Joseph Prince - Faith Is Knowing Jesus Loves You
You ready for the Word, amen? So this is the way Jesus showed himself. Whatever it is, he’s about to show himself in a way the Holy Spirit is warning you, all right, giving you a little insight that this chapter is full of revelation about Jesus manifesting himself, that he wants us to see, okay? «Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee,» that’s James and John, «two others of His disciples were together». All together, seven plus Peter, all right? «Simon Peter said to them, 'I’m going fishing.'» So much like Simon Peter, all right? «I’m going fishing».
Okay, he’s a natural born leader. The rest just followed him. «They said to him, 'We are going with you also.' They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing». Okay, so they went fishing, «And then in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore,» this is the third time he appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead, all right? Next. «Then Jesus said to them, 'Children, have you any food? '» He called for them. «Do you have any food»? «They answered Him, 'No.' And He said to them, 'Cast the net on the right side of the boat». It’s very interesting that he mentioned the right side, not the left side. In the Bible, the right side, like Benjamin, Binyamin, «son of the right hand».
The right hand is upholding the right hand of my righteousness. It’s a place of righteousness, the gift of righteousness. It’s a place of favor, it’s a place of promotion, amen? Whatever you do, whether you’re a parent, or you do business, or whatever you do, make sure that you come from a posture of favor. Cast your net from the favor side. You got it? Now, please don’t go out here and just walk one step. Right hand, do everything right hand, all right? Look with one eye. Please don’t get superstitious. It’s the principle that he’s teaching, all right? Everything physical, like I said, is teaching a wonderful truth. The wisdom is in the interpretation. All right, now, Jesus says, «'Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.' So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish».
There was so much fish they were not able to draw it in, because of the multitude of fish. «Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, 'It is the Lord! ' Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it), and plunged into the sea. But the other disciples came in the little boat (for they were not far from land, but about two hundred cubits), dragging the net with fish». They had even to drag it. They cannot put it in the boat, all right? It was so plentiful, so abundant. They had to drag it, and it’s buoyant in the water, so it’s easier to drag through the water. And it tells us how far Jesus was from the disciples, 200 cubits. All right, a cubit is from your elbow to your middle finger here. That’s one cubit. So it’s about 90 meters, 90 meters away.
Now notice, the moment Peter realized, all right, he was topless, he’s been working all night. The moment he realized it was Jesus, he put on his outer jacket, right, jumped into the water to go straight to Jesus. Now my question is, why? Why did Peter do that? Why did Peter jump into the water and he went straight to Jesus? The answer to that question will answer many questions in your life, especially the part where you say, «Now that I’m saved, now that I’m born again, now that I’m a child of God, and I see all these things in myself, how does God think of me»?
Now, why did Peter jump into the water to go to Jesus? Was it because he was sin conscious? We know that he denied knowing Jesus three times. In Luke 22, the Bible says in the Last Supper, Jesus said to Peter, «Simon, Simon! Satan has desired to sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith will not fail». He did not say, «I prayed for you that you will not fail». He knew he would fail. «But I prayed for you that your faith will not fail; and when you are converted, strengthen your brethren,» he said. In other words, Jesus prophesied his victory before he fell. The Lord sees you in your finished product, even before you fall, all right? And what did Peter say? Peter says, «Even if all this,» the disciples, «even if all of them,» he said it in front of their face, «even if all this deny you, I’ll never deny you. I’ll follow you to prison and to death».
Then Jesus looked at Peter and says, «Peter, before the rooster crows this morning, you’ll deny knowing me three times». And we know the story how he sat by the fireplace, and Jesus has just been seized by the soldiers, and then a woman recognized his accent. It was a Galilean accent, it wasn’t a Jerusalemite accent, and she said, «Aren’t you one of his disciples»? He said, «No, I do not know the man». And then another person came, «Yes, you’re one of his disciples». He said, «I do not know the man».
The Bible says he cursed and swore that he never knew Jesus. The third time someone asked him, he said, «I never knew the man,» the rooster crowed. And the Bible says it very beautifully in the Gospel of Luke. Somewhere when he denied knowing Jesus the third time, Jesus turned around and looked at Peter. Jesus prayed for Peter that his faith would not fail, and his faith didn’t fail, we know the story, but that look broke his heart. So Peter went out weeping bitterly, the Bible tells us. But many of us think that this story here, Peter jumped into the water to go to Jesus, now, was that because of sin consciousness?
