Luke 5 & John 12

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Tonight, what I'd like to do is look at two separate passages. And in looking at those two passages, there is,
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I believe, something that we can sink our teeth into a little bit. So if you have your
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Bibles, the two passages, one will be in Luke chapter 5. And the other one will be in John chapter 12.
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And so we'll read it, both passages. And then we're going to see something that's, to a great extent, the same in these two passages.
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We're in Luke 5 and John 12. But let me read the passages with you.
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And then you'll see what I mean as you hear these accounts. So Luke chapter 5, verses 1 through 11.
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And Luke records for us, now it was as the multitude pressed about him, being
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Jesus, to hear the word of God that he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, saw two boats standing by the lake, but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets.
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Then he got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little from the land.
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He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. Now, when he had stopped speaking, he said to Simon, launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.
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Simon answered and said to him, master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing. Nevertheless, at your word,
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I will let down the net. When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their net was breaking.
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So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and to help them. And they came and they filled both the boats so that they began to sink.
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When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, depart from me, for I am a sinful man,
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O Lord. And he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken.
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And so also was James, John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, do not be afraid.
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From now on, you will catch men. So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed him.
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All right, now we'll go to John chapter 21. And I'm going to read the first 10 verses.
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And so John records this. After these things, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the
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Sea of Tiberias. And in this way, he showed himself. Simon Peter, Thomas called
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Didymus, Nathaniel of Cana, Galilee, sons of Zebedee, and two others of the disciples were together.
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Simon Peter said to them, I am going fishing. They said to him, we are going with you also.
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And they went out and immediately got into the boat. And that night, they caught nothing. But when morning had come,
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Jesus stood on the shore. Yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Then Jesus said to them, children, have you any food?
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And they answered him, no. And he said to them, cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.
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So they cast, and now they were not able to draw in because of the multitude of the fish. Therefore, that disciple whom
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Jesus loved said to Peter, it is the Lord. Now when Peter heard that it was the
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Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he had removed it, and plunged into the sea.
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But the other disciples came in a little boat, for they were not far from land, but about 200 cubits, dragging the net with fish.
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As soon as they came to the land, they saw a fire with coals there, and fish laid on it and bread.
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And Jesus said, bring some of the fish which you have just caught. So, I've asked us to look at these two passages, and maybe you've picked it up as we read through them, that there are many similarities in these two accounts.
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And so what I want to do is, I want to highlight some of the similarities, and then I want to discuss perhaps some of the things that might not be the same, and might have a different response.
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And certainly, in this passage, we're going to use Peter as our example.
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And rightfully, Peter, many times, is the one who's out front, right? He's not always right to jump out front, but nevertheless,
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Peter jumps out front in many of these situations. And certainly, Christ is grooming him and preparing him to be the pillar, one of the pillars as he goes forward.
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So, here's a couple similarities to think about. Both of these accounts take place in the same location.
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If you read it in Luke chapter five, it's the Lake of Gennesaret, right?
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If you read in John chapter 21, it's the Sea of Tiberias.
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Well, guess what? The Lake of Gennesaret and the Sea of Tiberias are the same.
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That's the Lake of Galilee, the Galilean Lake. So, what takes place in both of these accounts takes place in the same location.
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In both of these accounts, and as I said,
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Peter is used as an example. In both of these accounts, the disciples are doing the same thing.
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In Luke chapter five, they have gone where? They're fishing. In John chapter 21,
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Peter said, hey, I'm going fishing. So, these two accounts, they take place in the same location and it's in the same situation.
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And I do wanna make a point about this, because if you think about it in the
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John's account, Peter is with the disciples, and if we think of it as it moved forward, they're waiting for the promise of the
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Father to come. Christ has risen from the dead, and he had told them that they will receive power from on high, and so they're waiting, but Peter still goes out and says he goes fishing.
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Maybe that's why I like Peter, because he's always fishing. But nevertheless, in both accounts, they're doing what's, in a sense, normal to them.
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Even though they're waiting for the coming of the Spirit of God to come down on them, they're following their course of life.
