The Resurrected King!

As we are being challenged to read and study the book of John, I wanted to share some of my personal sermon notes with you to help you understand the book. I preached through the entire book over the course of 1 year when I pastored First Baptist Church Del Rio. Enjoy!

Introduction—What will a resurrected body look like? Will it be similar to what we have currently? I know this much for sure according to the Bible; our bodies will be made imperishable. What that means is this: there will be no more death, no more pain, no more sickness, no more evil, and the best thing will be there will no more sin! Halleluiah! In a resurrected body, the fulfillment of the plan and purpose of the Almighty God will come into full understanding and we will see and know all things.

How do we know that? According to the Holy Scriptures, Jesus is in a resurrected body and we have hundreds of eyewitness testimony of His appearances and reappearances. It would be somewhat difficult if all we had was one appearance to one person, and that is what we had to go on for our faith. We could still believe and follow Christ, but Jesus knew what it was to be human, therefore, He knew how hard it is to convince us of this truth. So he showed up several times, and to many people.

Jesus is the resurrected King!

Read—John 21:1-14

Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 3 “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.

4 Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

5 He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”

“No,” they answered.

6 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.

7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter 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. 8 The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. 9 When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” 11 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. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Jesus cares about your daily life—verses 1-4
Do you ever wonder if in your daily routine, you are making any difference?
Does my life count as I work week after week, year after year?
Am I creating a legacy for generations to come or just existing?
Good questions to ask ourselves because we do sometimes wonder about these things.
Verse 1—Jesus appearance is one that is after His resurrection. In verse 14, John states that this is Jesus 3^rdappearance since His resurrection. If you have a copy of the word in another translation, yours might have the word appearance 2 times in verse one. Jesus appeared again to His disciples and He appeared this way.
John’s language is characteristic for the way He wrote. John wants us to know that Jesus’ appearance was so that we would know that Jesus was the One behind the appearing, and Him alone.
In verse 2, the 7 disciples were together in Galilee, away from all the chaos of the Jerusalem, and probably discouraged over the death of Jesus.
The kingdom had not yet come, so they went back to what they knew in order to sustain their livelihood.
Fishing. Any fishermen or fisherwomen here this morning? You know what a discouragement it is go out and prepare, spend the money, spend your time, etc., and come away empty handed, don’t you.
In verse 3, Peter tells the group, I’m out. I going fishing. By now you should recognize that Peter is the group leader, because they want to follow him. They say to Peter, “we are going with you.”
The group is probably ready to do something to get their mind off of all the recent events, and I believe they were excited to go back to fishing. There is a feeling of accomplishment when you go out to do something and you succeed.
The excitement is ended with disappointment. The challenge of catching some fish ended up with nothing.
Listen, life can be disappointing at times, life can become mundane, life isn’t what its cracked up to be at seasons in your life.
But during those times, Jesus is there. He is concerned with everyday events that go on in your life. He wants to show Himself to you
Verse 4, Jesus is watching the disciples in their routine of life. He sees their disappointment and He watches over them.
Jesus cares for our everyday life.

Illustration—The year was 1920. The scene was the examining board for selecting missionaries. Standing before the board was a young man named Oswald Smith. One dream dominated his heart. He wanted to be a missionary. Over and over again, he prayed, “Lord, I want to go as a missionary for you. Open a door of service for me.” Now, at last, his prayer would be answered. When the examination was over, the board turned Oswald Smith down. He did not meet their qualifications. He failed the test. Oswald Smith had set his direction, but now life gave him a detour. What would he do? As Oswald Smith prayed, God planted another idea in his heart. If he could not go as a missionary, he would build a church, which could send out missionaries. And that is what he did. Oswald Smith pastored The People’s Church in Toronto, Canada, which sent out more missionaries than any other church at that time. We are currently supporting 153 nationals and over 300 missionaries around the world. Oswald Smith brought God into the situation, and God transformed his detour into a main thoroughfare of service.

Application—Have you allowed your thinking to realize that Jesus, the resurrected King is making preparation for you as you live out your daily routines?

Colossians 3:23-24—Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Jesus desires to connect with you—verses 5-9
We are wired for connection. We desire to be connected to people. It is by God’s design that you and I are created this way. We need connection.
Jesus absolutely knew that. He calls out to the disciples in verse 5, “Friends haven’t you any fish?” The question is constructed in a way that we know that Jesus knew they hadn’t caught any fish. The disciples answer “no.”
Verse 6—Jesus says to the disciples to cats their nets on the other side of the boat and doesn’t leave them hanging, He continues and says on that side you will find fish.
Sometimes during our living out life, we forget that we could be fishing on the wrong side and if we aren’t in a constant state of connectedness with God, we may not here Him say “cast your net on the other side and you will find fish over there.
When we do what we are asked to do we too can be connected to God and have an impact living out life.
Verse 7—John realizes its Jesus and I could see him lifting up His hands in joyous exclamation yelling, “It is the Lord!” Peter cant wit for the boat to get to shore and jumps into the water and swims to meet His master!
Verse 8-9—as the boat comes ashore, there is a fire going with fish and bread. As they see this I cant help but think that the disciples must have remembered when Jesus fed the multitudes on a hillside with only a few fish and a few loaves of bread. You see the magnitude here? Jesus is cooking a few fish and some bread as they are hauling in this enormous catch. Or they could be reminiscing of the last supper when Jesus broke bread and said that He would not eat again until He had come into the presence of His Father.
There is so much you could take from this meeting even going back to when Jesus first called this group of men to follow Him for the sake of mankind to spread the Gospel.

Application—Are you connected to Jesus? Would you recognize Him if He asked you to change what you were doing in order to make a bigger difference?

Jesus wants fellowship with you—verses 10-14
Verse 10—Jesus asks for some of the fish to be brought to Him, not to cook because breakfast was already on the fire. I think it so Jesus could remind them of power of God. It was a visual illustration.
Verse 11—John is so detailed about the number of caught since He was actually there. 153. It is such an odd number, but nonetheless, the number of fish is given. 153 / 7 equals 21.85 fish per disciple represented there on the beach.
Here is why I think the number is significant. I believe it represents the large number of disciples and blessings that would ensue once the group started the church shortly after this exchange. It isn’t that the 153 is such a meaningful number, but that it image would be a reminder for them and for us that Jesus wants us to experience large amounts of blessings.
The last few verses in our text represent the real meaning of Jesus and His purpose for the visit. He wants fellowship with us. He really does. When you think of the word fellowship, food seems to be part of that equation, doesn’t it? It is a big part of what we do while we our living out our purpose. Jesus knows that and He sits and eats with His followers in His resurrected body.
Many questions have been raised about many thing of what we will actually do with our new bodies. I can say form a Biblical point of view, that there will be eating as we see here in our passage.
It wont be because we are hungry or have a need to sustain us, but I believe it will be for our enjoyment and pleasure as we fellowship together reminding ourselves of all the great fish hauls that God has placed in our lives!
He has blessed us so abundantly and beyond measure and even beyond belief in some cases. Amen.

Application—Have you been inviting Jesus to your fellowships? He is eager to meet with you. Why not ask Him today?

In Conclusion: 1 Corinthians 15:35-58

35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” 36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39 Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40 There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. 41 The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.

42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.

50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

55 “Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?”

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Stay in the Light, 1 John 1:7,

Pastor Larry