You see, if you are sin conscious, if you are aware of your sins, would you jump into the water to go to the one you’ve just denied knowing him three times with cursing and swearing? No, you’ll jump the other side. You will ll try to flee away, am I right? Right? Or you’ll wait, and you’ll be the last one behind the boat. You’ll wait until the boat reaches the shore and let your companions go out first, using your companions, as it were, as a shield. But there’s something that Peter saw in Jesus, something that Peter knew about the Lord, that caused him to jump into the water and go straight to the Lord, and he was not afraid to be alone with Jesus. What was it? The answer to the question is very important for you in your walk with God today. He jumped straight and went to Jesus.
Was it the law? Was it because he was conscious of the law? No, if it’s the law, by the law is the knowledge of sin. The law will condemn him for denying the Lord Jesus. The law will never empower him to jump into the water to go to Jesus. What was it? What was it about Jesus? He knew this: in spite of all my sins, the man who’s standing on the shore, he loves me and he’s my friend, I know him. Yes, I know myself, but more than I know myself, I know him. Yes, my conscience tells me my sins, but more than that, my faith tells me my Savior. And my faith says my Savior still loves me. Are you listening, people?
Oh, come on! And he jumped into the water to go to Jesus. There’s something very precious in his action, something very profound. You see, this is not the first time that Jesus restored Peter, all right? In fact, this one is restoration to ministry, because Jesus would restore him three times with these words: feed my lamb, shepherd my sheep, feed my sheep, all right? Of all the things that Jesus treasured the most in his heart before he left earth to go to heaven, go back to heaven, what was the thing that he treasured the most? His flock, his people, you and I. He treasured us the most. And who did he trust the most in this chapter? Peter.
Three times Peter denied knowing Jesus, and three times the Lord says, «Take care of my sheep». We would say, all right, «Forget Peter. You cannot trust him, all right? He failed you three times. He’s the last one I would trust». Jesus says, «He’s the first one I trust». Somehow, Jesus knows where sin increase, grace superabounds. In fact, this entire chapter 21, the last chapter of the Gospel of John, is actually all about Peter. Peter’s the main star. It seems as if the only one who, besides Judas, the only one of the Twelve that really denied knowing Jesus, all right, is the one that’s given special honor in this chapter. Wow. The grace of our God, amen.
Now, I want to tell you that Jesus has restored Peter already. When Jesus restored Peter after he rose from the dead, there’s no record in the Bible except a mere mention. We are not told how it happened, what words were spoken, all right, we’re not given anywhere in the Gospels where we see Jesus restoring Peter and the words are given, no. In fact, it’s so private, a meeting between the disciple and his Lord, that the Holy Spirit shields the whole thing with only a mention twice. First is in Luke 24. «So they rose up,» «they» here is the Emmaus disciples, remember the two of them? They walked with Jesus, not knowing it was Jesus. Finally, Jesus disappeared, all right, in their house when he took the Lord’s supper with them. «And they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, 'The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon! '» That’s Simon Peter.
Now, the account is not given to us when it appeared. We know that the first woman, the first person, that saw the Lord in his risen form, or the Lord appeared to the person, is Mary Magdalene, the prostitute out of whom Jesus cast out seven devils. What an honor he placed among women. That this woman received this honor of being the first person to see Jesus in his risen form. The second person that saw Jesus… we knew that Peter and John were running towards the sepulcher, into the empty tomb. They didn’t see his body. We know that they went back. On the way back, Jesus appeared to Peter. Now, that is not recorded for us. All we know is that Jesus appeared to Simon.
Now, in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 5, the apostle Paul says after Jesus rose from the dead «He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve». You know, this Cephas, that’s Aramaic name for Peter. The Aramaic name for Peter is Cephas. «And after Cephas, then the twelve, then by the twelve». Do you see that? He was the first man to see Jesus besides Mary Magdalene, the woman. Now this is awesome. Jesus restored Peter in this meeting, and knowing Jesus, he would do it with the gracious skill of love that he has. Whatever this, now that Peter saw Jesus, it’s not the first time he saw him risen from the dead, he jumped into the water because he had a great sense of the Savior’s love for him, of his grace. Only the sense of his love and grace can make you jump and go straight to him, not waiting for the boat to arrive to shore. Only the sense of his love.
