Peter's Return to Fishing

turn your Bibles to John chapter 5 The Book of John chapter 5 we're doing a series called The Dirty Dozen talking about the disciples and what we can learn from their lives and we'll begin looking at the individual disciples when we get into the new year but what I wanted to do is just share some incidents from their lives that helps understand them better and a little bit better how God used them and how God can use us as well uh last week I did a message about fishing you remember back in Luke Chapter 5 that Jesus asked Peter to launch out his boat a little bit so that he could use it as a platform to preach to the people and and he preached the message and when he was all done he told

Peter he said uh cast your nests out and bring bring some fish in and Peter had been fishing all night long and hadn't caught anything and and uh was discouraged and tired was cleaning their Nets and didn't want to get them dirty again and and all the other excuses but he obeyed the Lord he said never L Lord at thy will and because he obeyed the Lord the lord gave him a Great Harvest and taught him a great lesson and he realized at that point that Jesus was God and bow down to worship Him and there's so much we learned from that passage last week that I I thought that we would learn some more because Peter also had to learn more lessons about fishing uh fishing was his life before he met

Peter Jesus uh this is what he did for a living this is what his family did for a living and when Jesus called him to forsake his Nets and and follow me and become a fisher of men uh his life changed but there at the end of the time of Christ on Earth after Jesus was crucified uh he went back to fishing and in John chapter 21 in beginning with verse number one it says after these things Jesus showed him again to his himself again to his disciples of the Sea of of t t tiberias and on this way why showed he himself they were together Simon Peter and Thomas called dimus and Nathaniel of Canaan and Galilee and the sons of Zebedee and and two of his other disciples uh Simon Peter saith unto them

I go officient they say unto him we go also with thee they went forth and entered into a ship and immediately and caught and and that night they caught nothing but when the morning was come the Jesus stood on the shore but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus then Jesus saith unto them children have you any meat they answered him no he said unto them cast the the net on the right side of the ship and you shall find they C Cast therefore and now there they were not able to draw the draw for the multitude of the fishes wherefore that disciple whom Jesus loves saith unto Peter it is the Lord now when Simon Peter heard that he was there was the Lord he set out he G out his fish's coat and

went and unto him for he was naked and did cast himself into the sea and the other disciples came in a little ship for they were not far from land but as it were 200 cubits dragging the Nets with fishes and as soon as they were there come to land they saw the fire and coals there and and fish laid thereon and bred Jesus said to them bring you bring all the fish which you have now caught Simon Peter answer Simon Peter went up and Drew the net to land full of great fish and 150 and three and for all that there were so many yet there was not the net broken Jesus sayth unto them come and d and none of the disciples dur ask him who who art thou knowing that that he was the Lord Jesus then cometh

and U take bread and giveth thank and and and giveth them to and fish likewise this now is the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples after that he was come back risen from the dead so here we have a case where Peter is going back to fishing uh and and you know a lot of times in our lives what happens is is we go back to the old ways we go back to the old life uh and then John chapter 21 and verse number three it says and and I go efficient and that's what Peter was doing he was back going back efficient again and he was going back to what was uh what what he was comfortable with what he had known most of his life he was going back to what he where he earned his living there's

a lot of reasons why and there's a lot of reasons why people may go back to their old life after they've gotten saved in in Luke 5 and vers verses 10- 11 it says and so also was James and John's the sons of Zebedee which were partners with Simon and Jesus said unto Simon fear not for from hence forth Thou shalt catch men and when they had brought their ship to land they forsook all and followed him so back in Luke Chapter 5 in that first incident that Jesus had with Simon with the boat and the fish there uh Simon left all he said Lord I want to follow you I'm going to quit fishing I'm going to give up my living and I'm going to forsake all and I'm going to follow you and yet here now at the

end after Jesus died and was buried and after he resurrected uh Peter is going back to his old habits to his old ways and and we have to ask the question why did he go back because many of us do the same thing why do we go back to our old habits why do we go back to our old ways and and before the Lord and it may have been because he was unsaved uh sometimes people go back to their old ways because they were never saved begin with in 2 Peter chap 2 and verse number 22 the Bible says but has happened unto him them according to True proverb the dog is turned to his own vomit again and the sound that was washed or Walling in the mud admire uh you can clean up a a pig and put lipstick on it but

it's still a pig uh it doesn't change and and there are people who uh get all nice and cleaned up at church and they uh it seems like they change their life and on the outward everything has changed but the problem is they're still the pig on the inside they's still The Sinner on the inside they've not been saved by the grace of God and and all of you have known people who came to church you've known people who were uh seen to be living for the Lord and it seemed like their lives had truly changed and then all of a sudden they went back to all those old habits and those old ways and it may be because they were never saved to begin with in Ephesians 28:9 for by grace are you saved through

