Seeking once more the Lord's
help to guide me and to grant me the words to speak to this
morning, I'd like you to turn in your Bibles to the chapter
we read together, the Gospel according to Matthew chapter
four, and the text you'll find in verse 19. And he said unto
them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. And he said unto them, follow
me and I will make you fishers of men. On Wednesday we looked at the
Ephesians chapter five and the text. We will walk circumspectly
not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are
evil. And we saw there that our life
is set out like a long corridor of time. Neither of us know how
long that corridor is, but we do know that that corridor is broken up into sections of
opportunity and different stages in life and different pathways
that we walk through and different seasons of life and age and such
like. As we look at this chapter, we
see that it was a season, a moment, a time for the Lord Jesus Christ
as he began his earthly ministry. After he was baptised, he began
then to go forth and to preach the kingdom of God. And he moved
from the town of Nazareth and he came to live by the seaside. and to fulfil prophecy. Those
who lived in, those who sat in darkness saw
a great light and to them which sat in the region and the shadow
of death a light has sprung up. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
moved from his hometown and came to where he was going to appoint
and choose those men who were going to follow him in the ministry
who were going to be his disciples and he was going to teach them
and use them as instruments in his hand for the advancement
of the Kingdom of God throughout Jerusalem, Samaria and then into
the uttermost parts of the world. And so for the Lord Jesus we
can say it was a specific time, an opportunity which he seized
for the advancement of his own ministry. As he walked by the
Sea of Galilee, he saw two brethren, Simon, called Peter, and Andrew,
his brother. We could say for them also it
was a time, a moment in their life when they were continuing
on in their day-to-day work, the work in which they had been
brought up in, the family business, as it were, and they were just
going about their day-to-day life, and then the Lord Jesus
Christ appears and calls them to cease from that work and to
begin another work. They were casting their nets
into the sea for they were fishers or they were fishermen. And he
said unto them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. And so they were called. to follow. The Lord Jesus spoke to them
in an audible voice and he said to them, follow me. In Matthew 22 the scripture tells
us there that many are called, Matthew 22 and verse 14. Many are called but few are chosen. Many are called, but few are
chosen. And if you can picture in your
mind the environment in which these men were working, a village,
The majority of those people there would have been fishermen.
And yet the Lord Jesus Christ, as he walks on the seashore,
he calls out to two of those men, and later another two, and
he calls them to follow him. No doubt there were others also
who heard the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ at that time. There
were other men there, even Zebedee, the father of James and John. No doubt he heard the voice of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And we don't read that he said
Peter and And Andrew, James and John, we
don't read that he says their names, but we read that he calls
out and they follow. They responded to that call.
And so it was a distinct call, a dividing call, a call which
entered into the heart and moved them to obey the voice of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus called them to follow him. Two of them responded. And then we read that the other
two also responded. So many are called, but few are
chosen. And to this choosing and the
calling, they go together. You see, as Christ spoke, many
heard. And as the minister preaches,
many hear. but to many it has no effect. There is no distinct change in
their lives. There's no dividing from the
world. There's no moving them to obedience
to what is set. It is as though the message comes
and the message goes. And so the choosing and the calling
go together. For many are called. and that
is they're called through the preaching of the word. They hear
it with the natural ear, but it doesn't enter into their heart
and doesn't move them to respond to the commands of the scripture. And so the called people may
not be the chosen people, but the chosen people are always
the called people. Christ always calls. And those who are chosen always
hear his voice. In Thessalonians, Thessalonians chapter two, verses
13 and 14, it says, but we are bound to give thanks always to
God for you, brethren, Beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth, wherein he called you
by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And so he is writing to them,
explaining what has happened to them. They were called through
the preaching of the gospel, but also that gospel penetrated
into their hearts and revealed to them that they were also the
chosen. And we know that the scripture
tells us chosen before the foundation of the world, and as many are
called. And in the many that are called,
there is the few that are chosen. It doesn't mean one or two. The
scripture tells us there is an innumerable amount of people
that have been chosen in Christ Jesus. But the vast majority,
the word does not move them to obey because it never enters
into their hearts. And so people are worked on by
the spirit through the preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, through the word of God, which goes forth with power,