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And I thought that that was a point that we could think about just for a moment, how many times people think they have to be in some kind of special religious situation in order for God to reveal himself to them.
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And I think there are people who feel like if they're in church with a wrong understanding, because the church is not really the building, right?
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The church is the people. But nevertheless, there are people who feel that if they are in a church environment, that they're closer to God.
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Now, you might say, well, that's not true. Yes, it is. And there are people who feel that way.
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My point in saying this is that, as Peter and the other disciples, both in both accounts, are fishing, that a great miracle takes place.
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And so you and I don't have to be in any other situation than to be in the presence of God, regardless of where it is, and that you and I can do all things to the glory of God, and that ordinary times, when
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God is pleased, becomes extraordinary times. And that we ought not to think, again, that we have to be in some sort of trance or some sort of special, you gotta have special music, or you gotta have special this and special that, and just something to think about.
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So, both in the same, takes place in the same location. Both are doing the same things.
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And both the results are the same. Well, just think about it. Think about what it says in Luke chapter five, verse five of Luke five.
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Simon answered, Jesus said, launch out into the deep, and look what Peter says. But Simon answered and said to a master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing.
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And then if you look in the account in John, the same thing is said of them in verse three,
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John 21 three. They went out and immediately got in the boat, and that night they caught nothing. So, same place, same activity, same results.
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They don't catch anything. And I'll tell you why. There's someone who has spent nights on the water. Catching nothing is no fun.
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It's enjoyable, but the real prize is to catch fish, right? And here's another thought if you think about it.
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This was their manner of living at this point. Certainly in the beginning in Luke's account,
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Peter and Andrew and James and John were in business together. And their livelihood was fishermen.
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And so you can imagine, it's one thing to go out and sit there and catch nothing.
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It's another thing to go out there, catch nothing, when somebody else is depending on you to catch something.
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And so certainly we'll see that as we go along. When their boats are full to the brim, they had, if you will, enough to cover their needs.
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But nevertheless, so same situation, same place, same activity, same results.
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They catch nothing. And what's the reason why they caught nothing? Because God held it back, right?
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I mean, God in his providence is the one who directs the situations of life all the way down to the fish.
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Remember the account of the Pharisees when they asked Jesus, do you pay taxes?
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And Jesus said to Peter, what? Throw your line in and catch the fish with the coin in his mouth and pay our taxes.
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I mean, that's pretty miraculous. I wouldn't mind if that took place a little bit in my life, but I don't foresee it coming.
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But nevertheless, again, these situations are somewhat identical.
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And I'm gonna kind of expand on this a little bit more because I want us to get to a point where we see something as far as the results.
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So they catch nothing, God's providence has held it back. And then there is, if you will, this demonstration of miraculous power.
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So in the Luke account, we toiled all night and caught nothing. Nevertheless, he says in verse five, at your word,
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I'll let down my net. And when they had done this, they caught a great multitude of fish and their nets were breaking. If you go to the
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John account, when Jesus said to him, verse five of John 21,
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Jesus said to him, children, have you any food? And they answered him, no. And he said to them, cast the net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.
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So they cast. And now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of the fish. So in both accounts, now you have this miraculous demonstration of the power of God, of the power of the
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Lord Jesus Christ, right? Again, I just wonder what
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Peter was thinking in Luke 5, five, when he says, we've been out here all night, we didn't catch nothing, but okay,
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I'll let down the nets one more time because you say so. And behold, all of a sudden, there is this great display of power and authority.
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And here's another point as we think about this, in both accounts, they're responding to the words of Jesus.
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Again, in Luke chapter five, verse five, no, in verse four of Luke five,
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Jesus had said to Peter, launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. In John 21,
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Jesus had said to them, children, have you any food? And they answered no. And he said to them, cast the net on the right side.
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So in both situations, again, it's a miraculous display of power and it's at the request of the
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Lord Jesus Christ that they follow this and they wind up with the catch.
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Again, you begin to see some similarities, right? And that's one of the things that's so good about the gospels.
