Matthew 4, 17, in the verses
preceding this one, we saw that the Lord Jesus Christ went down to the Sea of Galilee in
fulfillment of a prophecy, an Old Testament prophecy that said,
those that sat in darkness saw a great light. When the Lord
went down to the Sea of Galilee, he was fulfilling that prophecy. How did he do that? How did he
fulfill it? Verse 17, from that time, Jesus began to preach. If I preach to you this morning, You won't see much, but if the
Lord preaches to you, you're going to see great light. And here's what he began to say,
repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Does that sound familiar? We already saw those same words
in Matthew 3.1 pretty much, didn't we? In those days, Matthew 3.1,
came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea and
saying, repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now we know that John didn't
just go around repeating that same phrase over and over. We
have some other words that John preached when he preached. It's
not saying that. It's saying this is, this was his entire message,
characterized this way, repentance and the kingdom of God. We have
some of his preaching concerning the bridegroom and how the friend
of the bridegroom rejoices when the bridegroom is glorified.
The kingdom of God is Christ, his person and work, and how
that his people rejoice in him and what he does. What did Paul
say? We are the circumcision who worship
God in the spirit and do what? Rejoice in Christ Jesus. And
the exact same thing is said to characterize the message,
the preaching of our Lord Jesus Christ. If the same description cannot
honestly and accurately be made concerning what we preach here,
then we ought to quit. Do we preach repentance for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand? Do we call on sinners to repent
of our natural evil thoughts about God, about man, about Christ,
and how a sinner is saved, and to believe God, to believe the
record that God has given concerning His Son? This is all we really
do here. We don't have a lot of programs
or distractions by God's grace. And that's as it should be. We
preach the kingdom of God and call on sinners to repent. Notice that it was upon the imprisonment
of John that the Lord Jesus Christ began to preach. Verse 12, we're
told that John the Baptist had been put in prison. He was unable
to do what he had been doing. He had been going and preaching
to great multitudes, it says. the same message, this gospel
message of God's kingdom and how that Christ came to fulfill
that kingdom, to rule over his people as the king of that kingdom.
And John was unable to continue. But listen to what Paul said
in 2 Timothy 2.8. He said this, remember that Jesus
Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according
to my gospel. Wherein I suffer trouble as an
evildoer, even unto bonds, they've put me in jail for preaching
him. But the word of God is not bound. John's in prison, and our Lord
Jesus Christ begins to preach. Mark puts it very concisely in
Mark 1 14. Now after that John was put in
prison, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom
of God. The gospel is the gospel of the
kingdom of God. In just three years after this
or so, after our text where the Lord began to preach, just three
years or so later, our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified and died
on that cross and was buried and rose again and ascended and
left this world in a physical bodily sense. But he told his
disciples in Acts 1.8, you shall receive power. After that the Holy Ghost has
come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem
and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts
of the earth. When he left and he ceased to
preach on this earth, he raised up men to preach the same message,
the same gospel of the kingdom of God and to call on sinners
to repent and believe on Christ. The gospel cannot be stopped
or even hindered. And that's a great comfort to
me. Even if God has to take me out
of the way, His gospel will not be hindered. God has ordained
that His people, whom He has loved and chosen from before
the foundation of the world, shall hear and believe the gospel
concerning His Son, Jesus Christ, and shall be saved by means of
the preaching of that gospel. Stephen was stoned in Acts 11,
19. We know that Stephen was stoned
and it says in Acts 11, 19, now they, which were scattered abroad
upon the persecution that arose about Stephen, traveled as far
as Finnis and Cyprus and Antioch, preaching. Oh no, Stephen, what
a, he was a promising young man. He was, everybody said, you know,
the Lord's blessed him. He's gonna be a great preacher.
