Jesus Appears by the Sea of Galilee - Jesus Reveals Himself to His Disciples

You know that many times I'll reference certain songs that we've seen. I will reference that last song, "Show us Christ," and I want to ask you to write something down from the chorus. If you notice what we sang several times, this should be our prayer. "O God, reveal your glory through the preaching of your word." I would ask you to write that portion of that chorus down, make that your prayer. Make that your prayer each time someone comes to a podium or this pulpit at this church, Nola Baptist Church. Make that your prayer every time you are under the preaching and the teaching of God's word. Listen to that phrase again.

"O God, reveal your glory through the preaching of your word." That's my prayer this morning. Not that you would hear the words of Brother Chris, but you would hear the Living Lord speak through His word. Thank you for that, Brother Keith. I appreciate that. Well, go ahead and take your Bible and turn back with me to John 21. John 21, we are still in our series. Been here for quite some time since 2015 in our series through the Gospel of John. We know the series title is "Christ, the Son of God, Believe and Live." We've just seen that theme all throughout each chapter and each verse and each sermon.

Now, I said last week we are on the homestretch because we are in the last chapter of John's Gospel. This morning we are in our second message in the chapter. Now, personally, I'm excited to see how our Lord is going to grow us all as a church and as Christians, individual Christians. I'm excited to see how this chapter will contribute to our personal and corporate sanctification. You know my habit as we assemble together on Wednesday nights during our Bible study time. We always take what we look at on Sunday morning and go a little further down the road. Wednesday night I talked about sanctification a little more.

This chapter really will help us in our personal and corporate sanctification. I'm excited about that work. Now, in our introduction in last week's message, we learned two facts concerning chapter 21. We learned that chapter 21 is meant to serve as a conclusion to John's Gospel. I alluded to the fact that Bible scholars call chapter 21 the epilogue of John's Gospel. And as we continue to study through the chapter, I believe we will see chapter 21 as a fitting conclusion to John's Gospel. Also, chapter 21 is that continuation of a longer story.

We saw this story begin in chapter 20, and we have before us one long story, chapter 20 and chapter 21 together. And this is Jesus revealing himself to his people, specifically his chosen disciples. Now, in last week's message, we only divided verses 1 to 3. We took some extra time because I believe that helps us set up or sets us up for the chapter. And we saw what I call some general information and some specific information. In verse 1, John says that he that Jesus manifested himself to the disciples there at the Sea of Tiberius. Now, this is a general statement.

This speaks to all of the specifics that are beginning to be seen starting in verse 3. And then in John 2, John mentioned 7 of the 11 disciples. Again, that's a general statement. He is mentioning who is involved in these events that start here in verse 3. Starting in verse 3, we begin to see specifics. Peter leaves the other disciples to go fishing, and they caught nothing. And as we continue, starting in verse 4, we will see more and greater specifics within this story. This is the story of Jesus revealing himself to his people, specifically his disciples. Now, I want to take a few minutes for a very quick review.

I believe it is important to keep these messages connected. They should flow together in our minds and in our hearts and in our understanding of the chapter. Last week we saw how Jesus began manifesting himself to his disciples. The disciples were in a bad, bad situation. Remember, they had gone back. They had gone back to their former way of life, and that was fishing. Peter had led 6 of the disciples to digress in their walk with their Lord. Their efforts had led to failure. They fished all night, but caught nothing. But in verse 4, we will begin to see Jesus come to them even in their failure. He does not simply come to the seashore.

Jesus comes to them corporately and individually. Jesus is manifesting himself to them. Jesus is revealing himself to them. Jesus is working in them to bring them back from their digression. Jesus is working in them to prepare them for two future events. He is preparing them for the giving of the Holy Spirit, which is just a few days away in Acts 2. And he is also preparing them for life's purpose, their purpose in life. Of course, this can't be fully realized for them until the giving of the Holy Spirit, which again is a few days away. Let's go back to our verses, verses 4 to 8. Those are the verses we will divide this morning.

We read verses 1 to 3 earlier in our scripture reading, just to keep all of this together in our minds. But look at verse 4. "But when the day was now breaking," this would be dawn, "Jesus stood on the beach," that's the sea of Tiberias, "yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus therefore said to them, 'Children, you do not have any fish, do you?' And they answered him, 'No.' And he said to them, 'Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find a catch.' They cast therefore, and then they were not able to haul it in because of the number or the great number of fish.

