Luke 5:1-16

[0:00] The reading for today comes from Luke chapter 5, verses 1 through 16, which can be found on page 860 of the Blue Bibles. Again, the scripture reading is from Luke chapter 5, verses 1 through 16.

[0:23] Please stand for the reading of God's word. On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake.

[0:41] But the fishermen had gone out from them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked to be put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

[0:53] And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. And Simon answered, Master, we toiled all night and took nothing.

[1:04] But at your word, I will let down the nets. And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partner in the other boats to come and help them.

[1:17] And they came and filled both the boats so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.

[1:32] For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of the fish that they had taken. And so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, Do not be afraid.

[1:46] From now on, you will be catching men. And when they brought their boats to the land, they left everything and followed him. While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy.

[1:59] And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, I will be clean.

[2:10] And immediately the leprosy left him. And he charged him to tell no one, but go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them.

[2:22] But now even more, the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray. This is the word of the Lord.

[2:33] Thanks be to God. You may be seated. Good morning. How good it is to be in God's house again with God's people and to be able to share God's word with you.

[2:55] I counted a privilege and honor that we do not take lightly. Won't you pray with me? Heavenly Father, we give praise to you for your great kindness to us and for your word to us.

[3:11] Be glorified in us as we hear it, as I speak it, and as we obey it. I pray in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[3:21] Ž Anybody in their right mind, would they particularly adopt that path?

[3:53] And this preacher had been preaching for less than two years. Talk about a church plant under those circumstances. There are those today who would advise against it.

[4:07] Humanly speaking, such a decision does not and would not have very much to commend it. There would even be some that would say it was quite dumb.

[4:21] Yet according to our text, that is exactly what Peter did. And friends, Peter has not been alone in that kind of commitment, that kind of dedication, because droves of men and women and youth and children have followed that path down through the years.

[4:47] They have heard, and those of us who have gathered here today, we have heard the call of the kingdom. The call to follow Christ.

[4:59] The call to serve Him. The call to be on mission with Him. My prayer today is that the Lord would use this particular text to help us to see the glory of Christ.

[5:14] And then that each of us would take the next steps. And I don't know what the next steps for you might be. But that each would take the next steps in a more robust commitment to Jesus on the basis of what we see before us today.

[5:33] Note the context before we get into the text itself. Having entered into chapter 5 and 6, Luke strings together several clips from the ministry of Jesus.

[5:48] And in doing so, the Lord's identity as God's, the Lord's anointed, is confirmed once again.

[5:59] Notice the structure and what we see. Look at verse 1 of today's text. On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on Him.

[6:11] Look how Luke transitions in verse 12. While he was in one of the cities. And then look in verse 17.

[6:24] On one of those days. Following, look at chapter 6 verse 1. On a Sabbath day, while he was going through the grain field.

[6:34] And then, as you look in chapter 6 verse 6, on another Sabbath. So, Luke is giving us various clips in the life of the anointed.

[6:47] And we're seeing, we're getting a glimpse what God is doing in and through him. Particularly on the basis of what we've already seen. Chapter 4 and verse 18.

[6:58] Everything is rolling out of that. We're seeing God's anointed. Today's text, we see the first two of these scenes.

[7:10] And what a scene this first scene is. This is a scene that I would, you can call it several different things. It's calling. On the other hand, it is Christ catching.

[7:27] And on the other hand, it is Christ capturing. I mean, it's sort of like all of the above. Take any of those scenes that you want. But Christ is working. He is active.

[7:38] Jesus redirected these Galilean fishermen from catching fish for their livelihood to catching men.

[7:49] So that men could really live. What we see in chapter 5 verse 1, we've seen that before. We're in the crowd.

[8:01] We're traveling with Jesus throughout the land of the Jews. The crowd's a large. They're gathered here by the Sea of Galilee, here called the Lake of Gennesaret.

[8:13] Same body of water. But rather than continuing to stand and teach this crowd of people, Jesus steps into a boat.

[8:24] One of the two empty fishing boats that are around him. This particular one belonging to Simon. You remember Simon, don't you? We were in his home on last week.

