[0:00] across the pond a little ways. And the Lord's brought us here to Southern California and very thankful to be able to meet with y'all this morning. Thank you for coming out. You know, it's like announcing that a missionary is going to be here.
[0:11] It's like everyone's like, nah, that's the Sunday I'm going to miss, you know. But thank you for being here. And without that, or with that, I just want to jump into the sermon this morning. Let's go to Luke chapter 5.
[0:22] And Luke chapter 5 is where we'll be to start. Luke chapter 5.
[0:46] And Luke chapter 5 and verse 1. We'll begin in verse 1 there. The Bible says, 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.
[1:02] And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people out of the ship. Now, when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught.
[1:18] 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.
[1:30] And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came and filled both the ships so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.
[1:44] For he was astonished in 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. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men.
[1:57] And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all and followed him. I want to preach a sermon this morning entitled, Lessons from the Boat Launch. Lessons from the Boat Launch.
[2:09] I don't know how many of you folks have ever seen the videos of, you know, a river or a lake being full after a rain. And here you've got this big old turbo diesel F-250 that's getting this big old nice pontoon boat, and he's going to put it into the lake, you know.
[2:21] And he backs down into that boat ramp, and it's about to get to where the boat can get off of the boat trailer and things like that. But it's so high that he's got to back down where his truck starts to start slipping into that lake.
[2:33] You ever seen that before? You start to learn some lessons then, huh? Like maybe you shouldn't be getting in the lake with that truck today. Maybe you need to get a dually, something a little bit heavier. You know, you start to learn some lessons. And you can learn a lot of good lessons by watching folks try to put their boat in the lake.
[2:47] And so here the Holy Spirit gives us a view into what's going on here with Simon Peter and these fishermen. And I'm not telling you that, you know, they have this concrete pad out there with the directional arrows and all that, you know, idiot-proof stuff to get down into the lake.
[3:00] But nonetheless, here Simon Peter and his partners here have been out fishing, and they're out here at the docks. They're fishing, or they have been fishing. They're cleaning their nets now, and so they're getting ready to go home.
[3:12] And so there's a view here. There's a portion of Scripture from verse 1 to verse 11 that you could probably preach on for weeks. I mean, we could park here and get a Sunday morning, Sunday night for a couple of weeks just going through everything that's in here.
[3:25] So I won't be able to touch on everything. But there are some lessons that you and I can learn from this boat launch that will help you in your Christian life if you'll apply them. You know, it's like the preacher's always trying to get you to do what the Bible tells you to do kind of a thing.
[3:37] And it's like, listen, if you just do what you find in the Scriptures, it will help you. And it's kind of like the physician telling you, you got cancer. We got to get you to radiation. We got to get your pH levels different. We got to do this and this and this.
[3:48] And you would jump at everything the doctor tells you to do in the physician's room. And it's as soon as the Bible's open, it's like, well, I'm not doing that. Well, I hope that's not anybody in here this morning, and I hope to give you some help.
[4:03] And the Lord doesn't seem too often necessarily to give me a missions-minded sermon. It's like, you know, we're in 2021. We know a lot of things now. Missions is kind of that thing that's kind of known, you know.
[4:16] It's not like you have to come into a church and then lay the whole thing out, let everybody know what's going on. Listen, souls need to be saved. And if you don't witness to them and give them the chance to get saved by trusting Jesus Christ alone for their salvation, then they're going to have to try to make it by the white throne judgment based on their conscience.
[4:31] They ain't going to be able to do that. And so we go, we send it. So you folks know that. And so here this morning, I want to give you some help on lessons from the boat launch. And with that, let's pray.
[4:41] Father, we come before you again this morning, and thank you for the time we've already had and the saints that have gathered around your book. Lord, we know that there is no help in man. It's vain, but there is help in you. There's a balm in Gilead.
[4:51] These words are absolute truth and can minister to the hearts that have gathered. We ask now that you'd please do that. You'd get around me, Father, and dip me in the blood of Jesus Christ and help my mouth and help my heart and help my mind to say the things that you see fit to say to these folks.
[5:05] And you'd take these words and you'd put them into their hearts and help them where they're at and draw them closer to you. As David said, seek thy servant. We ask you to seek us now and seek those in the in in in earshot as we go through these passages here in Scripture.
[5:19] Father, please help. Please meet with us as we love your words. And we're now going to pour over them and seek the truth that you have for us. We ask these things in your son Jesus Christ's name. Amen. Now, there's like I said, you know, there's there's there's a lot here.
[5:33] But, you know, I want you to notice, first of all, as we get down through this passage, you know, you could preach a little bit about their love for the word of God there in verse one. And that'll do some good preaching here, especially in some, you know, independent Bible believe in churches.
[5:46] You know, you kind of get into a routine. You kind of get into the schedule of things, you know, and you just kind of love church, you know. Well, these people, they're pressing God. They're pressing Jesus Christ. Tell us something.
[5:57] We want the truth. We want more. We want more. We want more. Give us what you got for us. You know, that kind of a thing. And so there's some good preaching there. But I want to go just a little bit further there in verse three.
