Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 3146
“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!