which is a dividing word, which is a word which stirs up the
heart and transforms the heart and moves one and another to
obey the call of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so it is the word of God,
it's the word of Christ which was spoken. And he said to them,
follow me. It affected them. It stirred
them into action. They obeyed that command of the
Lord Jesus Christ. As I was looking at this, I was
reminded about a missionary years ago in 1866. His name was Robert
Thomas. Robert Thomas was a very clever
man and he had learned the Korean language. It was a very violent
place for him to go to and he got onto a ship with some American
sailors and he wanted to get there to this land. He was deceived by the captain. The captain wanted him as a translator
to communicate, to set up a trade between these Koreans. But as
they got to the islands, the captain began to open fire on
them. And Robert believed that he had
been tricked. And so he began to throw out
Bibles from the ship. in order that they would be picked
up by somebody. And as time went on, there was
a conflict. The boat they were on was set
on fire and they were captured and he was killed. It is said
that before he was killed, he was holding a red book, a red
Bible, pleading with his executioner to take the book at which they
believed that he did. and he was killed, he was 26
years old when he was killed. But he had believed that God
had called him into the ministry, into the missionary work, and
he'd followed the Lord Jesus Christ, and he'd laid down his
life for the advancement of the kingdom of God, and yet he saw
no fruit of his labour. To anyone, naturally, who looked
on, it was finished. But those Bibles were picked
up. One of the chiefs of that community tore the pages from
that Bible and used them as a wallpaper in his house. And people began
to come, and they began to read his wallpaper. And as they read
the wallpaper, the Spirit of God worked through the written
word, and one another was converted. And a church was established
in that community in Korea. It was built up just because
of the word of God. No preaching, just the word of
God and a moving of the spirit of God. And a man who was willing
to lay down his life for the advancement of the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ, who willingly sacrificed himself for the advancement
of the gospel. He followed Christ and he became
a fisher of men although he never saw the catch in which he was
caught. And so it's God's word, it was
the word of Christ that was spoken, follow me. Maybe Peter and Andrew and James and
John did not really know what would entail, what would come
about of them following the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that even
after they'd been with him for three years, they still didn't
fully understand the ministry of the Lord Jesus and the way
in which he was going to lay down his life upon the cross. But what they knew at that moment
in time was that they had been commanded to follow. There was a power in his word,
and there is a power today in the word of God. It is quick,
it is sharper than any two-edged sword, and it is able to divide
the soul asunder. And as Jesus said to them, follow
me, He is saying to them, get behind
me. We know in the olden days of
the shepherd who led his sheep and the sheep followed behind. And David saying, the Lord is
my shepherd, I shall not want. And so he is saying to these
men, follow me, get behind me, walk where I walk as sheep following
their shepherd. If we look at this in a natural
way, their lives were going to completely change. They were
being taken from one way to another way, from an old path to a new
path. In our modern way of thinking,
we would say it's a complete career change. It's gone from
one employment to another employment. It's gone from catching fish
to being a fisher of men. But this was not against their
will. Although he commanded them and
said to them, follow me, get behind me. It was not against
their will. Because first Christ works in
the heart and makes the heart willing. It makes the heart to
have that desire to follow the Lord Jesus Christ and to say
goodbye to all things here below. And so it was not against their
will that they began to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's
never against anybody's will as they truly begin to follow
the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Spirit works within their hearts
and begins to regenerate them from within. He then gives them
a sight. He then gives them ears. He then
gives them a heart that craves after the Lord Jesus and eyes
that want to look to the Lord Jesus and ears that want to hear
the Lord Jesus Christ and to be obedient unto him. Also, there is a cost, a cost
of following. It cost these men. These men
didn't realise it at the time, but for them to follow the Lord
Jesus Christ, their lives were going to be cut short. They were
not going to live until the full age. They were going to die as
martyrs for the one that they were now following. And they
didn't realise it at this time. They were commanded to follow,
but they did not know what that entailed. They had to walk behind
the Lord Jesus Christ. Where he went, they went. Where
he sat, they sat. Where he slept, they slept. what
he taught, they listened to and sought to act out those teachings. We know that that is what a disciple
was. Somebody who sat at the feet
of another and learned from them and wanted to grow up into being
like them. We have similar examples in today's
world where the young people want to become football players
and rugby players and such like and they follow their one and
they want to dress like them and they want to watch them and
they want to become like the one that they are following.
