Let us look today to Luke chapter
5. Luke chapter 5. I'll read the first 11 verses in this
chapter. 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,
but the fishermen were gone out of them and were washing their
nets. And he entered into one of the
ships, which was Simon's, 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 draft. And Simon answering said unto
him, master, we have toiled 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 in 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. And 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 the fishes which they had taken. And so was also James
and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon.
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. In these verses
that I've just read, we have Luke's account of the Lord Jesus
Christ calling four men who would become four of His twelve apostles. Matthew and Mark, they also give
their account of this, but they do not tell. Matthew and Mark,
they do not tell of the miracle of the fish. And we notice here
that Luke, he didn't name Andrew. But we know that all four of
these men, Andrew and Peter and James and John, the Lord called
each one of them. And they forsook all. And all
three of the gospels tell us that the Lord called them to
become fishers of men. They had been fishermen, but
now the Lord Jesus Christ called these working men, hardworking
men, to become fishers of men. Now the miracle shows that the
Lord Jesus Christ not only has power over the waves, We read
about that in Luke chapter 8, verses 22 through 25, when they
were crossing this same lake, and the Lord was in the hinder
part of the boat, and he went to sleep. And they came and said,
Master, Master, we perish. And the Lord stood and rebuked
the winds and the waves. He not only has power over the
waves, but he has power over that under the waves as we see
in this miracle. Made me think of this verse in
Psalm 135 in verse 6. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did he in heaven and in earth, in the seas and all deep
places. Whatsoever the Lord pleased. Now this miracle we see was so
great, the number of fish was so great that when they beckoned
to their partners to come and they came alongside and began
to put the fish into both of the boats that the boats began
to sink. Now this is a tremendous miracle
to cause, we're not talking about two rowboats here, we're talking
about two fishing ships and they began to sink. Peter was overwhelmed. Everyone in the boat was astonished,
but Peter was so overwhelmed that he fell at the Lord's knees,
and he said, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. I take this to be very much like
Isaiah's experience, as it's recorded in Isaiah chapter 6,
when he saw the Lord high and lifted up, And he saw the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's who Isaiah saw. He saw
the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, how do you know that?
Because the Word of God declares that in John chapter 12. Isaiah,
when he saw His glory, whose glory? The glory of the only
begotten Son of God. And Peter, Isaiah said, woe is
me! For I am a man of unclean lips,
and dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. You know, you
began reading in Isaiah, Isaiah chapter one through chapter five,
and several times the prophet said, woe is you, woe is you. But when he saw the Lord, woe,
woe is me. That's what happened to Peter,
isn't it? Lord depart from me. He recognized that he was in
the presence of the Lord Almighty and he was not worthy to be in
his presence. A little bit different from this
day of so-called Christianity when people say the Lord is my
co-pilot Things like that. A little bit different in the
Word of God when people came into the presence of the Lord
God Almighty. You know, Peter was involved
in this miracle. The Lord told him, let down your
net. So Peter was involved in letting
down that net. But a much greater miracle was
Peter involved later, about three years later, when he cast the
gospel net on the day of Pentecost. And the scripture says about
3,000 souls were added to the church. A much greater miracle. Well, my message for us today
is going to be on the subject of faith. Faith. And I take that from verse 5
and 6, when the Lord, or verse 4 and 5 rather, when the Lord
said, launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a
draft. And Simon answering said unto
him, Master, we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing.
Nevertheless, at thy word I will let down the net. Faith. What is faith? What is faith? Well, a very simple definition
so that all of us cannot possibly misunderstand. Faith is trusting
in Christ. That's what it is. It's trusting
in Christ. What I want to say about faith
this morning, I'll say under these four headings. First of
all, it's importance. Faith's importance. And then
secondly, it's obstacles. Faith's obstacles. And then third,
faith's foundation. And lastly, it's evidences. So first of all, the importance
of faith. I want you to keep your place
here, but turn with me, if you will, to Acts chapter 15. The
importance of faith. I do not believe that I can overemphasize
the importance of faith. I believe that would be impossible
for me to do, to overemphasize the importance of faith, the
importance that you, that I myself, that we believe in Christ, that
we trust in Christ. How could I overemphasize that? I can't. And I say that for these
two reasons. First of all, the number of scriptures
which speak to us about faith. Now before we read this passage
here in Acts chapter 15, listen to these other scriptures. You
will recognize them as I read them to us that speak to us about
faith, the importance of faith, how important it is. that you
believe, that you trust in Jesus Christ, that I trust in Him as
my Lord and Savior. First of all, we read this verse
in Hebrews chapter 11 a few minutes ago, verse 6, without faith. It's impossible to please Him. Don't you want to please God?
