DECEMBER 1, 2024 "Knock Him Out, John!"

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This morning we're going to be in the Gospel of John, chapter 21.

John 21 · chapter mention

Today we are finishing our series through the Gospel of John.

We're going to go through the whole chapter.

Don't worry, it's okay, we're going to make it, but we're going to go through the whole chapter of John 21.

Today there's a story, though, while you find your places's, a story that that I was reminded of as I was studying for this when someone.

When I say this name, some of you will remember him, some of you will not, some somebody's even come to me already by looking at the title of the sermon.

Today there's a guy named Jerry Clower from Route 2, liberty, mississippi, and he was he was a great storyteller.

Many of you have heard the stories that he would tell.

I'm not going to go into the detail, but he had one story about this guy who was going coon hunting and he didn't take a gun, but he would climb the trees that the coon was in and knock the coon out of the tree.

Just wanted to give the coon a fighting chance.

And so they went and the dogs treed on this huge tree.

It was really tall and the guy, he climbed the tree.

They didn't think he could.

But he climbed the tree and got up in the top.

But when he got up in the top he realized that the coon that he was after was not a coon but it was a bobcat.

And they couldn't see the guy.

And he was up there wrestling with this bobcat and on the ground they would say knock him out, john.

And john, as he was wrestling with this bobcat, would reply oh, shoot this thing.

And they would keep.

They would continue knock him out, john, shoot this thing.

Finally, from the ground, the guy called out and said John, I can't shoot, I might hit you.

And John replied just shoot up in here amongst us.

One of us has got to have some relief.

Well, while that is a good story, what I remember most about that story Jerry Clower, really had no intention of happening.

Probably when I was a kid, my dad would take us to Mississippi State baseball games and as we were sitting at the game, I remember there was this guy playing.

His name was John Cohen.

Many of you recognize his name because Cohen went on to coach at Mississippi State and be the athletic director.

He's now at Auburn, I believe.

But John Cohen played at Mississippi State and be the athletic director.

He's now at Auburn, I believe, but John Cohen played at Mississippi State and I remember every time he would come up to bat there was a gentleman sitting behind home plate somewhere.

We were usually out in the bleachers, way out in no man's land, but the season ticket holders were up there and there was always a man.

Every time Cohen would come up to bat he'd step up and they'd say knock him out, john.

And I always remember that, and I remember that as I was studying for this passage, because in this passage, what many say is this is an epilogue, this is the gospel writers, the apostle john's, this is his epilogue to the gospel.

He is, he is tying this gospel up and putting it all in this night, nice little bow, and he is knocking it out.

John, he is, he is finishing the gospel message.

And so what we're going to see in this passage today is that John ended this gospel by affirming the disciples mission and his faithfulness.

We probably need to turn that around.

He is ending this gospel by affirming his faithfulness and the apostles mission, and we can be assured, even today, as we see this, that Jesus still remains faithful to us.

He remains faithful to us as we follow him, and it's because of his faithfulness that we need to trust him more and more.

So we come to our question today and how did John end this gospel question today, and how did John end this gospel?

So, if you're able, it's a long reading.

So, if you're able, if you'll stand with me this morning as we give honor to the reading of God's word, we're going to read the chapter, so just bear with me.

After this, jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way Simon Peter, thomas, called the twin Nathaniel of Cana, in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee and two others of his disciples were together.

Simon Peter said to them I'm going fishing.

They said to him we will go with you.

So they went and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

But just as day was breaking, jesus stood on the shore.

Yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.

And Jesus said to them children, do you have any fish?

They answered him no.

He said to them cast the net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.

So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because of the quantity of fish.

That disciple, whom Jesus loved, therefore said to Peter it is the Lord.

When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea.

The other disciples came in the boat dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off.

When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place with fish laid out on it and bread.

Jesus said to them bring some of the fish that you have just caught.

So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore full of large fish 153 of them and although there were so many, the net was not torn.

Jesus said to them come and have breakfast Now.

None of the disciples dared ask him who are you?

They knew it was the Lord.

Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish, this was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples, after he was raised from the dead.

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?

He said to him yes, lord, and you know that I love you.

He said to him feed my lambs.

He said to him a second time Simon, son of John, do you love me?

He said to him Lord, you know everything, you know that I love you.

Jesus said to him this he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.

And after saying this, he said to him follow me.

Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them.

The one also had leaned back against him during the supper and said Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?

When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus Lord, what about this man?

Jesus said to him if it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?

You follow me.

So the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not going to die.

Yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not going to die.

But if it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?

This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true.

Now there are also many other things that Jesus did.

Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

Let's pray together, god, thank you for your word, jesus, thank you for being faithful to us.

Help us to follow you.

It's in your wonderful name that we pray.

Amen, you may be seated.