Well in Jesus' day those who were doctors and people like
Christ who were teachers had disciples, followers. who wanted
to learn and to become like the one who they were following.
And so as they were following the Lord Jesus Christ, he was
heading to the cross. So these men, they did not know
what they had got themselves into. They did not fully know
what they had got themselves, who they were truly following. In Matthew 10, Jesus tells us there that there
is a cost for all who follow him. Verse 37, or verse 36, a
man's foes shall be of his own household. He that loveth father
or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he that loveth
son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that
taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall
lose it, and he that loses his life for my sake shall find it. So there was a cost to these
men as they began to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. as there is
a cost to all who follow the Lord Jesus Christ. We see it
naturally speaking with these men here, Simon Peter and Andrew
and James and John. There was a natural cost. They
left their previous employment. They left their father and they
followed the Lord Jesus. And not everybody is called to
forsake father and mother and go off into other lands. At this moment in time, Jesus's
ministry was concentrated on that area. So naturally speaking,
they didn't really leave their father and mother. They did leave
their employment. But you know, It doesn't necessarily
mean that you have to go to another country to leave your father
and your mother. You see, if one is converted,
born again of the Spirit of God and have a desire to follow the
Lord Jesus Christ, and other family members are not, There
is a separation that comes that cannot be seen eye to eye. And sometimes that is a means
for separation and moving away. And they follow Christ more than
they follow their natural parents and loved ones. and that the
love that we have for Christ should far exceed the love that
we have for any other person in our life, father and mother,
son or daughter and such like. And so the love for Christ is
vastly superior to that natural love that we have one for another. And so it's a cost. There is
a cost in following the Lord Jesus Christ. Another man I thought
of was a man called John Rogers. John Rogers was the first martyr
of Bloody Mary. the Catholic Queen who killed
over 300 Protestants, but he was the first. He was arrested because he rejected
the belief that the the Lord suffered the bread and the wine
turned into the true body of the blood and the body of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now as with many of those who
were martyred, all he had to say was, I recant. I don't believe
that anymore and his life would have been spared. That's all
he had to say. Yet because he was convicted,
that it was truth that they remained bread and wine and mere symbols
of the Lord Jesus Christ's death. He said, I seal my ministry with
my blood. I seal my ministry with my blood. And as he walked to be burnt
at the stake, he passed by his wife and 10 children who said
goodbye to their father. And it is said he walked down
the corridor of people as though he was going to his own wedding.
was bound to the stake and as they lit the flames, as they
lit the wood round about him, the flames licked up round about
him and it's said that he almost washed his hands in the flames
as they began to burn around about his body. There's a cost
to following the Lord Jesus Christ. In our day we know nothing really.
of what our forefathers had to go through just because of a
doctrinal stand, a doctrinal point in which they would not
be budged upon because they felt it so right to fight what they
believed to be true. And they were willing to lay
down their own lives for the sake of the truth, to say goodbye
to their wives, to say goodbye to their children, to say goodbye
to their congregations and to be burnt at the stake for the
sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the apostles of the Lord
Jesus Christ, apart from John, followed the Lord Jesus Christ
even unto death. And naturally speaking, all they
had to say was, I don't believe it anymore. I'll change the way
that I think. But someone who's truly worked
on, truly heard the call of the Lord Jesus Christ to follow me,
forsake all, take up your cross, deny yourself and follow me,
they can't. Because it's not just a mindset.
