Are You Going Fishing? — Daniel Kenaston

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A Prayer for Faithfulness in Spiritual Battle

Let's bow our heads. The strife will not be long. This day the noise of battle and tomorrow the victory song. Lord, we want to be a part of that victory song. We want to be willing for the battle. We want to be willing for the noise and the stress and strain of the battle.

And we want to be found true and faithful in Your victory when it comes tomorrow. Father, thank You for this Sunday morning. I pray, Lord, that You will speak to our hearts this morning. I pray, God, that You will minister individually to us.

You are our corporate Father, but You are also our individual Father. And Father, we know that You want to speak to our hearts this morning. We open our hearts to hear from You. Put an anointing on my lips, Lord.

I'm trusting You. In Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Well, I give you greetings this morning in Jesus' name. I'm grateful to be here. I'm grateful to have the opportunity to share with you the charity church, as Abigail calls it.

Grandpa's Church. Are we going to Grandpa's Church or the Fountain Church this morning? That's what the children ask. And I'm glad to be here at home with all of you and have the opportunity to share God's Word from this pulpit.

John 21 and the Fishing Expedition

Let's turn to John, chapter 21. Over the last couple of years, I've had a number of young people serving under me there in Ghana. And sometimes on Sunday mornings, depending on our preaching schedule and which villages we're in, Sunday mornings, if we're at home, we'll gather in what we call the big round room.

We have six round huts in our compound there in Bumbon. And one of them is what we call the big round room because it's the largest of our round rooms. A dirt or mud wall with a grass roof. But that is our living room.

That's where I have meetings during the week. That's where we gather for maybe if we have guests, if I have a leader's meeting, or if we're just going to have church as missionaries there in Bumbon. We'll gather in the round room.

Somehow this morning, I wish that I could bring all of you into that round room. Partially because I'd like you to come to Ghana, but because of what I'd like to share with you this morning. The burden that the Lord has laid on my heart is a bit more devotional in nature.

And I don't mean that it's a 15 minute devotion. At least I hope it won't be. But I more mean the tenor or tone of what the Lord has laid on my heart is more devotional. And I wish that we could all sit in that round room.

A round room means that we're all facing each other all the time. And somehow that gives a very sweet, close feel. But we can't, and I'm giving you that as a background because that's my heart this morning as I speak to you.

I wish that I could look into your eyes from only 15 feet instead of 50 feet. Or 100 feet, or however far it is if you're sitting back there in the back. John chapter 21. To give a title to the words that are on my heart this morning, if I was to give a title to it I would say this.

Are you going fishing? Are you going fishing? I think that the fishing season opened here just a couple of weeks ago in Pennsylvania. At least I've seen a lot of activity along our creeks and streams and rivers.

And I'd like to talk to us this morning about a different type of fishing. Are you going fishing? John chapter 21 is the last chapter of the book of John. In this chapter we have John's account of the third encounter that the disciples have with Jesus after His resurrection.

Basically the entire chapter is given over to this third encounter. John says this is the third time that Jesus is showing Himself to His disciples. And there's a number of lessons that I think God would have us draw from this account this morning.

All centering around the theme of fishing, but not in a physical sense. Let's read this chapter together. John chapter 21. 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 Calditimus and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee and the sons of Zebedee and two other of His disciples. Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing.

And they say unto him, we also go with thee. They went forth and entered into a ship immediately. And that night they caught nothing. So 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? And they answered Him, no. And He said unto them, cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.

Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, it is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher's coat upon him, for he was naked, and did cast himself into the sea.

And the other disciples came in a little ship, for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits, dragging the net with fishes. And as soon as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread.

Jesus saith unto them, bring of the fish which ye have now caught. Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land full of great fishes, and hundred, and fifty, and three. And for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.

Jesus saith unto them, come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, who art thou? Knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise. This is now the third time that Jesus showed Himself to His disciples, after that He was risen from the dead.

So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? And he saith unto him, yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, feed my lambs.

He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, yes, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?

Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, feed my sheep. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast young, thou girdest thyself and walkest whither thou wouldest.

But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he said unto him, follow me.

