Jesus Appears by the Sea of Galilee - The Disciples in their Digression

I'll take your Bible and turn back with me to John chapter 21. John chapter 21, like I said earlier, we are really on the home stretch. I did go back and check some of my records and we started the Gospel of John in 2015 on March the 1st. So you do the math, we've been in John together for quite some time and it's been my joy and it's been my pleasure. I was sharing with a minister friend of mine yesterday, as much as anything, the pleasure and the joy for me is discovering God's Word.

Although, I have studied this and read it throughout the years, it's just discovering more and more that is in His Word as I study to preach it and teach it and share it with you. So we are here in John's Gospel, chapter 21, and we'll be dividing verses 1 to 3 which is what we had in our scripture reading earlier. Now before we dive into chapter 21, I believe it's important for us to make a couple of observations concerning the chapter that is before us. These two observations will help us put chapter 1 in its proper place. You might use the term context and I think it's important for us to have the chapter in its context.

This serves as an introduction for this morning's message, but also an introduction for the chapter. First, we need to see that chapter 21 is a continuation of chapter 20. In chapter 20 and 21, we have one long story. Christ was crucified, we studied that back in chapter 19. He was put in the borrowed tomb and starting in chapter 20 and continuing into the end of chapter 21, we have the story of the resurrected Christ revealing Himself to His people. In last week's message, we had what I called an intermission. At the end of chapter 20, specifically verses 30 and 31, we had an intermission.

But as we step into chapter 21, we need to understand that we are picking back up with the larger story. This is the story of the resurrected Christ revealing Himself to His people. Now we also need to see that chapter 21 is a fitting conclusion to John's gospel. If you do some studying on your own, you'll run across some information that Bible commentators give us. Bible commentators call chapter 21 the epilogue of John's gospel. Now a question, what is an epilogue? An epilogue is a concluding section that completes a particular literary work. Now for John, the events here in chapter 21 complete his gospel account.

For John, the work Jesus performs in this chapter prepares His disciples for the giving of the Holy Spirit, which is just a few days away over in Acts chapter 2. This is a fitting conclusion. Now an illustration that might help us understand this fact. In our Wednesday night Bible study, I used an example of bookends. Now we remember our days when we were in school, whether it's junior high or elementary or high school, when we were in those school libraries. We had shelves of books. And there were these bookends that would hold those books together. Wednesday I talked about how John gives one bookend in chapter 20 verse 30.

Those were the signs, the miracles that pointed people to Christ. And then John gives a second bookend and that was in chapter 20 verse 31, which is true life in Christ Jesus. And I shared how the word believe or this believing in Christ, it was sandwiched between those two bookends. Now this morning I want to use the illustration again, this illustration of bookends. But on a larger scale, if we remember how we started John's gospel, you will remember that chapter 1 verses 1 to 18 is the prologue of the book. Now a prologue is simply an introduction to a literary work.

Before John started writing about John the Baptist and Jesus' earthly ministry, John introduces his gospel by explaining the eternality of Christ and the deity of Christ. The eternality and deity of Christ was the first bookend. That's the introduction for the book. Well here in chapter 21 we have the second bookend. This is the conclusion. And Jesus is revealing himself as the risen Christ to his disciples. And he is making final preparations in them before giving them the Holy Spirit. Like I said earlier, and this was just days away. Now the works that Christ performs in them are very important all through this chapter.

There is a lot here, and it might surprise some of you, but there is a lot that we can learn here in chapter 21. So we'll take our time and we'll get all that we can get so that chapter 21 can form us and will form us into the people God wants us to be. Now we simply have three verses and we have three major truths out of these verses. We have number one, the continued manifestation of Jesus. That's out of verse one. And then number two, the disciples and their situation. That's out of verses two and three. So I urge you to take notes.

I urge you to take notes so that we can go back together in our own personal time and study and just retain all that the Lord wants to give us this morning. So let's look at our verses this morning. Let's go back and read verses one to three before we look at these major truths. After these things, Jesus manifested himself again or revealed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberius or the sea of Galilee, and he manifested himself in this way. There were together Simon Peter, Thomas, who is called Didymus and Nathaniel of Cana and Galilee, and then the sons of Zebedee. That would be James and John and then two other disciples.

