the notices for the week. If the Lord will, Mr. Mark Seymour will preach next
Lord's Day at 10.30 and 2 o'clock. Mr. John Hart will preach on
Thursday evening at 7 o'clock. And there will be a prayer meeting
on Tuesday evening at 7 o'clock. May the Lord help us to commence
our worship today by singing hymn 1105 to the tune Adoration
276. Jesus engrave it on my heart
that thou the one thing needful art. I could from all things
parted be. but never, never lord from thee. Hymn 1105, tune Adoration 276.
? Sons and daughters of heaven
above ? ? The one thing in my heart ? ?
Will be for all things ? ? Utterly perfected ? It would help Thou to make me
live It would help Thou, O grace, to give Niko to guide me as I
stray Niko to help me every day Needful is thy first precious
blood, Needful is thy correcting blood, Nidra is sire, in touch and care,
Nidra thy own My presence in this zone, true
peace and comfort to afford. It will thy promise true impart.
Praise thy campaign, God, to thy heart. of love thy soul can change. Till all life's dark and thorny
way, in death thou be when I yield up my soul. So now to raise my dust In shining
glory with the just Live for one hour in heav'n above
the air, Take crown and take praise and favor, Let us read together two portions
from the word of God. The first you'll find in the
gospel of John and chapter one. The gospel of John and chapter
one and picking up the reading in verse 35. Here we have the meeting of Jesus
and Andrew and Simon Peter. John, 1 and commencing to read
at verse 35. Again the next day after John
stood and two of his disciples and looking upon Jesus as he
walked he said behold the Lamb of God and the two disciples
heard him speak and they followed Jesus Then Jesus turned and saw
them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, which
is to say, be an interpreted master, where dwellest thou? And he said unto them, Come and
see. And they came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him
that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two which
heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's
brother. He first findeth his own brother
Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messiah's, which
is being interpreted the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus,
and when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon, the son
of Jonah. Thou shalt be called Cephas,
which is by interpretation a stone. So I want to now turn to Luke's
gospel and chapter five. So I think what we've read in
John's gospel is the first meeting, as it were, of Jesus and Simon,
which gets surnamed Peter or Cephas. And then we have another
time when Jesus meets with Peter and then he becomes truly a disciple,
a follower of the Lord Jesus in Luke chapter five. So Luke 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, that's Jesus,
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 draft. That's a net full of fish. 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 net. And when they had this done,
they enclosed a great multitude of fishes, and their net broke. 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 and leave the readings of God's
word there. May he bless them to our souls. Help us now to draw an eye to
God in prayer. Let us pray. Kind and gracious and eternal
Lord God, we thank thee for the mercies that enable us to gather
around thy word this morning. And Lord, we do pray thy blessing
upon each that have gathered and Lord, and we pray they'll
go before us each. And Lord, we think particularly
of their dear pastor as he's on holiday, Lord, at this time
in Canada. Lord, do grant him thy favour
and presence there, Lord, and grant him that rest and change. And that would be a blessing
as he is able to have fellowship with many of thy dear people
out there. And Lord, we do pray for thy
blessing upon each that have gathered here, Lord, we pray
that we understand there are those away from them here. Lord,
do be with those, Lord, that are away, and Lord, bless each
that are here, and there may be those able to listen online. We pray thy blessing upon them,
that, Lord, the word spoken might, Lord, be a word of life, a word
of blessing, a word of encouragement. Lord, as we go on in our daily
walk, Lord, that we may learn of thee, that we may be each
followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, in whatever capacity we currently
have, a knowledge of the Saviour, that we might be followers, that,
Lord, followers of him, and that we may be growing in grace and
in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Lord, bless each then that have
gathered, Lord. We thank thee, Lord, for each
Lord, from the youngest to the oldest, We pray, Lord, for the
children and young people. Bless them, Lord, and go before
them as they grow up in this world, Lord, that for the most
part does not acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ and the things
of God. Lord, we pray that, Lord, bless
them in their souls with the knowledge of the Saviour. And,
Lord, that they might have the fear of the Lord in their hearts,
which is the beginning of wisdom. And Lord, do be with those of
us that are parents. Lord, do give us wisdom and grace
to bring up our children in the nurture and admonition of the
Lord, that we might know how to, Lord, go on and how to conduct
ourselves. And Lord, that there may be,
Lord, thy blessing known and felt in our families. And Lord,
that there may be, Lord, that, that those younger people following
on to know the Lord and to call thee the Redeemer blessed. Lord, do help us then, those
in the midst of life with many cares and many things, Lord,
to occupy their time, to crowd in, Lord, help them, Lord, to
have those times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.
