Amen. What a blessing. Amen. Thank you. All right. Luke chapter 5 tonight. Luke chapter 5. And we're going to begin there in verse 1. Luke chapter 5 this evening. Luke chapter 5. I've entitled this message, I Surrender. I Surrender. Luke chapter 5. We'll begin there in verse 1. You know, sometimes surrendering can be a difficult thing to do. There was a man years ago, back in World War II, a Japanese man. At the very end of World War II, of course, he never surrendered. The war was over, but he didn't surrender. His name was, I may say it right, Ornata. I think that's the way it is. But anyways, this man, young man, who was fighting for the Japanese during World War II, he was on an island in the Philippines. And the war was over, and of course, you know, the Allies had won, but he thought that he was still in the war. He thought he was still in battle. And there he was on that island. I think at first he was with a couple of guys but he ended up on his own. I'm not exactly sure all the ins and outs of the whole story but he ended up on his own eventually and he was out there for I think it was 29 years out on that island all by himself thinking that the war was still going on. And they, the Philippines, the Japanese, everybody, they dropped leaflets from the sky, trying to let this man know that the war was over. Folks knew he was out there, but he wouldn't surrender. He thought that everything that he was seeing and all the, he thought it was just all propaganda. He thought that people were just dropping these leaflets, just trying to lure him out, you know. He didn't believe any of it. And for 29 years, he was out there on that island by himself, And I think in total, folks that tried to go get him, I think he ended up killing about 30 people that tried to go get him. And he was out there, as I said, this Japanese guy. He finally surrendered whenever his, I think it was an old officer of his, finally went over there and tried to do the best that he could to lure him out and talk to him and he did. And he was told, of course, at the very beginning, before all these years happened, that what he needed to do was, was he needed to make sure that he never surrendered. Because, of course, the Japanese, that was something that they just didn't believe in. They didn't do that. And so that was his motto. And my officer told me, never surrender. And so that's what I'm going to do. And he never did. And so in that aspect of it, We kind of look at that and we say, wow, what a devoted man he was to his cause. But on the other side, we also see, if you want to look at it in a different point of view, how stubborn he was, everybody trying to talk to him and tell him, but he just wouldn't listen. And so finally, eventually, he did surrender, and I think it was in 1974 or something like that, finally came in. It was in the 70s, mid-70s I believe. He finally came in, surrendered himself and surrendered his sword over to the Philippine army. But this man was a man who was devoted to his cause and he also was a man who was, even though he was getting all these leaflets and even though people was going out there trying to tell him that he needed to surrender, that the war was over, He, for 30 years, paid no attention to it. For 30 years, just thought it was all propaganda. For a part near 30 years, just said, you know what? I'm not going to believe any of it. I'm going to stay right here and do what I was told to do. And I tell you what. When we think about that, we can see, you know, that I think there's a lot of people in the world today that have a heart that is, it won't surrender, it won't surrender to Christ, it won't surrender to the Lord's calling on the life, or whatever that may be, because they feel like, you know, this is what I'm supposed to be, this is what I'm supposed to do, this is what my belief system is, they are so devoted, so devoted rather to their sin or so devoted to the world philosophy, so devoted to the world system, that they just choose not to surrender. And so here we're going to see a man who finally, after many years, we're going to look at Brother Peter tonight. But a man who finally, after years, surrendered to the Lord's call on his life, surrendered to what Christ was doing in his life, and what a blessing that it is. And so as we begin here in chapter 5 and verse 1 of the book of Luke, The Bible says that it came to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear the Word of God, that he stood by the Lake of Gennesaret. And what a great picture we see as these folks that are coming. Man, they have a desire to hear the Word of God. And so the Lord Jesus is there. The Bible says that the people are just pressing upon him. There was such a hunger to hear the Word of God. You know, we read throughout the scriptures, we see that there was other people, when they spake of the Lord Jesus, they said, never has there been a man speak as this man. And so when the Lord Jesus spoke, they saw, they recognized, and they heard that it was something different. They saw that it was different than the Pharisees. It was a different motive. It was a different way of living. And so the people, they were pressing upon the Lord Jesus, and the Bible says that what their desire was, There in verse one was to hear the word of God. I tell you what, how amazing would it be to be able to be in here tonight and that there would be so many people that would desire to hear the word of God that you wouldn't even be able to get them all inside the building, that they would be pressing upon the door, that we would have to open up the doors and open up the side, these side doors right here with people just standing all over just for one reason, just so that they can hear the word of God. Not so they can hear the preacher, just for the man's sake, but because they have a desire to hear the Word of God. Because the Word of God is such a blessing to their heart that they long to hear it so much so that they'll be willing to stand outside the doors. You think about this. You remember, you think about this on the Black Friday sales. I mean, people will camp outside just to get a DVD player. Is that still a thing right now? Do people still buy DVD players? I don't know. But you get the idea. You can see how I'm going back a little bit. But people camp outside, and they'll sleep outside in tents, and they'll stay out there in all kinds of weather. I'm talking, it don't matter if it's snowing, it don't matter if it's raining, or if it's 100 degrees outside, it doesn't make any difference. It don't matter