Searchlights from the Scriptures

Audio  Religious institutions have abandoned the Scriptures and become corrupt. The government has become hostile to God and those who are put their faith in Him. Genuine believers are despised and outcast in a society where they were once the majority. Systemic injustice feeds the unchecked spread of violence and moral decay. Sexual sin is tolerated, even celebrated, publicly. The foundations of society are crumbling. In the East, a well-organized force of brutal terrorism arises to destroy by force whatever stands in its way of world domination. This is not a summary of the stories from this morning’s newscasts, but instead it is a brief glimpse at the prevailing conditions of the tiny nation of Judah2,600 years ago. In those deplorable conditions, there lives a prophet named Habakkuk. For some time, he has cried out to his fellow countrymen in the name of God, and they have turned a deaf ear to him. Together with an oppressed minority of the righteous in the land, they have turned their cries heavenward, asking God to do something about the situation. For a long time, there has been no answer. In despair, the prophet has asked God how long it will be until he hears them and answers. He has asked God that question that rolls off of our lips so easily in troubled times: “Why?” And God answered the prophet in a surprising way. In verses 5-11, which we examined last week, we saw how God said that He was already at work in the situation. The way in which He was working, however, was surprising. The Lord said in verse 5, “I am doing something in your days – you would not believe if you were told.” But He told him anyway, saying that He was raising up the Chaldeans (better known to us as the Babylonians) to come in violently and take the people of Judah away into captivity. It must have sounded to Habakkuk like the cure was worse than the disease! He was burdened about what he saw in his own culture, but what the Lord showed him was about to happen burdened him all the more. This message from God in verses 5-11 is, in part, the burden which he speaks of in the very first verse. Things were not going the way Habakkuk wished they would. And God’s answer seems only to make matters worse. Bad news was followed by worse news. But Habakkuk did not let these things push him away from his God; rather he pressed into God by faith to reaffirm his convictions, to voice his questions, and to wait for God’s answer. I suppose it was about a year ago that I felt led to preach this book of Habakkuk after we finished the Gospel of John, and I remember thinking, “Well, Habakkuk is pretty relevant to our day and time.” I could have never imagined how much more relevant this book would become over the ensuing year. It is as if our times have caught up with our text to make this prophetic book read as if it were hot off the press. As I was writing these very words on Thursday, video and pictures scrolled across my computer monitor from the funerals of Philando Castile and the officers killed in Dallas, and news began to break of the horrific attack in Nice, France. And then there was Turkey, and then Baton Rouge. And of course, added to these are a multitude of other tragedies and turmoils that surround us on a daily basis. There will be new ones before this day is out. I have mentioned before that Habakkuk has an infinite advantage over us in that the Lord has given him specific revelation about what is to come for his nation. We do not have that. We have no certain means of determining if an act that occurs today is divine judgment against sin, or if it is just another expression of that sin working its way out in the world. We do not know what will become of our nation, our denomination, our congregation, or our situation. Only God knows that, and He has not revealed it to us. So we can make neither declarations nor predictions. But, what we can be are students of the history of God’s dealings with men and nations, and from that we can find pa

Audio  God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform; He plants His footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm. … Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, But trust Him for His grace; Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face. His purposes will ripen fast, Unfolding every hour; The bud may have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flower…. These words were composed in the mid-1700s by the renowned hymnwriter William Cowper (pronounced, Cooper). Cowper wrestled his entire life with suffering, hardship, and crippling depression. But, once he became a follower of Jesus, though he still struggled greatly, he never lost his confidence in the sovereignty and goodness of God. He was able, with great spiritual insight, to see that the Lord’s hand had been at work in his most difficult days. But God, he learned, moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform. Perhaps you have walked with the Lord long enough to learn this lesson as well. Sometimes things don’t turn out like we’d planned or hoped. Sometimes our prayers do not get answered in the way that we wanted. In some of these situations, the passage of time and personal growth in spiritual wisdom will convince us that it was the Lord who was at work in all these things, bringing about a result that was far better than what we had hoped. At other times, the temptation will be great to wonder if He really does hear us when we