Let us turn to God's Word once
again, directing you now to the words that we find in the Gospel
according to St. Luke, chapter 5, and I'll read
verses 1 to 11. In Luke, chapter 5, reading the
opening paragraph, verses 1 to 11, And it came to pass that,
as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood
by the lake of Genazareth, and saw two ships standing by the
lake, but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing
their nets. And he entered into one of the
ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust
out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the
people out of the ship. Now when he had left speaking,
he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your
nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto
him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word I will
let down the nets. And when they had this done,
they enclosed a great multitude of fishes in their net break,
and they beckoned unto their partners which were in the other
ship, that they should come and help them. And they came and
filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. When Simon
Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart
from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished,
and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which
they had taken. And so was also James and John,
the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus
said unto Simon, Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they had brought their
ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him. the call of
Simon Peter and here we have the second part of that call
and I want tonight to concentrate on the end of this passage that
we've just read verses 8 9 and 10 when Simon Peter saw it he
fell down at Jesus knees saying depart from me for I am a sinful
man O Lord For he was astonished, and all that were with him at
the draught of the fishes which they had taken. And so was also
James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon.
And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt
catch men. The call, as I said, of Peter. And it's a second part of that
core, and the passage that we've read is really paralleled in
the other synoptic Gospels, in Matthew chapter 4, verses 18
to 22, and then in Mark chapter 1, and verses 16 to 20. But here in Luke's account, you
will see, if you make the comparison, that we have a little bit more
detail than we have in Matthew and in Mark. Now this morning
we were considering what I said was the first part of the call
of Simon Peter. It was that first meeting of
the Lord with Simon as we have it recorded there in John chapter
1 and verses 40 to 42. And we were considering how it
was his brother Andrew, Simon's brother Andrew who brings him
to the Lord Jesus and we thought about how the Lord saw Simon,
how he looked upon Simon and the things that he then said
unto Simon remember those words in John 1.42 when Jesus beheld
him as Andrew presents him, they were all of them Simon and his
brother Andrew and James and John, all of them were the disciples,
the followers of John the Baptist who was the the forerunner, the
harbinger of the Messiah and now Messiah has come and this
is Messiah even Jesus of Nazareth And how the Lord, when this man
Simon is presented to Him, looks upon Him, when Jesus beheld Him. And we remarked how that the
particular word, the verb that is used here, to behold, to look,
it's the same word that is also found in Luke, in Luke chapter
22 and verse 61. when Simon Peter denied the Lord. He denied him three times and
we are told how the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. And the effect of that look Now
Peter remembered the words that the Lord had spoken to him concerning
the fact that he would deny him. And Peter went out, it says,
and wept bitter tears. Oh, what a look! It was such
a penetrating look, such a searching look that the Lord gave when
he looked upon that man. Now it reached into the very
depths of his soul. And so it was also at the beginning
when Simon first meets the Lord. It is, as we said, a A searching
look. It's those eyes that are as a
flame of fire that burn into the souls of men. But we said
this morning it was not only that that reaches into his soul
and exposes to him his sin. It was also a saving look. and we see it not only with regards
to Simon but what follows there at the end of John's Gospel because
we also read of the Lord's dealings with Nathanael and it's Philip
who brings Nathanael just as Andrew had brought Simon and
when Nathanael comes the words of the Lord before that Philip
called him when there was under the fig tree. I saw them. Oh
how the Lord saw him. He saw him before ever he came. He saw Peter before ever he came. He sees these men. He knows these
men from the foundation of the world. And that, look, it is
such a saving. Look how it was the case with
Simon. O thou art Simon, son of Jonas,
he says, thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation
a stone. What he was, what he was naturally
speaking, the son of Jonas, the sinful son of a sinful father,
that sin has come down all the generations, but he would receive
a new name. And that new name declared that
he would have a new nature, he would be one who was born again
by the Spirit of God. All the work of the Lord Jesus,
that sovereign grace that we see then in the Lord's initial
dealings with Simon. That was the first meeting, that
was the first part of the call of Peter. But now we come to
the second part. And as I said, we've read these
verses at the beginning of this fifth chapter in Luke, but in
particular what we have here in the verses 8 to 10. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell
down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful
man, O Lord. For he was astonished. And all
that were with him at the draught of the fishes which they had
taken, and so was Also James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear
not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men. Now, dividing what
I have to say into three main sections, three points. First
of all, to say something with regards to the preaching of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And then secondly, to look at
Peter and what we see of the faith of Peter at this time.
