I invite you to turn this morning in your Bibles to the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John, chapter 21, on page 1053 in most of the Pew Bibles. As you're turning there, and before we read the text, I want to orient you to the text a little bit from what happens in chapter 20. Because too often it seems that verses 1 through 14 get glossed over in a hurry to find out about how Peter was restored by Jesus, beginning in verse 15. Now, to be sure, these first 14 verses that we're going to look at today set the stage for what takes place there, but there's more going on than that. For John, in these verses, records a particular event in the history of redemption that was not only significant for the disciples, but very significant for us. For all who will hear and believe their testimony. On a resurrection morning, according to chapter 20, verse 8, John, when he finally entered the tomb, saw and believed. Ever quick to discern the truth, John understood from the scriptures that if the tomb was empty, Jesus had been raised to life. But he adds in verse 9 that they, that is the other disciples, still did not understand from the scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead. And so he says in verse 10, they went back to their homes. But Mary, he goes on, remained at the tomb. And Jesus revealed himself to her there for this purpose, that she would tell the disciples, I have seen the Lord. And this appearance to Mary and her message back to the disciples set in motion a series of events that John records here. Three appearances of Jesus to his disciples. The first event took place that same night, Resurrection Night, among the disciples who had gathered behind locked doors because they feared for their lives. Those who were there would later tell Thomas, we have seen the Lord. But Thomas didn't believe them. And one week later, Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples, again, behind locked doors. And this time, Thomas not only saw the Lord, but he was invited to touch the Lord, and he cried out, My Lord and my God. And in our text this morning, John reports a third event when Jesus revealed himself to the disciples. Through what we might call a living parable, Jesus revealed himself to them as the Lord who preserves them, who provides for them. who persuades them and who prepares for them all things. And through this living parable we might say He moves them beyond doubt to absolute certainty that He is the Lord of whom they would bear witness. And through their witness, which we have today in the Word of God, our now ascended Lord continues to reveal Himself so that all who believe on Him today can know with full assurance that He is the Lord who faithfully preserves, who abundantly provides, who powerfully persuades, and who lovingly prepares. Let's read the Word of God starting John chapter 21. Here, this Word, beginning in verse 1. Afterward, that is after these two appearances, Afterward, Jesus appeared again to his disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way. Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathaniel from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. I'm going out to fish, Simon Peter told them. And they said, we'll go with you. So they went out and got into the boat. But that night they caught nothing. Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, friends, haven't you any fish? No, they answered. He said, throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some. When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, It is the Lord. And as soon as Simon Peter heard him say, It is the Lord, he wrapped his outer garment around him, for he had taken it off, and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire burning coals, there with fish on it and some bread. Jesus said to them, Bring some of the fish you have caught. Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153. But even with so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, Come and have breakfast. None of the disciples dared ask him, Who are you? They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead. Here ends the reading of God's Word. As John opens this final episode in verses 1 and 2, he implies something more than he says it directly. He implies and draws a picture for us to see that it is the Lord who faithfully preserved his disciples through their trial. Unlike Matthew, Mark, and Luke, John never identifies the twelve apostles as distinct from the disciples. I believe he speaks to them as one and the same. So when you read in disciple and John, you might well think apostle. In fact, John doesn't keep track of all the apostles. Throughout his gospel, he names only five of the twelve. Simon, Peter, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, and Judas. He identifies but never mentions by name himself and his brother James. He makes no mention of the other James, no mention of Simon the Zealot, and he never mentions Bartholomew unless, as many believe, and I'm convinced, he called him Nathaniel. For none of the other Gospels speak of Nathaniel, they speak of Bartholomew, and John does vice versa. In the first two appearances that John reported in chapter 20, all that we know is that Jesus appeared to the disciples. Apart from mentioning Thomas as being absent at the first and present at the second, we don't know who or who was not there behind the locked doors in Jerusalem. And one of the striking features of this third episode is that John tells us exactly who was there. Almost. He says in verses 1 and 2, Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, The sons of Zebedee, that would be James and John himself, and two other disciples were together. Now this just begs the question, why is John so specific here all of a sudden? Certainly he wants to let us know that he and Peter were there because Jesus will turn his attention to them in just a few moments. But I believe there is more. I think with the mention of Nathanael here in this text, John draws our attention back to