Help them to have those times of blessing. Lord, and we pray
that it might be such today as we gather around thy word, Lord,
in thine earthly courts. We thank thee, Lord, for the
Lord's day. Lord, a day when we can stop
all our normal work, Lord, our secular employment and the busyness
of normal life, Lord, and we can stop that, and we can, Lord,
consider the things of God, particularly on this day. And Lord, consider,
Lord, the things which are eternal. And Lord, as we one day must
pass from time into eternity, and everything here below will
stop for us. Lord, may it be, Lord, a foretaste
of that, as we recognize, Lord, that all things here below are
temporal, but one thing is needful, to be prepared for our eternal
home. And Lord, help us then, Lord,
to be Being prepared today Lord each of us Lord the youngest
of the oldest Lord. We do not know how long any of
us Will will be spared here below Lord. We know that there are
from time to time. We have relatives Lord young
children Lord Lord that are Have cancer and Lord have great uncertainty
as to their personal future But Lord, we know that thou art able,
Lord, to grant healing mercies, and we pray for those that are
not well, Lord, that thou would grant healing and restoring mercies,
if it could be thy holy will. Lord, how we're reminded, Lord,
our life is but a brittle thread, and it will soon pass away. And
then, Lord, the things of eternity, the one thing needful, will be
seen to be absolutely the one thing needful, Lord, How stands
the case, my soul, with thee? For heaven are thy credentials
clear. Is Jesus Christ thy only plea? Is he thy great forerunner there? O Lord, we do pray then that
we may consider these things today, and that we may consider
whether we have those true experiences of the Lord's people, that true
abhorrence of sin, and that true realisation of something, of
the preciousness of the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour. Lord, we do pray that Thou will
bless us then. We thank Thee, Lord, for Thy
Word. We thank Thee, Lord, for those accounts in Thy Word of
Thy dear disciples and how often they struggled to understand
and to, Lord, comprehend those things that they were passing
through and how they so often didn't understand really exactly
all that was meant by the Kingdom of God and the coming of the
Messiah and all these things were things that they had to,
Lord, try to understand themselves, Lord. And we thank thee, Lord,
for these accounts. And Lord, we pray that as we
today, Lord, need to come to a right understanding of who
the Lord Jesus is and what think ye of Christ. Lord, we pray that
as we look through the lens of the disciple Peter and his struggles
and his pathway, and Lord, how Christ came to be so precious
to him. Lord, we pray that we might find
Christ precious to us. Albeit, Lord, with many gaps
in our knowledge, many things that we don't fully understand.
And yet, Lord, may we each be disciples. To be a disciple is
to be a learner. A learner is to be somebody who
doesn't know everything. And we pray, Lord, that we might
be learners of Thee then. That we might be those that grow
in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. Help us, Lord, to speak in a
way that is simple to be understood, Lord. That, Lord, each may be
able to understand the things spoken, Lord. We think of the
words of the Apostle Paul, speak five words with the understanding
than 10,000 words in an unknown tongue. Lord, we pray then that
we may be able to speak simply. Lord, our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ was one that spoke simple words, and yet they were words
with power. They were words that had eternal
significance. We pray then that we might learn
of thee today, that we might, Lord, lay hold upon the hope
set before us, in the gospel. Lord, that we may, Lord, lose
sight of all other things, Lord, and that we might, Lord, as it
were, as we gather around my word today, that we may have
dealings between our souls and God. And Lord, that we might,
Lord, have that judgment day transparency. Lord, when it will
not matter what everybody else thinks about us, what everybody
else is saying and thinking, but one thing will be needful.
What does the Lord think, and what is the truth? Lord, help
us then to know the truth, to love the truth, to live the truth,
and Lord, to truly be thy servants and thy disciples, that we might
be followers of a despised and a crucified man. Lord, and yet
an exalted one, a one that now ever lives to make intercession
for his people, One that, Lord, has passed this veil of tears
and now has gone, Lord, into glory, there forever, Lord, to
bring his church safely to glory with him. Lord, anticipate in
that marriage supper of the Lamb, when every last one of thy people
will come as that bride adorned for her husband, a prepared place
for a prepared people to be with Christ. which is far better. Bless us then, we pray. Be with
all the gatherings of thy people up and down this land today.
Lord, we pray for each of thy dear servants as they, Lord,
preach the word today. Do help them and bless them.
And Lord, may it be a good day amongst the churches, a day of
a son of man, a day when, Lord, there is a pushing back of the
kingdom of Satan. and a building up of the kingdom
of thy dear Son. Bless us then, we pray. And Lord,
be with those in authority over us, those in government, those
making many great decisions that affect each of our lives. Lord,
give them wisdom and understanding, and Lord, help them to fear the
Lord, and help them, Lord, to realize that righteousness exhorted
the nation, but sin is a reproach to any people, and help them,
Lord, to uphold those things which are truth. are those things
which are a right. Lord, we live in a day of many
lies. Lord, Satan is a liar. He was
so from the beginning, a liar, and he continues to lie as he,
Lord, seeks to bring the whole human race, if he could, into
perdition, into that lake of burning fire with himself. Lord,
snatches each his brands from the burning, And Lord, help us
to come to know our sovereign King, the Lord Jesus Christ,
as that one that has saved us, snatched us as brands from the
burning, and given us a hope in the mercy of our God. Bless
us then now, Lord. Help us as we sing thy praises.
