In our last Sunday service, we
considered the authority and the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, our Lord was fulfilling
the scripture of Isaiah, that he read, The Spirit of the Lord
is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted. to preach deliverance to the
captives and the recovering of sight to the blind, to set at
liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year
of the Lord." He was preaching on his authority and on his power. We looked at and we considered
that of this man called Jesus who declares openly himself to
be God in the flesh, and he proves it by the miracles he did. He proved it by casting out devils. Remember we read in verse 38
of how he went to Simon's house and his wife's mother, his mother-in-law
was sick with a great fever and the Lord healed her. And immediately
she arose and ministered unto him. Oh how people love to see
the miracles of God. What wonder! to see a miracle
of God. Do you realize the miracle of
rain being turned into snow so that it'll melt at another time
and provide water to where there is no water? It's just amazing
what our God can do in His miracles. And the people love to see the
goodness of His works. The blessings of a full belly,
the blessings of being healed of their sickness, But when it
comes to our destiny, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no. Can't have that. We can't have
him rule over our destiny. That's our rule. That's ours
to rule over. I'm my own when it comes to my
destiny. Isn't that what we used to say?
I will do it my way. That's our nature. That's the
nature we came into this world with. The hardest thing for you
and I, for us, is to lay down our pride, our pride. To admit that we are ruled by
something else, something outside of us. Folks, we are either of
the devil or we are of God. There are only two classes of
people. Those who belong to the devil,
those who belong to their own wicked selves, or those who belong
to Christ. That's what we read in John 8,
verses 41 through 45. You want to turn there with me,
if you would? I'd like you to read this with me. John 8, verse 41. Speaking to some self-righteous
religionists, our Lord says these words. Ye do the deeds of your
father. He's talking to the most religious
people of that day. Now remember, in that day, you
had Israel, the religious, and then you had all the pagans who
believed in all kinds of different stuff, and they didn't really
call themselves religionists at all. They believed in idols,
hand-carved items, trees, tree huggers, whatever. But he's speaking
to the religious Jews of that day. Those who had all the oracles
of God given to them. They had the tabernacle. They had the mercy seat. They had the rod of Aaron that
continued to bud. They had all this miraculous
stuff. They had the manna that God gave them out in the wilderness.
They were super religious. They believed strongly what they
believed in. They had the word of God. And
our Lord says to them, ye do the deeds of your father. Then
they said unto him, we be not born of fornication. We have
one father, even God. Jesus said unto them, if God
were your father, ye would love me. For I proceeded forth and
came from God, neither came I of myself, but he that sent me.
Why do you not understand my speech? God knew why they didn't. He wants them to know why they
don't understand it. And he says next, even because
you cannot hear my word. They were standing right there.
They were listening to him. They heard with the ears that
are attached to the side of our head. But they had no ears of
the heart. Remember when we had no ears
of the heart? Can you recall a day when you had no ears of
the heart? I can, very clearly. I know that was 24 years ago,
and some people, that's a whole lifetime. But I remember it very
clearly. Because you cannot hear my word.
Then he says in verse 44, you, ye are of your father, the devil. Two classes of people. You're
either of the devil or you're of God. And the lust of your
father, ye will do, it says. He was a murderer from the beginning
and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh
of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it. And because
I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. What I'm talking about
here this morning is vessels of mercy. and vessels fitted
for destruction. The world hates this. The world
wants to say, no, that can't be true. God has given us the
ability to choose. To a degree, there's truth to
that. The problem they don't say with that is that you won't
choose God unless he chooses you first. We won't come to God. first, and he comes to every
vessel of mercy. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. Not maybe, not might, that's
God's word, shall. Every vessel of mercy throughout
all the world, throughout all time, throughout every nation,
every tongue, every tribe that belong to God Almighty, Every
person for whom Christ died shall come to him. Vessels of mercy. Vessels fitted to destruction.
Look over Romans chapter nine. Romans chapter nine. Look with
me at verses 21 through 23. Hath not the potter power over
the clay? The same lump to make one vessel
unto honor and another unto dishonor? I wonder if these are the words
why the seminaries that preach, that teach the so-called preachers
of our nation, the so-called Christian preachers that go to
the school, I wonder if that is one of the reasons why they
ignore verse chapter nine of Romans. Now, I don't know that
for a fact. So let me be clear, I make that
clear. I have heard that from those who have gone to seminary.
So it's second word. But what I understand from what
they've told me The seminary is completely passed by Romans
chapter nine. Why? Could it be because it speaks
of a sovereign God? One who's sovereign over everything?