pray, if He really does work for good in our lives, if He really does care for us at all. Habakkuk the prophet was no stranger to these temptations and trials of mind and soul. If Charles Dickens were to write of Habakkuk’s day and age, he may say, “It was the worst of times, it was the worst of times.” The spiritual revival that had occurred in the reign of Josiah had ended with his death. Under his son Jehoiakim, the nation once again was plunged into idolatry, immorality, and injustice. The righteous had become an oppressed minority in the land, justice was perverted, and the Law of God was silenced. Habakkuk saw these things unfolding, and he cried out to God: “How long? Why?” He was unable to reconcile the evil which surrounded him with what he had come to believe about the nature of God. Worse, in response to his cries, there was only silence from heaven. Finally, as we come to verse 5, the silence of heaven is broken and God speaks. His answer is a message for the entire nation. God has not been blind and deaf, unconcerned and uninvolved after all. He perceives the peril of His people; He sympathizes with the suffering of the saints. He declares that He is at work in the midst of it, though He moves in a mysterious way. His answer here is both comforting and confounding.[1] It is a direct verbal announcement about what is soon to take place in the nation. Like Habakkuk, Christians in Americatoday are perplexed about the moral degradation, social injustice, and the oppression of the righteous which we see taking place. But unlike Habakkuk, we do not have a word from God telling us specifically what it is that He is up to in the midst of all this. Nonetheless, as we see how the prophet answers Habakkuk, we can make application to our own times, and draw certain conclusions about how it is that God may be moving in a mysterious way in our day and time as well.[2] So, with that in mind, let us dive into our text and explore how God moves in a mysterious way. I. God is always at work, even when we don’t notice (v5) Those of us who drive regularly along Gate City Boulevard here have become accustomed to seeing the signs every day which caution us with the message, “Men at Work.” When we look at the world around us, with all of its violence, terrorism, injustice, and evil, we need to see the world marked similarly with signs cautioning us of “Men at Work.” Because human nature has been warped and corrupted by sin since the fall of Adam, the world has been filled with destruction. These are the signs of “Men at Work,” exercising our dep

Audio When I first became a follower of Jesus, one of the most difficult things I had to learn to do was to pray. It is not that I needed to learn how to pray, or that prayer required some specific skill that I did not have, but I simply needed to learn of the necessity of prayer in my life. I had become accustomed to dealing with my problems and my needs with my own resources, and what I had to learn was that God was available to me, and desired for me to bring my concerns to Him and to dialogue with Him in the intimate fellowship of prayer. And of course, as I began to develop a discipline of prayer in my life, I began to encounter some challenges. The most seemingly insurmountable one was this: that though I brought my concerns to a God whom I believed heard my prayers, and was all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-good, my prayers seemed to often go unanswered. The problem of unanswered prayer became a great hindrance to my spiritual growth until I eventually learned that there is really no such thing as an unanswered prayer. God answers every prayer that we pray, but His answer is not always, “YES!” Just as a good and loving parent knows that the best thing for a child is to sometimes say “no” to the things the child asks for, I had to learn that my Heavenly Father was showing His lovingkindness and goodness to me in saying “NO!” to some of the things for which I prayed. But I also learned that there are times when God’s answer to our prayers is neither “yes” nor “no,” but “NOT YET!” Far from being an outright denial, God’s answer is sometimes merely a delayfor a variety of reasons. There are times when we are not yet ready to receive God’s answer and situations in which God’s timing requires a delay. And then there are times when His divine delay is because we have not yet persisted in prayer. Jesus told the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18:1-8, who came repeatedly to the unjust judge in her town, pleading for justice in her cause. Eventually, the unjust judge gave the widow what she asked for in order to get her off of his back. But the point of Jesus’ parable was not that we are able to wear God down to give in to us if we persist long enough. His point was that, if an unjust and unrighteous judge can eventually succumb to the persistent cries of a person in need, how much more willingly and eagerly will our Heavenly Father answer His own children when we cry out to Him. Luke tells us that Jesus told this parable “to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart.” In other words, an immediate “no,” or a prolonged delay in the answer to our prayers does not mean that we should cease praying about the matter, but that we should persist in prayer and not give up! Jesus concluded the parable by saying, “However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” Will He find that we have, by faith continued to persist