[8:36] We saw Jesus heal his mother-in-law. Huh? Huh? And then the folks were lining up trying to get in Simon's house. Not because of Simon, but because Jesus was there.

[8:50] Huh? On this particular day that we see in our text, Simon's 20 to 30 foot fishing boat became our Lord's pulpit.

[9:00] Huh? Huh? There from the boat, he taught the crowd of people on the seaside. Huh? Can you imagine him there? The sight. Picture the men and women and children.

[9:12] Perhaps they were like Dan Kohler back there and Amy. Babies in hand. But they're there. They're listening. Fathers and mothers with children by their son.

[9:22] And then listen, listen, listen. Because the wind is catching Jesus' words. And they are life-giving words. And the souls of many are being satisfied there on the seashore.

[9:35] Huh? You with me this morning? Or you're there with him? Huh? Such was the nature of his word ministry. And the nature of word ministry. Huh?

[9:45] If you're there, there has a way. God has a way of feeding the souls. You may not need to say anything, but God knows. I'm not even being there in God seeming like it's just you and God. Huh?

[9:56] The Lord's speaking to your soul. You haven't told anybody anything. You may have thought that the preacher or the teacher was there beside you on a given day. But no, God was there.

[10:07] And he sent his word to you in your particular situation. Huh? What did Jesus teach on that day? We don't know. Huh? Oh, we do know it was good.

[10:18] Huh? We do know that it was life-giving. We know that it was life-refreshing because that was just the nature of the way that Jesus did it. Huh? The emphasis of the text here today is not on what he taught in that particular time.

[10:33] The emphasis on the text is what happened after Jesus got through speaking. Huh? That's what it is. Jesus, after he taught, he turned his attention to Simon.

[10:45] You see that there? Huh? He gets into one of the boats, which was Simon's. He asked him to put out from a little from the land. He had sat down. He taught the people from the boat. And here it is in verse 4.

[10:55] And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.

[11:08] Huh? Huh? Here's what's happening. This is the master teacher. Huh? He's taught the crowds. But now he's turning his attention to a special student, a particular one that needed a particular lesson.

[11:26] And this particular lesson was a lesson with Simon's name on it. Huh? One lesson was over, but another one was about to begin. Huh?

[11:37] Huh? And look what Jesus says. Look at the command. Put out into the deep. Let down your nets for a catch. Think about what's happening here.

[11:49] It would have been easy for Simon to cry, foul. Huh? Now had this been carpentry, it would have been another thing. Huh?

[11:59] Had this been a matter of interpretation of scripture, might have been another thing. Oh, but this was fishing. And do you know how long Peter has been fishing?

[12:13] He probably grew up with a net in his hand. Huh? Probably tagged along daddy and maybe granddaddy too and had been fishing for a long time.

[12:23] Huh? The area of Peter's passion and his expertise. If anyone knew anything about fishing, it was Peter.

[12:35] Or Simon as he is called here. Huh? Oh, but you got to know something, folks. We see in the text. Fishing had not gone very well the night before. Huh? The toil was great.

[12:47] The tape was not. Huh? They had gained nothing from an all night's work. Huh? A hard day's night. This was it, folks.

[12:58] Huh? And at that time, at night, this was the natural time to go out there because at that particular time, this fish would make their way to the shallow water and begin to eat the things that were on the surface.

[13:11] Huh? But nothing. Huh? Huh? The sure catch kind of time had come and gone. And still, nothing.

[13:22] Hey, folks. This was a divine setup. Jesus had everything at the right people in the right place. I mean, this is the one. You remember Jonah and God summonsing the whale?

[13:36] Do we have a similar kind of incident here where God didn't, the Lord didn't summons him? He said, y'all stay back there a little while. I've got a little something. I've got a lesson that I need to teach somebody here.

[13:50] But then after a while, come on, boys. It's time. It's time. Here we have the Lord controlling nature himself.

[14:00] Here he is. God's anointed in the realm of nature and he is Lord even in that domain. Did you know that? Huh? You say, Lord, help us and get rid of some of this snow.