They are not named. Verse three, Simon Peter said to them, I'm going fishing. They said to him, we will also come with you. They got in the boat and that night they called nothing. So let's look at our first major truth, our first major truth in our outline, and that is number one, the continued manifestation of Jesus. Look right back at verse one. After these things, Jesus manifested himself again to the disciples. And then at the end of the verse, he manifested himself in this way. Now as I said earlier, we have a continuation of what's been happening all throughout chapter 20. Jesus is making himself known to his disciples again.

This is the third time that he reveals himself specifically to the disciples. These events are taking place after the resurrection and before the ascension. This is that in between time, and some people can overlook this in between time. Now there are four observations from verse one that will help us understand the depth and the breadth of this manifestation. First notice the timeframe. Notice the timeframe. Notice the phrase at the beginning of the verse. After these things. Now this phrase does not speak of a specific time or a particular time.

Here John is simply saying that after some time, after these events in chapter 20, Jesus made himself known to the disciples. This is a general reference of time. This is not a specific time. So we do not know how much time has elapsed from chapter 20 to chapter 21. Now the second observation is the manifestation. As I said earlier or noted earlier, two times we see this in the verse. After these things, Jesus manifested himself again. At the end of the verse, he manifested himself in this way. Now the manner in which John writes here reveals to us how unique Jesus was after the resurrection.

Jesus was in a sphere which transcended time and space. Like how one Bible commentator describes it, he describes his appearances as unearthly. I think that's very accurate. He would simply appear and reappear at different times. Back in chapter 20 verse 19, it is obvious that Jesus appeared through the bolted doors there in the upper room. He was unearthly because he was deity. He was God. Now there is more to this particular manifestation than just this appearing in an unearthly way. Later we will see his unearthly nature by how the disciples react. They did not recognize Jesus at first. He did not simply appear.

He manifested himself in a supernatural way both in word and in deed. He manifested himself supernaturally through events and conversations. And we will see this manifestation as we continue through the story. The end of the verse tells us that. What does it say? He manifested himself in this way, alluding to that fact. Third, our third observation, the place. Notice the place. After these things, Jesus manifested himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. Now if we pay attention to the verse, we will see that the disciples, they seem to have made a trip. Previously they were in Jerusalem, the place of crucifixion.

Here we see that they are at the Sea of Tiberias. Now the Sea of Tiberias is also known as the Sea of Galilee in many places in Scripture. During Jesus' time it was commonly known as the Sea of Tiberias because of the prominence of the city of Tiberias. Now we see two of these names mentioned in one verse back in John 6. Just before Jesus is feeding the 5,000, what does the verse say? After this, Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. Now a couple of questions. All this attention concerning the location. And why does it matter where the disciples went?

We will see that this place has great significance. We will come back to this location and its significance later on in the message this morning. Now we see the place, the place where the disciples had traveled and the place of this wonderful manifestation. And then the fourth observation, the disciples. Verse 1 reads again to the disciples which speaks of who Jesus was coming to and revealing Himself to. Now we know He previously revealed Himself to Mary back earlier in chapter 20. But now in chapter 20 and 21, Jesus is concentrating on His disciples by revealing Himself to them for the third time. They were His chosen apostles.

We know that. These were the leaders for Kingdom work which was the birth of the church, the spread of the gospel, and the ultimate work of the church throughout the world. So in summary, what do we see here just in verse 1? We see this continued manifestation of Jesus to His disciples. He is not like them in any way. He is supernatural. He is unearthly. He is deity. He is not simply appearing but manifesting who He is and manifesting a work in them. And we really need to see this is an unfolding work.

Many of the details here will come into play as we continue in our discovery of this unfolding work, this manifestation of Jesus to His disciples. Now an application, I want us to see how this manifestation relates to us. Believe it or not, this manifestation really does relate to us. Now when we come to faith in Christ, when we are born again and we become a true Bible Christian, that is when our journey begins. When we are born again, we are made right with God. We are justified in the sight of God. Now this is a historical event never to be repeated. But then, then we begin the process and journey of sanctification.