[6:08] And the Bible says, And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's. And the first lesson I want you to see here is that the Lord doesn't tell you why he chooses Simon's boat. You ever thought about that?
[6:22] Here it is. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, the Son of God, comes down and he's walking down there on the shore and the people want to hear some preaching. And here he just goes and gets into Simon Peter's boat. Isn't it interesting, folks, when you read the scriptures that you never see the Lord giving you the list of characteristics as to why he chose the man he chose for you to validate?
[6:45] Do you ever think about that? Here's Abraham in Ur of the Chaldees, this idol-worshiping fellow. And the Lord sees something in him. He doesn't tell you or I what it is. But here he is, and he reveals himself to Abraham. He says, Abram, Abram.
[6:59] Why? He didn't tell us. He just sees this man, and he's doing the devotion out of his own heart. You know, he loves what he's doing, and at least he's trying to do the right thing or something like that.
[7:11] And you can guess all you want. But here it is. The Lord says, Abram. And he calls him. And what does he tell him to do? Abram, I want you to go out, and I don't want you to head for this city that I've made, and I want you to just walk with me.
[7:23] Well, where's this city at, Lord? Well, I'm not going to tell you. You're just going to have to follow me. You wouldn't do that in five seconds, man. In two seconds, you'd be like, no, you're nuts.
[7:35] That's how you and I would be. Come on, folks. Isn't that true? You've got your roots settled down here in California. You've got the retirement fund going. You're settling down for what's going to be the next 20 or 30 years of your life.
[7:48] You've got it all planned out. Well, what's if the Lord comes to you and says, hey, fill in your name in the blank. Time to walk with me. Let's go. Well, what are you going to do? Thank God Abraham.
[8:01] I call him Abraham. Not at that point. His name was Abram. But thank God Abram decided to go. But we Americans, man. It's all about us, ain't it?
[8:13] Here it is. Moses, right? Moses is down there. And you know the story. His parents give him in that ark of bull and leave him in the ark of the bull rushes there. And the river takes him. And the daughter of Pharaoh comes out and finds him.
[8:24] And, you know, per chance, of course. Miriam's standing there. And she just happens to have the wit of an adult, you know, way beyond her years. And asks the daughter of Pharaoh, hey, do you want me to go get another?
[8:35] I'm going to nurse for you for that kid? Yeah, you know what? That would be a good idea. Go find one of those Hebrew women. This is a Hebrew child. Let's bring one in. She just heads right back on and gets mom. Mom comes in there and raises up Moses there and gives him back to the daughter of Pharaoh.
[8:49] And a number of years later, here's this impulsive youth. And here he is. He's learned all that Egypt can give him. And he's out there with the Hebrews. And he sees this Egyptian whipping up on him. And he kills the Egyptian and hides him in the sand.
[9:02] Just acting on impulse, as young men tend to do. And it comes out that everybody knows. So he heads out, man. Again, what young men do.
[9:13] They run from their problems. And so he runs out of Egypt. Oh, come on. You should have amened that. Young men run from their problems. That's what they do. I'm 30. I should know. And he runs from his problems, man.
[9:25] And he heads out to the backside of the desert. And all of a sudden, he gets a flock together. He gets a wife, Zipporah. And he gets around that Italian father-in-law. And I know he's Italian because he says, bring that fellow in here and give him some bread.
[9:35] See? So he saves Zipporah. And the first thing on his mind is he needs some bread. So I'm Sicilian, by the way. I can make that racist joke. So he comes in.
[9:46] And he's got that wife, Zipporah, there. And he, for 40 years on the backside of the desert, learns consistency and patience and how to be a shepherd.
[9:57] And then 40 years later, here it is. The Lord gets him out of a burning bush and says, Moses, Moses. But he doesn't tell you why.
[10:10] Here he is. He gets a murderer. And he wants to use him to go lead the nation of Israel out of Egypt. But for you and I, he doesn't say, now listen, folks. In 2021, this is why I chose Moses.
[10:23] He doesn't tell you this is why I chose Abraham. Just like with David. David's a youth. 17, 18 years old somewhere in there. And he's a shepherd boy.
[10:34] He's keeping the flocks of his father. And all of a sudden, he hears about this giant out here just mocking Israel. And he's got the cheese he's brought to his brethren. He sees this thing. He sees all the men of war.
[10:44] The men that should be out there fighting and doing God's business out there fighting for God. He sees them cowering in their trenches. And David, you know the story there. It's 1 Samuel chapter 17.
[10:55] Is there not a cause? This giant's defying the God of Israel. What are you all doing in your trenches cowering like cowards? Saul catches wind of that thing.
[11:08] And he brings David in. And he says, here's some armor, boy. Go fight for us. And David says, man, I haven't tried this armor. I can't use this stuff. I don't even know how to use this, man. I'm a shepherd. But I know this. The same God that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and the bear is the same God that will deliver me out of that giant if he's fit to do so.
