INTRODUCTION:

1. Our text is about Christian service. It is about ministry. It is about soulwinning (5:10).
2. H.A. Ironside said,
   "It is a great moment in one’s life when he hears the call to a life of service, in devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ and for the blessing of a lost world. To respond to that call in loving obedience is to enter upon an altogether new and blessed experience, where one lives and moves on a higher plane than ever before" (Luke).
3. The miracle recorded here in Luke 5:1-11 demonstrates the Lordship of Christ over all the forces of nature, including the fishes in the sea.
4. We see here our Lord's three closest disciples -- Simon Peter, and James, and his brother John.
5. And the miracle recorded here "indicates the means and the symbol (fishers of men) of the definite service" the disciples were to render (W.H. Griffith Thomas, Outline Studies in Luke).

 

I. THE PREPARATION

1. Luke refers to the Sea of Galilee as "the lake of Gennesaret" (5:1). This was an excellent spot for our Lord to preach. The Sea of Galilee had a small shore line with rolling hills that formed a perfect outdoor auditorium.
2. Our Lord used Peter’s fishing boat for His pulpit (5:1-3).
3. There are many wonderful lessons from this passage of Scripture. Here we read that Simon Peter allowed our Lord to use his fishing boat to preach. If we yield our possessions and property over to the Lord, it is a blessing to see how He uses them for His glory.
4. Sadly, many Christians are missing out on the blessings of God because they are not good stewards. They are selfish.
5. After our Lord finished his message, He gave a simple command -- "Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught (big catch)" (5:4).
6. Here is another valuable lesson: You can only catch fish if you allow the Lord to direct you (5:4-6).
7. Peter and the others had "toiled all the night" and caught nothing. But the Lord, who is omniscient, knows where the fish are.
8. Our Lord said in John 15:5, "Without me ye can do nothing."
9. Compare verses 4 ("your nets" -- plural) and 5 ("the net"). Our Lord did not say, “Let down the net.” He said, “Let down your nets,” to prepare for a great catch.
10. I think we are often a lot like Simon Peter. We limit God by our unbelief, and we limit God by our disobedience.
11. Psalm 78:41 says, "Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel."
12. Peter said, “Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net” (5:5).
13. Peter felt it was a not a good time to catch fish, and he did not really expect to catch anything, but he said, "Nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net." Just the one net.
14. One of Spurgeon's Bible college graduates came to him, and said, “I have been preaching now for some months, and I do not think I have had a single conversion.”
15. Spurgeon said to him, “And do you expect that the Lord is going to bless you and save souls every time you open your mouth?”
16. “No, sir,” the young preacher replied.
17. “Well, then,” Spurgeon said, “that is why you do not get souls saved. If you had believed, the Lord would have given the blessing.”
18. Regarding these faithless preachers, Spurgeon said,
    "They have hardly enough faith to keep them standing upright in their boots; how can they expect God to bless them? I like to go to the pulpit feeling, 'This is God’s Word that I am going to deliver in His name; it cannot return to Him void; I have asked His blessing upon it, and He is bound to give it, and His purposes will be answered, whether my message is a savour of life unto life, or of death unto death to those who hear it.'"
19. We need faith, and we can only catch fish if we allow the Lord to direct us (5:4-6). Peter and the others had "toiled all the night" and caught nothing (5:5). But once they obeyed, the fish "filled both the ships, so that they began to sink" (5:7).

