John 21:1-11 "I Am Going Fishing"

John’s Purpose in Recording the Resurrection Appearances

Praise to the Sovereign King, hear His people sing, Solely and wholly saving His own bride. There where the Lamb has died, hide the blood of that great High Priest.

So anyway, Hallelujah! That was a blessing to hear those songs. I have never heard Hiding in Thee before, so that was a blessing to be able to sing that and to come together and worship to God today. So we're going to begin today by starting out with a word of prayer and we're going to be in John chapter 21 verses 1 through 11 and we're taking a little bit bigger of a portion of scripture than what we normally would as I think that you if you were to break this text up it would be difficult to get the message of what's going on here so we're taking a little bit bigger of a bite than what we normally would but I would encourage you to please turn to John chapter 21 verses 1 through 11.

So let us begin with that with a word of prayer. Lord God, we love you, we thank you Lord. God it has been a privilege to go through this gospel of John together Lord as we have seen so clearly your deity, your goodness, your supremacy, your sovereignty, your love Lord.

We've seen it all, all the way from John chapter 1 to even this chapter Lord and so God I would pray that you would continue to help us understand these things as we come here today Lord. God I pray that each one of us that we might be strengthened in you that we might grow in you we might know more about you today Lord and God I would just pray that you continue to use this building as a place where believers would gather underneath its roof to preach Christ crucified to ourselves and to each other Lord.

God I pray that you would bless the ministries of this church Lord that it would be for your glory and that your name would be proclaimed in a world that rejects and hates you Lord and God once again this we want to be doing for your glory as we tell the world about your supremacy Lord and we just say these things in your holy name Jesus Christ amen.

So like I said we're gonna be in John chapter 21 verses 1 through 11 and before we read this maybe we'll give a little bit of context of where we're at why we're in John chapter 21 what's the what's going on here and I want to read real fast for us in verse 31 just previously this comes after Jesus has appeared before the disciples and he has now appeared before Thomas doubting Thomas and doubting Thomas Thomas has put his finger into the very nail prints of Jesus like the other disciples have that it's a physical resurrection that Jesus has undergone and as they have done this it has validated what Christ has been saying previously and then in verse 31 John records saying this he says but these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the son of God and that believing you may have life in his name so just as when Jesus appeared to Thomas and Thomas put his finger in the nail prints his hand into the side this has been written so that when we read it we can see Christ we can believe in him and that we know we have life in his name so just as how it was validating for Thomas to see Christ so the scriptures are for us now John writing this gospel him being inspired I'm not but him being inspired he's given us another chapter here.

And when we read chapter 20 for us in verse 31 it's seemingly to me that that would have been a fitting place to end the gospel of John. But John has purposely recorded for us what he calls a third manifestation of Jesus Christ.

And the gospel of John has gone out of his way to prove to us over and over and over again recording things that Christ said and he did to prove something that is so important that Jesus Christ is God that he's sovereign that he's all powerful.

He has these attributes that no other man can demonstrate. He records these things very purposely for us like this. And so when we come to chapter 21 I would encourage you to be like paying a lot of attention to those details because that is why John I believe would say that he recorded this additional manifestation of Jesus Christ for us.

It's something that we need to be seeing in here. And so please pay special attention to that author's purpose in writing this that that the synoptic gospels have really done recording the events this has to deal with who Christ is.

So remember that. So let us read verses 1 through 11. Today after these things Jesus manifested himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias and he manifested himself in this way. There were together Simon Peter and Thomas Caldinimus and Nathaniel of Canaan and Galilee and the sons of Zebedee and two others of his disciples.

Simon Peter said to them I am going fishing. They said to him we will also come with you. They went out and got into the boat and that night they caught nothing. But when the day was now breaking Jesus stood on the beach.

Yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus therefore said to them children you do not have any fish do you. They answered him no. And he said to them cast the net on the right hand side of the boat and you will find a catch.

You will catch fish they say or they cast therefore. And they then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish that disciple therefore whom Jesus loves said to Peter it is the Lord.