And Lord, in all parts of this service, may the Lord Jesus Christ
be lifted up high on the gospel pole. And Lord, that we might
come where the people are. Lord, We think of that poor half-dead
man in the parable of the Good Samaritan. We think of him on
the roadside. And Lord, the priest and the Levite, Lord,
they walked by on the other side. They did not help him. And Lord,
we pray that the preaching of the word today here at Lambethurst
may not be like the priest and the Levite, which does not come
and help the people. that are hearing. But O Lord,
we pray that thou make us, Lord, like that good Samaritan, that
as he journeyed, came where he was. Lord, didn't criticise him,
Lord, didn't laugh at him, didn't despise him, but came where he
was and poured in the oil and the wine of the gospel. And Lord,
we pray then that there may be things done today which will
be a blessing for living souls, for souls that perhaps as yet
are dead in trespasses and in sins. Lord, that it might be
that they may remember this day as a day when they had dealings
with their God. Bless us then and go before us,
bless the ministry of their pastor, Lord, as he labours here from
week to week And Lord, we thank thee for thy mercies to him.
And Lord, do bless his ministry then. Go before us now and grant
us thy favour and presence. For Christ's sake, amen. Hymn 1130, tune Deep Harmony
869. O thou at whose almighty word
the glorious light from darkness sprung, thy quickening influence
afford, and clothe with power the preacher's tongue. Hymn 1130,
tune Deep Harmony 869. Whose almighty word Can purest
light from darkness drive. Thy quickling in blue and And mercy at the creature's touch. It's time to teach him how to
speak. It's time to give a hearing ear. The mountain great Can't make
the valleys sliver Jesus, that Thine almighty Lord,
to give the poor His fondly glad. to speak the story by which birth
and with the mourners is devout. ? God's glory in the hills of Calvary
? ? Spare no need and depend ? ? To make
the gospel known ? The Lord may graciously help
me. I'll turn your prayerful attention
to the Gospel of Luke. chapter 5 and taking verse 8
as our text this morning. Luke 5 and verse 8. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell
down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful
man, O Lord. That's Luke 5. and verse 8. In the first reading that we
read we have I believe the first encounter that Simon Peter had
with the Lord Jesus. It was clear that his brother
Andrew was actually the first one that came to see the Lord
Jesus when John the Baptist was said that well-known truth, behold the
Lamb of God as he saw Jesus walking and the disciples and Andrew
was one of them that came to know the Lord then for the first
time and Andrew is concerned for his brother, his brother
Simon and so he brings Simon to the Lord Jesus so this one
who had found Jesus to be precious to himself He comes and finds
another one, his brother, and seeks that he may know him too.
And that is, I guess, a great truth in the gospel, in the Christian
life. As we have been blessed to know
the Lord Jesus, there is surely a desire that others may come
to know him too. The ones that we love, our families,
our friends, those we work with, to have a concern for their soul,
that they too might know the Lord Jesus. for themselves. Well Andrew brings Peter or Simon
to see the Lord and interestingly we see here in verse 42 of 1
John and he brought him to Jesus, that's Andrew brought Simon to
Jesus and Jesus is the first one to speak, Andrew does not
introduce Simon to Jesus, Jesus speaks straight away and he shows
his omniscience here that he knows all things. In a sense
he'd never met Simon before but immediately he knows who Simon
is, he knows who his father is, and the first thing he tells
Peter, Simon is, that his name is going to be changed. Think
about that, the first time you meet somebody and the first thing
they say to you is, thou art Simon the son of Jonah, that's
your father, but thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation
stone to the first meeting that the Lord Jesus has with Simon. He changes his name, gives him
a new name. We know that in the scripture
often he's still referred to as Simon, but sometimes as Peter
and sometimes Simon Peter. But Peter you see was, or Simon
was brought up in a Jewish way and of course Simon would have
known that there were others in the Old Testament that had
their names changed. Abraham got his name changed
to Abraham as he was going to be the father of many nations. Abraham had his name changed.
Another notable one that had his name changed was Jacob. Jacob,
which means the supplanter. He was going to be, he got his
name changed to Israel as a prince that has power with God. Simon
would have known that there were those in the Old Testament that
had their names changed, and it has a big significance. You
think of the name Israel, how common that is even today. And yet that was a name change
that God gave to Jacob, that he would no longer be seen as
a supplanter, but as a prince, as thou power with God. So this great thing that happened
as Jesus first met Simon at his name, was changed and he was
going to be called Cephas which is a stone or another, it's often
called Peter as well which also means a stone. So Peter was going
to be very much involved with the building of the church. He was going to be like a rock
and there was going to be a blessing and he was going to be mightily
used. And of course it was Peter who was the one that was going
to preach on that great day of Pentecost. when there would be
those 3,000 souls saved. So we have then the first, I
believe, meeting of Jesus and Simon, where his name was changed,
but we don't read that he, after that meeting, immediately then
followed Jesus. Because if we go back then to
where we read in Luke's Gospel, we have Simon fishing with his,
and his, the other companions, James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
and they were mending their nets and they'd been busy all night
fishing. They were not with Jesus in that
sense, they were fishing, they were carrying on with their business,
their fishing business. And Jesus comes and then he uses
Simon's boat as a pulpit to preach from. He was obviously preaching
to many people on the shores of the lake of Gennesaret or
the Sea of Galilee. he used Simon's boat as a place
to sit while he taught the people. But then we read that after he
had finished teaching the people in verse 4 of Luke 5, and now
when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, launch out into
the deep and let down your nets for a draft. So he tells Simon
to go and go fishing. Well, Simon had been busy all
night fishing. And this had been a particularly
disappointing night. They had caught nothing. But
you see, Jesus tells them, launch out into the deep and let down
your nets for a draft. So Jesus gives this command to
Peter, to Simon, to go fishing now after he'd done his preaching,
that Jesus had done his preaching. And as you go through the Gospels,
it's interesting to note Peter was often the one that spoke
and responded when Jesus said something or did something. And
I've thought about this quite a lot. If Peter was very reserved,
as many of the other disciples were, we wouldn't have known
what he was agreeing with or what he was struggling with.
