And this morning to our theme in these
morning services, from Simon to Peter.
And we come now to the episodes which
we find in the three synoptic Gospels, Matthew,
Mark and Luke, that refer to the summons
of our Lord to Simon and his fellows
to become fishers of men.
You will find the relative material in Matthew
4, verses 18-22, Mark 1, verses 16
-20 and in Luke 5, verses 1-11.
Now let's get the setting.
You remember that Simon, the subject of our
present study, was included among a small nucleus
of people who were introduced to our theme
from Simon to Peter.
We come to pursue the aspect of the
subject that was introduced last Lord's Day morning,
called to be a fisher of men.
Having already considered this theme then, as it
is unfolded in the earlier incident that took
place in our Lord's ministry, recorded by Matthew
and Mark, we turn today to Luke's exclusive
account of another incident in which the same
theme occupied the teaching of our Lord and
was expounded by him to his disciples.
Now this you'll find in our reading in
Luke 5, verses 1-11.
We shall not read the passage now, for
I think it is fairly familiar and I
trust it's fresh in all our minds this
morning.
The metaphor employed here is most suggestive, most
graphic, as we saw last Sunday morning.
The task to which Simon, along with others
and along with ourselves, was called by our
Lord is a task in which, according to
him, mankind are lost in a sea of
sin and death.
Now have we seen men in this plight?
Like fish in the sea, in an element
from which they cannot get out, but in
which they can simply go around in circles
at various levels.
Mankind are like fish in an ocean, lost
and incapable of extricating themselves from the sand.
And our task is to become fishers of
men, by God's good hand.
We are to be his fishermen, to take
men out of that element, and by the
lift of the gospel message of the Spirit
of God to convey them and transform them
and translate them into another kingdom, into another
territory, into another element altogether.
This is the graphic way of describing the
task to which Simon was called and those
with him, into which you Christian and I
am called today.
It is to be fishers of men.
It is no wonder, therefore, that the training
for such a high calling is correspondingly exacting.
It involves every prospective fisher of men in
following after the one who went to his
cross to die in order to rise again
and to ascend the throne of God.
It is to follow in the footsteps of
him that was going into the teeth of
the fray that he knew was going to
crucify him, following after him.
Fishermen, you must leave your fish and become
a fisher of men.
To become a fisher of men you must
follow in the footsteps of the master man
-fisher.
And to do that will mean suffering, loneliness,
deprivation maybe, and a sure cross, but this
is the call.
You don't become a fisher of men by
just attending a course on man-fishing.
You don't become a fisher of men by
coming to a class which teaches you in
personal evangelism or any other kind of evangelism.
This is one of the sad things in
the church of Jesus Christ.
There are multitudes of men and women who
have been to classes galore on personal counseling
and personal evangelism and they've never caught a
fish.
You know why?
We become fishers of men, says Jesus, by
following him, following him.
And we can bask in the truths and
the doctrines of the New Testament relating to
the task of man-fishing without taking one
solitary step out onto the side of the
lake following him where he goes.
But you say to me this morning, I'm
not sure where Jesus is going these days.
Well, I can tell you where he's going
and I have not the shadow of a
doubt for the Son of Man is come
to seek and to save that which was
lost.
And ere he ascended to the Father, he
said to his disciples, Go ye and make
disciples of all nations.
And he ended that by saying, Lo, I
am with you who go.
That's what he is.
The way of his goings are determined in
Scripture.
Make no mistake about this.
And if you're on that path, you're on
his wavelength and you're on his way, but
make sure that you keep close to him.
The task, becoming fishers of men.
The training, it is exacting and it is
delicate.
As delicate as the task is intricate.
Because it means that we must learn to
follow our Lord.
Not simply to go on bungling in our
own sweet way, but it means that we
need to know our Master's voice.
To sense the movements of his Spirit.
Do you remember last Sunday evening for example?
Now this is off the beaten track in
a sense, but it is relevant too.
Last Sunday evening we were discussing the founding
of the church in Philippi.
Did you notice at the beginning of Acts
chapter 16 how the Apostle Paul and those
with him, they were forbidden to preach the
Holy Ghost in one place, and they were
forbidden to preach the Gospel in another place,
and they were brought exactly to Philippi.