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And you gotta be careful because it's easy to read the gospel accounts and not always tie them together.
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And it's actually very difficult to do it, right? If you think about it, you read an account in one author's,
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Matthew's account of anything. And then you read Mark's account and even like brother Keith's been going through gospel
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Mark, right? And what have we been doing? We look at this passage and then we look at the parallel passage and there's a word, there's a twist, there's a turn.
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And then you look at the other one. Of course, John is pretty much where? Off to the side because John's presentation of Christ is truly from the aspect that he is the son of God.
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Not that the other writers do not include that. But nevertheless, as you begin to put the gospel accounts together and you begin to see many things take place that are similar, you can draw some conclusions.
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So as I say in both accounts, Jesus speaks to them.
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Same lake, same activity, same results, same word, same words following the results.
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Same results following the word. So now we begin to think, now we could draw some conclusions or make some points.
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In both reports, in both accounts, there's this response on Peter's part.
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Now I wanna kind of focus in on this a little bit. So in Luke's account, they've let down their nets.
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They've caught a great number of fish in verse six. Their net is breaking. They gathered their partners in the other boat to come and help them.
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Came and filled the boat so they began to sink. And look what happens in verse eight. When Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees saying, depart from me for I'm a sinful man,
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O Lord. Now I want you to, we'll come back to that, but I want you to look and think about what happens in John 21.
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So they let down their net, same situation. They're full of fish. And verse seven of John chapter 21, the disciple who's
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John, the disciple whom Jesus loves said to Peter, it's the Lord. Now, when
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Simon Peter heard it, that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment for he had removed it and plunged into the sea.
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It does mention the fact that I would assume this must have been a warm night. And I would assume that Peter had taken off his fish coat or his fish garment or whatever it is.
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And he was pretty much just enjoying a warm night. And because otherwise it wouldn't make any sense that he had taken his coat off because if it was cold, not very smart to take your coat off.
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But nevertheless, there is something that is distinct about this response in Luke and this response in John.
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And although it's the same, there are some differences. And that's where I really want us to focus in on because well, let me ask you a question for your thinking.
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When Peter saw it, it says in Luke 5a, he fell down at Jesus' feet, at Jesus' knees saying, depart from me,
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I'm a sinful man or Lord. Now, you might think that that is a little bit odd when you first think about it.
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If I was a fisherman and I'm out in a boat and I had fished all night and I didn't catch anything and my livelihood depended on it.
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And then someone tells me to cast my net down one more time and I pull up a boatload of fish, the reaction, depart from me,
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I'm a sinful man. Why that? Well, something to think about.
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And then in John chapter 21, once he realizes who it was that told him to let down the nets and the results that came out of it, now
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Peter headfirst into the water, puts his coat on probably out of respect for Christ.
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So he's not just swimming there in his shorts, but he puts his coat on, now he can't wait to get to Christ.
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Is this a similarity or a difference in his response? One, he says depart from me.
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The other one, he can't wait to see Christ. And I wanna make sure we understand because I think this is where we will get some real clear understanding.
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I wanna make sure we understand the situation. So if you think about the account in Luke, and this is not the same account, these are two separate accounts, right?
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If you think about the account in Luke, this happens very early on in Christ's earthly ministry, right?
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Christ began his public ministry at about the age of 30, it says, and it was three years right about.
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And this is at the very beginning of his working with the disciples.
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And we'll use Peter as the example to think about. So it wasn't that Peter didn't know
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John, I mean, didn't know Jesus, because if you read in John 1, guess what? Peter and Andrew were disciples of who?
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John the Baptist. And John the Baptist had introduced them to Jesus.
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And if you read in John 1, you'll see that they had conversation with Christ. My point is, if you look at it and think about it, if we had to put it in space and time, so this is very early on in Christ's ministry.
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This whole account that, and this is where he says depart from me. The account in John takes place when?
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After, right? So I'm just trying to visualize. So the cross has already taken place, right?
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And so we'll say late, just to help us to distinguish it.
