God Ain't Through With You Yet!

GOD AIN’T THROUGH WITH YOU YET!

John 21

* We know the story very well.

It is a story of boastful promises followed by great failure.

Exaggerated bravery, extreme cowardice.

Great potential, absolute defeat.

IMAGINE...

Jesus and 12 disciples sitting there with Jesus. Peter is there thinking “This is awesome. I’m with Jesus. It can’t get any better than this!” Then Jesus drops a bomb on them. He tells how one of the 12 will betray Him and that He will be put to death. Then Jesus adds this, “The rest of you will fall away from Me.”

** Peter exclaims, “Maybe the other 11 will, but I will never forsake you, even if I have to die with you.”

Jesus says, “Peter, before the rooster crows, you’ll deny Me 3 times.”

** Peter is thinking, “Never! I’m strong and afraid of no one! I'll never deny you.”

** Later that night Jesus is arrested and Peter is outside the room where they are interrogating and torturing Jesus. Once strong Peter is now filled with doubt and fear. Standing around the fire that night, 3 different times he was accused of being a disciple of Jesus. Twice, he denied it and the 3rd time he cursed and said “I never knew that Man.”

** Suddenly, a rooster crowed.... reminding Peter of his failure.

He went off into the night a beaten and broken man.

All the dreams he had were destroyed in just a few short hours.

His ministry is surely gone.

He let his best friend down and he failed God.

Maybe today you feel just like Peter.

* You were once close to God. In the past you faithfully served Him.

But, something happened along the way and you fell away from Him.

* Maybe drugs/alcohol abuse have taken over your life.

* Maybe sexual immorality has left you with guilt and shame.

* Maybe you Failed in your marriage. Maybe multiple times.

* Maybe you faced some great problems that destroyed your faith.

* Maybe you feel you’ve messed up so bad that God has written you off and wants nothing else to do with you.

** If that describes your feelings for any reason, hold on because I’ve got great news for you.... “God Ain’t through with you yet!”

** Let’s get back to Peter’s story.

John 21:1-4 1 After these things Jesus [a]manifested Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and He manifested Himself in this way. 2 Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together. 3 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. 4 But when the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.

Peter’s trying to get his life figured out. He decides to go do the one thing he knows how to do.

He goes fishing. Notice that he’s even failing at that. Fished all night. Not a single fish.

* Maybe you’ve been struggling with all your might, but nothing seems to be working out for you?

Sometimes God allows us to struggle thru the dark night seemingly alone in order to get our attention. But in vs 5, we will find that Jesus was never really far from Peter and the others.

And, in your darkest times, He is never far from you. You just need to open your spiritual eyes.

* 1st word of advice “Look for Jesus.” He is with you always, even in your darkest of times.

John 21:5-6 5 So Jesus *said to them, “Children, you do not have [c]any fish, do you?” They answered Him, “No.” 6 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.

* Notice that Jesus knew their situation.

They had no fish. He knows of their failure...... And He knows every detail of your situation.

* He tells them to drop the net 1 more time on the right side of the boat and they would catch some fish. It would be easy for them to say “no” since they were tired and defeated. But, they obey and the net closes around so many fish that they can’t haul it into the boat and have to drag it in to the shore.

* 2nd Word of advice “Listen to Jesus.”

John 21:7-8 7 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. 8 But the other disciples came in the little boat, for they were not far from the land, but about [d]one hundred yards away, dragging the net full of fish.