in prayer for the concerns of our hearts, or will He find that we have given up on crying out to Him? It is not that persistence in prayer makes God more willing to answer us, but it is often the case that persistence in prayer helps us grow in our understanding of who God is, how He is at work, and what it is that He desires to do in our situation. And persistence in prayer also helps us to clarify in our own hearts and minds what it is that we are really longing to see God do. Persistence in prayer is essential, and we learn that throughout the Bible. The book of Habakkuk is really all about one man’s persistence in prayer. Unlike most of the other prophetic writings, Habakkuk is not filled with the prophet’s words from God to the people of his own or surrounding nations. Rather, Habbakuk is filled, for the most part, of the prophet’s words to God on behalf of his people. He has, if you will, invited us into his prayer closet, or perhaps left his prayer journal laying open for us to read. And as we observe Habakkuk in prayer, we find him wearing out his knees in persistent

Audio What do you do with old newspapers? I read an article recently that said that you can stuff them into your wet shoes to soak up the moisture. And of course, they can be used to wrap breakable objects when packing them away, and they can be used to housebreak your pets or to line their cages. But the one thing hardly anyone does with an old newspaper is read it. The current woes of the printed news industry suggest that people hardly read “new” newspapers anymore, much less old ones. Our age has been called “the information age,” and thanks to the internet and smartphones, news is pushed to us in real time as events unfold. By the time the newspaper rolls off the press tomorrow morning, we’ve already heard it. Now, from time to time, I find myself perusing stacks of old books in an antique store and come across an old newspaper that is decades old. That is of more interest than a newspaper that is days old. A very old newspaper is something of a historical curiosity. It answers the question, “What happened on this day in history?”, and it tells of events of a bygone era. But beyond the historical trivia, what use do we have for old news? Not much. So, the question may be on the minds of some here today, as we embark on a protracted study of the book of Habakkuk, “Why should we care, in 21st Century America, about a writing that is some 2,700 years old?” Well, I’m glad you asked. Suppose that we were to find ourselves in a culture that has discarded all standards of morality? Suppose that our day and age was characterized by wicked and corrupt rulers who perverted and distorted justice to suit their own agendas? Suppose that you and I lived in a day in which our concerns for the decay of our own country’s philosophical and moral foundations was surpassed only by the fear and outrage of a world filled with violent terror? I’m not saying that is the case, I’m just inviting you to imagine it, if you can, hard as it may be. I wonder, if that were the case, where could we turn for a word from God that would address such circumstances? You may be surprised to know that you find all of those matters under consideration here in the little book of Habakkuk. It is three chapters in length, just 56 verses, but its message is as relevant – no, it is more relevant than today’s newspaper. Walter Kaiser has pointed out that “there are a number of reasons why Habakkuk, obscure and small as it may be, should be lifted up to the attention of the Church at this time. The reasons are: pastoral, theological, apologetical, and spiritual.” The pastoral reasons, Kaiser suggests, “take us in to … the prayer closet where we ask over and over again, ‘How long, O Lord? How long? Why? O Why?’” Surely all of us have had, or wanted to have, those times of tear-filled prayer before the throne of grace. Habakkuk has them here in this book, and he becomes an example to us in so doing. The theological reasons for continued study of this book are found in the central theme of the book, found in Habakkuk 2:4 – “The just (or, righteous) shall live by faith (or, will live by his faith).” Kaiser writes, “Habakkuk has much to teach us about the meaning of faith and righteousness, and about how, in the face of great difficulties, one can get on with the task of living now, enjoying the deep satisfaction of knowing who God is and that He is able to handle things, come what may!” Then, Kaiser points out that Habakkuk “wrestles with … the apologetical problem of squaring the goodness and justice of God with the presence of what seems like unbridled evil and wickedness among men and nations.” Surely this problem is as relevant in our own day as it has ever been, and the so-called “problem of evil” is the most frequently cited objection to faith in God heard from skeptics and cynics today. Finally, Kaiser points to the spiritual reason for the modern study of Habakkuk, noting that “it places God in the center of history and of personal consciousness.” When we know this

Having ended our series on the Gospel According to John (after 4 1/2 years and 127 sermons!), I returned to a subject that is always close to my heart on Sunday, June 6, 2016: global missions to the unreached peoples of the world. The manuscript is unavailable, but the audio can be found here: http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?sermonID=66161542511 (and will be on our iTunes podcast feed). 