So we come to the question this morning of how did John end this gospel?

Well, here's the first thing that I think we see is he ended this gospel by showing that Jesus revealed himself.

He says explicitly in the first verse there after this, jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way.

So so Jesus came and he revealed himself to us.

So John is showing, at the end of the end of it all, right here to wrap it up, that Jesus is revealing himself to the disciples.

So how did he do that?

Well, here's what happened the disciples had gone to Galilee.

Now some commentators argue that they shouldn't have been in Galilee, but I disagree, because if you go to Matthew, chapter 28, verse 16, when Jesus is about to ascend to the Father and when he gives the great commission, it says in verse 16 that the 11 disciples had gathered on the mount in Galilee where Jesus had told them to go.

Matthew 28:16

They were supposed to be in Galilee where Jesus had told them to go.

They were supposed to be in Galilee, but they're all sitting around.

There's seven of them sitting there and Peter.

He must have been a redneck because he said I'm going fishing.

Now again, some will argue that he shouldn't have gone fishing, that this is Peter reverting back to his former life.

I'm not convinced of that either.

J Vernon McGee says they had to eat.

So it was just Peter.

And I tell you this I don't know about you, but when my soul is troubled, when I go through hard times, I like to go to the familiar.

I like to do things that are familiar to me, not reverting to anything, but just because I can do it without thinking and I can lose myself in whatever I'm doing.

I think maybe that's what peter was doing.

He was just going to something familiar, not abandoning any trust in jesus, not abandoning, abandoning anything other than just hey, this is crazy what's happening.

I just got to clear my head, so just let me go do something.

So Peter sets off and goes fishing and the others go with him.

Now here's what's interesting, that interesting in this.

It says in verse three they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Now you may think, grant, what's the big deal about this?

Again, let me remind you, throughout the Gospel of John, we've seen, when John uses time and season and place settings, when he describes those, he is doing more than just describing that it was dark or it was night.

He is describing, still, the spiritual situation in which people are in and for the disciples, even though they had seen Jesus we've seen, we know from chapter 20, that they had already seen Jesus twice.

Thomas is even.

Who is there?

Thomas has even put his finger in the nail holes and in the side of Jesus is there.

Thomas has even put his finger in the nail holes and in the side of Jesus.

But they're still not yet fully understanding what's going on.

They they don't understand why the resurrection, they don't understand what is happening.

But oh, see the promise of verse four, while they were still in the dark.

It says in verse 4, just as day was breaking, jesus stood on the shore.

See, it is here at this moment.

It is as Jesus reveals himself to the disciples here that they get it and they come into the morning.

It is here, at this revelation of Jesus, that they say oh, okay, jesus, I'm with you, I'm going to trust you, I'm going to follow you.

Oh, because morning came.

To the disciples, listen, and I know that sometimes we walk through hard times in life and we walk through seasons of disappointment, and we walk through seasons of chaos and we walk through hard times where it feels like we are in the dark.

But listen, let me tell you, when we look upon Jesus, morning comes.

Let's look to Jesus as he reveals himself.

And then.

So here's what happens there.

Jesus calls to the disciples and says hey, have you caught anything?

They said no.

He said throw it on the right side of the boat.

So they throw the nets on the right side of the boat and they they pull in such a haul of fish that they can't load the nets into the boat.

And so John looks at Peter and he says Peter, that's Jesus.

To which Peter?

He throws on his outer garment and he jumps in the water and swims to Jesus.

We think it's just impetuous.

Peter, again right, and he's swimming to Jesus.

But here's what's interesting to me in verse eight and it's nothing major, just a little side note.

In verse eight it says the other disciples came in the boat dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land but about a hundred yards off.

Now that may not be a long way to to row a boat and if you're a swimmer it may not be a long way to swim, but I'm thinking about having to swim a football field.

But here's Peter in the water swimming.

And it says they get to the shore and there they find Jesus with some fish and some bread on a nice little inviting fire.

And he comes to him and he says hey, go get some more fish and bring it to the fire.

And he invites them to share a meal.

He invites them to have breakfast with him meal.

He invites them to have breakfast with him.

Listen, I don't know about you, but sometimes I look for Jesus in the miraculous.

I want Jesus to do spectacular things.

I want Jesus to do great and incredible things, because I know he's capable.

I want, I want it to be, there's no doubt.

I want it to be when, when I'm questioning what God wants me to do, I want to hear the voice from God.

I want to see spectacular.

But listen, sometimes Jesus just invites us to come and have a breakfast with him.

He reminds me of John, chapter 15.

John 15 · chapter mention

In John, chapter 15, verse 5, jesus says this I am the vine, you are the branches.

John 15:5

He who abides in me and I in him will bear much fruit, for apart from me, you can do nothing.

