Luke's Gospel

Today, we will be reading Luke chapter 5 verse 1 to 11. If you can grab a bible near you on on your tables, it's in page 1 1032. 1 day, as Jesus was standing by the lake of Kenneth Sarat, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of god, He saw at the water's edge 2 boats left there by the fishermen who were washing their nets. He got into 1 of the boats, the 1 belonging to Simon. And asked him to put out a little from the shore.

Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch. Simon answered master. We've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.

When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So the signal to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, go away. Go away from me, lord.

I am a sinful man. For he and all his companions were astonished at catch a fish there taken. And so would James and John, the sons of Sevity, Simon's partners, then Jesus said to Simon, Don't be afraid. From now on, you will fish for people, so they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. As Bauer hits, and ask for god's help together.

Father as we've sung already, we thank you that your son, the lord Jesus is worthy. Worthy is the lamb who was slain worthy is the king who has conquered the grave. And we just wanna echo that song again in our heart acknowledging that the lord Jesus is worthy. He is king and lord and god, and he is our savior. And we thank you for this amazing story, which just reveals so much of your wonderful son.

And we pray that as we look at it, your spirit would be our teacher and our counselor and our helper who would be guiding us to see the lord Jesus that we might leave here with that song on our lips worthy is the lamb and we ask it in his name. Oh man. Now speaking as a fisherman, albeit a fairly unsuccessful 1. I can imagine how I would have been feeling in verse 4. When he had finished speaking, that's Jesus, he said to Simon, put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch.

Simon answered master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets. Now when somebody tells you, where and how you ought to be it's it's irritating. You've been sat in the cold for some time waiting for a bite, You've been adjusting your tactics to try and change your luck. And then somebody comes along, often with a dog, and they ask you the question which no struggling fisherman wants to be asked.

How's it going? By which they mean have you caught anything? Now, if you're really unlucky, that person will know nothing about fishing. They can't sympathize with you. They assume that there are tens of thousands of hungry fish just inches below the water waiting to throw themselves on any hook that manages to fall in front of them And so sadly, thanks to British politeness, you have to justify yourself to somebody who knows precisely nothing, about fishing, and they might even offer you advice about what you ought to be doing, or might even tell you about a friend who picked up a whopper from this stretch of water.

And as a fisherman, you can respond in 2 ways, humility, willingness to listen, even to even to move your equipment, which is quite something to do when you're completely set up, to move your equipment in response to their advice acknowledging that even if they know nothing, they they could be right, to better listen, or in my case, feigned interest. Pretending to take it seriously, but secretly wishing to be left alone. And for a fisherman, a day like that is made even worse when you have to admit defeat pack up all of your equipment, maybe even go home and wash it before putting it in the shed, which takes quite a significant amount of time before facing the same question from your wife. How did it go? And so if it was me in this story, as you can tell I would have been quite grumpy.

In verse 2, Luke tells us that Jesus saw 2 boats by the lake, but the fishermen weren't in them because they were washing their nets. And that is something that you had to do. If you left them covered in water. If you didn't stretch them out on the shore and make sure they were dry, they would rot. They would become brittle and useless.

And so you can picture these fishermen on the shore. It's been a hard night and unsuccessful night. Having to spend a lot of energy cleaning up their equipment with nothing to show for it. And I'm pretty sure if I was with them, I wouldn't be washing those nets. I'd be putting them on eBay.

And then we come to verse 4 When Jesus had finished speaking, he said to Simon put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch. Simon answered master, we've worked hard all night and we haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the net Now, again, there's there's 1 there's 1 way of reading this, which is what I think I would do, and it's the sarcastic response. Put your nets down into deep water, and you'll get a catch. Yes.

Thank you, master. I have been fishing these waters all my life. As you know about the deep water, this is my business after all. I mean, with, with respect, I wouldn't tell you how to open up Isaiah. Would I?

You know, you're a you're a rabbi, you're a teacher. I'm a fisherman. This is what I do. I've known this lake all of my life. But we've toiled all night Jesus.

We tried it, and we've caught nothing. Those tactics haven't worked, but if you say so, then we'll give it a go. Or more likely Peter wasn't as grumpy as I would be. Some people think he was and the commentators go either way on this. Some people think he was being pretty, pretty abrupt and a bit short with him.

