Luke chapter 5 looking back at my notes. This is the third time I preached out of the gospel of Luke I do understand there are other texts in Scripture. I love Luke just is such a rich portrayal of the glory of the grace of Jesus Christ as he This morning. We're going to see Jesus calling his disciples Luke chapter 5 Let's pick it up in verse 1 and we'll read through verse 11. This is God's a wonderful living inerrant word. 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 he 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, 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 draw.' And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all night, and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had done this, 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. When 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 it 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. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all and followed Him." Let's ask the Lord to bless His Word. God in heaven, we thank You that this morning we hear the words of our Lord Jesus as He calls the first disciples. And Lord, as He calls us today to follow Him, we thank you, O God, for the grace that exposes us and the grace that remakes us so that we might be vessels fit for the service of God. And so we ask for your Holy Spirit today, for we, Lord, cannot hear the voice of our Lord and Savior except by the presence and the power of the Spirit of God. And we ask, oh God, that what we hear today would bear fruit in our life for the glory of God. And we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Well, we have a extremely significant text here this morning in the history of redemption as Jesus here is choosing and calling the men who are going to be the foundation of the church. He's gathering the stones, as it were, with which he will lay the foundation, the foundation upon which the church, you and I, serve and worship in and belong to by the grace of God. We stand on this foundation. And so as Jesus is calling these men, we're going to just notice how Jesus prepares these men for the mission that He has for them and what the mission actually is about. And specifically, just seeing the exposing grace of God and the necessity of that exposing grace and how God, by His power, exposes us before the holiness of a living God and shows us in the beauty and the glory of the gospel so that we can be effective fishers of men. Now, of course, Peter, James, and John already knew Jesus. They were already affiliated with Jesus. They had seen Jesus perform the wedding at Cana. They had seen Jesus cure sick and cast out demons. We see that in Luke 4. They'd heard His preaching, and they were certainly, like the crowds, amazed at what they heard and what they saw. And so they're associated with Jesus, they're admirers of Jesus, but here in Luke 5, they move to becoming wholly devoted followers of Jesus Christ. And the question that I'm asking this morning first is, what moves them from being admirers to followers, devoted disciples. So what moves them from being interested to wholly invested, so that they're willing to leave the life that they knew, to leave their security, their identity, and to become devoted, full-time, fully invested followers and servants of Jesus Christ. It's a very important question that we are faced in every generation in the church. How do we help people move from becoming admirers of Christ to disciples of Christ? There are many admirers of Jesus in the church. people who will happily tell you that they believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and they certainly approve of all that Jesus said, and all that Jesus did, and they would even profess to be followers of Jesus. And yet, if you watch them as they live their life through the week, you would not really see much evidence of an intimate relationship with Jesus. You wouldn't see, maybe, much time spent in prayer, or maybe the prayers would be very perfunctory. A very little meaningful time spent in the Word. Very few conversations about Jesus with even their loved ones, much less maybe neighbors or co-workers. If you look at their bank account, you would see maybe some tokens of gifts, but it would be difficult to find a wholehearted, glad devotion to Jesus. Nothing like the disciples leaving their boats and following Him. And one of the tasks that ministers of the gospel have is to help people realize there's a difference between a historical faith which believes in Jesus, accepts the truth of Jesus, and a living faith which produces the fruit of happy discipleship. There's a difference. It's not the same thing. I was reading an article just a few weeks ago where someone, not for the first time, of course, but it just said the crisis of the church today is a crisis of discipleship, a crisis of discipleship, but the evidences are all over in the American church particularly. And so how do we move? And this is for our own hearts, right? How does God move you and me? From admiration to devotion to a deep love for Christ. Well, the way it happens is through the