[11:23] So he brings him out and he goes down through that valley in between the camp of Israel and the camp of the Philistines. And he gathers those five smooth stones. The Lord takes him out there to gather that sling and to throw that rock into his head and decapitate Goliath to win the battle for God.
[11:38] Now then what happens? The Lord sends him off to run around the haunts that he would haunt at and go into those caves of Adullam and run from the king. And you know what? You know what? That fellow's learning through all that time.
[11:48] I'm just guessing now. But he's learning to trust the Lord. Now that is just a guess because the Lord doesn't tell you why he chose David. You can say that it is specifically and only because it was a man after God's own heart, which is the one thing that the Lord says about David.
[12:06] The one thing he says about Moses is he was the meekest man in all the earth. And then he tells you that Abraham was the friend of God. There's those little snippets, see? But as to why he chose the men he chose and all the lists and all that kind of stuff, the Lord doesn't tell you.
[12:20] He just chooses them. Same thing happens here with Simon Peter. Just gets in the boat. So what kind of a lesson do you need to learn?
[12:31] It's not up to you to figure out why God chose somebody. You know more damage is done in local churches by people that aren't doing anything for God, trying to figure out why God would use such a man.
[12:43] You see, it's just like with Gideon. The Lord, the angel of the Lord comes down there and Gideon's threshing wheat. He's trying to hide from the Moabites there and he walks up to Gideon and what's he say?
[12:55] Oh, Gideon, thou mighty man of valor. What's he a man of valor for if he's heightened to thresh wheat? That ain't no man of valor.
[13:09] If he's a man of valor, he wouldn't be heightened to get some food. The Lord sees what Gideon's going to be later on down the road. Just like he knew what he was going to do with David later on down the road.
[13:24] Just like he knew what he was going to do with Moses later on down the road. And just like he did with Paul. Come to Acts chapter 9. Acts chapter 9.
[13:38] And look at Acts chapter 9 and this will be Paul's conversion. But then after Paul's conversion, look what happens here. In Acts chapter 9, the Lord chooses the man that you and I would not choose. If there was a lineup of men and we were all trying to figure out which candidate was going to be the forerunner of the New Testament gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ movement throughout the world.
[14:04] Are you and I going to choose the guy who was a Roman Catholic? No, thank you. Who said no? Brother, thank you.
[14:15] No, I like interaction, folks. Don't feel weird. It's okay. No, you wouldn't. You'd get the guy that got saved at 5, got called at 10, was in church and had the clean record and all that.
[14:26] You know, wore all the stuff right. Yeah, that's how we are, right? But the Lord comes down and he says, hey, that fellow right there that's, you know, having Christians jailed. Yeah, I want that one.
[14:38] Now look here in Acts chapter 9. Look at verse 10. And there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias. And to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, arise and go into the street which is called straight and inquire.
[14:52] Word to God we have more streets called that in the United States. And inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus. For behold, he prayeth and has seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him that he might receive his sight.
[15:03] And then Ananias answered, Lord, have you seen the Facebook posts? Lord, do you know what they're saying about him on Twitter? Look what he says.
[15:16] Lord, I have heard by many of this man how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem. And here he hath authority from the chief priest to bind all that call on thy name. Lord, I don't know if you know or not.
[15:32] This is a bad guy. Like, we don't want him around. I don't know if you're like paying attention or not. But he's been antagonizing, persecuting, tribulating your saints at Jerusalem.
[15:48] And you want me to go meet with this guy? The Lord said unto him, verse 15, go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.
[16:01] For I'll show him how great things you must suffer for my name's sake. And Ananias went his way. Thank God he obeyed. But the Lord didn't sit down there and say, now, Ananias, I know what Paul is going to be in the future. And I'm going to do this, this, this, this, this with him and all that kind of a stuff.
[16:14] He said, Ananias, shut up and go home. It's none of your business. If you want to be a part of what I'm doing, then do what I ask you to do.
[16:28] Christian, the Lord chooses who he wants to. Now, I had a real problem with that when I was coming up. I thought for some reason that I had to act like every other preacher that I liked to get to do anything for God.
[16:41] I don't know where that came from. I don't know that. But that thought was in my mind when I came up. If there was a preacher there that I respected, I watched everything he did. And then I was like, well, I don't do that, so I'm going to do that.
[16:52] And I don't do that, so I do that. And I don't do that, so I do that. And then I would start doing that stuff. And then, like, little stuff. Like, take my watch off and put it on the pulpit. Like, you know, do this number.
[17:05] You know, like that. Some of you know what I'm doing there, okay? You see? Now, I do that sometimes, and that's because I really mean to do that. But you understand what I'm talking about as a kid. Coming up, I thought you had to do all that stuff to be in the ministry.
[17:17] And it gets to a point where I'm dealing with, you know, the failures of my life, and the devil gets on my mind. You'll never be good enough. You'll never be. And really, I can't be like these guys.
[17:27] I can't be like the preachers that I respect. I'm not them. I can't do that. So I guess I never will be in the ministry. And then the Lord showed me this kind of a thing that I'm trying to show you this morning, is that the Lord chooses who he wants to irrespective of what we think of his choice.