And you need to know and understand this word sanctification. I'll help you here and then I'll show you how this manifestation relates to sanctification and relates to you and to me. Now I'm going to borrow some language from a Bible theologian named Wayne Grudem. He gives a good definition of sanctification. Now sanctification is, and I'm quoting, "a progressive work that continues throughout our earthly lives. It is also a work in which God and man cooperate. Each play distinct roles. Jesus is a progressive work of God and man that makes us more and more free from sin and like Christ in our actual lives.

And that is what we are seeing here in the disciples. Jesus is manifesting Himself to them and in them. They are responding to this work as they exercise their responsibility to their Lord. And we must see that Jesus Christ through the person in the work of the Holy Spirit comes and manifests Himself to us and in us. He comes to where we are. He does for us just what He did for them. He deals with our sin. He deals with our failures. He deals with our inadequacies. He teaches us just what we need individually. He frees us more and more from sin and makes us more and more like Christ in our everyday actual lives.

Our work in the process is obedience. Yes, our responsibility is obedience in this work. Now question. Why the time on this manifestation and sanctification? Why do I, preaching the gospel and explaining God's Word and teaching these verses, why do I spend this extra time on this manifestation and how it relates to our sanctification? We must see that our conversion is not the end but the beginning. Our conversion, it is not the end, it is the beginning. Our conversion is not the destination but the beginning of a lifelong journey to be made more like Christ.

When we are converted to Christ, if we are 9, 19 or 39, then we begin the journey of walking with Christ and Christ manifesting Himself to us and in us, thereby forming us into the people that God wants us to be. That's the journey, my friend. That's the journey these men were on. You know, I want to add to this because see, after we come to faith in Christ and this journey begins, it's not always easy. Trials come. There's some of you here today. You're right in the heart of a trial. Some of you were born again in the heart of a trial.

I'll never forget one of the ladies in our church came up to me about a year after she was converted and she related how she was born again right in the midst of a lifelong trial and she knew that was a sovereign act of God. So within this journey we have trials. Oh, within this journey we're dealing with self and we're dealing with sin and this is hard. This is not easy much of the time and what am I showing you? It wasn't easy for these men. So this is just the journey of walking with God and being sanctified and being made more like Christ, Christ manifesting Himself to us and in us and through us and we're just like these disciples.

So let's move on. I want us to notice our second major truth in our outline, the disciples and their situation. The disciples and their situation. Start at verse two with me. "There were together Simon Peter and Thomas called Didymus of the twin and Nathaniel of Cana and Galilee and the sons of Zebedee and two others of the disciples. And Simon Peter said to them, 'I am going fishing.' And they said to him, 'We will also come with you.' And they went out and they got into the boat and that night they called nothing." Now I've already mentioned that there has been a change in time and distance.

John simply says that after the events in chapter 20 Jesus manifested Himself to the disciples. The disciples had traveled. Here we have them at the Sea of Tiberias or the Sea of Galilee. And these next two verses here describe what I call the disciples' situation. Who was there and what was taking place. Now there are four observations I want to make here that will help us see and understand the disciples' situation. First of all, notice some but not all. Notice some but not all. Go back to verse two.

"There were together Simon, Simon Peter, Thomas the Twin, and Nathaniel of Cana and Galilee and the sons of Zebedee and two others." Now if we pay attention to this list, who is mentioned here, we see that seven of the eleven were present. We have Peter. We know Peter. We have Thomas. Now think about Thomas. He was absent earlier and now he's in his rightful place. We have Nathaniel. Then we have James and John. Those men were the sons of Zebedee. And then two others that we really do not know who they are. Now a question. What is the significance of this list? You might say, "Pastor, this is obvious. Some were missing.

Four to be specific." To me this speaks to their confusion. This shows us that they were this proverbial shilt without a cell. Jesus was not physically present with them as he had been for some three years. And they simply did not know what to do. They were just lost without Jesus being there as their tangible leader. So some but not all. Second our second observation. Notice Peter's leadership. Peter's leadership. We see this at the beginning of verse three. "Simon Peter said to them, 'I am going fishing.' And they said to him, 'We will also come with you.'" Now here we have Peter, and I say it like this. We have Peter in full form.