But because he so often would reply or say what he was thinking,
we learn a lot about what was going through Peter's mind. And
sometimes he said some very good things and sometimes he said
some things that he got a sharp rebuke for. But it does add so
much to our knowledge of what the disciples were going through.
The fact that Simon Peter was one that spoke quite a lot his
mind and in that sense it was helpful for us so that we knew
what was going through their mind. Otherwise they would agree
or disagree in their mind with what Jesus was doing but we wouldn't
know which way it was. Well Simon here characteristically
of him, puts up a reason why this is not a good idea. In verse
5 of chapter 5, And Simon answered and said unto him, Master, we
have toiled all the night and have taken nothing. And I understand
it was well considered that doing that sort of fishing at night
was more productive. So if you've had a night full
of doing this fishing at the so-called best time and you've
caught nothing, It doesn't seem very worthwhile in doing it in
the daytime, which was less likely to be productive. But of course,
Peter had lost sight of who he was speaking to. The one who
is in control of everything. The one who is the son of God.
The majesty of God. And we have taken nothing. Nevertheless,
here Peter's still willing though to listen to the master. Nevertheless
at thy word, I will let down the net. So even though Peter
puts up a reason why it doesn't sound a very good idea, he still
is given that power, that willingness to do what Jesus says. Well, so they do that. And then
in verse six, you see, we have this miracle. And when they had
done this, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes and their
net break. So having fished all night and
caught nothing, now they put those that net down, it seems
they just put one net down, though Jesus says put down your nets,
but they put that net down and it was so full of fishes, and
there were so many fishes that it was enough really to nearly
sink both of the ships, their ship and also the ship of their
colleagues, James and John. So they And verse seven it says,
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. So this had
been a great blessing and Peter obviously in his fishing business,
this was a great blessing to catch fish. Obviously if you've
been busy at your work and you've produced nothing, it's very deflating,
it's very disappointing. And yet this now was a great
natural blessing for Peter to have this ship, or two ships,
full of fish, this was naturally a great prosperity. But Peter,
you see, saw something much more, that actually the person who
would come in his boat was not just an ordinary person, but
he was indeed the Messiah, the Son of God. And this produces,
you see, and then we come really to what we've named as a text
in verse eight, when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus'
knees saying, depart from me, for I am a sinful man, oh Lord. So I want to look firstly, actually
at the latter part of this verse, of this declaration that Peter
makes of his self-knowledge. The knowledge of himself, and
it's important to know ourselves, isn't it? To know what we're
really like. And here Peter says this, for I am a sinful man,
O Lord. So Peter here is saying to, he
feels his sinfulness. He realizes that he's a sinner.
He obviously had just been questioning the wisdom of Jesus, saying that
he should go fishing, and obviously it became abundantly clear that
what Jesus said was a very good thing and very profoundly wise
and yet he had challenged that. And as we start to realize this,
we see, you see, he felt that he was a sinner, one that came
short of the glory of God. And this is a very, very important
step for each of the Lord's disciples to come to realize, for I am,
a sinful man or woman or child, oh Lord, a sinner. I'm a sinner,
that's what I am. And what caused him to suddenly
say this word? Well, really the source of his
coming to realize that he was a sinner was an encounter with
the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to realize that he had
come in contact, in his very boat, with one who was the Son
of God. And you see God is holy. Holy
means separate. Holiness, separateness. God is
separate from us. He's holy, holy, holy. And Peter
realized that separation. This is really important. And
Peter is not on his own when it comes to this. If you look
in Job, when Job had an encounter with the Lord, as the Lord came
to speak to Job towards the end of his trials. Job comes to this
in Job 42 verse 5, he says, I have heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee. What's the result? What's the response of Job seeing
God? Wherefore I bore myself and repent
in dust and ashes. That's Job 42 verse 6. Job had
an encounter with God. God spoke to Job and he realized
his sinfulness. He realized his separation from
God, that he was a sinner. Although we read that Job was
a very upright man and astute evil, he still felt that he was
a sinner and he was very different than the Lord Jesus. Another
place where we have a similar word is Isaiah 6. Isaiah had that same vision. Isaiah 6 verse 3 it says, And
one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy. So this is
Isaiah 6 verse 3. And said, Holy, holy, holy is
the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his
glory. The post of the door moved at
the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with
smoke. Then said I, What was the response? What effect did
that have on Isaiah? Woe is me, for I am undone, because
I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people
of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord
of hosts. So you see, really, this is vitally
important. Peter came to realize the separation
