John 21 - Part B

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That's connectwithskip.com. Now, let's get started with today's message from Pastor Skip Heitzig. He's telling them how he got there. Listen to what he says. And I, being in the way, the Lord led me.

I like that. I, being in the way, the Lord led me. Let me just suggest you get in God's way. God is moving. He has a stream that is flowing.

And when you throw up a twig in the stream, that stream goes or that twig goes in the way of the stream. Find God's stream. Find the way God is moving and jump in.

Get in His way. I, being in the way, the Lord led me. Many years ago when I came to faith in Christ back in what we called in California the Jesus movement, we were convinced that Jesus was going to return within the next couple years back then. And we believed His return was imminent.

Now, I still believe that. I believe His return is imminent. I don't believe there's anything holding back the rapture of the church, the coming of the Lord. And it's great to wake up every morning and go, this could be it. This could be the last day.

The Lord could come back. And one day we'll be right. Now, it's been 2,000 years they haven't been right yet. We haven't been, but one day we'll be right. And so we wait and we actively wait. But I remember during that time when I announced to my friends that I was going to go to college and they looked at me like I was so inspiritual.

Why would you do that? Jesus is coming back. You won't graduate.

Maybe you're right. I might not graduate. But if I don't graduate because the Lord comes back, that's a great way not to graduate. In fact, I have graduated if that happens.

We all have. But when the Lord comes back, I just want you guys to know He's going to find me a college. And if He doesn't come back at the end of college, He'll find me working wherever I work. I'm going to be occupying until He comes. But there was this notion that we should just wait around for Jesus to come back. We'll wait around, do nothing, maybe get a credit card, maybe get a lot of things on credit because if Jesus is coming back, you won't have to pay it off. Not a smart way to live.

Occupy, stay busy until He comes. I heard a great story about a man who went to his doctor. He said, Doctor, something's wrong, man.

I have no energy. I need to find out what's wrong. The doctor said, let me take you through a cadre of tests and find out what it is. So he took him through a bunch of medical exams and at the end of them, the doctor came to him and said, well, there's absolutely nothing wrong with you. In fact, I'll tell you as your doctor straight up because the guy said, give it to me straight, doc. What's wrong? What ails me?

I can take it. Give it to me straight. He goes, there's absolutely nothing wrong with you. You're just plain lazy.

And the man said, okay, could you give that to me in medical terms so I can tell my wife? Jesus doesn't want us to be lazy while we're waiting for Him to return but to stay busy. So Peter's out there, I'm going fishing. Listen, Jesus is going to meet him in Galilee but you've got to eat and there's a lake and I know how to fish. I grew up doing it. So I'm going to go eat.

I'm going to go occupy. I'm going to go prepare a meal. So notice it says in verse 3, they went out and immediately got into a boat and notice it says that night, not that day, they're fishing at night, that night they caught nothing but when the morning had now come. The best time to fish on the Sea of Galilee was at night for two reasons. The most important reason is because in the morning you want to go to the marketplace with fresh fish. The only way to have fresh fish early in the morning when the market opens is to catch it at night. And so what they would do and here's the second reason it was better, they would go out under the cover of darkness, fish all night with their nets.

There were three different ways to use a net. I won't elaborate. But they would light torches in the boat and the fish were attracted to the light of the torches usually. This was a very unusual night. They were experts. They knew what they were doing. They had done this before. It's nighttime.

We got this wired. They go out hour after hour catching zero fish. Nothing, I looked it up in the Greek, means nothing. That's what they caught.

Big nothing. So it's morning and the morning light begins to fill the landscape. The sun would have risen over the east, over the Golan Heights and begin to glimmer on the Sea of Galilee and someone shows up on the shore. When the morning had now come, peeking over the Golan Heights, Jesus stood on the shore. And yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Once again, we find that they didn't recognize him.

