Jesus Appears by the Sea of Galilee - The Miraculous Provision from Jesus

Well, take your Bible, turn back with me to John chapter 21. John chapter 21, like I said earlier, we will be dividing verses 9 to 14 in our message this morning. I know that I went back and I read all of the verses, verses 1 to 14. I did that so that we would have the entire event in our minds so that we could focus not just on these verses but the entirety of this event because we will wrap up this section of scripture, this story, Jesus appearing to His disciples there at the Sea of Galilee. Now by way of introduction, we really need to see that verses 1 to 14 tell us one story.

You can say it like this, this is one story, this is one event. Either way is accurate. Jesus is revealing Himself to His disciples right there at the Sea of Galilee. You might have before you in your translation the Sea of Tiberias, either one is accurate. The disciples have gone back to their former way of life, that's what this fishing was. It was representative of the fact that they had gone back. And Jesus is coming to correct them in their error and He's coming to prepare them.

I have said numerous times that this is preparing them for the next chapter, if I can use that language, which is the giving of the Holy Spirit which is just a few days away. Now I've said this repeatedly, especially in our Wednesday night Bible study time, this was a great sanctifying work in the lives of these disciples. Now a question, why do I mention this grouping of scripture? Why do I take the time to read these verses together and to talk about this grouping of scripture? Grouping of scripture together properly is very, very important for us.

When we group scripture together properly, it helps us better understand what is being taught. So if you look at your copy of God's Word and you understand that verses 1 to 14 are one story, that helps you better understand each portion of scripture and each verse within this portion of scripture. Now I don't know if you write in your Bible, some do, and it might help you to make little notations like this again so that you can understand that verses 1 to 14 are one story, one event. Now I want us to look back on how we have divided these verses.

This will help us have this event, this one event in our minds, and this will help us conclude the story this morning. We saw right away in verse 1 that Jesus was continuing to manifest himself to his disciples. He had been doing this all along in chapter 20, and so this is just a continuation. It just so happens to be in another geographical location. And then we went on to see the disciples in their situation. We saw this in verse 2 and 3. They were digressing.

As a matter of fact, the title of that first message was "Jesus Appears to His Disciples by the Sea of Galilee, the Disciples in Their Digression." Then we continued with our second message. We saw that Jesus approached his disciples in verses 4 and 5. And then we saw the disciples in their failure there at the end of verse 5. This is when they were at the bottom. They were in the bottom of their failure, and they're going back in their self-effort. And then Jesus begins to bring them out. Next we saw the miraculous catch in verse 6. And then through that great miracle, the disciples recognized Jesus. That was in verse 7 and 8.

It was John who knew it was the Lord first, and then Peter, and then the rest. And this was the second part, or part 2 of the message. Again, Jesus appears by the Sea of Galilee, and I title this message, "Jesus Reveals Himself to His Disciples." Now we will continue really in a part 3. And like I said, this is the conclusion of this event, this story. And we will have Jesus appears by the Sea of Galilee, the miraculous provision from Jesus. We have the miraculous provision from Jesus. You will see how we will divide these verses, verses 9 to 14. We have the provision of breakfast starting in verse 9.

This goes on down to verse 12, and then skips over to verse 13. And then we have the complete revelation there in verse 12, the last part of verse 12. And then we have the third manifestation, it is complete there in verse 13. So let's look back at our verses, the ones we will divide this morning, and then we will jump right into our message. Start with me in verse 9. "And so when they got upon the land, they saw a charcoal fire already laid, and fish placed upon it and bred.

Jesus said to them, 'Bring some of the fish which you have just now caught.' And Simon Peter, he went up and he drew or drug the net onto the land, full of large fish, 153. And although there were so many, the net was not torn or broken." Verse 12. "And Jesus said to them, 'Come and have breakfast.' Now none of the disciples ventured to question Him, 'Who are you, knowing that it was the Lord?' Jesus came and took the bread and He gave them, and then He took the fish likewise." And this is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples after He was raised from the dead.

So let's start off the body of our message, if I can use that language, by looking at our first major truth, and that is the provision of breakfast. Look before us, we see the provision of breakfast. Go back to verse 9. "And so when they got out onto the land," this would have been John and Peter. Obviously, Peter made it first and the other disciples. "They saw a charcoal fire and fish placed on the fire and bread. Jesus said to them, 'Bring some of the fish,' which you have just caught." Simon Peter went up and he drew the net or drug the net onto the land, and it was full of fish, large fish, about 153.