 

II. THE PROGRESS

1. We only make genuine progress in the Christian life when we yield to the Lord and follow His leading. Service carried on by our own wisdom and strength is useless.
2. The secret of success in Christian work is to be yielded to the Lord (5:6, 7).
3. Here is another important lesson: It was out in the deep waters that the nets were filled to the breaking point (5:4-7). 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.
4. Sometimes it is frightening stepping out by faith but the Lord blesses us abundantly by doing so. Also, it is tremendously exciting (5:6, 7).
5. There are many examples of this in the Bible (cf. Hebrews 11).
6. 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 can be taken care of because our Lord is in the boat with us!
7. Part of the disciples' preparation was recognizing our Lord's deity, and understanding their own sinfulness (5:8, 9). Peter realized his lack of faith. If he had let down the "nets," instead of just one net, his net would not have broken (5:4-6).
8. This was true for Peter, and it was also true for Job. Job said to the LORD in Job 42:5 and 6, "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."
9. In Isaiah 6, the prophet Isaiah saw the LORD "sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple" (6:1).
10. Isaiah saw the seraphims crying out one to another, "Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory" (6:3).
11. "And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke" (6:4).
12. Then Isaiah 6:5 says, "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."
13. This was the experience of Peter, and of Job, and of Isaiah, and of every believer when he is brought into the presence of God.
14. Andrew Murray said,
    "Fellowship with God exercises a wonderful influence on (the believer's) life and character. The presence of God fills him with humility, and fear, and a holy circumspection. He lives as in the presence of a king. Fellowship with God produces in him godlike dispositions. Beholding the image of God, he is changed into the same image. Dwelling with the holy One makes him holy. He can say, 'It is good for me to draw near to God' (Psalm 73:28)."
15. James 4:8 says, "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded."
16. There is something else to look at when we consider Peter's progress. In verse 5, he addressed Jesus as "Master," but in verse 8, Peter calls Him "Lord." "Master" shows respect for His authority. "Lord" is a title given to God. He is "the Lord Jesus Christ."
17. This is important because there are some people today who teach that you can be saved by Christ without receiving Him as Lord.
18. They teach that you can receive Him as Saviour, and later on down the road you accept Him as Lord. Of course, they are forced to admit that many of their "converts," never get around to receiving Christ as Lord.
19. 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).
20. Those who refuse to receive Jesus as Lord are like those who say, "We will not have this man to reign over us" (Luke 19:14).

 

III. THE PURPOSE

1. Our Lord said, "Fear not; from henceforth (what a beautiful word!) thou shalt catch men" (5:10). This was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost and the days following.
2. Acts 2:41 says, "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls."
3. Acts 2:47 says, "And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved."
4. Acts 4:4 "Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand."
5. That’s a lot of fish in the net (cf. Matthew 13:47-50).
6. Let me ask you something – whose hook are you on, God’s or the devil’s?
7. The devil has his fishing line in the water and his hook is baited with the things of the world. Don’t let him reel you in!
8. It is interesting to note that the Greek word translated "catch" (5:10) is used only one other time in the New Testament. In II Timothy 2:26 the same word is translated "taken captive," and it is referring to souls being caught by Satan (cf. II Tim. 2:24-26).
9. In the great sea of life, God is catching men but the devil is too. Be careful! It is either eternal life or eternal damnation!

 

CONCLUSION:

1. There has to be instant and complete obedience. When our Lord says "nets," He means more than just one net (5:4, 5).
2. Partial obedience is almost as bad as disobedience.
3. There must be complete surrender. F.B. Meyer said, "Will you surrender the command and let Christ be captain? If so, He will fill your boat to the water's edge. He does beyond all we asked or thought...If you lend Him your boat, He will return it filled with silver fish. "
4. There must be full consecration. Luke 5:11 says that Peter, James, and John "forsook all, and followed" Christ. This means they were true disciples of Christ, because in Luke 14:33 our Lord said, "Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple."
5. Their old life was abandoned -- "they forsook all" (5:11).
6. Their new life had begun -- they "followed him" (5:11).
7. God's call is a call to service -- "Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men" (5:10).
8. W.H. Griffith Thomas said, "Soulwinning was to be the disciples' constant business -- and ours," and he lists qualities of the fishermen which are needed for the successful soulwinner:

• Tact, gentleness
• Watchfulness, observation
• Patience, earnestness
• Perseverance, sincerity
• Courage, readiness
• Strength, power
• Skill, prudence

9. May the Lord use us to be successful "fishers of men"!