Thank you.
Please say your names and let's hear the hymn number 165.
Hymn number 165.
We'll begin by singing, I'll Worship the King.
165. And when you have found it, can you please stand.
165.
I'll Worship the King.
Alright, let's sing it up.
I'll Worship the King.
Glory still the tempest, glory to his name.
Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same.
All may change that Jesus never put into his name.
Glory to his name.
All may change that Jesus never put into his name.
He who part of the religion never means how he.
He that came to make the psalmist, O my God, will claim.
He who led the last disciple on his post and rest.
It's the same with love that's tenderly upon his breast.
Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same.
All may change that Jesus never put into his name.
Glory to his name.
All may change that Jesus never put into his name.
He who did fill those books upon the sea.
Still can I shout out as tempest as on Galilee.
He who wept and prayed in anguish did get seminary.
Dreams give passage but what dream within our agony.
Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same.
All may change that Jesus never put into his name.
Glory to his name.
All may change that Jesus never put into his name.
As a whole he ought to never speak then to abide.
Soon through all life's way he ought to never be outside.
Soon again shall we behold him face the mortal day.
But we'll still be the same Jesus as he brings our ways.
Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same.
All may change that Jesus never put into his name.
Glory to his name.
All may change that Jesus never put into his name.
Great singing. Amazing hymn isn't it?
Everything can change but Jesus Christ will never change.
His salvation will never change.
The way people got saved 2,000 years ago is the same way we get saved today.
The way everything that Christ has done for us remains steadfast and sure.
We can always be 100% sure that what Christ has done for us will last for eternity.
So it's a great hymn.
All right, let's turn to hymn number 121.
One, two, one and I've realized that I forgot to ask someone to do the barbering.
So one of the men who would like to volunteer for the barbering, it's John 21.
Brother Robert? Okay, thank you.
All right, let's sing 121 like a river glorious.
One hundred and twenty one, like a river glorious.
Be still my soul, her Lord is on my side.
And patiently her cross of free will pay.
Live to thy God, to order and provide.
In every change, he faithful will remain.
Be still my soul, my best, my heavy friend.
Through thorny waves lead to a joyful end.
Be still my soul, my God of thunder day.
To guide the future as it has now passed.
I hope thy confidence let not be shaken.
All now be still, yet shall be bright at last.
Be still my soul, the waves and winds still low.
His voice to roar, them how he dwells below.
Be still my soul, the hour is laced in awe.
Where we shall be forever with the Lord.
When disappoints, words creep and fear are gone.
Sorrowful heart, love's purest joys resolve.
Be still my soul, when changes are passed.
All safe and there, certainly shall meet at last.
Okay, wonderful singing. Please take your Bibles now and turn to John chapter 21.
We're up to the last chapter of the book of John. John chapter 21.
Father Robert.
Reading from John 21.
After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberius and on this wise showed he himself.
There were together Simon Peter and Thomas called Didymus and Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee and the sons of Zebedee and two other of these disciples.
Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a-fishing. They say unto him, we also go with thee.
They went forth and entered into a ship immediately and that night they caught nothing.
But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.
Then Jesus saith unto them, children have ye any meat? They answered him, no.
And he said unto them, cast the net on the right side of the ship and ye shall find.
They cast therefore and now they were not able to draw in for the multitude of fishes.
Therefore the disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, it is the Lord.
Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fishes coat unto him for he was naked and did cast himself into the sea.
And the other disciples came in a little ship for they were not far from land but as it were 200 cubits dragging the net with fishes.
As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there and fish lay thereon and bred.
Jesus saith unto them, bring of the fish which ye have now caught.
Simon Peter went up and drew the net to a land full of great fishes, a hundred and fifty and three.
And for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.
Jesus saith unto them, come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, who art thou, knowing that it was the Lord.
Jesus then cometh and taketh bread and giveth them 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 saith to Simon Peter, Simon son of Jonas, loveth thou me more than these, he saith unto him,
Yea Lord, thou knowest that I love thee, he saith unto him, feed my lambs.