I think we'll stop reading there. I've been meditating on this chapter for a number of months, and the Lord just continues to open beautiful little insights in a dozen different directions that I would like to share with you this morning.

I said that if I was to give a title, I would give it as this. Are you going fishing? But the lessons that I think we can draw from this chapter have to do with, we could say, the science or the experience of backsliding.

Peter's Background and the Meaning of “I Go Fishing”

The experience of backsliding. We have Simon Peter as the main mover and shaker through this whole chapter. He's the one who speaks. He's the one who acts. He's the one who Jesus asks questions of, and he's the one who answers the questions.

There were, I believe, seven of the disciples together who are involved in this story. But as usual, Peter is the one talking and doing most of the things in the story. So he is the main character that we'll be looking at this morning.

Peter is the one who makes the suggestion in verse 3, I go fishing. But before we start talking about Peter and this fishing expedition, I think we should just mentally run through what has happened in chapter 18, 19, and 20.

Because that is the background which gives meaning to Peter's phrase, I go fishing. We all know that Peter was a fisherman by trade. That was the work that Peter had done. Probably his father, from what we know, his father was a fisherman.

And Peter grew up having seaman's legs. He grew up on a boat. A boat was almost his home. He spent many days and many nights on the Sea of Galilee in a little fishing boat. Rowing, adjusting the sails, throwing the nets, sorting the fish.

Peter was, until he met Jesus, a fisherman. That was his trade. That was his personality. That was who Peter was. And then he met Jesus about three years before John chapter 21 here. And when he met Jesus, Jesus called him away from his fishing nets, called him away from who he had always been, and called him to become a fisher of men.

He called him away from what was comfortable to Peter into a life of following Jesus. And Peter followed Jesus. He bumbled, he made some mistakes, but he believed in who Jesus was. And he believed that Jesus was the Messiah.

And those things affected Peter's life for three years. He followed Jesus more strongly than most. Yes, when he made mistakes, they were stronger than other people's mistakes, but Peter believed Jesus.

And I think all of us can identify with Peter's faith and his bumblings. So Peter followed Jesus along with the other disciples for these three or three and a half years. And the disciples believed that Jesus was the Messiah.

And as the Messiah, they viewed him not just as a spiritual king, but as a physical king. And they were waiting for Jesus to set up His throne in Jerusalem. We all know that history and the perspective that they had as they followed Jesus.

And then chapters 18, 19, and 20 come. And we know what happens. Jesus goes to Jerusalem bound in His Spirit, knowing that it was His time. He goes up for the Passover. He's arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane.

The disciples are so shattered by that experience that they can hardly hold themselves together. Most of them run away. A couple try to defend Jesus. Some slink along in the background. And we don't need to identify who Peter may or may not have been in the stories.

But this was a shattering experience. Everything that the disciples had believed about Jesus fell apart in chapters 18, 19, and 20. Suddenly their king, the one who they were following, was held by the Jewish people.

They went to Caiaphas. They went to see Pilate. And Jesus is condemned to die by the Jewish mob. And then Jesus goes to the cross. And the disciples watched all of these things in horror. Their hero is crucified.

And in a matter of just one 24 or 36 hour period, Jesus goes from being, in their minds, being the Messiah, to death. And not just a normal death, but one of the most disgraceful deaths that they knew in their society.

There follows a couple of days of probably indescribable agony for the disciples. Enough so that in their agony and in their doubts, they forgot Jesus' words that He would rise again. Yes, Jesus had said He would rise again, but when He said that, they were still waiting for Him to set up His throne.

And they probably didn't really understand what that meant. And now Jesus was dead. And their whole lives were turned upside down. And they spent a couple of days in agony there. And then the resurrection occurs.

Suddenly the commitment that the disciples have made to Jesus is taking them miles and miles further than they ever anticipated. It was not easy to follow Jesus physically for three years. There were some easy times, but there were some difficult times when everyone else left Him.

And here were these twelve disciples following Jesus. It was not easy to follow Jesus through His three years on this earth. But it was infinitely more difficult to walk with Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemane, to walk with Jesus to the Palace of the High Priest, and to, before Pilate, to watch Him be condemned to die, to follow Him up to the Mount Calvary and watch Him be crucified.