The world's gonna be hearing his gospel and it's just wonderful. Stephen's just gonna preach the
gospel with boldness and with power. Now he's dead. Oh no. No, not oh no. The gospel doesn't die. The gospel is not bound. The
gospel can't be stopped. Those that were scattered upon
the persecution after the stoning of Stephen went everywhere preaching
Christ's gospel. And that's what we're doing this
morning. The gospel is invincible. I'm not. You're not. But that
gospel that our brother Dee talked about this morning in our Bible
class, It's invincible. Do you know why? Because Christ
is exalted therein. And he must increase. He must
increase. It's the message of Christ and
him crucified. And God in all of his person
is glorified in this gospel. It is the gospel that gives unto
God the glory that's due unto his name. And you can't shut
that up. In Luke 1937 it says, Our Lord
was come nigh even now at the descent of the Mount of Olives,
and the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and
praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that
they'd seen. For Christ and what he did, they
rejoiced and blessed God. And they said, blessed be the
king that cometh in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven
and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees from
among the multitude said unto him, master, rebuke thy disciples.
They're making too big of a show here. He answered and said unto them,
I tell you that if these should hold their peace, the stones
would immediately cry out. Our Lord's gonna be exalted.
You can't stop it, you can't shut it up. And I can't either,
even if I would. God's gonna be glorified in the
exaltation of Christ crucified. According to the scriptures,
Our brother read that text this morning. He died for our sins
according to the scriptures, not according to religion, not
according to the commandments of men. But according to this
book, he died and saved everybody he died for. He redeemed them.
He obtained eternal redemption for them. He washed them from
their sins in his precious blood. That one and what he did, he's
going to be exalted. God in all of his persons is
exalted in the preaching. of this Christ and Him crucified.
This gospel also is that gospel that's the power of God unto
salvation. I can tell sinners of that righteousness
without the law of which Paul spoke in Romans chapter 3. According
to this gospel there is righteousness wherein you can stand before
God without you keeping the law. Aren't you glad? You lawbreakers
are glad. You sinners are glad. that perfect righteousness, where
in a sinner can stand holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in the sight of God. That's why this gospel can't
be stopped, because God has purpose to save his people, and he's
going to do it this way, by the preaching of Christ our righteousness. Without any of our own works
being considered at all, Paul said I wouldn't have them, not
having mine own righteousness. but the righteousness which is
by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. Our righteousness is
Christ crucified. And I can tell sinners that blood
has been shed. The blood has been shed for sinners. That there is a fountain opened
for sin. I can tell them that though your
sins be a scarlet, and they are, they shall be as wool. And though
they be red like crimson, they shall be made as white as snow.
Because there's a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's
veins. And sinners plunge beneath that
flood, lose all their guilty stains. This gospel is invincible. Because God said, I will have
mercy. And this is how he has mercy.
By declaring the gospel unto you. And giving you faith in
his son. I can tell sinners that there
is a lamb that takes away sin. No matter how black. No matter
how deep-dyed crimson. Because that lamb is Christ crucified. I can tell sinners that owning
Him alone as their righteousness before God and trusting Him alone
as their sin offering unto God, they are safe, secure, holy,
and blessed, that standing upon the rock of ages they shall not
be moved, safe though the worlds may crumble, safe though the
stars grow dim. Where? Under His blood. And if I don't tell them, somebody
will. Because his people are going
to hear this gospel. As Paul preached in Acts chapter
14, God hath not left himself without witness and he never
shall as long as this world stands. Now our Lord Jesus in the remaining
verses of this text, he calls some of his disciples from the
seashore in Galilee. And again, there's great instruction
here for us if the Lord would be pleased to open our eyes and
hearts to this. There can be no doubt here as
to what he's calling them to when he says, I'll make you fishers
of men. He's calling them to preach this same gospel that
he was preaching and that John had preached. He's calling them
to be witnesses of Him. And there can be no doubt concerning
the clear comparison here that's made to what they were doing
when He found them. They were fishing. They were
fishing. Let's look at the rest of the
passage in Matthew 4. verse 18 and 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
that's what fishers do they cast the net and that's what fishers
of men do too they cast the net they were fit and he saith unto
them verse 19 follow me and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their
nets and followed him." They did it straightway. How long
would it take you to leave everything you know and those that you love,
as we're gonna see in a moment here, everything that you own
in this world, and follow somebody that just asked you to do it,
told you to do it. How long would it take you? It
depends on who asked. Look at it, a straight way, straight
way. They left their nets and they
followed him and going on from thence he saw two 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. Probably in the same words that
he used to call the others, follow me and I'll make you fishers
of men. And immediately, straightway, immediately, they left the ship
and their father and followed him. First of all, we see undeniably
and very clearly here the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Straightway,
when he speaks, he said, my sheep hear my voice and they follow
me. Straightway, they follow me.