[17:41] And it's none of your business to get on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and all that stuff and talk down the man God chose because your problem in here, Christian, your problem is that you only see now.
[17:57] And so you look at the man's past. You look at the lady's past. You look what they did last week and six months ago and ten years ago, and you say, because of that, God can never use them. Well, I guess you don't read the Bible then because everybody that God's ever used has a record.
[18:11] Yeah, they got a record. Jonah, he's a prophet, right? Well, he gets a record in Jonah. He starts running from God. No, I ain't going to do it. I hate those people.
[18:23] They are so wicked, and I am so righteous. Well, there you go. He got a record. American Christianity is tearing itself apart because you're too worried about who God chose, and you're not worried about why God ain't choosing you.
[18:41] The pride of man's heart is so wicked that he would sit there and say, no, why ain't he choosing him? Instead of saying, Lord, do you have anything for me to do?
[18:53] And so the first lesson you learn is that the Lord's not going to tell you why he chooses who he chooses, but he does. It's your job to get behind it.
[19:05] It's your job to say, Lord, listen, I don't necessarily like the guy, but you chose him, so I'm trusting you because you chose him. Your job is to be Ananias.
[19:17] Go your way and do what the Lord wants you to do. And so coming back to Luke chapter 5, that's the first thing you notice there is that the Lord doesn't tell you why he chooses Peter's boat. This is the first time the Lord has any dealing with Simon Peter, at least in the book of Luke here, and so he just meanders on and he gets into this fisherman's boat.
[19:34] And so in verse 3, you see him getting into Simon's boat, and this does remind me to mention to you that there is another part of that little bit of a lesson there, is that he chooses Simon Peter's boat and he doesn't tell you why, but also that there's always going to be another boat.
[19:50] This is just kind of a little bit of a sub point under that one, is that here in Luke chapter 5, the Lord gets into Simon Peter's boat, and there in Mark chapter 4, he tells his disciples after preaching all day in parables to get in another boat and go over.
[20:03] It's like the same exact scenario. He's been preaching all day, there's a boat here, and he gets into that boat here in Luke chapter 5, and then in Mark chapter 4, he gets in it again, says we're going again. It's just to remind you, Christian, is that you've never arrived until you get to heaven.
[20:19] You get saved, you get in the boat, well, you go a little bit further on, the Lord's going to say, now I've got another one for you. That's that exercise of faith, that step of faith, getting off of the safety of land and going where the Lord would have you to go.
[20:32] But that's not all. We'll learn, second of all, look at verse 5, Luke chapter 5, verse 5. The Bible says, And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing.
[20:45] The second thing you learn is that anything you do outside of the will of God will yield you nothing. Now, Simon Peter, no doubt, is a fisherman by trade because great-grandma, you know, not great-grandma necessarily, but great-granddad, you know, great-great-granddad, his daddy, and all them were fishermen.
[21:04] There's no doubt in my mind that this is a trade passed on, on through the generations. And here Simon Peter sits, and he's got the fishing maps there, and he's got the fish finder calibrated, and he's got the latest motor there, and all of the electronic GPS systems available to him at that time.
[21:23] And here he's been out working all night, and he's got nothing to show for all of his effort. How many have you ever been in that scenario? You've been fishing? Anybody?
[21:35] What was that laugh for? Anyway, been fishing out there, you know, and it's one of those things that I did that in Florida this last time we were living there, and you get out there in that salt water, and you get to that red drum snapping on that line, and that sucker runs, and that's a really good fight, man.
[21:49] It's like a good 15 or 20-pound bass, man. You know, they fight. It's like a red drum. That gets addicting, you know? The first time you feel that red drum hit your line and run, you're like, I'm never doing anything else.
[22:00] This is heaven. And there were times, man, you know, I'd go out after Friday at work, you know, we'd finish off work, we'd head down to the beach and head down to Alabama Point.
[22:11] We'd get out there when the red drum were running, and there's this point out there, it's like this little inlet there, and it's basically a natural funnel. So the red drum will run up into it, and you just start catching fish, man. And, you know, the Facebook fishing forums and all that kind of stuff, like, hey, the reds are running, you know?
[22:25] So we got all the stuff in the back of the truck, head off at 6 o'clock at night. Yeah, honey, I'll bring you some fish home, and then you can fry it up for dinner, you know? Well, it's, I'm just trying to go out and feed the family. So we get out there, and, you know, you get the lines out in the water, and nothing.
[22:42] Then about 8.30 at night, 9 o'clock, you see the dolphins come in. They're like, great, now there's nothing out here. And then you see something's got your line, and it's either a stinking gaff top-sail catfish or a stingray.
[22:56] Who's going to do anything with either one of those? You leave at 10.30 at night, you ain't got nothing, you're headed home, you got to make the faithful phone call, and you got to say, well, I'm coming home with nothing, hon, you know?