He saith to him again the second time, Simon son of Jonas, loveth thou me, he saith unto him,
Yea Lord, thou know that I love thee, he saith unto him, feed my sheep.
He saith unto him the third time, Simon son of Jonas, loveth thou me.
Peter was grieved because he had said unto him the third time, loveth thou me.
And he said unto him, Lord thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee.
Jesus saith unto him, feed my sheep.
Verily verily I say unto thee, when thou wast young thou girdest thyself and walkest whither thou wouldest.
But when thou shall be old thou shall stretch forth thy hands and another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.
This spake he signifying by what death he should glorify God.
And when he had spoken this he said unto him, follow me.
Then Peter turning about seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following which he also leaned on his breast at supper.
And said, Lord which is he that betrayeth thee?
Peter seeing him sayeth to Jesus, Lord and what shall this man do?
Jesus saith unto him, if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?
Follow thou me.
Then went this saying abroad among the brethren that the 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 thee?
This is the disciple which 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.
Let us pray.
Dear Lord Heavenly Father we thank you for your pure and holy word.
Please be our pastor this morning as he expounds and open the hearts and ears of your brethren.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Okay thank you.
Okay so as I mentioned we are up to the last chapter in the book of John and my ambition is to go through all the books of John.
So we're going to obviously finish up John here then we'll be doing first John, second John, third John and then the book of Revelation.
These are the five books that the Apostle John wrote.
But of course between the books I'll be doing three Psalms like I normally do.
So before we get into first John we'll be doing three Psalms at a time.
We'll finish first John, then three Psalms, then second John, then three Psalms, third John, three Psalms, then the book of Revelation.
I hope that you understand my thoughts behind that.
But anyway look at verse number 16.
He's safe unto him again the second time.
Simon son of Jonas loveth thou me.
He's safe unto him. Yea Lord thou knowest that I love thee.
He's safe unto him.
Feed my sheep.
The title of the sermon this morning is feed my sheep.
Now I do believe this is the calling of Peter into the ministry as a pastor.
Okay you got Peter and you got the other apostles who have been serving as apostles.
You know they've been disciples and then they became apostles.
But we have Peter who not only holds the office of an apostle but eventually takes on the office as a shepherd or a pastor.
You know if you don't know the reason we use the word pastor is because that's the Latin word for shepherd.
And in order for Peter to be able to feed the sheep, he has to be the shepherd or the pastor.
And so we do see him take on, especially when you read the books 1 Peter and 2 Peter,
you do see that he acknowledges himself as an elder, as an overseer, as a shepherd.
And so let's start there in verse number 1, John chapter 21 verse number 1.
And after these things, after these things of course chapter 20 was the resurrection of Christ.
Very quickly we had two main appearances in that chapter of Christ.
He was the first, he came after his resurrection, he presented himself to his disciples.
When I'm talking about his disciples in this context, I'm talking about his apostles.
Okay he's 12 or really he's 11 because Judas Iscariot had killed himself.
Okay and it's not always all 11 that are present, sometimes it's about Christ is appearing to the group.
Okay and the first time that he appeared was the day of his resurrection but Thomas was not there.
Remember doubting Thomas he did not believe.
Then 8 days later, Thomas was with the group and Christ appears to his disciples a second time.
And what we're going to see here is that Christ appears to his group of disciples or apostles a third time.
Alright so in verse number 1, after these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberius
and on this wise he showed here himself.
So does anybody know what the sea of Tiberius is or does anyone remember what that sea is?
It's not normally what we call it in the Bible, it's probably a sea that you're not very familiar with as far as the name.
But it is a sea that you are very familiar with if you read the Bible.
Just to show you very quickly, if you come back with me to John 6.
John 6 and verse number 1.
John 6 verse number 1.
It says after these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee which is the sea of Tiberius.