We see the many characteristics of Peter come to the surface in this situation. See circumstances reveal us. And these circumstances reveal Peter for who he truly was. First of all we see his impulsive nature. We see Peter and his impulsive nature. We have seen Peter's impulsive and impetuous behavior before. Specifically back in John 13 when Jesus was washing the disciples' feet as a great example. What did Peter do? He boldly refused. Then when Jesus explained things they were washing their feet, he boldly asked for a bath all over. Did he not?

Later on when Jesus foretold of their betrayal, Jesus boldly predicted that he would die with Jesus. Even in the garden that Jesus arrest, Jesus boldly pulled out a sword to defend Jesus. See this was Peter, impulsive, impetuous. This was his nature. But then second with Peter's leadership here, we see this natural leadership ability. The other disciples simply said, "We're coming along, did they not? Go back to the verse. We will also come with you." In the absence of their true leader, Jesus, Peter stepped up and they followed. Of course we see Peter's natural leadership abilities used wonderfully after the giving of the Holy Spirit.

After a great work of God in Peter, he became a great leader in the New Testament church. He was a natural leader and ultimately he would become a great and successful leader. So we see Peter and his leadership right here with these disciples and it was a flawed leadership. But then third, the third observation, notice their direction. Peter said, "I'm going fishing." They said, "We will also come with you." They went out and they got into the boat and they caught nothing. Now with Peter saying, "I'm going fishing," we see so much more than a hobby or an effort to pass the time.

In going back fishing, he was returning to his former life and his former occupation. John MacArthur helps us here. He gives what he calls three lines of evidence to support that conclusion. Now I'm going to summarize his three lines of evidence. I'm going to make them my own. But I thought this will help us see Peter in their direction. First notice, back in chapter 16, verse 32 of John's Gospel, Jesus did predict that the disciples would abandon him. This took place in the upper room after the Last Supper. Jesus was preparing his disciples for the crucifixion and these events which were about to come. And what did he say to them?

"Behold, the hour is coming. Indeed it has come when you will be scattered, each of you, to his own home and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me." Now the wording here in the original speaks to one's home, one's property, one's possessions, and one's affairs. Jesus predicted here that the disciples would return not just to their homes, but to their former way of living. He is predicting that they would go back to their former way of life. The second line of evidence is this. In the original, there is a definite article here attached to this word "boat" when we go back to the verse.

Verse 3, "Simon Peter said to them, 'I am going fishing,' and they said to him, 'We will also come with you,' and they went out and they got into the boat." This is that definite article here. This suggests that there was a specific boat. Some of the commentators that I referenced this week believed that this was most likely Peter's boat. And we will look at Peter's boat or the possibility of this being Peter's boat and the significance of this fact as we continue in the message. Now we need to see this third line of evidence that speaks to their direction. Peter own in verse 15 in chapter 21, Jesus asks Peter a question.

So let's look at verse 15. "So when they had finished eating breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?'" It seems that Jesus is asking Peter if he loves him more than all of the fishing activity, all of the fishing gear, and everything that had been taking place. It seems that Jesus was calling Peter to turn his back on his former life and occupation again. This is why he asks Peter or speaks to Peter about his calling in his life in this series of questions. He is asking Peter if he loves him more than all of these activities and his previous occupation that he had returned to.

So in their direction, we see that they did more than go fishing. They seem to have gone back to their former way of life if only for a little while. Now the fourth observation, the fourth observation in the disciples in their situation is at the end of verse 3. What does it say? We see this success, their success. That night they called nothing. Here we see that men who knew how to fish were unsuccessful. They were professional fishermen. It was not that fishing was wrong. It was not that fishing was contrary to the Scriptures. The wrong committed here was that they had returned to their former way of life.

It is important to see that they could not be successful in doing so. They were marked out for another purpose, and in going back, they were totally unsuccessful. So in summary, what do we see here? Bothfully a lot. We see that the disciples, they were scattered. Four were not even present. In the absence of Jesus, Peter leads seven of the disciples in the wrong direction. He leads them back, back to their former way of life before Christ had called them. This is what I call their situation. They were leaderless, and the leader they do have does a poor job. Rather than move forward in obedience, they move backwards.