And so when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord he put his outer garment on for he was stripped for work and threw himself into the sea. But the other disciples came in the little boat for they were not far from the land but about 100 yards away dragging the net full of fish.

And so when they got out upon the land they saw a charcoal fire already laid and fish placed on it with bread placed on it and bread. Jesus said to them bring some of the fish which you have now caught.

Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land full of large fish 153. And all together there were so many the net was not torn. Let us pray again over this text Lord God as we have seen in Luke chapter 5 Lord that we are to be fishermen and men Lord.

And so God this event whatever has taken place here that's recorded for us Lord I pray that it would encourage us to be that fishermen and men Lord that you would help us take joy in doing things for your service and doing things for your glory.

Lord that we would see you in this text God. Lord let us just see your sovereignty from verse 1 to 11 and and before and after this text. Lord because you are sovereign even in this chapter Lord God you are our Lord and our God.

And we say these things in your holy name Jesus the Christ who has saved us. Amen. So I want to be upfront and honest with you when we read this chapter and verses 1 through 14 specifically there's a lot of speculation about what's going on in this text from many many different theologians and commentaries.

And when I was studying this I found myself having a difficult time trying to understand what's going on in here. There would be some that would write commentaries and talk about how it was sinful for the apostles to go fishing this day.

I just don't see that there. In fact you have Jesus telling them to go and cast the net on the right hand side of the boat so that they can catch fish. So there would be some logical issues with that right.

Who in here likes to go fishing. I like to go fishing. I've never caught 153 fish in one go nor probably have I ever caught 153 fish from day one to the day. But if we said that fishing was in and of itself sinful that would be problematic.

Yes that'd be very problematic and so we need to be very careful to not add anything to this word of text and take away something that is not meant to be taken away. But there was very much speculation like I said about people's opinions of what's going on here what what they think is is taking place and so we'll talk through some of this stuff and I hope that it helps us and and we can come to kind of our own conclusion today using the word of God and not going out of its guardrails for us to come to those conclusions.

So once again as the as the as the context is this is after the resurrection of Jesus Christ he's already appeared and made himself manifest as John has recorded twice for us in these ways and it doesn't record in here how many days after these events that Peter decides to go fishing.

So in verse one let us read it it says after these things Jesus manifested himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias and he manifested himself in this way. So it's saying in these next verses this is how it took place.

This is how Christ manifested himself for the third time before his disciples and we see that it's at the sea of Tiberias now this is also the lake of Tiberias the sea of Galilee. There's a lot of different names that this body of water can go by but it's a very large body of water.

In fact if you have a map in your bible which is always great validating for what we have recorded for us here you can see it's a pretty large lake sea is what it would be called it's 33 miles in circumference and from its from its shore line today that it's been measured so it's it's a very big body of water and as we have seen just a little bit more context for us here in Luke chapter five that that's the very lake that Simon met Jesus.

In fact many of the disciples met Jesus there at that lake and so it's very interesting that here John has recorded that the very first time that Jesus met some of the disciples is going to be some of the last ways that Jesus sees his disciples as recorded by John.

So it's this this correlating event here so we'll be remembering that be thinking about that so he manifested himself in this way. And in verse two it says this there were together Simon Peter and Thomas called Didymus and Nathanael of Canaan and Galilee and the sons of Zebedee and two other of his disciples and so we would know that one of the two other of the disciples is the disciple whom Jesus loved and so there's all together seven disciples that have been gathered together.

Seven disciples these seven there's a couple additional that have that have now followed Christ that have not been recorded as fishing with Peter in Luke chapter five there's many that are recorded that are still going to go fishing with Peter here.

But in Luke chapter five I believe it says I might be wrong on these numbers but I think it's five of these same disciples that we see in here. We're also fishing with with Simon in chapter five of Luke.

But regardless of that there's seven of them here in this text in verse three we see Simon Peter. He says in here Simon Peter said to them I am going fishing. This is where that speculation starts to kick in that here you have the risen Jesus Christ and you have Peter who in the last three and a half years have not gone fishing.