[23:07] You mean to tell me that you've been out for six hours and you ain't got nothing? Yeah, hon, that's what I mean, you know? Right? That's where he is. He says, we've toiled all the night and have taken nothing.
[23:26] Look at Romans chapter 13. Romans chapter 13. We've toiled all the night, tired, put in all the effort.
[23:39] We danced to the left with our tongue out to the right. We prayed to the fish gods and all that kind of stuff. I know which way they're going. I know the way they run it this time of night, this time of year. The phase of the moon and the tides and all those things combined, I know.
[23:53] But beside all my work, I've got nothing to show for it. And look at Romans chapter 13 and verse 10. Love worketh no will to his neighbor.
[24:03] Therefore, love is the filling of the law. And that knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent.
[24:15] The day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Christian, I don't know what the Lord has for you.
[24:26] No man can divine those things for you. Only God can tell you what that is. We don't have a liver to look into. We don't have an ephod hanging in the back. You can walk up and ask it what God wants you to do and God talk to you through the ephod.
[24:38] You've got to go to the book. You've got to get in it every day and say, Lord, what would you have me to do? Lord, what would you have me to do? Lord, what would you have me to do? And then do it. Whatever that will of God is for you, specifically, if you are not doing it, at the judgment seat of Christ, you will say, like Peter, I worked hard for you.
[24:58] I built up the retirement. I put the house, you know, I got it paid off. I was there every time the doors were open. I witnessed it and opened my mouth all the time for you. And then the Lord said, yeah, but I see.
[25:09] I wanted you here. I wanted you to pray about an hour more. And see, this day over here, I had another chapter for you to read that I had something in there for you specifically. I was going to show you, but you stopped short there.
[25:20] And here I wanted to give a I wanted you to give a track out over here. Here I wanted you to pray for that brother that I put on your heart. Those little wills, see, those little directions from God that you fail to do.
[25:31] Those are the will of God we're talking about. And then there is those specific things that the Lord would have you to do. And if you're not doing that, you're going to hit the judgment seat of Christ.
[25:42] And you're going to say, yeah, I tired myself out, but I ain't got nothing to show for it. Because only when life will soon be passed and only what's done for Christ will last.
[25:54] That judgment seat of Christ is a judgment of your works in the body of Christ. What did you do with what God gave you? Will you say, like Peter, that you've got nothing to show for your life down here?
[26:06] Is that you this morning? I hope it's not. I hope you start thinking about the judgment seat of Christ and think about what's going to go through that fire, that wood, hay, and stubble, or that gold, silver, precious stone.
[26:18] How much of gold, silver, and precious stone do you got? Do you know? How much wood, hay, and stubble do you got? Do you know? Because, Christian, what we learn from Simon Peter here is that he's working to fulfill his fleshly lusts, working for his belly, and working for all the things in this life, and yet, even still, he's toiled all night, and he's got nothing.
[26:42] So, spiritually, you, if you work after this world, and you fill your belly, when you get to the judgment seat of Christ, you're not going to have anything to show for it. You have to look your Savior in the face and explain why he gave you 70 and 80 years, and yet everything burned up.
[27:03] Now, that's not all we learn in the passage. First, you learn that the Lord doesn't tell you why he enters Simon Peter's boat, and then if you do anything outside the will of God for you, then you're not going to have anything to show for it.
[27:13] But coming back to Luke chapter 5, and pick it up in verse 5 again, he says, And Simon answering said, And a master we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down the net.
[27:26] We learn this, that if you will do anything for God, in his will for you, it'll be done by faith. It'll be done by faith. We spoke about faith a little bit in the Sunday school hour, and as a reminder, simply put, you can define faith as believing what God said, because it's God who said it.
[27:44] And notice there in the passage, in verse 5, he says this, Nevertheless, the very next three words, at thy word. Simon Peter acts in faith here, by believing what God is telling him to do, and then acting on it.
[28:01] And so, you know Christian, you're going to have to act in faith. You're going to have to come to this book, and get what God would have you to do, and then do it. Do it with all your might.
[28:13] And it's not going to make sense. Does it make sense for a politician, to tell a fisherman how to do his job? Well, that's what you got going on.
[28:25] At least to Simon Peter, anyway. Here it is. Simon Peter's cleaning his nets, and here, you know, all of a sudden, Joe Biden walks up. He's like, Hey man, you know there's some fish out there if you just go out there. Yeah, uh-huh.
[28:42] Yeah. Then what would you say? Yeah, uh-huh. That's right. Yeah. Now you know how Peter feels. You know that, because he called him master.
[28:54] That's just the general term for authority in the Jewish culture. Comes up, Master, listen, I've been toiling all the night. I'm tired. I've just been working. I'm a fisherman by trade.
[29:06] You don't know what you're talking about. But because you said to, I'll do it. Sometimes it's not going to make sense, Christian.
[29:17] The world's going to make fun of you. Your family's going to make fun of you. Join in a church. Who does that? You know, you tell your family members, you tell your friends, Hey man, I'm going to join this church, Bible Baptist Church over here.