And although there were so many, the net was not torn. But then we see the continuation of this thought, this provision of breakfast in verse 12. "Jesus said to them, 'Come and have breakfast.'" And then verse 13, "Jesus came and took the bread, and He gave it to them and the fish likewise." Now, here we see a progression. We just see a progression of Jesus revealing Himself to His disciples. But we see a transition from the miraculous to the practical. Notice that. A transition from the miraculous to the practical. We see the miracle begin in verse 6, "When Jesus gave them," I called it that strange command.

"After they obeyed that strange command, they participated in a great miracle." Now, look at the end of verse 6. What does it say? "So they cast it." That was their net. "And now they were not able to haul it in because of the quantity of fish." This is that miracle. I love how John MacArthur describes this event. What does he say? And I'm quoting, "Just as He," that's Jesus, "had rerouted all of the fish away from their boat all through that night, Jesus now directed a massive school to the right side of the boat." But this great miracle is over. And now we move to the practical side of the miracle.

And there are three observations that I want to make here out of this provision. First, notice the partial provision. Notice there is a partial provision, verse 9, "And so when they got out of the boat onto the land, they saw a charcoal fire already laid. And there was fish placed on the fire, and there was bread." Now, here we see that when the disciples reached the shore, they found Jesus cooking breakfast. We have a fire, we have fish, and we even have bread, and this all on the fire. But there is no mention as to where Jesus got these provisions. Now, some scholars speculate that Jesus miraculously made the fish and the bread appear.

That could have been the case. As a matter of fact, it very well could have been the case. But that is not the point. The point is that Jesus supplied His hungry disciples with breakfast. He cared for their need, but we will see that this is a partial provision. Now, let's move on. Our second observation, notice the abundant provision. The abundant provision. Look at verse 10 with me, verse 10 and 11.

"Jesus said to them, 'Bring some of the fish which you have just now caught.' Simon Peter went up, and he drew the net onto the land, and it was full of large fish, 153, and although there were so many, the net, it was not torn." Here we see that Jesus commands Peter to bring some of the fish they had caught to complete the breakfast. Evidently, there was not enough for all to have their fill. In verse 11, Peter simply obeys his Lord, and he brought that net full of fish onto the shore. Now, I want to pause here and note a specific concerning the miracle. Verse 11 lists the number of fish caught, and that is 153, but 153 large fish.

Now, a question. Why the numbering? A question. Why the size? Why would John list the number of fish and the size of the fish? The Bible commentator D.A. Carson helps me here to see the possibilities for numbering the fish. This helps us see that the numbering, it could have been reflective of the practical side of the event, or the numbering, it could have been reflective of the miraculous side of the event. I like what he says, and I'm quoting. "It is unsurprising that someone counted them either as part of dividing them up amongst the fishermen in preparation for a sail." Now, let me pause there in the quotation. That's the practical side.

Again, we're using our imagination. "Maybe they counted these fish to be divided amongst themselves for their families, even the sail." And now I'm picking back up with a quotation. "Or because one of the men was so dumbfounded by the size of the catch that he said something like this." Can you believe it? I wonder how many there are. And so whatever the reason for the numbering of the fish, whether it was practical or it was reflective of the miracle, there were 153 large fish. There was an abundant provision for the disciples. And then the third observation, the practical provision.

Look at verse 12, the first part of verse 12, and then verse 13. "Jesus said to them, 'Come and have breakfast.'" How practical is that? And verse 13, "And Jesus came and He took the bread and He gave it to them, and the fish likewise He served them breakfast." This is very, very practical. So here we see that Jesus caused His disciples to come and to eat. Evidently, the meal was complete. The fish and the bread Jesus had supplied along with the fish the disciples had caught. All of this was adequate for the disciples to have their breakfast and have their fill. Here we see the beginning of verse 12. It is an invitation for them to come eat.

Isn't that what Jesus says? And then in verse 13, we have Jesus serving them the meal. So we have this practical provision of a real need, which was breakfast. Now in summary, what do we see here? Jesus lovingly, and I repeat that word, lovingly cared for His disciples. Surely they were tired from fishing all night. Surely they were hungry from working hard all night. Jesus not only caused them to Himself, as we saw earlier in the story, but He caused them to Himself to meet a basic need. They were hungry. They needed breakfast. So we see that He provided breakfast for His disciples.