power of the gospel. And so my three points this morning, if you're taking notes, is the occasion and the invasion and the invitation. The occasion, the invasion, and the invitation. The occasion, we're told in verses 1 through 3. Jesus is preaching. That's what He came to do, He says. And He's preaching good news, and people are pressing in to hear the Word of God. Isn't that a wonderful word picture? As you see the people pressing in close. Why are they pressing in so close to Jesus? Because they've not heard a preacher like Jesus. They've not heard someone speak with such authority. But specifically, they've not heard of someone speak such gracious, words of 422, the chapter just previous, all spoke well of Him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from His mouth. Jesus' words exude grace. He said in Luke 4 that the Spirit of the Lord has anointed Me to proclaim good news to the poor, and liberty for the captives, and sight for the blind. This is the miraculous mercy of God that Jesus has come to proclaim. And as He proclaims it, sinners are drawn. Spiritually blind people are fascinated. And from miles around, they come and they press close to hear this gracious message of God's kindness to them. And so that's what we find going on here in Luke chapter 5, Jesus doing what He said He came to do, to preach the good news of the kingdom of God. And because the crowd is large and they're pressing in, it's difficult to hear. Jesus says to Peter, He steps into Peter's boat and says, Simon, put out a little ways from the shore. Now, you don't need to be an expert in physics or an audiophile to know that water magnifies sounds, right? If someone is out in the middle of the lake and are talking, you can easily hear them. So Jesus pushes off a little way from the shore, and he sits down in the boat and begins to teach, and everyone can hear him just fine. Well, I want you to see Peter now, Simon, in his boat. Jesus. This is a good day for Peter. When someone famous comes into town, people like to be seen with the famous person, and particularly if you're helping the famous person. And nobody's more famous than Jesus, and Peter's out there in the boat helping him. It's a very good day. Peter's probably a young man, maybe in his early 20s. And and he's in his strength. He's in his element. He knows boats He knows how to handle this thing and he's there He's there to help Jesus and then everything gets turned upside down the invasion Because I don't think Peter ever imagined Jesus saying what he said next in verse 4 when he had finished Speaking Jesus says to Simon says Simon put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch fish. You see, Jesus has already stepped into Simon's boat, but now He's stepping into Simon's world. Simon's life. He's invading Simon's arena of expertise and his experience. There's a wonderful story told by Rebecca Manley Pippert in Out of the Salt Shaker, Into the World. And she was a counselor on a college campus and she was setting up a Bible study for some girls and someone invited a friend, I think her name was Sue, to come to this Bible study, an unconverted person who was living with her boyfriend at the time. So Becky, trying to be kind, she arranges the girls in a circle, and then they're going to read John 4. That was the text for the day, and everyone takes a turn to read. So she carefully arranges Sue that it just won't be awkward, because it's a story that's going to be a little bit... And Sue is convinced that there's really nothing in the Bible that could matter to her. So she says, Mary, would you please begin? Well, she had forgotten there were two Marys, so Mary begins. And they read around the room, and it gets to Sue, and Sue reads, and Jesus says, go get your husband. And she says, I have no husband. And Jesus says, you're right in saying, I have no husband. You've had five husbands, and the man you're currently living with is not your husband. And Sue pauses and goes, I must say, this is much more relevant than I had imagined. The Word of God, you see, does that, doesn't it? It's living and breathing, divides between bone and marrow. And people who think they're just doing something nice and polite and civic and religious suddenly, through the Word of God, find themselves face-to-face with a living being, a God. Well, Peter suddenly, you see, finds himself face-to-face, not just with a religious teacher, but someone who's taking over his ship. You see, when Jesus was willing to use Peter's boat as a pulpit, that was fine with Peter, that was Jesus' area of expertise, and Peter was fine to watch Him do His thing. But now Jesus, you see, is not using the boat as a pulpit, He's using the fishing boat as a fishing boat. Well, that's Peter's area of expertise. And he's not real comfortable. So notice what he says, Master, we toiled all night and we've taken nothing. We, of course, being the expert fishermen, we have toiled all night. This is hard work, this fishing business. This is not throwing a line in the water. This is throwing these large nets in the water and then gathering them manually, right, hand