Now I want to take this a little further. There is much more that I believe that we need to see. Now the events here in John 21 mirror the events that took place earlier in Peter's life back in Luke chapter 5. Now I want to compare these events. In doing so, it will magnify what is taking place in John 21. Now in Luke 5, we have Peter's call to discipleship. His call to Christ, I believe, is called to salvation because he left his nets, he left his livelihood, and he followed Christ. Christ dealt with his sin, he understood who Christ was, and he followed Christ. Well in John 21, we have Peter's reinstatement.

He is out of place, he is going the wrong way, and Jesus comes to him and reinstates him, and he deals with his sin and his failure and his inadequacies. We continue in Luke 5. Jesus approached Peter at the Sea of Tiberius as he was a lost fisherman. Well here in John 21, Jesus approached Peter where? At the Sea of Tiberius after he had gone back to his former way of life. In Luke 5, Jesus got into Peter's boat, and he preached the word to Peter, and he called Peter to himself. In John 21, Jesus approached Peter, and most likely he got back into what? Peter's boat, and again he called him to himself.

In Luke 5, Peter confessed to Jesus that they had fished all night and called nothing. In John 21, Peter and the disciples again fished all night, and they confessed that they had called nothing. In Luke 5, Jesus commands Peter to let down the nets, and they called enough fish to almost sink the boat. In John 21, Jesus commands Peter to let down the nets, and they called more than they could haul into the boat. In Luke 5, Jesus calls Peter to see his sin as he preached the word and worked that miracle. In John 21, Jesus calls Peter to see his sin again as he worked a miracle and preached the word.

In Luke 5, Jesus calls Peter to leave his nets and become a fisher of men, and in John 21, Jesus asks Peter if he loves him more than this fishing gear that he was supposed to leave behind. There were enough parallels here to melt the hardest heart, even Peter's. Now, in application, what must we see out of the disciples and their situation? Listen folks, Christians move forward. Mark it down. True born-again Christians move forward. True, born-again, God called Christians, move forward. So I ask you a question here. Are you going back at all in your life? Is there an area of your life where you're going back?

Are you going back to where you used to be and where the Lord Jesus had called you from? See the Holy Spirit of God is convicting some of you that you have been going back. Oh, but there's more. Are you letting someone lead you back? It could be someone who looks good, sounds good, and should be leading you forward. Wasn't that Peter? Looked good, sounded good, and he should have been leading them forward, but he led them backward. And see, this causes us to ask a question. Are we going back? Are we allowing ourselves to go back in any area in our life? And we must be careful of those who would lead us backward in any way.

Now in conclusion, the conclusion of the message, I want to address our sanctification on a corporate level. Now we have individuals here, yes, but we must see the sanctifying work in the disciples as a whole. We have individual sanctification because we're going to see how Jesus deals with Peter individually. We have corporate sanctification, this body of disciples that he is sanctifying for his work. And I want to speak to us as a church and deal with our corporate sanctification. Now I want to point out what I call six pitfalls, which we see in the disciples. These can be called six warnings that can hinder corporate sanctification.

The first pitfall. The pitfall of not obeying God's Word. The pitfall of not obeying God's Word. Now question here, was it the Lord's will for them to go down to the Sea of Tiberias and engage in this activity? No. Remember we are seeking to weave John's gospel along with the synoptic gospels. And if we go back and look at Matthew 28 and we understand things chronologically, we see that Jesus told them to wait. Wait. If you fast forward over into the beginning of Acts chapter 1, we see that they finally do wait. So they were wrong. They were disobeying what Christ had said. They were in disobedience to God's Word.

And so there's a pitfall for us as a church. We cannot ignore and disobey God's Word. Now corporately that can be tough. A lot of churches that do things every day in the life of the church, they're just unpivocal. So as we journey together and when we come to this crossroads of obeying God's Word, we must obey God's Word as a church, as God's called people, as this institution that God has bought with His own blood. Second pitfall of not waiting. The pitfall of not waiting. You might say, "Pastor, you've mentioned that." I need to specifically bring up their habit of not waiting. See waiting can be the hardest work of all.

They just could not wait. They could not wait. They had to take matters in their own hands. They had to go back to the familiar. And they had to look to someone who would lead them in an adequate way and he led them in the wrong direction. They just couldn't wait. What did Jesus say? Wait. Don't do anything. Wait. The beginning of Acts. What do we see? And they were waiting. We see waiting all throughout the Scriptures. And see as a church, there are times which we get up and we roll up our sleeves and we get busy and then there are times where it seems like all we're doing is waiting.