[29:30] It's a great church. Join in a church. Is this a cult you're getting into? What's wrong with you? Yeah, it doesn't make sense, but the Lord wants us to do it, so we're going to do it. Does it make sense to have a guy just yell for two, three hours on a Sunday and an hour on Wednesday night?
[29:48] Is that how you would get a following? I mean, really folks, come on. If you want to get a following, how would you do it? Hand out candy.
[29:58] That's right. You'd do something to provide some, some thing for the people that you want to get. You know, you'd just give them a goody bag. You'd give them some money or something like that or give them some status and they'll follow you.
[30:13] Not with the Lord. The Lord's like, I've chosen somebody to get up and just be a fool for Jesus Christ, open his mouth, make mistakes, and then I'm going to use that idiot and I'm going to speak to the hearts of the people that are listening because they are also foolish to listen to this guy and I'm going to use that and my Holy Spirit will bear witness to the words that are preached.
[30:33] Come on, that doesn't make no sense. But that's how the Lord does it. See? So it doesn't make sense all the time. Does it make sense to have, you know, a brother, you know, study the Bible and then yell at the God?
[30:46] Does it make sense to send a family overseas to preach the gospel? You guys are like, I don't want to answer that one. No.
[30:57] It doesn't make any sense. It would be easier to just put a YouTube video up and throw some money at it. That's not how the Lord does things, though.
[31:09] So he's going to come to you in your life and he's going to have you make a decision sometime, somewhere, and it's not going to make any sense. But if you're going to act in God's will, you're going to have to do it at his word.
[31:22] You have to trust it. It's like your three and five and six-year-old kid, you know. You tell them to go do something, you tell them you're going somewhere and you know, you lead them by the hand, you grab them by the hand. And you know, our kids are really bad about this.
[31:34] I mean, they're here right now, but they're really bad about it. And we're driving around and they're always like, well, where are we going? And I said, sometimes I just choose not to answer. Dad, what?
[31:47] Where are we going? You will find out when we get there. It's like, we're just going to the store.
[31:58] Where are we going? Can we buy something when we get there? Hey, are we going to go to the Lego store? You know, you just keep telling them, you'll figure it out once we get there. I know what I'm doing and I'm going here and I'm bringing you along with me.
[32:12] That's the relationship with Jesus Christ. It's as a young child and you reach up to grab your father's hand and you grab it and he leads you down through life. Your problem is you shake free of the hand and you run.
[32:26] You see something better at the playground. You see something better over here. And so you shake free of your father and say, I like that over there and you run over and you don't realize the danger of falling off the cliff on the other side.
[32:40] So, Christian, if you're going to do anything for God, it's at his word. It is by faith, even if it doesn't make any sense. And we learn, thirdly, that as long as you're doing God's will, it'll be done by faith.
[32:54] And fourthly, we learn this, as long as you're doing God's will, it'll be a team effort. Look at verse 6. And they, Luke chapter 5, verse 6, when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes in their net break and they beckoned unto their...
[33:07] Y'all are still nervous. And they beckoned unto their... Partners! Praise the Lord. Look at verse 10. And so was also James and John the sons of Zebedee, which were...
[33:21] Partners. Now, in the church age, Christian, the Lord's not going to use one man to do everything. In fact, if you ever see a guy who thinks he's a lone wolf doing everything for God, usually he's got the wrong spirit.
[33:38] Usually. The Lord will use a man to lead something, but the head of the body is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. And so nowadays, here's the playbook, is that the Lord's got all of those that are saved in this one corporate body around the world.
[33:57] When the Lord wants to get something done, he's going to try to use his body corporately, see? So, a missionary goes out and you pray for him. That's you getting in on what's going on with the missionary.
[34:10] See, there's a team effort there. So souls are saved here and you're doing some brand, team effort. You also see that with the church. The pastor's not up here preaching, running the sound, and back watching the nursery kids at the same time.
[34:22] Literally, it's impossible. So you need folks to pick up and do things as a team. Why? So Jesus Christ gets the glory. Not so any one man gets the glory.
[34:34] Not so any one person in the body of Christ gets the glory. The body works together to give the head the glory. Wonder why there was only one amen there.
[34:46] Amen. So you're going to have to get along with some people. You're going to have to love them even if you don't like them. Just like some of you don't like me right now and I don't like you either.
[35:00] But I love you. I'm just joking. I don't know everybody in here. But I can imagine there's some vitriol. You know, big word means bitterness.
[35:13] That's just the way it goes with the Lord Jesus Christ. And listen, if you'll get in the yoke with the brethren and you'll get something done, you'll actually lose a bit of your identity so that Jesus Christ gets the glory. The problem with American Christians is, and especially Japheth-minded people, is that you're you want the glory on yourself.
[35:32] Now, along with this partnership, folks, do you remember that passage in 1 Samuel, chapter 15, where Samuel tells Saul to go in and wipe out the Amalekites? Remember that?
[35:44] Then he gets the, you know, Saul goes out and he goes to the ward. He brings the sheep back and he brings the king back and Samuel comes around and later, you know, the circuit-riding preacher comes back through on his circuit. Saul rolls out the red carpet, gets the coffee brewing, kills the fatted calf.