[14:13] Is that your prayer? After a while and by and by, if you will. You'll be asking for some of this cool weather around about August and July.

[14:24] So we can endure, can't we? I didn't get an amen on that one, did I? This was a divine setup for the next day's lesson.

[14:39] Notice Peter's response. Simon said, Master! What a great word, huh? Used of Luke in the Gospels. Addressing the Lord and this was an address in recognition of his authority.

[14:53] Notice what he said. We have toiled. And I love this New Testament word. Because it means laboring to the point of exhaustion. Laboring to the point of sweat.

[15:04] We have toiled all night long and took nothing. But at your word. While indeed Simon was an experienced fisherman, he had also experienced Jesus.

[15:22] He had seen the authority of his word in the synagogue. He had come up close and personal with him in his own home. His word had brought deliverance from disease and demons.

[15:36] So, you better listen up here. Simon hesitated to dismiss him. He knew he needed to hear and heed what Jesus had to say.

[15:46] Have you learned that lesson yet? To listen when Jesus has something to say. To listen. And not only listen to it. But heed it.

[15:58] Put it into action so the nets were lowered. And the results speak for themselves, don't they? Fish! Fish! And more fish.

[16:09] Big fish. Little fish. Medium sized fish. Fish! So many fish that the nets were strained. So many fish that one boat was not enough to hold them.

[16:20] Had to call for help. To get the fish in, huh? So much so that both boats were filled to the point that they began to sink. Oh, what do you have here?

[16:31] Wow! Huh? As I was preparing this. This was a spectacle. But also, there's a measure of... It's comical, too.

[16:41] As you see what's going on here. I mean, you've got folks... You're talking about toiling. They... Jesus created a situation for them to really, really toil here.

[16:52] Huh? Huh? What a scene. The long and short is this, friends. Fishermen work hard during the night and take nothing.

[17:07] Jesus gives a simple direction as to what to do. They obey or Simon obeys in spite of his initial misgivings. And the take is so huge that it filled the boats to the point of sinking.

[17:23] What do you do? How do you respond in the face of such jaw-dropping greatness? This is akin to a musician when he or she plays with such exquisite excellence.

[17:41] What do you do? When every note is hit and just an outstanding performance. So it's comparable to when an athlete has the performance of his lifetime like Carmelo Anthony about a few weeks ago.

[17:58] What do you do? Such things bring people to their feet in applause. When the greatness of a performance or performer reaches its height.

[18:12] Oh, but notice what you have here. This particular incident. Jesus, in a sense, commanding nature. It did not bring Simon to his feet.

[18:26] It brought him to his knees in recognition of the very otherness of Jesus. Otherness of the one who was before him. You see that there in the verse?

[18:39] We've taught all night. Look at verse 8. But when Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees saying, Depart from me. I am a sinful man.

[18:51] He's in the presence of a holy other. Peter had witnessed what was absolutely profound. God's anointed exercising power over nature.

[19:04] Huh? So, depart from me. I'm a sinful man. He knew that he was in the presence of someone special. The glorious light of Christ. Signed in such a way that Peter was confronted with his own sinfulness.

[19:18] I think of the psalm. I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus, the Nazarene, and wonder how he could love me.

[19:30] A sinner. Condemn. Unclean. Unclean. Does this not remind us of Isaiah? Chapter 6.

[19:42] Where he sees the Lord's glory. Chapter 6, verse 1. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up.

[19:53] Train of his robe filled the temple. There were angelic beings there crying, holy, holy, holy, holy. The foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

[20:08] And Isaiah says, woe is me. I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes. These sinful eyes have seen the Lord of glory.

[20:21] But then the Lord cleansed him. And then those great words. And I heard a voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send? Who will go for us?

[20:32] Here am I. Send me, was Isaiah's words. After seeing God's glory, Isaiah yielded to the Lord's call. And such would be the case with Peter after he had seen the very glory of Christ and acknowledged his sinfulness, forsaking all eventually and following him.

[20:56] Simon was not alone in his astonishment, was he? Look at verse 9. For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken.