A couple reasons for this. The boat would have been far away from the shore. A person on the shore is a speck. The light is early light. It's not good. It's just dawn. So you don't get the details. But they had spent enough time with Jesus that usually I can tell even a long way off who a person is by their frame, can't you? You can see them coming. I can spot them in a crowd. Oh, there they are way down there. But let's just give them the benefit of the doubt. It's early. It's dark.

They're far away. Again, I'm just going to make a suggestion like I did last week that the resurrection of Jesus had brought significant change to him. There were recognizable features about him and yet there were differences. And I do commend to you on your own that you go home and study, maybe tonight before you go to bed, 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

It's a lengthy passage. But the Apostle Paul tells us about our resurrected body. Our body now compared to what it will be like raised from the dead, it will be similar but different. And he says it's like the difference between a seed and a plant. A seed and something that has blossomed and grown into a vibrant plant or flower.

They're related by DNA but you've got to admit, a seed looks very different than a flower. And so there are going to be significant changes in the resurrected body from the earthly body. We'll still know it's you.

People ask me this all the time. Will we recognize each other in heaven? Spurgeon said, do you think we'll be more stupid in heaven than we are on earth? If you can recognize somebody now. But they couldn't recognize him. They weren't resurrected.

In heaven, we'll recognize one another. But they didn't know it was Jesus. And Jesus said to them, notice this question, children, have you any food? Hey kids, what did you catch? It's a beautiful term, pideon, children, little ones, ones that someone who loves them, a guardian would care for. And this is a typical question that we ask fishermen. Of course, we don't say children to them, they'd beat you up. But when we see fishermen, when I used to see him at the Huntington Beach Pier, he'd go, what'd you catch? And they'll always tell you, well, I got a few of these or I got nothing. He says, children, do you have any food?

They answered, no. And he said to them, cast the net on the right side of the boat and you will find some. The right side of the boat is seven and a half feet away from the left side of the boat.

The boat that they used 2,000 years ago in the Sea of Galilee, there's one that when you go to Israel with us, you'll see from 2,000 years ago, 27 feet long, seven and a half feet wide. They had the nets down on one side. Jesus said, well, just lift the nets up and move them seven and a half feet and you'll catch some. Doesn't make much sense. So they cast.

What do you got to lose? You caught nothing. So they cast and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of the fish. I absolutely love those times when Jesus gives fishing advice to expert fishermen. He didn't grow up as a fisherman. He grew up in Nazareth.

He didn't grow up at the Sea of Galilee. He was a tecton. He was a craftsperson. He was a carpenter. But I love how this carpenter gives fishing advice to fishermen. And, well, he should. He knows more about fishing than they do.

He created fish. Just like Jesus can give advice to a physicist about physics, a scientist about science, or any profession. He knows more than they do. But he asked him a question. Children, do you have any food? Why did he ask them that?

Well, he wanted to hear the answer. Nothing. No. We caught nothing.

Did you catch anything? Nope. Why would he do that? He wants them to face their failure, I believe.

He wants them to face it and to announce it. Nope. Here's my confession. I caught nothing.

We got a big zero. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we get back to Skip's teaching, some people think that Jesus was nothing more than a prophet or a good teacher.

These misconceptions existed 2,000 years ago, and Jesus is still misunderstood today. Discover who Jesus really is with Skip Heitzig's riveting nine-part series, Who Is This Jesus?, which examines Christ's humanity and deity to equip you to confidently answer questions about Jesus. This resource, along with Skip's Life Change booklet, designed to help new Christians embrace their transformed life in Christ, is our thanks for your gift of at least $50 today to help share biblical teaching with more people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig.

Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your copies when you give at least $50 today to reach people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig. Let's continue with today's teaching with Pastor Skip. The first one is to Adam in the garden. Adam, where are you?

Did God know the answer to his own question? Sure, he's right there. He's right there in the garden.