over hand. It's difficult work. And so there's a big ask here in Peter's mind. He's not real comfortable maybe with Jesus taking command of the boat. But even more troubling is this request to go out into the deep. and throw the nets into the water as though there are just fish anywhere out in the lake. If you're a fisherman, as Peter was, you know that fish like structure. Peter would know everywhere where the fish would be naturally in the lake. And so just to go out in the deep would be a clear sign of an amateur, a novice. In fact, Peter might even be wondering, what are the people on the shore going to think when they see us row out in the middle and throw nets down? But more importantly, it's the wrong time of the day. Why were they fishing at night? Because that's when you could catch fish with these big nets. And so to just head out in the middle of the day and throw the nets into the water is, well, it's a fool's errand. And yet Peter, to his credit, at least in his mind, decides to honor and humor the Lord. At Your word, he says, I will let down the nets. It has a bit of a passive-aggressive feel to it. Lord, the experts have been doing this all night, we didn't catch anything, but at your word, you see, He's submitting, sort of. He would just like to be on record as not being responsible for this fool's errand, and when the net's come back empty, He won't have to say, I told you so. He can just smile smugly while Jesus apologizes for wasting His time. Jesus has thoroughly set him up. So, verse 6, when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish. And their nets were breaking, and they beckoned to their partners that 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. Now, this is one of the times, again, in Scripture it would just be wonderful to have a camera and you could watch the emotions on Peter's face as he transitions from surprise to incredulity and then to overwhelming conviction. So they're out there, and they let the nets down, and Peter begins pulling them in, and just, let's get this over with and get back to shore, and then there's a weight, there's a tug in the net. What a shock. That's a surprise. Lord, I think we caught something. He's very pleasantly surprised. They'd obviously gotten lucky and snagged some wandering fish out there in the deep. And then as they continues to pull the net in, well, it gets heavier and heavier and they start pulling into the boat. And it's very, very difficult. And Peter would have moved to incredulity. They'd gotten really lucky. It's astonishing. He had never had a day like this out in the deep here. This is just wonderful. And then the fish just keep flopping into the boat, and they have to call the other boat to come out, and they're dragging them into that boat. And the boats are beginning to sink, and the truth is beginning to dawn on Peter. The devastating truth that Jesus caught him, Jesus knew him, Jesus is exposing him. Verse 9, when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. Now, that is not a normal response for a fisherman who's just caught a great bunch of fish, right? We do a little fishing out in the big lake, and when we catch a big salmon, or if they're just really hitting, and you catch a really nice fish, there's a lot of hooting and hollering, maybe chest bumps, fists. It is just rampant enthusiasm, all right? That's what you would expect, Peter. He's a fisherman. Lord, this is awesome! He does not do that. He falls on his face in terror, in fear, and begs Jesus to leave him. Why? Well, verse 9 tells us why. For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken. The word astonished means amazement, giving away to fear. Peter is overwhelmed with deep awe and reverential fear. This is his Isaiah 6 moment where he sees the Lord and he cries, woe to me! I'm undone. He's been exposed, absolutely laid bare. You see, Peter knows these fish are not supposed to be there. They're not lost fish. They're divinely commanded by Jesus, the master of the world, the universe. And not only that, but Peter, he recognizes Jesus has orchestrated this entire thing. Now we can look at the story from the outside and sort of chuckle. Put yourself in Peter's shoes. Every wicked, arrogant thought in his mind was known by Jesus as they were rowing out into the lake. Can you imagine the horror of your arrogance? As a puny speck of dust, you have the arrogance to think that the The man in the boat with you knows, has no idea what he's doing. And now you realize he's the Lord of the universe. And he knows you exactly. If there was ever a time for Peter to walk on water, he's terrified. He's terrified. And rightly so, rightly so. Friends, this is what this is what God does in his grace. God exposes people. If He's going to use them greatly, He exposes them deeply. Think of Judah back in Genesis chapter 38. Judah's a very self-righteous man. And he is absolutely laid open in front of his whole clan, his whole family, as being the wicked man who impregnated his daughter-in-law and then commands that she burn for her sin. Recognize these? Remember what she says? God exposes