[21:08] But following that, we hear Jesus' words. It begins in verse 10 with a word. He begins with a word of comfort. Do not be afraid.

[21:20] For from now on you will catch men. Word of comfort followed by a word of commission. The Lord used this incident to call Simon and others into his service.

[21:34] This was a lesson. It was a fishing lesson, if you will. A lesson that had Simon's name on it. Huh? Jesus had his attention now.

[21:46] As never before. He met him on his own turf. Huh? Anyone who could command nature like this had his allegiance. Had his attention.

[21:58] Huh? While there are similarities, there are also differences as far as what it means to catch men. Fishers of fish are catching fish that eventually would be dead on somebody's dinner table.

[22:11] Huh? They were being caught for death. But the fishers of men were catching or capturing men for the very life of God.

[22:21] I mean, that's what I did behind the word. Huh? That they would, you will be catching men, catching them for life. Huh? What a lesson we have here.

[22:33] And such would be those who would be joining Jesus. His mission was already laid out. And vision. Luke 4, 18.

[22:45] Huh? But, his mission and vision called for a team of people to join him in catching people. Huh? Where did Jesus go for his ministry partners in that day?

[22:59] Huh? He didn't go to the Bible-toting, Bible-quoting religious leaders of that day. He would confound the world with fishermen.

[23:10] Huh? And other ne'er-do-wells from Galilee. Ah, where do you go? Let's say Jesus were in the neighborhood.

[23:21] Huh? Would he go to the university? Or would he cross the line? You know where the line is. Would he cross the line south?

[23:35] Or would he cross the line north? And find everyday unlikely people, unlikely places to lead a movement.

[23:48] Huh? To be foundation stones for work that would go throughout the world. Huh? Unlikely people from unlikely places would recognize, who would recognize Jesus as God's anointed.

[24:04] That's the key right there. Regardless of of where you are on the social, economic, educational spectrum. Huh? There's one, one way to recognize him as Lord, as Christ.

[24:18] God's anointed. That's for all of us. Huh? Do you see him as such? If you see him as such. Hey, welcome to the team. Welcome to the team.

[24:31] Work to be done. They would no longer be entrepreneurs. They would be working with him and for him. No longer in business for themselves with earthly interests.

[24:44] His business would be their business. Huh? So they did the radical thing. The master called what would they do?

[24:55] They bring the boats to the land. They pull the boat out of the water. Change the direction. Boats left behind.

[25:06] Nets left behind. Fishing equipment left behind. Homes chapter 18 verse 28 left behind. Huh?

[25:18] They would become disciples. They would follow him. And for some that meant even Christ's sake of death. Jesus called or captured disciples.

[25:30] Not only did he call disciples, he also cleansed the defiled. You see that in the next section? Jesus cleansed one or cleansed one who was hopelessly hopelessly defiled.

[25:47] That's the picture that we see here in the text. The scene shifts from the seaside to the city. And immediately the tension is on one the text describes here who is full of leprosy.

[26:02] What was leprosy? It was a very it was a scourge of sorts. Skin disease unattractive difficult defiling.

[26:14] It would range from a minor case of sin infection to very serious ones. And this kind of infection required the one so infected to be barred from contact with others.

[26:28] Couldn't go into a context for worship. What a said lot publicly. And again you see you get this picture in Leviticus chapters 13 and 14. They would have to cry unclean unclean so as to create space around them when they entered into a public arena.

[26:49] I would just like to have that albatross around your neck. The man in the text seemed very serious.

[27:00] He was full of leprosy perhaps even from his head to his toe. His skin showed the effects of this devastating disease. He's a social outcast. Leprosy was an apt picture of the internal spiritual defilement that separates man and God.

[27:21] That's what it pictures. We see here as we follow Luke's pattern and his logic here he's going to show you the cleansing of one external but then he's going to move on even in next week talking about indeed the very forgiveness of sins.