Still expecting Him to do some miracle at the last moment, but He doesn't. He dies. And He's buried. It was so difficult for the disciples to walk through this with Jesus, as you can imagine it would be.

Three days later there's the resurrection. And in some ways the resurrection probably just thrilled them to no end. But still, there's no throne. Still Jesus doesn't seem like He's gathering an army, setting up advisors, taking over territory.

The disciples have seen Jesus twice. The fear that came over the disciples. Hiding for the fear of the Jews. Hiding, wondering, will they take us next? We were His disciples. We were the twelve who were always with Him.

Will they take us next? And then the resurrection. A wonderful thing. But at the same time, a frightful thing. Jesus resurrects from the dead, and now He shows up in their presence through closed doors, through the roof.

He just shows up in their presence. It's wonderful, but if you look at it through the eyes of the disciples, it's frightening. Peter and John and all of them, they are so far removed from all that they once were.

They are so far removed from their comfort zone. We shouldn't be too hard on them. We look back in retrospect at all that Jesus did, and we know the plan of the cross, and we know the resurrection, and we know Christ's desire for the world to be one to Him, and we look back at all of that, and sometimes it's hard for us to have faith, but they were walking through it, and their lives were so uprooted and turned over and twisted and mottled, they were confused.

They were frightened. That is the background to chapter 21 of John. Jesus has shown up twice in their midst.

Just appears.

He's a spirit, but they're trying to understand, is this Jesus? He shows up in our midst. Just walks in through a closed door, but then when we give Him food, He eats it. They are miles outside of all that they've ever known.

All of their mental understandings, their boxes that they've built, the way that they have viewed the world is being totally shattered. This commitment that they have made to Christ is suddenly costing them infinitely more than they ever dreamed it could.

And these are not untried disciples. Peter has already walked with Jesus through some incredibly difficult things. They've already trekked all over Israel with nothing but the shoes on their feet. They've been with Jesus when the thousands were there, and they thought He was going to become king at any moment.

They've been with Jesus when everyone left. These are not untried disciples. These are not people who have no commitment to Christ. The disciples love the Lord. Peter loved the Lord. And yet, looking at all that had happened in these last three chapters, the disciples were frightened.

Seven or eight of the disciples are together here in the first couple verses of chapter 21. And over against that background, Simon Peter saith to them, I go a fishing. And they say unto him, we also go with thee.

I don't think that Peter had fished for three years. He'd been around boats. He'd been in boats. They'd crossed the Sea of Galilee. But I don't believe that Peter had been fishing. I may be wrong there if there's a verse that talks about them fishing, but I don't recollect it.

I don't believe Peter's been fishing for three years. But here on these troubled days, between Jesus' resurrection and His ascension, these days of wonder, but at the same time doubt, these days that just turned their world upside down, Peter said, I go a fishing.

And when Peter said those words, I think you and I know immediately that for Peter, it wasn't so much, I need to go get in a boat. But it was for Peter, I'm stepping back to what I know. I'm stepping back to what is comfortable to me.

I am going back to my comfort zone. This is too difficult for me. I don't understand what I'm supposed to do. I don't understand what Jesus is doing. I don't understand this death, this totally disgraceful death.

And then a few days later, He resurrects. If He was going to resurrect, why did He have to die? And all these confusing thoughts had to be going through the minds of the disciples. And in the midst of that, Peter says, I'm going fishing.

I'm going to go get back in a boat. I'm going to go back to what I have known. I know that you and I can identify with Peter. That's what I would like us to do throughout this entire chapter. I would like us to identify with Peter.

I would like us to identify in our own lives where we are and when we have been like Peter was in these verses. You know, we love the Lord. We want to follow Him. We want to obey Him. We're willing to be His disciples.

But that willingness to be His disciple does not mean that we will never face a temptation to backsliding. The fact that we have followed Jesus as Peter did does not mean that we will never come to a time in our life where we will be tempted to take a step back.