how many people's around or nothing. They'll do everything they can to go in there so they can save 50 bucks. and get it online for probably the same price if they stay at home. Or after Christmas the same price or whatever. But I'm just telling you that people will go through a whole lot just so they can purchase these little things. But I'm just telling you, man, what a blessing it would be for people to be able to have such a desire to hear the Word of God that they would just be flowing in and off the streets. I mean, thousands of people that pass by the church every day, see the church sign, and they see that it's the church, and there's a free message that's inside. We don't charge anybody to come and hear a message from the Lord, but they can come inside and get something that will be invaluable to them in their life, that the Word of God would change their life and move in their life, and that it would just do tremendous things for them personally and in their family. But we see what a blessing that it is. These folks, the Bible says there in verse 1, it came to pass as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God. The Bible says he stood by the lake of Gennesaret. There in verse 2, and the Bible says 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. As we think about the idea of surrendering tonight, what is something that we need to surrender? I think there in verse three, we can see the very first thing that Simon Peter, Simon here hadn't become Peter yet, but we'll call him that because we know that's what he's gonna be, but Simon Peter here, The very first thing that he had to surrender was he had to surrender his ship. He had to surrender his vessel. And the Bible says that the Lord Jesus, he came by and he saw these two ships, but he entered into Simon's ship. Now, because see, the Lord Jesus had a mission for Simon. He entered into Simon's ship because there was something that he wanted Simon to do. Because Simon was also kind of like the leader of these guys. And he knew that if he spoke to Simon and he got through to Simon, then more likely he would be able to get to the rest of these other guys. And so there in verse 3, we see that the first thing that Simon had to surrender was that he had to surrender his ship. You say, well, it doesn't really sound like a whole lot. But Simon's ship was how he made his living. That's how he made his living. That's how he took care of himself. That's how he took care of his family. Now, we think about that in our time right now. When we surrender, when we got to surrender to the Lord, what do we surrender? Well, listen, when we got to surrender to God, we don't say, God, I'm only just going to give you this part of me, or I'm only going to give you this section of me, or this portion of me. But Lord, when I surrender, I'm going to give my whole self to you. I mean, when God saved me, He didn't just purchase part of my soul. He bought the whole thing. I mean, He purchased me. I am a purchased possession tonight. He bought all of me, and when He bought all of me, that means everything that I came with, all my sin He washed away. And everything you'll see, the Lord Jesus was interested in me, just like He was you tonight. When you got saved, the Lord Jesus bought you. He didn't buy just some of you, or a little of you here and there, or just the parts that you were willing to give to Him. No, He bought you fully. He bought you wholly. And so there we see that one of the very first things that Simon had to give over was he had to give over his ship. He had to surrender that. The Lord Jesus asked him for it. And so he voluntarily surrendered his ship. The Bible says in verse 3, he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed to him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down and he taught the people out of the ship. I tell you what, we want to see God move in our lives. We want to see God move in our homes, churches, all these different things. We have to have a surrendering heart. We have to be a people that is willing to surrender the whole part of us, everything that makes us up. Not just certain parts of our lives or certain areas of our life, but everything that's about us. Simon was willing to let the Lord Jesus use his ship and thrust him out so that he can use his boat to preach the gospel to the people. So that he can use his ship to speak to the message that he had for the people that day. He was willing to surrender his livelihood. He was willing to surrender his vessel. He was willing to surrender whatever it is that the Lord Jesus needed on that day. And listen, I tell you what, we wanna see God use us, we wanna see God do some blessed things in our homes and in our personal lives, and God just really change us, then what we have to do is we gotta be willing to surrender these things. We have to be willing to, God, listen, you can have my vessel, you can have my ship. Lord Jesus, you can have my truck, you can have my clothes, you can have my glasses, you can have my, you can have, Lord, what is it that you want? I'm willing to surrender it all to you. Listen, all of us came in here just with stuff that we borrowed from God anyway. None of it belongs to us anyhow. Everything we came in here, we just borrowin' from the Lord. There's nothin' that we came in here with today, and there's nothin' that you're gonna go home to tonight that even belongs to you. It belongs to God. Every single bit of it. Every single bit of it belongs to God anyway. The earth is His and the fullness thereof, and that means everything that you have too. And so what we see here is that one of the things that He did was He surrendered His ship. He says, Lord, if this is what you desire, if this is what you want to do, I am willing to surrender whatever it is that you need to get out the message, to get out the gospel. What a blessing. Little did he know what was fixing to happen, that because he surrendered, Just because he surrendered his ship, that the Lord was going to use that very ship to bring one of the biggest blessings he'd ever seen in his whole life. He had no idea what was coming. That's what I want to tell you tonight. Listen, when we surrender to God, we have no idea what God's got planned. We have no idea what God's got in store. I mean, God may be speaking to our heart about surrendering this area of our life, or surrendering whatever it is for the use of the Lord, and we have absolutely no idea how God is gonna use that, not to just be a blessing to us maybe, but to be a blessing to other people. We