The disciples therefore, whom Jesus loved, 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 down for work, and he threw himself into the sea. But the disciples came in the little boat, for they were not far from the land or the shore, but about a hundred yards away, and they were dragging that net full of fish." Now those are our verses for our message this morning. I will give us the title of the message.

It's just a continuation of what we started last week, and that is "Jesus appears by the Sea of Galilee." But here we see part two of the title, "Jesus reveals himself to his disciples." That is what we see. Starting in verse four, "Jesus is revealing himself to his disciples." Now you see how we will break down these passages. These are the major truths in our outline. We have "Jesus approaches the disciples" in verse four, in the beginning of verse five. We have "the disciples and their failure." That's at the end of verse five, and I will go back and touch on the end of verse three.

Then we have "the miraculous catch" in verse six, and "the disciples recognize Jesus" in verse seven and eight. As always, we encourage you to take notes because we want to retain all that the Lord would give us, not just this morning, but in the days, in the weeks to come. So let's look at our first major truth in our outline. What do we see? Number one, "Jesus approaches the disciples." Jesus approaches the disciples. Go back to verse four. "And when the day was now breaking," this was the dawn of the day, "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 here we have the beginning of Jesus manifesting himself to his disciples. As I said earlier, verse one is a general statement concerning this work, but starting here in verse four, we have the specifics of this manifestation. This is a process. This involves several events. This is an ongoing work, this manifestation. And this involves these men, his chosen disciples. Now let's examine how Jesus approached his disciples. There are three specifics that I want us to see.

Notice out of verse four, first, "Jesus, he went to them." The verse reads that Jesus went to them. Verse four, "But when the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach." As we learned last week, the disciples had taken a little trip. They had disobeyed their Lord and they went down to the Sea of Galilee. Not only had they gone down to the sea, but they had gone back to their former way of life. But Jesus, he went to them. He went to where they were. He went into their digressive state to these men that he knew and he loved. Now get this image in your mind. Jesus is on the beach there at the break of day or the dawn of day.

He is just off the shore from these disciples. Verse eight indicates that he was about a hundred yards away from them. But they did not recognize him. Last week we learned that Jesus in his resurrected body was unearthly. He was unique in this resurrected body. The disciples needed a special work of revelation to recognize him. And that is what we will see as we continue. So right at the beginning of verse four, we see that Jesus goes. He went to his disciples. Second, notice Jesus called to them. Notice that Jesus called to them. We see this at the beginning of verse five.

Jesus therefore said to them, "Children, you do not have any fish, do you?" Here we see that in all of our English translations, the word "children" is used. The New American or the English Standard or the King James. Now this is a unique word. It is used very little in John's writings. But John uses this word later on in 1 John. Specifically 1 John 2 verse 13 and verse 18. Now in both cases in 1 John, John is using the word as a term of endearment. So it is safe to say that Jesus is doing the very same thing here in John chapter 21 verse 5. This is a word of love. This is a greeting of affection.

This is a word and a greeting of intimacy that is meant to draw these men to himself. So we see the first word, the very first word that Jesus uses as He calls out to His disciples. It was a term of affection, a term of endearment. But the third observation, notice Jesus rebuked them. Go back to verse five. Jesus therefore said to them, "Children, you do not have any fish, do you?" Here we do not have what we would call an overt rebuke. We have what I call an intuitive rebuke. Most likely it would have been perceived. Maybe not right away, but most certainly afterwards. Now a question. How can we be certain of that conclusion?

The conclusion of an intuitive rebuke. In the original language, it seems that Jesus is expecting a negative reply. The original language can read, "You haven't caught any fish, have you?" Now we must remember two facts. First, Jesus knew the answer to the question. He knew they had fished all night and they had caught nothing. And then second, He was about correcting them for going back to their former way of life. He was loving, yes. He was gracious and merciful, yes. But He was corrective. So Jesus gives them, and I ran across a Bible commentator that called it a mild rebuke. This is an intuitive rebuke, a mild rebuke.

