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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.
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: John 21
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.