Now one place where they were forbidden to
go and preach the Gospel was in Asia.
You say, this is terrible.
Doesn't the Lord want Asiatics to be saved?
Yes.
But there was an Asiatic woman waiting in
Philippi who was the key to Asia, and
her name was Lydia.
And the Lord's way to Asia was via
Lydia's household and Lydia's testimony.
And Simon, I'm sorry, Saul of Tarsus that
was, Paul now, was sensitive to the movements
of the Spirit of God.
You see, he was following close on to
his master's foot marks.
Therefore he knew the way.
Now this is the training then.
Difficult?
Yes.
But this morning we turn from the task
and the training to the token of success
that is given here in Luke chapter 5
verses 1 to 11.
This incident reflects a stage in our Lord's
public ministry when he is now beginning, may
I emphasize the word beginning, beginning to be
popular.
He is beginning to gather the crowds and
we find that they are very much here
as we shall see in a moment.
Now there are three things I want to
say about this particular incident.
I want us to look at the timing
of the token that was given, then the
test that preceded the timing and necessarily so,
and finally the truth conveyed by means of
a token.
First of all, the timing of the token
that was given.
Now apart from the general factor which we've
just noted, there would appear to be at
least two important matters relating to the timing
of our Lord's giving of this great token
in the catch of fish when the fishermen
had failed to catch anything the night before.
The first is this, the apparent spiritual failure
of the preceding day.
Now please don't let us miss this.
If we miss this, we miss the whole
thrust of the passage and of this very
important lesson.
Let me go back just a little.
Upon the arrival of Jesus and his followers
up in Galilee in the north, it would
appear that Jesus dismissed the little band and
sent them home to their families and to
their friends.
The very natural thing to do when they've
been down probably in the feast in Jerusalem
over a period, and then they've been delayed
with our Lord and they've been seeing the
incidents recorded in John 1 to 4.
Having arrived up north in Galilee then, it
would appear that Jesus sent them back.
Back, Simon, to take care of his wife
and mother-in-law who lived with him
and whether he had children or not, we
don't know, and so with the others.
Then our Lord was out one day by
the Sea of Galilee and he saw them
fishing, Simon and Andrew, James and John.
And he called them as we saw last
time.
He said, Now look, he said, time for
fishing is over.
Come after me and I will make you
to become officials of men.
And immediately they left everything and they followed
him.
Their response was decisive and wholehearted.
But let me hasten to add it was
long, it was short-lived.
Not long-lived but short-lived.
Something happened.
Now, the Scriptures don't tell us and when
the Scriptures are silent it's very dangerous for
us to say too much.
But something happened.
And yet don't we all know the kind
of things that happen when the Lord Jesus
Christ has called us to a specific task?
Do we need really to probe or try
to probe into the details that characterize the
lives of these people?
I don't think we do.
You know it and I know it.
The kind of thing that intrude into our
lives when Christ has called us to something
very definite.
Friends and foes seem to unite as in
a whole massive array to stand in the
way the enticements of the world, the desire
for this and the lust for that.
Many a Christian life knows what it is
for lust to come to life when God
calls.
I have counseled many, many men and women
who never knew the power of lust until
God called them to do something.
And the love of ease and the love
of pleasure.
They never knew they had it until He
called.
But when He called the whole thing came
to life again.
And they knew what sin was and what
Satan was and what it was to have
enmity not only in their foes but in
their homes.
Now we have no clear evidence of precisely
what happened to these people but the thing
that is important is this.
They went back to their boats again.
Called as Matthew tells us in chapter 4
and Mark tells us in chapter 1 and
they left everything to follow Him.
After a little while, I don't know how
long, a few weeks probably, they went back
to the boat and they were there for
some time.
But suffice it now to note that Jesus
Christ who called them did not leave them
there.
And this of course is the thrilling note
that will run throughout the whole life of
Simon Peter.
He who calls his people pursues them when
they go astray and woos them back again
into his way and into his will and
will summons them and will use this and
that to bring them back.
And so he does here with Peter.
Fickle that Simon was, floundering that he was,
our Lord Jesus Christ will seek him and
bring him back again into the way and
will even give him a token of ultimate
success when he is a total failure.