have no idea what God's plan is. And so whenever we surrender to the Lord, and we allow God to use what is rightfully His anyway, there is no telling what can happen. But one of the things that he was gonna have to do was he was gonna have to surrender his ship. Listen, before he would ever get to the point that he would surrender his soul, he would definitely have to surrender his ship. He was gonna have to surrender a number of different things. And there in verse three, one of the things that he was gonna have to surrender was he was gonna have to surrender his ship. Let God have control of that which he valued in his life. Because that boat was his livelihood. That's how he made his money. That's how he took care of his family. And if he wanted to see God move and bless in a way like he's never seen, he was going to have to let God have control of that. Why? Because Jesus said, without me you can do nothing. And if we're not willing to let God, listen, if we're not willing to let God use what He gave to us anyway, then imagine all the things that we're going to miss out on. You know, people say, man, I want to see God move, and I want to see God do this, and I want to see God do that, and I want to see God move here and there. Maybe God wants to, maybe He's been speaking to your heart about surrendering your ship to Him, but you just won't do it. Now imagine all the things that maybe perhaps we've missed out on. But listen, He was willing to surrender what meant something to Him. He was willing to surrender His whole livelihood for the Lord to use it. And I think what a message that is for us. willing to surrender something that means something to us for God to use. And so we see there in verse 3, if I'm going to surrender, what do I need to surrender? I need to surrender my ship. I need to be willing to surrender to God what God can use in my life to use. There in verse 3, the Bible says that 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. You know what we also see there? We see there an opportunity. What a great opportunity. for that God gave him that day. What a great opportunity that God gave him that day to allow the Son of God, the creator of the universe, to use his ship on that day. There in verse 4, what else do we see? The Bible says, Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draw. There in verse five, and Simon answered and said unto him, Master, we have told all night and have taken nothing nevertheless at thy word. I will let down the net. So what do we see there in verse five? I think one of the things that we see there, well, let's go back to verse four. One of the things we see there in verse four is that when the Lord Jesus got done talking, he told him where to go, he told him what to do. He says, you know what, Peter? He says, what I want you to do, Simon, is I want you to take this boat and I want you to launch it out there in the deep. The Lord Jesus was specific. He told him exactly where to do. He says, I want you to take your boat and I want you to take it out there in the deep part of the water. Now, what do you think would have happened if he had went out to the shallow part of the water? He wouldn't have got it, now would he? He wouldn't have got his load of fish. He wouldn't have got what it is that God had planned for him. Listen, it is obedience that brings blessing. You do what God said to do, and then God will bless because you did what God said you needed to do. And there in verse 4, he says, you take this boat, and you launch it out into the deep, and you let down your nets for a draught. What I also find interesting is when the Lord Jesus showed up, what were these guys doing? They were done fishing for the day. And here they are, they're sitting over here on the bank and they're going through all their stuff and they're washing their nets. I don't know why, they didn't catch anything. But they're over here and they're washing all their nets, they're cleaning everything up, they're packing everything up. The Lord Jesus knows this. He knows they're done for the day, and he gives this message, he gives this sermon, he speaks to the people, and when he gets done, I imagine that these guys, I imagine Peter, probably just got done packing everything up, getting ready to put everything on the boat, and the Lord Jesus looks over at him and says, okay, you're not done yet. Take your boat and launch it out there. And you think, well, you know, why didn't the Lord Jesus just say from the very get-go, hey, just hold everything up right here, you're going to go fishing here in a minute. The Lord Jesus didn't let him do that. The Lord Jesus let him put everything up. The Lord Jesus let him wash their nets. The Lord Jesus let him think that it was all over. The Lord Jesus let him think everything was done. And then when all that was over, then he told them to go back out there and go fishing. after they had already finished cleaning up everything. You say, why in the world would the Lord Jesus do that? Well, listen, sometimes we don't always understand why the Lord Jesus does what He does. You know, sometimes in our own minds we're thinking, you know, this doesn't make any sense. You know, I don't really get it, you know. The Lord saw that we were working. The Lord saw that we were tolling. The Lord saw that we was doing all of this stuff. I mean, we were right there. He saw it all. Why did he allow us to do all that? Why did he allow us to go through all these things? Listen, we don't always know why God allows us to go through certain things in our life. We don't always know why things get tough sometimes. We don't always know why the Lord allows us to go through these time periods in our life. But the Lord Jesus, he saw them, but yet he didn't stop them. Maybe it was a growing period in their life. Maybe that was just part of seeing how faithful that he would be to what the Lord wanted him to do. Oh, I mean, because imagine this. I mean, imagine you're Peter and you just come in off the lake. You just come in off the sea. You just come in. You're still all stinky and dirty. Everything else is all stinky and dirty. And if he'd have said, listen, right from the get-go, take that stuff and take it back out there, well, they hadn't cleaned everything up yet, so maybe it wouldn't be such a bother. But then once you go to clean everything up and then you go to put everything away, now I'm going to ask you to do something. Then you're like, oh, man, we just got done cleaning everything up. Is this what the Lord wants me to do now? I just got done