that there was between the holiness of God and his unholiness. And this is very important for
us each to see that, that we may realize that God is holy
and by nature we are far off from God. Well, what effect did this have? What did Peter do as a result
of realizing this? Well, that's where we come really
to the earlier part in this verse, Luke 5 verse 8, when Simon Peter
saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, so he fell down in a humble
way, a worshipful way, saying, depart from me, depart from me,
for I am a sinful man. You might say, that's strange,
isn't it? Why would you ask Jesus to depart
from you? Well, I do believe that Peter
truly loved the Lord, and Peter did not say this, as we read
in Matthew 8, when Jesus went into the land of Gennesaret and
where those, let me just turn to that, it's Matthew chapter
8. That's when the evil spirit went into those pigs, those swine,
and they ran violently down a hill. And we read at the end of that
in Matthew 8, verse 34, it says, and behold, the whole city came
out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they besought
him that he would depart out of their coasts. They didn't
want Jesus, they wanted him gone. It wasn't that they thought he
was holy or appreciated that, they just wanted him out the
way. They didn't want him ruining their businesses. Well, here
I believe Peter had a very different motive here when he said depart
from me. I believe what Peter was saying here, It was a logical
conclusion to what he'd just seen. He'd seen that Jesus was
holy, and he'd seen that he was unholy. And Peter said, well,
the solution of this is separation. I need to keep separate. You
see, out of Christ almighty power can do nothing but devour. And
he felt he needed to be away from this holy person because
it would consume him. He felt to be so far off. And you see he understood something
of the separation that there was between him and the Lord
Jesus. Depart from me. Oh, what a words
it was. This was, if you like, a prayer
of Peter, depart from me, for I am a sinful man. But graciously,
you see, that prayer was not answered by the Lord in a way. He didn't say, well, Peter, yes,
you keep as far away as you can from me. No, that was not the
way that Jesus handled this at all. And you see, Peter was coming,
repentance and in Romans 2 verse 4 we read the goodness of God
leadeth us to repentance and really what had happened in the
life of Simon Peter he was a fisherman and suddenly he'd had the biggest
catch he'd ever had it was the best fishing day he'd ever had
and his partners so it was it was naturally a blessing and
yet it brought him It exposed in his mind his sinfulness. The goodness of God leadeth us
to repentance. You see, this was naturally a
good thing, wasn't it? If you're in a fishing business and you're
trying to catch fish and then you have a whole load of fish,
that's a good thing. But for Peter, it opened his
eyes to see actually that God was holy and that actually he
was unholy. And it brought him to repentance,
the goodness of God. leadeth us to repentance. And
it was so, you think of that in the life of Joseph when he
was trying his brothers who had been so cruel and wicked to him.
It was when they opened their sacks and the money was found
in all of their sacks. This was the time when their
hearts failed them. You'd say, why? They were people
that loved money. Jews are known to like their
money and to be very good businessmen. If they had their money back
in the sacks and they had the sacks of corn as well, that's
a good thing, isn't it? Ah, but you see, it exposed to
them their sin. It showed them there was something
wrong they were sinful. You see, it brought them to repentance. They realized that yes, this
one who was being so good to them, this governor of the land
of Egypt that was being so generous to them, yet they realized we're
very guilty concerning our brother. They realized that there was
guilt, that they were guilty. So you see, it's a vital ingredient
in the experience of God's people to come to realize that they're
sinners, that there's a separation between them and God. You see,
all the time we can think, well, we're on an equal. Well, Peter's
eyes were opened to realize that they were not on an equal, that he was a sinner. Have you
come there? to realize that you are sinful,
that God is holy, and he's good, and he's gracious, and he's been
so good to you, and yet you've been so despicable in return. You've not acted in a way that
is right, because you have sin mixed with everything you do.
A great vital ingredient, for I am a sinful man. Depart from
me. And we read in verse nine, for
he was astonished and all that were with him at the draft of
fishes that they had taken. They were amazed that the goodness
of God led Peter to come to this conclusion, depart from me. This seems the only way forward. And you see the wonderful thing
is that Jesus had a different solution. Jesus had a different
solution to Peter's. He doesn't criticise Peter and
say, no, no, Peter, you're not so bad, you're not really a sinful
man, you're quite good, really. No, he doesn't say that. See,
if you read on, it says in verse 10, and so were also James and
John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with them. And
Jesus said unto Simon, so this is the response, this is the
reply to Simon Peter saying, depart from me, for I am a sinful
man. This is Jesus' response. Fear
not, fear not. Oh, how many fear nots there
are in the word of God. When did fear enter into the
world? Well, in that Garden of Eden, initially, there was no
fear. The first time we read of fear,
or being afraid, is in Genesis 3, verse 10. And that's when
the voice of the Lord came in the cool of the day, to speak
to Adam and Eve after they had taken of the forbidden fruit.
