The miracles of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and today we have chosen one in the book of Luke. The
book of Luke chapter 5, there's a miracle of the Lord. Now it
has nothing to do, well I shouldn't say it doesn't have as much to
do with people as we've noticed in the past. We have the Lord
healing lepers in the past. We've had the Lord healing the
blind in the past. had the Lord healing a woman
that had an issue of blood in the past. We've had many miracles
that the Lord had done during his ministry, and in this passage
of scripture, we're gonna find out he provides the disciples
with something that they just couldn't get themselves. So we're
in the fifth chapter of the book of Luke, and the scripture begins
this way, and it came to pass that as the people pressed upon
him to hear the word of God. Now that's an interesting statement
there. They pressed upon him to hear
the word of God. There's one thing that every
time the Lord Jesus Christ opened his mouth and spoke one word,
that word was the word of God. The Lord Jesus is the God man. He is the God come in the flesh. He is Emmanuel. And so as he
speaks, he's speaking the word of God. And it tells us that
these people that were with him and pressed close by him, wanting
to hear, they wanted to hear, it says they pressed upon him
to hear the word of God. Now the word of God that the
Lord Jesus Christ was speaking and teaching, all that he ever
used was what we know as the Old Testament. He used the book
of Genesis to Malachi because the New Testament had not been
written yet. There had not been the Holy Spirit
giving those words to secretaries such as Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John, or Saul, or Paul, or Peter, or James. It was the Old
Testament that he used to preach the gospel about himself, that
he truly is the only Savior. As it tells us here, the people
pressed him. Have you ever been in a crowd
and you just felt like people were pressing upon you? Well,
that's how the Lord was. And they pressed upon him, and
it says, to hear the word of God. And he stood by the Lake
of Gennesaret. Now, that lake is known by three
names in the New Testament. It's known by the Lake Gennesaret,
the Sea of Tiberias, and the Sea of Galilee. Now, the Sea
of Galilee, as we, I can find almost any information on the
internet anymore and some of it is okay. But it said the Sea
of Galilee is about 12 miles long and about eight miles wide.
Now it's not a square and it's not a rectangle. It's an odd
lake, but it is pretty large and it is going to be used and
still is used for fishing. Now, it tells us here that he
came down to the, to the lake that was there, and people were
pressing upon him to hear the word of God. You know, in another
place, in the book of Matthew, chapter 7, it says that he taught
them as one having authority and not as one of the scribes.
In other words, this preacher believed what he was preaching.
It was not just sounding words. It was not just information.
He was preaching the gospel about himself that he was the Savior. And so that's one thing that
they could understand. He spoke as one having authority. He believed what he was preaching.
He believed the word of God. It's amazing to find out, as
preachers are surveyed today, to find out how many do not believe
that God created the heavens and the earth, and how many don't
believe that Jesus actually rose from the dead, and on and on
it goes. Well, if you don't believe those things, there's no way
in this world that you could even have any knowledge of God,
because that's what he gives us. So he taught them as one
having authority, and not as the scribes. The scribes, it
was just rote memory. It was their job to do that. You know what? Preaching the
gospel to the Lord Jesus Christ was not a job. It was a ministry. It was a blessing. It was something
he was sent here from heaven to do. So it was a wonderful
thing that he did for the people to preach to them about the Lord
Jesus Christ. And then it says there in verse
two, and he saw two ships standing by the lake. But the fishermen
were out of them and they were washing their nets. So these
are fishing boats. And I didn't look up to see how big they were,
but they were real big boats, but they were fishing boats.
And several people worked on each of these boats to fish.
That was their job. That was how they made a living.
That's how they provided the bread and the milk for the tables.
were these fishing boats, and it says they were washing their
nets, and we're going to find out in just a moment that the
people that had been fishing the day before, the night before,
didn't catch one fish. Now, I don't know how many times
I've gone fishing and came back without one fish, but it wasn't
my business, it wasn't my job. I didn't come back so disappointed
that I'd never go again. I was doing it for sport. They're
doing it for a living. They're making their living by
fishing. And it says here that he entered
into one of the ships, which was Simon, Simon Peter's, and
prayed him that he would trust a little from the land. And he
sat down and taught the people out of the ship. So now he's
going to have a lectern. Whereas it was before, people
were gathered all around him on all sides to listen to him.
He got into one of these boats and he said, Peter, push out
just a little ways and I'll use this for a place to sit and I'll
teach the people and now all of them are out in front of me.