cleaning up everything. I just got done fixing it. I just got done washing it. Now you want me to take it back out there and get dirty again? Lord, that doesn't even make any sense. Listen, maybe sometimes God does that kind of stuff just to see if we'll be faithful to what he wants us to do. I mean, what a great opportunity that he had. And so we see. We see there in verse four, and that he said, launch out into the deep. He told him exactly where to go, and let down your nets for a draught. There in verse five, which is our next truth, not only do we need to surrender our ship, which are the things that are valuable to us and the things that we care about, but I think part of surrender is making sure we surrender our sense. And I know it seems like a lot of people in the world have done that today, but I'll tell you what I mean. But surrender your sense. The Bible says, and Simon answered, of course, after he heard the Lord Jesus say this, Simon answering, he said unto him, Master, we've toiled all night, and we've taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down the net. Surrender our sins. You know, sometimes, as I said a minute ago, things just don't make sense. Sometimes we try to make, and sometimes we spend a lot of time trying to make sense out of things that you can't make sense out of. You ever done that? I mean, I think we can look around today, we try to make sense out of some stuff and we sit there and shake our head and we think, I can't make no sense out of that at all. That makes no sense whatsoever. But we see right here that we need to surrender our sins. You see, to Simon, taking that boat back out there where he just went, made no sense at all. To Simon, taking this boat right back out there made no sense whatsoever. Okay, Lord, you want me to get back in the boat. We've been out there all night. We haven't caught anything, but yet you want us to get back in this boat, and you want us to go back out there into the deep. You want us to go back out there. Well, I say go back out there to the deep, but you know, the Bible doesn't really say where they were fishing at. The Bible doesn't say where they were first fishing out in the deep. I mean, they could have been fishing shallow, and the Lord Jesus just taught them where the fish were. But he says, you take this boat, you go out there to the deep. And to Simon, it didn't make any sense. Why in the world would we want to do that? We just came from back there. It made no sense whatsoever. Listen, I think, you know, when we If you've been a Christian as long as I, if you've been a Christian any amount of time, then I think that what we come to understand and realize as we've watched God move and work in our life, is that we see how God's done things, how God's moved and worked in our life over the years. And we look back and we say, wow, you know what, that's just amazing what God did there, and that's amazing what God did there. I never saw this coming, and I never would in a million years would ever thought that that would ever happen. And I would have never in a million years ever thought that God would come through like this, or that God would work that out, or that God would provide this, or that God would do that. And so we have to, I think, in our Christian lives, realize that because we serve a God that can do the impossible, that listen, we need to always be ready and prepared for anything, even the things that don't make any sense. Listen, I think if we try to start making sense out of the miracles that God gives us, I mean, listen, if it's a miracle, how can you make sense out of it? How can you make sense out of a miracle? That's one reason why it's a miracle, because you can't explain it. The only explanation is God. I mean, we think about all the things that God's done for men throughout the scriptures. I mean, we think about what God's done for men and women alike throughout the Bible. I mean, how amazing that it is. I mean, has a raven ever brought you food by the brook? You say, well, that don't make no sense. No, it don't. But God did it. Amen? God did it. Listen, it don't have to make sense. God did it anyway. I'm telling you, God can do some amazing things. You say, well, Joshua prayed and asked God to stop the sun, and God put his finger on it and stopped it. You say, that don't make any sense. No, it don't. But you know what? That sun belongs to God. God made it, and He can do with it what He wants to do with it. And if He desires to stop it for any amount of time He wants, then He'll do it. Hezekiah, there he was, he was dying, there he was looking over at the wall, and he was praying, he was crying, and next thing you know, the prophet comes back in and says, hey, I've got good news for you. God heard your prayer, God saw your tears from heaven, and you know what? He's decided to give you 15 more years. You say, that don't make no sense. Maybe not to a man. That's the God that we serve. He does things that don't make sense to people sometimes. Amen. So what we have to do is, I think, in the midst of our surrender, is understand that God's gonna do some things to us that don't make no sense. And if we try to make sense of everything that God tries to do, we're gonna probably miss out on the miracle of it all. The miracle of it all. That sometimes God moves in our life and does things that make no sense. You ever, how many of you here tonight can think about some moments or times in your life where you've seen God move and do some things that in your mind you're sitting there thinking, you just sit there and you just shake your head tonight and you're just like, wow, I can't believe it. all of you probably here tonight. You've seen God do some things and you just sit there and you shake your head and you're just like, wow, only God could do that. Only God can move here. Only God could provide that. Only God could do this. Every single one of us tonight, we have something that we can say. And I think one of the things that we need to do is whenever we surrender to God is not only are we willing to surrender our ship, that we're willing to surrender our whole self, our whole livelihood, everything that means something to us, that we're willing to surrender all that to Him. Not only are we willing to surrender that, but I think we need to be willing to surrender our sins and to say, you know what, if God's calling me to do something, or if God's asking me to do something, or if God's leading me to do something, then what I need to do is, is I need to make sure that I step out of the way and I just