Good morning, everybody. That's Washington state, by the way. I've had a few people say Washington, DC. No, Washington state, like the cesspool of death on the West Coast. That Washington.

Although the state is beautiful, Seattle just has its problems, as everybody sees on TV and on the Internet. But it's one of those things where if you want to see a spiritual resurrection, you've got to be in a spiritual graveyard. And Seattle is a spiritual graveyard. I'm right outside of Seattle, but the Lord is doing some good work there. So I praise the Lord for that.

Let's begin our time with a quick word of prayer. Our Father, we're so grateful to be able to meet this morning and to study your word and to consider the things that your word tells us about the way that you have equipped us with gifts. We pray, Lord, that by the power of your Holy Spirit moving and working within us, we would understand. But we pray, Lord, that we would not just be hearers of your word, but that we would be doers. So with that in mind, Lord, please show us how this applies to our lives.

Show us how this changes our lives. All for the glory of Christ. In His name we pray. Amen. Does everybody have a Bible or a Bible app or something?

If you have a Bible, turn to John chapter 21. As the host of Bible study podcasts, I am big on expositional preaching. I love expository preaching. I have nothing to say that isn't found and supported in God's Word. That is our highest authority.

That is our only authority. So I will be preaching out of John chapter 21 verses 1 to 14 today. So if you have your Bibles, we'll be getting to John chapter 21 verses 1 to 14. This theme has everything to do, the subject of gifts, has everything to do with glorifying God and enjoying Him forever. It's my desire that All of you know Christ already, that you are already walking with him, that you already know him, that you are already known by him, and that you would not only know him and be known by him, but that you would bear much good fruit in His name.

That is central to Christian living. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10 says we are His workmanship created for what? Good works in Christ. Good works in Christ, that's what it's all about. If you have believed in Jesus, if you are walking with Jesus, if you know Jesus, you need to know that God has made every single provision that is necessary for you to fulfill that purpose, bearing good fruit, walking with the Lord, and doing good works in accordance with that.

And God has given you everything that's necessary for you to do that. That is to say that he has graciously provided every single thing that you need, everything that's necessary for you to glorify him and to enjoy him forever. And I'll say that again because it's so foundational to our topic today. It doesn't matter if you are six years old. Who's our youngest in here?

Anybody six years old or younger? Anybody four years old or younger? Wow. We've got some young ones. Praise the Lord.

This is for you guys too, because it doesn't matter if you're six or 60 years old, or four or 40 or 400, God has given you everything that you need to glorify Him and to enjoy Him forever. Now of course, first and foremost, he has sent his only son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to atone for our sins, to pay the penalty for our sins. If you have believed in Jesus, God has taken your sin, and he's credited it to Jesus. And he's taken Jesus' perfect righteousness, and he's credited it to you so that you could stand before God in Christ's perfect righteousness and your sin would have been dealt with by Christ through his work. But secondly, he has sent the Holy Spirit.

He's provided the Holy Spirit who was sent by Christ and the Father to dwell within you, and to convict you, and to guide you, and one of the things that we'll be focusing on today to give you some sort of spiritual gift to use in his service. That is to say that the Holy Spirit has equipped every single one of you with some spiritual gift to use in service to the Lord. Listen to what Paul said to the Corinthians about this. He says this in 1 Corinthians 12 verses 4 to 7 and 11. He says, Now there are varieties of gifts but the same spirit, and There are varieties of ministries and the same Lord.

There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons, but to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." and then he goes on to say in verse 11, but one and the same spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually, just as he wills. There is nothing in there about age. There are no distinctions. It's all Christians. It's universally Applicable to every single Christian regardless of where you're from regardless of how old you are Everyone has been gifted with something now kids.

You might think of it like this if You get a house. There's a lot of work that you have to do on a house. And if your parents wanted you to do a certain thing on that house to help them restore the house or to improve it, they might give you a hammer or they might give you, you know, a paintbrush or something like that to paint the inside. And it works the same way with the Holy Spirit. He gives you some gift to use in his service, in God's service.