So in summary, what are we seeing here in verse 4 and the beginning of verse 5? Jesus goes to these disciples. They were in this deep digression. They were back in their going back. He comes lovingly. He comes graciously. Yet they did not recognize Him. But He begins His process of correcting them and pulling them out of this digression, out of this going back. Now, I want to take a few steps back here. I want to make another observation, but I ask you to come back away from the verses for a moment. Let's look at Jesus' timing here. Notice Jesus' timing. He came to them, yes, at the Sea of Tiberius, but He came to them after.

I want to show you three afters that we see in these verses. Jesus came to them after they had gone back fishing. Jesus came to them after they had fished all night. And Jesus came to them after they had called nothing. So what we must see is that timing means a lot to our Lord. We will speak more of this timing as we continue. For these men, Jesus came to them after, after they were in total failure, after they had hit, and I believe we can use this language accurately, rock bottom. Now, in application, what do we see? At some time, all of us, as true born-again Christians, we will go back.

There will be a portion of our life that we will go back. There will be a place where the Lord has called us from, and we will go back. We will go back just as these disciples have. And if you've not gone back in your own personal Christian walk, you've just not been born again very long. And Jesus will come to us in our failure. He will come to us in our digression. It is very important for us to see the heart of Jesus in these texts and verses with these disciples, but for us. He wants to persevere in us. And He wants us to persevere in Him. This is part of our sanctification, but we must see the timing here. We must see the timing here.

Jesus goes back after, after, after, after they had hit rock bottom. And for you and for me, we must see that many times our Lord will allow us to go much deeper, much deeper into failure than we know. He did not stop them before they got into the boat. He allowed them to get to the bottom of their failure by fishing all night and catching nothing. Timing, timing, timing. And so for us, we must see that our Lord will come to us lovingly and graciously, yes, correctively, to pull us out of our digression if it's just in one portion of our life or in the totality of our life, and many times He will wait till we are at the bottom.

Our second major truth in our outline, notice the disciples and their failure. The disciples and their failure. Now we see this at the end of verse 5, and I said that I'm going to reference the end of verse 3 as well, because that needs to be seen. But look at verse 5, "Jesus therefore said to them, 'Children, there's that term of endearment.'" And here's this negative question, "You do not have any fish, do you?" And here's what we see, "And they answered, 'No.'" Now I said earlier that Jesus' question was what I call this intuitive rebuke. Most likely the rebuke would have been perceived at first, if not at first and most definitely later.

But most important to see is the fact that Jesus' question has a negative flavor. He is asking, "You haven't called any fish, have you?" Now with that in mind, notice their response. Simply they said, "No." If Jesus' question has a flavor of correction, then their response has a flavor of defeat and a flavor of failure. Now look back at the end of verse 3 in your copy of God's Word. What does it say? "That night they called nothing." And look back at Jesus' question again in verse 5, "Children, you do not have any fish, do you?" And look back at their answer, simply, "No." You can almost feel this kind rebuke from Jesus.

You can almost feel the failure and defeat from the disciples. Now this leads me to what I feel is a very, very important question. What must we see here in their circumstance? We must see Jesus and His gracious rebuke, yes. We must see the disciples and their failure, yes. But we must see what is revealed here in these events. The disciples and their self-sufficiency. Their long night of fruitless fishing proved their inability to successfully live life outside of their Lord's purpose for them. Here we have the disciples in their self-sufficiency and failure because they attempted to go back to their former way of life.

But more than going back, they were attempting to live life on their own outside of God's purposes for their life. And for me, when we boil this all down to the bone, what do we get? Self-sufficiency. Now this leads me to what I feel is an important observation. We need to see the sovereign work of God, the Living Lord Jesus in them. This was a test. Oh, mark it down and put it in your notes. This was a test. It was vitally important to see the who and the what of this test. This test was for the disciples. This test was to show them who and what they were. Jesus knew what was in them. He knew what they would do.

He had predicted all of this would take place back in John 16, verse 32. Oh, but the disciples, they did not know what was in them. The disciples did not know what they would do. The disciples did not know truly, truly who they were. Now again, I want us to step back from the verses. And I want us to see what I call five steps in this test from their Lord. Five steps in this test from their Lord specifically designed for these men. Now the first step in the test, notice, He withdrew from them. The Living Lord Jesus withdrew from them. He was absent from them. And this was a part of God's sovereign plan.