[35:57] He's got the feast laid out there. They sit down, they begin to talk. Samuel then leads on into the conversation about the war. Hey, Saul, how did things go? They went really good, man.
[36:09] You should have been there. We fought so valiantly for God, we wiped them out, man. You would have loved it. And then the sheep sound off, right? And Samuel goes, well, hold on, Saul, what's the bleeding of the sheep?
[36:21] Now, Samuel, listen, I know you said to wipe them out. I know you said to kill everything that moved. But, listen, we had a good idea.
[36:31] We thought that if we saw some really good cattle and things like that, sheep and all that stuff, we'd bring that back and sacrifice it to God. Isn't that like, what, like, isn't that a really good idea? It's the same passage where Samuel tells him to obey is better than sacrifice.
[36:47] Okay? So at the end of that passage, I said, I, I, listen, I don't know how you read the Bible. This is how I read the Bible, okay? I just imagine Samuel looking at that self-righteous jerk and being like, listen, you idiot, bring that king over here now.
[37:00] And Agag comes in there. And Agag was the king of the Amalekites there and he's supposed to be dead. And of course, Saul, I don't know, maybe he's trying to flip a bill or something like that so he gets some money from this guy. I don't know what's really going on.
[37:11] But Samuel then has to step in and what does Samuel do? Samuel gets a sword out and he says kind of one of the most famous manly sayings in the Old Testament. He goes, as thy sword hath made women childless, so thy mother shall be childless this day.
[37:30] Dude, yeah, he's like, amen. Yeah, yeah, like, I don't know what that is, man. I know that the Bible is not all like feminine geared, you know, but when I read that, I hear William Wallace like, and I like, you know, give us, you know, they could take our lands but they can't take our freedom and all that kind of stuff.
[37:47] That's what I see, you know. And here's Samuel, he grabs that sword and what does he do? He hews Agag to pieces. What is that? That is a prophet that now has to do a king's job.
[38:08] You have the exact reversal of that with the story of Uzziah. You get some of this in Isaiah chapter 6. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and lifted up. Why did Uzziah die?
[38:18] Because he wanted to be a priest. The priest told him, that ain't your job. This is our job. The Lord gave you that job. You stay there and you'll be all right.
[38:31] What's he do? He runs in instead of a warning against the warning that he gets and he tries to be the priest. Lord kills him. What is that?
[38:42] Somebody that wants to do somebody else's job. So Christian, what are you supposed to be doing that you're not? You know why there's so many tired people in the body of Christ, especially in local churches, because somebody ain't pulling their weight.
[39:03] Local church can't operate with three people. Are you kidding me? The Lord wants everybody involved. In ways that they can be involved, the Lord wants them involved to take the load off the others.
[39:18] And then what, is there somebody in here that would be so bold as to try to take somebody else's job? Like, you are looking up at God.
[39:29] You made a mistake. That's what you're saying. They ought not to be doing that, running the nursery, doing this, running the sound, running the song, whatever.
[39:43] No, no, no, no, no. They ought not to be, it's me. I should be doing that. The Lord looks down from heaven and laughs at your pride. No, that's not what I want you to do.
[39:55] I got this for you over here. It's just that nobody will know you do it. But that's where you'll give God the glory. That's where Jesus Christ gets the glory, see?
[40:10] But we don't want that, do we? Listen, if anything's going to get done, if the gospel's going to get out, if in this passage, if there were no partners, then the fish wouldn't have gotten back to land.
[40:24] See? So if you're going to do something for God, it'll be done as a team effort. And the last thing I want to show you is that, look at verse 8.
[40:37] When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. He changes his tune.
[40:48] In verse 5, he calls him master, that general term of authority. Rabbi, master, rabboni, those terms there. But here in verse 8, Simon Peter understands something about who is in front of him.
[41:01] And in that mess of mullet, he bows down to his knees and says, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. He recognizes who Jesus Christ is and then recognizes who he is before Jesus Christ.
[41:18] The last thing you learn is that revelation is the reward for the exercise of faith. Revelation is the reward for the exercise of faith.
[41:35] Had Simon Peter not launched out, not fallen, followed through with what Jesus Christ wanted him to do, he would not have gotten the revelation of who Jesus Christ is.
[41:48] You see that with Job. When Job goes through his trial, he says almost the same thing as Simon Peter says here. He says, I repent in dust and ashes because I abhor myself.
[42:00] Here, Simon Peter says, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. And that revelation that you're going to get about Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, you know, what's interesting about that is that God created the world, he put man into a garden to have fellowship with man.
[42:16] man sins in the garden, loses fellowship, and then down through the ages, God then sets up that plan to have Jesus Christ come, die on the cross, be buried, and rise again the third day, not only to save you from hell, but to save you to God the Father.
[42:35] So that you can have the fellowship with your creator that can be restored now because of Jesus Christ. Salvation has two sides of the coin. You are saved from hell, and praise God for that if you are saved in here.
