Disclaimer: This transcription is provided for informational purposes, reference, and convenience. Please note that it may contain errors, omissions, or spelling mistakes due to the nature of live audio transcriptions. While we strive for accuracy, this document should not be considered a fully authoritative record of the sermon. For clarification, we recommend referring to the original source. Thank you for your understanding and patience. 

In God's providence, we are now being brought to Luke chapter five. We're going to look at verses one through 11 as we continue to go through this gospel verse by verse, and we will be doing so under the heading "Fishers of Men and the Gospel Net." We're going to be looking at a familiar passage of Scripture but looking into some of its depths that we might apply it.

I want to say from the outset that I truly wish to usher each of you into the presence of the living Christ through his Word and through his Spirit. I know that some of you are in great need this morning, some of you in this worship center, and several outside of it. Life in this fallen world is filled with sorrow and disappointment, is it not? We all understand that, and I'm intimately aware of some of those great sorrows that some of you are experiencing, and there are many more that I'm not aware of, but they are there. As Job said in Job 5:7, "For man is born for trouble as sparks fly upward." But we can find encouragement, dear friends, when we gaze upon Christ, and that is my prayer and passion this morning: that you will see him more clearly, more fully, and remember that he has promised to never leave us nor forsake us; and so if you are among those who are discouraged this morning, may I point you to Christ. Even from the outset, may I remind you of what he said in Matthew 11, beginning in verse 28, he said,

"'Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.

"'Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.

"'For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.'"

Dear friends, you will never experience this comforting rest unless you truly know Him, and unless you truly grasp the solemn realities of what he has done, is doing, and will do for you. Only then will you truly love him and have a passion to obey him and worship him. And only then will you enjoy his presence and power in your life. Often, when I'm drowning in multiple sorrows, I find that my flesh wants me to look down, but the Spirit of God would have me look up, right? And that's what we all must do, as as Paul said in Colossians 3, “Therefore, if you've been raised up with Christ," or it could be translated, "Since you've been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on the things that are on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." And he goes on to say, "When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you will be revealed with Him in glory." And whenever I contemplate on those realities, I can say to myself, "Okay, now what was it that I was so sad about?

Sometimes we have to ask our souls to do what the psalmist said in Psalm 42:5, "Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence." Likewise, Psalm 103 that we're very familiar with, and I want to encourage you with these words from the outset,

"Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name...and forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion, who satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle." Beloved, this is the essence of true worship, and we must all cultivate a life-dominating awe and a heartfelt delight in the supreme beauty and the intrinsic glory of our God in the face of Christ. As we read in Colossians 1:15 Christ is, "the image of the invisible God." And Jesus said in John 14:9, "'He who has seen Me has seen the Father.'"

And remember, the wrath of God abides upon those who do not know who he is, and that's why it's so important even today to be reminded afresh of who he is. So many people today are reinventing a different Jesus, a Jesus that doesn't exist. I learned this week that there is a real movement in Memphis, in the inner city, amongst the pastors to preach Jesus and tell the people that he was a socialist, which is a blasphemous distortion. And there are others who reinvent Jesus, and they will say he was a great teacher, a great prophet. Some will say that he was a man who became a god; the Mormons will say that. that he's a malleable deity. Some believe that he can be manipulated to somehow make you healthy and wealthy. Others believe that he's a helpless deity that hopes that people that are spiritually dead will somehow exercise their will and be saved, and others believe he's a deity that is just so loving that you don't have to worry about his holiness, his righteousness. He saves everyone without any need for repentance. All of these things are appalling, blasphemous distortions.

I read a headline this week that says Christ Episcopal Church in Dayton, Ohio, uses food dye to turn their communion bread rainbow-colored in order to celebrate pride and be inclusive of their LGBTQ members. I mean, it's things like this that Satan is continuing to devise. This is evidence of the wrath of divine abandonment. This is evidence of people that do not know who Jesus is, but they say they do. Very religious people. Dear friends, we must know who he is; and may I also say, and we're going to see this, when you truly recognize who he is, in all of his glory and all of his holiness, you will be terrified in an appropriate way, because your guilt will be exposed in the presence of his holiness. Jesus said in John 3:36 "He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." Oh, how important it is to know Jesus. So let's behold the beauty and the glory of God in Christ.

Luke five, let me read the passage to you, first 11 verses,

"Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret;

"and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake, but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets.

