Find Luke chapter 5. Luke chapter
5. I'm taking the title for the
message from the words found in verse 5. The last part of
verse 5 of Luke chapter 5. Nevertheless. Nevertheless. We've been fishing all night
and have not taken one thing. Nevertheless. at thy word, I
will let down my net. Nevertheless, nevertheless, at
thy word." Now Peter, James, and John were professional fishermen. They made their living catching
fish and selling fish. They had been out the night before,
fishing all night, and by the decree of God and the will of
God, they had caught and taken absolutely nothing. That's what
Peter confesses here when the Lord told him to launch out into
the deep. He said, we've already been there. We've already done that. Nevertheless,
at thy word. When the Lord told Peter what
to do, he was obedient and was rewarded with a great catch of
fish, so much so that both boats were filled, Peter's boat and
the boat of James and John, so much filled that the boats began
to sink. Now this is amazing. They were
running over with fish. Now, we see here the essence
of real, true saving faith. Nevertheless, at thy word. At thy word. Faith in the word
of God. The essence of saving faith is
taking the Lord at His word, believing Him, believing His
word, trusting Him without reservation, without Hesitation. Where true faith is given, you
know what follows? Obedience. Obedience unto the
Lord. You see, faith without obedience
is dead and useless faith. The Apostle James wrote this,
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works
is dead. Saving faith, the faith of God's
elect, is obedient. For by grace are ye saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of work
that any man should boast. And then verse 10 says, For we
are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good work,
which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them. Now let's go back to Luke chapter
5 verse 1, and let's see if we can Glean a few gospel nuggets
here from verse 1 down through verse 11. And it came to pass
that as the people pressed upon him. This is a large crowd. I think several thousand people
were pressing, pressing upon him. They were pressing upon
him to hear the word of God. As the Lord stood by this lake,
And in accommodating them, the Lord saw these two ships standing
anchored there by the lake shore, and the fishermen were gone out
of them, they were mending 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. The Lord was a teacher of God's
truth. He taught the people out of the
ships. Now remember how the Lord taught
the people mostly? He taught them in parables, didn't
he? Simple earthly stories that illustrate
special and spiritual truth. Again we see the Lord Jesus Christ
about His Father's business. Remember He said, I must be about
my Father's business. And He was about His Father's
business preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. If you
look back up in the previous chapter, verse 43 and 44, He
said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God. The kingdom
of God. Salvation is of God. Salvation
is of the Lord to other cities also. For therefore am I sent,
and he preached in the synagogues of Galilee. The Lord Jesus Christ
was a preacher of the gospel of God. And the people, upon
hearing him, the people pressed upon him to hear, I love what
it says here, they pressed upon him to hear the word of God. The Word of Truth. They pressed
upon Him to hear the Scriptures declared unto them. They were
hungry for a Word of God from the Word of Life to be delivered
unto them, and the Lord did not disappoint them. He delivered
unto them the Word of Truth. And because of this large crowd,
the Lord used a boat as a platform or as a pulpit to preach from.
And he sat down. Now I always stand up and you
sit down. Maybe one day we ought to reverse
that. Maybe I ought to sit down and
let you stand. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
did. Maybe it would get your attention if I had all of you
stand and I sat down. Maybe we'll try that one day.
But anyhow, that's what the Lord did. He sat down and He taught
the people. Now, we need to be taught. You
know why? All those who have heard and learned of the Father,
they come to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord didn't disappoint them. He preached unto them the gospel
of God. Now here's a good lesson for
us here. Those who press and seek to hear
the word of God shall be blessed. Those who are hungry and those
who thirst after righteousness shall be fulfilled, shall be
filled. What a blessed place it is to
be sitting at the feet of the Lord and to hear Him speak and
to hear his word and to learn of him. He said, take my yoke
upon you and learn of me. You remember? In Matthew chapter
11, when the Lord sent Peter down to a house of a Gentile
soldier named Cornelius, and the Lord had prepared their heart
to hear the word of God. You remember the words of Cornelius
unto Peter? Now therefore, Are we all here
present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee
of God? That's why we are here today
to hear all things commanded of God. Blessed are those who
come to the house of God to worship God and to hear the Word of God. Blessed are those who come to
be fed, they shall be fed. Those who come to find comfort
in Christ shall be comforted. Those who come seeking grace
in the Lord Jesus Christ, they shall find grace. Those who come
seeking salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, They shall find
salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember in Matthew 6 the
Lord said, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
and all these things will be added unto you. And then again
in Matthew 7 He said, Ask and it shall be given you, seek and
you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. You
have not, the Apostle said, because you do not ask. I'm going to
ask. I'm going to take my place before
Him, His throne as a mercy beggar, and ask Him for all spiritual
blessings in Christ. He delights to give them. He
delights to show mercy unto His people. Now notice what these
folks did. And I want to go back to Luke
chapter 4 verse 42. When they pressed upon Him, In
Luke chapter 4 verse 42, And when it was day, he departed
and went into a desert place, and the people sought him, the
people came to him, and the people stayed him, that he should not depart from
them. They sought him, They came to
him, and they lay hold upon him, and they would not let go." You
remember what Jacob said when he wrestled with the Lord in
that vision? He said, I will not let you go
until you bless me. And you know what? Jacob was
blessed. As a matter of fact, God changed
his name to Israel, a prince with God. Now in verse 4 down
to verse 7 we have another lesson given unto us. Now when he had
left speaking, that is when he had finished his sermon, he said
to Simon, this is Simon Peter, launch out into the deep and
let down your nets for a great catch. And Simon answering said
to him, Master, now it doesn't call him here Lord, it calls
him Master, Teacher. That's what the word there means.