What an opportunity he gave himself and the people. More people could
hear him now than before. More people could see him now
than before. And what a blessing that is to
hear and to see the Lord Jesus Christ. He wanted a better point
of view, and he wanted everybody to hear him, and he had the most
important message this world has ever heard. That's good news
that God has provided a Savior. Good news. Now, All of us have
a problem and that problem is we were in the fall with Adam
and we're all sinners by nature. But God sent his son to take
care of that issue for people, for his people. And then it says
there in verse five or verse four, and when he had left speaking,
he finished his conversation. You know, one of the things an
old preacher told me many years ago, He says, Norm, stand up. Norm, speak up. And Norm, when
you're finished, shut up. Well, we find the Lord practicing
that. He spoke up. He had something
to say. When he was finished, he said,
okay, Peter, I want you to push the boat out farther. He said
here, he said to Simon, launch out into the deep and let down
your nets for a draught. In verse four, Launch out farther
away from shore and drop your nets. Now, this is the beginning
of one of the great instances of the Lord's ministry to these
people. They're going to be his disciples. He's going to call
them. He's going to have them declare
the good news that he is the Lamb of God, that he is the Savior
of the people. And he says, go out just a little
bit distance. And it tells us that Simon answering
and said unto him, now he uses a term that's so interesting.
He uses the term, not Jesus, but he uses the term master.
He already knew something about this one man, that this one was
the master. He was the king. He was the Lord. He was not just Jesus, Jesus,
Jesus. He was not just Jesus Christ,
the term that we use and religion people use. He's the master. And that speaks highly of what
Simon Peter had already seen, that this one is my master. He says, master, we have toiled
all night. Now, there's so much said in
those words. You know how Peter just simply
said, Lord, we're really tired. We're all out from spending all
night fishing. And you know what? We didn't
catch a thing. We don't have one fish to show for all our
work. And yet he goes on to say, and
have taken nothing nevertheless. Nevertheless, at thy word, I
will let down the net. Nevertheless, but at thy saying,
but at, because you say so, But at your word, but at thy word,
we will let down, I will let down the nets. Now he's a boat
owner and he's a net owner and he's a fisherman. And he said
here that because you said this, I will let down the nets. We've
worked all night. We're just cleaned up our nets.
We're ready to go home. But at thy word, I will let down
the net, obedience is a precious thing. You know, there's only
one person that is obedient and that is a child of God. obedient
to God, is a child of God. Now, in the Old Testament book
of 1 Samuel, and the Lord may have preached from this section
of scripture in the past, we don't have a record of it, but
he only had the Old Testament to use, and he may have spoke
from these words, because there was a king of Israel one time
that was disobedient to God, and God said, because you've
done this, I'm taking away the kingdom from you. His name was
Saul. And it tells us over there in
the book of 1 Samuel chapter 15, and Samuel said, hath the
Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in
obeying the voice of the Lord? Is it just as important for you
to perform sacrifices and offerings as it is to obey the Lord? Well,
Saul had saved a whole bunch of sheep and cattle from what
God told him to destroy. And he said, well, we're going
to offer these to you. Samuel is used as a prophet,
a preacher of righteousness, and said, is it important to
have sacrifices, or is it important to have obedience to the Lord?
And he brings this up, and he says, but behold, to obey is
better than sacrifice, and to hearken is than the fat of rams. It's better to obey. You know,
the gospel is commanded to be obeyed. We can't do it by nature,
but we're commanded to do it. The only way that we can do that
is the Holy Spirit opens our heart, gives us a new heart,
and we believe. So he said, it is better to hear the voice of
God, to obey the voice of the Lord, than it is to have a sacrifice.
or to go through all kinds of religious things. For rebellion
is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is an iniquity
and idolatry. So he said, these things are
really bad, Saul, and because of this, because thou hast rejected
the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being
king. Now, it's a wonderful thing when
we read about Peter, Peter is told, launch out into the deep,
let your nets down for a drop, for a bunch of fish at one time.
Peter said, master, because you've said so, we'll do it. But we've
been out here all night. Now there's that tinge there,
that tinge. Aren't you glad the Lord forgives
us of those tinges? That when we have a doubt about
what his word means, that he continues, you know, he said
to his people, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. He said
to his people, you are in my hands, and I'm in my father's
hands, and you cannot be taken out. So we're glad for that,
that he does take care of his people, but sometimes there's
that tinge that we see, as Peter did. We find out in that passage of
scripture back in the book of Luke, we've toiled all night,
but nevertheless, at thy word, I'll let down the net. And when
they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes and
their net break. The miracle about this is, you
know, never in my life did I ever get a fish to do what I wanted
it to do. You know what we have to do? We have to bait him. We
take a hook or a lure. We put something on a hook that
we hope will attract them and we bait them. Or we get a lure
that looks like some other food and we bait them and hook them
and then bring them in. You know what the Lord did with
this? He brought a whole multitude of fishes together at one time.
