All right, brethren, Luke five, Luke five, Lord willing, I hope I can preach from that passage Brother Jeff just read. That was really good. Luke five. The Lord told them here in this passage, fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men. Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men. Peter, James, and John had been regular fishermen. And this is the day that the Lord is making them to be fishers of men. Now, that involves a great deal more than you putting a bumper sticker on your car with a fish on it.

This is a work of grace that God does in the heart. Several times recently, we've seen that a man has to be saved by the power and grace of the Lord for him to go forth and preach the gospel and trust the Lord to make it effectual by his power and grace. You have to experience that to be able to preach and wait on the Lord. And that's so of all of us, brethren. We have to experience his power and grace to call us and keep us so that when we face trials or when we speak in the gospel and somebody rejects it or so that we know The Lord's word's not returning void.

He's accomplishing his purpose and he's teaching us. And this passage gives us an illustration of how we're brought to experience that power and grace that makes us trust him only. Peter, James, and John are being taught Christ's glory. They're being made to see his glory. They're being made to see his power and their inability. so that they submit to him and trust him and go forth and preach him and forsake all else for him. And this is what the Lord works in his people when he calls his people to believe on him. It's his glory to call his people himself. It's his glory to save his people through this word and get all the glory himself.

That's why Paul said to the Corinthians, brethren, when I came to you, I came not with excellency of speech declaring to you the word of God. I wasn't trying to craft the word to get you to believe or get you to do something. He said, I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and fear and much trembling and my preaching and my teaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

And we saw recently several times how Paul came to have that spirit and want to see their faith stand in the power and wisdom of God. He came to their understanding because the Lord did that to him. On the road to Damascus, the Lord, in his power, put Paul in the dust. And he shined the light and he called Paul and made Paul to know the power and wisdom of the Lord.

So that now Paul said, I'm not gonna try to mess with God's word. I'm not trying to take the offense out. I'm just gonna preach him. and I trust he will make his people stand in his power. That's what we're learning in this passage today. That's what the Lord's teaching Peter and James and John, what he's teaching us.

All right, first of all, the Lord Jesus is the captain of the ship. He's the captain of the ship. It says here, there were two ships. There were two ships here. One was Peter's. And the Lord entered that one, and he asked Peter to launch out a little bit. And so Peter got in the boat, and they pushed out a little, and from there the Lord began to preach. Now, I know folks point out that these were not large ships, but the translators did a wise thing by translating this word ships. This was a wise thing. The word ship is important. because Christ brings his people into fellowship. And this illustrates it really well right here.

The Lord Jesus and his elect, he brings us into union with him. He makes us one in him through this gospel. That's what he does. Verse one says, and it came to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, That's who's speaking, and that's what he's preaching, the word of God. Just like we saw this morning, this is how the blessing's coming, through the word of God. He's gonna save through the word of God. Paul, and this word is concerning Christ, it's what he does.

Paul said in Romans 1.1, he said, I'm a servant of Jesus Christ, called an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which he promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son, Christ Jesus. That's what this whole word's about, concerning his son, Christ the Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, he's man, and cleared the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, he's God. And he said, by whom we have received grace and apostleship.

He called us to obedience, to believe him and follow him. That's what he does through the message of him. The message that declares him and what he does, he does it. And he calls us and makes you receive grace. We saw that Thursday, he makes you receive grace. Gives you a new will. and he gives you grace and you receive Christ. So this gospel is the means.

Now here's the power. It's the Lord Jesus himself making us one. He says here in verse one, he stood by the lake of Genesera and he saw two ships standing by the lake. But the fishermen were gone out of them. That's us by nature. We're not in fellowship. We're out of the ship by nature, dead in sin. and they were washing their nets. That was their life, their nets.

And it says, and he entered into one of the ships, one of them, that's important. He entered one of the ships, which was Simon's, and he prayed him, he spoke his word, that he would thrust out a little from the land. See, in salvation, there cannot be two ships. There cannot be two ships. Just one ship. Just one ship. The Lord Jesus makes us to be of one ship. True fellowship is one ship. That's my message. Fellowship is one ship. It's being made one. Remember John 17?

He said, He prayed that I've given them your glory that you gave me, which is the gospel, declaring what he accomplished. I gave them the gospel that they may be one, even as we are one. That's how one we are. We're one in Christ, with Christ, and with the Father, just like they are one. We're one.

Fellowship is to have oneship, to be one in oneship. No sinner can create it. We can't do it for ourselves, and we can't do it for another. Verse two says the fishermen were going out of them and washing their nets. That's a good illustration of us by nature. We're out of fellowship with God, and we're trying to provide life by our own hands. That's what these nets were to them.