the only other mention of his name in the Bible. And that's John chapter 1, where John tells of the first disciples coming to Jesus in Galilee. And when we look back to where Nathanael is mentioned, we see also mentioned there Andrew, who introduced Simon Peter to Jesus, and Philip, who introduced Nathanael to Jesus. And I believe this is John's way of telling us that all the disciples that he has identified in his gospel that had come together with Jesus in Galilee at the beginning, had come together again in Galilee to meet with Jesus. This is significant if we remember the night before Jesus died. On the way to the garden he told to the disciples, he warned them that this very night you will all fall away on account of me. For it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. And indeed they were. Nothing would have made the Jewish authorities happier, in fact, Satan himself for that matter, than if the foundation of the church would be dispersed before the church was ever established. According to John, their plan seemed to be working. Remember that even when they discovered the empty tomb, the disciples did not believe that Jesus had been raised from the dead. And so they went back to their home. And even though Mary came to them that morning and said, I've seen the Lord, they still only came together on Sunday and then behind closed doors. But Jesus had also told them that night, right after he told them they would be scattered, he says, after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee. Now John doesn't record it, but the other Gospels do, that when Mary went to tell them, I have seen the Lord, she also told them to remind them that he'd gone ahead of them to Galilee and that he would see them there. But even though she told them this promise, she reminded them of this promise and she told them that the Lord had been risen, they still didn't believe until Jesus appeared to them and showed himself to them. You see, his earthly ministry in the flesh was not ended with his death on the cross. And we can make the mistake sometime in our modern evangelical circles that everything ends at the resurrection. But we must remember that Jesus did not immediately go to his Father. He stayed with the disciples for 40 days. He appeared to them, as John records here, in the fullness of his humanity to teach them who he was, that they would witness to him the resurrected Jesus. He gathered them together as his witnesses. And together, from those appearances in Jerusalem, he moved them from behind the locked doors of Jerusalem to the open roads in Galilee, where they no longer were fearful of being seen together as the disciples of Jesus Christ. And here we find them in John's account that they were gathered together again on the familiar shore of the Sea of Galilee. And we have to wonder and believe if not by this time they had already begun to see that it is the Lord who had faithfully preserved them through their darkest hour and had brought them together again. Now there's more to the story and we will consider it but before we move forward we need to know ourselves today that Jesus Christ who has ascended to the right hand of the Father is still the Lord who faithfully preserves His church today. through faith worked in us by the Holy Spirit and the witness of these very men we are looking at today in the Word of God. We can also know with certainty that our Lord Jesus Christ will never leave us, will never forsake us, no matter how dark the hour or how difficult the circumstance. Surely, He promised, I am with you always to the very end of the age. It is the Lord who faithfully preserves His church. Now once the disciples had gathered at Galilee, without Jesus there to lead them, the disciples went back to work, and we learn in verses 3 through 6 that it is the Lord who abundantly provided for them in their work. Now when Jesus first called the disciples, if you remember the story, He told them to follow Him. And they left their boats, and they left their nets, and they followed him. Wherever he went, they went. Wherever he said to go, they would go. And his last instruction to them was that they were to go back to Galilee. He would meet them there, and so here they were. But Jesus was nowhere in sight. So Peter, who's not one to ever sit around and do nothing, said, I'm going out fishing. And as usual, the rest followed his lead and said, we'll go with you. So they went out and got in the boat. But that night they caught nothing, John says. This is the only place in John's Gospel where John makes it clear that these men were fishermen, just as Matthew, Mark, and Luke make very clear from the beginning. John says this only at the end. We must remember that they were professionals. They had fished their whole lives, except for the last three years. And here they find themselves at the lake. Water's there. Nothing to do. Out they go. They knew all the spots. They knew all the tricks. they were going to get a catch. And so they went out that night, casting out their net and dragging it back in, time after time after time, always empty. They labored hard all night long, so hard that come morning, Peter was still virtually undressed because he'd taken off his outer coat. And John continues in verse 4 that after this long night of no fruit, early in the morning, John says, Jesus stood on the shore but the disciples did not realize it was Jesus. Now whenever Jesus appeared after his resurrection, no one ever recognized him until he revealed himself in some particular and familiar way. According to John, Mary thought Jesus was the gardener until he called her by name. The disciples did not recognize him even until after he gave them a familiar greeting. He says, Peace be to you. And he showed them his wounds. And Thomas didn't believe until he was also greeted and invited to touch. And here we are at the Sea of Galilee. Jesus on the shore, the men in the boat, and still they do not recognize that it is the Lord. They were exhausted. If they were thinking about anything, it was