Teacher, we have toiled all night. We have struggled all night long. I can just imagine the anguish
in their toiling, in their laboring, fishing all night long, their
livelihood, the feeding of their families, depending on their
success. And Master, we've been out there
all night, fishing all night long, and we have absolutely
taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word, I'm
going to let down the net. And when they had done, 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 they began to sink. And
Peter saw it, and fell down at the Lord's knees, saying, Depart
from me, O Lord, I am a sinful man." Now when the Lord had finished
his message, finished preaching, he had another important lesson
to teach Peter about saving faith. Oh, that we may learn this lesson
today. May the Lord teach us the importance
of hearing the Word and believing the Word. The Lord said, Peter,
you launch out in the deep. Peter, you cast out your net. Peter said, okay, nevertheless
at thy word. You see, human logic and human
wisdom would have said, as Peter does in the beginning, we have
fished all night and have caught nothing. We're going home and
we're going to come back maybe tomorrow night and try it again.
You know, human logic says if at first you don't succeed, remember
the saying, try, try, and try, and try again until you do. That's
the way human logic goes. But with God it's totally contrary. There is a way which seems right
unto men, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Human
logic says, well, we'll come back tomorrow night, and maybe
the fish will be here, and maybe we'll be successful tomorrow
night. That's what human wisdom says. But thank God our faith
is not based upon human wisdom. Nevertheless, at thy word we
will let down our nets. That's faith, believing God,
taking God at His word. You will make no progress toward
a true knowledge of God and salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ Until
you first of all bow totally and completely to the authority
of God's Word, you'll make no progress. In knowing God, and
growing in spiritual things, growing in grace, and in the
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, until you bow totally and completely
to the authority of God's Holy Word, thus saith the Lord. That's just so. That's just so. As long as you put a question
mark on the Word of God, you remain in darkness, ignorance,
and death, because the Word of God is the only rule of faith
and practice. The Word of God is the only ground
of saving faith, not your experience, not your feelings, The Word of
God alone is the ground of our faith. The foundation of our
faith is, thus saith the Lord at thy word, Lord. You see, all Scripture is given
of God. All Scripture effectually works
in those who believe the Word of God. Now let me give you some
examples. Abraham believed God He believed
God, didn't he? 75 years old, raved in the house
of adultery, and God came to him and said, Abraham, you and
Sarah, get out of your father's house. What did Abraham do? He believed God. Nevertheless,
according to your word, Lord, he believed God. Abraham believed
God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness. Remember?
Hebrews 11 verse 6 says, Without faith it is impossible to please
God, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and
that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by what? The Word of God. Now let me show you a good scripture
that will help us on this very point here. Turn in your Bible
to 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. Verse 13. You see, let us never
put a question mark upon, thus saith the Lord. Let us read it
as the Word of God, hear it as the Word of God, study it as
the Word of God, embrace it as the Word of God, receive it as
the Word of God, be obedient unto it as the Word of God. Let
us never doubt the Word of God. Let us believe it and trust it. 1 Thessalonians 2 verse 13, For
this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when
you received the word of God, which you heard of us, you received
it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of
God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. What a blessing it is to hear
this book declared, read, preached, and meditated upon. It will bless
the heart of those that read it and study it. We read this
in John chapter 20. And many other signs truly did
Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not written
in this book, But these things are written that you might believe
that Jesus is the Christ, and that believing you might have
life through His name." Believing the gospel. What a privilege
it is to hear the Word of God, to believe the Word of God. You
see, human logic and human wisdom, and the worldly wisdom, says
salvation is by your works. Just do the best you can. If
your good works outweigh your bad works, then everything will
be okay. Human wisdom, human logic says
that salvation and redemption is by what we do. It says it
depends upon how good you are. Nevertheless, the Word of God
says that salvation is by His Salvation is not by man's will,
salvation is by God's will. It's not of him that willeth
nor of him that runneth, but it's God that shows mercy. Of
his own will begat he us with the word of truth. The word of
God says salvation is by his grace alone. For it is not by
works of righteousness which we have done, but according to
his mercy he saved us. It is God who saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
God's own purpose and grace, given us in Christ before the
foundation of the world. Human wisdom, human logic, and
intellectual Intellectualism says sin is put away by what
you give, what you bring, or what you perform. That is, sin
is put away by what you do. My friend, that's totally contrary
to the Word of God. Nevertheless, the Word of God
says the blood of Jesus cried God's Son. cleanses us from all
our sin. I believe Him. I believe His
Word. The Word of God says sin is put
away by the blood sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. He appeared
once in the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. We are redeemed not with corruptible
things, such as silver and gold, such as our vain tradition, but
with the precious blood of Christ. You see, His Word His truth is
contrary to human wisdom and human logic. You see, the gospel
is a mystery that has to be revealed. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. You will not, with human wisdom,
understand the gospel of God. It will be totally contrary to
your human wisdom, because it's a mystery that must be revealed. You see, the faith, the faith
of God's elect, It says, "...faith is the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen. Through faith we understand."