And he said, this is Genesis 3 verse 10, he said, I have heard
thy voice in the garden and I was afraid. Fear, you see, comes,
ultimately stems back to the fact that we are sinners and
we come short and we are afraid of the consequences of our sin. But you see, this is the great
message of the gospel. that Jesus came to deal with
this. You see, sometimes you have people,
perhaps you have nurses in hospital and somebody has got many troubles,
somebody comes in an accident, an emergency with many troubles
and you might say to calm them down, look, don't worry, don't
worry, you'll be okay. And sometimes that is true and
sometimes it's just you're trying to calm the person down. But
when Jesus says, fear not, it's not an empty fear not, without
actually dealing with the problem. You see, this is why Jesus had
come to deal with the problem of sin. He'd come to deal with
the separation that Peter started to understand that there was
between him and Christ. You see, if Peter had just thought,
well, we're on an equal, then there was no work for Christ
to do, was there? But you see, I came not to call
the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And Peter was one
of those sinners that Jesus was bringing to repentance. Coming
to realize that their need of a savior, their need of forgiveness. Fear not, from henceforth thou
shalt catch men. So instead of Jesus saying no,
Well, we'll keep as far apart as we can because you're a sinner
and I'm holy. No, Jesus says, fear not, fear
not. You see, he was going to deal
with that sin and he was going to make a way whereby sinners
and a holy God that was truly holy and sinners that were truly
filthy could be brought together. And that's the great message
of the gospel. The one that is able to bring
together You see, you can try and say that sin is not so serious,
and you can try and say that God is not so holy, and then
you can have some sort of middle ground where you can have some
fellowship between God and man, because man is not so sinful
and God is not so holy, so they can sort of get on quite well
together. But the Word of God does never
do that. It maintains the holiness of God, the separateness of God,
and it maintains the simpleness of us in the fall, that we are
sinners and far off from God, out of Christ's almighty power,
can do nothing but devour. And you see, what Peter says,
depart from me, for I am a sinful man, he's saying it would be
absolutely right, it would be a right judgement, if I was separated
from Christ eternally. One of our hymn writers picks
up that point and says, and if my soul was sent to hell, thy
righteous law approves it well. It doesn't mean it's a good outcome,
I mean it would be a disaster to be sent to hell, but it would
be righteous, it would be just, it would be consistent with who
I am and who God is. Yet you see the wonderful thing
is that Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost,
and Peter was one of them. And Peter was going to be a preacher
of the gospel, he was going to realise His needs so much of
forgiveness. And so when he came, you see,
with this sin, fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men. Peter, you're gonna be one of
my disciples. And in the next verse he says, and when they
had brought their ships to land, they forsook all and followed
him. So rather than Jesus answering
that prayer in an external way and saying, yes, okay, Peter,
we'll be separate. No, he brings Peter nigh. And
you see, this is the great message of the gospel, made nigh by the
blood of Christ. But interestingly, and you see,
then we have Peter as following, we read, and they forsook all
and followed him. Peter became a follower. How
much did Peter know? What did Peter know about the
way of salvation? Well, as we go on, and I hope
to look at that perhaps this afternoon, there was great holes
and gaps in Peter's knowledge. And I do not highlight this in
any way to be unkind to Peter, but just to point out the fact
that Peter, who was going to be such an able minister of the
gospel, had to come to learn these things himself. And it
is a way that is so opposite to what we would naturally expect,
a way that is very different In Isaiah it says, a way that
the vultures I have not seen, nor the lions whelp trodden in. A way that is separate. A way
that is so different than we would expect. How can God and
man come together? When one is so sinful and one
is so holy, how can there ever be a union between them? Well,
eventually Peter was going to realize that it was going to
take the very death of the shepherd to bring him back to union with
the Lord Jesus Christ. But I don't believe at this stage,
in Peter's theology, he understood that. He makes it clear later
on that he absolutely doesn't understand that. But he's going
to understand it, he's going to love it, he's going to preach
it, and he's going to live and die for it. You see, and here,
so as we look at these things, we see Peter as one who was a
learner. And I want to encourage, perhaps,
those seeking souls here this morning, that you might think,
well, I've got to understand everything before I can be a
follower. Peter became a follower in verse 11 of Luke 5. But he didn't know so many things. But one thing he knew, he knew
that he loved the Lord. and he wanted to follow him.
He didn't understand all the theology, and I'm not saying
that you don't need to understand the theology, or it's not important,
I don't mean that. What I'm saying is we've got
to follow with the knowledge that God currently has given
us. And as they followed, they learned. They learned. You see,
that great text that we read in Matthew 11, Come unto me, this is Matthew
11 verse 28, come unto me all ye that labour, and are heavy
laden, I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn
of me. Learn of me. That's what Peter
was gonna do, wasn't he? He was gonna learn of this saviour.
This one that said, fear not. He was gonna learn how Jesus
could say that, and mean it, and satisfy justice. at the same
time. Learn of me for I am meek and
lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls for my yoke
is easy and my burden is light. You see, so when Peter saw it he fell
down at Jesus' knees. So Peter, I believe, loved the
Master, loved the Lord Jesus and yet He felt, because of his
own sinfulness, that there could only be separation for that one
that he loved. And yet Jesus gave him this very
sweet reassurance, and not empty words, fear not, fear not. Oh,
fear came when sin entered into this world, and death by sin,
and therefore we fear, and we have many things to fear. But
you see, the Lord Jesus is able to give a fear not, Fear not,
because I've come to deal with it, you see. I've come to deal
with this separation. From henceforth thou shalt catch
men. Simon, you're going to be involved
with speaking to others about these things of God. And you've
got to know them yourself. You've got to experience them
yourself. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook
all and followed him. Here we see the vital necessity
of a self-knowledge of who we are. It's really important to
know this, really important to experience it, to realize that
we are sinners. I think I understand that there
was, many years ago, the Erskine brothers, they were preachers,
and one lady came up to them at one point and said, how deeply
do I need to know my sin before I can know the Savior, be saved.