He has received that gift of faith and we see the evidence
of it in his response to the Lord Jesus. And then finally
to turn again to the Lord Jesus and the prophetic words that
the Lord speaks here in verse 10. Fear not, from henceforth
thou shalt catch men. First of all, the preaching of
the Lord Jesus. What are we told here at the
beginning of the chapter? He came to pass, that as the
people pressed upon Him to hear the words of God, He stood by
the lake of Gennesaret. The people are about Him. There's
a great multitude of people now pressing upon Him and what is
their desire what is their intention they want to hear from his lips
the word of God and he enters into Simon's ship and prays him
that he would trust out a little from the land and then he sits
down and he taught the people out of the ship it was customary
for the rabbis to have that posture of sitting when they talk Somewhat
different to what we would be expecting today. We expect the
preacher to stand to deliver his message. But here in the
New Testament, the teacher would sit. Remember the scribes and
the Pharisees. were those who sat in the seat
of Moses. As the Lord himself says to the
multitude and to his disciples in Matthew 23, the scribes and
the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. All therefore whatsoever they
bid you observe, that observe and do. But do not ye after their
works, for they say and do not. But they sit. The posture of
sitting indicates authority and so the Lord sits as he preaches
to the multitudes and we're told on another occasion how the multitude,
the common people they heard him gladly or the leaders of
the Jews, the scribes and the Pharisees and the Sadducees they
would not hear him but the common people would hear him And here
we see then, the context is one in which we see the preaching
of the Lord Jesus. It reminds us again of the importance
of preaching with regards to the call of God. But what do
we see here? First of all, with regards to
this preaching we see the authority of the Lord Jesus. Now, I've
already intimated something of that in that he sits there in
the ship. He sat down and taught the people
out of the ship. But it was not long previous,
of course, that we read here in Luke of the beginnings of
his ministry. After his baptizing, after his
temptations, we see him returning to Nazareth. And here in chapter
4, Verse 16, He came to Nazareth where He had been brought up,
and as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath
day and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto
Him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book,
He found the place where it was written. He turns to the words
there in Isaiah 61, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. because
he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, he hath
sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the
captives and recovery of the sight to the blind, to set at
liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable word
of the Lord." He quotes the words of the prophet. And then he says,
well it says here, he closed the book and gave it again to
the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that
were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto
them, This day is the Scripture fulfilled in your ears. For the authority of the Lord
Jesus, later in that same fourth chapter, In verse 32 we're told
that in Capernaum they were astonished at his doctrine. For his word
was with power. His word was with authority. And this is seen time and time
and time again as we read through the Gospels. There in Matthew
where we have the record of the Sermon on the Mount. And what
do we read at the end of Matthew 7? It came to pass when he had
ended all these sayings the people were filled with astonishment
for he taught them with authority and not as the scribes. For as
they recognized in the very manner and the matter of his ministry
never man spake like this man. There was an authority. in the
ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. What was that authority? Well,
here we see Him, of course, God incarnate, but also He's a man,
but He's a man under that blessed unction of the Spirit. The Father
did not give the Spirit by measure unto Him. He is the anointed
of the Lord. He is the Lord's prophet. He
is the Lord's servant. And of course, besides that authority
that must have been there in the manner in which He preached,
and those things that he was declaring unto the people we
know that there was also a confirmation of his preaching and we see that
of course in the mighty works and the miracles that he performs
here again in this gospel in chapter 7 we read of him raising
the son of the widow of Nain in verse 11 and the following
verses He comes and touches the bow of the coffin and says, young
man, I say unto thee arise. And he that was dead sat up and
began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.