"And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the people from the boat.

"When he had finished speaking, He said to Simon, 'Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.'

"Simon answered and said, 'Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.'

"When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break;

so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink.

"But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus' feet, saying, 'Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!'

"For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken;

"and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, 'Do not fear, from now on, you will be catching men.'

"When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him."

I'd like to open up this passage to you this morning under two very simple headings. First of all, we're going to see: the power of the word of God when preached, and secondly, the power of the word of God when obeyed. Two factors often overlooked, often neglected, treated with indifference, and the result is catastrophic, even for believers. But when a man or a woman hears the word of God and responds to it in faith and in obedience, especially in relation to evangelism and discipleship, God opens up the floodgates of blessing in their life.

I want you to examine your life accordingly as we look at this passage, first of all, under the heading "The Power of the Word of God Preach." Let me give you the context so that you can kind of go there with me and be there by the Sea of Galilee. The Lord has been preaching all around Galilee, performing miraculous works of healing. He's been casting demons out of people, and there are just masses of crowds following him, as you might expect, and so we pick it up here in verse one, "Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret." This is another name for the Sea of Galilee. So picture the scene now, you've got all of these people, and naturally they want to get as close to him as possible, and they just keep pushing him back until he's close to the water. Later on, in verses 15 and following, it says, "But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray."

Now back to verse one, notice it says that the people were "listening to the word of God." Literally, in the original, the grammar is indicating that they're listening to God speak to them directly, and certainly that was true. And Jesus, we know, preached the gospel. He called sinners to repentance, to repent and believe in the gospel. Matthew 3:2, he says, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." And of course, the kingdom of God was always foundational to his teaching, carrying both eschatological as well as ethical dimensions to it. And his message was one of forgiveness that is offered to all who will repent, all who were contrite, who were broken over their sinfulness. He proclaimed good news to the poor. He taught how we need to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves. He preached free grace, not merited favor based upon law keeping, and certainly he did not preach a social justice gospel or a prosperity gospel. In Mark one in verse 15, we read, "'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.'" And certainly, this is good news-the good news of free grace for all who recognize the horror of their sin and cry out to Him for undeserved mercy.

Bear in mind, once again, this is totally foreign to the culture - to the Jewish people of that day. What they were used to is rabbis quoting other rabbis; and some people do that today, they just quote other people. They really don't look into the word. I heard of some church in our area where it's going to be movie month, where they exegete Hollywood movies to glean something worthwhile from them. I don't even want to comment on that. It is so blasphemous. It's just blasphemous. In Matthew 7:28 we read that "When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, not as their scribes." We can also read, for example, in John 7:46, the context there is the officers were supposed to arrest Jesus, lay their hands on him, and arrest him, and that's what the chief priests and the Pharisees wanted, but they couldn't do it. And when asked why, they said in John 7:46 "'Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks.'" But they should have been aware of the power of the Word of God. May I remind you of that Psalm 19, beginning in verse seven. "The law of the LORD," the law referring to the Word of God here, "the law of the LORD is perfect," what does it do? It restores the soul

"The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.

"The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.

"The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever; The judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether.

"They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, and the drippings of the honeycomb.

"Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; in keeping them, there is great reward."

I remember, as a young man, the first time I heard real expository preaching, I was absolutely captivated, especially by the ministry of John MacArthur, and all he did was just stand up and explain the word. I remember one conversation I had with John many years ago, he said, "You know, I never could understand what the big deal is. All I do is just stand up and tell people what the Bible says, you know." And it's fascinating when you see men like him; they get out of the way in the Word, and Christ becomes dominant. And for a believer, we can't get enough of that. And this is to be expected. I mean, Paul said in Second Timothy 3:16 that, "all Scripture," that is the Bible, "is inspired by God." It is breathed out by God, and it is "profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." And it's no wonder that the Apostle Paul would say in Romans one and verse 16 and following, "'I am not ashamed of the gospel,'" and here's why, "for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.'"

So the crowds are pressing in on Jesus; they're listening to his words. They're fascinated with what he's saying, and obviously many of them are wanting to be healed or wanting to witness a miracle. And in verse two, we read that "He saw two boats." Now, bear in mind, these aren't just little rowboats; these are large fishing boats, all right? We know from other passages that they would be large enough to hold Jesus and the 12 disciples. So he sees these two boats lying at the edge of the lake, but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets.

