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Book: Luke
 Print ( PC Only )
Luke 5:1-11
Intro. It had been one of those nights, futile and fruitless. All night
long up and down the shores of Galilee, casting out the nets,
and pulling them back in empty. You had pulled out all of your
bags of tricks that you had learned through the years with no
success. It is now morning and all you have to show for a night
of labor is nets full of weeds. As you are washing the nets
hoping for a better day, a man is coming your direction
followed by a large number of people. He gets into your boat
and calls for you to shove off just a little ways. He sits
there now protected from the pushing crowd and He begins to
teach the people about God and how He desires us to live. The
people listen eagerly and you find yourself also entranced by
the things that He is teaching. Having finished His lesson, he
now turns to you and says, "Simon, launch out into the deep and
let down your nets for a draft."
I. The reluctant obedience.
A. The response of Peter was polite, and accommodating.
1. It was as if Peter said, "Look Lord, you are a good
teacher, you tell the people fascinating things about
God, but I am the fisherman, I know fish, I know their
habits, I know this lake, this is not the time of day
to fish."
2. Peter in his response also admitted to failure. "We
have fished all night and caught nothing."
3. Have you ever had one of those days, when everything
seemed go wrong, one of those days that seemed to be so
fruitless, nothing seemed to go right, and at the end
of the day you wondered why you even got out of bed in
the morning?
4. That's the kind of night Peter had had, and now this
Teacher who has probably never tossed out a net in His
life is telling me how to fish.
B. Though Peter mildly objected, yet still we must note that he
did obey.
1. His obedience was in blind faith in that it was against
everything that he knew.
a. His knowledge and understanding of these waters
and fish told him that it would only be
fruitless to go out at this time of day to try
to catch anything.
b. He looked upon the command as a foolish
command, yet he obeyed.
2. His experience was telling him one thing and this man
is commanding him to do something that to him did not
make sense.
3. Nevertheless, at Your word, I will let down the net.
II. The result of obeying in blind faith. "And when they had done this
they immediately enclosed a great number of fish and the net broke."
A. Peter had never seen so many fish in his whole life.
1. He was so excited that he did not at first comprehend
the implications and meaning of the success.
2. He called for his partners James and John who were
still on shore to come out in their ship, and they
began to fill their ships with fish until they began to
sink with the weight of the fish.
3. It was at this point that Peter realized the meaning of
this miracle.
4. This man sitting in the ship who had taught the people
so many wonderful things about God their heavenly
Father, was no ordinary man. I believe that light of
revelation began to dawn in Peter's heart this moment,
which later was to burst forth in full revelation when
at Caesarea Phillipi he will declare, "You are the
Messiah, the Son of the living God."
B. Peter's response was to fall down at the knees of Jesus and
say, "Depart from me for I am a sinful man, O Lord."
1. In the recognition of who Jesus was came the
recognition of what he was.
2. This is always true, you never truly see yourself until
you see yourself in the light of Jesus and who He truly
is.
a. Isaiah's vision of the throne of God, "Woe is
me, for I am a man of unclean lips."
b. The result of Daniel's vision of Jesus, "My
beauty turned into corruption."
3. You see a man who is proud and arrogant in his self
righteousness, this man has never met Jesus. There is
more hope for a prostitute or drunkard to enter the
kingdom of heaven than him.
4. It is not until you see yourself as a hopeless sinner
that you will seek the help of Jesus to redeem your
lost soul.
5. Our problem is that we usually just see ourselves in
the light of each other, and in your light, I don't
look that bad.
a. In some light I don't look too bad, say 40 watt
bulbs. But to look at the reflection of
yourself in bright light is often devastating.
b. So as we stand about and talk to each other, in
the light of each other we look pretty good.
But let the light of Jesus shine, and we then
behold the truth as every ugly flaw is exposed.
c. Jesus spoke of men not wanting to come to the
light because they loved the darkness rather
than the light because their deeds were evil.
III. The higher calling of Jesus. "From now on you will catch men."
A. As soon as Peter acknowledged his sin, the Lord was able to
cleanse and call him to a higher avocation than just catching
fish.
1. Peter said, "I am a sinful man." Jesus answered "Don't
be afraid from now on you are going to catch men."
2. I am always blessed and amazed at the men that God
calls to catch men.
a. They are not always the men that I would
choose, the cultured, the elite, the
fashionable, the brilliant.
b. Quite often he calls the street fighter, the
brawler, the drug addict, the alcoholic.
3. We see this fulfilled in the book of Acts as we watch
Peter casting out the gospel net and catching men for
Jesus Christ.
a. In the second chapter of Acts we find around
3,000 men accepting Jesus.
b. In chapter 4 we see another 5,000.
B. Just think of the thousands of men who have spent their lives
around the sea of Galilee, and have daily made their living by
pulling fish out of that body of water. They have lived and
they have died, they are unknown and nameless to the
world.
1. There are four fishermen whose names have become
household words throughout the centuries and throughout
the world, whose lives have made a tremendous impact
upon the world, upon you and me.
2. What sets these four men apart from the others?
a. They met Jesus and came to recognize Him and
the Messiah, the promised Savior of the world.
b. They obeyed His call to carry the message of
His love and His gospel to all the world.
IV. Lessons that this story teaches us.
A. Using our own skills, knowledge and efforts we can be a total
failure. We can fish all night and catch nothing.
1. In the ministry I think of all the years that I fished
and caught comparably nothing, as I used all my skills
and efforts.
2. Yet what a vast difference when our lives become
directed by the Lord. "At Thy word, I will do it."
a. You cast the nets in the same place,
b. You cast the nets the same way.
c. The only difference is that they are now so
full that you have difficulty trying to draw
them in.
3. What makes the difference?
a. The difference is your service is now directed
by Him.
b. It is no longer doing it out of your experience
and skills.
4. The net result is that He gets the recognition and
glory for the success.
B. Faith acts upon the word of the Lord, that may even be contrary
to my experience and understanding. "At Thy word, I will do
it."
1. Peter's past experience would keep him from trying to
catch any fish at this time of day.
2. Peter following his own instincts would have gone home
and gone to bed, and try fishing another day.
C. We need to see the Lord in truth to see the truth about
ourselves.
1. Standing in His light I see myself in the true light.
2. The truth is I am a sinful man. I need cleansing, I
need forgiveness, I need redemption.
D. God can use anyone in His service of catching men for Him.
Common people like fishermen, mechanics, grocery clerks,
housewives.
1CO 1:26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men
after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, [are
called]:
1CO 1:27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to
confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of
the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1CO 1:28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised,
hath God chosen, [yea], and things which are not, to bring
to nought things that are:
1CO 1:29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
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