us. Think about Job chapter 42. Maybe we could say, He had a rightful complaint. And yet when he actually meets the Lord, what does he say in Job chapter 42? I had heard of you with my ears, but now my eyes have seen you, and therefore, therefore seeing God, I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes. Friends, that is throughout Scripture what sinners do in the presence of a holy God. And so when Peter says, depart from me, because he can't stand. Who can stand in his holy place? Who's going to stand before this holy, mighty, magnificent God? He's been exposed as a failure, a sinner of the worst sort. One of the unexpected things that we call people to embrace in the church is we call them to embrace being exposed. A church is gonna be great places to hide. You go to church, you wear the nice clothes, you sing the right songs, you say the right things, and no one will ask questions. And one of our callings as ministers of the gospel, and as Christians in general, is to help people recognize that Jesus didn't give us the church so we can come and hide. Jesus gave us the church and the gospel so that we can come and be exposed. that we can actually meet God. And a God who overwhelms us. A God who will terrify you. A God who will just lay you open. And all the carefully built spiritual resume, the reputation of being a good person, whatever it might be, of being a theologically astute person, it just all falls away. And it's critical that we remind each other and we remind God's people that that's where the gospel finds us. That's where the gospel finds us. It's where it found Peter. I hope it's happened to you. I hope you've been exposed. If it has, it'll happen again. There'll be times where you are on your face before God. overwhelmed by His majesty and His love and His grace, and the reality of the wickedness of the sins that have offended that glorious God. I hope it's happened to you. I hope it happens. Because, friends, again, it is where we meet the glory of Jesus Christ. And then we can invite people to it. And so Peter here, he says, Lord, leave me, and yet we have this incredible invitation. Jesus doesn't leave. Peter's not the Lord. Jesus isn't. And Jesus doesn't depart. Instead what He does is He gives this incredible invitation. Peter, come and follow Me. Don't be afraid. From henceforth thou shalt catch men. He's going to make Peter a key part of His mission in the world. He's going to not just restore and forgive and cover Peter's sin, but he's going to exalt this wicked man to a place of leadership and position and authority in his church. It's an unbelievable, unexpected thing for Jesus to say. Peter never would have imagined that Jesus would invite him, knowing him, invite him into this incredible calling of joining Jesus in catching men. And so they left everything, is what we're told. The boats, the nets, the income, the only life they knew, and they followed Jesus. And it wasn't just because they realized, Peter, James, and John, that Jesus was God. The demons knew Jesus was God and wanted nothing to do with them. And they also would say, depart from me. But you see, it's they realized that Jesus was God and He was full of grace. sinners, and truth for sinners, that Jesus somehow, the holiness of God and the love of God came together so that sinners could be invited in. Sinners could be welcomed. Sinners could be called and commissioned. Sinners. People like you. People like me. And so you see, once you understand that, well, you couldn't have kept them back. Once you've experienced that, that just sets you free, it sets you loose. Because you have a story to tell now, not about your spiritual resume and your efforts and your intentions, you have a story to tell of this magnificent God who loved you. before the foundation of the world and who gave His life for you while you were yet sinners and who has invited you to come and follow Him, to come and serve Him. You, you, the person who deserves nothing but judgment and me, we get to be ambassadors of Christ. We get to be people who call others. to come and know this Lord. And so that's, friends, how Jesus moves people to full-hearted discipleship. It's the gospel. It's the gospel. And I want to plead with you, as many of you are preparing for gospel ministry, don't miss this step. Don't hide behind your theological education. Don't hide behind your reputation. Let Jesus expose you, ask Him to show you to you, and then meet the grace of God there as an ongoing reality. I remember someone just recently, I can't remember who it was, but said, the best of men, the best of Christian never gets beyond saying, Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. The best Christian doesn't get beyond that. But it's a good place to be, because then all the glory goes to Him. And we get to tell the marvelous story, friends, over and over and over again, how Jesus found us, and how Jesus caught us, and Jesus exposed us to the reality of a holy God, and then Jesus showed us the beauty of a gospel of grace and love. We've seen Him, John says, full of grace and truth. Let's follow Him.