But then again, he does call him master, master. And he says, I will do as the master says, at your word, I will. It was hard, but at your word, I will. So maybe not sarcastic unbelief, more like trust in the master, even if it all seems a little bit far fetched. That's probably where he is.

But either way, the results are just stunning. That's the key thing. And the first point I want to make this evening is this. The miraculous catch of fish. Look with me at verse 6.

When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came, and they filled both boats so full that they began to sink, sink. Now, this is a make this is an amazing moment for at least 2 reasons. Firstly, they managed to get the catch in.

I mean, thank goodness. They had the sense to wash those nets. Otherwise, they would have snapped straight away. In fact, they nearly did. You can picture the scene on the boat, can't you?hauling in this this mass of fish, this huge colossal weight that is drawing up underneath their boat.

They can hear the rope beginning to stretch and some of the fibers beginning to ping and snap as their nets, which have been so trustworthy, are giving way. It's like a massive tug of war between men on the boat and the entire fish population of Lake Vanessa acts, like a huge tug of war going on. And so they do the obvious thing. They call for reinforcements. Quick come and help us to get this fish in.

We can't do it by ourselves. And again, This is something that fishermen do. Occasionally, when I do happen to get a bite, there's usually several moments of panic between first hooking it and getting it onto the shore. And I mainly panic when the fish is just a few feet away from being in my net. As a fisherman, the worst time to lose your catch is when it is just a few feet from your net.

You've worked hard to get it in. You've tried to play it with all the tactics that you you know how. You've seen the thing. That's the that's the thing. You've seen it.

You've seen it flapping around. You've seen its shape. You've got an idea of what species it is and how heavy it might be. If you don't land it, it doesn't count. It is the worst time to lose a fish by the shore.

And so in those moments, it has been known for me to be shouting out to whoever else is there. Could it come bring the neck? Come and help me quick. No. Not like that gently.

Getting in softly under the fish. Caress it in. Go gently and just lead it in. Don't whack it. Don't try to bludgeon it into unconsciousness and then grab it in.

You've gotta gently get it in. That's what I've got. When I go with Carl Carl, help quick. Come gently. Come and get the fish in.

Now, the experienced fishermen don't tend to do that. They tend to be able to hook the fish, land it, and get it on the shore without a panic, but I'm a bit more like the fish. I tend to flap quite a lot when I've got something and want to get it in. And therefore, I do think it is good that God has given me this story, because I understand something of the panic that was going on here. And actually, things get even worse, don't they?

When the nets come in, finally, the fish don't give up, There's so many of them that the boat begins to sink like the nets began to break see that word play? The next began to break. The boat began to sink. We're meant to see that this is an edge of the seat moment. It could go either way.

The fish are on board, but it's like they're still fighting. They're fighting to get back beneath the waves with just sheer weight. It's a miracle that they managed to get these fish in But of course, on the other hand, it's not really about them. Is it? I don't think this story is primarily here to show their angling success.

The main reason for this miracle is to show us Jesus. The real miracle here is that the lord Jesus Christ is so completely sovereign that even the fish are obedient to his word reminds us of Egypt, doesn't it? Remember those plagues? With the frogs and the locusts and the flies and the gnats, all of them, little and large, bowing to the will of yahweh being summoned by his word in order to bring judgment and they obey. Well, in the same way, Jesus is the divine son of god.

And every creature Little or large on the land or on the sea or in the air must bow to his will. Simon didn't know it at the start, but beneath the waves at the word of Christ, The fish were shoaling, they were gathering, they were assembling at his command, standing to attention, and waiting to be part of this drama that would reveal his glory. Last week, Steve, Simms were showing us how Jesus is so completely sovereign over evil. And here we see that same power over nature. And so again, it's worth asking the question that he put to us.

Does your view of Jesus Christ match what we find here is your Jesus as big as the 1 that is revealed to us in Luke chapter 5. Hebrews 1 on the screen, behind me, I hope. Switch it on. It's there. Thank you.