Audio 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. John 20:30-31 (NASB) On January 1, 2012, we opened our Bibles to John 1:1 and began a verse-by-verse study of this magnificent Gospel that has lasted almost 4½ years, through over 125 sermons. Today marks the conclusion of that series, as we look back on the abiding message of the entire book. Having examined the trees, we now look at the forest. One of the fundamental questions we must answer for every book of the Bible that we set out to study is, “What is the purpose of this book?” Why was it written? Why should we read it? Often that purpose is not stated, so we must search like a detective looking for clues, piecing together what has been written, taking special account of all the relevant historical and cultural data that is available. But John does the reader of his Gospel a great favor. Near the end of it, he comes right out and tells us why he has written this book. “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.” With those words, John tells us that he wrote his Gospel with a singular focus of proving Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of God, so that those who read these words will become convinced and place their faith in Christ in order to be saved from sin. By believing upon the Son of God, Jesus Christ, we have “life” in His name. That “life” is experienced in two ways. In John 10:10, Jesus says that He has come that we might have life, and have it abundantly. Abundant life is life here and now, lived on an entirely different plane than we have ever known it before. It is a life shared with God and imbued with His love, His joy, His peace, transforming us to whole new level of experience in this world. But the life that Jesus has promised to those who believe upon Him is not merely abundant (as if that were not enough), but it is also eternal. John 3:16 is probably the best known verse of the whole Bible. It says that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. The life that Jesus gives to those who believe on Him will never end. The abundant life that the believer in Christ lives here and now just carries on uninterruptedly beyond this world, beyond death, beyond the grave, in God’s presence in heaven forever more. This life – abundant and eternal – is only possible through faith in Jesus Christ. Now, John says in the final words of this Gospel, “there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written” (21:25). So, it would be impossible to record in writing all the things that Jesus has done. So how did John go about deciding what to include and what to omit? John says here in 20:30-31 that he has chosen to include the information that he, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, believes to be sufficient to persuade his readers of the truthfulness of the words of Jesus and the trustworthiness of His works. None of the information he has chosen to omit from the account would help us make any more informed decision to believe upon Christ than what he has written. So, with this aim of the Gospel in mind, let us consider what John tells us about Jesus, and how this divinely inspired revelation of Christ in this Gospel compels us to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and have life in His name. I. The divine nature of the eternal Logos  Where does the story of Jesus Christ begin? Mark, the shortest of the four Gospels, begins with the launching of Jesus’ public ministry at His baptism. Matthew and Luke, on the other hand, begin with stories surrounding

Audio I recently had the opportunity to give Bibles to a group of people who had never had one before. These individuals come from a religious background in which written scripture is regarded very highly. According to their customs, a copy of their scriptures can never touch the ground. It would be highly offensive to their god for them to read their scriptures in certain situations – for example, in the bathroom. No one would ever dare to write in or fold down the corner of a page of these scriptures. They also have a belief that their scriptures should not be left sitting open, for fear that evil spirits will come along and corrupt them or read them and know what they say, and therefore be able to distort them in the minds of the people. In that culture, scripture is only scripture if it is written in one particular language – a language that many adherents of their religion do not know how to read. These beliefs and practices result in a superstitious regard for the object of their written copies of scripture that outweighs their regard for the actual content of those scriptures. So, as I handed them their very first copies of the Bible, I told them that they needed to understand something about how Christians view the Bible. First of all, they need to