[42:48] But also you are saved not just from hell, but to God the Father. So you can have a relationship and a fellowship with him so you can learn about him.
[43:00] Look at John chapter 17. Look at John 17 and then we'll get two more. John 17. Look at John chapter 17 and verse 3.
[43:15] Jesus Christ beginning his prayer. Look at what he says. And this is life eternal that they might be saved from hell. You want to know what eternal life is?
[43:38] It's knowledge of your Savior. It is a present possession. That is, you never lose the eternal life given to you to go to heaven. But there is an aspect of eternal life that is constantly learned by your relationship with Jesus Christ and the revelation of him to you.
[43:58] So as you go throughout your Christian life, what the Lord's looking for is that relationship to be in place so that he can reveal himself to you. He's looking for you to come to this book and as he did for Samuel in 1 Samuel chapter 3, he's looking to reveal himself by the word of the Lord to you.
[44:16] The Lord's looking for that intimacy there. Now look here at Acts chapter 9, get Acts chapter 9 and then get 2 Timothy chapter 1.
[44:28] Acts chapter 9 and 2 Timothy chapter 1. Now if you're not saved in here this morning, then this does not apply to you.
[44:47] You have no relationship with your creator. There is no way you can access God. You're headed for hell. In your sin, born a sinner, you are headed for a devil's hell.
[44:59] Jesus Christ came and died on the cross to pay your sin debt. He was buried and defeated death and rose again the third day to give you free eternal life if you'll take it.
[45:11] And what I'm about to talk about, I'm not talking about to a lost fellow. I'm talking about the saved folks. If you're lost in here this morning, this will not apply to you. But if you're saved, look here at Acts chapter 9 and look at the conversion of Paul.
[45:26] Look at verse 3. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus and suddenly there shined around about him a light from heaven and he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord?
[45:41] The Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said, unto him arise. I come to 2 Timothy chapter 1. If you want to get the interim time here between these two passages, you get Philippians chapter 3.
[45:57] And in Philippians chapter 3, he says, I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but done that I may know him. Would you be willing to let go of it all just to learn a little bit more about your Savior?
[46:16] Paul was. He says, follow me as I follow Christ, right? So he starts out after his conversation. He says, Who are you? And then he says throughout his ministry, I just want to know him.
[46:27] I just want to know him. I just want to know him. And I'm willing to let it all go just to know him. Now look at what he says in 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 10.
[46:38] But it's now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, whereunto I am appointed a preacher and apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles.
[46:48] For the which cause I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
[47:07] How about it, Christian? Do you know him today better than you knew him a year ago? How about five years ago? How about ten?
[47:19] How about a week ago? Revelation, that is what God reveals to us, is the reward for the exercise of faith.
[47:37] You know why this stuff doesn't make sense to some people? Partly because they haven't grown to understand it. But you know, those of you that have been saved 20, 30 years and still church just seems like it's just like that's just what you do.
[47:49] Church is just like, well, we're supposed to do it. Well, we've been doing it all our life. You know why you think that way? Because you haven't gotten any revelation. When the Lord Jesus Christ comes down and you're Bible reading in that morning time, when you've got the cup of coffee sitting on your night table and you've got that book open and he begins to deal with you out of the very scriptures that you're reading that day and start to show you light on some things and deal with your heart and all that kind of stuff, that's when you'll start to understand this life ain't about of me.
[48:20] And it ain't about what I want. It ain't about how I feel or what I think others should be doing. It's about the Lord Jesus Christ. How's your knowledge of him?
[48:31] Father, we come before you this morning and I ask you now to please help in the hearts of your people that have heard this. If there's anything that you're dealing with these folks on, that they deal with it now before they leave.
[48:42] They get alone with you, Father, either at the altar or in their seat, Father, and help us now to be sensitive to your leading and what you'd have. And Father, to remember that you're going to choose people that you choose and it's up to you.
[48:57] It's not up to us. May we please be so heavenly minded that we get in on what you're doing. Help us to remember that whatever we do outside the will of God is going to yield us nothing of the judgment seat of Christ and so we'd be active thinking about that judgment seat.
[49:12] Help us to remember to act in faith to please you. Act as the team that you've set up in the body of Christ and that we'd spend the time and the experience doing what you'd have us to do to know you.
[49:24] To have fellowship with you. That you'd minister to our hearts and we'd have that intimate relationship with you that you want from us. As we remain in prayer for a second as the pastor's going to come and close out the service I just want to address anybody that might not be saved.
[49:42] I mentioned it a moment ago and told you that if you're not saved you can't know your creator. That is on your own. But if you'll take Jesus Christ and you'll trust him for your salvation from hell then that fellowship can be restored.
[50:01] You'll not only get saved from hell but you can have a relationship with your creator. Jesus Christ says I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh unto the father but by me.
[50:14] He tells you to as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God. if you haven't yet will you trust Jesus Christ today as your savior from hell and restore that fellowship between you and God?
[50:34] I hope you will. let's stand thelox with all listen and severity