And then we're told this, there came a fear on all and they glorified
God saying that the great prophet is risen up among us and that
God hath visited his people. How that miracle, the rising
of the dead, is a sign of His authority. And in that same chapter,
in that 7th chapter, we have Him sending a message to John
the Baptist. John who was the forerunner,
as we saw this morning there in the opening chapter of John's
Gospel. But there, in the 7th chapter, John seems to be filled with
some uncertainty, some doubt. Verse 19, John calling unto him
two of his disciples, sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he
that should come, or look we for another? When the men were
come unto him, they said, John the Baptist hath sent us unto
thee, saying, Art thou he that should come, or look we for another? And in that same hour he cured
many of their infirmities and plagues and of evil spirits,
and unto many that were blind he gave sight. Then Jesus answering
said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things you
have seen and heard. Now that the blind see, the lame
walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised,
to the poor the gospel is preached. And blessed is he whosoever shall
not be offended in me." Here is the proof, John, all the works,
the mighty works, the great works, that the Lord Jesus Christ is
performing, and not only that, the message that He is proclaiming,
He is preaching the Gospel, the Good News, the glad tidings of
salvation to poor, needy sinners. There is a confirmation of His
preaching ministry, and we see it, as we've said so many times,
in those miracles. when Nicodemus comes to the Lord
in John chapter 3. The teacher of the Jews, Nicodemus,
what does he say? We know that thou art a teacher
come from God. No man can do these miracles
that thou doest except God be with him. Even this man, you
see, recognizes the significance of the ministry of the performer
of miracles. We're told there in the second
chapter of John, this beginning of miracles, did Jesus, in Cana
of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory. And his disciples
believed it. You know that the word that we
have there throughout John, the word miracle, literally a sign.
This beginning of signs did Jesus, in Cana of Galilee, and manifested
forth his glory. This is the context here, it's
the preaching of the Lord Jesus that we have even as he sits
there in Simon Peter's boat. There's authority, there's confirmation,
there's a manifestation. Here he is manifest to be the
true Messiah. All the details you see of this
miracle are not without significance. All these things that Jesus began
both to do and to teach as we read in the opening words of
this particular gospel, they're all significant, every detail.
Now we need to take account of the details. Look at what it
says here concerning the miracle. When he had left speaking, we're
told at verse 4, He said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep,
and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto
him, Master, we have toiled all the day, and have taken nothing.
Nevertheless at thy word I will let down the nets. And when they
had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes,
and their nets broke. and then they have to beckon
to their partners and they fill both the ships, both the boats
and they begin to sink such is the weight of the fishes that
they've caught when they've obeyed the commandment of the Lord Jesus.
Now what is the significance? Well the Lord Jesus Christ is
the last Adam Remember 1 Corinthians 15, we're
told of two Adams. There's the first man that is
of the earth, earthy, that's the first Adam. There's the second
man, which is the Lord from heaven, and that's the last Adam. And here we see Christ as that
one who is the great antitype of Adam. Adam is a type. And there we see how the Lord
Jesus is that one who has dominion over the fishes. He is that one who is the man,
the Adam. The one that was appointed to
come and to rectify all that the first Adam destroyed. in his disobedience, in his fault.
In Psalm 8, we read of man and man's position in the creation. What is man? Ask the Psalmists
that they are mindful of him. And the son of man that thou
Visit us then, for thou hast made him a little lower than
the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou
madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands. Thou
hast put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, yea,
and the beast of the field, the fowl of the air, and the fish
of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea.
