This morning is in Luke chapter 5 verses 1
through 11. And it covers a wide range of
subjects including the means of grace and the calling of God into the
ministry the hearing of faith, and God
establishing through miracles and wonders and signs that Jesus
is the Christ. Jesus of Nazareth is the promised
Redeemer. And to show you these things,
I wanna go back to verses 42 through 44 of chapter four. And then we'll read the first
11 verses of chapter five. Luke chapter four, verse 42. When it was day, he departed
and went into a desert place and the people sought him and
came unto him and stayed him that he should not depart from
them. They didn't want him to go. He'd
been a sweet influence on that community. He'd healed their
sick. He'd open to them the scriptures. They didn't want him to go. And
I don't blame him. When he's in my study and in
my heart as I look at these things that I prepare for you, I don't
want that to stop. I know it will. There's times
of refreshing, and when that refreshing is done, he departs. for a season, and then he comes
again. And he said unto them, I must
preach the kingdom of God to other cities also, for therefore
am I sent. Now, we're gonna discuss a little
bit about the preaching of the gospel, but I want you to see
in this verse that the priority of the Son of God was to preach
the gospel. Now, if there were any other
means that God would have honored above that, wouldn't Christ have
used those means? Wouldn't he have honored the
Father by using the means that God had provided? But this is the means that God
has provided, the preaching of the gospel, and he said, I must
go. It's not a matter of, it's not optional. I must go. I must preach the kingdom of
God to other cities also, for therefore my sin. And he preached
in the synagogues of Galilee. All over there, the synagogues.
And it came to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear
the word of God, he stood by the lake of Genesaret. And he
saw two ships standing by the lake. But the fishermen were
gone out of them, and were washing their nets. They were done. They'd
fished all night. They were done. 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. And when he'd 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, I can just almost see his face. Master, shaking
that head, we have told all night. We're not novice fishermen. We've known nothing but fish
and ships since we was old enough to walk. we have told all night
and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word, I
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
ships so that the ships began to sink from all the fish. 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 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 the land, they forsook all and followed
him. All right, now let's go back
to the last three verses of chapter four. And hear the words of our
Lord as he declares the means of life and hope and assurance
before God. The preaching of the gospel.
They wanted him to stay there forever. Wouldn't you? Wouldn't you? That's my hope.
One day I'll be with him forever. Forever. I don't know why anybody would
want anything else. What more could you want? And of course they did. He healed
every sin sick soul they brought to him. He cast out their unclean
spirits. He made them to understand mysteries
hidden by God before the foundation of the world. Kings and astrologers
and wise men All tried to figure it out. They couldn't figure
out the mysteries. But God revealed it to them. The means of faith. That comes through the preaching
of the gospel. How faith is given to chosen
sinners is through the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want you to
turn with me, I quote this all the time, but I want you to read
it. Turn with me to 2 Thessalonians chapter two. And I understand
that the first part of chapter two, he's dealing with Antichrist
and the spirit of Antichrist, 2 Thessalonians two. And he's
telling you how that Antichrist deceives the nations and will
grow worse and worse. that he was already there, that
spirit of Antichrist was already there. What is this spirit? Is it a man? Is somebody, no.
The spirit of Antichrist simply means contrary to Christ. A spirit
that is contrary to Christ. Everything about it is contrary
to Christ as God set him forth in the scriptures. That's Antichrist. And then he goes on to say, verse
13, and some, because they would not receive the love of the truth,
he gave them over to strong delusion that they should believe a lie.
He gave them over to themselves. This is what they wanted, this
is what they got. 2 Thessalonians 2.13. Now in light
of all of that, he says, but we are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit, that is a setting apart of the spirit of God, a
renewing of the spirit of God, and belief of the truth. Whereunto,
or for this cause, he called you by our gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. What's that mean? It means he
called us to be partakers of that glory, of the benefits of
it, the accomplishments of it. And the Lord had been gracious
to him. given to many the faith of God's
elect. But God's elect are found in
every nation, tribe, tongue, and people under heaven. And
so he tells them, I must preach also in other cities. Secondly, I want you to see these
means being blessed by God. Luke 4, 44, he preached in the
synagogues of Galilee. And it came to pass, Luke 5.1,
that as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God,
he stood by the lake of Genesaret, and he saw a couple ships there,
and he got up in one, and he said to Simon, push out a little.