Now a little bit of background here because they fish differently than we do here. First-century fishermen in the Sea of Galilee used three distinct types of nets, and they were all handwoven from linen or flax. They had one net that was a a circular casting net, perhaps you have seen them the way that they will throw it out into the water, and they would be about 20 to 20-five feet in diameter. They had weights on the edges so that the net would go down, and a single fisherman could do this from the shore or from a boat. And they also had what's called trammel nets, and these nets would be used at night to avoid detection because the linen would reflect light in the water during the daytime and cause the fish to be afraid. And these are really fascinating nets. They were a three-layered net, kind of a sandwich, and they consisted of two outer walls with large mesh and a fine inner mesh, and the fish would swim through the outer wall and push the fine net through the other side and create kind of a bag that would catch them. And then finally, there were the drag nets or the "seines." And that's the type of net that we see here in this passage. They were massive nets, varying length. Some of them would be as much as 1000 feet long, and they were heavily weighted with lead, or they would use basalt stones to cause the net to go down, and then they would have large corks on the top so that the top part would float. They would be laid out from a boat, typically in a semicircle fashion, and dragged onto the shore by a team of people, many times up to a dozen men; or they would encircle with several boats or a couple of boats. Sometimes even one boat, but usually more, and then they would pull the net up with the catch. Bear in mind that these nets required daily maintenance. They had to be cleaned, and they had to be dried to prevent rotting, and so there was a lot of labor involved in fishing, and that's what's going on here.

Notice verse three, "And he got into one of the boats, which was Simon's"  It's interesting, Jesus had his eye on Simon, didn't he? He knew exactly what he was doing. Peter would later become Simon Peter. He would become the leader of the 12. "And he asked him to put out a little way from the land." This this would be a good way of amplifying the sound, right? You know how water amplifies sound, and it would also give Jesus a little bit of space, and it would allow other people to be able to see him with the massive crowds. And so that's what happens. And it says that Jesus, "sat down and began teaching the people from the boat." And of course, this was the typical posture of a rabbi to sit down and to teach. And again, it's fascinating to me that Jesus is preaching to this vast audience, and he is holding them by preaching the Word of God by the power of the Spirit. They have been brought there to hear the word.

Now we know that some responded in faith and obedience - most of them did not; most of them cried out later on for him to be crucified. Bear in mind, however, that the word of God is, according to Hebrews 4:12, is "living and active," right? "...and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, both joints and marrow, able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." And even as I preach to you this morning, the word is doing one of two things as it penetrates every single heart that hears. It will either harden your heart or soften your heart. That's God's deal. My deal and your deal is to just preach it. So that's what's going on here. But it will penetrate and expose every heart. I think of Isaiah 55:11, "My word, by which goes forth from My mouth, it will not return to me empty without accomplishing what I desire and without succeeding in the manner for which I sent it."  Beloved, never underestimate the power of the word of God. Jeremiah 23:29 comes to mind. He says, "Is not My word like fire?’ declares the LORD, 'and like a hammer which shatters a rock?'" Boy, he has burned me and shattered me many times over the years. Has he not you? Oh my! I trust you all have an attentive spirit to the Word of God; that you love the truth, you're eager to hear it, to study it, to meditate upon it. I pray we can all sing with Charles Wesley,

When quiet in my room, I sit, the book be my companion still;

My joy, Thy sayings to repeat, talk o'er the records of thy will;

and search the oracles divine till every heartfelt word is mine.

Beloved, this must be the disciplined passion of your heart, the desire of your heart. James 1:21, we read, "Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness," in other words, renouncing and putting away the sin in our lives that would cause us to forfeit divine blessing and bring chastening upon us, he says, "...in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls." He's referring to the gospel seed that was implanted into your heart by the Spirit of God when you heard it, and it began to germinate and began to bear fruit in the good soil of your heart. Beloved, remember the word of God is the gospel in its completeness. That's why Paul says, "it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Romans 1:16).

So first of all, what we see happening here in this historical narrative is the power of the word of God being preached. Secondly, and here's where it really gets exciting: the power of the Word of God when obeyed. Verse four, "When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, 'Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.'" Okay, now let's get the scene. The service is over, so to speak, right? Jesus is out in the boat with Simon Peter, probably James and John. And it's interesting in the original language, although he's speaking to Simon, the verb "let down'...you see where it says, "Let down your nets,” that’s a second person plural, which indicates that he's now referencing the whole crew. He wants them all to hear this; and some of them are still on the shore mending their nets, all right? He says, "'Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.'"