And they gave this reply, which I think is very, very wise. They
said, deep enough to flee to Christ. If your knowledge of
your sin has not made you fly out of yourself, it's not deep
enough. But if it's made you realize that there's no hope
in self, then you see you're to go out of self. And you see,
we live in a world where young people when we come to jobs and
and interviews and you're encouraged so much to to promote yourself
and to say make yourself out as somebody so wonderful and
say so many things which are almost too good to be true you're
expected to do that well what did Peter say depart from me
for I'm a sinful You'd say, well, that's not really much of an
advert to be taken on to work, is it? Well, Peter was going
to have a great employment. He was gonna be used of God to
be a great blessing to the church, a great blessing to build the
church of God. And this was his first statement,
as it were. depart from me for I am a sinful
man. And yet you see the Lord was
gonna deal with that. And how the Lord deals with our sin is
he came, he came for this very purpose, to deal with that separation
that there is between a holy God and sinful men. So this prayer of Peter was not
really answered by the Lord Jesus in the way that Peter could only
see the logical conclusion was separation, but Jesus says no,
union. In union with the Lamb, from
condemnation free, the saints from everlasting were and shall
forever be. But in their own heart they see
that there should be separation, there should be anything but
union. Well I want to turn in Matthew's
Gospel to another place where these same words are used, depart
from me, but this time they're used by the Lord Jesus Christ. So we've just looked at a prayer
where Peter says depart from me for I'm a sinful man and Jesus
graciously did not answer that prayer in the way that Peter
thought the only way was to answer it was for him to be cut out,
to be separated from his saviour. Well, if you look in Matthew
chapter 7, this is coming to the end of the Sermon on the
Mount, Matthew 7 and verse 21, we have these words. Not everyone
that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is
in heaven. Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name
have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful
works. You see, these people were, these
people sadly did not see any need of separation or feel any
separation between them and a holy God. They were one with him. We taught in your streets. We
cast out devils in your name. We did many things with you. No separation. We're with you. then in these solemn, solemn,
solemn words in verse 23, and then, will I profess unto them,
I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. So here we have the words of
the Lord Jesus. He spoke at the end of his Sermon
on the Mount to those, as it were, who never came to realize
that there was a separation between them and the Savior. Never realized
that there was a gulf between their unholiness and his holiness. Oh, we're one, we're taught in
your streets, we're one of you, we do the works of God. But Jesus
said, no, you don't. You don't know me. You don't
know that you're so sinful. You don't know that I'm holy.
You think I'm just one of you. Not everyone that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. for he
that doeth the will of my Father which is heaven. Many shall say
to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have not we prophesied in thy
name? You see, these people who came to their interview had many
credentials against their name. We've done this, we've done that,
we've done the other. We're pretty good Christians. Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name? In thy name have cast out devils.
In thy name done many wonderful works. They're not crying out. Depart from me, for I'm a sinful
man. No, they're full of themselves.
And you see, Peter was gonna be useful in God's kingdom. But
God brought Peter to see that he had nothing in and of himself.
He was an empty vessel. And he could only see that the
way forward was eternal separation. And yet the gospel was that sinners
can say, and none but they, how precious is the Savior. and it
was Peter as that sinner that had obtained mercy, that had
come to see that this one receiveth sinners and eateth with them.
This one who came to seek and to save that which is lost. Surely
there is encouragement here for seeking souls. Encouragement
here for those like the parable of the the Pharisee and the publican
who came up unto the temple to pray. The Pharisee giving a list
of all his credentials, of all the ways in which he was such
a wonderful man. And yet the publican, the tax
collector, they say, God be merciful to me a sinner. Two men went
up to the house to pray. But Jesus says, verily I say
unto you, that that publican went down, went home justified. justified rather than the other. And you see, who exhorteth himself shall be brought
down, but those that humble themselves. And so there is a great need,
you see, this right at the beginning of Peter's spiritual experience,
a vital ingredient for all of God's people. There's no getting
around this. Do you know something of it?