And it says, and The picture here is how that Christ enters into us and calls us by his word into fellowship with him, making us one through the gospel. Verse three, he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's. Our union is Christ's presence. He entered into the ship. Moses said, Lord, if your presence doesn't go with us, Don't send us forth, because how else are we going to be separated from the world? It's by your presence. And that's the picture here. Just like Christ entered that ship, he enters his child, and he calls you into the ship, and he makes you one with him. That's what he does.

And he prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land, and he sat down and he taught the people out of the ship. enters in, in the one that he's redeemed, and he preaches the word to you. And from then on, that's how he ministers to you. He's preaching the word to you, making you one by his gospel, and he prays you. That simply means he said to Peter, Peter, let's go out. Well, he does that, he speaks the word to you, but he really does pray the Father for us and intercede for us. And from that day forward, he's saving us this way. And he went up to glory and sat down. And here he is, he sat down in one ship with his child and he's preaching the word. That's how he's going to save us, brethren.

Listen, John 10, 15, he said, As the Father knoweth me, even so I know the Father. We're one. And he said, And I lay down my life for the sheep, and other sheep I have which are not of this Jewish fold. but there can't be two ships. He said, them I must bring, and there shall be one fold, one ship and one shepherd. There's one ship with one captain, the Lord Jesus.

And we don't have to wonder here what Peter and John and James experienced that day. We don't have to guess about what the Lord revealed in their heart. Go to 1 John 1, John tells us plainly, 1 John 1. Verse one, he says, that which was from the beginning before the day was, I am. The Lord said, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life.

First John 1.1.

He said, for the life was manifested, and we have seen. and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you for this reason, that you also may have fellowship with us.

He's saying this is how we were brought into one ship with him. and we're preaching him to you that you might be brought into one ship with him, into fellowship with us. Truly, our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. These things write we unto you that your joy may be full. This is where our joy is, being one with Christ. So we see he's the captain of the ship. He enters in, into his child, and he calls you into fellowship with him. and there's one ship.

And he does it all through the gospel. Now secondly, back in Luke 5, Luke 5, it's by Christ's word and his power and his glory that he makes us submit to him. He makes the sinner submit to him to do all the saving of us personally and to call our brethren that are lost and to save our brethren need, some need, they've fallen or they're struggling, something's going on, which we're submitted to Christ to make them stand. Because we've experienced his power and grace through this gospel. We know this is the means, but he's gonna have to teach us that. He's gonna have to bring us to submit to him. And here's what he did, verse four.

Now when he had left speaking, he finished the sermon, he said to Simon, launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a drought. We're going to catch a lot of fish, Peter. Go out here and let down the net. We're going to catch a net full of fish. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, now notice how you address him, because you're going to address him different the next time. He said, Master, teacher, rabbi, we have toiled all night. We have worked and worked and worked, and we've taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down the net. The Lord's word is pure. That's what the scripture, his word's pure. It's true. There's no lie in God. When he speaks, you can bank on it. His word is pure. Our word is full of sin and unbelief. just like Peter's was.

Peter was a fisherman betrayed, and he knew how to fish. And the Lord Jesus was a carpenter. And we think of that maybe as working in wood, but if you ever go to Israel and look around Jerusalem or study on it, there's nothing over there but stone. A carpenter was a stonemason, and that's very important. Because Peter might've knew how to fish, but the Lord knows how to work on a stony heart like we have. And he's gonna make his child, he'll give a new heart to submit to him. He knows how to deal with a stony heart. Everybody the Lord saves is like Peter. We're all just like Peter.

He considered himself an authority on fishing, and he probably was. We think we know spiritual things. It's hard to find a man that don't act like he knows everything spiritual that you need to know. Even if it's somebody that never cracks a Bible, never goes in a church, he'll tell you what he thinks.

And talk about it like it's fact. But Peter reasoned from man to God. You hear me say that. Don't reason from man up to God. And here's what I mean by that. Peter did not have the ability to catch fish. He had fished all night and caught no fish. And so his reasoning was, because I can't catch any fish, you can't catch any.

And that's how most men filter this word and try to understand anything about God is, God can only do what I can do. If I can't do it, God can't do it. That's how men naturally thinks. That's upside down and that's bad reasoning and God has to turn us right side up so that we start with God and understand with men everything's impossible. With God nothing's impossible. The Son of God, God who is spirit, invisible, the Son of God came down and took flesh. Unbelief says that's impossible. They can't happen. I can't do that. I can't do anything like that, so God can't do that. That's what a man's saying. Because I can't do it, I don't think God can do it. God-given faith says, nevertheless, at thy word. At thy word. You said it, Lord. You did it.