Not only provided, but listen, He even served them breakfast. Now in application, what can we learn here out of these verses, this provision for the disciples? We need to see that when we are in our time of need, as born-again believers, our Lord will not only come to us and minister to us, but He will provide for us just what we need. Now again, we know the rest of the story. We know the whole story. We know that these disciples had gone back. They had gone back to their former way of life. They were in sin. They were in the flesh. In many ways, they were disobedient.

But Jesus, in grace and mercy, goes to them, lovingly receiving them and forgiving them, but meeting their needs. Now I want to warn you, I am not acting like our Lord is a coke machine. We just put our tokens in and press the right buttons and we get what we want. No, that's not the case. But if we're born-again Christians and we're walking with the Lord, whether we find ourselves going back in our life, going back into areas of our life, or maybe we're just in our trial, a great trial, we must see that our Lord will come to us and He will give us what we need. And I'll even go a step further. Sometimes He serves us.

Sometimes when we don't have the strength to reach out for what we need, He just hand delivers it. I've got plenty of testimonies. Oh, I've got plenty of stories. I'll be glad to sit down with you over breakfast or lunch or over a cup of coffee and just share how the Lord has provided for me and provided for me and met my needs. And if you walk with the Lord at any time, if you have been serving God for a particular period of time, I'm sure you can go back and you can see when you were in your time of need, the Lord met that need. I'll give you an example that I thought about while I was studying this week.

One of the ladies of our church here, there was a time when she was in need of a job. Yes, she was in need of a job. And I'll look back during that time, yes, she was in trial, yes, she was in crisis. And in many ways, she would tell you she couldn't reach out towards the Lord because what? She was in that trial. But what did the Lord do? The Lord came and gave her a job and not only a job, a good job, and not only a good job as she's been a good Christian in that good job, she's gotten raises and promotions. Look, what am I showing you? When we're in need, our Lord will give us what we need. Let's move on.

Let's notice our second major truth, the complete revelation, the complete revelation. Look back with me to the second part of verse 12. It almost is like there's an interruption. The beginning of verse 12, Jesus calls them to breakfast, and then he serves them the breakfast at verse 13. But the second part of verse 12 is a little different. Notice what it says. None of the disciples ventured to question Him. Who are you, Lord? Knowing that it was their Lord. This is the complete revelation. Now, I've said several times that all of these verses tell one story.

Now, for us to see the depth of this portion of verse 12, we need to go back into chapter 20. Now, I'm not just trying to review for review's sake because we need to see that this revelation of Jesus to this disciples, it builds day by day, event by event. Yes. And we see all of this revelation building up to a crescendo, which is right here in verse 12. Personally, I see this statement in verse 12. It is the high point of this manifestation. So let's go back into chapter 20, and let's work our way back to verse 12 right here in chapter 21. And let's see this crescendo. Let's see this high point.

And so there are four specifics that I want us to see here. First, when we go all the way back into chapter 20, we see the disciples in fear and despair, do we not? They were in fear and despair. We see that right away in the beginning of chapter 20 verses 1 and 2, and specifically in verse 19. We know that just after the crucifixion, the disciples were locked away in fear. Fear was their propensity. This was more than their propensity. This fear seemed to dominate them. Even after Mary's testimony, beginning in chapter 20 verse 2, they were still dominated by fear. Even after they had seen the empty tomb, they were still dominated by fear.

The disciples were wrapped up in fear and despair. Now look specifically at chapter 20 verse 19. What do we see? "When therefore it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut, most Bible scholars believed they were bolted, where the disciples were noticed for fear of the Jews." Now, what do I want us to see here? Jesus had revealed Himself through the empty tomb. Think about that. He had revealed Himself through the empty tomb.

Yes, the disciples did not see Jesus until later on in the upper room experiences, but the empty tomb and the grave clothes must have been seen as the beginning of Jesus revealing Himself to them. But even though there was this revelation, they were still in fear and despair. Now, second, I want us to see their partial belief. Their partial belief. When we go back to verse 8, when they're coming into the empty tomb, what does it say? "So the other disciple, this was John, who had first come to the tomb, he entered also and he saw and he believed." So here we see an allusion to the work of God in these men.

