this at the end of our text today, this is now the third time that Jesus has appeared, not to individuals, but to the church as a whole. Again, I think that we struggle to put ourselves back into the shoes, or the sandals actually, of the people as this little tiny band of Galileans finds themselves now holed up in a foreign city, that is Jerusalem, where they're not very comfortable. They're hurlful. And here they are now, trying to sort through things that have happened. I was reading this week back through chapter 20, and so I'll remind you there's three appearances On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, Jesus appears to the whole body of the disciples. Then in verse 24, eight days later, actually verse 26, eight days later, his disciples were inside again. Thomas was with them, and Jesus came and stood among them. Now we have in chapter 21 verse 1, a third time, that Jesus appears. Now, this is not to the whole church. I want to remind you that this is the only gospel where this testimony appears. This presses us back to remember that the three gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, probably written quite a bit later, probably by John, some traditions which became on his deathbed, as he's a very old man, and designed to supplement. So one of the things you have to remember is that the Gospel of John is written to supplement that which had been written 30 or 40 years earlier. And so this is one of those So let's look at John 21 and we'll read the first 14 verses. We might consider this, if you will, an extended epilogue of the story. We can consider verses 30 and 31 just preceding this as sort of the climax of John's appeal to people to believe. And now there's this that John wants us to know about things that happened after Jesus was raised from the dead. John 21, we begin at verse 1. Hear the word of the Lord. After this, Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the sea of Tiberias. And he revealed himself in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas called the twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. The last seven had been counted up. Simon Peter said to them, I am going fishing. They said to him, we will go with you. They went out and got into the boat. That night they caught nothing. Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore, yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, children, do you have any fish? They answered him, no. He said to them, cast the net on the right side of the boat and you will find some. So they cast it. Now, not able to hold it, That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, it is the Lord. When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself in the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, but they were not far from the land. laid out upon it and bread. Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish that you have just caught. So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore full of large fish, 153 of them. Although there were so many, the net was not full. Jesus said to They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so it was finished. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to His disciples after He was raised from the dead. This is the Word of the Lord. Well, today I will begin by asking you the question that Jesus asked his disciples here in this passage. It comes from verse 5. Children, do you have any fish? I would note here that Jesus is now acting not in a brotherly manner, but in a fatherly manner. You remember in Isaiah chapter 9? I think that here we see something of Jesus' fatherly ministry, not making him the father, but in his role as the Christ, as the mediator, he is playing a fatherly role when he asks his children a question. And so I want to lay that question before you personally today, hopefully then eventually In the grand scheme of things, Jesus does not need us. But He delights to use us in the advancement of His Kingdom. Come today to the foggy shores of Galilee, where for a third time, disciples unexpectedly encounter the risen Jesus. In fact, it's not until close to the end of this story that they all know it's Jesus. This time, it was during the week, in the context of their fishing, their work, or their labor. Here, Jesus taught them of His sovereignty, His provision, His invitation, and His fellowship. I want to call you today to think about the The calling that Jesus lays before His people again and again. That is, from now on, you will be catching man. So, think about the question today. Do you have any fish? There are some different answers that we can lay forth here. One is, no. That's the answer that Jesus gets to this question. No, I don't have any fish. I am fishless. If you go out on the Sea of Galilee and it's full of fish, you better catch some fish. They didn't invent any fish. Another answer is, not yet. We're optimistic. Not yet. Or another answer is, not a fish that I can eat. This is another interesting detail in this story that we'll get to. So what did you think about? If you were a fisher, and you were asked, do you have any fish? Or let's transpose this now into the 21st century. If you're a construction worker, what's the skill that you have? Do you have any tools? You have just a few tools. I know. I've seen your truck and your garage. Or I mean, if you go around each one of us, what is the skill, but more importantly, what is the benefit that you bring? And Jesus asks, do you have that? It may be, no, I don't. That's where I want to turn your first point this morning. That is Jesus' sovereignty. Again, just at a very physical level, I want you to think about Jesus big burly fishermen out doing their fishermen work. Children, all of a sudden, you're saying, whoa, what's happening? Children, do you have any fish? And here, again, I think of various professionals. Lawyer, do you have, do you want any cases? Doctor, have you healed anybody? Surgeon, have you had somebody die on the table? been successful?" And he's listening a negative response from them. No. I want you to see here that Jesus is sovereign. That is, Jesus not only knows the location of the fish, Jesus controls the