Faith then not of yourselves it's a gift of God not of works less any man should boast and you can wash up the outside of the pig as much as you want to but it's still a pig and it's still going to go back to the old ways it's got to have a new nature it's got it's got to be changed in 1 John Chapter 2 and verse 19 they went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would not no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they we not all of us and no matter where you go to church no matter what group of people you gather around as Christians you're going to find within every group there are those that are not of us oh they

may look like talk like and act like Christians they may have put on the outside works of a Christian but they never truly have trusted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and there are those who are going to go back because they were never saved to begin with see not everyone that says so is saved in Matthew chapter 7 if you want to turn over there keep a marker in John 21 but go to Matthew chapter 7 and look at verse number 21- 2 Matthew chap 7 and verses 21- 2 in Matthew chapter 7 I'm sorry Mark let me get Matthew Matthew chapter 7 and beginning with verse number 21 it says let not let not everyone that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of God the kingdom of heaven

but but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven many will say to me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied thy name and thy name have cast out devils and thy name done many wonderful works and then will I profess unto them I never knew you for to part me for me from ye that work iniquity you see the outside Works doesn't make you saved they had a man among the disciples named Judas who was probably the the most respected among them he was the one that they had carry the purse you don't have a cheat some of you think is a cheat you don't have them carry the purse when Jesus said one of you is going to deceive me one of you is going toay detray betray me uh he nobody

looked at Judas and said that's the one he had an outward appearance of all these good works but inside he was not saved and and there's always going to be some within the group that have an outside profession of salvation but not an inside possession of Salvation in Jesus Christ and maybe that might be you here today there are some that leave because they were never saved begin with you know uh you got to ask the question when did you find the Messiah we know that Peter was saved because he found the Messiah go over to John CH 1 and look at verses 41 and 42 John chapter 1 and beginning with verse number 41 as far as we know this is the first encounter that that that Peter had with Jesus and

it says in vers John chapter John chapter 1 and and beginning with verse number uh 40 it says one of the two which heard John speak and followed him was Andrew Simon Peter's brother he first findeth his own brother and saith unto him we have found the Messiahs which is be interpreted the Christ and he brought him to Jesus and when Jesus Behold Him He said Thou Art Simon the son of Jonas thou Thou shalt be called sephus which is by interpretation a stone and then that day following Jesus see that was the day that Jesus changed Simon's life that was the day that he became a new creation in Christ that was the day that his brother brought him to Jesus by the way what a what a great privilege to

be the one that brings someone to Jesus he found the one the Messiah the savior of the world he found him in Jesus Christ and so we know that Peter was saved because he had Jesus as his Messiah he has a savior uh 2 Timothy 1 and: 5 and 6 the Bible says when I called to remember remebrance the unan faith that is in thee which was first dwelt in thy grandmother Lois thy mother Eunice and I persuaded thee also on Sunday night we've been studying the book of Timothy and Timothy Paul said Timothy do you remember back to the day that you got saved not when your mama got saved not when your grandma got saved because it's not passed down from generation to generation it's something that each one of

you have to make that your own decision and Peter made a decision for salvation just like Timothy made a decision for salvation to trust the Messiah to trust the Savior to trust in the one who had died for them and was buried and rose again and and so we know that Timothy was saved but what about you are you saved in 1 John chapter 1 5 and veres 12- 13 it says he that hath the son hath life he that hath not the Son of God hath not life these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the son of God that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God you see there's one thing that Peter knew for sure when you go through the

scriptures is he knew that he was saved he knew that his sins were forgiven he knew that he had eternal life he knew that he was going to go to heaven he knew he wasn't a perfect man he made many mistakes but he knew the Messiah and I wonder do you know the Messiah do you know Jesus Christ as your savior do you know for sure that you're going to heaven today there are some people who leave the church and leave God because they were never of us they were never saved they were never truly born again but there are others who leave because they love the world in 2 Timothy 4 and verse number 10 it says for Deus hath forsaken me having loved this present world and there are those who decide you