Real religion is not just a thought process. but it's a transformation
of the heart, the inner man. And worked on by the Holy Spirit,
the body becomes a temple of the Holy Ghost. And so we are
strengthened to being able to follow Christ even unto death. John Rogers and Robert Thomas
did not do these things because of their own strength. They personally had to walk out
those things. They had human emotions as you
and I have, human pain as you and I have, yet they were indwelt
by the Holy Spirit of God and given a conviction that for me
to die for the cause of Christ is gain. Die to self and for
every person. hears the voice of the Lord Jesus
Christ calling them to follow him, there is a cost. There must be a cost. Because
there was a cost to redeem you, the blood of Christ, there is
also a cost to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot, a person
cannot continue on in the same pathway as they were once in. It is impossible. If your eyes
have been opened and your ears have been unstopped and your
heart is soft, you cannot continue to go in the same way as you
once went. Remember, Peter said, I'm going
fishing. He decided to return back. But Jesus said, no. I've called you to be a fisher
of men. And that was the pathway in which
they were to follow. We are called, if we are believers
in Christ, to follow the Lord Jesus. And it is sacrificial,
and there is a cost to following him. That sin in which we once
so loved Our beloved sin must be severed. Our relationship
with it must be severed. It is no longer our beloved sin,
but it's our enemy of sin. And that relationship must be
severed to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. The relationship with self, the
love of self, must be severed. The scripture says we no longer
live unto ourselves but to him who died. Follow me. Sever the relationship
with sin, sever the love of self and follow. What about friends? Yes, we have to deal day by day
with the people of the world. Yes, we have to love our neighbour
as ourself. Yes, we have to deal with one
another. But there is a separation from
friendship. Those who once said with us,
come with us and we will do you good. Once there was that time
where you were knit together with them. But once Christ has
said, follow me, there's a change of heart, a change of mind, a
change of outlook, a change of delight in what we hear. And
we can no longer run with them as we used to run. We can no
longer mix with them as we used to mix. We are as a spotted bird
amongst a flock of a different species. They are dead. We have been given life. They
are in the darkness. We are in the light. They are
following Satan. We are following the Lord Jesus
Christ. We are different. And therefore there is a sacrificial
separation from that which contaminates and alters our course from following
the Lord Jesus. And as we looked at on Wednesdays,
our time, There's a cost. Our time is no longer ours. Christ has brought us with his
own heart's blood. He has brought us and every aspect
of our lives now belongs to him. We have become his bond slaves,
his servants. And he owns us. for he has brought
us with his own heart's blood. And he says, follow, follow me. And our life then is not our
own. Simon, Peter and Andrew, James
and John, their lives were no longer the same. They were different. They were now following the Lord
Jesus Christ. And they were going to sit under
his ministry. They were going to learn of him.
They were going to go with him wherever he went. And so their
life revolved around everything that the Lord Jesus Christ did
and everything that the Lord Jesus Christ said. But there
was a reward for them. He doesn't say leave the world
and live a miserable life with no enjoyment, no pleasure. He says, follow me and I will
make you fishers of men. He was going to bring them into
a nobler task, a greater job, a job with lasting consequences. The fish that they caught, they
would just sell them, and they would be devoured in one day,
and then they'd have to go fishing again. But the fish in which
they were now to catch, those fish would be snatched out of
the darkness of the water by the gospel net and brought into
the light. And there they would be for all
eternity. And so the work was a nobler
work. with far-reaching consequences. And the Christian life is a nobler
life. It's a life that has far-reaching
consequences, eternal consequences. It is a nobler life because we've
been adopted into the family of a king through the Lord Jesus
Christ. It is a nobler life because we've
been taken from a broad road that leads to destruction and
have been placed on a narrow way that leads to life. And so
there is a greater reward, which is eternal life with Christ Jesus. In Romans 8, it tells us there,
verse 29, For whom he did foreknow, he
also predestinated to be conformed into the image of his Son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called,
them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. You see, there is a reward of
following Christ. There is the call the initial working on or the
grasping of the Holy Spirit. But then there is the understanding
of what Christ has done. Those he called, then he also
justified. We read recently, you shall call
his name Jesus. for he shall save his people
from their sins. Those he called, them he also
justified, them he also glorified. It's a state that have been and
they will be glorified with Christ. And so from those little words,
follow me. come behind me, forsake all and
follow me. There is a vast, it's like a
