So good to see everyone this
evening. I feel honored to be back, to be asked to come speak
again. I appreciate your pastor and
his wife, Glenn, done this whole congregation. As he was mentioning
Sandy, I'm thankful that she's able to go with me. If she wasn't with me, I couldn't
find my shoes. I mean, that's about the truth. It's a joy to be here. We're
gonna be looking in Luke chapter five, but I want us to go back
and read a few verses in chapter four. Again, reading in verse
31. Our Lord has been baptized by
John. gone into the wilderness and
was tempted of the devil for 40 days and nights. Then he came
down to Nazareth, his hometown, and you know what happened there.
They wanted to end up taking him outside the city and throwing
him off headfirst and kill him. But it said there in verse 30,
he passing through the midst of them, he went his way. And
he came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and he taught them.
on the Sabbath day, and they were astonished at his doctrine,
for he taught, for his word was with power. And in the synagogue,
where people would be gathered to meet, there was a man which
had a spirit of an unclean devil in this synagogue. And he cried
out with a loud voice, saying, let us alone, what have we to
do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us?
I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked
him saying, hold thy peace and come out of him. And when the
devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him and hurt him.
And they were all amazed and they spake among themselves saying,
what a word is this? For with authority and power,
he commanded the unclean spirit and they came out. And the fame
of him, went out into every place of the country round about. News got out. Who is this man? Who is this Jesus of Nazareth? And he arose out of the synagogue,
and he entered into Simon's house, and Simon's wife's mother was
taken with a great fever. and they besought him for her,
and he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and
immediately she arose and ministered unto them. Now, when the sun
was setting, you would think, well, the day's about over, so
his work must be about over. Oh, no. All they that had any
sick and divers disease brought them unto him, and he laid his
hand on every one of them, and he healed them. And devils also
came out of many, crying out and saying, thou art the Christ,
the Son of God. And he rebuking them, suffered
them not to speak, for they knew that he was the Christ. And when
it was day, when it was day, he probably
didn't get a whole lot of rest that night. When it was day,
he departed into a desert place, and the people sought him. came
to him and stated that he would not depart from them, but he
said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities
also, for therefore am I sent. And he preached in the synagogues
of Galilee. Now, verse one of chapter five.
And it came to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear
the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, or the
Sea of Galilee, and saw two ships standing by the lake, but the
fishermen were gone out of the ships, and they were washing
their nets. And he entered into one of the
ships, which was Simon's, and he prayed him that he would thrust
him out a little from the land. And he sat down, he talked to
people out of the ship, And when he had left speaking, he said
unto Simon, launch out into the deep and let down your net for
a draw. And Simon answering said unto
him, master, we've toiled all night and have taken nothing.
Nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down the net. When they had
done this, 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. 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 in all
they that were with him at the draw of the fish which they had
taken. And so was also James and John, the sons of Debedee,
which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, fear
not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they brought
their ships to land, they forsook all and followed him. Here we see a great crowd. We
don't know how many was there. They came to hear the word of
God. They came to hear him speak, and it says they were there by
the lake. And I picture in my mind, I picture such a great,
it was like a throng of people. We don't know, just keep pushing
at him and pushing. I figured he'd come right to
the edge of the lake. He's as far as he can go. How
is anybody gonna hear him say anything? It's gonna be almost
impossible, especially for the ones in the back. And he turns
around and he looks, And right here sits two little ships, fishing
vessels. One was Peter, probably, and
Andrew, his brother, and then James and Johns, and they're
washing their nets. They'd been out all night long
tolling and hadn't caught a thing. And our Lord gets in one of them
little ships, one of them little boats, it's not a ship, a little
boat, and he says, Peter, just push out a little bit from the
shore. I think it was Gil where someone said, you know, we don't
know, it doesn't say, but it said there in that part of the
lake, it could have been like in a U shape. And our Lord sitting
there on this little boat, this ship, and everybody's gathered
around, he said it would have looked like an amphitheater.
Every eye in that throng of people is on him. They can see him as
he sits down on that little ship, and he preached to these people,
so that they could hear. Though the number of the children
of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. You know, we wished that all
those that were there that day that they would have believed,
but they were there to hear him preach. The fame of him had went
out through all the country, and they were gathered here.
It says in Genesis 49, 10, unto him shall the gathering of the
people be. They gathered there, and he's
gonna do what? He's going to preach to them. They were eager, and he chose
this ship. It was just so happened it was
Peter's ship. It's just like any other ship.