know what I love what's out there more than I love what's in here and they and they quit going to church and they quit reading their Bible and they quit living for the Lord because of the love of the things of the world around them and sometimes that love is not a a love of sin in the world it's just a love for the busyness of this life and and and and how busy we get um in Matthew chapter 6 and: 33 the Bible says but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you and I realize that when you're a Christian and when you're serving God life can get busy there's all kinds of things you got family life you got work you got your home to take

care of you've got uh all all these other things and then on top of that you got all this church stuff going on and life can get very busy in fact it was uh Dr it was Martin Luther uh the famous Theologian who said I have so much time so much to do today that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer folks when you get busy that's the time to get busy for the Lord put the Lord first don't forsake the Lord in the business buzziness of life I was talking to one of our teenagers this week and we've got some pretty smart teenagers folks and uh they were talking about how trying to get everything done he said you know what I decided I said decided one week I'm going to put God first and do

what he wants me to do first and see how much I get done he said I got done more that week than any other week when we put our priorities right we'll find time to do what needs to be done and uh but sometimes what happens is we get so busy in not bad things but we get so busy in life we forsake the Lord we turn away from the Lord and and and that happens sometimes sometimes it's the busyness of life and sometimes it's the attractions of the world in 1 John Chapter 2 in verses 15-1 17 1 John Chapter 2 and beginning with verse number 15 the Bible tells us in 1 John 2 and verse number 15 it says where wherefore uh in 1 joh 2:15 let me get the right place here love not the world neither the

things are in the world if any man love the world the love of the father is not in him for all that is in the world the lust of the Flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is of the world and and pass is not of the father but is of the world and the world passes away and and the lust thereof but he that doeth the will of God abideth for in God forever and what happens to some of us as we fall away uh because uh because of the things of the world we start looking around and say you know what everybody's everybody else having more fun than I'm having everybody else having a better time than I'm having I I I want to go do those things too and and we start looking at the things of

the world we start thinking how much fun we're missing out on and it becomes an attraction and we we want those things of the world the things that have destroyed our life but yet we want them in Titus Chapter 2 and verses 11-4 Titus Chapter 2 and beginning with verse number 11 down through verse number 14 the Bible says for the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to me all men teaching us to denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of our lord of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and

purify unto himself A A A peculiar people zealous of good works you see we need to be reminded that the attractions of this world they're only temporary the attractions of this world they draw us away from God the attractions of this world they leave us empty and and sometimes though you got people that have have have forsaken all and and they go back to their old ways not not not because they're unsaved and and not because they're they're just uh tired but they they see things and everybody El having such a great time why can't I have that fun when we know the reality is it's not fun and we know the reality is there's a price to pay in when we go back into the world and the things of the

world as well you see I think what happened is maybe Peter lifted up his eyes like lot you remember lot how he's lift up his eyes and looked on the city of Sodom and gomorra and the Plains and how watered and well watered they were and how attractive if they were lot was not attracted by the sin of Sodom and go Gomorrah that was not what he went there for the Bible tells us in 2 Peter 2: 7 and 8 and delivered just lot vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked for that righteous man dwelleth among them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to day with his unlawful Deeds he was bothered by all the stuff going on around him but yet he wanted to be a part of it he was

attracted to it and it wasn't necessar the bad things of Sodom the bad things of gamorra you know uh Peter he loved fishing that was his passion there's some in the room love fishing if God said to you can't ever fish again in your lifetime you you would be disappointed would you not because you love fishing it's something you enjoy doing now God didn't never told him he couldn't fish by the way he just said I'll make you fishes of men I'm going to give you a new priority it didn't mean he couldn't go out fishing Peter uh that was his uh livelihood you know now that Jesus had died I I maybe he was thinking well what am I going to do to earn a living I better go back and start fishing again