Is not the potter the one who chooses about the vessel and
how it's made? Let's go on further. Had not
the potter power over the clay, the same lump to make one vessel
unto honor and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show
his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fit of destruction." All this time, our Lord has been
enduring with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath throughout
all this time. Why? Look at verse 23, that he
might make known the riches of His grace, the riches of His
mercy, on the vessels of mercy which He hath aforeprepared unto
glory." Oh, how the world loves to see God's miracles, God's
goodness, yet when it comes to their destiny, oh, no, no, no,
no. These are words in our natural
state of mind. We cannot understand, we cannot
perceive, therefore the words enrage us. Yet to one whom he
has opened the words of truth to, he asked Peter, whom do men
say that I am? And then Peter answered for the
apostles saying, some say you're Isaiah, some say Jeremiah, some
say another prophet. And then the Lord looked Peter
right in the eye and he said, Peter knew. Peter knew why. He tells us the very next thing.
Peter says, thou art the son of the living God. Blessed are
you, Simon Barjon, for flesh and blood hath not revealed this
unto you. Men who stand in pulpits cannot
reveal that unto you. Men who read scriptures alone,
all by itself, with nothing else, can't be can't understand the
word of God unless God comes to him. He says, blessed art
thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed his
son to thee, but my Father which is in heaven. Again, we see the
grace of our Lord, the mercy of his love in revealing who
he is. Our Lord told a grown man by
the name of Nicodemus Thou must be born again. Let's look at
that. Will you turn over to John chapter 3. John chapter 3. In John chapter 3, verse 1, we
read these words. There was a man of the Pharisees
named Nebuchadnezzar, a ruler of the Jews. He was of the Pharisees. He was of the religious leaders.
He was of the very ones who went about thinking of themselves that they were doing, the dressy
robes that they would put on, their ritual after ritual after
ritual of what they thought they were doing as they worked with
the commandments of the Lord. He came to the Lord in the night,
as it says in verse 2, the same came to Jesus by night and said
unto Him, Rabbi. He doesn't even call Him Lord.
He calls Him Rabbi, Teacher. We know that thou art a teacher
come from God, for no man can do these miracles. See there,
he loves to see the miracles. They've tickled his fancy. He's
come to God saying, I know that you're something other than normal
men because you have all these miracles that thou doest, except
God be with you. And then Jesus answered and said
in verse three, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man
be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. You've seen
all these miracles. You've seen me heal him, but
that's not going to do you any good unless you're born again.
That's not going to do you any good. Verse 4, Nicodemus saith
unto him, now he just heard this, he just heard these words, except
a man be born again. This is a learned man, this isn't
a fool. He's a learned man. He understands
things. What do you mean, unless I be
born again? That's not making any sense to
a guy who's got sense about him. Nicodemus sayeth unto him in
verse four, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter
the second time into his mother's womb and be born? What foolishness
is this? What is this you're saying? Jesus
answers him in verse five. Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit. How many of
you had anything to do with your birth? Unless you're born of
the water, the Word of God, and the Spirit, the Holy Spirit of
God coming into you and giving you life, you cannot enter into
the Kingdom of God. Verse 6, that which is born of
the flesh, his flesh, What we were born with, when we were
born, is of the flesh. That's what we are. We're of
the flesh. Our spirit is dead. We are born spiritually dead
and trespasses in sin. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Verse
7. Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again.
Don't fret over what I was saying about that. This isn't something
you can do anyway. The wind bloweth. This man knew
exactly what Christ was saying here. The wind bloweth. How many
of us have any control over the wind? Man, those winds were kicked
up around here. I had to keep running out every
hour or two and look at this big patch I have up here on the
roof to see if it had blown off again. I had no control over
the wind. The wind bloweth where it lifteth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it
cometh, and whither it goeth. And here's the answer. So is
everyone that is born of the Spirit. Oh, the grace of God
in giving us life. Oh, the mercy of our Lord. Are
you getting a picture of how much God loves us? Oh. Turn now with me, if you would,
over to John chapter 6. Look with me, if you would, at
John chapter 6, beginning at verse 24. When the people therefore
saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also
took shipping and came to Capernaum seeking for Jesus. And when they
had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him,
Rabbi, when camest thou hither? Teacher, they didn't even know
him as Lord. Rabbi, when camest thou hither? They saw the miracles of God
and they thought, oh, let's find this guy, let's stick with him.