I have found in my journey of walking with the Lord and serving in the life of the local church, sometimes waiting can be harder for people than doing. Psalm 40 verses 1, 2, and 3. What does the Psalmist say? He says, "I have waited patiently." Sometimes we won't wait and we won't wait patiently and the Lord will force us to wait until we learn to wait patiently. So we must learn to wait. There's this pitfall. And see, we live in a culture of doers and we're just Americans and we roll up our sleeves and we have money and opportunity and freedom and liberty and we just do it. Isn't that right, pastor?

Oh, that can get us going in the wrong direction sometimes. Waiting. The third pitfall of becoming disillusioned during Jesus' seeming absence. Now we know that Jesus was not with them, but did He know where they were all along? Jesus didn't have to go find them. He knew right where they were. When they were behind bolted doors earlier and when they were there at the Sea of Tiberias, Jesus knew right where they are were. They were disillusioned by Jesus' seeming absence and they did not know what to do.

And when we as a church feel like Jesus is not near, we feel like we can't see Him, we do not know where He's working, look, we do not become disillusioned. Because when you become disillusioned and then you will not wait, you will go the other way. And then the pitfall of scattering. Isn't that what happened? We have seven. Four missing. Now we know Judas revealed himself as a non-disciple, committed suicide, and he's gone. But what do we see? We see the scattering. They're just not all there as they should be. And what is the lesson for us?

Listen, when we're journeying in the life of the church, there's always something out there that will scatter some of you. I love you and I warn you. Do not allow things, good things to scatter you. There's always something to cause you not to be plugged into the life of the church. I wonder how many people, born-again people, are not being used of God because they are just scattered a little too much. I know there are times of vacation that are good. There are times of sickness, that's life. There are times when we're providentially hindered, yes.

But you know, I've seen people use that Old Testament passage, "Oh, Pastor, my ox is in the ditch." Some people just leave the ox in the ditch. Some people have ox and they need to slaughter or sell. Church, what I'm telling you is this is we can't be a scattering people no matter what. And then the fifth pitfall is listening to the wrong leader. Now, I want you to see Peter was not a heretic. Now, as we progress through the New Testament, there are all types of heretics, false teachers. All dealt with them by name if we go over into 1 and 2 Timothy. And what did he tell Timothy? "I've already taken care of a couple for you.

You take care of the rest." Peter was not a false teacher. He was God's man, yes, anointed of God. But yet he had some problems in his own life. There was a problem of sanctification and they followed Peter the wrong direction. And here's my warning to you. Sometimes people who lead you astray say everything just right. They looked apart, they might have good theology, they might stand up for the best doctrine. But oh, they're off just a little. They're off just a little. And that was what we have with Peter. They were following the wrong leader. They should have stepped up and said, "No, Peter.

Jesus said." And then the pitfall of going back. Going back. We're all tempted to go back. The Christian journey gets hard. Trial comes. Oh, we become weary. We don't like this waiting in the trial. We become disillusioned because Jesus feels like he's a million miles away. And then there's the temptation. Just go back a little. Go back a little. I know something about that going back. I've been tempted myself. What do we see? Six real pitfalls. Right here. Real in their life. And these are warnings to us as a church. Warnings to us as individuals. Yes, but as a church we must obey God's Word. We must wait when we're called to wait.

We must not be disillusioned when we don't feel like Jesus is close. We must avoid the pitfall of scattering. We must not follow the wrong leader and we must not be a going back people. Now a couple more comments concerning verses one, two, and three. And how they relate to the rest of the chapter. This teaching here prepares us for what is to come in the chapter. Jesus manifested himself to these disciples. And we will see this manifestation of Jesus as we continue. This sanctifying work of Jesus in them. We will see this continue. Especially this one called Peter. The disciples were out of their place.

They had gone back to their former way of life. They had digressed. Now what is the title of the message? Truthfully I wrestled over that all week. Especially most of the day yesterday. But this morning I just came to this title. Christ appears by the Sea of Galilee. The disciples in their digression. The disciples in their digression. But praise God for his grace, for his mercy, and for his persevering work in his people. Let's pray.