let God do His thing and I try not to make sense out of everything all the time. Amen? And let God be God. What does the Bible say? Be still and be still and know that I'm God. You know, sometimes that's what we just need to do. We just need to be still and just let God be God and let God do His thing. And so we need to surrender our sense. And there in verse five, it didn't make any sense to Simon and Peter to go back out So he said, Simon, answer, and he said unto him, Master, we've toiled all the night, we've worked, we've labored, we've strived, we've been out there, and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word, you see that? He says, you know what, God, because you said to do it. It don't make no sense, but because you said to. It don't make any sense, but because, Lord, because you told me to go out there, I'll do it. Nevertheless, at thy word, I'll let down the net. I mean, that's a tremendous statement from a man who's, from a man who is from this fisherman background who hasn't at this point really come to know Christ in a tremendous way yet. I mean, this guy was, you know, we see throughout the scriptures, I'm not hard on Peter. Listen, Peter's a great example of all of us tonight. I'm not being hard on Peter. I'm just saying he was a little bit rough around the edges sometimes. But listen, hey, aren't we all? Hey, sometimes, hey, we all are a work in progress, right? All of us here tonight, we a little rough around the edges and need to kind of be beaten, patted on a little bit. And that's the kind of man that Peter was. But we can see that this man, he was willing, Lord, because you said to do it, I'll do it. And so he surrendered his sins and said, God, I'm going to give it to you. Lord, you know what you're doing. Nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down the net. When we get to this place in our life and we're willing to surrender our sins and say, God, I don't understand it, but it looks like you're trying to do something, looks like you're trying to work something, so I'm just gonna step out of the way and let you move and let you work. When we get to that point, when we get to that place in our life, man, we just may be ready to see God just do something great, I mean, do something tremendous. There in verse six, what happened whenever he surrendered his ship and whenever he surrendered his sins, what happened? The Bible says there in verse six, The Bible says, and when, you see that word when there? See, I circled it in my Bible because that means a moment of time. And in that moment of time, when he made this decision, when they had this done. You see, that's what I want you to focus on in that verse. When they had this done, when they did what God asked them to do, then this happened. Does that make sense? Their blessing was contingent upon their obedience. Their blessing was contingent upon their faith. Their blessing was contingent upon the belief that they would have that Jesus knew what he was talking about. And so what they did there in verse six, the Bible says, when they had this done, They enclosed a great multitude of fishes in their net break. I tell you, that is a fishing trip, I guarantee it, none of them ever forgot. You ever went out and caught so many fish that you didn't have any more room to put in the cooler? I mean, maybe some of you have, I don't know. Have you ever caught so many fish that the boat you was on was getting ready to sink? Let me put it that way. I never have. I've never caught so many fish. I went fishing on, we went out of town Thursday and Friday. We came back Saturday, and I went out fishing on that Thursday night, and we was down by the river, and I was there, and I was fishing, and I was like, all right, I'm gonna go catfishing, because I love catfishing. I ain't been catfishing a long time. I said, all right, I'm ready to catch me some catfish. And I had everything set up, everything ready, had my rods out, and I was sitting there, lights on, everything's going. and I'm watching my rods, and I'm looking at them. Boy, I am ready to roll. And here I am, I'm looking at them, and I see this rod pop over here, and I say, because I have to fish with several rods. I'm not a one-rod type of guy. And so I like the action going. And so I got rods everywhere, and I'm looking at them, I'm looking at them. This one's popping, this one's popping. And I don't get anything. So I'm starting to get a little discouraged. Well, next thing you know, one of my rods go down. I grab a hold of it, and I reel in, and it's a turtle. I'm like, you got to be kidding, a turtle. So we get the hook out of the turtle, and he's running around all over the deck. I mean, he's running around everywhere. The kids are running around trying to get the turtle. Finally get the turtle. But I have never caught so many fish that the boat sank. I've never caught so many fish that was anything ever even comparable to this. But I'm just telling you this. It just goes to show you, just goes to show you that nobody can beat the blessings of God. Nobody can beat the blessings of God. I mean, you can be the greatest sea captain. You can know where all the reefs are. You can know where all the holes are. You can know where all the points are. You can know where all these things are. You can use the best bait that's known to man to go out there. You can know the activity of the fish and everything else that there is to know about them. But I tell you what, nobody can beat the blessings of God. Nobody. You remember whenever Simon Peter, I think the Lord liked to use fishing stuff with him because all throughout the Gospels we see the Lord using him to go fishing. You remember whenever Simon Peter and the other guys, a couple of the guys, they were standing there and they had to pay the temple tax. They didn't have any money to pay the temple tax. And so he looks at him and says, all right Lord, so what are we gonna do? We gotta pay the temple tax. He says, I'll tell you what you do. He says, go down to the sea and cast in a hook. And the fish stick you bring up will have a coin in his mouth. Take that fish and pay the temple tax with it. Now isn't that something? You ever caught a fish that had money in his mouth? I ain't never caught one. I've caught some fish that had some ugly weird looking things in his mouth, but I've never caught a fish that had money in his mouth. And so what does Simon Peter do? He goes down there. Can you imagine? Hey, listen, the whole time he's on his way down there thinking about, all right, I'm going to catch a fish, and