The Power of Christ’s Presence

The Power of Christ's Presence

(No. 3146)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, MAY 27, 1909.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
FEBRUARY 2, 1873.

"Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said unto Peter, It is the
Lord." John 21:7.

I AM going to speak, on this occasion, to my Brothers and Sisters who
are workers for Christ. When our Lord met His Apostles by the lake and
provided for them that memorable meal, He did not think it out of place
to say to Peter, "Feed My lambs; feed My sheep." These practical
exhortations were regarded by Him as quite in keeping with holy
fellowship and so, though we are coming to the Communion Table at the
close of this service, I feel that I am only right in speaking upon
practical matters to you, my fellow laborers and fellow soldiers in the
work and warfare of Christ. And I pray that God will, through me, speak
to all here who love our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

You know that we read in the Gospels according to Luke and John, of two
miraculous draughts of fishes. [See Sermon

#443, Volume 8–THE TWO DRAUGHTS OF FISHES.] The one that is recorded
in this Chapter from which our text is taken was, in several respects,
similar to that which was worked at an earlier period of our Lord's
history.

Before He called His Apostles, He worked the miracle of giving them a
great haul of fish after they had toiled all the night and had taken
nothing. And then, after He had died upon the Cross and risen from the
grave, He repeated the miracle in almost identical fashion. I think
there was a great lesson which our Savior intended His disciples to
learn from that repetition. The miracle was a picture–and He wanted
them to look upon it and catch the idea it was meant to convey–and as
they had probably not all caught it the first time, He held the picture
up before them again, that they might have another opportunity of
learning the lesson which He had intended it to teach them.

You notice that in both instances they had toiled–they had toiled all
the night–but they had toiled in vain. The night was the best season
for fishing, as it still is. They had toiled in the place where they
had often caught fish before, for they were experienced fishermen, apt
at their craft. Yet after using all the means that had been successful
at other times, they were unsuccessful, for they had taken nothing.
They had toiled perseveringly, too, for it was not only at night that
they had toiled, but all the night. From the time when they pushed
forth from the shore, in the moonlight, until the morning star warned
them of the dawning of the new day, they had toiled. Yet they had taken
nothing.

This teaches us that we may work for Christ and try to win souls for
Him–and do that work at the best time, in the best way and even
persevere in doing it–and yet be unsuccessful. We must be unsuccessful
if, like the disciples, we are laboring without the Master's Presence.
In both instances, the turning-point was when the Master came. On the
first occasion, He borrowed Peter's boat and preached a sermon from it
to the crowd upon the shore. And then He said to Peter, "Launch out
into the deep and let down your nets for a draught." In the second
case, He bade the disciples, "cast the net on the right side of the
ship." But in both instances it was the appearance of Jesus that filled
the netand filled it so miraculously that the despairing toilers of the
night realized that Someone who was more than man had spoken to them–
and they fell down to worship Him as Divine. So whenever Jesus comes to
His workers, however unsuccessful they may have been, they are sure to
succeed when He is there! Yes, and to succeed beyond their own
expectations–just as the disciples were surprised that by the same
hands which all night had taken nothing, 153 great fishes should be
taken–and out of the same nets which were empty all the night, (save
here and there a piece of tangled weed to mock their hopes), there
should come so many great fishes upon which they and others might be
feasted to their full! The Apostles could not do anything without their
Lord and neither can we–so the main point for us to remember is that
we need Jesus Christ to

come into our midst–and this point I shall try to drive home with all
my might, praying God the Holy Spirit to stir up the hearts of His
people so that they may have a great longing to be useful in the
winning of souls and realize that this can only be achieved by those
who enjoy true fellowship with Christ!

I. I want, first, to show THE DISSIMILARITY AND THE SIMILARITY OF OUR
POSITION TO THAT OF THE APOSTLES UPON THIS OCCASION.