It didn't look any different from the other ship. What made
the difference? What made the difference between
the two? He chose that one. He said, this is the one I'm
going to choose, and this is the one that I'm going to use. Our Lord uses means. You mean
he would use a little vessel? Well, sure he would. Sure he
would. Why did Peter and James and John,
why did they just happen to be there? Why did they just come
on shore that probably early in the morning and they just
pulled their boats up on the shore and they start washing
their nets and just so happened, here comes this crowd. And he
says, thrust out just a little bit from the edge, and he entered
that ship. I can see these little vessels
sitting there idle. sitting there on the shore. They're
not made, they were not designed to sit on the bank of the lake. They were meant, they had a purpose,
and their purpose was to float on the water and be able to be
the means whereby that Peter and his partners could catch
fish. Amazing, when Christ entered
this ship, When Christ enters our ship,
he's going to, you think about this, he's preaching to this
congregation, this whole group of people. Peter's sitting there
in the same boat, listening, listening to what he has to say.
Our Lord spoke. from this little ship, and like
I said, he chose this so that they could, literally, so that
they could hear. I hear someone say, now what
did he say? They wanted to hear him, so he
made it where they could hear him. They came to be fed, they were
hungry. They came to be taught, and they were taught. It said
he taught them. told them. In Matthew 1.22, and they were
astonished at his doctrine for he taught them as one had an
authority and not as describes, and they shall be all taught
of God, taught of him. This ship represents Christ's
church in this world. As Christ used this little ship
to preach from, he uses his churches, his local churches, he scatters
them everywhere to preach the gospel and to teach sinners about
his grace. It's the means he uses. Well,
two or three are gathered together. In my name, there am I. in the midst of them. He dwells
in the midst of the church. He dwells in the midst of the
seven golden candlesticks. And this ship must sail upon
the sea of this world. The church is in the world, but
it's not of the world. You notice how many times that
our Lord is, we find him in a ship in a little fishing vessel or
whatever with his disciples. Many times it's in a storm, and
that pictures our life upon this world. As many times it's just,
it can be so calm, and then here comes a storm. I was thinking
about that couple losing everything in that storm. Everything was
calm. Your pastor said they just bought the house last year, you
know, went excited about their home, and then look, look what
came. Here come a storm, that's how
it is in this world. one storm after another. Our Lord said in John 17, I pray
not that you'd take me out of the world, but that you'd keep
me from the evil one. They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. And you know what he said after
he spoke and taught from this ship? He's preached to these
people. Now he's going to take his disciple
out on the lake and he's going to teach him some lessons. Oh, that the Lord may get us
alone like he did Peter and teach us some lessons. He's going to
teach him. He takes Peter a little further
out into the sea. He will get Peter alone. Like
I said, the sea represents the world, the world of lost humanity. The world, like a sea, is a dark,
deep place. When our Lord was done preaching
his sermon to those on the shore, he said, Peter, let's launch
out into the deep. Don't you see, Peter had been
a fisherman all of his life. James and John were the sons
of Zebedees, and it doesn't say, but I'd say more than likely,
Zebedee was probably a fisherman, and he taught it to his sons,
and Peter and James and John, they were all from the same city,
so them boys had probably started fishing when they were real young.
They probably had calluses all over their hand. You know, it
had to be hard work. It was probably a job most people
would rather not have. And I know most of the time when
we read about our Lord, he worked in the carpenter shop, we think
he's making cabinets. He's probably making boats because
that was the occupation. That's what people did. They
fished for a living. Wouldn't it have been amazing
if our Lord had made that boat that he got in? He made it for
that purpose. And that's how he always works.
He makes it and he has a purpose when he makes it. He said, I'm
going to use it. I'm going to use it to teach
my servant about me and about himself. It was hard work. He had worked
all night. Coiled all night. I could see
him just, his shirt probably still wet with sweat. and he
caught nothing. You imagine how he would feel,
work all day, really, I mean, I've got to catch something.
My livelihood depends on it. If I don't catch any fish, we
won't have anything to eat, we won't have anything to sell. It means to be weary with pain,
fatigue of body and of mind. It was not just Peter, but Andrew,
his brother, James and John and the other ship. They were partners
with him. They were in the business fishing. They knew how to fish. It wasn't
that they didn't know how to fish. They knew where the fish
was at. They were fishing the lake. Why
didn't they catch any? Showing you you can work as hard
as you want to and still not catch anything. You can toil
all night. You can come and struggle and
struggle and struggle and toil to find something from this book,
and I've seen it, and you know what? You just come up empty-handed.