And may the Lord, if you don't, may the Lord open your eyes to
see something of it, because this is so vital. All the time
we're impressed with our own righteousness, impressed with
all that we can do, impressed with what we've done and what
we haven't done. Well, we don't realize that there's a gulf between
us and God. But when God shows us, you see,
opens our eyes and shows us the exceeding sinfulness of sin,
You see, as it was with Isaiah. Isaiah, that godly prophet, he,
woe is me, for I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips. I
dwell among a people of unclean lips. For mine eyes have seen
the king and his beauty. You see, it puts the glory on
Christ, and it makes us show who we are, that we are nothing. And so this great message is,
do we know ourselves? might seem a low thing to be
able to say, depart from me, for I am a sinful man. But this
was, as it were, one of the stepping stones that Peter experienced,
and a vital point that he experienced, that this is what true Christians
must know something of. They must know something of themselves. You see, Paul the Apostle. In speaking to the Romans, or
writing to the Romans, we have that. Romans chapter 7. This was not just at the beginning
of his experience, he speaks in the current, he speaks in
the present tense. So Romans 7 verse 14, For we
know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, not I was, I
am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow
not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that
do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the
law that is good. I don't do it willingly, but
I do it, I keep falling. And he's sad about it. And we
have to repent, you see, as we come short. Depart from me, for
I'm a sinful man. But you see the great message
of the Gospel is that the Lord Jesus came and stood in Peter's
place. Peter didn't really appreciate
how that gulf was going to be fixed. He realized that Christ
was important. He realized that the Messiah
was so important. But how the Messiah was going
to make a satisfaction between his unholiness and and Christ's
righteousness and how there was going to be a bringing together
to God really was outside of Peter's knowledge. These wonderful
words in Isaiah that we have, Isaiah 53, were not really understood
by Peter at this stage. I don't say this to be unkind
to Peter. I'm not saying this in any way to be unkind. What
I'm trying to encourage you is you may not understand all of
these things. but has the Lord given you some
little knowledge? See that man that the Lord had
opened his eyes, they questioned him. How did it happen and who
was it that did it? And they kept on asking question
after question after question. He didn't know the answer to
a lot of his questions. He said, one thing I know, whereas
I was blind, now I see. He couldn't answer all the other
questions, but he could answer that one. And have you come to
that point One thing I know, whereas I was impressed with
my own righteousness, now I come to see that I come short. And
I need the righteousness of another. You see in Isaiah 53 we have
this in verse 6. All we like sheep have gone astray. All, all of us. Not just some
of us. Not just those bad ones over
there. All we like sheep have gone astray. But you say there's
some that go out into the world and there's some that keep in
the church. all we like sheep have gone astray. Whether in
the, as it were, the clean side of the road or the dirty side
of the road, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned
everyone to his own way, whether it's the Pharisee Eccles side,
when we're impressed with our own righteousness, or whether
it's the world that lieth in wickedness, that seeks to find
its pleasures here below, in the lust, the pomp, the pride
of life, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone
to his own way, This is the point. And the Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all. All the church of God, the iniquity
is laid upon the Messiah. I don't think that was something
that Peter fully appreciated at all. At this point, as we
look on later this afternoon, in Matthew's Gospel, some of
the things that Peter said show that he didn't really understand
the way of salvation completely. But one thing he did know, that
he was a sinner. that Christ was holy and Christ
was separate than him. But he had that reassurance from
the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Fear not. Fear not. Naturally he was very
fearful. Fear not. And it wasn't an empty
fear not. It wasn't a fear not, oh it'll
be alright, but ultimately it wouldn't be. It was a fear not
coming from the lips of the one who cannot lie, the one who was
going to deal with sin, the one who was going to go to Calvary
to pay the price of Simon Peter's sin, although he didn't think
he needed it and he didn't want Jesus to do it. But this is the
way. And you see, so that Peter became
one of those who in his beautiful epistle, which he could not have
written, in the part of it at the time at which we have just
read now. But he writes in 1 Peter these
precious words. For as much, this is 1 Peter
1 verse 18, for as much as you know that you were not redeemed
with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation
received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious
blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish, without spot. Depart from me for I'm a sinful
man. A prayer from Peter and yet a
prayer that Jesus turned around and didn't answer in the way
that Peter thought he would. He said no there's not going
to be separation, you're going to be with me. There's going
to be union, there's going to be fellowship. You realize the
goal but I have come to overcome that goal. I have come to make
a way whereby hell-deserving sinners can have union with the
Holy Ghost. That's the gospel, Peter. And
that's the gospel you're going to preach. You're going to preach
Christ and him crucified. And it's going to be a precious
blessing to the church of God and going to be a foundation
stone. The Lord bless him and add his blessing, amen. We'll close with hymn number
921, Tune Unity, 80. In union with the Lamb, from
condemnation free, the saints from everlasting were and shall
forever be. Hymn 921, Tune Unity, 80. from condemnation bring. The saints who live pervasively
and shall forever be. In heav'n from above The sons
of God they were The needless learning Jesus taught was blest
in Jesus' stead. His throne shall never break,
the hearts of God entwine The strong, the tempted, and the
weak are one in Jesus' love. When storms or tempests rise,
Wasn't your peace a sin? Your heaven, Jesus, never did
His cause within the man. ? We will let the weary rest ?
? To the blessed God's name ? ? The wounded sweet enjoyment's rest
? ? This covenant shall be ? Kind and gracious, Lord God,
we thank you so much for thy mercies, favours and benefits.
Bless us, Lord, each, Lord, with the knowledge of who we are,
Lord, and the gulf that there is between us and thee, and something
of the hope that there is, that there is a way back to God from
the dark paths of sin. Bless us then with that union
we've just been singing of, in union with the Lamb, from condemnation
free. Lord, condemnation brings fear. Lord, give us that fear not.
Little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give unto you
the kingdom. Bless us then, we pray. And Lord,
may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father's love and
the fellowship of the eternal spirit be with and abide with
us each, both now and forevermore. For Christ's sake, amen.