First, there was a dissimilarity in which the advantage is altogether
on our side. The Apostle Peter and his brethren had been fishing
unsuccessfully, but they had not been commanded to fish. They may or
may not have been right in fishing at that time, but at any rate, they
were doing it on their own account. Peter said, "I am going fishing."
It was his own work, done entirely in accordance with his own
will–Christ had not bidden him go fishing. But in our case, Brothers
and Sisters in Christ, we have our Lord's commission, "Go you into all
the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." We have received
this Divine commission, so that when we preach the Gospel, we are not
fishing as amateurs or self-sent volunteers, but as those who are sent
by the Most High to do His bidding. When He commissions anyone, there
is a sort of implied guarantee that He will give him success. At any
rate, He will not send His servant upon a fool's errand, but by some
means or other, He who gives the authority will be sure to give the
power that is needed to go with it. "Wisdom is justified of all her
children." You, dear Brothers and Sisters, in trying to serve God, each
of you in your proper sphere, have done what you were sent to do, for
Jesus has said to you as He said to His disciples, "As My Father has
sent Me, even so send I you." Remember that passage almost at the end
of the Revelation, "Let him that hears, say, Come." Having heard the
Gospel, you have tried to say, "Come," to the people and you have not
gone beyond your commission in doing so, for you were commanded to do
it! Every Believer is a priest–under the Christian dispensation there
is no other priesthood save that of our Lord Jesus Christ and that
which is common to every Believer in Him. So when you, having believed
on Him, have gone to speak of Him to others, you have only exercised
that royal priesthood which is rightly yours, for He "has made us kings
and priests unto God." So, first, the Apostles went fishing without
having any commission to fish and, therefore, they were unsuccessful.
But we have an advantage over them because in the Gopelfishery, every
true child of God who casts the net is commissioned by his Master to do
so!

The disciples also had not their Master with them. All the night when
they were casting the net and drawing it in, and finding nothing in it,
they were by themselves. But that is not the case with us. As a Church
we can say that we have had the Master's Presence with us these many
years. Oftentimes in our assemblies we have been as sure of His
Presence as we can ever be sure of anything! Our hearts have been
rejoiced, purified and sanctified by gazing upon Him by faith. There
have been Prayer Meetings in which I hope all of us have felt bowed
down and humbled like Peter was when the Master was in his boat. And
there have been times of solemn rejoicing over converted sinners in
which the Lord Jesus has been manifestly in our midst! His promise,
"Lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the world," has been
most graciously fulfilled in our experience and we, therefore, bless
the Savior that we have not to wait for Him to come to us, for He has
long been with us and has never left us! These many years the simple
preaching of Jesus Christ and Him crucified has filled this House of
Prayer as it is tonight. People know that there is nothing to be heard
here but the old, old story "of the Crucified Savior, yet let the
weather be as rigorous as it may, still will the crowds come to hear
the Word of the Lord–and in this we do rejoice and evermore will
rejoice! In this respect, also, we have the advantage over the
fishermen on the Sea of Galilee.

And so we have in another point–because the Master was not with them,
they caught nothing–but it cannot be said of us that we have taken
nothing. I do not know that it would be right for us to try to compute
how many souls have professed to have found the Savior during the years
in which we have worked together, but I believe, Brothers, we may say
this to the Glory of God and to the honor of the simple Gospel that we
have preached–the number who have joined this Church, alone, can only
be spoken of by thousands. And if we were to speak of tens of
thousands, yes, and many tens of thousands who here and elsewhere have
found the Savior under the Word preached by us, we would not exaggerate
in the least. We put the crown upon the head of our Master, but what
joy we feel that it has been so! Suppose that He had left us? Vain
would it have been for us to preach the Word, even with earnestness,
for earnestness, alone, will not convert souls. There must be the
Presence of Jesus to bless men–and it has been with us, year after
year, even unto this day,

glory be to His holy name! [The years referred to number approximately
20.]

In these points, then, our case is dissimilar to that of the Apostles
when they were toiling all the night and had taken nothing.

But we are precisely like the Apostles in certain other points, the
first of which is that we would have taken nothing if the Master had
not helped us. No child would have come from the Sunday school to say,
"I love the Savior and wish to confess my faith in Him and to unite
with the Church here." No young woman would have come out of that large
and blessed Bible class if the Lord had not put the right words into
the lips of the Sister who speaks for Him there. No young man would
have been converted in our senior classes if the Spirit of God had not
gone with the conductors. And from this pulpit no Word of Life would
have been spoken if it had not been first given to us by God and then
sent home to the hearts of our hearers by the Holy Spirit. We would
have "taken nothing" without our Lord!