Thrust out just a little bit. I'm gonna use this vessel today. Be customary to ask permission
before you got in the ship, wouldn't it? But he didn't need to, because
the ship belonged to him. And so did Simon Peter. And so
did his partners. And he stepped right up into
the ship. He told them one time, he said, you go down there, go
in the city, into Jerusalem, and you're going to go down there
and you're going to find a man. And he's going to have the coat
of an ass, and it's going to be tied up. Just tell him the
master has need of it. And he's going to give him to
you. He didn't know who the master
was. He didn't know anything about him. But that ass, and
the man, and the apostle all belong to him to start with.
And that's what we need to think along these lines. Jesus Christ
is not down here trying to minister to somebody up here. He's on
the throne. He's God. God and man in one
glorious person. He's Lord of heaven and earth. There's nothing that goes on
without his hand, without his permission. Nothing. Nothing. Whether it suits you or whether
it don't. Huh? Where you jump up and down and
act like a little baby and get mad old stuff like I do. Huh? Doesn't change a thing, he's
still Lord. He's still Lord. Why were they drawn there? Why were they drawn there? Well,
they were not drawn to them by a great and beautiful building. They were not drawn there by
organized efforts of inner city campaigns like Billy Graham used
to do. They were not drawn there even
by the miracles, although they may have played some part in
it. But here we're told that they were drawn there, verse
one, to hear the Word of God. That's why they came. Why are
you here? Same thing. Same thing. All God's churches in this world
are the pillar and ground of the truth. The preeminent thing
is the gospel. We're trying to teach the gospel
through the word of God. This is the word which by the
gospel is preached unto you. This is what we're trying to
do. We're not trying to build a big building or a big organization
or anything else. We're trying to preach the word
of God. The word of God gets the ear
of all his chosen. My sheep hear my voice. Now we
see it. Nobody else does, but they do. They do, so if 100 walks away
and one hears, isn't that great? 101 could have walked away. They were drawn there to hear
the word of God. Never a man spake like this man.
You know, I'll read through the scriptures and I'll tell you
and have told you often, I don't know what that means. I don't
know what it means. I'll come up on something and
I'll just set it aside because I don't know what it means. There's
no sense in me standing up here for reputation's sake and just
faking and working my way through it like I knew what it meant.
It's a whole lot easier to just tell you the truth. I don't know
what it means. He knew what it meant, all of
it. Every period, all of it. Never a man spake like this man,
beginning at Moses, when he walked with the disciples after his
resurrection, said, O fools and slow of heart to believe all
that was written of me. And beginning at Moses, and all
the prophets and the Psalms, our Lord expounded to them the
things concerning himself. Then it says he opened their
understanding, that they might understand the scriptures. Some come here when the services
are held and they go away blessed as the Lord opens to them the
scriptures. And there was a crowd there that day that were pressing
upon them because God had opened their heart to hear the scriptures
and they wanted to hear more. And they were, I've never seen
a crowd of a thousand in a church. But here's thousands, not a thousand,
but thousands. I don't know how many thousands.
And they were gathered around him and they just kept coming
forward, trying to get to him, touch him, listen to him, hear
him talk, until they backed him up to the sea. There was nowhere
else for him to go except to wade out into the lake. And so
he just saw those two ships and he walked over there and got
up in one How'd he know that was Peter's ship? Peter wasn't
in the ship. It tells us that in the text.