You know, in my notes even this morning, I jotted this down. This is like a bait and reveal, a bait and reveal. He is baiting them because He is absent. And that was part of His original plan. The second step, notice, He allowed them to go all the way to the bottom of their going back. He did not stop them there on the seashore. He did not stop them in the morning. He did not stop them in the middle of the night. No, He allowed them to go all the way, all the way to the bottom of that going back. The third step, notice, He worked in them to reveal what was in them all along. He is working to reveal this self-sufficiency, this self-effort.

He worked to reveal this propensity to go back to their former way of life. Again, He predicted this what happened in John 1632, but all along there were some that said, "Oh no Lord, I'll never do that." And then fourth, this fourth step in this test, He worked in them to overcome this sinful tendency. They needed victory here in this area of their life, and that is what is taking place in the rest of this chapter and over in the Acts 1 and 2. This is a work of God to enable them to have victory over this part of their life. And then the fifth step in this test, He brought about a change.

He brought about a change in their being so that they would not make this mistake again in their future. He changed their character. He grew them in their maturity. One word, one word, sanctification. And they never went back like this again. So you see these five steps from the Lord? He withdrew from them. He allowed them to go all the way to the bottom of that going back. He worked in them to reveal what was in them all along, that self-sufficiency. He worked in them to overcome this sinful tendency and bring about victory. And He brought about a change in them. He sanctified them and brought victory in their life.

So in summary, what do we see here? Just in the little portion of verse 5. This is a big test, and they were at the bottom. Jesus did not stop them before they got into the boat. He allowed them to go all the way to the bottom. He allowed them to get to the bottom so as to reveal what was in them. This propensity to go back to their former way of life, this self-sufficiency, you could even use the word quitting. Now for you and for me, what can we apply in our lives here? We've already determined that we can go back. Yes, I don't care how long you've been born again and how strong you think you are in the Lord.

There's always an area in your life where you can go back. And there can be such trying circumstances when you can go back just like these disciples. So we've already determined that. We can be self-sufficient. We can rely on our efforts and our energies. But we must see that the Lord will allow tests to come into our lives. Yes. Now I've said this before and it will always need to be repeated. You must see that a test is for you. A test is for me. Never for the Lord. Oh, the Lord Jesus is all-knowing. He is the sovereign God of the universe. He knows what we will do ahead of the time. He knows what we will say. He knows how we feel.

He knows how we will react. Remember John 1632? He told them they would go back. He knew everything they would do. And so for you and for me, we need to see that tests will come. And many times when the test comes, the Lord will allow us to get to the bottom so that we can see the very depths of who we are, even the ugliness, even the sinfulness. Oh yes, even the deepest, darkest recesses of our hearts and lives can be touched in the test. And the test is all for the Lord to form us and to sanctify us and to bring about victory in our own lives. You know, I thought about this. I use an illustration that will help us here.

You know, this time of the year, in this part of the state, we enjoy crawfish, do we not? I haven't had any this year. But you know, when we cook crawfish, one of the first things we do is purge them. You know, you put them in a big container. I think the last time I saw someone purge crawfish, they had a kitty swimming pool. You know, you put those live crawfish in that water and you put salt in that water and it purges them. And all that nastiness that's in them comes out and it's pretty gross. Now let's think about these men.

This test, this work in them, oh, the sovereign work of the living Lord Jesus caused them to see a whole lot of self, a whole lot of self sufficiency, a whole lot of nastiness that was in their heart and life. And it had to come out for them to be used. See, for you and for me, most of us are more like this than we know. So we see the test. Let's move on. Let's notice our third major truth in our outline. Notice this miraculous catch in verse 6. The miraculous catch. Go back to verse 6. And he said to them, "Cast a net on the right side of the boat and you will find a catch.

They cast therefore and then they were unable or not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish." Now here we have the progression of the events. Jesus is moving along. Now notice the direction they have progressed. They've progressed down. Remember, I've said this numerous times. Down to the bottom, as far down as they can go. But at verse 5, things are at their lowest. The disciples have fished all night. They've caught nothing. Jesus has questioned them, expecting that negative answer. He knew all that was taking place.

In His grace and mercy and love, Jesus is about to begin this swing to swing the circumstances up from the bottom. By His sovereign grace and power, He is about to pull these disciples up out of their circumstances. So let's examine this miraculous catch. Two specifics I want us to see here. First of all, notice a strange command. Notice a strange command. What does Jesus say? "Cast a net on the right side of the boat and you will find a catch." Here we see Jesus gives the disciples what I call a strange command. Now notice some facts here. First, the disciples do not know who is telling them what to do.