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And at this point, Peter is running to him.
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So something has taken place, if you will, if we begin to think about it, time makes a difference.
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Situations make a difference. And if we think about it, there's been at least what?
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We'll just say this, three years. And as I said, he knew him here.
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He knows him in a very different way. I'm gonna say, I believe he knows him in a very different way here.
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Because if you begin to think about what's taken, what has taken place in between all of this activity, three years, just think about it for a minute.
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Think about the things that Peter has had exposed to him for being a disciple of Jesus.
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We can think of a couple of things. I can think of a couple of things. I can think of the fact that Peter had been part of that in a circle, if you remember.
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Who's the ones that went up on the Mount of Transfiguration? Peter, James, John. Who always seemed to be the ones that were kinda asking the questions and close to Jesus?
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Peter, James, John. So these three, Peter was in the inner circle of Christ.
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And I guarantee you, he witnessed things that some of the other disciples, even the apostles, didn't witness.
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He certainly witnessed the teaching, didn't he? And I'm just gonna, well,
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I don't have to do it that way. He witnessed all that teaching of Christ as Christ went from city to city and village to village and preaching and the
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Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount and all those things. Peter's there, right?
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If you think about it, Peter has now had three years of visual experience with the miracles and the power of Christ.
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He's watched him heal. He's watched him raise the dead. Remember when the girl was supposed to be dead and Jesus goes, and if you remember that account, when
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Jesus went, he didn't let anybody in the room except the parents, Peter, John.
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So Peter has watched now for three years the miraculous power of God. Peter has watched for this period of time from when he says, depart from me to when he jumps in the water head first because he can't wait to see
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Christ. Peter has watched all the malicious treatment of the
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Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Jews that hated him. They've watched, Peter has been witness to the persecution.
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He's been witness to the, he's actually been witness to who? To the traitor, to Judas.
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If you think about it, much has gone on in these three years. Peter has been on the
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Mount of Transfiguration when Christ was transfigured before him. Peter has been through a lot in three years.
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Three years is a long time. If you think about it, you become surrounded by situations.
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Here's another thing. When he says, depart from me, O Lord, I'm a sinful man, and then, remember what comes in between this?
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The denial. Remember what Jesus said to him? When Peter says,
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I'll never leave you. Jesus said before this is all over, you'll deny me three times, and he does.
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And it says he went off and he was so sorrowful and sad for what he had done.
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Peter had been, if you will, a witness of the treatment of Christ before Pilate.
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Remember Peter, what, he kind of snuck in? And he was there, and that's when the denial took place.
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But Peter has seen the hatred of men and the discontent of men and the argument of men, and he's watched
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Christ be mistreated by the hands of wicked men. And then, just think about this.
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There's this time and this time, and Peter's been to the tomb.
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Peter's witnessed the resurrection. He didn't witness it, but Peter was there at the tomb.
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So I guess what I'm trying to say is when he says in Luke's account, depart from me,
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O Lord, I'm a sinful man, till we get to John's account in John chapter 21 where he can't wait to see
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Christ, a lot has gone through, a lot has taken place. And here's what I think is at the heart of this.
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In Luke, well, let's focus on the account in Luke for a minute.
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We'll go back to Luke if you're flipping back and forth, and let's look at something.
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So when Peter saw it, that's that great, miraculous, miracle -working power of Christ to the fish sinking the boat.
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Peter saw it in verse eight, Luke five. He fell down at Jesus' knees. Depart from me,
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I'm a sinful man, O Lord. Now, let me just eliminate something.
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I certainly don't believe that Peter truly is asking Christ to leave. And I know it because if you look at verse 11 in Luke chapter five, after this all takes place, look what it says.
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So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed him. So Peter is not truly asking
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Christ to take off, to leave. What is he really doing when he says, depart from me,
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O Lord, I'm a sinful man? Well, in my thinking, in my way of understanding this, when he sees the catcher fish after the words of Christ, I believe he's just absolutely overwhelmed by the majesty, the immensity, the bigness, the divinity of Christ to declare and to control even the movement of fish in the sea.
