Go with me back over to Mark
chapter one. I was reading some of this and
this is so precious. It is so precious. And I started
thinking, and I know the answer, but I'm gonna ask the question,
and here it is. Do we at all enter in to how
precious it is that we get to read about our Lord? Do we at
all, at all, enter into that? You know what a privilege it
is to have something recorded of him for us to read. You know
what a privilege that is? That's God. You know how much
we don't know about God? But he gave us some things. And we have the opportunity to
learn. He said, learn of me. And he
wrote some things down. We have the opportunity to learn
of him. And we really do, you know, we
talk about Lord, we want to see you. Well, we see him in his
word, don't we? I mean, we really do. We don't
put an image with him, but we get to see him. We are beholding
the mystery of godliness. The mystery of godliness. God
was manifest in the flesh. It's, it's just amazing. Verse 16,
Mark 1 verse 16 says, now as he walked by the sea of Galilee,
that line is so fascinating to me. I mean, let's just dwell on that
for one second. That's fascinating. Think about
it. It's such a simple line just
inserted into this account. You don't think much of it. It's kind of setting up something. But think about God walking down
the beach. Is that not wonderful? There he goes, passing by. People had no idea that was God. The God. We went to Bayes Mountain yesterday.
We went to the planetarium. They had a thing on outer space,
the planet Pluto. And it was fascinating. It was
so huge and the part they showed us was that big in the universe
that we know about. Alright, God was just walking
down the beach. footprints in the sand. You know,
people love that poem, footprints in the sand. I would love to
see the footprints in the sand of God almighty. I'd love to
see that. Verse 16 is he walked by the
sea of Galilee. He was alone. I would love to
know what he was thinking in his holy mind at that exact moment
in time. He was looking around, he was
walking. Walking down the beach. He walked
knowing that he was walking to four of his disciples. He walked knowing that from eternity
every bit of this was all purposed in his mind and now it's come
to pass. Right now. He loves his own. He loved them with an everlasting
love. He knew these four men from no
beginning. He knew their names. He knew
everything about them. And right now, literally right
now, he's about to convert four loved ones from darkness to light. I can't even enter into the joy
of what he was doing. Salvation is coming right now
to four of his loved ones. And he's just walking down the
beach, heading right to them. Verse 16 says, Now as he walked
by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, his brother,
casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. Now Simon
didn't see him. Andrew didn't see him. They had
their backs to the beach and their face to the water because
they were throwing a net out there. They didn't see him. They were involved in life. We have a job to do. This is
important. And then all of a sudden they
turn around and there's God Almighty standing right there. Isn't that
what happened to you? It's what happened to me. He saw them, in verse 17, Jesus
said unto them, Come. That's the call. Come. Verse 17, He said, You. Come ye. When God calls His own, you know,
men stand up and say, you know, God's calling, won't you come?
When God calls his own, he makes it very clear to that person,
I am calling you. Don't worry about anybody else.
I'm calling you. Me? Yes. You. Come ye. Verse 17 says, Come ye after
me. You know what he said to David?