He is demonstrating to his disciples that he's not only ruler over
all things, but ruler over fish too. You know, there was one
time when his disciples were questioned about whether their
master paid tax or not. And not wanting to go and create
a problem, he told one of his disciples, I want you to go down
to the lake, I want you to cast in a hook, I want you to catch
a fish, you'll catch a fish, and when you take that fish,
open it up its mouth, and you know what's gonna be inside of
it? Money for the taxes. That fish took up a coin and
held it in his mouth. And who could do that but God?
God is over all things. He is absolute sovereign over
all things. Great things, little things.
He's over fishes. And they had been out there all
night trying to catch some fish. And the Lord said, put your nets
down. And they caught a host of fish that began to break their
nets. You know what? But they didn't
lose one fish. They brought in every fish that there. God had
overruled the minds of those fish and brought them into a
school and they caught them. The master of the seas, you know,
in the book of Jonah, it tells us, to me, that's a wonderful
account. God's ruling over all things.
It tells us there in the book of Jonah that God brought on
a great wind. Now, I was walking by the windows
today and I see those flowers just about. about to be jerked
out of the ground because of the down's wind. Well, who's
in charge of that? That's Almighty God. It's not
just because there's high pressure and low pressure. He's in charge
of the high pressure and low pressure. He's in charge of all
things. He is absolute ruler over all
things. So he brought on a wind. And
you know, it caused that ship for Jonah to be jumping around
and bouncing around there. And they started throwing over
all of the stuff that they were carrying on that ship. And finally,
the mariner said, what can we do? What can we do? Jonah says,
the only thing you can do to save this ship is throw me overboard.
I'm running from God. So they threw him overboard in
the Mediterranean Sea. And the next thing we find out,
God had prepared a great fish. Now that may have been the only
fish like it in all the world. And I've had a lot of people
tell me that fish can't swallow a man. This fish swallowed a
man. God prepared a special fish. A whale can't swallow men. I
don't care what people will tell me. The Bible tells us that he
prepared a great fish and that swallowed Jonah, and Jonah was
in that great fish's belly for three days and three nights.
Now, one reason was for that. It was an illustration of how
long the Lord Jesus would be in the earth in a tomb. As Jonah
was three days and three nights in the great whale's belly, so
shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the
heart of the earth. On the third day he came out, so did Jonah."
All right, so God provided the wind, God provided the fish.
Well, in this instance, God provided a great draught of fish, so many
that the nets begin to break. And Peter had to call his friends
with the other boat to come over and help him land them all. You
know the results of this? It says there, when Simon Peter
saw it, he fell down at Jesus's knees saying, depart from me
for I am a sinful man, oh Lord. What's he saying? I should not
have doubted you one iota. I should not. To even say never,
that we were out all night. We should have just said, you
know, thank God that the Lord Almighty is a forgiving God,
that He forgives us and has forgiven His people their sins. He took
them to the cross, never to be brought up again. So Simon Peter
sought, he fell at Jesus' knees saying, depart from me for I
am a sinful man, O Lord, for he was astonished. You know, it's a good thing to
be astonished from time to time, to see a God in his activity
that is far superior to ours. To have a God that we can understand
is not a God at all. To have a God that we can tell
what to do is not a God at all. To have a God that's dependent
upon us to do something is not a God at all. The God of heaven
is not dependent upon people. Now he is blessed to give us
his grace. He's blessed to give us his word,
but he is not dependent upon us for his glory. His glory is
just his glory. He's had it from eternity and
will have it for eternity. And then it says that he called
his friends over, his partners, which were in the other ship,
that they should come and help. And they came and filled both
ships so that they begin to sink. What a load of fish God provided. And then he tells him, and so
was also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners
with Simon. They were also astonished. They
also realized that they were, as Peter said, a sinner. And
Jesus said unto Simon, fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch
fish. You know, the Lord is sharing
with him It's not convincing somebody that they're fish. It's
not you. It is you to declare the word,
to drop the nets out. I provide the catch. So salvation
is of the Lord, the catch is of the Lord, the church is of
the Lord, it is God's business what he does and he knows it
all, he plans it all and so often we are surprised by his great
grace. We're surprised by the grace
of God that he would be so gracious to give us a great drought of
fish or deliver us from sin or to give us a place in heaven
or to have a love for us, that's grace. That is great grace. And
when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all and
followed him." What a statement, what a blessing it is to follow
this one who is the ruler of heaven and earth. A king once
said, He rules among the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth, and none can stop him, stop his hand from working,
or none can say, what are you doing? Peter, James, those sons
of Zebedees walked away astonished, but thankful for amazing grace,
how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. All right,
Brother Mike, if you'll come and lead us in the closing hymn
and have prayer.