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And in my thinking, when he truly sees who Christ is, his response is he's beginning to understand his own smallness and Christ's bigness.
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He's beginning to understand who he's in the presence of. And so, as I said,
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I don't think he wants him to depart, but think about that for a minute. When someone truly comes to Christ, I'm not talking about someone who makes a profession and that's all they make is a profession.
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When someone truly comes to Christ, one of the very first things that takes place is you begin to understand how big
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God is and how small you are. You begin to all of a sudden understand what majesty truly means, what holiness begins, what holiness truly means.
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And even in the beginning, and in that sense, it's still in seed form, right? Because you don't, some people come to Christ like a thunderbolt, like Saul to Paul.
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Other people come to Christ like Lydia, who was the seller of purple, right? And it just said that Lord opened her heart and she followed
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Christ. But I still think this is true that when he says this in Luke chapter five, that really for the first time, because he already knew who he was and he had some understanding and probably had some thoughts about Christ as Messiah and the one who was to come and all that, that was involved in that.
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But I really think that when he says depart from me, he is truly overcome by his nothingness versus his allness or everythingness, if that's a word.
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His command over all things, because here, well, in both situations, but here, he couldn't control anything, right?
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He fished all night. He was probably a pretty good fisherman, I would think, if they made their livelihood, and yet he couldn't, and yet at the word of Christ, the fish come to the point of the nets breaking.
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And I ask us to think about that because if you really examine your conversion, and we should do that, we should have, we're told that, right?
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It says, examine yourself, see if you're in the faith. Well, what happens when someone comes truly to Christ?
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I think what happens in part in measure, in a good measure is their first reaction is depart from me, oh
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Lord, I'm a sinful man. See, you begin to see who you really are when you begin to see
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Christ for who he truly is. And that, again, and I don't wanna try to make it so narrow because some people will say, and I'm not one that agrees with it, but some people will say, unless you are overcome with a guilt of sin, you really never come to Christ.
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Well, I do believe that that is true, that you have to see yourself as a sinner.
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I've said that, and I'm gonna say it again in a moment or two, but I've gotta say this for myself and the experience of others.
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I didn't necessarily come to Christ because I was overwhelmed by guilt.
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I came to Christ because I was overwhelmed by emptiness. It was,
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I was lost, and I knew he was the one who found me.
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And again, everybody is different. As I said, Saul to Paul, Lydia, and there's countless examples in the scriptures, but the point will remain, although I knew
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I was lost, I began to understand the majesty of God like I had never known before.
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When we lived in New York, and from time to time, we would take the kids to Mystic, Connecticut. You ever been to Mystic, Connecticut?
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There's an old seaport there. It's like a St. Augustine kind of setup. And I remember, we took the ferry from Long Island to Mystic Seaport, and we came back at night on the same ferry, and I remember as clear as day,
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I looked up in the sky, and it was absolutely clear night, and I saw stars, and I was overwhelmed, truly overwhelmed of the immensity of what
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I was beginning to understand. And so again,
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Peter is overcoming both of these situations, but I think at this point, he truly doesn't want the
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Lord to leave. He just begins to realize his nothingness. And friends, if we're gonna perceive
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God rightly, we need to perceive ourselves rightly. An old preacher once said, and I've used it so many times, but before a man comes to know the true
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God, his God has to die, whatever that God is. And that God has to be seen as nothing compared to the true
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God. And so when Peter says this, depart from me, I'm a sinful man, O Lord, that he is beginning to understand whose presence he's in.
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Well, just think about it. There's support for that reality through the scriptures, right? Remember when Isaiah saw the
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Lord, what? In Isaiah 6, he saw the Lord high and lifted up in his train, filled the temple. What was
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Isaiah's response? Very similar, right? Woe unto me, for I am undone, for I have seen.
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I'm an unclean man, Lord, Isaiah said. You remember what Job, as we've been studying through Job and as we'll get to it at some point in our lifetime, when
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Job finally is encountered by God after his friends have kicked him around. And remember what
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Job says after God revealed himself to him? Job says this, I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you, therefore
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I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.