Listen, that's our call.

That's what he's reminding the disciples.

The call is not to go and for them to go and change the world.

They're going to do that, that's going to happen, but at this moment that's not their call.

Their call is to come and have breakfast to abide with him.

And you know what's going to happen in that abiding While they're right there, abiding with Jesus.

Here's what's going to happen.

We're going to get to it in a minute.

But they're going to find forgiveness just because they're having breakfast with Jesus.

Not only are they going to find forgiveness, but they're going to find purpose.

He's going to give them their mission.

They're going to find security.

They're going to find forgiveness, but they're going to find purpose.

He's going to give them their mission.

They're going to find security.

They're going to find clarity.

They're going to find everything that they're looking for, but they don't find it in a great, huge, booming voice.

They find it by abiding with their Savior.

Oh church, let's seek to abide with Jesus.

First thing we see here in Jesus and John ending his gospel is that Jesus reveals himself.

The second thing that we see is Jesus restores Peter.

You see, remember Peter?

He jumps out of the boat and he swims to the shore and he gets there and while all of the disciples may get there and they see this warm fire with this nice meal sitting on the fire, that may not be what Peter saw.

It may not have communicated the same message to Peter.

There's one other time in the Gospel of John that a charcoal fire is mentioned.

It's in John, chapter 18.

John 18 · chapter mention

Around that charcoal fire in John 18 is Peter, and here's what's happened.

He has just denied Jesus once and he gathers around a charcoal fire to warm himself because it was cold.

And he denies Jesus two more times.

So now he comes on the shore and here's a charcoal fire and none other but Jesus sitting there.

It may not have been the most inviting fire to Peter, but he comes and Jesus addresses him.

He comes and he says Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?

Now, jesus, simon is Peter's name.

We know that.

It's in John, chapter 1, verses 40 and 42, where Jesus gives John a new name.

John 1:40

Andrew Peter's brother was a disciple of John the Baptist and he hears John the Baptist say behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

So Andrew follows Jesus, follows him the rest of the day and they get to the end of the day and Jesus says hey, you might as well come and stay the night.

So Andrew and the other person stay with him.

The next morning Andrew goes and finds Simon, brings Simon to Jesus and Jesus says you should no longer be called Simon, but your name shall be Peter Cephas, which means the rock.

Jesus has changed Peter's name, but there are times throughout the gospel where he refers to Peter as Simon, at times when he is rebuking him, and it is time for that rebuke in Peter's life.

He says Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?

Now again there is some debate as to what Jesus means by the these, john MacArthur.

He claims that the these are the fishing.

Macarthur thinks that Peter has reverted back to his old way of life, that he has forgotten what Jesus has called him to do.

He has forgotten that Jesus told him at the beginning of the Gospel of Luke that I will make you into fishers of men.

Macarthur thinks that John has forgotten that and he's talking about the fishing and the life of a fisherman.

And Jesus is saying Simon, son of John, do you love me more than all this fishing stuff?

J Vernon McGee and Gerald Borchardt they have a different view.

See, we've seen Simon Peter be very brash in his following of Jesus.

In John chapter 13, jesus is talking to the disciples and he says he's telling them that he is going away.

John 13 · chapter mention

And in verse 37, he says he tells them that he's going away and they can't come.

And in verse seven Simon Peter says Jesus, why can't we go with you now?

I'm ready to lay down my life for you.

It is there that Jesus tells them that he's going to deny him before the rooster crows.

In John chapter 18, when they come to arrest Jesus, it is Peter who draws his sword and cuts off a man's ear.

John 18 · chapter mention

While that was wrong at least he was at that point.

We see he's ready to go, he's ready to follow Jesus and we see Jesus being very brash and very bold and very arrogant, very arrogant in his belief to Jesus.

J Vernon McGee and Gerald Borchert think that arrogance is what Jesus is addressing.

And he says Simon, do you love me more than these other disciples love me?

Because he's got to get this arrogance out of Peter.

But there's interesting here.

There's three words used for love in the Greek language.

One of them is agape.

It's an unconditional type love.

That's the word Jesus uses here and he says Peter, do you love me unconditionally?

And Peter responds with the second kind of love, phileo, which is a brotherly love.

Peter says Lord, you know I love you, I brotherly love you.

Jesus says tend my lambs.

He asks him again Peter, do you unconditionally love me?

To which again Peter says Lord, you know I brotherly love you.

The third time, when Jesus addresses Peter and asks him if he loves him, he doesn't use the agape love anymore.

He uses the brotherly love and he says Peter, do you even brotherly love me?

At that point Peter is grieved, but he recognizes that instead of, he recognizes his frailty in comparison to Jesus, he recognizes his need for help, he recognizes that he can't do it on his own.

And I love the response.