They do not know who is telling them what to do. It must have been very odd to the disciples that a stranger would tell them what to do. Second, Jesus is telling expert fishermen what to do. Peter, James, and John were professionals. They had made their living as fishermen. And there is no doubt that these men knew the waters of the Sea of Galilee and they knew how to fish these waters. Third, these men were exhausted. They had fished all night. And that was a normal practice to fish all night. So all these odds were stacked up against Jesus persuading these men to obey this command. But we see something unearthly going on here.

Oh, this is unearthly. For the disciples, there must have been something which compelled them to obey the command of a stranger. And this was a part. This was a part of Jesus manifesting Himself to them. So we have this strange command. Let's move on. Notice our second observation. Notice a strange and miraculous result. A strange and miraculous result. The second part of verse 6. "They cast therefore, and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish." I like how John MacArthur describes this strange result.

He says that I'm quoting, "Just as He had rerouted all the fish away from their boat all through the night, Jesus now redirected a massive school to the right side of the boat." So what do we see here? The disciples catch so many fish in their net that they are not able to haul in the catch. This was a strange and miraculous event. Now, again, I want to take a step back here and I want to notice some information I pointed out in last week's message. Notice the wonderful parallel between what is taking place here in verse 6 and what took place back in Luke chapter 5, starting in verse 1. In Luke 5, Jesus gave them a strange command then.

He called them to put their nets into the deep water and they had fished all night with no results. But what happened? They had a strange and miraculous catch back then. This was a duplicate. This was a repeat. So what do we see here in verse 6 of John 21? Jesus is mimicking what He had done some three years before. He called His disciples to participate in a strange and wonderful miracle. This is a repeat. Jesus provided the miracle in Luke 5 to point Peter, James and John to who He was. That was the Messiah of God.

And here in John 21, Jesus is reminding Peter, James and John that He was their Lord and they had no business living in self-sufficiency. Now, an application. I want to ask us a question. I want to ask us a question here. Does our Lord have to repeat Himself to us or reiterate to us who He is at times in our own lives? Always slow to get things sometimes. Maybe in our sin. Maybe we're just spiritually hard-headed. Maybe we're going back. Maybe we're blind. But what am I asking you? Does our Lord have to repeat Himself and reiterate Himself to us many times in our own life? And another question. What is our purpose in life?

Who has purchased us? Who is our Lord? Who is our Master? Who is the one that is in charge of every day of our life? Every year of our life? Every possession that we have? See, we are far more like these disciples than we know. And we need to be reminded and reminded and reminded who is the Lord of our life. That's what Jesus is doing here. This miracle was to point them to their Lord. And let's move on. I want us to see our fourth and last major truth in our outline. Our fourth and last major truth in our outline. The disciples, they recognize Jesus. Verse 7 and 8, the disciples, they recognize Jesus. Look at the verses with me.

"That disciple therefore whom Jesus loved," we know that's John, "he said to Peter, 'It is the Lord.' So when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he had been stripped down for work. And he threw himself or jumped into the sea. But the other disciples came in that little boat, for they were not far from the land." It was about 100 yards. And they were dragging that net that was full of fish. Now after this great miracle that they had just participated in, one would think that all of these disciples would know that the stranger on the seashore was Jesus. But that wasn't the case.

You would think that Peter, he would have recognized Jesus right here in the midst of this miracle. He had a front row seat to what was taking place, this miraculous catch back in Luke 5. He had a front row seat in this miraculous catch right here in John 21. But that was not the case. And we will see that the disciples recognized Jesus, and I use this language in stages. And there are three stages in this recognition. First notice, John, the Apostle John, he recognizes Jesus first.

Verse 7, "The disciple therefore whom Jesus loved," that's John, "he said, 'It is the Lord.'" Here we see that John immediately recognized the stranger on the seashore was indeed his Lord and Master. I believe it would be safe to assume that the miracle connected the dots for John. Here we need to see what is in John. This is the spiritual perception that is in this Apostle John. I like a little phrase that AW Pink uses that helps us see John here. And I'm quoting, "John, the most devoted of the apostles, he possessed the most spiritual discernment." And that is the case. And AW Pink gives us a pattern in John's life.