So every single one of you has a spiritual gift to use for God's glory and for your service unto him, whether that's in the local church or what have you. First and foremost, of course, in the local church. It's for the common good of the brethren, of the church that you're in. Paul said this to the Ephesians, he said that God gave some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the Saints, for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ." That's from Ephesians chapter 4 verses 11 to 13. So back home you guys have a pastor, kids you have a pastor.

The pastor's job is to equip you as a member of the congregation for the work of ministry, because we're all in ministry together. When you go to church, you're a family, and you all have some sort of function within that family. And every single one of us has received some gift to serve in some capacity. See the Christian does not belong to himself. He isn't free to live for himself.

He isn't free to live according to his own purposes and wisdom and plans and everything. Instead, he has been saved for the purpose of service unto the Lord. Let me say it again. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10 says, We are his workmanship, created for good works in Christ, which he prepared beforehand for us to walk in. The Gospel of John is where we're going to be today.

Now, to give a little bit of context, since we're starting in the middle of the book, the end of a book, but there's some context that leads up to this point. The book really reached the pinnacle of John's message at the end of chapter 20 where John urged us as his as his reading audience to see that the signs that he has recorded for us throughout the Gospel of John were all pointing us and urging us to believe in Jesus. He says this at the end of chapter 20. If your Bibles are open, just glance up at verses 30 and 31. He says, therefore, many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book, but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name." Now he could have stopped the book right there, because that is, like I said, that's kind of the pinnacle of his whole book.

But remember that when this book was written there weren't chapter breaks, those were added much later, there weren't verses, those were also added later. And so with that in mind I would like to propose that John gave us chapter 21 to actually illustrate those last few words at the end of chapter 20. Life in His name. That's what chapter 21 is. It's an illustration of what life in His name is supposed to look like.

Supposed to look like. Remember that we are to be in his service and there are so many symbolic illustrations of this in chapter 21 but remember this the phrase in His name essentially means that our purposes, the reason for our existence, the reason we do anything is supposed to align with Jesus' will and purposes. For example, when Jesus said that we'll receive what we ask for in His name, He means that if we ask for something that is within His will and purposes, it will be given. So if you ask Him for a million bucks, because you got some bills due, If it's not in his will and purposes, it's not going to happen. But if you ask him to do something that you already know that he's going to do, Lord, use this experience that I'm going through to sanctify me, to make me more like Jesus.

You think He'll answer that one? Yes, we know that He'll answer that one, because His word promises that that is His will. That is what life in His name is all about. So let's understand that once we believe, as John has urged us to do in the last two verses of chapter 20, we are to have life in his name, which means that our lives are to align with Christ's will and purposes. And what is his purpose for you?

His purpose is that you would glorify God and enjoy him forever and that your spiritual gifts would be a means to that end. And so this passage that we're gonna be in this morning is actually an illustration of this reality. So chapter 21 gives us some vivid and very symbolic imagery of what life in his name is supposed to look like. And there are four important principles that we're going to be seeing today, four important lessons that relate to our service unto the Lord that we're going to be looking at today. But the point of this entire thing is that you have been saved to have life in His name.

Serving the Lord, serving his people in his ways both for his glory and for your enjoyment. You will get joy out of glorifying God. Now before Jesus was crucified He said to his disciples in Mark 14, 28, he said, but after I've been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee. Now, we know that the disciples had no idea what Jesus was talking about when he said that. Because prior to the crucifixion and the resurrection, they didn't understand anything.

They had no idea that Jesus was going to Jerusalem to die, but after the resurrection they started to put the pieces together by the grace of God. They started to understand, and as they began to understand they apparently remembered this instruction that Jesus had given them, that after he was resurrected, he would meet them in Galilee. And so this chapter, chapter 21, opens with several of the disciples back home in the region of Galilee, which of course is where Jesus had done most of his ministry for the three years that he was in public ministry. But this was the region where Jesus had first called Peter, James, and John to leave their fishing nets behind but to follow him and he would teach them to become fishers of men. So chapter 21 begins with them being right back where their journey began.