And even now, Brothers and Sisters, our success is wonderfully like the
non-success of the Apostles, for we have scarcely taken anything in
comparison with what still needs to be taken! Even when we speak of
tens of thousands converted, what are they in comparison with the
millions all around us in this vast city? When God gives us an increase
of a hundred or a 120 in a month, we are glad and thankful, but large
as those numbers are, what are they compared with the perishing myriads
of London alone? Why should we not have 3,000 converts in a day as on
the day of Pentecost? Why is it that our Churches are not multiplied
till they cover this city in every part? Why does not the old Church of
Christ, (for such we are), the old Catholic and Apostolic Church of
Christ, come more to the front instead of lingering in the background?
It is because we have not yet the fullness of the Master's power as we
must have it–and desire to have it to the praise of His Glory!
Christ's Presence, if He would but come among us in the fullness of His
strength, would do so much more for us than anything that we have ever
seen–that we would be as much astounded by the increase as the
Apostles were by the two great draughts of fishes! Christ had but to
will it and the fish came swimming in shoals to the net–and He has but
to will it and souls will be converted by millions to Himself and His
Gospel! He had but to give His disciples the directions to where to
cast the net and the same net that had been empty would become full.
And He has but to teach His ministers how to preach, and touch their
lips with a burning coal off the altar to fire them with a Pentecostal
enthu-siasm–and they would speak in a way in which as yet they have
never spoken and with a power they have never yet experienced! Such
days are promised and they will surely come. We are not straitened in
God. We are straitened in ourselves. If we have not those glorious days
of ingathering, it is because some sin of ours still keeps the Master's
Glory from us. Oh, let us turn to Him and may He graciously turn to
us!–

"Let our mutual love be fervent,

Make us prevalent in prayers!

Let each one esteemed Your servant

Shun the world's bewitching snares,

Lord, revive us,

All our help must come from You!"

II. Now, secondly, I have to speak upon THE MEANS WHICH WE ARE TO USE
SO AS TO GAIN OUR MASTER'S PRESENCE. I have tried to show you that all
our success must come from Him and all that He gives us must be
ascribed to Him. So how can we secure His Presence? We have it in a
measure–how can we have it more fully?

Well, let us always remember that He comes just where He wills to come.
There is absolute Sovereignty about the work of Christ in the Kingdom
of His Grace. As the wind blows where it wishes, so does the Spirit of
God work wherever He pleases. I do not think that we can always account
for the great success of one preacher and the non-success of another by
anything that we can see. We have to fall back upon the Sovereignty of
God and say, "God wills it and, therefore, it is." He will have us know
that Sovereignty is His Divine prerogative. He has the key of David–He
opens and no man shuts. He shuts and no man opens. If He wills it, the
rain shall descend steadily to make fat the fields. But if He wills it,
He can restrain the dew of Heaven until the most fertile Church shall
become barren as the mountains of Gilboa! He exercises His power not
according to ourwill, but according to His own will–we must never
forget that.

At the same time, what course should we take in order to secure His
Presence? I reply, first, that we had better go on with our work for
Him. If we want Christ to bless us and we are doing work for Him, we
had better keep on steadily doing it. These disciples of His had been
fishing all night. Perhaps if they had not fished at night Christ would
not have given them fish in the daytime. He does not often come to
bless idlers–He acts Sovereignly, as I have said, but He gener-

ally gives His blessing to those Churches that do the most for Him. I
have always found that an earnest Gospel ministry and a prayerfully
united Church will have God's blessing when others will not have it. Go
on, Sunday school teachers, go on, tract distributors! Go on,
Evangelists–go on, all of you who are laboring for Christ–keep, each
one, to his own service and even if it has been night with you and you
have taken nothing, still keep on at your toil! Probably the best way
to bring the Master to you is to labor for Him with all your might.