Now the text doesn't say this, but you know what had to be going through the mind of those men. It's like, "Are you serious? In the middle of the day? We never fish in the middle of the day, and we are in the process of taking care of our nets. And do you realize how much work it is to get all of these nets together, get them rigged the proper way in the boats, get them on the boat, get them out there, put them in?" I mean, folks, this would have taken at least a couple of hours, so naturally that's what they're thinking. Plus, we know that they fished all night and caught nothing. You know, when I think about this, we all have 1000 reasons why our plans are better than God's, don't we? You know we've got all the ways to justify why... "I know what he's saying here, but my situation's different." Proverbs 14:12, "There's a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death."

 Well, "Simon answered and said, 'Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing.'" I have to smile at this. As if Jesus didn't know that; as if Jesus lacked the information necessary to make a good decision here. I'm guilty of doing the same thing, and so are you. "'Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing. You, must not have known that. You must not understand that." But then it says, "'But I will do as You say and let down the nets.'"  I can only imagine, he probably looked at Jesus and Jesus has this look on his face and is like, but that's all right, we’ll let down the nets. And he's probably also thinking, I mean, this guy can perform miracles. I've already seen it, so I guess we can give it a go. And so it probably took a couple hours, but they did it.

Verse six says, "When they had done this, they enclosed," you get the idea here with the nets, "...they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break." Folks, can you imagine what must have gone through the minds of those men? They'd never seen anything like this. They're awestruck. I'm reminded, and perhaps they were too, we don't know, of Psalm 104, beginning in verse 24,

"O LORD, how many are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all; the earth is full of Your possessions.

"There is the sea, great and broad, in which are swarms without number, animals both small and great.

"There the ships move along, and Leviathan, which You have formed to sport in it.

"They all wait for You to give them their food in due season.

"You give to them, they gather it up. You open your hand, they are satisfied with good.

"You hide your face, they are dismayed; You take away their spirit, they expire and return to their dust.

"You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; and You renew the face of the ground."

Oh, dear friends, the majesty of our omnipotent sovereign! And this is what they are seeing.

So again, in verse six, we see that they enclosed the nets here; they get a great quantity of fish, so that their nets began to break. Verse seven, "so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them." And then we read, "And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink." Oh, dear friend, the power of the Word of God when obeyed. How he richly, lavishly rewards obedient faith. Can't we all give testimony to that? We've all had those times in our lives where we've been disobedient, and times where we've been obedient, and we've watched the Lord do things that are marvelous. I can tell you how he has extravagantly poured out blessings in my life over the years, and in the life of my family, in the life of this church. For a moment, will you think of those marriages that you know of, where there is a husband and a wife who obey the word of the Lord, and you see how God blesses them? Think of how God blesses families that obey the word of God; how the kids grow up, come to saving faith, and honor him in their lives. How God blesses businesses and workers and ministries and musicians and writers and Sunday school teachers and pastors and churches who hear the word and obey the word? My, can't we all sing "Amazing Grace" right? When we think of these things, can't we all sing "Praise God from whom all blessings flow?" Can't we all sing "Praise to the Lord Almighty, the King of creation?" "Great is Thy faithfulness?" "How great Thou art! " Absolutely!

Well, Simon Peter and James and John are learning this. They're seeing it. They're experiencing it. So they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. I mean, folks, this means that we're talking tons of fish. This is more fish than they've ever seen. It's unimaginable. Verse eight, "But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus' feet, saying, 'Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!'" Beloved, this is the natural reaction when a sinful man or a sinful woman suddenly finds themselves in the presence of an infinitely holy God; and we can see that infinitely holy God not physically, but we see Him through the eyes of faith in Scripture as the Spirit of God reveals him to us.

Verse nine, "For amazement had seized him and all his companions." Have you ever been gripped or seized by amazement? It's like you can't talk, you can't move. You're just so completely consumed with that which is unfathomable. That's what's going on here. "Amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon." Don't you know what they were thinking? This is unbelievable. Jesus either has the power to summon the fish to this place where he told us to put down our nets, or he created them here, or both. I mean, this is just beyond anything that that they could grasp. Only God could do such a thing. And folks, as we look at all of the miracles all throughout Scripture that God has done, aren't you ashamed when we often treat his Word with indifference, as if somehow he doesn't have the power to accomplish in us and through us what he has promised? Oh, the ways that we whine and pout and complain. How sad it is to be around Christians who are sour and sullen, acting as though God has somehow cheated them, that he is not as good as he claims to be, or that he simply doesn't understand my situation, or he doesn't care. And then when we think that way, we wonder why he doesn't hear our prayers, so to speak. Oh, we of little faith! What an insult to doubt God's sovereign power and the ineffable goodness of his grace in those he inhabits.

