FROM HENCEFORTH THOU SHALT CATCH MEN

Pastor James J. Barker

Text: LUKE 5:1-11




INTRODUCTION:


  1. I am often asked about this building -- a former fish market.
  2. I usually respond by saying that Jesus said in Matthew 4:19, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."
  3. This means if you are not winning souls you are not following Jesus.
  4. In our text today we see that our Lord used Peter’s fishing boat for His pulpit (5:1-3). This would have been a great spot for our Lord to preach.
  5. The Sea of Galilee ("the lake of Gennesaret" – vs. 1) had a small shore line with rolling hills that formed a perfect outdoor auditorium.
  6. Jesus said in Matthew 4:19, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."   The lesson is if you truly a follower of Jesus you will go out and win men to Christ.
  7. The lesson here in Luke 5, is you can only win men to Christ if you allow the Lord to direct you (5:4-6; cf. 5:10).
  8. Peter and the others had "toiled all the night" and caught nothing. But the Lord, who is omniscient, knows where the fish are.
  9. And He will likewise direct the wise soulwinner.  Proverbs 11:30 says, "He that winneth souls is wise."
  10. The secret of success in Christian work is to be yielded to the Lord and led by the Lord (Luke 5:5).
  11. It was out in the deep waters that the nets were filled to the breaking point (5:6). This indicates that we have to stop hanging around the shore line and launch out by faith, which means full surrender to the Lord’s will. Sometimes it is frightening stepping out by faith but the Lord blesses us abundantly by doing so (5:6, 7).
  12. It was out in the deep waters that the nets began to break and the boats began to sink (5:6, 7). Obeying the Lord oftentimes brings problems. But these problems will be taken care of because He is in the boat with us!
  13. I want to draw out one more lesson here, before getting into my message. It was while Peter and the others were engaged in their ordinary employment that our Lord called them to be fishers of men (5:10).
  14. "Just as a rudder guides a ship only when it is in motion, so God guides men when they too are in motion" – William MacDonald.
  15. If you are wondering what God has in store for your life, just keep busy doing what you’re doing, and He will make His will clear to you as you obey Him and seek to follow Him (cf. Acts 13:1-4).
  16. The men in Antioch were busy serving in their local church when God moved them out. Keep busy and the Lord will surely direct you and guide you.
  17. Catching fish is a nice occupation, but catching men is infinitely better (5:10, 11). That’s why this fishing boat made such a good pulpit for our Lord – every pulpit ought to be a fishing boat where the preacher gives out the Word of God and tries to catch fish.
  18. No one can escape God’s drag-net (Matt.13:47-50).  Where people spend eternity depends on their response to the Gospel. It is either heaven or hell (Matt.13:47-50).

 

I. OBEDIENT SERVICE (5:4-6)

  1. Our Lord said in John 14:15, "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15).
  2. There is a song often sung by young people: "Obedience is the very best way to show that you believe."
  3. Another well-known Gospel song is "Trust and Obey."
  4. "Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey."
  5. The great British general, the Duke of Wellington, once gave a command to one of his men and the man told him that it was impossible to execute such a command. Wellington replied, "You just go ahead and do it, because I don’t give impossible commands!"
  6. Likewise, our Lord does not give impossible commands. He said in Matthew 4:19, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."
  7. Therefore, if we follow Him we can be confident that we will win souls.
  8. Our Lord told Peter to let down the nets, because He knows where to drop the nets! When we do things God’s way, He blesses (5:6).
  9. When we go fishing, we must go where the fish are. This sounds obvious yet when we see how few souls are being saved today, we realize many Christians have not learned this lesson.
  10. When we go fishing, we must be patient. Spurgeon said: "I sometimes hear of persons getting very angry after a gospel sermon, and I say to myself, `I am not sorry for it.’ Sometimes when we are fishing, the fish gets the hook into his mouth. He pulls hard at the line; if he were dead, he would not; but he is a live fish, worth the getting; and though he runs away for awhile, with the hook in his jaws, he cannot escape. His very wriggling and his anger show that he has got the hook, and the hook has got him. Have the landing-net ready; we shall land him by and by. Give him more line; let him spend his strength, and then we will land him, and he shall belong to Christ forever."
  11. Our Lord commanded Peter to let down all the nets (plural – 5:4). But Peter felt it was no use and said, "Nevertheless, at thy word I will let down the net" (singular – 5:5).
  12. If Peter had completely obeyed the Lord and let down all the nets, the net probably would not have broken. We limit God by our unbelief, and we limit God by our disobedience.
  13. Before moving on to my next point, let me remind you that obedience may involve sacrifice, but it is certain to result in many souls being saved.
  14. There is another well-known story about the Duke of Wellington.  A preacher asked the Iron Duke about foreign missions and was told, "What are your marching orders?"
  15. Samuel M. Zwemer, who devoted his life to winning Muslims to Christ, said this: "Our willingness to sacrifice for an enterprise is always in proportion to our faith in that enterprise. Faith has the genius of transforming the barely possible into actuality. Once men are dominated by the conviction that a thing must be done, they will stop at nothing until it is accomplished.  We have our 'marching orders,' as the Iron Duke said, and because our Commander-in-Chief is not absent, but with us, the impossible becomes not only practical but imperative."
  16. "And because our Commander-in-Chief is not absent, but with us, the impossible becomes not only practical but imperative" (cf. Matt. 28:20b).