Leaving everything else, leaving their filthy rags, they follow
me. if necessary, those that they
love and follow me. Leaving what they know, what
they thought they knew, leaving their earthly business and cares
and desires and comforts often, and they follow me. My sheep
hear my voice and they follow me. It is this same power of
Christ, this effectual call, this powerful call that as fishers
of men, we rely upon and rejoice in. I call upon you to believe on
Christ, but as I said already this morning, if I'm the only
one that calls upon you to do that, you're not going to do
anything. You're going to lay there dead. like we all are by
nature, dead in trespasses and sin. But if He calls on you,
you're gonna follow Him. You're gonna follow Him. It's
that effectual call of the one who says, let there be light,
and there is light. That as fishers of men, all of
us, we rely upon that and rejoice in it. Listen to Matthew 28,
18. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, He come unto
these disciples and others, And he said this, all power is given
unto me in heaven and in earth. Now you go. You see the glory
of that? The one that tells us to go is
the one who has all power in heaven and in earth. And he said,
you go, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.
And by the way, he said, I'll be with you. He didn't give us
all power. We don't have any power. Without
me, he said, you can do nothing. I don't want to do anything.
Do you? I pray that he'll do something. I'm not here this
morning to get you to do something or to do anything myself. We
come as mercy beggars, praying that the Lord Jesus Christ, the
one who has all power in heaven and in earth, would by his almighty
grace, blessed are they whom he chooses
and causes to approach unto him. That's what I'm praying for.
Lord, call somebody to approach unto thee this morning. All power
is his. The one who makes us fishers
of men is the one who, after we've toiled all the night and
caught nothing, says cast on the other side and gives great
success. He's the one that made us fishers.
And he's the only one that can give success. The effectiveness
of our fishing is not in our preparation or our industry.
but in his power, which he exerts in that gospel, which Paul said,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel because by God's grace and purpose,
it's the power of God unto salvation. I'll make you fishers of men. And there must be preparation
and perspiration. Doesn't depend on that, but that's
the way God does it. That's the way he does it. He
found Peter and Andrew casting a net into the sea. Now think
about this with me. The last time I went fishing,
I didn't work that hard. I sat in a boat with my brother
Tommy, and we just kind of did this. And we had a little ice chest
with something cold under it. But they cast a net into the
sea. And then when they cast the net, if you cast a net in
order to catch anything, you've got to draw in the net too. And
then if you're going to eat that night, you're going to have to
throw it again. And you're going to have to drag it in again.
And you're going to have to keep doing that. And they told the Lord,
we fished all night. And there's going to be some
fishing all night. But if it's just you, we're not
going to catch anything, are we? We're not going to catch
anything. But if you're going to be a fisher of anything in
this sense, there's going to be some preparation and there's
going to be some perspiration. He found them casting a net in
the sea and he found James and John mending their nets. Have you ever cast a net into
the sea? Or have you ever mended one? I would imagine mending
a net is not the most exciting job that anybody ever did. But if you're going to catch
anything, you're going to have to mend the net, aren't you?
This mending of the net, this doesn't speak of any flaw in
the gospel itself, but of careful preparation in the use and means
that God has ordained. There's got to be preparation.