Of course. One day we will all stand before
Him and give an account. Don't we want to please God?
Absolutely. And without faith, Hebrews 11,
6, it is impossible to please God. In Ephesians 2, in verse
8, we read that we are saved by faith. The scripture says,
for by grace are you saved through faith. I want to be saved, don't
you? You say, saved from what? Saved
from the penalty of my sin. Saved from the power of sin. Saved from the presence of sin. Yes, I want to be saved. For
by grace are you saved through faith. No one has ever been saved
apart from faith. Romans 5, in verse 1, we read
that we are justified by faith. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God. I sure want to have peace with
God, don't you? I sure do. I want to have peace
with God. I want to know it's all right
between God and my soul. I'm not at warfare with Him,
and He's not at warfare with me. I was born His enemy, at
enmity with God. But being justified by faith,
I have peace with God. And then think about this verse
in Ephesians 3 and verse 17. We read that it is by faith that
Christ dwells in our hearts. The apostle wrote that Christ
may dwell in your hearts by faith. I want him to dwell in my heart.
Come, Lord Jesus, come into my heart. Dwell in my heart. Don't come like a stranger just
now and then, but come and take up thy abode in my heart. It's by faith. 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 7, we
read that it is by faith that we walk. We were not around when
God spoke the worlds into existence. Neither was any other man. But
it is by faith that we understand that the worlds were made out
of that which did not exist. In other words, all matter He
created. He spoke the worlds into existence. We walk by faith. If we go by
sight, we'll give up, we'll quit, we'll turn back. But no, we walk
by faith. And in 1 John chapter 5 and verse
4, we read that it is by faith that we overcome the world. This
is a victory, the apostles said, this is a victory that overcometh
the world, even our faith. Now look here in Acts chapter
15, beginning with verse 7. And when there had been much
disputing, were at a council in Jerusalem, and people have
come from the Gentile churches, from Antioch, And there's a discussion
as to what relationship the Gentile believers should have to the
law of Moses. Some said they've got to be circumcised
and keep the law if they are to be saved. That's the discussion. The scripture says here in verse
7, and when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up. This is that same Simon we read
about who let down the net. Here he is at this council, and
he stood up and said unto them, men and brethren, you know how
that a good while ago God made choice among us that the Gentiles
by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe. God, remember, sent him to the
house of Cornelius, that Roman centurion. Peter said, you know
how some time ago God chose me, gave me that privilege to take
the gospel to the Gentiles. And God, notice verse 8, and
God which knoweth the hearts, bear them witness, giving them
the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us, and put no difference
between us, us Jews, and them, Gentiles, but no difference between
us and them." Now watch, purifying their hearts by faith. You see, there's two things that
we are told that these Gentiles received when they believed they
received the Holy Spirit. and their hearts were pure, purifying
their hearts by faith. What did our Lord say in one
of the Beatitudes? Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God. Can you imagine that? To see
God. The Lord told Philip, said, Have
I been so long time with you, Philip? He that hath seen me
hath seen the Father. Yes, one day we will see Him
face to face with Christ that loved us. So first of all, the
importance of faith. I can't overemphasize its importance. And I believe these verses that
I've read to us and we've looked at here show that to be true. Amen? Faith is important. And secondly, I do not believe
I can overemphasize the importance of faith because of the number
of ways that God pictures faith. He wants us to get it. He wants
us to understand it. This is so all important that
we have these ways that God pictures faith to make it so Sample for
us to see, to understand, to perceive. First of all, faith is pictured
by coming to Christ. That's not hard to understand,
is it? To come to Christ? To lean upon
Christ? He said, come unto me all you
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. That
pictures faith, coming to Christ. I'm not talking about the body
moving, I'm talking about your soul. Leaning, trusting, coming to
Christ. Faith is pictured by drinking.