Psalm 27. I've always loved this. He said,
Seek ye my face. David said, When you said, there
came a point when I realized you said to me, Seek ye my face. Quit throwing nets. Quit cleaning
nets. Quit buying bait. Seek ye my face. This call is
to something very specific. You come after me. You know what believers do? They
follow Christ. Where are we going? I don't know. But he does. And we follow him. Every believer is called to come
after Christ, follow Christ. We truly don't come to doctrine. We really don't. People, they,
you know, we just talked about this, and try to get their mind
around these things, and that's not what we're coming to. That
is not what we're coming to. We are not coming to theology. That thief on the cross had no
idea what the word theology was. No idea. And we're not coming
to emotions, and we're not coming to traditions, we're coming to
Christ. We're coming to Christ. Verse
17 says, Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will
make you to become fishers of men. Now does the call of God
Almighty have power in it? Does it have power? Is it absolutely
effectual? Is His command ever going to
return void? Ever. Aren't you so glad? People who will not, cannot,
is it ever going to return void? Verse 18 says, And straightway
they forsook their nets and followed Him. Immediately. Come. Yes sir. Every single one who comes, comes
willingly. I actually don't want to do this
anymore. That's what I want. I'll leave it all behind if I
can just have you and follow you. Verse 19, And when he had
gone a little further thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee,
and John his brother, who also were in the ship, mending their
nets, And straightway he called them, and they left their father
Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants and went after
him." They went after him. Every soul on this earth comes
into this world going after the world. We hit it running. And all we want to get a hold
of is this world. But when Christ in mercy walks
up to that center and says, come, this heart truly does turn. It
turns. I don't want that anymore. I
want to go after him. He is all I want. He's all I
need. They went after him. Now he told
these four men in verse 17, he said, come ye after me. And I
will make you to become fishers of men. Here's the first thing
I want us to notice right here in this text. I want us to notice who he chose
to make fishers of men. Fishers of men. Verse 21 says,
And they went into Capernaum, and straightway on the sabbath
day he entered into the synagogue and taught. They were very close
to a synagogue. This is important. They were
very close to a synagogue. Pharisees were inside that synagogue. Lots of them. Religious teachers
were inside that synagogue. He didn't choose them. Why doesn't
this text say, and as he was walking through the synagogue,
he didn't choose them. There was a man named Gamaliel
back then, and he was the seminary professor, the head teacher,
you know. He didn't choose Gamaliel. He didn't walk up to the council
of a group of people called the Sanhedrin. They were the religious
authorities. He didn't walk up to them and
say, I'm going to use each one of you to accomplish my work. He didn't walk up to them. He
chose common, unlearned, by the standard of this world, ignorant
men. That's who he chose, fishermen.
Now hold your place and look at Acts chapter 4. We just looked at this recently,
but just in case somebody didn't see it, I want to see it again. Acts chapter 4. Verse 13 says, Now when they
saw, they are the high priest, when the high priest saw the
boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned
and ignorant men, they marveled and they took knowledge of them
that they had been with Jesus. Common men. That's who he chose. Common men. Men who had not given
their entire life to religious learning, common men, fishermen. All of a sudden, though, they
became preachers of the gospel. Now, why did our Lord do it that
way? Why did he choose to do it that way? I'll give you one
reason for sure, that no flesh should glory in his presence.
You know that? He's going to make the lowest
speak as the oracles of God. He chose Saul of Tarsus, and
Saul grew up at the feet of Gamaliel. And I believe our Lord did that
to give the extremely religious some hope. I believe He did.
But before He used him, He made him count it all dumb, didn't
He? He had to empty him. Simple, simple men. Right after
we changed our sign, we changed our sign about a year and a half
ago. You remember that? We had it re-lettered. Right after we
changed our sign, I was talking to a lady and she said, I noticed,
you know, she knew I was the pastor here, and she said, I
noticed you all changed your sign. And I said, yes, we did. You know, we added Bible classes,
morning worship, evening worship. Wednesday worship, all that stuff. And she said, okay, she said,
so y'all do meet more times than just Sunday night. And I said,
yes, we do. We've been doing that ever since
I got here. And there was a man who was coming
down and he preached to his congregation on Sunday morning and he preached
here Sunday night. That's why it said Sunday, you
know, worship service, Sunday, 6 p.m. She said, oh, okay. She said, my husband and I, we
saw that. And we both thought, that's so weird. That's what
she told me. That's weird. Sunday night only. Never seen that before. It's
weird. And then she said, I noticed
too that some of you all have started buying different color
cars. She said, we would see that everybody who went there
drove a white car. And we did. I had a white truck,
a white van, a white van, a white car. Tony drove a white truck. Rita had a white car. Sam had
a white car. Chris would pull up in his work
vehicle. It was a white van. Then he finally got him a white
truck. And I don't remember what Dickie Nape was driving. I said, that was coincidence,
you know, we all. And she said, okay. She said,
because we saw that and we both thought, that is so weird. That's
what she told me. And then she said, okay, so you
just came to town. And I said, yes, I did. And she
said, did you come from pastoring another church and now come to
this church? And I said, no, this is my first time pastoring.
