Let us open our Bibles today to Luke chapter 5. I've titled my message today, A Day at the Lake. A Day at the Lake. Luke chapter 5, 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 and saw two ships standing by the lake where 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 draught. And Simon answering said unto him, master, we have told 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 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 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 drought of the fishes that 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 him.

We only read here in Luke about this miracle concerning the fish when the Lord called these four disciples to follow him and become fishers of men. In John chapter 1 we read when three of these four that were here called first became disciples of the Lord Jesus. If you will turn over there to John chapter 1 just a minute. These men that we read about there in Luke chapter five, they already were disciples of Christ when he came by and called them to become fishers of men. Here in John chapter one and verse 35 we read, and the next day after John stood, that is John the Baptist now, John stood and two of his disciples, And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold, the Lamb of God. And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.

When Jesus turned and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, which is to say, being interpreted, Master, where dwellest thou? He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt and abode with him that day. It was about the 10th 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, 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.

Now, John wrote this last gospel that we've just finished reading a few verses in. And he never mentions his own name. As you read through the gospel of According to John, you will find that he never mentions his own name. He does refer to himself several times, but never by name.

So one of these men who followed the Lord that day no doubt was John, the other was James, or Andrew rather, and Andrew then went and found Peter and brought him to the Lord, and no doubt it wasn't long after that that James also, the brother of John, the sons of Zebedee, that he too became a disciple.

So in our text today where the Lord spoke from Simon's boat and the miracle of the fishes took place, I would just remind us that they were already disciples of the Lord. They had already heard John the Baptist point the Lord Jesus out. as the Lamb of God, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world. And then, of course, they were here in their boats fishing. That's how they made their living. And the Lord came by and he called them to become fishers of men. Now, I have five things I want to point out to us from these verses. If you turn back here to Luke chapter 5, The first thing that I want to emphasize is the Lord Jesus teaching the word of God. Verse one, we read, and it came to pass that as a people pressed upon him to hear the word of God.

The man, the man Christ Jesus, who is the one mediator between God and man, And what that word mediator simply means, if any man goes to God, he's going to go through Christ. And if God comes to any man, he's going to come to that man through Christ. There's one mediator between God and man, the man, this is what Paul wrote, the man, Christ Jesus. And as the God-man mediator, he has three offices.

He's our prophet, he's our priest, and he's our king. Now, we see him here exercising his office as a prophet, teaching the word of God. Later, of course, you read his life, you will see him as a priest upon the cross, offering that one sacrifice. Not two, not three, not many, but that one sacrifice. which takes away the sins of his people. And then, of course, in his resurrection, we see him as the king, as he takes rule. All power is given unto me, both in heaven and in earth, as he is seated this morning at the Father's right hand, King of kings and Lord of lords. But we see him here, exercising that work of preaching, teaching the word of God. In the book of Psalms, one of the prophecies concerning him goes like this. Thou art fairer than the children of men. Grace is poured into thy lips. Grace is poured into thy lips. There God hath blessed thee forever. That's in Psalm 45.

He spoke as no man ever spoke. One day he was teaching in the temple in Jerusalem. And some of the priests, they sent the temple police to arrest him. And you know, they came back and he wasn't with them. And they asked, where is he? Their answer simply was, no man. No man ever spoke like this man.

Wouldn't it have been something to hear the Lord Jesus Christ teaching the Word of God? I've heard a number of men over my lifetime teach the Word of God. I've heard a lot of different voices and peculiarities that different preachers have and all of those things, but can you imagine hearing him The Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, teaching the Word of God, teaching of the grace of God. Grace was poured into his lips.

The message that he brought, for the grace of God hath appeared unto all men. That is, the gospel hath appeared unto all men. That doesn't mean every solitary, single person in the world. But it does mean both Jew and Gentile. The gospel hath appeared unto all men, teaching us. That's the first thing. The gospel, when it comes and when we hear the gospel, it begins to teach us.