I think you know in your heart that there have been numerous times in your life and I know there have been in mine when I walk up to something that the realization that this is what God is asking me to do.

Following Christ is going to cost me this. And I didn't know it was going to cost me this. But now I see clearly that following Christ is not going to happen according to my expectations. I'm going to be asked to give up or lay down or yield.

Yet another thing. And faced with that life-uprooting realization, we step back. And it's not fishing for most of us. I don't have any problem with throwing a line in with your sons. Fishing is not our comfort zone.

I don't know of any of us that grew up fishing. But it was for Peter. And you and I have our comfort zones. We have those things in which we are most comfortable. The fishing was not sin. It was just that it was a step back from the life that Jesus was calling Peter to live.

He stepped back. In that crucial moment when the realization began to dawn on him of what Jesus was really asking, Peter stepped back and said, I'm going fishing. I need to feel a boat rocking under my feet.

I need to feel a breeze on my face. I need to feel a net in my hands. Take me back to what I know. I go fishing. Just a few words. We've all been there. You know what your fishing is. You know what your comfort zone is.

I know what mine are. And we've all faced the temptation and we've all succumbed to the temptation at times of stepping back in that crucial moment. Peter says, I go fishing. And they say unto him, we also go with thee.

Several of these men were fishermen. Not only Peter. The sons of Zebedee were also fishermen. You have a group of fishermen here saying, it's been a long time since we've been in a fishing boat. I don't know what's going on.

Let's go back to what we know. Let's go back to the fishing boat. We also go with thee. And they went forth and entered into a ship immediately. I promise you, when you come to those crucial moments in your life, where you see what Christ is asking of you, you see what you need to give up, you see what you need to submit to, you see where you need to give in, you see an area of your life that needs to die.

When at that crucial moment, you and I decide to go fishing, I promise you, the devil will have a boat ready. And they entered into a boat immediately. They didn't need to take a week to rent one. They didn't need to wander around Tiberias looking for a ship.

There was one right there. It was convenient to take a step back. And it will be in your life. It will be in my life. When we see what Christ is asking of us, and we decide in that crucial moment, that's too much.

I can't do that. In that moment, a boat will appear. And they got into a ship immediately. That's the devil. Let's have a boat right there. Let's make this backsliding, let's make this backstepping process as easy as possible.

You know, the devil likes comfort zones, even spiritual comfort zones. Anything to keep us from taking those critical steps that the knowledge of Christ in us is asking for. Even a spiritual comfort zone.

Get them back in a boat, the devil said. Let's just get Peter back in a ship. If we can see him, if he can get himself back in a boat and feel that net in his hands and feel the breeze on his face, Peter will say, yes, this is what I am.

I'm a fisherman. I've been a fisherman all my life. These three years, yeah, I've been following Jesus, that's a strange, but just a very short period in my life. For all my life, I've been a fisherman.

Back to my comfort zone. And immediately, they entered into a ship. But oh, thank God for His mercy. And that night, they caught nothing. You can be sure that while the devil arranges ships to be ready for our every weak moment, the Lord also controls the fish.

The Lord also controls the circumstances of our lives. And it says that night, they caught nothing. Fishing at night is not unusual. I don't know about here in America for sport, but in the places of the world where they fish for a life, you know, when they fish for their work, when that's what they're doing, commercial fishing, fishing at night is very common.

It's just six words. It says, that night, they caught nothing. But don't let the brevity of those words underestimate in your minds the amount, or cause you to underestimate the amount of work involved in those six words.

Commercial fishing is work. And I've had the opportunity to help pull nets in years ago when I lived on the coast there in Ghana, around Cape Coast, pulling nets out of the Atlantic Ocean. It is work.

You know, we kind of picture fishing, throw the line, reel it in, throw the line, reel it in. This is net fishing. A long net and a boat. You go out, you throw the net on this side, and then you loop it around, sometimes a quarter mile, sometimes a block.

You loop it around, you put the two ends together, and then you start pulling. Pulling. Pulling. And that night, they caught nothing. That means they threw that net into the water and went through that entire process.