That used to be his way of work that was his way of earning a wage was a fisherman that was his his employment and so no doubt I would imagine that he probably got joy from fishing as many men and women do.

So he's says in here I am going fishing. And here in three and a half years he has not gone fishing or it's not been recorded for us that he's gone fishing. He left his boat and his net and he followed Jesus like I said there's a lot of speculation on why Peter wanted to do this and I want to stray away from trying to to come to a firm conclusion on why this was.

I would say that here in the previous chapter we just see Jesus say to them as I have been sent so I send you do not be fearful of the world. So maybe this is Peter saying I know that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to be leaving us soon because he's been speaking of leaving us and I know I have to make a wage to live and so maybe I'm going to go fishing.

I'm going to get back into doing that because I'm to no longer be scared of the world. I'm to go to the world. I'm to be in the world but not of the world. Maybe that is what's going on in here. Once again we can't come to a strong conclusion because in this text all is recorded for us.

That is Peter says I am going fishing. I am going fishing. Maybe he was under a lot of stress after seeing Jesus Christ die. And now he's reappeared and and now maybe he's wanting to have this relaxing time of going out and and thinking of the things of God on the water.

Maybe that's what's going on here. Or maybe it's just another time of Peter doing his typical Peter thing of denying Christ and and and and just continually kind of putting his foot in his mouth. Maybe that's what's going on here.

It's it's hard to say but Peter says I am going fishing I am going fishing. And we see in here that it's recorded for us that these seven disciples all go fishing with him they all follow him to go fishing.

They all get on the boat to gather fish. Now I think we can make a lot of correlations here to our own lives church that when we go into the world we're to have fellowship with each other that the people in this room if you were to go get on a boat to go fishing.

I hope that you would look at people in this room and say I want to have fellowship with these people. I want to include these people in what I enjoy doing I want to include these people in what I am doing throughout the week I I want to be a family I want to be friends I want to have fellowship with each other.

And so I see that in this text here's these seven disciples that have fellowship and it's recorded for us they had a good enough fellowship that they were going to be fishing all night long. So they go out and whatever time it was and they continue fishing through the night.

It says we will come fishing with you we will come also with you. They went out and got into the boat and that night they caught nothing. And this is really remarkable because in Luke chapter 5 we see Peter it says again they caught nothing.

So some so we would look at this and we'd say I have another fellow fisherman that's about as good as I am catching nothing. Right. That when Peter has gone out on this boat that for many hours through the night and with his friends they have caught no fish no fish have gotten into the net not a single one.

Now John records this for us for a specific reason it wouldn't. It wouldn't work if if John had not recorded that they caught nothing and then they just have Jesus come and they cast it to the right side of the boat and have 153 fish.

It specifically records in here that they caught nothing no fish whatsoever. And here are these men that are supposed to be fishermen by trade they they should know these waters they should know where the fish are they should be able to cast their net in it and catch fish.

They're catching nothing whatsoever. This is why it's so remarkable that here in a little bit we see that their nets are full to the brim of fish here in a moment. Now if we were to take a snapshot of this individual time with Peter and the disciples casting their net into the water we we talked about this at bible study that here is Nebuchadnezzar that is then has his nature changed and he has to go and eat in the field with cows and other beasts and he's eating along these this grass along next to these dung piles right that here is this man that's being made into a beast that God has made him there for seven periods of time.

And if we were just to look at that snapshot we would say man that seems like a terrible thing that's going on right there. And if that's all we focused on we would walk away with it thinking why is that even taking place.

This seems ridiculous. But if we have the whole picture and we understand that Nebuchadnezzar was this king that God placed there and this king is has looked at his own sovereignty and has said look I am the king.

And he looks at his own works and he doesn't acknowledge God then God humbles him and he does this in a perfect way and then he elevates him to being a believer in himself. If we have that whole picture we can say every snapshot in there had a purpose.