And I hate to use this word, ignorance. But you know, it's true of all of us. I used to have a pastor years ago. Quite often said, if ignorance was heavy, we'd all weigh two tons. Well, that is especially true in the things of God. Why? Because our mind is darkened, our eyes are blinded, our heart is as hard as a stone. Yes, the word of God has to be taught to us. We have to hear the gospel. Before a person can believe the Lord Jesus Christ, he first of all has to hear of him. How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

That's what the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans chapter 10. You know, in the scripture, We read the Word of God, as we do here, to hear him teach the Word of God. That phrase, the Word of God, is used in three different ways. He is the essential Word of God, the second person of the Blessed Trinity, the eternal Son of God, the essential Word of God. And then we know that this written word, it is also quick. That word quick means living, quick and powerful. Yes, this word of God is living. When it comes to a man in the power of God, the Holy Spirit, when the preaching is not just going in this ear, but it, It comes to the heart, speaks to the heart of man. And that, of course, is the work of the Holy Spirit.

And then the word of God is used in this third way when God in Genesis chapter 1, the Lord said, he created the world by his word, his word of power. Light, light be. What happened? What happened when God Almighty said, light be? Light is. What else could happen? When God commands, whatever he commands, it's going to take place. It's not going to fall to the ground. No, it's going to take place.

But I want to make these two points about the Lord Jesus teaching the Word of God here before I move on. He, when we read here that the Son of God, that he taught the Word of God, doesn't this tell every preacher? Doesn't this emphasize to every man who would instruct others in the things of God what we are to preach, what we are to teach? The Apostle Paul later would write to Timothy, a younger preacher, and exhort him, I charge thee, preach the word, preach the word. One of these four men that was called this day, he later wrote in his first letter, that is in 1 Peter, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. God has chosen to use this written word, and especially the preaching of the word of God.

I can't explain that. Why God, he doesn't call angels to preach the gospel. When he would send the gospel to Cornelius, he sent an angel to Cornelius to send for Peter. But God uses man, weak. We have this treasure, Paul said, in a clay pot to show the power of God, to show how that salvation is of the Lord.

No man, no preacher has the ability to convey the gospel into the heart of another person. We can preach, yes, and men can hear with their ears. but for the gospel to come to a person in power so that that person's life is changed, and then they become followers of Jesus Christ. That's the work of God. That's only his work.

Paul said the wise men, they seek after wisdom. The Jews, they're looking for signs, but he said, we preach Christ. We're not here to—Paul said he was in Corinth and Athens and, you know, the greatest philosophers of that time and even before that time had come out of Greece. Paul said, I'm not here to speak of what various philosophers have said. I'm here to do one thing. I determine not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Why? Because it's the gospel that is the power of God unto salvation, unto everyone that believeth. Yes, he taught the Word of God. That ought to encourage and ought to drive home the point to every preacher, preach the Word. Preach the Word. In season, out of season. And the word doesn't change. The message doesn't change. People think they've got to entertain people, so they're always trying to come up with new things to attract people. If the gospel of Jesus Christ doesn't attract you, the problem is not in the gospel. The problem is in your heart. It's in your heart. We sang the hymn just a few minutes ago, How Great Thou Art, that God sent his son to die. I scarce, for me, I scarce can take that in.

And a second thing about this that I wanted to mention is the Lord Jesus Christ was unlike every other preacher in this sense. If you look to Luke chapter 24, and I've already emphasized this somewhat, but in Luke chapter 24, our Lord, after his resurrection, speaking with the apostles, And he said unto them, these are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me.

Then opened he their understanding. He's unlike all other preachers, right? No other man has the ability to open someone's understanding, but he did. Have you ever wondered how these disciples, when you read through the various narratives, gospel narratives, you see many times by their questions how little they understood until after the Lord's resurrection. and until the power of the Holy Spirit came upon them on the day of Pentecost.

And then the scriptures just opened up to them. Here's the second point I wanted to bring to us from this passage. We have a reminder of the curse of sin. Notice in verse five, Peter said, Master, we have told all night and taken nothing. Peter confessed that all their hard work had been futile. The whole night of fishing had served no useful purpose. Now, this is the way they earned their living. Remember that. We're not talking about sport fishing and recreational fishing, things like that, that you may enjoy. No, this was how they earned their livelihood.