That simple. The smallest child in this room
today knows how to drink. You just take a cup of water
to your lips and drink. Come unto me, all ye that thirst. That's what he said. If any man
thirst, let him come unto me and drink. Just drink Christ
in. Take him in. Faith is also pictured
by eating. He said, My flesh is meat indeed. He that eateth of this bread
shall live forever. That's not hard to understand,
is it? You put a piece of bread in your mouth and you take a
bite, chew it up, and that bread becomes you. You can never take
it out. It's digested and it's part of
you. So you, by faith, eat his flesh
and drink his blood. And faith is pictured by receiving. But as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name. To receive him. To believe on
his name. And one that may be the simplest
of all, faith is pictured by looking. Just look. Just look. Look unto me! all ye ends of the earth. That
includes everyone, doesn't it? And be ye saved, for I am God,
and beside me there is no other. So we see the importance of faith. Now secondly, I want us to think
about the obstacles to faith, and surely faith has its obstacles. We see this here in Peter's case. When the Lord spoke to him and
said, launch out into the deep and cast down your nets for a
drought. Peter, there were some obstacles
in Peter's mind. The Lord Jesus was a rabbi. He
was called a rabbi, a master, a teacher. He was not a fisherman. Peter was a fisherman. And most
likely he had been a fisherman all of his life. His dad before
him probably was a fisherman. They knew that lake. They knew
where the honey holes were in that lake. You fishermen understand
that, don't you? They knew. Peter knew how to
fish. And he knew the best time for
fishing on that lake was at night. Peter was not a lazy person. I mean, that's hard
work, letting down that net all night, all night, all night. And they had taken nothing. And
they come to shore and they take their nets to shore and wash
them, let them dry out, and they'll be back probably this evening
to start over. But the Lord Jesus said, after
He used Peter's boat from which to preach, He said, You launch
out into the deep and let down your net for a draught. Lord,
we fished all night and took nothing. There's an obstacle. There's an obstacle. The gospel
comes to men And it says, for God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish but have everlasting life. God gave his son, gave
him to be the propitiation, that is a sacrifice for our sin, gave
him to be the substitute to suffer the debt, or the penalty rather,
the punishment that men deserve by the justice of God. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. But
here comes the obstacles. Here comes man reasoning when
he hears that word. That's too good to be true. Have you ever thought that? That's
too good to be true. My sins, my sins are so many. My sins are so great you can't
imagine what I'm guilty of. There's obstacles. Obstacles. The gospel comes to men like
it came to those in the synagogue in Antioch. When the apostle
Paul, now listen to this. This is startling. It was to
those men in the synagogue. Be it known unto you, therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man, that is the Lord Jesus
Christ, that's who had been preaching and telling them about through
this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and
by him All that believe are justified from all things from which you
could not be justified by the law of Moses. Here's a synagogue
full of people who had spent their life trying to keep the
law of Moses, live up to the commands of God through Moses. And there were some sins there
was no sacrifice for under the law. And Paul announces, I want
you to know that through this man is preached unto you the
forgiveness of sins. And by him all that believe are
justified from all things. From which you could not be justified
by the law of Moses. There were certain sins. There
was no remedy under the law. God said stone him. He didn't say, bring a sacrifice.
He said, stone them. That's what the law said. Paul
said, I'm preaching to you a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. And by
Him, I don't care what sin it is, you may be justified. Other than the sin against the
Holy Spirit. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit,
which, what is it but unbelief? But here comes the obstacles.