this fish that I bring up is going to have money in his mouth. You think to yourself, this doesn't make any sense. I wonder if he started thinking back to this moment right here. I've done some things that didn't make no sense before. I've been in some positions where things didn't really make any sense before, and so you know, hey, why not do what the Lord said to do? And so he goes down there, he throws his rod in, and he brings the fish up, and the fish has a coin in his mouth, and he comes back, and he pays the temple tax with it. Just goes to show you, God knows how to take care of His people. God knows what He's doing. Listen, God can, God, how do we know God didn't just call, I mean, because that's not natural, okay? That's not natural for a fish just to come up with money in his mouth. I don't know about y'all, but that's not a natural thing. That's a supernatural deal, is that for a fish to come up with money in his mouth. And what I'm trying to get you to see tonight is we gotta stop always trying to make sense out of the things that God does and just see the, listen, we just say God, it's God, it's the Lord. I mean, why try to explain away the awesome things that God does? Listen, because the things that God does is so awesome, there's not even any words to describe how great that it is and how awesome that it is. I tell you what, we want to appeal to a lost and dying world. They need to see and understand just how awesome that our Lord is. And so there in verse five, he said, they've been out there all night, but we'll let down the net anyway. And the Bible says there in verse six, and when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes and their net break. And so there they were having the time of their life, probably perhaps caught more fish than ever caught. Their nets were breaking. The ships were about to sink. And here they are wondering, what are we gonna do? How are we gonna get all these fish back to the shore? We've never seen anything like this. We've never done anything like this. And listen, why were they able to experience that? Because there was this moment when we see there and when we see there in verse 6 that word win When they had this done the reason why they were able to see something never saw they were able to experience something and never Experienced the reason why they were able to have this tremendous blessing upon their life was because there came this moment where they had to decide that I'm gonna trust God even though I don't even though it don't make any sense and Even though I can't explain it, even though I can't put my finger on why, we're just gonna trust God and we're just gonna do it. And the Lord came through and he blessed, and the Bible says it was such a great multitude of fish. that their nets began to break. Listen, I'll tell you what, if there was ever an idol that any of our young folks, or even us tonight, need to look up to, that's the Lord Jesus. I mean, I know we got this show that comes on TV, The American Idol, or whatever, you know, or whatever's got talent. America's got talent, Britain's got talent, whatever it is. But I tell you what, you wanna know somebody that's got some talent? Somebody that can call a fish to come over there and have money in his mouth. That's somebody that's got some talent. You wanna know who the best idol in the whole world is? That is the Lord Jesus Christ, because who can make a man out of dirt? except for the Lord. Who can cause the land, the dry land, to rise up out of the seas? Who can create the sun and the stars and all those things in a day? Who can do all that? I mean, on day one, the Lord Jesus said, let there be light. The Bible says there was light. And He didn't even create the sun and the stars till day four. He said, what in the world, what was the light? The Lord Jesus was the light. And the Lord took care of it all. And He made sure that everything run just like it needed to until He created the sun and the moon and the stars. Hey, the Bible says in heaven there ain't no need for the sun because the glory of the Lord lights it up. Amen? That's exactly right. Listen, you want to know somebody who's the American idol, who should be the idol of the world? It's the Lord. Our young folks need to hear this stuff because they need to understand that we serve a great God tonight. And we need to be encouraged in our hearts because whenever we get in situations where things don't make sense and we feel like we've been working and toiling and all this kind of stuff and we're about ready to quit and give up and throw in the towel because we ain't done anything, ain't caught nothing, ain't got nothing to show for what we've been doing. And then God comes along and reminds us that we need to trust him, we need to make sure that we listen to it. Bible says when they, there in verse 6, when they had done this, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes in their net break. So not only was he willing to surrender his ship, not only was he willing to surrender his sense, but we move on down a little further, verse 7, the Bible says, 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. I mean, you gotta put yourself on the boat. I mean, just think about it. I mean, don't just read the story, but put yourself on the boat. I mean, here they are. There's so many fish. I mean, the nets are about to break. Hey, y'all need to come on over here. We're about to sink. We're about to lose everything we got. The other ship comes over and now they got two ships that are filled up with fish and both of them are about to sink because there's so many fish. It's like you want to be a fly on the wall that day. You ever said, man, I sure would like to have been a fly on the wall whenever that happened. Can you imagine being a fly on a wall that day on one of those boats and see these men frantic, running here, running there. Man, they probably just shouting and smiling and glorifying and everything else and here they are doing everything they can to get this blessed load of fish back to the shore. They can't explain it. They don't know what in the world happened. They've been out there all night tolling and they can't explain it. All they can do is just give glory to the Lord. And the Bible says they're hollering for their friends to come over and help them. Man, what a blessing. And they came and they filled both the ships so that they began to sink. And you say, why did that happen? Well, it all began first and foremost with a surrender. There had to have been a surrender at some point. And