You know this is wonderful.
The apparent spiritual failure then of preceding days
resulting in a return to the old secular
ways from which Jesus had decisively called him
and called his fellows.
The other thing to notice by way of
the timing of the token is this.
The evident material failure of the preceding night.
Now whatever success they may have experienced at
their fishing during the intervening days since they
turned their backs on the Lord Jesus and
went back to their boats.
The night before this incident was disastrous.
Experienced fishermen though they were fishing in the
most familiar waters.
They knew every inch of the Sea of
Galilee the Lake of Gennesaret as it is
called here one and the same.
They knew every inch of it.
They'd lived here they were brought up here
they knew it all and they go out
into the familiar waters with all their acumen
all their ability all their experience and that
night they caught nothing.
Says Simon in verse 5 we have toiled
all night and we've taken nothing.
The fish kept strangely at bay.
Now get the picture.
Add those two things together let's make a
total let's strike a total.
The apparent spiritual failure of recent days the
obviously material failure of the previous night what
does it all mount up to this?
In the heart of these men there must
have been some feeling such as this that
the whole world has turned against them since
they came to know the Lord Jesus.
It's also difficult to obey him and to
do what he asks and yet when they
turn back to their secular vocations here they
are involved in fishing and they can make
nothing of it.
The whole world has turned against them.
So much for the timing of the token
about which we are going to see in
a moment.
Now come in the second place and notice
the test that preceded the divinely timed token.
With Simon and his friends retreating from Jesus
retreating from training to become fishers of men.
A very remarkable providence can I put it
like that?
A very remarkable providence arranges that Jesus should
be coming down again by the lakeside.
Simon and his fellows are out there with
a boat.
The boat is empty they are cleaning their
nets but now there is a difference.
It's not only Jesus and the disciples and
the boat but there is a whole concourse
of people pressing upon our Lord Jesus Christ.
It's very difficult to convey this but the
word press perhaps is the best.
There is the pressure of the multitudes driving
him in towards the sea towards the water.
Can you not envisage people not simply jostling
around him but pushing him.
They want to hear something or they want
to see a miracle.
Whatever they wanted they are pressing hard upon
him and he is driven.
He is driven.
That's the picture.
He is driven to the edge of the
water and so much so when he sees
these two empty boats here he says to
Simon who owned one of them Simon he
says let me get into the boat and
take out a little so that I can
use your boat to preach to these people.
Now think again.
Here are these fishermen who have been called
to be fishers of men running away from
duty.
Going back to their secular vocation to catch
fish in the sea of Galilee and though
the sea of Galilee was full of fish
they could catch no fish whilst the human
fish are clamoring to be caught.
The human fish are multiplying.
They are all there.
They are gathering around our Lord.
They are jostling around him.
They are waiting to be taught.
They are waiting to be led.
May I say so reverently they are waiting
to be caught in the net of the
gospel and Jesus is alone and single-handed.
The fish that they were accustomed to catching
they can no longer catch.
But the human fish are eager to be
caught and Jesus has only two hands and
two lips.
One mouth.
The spectacle of the needy multitudes.
The sound of the master's voice and the
substance of his speech must have prepared Simon
somewhat for what was to come.
Concluding his discourse our Lord then turns to
Simon having taught the people out of his
little boat.
He turns to Simon and he says now
Simon he says do what I tell you.
Now you don't find that exactly in the
scriptures but that's the significance of it.
Simon he says do what I tell you.
You see this is the one thing that
we human people don't like to do in
our fallen condition.
We don't like to do what God tells
us to do.
Simon says the master do what I tell
you.
I want you to move out.
And I want you to do something just
as I tell you.
Now let me interject here.
What our Lord is after is this.
He has called these people and he has
called Simon in particular to become a fisher
of men.
They failed already.
But our master wants to qualify and clarify
one thing.
Namely Simon's view of himself.
I wonder how I can say this without
being misunderstood but I'm going to put it
in a very blathery way.
You know Jesus Christ can put up with
almost any blunder in a Christian man or
a Christian woman provided in the depths of
our souls we have the right view of
him.
Now that can be misunderstood.