The casting of the net is the means whereby God brings in fish
by his power, by his purpose, by his grace. But there's going
to be a net cast, and if it's got holes in it, they're going
to have to be mended. There's got to be preparation, doesn't
there? There's got to be work done that's not pleasing to the
flesh, in other words. If there's no mending, there's
no effective fishing. And I asked myself this question,
and I want to ask you this morning, are you in the ministry? A man who had preached for years
said one time, one of these days, I'm going to truly enter the
ministry. And I know exactly what he meant by that. Notice this, that Peter and Andrew
were casting a net. They were doing it together.
This kind of fishing requires unity. This is why we're exhorted
by Paul, endeavor to keep the unity of the spirit. Because
it's by these means that God saves his people. This is how
we fish. we all cast one net, one net. And if we're not together, if
there is no unity, then the net will just be tangled and ineffectual. Well, I thought you said it depended
only on his power. Yep, and he uses people that
are united in love and in purpose to set forth his gospel in this
world. He does it in his church. He uses his church. He loved
the church and he gave his own blood for the church. And it's
by this church that he said he commissioned to go and preach
that this work is accomplished by his grace and power and by
his purpose. Three things had to be left in
this passage. First of all, they left their
nets. This fishing can't be done with
your nets. The nets are, again, the means
whereby the fish are brought in and you're going to have to
leave your nets on the shore. They won't get it done. The gospel
net doesn't use any bait, it doesn't use any deception, it
doesn't use any fleshly wisdom. Paul said, And I, brethren, when
I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom,
declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not
to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified,
the person of Christ and what He did for sinners. And I was
with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my
speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's
wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that
your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the
power of God. The wisdom of men. Oh, but if
we did this, if we just did this, a lot more people would come.
It's not about that. If you're gonna be this kind
of fisherman, you gotta leave your nets. You gotta leave your
net. But people aren't acting the
way they should. We better preach a little bit of law. No, just
cast his net. Cast his net. But we're not getting
any results. That's not for you to say. Paul said God always causes us
to triumph when we cast his net, when Christ is preached. Jeremiah
didn't get much results. Are you sure? Noah, was he successful in the
preaching of the gospel? Isaiah, who had to cry out to
God in discouragement, I'm sure. Who have believed our report? Every one of them, that's it.
Every one of them. Those that you've given me, he
said, I'll lose nothing. They're going to be in the net.
The net's coming. And it's going to be drawn. And
he knows exactly how many fish there are. There's 150 and three
in there. Every one of them. And then they had to leave their
ship. What was their ship? To a fisherman
of that kind, it's just about everything. I used to do a lot
of wade fishing in Texas. You don't fish that way if you're
making a living doing it. The ship is their livelihood.
It's their stake in this world. You've got to leave it. And this
is not teaching that we're not to have any possessions in this
world, you know. Some people, you know, you're
always going to have something, aren't you? And possessions don't
mean anything one way or the other. It's not about that. What
it is teaching is that all of our possessions, all of our possessions are expendable. for the sake of his calling and
ministry. All of them. To follow him is to deny self
and to take up our cross and follow him. It's to leave all
other gods. It's to dedicate everything we
are and everything we have to him and his fishing ministry. In Mark 10, 28, it says, then
Peter began to say unto him, lo, we've left all and have followed
thee. I'd say Peter was probably subject
to some rebuke for saying that, wouldn't you imagine? What a
privilege. The rich young ruler was informed that if he wanted to keep the law, if he wanted to
stand on a footing of law before God, that he had to get rid of
all of his other gods and follow Christ and honor Christ. And
he was unable to do that. He was unable to do that. Well,
why then was Peter able to do that? Because the son of God said,
follow me. This is not a lesson about how
obedient Peter was. This is a lesson about how gracious
our Lord is. What a privilege it is to follow
him. What have you left? What have
you lacked? Have you lacked anything since you believed on Christ? He said, we've left everything
and followed you. And Jesus answered and said,
verily I say unto you, let me see if this has been your experience.
