across the water. Water transmits sound really well. It probably wasn't too garbled. But his voice wasn't enough. His posture didn't expose him. His presence wasn't evidence enough. Was it, and this one, we have just two more. This one, saying it at last, I would be willing to debate. This one, I'd be willing to consider, but I don't believe it was this one either. Was it his power? Extraordinary. I'd understand if you thought it was this one, but I think there's one more to go. You think about these disciples, they saw Jesus do a multitude of things, didn't they? They saw him do, I mean, from, Master, carest thou not that we perish? The woman with the issue of blood, all the way down, the maniac of Gadara. Can you imagine those disciples tripping over themselves trying to get back in the boat as that maniac came running at them? He met them, the Bible says, immediately when they got out of that boat. And Jesus just started talking to him. Pretty soon he was clothed in his right mind. They saw Jesus do some incredible things. A man let down through the roof and he's standing up pretty soon. All kinds of crazy stuff. Maybe, just maybe, it was that. But I think there was something else that got. You know that disciple whom Jesus loved? His name was John, right? It didn't occur to all of them at the same time. Look at verse number six there. 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. Therefore, you know what they say about therefore, you're always supposed to look at why it's therefore. You say, yeah, Jesus did a miracle just now, that's why. Could I give you my thoughts? I won't take this to the bank. It could have well been his power extraordinary, but I'd like to submit this to you. As we ask the question, do you know him? I believe that what finally made them go ding, ding, ding. I was in a church down in the South not long ago. I'm sorry, when I was a kid. And there was a lady in the church. She said like this, has the clue bird landed yet? I think she meant it when I was being dumb, she was asking me that question, but the clue bird landed on John, didn't it? You know what I believe it was? I believe it was previous experience. Do you remember another time they were in a boat? Remember another time that the fishing was pretty lean? Remember another time when Jesus was the difference maker in their life? We won't turn there for the sake of time, but you know the story. Those ships out there cast the net, cast the nets, I should say. Jesus said nets, plural. And what'd they do? Put one net out there. Almost killed themselves trying to get it back to shore. I believe John said, I've seen this before. That's Jesus. My question is, as you look to find Jesus, as you ask the question, do you know him? I'm asking, do you have previous experience with this Jesus? Could you go back in your mind's eye to a time Maybe it was a revival of years past. Maybe young people, it was a summer camp sometime. Maybe, just maybe, it was a time in your life when you knew there was nothing between my soul and the Savior. My question is, if he were to walk in the room, would you know him? But our God doesn't work in the wind or in the flame. He works in the still, small voice. And I believe so oftentimes we shut him out because we're too busy with other loud voices. I believe we have so much going on, the klaxons of the world screaming in our ears. And we're too busy with what we've got. I've got to catch these fish, don't you know? And we forget the fact that he's asking, children, have ye any meat? They should have known him. There should have been, it wouldn't surprise me if there was just a warm glow that came off of Jesus, that his presence alone should have been, that's Jesus. His posture should have made them say, that's Jesus. The way he spoke should have made them go, that's Jesus. But it took him getting their attention with something, oh, we've seen that before. My question is, what's it gonna take to get your attention? I, you cannot convince me that God doesn't still speak today. You cannot convince me that God doesn't have a great work for his people. I'm not talking about the movement of fundamentalism. Revival doesn't start in movements. It doesn't start in churches. It starts in individuals yielded to the cause of holy God. And you can't convince me that he's not speaking to you. We may drown him out. We may have our hands too busy holding on to our nets, not the nets to go catch the lost, but our own personal nets, things that we think are so important. You know, when they finally straggled ashore with nets full, Jesus already had the feast laid out. Do you know him? Honestly, this question isn't so much, are you saved? It is that, too. These were, if I can call them, they were first called Christians in Antioch, I realize that, but these were Christians, if I can call them that. They were disciples, just like we're supposed to be. Men that should have known him. The reason I preach this, I believe the Lord laid on my heart, but the reason I preach this now What a sad thing it would be for God to be speaking, hey, hello, I'd like to get your attention. I don't think he beats on the door of our hearts like a cop would. No, I think just, hello, anyone home? Would you know him if he was? As we conclude tonight, I'd ask you, do you know him? I'm not asking if the back of your, the hairs on the back of your neck are standing up. Not asking if you have a spooky feeling about his power or if you can hear some 90 foot Jesus talking to you. What I believe could be the biggest help to you tonight would be to spend a few moments making an altar of your heart or maybe an altar here looking back on what God has done for you, and then using that to look forward to what he might have for you to do. Every head bowed and every eyes closed. I ask, friend, do you know him? If you're here today and you don't know him truly, you're not saved. there'd be no better night to get that settled. I know for a fact there'd be a lady that would love to talk to you, lady, a man that would love to talk to you, sir. We'll open for an invitation in just a moment. A Christian friend, if God were to speak to you, would you know him? Would you hear him? If you're here tonight and you know for sure that you're on your way to heaven, you're not ashamed of that fact. You know that you know that you know. Let the redeemed little Lord say so. If you would, by uplifted hand, would you lift your hand in praise to God? You're on your way to heaven. Thank you so much. You can put your hands down. If you're here today and you don't know, can I tell you, I'm going to pray for you. I will not make you stand up. I won't call you out. If you're here and you don't know, would you just lift your hand for just a moment so I can pray for you? Christian brother, brothers and sisters, in just a moment I'm gonna pray. When I say amen, maybe we'll stand together, the music will begin to play. Can we take a moment revisiting that last place that we know we left him? Think about Jesus' earthly parents, left him behind in Jerusalem. You know where they had to go to find him? The last place they saw him. Maybe it's been a while since you saw him in evidence in your life. Maybe you'd like to take a few moments and go back there, meet with him, and see what he has for you in future. Father, we thank you for this evening. Thank you for the testimony of folks that are saved that know you. But Lord, as we go forward by faith, it's so hard to do when we can't look back at what you have done for us. but there is so much you have done. May we not neglect, may we not forget that fact as we go forward by faith. May the faint stirrings of revival not sweep across the church, but sweep across individuals tonight. And may we do something with what we've heard today. We ask all these things in your sons, let me pray. Pastor. Heads down, eyes closed.