To me, this is like a crack into the door of what is going on in their hearts and minds. Verse 8 says that John saw the empty tomb as well as the grave clothes and what? He believed. I have called this partial belief because this work in John was incomplete. So here we see this partial belief. For me, this is the next step in Jesus revealing Himself to the disciples. Things are better. John has partial belief, but they're still in fear because we saw that in verse 19, which is later on. But then we see, third, their fuller belief. If we go to chapter 20, starting in verse 19, all the way down to verse 29.

Now I won't read those verses, but what do we see? There are two instances where Jesus reveals Himself there in the upper room. First to the disciples, minus Thomas, and then to the disciples with Thomas. And here we see that Jesus reveals Himself to all of the disciples, ultimately. Now remember what took place. They believe in a greater way as we progress. In verse 20, the disciples rejoiced that they had seen the Lord. But more, remember how they approached the absentee disciple. Verse 25 says that the disciples excitedly and repeatedly told Thomas, "We have seen the Lord.

We have seen the Lord." But old pessimistic Eeyore Thomas wouldn't believe. That Jesus in grace and mercy, He met Thomas in His doubt. He called Thomas to see and to touch his wounds, therefore bringing about a work in Thomas. So what do we see in these upper room events? Jesus is revealing Himself to these men, and they have a fuller belief. Their belief is maturing. Their belief is not quite complete yet, no. But it is getting better. So you see how it's building? They go from fear and despair to partial belief to a fuller belief. And then fourth right here in verse 12, we see that their revelation was complete.

Go back to the verse, verse 12. "None of the disciples ventured to question Him. Who are you knowing that it was the Lord?" Notice how firm they are now. So here we finally see the crescendo. Here we have the completion of their belief. Now what does the verse say? They dare not ask if it was Jesus. Why? Even though He was definitely unearthly, they were convinced in their heart of hearts that this was indeed their Lord Jesus Christ. So in summary, what do we see here in the second part of verse 12? This is the pinnacle. This work of revelation is complete. It's been building. It's been building.

"They are convinced beyond a doubt that this was indeed their Lord." Now this work took time. This work took some doing by Jesus in these men. This was a progressive work in them. But finally, we see the completion of this revelation. They dared not ask if it was Jesus because why? They knew it was Jesus. "Oh, as unearthly as He was, they knew that it was their Lord." Now for you and for me, how might we apply this circumstance for us? We must see that we are in circumstances and it just takes time for us to see that the Lord is right in the middle of those circumstances.

As a matter of fact, He is sovereign over those circumstances and even that, He has ordained those circumstances. See one of the things that I faithfully preach here is the sovereignty of God. Now not only the sovereignty of God in salvation, but the sovereignty of God over our lives as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing comes into our life without passing by the throne of God, but greater than that being ordained of God. Whether it's death or cancer, the loss of a spouse, the loss of a job, the crippling effects of bad health, or the wounds of a so-called friend, the list just goes on and on and on.

You can see sometimes we find ourselves in difficult circumstances and we really feel like the Lord is a million miles away. We can't see Him. We can't feel Him. We pray and our prayers never just seem to get past the ceiling and in our heart of hearts, if we're honest, we cry out to the Lord and say, "Lord, I don't understand. I don't like it. I might be upset with You." Did you know that there are times I've looked at the Lord and I've said, "Lord, I don't like the circumstances I'm in. I'm even mad." You might say, "Brother Chris, are you kind of going somewhere you shouldn't know?" I've been mad at my circumstances before.

Not that I was mad at God. God knew how I felt. And I said, "Lord, I don't like this. I'm mad. I'm upset. And I don't feel like You're near when all along He was right in the middle and I just had to persevere in Him. And then when I got to the end of that circumstance, I looked back and I saw that the Lord was there all along and He was doing the work in me and that's the complete revelation, the complete work of God in us through that circumstance." Brother Keith and I have a little phrase that we use. To be honest with you, I think that we got it out of walking with God in circumstances. It's called testimony living. Testimony living.

Remember the song, "He Will Hold Me Fast"? If these men knew this song, I've got to believe that when they got to verse 14, they could look up and say, "He will hold me fast because He's been holding me fast all along." That's called a testimony, people. This is a complete revelation. Many times we're in circumstances, it just takes time, and then we see God do a work, and look, it gives us a testimony and there's a complete revelation of a work in us. And that's personal and real and it brings Him glory. Now let's move on to our third major truth in our outline. Notice the third manifestation is complete. Look at verse 14 with me.