Thanks, Karl. Hebrews 1 tells us that in these last days, god has spoken to by his son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The son is the radiance of god's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. That is a stunning portrait of the lord Jesus, isn't it? He is the word of god.

He is the creator of the heavens and the earth. He is the sustainer of all life. Jesus Christ, above all things, who holds all things together. He is the image of the invisible god from him and through him and to him and for him are all things To him be the glory, both now and forever. He is our god.

What a sovereign he is. And although I understand that these fish have a very limited capacity. They know it. Christ is their lord, and they bow to his will. And if that is true of the fish, ought it not to be true of us.

It's worth thinking through, isn't it? As we hear the word of this sovereign Christ, every week, Are we rallying at his command? Are we shawling where he wants us to shawl? Are we standing to attention ready to obey, ready to be part of his drama, submissive to his every instruction. Bowing to his great will.

That is the question that we must face. Are we on the whole more or less obedient than a fish. Jesus Christ is a simply awesome God. Let us gladly bow at his word. There's a miraculous catch of fish, but secondly, There's a miraculous encounter with the lord.

It's the second point. Miraculous catch a fish, a miraculous encounter with the lord. So we're back. To the lake. We're on the boat.

And at this stage, as we know now, it's sinking. I don't know how many fish it takes to sink a boat. Like, how many angels can you get on the head of a pin? How many fish does it take a sink to boat? I don't know.

Were they knee height? Were they waist height? I don't know how many fish they were. Were they all 1 species? Was it a multitude of species?

I don't know. There's a lot enough to sink a boat. And you can imagine what this must have looked like from the dry land. I mean, let's suppose the crowd that Jesus was preaching to was still there. Maybe some of them stayed in order to see what would happen.

It would be funny, wouldn't it? They're watching this boat out on lake Ganesa at, and they suddenly see it starting to sink and to drift beneath the waves. Maybe they thought of calling the coast guard or, something like that in order to help, it must have looked like a bit of a disaster scene. And of course, on the boat, things weren't much better, were they? The nets were nearly knackered.

The boat was about to fall into the waves. This is their livelihood. Here. It's not just like they can get another 1. This is their livelihood.

Now, of course, if they can land this lot, they're in the money big time. They can get this not too short. I mean, imagine them with wheelbarrows full of fish strolling into the market in galilee on Monday morning just with tons of fish. They would be wealthy men. But at this stage, it doesn't look like they're gonna make it to market tomorrow.

He looks more like they'll be sleeping with the fishes at the bottom of the sea to borrow a phrase from the godfather, sleeping with the fishes. And yet, the amazing thing about this whole scene is that Simon, Simon Peter, doesn't think that this is the biggest problem. There is something a whole lot more serious to deal with. Than a sinking boat. The sovereign lord of heaven is a matter of feet away from him.

You see, this catch was so incredible that even lifelong fishermen were astonished. They had never seen anything like it. And it didn't take them long to put 2 and 2 together. Hold on a minute. Jesus told us to do this He told us where to put down our nets.

We put down our nets where he told us, and now the fish are here. It didn't take them long. And so that's when the word master changes to lord. My master is the lord. But if he's the lord, then that means he must know me.

And if he knows me, then that's a problem. Because I'm a sinner. Singing is the least of my worries. And so although he's just a young disciple at this stage, He has experienced something of the master's kindness to him. His mother-in-law was healed back in chapter 4.

He now realizes perhaps for the first time that there is a sense in which him and his master don't belong together. He's on his knees in the fish. With god. And so just like Adam, after the fall, his first instinct is to hide away from me, lord, away from me. I wanna hide It's not many places to hide on a boat.

At least Adam had the privilege of a few trees he could hide behind. Away from me, lord, I wanna hide. Or what about Israel under Mount Sinai, trembling as the mountain was consumed with darkness and fire? What do they say to Moses? Don't let god speak to us or we die away from me, lord, away from us.

We are a sinful people? Or how about Isaiah in chapter 6 when he has that incredible vision of the lord? He says, woe to me. I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the lord God almighty, away from me depart from me. Simon Peter is in the boat with the flesh and blood devastatingly, holy, God away from me.