Was it a sense of his holiness? No. Jesus is holy? Oh, thrice holy: Holy, holy, holy. He never sinned, the Bible tells us. He did no sin, he knew no sin, in him is no sin. Yet, it was not the sense of his holiness that caused Peter to jump into the water. In fact, the sense of his holiness would cause him to see his sin even more. It was a sense of his love and grace. Now, do you remember the first time Peter met Jesus? Now, many of us think that the boat incident, but actually the boat incident is one of the first times. The first time is found in John 1 when Andrew, his brother, Peter’s brother, when he realized… by the way, Andrew and Peter both are from the city of Bethsaida. And Andrew, the brother of Peter, said, «Hey Peter, we found the Messiah»! And he brought his brother Simon to Jesus, and when Jesus first laid eyes on Peter, he says, «You are Simon, son of Jonah. I will call you from now on Cephas,» in Aramaic, which means a stone.
So Jesus nicknamed him Cephas. That’s the first time he met Jesus. But for some strange reason, he never followed Jesus. He went back to fishing. And then one of the first times Jesus met Peter, he still didn’t know Jesus well. He was fishing all night, just like John 21. This Luke 5, let’s follow Luke 5 right now, one of the first times Peter met Jesus. «So it was, as the multitude pressed about Jesus to hear the word of God, that He stood by the lake of Gennesaret,» the one you saw on the screen just now, the lake, «and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. Then Jesus got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s».
I’ll tell you something, whenever Jesus steps into your boat, he’s setting you up for a blessing. He’s setting you up. You know, never feel like, when Jesus comes to you and, you know, he tells you, «Would you like to serve me as an usher»? he’s setting you up. Don’t think for one moment he wants your ministry. Trust me, he has myriads of angels. You know something else? The angels never get tired like you can. So when he comes into your boat, he comes into your family, it’s always to set you up for a blessing. That’s the nature of love, and he’s perfect love, amen. «And he got into Simon Peter’s boat and asked Peter to put out a little from the land. And Jesus sat down and thought the multitudes from the boat».
We even know what he taught. It was the sower and the seed. Then after he taught, «When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, 'Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.' But Simon answered and said to Jesus,» don’t forget, it’s one of his first times, he’s new to Jesus, all right? He says, «'Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.' And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners,» their business partners, «in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink». I call this a net-breaking, boat-sinking load of blessings. «When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, 'Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord»!
One of the first times he met Jesus, what did he sense about the Lord? His holiness, rightfully. He is holy. But my friends, listen, isn’t it amazing that in the Christian psyche today what is taught? All right, it’s like this. When you… yeah, you know, you grace people, you talk about God’s love, God’s love all the time, you know? And that is basic. Grace and love is basic. Yeah, God loves you, you receive salvation. But then after that, you grow in the Lord. When you grow in the Lord, you must know his holiness, get to know he’s holy. He’s a holy God. It’s almost like you begin with grace and love, but then you progress into holiness.
So our idea of the Lord is this, all right, when you first get to know him, you sense his love and grace, all right, and as you grow, you sense his holiness. But what we read is the opposite. What we read is that when Peter, one of the first times he first met Jesus, he sensed his holiness. Is Jesus holy? Yes, but his holiness can go to a sinner, to a prostitute, to a tax collector, to a leper, touch the leper, and cleanse that person, restore them back to life and wholeness. His holiness is not like, you know, in the Old Testament where God is kept in the holy of holies and man is separated from God through a thick veil and through the priest. No more! God has come to man, and he is holy, yes, thrice holy. But oh, faith says, «All right, I see his grace, I see his love,» whereas natural flesh will say, «No, God is holy! Depart from me! I’m a sinful man»!
Why did Peter say, «Depart from me, I’m a sinful man» in one of the first times he met Jesus? Because he had a sense of his holiness more than a sense of his love. And we got this upside down. We say that as you grow in the Lord, you will sense more of his… no, no, no. Everyone, everyone, when they have the thought that God might appear to them in their bedroom tonight, whatever, they’re afraid. Why? Because they know God loves them? No, they know God is holy. Everyone, flesh knows. Instinctively, the flesh of man knows God is holy. Doesn’t have to be taught. That’s why in the Old Testament, as well as in the New, every time the Lord appears to someone, or an angel appears to someone, they are afraid. They will say things like Manoah, Samson’s father. «We have seen the Lord, we are going to die»!