Let's start by looking at verses 1 to 3 of chapter 21. John writes this, he says, after these things, Jesus manifested himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. And he manifested himself in this way. Simon Peter and Thomas, called Didymus, and Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, I am going fishing.

They said to him, we will also come with you. They went out and got into the boat and that night they caught nothing." Now not to get too far ahead of ourselves here but if you glance down at verse 14, verse 14 tells us that this was actually the third encounter that Jesus had with the disciples after his resurrection. We don't know how long exactly this was after Jesus' resurrection. All we can know for sure is that it took place between his resurrection and his ascension into heaven. So John tells us that those present included seven out of the 11 remaining disciples.

Remember there were 12 disciples, Judas was one, Judas is no longer in the picture. So there are seven out of the 11 disciples present. There's Simon Peter, there's Thomas called Didymus or the Twin, there is Nathaniel, the sons of Zebedee are James and John, and then there are two other disciples who, for whatever reason, John leaves anonymous for us. But the last time Peter was actually mentioned by name in John's text, he was investigating the empty tomb after the resurrection of Jesus. The last time Peter said anything in John's text, he was denying Christ on the night of Christ's betrayal.

But his previous failures have been forgiven now, and he still seems to have sort of an influential role among all the disciples. And that, by the way, is kind of a reminder for us that the Lord has only appointed very flawed under shepherds to serve him. Many of us who are pastors have had times of severe spiritual failure in our lives. I know that my life certainly attests to that. As you heard at the beginning, you can hear all about it on the podcast in which I gave my testimony with Church and Family life.

But Peter's did too. Peter's life bore testimony to the fact that some of the leaders that God chooses are people who are deeply deeply flawed. He, like every other faithful pastor or under shepherd in the history of the church, has only been cleansed by the shed blood of Jesus by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone but it's easy to understand with that much in mind that Peter is sort of still recovering from his betrayal of Jesus. That kind of helps us understand why this chapter is a favorite for anyone who has experienced spiritual failure. Maybe it was backsliding.

Maybe it was just committing some egregious sin, but only to have those failures washed away and forgiven by the Lord. As a leader among the disciples, it's not surprising that when Peter says, well I'm just going to go fishing, The other disciples chime in and say, OK, we're coming with you. They were in the region, apparently in anticipation of Jesus meeting them there, but they hadn't seen him since the night that Jesus had rescued Thomas from his unbelief. So they did just what was familiar to them. Since they were in that region, after all, they decided to do what they had always done, what they knew very well how to do.

They went fishing, very likely in the exact same spot where Jesus had first met and called them. And I say that that's likely, we don't know for sure, but if you know fishermen, you know that they have their spot. They know exactly where to go and what, you know, how far down the line needs to go and everything. So I imagine that this is very likely the same spot that Jesus had first met them and called them to follow him. But one of the things that we should understand in John's gospel is that Like in many other parts of the Bible, the sea is actually very symbolic.

It's symbolic for the chaos and the danger of the world. That's part of the significance of Jesus calming the storm as the storm was about to overtake their boat. I don't think it's necessarily significant that they spent all night fishing. The darkness, in other words, isn't necessarily representative or symbolic of anything here. I don't think it would have been uncommon for fishermen to start fishing at night.

You let down your nets in the darkness so that the fish can't see it, so that you catch more fish. But what is significant is the fact that they haven't caught anything all night. What's interesting to note is that this would have been in the springtime, right? I mean, it's before the Ascension. It's not too long after the resurrection.

So this is the springtime. And so what's interesting is that they should have caught something. Any fisherman knows that the spring months are actually the best time to go fishing because fish come out of hibernation and they are spawning and they are hungry and they're very active. The time in which you're most likely to have empty nets or an empty line, no fish caught, is in the summertime or maybe late summer, early fall, when the lakes are all fished out So let's understand that the net the nets are empty for a very good reason that reason is God has Ordained that their nets would be empty. It is by God's decree that their nets have no fish.

See there's a lesson, an important lesson, in the empty nets both for Peter and the disciples and and for us today. And this brings us to the first principle of service unto the Lord that we can gather from this passage. And it's this. Apart from Christ, we can do nothing. Apart from Christ, We can do absolutely nothing.