Empty-handed. God is going to teach Peter,
and may God teach us, that without him, we can do nothing. You can have the right doctrine,
the right message, the right method, and the right music,
and come up empty. And toil, I mean, working at
it. Say, well, come on, boys, it's
almost daylight. Let's throw the net in one more
time. Comes up empty. I'd say they were pretty well
discouraged, cast down. And you know that's usually how
it is when the Lord comes to us in grace and mercy to teach
us. It's not about our strength,
it's about his strength. What our Lord, he said, Peter,
now let's thrust out into the deep a little bit. You think
about this. Peter being a human, I could
see him probably scratch his head just a little bit. and say,
you know, he may know a lot about spiritual things, but he don't
know a whole lot about fishing. I can see him think that, you
know, he may not admit it, and he just said, you know, well,
what I understand about fishing with a net, you don't fish in
the daylight, and you don't fish out into the deep. So what he's
asking him to do goes against human reasoning. He said, Lord,
we've toiled all night long, and you want us to go out in
the middle or out in this lake and cast a net? That's what he's
asking him. That's what he's asking him.
What do we see here? God's ways are not our ways.
Oh, the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge
of God, how unsearchable are his judgments. in his ways past
finding out. He gives not account of his matters.
He just asking Peter, you know what? Trust me. God help us to trust him. Not
us trying to figure it out. Trust him. Trust him. How many times have we labored
and not called anything? How many times have we toiled
all night for the salvation of our loved ones and it all seems
to be a no avail? How many times have you come
to hear the gospel and it seems you've not received any spiritual
benefit? It just seems like we keep coming
up empty handed. He says, launch out into the
deep. Toiled all night and taking nothing.
Peter just weary. What's Peter to do? What are
you to do? Believe God. Says, what did he say? It was
clear, it was plain. He says, Peter, he's speaking
directly to him. He said, let's just, let's launch
out into the deep a little bit. Peter don't know what he's gonna
do. But he believes him. He believed him. I love that statement there where
he said, Lord, we've carried all the night, but nevertheless,
there in verse five, that's the title of the message, nevertheless
that thy word, I'll let down the net. I don't understand why. And I
can't see any different. I've been doing this all night
long. I've done it all my life. And you want me to let this net
down one more time. But nevertheless, at thy word,
I will let down the net. God enable us by faith to take
our Lord at his word. or to help our unbelief. Give us faith to trust you no
matter what, and in spite of everything that we see, we try
to reason it out, just trust him. Do what? Trust him. Trust
and obey, for there's no other way. Our Lord said in John 15, 14,
you are my friends. If you do whatsoever, I command
you. What did he say to do? Well, there's the ship. Our Lord Peter's in the ship
and they have the net. This net is used to catch fish.
How does the Lord catch men? The net is the gospel. He catches
men in the net, and he brings them into the vessel, and they
are safe and secure. The net represents the gospel,
Matthew 13, 47. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net
that was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind. This
is how he catches men. He casts the net of the gospel.
If you've not been caught, I pray tonight, God may catch you. You're swimming around, you're
just doing your thing, and all of a sudden, you can't move. That's a pretty good illustration
of how God saves sinners. You're just going about your
life, doing your own thing, nobody's stopping you, and all of a sudden,
something happens. Paul said it's like when God
apprehends you. Some things about casting a net.
I've never cast one, but you know they say there's a certain
way to cast a net. Someone told me they got one.
Somebody gave them a net, and they thought, well, you know,
I can do this. And said he just grabbed it and
throwed it, and it just went in a big wad, and it just went boom. They say when you cast it, when
you throw it out, it just opens up and settles down. God has to even show us how to
cast a net. And something else, you can't
cast a net over the whole lake. You can only cast the net where
you're at, where providence has put you. It's like tonight, God
in his providence brought me here, and you know what I do?
By God's grace, I want to cast a net. And he lets it fall where
he wants it to fall. And he lets it fall on purpose
to catch his fish, his children, his elect. See, Peter and, I don't know, just, you know, you
know how we think, well, it's probably not gonna be any different.
He pulls on the net a little bit. At least something different,
okay. There's so many fish in the net
that he can't pull it into the boat. And did you notice the
scripture your pastor read? How blessed it is for the brethren
to dwell together in unity. You know what Peter said? Hey,
you James and John, would you come over here and help me? I
can see him saying, what's wrong, Peter? He said, I got some fish. I bet they thought he was going
nuts. but they needed help. You know what? We all need help.
That's it, of grace churches. We're not in competition with
each other. We need each other. You know what Satan wants to
do? He wants to divide us. He wants to get off on other
things. It just doesn't matter. The only
thing that matters is honoring him, exalting him, and casting
the net. And now you know what they did?
They come over there and they all had to work together. Like
y'all working on that house, just working together. And it filled both vessels to
the point they thought the vessels were going to sink. What made
the difference now? Castanet. cast the net, cast the net. It filled them almost to the
point of sinking the ship. It said there in our text that
the net broke. Well, the net, it was never going
to break. They may have thought it was going to break, but it's
not going to break. Isn't it amazing how it works?