We've told all night. and we have taken nothing. Our work was useless. Might as well have stayed home. Nothing. Do you think, now listen, I want you to put on your thinking cap just a moment. Do you think that when God created Adam, holy Adam, and placed him in the Garden of Eden and told him to dress and to keep that garden, that he would have ever done any work in dressing and keeping that garden that was futile, that was useless. Of course not.

You see, it is because of sin, right? Because Adam's disobedience and bringing sin into this world. Then, not only did Adam come under a curse, but the ground is cursed for Adam's sake. God told Adam, in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.

In the book of Job we read, man that is born of a woman is a few days and full of trouble. Yet man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward. You have a campfire and sparks are flying upward, that's what The scripture says, yet man is born unto trouble. Just as sure as those sparks are gonna go up, they're not gonna go down, so man in this world is going to experience trouble. No man, I don't care who he is, who she is, lives long in this world until he or she has attempted something that just didn't work out. It was futile. My labor was useless. Nothing good came out of it.

Don't live long in this world until you experience that. But the problem is, man, he knows this is so, but he never asks why. Why is it like this in this world? You know, the evolutionists, they've come along For the last 200 years, I guess, at least, they've taught their theory of evolution, and their theory basically has told people, well, man began at the very bottom, you know, just an amoeba or something that came out of the mire, and he's been developing and developing, and man's, everything's been getting better and better.

That's just the opposite of the scripture. When the Word of God very plainly tells us that man was created in the image of God, he was at the top. And because of his sin, he fell to the bottom. Yes. Men experience sorrow, trouble, unhappiness in this world. No one is exempt. You may be born in a palace, you may be born in a hovel. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. No one is in this world.

And yet all men are seeking after happiness, contentment, satisfaction, but seeking in all the wrong places. Seeking in all the wrong places, thinking that pleasure will bring happiness, that money will bring happiness, that fame will bring happiness, that sex, drugs, whatever it may be.

Oh no. It was Samuel Augustine who many years ago, I believe in the third century, he was a profligate. His mother was named Monica, and she prayed for his conversion. He had no use. He was a very wise man, a philosopher of that day, living in adultery with his mistress. God heard his mother's prayers, and Augustine was converted.

One of the things that he has left us with is this truth. God has so created man that he will never be happy until he finds his happiness in God. Never be content, always wanting more, more, more. More of the things that cannot bring peace and joy and happiness, it's only found in Christ, only found in God. Solomon said, lo, this only have I found, that God made man upright, but they sought out many inventions, many inventions.

There's only one hope for fallen man in this world, and that's the gospel. And that's the thing that people run from. People, for the most part, have no interest in the things, the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you were here this morning and you had an incurable cancer and someone told you there's a doctor over there in New Orleans that can cure that cancer, you'd be on your way pretty quick. You'd be on your way. And yet people hear that the gospel is the only remedy for man in the sinful condition in which we are born, and yet people run from the gospel, run in the opposite direction.

Well, let me move on. I said I had five things I wanted to point out. Here's my third point, a word about faith. Faith, in Hebrews 11, we read, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the substance. Faith gives substance to those things that we hope for. I see a word about faith here in Peter's words when he said, nevertheless, nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.

Everything that Peter knew about fishing, and I'm sure he knew a whole lot, he made his living fishing for many years. Everything that he knew about fishing told him that at that particular point, when the Lord said, let down thy net, that it was useless. As they say today, this wasn't his first rodeo. He'd been a fisherman for a long time. Everything he knew about fishing told him that is useless. Nevertheless, at thy word. The word of God, because you say it, because it's your word, Lord, I will let down the net.

I was reading something last week or last couple of weeks and this author pointed out that some men were discussing faith, what is it? And a poor, uneducated person in their midst gave this simple answer, faith, is taking God at His Word. That's a pretty good answer, isn't it? Faith is just believing God, just taking God at His Word, God who cannot lie, God who does not change, God who has said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.

Take Him at His Word. Come unto me, all ye that are laboring and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Just take him at his word. One day in the gospels, a father, just like some of you, fathers here today have small children. One of your children gets sick, you're going to do everything you can. seek help.