He said, I laid down my life for the sheep. He said, you believe not because you're not my sheep. He said, my sheep hear my voice, I speak to them affectionately. And he said, and I know them, I work in them, I do a work in them, and they hear me and they follow me. That's what he does.

A natural man hears this, you must be born from above, must be born, and natural unbelief says, what, can I enter my mother's womb a second time? I can't do that, so God can't do that. God-given faith says, nevertheless, at thy word. I trust your word, Lord.

He hath made him sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Unbelief says, Well, there's got to be a logical explanation. Let's just reason this out. God just treated him as if he was sinning. I can't make another sin. I don't have the power and ability to do that, so God couldn't have done that. He just treated him like he's sinning. He's just treating us like we're righteous.

God giving a face says, at thy word, Lord. You said it. The Lord said it. The Lord said it. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. You're not under the law, but under grace. Unbelief says, but except you be baptized and keep the law, you can't be saved. God-given faith says, at thy word, Lord. at thy word. Christ is coming again, and the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

And he's gonna raise all his people with a brand new glorified body made by him. Natural reason says, I can't do that, God can't do that. I don't believe, you gotta prove that to me. Because I'm so superior and must have a good explanation, you're going to have to prove that to me. God gives faith and we say, at thy word, Lord. I can't do it. That's what the nevertheless means. Nevertheless. We toiled all night. We couldn't do it. Nevertheless. I can't do it. Nevertheless. At thy word, Lord.

Everything about salvation, everything that must be accomplished and performed in salvation is impossible for you and me, every bit of it. And if we're gonna determine what God can do based on what we're able to do, you'll never know God because everything God does is impossible with man, everything, everything.

Look here now. Go to Ezekiel 37, and this is what this was for Peter, James, and John. This was their valley of dry bones that day on the sea. And here was the problem in Israel. Just what Peter was having right there, we toiled all night, we caught nothing.

Here was what the children of Israel were saying. Verse 11. He said unto me, son of man, these bones represent the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, our bones are dried and our hope is lost and we're cut off for our parts. We're dried up, we're cut off, there's no hope for us. That was the problem. They were saying we can't do it, so God can't do it. All right, back at verse one.

The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and he set me down in the midst of the valley, which was full of bones. And he caused me to pass by them round about, and behold, there was very many in the open valley, and lo, they were very dry.

And he said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. At thy word, Lord, you know. Again, he said to me, preach to these bones. Say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. He said, let down the net. He said, preach Christ him crucified. He said, tell them what I'm gonna do. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones.

Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. and I will lay sinners upon you and bring up flesh upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you and you shall live and then because I did this, you're gonna know I'm the Lord. I am the Lord. That's why he saves through this message. You get what he just told him? Preach to them and tell them what I'm going to do, then I'm gonna come forth and do what you told them I'm gonna do. And then they're gonna know I'm the Lord. That's the preaching of the gospel. So I preached as I was commanded.

And then said he unto me, now prophesy to the wind, God made the bones come together, but there was no life. And then he said, prophesy to the wind, prophesy, son of man, say to the wind, thus saith the Lord God, come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain that they may live. He said, pray that the Lord send the spirit and work in power. I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood upon their feet an exceeding great army. Then he said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say our bones are dried, our hope is lost, we're cut off for our part. They say we fished all night. We can't do it.

Therefore you preach and say to them, thus saith the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves and bring you into the land of Israel, and you shall know that I am the Lord. When I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, and put my spirit in you, and you shall live, and I shall place you in your own land, then shall you know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it, saith the Lord. That's why God saves through preaching.

We declare what he shall do and we pray to him and we submit to him to do it and wait. And he comes forth and works in his child what he told us to declare that he will work in his child. That's what he does. And that causes you to stop glorying in your flesh and I'll stop glorying in my flesh. It makes us know we have this treasure in the earth and vessel so the powers of him and not of us and it makes us trust him. Don't you see the wisdom in that, brethren? Not only does he call you through this gospel, but by using us to preach the gospel, he just keeps teaching it to us over and over, and in every trial, he makes you submit to him. You have to trust him and his power, and then he works it and calls his lost sheep. Now lastly, let's go back and see what happened. Luke 5 and verse 6.

And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes in their net break, and they beckoned to 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. And 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 drought 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 them, fear not, from henceforth thou shall catch men. And when they had brought their ship to land, they forsook all and they followed him.