You can see everyone and everything. Why would you ask that? Adam, where are you? Then second question, did you eat of the fruit of the tree that I commanded you not to eat? Why would he ask the question? He wants Adam to face it and admit it. There was a time the Lord asked Elijah the prophet, running from Jezebel, running from the chick queen. He was so courageous, you know, with the prophets of Baal and then Jezebel threatens his life and he goes, and he runs away down to the Sinai.

His contemporaries would have jabbed him about that, joked about that all day long. And so he's down hiding in the cleft of a rock and God comes and says, Elijah, what are you doing here? God knew the answer. He wants Elijah to face it. So he asked them, have you caught anything?

No, nothing. Now there's Jesus right there. They don't recognize him.

And again, I just want to bring that principle up. We saw it last time. How often is Jesus right there and we don't recognize him?

How often God is with us and we're oblivious to the fact, we're blinded by the pain, by the circumstance, by the expectation we had that didn't get fulfilled. He's there. He's hidden from us. We don't recognize him, but he's there.

Do you love the story about Jacob running from his brother? And he goes out to Bethel. It's just that open windblown deserted place in Israel, puts his head that night on a rock. He's run from his family. It's a God forsaken place that he's at.

That's how he would have described it. It's God forsaken. Puts his head down at night. He sees a dream of a ladder going to heaven and angels coming down and going up. The Lord speaks to him in that dream and he wakes up and he says these words, the Lord is in this place. And I knew it not. The Lord is in this God forsaken place.

It's not God forsaken. The Lord's here. The Lord is in this place. And then he says and I knew it not. I know it now, but I knew it not.

Now I know it. The Lord is in this place. The Lord is in that place at Galilee at the Sea of Tiberias right there on the shore talking to them, but they didn't recognize him. So he tells them, verse six, cast the net on the right side of the boat and you will find some. So they cast.

Now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of the fish. There's a huge difference between doing something on your own and doing something at the direction of God, at the leading of the Lord. And you know what the difference is? Results. That's the difference.

If you go out on your own, I'm going fishing, okay, go ahead. If it's not Spirit-directed service, you're going to say the same thing they did, cut nothing. I know many people who are in service of the Lord. They work hard, they're competent, they're diligent, and they walk away going to cut nothing. Because it's more than diligence and it's more than being competent, it's being obedient. To listen to where he wants you to go and how he wants you to do it. Listen, the difference between success and failure was the width of the boat. Well, what difference does it make to put my nets here or seven and a half feet away? Only that Jesus said to put it there. Why would he say that? I don't know.

But are you going to argue about it or are you going to put your nets down and get something? So you can be competent, you can be diligent, but it's better to just be obedient and then add to that competence and diligence. Go where God wants you to go. Do what he's called you to do. Operate in the gifts he has poured into your life and enjoy it and enjoy results. Therefore, that disciple whom Jesus loved, who would that be? John.

I love John for that because he sets the model for me. He called himself the disciple Jesus loved. Peter could have referred to him as the disciple Jesus loved. Jesus loved Peter too. Nathaniel could have called himself the disciple Jesus loved. I'm the disciple Jesus loved.

So are you. But John just knew that he was uniquely loved and so maybe as an act of humility without naming himself, but really just to say there's one thing I know, he loves me. The disciple that Jesus loved said to Peter, it's the Lord. He's figured it out now. John has figured it out. Now John was the one who figured out the whole thing about the tomb. Remember last week, Peter and John run to the tomb. John gets her first, looks in, Peter comes there panting a little bit later, goes in, can't figure it out.

John goes in, figures it out. He's risen. He believed in the resurrection.

So John figured out the resurrection from going in and looking at the tomb. John also figures out from this little encounter, this can't be happening unless that individual who told us to put the nets from this side to that side, unless that's the Lord. That's the Lord. That's the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was, before we get there, what convinced John to recognize that individual who said, children, do you have any food? Cast your nets. To know that's the Lord is that it sounded familiar.