But I've always heard. I've always heard that I've got
to keep the Ten Commandments to be saved. I've always heard
that I've got to be baptized and I've got to be faithful in
church. I've always heard that I've got
to tithe. I've always heard on and on and
on and on. Obstacle after obstacle. And
someone says, you know, I've never been a religious person. A few years back, you will remember
this, scientists, so-called, said they had discovered a gene,
a religious gene, that some people have and some people don't have. What foolishness. We're all born
in sin, dead in trespasses and sins. And the gospel, our Lord
said, go into the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Every creature. No one is excluded. I don't care what your past is
or anything else about you. The gospel's good news. All right, third, the foundation
of faith. At thy word. This is the foundation
of our faith. Peter said, at thy word I will
let down the net. That was not just the word of
anybody. That was not just the word of
some pretended savior. This was the word of God in flesh,
God who cannot change. I heard this one time. I'm not
sure if it's true or not. But the Apostle Paul, when he
wrote the first, when he wrote the letter of Romans, you remember
right in the very beginning, he said, for I am not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, for it's the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth. Well, I heard one time a preacher
say this, and like I say, I'm not sure it's true, but it could
be. There was a Caesar in Rome that
was so cruel and so evil that he was known to send a pardon
down to the prison, someone in prison, some prisoner who was
waiting execution and be granted a pardon. And about the time
he got out of the prison on his way home, the police or the Roman
guards would apprehend him again and said, well, Caesar's revoked
that. He did pardon you, but he revoked
that. In other words, he changed. This
is the Word of Him who cannot change. There's not the shadow
of turning, not the shadow, not the least glimmer of turning
in God. And His Word is, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. The foundation of faith
is the Word of Him who cannot lie. of him who is immutable,
who cannot change. Paul said in Romans 10, so then
faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Faith comes. We're not born with
faith. The scriptures reveal that. All
men have not faith. So then faith cometh. And how
does faith come? by the hearing of the word. So then faith cometh by the hearing
of the word. The Word of God. Not just any
word, but by the Word of God. Faith comes. It's God's gift.
He's the author of our faith. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. He creates faith in us. He gives
us faith. But don't miss this. He doesn't
believe for us. He gives us faith, but we believe
if we're saved. We believe. It pleased God, the
Scripture says, by the foolishness of preaching to save, who? Them that believe. Them that
believe. The hymn writer who wrote one
of the hymns we sing, I'm not familiar with the person, but
he got it so right when he wrote these words. I know not how the
spirit moves, convincing men of sin, revealing Jesus through
the word, creating faith in him. I know not how this saving faith
to me he did impart. nor how believing in his word
wrought peace within my heart. But I know whom I have believed,
and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that against that day."
That's what Paul said, wasn't it? I know whom. He didn't say,
I know what I believe. I've got these certain points,
and I can go down the line. I know this. I know this. No,
he said, I know whom I have believed. Christ! Salvation is in Him. Oh, that I might know Him. You
say, well, I know Him. Well, you know Him if you're
saved. Well, let me tell you. Eternity
is not long enough for us to know all about Him. Well, here's the last point.
The evidence of faith. And there's always evidence.
There always is evidence. What was it? Obedience. Obedience. You see what the Lord
said, launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a
draft. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have trod
all the night and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy
word, I will let down the net. And when they had this done,
we read at the beginning of this service in Hebrews chapter 11,
and we just read the first few verses, but you go all the way
through that chapter And one after another of Old Testament
saints is named, and they all showed they believed, yes, by
faith, by faith, by faith, but all of them evidenced their faith
by obedience. By faith, Abel offered unto God. How do we know that Abel believed?
Because he offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. How do we know that Enoch believed? Enoch, by faith Enoch. How do
we know that he believed? Because he obeyed, he walked
with God. What about Noah? By faith Noah. How do we know that he had faith?
Because when he was warned of God, He built the ark. He obeyed. And the same thing is true of
Abraham by faith. When God said, get out from among
your kinsmen, he said, adios, and he left town. He believed,
he obeyed. And the same about Sarah. By
faith, Sarah, she received strength. So that here she is, a woman
90 years of age, conceives and bringing forth a son. And from
that one man, Abraham, and him as good as dead, there's so many
of his posterity, like the stars in the sky and the sand at the
seashore. How can I show that I believe?
I hope you're asking that question. How can I show that I believe?
I do believe. How can I show that? Well, first
of all, be baptized. That's His command. Whosoever
believeth and is baptized shall be baptized, if you believe. Confess Him with your mouth.
Remember Him and keep the Lord's Supper. There's many ways that
we show, but everyone is by our obedience. Let me close with
this. Did you know one day the Lord's
disciples, they prayed to him and they said, Lord, increase our faith. That's a
good prayer, isn't it? That's a good prayer. God, increase
our faith. I tell you one thing, he's worthy
that we believe in him. He'll never disappoint. He'll never go back on his word. He'll never change. Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And thy house.
That's what Paul said, isn't it? And thy house. Yeah. Believe for your family. You say, well, I believe, but
they're not gone yet, are they? And even after you're gone, God may be pleased to save your
children. Let's sing a hymn before we are
dismissed. Hymn number 220.