Sometimes, however, it will be necessary for us to wash or mend our
nets. In the miracle recorded by Luke, we find that the fishermen,
after toiling all night, were washing their nets–and either on that
occasion, or on a similar one, some of them were mending their nets.
Every Church needs to do that and every Church member, every Christian
worker needs to do that. The preacher will do well to adopt another
style–to study more diligently and to make himself more proficient in
the knowledge of the Word. Sunday school teachers must more carefully
study the lessons for their classes and go to their scholars better
prepared for their work. Your nets will often need washing and mending
if you are to be fishers of men–and all of you will be more likely to
get the Master's blessing if you pay more attention to the means you
are using for doing good in His service! Christ does not want slovenly
work, nor is He likely to bless those who think that any kind of
service will do for Him. I have heard of a preacher who thought that
whatever came first into his head was good enough for his people. On
one occasion, he informed one of his officers, at the end of his
sermon, that he had never thought of it before he entered the pulpit.
And the good Elder replied, "I thought so while listening to you. I
thought that if you had considered it beforehand, you would never have
said what you did." We all need to wash and mend our nets–I mean that
we all need to do Christ's work in the best possible way–and that is
the way in which we are most likely to be privileged with His Presence.

On that first occasion, the fishermen had been listening to Christ's
words, for they had, at His request, turned their boat into a pulpit in
which He sat down and taught the people who stood on the shore. Was
there any connection between that incident and the great haul of fish?
I think there was and that if they had not granted Christ's request,
and listened to His sermon, He would not have blessed them with that
multitude of fish. At all events, I know that a worker will always be
all the better for waiting a while and sitting as a learner at Christ's
feet–reading the Word for Himself, or listening to the Truth as it is
preached by some God-sent minister. The message may strike a keynote in
your heart which shall so influence your whole life that, henceforth,
you shall be in a different condition and more likely to be blessed of
the Most High.

Do you ask, "What is there that will bring Christ to a Church and keep
Him there?" I reply, in a word, prayer. There is no force in nature
that is equal to the power of prayer! The law of gravitation holds the
planets in their orbits and links the sun to all the spheres that
circle round him, but prayer has before now made gravitation, itself,
cease to exert its energy! "Sun, stand you still upon Gibeon," said
Joshua–who had first spoken to the Lord about the matter– "and you,
Moon, in the valley of Ajalon"–and sun and moon stood still! We speak
that which, to many nowadays, only causes ridicule, but to our minds it
seems ridiculous to doubt that God listens to the voice of men. When
men are made in the image of God–twice-made and so made His
children–surely their believing prayers shall move the heart of their
heavenly Father! You remember what Christ said to His disciples, in His
Sermon on the Mount? "If you, then, being evil, know how to give good
gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in
Heaven give good things to them that ask Him?" Of course He will listen
to the voices of those whom He so dearly loves! You know, Beloved, that
there is power in prayer. When Believers meet together and unitedly
cry, "Lord, revive Your work. Put more power into the ministry. Make
the hearts of Your people to be more full of love and zeal. Save the
ungodly. Awaken the unconcerned!"–It will be done. It is not with us
merely a matter of hope that earnest prayer will bring blessing to the
Church and to the world–it is a matter of fact it must be so! The laws
of Nature may be suspended, but laws that appertain to God's own
Character for truth and faithfulness cannot be suspended. He would not
be God if He did not answer prayer! His own promises bind Him to do so.
O you that doubt Him, try Him! If any of you question the power of
prayer, see what has already been done by it. As for you who are the
servants of the living God and who have access to His Mercy Seat, you
have but to ask and to receive–you have but to seek and to find–you
have but to knock and the door shall be opened to you! Brothers and
Sisters in Christ, join one another in praying Christ to come into our
midst! Do pray for a blessing, pray mightily for it–and rest not day
nor night till that blessing comes!

We must, however, add to prayer the waiting for that blessing that we
seek After Christ had ascended to Heaven, His disciples went to an
upper room and waited there till the Holy Spirit was given to them on
the day of Pentecost. They did not sit there thinking that perhaps the
promised blessing might come, or might not come, but there they waited
till they heard the "sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty wind" and
the "cloven tongues, like as of fire, sat upon each of them." So let us
come together in our assemblies expecting the blessing which the Lord
has promised, for the blessing will certainly come if we believingly
expect it. "Open your mouth wide," says God, "and I will fill it!" Oh,
for the capacity to believe God, for assuredly God will never dishonor
our faith!