until we're willing to surrender, until we're willing to surrender in our life, it's gonna be very difficult for us to see God do some tremendous things like this. Until we're willing to surrender our vessels, until we're willing to surrender the things that mean the most to us, willing to surrender what we consider valuable in our life. When we surrender these things over to the Lord, and we surrender our will, and we surrender our sins, and we surrender ourselves over to God, Then we begin to see God move, and we begin to see God do some tremendous things. You know why? Because when we surrender, you know what that means? That means we're exhibiting faith. And without faith, it's what? Impossible to please God. It's impossible to please God. So when we're willing to surrender, we're saying, all right, God, you're in control. And if we're saying, all right, God, you're in control, that means we're relinquishing ourselves over to the Lord. We're saying, God, I trust you. God, I put my faith in you. You know what you're doing. And until we do that, it's going to be impossible to please Him. And He shows us there in verse 7, They came, filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. But notice also, too, as a side note, that Simon's obedience wasn't just a blessing to him, it was a blessing to everybody else, too. Man, everybody else was able to enjoy the blessings, too. Simon's obedience wasn't just a blessing to him. It was a blessing to everybody. Everybody was able to enjoy the things that was going on. Everybody was able to enjoy how God was blessing. There in verse eight, the Bible says, and we'll get to our next truth, there in verse eight, when all this happened, the Bible says, when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, depart from me, for I am a sinful man, oh Lord. And whenever he saw how God began to move, when he saw what God began to do, he thought to himself, I imagine, man, the only person that can do this is the son of God himself. What this man said, who he said he was, he actually is. And so he falls down on his knees in complete, total surrender to an almighty God because he knew there was no way possible that anybody else could have ever done what just happened. And he knew that he was in the presence of glory. He knew that he was in the presence of power. And when he realized that and he understood that, he fell down on his knees and admitted that he himself was not worthy to even be in his presence. And he says, Lord, depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. Now, Lord there meaning Messiah. He's seeing Christ for who he is. And as he sees Christ for who he is, he sees himself as the wretched sinner and knows that he doesn't deserve to be in the presence of such holiness. And there in verse 7 or verse 8, one of the things we're going to see is not only did we need to surrender our ship, not only did we need to surrender our sins, but also surrendering our sin. Because listen, there's a lot of people out there tonight that won't surrender because they just enjoy their sin. They won't get saved because they enjoy their sin. They don't wanna hear the truth because they're saying, I told you the other day, whenever I was preaching about the man that I walked from my office all the way out there to the parking lot. And I had the answer that he was looking for right here in the Bible. And I said, listen, the questions that you are asking me, listen, it's all right here. All you have to do is look. He said, well, this ain't in the Bible and this ain't in the Bible. And I said, well, sure it is. And so I opened right up to the scripture and I turned it around and I said, all you got to do is just look at it and see for yourself. The answer that you seek is right here. But he wouldn't look at it. Wouldn't look at it. The devil was doing everything he can to turn him away from what the truth was. And he walked away from what the truth was. What a shame. And this guy, he was just, he was in so much stuff. He told me, he said, he said, he said, preacher, the Bible don't say it's wrong to drink. The Bible don't say nothing wrong. Excuse me, what'd you say? Well, the Bible don't say it's wrong to do drugs. He said, you know what, Virginia's now, Virginia says now that you can grow four pot plants, and so I figured, you know, I believe in God, so I figured if I'd be right with God, I'll grow four for me, and I'll grow four for God. That's what he told me. I'll grow four for me, and I'll grow four for the Lord. I was like, are you kidding me? Yeah, I can go on as much as I want, but it's just not worthy right now. But I'm just telling you, Simon Peter saw himself for who he was, and he saw the Lord that was in front of him, and he understood that he was in the presence of majesty, that he was in the presence of the Son of God, and he was willing, he says, depart from me from a sinful man, oh Lord. I don't know about you. I'm glad that Simon saw what he was and who he was, but I sure am glad that God didn't depart from him. Amen? I sure am glad that God didn't just leave him where he was. God was willing to help him. God was willing to spend some time with him. The Lord was willing to work on him. Aren't you glad God's willing to work on you tonight? Listen, sometimes when God works on us, it can be a little easy, and sometimes it can be a little difficult, because sometimes we can be a little stubborn because we're not willing to surrender. but we see that he was willing to surrender. Oh wow, I'm way over, okay. The Bible says there in verse 8, When Simon Peter saw what he fell down at Jesus' feet, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord, be willing to surrender your sin. Surrender your sin. I mean, what is it that's keeping people from coming to Christ? I mean, all different kinds of things. All different kinds of sins. Listen, the devil, the devil, the Bible says he roams about seeking whom he may devour. And he's doing everything he can to put as many chains and locks and bound as many people in all different kinds of sin as possible because he doesn't want them to get to this point to where they fall down on their knees in front of an almighty God and ask for salvation. So there in verse 8, all want us to see a surrender of our sin. When we get down on our knees before God, we acknowledge who we are. In verse nine, the Bible says, for he was astonished, talking about Peter, he was astonished, and all that were with him at the draw 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, for henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they