And we read that story and we say, I told all night long, didn't
catch nothing. Look what he did. He's able to
feel the net. That's his elect. He gathers
them. The Lord told him in this story,
he says, Peter, from henceforth you will catch what? You will
catch men. On the day of Pentecost, Peter
stood an old fisherman and cast an end of the gospel and God
saved 3,000 souls at one time. 3,000 souls. Now in obedience to our Lord,
both ships are filled. The ships that were once empty
are now filled. All their efforts to fill the
ship, all their figuring, all their planning can never bring
one fish into the ship. It only leaves us empty. I can see the amazement on them
men's faces. I can see them say, James and
John, this is probably the most fish they had ever caught in
their life. And they thought, that's a pretty
good fish. You know what God will teach you? You ain't nothing
without him. You may think you know how to
do something. You may think you've got it figured out. And God will
just show us, just like we cut a piece of sheet rock the wrong
way, God will show us we ain't nothing. But we can do all things through
him who strengthen us. He says there in verse eight
through 11, when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus'
knees saying, depart from me, I'm a sinful man. That's what
happens when you see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The goodness of God leads a man
to repentance, and a man will confess like Peter did. He said,
I'm a sinful man. I'm a sinful man. Christ said
he will honor them that honor him. To obey is better than sacrifice. Peter obeyed when he thrust out
from the bank. Peter obeyed when he launched
out into the deep. Peter obeyed when he let down
the net at the command of God. He obeyed him. Peter and all that were with
him were astonished at what God had done. There's no question
who did it. The Bible says if you're faithful in a few things,
small things, you'll be rewarded in greater things. And then he says, Peter, fear
not. Fear not, Peter. From henceforth,
you're gonna catch men. You mean here the Lord's teaching
him a lesson and he's teaching us how to catch men. God teach me
how to preach the gospel. Preach the, speak the truth,
how? In love. Only see men brought under conviction
and God bringing them into the fold. Without Christ we can do nothing,
but with Christ and in obedience to Christ, we possess all things. We learn this there in verse
11. And when they brought their ships
to land. I wonder how much these two ship
loads of fish would bring. They're in business. You imagine,
you know, I've watched on TV before, you know, they catch
them big tunas, and then, you know, some of them tunas, you
know, they test them or what, and it'll bring a lot of money.
You go, man, I could see them thinking, I wonder what this
is going to bring when we get to the shore. They bring them
to the shore, and it said they forsook all and followed him. James and John, they forsook
their father, they forsook the ships, they forsook the fish,
they forsook the trade, and followed him. How's their families gonna
live for the next three years when these men follow our Lord?
They're preaching the gospel. Peter come to our Lord one day
and he said, Lord, they asked me if we pay taxes. He said,
yeah, we pay our temple tax. Yeah, we do, we pay those tax.
He said, how we gonna pay? He said, go down there and catch
a fish. Isn't that ironic? And the first fish you catch,
really the inner, bring him in and open his mouth and there'll
be a piece of coin in it and you take it and you go pay our,
go pay the bill. God's gonna use this money from
these fish to support these families and take care of them as they
preach the gospel. Here's how it is. You imagine
when the Lord told Abraham, said, Abraham, leave everything and
you go to a land that I'll show you. I could see Sarah say, did
he really say that? And he forsook everything. And
these men forsook everything. Now again, this is what the Lord
does in salvation. He brings you to that point. You forsake
everything and follow him. He said, if you love your father
and mother or anything, even your own life more than me, you
cannot be my disciples. These fish did not lay there
and rot on that shore. He provided for them. And when
God took care of those men, Marvin, he still does, doesn't
he? He still does. I remember when
me and Sandy left North Carolina. We had just bought a house a
few months earlier. It was going to be just mine
and her house. I sold the house me and Debbie
had. We was working on that thing,
man. We worked on it for months. And by the time we got done,
I was sick of it. It's like being under the law. You can't even
enjoy it. It's just always working, always working. driving back
to North Carolina every weekend, a two and a half hour drive. I mean, a four and a half hour
drive, one way, nine hours each week. And I remember Sandy asking us
before we came to West Virginia, she said, do you really think
the Lord would send us to West Virginia? He did. And we happily left it all to
follow You know why? Because he's the
only one that matters. What is required in salvation?
Well, first of all, it's faith. If we would be a servant of God,
if we would be saved, we must believe God. You must believe
God. You must forsake everything and
follow him. Forsake everything. Everything. And then you must follow him. We must obey him and his word. What is our Lord commanding you
to do? He said we try to reason things
out, but he will teach us, and he will keep teaching us to trust him, to trust him, not what we know,
but who we know. And he will teach you. He will
teach you and teach us that nothing in this world matters but him. I pray God blesses his word.
Amen.