Put the net down, row yourself around, catch the other end of the net, and start pulling, pulling. That process could have taken 30 minutes or 2 hours for each setting of the net. And the fact that there was nothing in the net does not mean that the pulling was easy.

I remember helping to pull a net in Cape Coast and thinking, you know, here we are, about 15 men, all shouting and pulling together like some kind of a military drill. And we could just gain about 12 inches at a time with 15 men doing tug of war.

And I'm thinking, there's got to be a whale inside this net. And I remember pulling it in and just walking down there to where the end of the net was, and here's a few shrimp, you know, and a couple crabs.

Wow, that's a lot of work. But all night, they caught nothing. Not a mackerel, not a fingerling, not a little fish, nothing. And time and time again, they pulled those nets in with nothing. Remember that Peter and the disciples are taking a step backwards into their comfort zone.

And God in His mercy is not allowing them, and He does not allow us the fulfillment that we desire when we step back. You know, what if the fish, what if there had been a lot of fish? The course of the rest of the New Testament could have been very, very different if there had been a lot of fish that night.

Wow! Pulling in the fish. Good price the next morning. Peter's heart could have gone. He takes a step back from what Christ is asking of him, and he goes fishing. And yes, there's a boat ready, but there's no fish.

None. Twelve o 'clock. One o 'clock in the morning. Let's go over here. Let's go over to the other shore. Throw out the net. Do it again. Not a fish. Let's row over to the other side. Let's throw out the net.

Pull, pull, pull. Not a fish. That's pretty discouraging. Two, three o 'clock in the morning. Soaked. Cold. Hands all ripped up from the ropes. Pulling nets in. And there is nothing there. I know that you and I can identify with that.

I know that there are times in my life where I step back, sometimes for an hour, sometimes for a week. In my heart, or your heart, we step back from what God is asking of us. We step back from the surrender that Christ is demanding for our lives.

And we go back into our comfort zone. And we go fishing, so to speak. And we find no fish. None. No fish. Can you imagine the emptiness of the effort? After hours of pulling in nets and throwing down nets and rowing to the other side, and there's not a fish to show for it.

These men who are looking for something comforting, these men who are looking for an old fulfillment from their past, they're finding nothing. Maybe that's what you can identify with this morning. Maybe you stepped back and you found that a boat was immediately waiting for you.

And it was so easy, so convenient to step back from the sacrifice that Christ was asking of you. Or maybe you find yourself in the middle of the night pulling in the net, looking for that comfort that something familiar should be bringing to your life.

Looking for the comfort that should be in the comfort zone. And yet, empty nets. Thank God for those empty nets. Thank God that He directs those fish. Because how many times would you and I have made a backstep, a permanent backsliding in our lives if it wasn't for the fact that there's really no fulfillment outside of Christ?

Thank God the fish were not filling the nest that night. Thank God that those disciples did not find fulfillment in stepping back to their old life and filling a good old boat with fish all night long.

Three o 'clock in the morning. Four o 'clock. The first colorings of dawn. Disciples saying to each other, I can't believe we haven't even caught a single fish. They're getting hungry. It's five o 'clock in the morning.

What are we going to have for breakfast, guys? At least you would have thought we would have a half dozen fish that we could fry for breakfast. We have fished all night for absolutely nothing. This has been an exercise in futility.

Even if it had not been the first time in three years that they were fishing, it would have felt empty and futile. But for men who have been fishing for years, this is very discouraging. I just wanted to fish.

You can just hear Peter saying it. I just want to go fishing. Just one night. And there's no fish. Not one. Verse 4 says,. But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.

Jesus Watches the Empty Nets

Think about Jesus there in the early light of dawn, watching the disciples pull in empty nets. Think about Christ watching your life and my life when we backslide, when we step back. Think about Him watching our futile floundering efforts with empty nets.

Think about the loving heart of Jesus loving His disciples, but at the same time yearning that they would fulfill what He called them to do. You have to know that in the heart of Jesus there was concern.

He knows that He's only a few days away from ascending to His Father back in Heaven. And here's about 75 of His disciples in a boat, fishing. These are seven or eight of the men that He is counting on to turn the world upside down.

