[00:00:14] Welcome to this edition of Back to Basics with Pastor Brian Brodersen. A lot of times people, when they think about the Bible, having never read the Bible, they have these assumptions about the Bible. They often say things like, oh, you know the Bible, you can't really understand it. It's filled with superstition and sort of magical kinds of things and all of that.
[00:00:39] And when anybody says things like that, the first thing I know is that this person has not read the Bible. Today on Back to Basics, Pastor Brian continues his study in the Gospel of John. Join us as Pastor Brian begins his teaching on John chapter 21 verses 1 through 14 in a message
[00:01:08] titled Breakfast with Jesus. Now here's Pastor Brian. We come today to chapter 21. And normally we read together the passage that we're going to be considering.
[00:01:32] But today I asked Richard if he would read from Luke chapter 5 because there is a bit of a parallel that we'll come back to as we look at chapter 21 today. But this 21st chapter of John is very much in accordance with the way John has presented his gospel.
[00:02:00] In as much as it is unique. So all four gospels, of course, have information about things that happened after the resurrection of Jesus, mostly the other three gospels deal with the, what we call sometimes the Great Commission, where Jesus sends the disciples out into the world to go to make of the nations followers of his and so forth.
[00:02:26] But John, as his habit is, he gives us a different perspective. And so this 21st chapter, although it's the final chapter of John, he doesn't have a Great Commission here. He's already pretty much said that in chapter 20 when he said, As the Father sent me into the world, so I'm sending you. That's kind of his version of the Great Commission.
[00:02:53] And now here in chapter 21, he's really, he's going to tell us about Peter. And maybe you remember if you've been with us or if you've read through the gospel, you might remember that Peter, who on one occasion assured Jesus that he would never deny him.
[00:03:20] Jesus actually had told them that he was going to be arrested and they were all going to, you know, flee for their lives. Peter pipes up and he says, not me, no way. These others might forsake you, but I will never forsake you. And yet Peter is the one who actually does deny Jesus.
[00:03:40] And so what John is doing here in this 21st chapter is he's telling us basically the story about how Jesus restores Peter from that crisis of faith that he went through. But as he tells us that there are different things here in the story that I think we will find applicable to ourselves.
[00:04:05] So let me read verses 1 through 14 of John 21, and then we will walk through it and then look for that application. So afterward, Jesus appeared again to his disciples by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way. Simon Peter, Thomas, also known as Didymus, both names mean twin.
[00:04:31] Then Nathaniel from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee and two other disciples were together. I'm going out to fish, Simon Peter told them. And they said, we'll go with you. So they went out and got into the boat. But that night they caught nothing. Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore. But the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.
[00:05:01] He called out to them, friends, or literally children. Haven't you any fish? No, they answered. He said, throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some. When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, it is the Lord.
[00:05:27] As soon as Simon heard him say, it is the Lord, he wrapped his outer garment around him, for he had taken it off and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from the shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it and some bread. Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish you have just caught.
[00:05:57] So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, come and have breakfast. None of the disciples dared ask him, who are you? They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread, gave it to them, and did the same with the fish.
[00:06:27] This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead. Through these seemingly incidental events, this is the beginning of John telling the story of how Jesus is going to restore Peter. Now, I want to just, as I said, just sort of walk through the passage. Just highlight a few things. So the first thing to note is that all of this takes place in Galilee.
[00:06:55] And John tells us in verse 14 that this is the third time that Jesus appeared to them after his resurrection. So the previous two appearances happened in Jerusalem. And now here, we don't know how much time has transpired. The first appearance of Jesus to them was on the day of his resurrection. The second time he appeared to them in Jerusalem was one week later. And now we don't know how much time has elapsed, but now they are in Galilee.
[00:07:25] They're up in the northern part of the country around the Sea of Galilee. And the picture that is behind me would give you an idea of what the setting would be on this particular occasion. This is the Sea of Galilee early in the morning as the sun is rising over the hills on the other side of the sea. So this is what it would have looked like on that day.
[00:07:55] And so Jesus, we are told, early in the morning, he's standing on the shore. They're out on the lake fishing, or at least had been fishing all night. And Jesus is standing on the shore, and he shouts out to them to ask them if they have caught anything.
[00:08:19] And he says, not friends, as our translation reads. He literally says children. And I think that's so fascinating that Jesus refers to these men. Now, they're all roughly the same age. Jesus at this point is 32, 33 years old. The rest of them are probably similar in age. There might have been a few, maybe John himself that was considerably younger.
[00:08:47] But it's so interesting that Jesus refers to them as children. But he's doing that in the sense that they are indeed his children. He is the Lord, and he's been making that clear all the way through. And the resurrection, of course, would have solidified that. And then Thomas' cry, my Lord and my God.
[00:09:11] So I just think it's an interesting note that Jesus refers to them here as children. Now, he says to them, they've caught nothing. And he says to them, throw the net on the right side of the boat, and there you will find some fish.