 

II. HUMILITY BEFORE GOD AND MEN (5:7, 8)

  1. In recognition of his own sinfulness, Simon Peter cried out, "Depart from me; for I am a sinful, man, O Lord" (5:8).
  2. Matthew Henry said, "Those whom Christ designs to admit to the most intimate acquaintance with him he first makes sensible that they deserve to be set at the greatest distance from him. We must all own ourselves sinful men."
  3. Consider Job.  Job had to endure the criticisms of Eliphaz and Bildad and Zophar and Elihu.
  4. But then in Job 38:1 we read that "the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind."
  5. Job could respond to the criticisms and insults from his friends, but when God spoke, Job could not say a word.  He finally spoke up in Job 40:4 and said, "Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth."
  6. And then, in the final chapter of that magnificent book of Job, Job says to the LORD, "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.  Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes" (42:5, 6).
  7. The prophet Isaiah had a similar experience in Isaiah 6.  "Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts" (Isa.6:5).
  8. John 12:40 tells us that it was the Lord Jesus Christ that Isaiah saw "sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up" (Isa. 6:1).
  9. Peter recognized that Jesus Christ is Lord, that He is a holy and just God, and that we are unworthy to stand in His presence.
  10. Peter said, "Depart from me; for I am a sinful, man, O Lord" (5:8).
  11. Job said, "Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes" (42:6).
  12. Isaiah said, "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips" (Isa. 6:5).
  13. One day Pastor F.B. Meyer was out visiting people, and he dropped in on a washerwoman who was a member of his church. She had just got out a line of clothes. He congratulated her because they looked so white. She was very much encouraged by her pastor's kind words, and so she asked him to have a cup of tea, and they sat down. While they were drinking their tea, the sky clouded and a snow storm appeared. And as F. B. Meyer came out the white snow lay everywhere, and he said to her:
    "Your washing does not look quite so clean as it did."
  14. "Ah," she said, " the washing is right enough; but what can stand against God Almighty's white?"
  15. Many people think that they are clean because they have never seen God. When they see God, they will respond like Job and like Isaiah and like Peter, and they will abhor themselves and repent in dust and ashes.
  16. Our Lord told Simon Peter, "Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men" (5:10).
  17. This promise was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost.  Acts 2:41 says three thousand souls were saved. That’s a lot of fish!
  18. Acts 4:4 says, "Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand."
  19. Let me ask you something – whose hook are you on, God’s hook or the devil’s hook?
  20. The devil has his fishing line in the water and his hook is baited with the things of the world. Oh, my friend, don’t let him reel you in!
  21. It is interesting to note that the word translated "catch" (5:10) is used only one other time in the New Testament (cf. II Tim. 2:24-26).   ("Taken captive" by the devil.)
  22. In the great sea of life, God is catching men but the devil is too. Be careful!

 

III. FORSAKING ALL AND FOLLOWING CHRIST (5:11)

  1. As we study carefully this passage of Scripture, we notice that when Peter recognized our Lord’s holiness and his own sinfulness, he addressed Jesus as "Lord" (5:8).
  2. Our Lord said in Luke 6:46, "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?"
  3. Our Lord went on to say that those who come to Him and hear His sayings, and do them, are like a man which built a house, and laid his foundation on a rock (Luke 6:47-49).
  4. Many churchgoers are not standing on a firm foundation.  And they are not forsaking all for Christ (Luke 5:11).
  5. Not everyone can quit his job and go follow Christ.  But each and every Christian can serve the Lord effectively if they will trust the Lord and obey the Lord. 
  6. The late evangelist Vance Havner said, "Nowadays we have created an artificial distinction between trusting Christ as Saviour and confessing Him as Lord. We have made two experiences out of it when it is one…Salvation is not a cafeteria line where we can take the Saviourhood of Christ and pass up His Lordship, take what we want and leave the rest…To be sure, one may not understand all that is involved at conversion, but no man can knowingly and willfully take Christ as Saviour and reject Him as Lord, and be saved. Paul told the Philippian jailer, `Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved…Here is the key to the sad state of many Christians and churches. There is a cheap, easy believism that does not believe and a receivism that does not receive. There is no confession of Christ Jesus as Lord. It is significant that the word `Saviour’ occurs only 24 times in the New Testament, while the word `Lord’ is found 433 times" (Repent or Else, pp. 117,118).

 

CONCLUSION:


  1. You do not have to be a pastor or a missionary or an evangelist or a great Bible scholar to be used by God.
  2. Over 100 years ago, there was a testimony meeting, following an evangelistic crusade in Brockton, Massachusetts, held by Dwight L. Moody.
  3. A young man stood to speak, and it soon became clear he knew very little Bible doctrine. But he concluded his testimony by saying, “I’m not quite sure—but I’m going to trust, and I’m going to obey.”
  4. Daniel Towner was a Christian musician, who had composed the music to many great hymns, such as "Saved By the Blood of the Crucified One," "At Calvary,"  "Grace That is Greater Than All Our Sin," and many others.
  5. Mr. Towner was at this testimony meeting, and he jotted down the young man's words -- "I’m going to trust, and I’m going to obey.”
  6. He gave the words to John Sammis, who developed the lyrics from them.
  7. And that is the story behind the great hymn,

                     "Trust and Obey."
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’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.



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