understand that we believe that the Bible is God’s Word. It was written down by human beings, but the words were inspired by God Himself. Second, they need to understand that the contents of the Bible are what we hold sacred, not the physical object of the Bible. That means that if we set our Bibles on the ground, or read them in the bathroom, or underline words in them, or make notes in them, God is not offended. It is not a sin to misplace or lose one’s Bible, because we can get another copy of it if necessary. What is most important is not how carefully we protect our Bibles, but how thoroughly we read and understand them. As I thought about my interaction with those people afterward, I couldn’t help thinking that many Christians are just as confused about the nature of Scripture as those of this other faith. There is a superstitious – almost idolatrous – regard for the physical object of the Bible that surpasses the regard for the verbal content of the Bible. The Bible is viewed as something of an amulet or good luck charm by many who will go to great lengths to protect their Bibles – including not reading or studying them. And this is the greatest disservice we can do to the Word of God: to set it in a place of prominence and security and otherwise disregard the truth that it contains. That Bible will never change anyone’s life. It is only as it is handled, read, studied, and interacted with that it becomes transformative within us. In the closing words of his magnificent account of the words and works of Jesus, the Apostle John makes a few remarks concerning what he has written. These words are his personal testimony and commendation of this Gospel. Moreover, according to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, these words become for us a lesson in understanding the nature of all Scripture – the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation. As we study John’s words here, we find several characteristics of what he has written, and by extension of the whole Bible as well. I. The Source of Scripture (v24)  I suppose everyone enjoys a good Christmas gathering, until someone has the audacity to bring up Jesus. I mean, what does Jesus have to do with Christmas anyway? I can remember one Christmas gathering when the subject of the Bible came up, and one family member said to me, “You don’t believe everything in the Bible do you?” When I responded that I did, the look on the other person’s face was one of utter dismay! The reply came back quickly, “But people wrote the Bible, not God!” I suppose that is how many people view the Bible – the product only of human composition. So, was the Bible written by men or by God? The answer is, “Yes!” It was written by men who were inspired by

Audio  In the 1944 film, “It Happened Tomorrow,” Dick Powell plays the role of Lawrence Stevens, a downcast journalist whose career takes an unexpected turn when he gains access to tomorrow’s newspaper containing news stories about things that have yet to happen. As one might expect, knowing the future turns out to be more of a burden than a blessing as the story unfolds. It is an appealing plotline that resurfaces often in television, movies, and novels. We are drawn to this idea because there is something inherent in all of us that longs to know what the future holds. The Bible tells us clearly of some things will definitely happen in the future, though the specifics of when and how those things will take place are often not spelled out in great detail. But, for the most part, the specific details of what the future holds for each of us individually have been hidden from us. This is something for which we can thank God! Imagine if, ten years ago, you had been told all that would take place over the next decade. You may have been overwhelmed to consider the circumstances that would transpire. God, in His wisdom, has not revealed the future to us in detail; but in His providence, He prepares us day by day to face the future as we walk with Him by faith. He gives us just enough light for the next step we take as we follow Him. In our text today, Peter becomes an exception to this general principle. In a private conversation with the Risen Lord Jesus, Peter is told of his own future. Jesus tells him in verse 18, “When you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go.” Some have understood this to be a proverb about the nature of human life. In our youth, we are free from care and live independently, doing whatever we want to do; but in our old age, we become frail and have to be helped along and cared for by others. However, this interpretation sorely misses the obvious point of the statement. For one thing, John tells us plainly that the statement was intended to signify “what kind of death” Peter would experience (v19). The place “where you do