[00:09:38] This would have, and it obviously did, trigger something with John. So when Jesus says, throw the net to the other side of the boat, remember, this is very similar to what we read in Luke chapter 5. Sometime earlier in their experience with Jesus, there was another occasion where he told them to go out and drop down the net.
[00:10:06] And the outcome was that even though they had labored and labored and labored and caught nothing, the outcome was that they now had a great catch of fish. So when this happens this time, immediately John understands that this is the Lord. That person that, you know, they're 100 yards out. It's early in the morning. The sun is just rising up over the hills.
[00:10:35] So it would be a bit difficult to make out from 100 yards out. It would be a bit difficult to make out just exactly who it was that was standing on the shore. But John instantly knows that it's the Lord. It's the Lord. We've been here before. We've done this before. Remember what happened that other time when he said something similar to us.
[00:11:02] And so I think it's interesting to just think about John as this person who has deep spiritual perception. So John is the person who kind of, he sees things. And his whole gospel is really evidence of that. You know, we've been talking about it all the way through this gospel that we've been studying. We've mentioned before, and some of you would know by experience. You read Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and they're very, very similar.
[00:11:32] Although the more you read them, you realize, oh, they are different. I think when you, like a surface reading of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, you almost think, I'm just reading the same thing over and over again. But the more you read, the more you realize, oh, no, there are differences. But with John, John just comes at everything from a completely different angle. And that is sort of indicative of John's perception.
[00:12:01] John's seeing things that, for whatever reason, other people aren't seeing. And he's telling us those things. So we're John, John's the one who, it's the Lord. Peter's the one who says, it's the Lord. Oh, wow, I better jump in the lake. So Peter's kind of like the guy who takes the action. John is the guy who sees what is happening.
[00:12:28] We see this in the story of how Peter and John both went to the tomb of Jesus. And John tells us that when they got to the tomb, Peter looked at the whole situation. But John perceived what had happened. And I love that. You know, there are people who just have that ability to see things that others might not see.
[00:12:58] My oldest daughter is very much like that. But when she was a little girl, she would be looking at something. And she would start pointing out things. Maybe it was a painting or something like that. She could just automatically know. If she looked at your face, she would automatically know if anything on your face had changed.
[00:13:21] You know, and of course, this worked obviously with women because women's faces change because they use makeup and things like that. But I just remember her as a little girl being so perceptive. John was that kind of person. He was a perceptive person. And so he is the one who makes these connections.
[00:13:46] And then notice here that Jesus then, they come to shore. And Jesus has made a fire. And he is cooking them breakfast. And he says to them, he says, come and have breakfast. Now, this is actually the title that I've given to the message today. And we'll get to the application of this in a moment.
[00:14:15] But as I look at this whole thing, the thing that really impresses me is the humanness and the naturalness in the story. Now, you know, a lot of times people, when they think about the Bible, having never read the Bible, they have these assumptions about the Bible.
[00:14:45] They often say things like, oh, you know the Bible. You can't really understand it. It's so mysterious. Or it's so mystical. Or, you know, it's filled with superstition and sort of magical kinds of things and all of that. And when anybody says things like that, the first thing I know is that this person has not read the Bible. Because when you read the Bible,
[00:15:12] one of the striking things about it is how natural it is. How it just seems like, yeah, this is just the way it was. And even though there are supernatural elements to it, they're not weird supernatural things. They just happen in a very, in some ways, just in the natural course of events. And so John here is communicating this.
[00:15:42] And it all just seems like such a natural thing. And I think this is something that we need to realize, that God works supernaturally, but he does so quite often in very natural ways. And we see that when we look at these stories. We don't have to think in terms of if God is moving, if God is doing something,
[00:16:12] ooh, there's going to be some, whoa, I don't know if I'm ready for that. Oh, that could be scary. You know, a lot of people think that about church. And sometimes for good reason. Because sometimes you go into churches and there's kind of some weird things going on. You're like, wait a second, what is that? And oftentimes I think that, you know, I don't think God's in that. I think we can conjure things up to make it look supernatural.
[00:16:42] But God works in very natural ways, supernaturally. And so we see that as we go through the story here. But listen to this. And this is one of the most fascinating things here in the whole thing. Jesus says, come have breakfast. And then it says this. It says, none of the disciples dared ask him, who are you? They knew it was the Lord. What? What?
[00:17:12] What does that even mean? Now it says on the one hand, they knew it was the Lord, but then it says, but they didn't ask if it, is this really you, Jesus? So what this tells us is that there was something different about Jesus than there had been before his death and resurrection. And we see something similar with Mary when Jesus is risen on that first day of the week and Mary encounters him at the tomb. She doesn't recognize him. She thinks he's the gardener.