That's what happens when you see God's glory. They saw Christ's glory. The glory of his power to fill that net with fish. Can't you just imagine that? I mean, they fished all night, and then when they lowered that net down, that thing was full of fish.

And when you see Christ's glory, it makes you fall down at his feet and say, Lord, I am a sinner. I am a sinner. Peter saw how foolish he was to say, Lord, we fished all night. If we can't do it, you can't do it. When you see his glory, that's when you see your sin. Isaiah was woeing everybody. Woe is you, woe is them, woe is them, woe is the other person.

Pointing the finger, pointing the finger, smiting with the fist at wickedness, whipping with the law. And he said, and I saw the glory of the Lord. And I saw his train fill the temple, and I heard the seraphims crying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God. And he said, and I hit my face and said, woe is me. I'm undone. I'm a sinner. And everybody in my midst is a sinner. We're nothing.

And that's what Peter saw. And then that put fear in his heart. That put fear in his heart, a real fear. And so did it with Peter, James, and John. But the same one that puts that fear in the heart, by beholding his glory, he's the one that comes then and settles you by his word to trust him. The Lord came and said, fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men. See, it's only by his power and his spirit through the gospel, beholding his glory, that we're going to bow to him, trust his word, and have a healthy fear of him while at the same time not fearing. Both those are necessary.

When he makes you a fisher of men, anybody here, you fish like with a rod and reel, you know what a topwater bait is? A topwater bait is a shallow running bait. You just run it on top of the water, and on a hot summer day, you can cast on the shady side of the tree and put that topwater bait right by the base of that cypress tree and let all the waves just go out from it. Let the ripples just die down until it's perfectly still. Because see, that bug falls out of the tree, and it hits that water, and he's scared to death. and he just sets her still. And you let those rips go away, and then you just twitch that topwater bait. Big old big mouth bass will just, he'll just engulf that thing, and you got him. Well, that's how false religion preaches. They use a topwater bait. It's very shallow, very, very shallow, and they're trying to trick the fish.

They're tricking them. and they're crafting the words and they're trying to take the offense out and use the wisdom of men to get men to believe. And he said, the Lord said in Habakkuk, they take them up with their angle and they catch them in their net, but it's a different net, it's a drag net that they drag. And he said, and so they sacrifice to their net and they burn incense to their drag because by them their portion is fat and their meat's plenteous.

Now think about what that statement said. What is this drag that false preacher's using? It's his wisdom. It's his ability to fake people out and trick people into believing and getting them to do what he'd have them to do. So he's sacrificing to himself. He's praising himself. He's patting himself on the back. Look what I did. That's what Paul said in Galatians. But see this net right here is the power of the Lord Jesus.

And we have to experience that power to make us just simply preach the gospel and not use the topwater bait. Listen, Paul said we've renounced the hidden things of dishonesty not walking in craftiness, not handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of Christ the truth, speaking to the conscience of men, speaking to the heart. That's what comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith the Lord. Speak ye comfort to Jerusalem, cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished. That means speak to their heart. And that's what Peter's saying, I mean, Paul's saying in 2 Corinthians 4, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

We're preaching to your heart, because that's where God makes you hear. That's where Christ makes you hear. Not this shallow topwater bait that's all surface, that's all outward works. No. It's the fact you're a sinner within, Christ alone is your righteousness and your holiness.

And look what happened when he made them do this. Made them bow, made them look to Christ, made them be in one ship with him. And it says at the end, they forsook all and followed him. When he found them, they were working on their nets, and they were looking to their nets for life, because that was their life. But when he got finished with them, they said, that's not our life anymore. They left those nets and forsook it, and they started following Christ. What you gonna do for a living? Peter, James, John, what you gonna do for a living? How you gonna make a living? How you gonna put food on the table? Peter had a wife. Contrary to the Catholic church, Peter had a wife. We saw last week his mother-in-law was sick. How you gonna provide for your family, Peter?

What you gonna do? I'm following him. He's my life. And if he provided you righteousness through his blood, and he provided you a new Holy Spirit by his word, by his presence in you. He says, I will give you a loaf of bread and a package of bologna if you need it. I'll provide for you. Come follow me and preach my word. Trust me to save you and declare me to others that I am salvation. And as I save others, we're all going to glory together. And I'll bring you there.

That's the gospel. That's our hope. And that's what made Paul say, doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things. And I'm not bragging that I, whoa, look at what all I lost. I count it done. I didn't lose anything. that I might win Christ and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is to the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. All right, Brother Greg.