Maybe he'll show us more miracles. Look at verse 26, Jesus answered
him and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye seek me not
because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the
loaves and were filled. Their bellies were filled. Labor
not therefore, labor not therefore for the meat which perisheth,
but for the meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which
the Son of Man shall give unto you. For him hath God the Father
sealed. Then they said unto him, what
shall we do that we might work the works of God? Listen carefully. Read along with me very carefully,
verse 29. And Jesus answered and said unto
them. Now remember, we just read where he told Nicodemus, do you
know where the wind's going? You can't tell which way it's
come, and that's the way the Spirit works in saving men and
giving life to men. We hear that, now we hear this.
This is the work of God. This is the work of God. I didn't get smart some day and
all of a sudden decide that I'm gonna start following God. This
is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. That's the same belief, the same
faith that God tells us in Ephesians, is a gift of God, not of works,
lest man should boast. Continue on, verse 30, they said
therefore unto him, what signs showest thou then that we may
see Okay, so we can't do the work of God, what sign? What
sign are you gonna give us that we may see and believe thee?
What does thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in
the desert, as it is written, he gave them bread and from heaven
to eat. And then Jesus saith unto them,
verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread
from heaven, but my father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth
life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord
evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said, I am the bread
of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. He that believeth on me shall never thirst. Folks,
I've been setting a table for you. Setting a table, you might
say, to bring us to our text over in the book of Luke. Look
with me, if you would, at the book of Luke, chapter 4, chapter
5. Luke chapter 5. I brought you through all these
scriptures just now so that I could set the table for you to hear
these words that Luke has been inspired to record for us in
chapter 5, beginning at verse 1. 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. Now John Gill wrote this, he
says, and in regards to, and it came to pass that as the people
pressed on him, he wrote these words, he says, as Christ went
through Galilee and preached in the synagogues, great crowds
of people attended unto him. They followed him wherever he
went, and so large were their numbers and so very eager were
they to see him and hear him that they were even troublesome
for him. They bore hard upon Him, they
pressed hard upon Him, and were ready to press Him down, though
they had no ill design upon Him, but only to hear the Word of
God. The Scriptures of the Old Testament explain, and the doctrines
of the Gospel preached is what they heard. That's what was preached
by Him, as never before were. No other man had preached the
Gospel from the Old Testament like this one. And in such a
manner as it was, not by the scribes of the Pharisees, but
by a manner of his ministry, drew a vast concourse of people
unto him." Look at verse 2. And he saw two ships standing
by the lake, but the fishermen were gone out of them and were
washing their nets. Now folks, our Lord does not
use words willy-nilly. He doesn't put words in his scripture
just to fill a space. You noticed he said two ships.
Why? There are two class of people. Over and over and over again
in Scripture. Abel and Cain. All the way from
them to the end of the Bible, our Lord talks about a people
chosen unto himself. Two boats. Every word has a purpose. And we see here there were two
ships, and the Savior chooses one and ignores the other. The
ship that he chose was the ship that belonged to Simon Peter.
He chose this one for whom he will be merciful to. That's what
we read in Romans 9, 15, and 16. This is why we who have been
enlightened by the Holy Spirit love his words of grace. We've
been brought to see our total depravity, our complete inability
to even choose him. We come to him, yes, but he must
come to us first. He must give life where there
was no life. And the result is, we praise
Him for His eternal love for His people. Back in our text,
Luke 5, verse 3. 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. Next we see the wonder of God
and His love for one of His chosen people. Luke 5, verse 4. Now when He had left speaking,
He said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep. Deep? We're talking
about fishing boats. Now just in case anybody's listening
that has no idea about fishing, have you ever noticed fishing
boats aren't out in the middle of the lake? Where are they?
They're on the sides. They're in the shallow areas
of the lake. There's not many fish to catch out in the deep.
And here our Lord is telling these experienced fishermen,
go out into the deep. Launch out to where the deep
is. Go out here to where I tell you to go. And when he had left
speaking, he said unto Simon, Louch out into the deep and let
down your net for a drop. And Simon answering said unto
him, Master, we have toiled all night and have taken nothing.
Nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down the net. They had been
fishing all night, which was the best time for fishing. If
you go out catfishing in the daytime, you're not going to
catch many catfish. If you go out at night, you have
a better chance. That's why you can't fish for salmon on the
American River at night. You get caught doing that, folks,
that's a big fine. I remember them telling a story about a
guy who was pulling in salmon all night long. They threw him
in jail and took everything. They took his car and everything.