And then, to our expectation, we must add the opening of our own hearts
to receive the blessing. We want the Savior to bless us and He says,
"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hears My voice and
opens the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him, and he
with Me." He is ready to bless you, Beloved–are you ready to be
blessed by Him? O you that love Him, fling wide the doors of your heart
and ask Him to come in! He has bought you with His heart's blood–will
you not give Him your heart's best love? He is Himself your Beloved,
your Husband, your All-in-All, so treat Him not as a stranger. Let Him
not stand and knock any longer, but open wide the door and bid Him come
in! Is it your will, dear Brothers and Sisters, to receive Him? Do you
really want Him? Do you long for more of Him? You will have to be very
prayerful and very careful if He does come to you, for He is a jealous
lover–and when He dwells in the heart, He looks with severe eyes upon
anything contrary to His will that is done by His own dear ones–just
as a king will tolerate in a stranger what he would not endure from a
courtier. I am afraid we sometimes pray for sanctifica-tion and do not
really wish for it–and I am also afraid that we sometimes ask for a
great blessing and do not really wish for it. Do you believe that
Christ can come to us and bless us? Are you living as if you expected
Him to come to you? If so, when He comes you will be overawed by the
majesty of His Presence–and you will say with John, "It is the Lord."
As we hear of blessing in the Sunday school, we shall say, "It is the
Lord." As we hear of the work of Grace in the Bible classes, we shall
say, "It is the Lord." And at every Church Meeting, as we hear the
stories of those who have been brought to believe in Jesus, we shall
say, "It is the Lord," for no one else could have worked so blessed a
work in our midst!

I wish I knew how to put this subject before you so that every
believing heart would be affected by it to the highest possible
degree–but I do not–and therefore, as we are coming to the Communion
Table, I will try to use the sacred feast to stir up you who are
serving Christ to pray for more of His Presence. You have here before
you the memorials of His love to you. He gave His body to be broken for
you, His heart to be pierced for you. Has Christ done all this for you
and will you not do much for Him? You are saved, your sins are covered,
you are His dear child–then will you not spend and be spent for Him?
If the Master were to come and stand here tonight instead of me–and
show you His pierced hands and feet and then were to call you, His own
people, up, one by one and put such questions as these to you, (I will
give you the questions directly)–I wonder how you would feel? You
would come up these stairs dazzled with His beauty and overwhelmed with
His love as He gazed upon you! And then He would say to each one of
you, "My blood-bought one, what are you doing for Me? Are you feeding
My sheep? Are you feeding My lambs?" I think I see you blush and hear
you reply, "My dear Master, I have been with some of Your lambs this
afternoon." "But did you really feed them?" "I spent a happy hour with
them." "Well but did you feed them?" "I endeavored to do so, good
Master, but I am ashamed to say that I did not feed them as I should
have done." "But did you feed them as My lambs, and as I would have fed
them? Did you love them? Did you speak affectionately to them? Did you
tell them about Me? Did you try to bring them to Me? Did you pray over
them? Did you send them away feeling that their teacher longed that
they should all know the

Savior?"

Well, the Master is not here in bodily Presence and I will not put such
questions to you, but I would like you to put them to yourselves and to
think that you hear the Master putting them to you, even as of old He
said, "Simon, son of Jonas, do you love Me?" I think I hear Him call up
some Brother and say to Him, "You who are redeemed by My precious
blood, what have you done for Me?" I think I see you blush as He says
to you again, "What have you done for Me?" At last you say, "I am a
member of the Church." "But what have you done for Me?" "I sometimes
put something into the offering box." "But what have you done for Me?"
He shows His hands, lays bare His side and says, "I suffered this for
you–what have you done for Me?" I fear that there are some members of
this Church who would not like to be put to such a test as that! And
for my own part, I would desire to say to the Master, "Give me a few
more years in which to serve You better and give me more Grace that I
may be more diligent in the service that You have allotted to me." And
I pray you, beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, if you feel that
you must present the same prayer, make this your solemn resolution
that, by His Spirit's help, you will lay yourselves out–body, soul and
spirit–for His dear sake.

But, alas, there are some of you who do not love Him at all! Some of
you to whom the Christ of God is quite a stranger. Oh, that your hearts
were changed! For remember that He will soon come in His Glory and all
His holy angels with Him! And you who will not now kiss the silver
scepter of Mercy that He holds out to you in the preaching of the
Gospel, must then feel the weight of that iron rod of Justice with
which He will break the ungodly and dash them in pieces like a potter's
vessels! Be wise, therefore, and trust the Savior now! The Lord grant
that you may do so and then, having trusted Him for yourself, may you
serve Him with all your heart and soul as long as you live on this
earth–and then go to join that great multitude which no man can number
of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues who stand before
the Throne of God and before the Lamb–forever ascribing their
salvation to His Grace!