In fact, you might even say that this is maybe something of an illustration of Jesus' words that he spoke back in John 15 verse 5, where he said, he who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit for apart from me, you can do nothing. That is fundamental to Christian service. That's one of the most important things that we can know about serving the Lord, is that apart from Christ, it can't be done. We are weak, frail people. Apart from him we are just wayward.

We're not gonna do anything good apart from him. Apart from Christ we can do absolutely nothing. What's evident as this passage unfolds and based on what we've already seen is that they were laboring in the flesh according to their own understanding, their own wisdom, their own strength, their own skill. They were laboring apart from Christ. He wasn't there with them.

But what a blessed thing it is to realize our insufficiency, our utter inadequacy. It's so easy for us to lose sight of that when we're serving the Lord. It's so easy, I would say it's even natural, it's what the flesh wants to do to serve the Lord or to try to serve the Lord according to our own understanding, our own wisdom, our own strength, our own skill. Proverbs chapter 14 verse 12 says there's a way that seems right to man, but it leads to death. And so that's kind of being illustrated here.

In fact, I'd go so far as to argue that this can be proven by simply looking at how pragmatic so many churches are in our time. Pragmatism. If you don't know what pragmatism is, pragmatism is just the idea that we should do whatever works. What would it take? The question would be, what would it take to actually get people to come to church?

What would it take to get people in our seats? And so pragmatism is the idea that we should just do whatever works, whatever means most efficiently or effectively accomplish, you know, bring us to the end that we're seeking. Those are the means that we should go for according to pragmatism. And when you apply pragmatism to the church, when you apply that philosophy to the church, you end up seeing absolute atrocities being committed in the church in the name of simply filling up the seats. You'll hear secular songs in churches with barely coherent religious undertones being sung as worship songs, because that's what appeals to, and therefore draws, people.

As if Singing the songs is all about you and what you prefer. It's not. Or you'll see churches promoting programs that are really designed to pump you up and make you feel good about yourself. The sermons will be all about you and how you can be a better husband or a better wife or better whatever, as if the sermon is supposed to be all about you. Josh Byce, great sermon last night.

I hope you guys heard it. He notes this in an article on the way that pragmatism destroys the church. He says this, quote, pragmatism, like a cancer, eats away the life of biblical truth within the church. The ministry philosophy of pragmatism, like a wicked slave master, demands success at the sacrifice of biblical theology. Pragmatism invades the fabric of the entire church.

It impacts the style of music, the philosophy of discipleship, the methods of evangelism. In many ways, modern pragmatism serves the same goal of ancient Roman Catholicism. It leads people away from the word of God." End quote. And that's why you see churches filling their seats by having monster trucks and things like that. The pastor riding in on a motorcycle, stuff like that.

I told my church back home that I decided a long time ago that I wasn't as interested in growing us numerically as I was spiritually. If the goal is just to grow us numerically, let's set up a high wire and a trapeze and we'll have a monkey come and perform some acts for us. And sure, people would love to come and see that, but that's not what we're about. See, the thing about pragmatism is that it necessarily implies that God's ways aren't the best ways of achieving success. And thus our methods and our ideologies under pragmatism aren't evaluated based on how they align with the word of God, but simply on whether or not it will fulfill our ambitions.

It completely overlooks the fact that God has told us how to worship him and that His word tells us how greatly offended he is when we try to serve him according to our own understanding. Just ask Nadab and Abihu, who offered strange fire to the Lord and were subsequently consumed by it. Richard Phillips writes this in his commentary on this passage. He says, quote, just as Peter labored through the night in his own strength to find empty nets in the morning, our widespread self-reliance and emphasis on worldly methods has left the church in the West spiritually poor and empty netted." And so what a great and blessed thing it is to serve the Lord with an ongoing awareness of our insufficiency, of our inadequacy, because when we realize those things we also realize our total reliance, our total dependence on Christ, our need to abide in Him and His all-sufficiency. So stated negatively, don't serve the Lord without an ongoing awareness of your complete insufficiency and Christ's all-sufficiency.