He lost everything he had with him there that day. Night is
the best time to go fishing. They had been out all night,
and they had been fishing all night and labored hard. And they
were even tired, you might say, worn out. But what was most discouraging
of all of that was this, we haven't caught anything. It's as though
there are no fish in the waters tonight. They got skunked. Look
at verse 6 and 7 of our text, Luke chapter 5. And when they
had done this, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes in
their net break, and they beckoned unto their partners, which were
in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And
they came and filled both ships so that they began to sing. Folks,
there's no question of this being a miraculous event. These folks
were not amateurs. But at the command of this man,
this one who stood before him, the God-man, those ships were
filled. Look at verse 8. And when Simon
Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart
from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. Peter said, not as though
the presence, again, I wanna quote from John Gill. This Peter
said, not as though the presence of Christ was a burden to him,
but as one amazed at the greatness of the miracle performed, and
struck with the sense of power that stood before him, and with
the greatness of his majesty so near to him, and with a conscience
to himself of his own weakness, and his own unworthiness. Only
God can break a heart and make a man contrite to his nature. Peter felt this being in the
Lord's presence. John Gill goes to bring out the
persic version adds this, he says, which may serve as a comment,
and am not worthy that thou shouldest be with me. Peter had much of
the same sense of the things as the centurion had over in
Matthew 8, 8. Remember these words from the
centurion? The centurion answered and he said unto the Lord, remember
the centurion had sent people to the Lord to say, come and
heal my servant. He was astonished. The centurion
said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my
roof, but speak the word only and my servant shall be healed.
And when it is considered how gracious a person our Lord had
had been, it struck an awe in Peter's heart. It struck an awe
in the centurion's heart, in his consciousness of sin, in
his weakness and his unworthiness at the appearance of an angel,
just as an appearance of an angel in Zacharias, as Zacharias had
in Luke 1.12, or the shepherds for Luke 2.9. Now look again
at our text in chapter five, verse nine, for he was astonished,
speaking of Peter, and all that were with him at the drop of
the fishes which they had taken. And so was also James and John
and the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And
Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch
men. He said, Do not be afraid of
me. I shall do thee no harm, nor shall the boat sink, or any
damage come from any person or to the vessels. Nor so much amazed
and frightened at the multitudes of fish taken, for I have called
you to serve me, is what the Lord is saying. I have called
you, he says. Disciples of men, fishers of
men. Again, I quote from John Gill
one more time. Alive as the word signifies unto life. As the Syriac
and the Persian versions render it, thou shalt cast the net of
the gospel and be the happy instrument of drawing many persons out of
the depths of sin and misery. in which they are plunged into
in the way of life, and which was greatly verified in the conversation
of the 3,000 at one cast under the one sermon. Remember Peter
preached in Acts 2, verse 41, where we read these words, then
they gladly received his word and were baptized, and the same
day they were added unto them about 3,000 soldiers. And with
that, we come to our message for today. Look at verse 11. I want to spend the rest of our
time on this. And when they had brought their
ships to land, they forsook all and followed Him. That's our
subject this morning. They forsook all. When God called
you and I out of darkness, we can no longer go in here. One
of the most disturbing things for me to do is to sit under
the preaching of somebody who belittles my Lord. I just won't
do it. I remember when Kathy and I first
started coming to church together. The Lord called me in 1999, called
her five years later in 2004. Once the Lord called us together,
we began to go out to places on vacations. We would go, you
know, we're not doing anything this Sunday out here. I want
to hear the Word of the Lord. We would go places and just go
into a church. I got to a point where I wouldn't
even go in a Baptist church anymore. I look in the Yellow Pages, where's
the Presbyterian Church? At least I know they're gonna
preach the sovereignty of God. They may have some quirks about
them that I don't agree with. I don't agree with baptizing
babies. Babies can't declare to you what they believe. And
baptism is a picture of our belief that we died in our Savior, that
we were buried in our Savior, and that we arose with our Savior,
to be where we are right now in the scriptures, perfect and
righteous in Him. But I would still go to a Presbyterian
church before I would go to a Baptist. I remember a time we went into
a church and we ended up walking out of it just as quick as that.
I couldn't listen to the fact that, oh, won't you let Jesus
save you? That's not the Jesus of scripture.
Our God calls with power. What did we just read? And when
they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all and
followed Him. When I heard the gospel preached,
I quit thinking about other religions. I quit thinking about John himself
being a religious, being his own religion. I thought about
my Savior. Why? Because God had taken over
my heart. He had cut out that old stony
heart that I was born with and gave me a heart to believe Him.