Peter maybe that's the way he like to relax for a lot of people the the way to relax is just go out and put a pole in the water you don't need have to catch fist is just sitting there in in the beauty of Nature and just enjoying it I don't know why Peter chose to go off fishing at this point I I don't believe was because he's unsaved I do believe there's unsaved people that turn away from the Lord because they don't know the Lord and they never did I I don't necessarily believe it's because of the attraction of the world that he was wanting things that I don't believe that reason I don't believe he was wanting sin of the World perhaps he was tired perhaps he just wanted to go back to what he

was comfortable with what whatever reason he went officient and when he did that he he left his first love John chapter 21 beginning with verse number 15 after after Jesus confronts Peter very kindly by the way never Reb really rebukes him in verse 15 he says so then they had DED so when they had died Jesus said to Simon Peter Simon son of Jonas lovest thou me more than these he saith him ye Lord thou knowest that I love thee he saith unto him feed my sheep he say to him again second time Simon son of Jonas lovest thou me he sayith un Lord yay Lord thou knowest that I love thee he sayith to them feed my sheep he sayith to them the Third time Simon son of Jonah lovest thou me Peter was

grieved because he said unto him the third time Lo lovest thou me and and he said unto the Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee Jesus said then feed my sheep I think that Peter was struggling right now because he'd already left his first love he'd already denied the Lord three times and I I think he was grieved over that in Revelation 2: 4 and 5 it says nevertheless I have somewhat against thee because thou Hast left thy First Love remember therefore from whence Thou Art fall and repent and do the first works or else I will come unto thee quickly and remove thy Candlestick out of the place except thou repent and I wonder today maybe you're one of those people that has

left your first love not because you're trying to go back into the sin of the world or go back to the old life maybe it's just because you're been discouraged maybe it's you're struggling in Proverbs chapter 3 and verse 9 the Bible says honor the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thy increase when the Bible talks about our first love it's two different aspects to it one is it's somewhat referring to our first love in time okay my my wife is not my first love sorry Diane My First Love was a girl named Bobby I took her to the junior prom in high school and I thought I was Madie in love with her and she's the first one that I thought this is who it is this is who I love

now I praise God I'm not married to my first love in time but I am married to my first love in commitment and that's more of what the idea of the word means when it says you've left your first love it's not always that we've left the very first love but there is a first love when you come to Jesus isn't there there's that excitement there's the passion there's that knowing I'm forgiven and my sins are forgiven it's the first when you really realize how much God loves you that first love passion is so special and we lose it so quick but more importantly is the first love of commitment to honor the Lord with thy substance and the first fruits of all thine increase Mark 12 and verse 30 and thou

shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soul with all thy mind and now and thy neighbor uh and and with all his strength this is the first commandment and he goes on and says love your neighbor as yourself that's the first love in Jude John chapter 21 and verse1 15 what did Jesus say to Peter lovest thou me more than these things and I'm here to tell you a lot of us what happens when we leave the Lord is because God stops being first in our life very rarely does God say he has to be exclusive he says love me and love your wife love me and love your children love me and love your neighbor and you go right on down the list but the problem is we stop putting God first in

that love and something else takes priority I think that's what happened to Peter he had left his first love I think another reason that he quit was discouragement and guilt in Luke chap 22 you know when Jesus was talking to him there verses number uh 61 and 62 if you look over there Luke chapter 22 Luke 2261 and 62 it says the Lord turned and looked upon Peter and Peter remembered the word of the Lord how he had said unto him remember before the cro and thou shalt deny me Thrice and Peter went out and wept bitterly in John chapter 21 when Jesus said lovest thou me more than these it says that Peter grieved the Lord saying that to him you see the problem is Peter was discouraged he was

feeling guilty he's felt like a failure he felt like how can God use me I mean when you really stop and think about it isn't it strange that Peter goes back to his Nets after the resurrection if he was going to quit and go back to his Nets at any point wouldn't you think before Jesus resurrected from the dead by this time Peter had seen Jesus at least three or four times he had talked to him he had touched his side and yet here he was was discouraged and ready to quit and the reason why is we we seem to get the most discouraged after some of God's greatest blessings in our lives don't we it just seems like when God does so many wonderful things it's like we get discouraged at that point look

at Elijah look at Moses look at David happened to all of them it'll happen to you and to me I'm afraid Peter at this point in his life was thinking you know what I messed up and now God can't use me now that was far from the truth was it not God used Peter in a very Mighty way sure Peter had a price to pay and he regretted his failure the rest of his life but just like David in Psalms chapter 51 David said now that I've confessed my sin I want to teach others also God's taught me a lesson that I can share with others you know folks important lesson from this passage is this John 21:3 Peter said I got go offici and the other disciples said we're going with you you can either Influence People

for good or for bad in this case case it was bad so what's wrong with going back in Luke 9:62 and Jesus said to him no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God Jesus didn't force him to follow him they followed him by their choice and once we make that decision we ought not to go back on that decision in Joshua chapter 24 Joshua told the people he said listen we're going to put a rock right here to remind you on this day you said you're going to serve the Lord and he even told him he says you can't do it you're you're going to fail but as for me in my house we will serve the Lord and there are those of you in this room have that verse and you claimed