And they're fishing. And He knows the battle that's going on in their hearts. And as the light of dawn slowly begins to spread across the Sea of Galilee, the disciples become conscious of a man standing on the shore, but they didn't know that it was Jesus.

But they just saw a man standing there. And you can be sure that Jesus was watching them. He probably watched them all night in His spiritual body. All night watching their futility. Have you ever pulled in an empty net?

Have you ever pulled in ten of them in your life? Looking for fulfillment somewhere other than following the direction that Christ is putting into your life and my life? You know that feeling? Of pulling in an empty net?

Looking for fulfillment in the fish when Christ hasn't told you to fish. Empty nets. Futility. Emptiness. I know the feeling. Then this man who's standing on the seashore says something to the disciples.

Children, have ye any meat? Children, have ye any meat? This voice comes across the water, a couple hundred feet across the water to the disciples in the boat. Children, have ye any meat? It's a common thing to ask fishermen.

Do you have any meat? Maybe six months ago or so, I was with my family. There's one lake in Ghana, which is I think formed many, many years ago from an inactive volcano. And we occasionally go there. It's close to Kumasi.

We occasionally go there to rest for a couple of days. It's green and moist and beautiful. And it's a place where we can go to get away. But it's a lake and there's dozens of fishermen sitting on pieces of log and paddling their way around this lake, fishing.

But when a fisherman is coming back, we did this. Fisherman's coming across the water. He's coming back to the shore and there we are along the shore. And we thought, let's buy some fish. We can't get it any fresher than this.

We're camping right there along the side of the water. We'll cook them up. Do you have any fish? And there's Jesus seeing His disciples. Children. Only Jesus can say that to Peter. Children. It's likely that Peter was even older than Jesus.

Children, have ye any meat? And they answered, no. No. No meat. Yes, you see a boat. Yes, you see seven or eight strapping men pulling in nets. It looks like a fishing fleet. It looks like a fishing operation.

But we don't have anything. Maybe that's where you're at this morning. I hope we can all be there this morning if we're not. If we have, this week or this year, stepped back from what Christ is asking of us, I hope that we can be honest enough to answer our dear loving Father this morning when He stands on the seashore of our life and says, children, do you have any meat?

Are you finding a fulfillment that you're looking for? Do you have any meat? I hope that we can be honest as the disciples were and just say, no. I don't have anything. That was confession. Was a one word confession.

But with that one word, they confessed to ten hours of futile fishing for eight men. Seven or eight men. In that single word, they said all of our efforts have come to nothing. We found a boat. We threw the nets.

We pulled them in. All night long. But we have no meat. None. Not a little bit. Not a small catch. None. In my own life, when I compare the fulfillment of truly pouring my life out into God's purposes, and I compare that to the futility of seeking for fulfillment anywhere else, it's not a little bit of meat situation.

It's a no meat situation. No meat. No fulfillment. And the disciples were honest. Shouted out across the water. No. We have no meat. We have nothing. And He said unto them, cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find.

Obedience Brings Fulfillment

You have a fishing operation here which is just about to be sanctified by the command of Jesus. You have all these men in a boat. They've been working all night long throwing out the net and pulling it in.

And now Jesus stands on the shore and gives them a command. And now instead of fishing under their own choice, now instead of making their own way to go out and go fishing, instead of their own choice, they are now going to fish under the command of Jesus.

It's very, very different. Living your life, me living my life, under my own will, under my own power, under my own steam, so to speak, and living your and my life under the direction of Jesus Christ is so vastly different.

It can hardly be compared. And so it was for the disciples. All night for nothing. And then the command of Jesus, 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.

They cast therefore. And now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. This net is not capable of dealing with the fish. And this human heart is not capable of dealing with the fulfillment and the joy that comes from living a life in obedience to Christ's commands.

Isn't that right? Some of you live there all the time. But all of you have tasted some time in your life where your whole life, top to bottom, was totally submitted to Jesus Christ. Wasn't it wonderful?

Wasn't it fulfilling? And here's the net. Empty all night long through their human effort. But now at the command of Jesus, so full that they can't even pull it in. This net was not made to contain 150 and 3 fish.