Or what is man? Now, who is the man? Who is the man that is being
spoken of there in the psalm? Psalm 8 is a messianic psalm. It speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And there is no disputing that fact. We have the authority of
the New Testament Scriptures. What we read there in Hebrews
chapter 2, at verse 6 following, where the apostle actually quotes
those words that we've just referred to. And then he says this, but
we see Jesus, made a little lower than the angels. That man who
is being spoken of in Psalm 8, is ultimately the last Adam. Or remember what God says to
the first Adam, that is creation. There is that verse often referred
to as the cultural mandate, that man is set over all the works
of God's hand and the earth and all that is upon it is there
to serve man who stands at the very head of God's creation. Genesis 1.28, God bless them
and God said unto them, be fruitful. and multiply, and replenish the
earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the
sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing
that moveth upon the earth. And this is what we see here
in this miracle, this miraculous draft of visions. For which the
Lord Jesus Christ, the first man Adam, was made a living soul.
The last Adam was made a quickening spirit. It's this man. The first man is of the earth,
the second man. Oh, it is the Lord from heaven. Here we see him manifesting as
that man, that certain man, spoken of in Daniel chapter 10. the man, even the man Christ
Jesus, his manifestation, the revelation of the glories that
belong to him, as that one who was to come, even the Christ
of God. But let us, in the second place,
turn for a while to consider Peter. We've said something with
regards to the context, and here we see the Lord Jesus Christ
as that one who is the great preacher and proclaims his message
with great authority and all that is confirmed by the miracle
that he performs. But what of Peter? Well Peter's
faith is seen in the response that we have. The Lord gives
him a commandment there in verse 4, when he had left speaking
he said unto Simon, launch out into the deep and let down your
nets for a draft and that's the imperative the Lord is telling
him to do something he's not requesting him he is telling
him, commanding him and what do we see? Peter's obedience and that's the evidence you see
of his faith in this man that he hardly knew The Lord says, if you love me,
keep my commandments. And Peter will keep the Lord's
commandments. This is the love of God. John
says that we keep His commandments and His commandments are not
grievous. Oh friends, do we love the commandments
of God? Do we love the blessed precepts
of the Gospel? I'm sure we love the promises.
I was struck then when we were singing that lovely hymn of Anne Still, 1078. I don't know if it's like this
with you as it is with me, but sometimes when we sing these
wonderful hymns, certain truths just stand forth. And that fourth verse, when some
kind promise glads my heart, glads my soul, Do I not find
His healing voice? And it struck me, you see, some
kind promise. Now we bring gladness and joy
into our souls when we hear the Lord speaking in that healing
voice, that restoring voice, the application of some promise
made precious to us. Now precious promises, we love
them, we delight in them, we want the Lord to apply them.
But let us not be partial. Do we love the precepts? Do we
love the commandments of the Lord? Do we want really to walk
in obedience? Is it our great grief that so
often we are disobedient? And we want our own why and we
want our own will and we don't want what the Lord is telling
us to do. We have such an old nature and such a rebellious
old nature. We want to do what we want to
do and not what the Lord is telling us to do. Well, here we see Peter. And the Lord gives him a command
and his obedience. He doesn't really reason about
this commandment. Look at what it says in verse
5. He does answer the Lord. Simon
answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night
and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, Oh, thank God for
the neverthelesses. Nevertheless at thy word, I will
let down the net. He is obedient. He's not going
to reason with it. He knows they've had a night
of hard toil, and it's been a fruitless night. They've caught nothing,
and they're experienced fishermen. Ah, nevertheless, whose word
is this? Where that word of the King is
there is power. It's the almighty word of the
Lord Jesus. Thy people shall be willing is
the promise that he's given to Messiah. Thy people shall be
willing in the day of thy power. And Christ's word then that comes
to Peter here is an effectual word. Here is the faith of Peter. How does he show his faith? By
his works. What are his works? It's simply
the way of obedience. It's doing the commandment of
the Lord. That's what Peter does. But then also, strangely, we
see his faith further in what we might say, in a sense, is
a certain objection. There's these deeper aspects
to Peter's faith in the words that we have in verse 8. This
is after the miracle. This great draft of fishes, when
Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees saying, Depart
from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. Oh, what a deep What
a deep there is here, friends. What a paradox. The paradox of
believing. What a real sense of his sinnership. You see, with the sinner, there
is a coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. We must come. Come unto
me, he says, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, I will give
you rest. There is a coming in faith. All
that the Father giveth me shall come to me. He that cometh to
me I shall in no wise cast out. There is a coming. in faith. But is there not also, these
friends, there is a shrinking in faith? There's a coming to
the Lord, there's a shrinking from the Lord, a drawing back
from the Lord. This is the paradox you see. It is a strange life,
the life of faith, because there are those exercises of faith
and yet so often there are mixed with those exercises of faith
doubts and fears. Or think of that man in the Gospel,
when he says to the Lord Jesus, Lord I believe, help thou mine
unbelief. Or do you ever thank God that
there is such a word as that here recorded on the page of
Holy Scripture? That one could come to the Lord
Jesus and say, I believe, and yet he feels the awful nature
of his unbelief, and he wants to be delivered from unbelief.