Have you ever heard the story of the poor man, in deep distress of
mind, who one night dreamed a dream? He found himself outside the gates
of Heaven and he sat down and wept, for he longed to enter. Presently
he heard sweet music and saw a company of people approaching with palm
branches in their hands. He asked who they were and one of them said
that they were the noble army of martyrs coming to take their thrones.
Then he wept much and said, "I cannot enter with you." While he sat
mourning, he heard the trumpet sound, again, and another company came
along singing, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain." He said to them,
"Who are you?" They replied, "We are the goodly fellowship of the
Prophets and Apostles." And he wept again, for he said, "I cannot enter
with you." Presently another company came, chanting the praises of the
Grace of God. And he said, "Who are you?" They answered, "We are the
preachers of the Word, and the deacons and elders of the Church." Again
he said, "I cannot enter with you." He sat down and wept till,
by-and-by, he saw a larger company coming, marching like an exceedingly
great army, and singing sweetly as they came. In the very front rank
was the woman that was a sinner, with her rich voice leading the song.
And near her was the thief who, at the last, had prayed, "Lord,
remember me." They came along right jubilantly and he asked them, "Who
are you?" And they answered, "We are the company of great sinners,
saved by great mercy." At once he said, "I can go in with you!"

And, Brothers and Sisters, that is the company to which you and I
belong! And when we enter Heaven, they will welcome us just as heartily
as they did the martyrs, the Prophets and the Apostles! Jesus Christ
came into the world to save sinners–and when sinners repent, there is
joy in the presence of the angels of God, and joy in the heart of God,
Himself, because they have sought His pardoning mercy! If any of you
are not saved, it is not because there is any lack of mercy in the
heart of God! If you perish, it is not for want of an open door set
before you! So come in while you may!

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: JOHN21.

Verse 1. After these things Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples
at the sea of Tiberias; and on this wise showed He Himself.May every
one of you, my fellow disciples, realize that Jesus is showing Himself
to you! He is only to be seen in His own Light. He must show Himself to
us, or else we shall never see Him.

2. There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas calledDidymus,
andNathanael of Cana in Galilee and the sons of Zebedee, and two other
of His disciples. He had told them to go into Galilee and gave them the
promise, "There shall you see Me." So now they were by the Galilean
Lake. They were keeping their appointment with Christ and as He always
keeps His appointment with His people, He was there to meet them as He
had promised.

3. Simon Peter said unto them, I am going fishing. They said unto him,
We will go with you. Their Master had told them to wait, but they could
not wait. Surely when they were in Galilee by His command, they might
have trusted Him to supply their needs, but their faith was slack, so
Peter said, "I am going fishing," and the others were much of the same
mind–waiting had become weary work, as it often does with our faint
hearts–so they said, "We will go with you."

3. They went forth, and entered immediately into a ship; and that night
they caught nothing. As is generally the case with us in our will-work
and will-worship. When we are not guided of God, but go entirely
according to our own mind and will it will be thus with us, also. Men
attempt some business speculation without asking guidance of God and
they make a miserable failure of it, so that it might be written of
them as of the disciples, "That night they caught nothing."

4. But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the
disciples knew not that it was Jesus. They were thinking of fishing, so
they saw boats, nets and the sea. If they had been thinking of Jesus,
they would have looked for Him–and when He came, they would have known
Him.

5. Then Jesus said unto them, Children, have you anymeat?"Have you
anything to eat?"

5. They answered Him, No. But that was not His fault.

6. And He said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship,
and you shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to
draw it in for the multitude of fishes. He testified His Presence by
crowning their exertions with His blessing. And soon they had a great
catch of great fishes–a great contrast to their night of fruitless
toil.

7. 8. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said unto Peter, It is
the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the lord, he girt his
fisher's coat unto him, (for he was naked), and did cast himself into
the sea. And the other disciples came in the little ship, (for they
were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits), dragging
the net with fishe. We often come very slowly to Christ because we will
drag that net with fishes. We have such a deal of care, anxiety, and
trouble when we need not have any at all–and so we come slowly,
"dragging the net with fishes."

