MR CHARLES STANLEY read John 21, and spoke as follows:
A thought connected with the voice of the Lord, to us this morning. “The early morn now breaking” (ver. 4). The morning of His appearing now is near. The present gathering may be the last before we see His face. Do we not all feel the force of that word to our souls – what a solemn thing to be brought to the close of the Church’s history—and the call to know His mind, His will for the few days that remain.
“The early morn now breaking,” Jesus stood on the shore. The disciples knew not that it was Jesus. God has been pleased to reveal to our souls the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, not in Peter’s boat, not in the boat we were in, fishing, not on the unstable water of Christendom, but on the solid shore. And from one to another the word has passed, north, south, east, and west, “It is the Lord.” Not, “It is believers,” “It is ourselves.” Many disciples have not known Him, who He is. Some are at the net, a few fathoms off. I go with our beloved; brother: with every word. In the Gospel, and as an old evangelist I may be allowed to say it, and often as I have seen the direction of His eye, as to where the net has to be cast, and where many, and great fishes, should be taken; there is something more precious than this to my heart. It is communion with Him; it is His “come and dine;” it is the food. He bids us share with Him the communion of heart with Himself. This is really the contrast with the fishing. Oh, what a moment this is in the history of saints. The time of man’s activity, of human fishing, without the known presence of the Lord ending; and now the known presence of the Lord is given, “It is the Lord.” “On this wise showed He Himself.” The Holy Ghost is whispering round to heart after heart, “It is the Lord,” but made known not on the sea, but by gathering all those who hear His voice, to the solid shore of resurrection to feast with Himself. I doubt not, we might carry this blessed figure a little further. I doubt there are few here, but can take the place of Peter, whether as to the fishing or the food. Have we not been brought to walk a little more softly than we walked before? Is not that same blessed Lord that disciplined Peter, disciplining us? Now, as the early morning is breaking, is He not in some measure weaning us from fleshly prowess, from fleshly activity; and are we not just in His presence, as Peter was, to hear a few words from Himself?
While, on the one hand, the need of becoming fishers has long impressed us, and may He be with the evangelists present, bid them cast the net, and where the fishes are to be found; yet, He did not say to Peter after His appearing, “Carry the net and cast it in again.” It was not that work that specially occupied Him at that moment, and I believe with our brother, that it is not that work that chiefly occupies Him now.
May I ask your attention now, to your own neighborhood, your own town, and villages. What is the heart of Christ respecting His lambs around you? His sheep? We can say with Peter; and it is an immense favor, softly as we may be called to walk, deeply as we are brought to feel our own nothingness, “Thou knottiest that we are attached to Thee.” We are attached to Christ. We are linked with Him. To think of this company now, gathered from all parts of England, Ireland, and Scotland too, all attached to Christ—linked to Christ. Having no other interest but to represent Christ, “the bright and morning star.” To represent Him, not merely leaving the dark night that is past in Peter’s boat, but to see and hear Him at the breaking of morn. Is there a sight on earth, the Father’s eye can rest on, like the sight this morning? When in prayer last night, the gravity and solemnity of so many saints, all gathered by Himself, and to Himself, was pressed on me. What a sight; the gravity of it is amazing. But have we responded to the heart of Christ, as to His lambs and sheep?
A word about the villages around our places. I do not mean as to fishing merely, but as to feeding. “Children have you any meat?” The answer from a thousand round our homes would be, “We have not food;” never was a time when the sheep of Christ were needing food and shepherding as at this moment. What is our responsibility? What is yours? What is mine? What is the responsibility of our united hearts? To answer to the word of Christ, “Feed My lambs; shepherd My sheep.” It is the will of our ascended Lord that the word should pass from heart to heart, “It is the Lord” gathering His sheep, gathering His lambs, giving the well that is springing up; let us sing unto it. Oh, the all-sufficiency of the Holy Ghost that dwells in us. May He bless this, perhaps our last coming together, to bring us more into tune with His own heart; and let a wave of divine blessing flow out from this meeting, for the refreshing of His own. “The early morning is breaking” and Jesus stands on the shore. Tell it, tell it all around! Disciples there know not “it is the Lord.” Solemnly do I corroborate the thought so set before us: it is the Lord’s message to us, at the closing hour. May He keep our hearts, through these meetings, in communion with Himself, and to His blessed name be all praise. Amen.