And I'm going to use this list and change it and make it personal. Notice this list here. First, John was the first one, he was the one who reclined on Jesus' chest there at the Last Supper in John 13. He was that close to the Lord. Second, he was the one who told that Jesus told of Judas being the betrayer in John 13. He was that close to the Lord. He was the one who stayed near to the cross there in John 19. He was that close to the Lord. And then also he was the one that Jesus called to care for his mother there in John 19. Again, very close to the Lord.

And he was the first of the disciples to discern that Jesus had risen from the dead in John 20. There's that spiritual perception or discernment. And he was the first to discern that the stranger on the seashore was in Jesus. And that's in these verses that are before us. And that wasn't all that John did. He then told Peter what he had come to discern and come to believe. And so we see that John, he was the first to recognize to have that spiritual discernment that this stranger was indeed Jesus. So John recognized Jesus first. Then second, notice Peter boldly rushes to Jesus. Go back to the middle part of verse 7.

"And so when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he stripped down to his inner garment for the word. And he threw himself into the sea." Again, here we see this impulsive and impetuous Peter spring into action. The verse tells us that Peter was stripped down, most likely to what scholars call a loincloth because he was working. And it would have been warm during that time of the year. He then put on his outer garment and he jumped into the sea to get to Jesus before the others. So we see Peter. He is just being Peter. He rushes wildly to get to Jesus, his Lord.

And then the third observation, the other disciples, they follow. The other disciples, they follow. Verse 8, "But the other disciples came in the little boat, for they were not far from the land, about a hundred yards, and they were dragging that net that was so full of fish." Here we see that the other disciples struggled. The text says that it was a little boat and it was a large catch. Now get the picture. Being true to his character, Peter jumped from the boat. He leapt from the boat to get to Jesus as fast as possible. He leaves the other disciples for the work.

Here we have them following Peter as they are going to Jesus, the Lord that they love as well. Now in summary, what are we seeing here? In verse 7 and 8, John quickly perceives who Jesus is. He informs Peter and Peter boldly, wildly jumps overboard to get to Jesus as fast as he can. But we really need to see the character or the personalities of these two disciples that are named. They are both being true to their nature, to their personalities. John was quicker to perceive. He was quicker to discern spiritual matters. Peter was quicker to spring into action. This has been their pattern all throughout John's Gospel.

And I think it's safe to say this is really who they are as men. Now in application, we need to see that we are all different ourselves. We are all different ourselves. We've learned of Peter. We've learned of John. And we already learned about old Thomas, old E.R. Thomas, the pessimist. And some of us, we are like John. We discern things quicker. Some of us are sharp. We have sharp spiritual perception. And that is a God-given ability. That is a part of our spiritual character. But yet on the other hand, some of us are quick to react. We're bold. We're impetuous. We're even wild in our devotion to the Lord.

And some of us are like pessimistic Thomas. See, we are all different. God has made us the way that we are. Now what can we learn here? Oh, there's one word that I've used throughout these two chapters that we need to hold on to. And that is the word patience. Oh, we have to be patient with one another. Now here I'm using my imagination. Oh, they were in this little boat. They had a large catch of fish. They were responsible for this large catch of fish. Maybe John and the rest of the disciples looked up and said, "Here, here we go again. Peter's leaving us behind." We have to be patient because we're all different.

Maybe some of the other disciples heard John and thought to themselves, "Where there's John? He's a know-it-all." We're all different. And the Lord has made us all different. Oh, but I want to add to that. I want to give us more. It takes us all. It takes all of us to make up the body of Christ. And we are all whom the Lord is forming us to be. And God has brought us all together. And we all make each other better. Those of us who were born again and walking with the Lord and being sanctified into the people that God wants us to be. See, you make me better. And you make each other better. And I make you better. John made Peter better.

And Peter made John better. And this is all part of God's plan. I'll turn this around on me. I can only imagine what the church would be like if you were all like me. Imagine what the church would be like if everyone was like you. And so what are we seeing here? We're seeing the disciples. They recognize Jesus. But in that, we're seeing their unique personalities and the way the Lord has formed them. And as I have said all along, I believe that studying these individuals, God's people, can help us in our own personal sanctification.