Every moment in this guy's life had a purpose and it was leading him to this exclamation of Christ exclamation of Yahweh it's bringing about this glorious picture. And so likewise in this middle of the night if we were to take a snapshot of this we'd say man that stinks that seems like a waste of time.

Why are they even out there. That would be super disheartening. I go out hunting and I don't even see one animal and I get in my truck and I leave and I drive home and I'm frustrated. No doubt that these disciples in my opinion when we read this no fish they had caught they are going to be frustrated men.

They're going to be kind of why. Why are we even out here Peter we're wasting our night. That's the snapshot. I would take away from this if we were just to look at this moment in time. But verse four says this it says but when the day break but when the day was now breaking so now the sun's starting to come up it's starting to get light out.

Jesus stood on the beach yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Once again there's a lot of speculation behind this. A lot of people would say there was a mist on the water or maybe they still are losing their salvation which that's not the case in this and they keep on forgetting who Christ looks like.

What probably is the fact is it says that the boat was a hundred yards away and so it's just a distance thing. They see a man standing on the beach and they don't see it as Jesus. They just see a man there.

They just see a man. And so it was a hundred yards away according to verse eight. And verse eight it says. But the other disciples came in the little boat for they were not far from the land but about 100 yards away.

So it most likely is a distance thing that they're just not able to recognize that this is Jesus Christ. But we see that Jesus is there on the lakeside on the the beach on the seaside of this this body of water.

And it says that Jesus stood on the beach yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus therefore said to them children you do not have any fish. Do you. Now let's think about this rationally.

Let's say you were on a lakeside for 12 hours watching a boat cast their net over and over and over again into the waters and you watch and you see this thing take place. Would you think for a moment that they didn't have any fish in their boat.

I would think that at least you caught a little guy at least you were out there for some reason. But Jesus says you don't have any fish in there do you. This is a claim that Jesus Christ knows all things and he's giving an opportunity to talk with his disciples for them to answer them back.

This is exactly what we would see that takes place in the garden that he's walking around in there. He calls out to Adam and Eve where are you. It's a time for them to come forward and talk with God talk with Jesus.

God does this all the time throughout both the old and the new testament. So he says in here he says children do you not have any fish. Do you now this word children could also mean lad looking at somebody and saying hey you guys over there tell me what's going on with with what you're catching right now.

Some of the commentaries I was looking at studying this would say that that would be maybe a common way to refer a merchant would reach out to somebody that was in a boat. And so the idea is that maybe these disciples in the boat didn't recognize Jesus because of the distance and they think that he's a merchant that's there early in the morning to get the fish to sell it here in the soon.

And so the disciples therefore say to him well they say no we don't have any. So Jesus then goes on to say this. He says. And he said to them cast the net on the right hand side of the boat and you will find a catch.

This is another claim of him being God in flesh. You imagine for a moment you're on the lakeside. You see these this boat casting the net all night long. They haven't catched anything. But you've maybe you don't know that they didn't catch anything.

If you could you say for a fact that you know that they haven't caught anything. No you couldn't say that. Let's say you. You find out that they haven't catched anything. Can you then after these 12 or however many hours it's been look to that exact same boat and say hey cast your net on the right side and you'll catch something.

Do you think that they have not tried this already. They've been throwing nets left and right. No doubt all night long in frustration and some anger probably just disappointment. Can any of us sit and tell somebody hey cast your net on the right hand side and i know you'll catch a fish.

No we can't. And so this is a claim that Jesus Christ is omniscient. And we'll see here in a moment that he controls the fish. He controls the net. He controls the men. He is sovereign in these things.

He is sovereign over these people. He's sovereign over the fish. And so he says cast the net on the right hand side of the boat. Is this is there a reason that Jesus Christ said the right hand side over the left hand side.

Yes there is there is. If he wanted to he could have said the left hand side of the boat. And no doubt if he wanted to to make fish get in the net he could have. But he says the right hand side for a reason.

God speaks like this often often all throughout the text. The book of psalms it says the lord said unto my lord sit at my right hand till i make thine enemies your footstool. Jesus says in Matthew chapter 25 verse 33.