9. As soon, then, as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals
there, and fish laid thereon, and bread. Why did they want to go
fishing on their own account? Christ had all that they needed ready for
them–there was the fire and there were the fish cooking on it, ready
for their breakfast. It was the Lord Jesus Christ's business to provide
for them and He did so.

10, 11. Jesus said unto them, Bring of the fish which you have now
caught Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land full of great
fishes, an hundred and fifty and three and for all there were so many,
yet the net was not broken. And there lay those 153 big fishes on the
beach. Christ had no need of them but perhaps He condescended to use
some of them for that morning meal, as He said to Peter, "Bring of the
fish which you have now caught."

12. Jesus said unto them, Come and dine. [See Sermon #2072, Volume
35–BREAKFAST WITH JESUS.] Or, "Come and break your fast after your
long night's toil." How they must have opened their eyes to see the
fish ready cooked for them to eat!

12. And none of the disciples dared ask Him, Who are You? knowing that
it was the Lord. "It was the Lord"–"the Lord" who had asked them if
they had any food, "the Lord" who had filled the net which had
previously been empty, "the Lord" who had given them His own fish from
His own fire that they might have breakfast with Him! O good Master, if
we have been toiling all week and have caught nothing, call us now to
come and eat of that which You have, Yourself, prepared!

13-15. Jesus then came and took bread, and gave them some, and fish
likewise. This is now the third time that Jesus showed Himself to His
disciples after that He was risen from the dead. So when they had
dined, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, Do you love Me
more than these?"More than this lot of fish, these boats, these nets?
You gave them all up for Me once, but now you have taken to them
again–do you really love Me better than your fishing and your fish?"

15. He said unto Him, Yes, Lord; You know that Ilove You. He said unto
him, FeedMylambs. [See Sermon #1684, Volume

28–"FEED MY LAMBS"–A SUNDAY SCHOOL SERMON.] "Do not go after

fish any more, but attend to My business–'feed My lambs.' The proof of
your greater love to Me than to all worldly things will be found in
your doing of the work which I have committed to your charge."

16. He said to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, Do you
love Me?[See Sermons #117, Volume 3–do you love

ME? And #1281, Volume 22–"DO YOU LOVE ME?"] He said unto Him, Yes,

Lord; You know that I love You. He said unto him, Feed My sheep. "Quit
the sea. I am giving you no more business there–come now and be a
pastor to My blood-bought sheep."

17. He said unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, Do you love
Me? Peter was grieved because He said unto him the third time, Do you
love Me? And he said unto Him, Lord, You know all things; You know that
Ilove You. [See

Sermon #2669, Volume 46–COMFORT FROM CHRIST'S OMNISCIENCE.] Thrice

he had denied his Lord, so thrice he must be questioned concerning his
love to the Lord whom he said he did not even know. And then for the
third time he was re-commissioned by his Lord.

17-19. Jesus said unto hiim, Feed My sheep. Verily, verily, I say unto
you, When you were young, you gird yourself, and walked where you
willed: but when you shall be old, you shall stretch forth your hands,
and another shall gird you, and carry you where you would not. This
spoke He, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And When He
had spoken this, He said unto him, Follow Me. Peter's death was to
glorify God, so he might well be content, painful though it was to be.

20, 21. Then Peter, turning about, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved
[See Sermon #1539, Volume 26–"the disciple whom Jesus

LOVED".] following; which also leaned on His breast at supper,

and said, Lord, which is he that betrays you? Peter seeing him said to
Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Our Lord never answered such a
foolish, inquisitive question as this! And therefore–

22. Jesus said unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is
that to you? You follow Me. That is how Christ would answer any similar
questions that we might put to Him. We need not concern ourselves so
much about what is to happen to others until we have made our own
calling and election sure. "What is that to you? You follow Me."

23. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple
should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If
I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to you? This is only one
of many instances in which Christ's words have been twisted and made to
mean something quite different from what He intended.

24. 25. This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote
these things: and we know that his testimony is true. And there are
also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be
written, every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not
contain the books that should be written. Amen.