Stated positively, Do serve the Lord with an ongoing, constant awareness of your complete insufficiency and Christ's all-sufficiency. Abide in Him. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. That's the first principle that we gain from this passage as it applies to our service unto the Lord as we Have life in his name the second lesson that we glean from our passage at hand is that those who serve the Lord in? Obedience to his word will be blessed with his abundant power and provision.

Those who serve the Lord in obedience to his word will be blessed with Christ's abundant power and provision. We see this play out in the verses that follow. Let's look at verses four to eight. John writes, but when the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach, yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. So Jesus said to them, children, you do not have any fish, do you?

They answered him, no. And he said to them, cast the net on the right hand side of the boat and you will find a catch. So they cast and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, it is the Lord. So when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put his outer garment on for he was stripped for work and threw himself into the sea.

But the other disciples came in the little boat for they were not far from the land about 100 yards away dragging the net full of fish. Now one of the things that is immediately apparent as we consider this passage is that the disciples don't seem to have expected this person to be Jesus. Maybe they should have expected that to be Jesus. I don't know. After all, he did tell them that he would go ahead of them to this region of Galilee and that he would see them there.

But this might help explain why they don't recognize him. They weren't expecting it to be him. But also the fact that they were about 100 yards away from shore probably didn't help either. But don't miss the fact that Jesus doesn't ask them if their nets are full or empty. He knows.

He knows that their nets are empty before they even say a word. He knows that their nets are empty because he's God, and God is sovereign over every molecule in the universe, including the molecules that the fish consist of. He has ordained, he has ordered that the nets would be empty. So how does he know? Because he has ordained it.

He knows that their nets are empty. Now not realizing it was Jesus, they give his advice a shot, casting their nets on the other side of the boat. Now this isn't like 50 feet away or anything like that. This is just a few feet away. It's not a huge boat.

But they give his advice a shot. They cast their nets onto the other side and what a change. Just a few feet Apparently make a huge difference, right? No, it's not the location that we're supposed to be focused on here. They go from having empty nets to nets that are so full that they are too heavy to be loaded into the boat.

We're not talking about small fish here. We're talking about pretty decent sized fish, big enough that they actually get caught in the nets. Small fish will swim right through nets. And so many of them that the disciples can't haul, can't drag the nets into the boat. So in contrast to the inadequacy and the insufficiency of the disciples, here we see the all-sufficiency of Jesus.

When our efforts leave us with nothing but empty nets, we should remember that it is the Lord who fills them. He knows how to do it. What do you think would have happened if the disciples hadn't followed his advice? Would some fish have eventually swam into their nets? Would those fish have swam a few feet into the right place?

The answer is no. And thus we're reminded that in our service unto the Lord our success is only as great as our obedience to him. Our success in whatever ministry you have, whatever type of service you have, is only as great as your obedience to him. Those who serve the Lord in obedience to his word will be blessed with Christ's abundant power and provision. So the point in our text is not where the fish were to be found but how.

How they were found, how they were caught, and the answer is by acting in obedience to what Jesus had instructed them to do. The point of serving the Lord is to glorify him. That is what serving the Lord does. It glorifies Jesus. It glorifies God.

But we must know that true success in serving the Lord isn't due to anything about us. How many of you guys noticed when Joe Beakey was preaching the other night that he said that when he was a kid he hated talking in front of people? I was the same way. I hated talking in front of people. I remember having a communications class that I had to take in college.

I didn't take it by choice. I had to take it in college and I could not sleep the night before speaking for five minutes in front of a group of about ten people. So the fact that I do this today can't be attributed to me. This is not who I was before Christ. I wasn't some outgoing speaker.

I didn't like talking in front of people. In fact, I hated talking in front of people. It's only because of what God has done in my life and Joel Beekie that we do what we do. True success can only be attributed to Christ's power working in us and attributed to his provision in that sense. And that's just true for someone who serves by helping to clean the church after the service, as it is for somebody who preaches every week, as it is for somebody who teaches Sunday school, or a small group, or what have you, as it is for mom and dad when they're doing one of the most difficult jobs and the most important jobs in the world in discipling their children at home.