Again, put yourself in the boat of the fishing crew. I mean, you know, they're whispering to each other,  "This is unbelievable, I don't know what to say." Now, I hope I'm not adding to the Word of God here because what I'm about to say isn't in the Word., but here's probably what they were were thinking at some level. They're probably thinking, "You know what,  we need to have Nehemiah 9:6-7 painted on our boats or on our robes." I mean, they didn't have t-shirts then to print this stuff or hoodies. What's Nehemiah nine six through seven?

"'You alone are the LORD. You have made the heavens, the heaven of heavens with all their hosts, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them, and the heavenly host bows down before You.

"'You are the LORD God.'"

Well, notice again, verse eight, "when Simon Peter saw that," saw all that had happened, "he fell down at Jesus' feet, saying, 'Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!'" Beloved, again, this will always be the terrifying reaction of a woman or a man who is suddenly confronted with the holiness of God. When by the power of His Spirit and according to his grace, he opens our blind eyes, he breathes spiritual life into these dead, spiritual cadavers, and he causes us to witness who Jesus really is, and we're overwhelmed with the glory of it all. When a man is suddenly given those spiritual eyes, and given just a little glimpse of his intrinsic glory - his infinite, unfathomable glory - he will then say with Isaiah, when this happened with him, in Isaiah six and verse five, "Woe is me." In other words, I'm cursed, "for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.'"

What happened to the Apostle John in the Book of Revelation when he got a glimpse of the glory of Christ? It was so overwhelming; Revelation 1:17 says that he, "fell at His feet like a dead man." Oh dear Christian, would that we all have a zeal for the glory of God, that we could see more of who he is through Scripture and through all that he does in our life; a zeal that is soul-captivating, sin-destroying, when we behold the majesty of God.  Beloved, we need to cultivate within our hearts a soul-consuming infatuation with the manifestation of the character of God as he reveals himself in his works, in his Word, and in his people. To see him as he has revealed himself in creation, and Scripture, and in the person work of Christ. And when this happens within the heart of a believer, that person will increasingly develop a life-dominating obsession with the incomprehensible majesty of the living Christ.  This is what happened to Peter and the others. Don't you know it stuck with them throughout their life? By the way, it got even better for them. Remember, on the Mount of Transfiguration in Matthew 17, when the Lord peeled back his flesh, and they were able to see even more of his divine glory. It was so overwhelming that in Matthew 17:6 it says they "fell face down to the ground and were terrified." Beloved, we must remain forever preoccupied with the profound realities of the deity of Christ, allowing them to evoke within us a reverential awe that will naturally result in a wholehearted devotion to his glory in all that we do, come what may. Then others will see that devotion in our life. They will hear it in our voice. They will see it played out in how we treat our wives, our husband, our children, other people. And by God's grace, he will use that testimony to bring others to a saving knowledge of Christ.

By the way, this is consistent with Jesus' command in Matthew five verse 16, "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven." You see, having a preoccupation with the unfathomable glory and greatness and goodness of God is not just a suggestion that you're hearing from a pastor. This is a command from God Himself. Psalm 33:8, speaking through his inspired psalmist, God adjures the whole of his creation, saying, "Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him." Beloved, when when we live in that state of awe, regardless of how difficult life can be, we find ourselves transcending the temporal and the swamps of difficulty that we typically tread, and instead we are consumed with the incomprehensible perfections of our Creator and Redeemer, whose glory we will one day share. That's why this is so important to know Christ and behold Him.