He was over there washing his nets. And he just looked over
at Simon and he said, thrust this ship out a little bit. And
Simon just, he didn't ask him who he was. He just got up in
that ship, Jesse, and shoved him out there a little ways. And then thirdly, seeing these
vessels, a sweet picture of gospel preachers. He entered into one
of the ships, which was Simon's, and he prayed him to thrust out
a little from the land. Isn't that what he's doing here
this morning? Isn't he talking to you out of a vessel? Out of
a vessel. Whose vessel is it? He is. How'd he come to have it? It
was given to him before I was ever born. He stepped up in this vessel
and this vessel become a means of preaching the gospel. When
is a man enabled to preach? Listen to what Paul says in Galatians
1. When it pleased him, when it pleased Him to reveal
His Son in me that I might preach Him among the heathen. It's when
Christ comes into the vessel, that's when the vessel's enabled
to preach. We have this treasure, Paul said, in earthen vessels
that the excellency of the power might be of God and not of us. Nobody there looked to the ship
or glorified the ship or went home and formed a pulpit that
looked like a ship. They were listening to Him. Am I getting through to you?
This vessel of God is not here to attract your attention. What
ought to attract your attention is Christ. And if I don't have
his message, if I'm not preaching him, if his person is not radiating
from this pulpit, then don't listen. Go somewhere where it
is. Because it's of no value without
him. That ship was just a ship until Christ came aboard. Boy,
when he come aboard, things changed, didn't it? Things changed. Peter was in the ship. Nobody
looking at Peter. He had helpers all around him,
but nobody looking at the helpers. And our Lord sent out the 70,
and he told them, he that heareth you, heareth me. Who's gonna
hear him? My sheep hear my voice. And that's
why he said, he that heareth. He that heareth. They hear you,
they hear me. This vessel had to be positioned.
It was good for nothing where it was. It had to be relocated. It had to be positioned where
God would have it to be to be useful for the ministry. No good where he found it. It
had to be relocated. It was used to benefit the Lord's
purpose and for the good of the people. I'll tell you something else,
that vessel had to be untied. It was tied up. They didn't just
row that thing in the bank and crawl out. You know better than
to do that over on the river. Our little boat would be down
south somewhere. It had to be untied. Had to be
untied. It was held in place by one thing
or another, more than likely some kind of a dock, temporary
dock, maybe an anchor. And then, fortunately, the vessel
remained in shallow water when he was talking. He said, just push out a little.
Just push out a little. And so long as he was talking
and teaching, that ship stayed right there in the shallow water.
Now, this might sound like nitpicking. I'm not trying to nitpick. I
glorify God for anybody who preaches the gospel. But you can preach
the gospel in such an intellectual way to where it's right over
people's heads. They're not getting what you're
saying. You've been sitting in your study 24-7 and you got all
this information compiled. They've been out here earning
a living. They get to read maybe half hour a day, hour a day maybe. And you come up in the pulpit
and you start blasting them with all of these things and they're
just looking at each other and they're looking, where does it
say that? If you're gonna preach to the
people, just stay in the shallow water, don't get in the deep
water. Stay right here in the shallow water where they can
hear you. Where they can hear you, where they can see you.
Stay right there in the shallow water. What made that ship sufficient? It was Christ. He's the revelation of God. And
if you have Christ, you have everything you need as a preacher. If you don't have Christ, you
have nothing, nothing to offer the people. And then here's the
fourth thing I want you to see in these verses. I want you to
see their calling. When he left off speaking, when
he finished up his discourse, Simon's in the boat, and he tells
Simon, he said, thrust on out into the deep waters. I'm gonna prepare you for the
ministry. I'm gonna prepare you for the ministry. In Psalm 107, verse 23, it says,
they that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in
great waters, these see the works of the Lord and his wonders in
the deep. Eye hath not seen or ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man the things that
God hath prepared for them that love him, but God hath revealed
them unto us by his Spirit. Yea, even the deep things of
God. He took Peter that would be an
apostle of Christ. He took him out into the deep
waters. And then he's going to confirm
his calling. He's going to confirm that he
is the Christ. He's God come into the flesh,
and that's why Peter, when he saw that draught of fishes, fell
down at his knees and said, depart from me. Any saint throughout
the Old Testament, when God revealed himself in a vision or whatever,
in the smoke or whatever, they all thought they were gonna die.