This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples after He was raised from the dead. Now the Apostle John finishes this story by reminding us that these events here from verses 1 to 14, they make up the third time that Jesus manifested Himself to His disciples. Now we know that He revealed Himself to Mary and the other women. John chapter 20 verses 1 to 18, and then the other gospels tell us this fact. But from John 20 verse 19, all the way through these events at the Sea of Galilee, Jesus was concentrating on these disciples. Now a speculative question.

Why would John give us three different events where Jesus is manifesting Himself to these disciples? Why? I believe it is because these men were very, very important. They were His chosen disciples, but greater than that, His chosen apostles. They were to be the men who fleshed out the birth of the church starting in the book of Acts. So these manifestations were very, very important. These events are pictures of Christ's work in them, the sanctifying work in them that prepared them for chapter 2 in Acts when the Spirit poured out and so on. Now let's look at how these manifestations progress.

First we look at the first manifestation there in the upper room. I referenced it earlier. John chapter 20 starting in verse 19 on down to verse 24. Now we need to remember what took place in this first manifestation. The disciples were hiding in fear from the Jews, verse 19 tells us. Jesus miraculously entered the room to reveal Himself to them. He came through the bolted doors, through the walls, and He stood in their midst. And He spoke comforting words to them. He showed them His scars from the crucifixion and what was their response. They rejoiced. They rejoiced that they had seen their risen Lord.

So this is the first manifestation there in the upper room. Then the second manifestation in the upper room. That starts in verse 24 down to verse 29. Now we remember what took place in this second manifestation. Jesus gives grace upon grace. He meets pessimistic Thomas where He was. He had previously refused to believe the testimony of Jesus. Now imagine this, how audacious and prideful and arrogant is Thomas? He simply told the disciples that He would not believe their testimony. But Jesus revealed Himself to the disciples and to Thomas in the upper room. In this second manifestation, it is as if Jesus appears just for Thomas.

And again, He spoke comforting words. He then moved straight for Thomas and He met Him in His doubt, in His confusion, in His pessimism. No rebuke, no open correction. He simply revealed Himself again to the disciples, but primarily Thomas. Now what was their response? Again rejoicing. Rejoicing that they had seen their risen Lord. And then the third manifestation in verse 14. What do we see? Now this is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples after He was raised from the dead. Here John rounds off this story of all that took place by the Sea of Galilee by stating that these events were the third manifestation.

All of these events from verse 1 on down to verse 14 make up this detailed and in-depth manifestation of Jesus to His disciples. I repeat what I said earlier. This work completed the revelation of Jesus to them and in them. They were convinced. They were past their fear, past their doubt. They were past their half-hearted belief. They were past their going back to failure and serving in their flesh. And to me they were ready for the giving of the Holy Spirit which is just days away. So what do we see here? This was the third and final revelation of Jesus to His disciples. This statement in verse 14 represents two things in my mind.

This statement represents the final manifestation which John gives and this represents the completed work in them. Now an application I want to pick up on what I've been saying all along. You and I need to see as born again Christians when we go through trial or when we go through difficulty or no matter the circumstance when we have our Lord working in us to grow us and to sanctify us, we must see that the work of God must be complete. See the problem with many Christians is they don't want to hold on till the work is complete. In our flesh we want the pain to go away. Oh in our minds we want it to go away.

In our hearts we want the Lord to take our circumstances maybe away and to make those circumstances better. But what do we see in verse 14? This is a completion, a completion of the work of Christ in these men, a completion of revelation yes but a work in them. And so an application we must see the word completion. And no matter what you're going through pray and wait, seek the Lord, be in the Word and allow God to fully form that work in you and have that work complete. Well that can be the toughest thing for many because most of the time in our flesh we want circumstances to be better.

Now in conclusion as we move away from the verses I want to make several observations. Now in these observations I do believe that the Holy Spirit will take what I share and make application to your life. Some of what I share it could be corrected for some of you. It may be encouragement, something I share might be just what you need in your life right now. Now remember what I shared when we divided verses 1 to 3. I'm going all the way back to the end of March. I gave us six pitfalls or six warnings from the actions of the disciples. Now this morning I will call them points of failure because that's what they were. What did the disciples do?

First they did not obey Jesus and His Word. He never told them to go down to the Sea of Tiberius. We know what He said because Matthew 28 shows us chronologically what He said. He said to wait. And then the second point of failure was they didn't wait. You might say pastor you've already said that they didn't obey the Word. No, specifically we must see that they did not wait. Nothing was just too difficult for them. And then they became disillusioned. Third, they became disillusioned during Jesus' seeming absence. Jesus was not there tangibly leading them so they became disillusioned. And then fourth, they allowed themselves to be scattered.