about how tired and hungry they were and how soon would they get home to get something to eat and find some place to sleep. And it was at that moment when they were least thinking about Jesus, when they were certainly not seeking after him, that he sought them. He appeared to them. And he revealed himself to them with three simple acts. The first was he asked them a question. Not because he didn't know the answer, but because he was pointing out to them their need, their lack. He called out to them, Friends, haven't you any fish? If you're a fisherman, you know you don't like to say no. No. With their own ingenuity and their own strength, they had achieved nothing all night. Next, he gave them a command. He said, Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some. Now, certainly not clear from the text why they obeyed this man whom they thought was a perfect stranger and whether it was with any real hope or just you know, why not? What do we have to lose? They did it. They threw out the net one more time. And then Jesus blessed their labor. John continues, when they did they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. Now they did nothing different than what they'd been doing all night long. They cast out their net one more time. But this time it didn't come back empty. It came back so full they couldn't bring it back in. And what they could not do for themselves in the power of their own strength, Jesus did for them with the word. Through their labor, they cast the net. It is the Lord who abundantly provided for his disciples that morning. Now again, there's more to consider in this event that John records. But before we move on, we must know that for us today, even though Jesus Christ has been ascended to the right hand of the Father, He still abundantly provides for His church. Through faith, by the illumination of the Spirit, He now continues to appear to us in His Word and in the sacraments. And in His Word, He exposes our needs. And he gives us direction. And he promises to bless those labors that we do in accordance with his will. We are reminded by this story of what Jesus told the disciples in the upper room. I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing. It is the Lord who abundantly provides for His church. The disciples still, to that moment, had not recognized Jesus. But verses 7 through 13 make it clear that it is the Lord who powerfully persuaded them that it was He who had called them, not only from the shore, but to effective service in His kingdom. They did not recognize Jesus, even though the events of that morning should have been strangely familiar, especially to Peter. They should be strangely familiar to you. In Luke chapter 5, we read of a day very much like this day, at the beginning of the ministry of Jesus in Galilee. And we read there in Luke chapter 5, Jesus said to Simon, put out the deep water and let down the nets for a catch. And Simon answered, Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets. And when they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. They caught so many fish that two boats started to sink. And Peter and all his disciples or his companions were astonished, including James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were Simon's partners in fishing. It was that day that Jesus said to Peter, Don't be afraid. From now on you will catch men. It was that day that Peter and the others left everything behind and followed Jesus. And it was the memory of that day that should have come to mind in that early morning hour. And it's no surprise it was John who had the aha moment. Children, you know, duh. he saw it. John writes in verse 7, Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, It's the Lord. And as soon as Simon Peter heard him say, It's the Lord, he took off into the water. Through the events of that morning, the Lord powerfully persuaded John that it was he who was calling to him, calling to them from the shore. And through John he persuaded Peter. And before long, the entire group would be persuaded that it is the Lord. We read in verse 12 that none of the disciples dared ask Him, Who are you? They knew it is the Lord. Through the events of that morning, the Lord confirmed to them that the calling He had given them three years prior was still in force. And He went on to show them even more. He went on to powerfully persuade them of the certainty of their success in this mission. We read in verse 10 that when they landed, Jesus said to them, Bring some of the fish you have just caught. Simon Peter, in typical fashion, climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many, the net was not torn. Now the significance of this catch is not to be found in the secret meaning of the number 153. Although a lot of ink has been spilled on this for centuries, about the same amount that's been spilled on trying to predict when Jesus would return. The significance is found in the fact that even though there were so many, the net was not torn. With this catch, Jesus gave his disciples a living picture that morning, a living picture of what he had taught them in Matthew chapter 13 where he said to them, The kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in the baskets but threw the bad away. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The disciples were fishermen. But the Lord had called them to become fishers of men. Now Jesus had since died and had been resurrected and was soon going to ascend to the Father. And where he was going, they could not follow. But on the sea that morning, he renewed their commission. A commission that continues even now and will continue until he returns. And he assured them of success. He met them again on a mountain in Galilee where he gave them the great commission that Matthew records in chapter 28 of his gospel. And it's there that we are told how they were to cast this net, this kingdom net, as the fishers of men. He said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them all that I've commanded you. Teaching them to obey all that I've commanded you. Fishing instructions, we might say, when we put the two together. See, it is the Lord that day who powerfully persuaded the disciples, not only that it was He who was calling them from the shore, but that their lives that He called them to would continue and that it would be effective. And as we consider the account from John this morning, we should know that Jesus Christ, who has gone where we may not follow until he comes to retrieve us, is still the Lord who powerfully persuades his church and persuades the saints of the nature and the ultimate success of the apostolic ministry through the preaching of the word, including the words of these men there that day. In the administrations of the sacraments that Christ himself ordained for his church, the dragnet of the kingdom continues to be cast and will continue to be cast until the fullness of the catch is brought in. The Lord powerfully persuades all who trust in him that no one can snatch them out of his hand. The net will not break. It is the Lord who powerfully persuades his people to confess, like John, that Jesus is Lord. And to believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead. And it is the Lord who powerfully persuades his people to live in accordance with that confession. To act as Peter acted. Because we believe in the risen Jesus. It is the Lord who powerfully persuades his church. And the last thing we want to consider from this episode that John records is that it is the Lord who lovingly prepares a table for his disciples. Once John and the rest of the disciples reached the shore, they see that the Lord has been busy, even as they have been busy. In verse 9, we read that when they landed, they saw a fire burning coals there with fish on it and some bread. And after the fish were counted, Jesus said to them in verse 12, Come and have breakfast. And then in verse 13, John says, Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them and did the same with the fish. The Lord showed His loving care for them by preparing a meal that they would enjoy when they rested from their labors. He prepared and served them a meal that sustained them not only in body but in soul. In body they were fed warm bread and fish. And in soul they were fed when they saw him pick up that bread and pick up that fish with his nail-scarred hands and gave it to them. Through faith they believed that he had been resurrected from the dead in the fullness of his humanity, body and soul. And the meal that Jesus prepared for them that morning was an unexpected reminder of a meal that they had been taught to look forward to by Jesus. Jesus had often compared the kingdom of heaven to a feast prepared for all the father would gather to his son for example we look at Matthew chapter 8 where Jesus responds to the Roman centurion he says I tell you the truth I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith I say to you that many will come from the east and the west and will take their place at the feast with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven it is the Lord who lovingly prepared a table for the disciples that morning a table at which they enjoyed a foretaste of the greater table to come when Jesus comes in glory and we too who believe the gospel of the resurrected Jesus enjoy a foretaste of his heavenly banquet to come each and every time we feed upon his word and especially when we feed upon the Lord's Supper. As Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He come. Till He come. Because when He comes, we will sit down with the heavenly host and sing hallelujah. Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb. It is the Lord who even now lovingly prepares a table for His church. It is the Lord that the disciples encountered that morning at the Sea of Tiberias. In the fullness of His resurrected humanity, body and soul, He revealed to them that it is He who faithfully preserved them, that it was He who abundantly provided for them, that it was He who powerfully persuaded them, and that it was He who lovingly prepared for them all that they need. And after those 40 days, the Lord ascended to heaven. But the disciples remained in this world and they continued in the commission that He had given them in Galilee. And through their witness that has come down to us in His Word, the apostolic testimony of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ, body and soul, by the power of the Spirit we hear and believe this report. And we know that Jesus Christ is still the Lord who faithfully preserves His people, who abundantly provides for all of our needs, body and soul, who powerfully persuades us of His saving work for us and who lovingly prepares a feast the feast to come around His throne forever in glory. Maranatha, come Lord Jesus. Let us pray. Almighty God and Heavenly Father, we thank you for this record, this apostolic testimony that you have given to us through the Apostle John. His remembrance of that day at the Sea of Galilee when you appeared to them when you revealed to them your resurrected humanity body and soul that they would be moved beyond all doubt Father to know the Lord of whom they spoke the Lord who had called them and had sent them to proclaim the wonders of the gospel it's a salvation that is available to any and all who will believe on your name we thank you Father for this episode for the time you spent with the disciples after your resurrection to confirm them in their calling to enable them for the task ahead we thank you Father for the apostolic witness that has come down to us today which we may take for granted but you have sustained for generation after generation that we might know this same Lord through faith revealed to us in your word by the power of the Holy Spirit. We pray, Father, that we take with us today the confidence that the disciples shared that day in you and the certainty that we would have to know that it is the Lord who cares for us in all these ways as his people. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for listening.