had brought their ships to the land, they forsook all and followed him. And there in verse 11, I want us to see that we need to surrender our service. Surrender our service. Surrender ourselves. Surrender our service. There in verse 11 we see these men, they were fishermen by trade. But when Jesus called them, they were willing to surrender everything for Him. The Bible says there in verse 11, And when they had brought their ships to the land, they forsook all and followed Him. You know what? Those boats, those ships didn't mean that much anymore. When they saw the Lord Jesus, when they saw that He was the Son of God, when they gave themselves over to Him, when they surrendered themselves over to Christ, that began to look at everything else that they considered valuable and didn't consider it valuable at all. Isn't that something? You know, sometimes we get this frame, well, this is valuable, and this is valuable, and we have our valuables. But whenever we think about, really, when the Lord Jesus says, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, and we really begin to think about the kingdom of God, and we really begin to think about, put everything in perspective, we put eternity in perspective, we begin to look at everything else and say, you know what, all this stuff, that's all it is. It's just stuff. It's all it is, is just stuff. Because one of these days, you know what's gonna happen? We're gonna die, if the Lord Jesus don't come back, and you know what's gonna happen? They're gonna have what they call a yard sale. And people's going to buy your stuff that you consider valuable. Because your family's going to look at it and they're going to say, I don't want this junk. I'm just being serious. Listen, there's some things they're going to consider valuable. I get it. I'm not talking about that stuff. I'm just saying, all these things that we consider valuable in our life, really, ultimately, it's nothing but dust. That's all it is. It's nothing. What's really going to matter when it's all said and done and over with is when we stand before the Lord and we enter into His presence, and we just see everything that the Lord has for us. That's what's really going to matter. I told you this before about John Wesley, and we'll close this up. Many years, many, many years ago, John Wesley, the old Methodist preacher, a long time ago, whenever he died, he died, from what I understand, he died with the cloak that he wore to preach on, that he wore to preach with, and it was wore out. He died with that. He had a handful of books, and he had six silver spoons, and he had six notes. Notes meaning money. And when he died, he said, give each one of these to the pallbearers. It takes me to my grave. And that's what he gave them. That's all that he had. That's all that John Wesley had when he died. He had a handful of books, a cloak, worn out cloak that he wore, that he preached in all over the place. Six silver spoons. and six notes to give to each man that took him to his grave. You say, man, he didn't have nothing. Well, I guess that's perspective. You know what he started? The Methodist Church. You know what he used his money for? He used his money to start orphanages. He used his money to start schools and colleges. He used his money to fund missionaries to go around the world. That's what he used his money for. You know what he had in his mind? All this is just stuff. You know what he was doing? Laying up treasures in heaven. He had this mind now that, you know what, what's the point in me serving this world? My main service is to serve God and to reach as many people for the kingdom as possible. And that's what we see Simon did. Man, I tell you what, he loved his boat. That's how he made his living. That was valuable to him. But he was ready to surrender it over to God And whenever he saw, when he finally saw who the Lord was, that He wasn't just a man and that He wasn't just a teacher, that He was the Son of God Himself, he began to look around at everything that he thought was valuable and said, this is nothing but junk. I'm going to follow the Lord. And he saw what he found more valuable. He found it more valuable to follow God, leaving everything behind, than he did everything that he thought was valuable just a few minutes ago. Does that make sense? His whole world changed just like that. And I'm just trying to get us all to see tonight, God can change our life just like that. But are we willing to surrender it to him? Willing to surrender. Let's pray tonight. Father, we thank you so much for your blessings today. Lord, I pray that you would help us to have a surrendering heart. Lord, I pray tonight that that all of us would just examine our own selves and look at our own hearts and say, Lord, what is it about me that you would like to use? Lord, is it my mind, my hands, my feet, my talents, my abilities? Is it something that I may have? Is it something I possess, God, that you've given to me? Lord, what is it? Is it my service, God? What do you desire from me? God, I'm willing to surrender to you tonight. Lord, I pray that you would help me to have this kind of heart. Lord, I pray that you'd help me to be heavenly focused. Lord, that you would help me to continue to think about eternity because that's what means more than anything. As the piano plays tonight, you just examine your own heart. You just find your own place with God tonight and just say, Lord, would you speak to me this evening? God, I wanna hear from you. I'm willing tonight to surrender myself. I give myself over to you. Lord, I'm willing to see. God, I want to see tonight what you would like to do through me. God, what would you like to use me for? In just a few short verses, we saw the Lord Jesus go from a man to a master teacher to a Messiah in eight verses. Peter saw that Jesus wasn't just a man, but that He was the Son of God and worthy to surrender His life over to Him. I encourage all of us here tonight just to spend time with the Lord before we leave and just to say, Lord, I surrender myself to You. Use me how You need to use me, whatever that may be. I want you to finish up the song. Let God speak to your heart. If you want to come up to the altar and pray, if you aren't willing to do so, if it's a matter of salvation and you need to surrender your life to Christ, I encourage you to come. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. What a blessing. Thank you so much for playing that. It is well with my soul, amen? Amen, alright. Well, let's be dismissed in prayer tonight.