There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters,
or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my
sake and the gospels. It's the same thing, isn't it?
You can't separate them. If we say for the gospel's sake,
we're talking about for his sake. And if we say for his sake, we're
talking about for the gospel's sake. It's the same thing. But
he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time. houses, and
brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with
persecutions. The Lord's not putting rose-colored
glasses on you. He tells the truth, doesn't He?
With persecutions. And in the world to come, eternal
life. What have you really left? Anything?
Have you given up anything for the Lord? It's not about that. It's about his worthiness. It's
about the urgency of the cause. It's about what's important.
It's about priorities. It's about what's real. It's
about seeking first his kingdom, not yours. That's what it's about. And then thirdly, they left their
father. How can I say this right? In Luke 9, 59, he said unto another,
follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me
first to go and bury my father. And I'm pretty sure from what
I've read in commentaries, it wasn't that his father was dead
and that he needed to go take care of the funeral. What he's
saying is, I need to stay with my father until I bury him. And it could have been who knows
how long. Either way, when the Lord says,
follow me. And Jesus said unto him, let
the dead bury their dead. What in this world is so important
that I must neglect my earthly business that I must miss my
own father's funeral and offend all of my family for not being
there. What in the world is that important? Let the dead bury
their dead, but go thou and preach. What? The kingdom of God. The same thing John preached,
the same thing our Lord preached, the same thing by his grace we
preach. What's that important? Being a fisher of men for the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's what. This is the message. You see,
as we've already said, that glorifies God Almighty. And he must be
glorified. And he will be glorified by somebody.
Do you want in on it? Do you want in on it? Do you pray, hallowed be thy
name, as he taught us to pray. Do you know how that happens
on this earth? That his name is hallowed and honored and blessed. Do you pray that kingdom come
as he taught us? Do you know how that's accomplished
in this earth? He has ordained the prospering
of his kingdom by the preaching of Christ crucified. Do you pray,
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven? Do you pray
that way as we're taught? Thy will be done. Let me ask
you this. What are you absolutely certain is God's will for you? Does it have anything to do with
the gospel? I'm talking about certain now.
If you have to wonder about it, then that's just you wondering.
What do you know is God's will? We just read it a while ago,
didn't we? All power is given unto me in heaven and earth.
Go thou therefore and preach. Without this gospel, and this
may shock you, you may think, well, I don't know about that,
I say it without reservation. Without this gospel, there's
no hope for sinners. No hope. Without this gospel, there's
only darkness in this world. Our Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled
the prophecy that those that sat in darkness saw great light,
how? By preaching. This gospel is the gospel whereby
we proclaim to every sinner the glories of the Savior, who came
and died to save his people from their sins. He came for that
express purpose, and having done so, he said, it's finished. It's
complete. It's perfect. This is the gospel
of the victorious Redeemer, whose precious blood washed away every
sin from every sinner for whom it was shed. this gospel must
be preached. Dear dying lamb, thy precious
blood shall never lose its power till all the ransomed church
of God be saved to sin no more. That's why this gospel is invincible.
By his perfect sacrifice as the substitute and sin offering for
his elect, Our Lord Jesus Christ accomplished, completed, perfected
forever the work of redemption for those for whom he died. And there's no cooperation needed
on your part. He saved you in spite of you,
not with your help. And by the preaching of this
gospel, salvation is brought home to the hearts of those for
whom he died. This gospel must and shall be
preached. Paul said necessity is laid upon
me. Necessity. Anybody? Anybody else? Necessity is laid
upon me. Can you walk away? Or are you
in? Are you just a social fisherman?
That's not it. God give us grace to preach faithfully
and boldly and clearly to his everlasting glory and to the
salvation of every sheep that comes this way. This gospel of
his almighty invincible grace in Christ Jesus. What a privilege
it is to preach it. Follow me and I will make you
fishers of men. Spelling prayer.