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Again, as we begin to really see God for who he is, we really begin to see how small, insignificant, wretched, unclean, unworthy, unholy we are.
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And this demonstration of the power of Christ at this point to Peter is absolutely overwhelming.
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But I will say, and we'll think about it in a second, even at this point, it's overwhelming.
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But there's a point I wanna make that there's a great difference in Peter here than Peter here.
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In John chapter one, just to again support this whole idea of when Peter says, depart from me,
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I'm a sinful man, that he's not asking Christ to leave, but rather he's just humbled. John says this in Revelation one,
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I'll just read it to you. It says, in the midst of the seven lampstands, one like the son of man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band, his head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes like a flame of fire.
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His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and his voice the sound of many waters, and he had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp two -edged sword, and his countenance was like the sun, shining in his strength.
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And then John says, and when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. Overwhelmed by the sheer majesty of it all, by the immensity of it all, by the authority and power that resides in this savior of sinners.
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I do believe that we have a disciple here, but I do believe this is a disciple that has to go through many things before, as we will now look at where he is here.
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Because now I wanna focus in on the John account a little bit more. So, we read it in John.
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After he is aware through John that it's the Lord, and sees the same miraculous power, and I doubt very much that Peter forgot about the other incident, by the way.
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I don't think Peter forgot. Listen, if someone told me to cast my net down, and I caught a bunch of fish,
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I would always remember that person, and I would always remember that day. I tell fish stories all the time.
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But the day I caught, one day, and I'll tell you a story right now, one day I caught two tarpon at Fort Clinch.
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I'll never forget that day. You can tell I like the fish.
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But, so, in the John account, after he understands who he is, man, headfirst, he can't wait to get to Jesus.
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There's something that has taken place in the heart of this disciple, and I believe what we see here is a very mature disciple.
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And if you would, this is a beginner, and listen, a lot of people begin on fire, but sometimes that fire dies out.
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But when you get here, this might not, the flame might not be as high, but it's steady.
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And I think it's because of all that took place here, all that had gone on in his life, all the situations.
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And, you know, it's interesting that the scriptures say that as far as an elder, one of the qualifications for an elder is what?
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Not a novice, not a novice. And it says, lest he be lifted up with pride.
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So again, and this is not really what I wanted to say, but I struggle a little bit.
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I want to be careful how I say it. I am all for seminaries, I'm all for Bible colleges, I'm all for all of that stuff.
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But I will say this, I'm not always so sure that taking someone out of a seminary who's really don't have a whole lot of experience either in church life or in regular life, and I'm using the support of not enough,
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I don't think that's always the wisest idea. That sometimes there is this, many times there is a need for, if you will, not only maturity, but life.
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We've talked about this before. We just talked about how you kind of go through situations in life and you get to a point where you understand because you've been there.
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Peter's been there. From the high points to the low points, from the
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Mount of Transfiguration to denying Christ three times. And so we see that, and I thought about this proverb, in Proverbs chapter four it says, it's the path of the just is as a shining sun that shines even brighter till the perfect day.
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And so I would say that the lights have been going on in Peter's heart and his mind for at least these three years.
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Is he prepared by God? Absolutely. Is it just because Peter is smart?
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No. Is it because God was pleased to reveal himself to Peter? Yes. And so when you think about that, he's much more prepared in John's account than he is in Luke's account.
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Now again, this is my thoughts. This is my thoughts as I read through these two accounts. And that's why I say the
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Bible is such a wonderful, cool, and I use the word cool in a very reverent way,
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I hope. The Bible is the coolest book in the world because there's no end to it.
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You can read something and all of a sudden it takes you and I stumbled into this.
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Honestly, I did. I stumbled into, I was reading Luke and something clicked in my mind or I was looking up a word and next thing
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I knew, I was in John 21 and I said, wow, this is cool stuff.
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But we see a more prepared Peter. Like I said, he's been refined, he's been tested.