So again, witnessing all that has just happened, Simon Peter falls down at Jesus' feet, "'Go away from me, Lord, for I'm a sinful man!'" This reminds me of the repentant tax collector, right? Luke 18, remember him? He was unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, "'God, be merciful to me, the sinner.'" And do we not live, or maybe I should say, should we not live in a state of contrition throughout our lives, even though we know we have been forgiven, we have been declared righteous in our justification? Do we not seek to grow in sanctifying grace, constantly aware of our sinfulness? We read in Isaiah 66:2, the Lord says, "'But to this one I will look...'" in other words, this is the person that I will look at and bless, "...to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.'" Simon Peter, at this point, was like Job. Remember that point in in the story of Job, where he was finally brought to a place where he was just terrified with amazement. God just intimidates him with his glory chapter after chapter after chapter, and finally, in a state of humble contrition, Job says in Job 42:5,

 "'I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You;

"Therefore, I retract and I repent in dust and ashes.'"

So this is what's going on and then notice Jesus' compassion at the end of verse 10, "And Jesus said to Simon, 'Do not fear.'" Do not fear. We shouldn't fear. I mean, yes, we should have a reverential awe of who God is, but not a terror of his judgment, unless we have never embraced Christ as our Savior and truly been born again. Simon, "'Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men.'" The Greek grammar indicates that you will be catching men alive-that's the idea. And I, as I think about it, certainly we know that that happened historically, and we continue to see it happen. And what did they use to catch men? The same gospel net that Jesus used. Folks, we don't need to come up with a new net. The same net that caught you and me is what they used. Charles Spurgeon put it this way, "Rely implicitly upon the old, old gospel. You need no other nets when you fish for men. Those your Master has given you are strong enough to hold the little ones. Spread these nets, no others. You need not fear the fulfillment of His word. I will make you fishers of men." Indeed, that's what will happen. People will come to Christ.

Well, back to the text,  "When they had brought their boats to land," verse 11, "they left everything and followed Him." Now the text doesn't say it, but I'm sure they made arrangements to somehow have other people take over their fishing business, take over their boats, and certainly to do something with all those fish. Jesus wouldn't just have them sit there on the shore and rot. I'm sure they sold a lot of them and gave many to the poor. Probably had to get hundreds of people to come help them do that. But oh, what a testimony! All the people around, "Where did all these fish come from?" Jesus did this. "And they left everything and followed Him." Beloved, let me ask you: Are you following Jesus, or are you just going your own way, indifferent towards what he would have you do? John MacArthur said it so well, "Those who recognize their sinful unworthiness and embrace Jesus as the truthful, omniscient, omnipotent, holy, and merciful God are the ones he reconciles to himself. He forgives their sin, takes away their fear of judgment that sin causes, and commissions them to the great task of evangelization of catching men alive for the kingdom of God.

Beloved, I pray this morning that you will launch out into the unknown depths of your family and friends in ways that are available to you, and that you will spread the old gospel net. That you might catch men alive and women alive and boys and girls alive, for the sake of the kingdom. Rather than, and I'm going to say this with love, rather than watching everybody else do it as if it doesn't apply to you, because after all, you're too busy. Reality is, you're too afraid, and you're too lazy. And folks, you don't have to quit your job to follow Christ. You simply have to cast your net in the sphere of influence in which God has already placed you. Think of all the ways you can do that through social media, for example. And I encourage you: pray for opportunities, pray for an abundant catch. All you have to do is look around this worship center, and you see a net full of people that have been caught by the gospel net, right? Isn't an amazing thing? But like Simon and his companions, may I remind you, you've got to stay close to Jesus and follow him in order to catch men with the gospel.

And I close with the words of an old hymn that came to my mind as I was meditating upon this passage. Actually, this came to my mind yesterday morning. It's a hymn that we used to sing when I was a child, and it stuck out to me because it really perfectly summarizes the lesson that Peter, James, and John learned. The lyrics go:

When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word, what a glory He sheds on our way!

While we do His good will, He abides with us still, and with all who will trust and obey.

Trust and obey, for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

Amen? Amen. Let's pray together, Father, we rejoice in the manifold ways you lavish your goodness and grace upon us. Thank you for saving our souls. Thank you for changing us, making us new creatures in Christ. Lord, what a joy it is to walk faithfully and intimately with you, even when life is hard. And oh Lord, how we long to see you face to face. I pray that you will speak to every heart within the sound of my voice, that if there be those who have never truly bowed the knee to Christ and cried out for saving grace, Lord, make them miserable in their life until they do so, and Lord, for all of us who know and love you, all of us who are debtors to your grace, animate our hearts and will to serve you, that we might see many come to a saving knowledge of Christ, and that we might be able to disciple many, so that they can observe all that you have commanded. Lord, we thank you. We give you praise in Jesus' name. Amen.