Through faith we understand. His Word, His truth, His gospel
is contrary to human wisdom, human reason, but not to faith,
not the faith of God's elect. Through faith we understand.
You see, we're to walk by faith, not by sight. Faith honors God. Abraham was strong in faith. Turn over there and let's read
that one more time. In Romans chapter 4. Abraham
was strong in faith and you know what he did? You know what saving
faith does? It doesn't glory in the flesh,
does it? Romans chapter 4, look at verse 20. He staggered not
at the promise of God through unbelief. Abraham was 100 years
old, Sarah was 90 years old, and God said, you're going to
have a son. Well, human wisdom said, that's impossible. That's
not going to happen. She was a barren woman all her
life, now she's an old woman. God said, you're going to have
a special son. He staggered not at the promise of God through
unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, being fully
persuaded that what he had promised he was able to perform. Therefore
it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his
sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also, to whom
it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead. who have delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Saving faith gives Christ all the honor and glory in salvation. The wise man Solomon wrote, Trust
in the Lord with all thine heart, lean not unto thine own understanding,
in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path.
David said, according to the word of the Lord, by the word
of the Lord is thy servant warned, and in keeping of them is a great
reward, believing God. Now, look at Luke chapter 5. Verse 8 and 9. Here's the third
thing I want us to see. When Simon Peter saw what had
happened, he just witnessed a miracle of God's power and God's grace. He'd never seen anything like
this before. Their nets were so full, and
as they emptied those nets into the boats, the boats, these were
large boats, they just overflowed with fish. He'd never seen anything
like that before. He'd never heard of anything
like that happening before. And they came and they filled
those ships so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw
this great miracle, saw the Lord Jesus Christ in the power of
his Godhead, he fell down before the One who is God Almighty,
the Lord Jesus Christ saying, I'm a sinful man. I'm not worthy
of your presence. Depart from me. I'm a sinful
man. He was astonished. and all that
were with him at the great catch of these fishes." Here we see
Peter's confession and the Lord's revelation unto him. What Peter
expressed here is what every sinner feels when the power and
glory of God is revealed unto them in the gospel of God concerning
Christ. Man. Just not that I'm a sinner. I am a sinful man. That is, I'm full of sin. Isaiah said, from the top of
my head to the bottom of my feet, there is nothing in between me
but ulcerating, ugly, wicked, sores that stink before Almighty
God. I am a sinful man. We only understand how sinful
we are, how unworthy we are, when we see this in the light
of His great holiness. That's why I read Isaiah chapter
6. When Isaiah saw the Lord high
and lifted up, And the messengers around the throne saying, holy,
holy, holy Lord God Almighty, what did this great prophet of
God say? I'm undone. I am a sinful man. It's the same experience that
Daniel had. Daniel said when he had that
great vision from the Lord, of the Lord's power and glory, it's
recorded in Daniel chapter 10 verse 8, Therefore I was left
alone, and I saw this great vision, and there remained no strength
in me for my comeliness, and that word there is my beauty.
My beauty was turned in me into corruption, and I retained No
strength. When I saw Him, His beauty and
His glory, I saw my ugliness, my vileness. That's what happens
when God reveals Himself unto us. We see Him, how glorious
He is, and we see Him, and we see, when we see Him, we see
our ugliness, our corruption, our sinfulness. The same thing
that happened to Job. In Job 42, where he said, I've
heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see
of thee, wherefore I, I think a whole lot of myself. If you
ever see him, you won't. Remember what he said, I've heard
of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see of thee,
wherefore I abhor and I hate myself. I repent in dust and
ashes. The Apostle Paul, when he got
a glimpse of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you remember
what he cried out? Romans 7, O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? I am a sinful
man. And then he says, gives the answer,
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. It's only by his grace. But God who is rich in mercy
for his great love were with he loved us. As Jacob said, I'm
not worthy of the least of your mercies. The Lord Jesus Christ,
we should never despair if we know that we are a sinful person. We should never despair. You
know why? The Lord came to save sinners.