And that's what he asked the Lord to do. Help thou my non-belief. Or the paradox of believing,
that coming, that shrinking. John Newton, good John Newton,
what he says, Oh could I but believe, then all would easy
be I would, but cannot, Lord, relieve my help must come from
thee. Have we ever known that, friends,
to want to believe and yet to feel the impossibility of faith?
And God, I can say, I've known that in some measure, wanting
to believe, longing to believe, and yet knowing that I couldn't
believe. All faith must come of the operation of God. And
what do we see with Peter here? He has such a sense of his sinnership. that even though we see his faith
and there must be that coming in faith and there is the obedience
of his faith and yet here he is shrinking from the Lord. What
a strange thing to say. He's so astonished. He falls down at the feet of
the Lord Jesus. Depart from me, he says, for
I am a sinful man Oh Lord! And you know there are a multitude
of other scriptures we could turn to where we see the similar
experience of the people of God recorded in scripture. What does
Job say when we come to the end of that blessed book? I have
heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, now mine eye seeth
thee, wherefore I abhor myself. and repent in dust and ashes
when he sees himself he is so abhorrent who is it? what is
it? the same with Isaiah for when
he sees the glories of God woe is me I am undone I am a man
of unclean lips I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of hosts what hopefulness
I am undone woe is upon me Daniel when he was left alone and saw
that great vision all his comeliness turned in him into corruption
unfit, unfit to come into the Lord's presence and in the New
Testament is it not with John as it was with Peter very similar
experiences these men have there in the revelation when I saw
him John says I fell at his feet as dead how can he bear the sight it
overwhelms him it kills him oh it kills him I fell at his feet
as dead he laid his right hand upon me saying fear not I am he I am the first and I
am the last oh he is declaring to see his deity he is God the
first and the last, the Alpha, the Omega. I am he that liveth
and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and have the
keys of hell and of death. It's faith that we see in all
of these men and all that they acknowledge of their own unfitness.
And so with Simon Peter He falls down before the Lord Jesus and
says, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. And when
we look to our own heart, is it not like that? The guy in
the hymn writer says, Our staggering faith gives way to doubt, our
courage yields to fear. Shocked at the sight, we straight
cry out, Can ever God dwell here? Or is it really possible that
God should come and make His dwelling in our sinful hearts?