[27:37] But notice the results of this in verse 13 Jesus stretched out his hand touched him saying I will be clean and immediately the leprosy left him here he goes he's touching the untouchable the undesirable and notice what he's doing compassionately touching this particular person I wonder when was the last time that he felt human touch because of the space that was demanded around him he does the unthinkable he bridged the social and the moral and the ceremonial divides if you will that separated people immediately he called disciples but he cleansed the defiled here immediately in this particular disease this person is cleansed what a wonderful picture of the cleansing power of the

[28:54] Lord Jesus Christ what can wash away my sin what can make me holy glint the answer comes back nothing but the blood of Jesus huh this leper encounters Jesus and he's cleansed but notice what the Lord says in verse 14 he charged him to tell no one but go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing as Moses commanded for proof huh he tells them to say nothing but he moves forward huh in a card with the religious protocol of that day he sends them to the priest because there are the ones according to Leviticus chapters 13 and 14 to both discern the extent of the disease of the leprosy of the uncleanness as well as release when a pronunciation of when it was clean huh

[29:58] Jesus commanded him to do what the law prescribed Jesus and cleansing huh Jesus is in the cleansing business is he not huh you Lord can make me clean you can clean me up you can make a change in my deeply stained life the touch of Jesus overcame the cleanliness of this deeply stained leper here we see I mean even Jesus speaks about catching men he's doing that in this particular section he's catching him for life he's rescuing him huh this is what Jesus does the anointed once again liberates he frees he unshackles the captive given these things the report about him spread even more according to verse 15 people his popularity increased people gathered to be cured of their diseases and infirmities they gathered to hear his life-giving giving message teaching and touching words and works huh

[31:09] Jesus called the disciples and cleansed the fowl but let's not lose sight of one more thing Christ calling Christ cleansing but look at verse 16 what do we have Christ communing is that not what we have here but he would withdraw to a desolate place and pray we've seen that haven't we look at 1144 similarly and when it was day he departed and went into a desolate place and the people saw him and came to him and would have kept him from leaving he's in this solitary place we see him again the calling and the cleansing ministry of Jesus was enveloped in his communion with his father Jesus would retreat to a solitary place and pray oh what an example for us was there indeed a cause effect relationship in the whole of today's text how much did communion factor into the effectiveness of our lord's work for him think about the whole idea of being on mission with him called to catch men for him and the need to be in communion with him we must not neglect that should we in our own strength confide our striving would be losing oh we're people with great vision and great methods what about our great communion for all of us as we're on mission with him think about the hordes of people who need to be netted as it were for the kingdom are we enveloping enveloping our the call of Christ to us our mission with him and for him in communion with him we're coming to communion right now and I want us to use this particular time perhaps in a catalytic kind of way in that as we are reminded as we think on him and come to partake of these elements that represent his body and his blood may this perhaps start us in a refreshed renewed direction of a life of communion with him may we be reminded of our need for that may we be recalibrated oh but the table if you have trusted

[34:27] Jesus as God's anointed as the Christ the one who came into the world to die to give his life a ransom to cleanse the defiled that's all of us for all of sin and fallen short of the glory of God but if you have trusted him as your lord and savior come to the table come to be come to be strengthened in him come to commune with him in a fresh way and then may we be recharged as it were to be on mission with him in this world the call and the cleansing power of Jesus compel people to come to him and follow him our prayer through this text that we might see him even more clearly that we might draw to him more closely join him in mission in this world here now the words of institution from first

[35:36] Corinthians chapter 11 Paul himself a follower of Jesus who had heard his call he writes these words for I receive from the Lord what also I deliver to you that the Lord Jesus here he is the night in which he was betrayed he took to bread when he had given thanks he broke it and said this is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me the same way after he took the cup after supper saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood do this soften as you drink it in remembrance of me may we remember our Lord's death on our behalf but also may we remember him as we see him in this scene and as we commune with him today may we be strengthened for a life of communion

[36:53] David's coming we're going to serve you as he comes I'm going to pray come as you feel led to come forward father we love you we thank you for what we see in this text and we're coming Lord Jesus as people on mission as people who have been cleansed we're coming for communion and may Lord this be catalytic as it were in a deeper communion with you as we're on mission with you may it be for the glory of your name we pray amen if you're part of the family you're welcome to the family