This man, this father, he had a son who was possessed with a demon. Sometimes they'd throw him into the fire, try to burn him, destroy him. Sometimes throw him into the water. And he brought him, brought this son to the Lord's disciples and they tried. But they couldn't cast this demon out.

And then that man, that father, when the Lord Jesus Christ approached, he said, Lord, if thou canst do anything, help us. If you can do anything, help us. Lord Jesus, if thou canst believe, All things are possible if thou canst believe. Lord, I do believe. Help thou mine unbelief. That's a testimony, I believe, of every child of God. I do believe. Help thou mine unbelief.

Yes, nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. And what did he find? A miracle of fish that swam there. They'd been in the lake, no doubt, all the time. All night when they'd been fishing, catching nothing, the fish had been there. But when the Lord Jesus said, let down your net, they all swam there to the boat, didn't they?

A fourth point I wanted to make is in verse 8, the effect this miracle had upon Peter. He fell down at Jesus' knees saying, Lord, depart from me. I'm a sinful man. What does his conduct, what do his words tell us about the effect that this miracle had upon Peter? Well, it tells me that he recognized he, Peter, was in the presence of God. Some people say, well, he didn't really mean for the Lord to depart from him, did he? No, no, he didn't mean that at all. He's just confessing his unworthiness, his sinfulness, to be in the presence of God.

Our Lord said, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn. Mourn over what? Mourn over their sin. I'm a sinful man, Peter said. The heavens are not clean in thy sight, God. The holy angels worship thee, and here I am, face to face with thee. I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy. Depart from me, for I'm a sinful man.

Have you ever had an experience like that? Have you ever just been overwhelmed by your sinfulness in the light of the holiness of God? I hope you have. I pray that we have. So much so that we've been crying out to God, God have merciful. Have mercy upon me, the sinner. If we have, our Lord said, that man who prayed like that went home to his house justified. Brother Ralph Barnard used to say, people come down the aisles in churches today and Switch their bubble gum from this side of their mouth to this side and make a profession of faith.

No conviction. No sorrow for sin against a holy God. No, just taking on religion. Salvation is more than that. It's more than that. When God saves a sinner, God teaches us somewhat, I'm still learning, you are too, of just how dire our situation is by nature. How holy he is. And how if he looks in our direction even, it'll be mercy. If he just glances over there at me, it's mercy. I don't deserve it. I can't earn it. God, be merciful to me. Oh, have you ever had your sin brought home to you so that you cry out for mercy, so that you look to Christ and Christ alone? I trust so. And if not, why not today? Why not today?

Here's the last thing, the fifth thing, the call to fish for men, verses 10 and 11. And so was also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with them, 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 him.

The call to fish for men. To let down the net at his word, not net to catch fish, but the gospel net. One of our grandsons, he, Many times he brought a net down to the bay when we were down there at the gulf, and I've seen him just throw that net out, and sometimes he'd come back with nothing. Sometimes some little fish would be in there. And that's what preaching the gospel is. It's just throwing the net out.

The preacher can't put anyone in the net. God does that. God puts men in the net, but he uses men. And these apostles, these Peter, James, John, and Andrew, on the day of Pentecost, we read about Peter, but all 11 were standing up that day. Peter, he threw that net out.

There's no hope for those people. Those people are the very ones just a few days ago, a couple of months ago, who cried for the Lord to be crucified. Crucify Him! Crucify Him! Let's take this gospel somewhere else. Let's preach this message somewhere else. No need in preaching to them. Well, humanly speaking, it looked like it was a useless task.

But you know, that gospel net that day drug in 3,000 souls. 3,000 were pricked in their heart. Men, brethren, what must we do? Repent and believe the gospel. Oh, I pray the Lord Bless this message to us that there's some part, at least for you, that all of us had heard something here today. One of the hardest things about preaching is stopping. I just confess. But we have to stop, don't we? Well, I want us to sing a hymn before we're dismissed, and we're going to sing this wonderful hymn day by day and with each passing moment.