I had to hear about Him. I had faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. Why are you here this day? Don't
tell me. Ask yourself this question. Why
am I here today? What am I doing here? Are you
here to hear the Word of God? Are you here to hear about your
Savior? The One who made Himself flesh? Who was manifest as a
man so that He could die for you? Are you here to hear more
about how when He died, He took your sins upon Him? He was made
sin that you might be made righteous in Him? Are you here to hear
the wonders of grace and mercy and how He laid down His life?
He shed His blood for you? Is that why you're here today?
Folks, the Gospel, the good news that God sent His Son, our Lord
and Savior Christ Jesus to save a people is a message that if
God gives you ears to hear, you cannot unhear it. Natural man
cannot nor will not hear the truths of God. We who have been
given life, given spiritual ears to hear, know this to be true
of us. We know this was what we were
before the Lord saved us. We know how we thought before
the Lord came to us and gave us life. We know that His Word
is true when He said we were dead, when we were living in
our own lusts, as others do. We know. that we ran from the
true and living God. We know these words, John 3,
19, and this is the condemnation, that light is coming to the world,
and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds
were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light,
neither cometh to the light, lest his deed should be reproved. Man's greatest problem is understanding
the complete rule of God. Understanding the word sovereign. Many say God rules over all things,
yet He gives over authority to His creation in their free will.
He gives over His authority to their ability to choose right
from wrong. Yet they ignore God's word where
we read this in Romans 3.11. There is none that understand
us. There is none that seeketh after
God. Folks, we must be brought to
that understanding. God's truths must be revealed.
We must all be taught of God. Once God had begun a good work,
giving life to a spiritually dead soul, calling one who was
dead in trespasses and sin, one comes forth by the power of God's
word, and we follow him in spirit and in truth. We leave all of
the false sense of self-righteousness. We leave all of that false sense
of self-righteousness we once had, and we look to his righteousness
alone. We leave our own works and we
look to His works alone. We leave our feeble attempts
to reconcile ourselves in our sins and to look to Christ for
His reconciliation for us to God and making intercession for
us in the presence of God. Turn, if you would, to John chapter
11. John chapter 11. In John chapter
11, we read in verse 38, Jesus, therefore, again, groaning in
himself, cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay
upon it. Jesus saith, Take ye away the
stone. This is talking about Lazarus,
raising him from the dead. Martha, the sister of him that
was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh, for
he hath been dead for four days. I find that interesting, that
the number is four days. I realize that this doesn't relate
to everybody, but this relates to me. I was 40 years old when
the Lord called me out of darkness. I laid in that grave for 40 years. Surely
he stinketh, for he hath been dead for four days. Jesus saith
unto her, said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldest believe,
Thou shouldest see the glory of God. How many people do you
think were there watching that day? Do you think there were
crowds pressed against him? All the folks that were following
him everywhere, looking for another miracle? Our Lord says to Martha,
said I not unto thee that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest
see the glory of God? What she was about to see was
more than just a man being raised from the dead It was the glory
of God and the power of Christ, power of our Savior, the one
who is able to save you and I to the uttermost. Then they took
away the stone, verse 41, from the place where the dead was
laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank
thee that thou hast heard me. And I know that thou hearest
me always. But because of the people which
stand By, I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent
me. And when he thus had spoken,
he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. I've heard people
say that if the Lord Jesus had not used the name, every body
in the grave would have come forth. That's the power of God. He gives life. He's giving life
to this dead soul right here. just as He has given life to
you and I. Does our Lord give life to every
man and woman and child that walks this earth? No. Why is
that important to you and I? Because that's the grace of God.
That's the magnification of His grace, that He would give life
to anybody, especially this sinner who stands before you. And he
that was dead came forth, verse 44, bound hand and foot with
grave clothes. Did you catch that? That took
me a long time to catch that. I didn't know that for many years.
I'd heard the story of Lazarus over and over again, but I hadn't
caught that for quite some time. Bill Silva, my dear brother,
of whom I miss so much, he said, John, did you ever notice that
Lazarus was still wrapped in his grave clothes when he came?
That means he was like this, folks. He was wrapped. They wrap
you up tight, like a mummy. You don't have loose clothes
where you just walk around in, like a suit. You're wrapped. in burial clothes. He came forth
unable to even walk or move. The power of God spoke to a dead
man, and he came forth, hand and foot in grave clothes, and
his face was bound about with a napkin, and Jesus saith unto
him, Loose him, and let him go. Then many of the Jews which came
to Mary, and had seen these things which Jesus did, believed on
him. Folks, by his grace, we worship
the Lord in spirit and in truth because there is no other way.
Christ is the way. I invite you this day to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ according to his holy word. Amen.