I believe it is. He says in there i will separate the sheep from the goats. And i'll put the sheep on my right hand and the goats on my left. It says that Jesus is standing at the right hand of the father.

The right hand has much significance in the scripture as that was the hand of power the hand of authority the hand of supremacy. And so we see here that Christ tells the disciples throw the net on the right hand side of the boat.

I don't think this is a coincidence at all. Is what i'm getting at in this text. He says cast it on the right hand and you will find a catch. You will catch fish. So they therefore and they then they were not able to haul so they they cast therefore so they cast it on the right hand side of the boat.

And then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish. This is interesting. I want you to pay close attention to the correlations that take place between this event and the event that happened to these same disciples.

Many of the same disciples three and a half years earlier because it happens very remarkably similar. But there's events that take place in here that's different. So we see in here that that according to luke it says that peter before he casts the net into the water he first questions him in this text.

Do you see them questioning him any longer. They just throw it in the water. No doubt. Maybe in the back of their mind they're like well the last time somebody told us to throw a net into the water and we actually did it.

We had a huge amount of fish that we caught. It says in verse 7 that disciple therefore whom jesus loved. Who is that. Speaking of john the author of this gospel here once again he he refers to himself in this humble way of speaking that he doesn't want people to know his name.

He wants people to know that jesus christ loves him. What a what a beautiful way to refer to yourself as i don't want you to know i'm john. I want you to know that jesus christ loves me. And so john is the first one to recognize that this is jesus christ.

And so he says in here he says it to peter and he says it is the lord. Isn't this remarkable. Just this one phrase of a disciple of christ that recognizes him quickly quickly calls out to him as who he is lord.

We see this previously just in the chapter before my lord and my god mary at the tomb my lord my master. I can't help but think that when these disciples once they saw christ ascend to the heavens and they are no longer now presently seeing him face to face that the day that they died in martyrdom that when they stood before the very throne of god and they looked and they saw the land that had been slain for them and they saw jesus christ they no doubt exploded in great joy and saying it is the lord or in some way called out to him in that manner.

Because that is how every disciple when they recognize christ they call out to him just as john is doing right here it is the lord. Also john recognizing in this this boat recognizing at the distance that this is jesus the christ his lord and his god.

Does he keep silent about this. No he's he turns to be it's the lord peter it's the lord. As christians if you believe in jesus christ and his death burial and resurrection that perfect life that you and i cannot live and him paying the price for you on the cross you will want to tell people it is the lord.

If you recognize jesus christ as lord you will tell people about it. You will tell people about it. You'll make sure that it is done. And so he says this to peter. And this is interesting. It is the lord.

And so when simon peter heard it was the lord. So once he hears john say it is the lord. This is very this was recorded to us very interestingly. This is the same peter that's questioned him the first time that he was told to put the net in the water.

This is the same peter that got out on the water and began to walk and began to sink and was grabbed by jesus christ. This is the same peter that does this. And and now we have him. No it's jesus. And he then has been stripped for work.

So he doesn't have a shirt on. He's he's been working hard through the night. And he puts back on the shirt before jumping in the water. I think this is interesting. I don't i can't rationalize why peter would do that.

Maybe he was embarrassed of being shirtless so he wanted to put on a shirt to jump to be able to meet jesus christ. But forever whatever reason that is he puts on his outer garment. He then jumps into the water.

He's not there to wait and he jets it for jesus christ. He takes a beeline for jesus christ. In this way he goes after him once again as disciples of christ. Should we be going after christ. Yes absolutely.

Now it's also funny in this text because could they haul this large load of fish says that they were unable to haul it. They weren't able to pick it up. So they had to use the boat to haul it into the side of the shore.

As the other six disciples sat in the boat what do you think that their thoughts were when they saw peter jump out and they knew that they had a lot of work before them. Dang it peter we got to get this fish to the store.

And there's no doubt in my mind that they were thinking something along those lines says that the disciple therefore whom jesus loved said to peter it is the lord. So and so when simon peter heard that it was the lord he put on his outer garment on and for he was stripped for the work and threw himself into the sea.