This whole scenario feels like something that happened a few years back. I'll read it to you. You don't even have to turn there, but you can just remember and mark it, look at it later if you want. This is Luke chapter 5, the beginning of Jesus' ministry in Capernaum. So, it was, as the multitude pressed about him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret.

Same lake, Tiberias, Galilee, Gennesaret, all the same. He saw two boats standing by the lake, but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and he taught the multitudes from the boat. So he used it as a way to get away from the people at a sufficient distance so he could preach a message.

It was a floating scoped. When he had stopped speaking, he said to Simon, hey, launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. Let's go fishing. But Simon answered and said, Master, we have toiled all night and have caught nothing. Nevertheless, at your word, I will let down the net. Smart thinking.

I'll do it at your word. Now, I'm sure Peter's thinking, oh my goodness, this guy's a preacher. He's not a fisherman. You don't fish during the day. We've fished all night.

The best time to catch is at night. We haven't caught anything, but this guy wants to go fishing. So I'll take the preacher fishing.

I'll humor him and show him that I was right all along. And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and they filled both boats so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down to Jesus' knees, saying, depart from me, for I am a sinful man, oh Lord.

Why would he say that? Because now he recognizes this isn't an ordinary fisherman. I'm Peter, the great fisherman. You're a preacher in my boat. Now all of a sudden I'm a sinful man and you're the Lord. I see how bad I am because I see how great you are. In seeing you, I see myself. Depart from me, Lord.

Get away from me. You shouldn't be tainted by me. So John, after the resurrection, said, it's the Lord. It's the only explanation for it because three years ago that was the Lord. And you know there are certain things that happen and the only logical explanation is it's the Lord. It's the Lord. How do you explain Peter standing up on Pentecost and 3,000 people coming to faith at his sermon? It's the Lord.

How do you explain a drug addict getting clean, coming to Christ, giving his life to Christ, totally changed? It's the Lord. I was speaking to a preacher from Halifax, Nova Scotia the other day.

I was up in Toronto, Canada. And after I spoke, a preacher from the east coast of Canada, way up in the north, up in St. John, Nova Scotia, far east coast of Canada, came up to me and said, I listen to you all the time. I found your sermons and I listen all the time and he's asking about the church and how it grew and what is the explanation for it? It's the Lord. It's not, well, we have an organ that costs thousands of dollars, the largest pipe organ in the area.

People come out to hear that or we have this or that. There is no explanation except it's the Lord. So in catching all of those fish from moving that net seven and a half feet, he goes, it's the Lord.

So watch what Peter does, verse seven, John 21. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment for he had removed it and he plunged into the sea. He just had his undergarments on, his skivvies on, so to speak. And you take off the coat that you use to keep you warm. He's working up a sweat, toiling all night, catching nothing, and so he puts on his coat and he jumps in. Now that to me is funny because it's not a wetsuit, it's not neoprene. Two thousand years ago it's wool or cotton, so putting on a coat to jump in a lake isn't going to help you. It's not going to get warmer. It's going to provide more drag. It's going to take you longer to get to the shore.

You're going to get colder because you're standing around in that little wet blanket that you got over you. But Peter, I don't know, he puts his coat on, maybe his little hat. He jumps in for he had removed it. But the other disciples came in the little boat, for they were not far from the land, about 200 cubits dragging the nets with the fish. Then as soon as they had come to the land, they saw a fire of coals there and fish laid on it and bread. And Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish which you have just caught.

Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to the land full of large fish, 153, and although there were so many, the net was not broken. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We hope you've been strengthened in your walk with Jesus by today's program. Before we let you go, we want to remind you about this month's resources that will help you confidently answer questions about who Jesus is and understand the new life you have as a believer in Him. Pastor Skip's nine-message series, Who Is This Jesus?, and his Life Change booklet are our thanks for your support of Connect with Skip Heitzig today. Request your copies when you give $50 or more. Call 800-922-1888.

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