not wish to go” is death. In the first century Roman world, the phrase “stretch out your hands” referred euphemistically to crucifixion, as the condemned criminal would have his hands stretched out and tied to the horizontal beam of the cross, before being compelled to carry it on one’s shoulders to the place of execution. There it would be fastened to the upright beam, and the hands would be nailed in place before the cross was raised and positioned in the ground. John knew that is what these words meant. Peter knew it too. Likely all those who originally read these words would have understood it plainly, even without John’s explanation in verse 19. As the text unfolds, we find truths which are applicable, not just to Peter but to all of us. All of us are called to follow Jesus into a future which we may not know, but which He does. And as we follow Him into that future, He is able to bring glory to Himself. Understanding these truths here and now enable us to follow Jesus into future glory. So, we begin with the first of these truths … I. Only Jesus knows our future (v18) I’m sure many, if not most of us, have been in a situation where we were giving care to a loved one who was drawing near to death. During those times, we hear professionals tell us how many days, weeks, or hours we may expect our loved one to live. For four months following my stepfather’s stroke last December, nearly every day, a different doctor would come in and tell us something different. One would say, “I think we are looking at a few days here.” Another would say, “In six weeks, I believe the worst of this will be behind us.” Back and forth they would go, and with every report, emotions in our family swung like a pendulum between grief and hope. But, with

Audio(Due to a technical difficulty, the recording begins after the reading of the Scripture and the beginning of the introduction) Today is Mothers Day, and for some of us, that will mean that we do special things for our mothers or those who have been like mothers to us. Others perhaps will be on the receiving end of that, as children (young or adult) show appreciation and affection. Imagine for a moment how those conversations or gatherings might feel if, at some point, a mother says to her child, or the child to the mother, “Do you love me?” The other may say, “Of course I love you! That is why I’ve made time for you today!” And then a moment later, suppose the question arises again: “Yes, and I’m grateful for this time together, but what I want to know is, do you love me?” And again the response may come, “You know that I love you, don’t you?” And a third time the question comes: “Listen, what I really need to know from you right now is this: do you love me?” It would be troubling, would it not? It would cause us to wonder if something had happened, or not happened, to cause a problem in the relationship, and what could be done to remedy it. However unsettling that uncomfortable interaction might be, it was infinitely moreso for Peter here on the shore of the Sea of Galilee on that morning so long ago. The One who asks him, not once or twice, but three times, “Do you love Me?” is none other but the Lord Jesus Christ. And in Peter’s case, he did not need to wonder what had happened to cause the question to arise. It had not been many days before this that Peter had found himself hovered over a charcoal fire, warming himself in the courtyard of the High Priest, when three times he was asked about his relationship with Jesus Christ, and three times he denied that he even knew the Lord. Now, here in the early morning, with the familiar smell of a charcoal fire in the air, he is asked three times again about his relationship with Jesus – this time by Jesus Himself. Though Peter had three times denied the Lord, and here in the immediate context seems to have defected from the Lord’s service by returning to his career as a fisherman, the Lord had not given up on Peter. He sought him out, He calls him by name, and rather than condemning him for his failures or questioning him about his reasons for denying Him, Jesus asks the same question three times: “Do you love Me?” Love is one of, if not theprimary, motivating factor of our lives. If we were to set out to compile a list of songs, books, movies, and other works of art that have love as their theme, we would find it easier to list the ones which are not anchored in love. It is love that makes us do what we do, and love that makes us refrain from doing the things we do not do. In the thrice repeated question to Peter, we discover that love is the key to both our failures and our successes in life. There are three of these discoveries that we want to examine here from our text. I. Misdirected loves can lead to spiritual failure (v15). In order to understand the first question that