that verse at one point in your life but not anymore once we commit we need to stay faithful now Peter May me to think well I messed up how can God use me 1 John 1:9 if we confess our sins he is faithful just to forgive us of sins and cleanse us from all righteousness boy I'm so thankful for a God That Forgives and uses us despite our failures go to John chapter 6 this is the point where Peter need to start thinking a lot of times when we're discouraged and we're down and we're going through tough times we just turn our thinking brains off in John chapter 6 and verse number 66 a bunch of people followed Jesus cross the sea and they were all excited until he started preaching and then they

said we don't like this preaching and they left in verse 66 this from that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him then said Jesus unto his 12 will you also go away then Simon Peter answered Lord to whom shall we go thou Hast the words of eternal life and we believe that and are ass sure that thou art the Christ the son of the Living God there's nowhere else to go except to follow you he's God in Matthew chapter 16 you remember the passage how that Jesus was telling telling them how that he was going to you know going to he asked first of all he asked him he said who do people say that I am and and some said well some think you're Elijah and some think you're Moses

uh resurrected and and Peter says no you're the Christ the son of the Living God and and Jesus said uh Peter you got this right pattern on back said upon this statement not on Peter but upon this statement of Christ the Living God I will build my church that's the foundation of my church man he got it right of course two verses later he got it all wrong Jesus starts saying how he's going to have to die and Peter grabs hold and said no Lord you can't die Jesus says get the behind me Satan maybe Peter started thinking back to that day that Jesus borrowed his boat the first time and after he caught all those fishes what did he do he fell down his face said my Lord and my God or perhaps he was

remember the day he walked on the water sure he began to think but he was the only one that tried or perhaps he remembered the time that he was on the Mount of transfiguration with two of the other disciples can you imagine that on a Mountaintop hearing the voice of God saying this is my son and whom I well pleased the shikina glory of God coming down what an amazing thing in fact he talks about it in second Peter chapter 1 and talking about how I have a more sure word of Prophecy he said I was there I heard the voice of God I saw the sh kind of Glory of God but we have something even better we have the word of God I could just see all this these flashbacks going back through his mind kind

of like on TV you know what I'm talk about and then it comes to that flashback when that rooster crowed anybody here ever hear a rooster crow here we do don't we they're all over the place and every time that rooster crowed it reminded Peter how much he had failed Jesus in his brashness and his self-reliance he said I can do this on my own and that's when you fail and I imagine that was going through his mind also and what does Jesus say Peter you messed up you blew it no he just says Peter do you love me and that's what God is asking you and I today as well it's inter interesting when you read the story here Peter cast the net on the other side before you knew it's Jesus I love the fact

that somewhere along the line Peter had learned a lesson that he was still trying to live even though he forgotten it we need to come back to Jesus in John CH 21 verse number 7 we'll close just a couple of verses here says therefore that disciple whom Jesus love saith unto Peter it is the Lord now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord he G his fish's coat about him unto him that for he was naked and did cast himself into the sea I mean he did not wait another second you know sometimes it takes a friend to remind me how far away I've gotten from the Lord doesn't it sometimes just takes somebody to love you enough to say listen I haven't seen you in church I I haven't seen you living for

the Lord anymore what happened you used to go out Soul wiing all time and this disciple whom Jesus loved and that was not the teacher's pet that was John who was always amazed that Jesus would love him said Peter it's Jesus and Jesus immediately jumps out of the water jumps in the water and swims to shore before he left he recognized his nakedness he wasn't totally naked but he recognized he's going to go see God so he put a cloak on remember Adam and Eve when they came to God they hid their nakedness first John 1 1 1 18-10 if we say that we know sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is is not in us if we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from

all righteousness Peter could have stayed hidden on the boat from Jesus because he felt so bad but he didn't he said you know what he already knows what I did I just want to get back to him on the way in I'm sure he was counting Every Blessing they caught more fish that time than the last time this is the goodness of the Lord don't wait to come back the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 6:2 that now is the accepted time behold now is the day of salvation if you're not saved don't wait get saved today if you're saved and you're away from God jump in that water and head home right now if you're saved and there's things you're ashamed of confess them to God because he will forgive you Peter's fellowship with God was restored and so can yours