[00:17:42] And it's not until Jesus speaks that she realizes it's him. Remember that? She says to him, she says, oh, sir, if you've taken his body and put it somewhere, tell me and I will go get it. She thinks he's the gardener. And then he says to her, Mary. And when Jesus speaks, she says, oh, my master. We find a similar thing recorded for us
[00:18:11] in Luke's gospel when these two men are traveling on the road to Emmaus. And as they're walking along and they're depressed and they're really downcast because of the things that have happened concerning the death of Jesus, as they're walking along, Jesus comes and begins to walk with them. But they don't recognize him.
[00:18:40] And he comes along and he says, what's going on? What are you talking about? Why are you so sad as you walk along? And they say, oh, don't you know the things that have happened? Are you a stranger? Haven't you heard? Then they start to tell Jesus about Jesus. And it's not until they get to the house that they're going to, Jesus comes in and has a meal with them.
[00:19:08] And it's not until he blesses the meal that they recognize him. And then he vanishes. And so here, there's something about him that's different. But the scripture never tells us what it is. It just indicates that that is the case. Now, why is this the case? And why are we being told this?
[00:19:37] Could it be that Jesus, could it be at this stage what Jesus is doing as he's preparing them for the way things are going to be in the future? The future is that they are not going to see Jesus. They're going to hear him. That's going to be the future. Now, they have only known Jesus up to this point. They, of course, knew him as another person. They knew him by sight. They saw him. They recognized him. They knew what he looked like.
[00:20:05] They spent years with him. They had face-to-face conversations with him. But everything is about to change. And they're still going to hear him. They're still going to be guided by him. He's still going to be with them, but they're not going to see him. And so maybe this is just his way of preparing them for what is yet to come.
[00:20:34] Maybe it's his way of preparing them to hear him. And remember, maybe from our last teaching, where Thomas, remember Jesus appeared to all the disciples after his resurrection on the first day. Thomas was not there. They went. They found Thomas later, and they told him, the Lord's risen. He was with us. We saw him. We spoke with him. Thomas says, I don't believe it. I'm never going to believe it. Thomas says, I'm not going to believe it unless I see him.
[00:21:03] And not only see him, but unless I put my fingers in his wounds, I will not believe it. And then a week later, Jesus appears once again in the room. Thomas is there. And Jesus says, Thomas, come and see my wounds. Put your hand in my side. And do not be unbelieving, but believing. And Thomas says, oh, my Lord and my God. And Jesus says, Thomas, you believe me because you've seen.
[00:21:31] But blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed. That, of course, is all of us. That's everybody from that point forward. So Jesus, I think in some ways, is probably preparing them for that. Now, the whole experience of this great catch of fish that they have on this particular morning,
[00:21:58] this would take them back when something similar had happened. And that's the time that we read about from Luke chapter 5. So this would take them all back in their minds to that time. And what happened, what particular thing happened on that day beside this miraculous catch of fish?
[00:22:24] Remember, as we read there, this is where Peter has, Peter has a glimpse of who Jesus actually is at this point. Now, at this point, they understood that Jesus was from God. They, in some ways, thought he was probably the Messiah. But they didn't really know. And yet, as we read in Luke chapter 5, when the miracle of these fish takes place,
[00:22:55] Peter has this sudden understanding that Jesus is the Lord, that he's God, that he's the creator of all things. He's the God of Israel. Peter, suddenly, that flashes on his mind. And what does Peter say? He says, depart from me, Lord. I'm a sinful person.
[00:23:16] And now let's join Pastor Brian in the studio as he shares about this month's resource on Back to Basics.
[00:23:44] An important aspect of the Christian life is understanding that we are in a spiritual battle. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, the Apostle Paul told us in Ephesians chapter 6, but we are in a war against these principalities and powers, against these spiritual beings. And so I've written a book that was at one time entitled Spiritual Warfare, but in the updated version,
[00:24:13] I changed the title to The Powers of Darkness and the People of God. And I think this is such an important book. So many of us go about experiencing what is really the attack of the devil, but we don't even realize that that's what's going on. So this book will inform you not only of how to detect when the enemy's at work, but also of how to combat the various schemes of the enemy to mess with us and to undermine our faith
[00:24:43] and to just basically make our lives miserable. So I want to encourage you to pick up a copy of The Powers of Darkness and the People of God. Again, this month's resource is a book titled The Powers of Darkness and the People of God by Brian Broderson. You can order the book The Powers of Darkness and the People of God by going to our website, backtobasicsradio.com. Scroll down until you see the photo of it and then click on the donate button. When you give a gift to Back to Basics, we'll send you the book
[00:25:12] The Powers of Darkness and the People of God by Brian Broderson. It's our way of saying thank you for your generous support of this ministry. We'd also like to remind you that all of our other resources are waiting for you at backtobasicsradio.com or by calling our request line at 1-800-733-6443. That's 1-800-733-6443. Our desire is to encourage you in your daily walk with God. We'll continue tomorrow
[00:25:41] with more valuable insights from Pastor Brian as we study together in the Gospel of John. Back to Basics is the preaching and teaching ministry of Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California.
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