Jesus asks Peter in our text, we need to remember what happened prior to this moment. On the evening that Jesus was betrayed, when the disciples were gathered together for the last supper, Jesus told them, “You will all fall away because of Me this night.” And Peter boldly proclaimed, “Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away.” Jesus said, “Truly I say to you that this very night, before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” To this Peter said, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You” (Mt 26:31-35). Of course we know what happened. Just as Jesus predicted, Peter did deny the Lord three times. Following the resurrection of Jesus, Peter had investigated the empty tomb personally, and had seen the Risen Jesus in the company of his fellow disciples on more than one occasion. He had perhaps even had a private encounter with the Risen Jesus, as some New Testa

AudioOn the Sunday morning when I planned to preach this sermon, I did a final check of Facebook before leaving my house for church. The first post I saw was this picture, posted by Rev. Jay Pollan, of sunrise over the Sea of Galilee! It was a scene much like this in which this text takes place. I don’t know about you, but I love watching the sun come up on the beach. In fact, would say it is my favorite thing to do at the beach, and my favorite way to watch the sun rise. C. S. Lewis once said, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” Just as the risen sun dispels the darkness and makes everything else come into clearer view, so the Risen Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, makes all things visible to those who walk with Him by faith. And here in our text, we find the Risen Son of God standing on the beach of the Sea of Tiberias as the morning sun rises over it. As He stands there on the shore, He brings to light important realities for His followers. Though we are inclined to see Peter and the other disciples as the key figures in this narrative, the Apostle John tells us in verses 1 and 14 that the Lord Jesus should occupy our attention as we examine this text. The chapter begins with the words, “After these things.” What “things” are “these”? “These things” are the things recorded in Chapter 20, and more specifically, the appearance of Jesus in the locked room with His disciples on the first Easter Sunday, and the appearance of Jesus on the next Sunday when He confronted Thomas’s unbelief. In verse 14, John says, “This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples, after He was raised from the dead.” There had been other resurrection appearances, but this was the third time that He appeared to the disciples as a group. It is that word manifestedthat we should take careful note of here in the passage. It is used three times: twice in verse 1, and once in verse 14. In the original language, the word means “to make known,” “to make visible,” “to reveal,” or “to show.” And what is it that the Risen Jesus “makes known” or “reveals” here in this text? Each of the three times the verb is used in our text Jesus Himself is both the subject and the object. That is, He is the One who reveals, and the One who is revealed. So, the point of the passage is that He showed Himself to the disciples there on the beach at daybreak, and through this account of it, He shows Himself to us. So, how do we see Him manifested here in this encounter? That is the question that the text answers, and we will see four aspects of this manifestation as we look at these verses. I. Jesus manifests Himself as the Promise Keeper (v1)  Verse 1 tells us that this scene unfolds at the Sea of Tiberias. This body of water went by several names. In the Old Testament, it is called the Sea of Chinnereth. In various places in the New Testament, it is called the Sea of Gennesaret, and more commonly the Sea of Galilee. More a lake than a sea, measuring about 12 miles by 7 miles at its widest points, it was the site of so much of Jesus’ ministry. Capernaum, the city where Jesus spent much of His time, was on the shores of the lake. As one writer said, “The Sea of Galilee is indeed the cradle of the gospel.”[1] It was here on the shores of this lake that Jesus spoke profound words and did miraculous deeds. It was here that He first called His disciples to follow Him. Most of them were natives of this area, so it is natural that they would have returned to it after leaving Jerusalemfollowing their encounter with Jesus after the resurrection. Of course Jesus knew that is where that is where they would go. In fact, twice before He had promised them that He would meet them there. Once was before His crucifixion, when He foretold of how the disciples would all forsake Him in the moments leading up to His death. He said in Matthew 26:28, “But after I have been raised