Do things God's way by his power and for his glory. And so as their nets are filled beyond their ability to even lift, these aren't wimpy guys, these are strong guys, they're fishermen. And so as their nets are filled beyond their ability to even lift, they suddenly realize who it was that was standing on the shore. How did they recognize Jesus? They didn't recognize him by his voice.

They didn't recognize him by his appearance. They recognized him by the fact that by following his instructions they were blessed, they were successful in their endeavors beyond what they thought they were even capable of doing. Peter upon realizing that it was the Lord on the shore, he forgets all about the fish. Suddenly the fish are the last thing on Peter's mind. You might ask yourself, what kind of fisherman does that?

A fisherman whose greatest treasure is the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's not that the fish are bad. Are fish bad? I mean not necessarily, but could they have been bad? Could they have become an idol?

Could they have become a false god for Peter? Absolutely. I mean, anything. Anything can become an idol. Anything that we love, anything that we long for, more than we love and long for God is technically an idol.

And that's where we love the gifts that God gives us more than we love the gift giver. As a side note, friends, don't let previous failures get in the way or inhibit you in any way of spending time with the Lord. We all know that Peter had famously, famously, that's one of the things that he's most famous for is the fact that he denied the Lord not just once but three times. But his fellowship with Christ had been restored when the Lord first appeared to him on the day of his resurrection which is what we learn in Luke Chapter 24 verse 35. But Peter upon realizing that this is the Lord talking to him he jumps into the water and he starts swimming to shore fully clothed forgetting about the fish and yeah it's it's a bit comical but it reminds us that we must regularly examine ourselves to ensure that fellowship with Christ is our highest priority.

There is nothing in this world that we wouldn't leave behind to go to Christ for. That He is our greatest treasure. Keeping ourselves continually eager for fellowship with Christ. That's what we see in Peter, by God's grace. Because that's not who Peter once upon a time was.

But may we as a people who are quick to recognize this, may we be a people who recognize the source of our success in ministry. And may we be a people who would cast anything aside for the sake of fellowship with the Lord, that nothing would come between us and fellowship with Christ. When he puts anything in our nets, I mean anything, when he fills our nets or just puts a few fish in our nets We too should be quick to give thanks and praise to him saying it is the Lord When our kids grow in their their love and their devotion For the Lord, Let's be quick to declare it's the Lord's doing. He's the one who can save. I can't do anything.

None of us can can can talk or convince anybody into believing. The Lord has to convert a person. The Lord has to do it. When our friends and family members say, hey thanks to you I've grown in my love for Jesus, let's be quick to give credit where credit's due. It's not us, it's the Lord.

Let's continue, let's wrap this passage up with verses 9 to 14. John continues saying, so when they got out on the land they saw a charcoal fire already laid and fish placed on it and bred. Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish which you have now caught. Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land full of large fish, a 153, and although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, come and have breakfast.

None of the disciples ventured to question him, who are you, knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and the fish likewise. This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. In his commentary on this part of the passage, AW Pink notes that this is actually a picture given to us to illustrate the joyous, the satisfying refreshment that we will experience one day in Christ's presence when our toilsome, frustrating, draining work in the tumultuous seas of this life have ended and we have safely landed on the shores of glory in heaven. And this brings us to the fourth and final principle of service that we can glean from this passage and that's this.

The service that we render to the Lord in accordance with his instructions and achieved by his power will be received by him in glory at the end of the age. Now, let's not miss the fact that the nets didn't break. Not a single fish was lost. You think that's significant, maybe? It is.

We're going to see that in just a minute. But friends, the day is coming when all of our works, all of our service, all the things that we've done in service unto the Lord will be tested by fire. Paul writes to the Corinthians and he says this in 1st Corinthians chapter 3 verses 13 to 15. He says, each man's work will become evident For the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.