And she said, oh, well, did you just get out of seminary? And
I said, no, I didn't go to seminary. I was a guitar teacher for 10
years. And she said, oh. And I know what she was thinking.
That's so weird. And it's funny, but it's not
funny. But this is how God works. I
have nothing to glory in. You know that? I have absolutely
nothing. Comment by the ways of the world
and the mindset of the world, unlearned and ignorant. I'm okay with that because you
know what this word says. Every child of God is going to
be taught of God. Every single one of us. That
no flesh should glory. He's going to use empty vessels.
That's what he's going to do. Empty, empty vessels. Well, the Lord took these unlearned
simple men, they were fishers of fish, and this is what he
told them, I'm going to make you fishers of men. I'm going
to make you fishers of men. That's what he has called every
true preacher to be. And I pray that we never lose
sight of that, ever. I pray that whoever God calls
to preach never loses sight of that. May we strive to throw
this gospel net and throw it hard, very hard. God will gather the fishes. You know that? He'll gather the fish. I love
the story when he told Peter or one of the disciples they
owed taxes and he said, you go cast a hook. First fish that
grabs it, pull it up. There's enough money for me and
you. He will gather the fish. God will draw the net, but He
has commanded us to cast it again, cast it again, cast it on the
other side, cast it here, cast it there. You keep throwing the
gospel net. And He told them, come after
me and I'll make you to become fishers of men. You follow me.
You watch me, you learn of me, and I'll make you to become fishers
of men. All right, three questions. As
we follow him, as we come after him, three questions. Number
one, how did he fish? What did he use? And who did
he catch? I read this and those three questions,
that's what I wanted to know. If I'm supposed to come after
him and be made a fisher of men, I need to know, how did he fish?
What did he use? And who did he catch? What is
it to be a fisher of men? How did he fish? He said, come
ye after me. And immediately they forsook
their nets, didn't they? They forsook everything, their
boats, they forsook it all. And they followed him. Verse
21 right here says, And they went into Capernaum, and straightway
on the Sabbath day he entered into the synagogue and taught. And they were astonished at his
doctrine, for he taught them as one that had authority, and
not as the scribes. How did he fish? He preached. That's what he did. He preached.
That's it. That's it. That's it. You know how important it is
that we be reminded of that? That's it. One man made the statement,
I believe this gospel in God's ability so much, I'm willing
to preach the gospel to you and then leave you alone. That's
it. He declared the gospel, and that's
it. He called them to become fishers
of men, and straightway they forsook their nets. Don't you
need a net to go fishing? He said, I'm going to make you
fishers of men. Leave your nets. Don't you need a net to go fishing?
Yes, but not yours. Don't need yours. You leave every
bit of that here. Leave your lures. Leave your
bait. Leave your tactics. Leave your
programs. Leave your knowledge to start
a youth basketball team. Leave every bit of that and preach. preach. Paul said Christ sent
me not to baptize but to preach. Preach what? The gospel. The gospel. What is the only
thing that God will use to catch his fish? It's the gospel. It's the gospel. We don't need
to get off on anything else. We don't need to bring a man
in to hold a seminar on church growth. Preach the gospel. Preach the gospel. Mark 1 verse 14 says, Now after
that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee preaching
the gospel of the kingdom of God. Fishers of men They tell
sinners what will put away their sins. That's what they do. What
will wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. How do we fish? We preach. What do we use? The
gospel. The gospel. All right, what is
the gospel? I'm starting to realize that
I ask that question a lot. It could be, I believe, maybe
the most important question I ask. What is the gospel? In Mark 1 verse 22, if you have
a center margin in your Bible, mine next to they were astonished
says Matthew 7. Turn with me over to Matthew
chapter 7. And I want to look back at verse
24. Matthew 7 verse 24 says, Therefore whosoever heareth these
sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise
man which built his house upon a rock. Now our Lord is preaching
the gospel. And that rock is Christ. That rock is Christ. Everything
that is not that rock is not Christ. And he said, Whosoever heareth
these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I liken him unto a wise
man which built his house. His house is the righteousness
of Christ. It's all of the work that Christ
has done. It's everything he has built.