I'm a sinful man. JC Ryal, comments, hopefully the quote will be up here. These words express the first feelings of man when he is brought into anything like close contact with god. These words express the first feelings of man when he is brought into anything like close contact with god. And that is the key thing here.

Simon doesn't mainly want Jesus to depart because of his power, but because in the boat, his heart has been exposed. He is a sinner, and Jesus knows it. His wicked deeds, like ours, could fill 10000 of these lakes. And here is Jesus, the definition of righteousness and purity 6, 12 inches from him. And the reason we must dwell on this scene, which is the center pin of the story, really, is because nobody can be converted without a moment like this.

It affects every single person in this room and our evangelism more generally in order to become a Christian, the follower of Jesus Christ, you don't have to be a great academic or a skilled theologian, and it doesn't matter what social or economic background you come from, but in order to be saved, you must at some stage have been here. You must have not only known but but sensed and felt and appreciated the vast difference that exists. Between this awesome god and ourselves. How can we bear to be in the boat with the 3 times Holy god. Holy, holy, holy, holy is the lord almighty.

The whole earth is full of his glory. Do not let the lord speak to us or we will die. Do not look upon us lord for we have offended you in more ways than we could imagine. Away from us, away from me. I am a sinful man.

And so once again, our view of Jesus is challenged. Like those snow domes, you know, you think you've got them settled, safe on the mantelpiece, and then you come to Luke 5 and it just shakes it all up again. He is the lover of sinners. He is gentle. He is tender.

He is closer than a brother. But we mustn't domesticate him woe to us, genuinely woe to us. If this lord no longer brings us to our knees. But there is another danger which is equally as terrible. And that is to realize our guilt and then to run away.

If Simon had said, my master is the lord. He knows I'm a sinner. He's a few feet away from me. I'm getting out of here, held his nose, pencil dived off the boat and swam to the shore. This whole story would be a tragedy because the lord Jesus loves to draw near to sinners.

He is perfect love and perfect love drives out fear. Perfect love drives out any fear, which would keep us from the savior. Hear the comfort in verse 10. Don't be afraid I think that is 1 of the most frequent commands in the entire Bible. Don't be afraid.

Simon, don't be afraid. It's wonderful, isn't it that Jesus doesn't answer his prayer? It's not often that we're thankful for unanswered prayer. Is it often we're quick to be thankful or we ought to be quick to be thankful answered prayer, but not often we're thankful that the law didn't answer our prayers. But I don't know for sure, but I guess As Simon Peter looked back on this scene, he was thrilled that the Lord didn't answer that prayer.

He didn't depart from him forever. He chose to come near in grace. Verse 10 again, don't be afraid. From now on, you will fish for people. It's interesting how this story starts and ends in exactly the same way, isn't it?

What is Jesus doing at the beginning of this story? What do we find him doing right at the beginning? He's fishing. He's fishing for people. He's in the boat and he's preaching the word of god.

We assume he was telling people all about the kingdom of god, all about the fact that it had come near in himself and that people ought to repent and believe in him for the kingdom of god was at hand. He is fishing for people at the beginning of this story, and at the end, It's exactly the same. Simon, leave everything, fish for people. Do what I do. Join me.

Fish for people. Like you've seen me doing. And once again, I think the link with Isaiah's vision is so clear that it just can't can't be ignored. And, I just want us to see it on the screen. Have a look at Isaiah 6 from verse 5.

We'll read 5 to 8. This is after he has seen, this vision of the lord almighty. He says, woe to me. I cried. I am a man.

I'm ruined for I am a man of unclean lips. I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the king, the lord almighty. Then 1 of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it, he touched my mouth and said, see, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.

Then I heard the voice of the lord saying whom shall I send? And who will go for us? And I said, here I am. Send me What is the order? Sees God, crushed by sin, atonement provided sent on mission.

Luke 5 sees god, crushed by sin, God comes near in grace, fish for people. It's the same same order. And of course, again, this is not just for prophets and apostles. This is the pattern for all. Who are in Christ.

In order for us to talk effectively about god and his glorious grace, we need to have tasted these things. We need to have gone on the same journey that Isaiah and Peter went on. Without that it's like raving about a dish you've never tasted. You can't you can't do it. We need to have tasted these things.