So what is the sea of Tiberius? The sea of Galilee.
So what we see here, in the previous chapter we had the apostles in Jerusalem.
Remember that for the fear of the Jews they were hired in, then Christ appears to them.
Well now they've gone back to Galilee.
Remember you've got Judea, then north of Judea you've got Samaria, then past Samaria you've got Galilee.
Galilee of the Gentiles.
And so the apostles, they've gone back to Galilee.
And they're here at the sea.
So what do we see in verse number 2?
In John 21 verse number 2.
It says there were together Simon Peter and Thomas Caudidimus and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee.
Remember who Nathanael was?
Nathanael was one that came very early following Christ.
Christ speaks of him as behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile.
So Nathanael is someone with this great reputation in the eyes of Christ.
And then it says and the sons of Zebedee.
Who are the sons of Zebedee? Does anyone know?
James and John.
The very same John that wrote this epistle.
Again John keeps referring to himself in the third person.
That's just the way.
It's the sons of Zebedee and then it says and two other of his disciples.
I'm not sure which other two.
What we have there is Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, the sons of Zebedee, two brothers and then two more.
So you've got seven of the apostles there together.
And Christ is going to this group.
In verse number 3 it says Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a-fishing.
It's like our brother Michael.
I go a-fishing.
And they say unto him, we also go with thee.
They went forth and entered into a ship immediately.
And that night they caught nothing.
Now, some thought, well why they go a-fishing?
If you may recall in John chapter 20, what did Christ say when he appeared to them?
He says, as my father have sent me, so send I you.
We see that Christ has already given them the great commission.
What are they meant to do now with the rest of their lives?
They're meant to go out and preach the gospel.
And we know that when, especially Peter and Andrew, his brother, maybe Andrew is one of the other two disciples.
But we know that they were fishers.
That was their main occupation.
And then when Christ comes and asks them to follow him, they immediately left their nets.
So Peter, all Peter really knows besides serving Christ, besides being in the ministry,
his main occupation in his past has been fishing.
And so he decides, well I'm going to go back to fish.
And then all those apostles that are with him say, yeah, well we'll come with you, Peter.
Now, could this be, you know, could they be acting out of disobedience?
I think there is room to think about that.
Because once again, Christ said, so send I you.
And Christ has told them, well go.
Go and preach the gospel, go and commit, you know, fulfill the great commission.
And what they've done, they've returned back to their old occupation.
So in some regards you could, and I do believe you can apply this in one sense,
that they are being disobedient to the commandment that Christ gave.
But at the same time, why are they in Galilee?
They're in Galilee because Christ told them to go to Galilee.
Okay, just very quickly if you can, come with me to Matthew 28.
Keep your finger there and come with me to Matthew 28.
Come with me to Matthew 28 verse number 7.
Matthew 28 verse number 7.
And what we're reading here is when the women went into the sepulchre
and the stone was rolled away, the empty tomb,
the angel spoke to the women that came there in the morning in Matthew 28 verse number 7.
And the angel says to the women, and go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead
and behold he goeth before you into Galilee.
There shall ye see him, lo I have told you.
And so the angel has instructed the women, look, tell the disciples, go to Galilee.
That's why they're in Galilee.
And they're obviously, so they are being obedient.
Okay, and even before Christ was, I can't remember, I think it is the book of John, but I can't recall right now.
But even before Christ was arrested, he told his disciples, look, you'll see me later on in Galilee.
Okay, so this gets confirmed multiple times to the disciples.
And so they are being obedient in the sense they've left Jerusalem, they've gone past Samaria,
and they've landed themselves into Galilee.
And this is what I think.
Okay, Christ told us to go to Galilee.
They get to Galilee and like, okay, now what?
Now, in order to have full obedience, then they should have said, well, Christ said, he sent us, so let's go and preach the gospel.
But I guess they're waiting, they're like, well, I mean, what do we do now?