Every one of them. Think about how righteous Daniel
was. And Daniel said, when I saw the
Lord, my comeliness melted into corruption. And this draw to Ephesus was
not done to show them what great numbers would be brought in,
or perhaps it was. They did bring in great numbers.
Peter preached at Pentecost. 3,000 souls initially believed
that day. And then thousands more in the
days to come. So there was a great draught
of men. But it wasn't done so much to
show what great numbers they'd bring into the church. It was
done to convince them that there was a great harvest and they
were gonna be a part of it. They were gonna be a part of
it. They were chosen of God, fellow laborers, Paul said, with
God. And it wouldn't be done due to
any natural talent, determination, or experience that they might
have. Those fish swam into their nets because God told them to.
That's right. They swam right into those nets.
God called them. Well, you see, he don't control
the fish. Well, I'll tell you what he told
his apostles. They were worried about paying taxes. He said,
go right down there. There's a fish down there. When
you pull him out, open his mouth. There's your taxes. That sound
like somebody who don't know what's going on? Oh, my soul. Everything in the ministry is
dependent on God. They toiled all night and caught
nothing, but at his word. And that's where it's at, at
his word. It doesn't matter what you think
about preaching the gospel. It doesn't matter what you think
about this and think about that. It's his word. And those who
know him know to listen for his word. They know the condition
of the rest of the world. They wanna hear what he has to
say. Once he says a thing, then I'm
convinced of it. I'm not backing up off of it.
I'm gonna preach it dogmatically because he said it. And it ain't
gonna change. Ain't gonna change. Realizing the draught of fish
to be the working of God. Peter said, depart from me. And
every person of faith, as they see the glory of God in Christ,
the first thing they realize is their worthlessness. It's
all hanging on him. It's all in him. And especially those he calls
to be his ambassadors. And then lastly, here's the mind
of Christ in those he calls. Luke chapter five, verse 11.
When they had brought their ships to land, They forsook all and
followed him. They grew up in that place, Russell.
You know why people don't want to leave a place to go to another?
I'm going to tell you why. Because they're plugged in. They're
connected. They were born there. They grew
up and went to school with the president of the bank. They know the plant manager down
at the plant. They grew up with him. They're
plugged in. They're connected. Life is easy. You think life wasn't easy for
this fisherman? I know he worked for a living.
But he was plugged in. He knew who to see. He knew who
to go to. He knew all these things. But
boy, once he met Christ, he forsook all. It didn't say they thought
about it for a week or two. When they got their ship to land,
they said, goodbye ship. Goodbye. And they followed him. That's the mind of the believer. That's his mind. I'll never forget that call I
received from Brother Henry. He said, you need to quit your
job, sell your house, and move up here, I've got a house that
you can rent right here in my parking lot. And you're gonna
be going out to preach." And he said, you need to be here,
not way down there. I had the best job I ever had,
Larry. I was working for General Electric
test facilities that make jet engines. I worked year round
out there on that place. And once you get a pass, once
you've been investigated and so on, and you get a pass to
go on there, they don't want anybody else. They want people
that's already been proven. They want you to work there.
And I was working there. I could have all the overtime
I wanted. It was just a great job. I could work year round
and had that job for about a month. You need to quit your job. need to sell you a house. I just
bought that house, put a new roof on it, new overhangs, everything
in it, new heaters, lights, new storm doors, everything. I just
got it fixed up, had a nice garage there, had a little creek that
run past the garage. Man, I didn't want to move. Had
10 or 12 acres there. I could have me a garden, sell
you a house, and move up here and live in
a rental house. When they got the land, they forsook all. And
you will too if he calls you, preacher or not. You'll forsake
all and follow him. Why? Because in him is life. That's why. You won't be where
he is. I don't want to be where he's
not. He was in Nazareth and he left Nazareth and he didn't do
anything for Nazareth. But he come down to Capernaum
and now preaching all around in Galilee and he's healing everybody
that bring to it. I wanna be where he's at. That's
where the mysteries are unfolded. That's where all of these things
are given. Everything that God has for sinners
is in Christ. I wanna be where he's at. And
that's why they forsook all.