We need to have seen that without the cross of Jesus Christ, god is a consuming fire. But with the cross of Jesus, he is a tender father. Without the cross of Jesus Christ, even the most moral person is a wreck, but with the cross of Jesus Christ, even the worst sinner can approach him in peace. We must have felt this, have tasted it, have experienced it, have known it, have been where these men have been. If we're going to be useful fishermen.

And as I said, as well as being essential for conversion, This this is the only training you need for evangelism. So many books, you don't need to read them. No special techniques needed. Just this, you and god in the boat and then fish for people. You go now fish for people.

You've tasted and you've seen fish for people, invite them to come and see what you've seen, fish for people. And what I find so encouraging is the certainty of that statement. You will fish for people. I think if it was left to us, we'd be in verse 4 for the rest of our lives. We've worked all night and caught nothing.

We've worked all night as hard as we can. We've caught nothing. But if Jesus is the head of the church, And if he has promised to build it, and if he's promised to use ordinary fishermen and fish a woman like us, then we can throw our nets out with confidence, knowing that people will be caught up in this glorious net. I think it's just a word of encouragement for us because maybe you are here and you honestly feel like Simon at the beginning of this story. Lord, I've tried.

I've tried. I've I've been up all night. I've worked, thrown my nets out. Nothing. We caught nothing.

I've tried. Tried with that colleague. They came once. Nothing. Been laboring amongst my family for years.

I've tried. Nothing. Nothing. I've worked all night. Nothing.

How about this from JC Ryal again? To some fishermen, god may give more honor and to others less. But all true and faithful preachers of the gospel have a right to believe that their labor shall not prove in vain. They may often preach the word with many tears and see no result of their labor, but god's word shall not return void The last day shall show that no work for god was ever thrown away. Every fisherman shall find his master's word come good.

Thou shout, catch men. And so we carry on with confidence amazed that the sovereign lord, ruler of the seas, and all that is in them, should choose to be with us. Broken because by nature, he must not come near or we die in our sin yet never despairing because through the cross, Jesus comes in grace. And he says, don't be afraid. Join me.

Leave everything behind. Come fish for people. Join me. Don't get tied down. Don't be distracted.

Don't have small ambitions for your life. We don't want lives full of small ambitions, do we? Small dreams, self centered dreams, dreams that will perish at the close of this world. We don't want small ambitions. Leave everything.

Leave everything. Throw your nets out because 1 day, when the nets come in, there will be so many people taken up into the kingdom of god that all the world's boats would sink under their weight. Fish for people. Fish for people. There is no better mission to be a part of I was reading this morning in the, on prayer mate in the little Barnibus fund, Barnibus fund prayer.

There was a prayer about China, and it was just saying that for hundreds of years, Christians have been persecuted in China. By all kinds of people, ta Taoists, confucianists, Buddhist, communists, So many regimes have tried to squash the Christian gospel, but they estimate and, of course, only god knows. That there are 200000000 Christians in China now. The gospel will prevail, throwing your nets out is worth it. You will catch men.

Do not be afraid. From now on, you will fish for people. Let's bow our heads and pray together. Lord god, we thank you so much that you are an amazing, powerful, holy righteous god. We thank you that you came to earth in your son, the lord Jesus Christ.

We thank you for this incredible scene on the boat where Simon realized that he was in the presence of the almighty pure, holy god. And he knew that before you he was a sinner. And lord, we acknowledge the same is true of us compared to you We are unworthy. We are sinful. We are deliberately wicked.

Our hearts are evil. We reject your authority. And you see us for who we are. And yet we thank you that you have said to us, whispered to us. Don't be afraid.

We thank you that the lord Jesus that same righteous god was willing to go to a cross and to take all of our sin and our moral filth and our wickedness upon his perfect self and to die in our place. We thank you for that grace. Thank you that we have heard those words. Don't be afraid. And we pray that you would help us whoever we are on whatever jobs we're in to leave everything, to make your kingdom our number 1 priority that we would throw our nets out together fishing for people confident that you will bring them to understand that same lord Jesus that you have revealed to us.

Help us to keep going to fish by faith, and we pray in Jesus' name, amen.