The man who is wise is the man who has Christ. Absolutely wise. Because except the Lord build
the house, they labor in vain that build it. We're about to
see that. Verse 25 says, And the rain descended, and the floods
came, and the winds blew. That is the judgment of God. Verse 25 says, and beat upon
that house. You know what that means? It
didn't beat upon the one that was inside the house. It beat
upon that house. It says, and it fell not for
it was founded upon a rock. That is the gospel. That is the gospel. That rock
was Christ. That house is all of his work. And every soul who is inside
that house is safe. The rains are going to fall.
The winds are going to blow. And that house is going to stand.
Verse 26 says, And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine,
and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man which
built his house upon the sand. That sand is not Christ. It's
doctrine, it's tradition, it's religion, but it's not Christ.
That house is not the righteousness of Christ. It's man's own righteousness,
man's own works, his own morality, but it's not the righteous works
of Christ. Christ took no part in building
that house. The man who is the fool is the man who does not
have Christ. It all boils down to Christ,
every bit of it. Because verse 27 says, the rain
descended and the floods came and the winds blew, that's the
judgment of God, and beat upon that house, and it fell. It fell. So that means that it beat upon
that man, and it beat upon his works, it beat upon his own self-made
righteousness, and it fell. And great was the fall of it.
He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. This is what the Lord Jesus Christ
preached. This is what He called His fishers
to declare. He that hath the Son hath life.
What is the gospel? It's the Son of God. It's the
person of Christ. It's that rock. It's His house
that He built. It's being in Him. That's what
it is. How did he fish? He preached. What did he use? He used the gospel. And he said,
preach it with authority. You're in an unmovable house. You're in an unmovable house.
You're on an unmovable rock. Unmovable. Some things came out
in the news this week that have disturbed us all. The house of Congress has made
a ruling. The white house has made a decision.
You're in an unmovable house on an unmovable rock. You are
safe in him. Come what may, you are safe in
him. Now here's the last question. Who did he catch? Who does he
catch? Go with me over to Matthew chapter
four. I'm gonna wrap this up. Matthew
four, this is Matthew's account of our Lord calling his fishermen. Matthew 4 verse 18 says, Jesus
walking by the sea of Galilee saw two brethren, Simon called
Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea for
they were fishers. And he saith unto them, follow
me and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway
left their nets and followed him. And going on from thence,
he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee and John his
brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets,
and he called them. And they immediately left the
ship and their father and followed him. And Jesus went about all
Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the
kingdom and healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of
disease among the people. And his fame went throughout
all Syria, and they brought unto him all sick people that were
taken with diverse diseases and torments, and those which were
possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those
that had the palsy, and he healed them. And there followed him
great multitudes of people from Galilee and from Decapolis and
from Jerusalem and from Judea and from beyond Jordan. Who does
he engulf in this gospel net, this net of good news? He engulfs
the sick. That's who he engulfs. Spiritually
diseased. He engulfs the tormented over
their sins. He engulfs the possessed with
wickedness. All I am is wickedness. The lunatic,
those that by nature have no mind, no heart for the things
of God. The palsy, those who cannot come. The end of verse 24 says, He
healed them. That's who He healed. He healed
them. That's who He engulfs in this
Net of good news, be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven.
They're forgiven. He said, come unto me all ye
that labor and are heavy laden. That's who he catches, the labored,
the heavy laden. That's me. That's me. You know how labored and heavy
laden we are? He said, come all who are hungering
and thirsting for Christ. That's who he catches. He went
on, we're not going to read him, verse, chapter five, he goes
on down saying, the poor in spirit, the sad, the meek, that's who
he catches. He throws this net. Is that any of you? Is that any
of you? Lord, that net of good news has
been thrown. Wrap me in it. That's what I
want. Wrap me in it. See my flesh and
my mind and my heart. You know what I'll do? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Throw it far. Wrap me in it. Draw me to yourself. Lord, don't
let me go. Here's the point. I want to be
caught. I want to be caught. I titled this message Fishers
of Men. But I almost titled this, I want
to be caught, because I do. I want to be caught. I want to
be a fisherman, and I want to be a fish. That's what I want
to be. Lord, I want to be your fish.
Catch us. All right, let's stand together.