location of the fish. It's not of awareness like modern-day fishermen could have on the same lake. I've seen some of these. You know the fish radar? My grandpa, in principle, would never use anything electronic in his boat. He had a Polestar motor and he said, radars are for wimps. So he never used a radar. But I understand there are those radars and you can actually see the fish, right? You can see, you can actually track the fishes. I'm not sure it's fish It's not that Jesus had a radar to know where the fish was. It's that Jesus said, well, cast your net on the right side of the world. Apparently they've been fishing left-handed all night. at a human level. Whatever's going on here, John wants us to see that once again, Jesus is requiring something of his followers. Again, the irony here, friends, is rich, because it's on this same lake, probably in the same locations where Jesus started this adventure with these years earlier, he had met them. And he had said, put your net on the other side, and then they caught fish. Peter comes to Jesus and says, depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man. Peter, once again, puts himself in his seat, and goes to Jesus. The irony is that Jesus is coming back yet again to someone who started out with him and now is struggling with him. I wonder, are you struggling? Do you struggle with Jesus' sovereignty? Do you say here, well, this is just John doing clever storytelling? Jesus didn't know there were any fish. On one side they had, um, what does it say here? Um, they, but that night, apparently through the night, they caught nothing. And then just as day is breaking, Jesus says, cast your nets on the other side. He does, and they do, and they catch. A very specific number of fish, down in verse 11, we actually see that Simon Peter goes back and forth and somewhere along the line they count these fish, 153 large fish. This is not, this is not something normal. This is something zero to 153. their means of livelihood are located. As God, Jesus had foreordained whatsoever comes to pass. He's not merely aware of fish swimming around autonomously. He had decreed from all eternity where those fish would be. I want you to see, friends, the first application point today is without the solid catch nothing. The point here is, there's a dependence, and Jesus is, without saying it in so many words, leading them back to that place of dependence upon Him. And He is the one who provides for their needs. So I ask you, do you have any fish? Some of you, you can breathe. You are not experiencing fullness these days. You are happy to live in daily dependence upon God's provision, knowing that everything comes to an end. Everything's grateful, even when you're broke. Probably not efficient, but at times, you know what it means to catch nothing. Jesus is sovereign. And secondly, we then see Jesus' provision. I want you to see in verses 7 through 11, how Jesus provides. So they cast it in, and now they can't pull it out of the water. Again, I don't know how you imagine these things, but I've been to the Sea of Galilee a couple of times, and these men have large, round, weighted nets. And there's weights on the edges of the net. And so they have them. This is where a lot of the skill comes in. thrown together into, they'll kind of drape them, and then with two hands, they'll throw them, and the goal is to get your net to spread out as far as possible, and come down into the water, and then those weights, and how much weight, where's the weight distributed, as the net begins to go down into the water, and there's a rope on top that will stay in their hand, it will go down through the water, and as it And so what I want you to see is that they catch something. And it's then that the disciple whom Jesus loved, that's John remember, this is yet another time when he refers to himself as that disciple whom Jesus loved, said to Peter, it's the Lord. And I think there's a little bit of ribbing going on here. I think this is, John is like, you want to know what Peter's like? There was this time we were out fishing in the boat and Jesus showed up on the shore and I said, hey, it's Jesus. And you know what Peter did? He didn't like take off his outer garment in order to swim efficiently to Jesus. He put on his coat and he jumped into the water. And notice that there's not even a great deal the spotlight on Peter. When Peter heard that it was the Lord, all he knew, friends, was he had to go to Jesus. Jesus is the source of all God's provision for His people. So again, I ask you, do you have any fish? Now, there's two sides to this. We see that Jesus provides through ordinary means. It is a miracle of timing. It is a miracle of proximity. When it was the real net thrown by the real disciples, it caught all these fish and the net was so full and yet it didn't break. I want you to see here that What's going on here? Verse 8, the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land. Jesus had already yelled to them over the water, we learned it was about a football field, out into the sea of Galilee where they were. So Peter comes first, the boat As they all are scrambling out, they see a charcoal fire, oddly specific, with fish laid out on it. The question is, where did Jesus get the fish? And I say, well, the Jesus who is divine, who decreed the fish, the 153 fish would be out there, it's no problem for Him to get a few fish on fire. I want you to see the juxtaposition here is jarring in this story. On one hand, Jesus provides through the ordinary means. They have a net. God makes sure their net doesn't break so they can catch the fish that he's ordained them to catch. And on the other hand, the thing that God is going to give to them is something they can never provide themselves. Friends, This is the kind of provision that I want to focus on. It is true that when your bank account is at nearly zero, that you are acutely aware of your daily dependence on God. Remember that the love and care and blessing of people in those moments means so much. But that's not the most amazing part. It's not, God helps those who help themselves. It's something far more profound than that. There is a kind of provision that only Jesus can provide. So, I said this under point two, Jesus provides a strong net, and fish and bread, only He can provide. Do you see that distinction? Now, I ask you, do you have fish and you say, wow, we're doing pretty well, we got 153 fish in the bank account. But then over on the other side, I want you to see that there is something profound about Jesus' antecedent provision of things that only He can provide. Jesus is teaching you to radically rely on His previous provision. To be content with it. Or to be content with what He has provided for you directly. It may be that you're at a season in life where God is teaching you to just take the next breath. This is where I love to quote Noreen from Finding Nemo. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. You may not even be able to even remember what happened yesterday, that's the reason. But just keep swimming. God's going to work this out. Trust Him. Rely upon Him. Don't be too proud to ask for help. Or, perhaps, you're in the place where the apostles are. These are fishermen with a fisher's net. I wonder if this is the same net they had been repairing when Jesus called them initially. There's a story of a net here. Does this net belong to them? This would have been a very valuable piece of infrastructure. This would be like your car. This would be like your furnace or your roof on your house. I have a neighbor who just had his roof replaced this week. And I've come to the place where I really appreciate how much it costs to do an infrastructure upgrade, which has to happen every once in a while. But they had this net, they threw this net with skill and they caught 153 fish because God blessed their ordinary labor. You need to discover the strong nets that you have. You need to use the nets that you have. And you need to use them for the glory of Christ. Not hiding Him and hiding His provision for you, but bearing witness. and the fact that God has given you blessings. The most important part of a blessing is acknowledging the source of that blessing. When you are blessed, and then you refuse to give the lesser acknowledgement, that is disrespectful. That lacks integrity. of insincerity. Friends, we need to see that Jesus is the source of provision, whichever kind of provision that it is. I'll let you, again, just, let's talk about the disciples' fetch here. It's right at the end of this section. So Simon Peter went aboard and he hauled the net ashore, full of large fish. Never forget, Betsy might remember this, we were in Israel, I think it was when you and I were together, but our tour guide made the decision, today we're going to eat St. Peter's fish. And I wasn't, I guess this is an actual type of fish, species of fish, and so we went to this place right along the northeast shore of the Sea of Galilee, kind of a villa, it felt like, like a Roman villa or something, laid out beautiful. And I'll never forget when the guy finally started bringing our fish, and they were big plates, but the plates were not nearly big enough for the complete fish that was there. Now it had been scaled, and it had been deep fried, and there were some other things to it, but it was just a fish on your plate. And you just took your fork and your knife and sort of dug in, and you have to be careful of the bones, and there was all kinds of things. But I remember a fish was huge, and I was thinking about that as I was wandering from this same Sea of Galilee as this massive number It's one thing to get some fish. It's another thing to grasp, oh, Jesus is the source of the provision in my life. That's not enough. This is not some vague, deistic notion of God's provision. This is specific. I want you to see that Nowhere is Jesus impersonal or disconnected. They say, it's the Lord. And now they're coming close, and as they're coming, they see this ordinary campsite that Jesus apparently has set up. And then verse 10, Jesus says, bring some of the fish that you have caught. So Simon Peter went aboard. Though there were so many, the net was not torn. And now here we have the invitation in verse 12. Jesus said to them, come and have breakfast. Come and have breakfast. Seems like this Greek word here is translated correctly. This is the morning meal. Come and have breakfast. Jesus is not saying, okay, I'm out of here, I gave you the fish, now you do your own thing. Jesus is inviting them much closer. I'm going to write down two cross-references here that I think put this in perspective. Buy and eat. You don't have any money? That's okay. Come and buy and eat. Because this is not free. It costs somebody a lot of money that it's free for you. Why do you spend your money for that which is not red? And your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me and eat what is good. hear that your soul may live and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David." Friends, here we have the descendant of David, the seed of the woman, the offspring of Abraham, the rod or the shoot from the stump of Jesse on the shore saying, guys, work. We can also think in terms of another beckoning that Jesus had done just a matter of weeks before in Matthew chapter 26. Jesus gathers his disciples there in the upper You see how Jesus is not doing something out of the ordinary. He's doing what Jesus does. He's gathering people together. And He's providing for their needs. They had been directed to bring some of the fish that they had caught. But Jesus is the one who's doing the providing here. It's interesting, the second half of verse 12, now John tells us, now none of the disciples dared ask him, who are you? They knew it was the Lord. Go back and read the previous two stories, and how at one time they immediately recognized him. You can look at Luke, the road to Emmaus, it wasn't until the very end of the story that they figured out, oh, this is Jesus. This is the call Christ gives His disciples into communion with Him in grace. All things are now ready, so come and dine. Christ is a beast, come dine upon Him. His flesh is meat indeed, His blood drink indeed. Christ is a friend, so come dine with Him and He will give you welcome. and provision for them all. Do you see the mystery? Do you see the