And then fifth, they listened to the wrong leader, even Peter. He led them to go back. So what am I showing you? These are points of failure. And for us, we need to see that these can be pitfalls. These are warnings because you and I can make any of these mistakes. This was their downward digression into failure and defeat. And this is a temptation for all of us. And we've all been guilty of a few of these ourselves if we've walked with the Lord very long. So I want to remind you of their failures of these pitfalls of these warnings. But more than their failure, we see some specifics in these men.

We see the disciples in their strengths and their weaknesses. We see their personalities, even their flawed personalities. We see their natural abilities, Peter, in his natural leadership. We see their fears and their failures. Now why do I bring up these personalities? Because many of us can find ourselves in the hearts and minds and the behavior of these men. And if there was hope for them, there's hope for us. But I go back to something I haven't mentioned in a while. All along, I have shared that there are two stories here. I've called them two parallel stories. The story of our risen Lord, that's the greatest story. Jesus is not dead.

He is alive. That's the greatest story. The living Lord Jesus is not in the tomb. He is walking and talking and making himself known. But then we see the other story, the story of his people. We've studied these men intently, especially in verses 1 to 14. And I want us to end with our Lord. I want us to end with what we see in our Lord with these people and these circumstances. We see our Lord's great patience with his people. Was he not patient with these men? You know, I think that if it were you or me, we would rebuke them and rebuke them and rebuke them.

If it was you, if it was me, we would have gone home to our wives and said, "I can't do anything with these men." But not Jesus. He's very patient. You need to see that our Lord is far more patient with you than you know. Now let me turn that around. If the Lord was as patient with us as you are with other people, what would our relationship with the Lord be like? Let me repeat that. If our Lord was as patient with us as we are with each other, how would our relationship with the Lord be? See Jesus was very, very patient with his people.

And I think in that we see love and grace and mercy and his desire to carry out his purposes in their life. And second, we see the Lord's persevering work for his people. See, this is all tied together. He is persevering in them because he knew he had called them, he had chosen them, and he had a purpose for them that was greater than they were, and he is persevering in them. He just will not give up. And they're there at the Sea of Tiberias. He goes on down to where they were. He not only calls them, but he works in them.

He is persevering for victory in their life, growth in their life, and sanctification, and to make them more usable in the days to come. We need to see that our Lord desires to persevere in us. Sometimes our perseverance is a little slow. We might need to ask ourselves why. Sometimes the persevering work in us can be slow. Why? Because we might be more like those disciples than we know. And then third, we see the Lord's corrective work in his people. He was gracious, yes. He was kind, yes. He wasn't heavy-handed, dogmatic and demanding, no. But he was corrective.

He was about correcting them in their failure, in their defeat, and in their going by. And see, the Lord, as he perseveres in us, he desires to correct us. See, the problem with many of us is we want our Lord to correct our brothers and sisters, but we might not want our Lord to correct us. And then fourth, we see our Lord's victory for his people. Is it that victory? Look back at verse 14. This is now the third term that Jesus manifested himself to the disciples. But what did they say? What did they say? They dared not question who he was, knowing that it was the Lord. See, through this manifestation, he brought victory.

There was a victorious work in them. And I believe right here at the end, they were changed men. God through the person of his son, Jesus had victory in their life. And see, God wants us to have victory. God wants to move us along. He wants to persevere in us and correct us and change us. And even change our personality and have our strengths and weaknesses under his Lordship and deal with our failure and our defeat and our going back. All for what? For victory. Now, why was the victory for them? It was for God's usefulness and glory in their life. He didn't do this for them. He did this for his glory.

And he desires to do a work in us for his glory. For your usefulness in this church. For your usefulness in your family. For your usefulness in the community. But ultimately for kingdom work. This should encourage us, maybe correct us. It should give us hope. And it should show us that we as born again Christians have a bright future. Now, as I close, as your pastor, I'll just get personal. It shows me that I have hope. I have hope. There was hope for these men and there's hope for me. And whatever work I need in my own life, I want it. Because I want to be used for his glory. Yes in the world. Yes in my family.

But also in the life of the Nolibabish Church. Let's pray together. Let's pray over this message. Let's commit these efforts to the Lord. Let's pray that this forms us into the people that God wants us to be.