He says Lord, only you know all things and in that you know that I love you.

And again Jesus says feed my sheep.

Jesus is restoring Peter Because they are together.

Peter is finding forgiveness, he is finding restoration and he is finding his mission Interesting.

In verse 18, this truly, truly statement, he says I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.

This he said to show by what kind of death he will glorify God.

Well, we't know from John, but we do know from history the kind of death that Peter died.

If you don't know, peter was crucified.

He was dressed and taken to a place that he did not want to go and he was crucified.

But Peter, not wanting to, not feeling worthy, because of his frailty, because of his dependence upon Christ, didn't want to die the same kind of death as Jesus.

So we are told that Peter is crucified upside down.

Oh, no longer arrogant, totally dependent, he has been restored.

Oh church, hear me, abide with Christ, find restoration, find healing for a hurting soul, find calm in the midst of the storm.

Let's abide with Jesus.

Finally, what we see here this morning in John's wrapping up his gospel, is that Jesus requires.

He requires faith.

See what happens right after he tells Peter what kind of death he's going to die, because Jesus knows, he knows Peter is going to be crucified upside down.

And immediately after he tells Peter what kind of death he is going to die, he says Follow me, follow me.

What a command.

What a thing to say, really.

Listen, last week we talked about what faith is and we talked about there are three aspects of faith here.

Those aspects are understanding the gospel message that has been presented.

I understand.

I understand that Jesus lived and he died and he arose.

The second part of this is is that we are in agreement with that statement?

Yes, I agree that that happened.

The third part is trusting Jesus as your personal Savior, no matter the cost, come, follow me.

Then we see John following behind Peter and Peter looked at Jesus and he says hey, jesus, what about this guy?

Reminds me of the Chronicles of Narnia.

Cs Lewis wrote this series and one of the probably least read books, which happens to be one of my favorites, is the book called A Horse and His Boy.

In that book, the main character Shasta he is with Aslan, the great lion, who is kind of the Jesus figure throughout this story, and something happens in their life and Shasta is concerned about somebody else, who something happens to them and he's concerned that it happened because of something that he did.

And he looks at the great lion and he says what's going to happen to her?

And Aslan responds child, I'm telling you your story, not hers.

No one has told any story but their own.

It's basically what Jesus tells Peter here.

Peter, if, if he lives until I return, peter, if he lives until I return, that shouldn't matter to you.

You follow me when Jesus reveals himself and we abide with him.

We find restoration, but we find our purpose that we need to follow him, our purpose that we need to follow him.

Many think that John may you know John.

Probably many of the disciples thought that he may have been one of the ones that he was going to live until Jesus returned.

History tells us this about John John died of a natural death.

He didn't die because he was martyred.

Now, don't get me wrong.

He was persecuted.

We know that he was beaten.

We know that he was exiled on an island by himself.

We know that he was boiled in oil.

He was persecuted.

But again, we don't need to get lost in the fact of what happened, because here's the deal John did die.

That's not what Jesus said.

John was not telling Peter.

Jesus was not telling Peter John's story and he's not telling Peter John's story and he's not telling us John's story.

What you need to hear this morning is your story, because Jesus has come and he has revealed himself to us in the pages of scripture and I hope and pray that this morning you have heard that Jesus came and that he lived and that he died and he took upon himself the punishment that we deserve.

He took the wrath of God Upon himself as he hung on that cross and he was buried and he arose, defeating death, defeating sin, offering to us life.

I hope that you hear and you understand that and I pray that this morning that you can agree with those statements.

But listen to me, the demons do that and shudder.

What has to happen is you must trust him as your personal savior.

That is faith.

That is faith, that is believing, that is finding life.

In just a moment I'm going to pray for us.

They're going to come back up and we're going to sing a hymn of invitation.

Listen.

If you have never trusted Christ as your personal savior, you've heard the gospel message.

If you've never trusted Christ as your Savior, I pray that this morning will be the day of salvation for you.

If you have, but you're kind of like the disciples At this you're going through a dark time, a season of chaos.

You're going through a time of uncertainty.

Here's what I pray for you this morning this morning, you will stop trying and you will stop looking harder and you will come and you will have breakfast with Jesus.

Just come, abide with him, find hope, find peace, find love, find joy, find restoration.

I pray that this morning, if that is you, that you can come, and maybe you need to come and kneel at this altar and cry out to Jesus.

This morning, if God is calling you, he has said come and follow me and he has told you distinctly where you are supposed to go, but you are struggling with that.

Maybe he's calling you to the mission field.

Maybe he's calling you to ministry.

Maybe this morning he is calling you just to share the gospel with your neighbors.

I pray that you will hear the call and you will follow him.

Thanks for listening to this week's sermon.

If you have any questions for our pastor, feel free to reach out at desotohillscom.