And I ought to take two Sunday mornings
to qualify it and confirm it.
But I want you to see what happens
now.
The one thing our master our Lord wants
to know is this Simon who do you
think I am?
He doesn't say it like that but he
wants Simon not to reply in words.
Words can be very glib.
But he wants Simon to show what he
thinks of him who has called him.
And on the basis of that our Lord
will come and give him if he passes
the test to give him a token of
unquestioned success.
Now let's look at it.
Already seated in Simon's boat then Jesus issued
the command that was a tacit claim to
control Simon's boat and Simon's time his possessions
and his programs says Jesus to him Simon
launch out into the depths and let down
your nets for a draft, for a catch,
for a show.
But the boat is not his to command.
The boat is Simon's.
Who is this person that comes into Simon's
boat and tells him where to go and
what to do?
He is the one from whom Simon has
retreated abandoned rejected in a sense for a
while Simon had been washing his nets as
we have seen and yet our Lord our
Lord commands the rightful owner of that boat
and of those nets to go out into
the deep and to do just exactly what
he is told.
Now let me point out again let me
get this you see what the Lord Jesus
is after is this it's the view that
Simon still holds of his person.
Who is this person that is commanding me?
Who's telling me what to do?
Who's telling me what to do with my
own with my own tackle and with my
own boat?
Who's telling me where to go?
If he is a a fisherman I'm sorry
if he is a mere carpenter coming to
tell a fisherman in a trade that is
altogether unknown to him well he's a bungler
and he needs to be told off.
Is he that?
Is he just an intruder somebody that likes
to have his fingers in other people's pies?
What right has he?
Now you wait in a moment it will
come out.
That Jesus assumes to have a right to
control that boat those nets Simon's time and
he tells him so.
Simon launch out I want your boat I
want your nets do as I tell you.
Look again the command was no mere claim
to Simon's possessions and program it also implied
his authority over Simon's natural wisdom and personal
will.
When Jesus commanded push out now into the
deep water and let down your nets for
a catch he was challenging Simon's wisdom as
a fisherman.
You see Simon had no plan to fish
just then.
Why?
Because he was a good fisherman.
And fishermen did not fish in the day
or very rarely did and if they did
it was with a line with a line
and a hook.
Jesus tells this man to go out in
the day not in the night when as
his experience says it is absolutely hopeless.
And yet Jesus bids him to go against
his own native wisdom as a fisherman do
what Jesus is telling him.
Now the question is this what do you
know about it?
Who are you to tell me how to
fish?
What is your experience in fishing?
Who are you anyway?
Do you know anything about this lake?
And do you know anything about fishing at
all?
What right have you to tell me what
to do?
Can I repeat?
Is this but a bungling carpenter who wants
to intrude in other men's business?
If so we'll understand Simon Peter giving him
a cold shoulder and an explanation.
And Simon's explanations would not have had much
jam on them.
But my dear friends come with me and
see Simon pass the test.
Oh the grace of God despite the failure
you see there's something there.
Grace has begun to work.
Now what is it?
Says Simon Master he says and the word
for master is quite a strong one.
Master he says we've toiled all night and
caught nothing nevertheless.
Oh my dear people can you see what's
happening here?
Simon says we've toiled all night our experience
is hopeless.
We know the lake and we know the
habits of the fish and we've got nothing.
We put our best into it we've got
nothing.
You tell us now to go out.
Nevertheless he says despite our failure if you
say so I'll put down the nets.
Oh this is precious.
You see what it reveals is this Simon
saw in Jesus more than a mere carpenter
from Nazareth.
More than a mere pharisaic teacher.
More than a rabbi that was purely human.
He saw him he saw him dare I
say it he saw him as the Messiah.
He saw God incarnate here.
Now let me say there will be theologians
present who will probably quit me for this.
I'm not wanting to suggest that Peter's Christology
has come to full bloom.
But I do mean to say this that
Simon knew that here was someone who was
above the human and what can you have
above the human but the Messiah of whom
Peter has been hearing in the previous chapters
in John 1 to 4 the previous episode.
Grace has triumphed.
And Simon launches out into the deep lets
down the net and this brings us to
the token and the truth that it taught.