But the other disciples came in the little boat. So they are in this boat and they they bring the fish in for they were not far from the land about 100 yards away dragging the net full of fish. So they they couldn't lift this large number of fish into their boat and they had to drag it to the seashore.

They had to drag it to this this beach here. And so when they got out upon the land they saw a charcoal fire already laid and fish placed upon it. And bread who made this fire who received this fish. This is the same jesus christ that has taken a small amount of food and and fed many multitude of people.

Here is jesus christ and the disciples not catching a single fish. And here he has a fire and fish already there. And bread for the disciples jesus christ has prepared a meal for them. He's provided for them.

He greets them in this way. Now here you have seven fishermen that by trade have been doing this for their life and they couldn't catch a single fish. And we here we have jesus christ it doesn't say how he got the fish.

I i that's more speculation. I don't know if jesus was there with a fishing pole or if him being all powerful could make a fish there on the fire. Right then. And there doesn't say in here. But however jesus did it.

Jesus received himself a fish in some way or another and he puts it on the fire and he has it cooked there for the disciples. And it says to them here in verse 10 jesus said to them bring some of the fish which you have now caught.

And simon peter went up and drew the net to land full of large fish 153. And all together there were so many the net was not torn. John the disciple whom jesus loved penned this gospel many years after the event took place.

Do you think that the number 153 meant a lot to him in that time. Because when a fisherman would get the fish to the seashore in order to count it for the merchants they would count their catch. And so it is significant that john has recorded in here that it was 153.

It means that they remembered that here this whole night we have not caught a single fish. That's an easy way to count zero zero fish. And now there's 153 in our nets without christ could man do anything without god command do anything.

No it's by his word that he upholds all things. How did the disciples receive the fish. Because god is sovereign over all things. In fact job chapter 1 verses 22 through 23 it says that the lord giveth and the lord taketh away.

Blessed be the name of the lord. And it's remarkable. It was we won't will not read today because we do not have enough time. But in job chapter 38 through 42 we see in great detail the way that god is sovereign over all his creation.

He talks about the waters. He talks about the skies. He talks about these beasts. He talks about them all. And he says you tell me where the goat calves at. You tell me these things. Job god does these things and he has supreme authority over them.

These disciples cannot catch a single fish in and of themselves. But god sovereignly placed 153 fish into their nets that day. And that's remarkable. He not only provided that which had already been laid upon the fire but he provided the means for them to be able to catch these fish.

Now let's look at the correlations that we have here in these two different chapters chapter 5 of luke and chapter 21 of john. The correlations that we would see in here that nothing is caught by the disciples in both accounts.

Now when it's just them they don't catch anything in both accounts. Jesus commands that the disciples do something with their nets. And they do it. And what takes place fish. That's important. So when we are commanded by god to do something should we not obey him.

We should absolutely do those things. Another correlation that we would see in here is that the nets in the first account broke and the net in the second time did not. It's very interesting be thinking about this in the back of your mind.

Why is it that the net broke in the first account not in the second. In the first account peter questioned jesus. In the second account he throws himself into the water without hesitation. It sounds like maybe a little bit to put on a shirt.

But he throws himself in the water to go see jesus. We see somebody that has been walking along christ for three and a half years now. And we see spiritual growth in this time of the text. He no longer questions jesus christ.

He follows him he goes after him. And that's important. I hope that you see growth in your own life as you follow jesus christ. Now what would be. Some theological implications some some symbolism that we could see here.

That i i think that we can make application for theologically in this text. Well i think the first thing that we see in this kind of a text is absolutely that jesus both provides the fish the cooked fish.

And according to luke chapter 5 10 he's already made reference to how fish we are to be fishermen of men in luke 5 chapter 10 that we are to fish after men. Now think about this for a moment. I want you to think about how many people are under this roof today.

Think about how many people follow jesus christ when he was walking on the earth. It's a very small amount of number of peoples. Very small amount of people actually followed jesus christ when he was physically upon the earth.