Gideon also, «I’m going to die, I’ve seen the Lord». Everyone have this idea, when they see the Lord, they are afraid. Why? I’ve seen no one when the Lord appears, they say, «Oh Lord, thou who loved me so». What does that tell us? To know his love takes the Holy Spirit. Flesh, flesh can teach you God’s holiness, and we think that’s deep, but the sense of his love and grace, that is faith, that is growth. When you see more and more of his love, why do you think at the end… anyway, many years have passed, all right, okay? At least more than three years. Peter now knows Jesus, yet denied knowing him. We can say like, he knew the Lord for some time, he’s been saved for some time. We can use that same analogy. And yet, he denied knowing the Lord with cursing and swearing. Yet what was the thing that brought him back in love to the Lord? The sense of his love, his grace.
Is the Lord still holy? Oh yes, and he’ll forever be holy. But more than that, he wants us to see he loves you. You see, you will never know that you are loved until you know that that person sees everything about me, and the person loves me. Then you’ll feel loved. I remember some years ago I asked the Lord, have you noticed the Lord is, you know, you never find Jesus speaking strong words against tax collectors, against prostitutes, never, but Jesus uses strong words on Pharisees, self-righteous bigots. He used words like, «Woe to you, you brood of snakes,» but he never used those words on sinners. He never used words like «you brood of snakes» on tax collectors, on prostitutes. But when a Pharisee come and they have attitude of self-righteousness, finger-wagging religion, you all got to stand before God in the judgment seat.
When your belief is wrong, you live wrong. When you believe right, you live right. When I see people pointing their fingers and acting like a Pharisee, I know the problem is believing wrong. These people have a sense of God’s holiness, but not a sense of his grace. The Pharisees, they pretend to be custodians of God’s holiness and crucified Jesus. Why do you think they’re concerned about Jesus healing on the Sabbath Day and all the other concerns they have? It’s not because they’re out for sin, they’re out for the law. So we can say they have a great sense of God’s holiness but not a sense of his love and grace. It takes maturity to grow in the sense of his love and his grace.
Isn’t it amazing, one of the first times Peter saw Jesus, he had a great sense of his holiness? Later on when he knew the Lord and how the Lord sees him with all his sins, having denied the Lord, and the Lord still loved him, he jumped into the water to go to the Lord. I’m here to tell you, church, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Amen? Amen.
See, Jesus loved the Pharisees as well, but as long as they put a veneer, even though Jesus loved them, they cannot feel Jesus’s love. It’s almost like he has to strip by using strong words, that veneer, so that his love can penetrate. And it did, at least for one Pharisee named Nicodemus. And we’re so afraid, we come to the Lord and we act, you know, put up a lot of front. People come to church, and then at that time, they don’t use bad words, they don’t do anything. It’s because you’re in the presence of God. But they step out, and that’s what happens when you believe wrong.
When you think a church is a building, when you think a church is a building, you start behaving when you’re in the building. But when you’re in somewhere else, you act different. Believe wrong, you live wrong. But the thing is this, church, listen. It’s the sense of his love and grace that changes people’s lives. The only thing that can change our lives, even our lives today, is the love of God. You see, faith is not seeing God as a judge. Is God a judge? Oh, yes. When Jesus comes again, the whole world will know he’s a judge. But that’s not faith. Faith is seeing God now as a Savior, which is how he wants to be seen. Faith is seeing Jesus in his love for you. That’s how he wants to be seen, and that is faith.
When someone sees Jesus in his love, I’m telling you, it pleases the Lord. He has food to eat we don’t even know of. He wants us to see him in his love. And this love will do great things. Remember, the disciples were not able to pull in the fish, all right? After Peter felt love, Peter swam to Jesus. It’s what Peter did single-handedly. Go back to John 21, all right? Look at this, «Simon Peter went up,» verse 11, «and dragged the net to land, full of large fish». Hello, single-handedly. The disciples could not drag it into the boat. On buoyant water, Peter on land, dragged the entire thing single-handedly. Let me tell you this, when you know you’re loved, you do great things. You do exploits.