Maybe they're getting hungry. Okay, maybe they're lacking provisions.
And Peter decides, hey, you know what, I'm just going to go fishing.
You know, Christ hasn't appeared yet, I'm not sure what we're supposed to do.
We're in Galilee, we've half obeyed, I suppose, but then I go fishing.
And the rest of them are like, well, you know, we've got nothing else to do ourselves,
we might as well go fishing with you as well.
Back to John 21 and verse number 4.
John 21 verse number 4.
And so my point there was, maybe they are being disobedient to some extent.
Or they haven't fully understood what Christ is asking of them.
But it's not that they're completely rebellious or anything like that.
They are trying to do what Christ has asked of them.
I guess the realisation of their mission moving forward hasn't really been fully understood.
I suppose that's the case.
But verse number 4, it says,
But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.
So Christ is a bit of a distance away.
And you know, Christ is there on the shore, I suppose they see a figure of a man,
but they don't realise that's Jesus there on the shore.
And remember, they've caught nothing.
They've gone fishing all night long, and they've caught nothing.
And as I said to you, the title for this sermon was Feed My Sheep.
This is a chapter for me personally as a pastor, because my main role is to feed the sheep.
This is a chapter that speaks a lot to me.
Like, there's a lot of things that I can see paralleled in my life in the past, or even today, in the present.
And you know, sometimes you may look at the past and go,
Well, I need to take care of my needs, I need to take care of my family.
Maybe I go fishing.
Maybe I go back and revert back to my old work, my old occupation, if that's where the Lord,
because I need to be provided for. What am I going to do?
You know, it's a really tough, being a pastor from scratch is a tough gig.
Like, I understand now, I understand now more than ever why not many people do it.
Okay, because you are really stepping that in faith, and you know what, if there's need for fish,
and it seems like the fish is not available, the provisions are not available,
you know, the temptation to go back to your old way of living, your old job,
and your old occupation is very tempting.
Because you've got to provide, you've got to take care of your needs.
Don't forget, Peter is a man who's married, okay, and I assume he's got children.
He's got a mother, remember, Jesus Christ healed his mother-in-law in his house.
And he's a married man, in order for him to be a pastor,
he has to be the husband of one wife, having faithful children.
He's got people to look after as well, not just his own personal needs.
But they've caught nothing, they've caught nothing.
And you know, the reason this speaks so much to me is that I realize that,
you know, if the Lord has allowed me to be a pastor,
he's someone that feeds the sheep.
That if he wants me in this role, he has to provide for my needs.
If I go and just do what I think is right by my own eyes,
if I go and chase my own will and not the Lord's will,
even though I think it's going to provide for my needs, I'm going to catch nothing.
You know, and you know, well, I mean, you do, you know, money is strange.
You can go to work and earn big bucks,
but sometimes the hole in your pocket is bigger than what you put in your pocket.
And there it's gone.
You know, and that's kind of the situation.
They've gone fishing all night long, but they're catching nothing.
You see, the lesson here is they're doing it without Christ.
They're doing it without Christ.
They're doing it by their own strength.
They're doing it by their own thoughts and their own will.
And they think, well, surely we're going to catch something.
Surely we can sustain ourselves.
Surely we can catch some breakfast, some dinner, some breakfast.
Surely maybe we can sell, go to the markets.
I mean, these are experienced fishermen.
We can go to the market and sell our fish and have provisions for the future to come.
But they've caught nothing.
And then verse number four, it says,
and when the morning, oh sorry, I read that already,
but verse number five, so Jesus Christ is on the shore,
then Jesus saith unto them, verse number five,
children, have ye any meat?
They answered him no.
I mean, Christ of course knows they've caught nothing.
Guys, have you got any food?
Have you caught anything?
Have you caught any fish?
Ah, no.
Verse number six, and this is where Christ gets involved in the work.
And he said unto them, cast the nets on the right side of the ship,
and ye shall find.
How is that possible?