wonder as we find ourselves in these disciples? They were called disciples, by the way, back in the beginning. And I can only hear the echo as people are thinking here, oh God, what did Jesus say? Matthew 28, those synoptics? And those apostles came, and they came to our town, and they preached to us, and I was gripped somehow. But wait, I can't fully explain. I'm still stretching my head saying, why did I come to believe that? I saw that they had been changed by a power from outside themselves. This is not self-improvement. This is not, by the way, therapy. I'm persuaded, friends, that swimming underneath and around our cultural assumptions about therapy is like all the shit. I'm not saying that therapy is not helpful. I want to be very careful and I want to be modest in what I'm saying, but I'm persuaded that sometimes people say, I need a therapist, when what they should be saying is, I need to repent. Dysfunction. If you live as though God's ways are irrelevant, then there's a vacuum. There's a hole. There's a void in your soul. And people think they need to take medicine for that. They need Christ. They need hope. They need the love of God that surpasses knowledge. God will send His new creation into people. If they'll acknowledge, not only am I dysfunctional, but I'm a sinner. And friends, God loves sinners. This leads us then to the fourth point this morning. Here is where we close. That is Jesus' fellowship. Now Jesus finally performs the action that we've been waiting for. He's invited them to come to breakfast. They are now sitting together, and I envision them around this charcoal fire on the scenic shores of the Sea of Galilee, the perfect setting. Now it's time to eat. But I love what it says here. Look at verse 13. Jesus came. I have that highlighted in my Bible. Jesus came. and took the bread and gave it to them, and so did the fish." Now, what's significant here is what John is getting ready to say in verse 14. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed. But if you go back to chapter 20, verse 19, on the first day of the week, the evening of that day, it says, Jesus came into the room with the doors locked and stood on John 20, verse 26, eight days later, when Thomas is there, although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them. And do you see the significance now of this statement, Jesus came and he took the bread there and also the cup? Well, that's a different story in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus is present in the breaking of the bread. This story is not about the sacraments. This story is about Jesus meeting His people in an ordinary place. About Jesus meeting His people during the week. About Jesus meeting people and giving them what they need to do their jobs well. And then inviting them in their inadequacy. Now the hungry disciples, they've been fishing all night, now they are blessed directly, personally, by Jesus provision. I've pondered this, what does it mean Jesus came? Jesus came to the fire, Jesus came to the bread and the fish, Jesus picked it up and then came to them? It doesn't say. But Jesus took the bread and gave it to them, and so it was finished. Jesus is living in fellowship with His people. Friends, Jesus is present in your work, Monday through Saturday, your ordinary life. But here's where I want to conclude today. There is no disconnect between the 6 days that are large to do with as we see fit and the 7th day which belongs to God. teaching us of His ultimate control. Right? That's the sovereignty of God. God is ultimately in control. I can trust Him when things seem impossible. But another aspect of Jesus' sovereignty is our moral responsibility. That is that I need to do the work He's put in front of me to do. It's not let go and let God. It's God has His hands on the wheel, so you put your hands on the wheel. Jesus take the wheel like, well that's a whole other sermon. But I just would encourage you to see that there's a connection between God's sovereignty and your responsibility. It's because God is sovereign and because He put us in the place where we are in the world that we have responsibility. But ultimately there is something that only Jesus can provide. It's in His fellowship. I trust that you have washed it away. Those besetting sins that trip us up. Friends, at the end of the day we need to see Jesus is glory. Jesus as his father figure of whom we say we are but children. Jesus is our big brother. Jesus is not our buddy. lead His children first by, through the challenges and struggles of this world. We simply need to receive in faith from the hand of the One who announced upon the cross in His Spirit. Receive what He has provided for you. And finally, I would just point out the kingdom of God and His righteousness in all the relationships of life, faithfully to perform my whole duty as a true servant of Jesus Christ. And yet what it is, is it's heaven breaking in to the ordinary lives of people. It's the hope of eternity coming to the lostness of the mundane. The mundane is beautiful if it has meaning and purpose, disconnected We need to receive in faith, from the hand of Jesus, His once and for all provision, which is His death and dying with Him, so sin no longer reigns. And we thank You that You gave the disciples what they could not acquire for themselves. And we thank You, Lord, that You enabled them to use what they had, their gifts and even their nets, to lay hold of what You provided for them. And then, Lord, You provided something that they could never It was about the union of Christ. We pray, Lord, that you might help us to come back again and again to this wondrous mystery of the union of Christ. And Lord, we might understand in a daily way what it means, by faith, to be connected to the resurrected, ascended, reigning Christ, who one day will come to judge the living and the dead. Lord help us to live in the light of eternity remembering that Jesus showed up again and again and again to his dumbfounded disciples thinking that in Jesus even death itself dies and someday because Jesus is the first prince of resurrection death will be dead forever for all time Lord, in all we say, thank you. Thank you, Jesus.