If you know you're a sinner before God, you know what? You're blessed. If you know you're a sinful,
guilty, depraved sinner, you're blessed of God. You don't have
these thoughts naturally. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
call sinners. to repentance, didn't he? Those
who are righteous don't need a doctor. Those who are righteous
don't need a savior. The Lord Jesus Christ died when
we were yet without strength. The Lord Jesus Christ died for
the ungodly. Can you come in there? I can.
I am a sinful man, none righteous, no, not one. But I'm not despairing,
you know why? because of the Word of God. The
Word of God said, this is a faithful saying, this is worthy of all
acceptation, that the Lord Jesus Christ came to save sinners,
and the Apostle Paul said, I'm the chief one. I'm the biggest
sinful man you've ever met. I can say that of myself. I am
a sinful man. But thank God, this sinful man
has been redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
in closing, look at verse 10 and verse 11. The Lord says unto these fishermen,
He's going to call them into the ministry, Peter, James, Andrew,
John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon, and
the Lord Jesus Christ said unto them, I love this phrase right
here, fear not. Fear not. Yes, I'm God Almighty. Yes, I have all power in heaven
and earth. But you don't need to fear any
more. I'm your Savior. I'm your righteousness. I'm your Redeemer. Fear not.
From henceforth, I'm going to send you forth to catch sinners."
How are these men going to catch sinners? Are they going to take
that fisher's net and lasso them in? Oh, they use the net all
right. But it's the Lord's net. And
you know what it is? It's the gospel. It's the gospel
net. We go and we cast the gospel
net. The good news of the gospel.
The Lord Jesus Christ comes to seek and to save the lost. We
cast forth that net. And He draws them in. He does
the catching. We do the casting, the planting. He does the saving. He is the
mighty Savior. The mighty promise of the Savior
to these sinful men. Isn't that amazing that the Lord
sends sinners out to tell other sinners that salvation is in
Christ? He doesn't send out angels. Angels
have declared it though. He said to them in Matthew 4,
follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. Fear not. You see, His
perfect love cast out fear. In Matthew 28, when the risen
Lord ascended to glory, just before He did, He said, all power
is given to me in heaven and earth. All power, heaven and
earth, is given unto me that God may mediate. Now, go forth
and preach the gospel to every creature, knowing that I have
all power, and oh, by the way, and lo, I'm with you always,
even to the end of the earth." You're not going alone. You'll
never, Peter, John, Jane, you'll never go fishing alone. Not when
you're in the ministry. He said, I'll never leave you,
I'll never forsake you. Well, what's going to happen?
And when they had brought their ships to the land, verse 11,
what's going to happen? Here's what faith does. They
forsook all and they followed Him. Those two things. They forsook all and they followed
Him. Here we learn what faith in Christ
is determined to do. They forsook all. That is, forgetting
those things which are behind, count everything lost, dung,
and ruined, that I might win Christ and be found in Him, not
having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, forgetting those things
which are behind, I press toward the mark of the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus, They forsook all. I'm going to forsake
all my religious experience. I'm going to forsake all my religious
tradition. I'm going to forsake all my righteousness. I'm going to forsake all my doing.
I'm going to forsake everything I've ever done and trust Him. That's what faith does. Faith
doesn't look back to things I've done. Faith looks to the Lord
Jesus Christ right now. Right now. looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith. And then it says, secondly,
they followed Him. They followed Him. They followed
Him. Remember our Lord said in John
10, My sheep hear My voice. And this is what sheep do. Sheep
follow the Master. Sheep follow the Shepherd. The
Lord Jesus Christ, He said, My sheep hear My voice, I know them,
and they do follow Me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they
shall never perish. The sheep follow the Good Shepherd.
Do you know why? The Good Shepherd laid down His
life for the sheep. The sheep follow the Great Shepherd
of the sheep, as He's called. We have peace with God through
the Great Shepherd. who brought the great sacrifice,
the blood of the everlasting covenant. The sheep follow the
Good Shepherd. The sheep follow the Great Shepherd,
the Lord Jesus. And they follow and they look
for the Chief Shepherd. The Chief Shepherd that shall
come again. We read in 1 Peter 5, When the
Chief Shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a crown of
glory that fadeth not away, a crown of righteousness, receive a crown
of righteousness that you will receive by His grace. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth righteousness without works. And when they had brought
their ships to the land, they forsook all and followed Him. Lord, nevertheless, nevertheless,
at Thy Word I'll follow You, Nevertheless, at thy word I'll
forsake all and look to Christ alone." He said, look unto me
and be saved, all the ends of the earth. I'm God. Beside me
there is no other.