If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire." Just as the nets that the disciples had caught the fish in were brought to shore and each fish was counted before Jesus, by the way I don't think the number there is significant, that's just what fishermen do, they count every last fish, I think that's why that number is there. But just as they do this, and they count all their fish before Jesus, so also will all the gospel service and works that we do be laid out before him one day and what was not done according to his instruction and for his glory will be consumed by fire and burned up and that much will be lost. That means that any service or any good that we try to accomplish on our own wisdom, on our own strength, our own skill, our own knowledge, our own understanding is going to end up being nothing but a pile of ashes before the Lord one day. But what we do in obedience to Him in His way for His glory will remain. To glorify God we must believe God and if we believe God we will act in obedience to Him, and only what we do in obedience to Him pleases Him.

Friends, life in Jesus' name, life in His name, Life that's lived by His instructions for His purposes and for His glory will not necessarily always be easy. In fact, you can be sure it won't always be easy, but it will be filled with joy. Because nothing gives the Christian greater pleasure than knowing that he has in his service both pleased the Lord and glorified God in his service. There is nothing that gives us a greater joy or a greater sense of fulfillment than that. Money won't do it, good grades won't do it, Having a perfect spouse someday won't do it.

Nothing gives us joy like knowing that God is pleased with our lives and that God is glorified by our service. Years earlier, Peter had a very, actually, very similar experience with Jesus, similar to this experience here. But it had a very different response that we saw from Peter. At one point, very early on in his ministry, Jesus had been preaching to the masses beside the water and the number of people who had gathered to hear him became so great that Jesus called Peter to take him out on the water in his boat where he could preach to the masses without being crowded so that everybody could hear him. After Jesus was done teaching and preaching to the crowds, Jesus instructed Peter saying in Luke chapter five verse four, put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.

And Luke goes on to tell us, Simon answered and said, Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing. That Sounds familiar, doesn't it? We worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as you say and let down the nets. When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break, so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats so that they began to sink.

But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus' feet saying, Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man." That's in Luke chapter 5 verses 5 to 8. He realized who was in his boat. He realized that this was God incarnate because only God could do what Jesus just did and Peter knows it and he knows that he's not worthy of being in Jesus's presence, so he falls down and begs Jesus to leave him alone because he's just a sinful man. Upon realizing that this was God incarnate, He could not stand to be in Jesus's presence. Now, however, instead of begging Jesus to leave, Peter swims fully clothed to shore to be in Jesus's presence as fast as he possibly can.

Almost the exact same circumstances, but Peter's response is so different. Why is that? It's because Peter had come to learn and to know firsthand of God's grace for sinners like himself. And he understood that the death and the resurrection of Jesus proved the greatness of his grace. I pray that you would know that as well.

Not only that you would know it intellectually, but that you would know it experientially. That you would experience the greatness of God's grace in your worst moments. Because to this day, Jesus invites fallen and frail sinners to come to him that they may receive the blessings of his presence, power, and abundant provision, not to mention forgiveness, propitiation. The purpose of your existence friends is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever in every aspect of your life. That's what we're seeing at this conference, every aspect of your life.

And the way to do that is to come to Christ in faith, believing in him that you may have life in his name and that your life would be one of constant service unto him as a testimony of his grace and his power working in you to conform you to His own image. You have been saved to have life in Jesus' name, serving the Lord and serving His people in His ways by His grace, both for His glory and for your enjoyment, so that when you reach heaven's shore one day, you too will hear the words, Well done, good and faithful servant. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for providing everything that we need to have life in Jesus' name. Thank you for Jesus.

Thank you for His perfect life, which by your grace has been credited to us through faith in Christ alone. We thank you for sending the Holy Spirit to reside within us, to teach us, to guide us, to conform us to the image of Christ. We thank you that he has equipped us with gifts as a means of serving you. And we pray that you would help us to identify those gifts, to use those gifts in service to you, and to thereby glorify you with those gifts. And we pray, Lord, that you would fill us with joy and satisfaction of knowing that we have glorified you and done what is pleasing in your sight for your glory.

We pray Lord that as we go these truths would be embedded in our hearts and that they would change our lives, that our lives would be a testimony of Your power and Your grace working in us. In Jesus' name, amen.