Now, as I move away from the body of the message, that is dividing the verses, I want to conclude like I did last week. I want to make some application on a corporate level. Corporate level meaning church-wide level. Last week I gave us six warnings or six pitfalls which can hinder corporate sanctification. Now, I want to make three observations concerning the work of Christ in these disciples corporately. This work that he was doing in all of these disciples, even if we do not know who some of them were, it is easy to focus on Peter. It's definitely easy to focus on John.

But we must see the work our Lord wanted to do in the disciples as a whole, even these two others that we do not know who they were in verse 2. First, first we see that Jesus corrects them corporately. Yes, we have John's language, John's wording. Yes, we have Peter's example. We have them on the forefront. But all of the disciples were participating. All of those disciples had gone back. All of the disciples had participated in the miracle. And so the living Lord Jesus was working in all of them. And Jesus was correcting them corporately. And we must see that churches can be involved in corporate sin.

Churches can have sin in them, which all participate in. Churches as a whole can be guilty before God. Churches as a whole can even go back, can even go back and even stay stagnant. What am I showing you? Churches can need sanctification as a whole. I think back to our study in the book of Revelation when we studied those seven churches. I know I refer to those examples very often. As a matter of fact, one day we will revisit those seven churches. There's just too much there. But do we not see corporate correction there? Now we have individual correction, yes. What does the Lord say in every one of those letters to the angel of the church?

Now that angel meant messenger. That was the pastor. So the Lord, he wrote that to the pastor and the pastor was to take that message and use it in the life of the church. And what do we see? There is a corporate work, a corporate sanctification that the living Lord wanted to do in each of those churches. Now I will personalize this a little more. I have seen churches embrace sin. I've seen certain leaders and certain individuals be involved in sin. And I've seen churches and people in the church just turned a blind eye, just looked the other way. And what is going on there?

That church is embracing and tolerating a sin that is prevalent in the life of the church. And oh, when a church does that, that sin always multiplies. So what am I trying to help you see? We must see that the Lord Jesus Christ wants to sanctify us corporately. We are not all the same. We all have different strengths and weaknesses. We are all on this journey in a different place in our sanctification. But yet we are the body of Christ, the ecclesia, the called out ones, called Enola Baptist Church. And we must recognize personal sanctification and then perceive corporate sanctification.

And second, we see that Jesus sanctifies them corporately. Now I know this all overlaps. He corrects them corporately and then he sanctifies them corporately. The body of Christians in a particular church can be sanctified. Christ Jesus can grow us as a group and mature us as a whole. Churches can have corporate problems. Churches can have public sin. And an entire body might need a work of sanctification. I'll give you an example. When our friend, Brother Jeff Noblet, was here, if you picked up on something, he mentioned the fact that Grace Life Church used to be called First Baptist Church. Now what's the story there?

They had found out that there was a split generations before and the ones that left just took the name First Baptist Church from the First Baptist Church. There was conflict. Those across town resented them. And what did those leaders do? They led them to repent of that sin and they changed the name and they righted that wrong that people had committed generations before. And what did that do? That brought about corporate sanctification. See this all fits together. We see that Jesus corrected them corporately and Jesus sanctified them corporately. And then third, notice we see that Jesus reinstates them corporately.

What did the Lord do for them? He called them all out of the boat. What did the Lord do for them? They took them all for their self-sufficiency. What did the Lord do for them? He got them all down to the bottom and out. And what do we see? As we progress through the chapter, there will be a corporate reinstatement. And listen, a church can be outside of the will of God. We learned that with those seven churches in Revelation. An entire body can find herself just like these disciples fishing all night and catching nothing.

Jesus, our Lord, can come to a church and call them back to the original purpose that is outlined in His Word for the church. Again, we see this in the seven churches. So what do we see here this morning? Jesus appears by the Sea of Galilee. This all starts here in verse 1. What does He say? This is a general statement. Speaking of what is going to take place all throughout the chapter. After these things, the things previously, Jesus manifested Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. He manifested Himself in this way. This is Jesus appearing there by the Sea of Tiberias, the Sea of Galilee.

And what do we see starting in verse 4? Jesus reveals Himself to His disciples. May the Lord take these verses, take this message, and even take my efforts and form us into the people that He wants us to be, just like He did for those men in that day. Let's pray.