wonderful cave in which you enter into and the beautiful rooms
down there of justification and sanctification and adoption and
the wonderful relationship that has been brought about through
the Lord Jesus Christ. But if someone says to you, follow
me, you might ask them the question,
well, where are you going? Because that's what you want
to know. You want to know, well, where are you going? You wouldn't
just blindly follow. If I follow you, where am I going
to end up? Well, where was Jesus going? Jesus had three years of ministry,
and then he was gonna end up at the cross. That's where he
was going. He says, follow me. And I will make you fishers of
men, but if you follow me, you'll end up at the cross. But from the cross, He went to
the right hand of the Father. And at the right hand of the
Father, there he intercedes for his people. And with every single
believer, that is the same. He says, follow me. And you say, well, where are
you going? To the cross. Deny yourself. Take up your cross. and follow me. But there's glory. The scripture
tells us that it is through much tribulation that we must enter
the kingdom of God. And as we follow the Lord Jesus
Christ and we walk on the narrow way that leads to life, bearing
our cross, our shame, despised and rejected
of men, Yet we walk in the footsteps
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Think of Moses, as Moses left
Egypt, he was led by the cloud. And as he, wherever he walked,
he was following where the cloud was. The cloud brought them to
the Red Sea, and they crossed over, The cloud brought them
through the wilderness and such like and they continued to follow
the Lord Jesus, follow the cloud until they were brought eventually
to the promised land. And that is how every single
believer is. Christ says to them, follow me. Follow me. Walk a more nobler
path, but a harder path. Maybe twisting and turning. I
will help you along the way. I will be your good shepherd.
I will be round about you. I will take care of you. I know
my sheep and such like. But the destination is glory. They say, don't they, every journey
begins with a step. The disciples took a step to
follow the Lord Jesus Christ and in spiritual things that
step is called a step of faith. And the scripture tells us that
faith is a gift of God. Eyes that see are a gift from
God. Ears that hear are a gift from
God. A heart that receives truth is
a gift from God. And as Simon Peter and Andrew
heard the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ saying, follow me, As
they were worked on by the Spirit, they took that step of faith
and they forsook all and followed the Lord Jesus. Peter tells us,
doesn't he? Lord, we have forsaken all and
followed Thee. And they literally had. But naturally
speaking, you and I may not be called to leave all as they have. but we are called to lose, forsake
all our sin and such like and follow the Lord Jesus Christ
and wherever He leads us, we are to follow Him. So who were
they following before, you could ask? Those of you who are following
Christ even today, who were you following before?
The scripture tells us that we were in the darkness. And the
God of this world is Satan. And so we were following ourselves,
our own will, under the influence of Satan, under the shadow of
darkness. But Jesus comes and he says,
follow me. Step out of the darkness. Step
out from under the authority of Satan, the chains of sin. and follow him. Be obedient to
him. Believe and trust in him and
straightway they left their nets and followed him. May the Lord
enable us then this year to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Follow
him for the right reasons. Follow him understanding the
costs that are involved in following him faithfully. the losings of
friendship, even the the losings of our own life should we be
called to do so, all for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. Consider those who have gone
before us, such like John Rogers, who for the sake of the Lord's
Supper, laid down his life, said goodbye to his family, ten children,
and was burned at the stake. Robert Thomas, 26 years old,
sails off into Korea to distribute and preach the gospel, yet his
life's cut short. Yet the Lord still works through
his word and through his spirit. And may we see it even in our
day and generation, the Lord raising up those who are committed
and faithful followers of the Lord Jesus Christ that will become
the great fishers of men. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen. Just a reminder, this afternoon's
service is at 3 p.m., and you're welcome to stay for lunch between
the services. Our last hymn is hymn number
1139. O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come,
our shelter from the stormy blast, and our eternal home. Hymn number
1139 to the tune number 89. ? God of helping ages past ? ?
A hope for years to come ? ? A shelter from the stormy blasts ? ? And
our eternal home ? of thy throne, thy saints have
dwelt secure. Sufficient is thine arm alone,
and a defense is sure. Before the hills I would come, I would come, I
would come. He sons of man. All nations rose from the dead
first, and turned to earth again. A thousand ages ? Through the rising sun ? ? Unlocking
at the rolling stream ? ? Bears all its sons away ? ? They fly
forgotten as a dream ? O God, our help in ages past,
our hope for years to come, be thou our guide while the Now by the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, with the fellowship
and the communion of the Holy Spirit, do rest and abide with
us each, for now and for evermore. Amen.