And yet that's what it is. Christ in you. Christ in you. And I trust Christ in me, the
hope of glory. He comes and He makes His dwelling
in this sinful heart. When we think about our hearts,
and the dark recesses of our sinful heart all that we are
and yet this is where the Lord Jesus Christ is pleased to come
and dwell oh what a God is this Peter's faith then yes he's obedient he utters that word nevertheless
at thy word the word of the Lord is enough he'll do all that the
Lord bids him but then his faith is altogether overwhelmed when
the Lord reveals to him so much of his glory, he feels his unfitness
even to be in the Lord's presence, depart from me, for I am a sinful
man, O Lord." And then finally this evening, coming back to
the Lord Jesus and these prophetic words that we have at the end
of verse 10, Jesus said unto Simon, fear not, or he says unto
John there in the revelation, fear not, how he reassures Peter first
of all when he was so overwhelmed and
had such a sense of his sinnership, fear not, from henceforth thou
shalt catch men. As I said We have the parallel
passages in Matthew and in Mark there in Matthew 4.19, follow
me says the Lord and I will make you fishers of men. Is not this
miracle, this remarkable miracle that the Lord performs at that
time when he is calling these men to be his apostles, to be
his followers, is not this miracle highly significant? Is it not
symbolic? this miraculous draught of fishes. They enclosed a great multitude
of fishes, it said, and their neck break, and they beckoned
unto their partners which were in the other ship, that they
should come and help them. And they came and filled both
the ships, so that they began to sink." Well, what do we read concerning
the ministry of these men? Subsequently, Peter. there on
the day of Pentecost. They that gladly received the
Word. Who is preaching? Who were those
that gladly received the Word? 3,000 it says. 3,000. And Dr. Gill comments here that Pentecost
is really a fulfillment of the words that we find here. in verse
10. Henceforth thou shalt catch me.
A prophetic word. It was fulfilled on the day of
Pentecost. But not only on the day of Pentecost,
that's but the beginning. Remember what we read just a
little bit further there in the Acts, in chapter 4. Well, previously, in chapter
3, we have Peter again preaching. Chapter 3, verse 12, Peter answers
unto the people, ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this, or why
look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness
we had made this man to walk? He and John had just healed the
man who was there begging alms at Solomon's gates. And here is Peter now preaching.
the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our
fathers, hath glorified his son Jesus, whom ye delivered up,
and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined
to let him go. But ye denied the Holy One, and
the just, and desired the murderer to be granted unto you, and killed
the Prince of life. Whom God hath raised from the
dead, whereof we are witnesses, and his name through faith in
his name hath made this man strong. Oh, this is the preaching of
Peter. And what do we read when we come over to chapter 4 and
verse 4? Many of them which heard the
word believed, and the number of the men was about five thousand. The men! It was a greater number
than on the day of Pentecost. Oh, this is aprophetic words.
And the Lord Jesus Christ, of course, is that one who is the
true prophet of the Lord. The one who is spoken of back
in Deuteronomy 18, and verses 15 and 18, that prophet that
the Lord God was going to raise up. And what is the test of the
true prophet? Well, we have it there. in that
chapter, the end of that 18th chapter in Deuteronomy, when
a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow
not, nor come to pass, that is a thing which the Lord hath not
spoken. But the prophet hath spoken presumptuously, they shall
not be afraid of him. Ah, but the Lord did not speak
presumptuously. What the Lord spoke in prophecy
was fulfilled. That prophetic words, here then,
at the end of the 10th verse, Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not,
from henceforth thou shalt catch men. It all came to pass. All these men, these fishermen,
they really did become fishers of men. Might I just add here
a little book I'd recommend to you, Thomas Boston on the art
of man fishing. or to be those who are fishers
of men the art of man fishing is only a little book I think
it's still in print I trust it's still in print but I do commend
the reading of that little book by Thomas Boston here we see
then the words of the Lord having their accomplishment or let us
not be those then who doubt him but let us be those who trust
in Him, who really believe in Him. Yes, we have this strange
word concerning Simon Peter. He fell down at Jesus' knees
saying, Depart from me for I am a sinful man, O Lord. Or that
we might be those friends who know the blessing of such faith,
that real faith, to stand in awe before Christ, to reverence
Him, to fear Him, to obey Him, to worship Him. O God, grant
then that we might be favoured with such faith as was granted
unto Simon Peter and these others who became the disciples, the
followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord grant His blessing upon
this word. Amen.