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And I don't think he thinks better of himself. As a matter of fact, I think he thinks less of himself.
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He says, depart from me, I'm a sinful man here. I don't think he's full of pride here.
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As a matter of fact, I think he's got more humility here than he did there. But here's the key.
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I think what happens by God's grace is you learn to know what to do with yourself.
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In other words, you learn to be with Christ is far better than to be without Christ.
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In other words, life has a way and God has a way and the spirit of God has a way of drawing us to be able to deal with ourselves in a better way.
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That you and I, through the issues of life, we want to be closer to Christ because we know that that's where our salvation lies.
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That's where our safety is. That's where the blessing is. That's where the fellowship is.
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It's not depart from me, I'm a sinful man. I can't wait to see him.
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I think that's drawn out in the fact that Peter jumps out of the boat into the water. I don't think he's lost his fear of God.
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I think he knows what to do with that fear. I don't think he's lost his humility. I think he knows what to do with that humility.
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I don't think he lost his sense of his own wretchedness. I think he knows what to do with it. And what to do with it is to bring it to Christ.
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You can't hide it anyway. Do you ever try to hide something from the
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Lord? And then all of a sudden you start to say, man, I must really be dumb.
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Lord, I don't want you to think I was thinking this. Yes, you were, right?
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I mean, we all, these things happen to all of us. We're all different, but we're all pretty much the same too, right?
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What, it wasn't me. Who was it? Of course the Lord knows it was you. But he's, so he's not lost his sense of fear.
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I think he's better suited to deal with his own fear. Better suited to deal with his own situation.
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Better suited to be a real disciple and to run. And so, that was my point tonight from these two accounts that, and I want to say this as a general principle.
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Almost all people will divide into one or two groups. And we can divide this in a lot of different ways.
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We can say sheep and goat, saved and lost. But I think it could be rightfully said that if you were to really divide people by two just separate issues, one would be there are many people who want
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Christ to truly depart from them. Leave me alone. Have nothing to do with me.
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Let me live my life. And that's one group. And then the other group is the group that says,
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I want to get close to him. I want to be with him. I want to be as tight with him as I can.
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And so I ask us to think about that tonight. Do we desire to be more with him?
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Do we desire to be closer to him? Are we mature enough to realize that we can jump into the sea and get to him and we're safe and we're secure?
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Are we established children of God? Is that not one of the great purposes of the church?
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Listen, if you read in Ephesians four, one of the works, one of the things that the ministry has been set up for is to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry, to do those things.
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But it's also to equip us each other so that we go from being a beginner to being more mature, to being wiser.
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Now you could simply say, well, Peter was just three years older. I don't think that cuts it. And by the way,
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I'll say this. Gray hair is not always a sign of wisdom. There's a lot of old fools in the world.
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But you and I, are we preparing? Are we, if you will, are we growing in grace?
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One of the ways to grow in grace is to see him for who he really is, be overwhelmed by him.
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Are we willing to cast it all aside, friends? I pray that's the case with us. I pray that we would more and more, there is nothing better than to be along with Christ.
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And if you don't understand what I'm saying, then I don't know if you've ever been along with Christ. And although that time sometimes is rare, when you sense by the spirit of God that you're in the presence of God, you're absolutely free.
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And nothing can harm you. And then five minutes later, you're thinking about a hamburger. So may
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God help us. May God grow us. And may God teach us that he holds it all together, friends.
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The fish, the birds, you and I, the Middle East, everything is under his control.
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So, all right, let's just close with a word of prayer. Father, again tonight, thank you for your word,
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Lord. Thank you that your word is so fresh, and it's so new, and it's so powerful. And even in this,
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Lord, even in these accounts of just fishing at night, and of the miraculous power of Christ, and his rule and his reign, and help us,
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Lord, help us to desire to draw closer to you. Help our people, Lord, and this body of believers here to desire to draw closer to you, to be willing to jump into the sea and cast it all upon you.
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So bless us tonight, Lord. Keep us safe till we meet again. Be with Brother Keith as he travels, and be with us this