Christ says, look, you've got it on the wrong side.
Just bring your nets on the left from the left and put them on the right.
I mean, don't you think they've done that all night long?
Do you really think they've just had the nets in one location all night long,
just hoping something gets caught?
No, of course, all night long, they've tried all areas of the ship.
They've tried all areas of the Sea of Galilee as they've gone, right?
They haven't just stayed in one area.
Christ says, all right, put your nets on the other side, on the right side.
It's not, Christ didn't say to them, look, stop fishing.
He just says, look, you need me to be involved in this work.
Put it on the right side.
And of course, if Christ is leading you, if Christ is guiding you,
what's going to happen?
You're going to catch an abundance.
You're going to be provided for.
The Lord's going to be there, but you have to do it the Lord's way.
You have to go and put aside your personal will and obey the will of the Lord.
It says in verse number six,
And he saith unto them, cast a net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find.
They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.
They've caught so much.
How?
With the Lord's help, with the Lord's guidance.
You know, this reminds me of Philippians 4.13 that says,
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
And this isn't just for pastors, this is for all of us.
You know what?
The Lord wants to give you an abundance.
You know, I'm not talking about your bank account necessarily.
Okay, but the Lord has come to give us abundant life.
He's come to give us abundant joy.
He's come to give us, you know, everything we need in order to live a fulfilled and joyful life.
And I promise you this.
You go and seek your own life away from the Lord's will.
Okay, it might seem fun for a brief period of time.
You might be able to get your friends along side with you, go fishing together.
You know, doing what you feel is adequate, but it's never going to satisfy.
You're always going to be left short.
You know, it's just how it is.
The world is like this.
You know, chasing the world and the world's way of living.
The reason people do it is because there is a brief moment of reasoning.
There is a brief moment of joy.
There is a brief moment of satisfaction.
You know, even sin.
There's a brief moment of enjoyment in sin.
But you know, you continue that and you realize it just doesn't satisfy.
And then you go for it again and again and again and again.
It never satisfies.
The only thing that satisfies or will satisfy your life is doing things God's way.
I promise you this.
I promise you from the bottom of my heart, the only thing that gives you joy is doing it Christ's way.
If Christ is, well, not the left side, the right side, you go, well, Lord, I'll just do it.
Lord, I'll just do what you've asked of me.
And you'll catch an abundance.
You'll catch an abundance.
And of course, the Lord Jesus Christ is going to use an illustration here.
In this teaching, as we keep going.
In fact, let's keep going. Verse number seven.
Therefore, that disciple whom Jesus loved, that's John himself,
safe unto Peter, it is the Lord.
I mean, what? We just put our nets on the right.
We call this fish. It's got to be the Lord.
It's got to be Jesus.
They got involved in this.
Now when Simon Peter heard that he was the Lord,
he girt his fisher's coat unto him,
that he was naked, and did cast himself into the sea.
Now, you know, the Bible doesn't explain to us exactly why Peter did this.
You know, I don't believe he's completely naked.
I don't think his loins are showing or anything like that.
I just think that he's pretty, like even the Bible says that if your thighs are uncovered, that's nakedness.
Okay? Maybe his buttocks are somewhat uncovered, and that's nakedness.
But he's out there fishing, okay?
And I guess, you know, it's just, I don't know, maybe it's a hot day,
and it's just easier for him to go fishing with minimal clothes on.
He puts on the coat and casts himself in the sea.
Again, we don't really know why he did that.
You might say, well, he's ashamed of going fishing when the Lord said, I send you.
And that could be the case. It could be.
It could be that he's excited to see Jesus.
And he says, all right, I'm not even going to wait for the ship to get to him.
I'm going to jump in the water and go meet up with Christ.
I mean, I don't really know the reason. I guess you could have your reasons.
But he does this. He puts on his coat. He jumps in.
And if you look at verse number eight, it says,
And the other disciples came in a little ship, for they were not far from land,
but as it were too high.