You turn again in your Bibles to Luke's Gospel and to chapter 5. Luke's Gospel, chapter 5, we'll look at the verses we read from this chapter, verses 1 to 11. This account of our Lord and his disciples and of this great haul of fish. And it came to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret and saw two ships standing by the lake. But the fishermen were gone out of them and were washing their nets. Now this account is very similar to another account that we have in the gospel following the resurrection of the Lord. when he appeared to his disciples at the shores of the lake. And he called to them and asked them if they had any fish. And they had no fish. And he told them to let down their net on the other side of the boat. And they did so, and brought in a great haul of fish. And they were amazed. And when they realized it was our Lord who spoke to them from the shore, Simon Peter, he jumped out of the boat because it was in shallow water. And he made his way to the shore and there the Lord, there was a fire he had prepared and there was food on it. And he comforted his disciples. So similar and yet a distinct account from what we have here. There was a great crowd who were excited to hear our Lord. And we're told they pressed upon him so they might hear what he had to say. And the crowd pressed upon him so much that so he could better speak to them, he asked Simon, whose boat was nearby, to put his boat out into the water. And he gets into the boat, and we're told our Lord sat down and spoke out to the boat to the people who were upon his shore. Of course, Simon Peter would be in the boat to steady it, to keep it in place. And so our Lord spoke to the people. Now this, we're told, happened at the Lake of Gennesaret. Now the Lake of Gennesaret is better known by the name of the Sea of Galilee, but sometimes it's called the Lake of Tiberias. And maybe you're thinking to yourself, why these different names? But there's simply, Galilee is the region, and it was a sea that was in Galilee. It was a freshwater lake, but it was called a sea. But there are different regions around the shores. And so the region of Gennesaret, there's the region of Tiberias. And so the disciples, or as they write in the Gospels, would use these different names accordingly. You could speak about being down at the shore in Ardelf. You could speak about being down at the shore at Dorney. Now, there's not a huge distance between these points. It's the same piece of water. But there they were. And what does this teach us? What's the purpose of this? Because it's interesting. Here is our Lord, and He is speaking to the crowd, and the crowd are excited to hear Him, and they press in so that He has to step back onto the water, sitting in a boat, and yet we're not told what He said. Our Lord is preaching, and yet the record doesn't tell us what it is that He said. It doesn't tell us anything other than the fact that this happened, but the focus is upon what happened afterward. Because after he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, go out into the deep and catch fish. Well, what has been shown us here? Well, surely what has been shown is this, it's the power of Jesus Christ. It's the power of Jesus Christ as we see Him in His authority, giving this great catch of fish to the fishermen. Now, the power of our Lord has already been revealed. We've already considered that in the previous sections. That's part of why we read in chapter four before, we saw there his power over the man who had the unclean spirit. We saw his power over Simon's mother-in-law who was taken with a great fever. We hear his authority as he speaks to the people and they recognize he does not speak like anyone else. But here, we're shown His power over all creation. Beginning of the service, we sang in Psalm 8. And the Epistles of the Hebrews tells us that Psalm 8 speaks about the Lord Jesus Christ. And that Psalm speaks about the dominion which God has given to man, particularly this man. fowls of the air, fish of the sea, all that pass through the Seine. And here we see His dominion over the fish of the sea, because they let down their luck net, and there is this great catch. You know, the power of our Lord is not always demonstrated in dramatic events. It was dramatic when the man with the unclean spirit was healed and the unclean spirit cast him down and came out. There was something dramatic in Simon's mother-in-law who was taken with a great fever, and yet immediately she was able to get up and to serve and to cater for them. But here, we simply see his control and his authority. There'll be many times when you've expended much energy and yet you've achieved nothing. Just like the disciples, they'd fished all night and they'd taken nothing. It wasn't they'd fished all night and they had a small catch. They'd fished all night and they'd taken nothing. But there's no redundancy in the Lord Jesus Christ, is there? There's absolute power. He has power to accomplish. He said, let down your nets for a catch. And so they let down their nets, and there was a catch. The very simple, straightforward power and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is a power which is without the expending of effort. There's no movement, it's simply an act of will. The Savior said, you will catch, and they let down their nets, and they caught. There was nothing speculative about this catch. That's often, when we say we're going fishing, what we mean is we're going with the hope that we might catch fish. But like the disciples, maybe many times, you've gone fishing and you've come back and you've not caught anything. The Lord doesn't say, go and see if you might catch. He says, but go and catch. And this is remarkable because the fishing takes place at the wrong time in the wrong circumstances. You know, the best fishing was at night and the best fishing was in the shallow water. And the disciples have fished all night the right way at the right time, and have taken nothing. There's no fish about. And yet the Lord says, go out into the deep. This is now in the middle of the day, and catch fish. And we're all familiar with images of industrialized fishing, the great haul that is brought in from trawlers out in the deep. But that is not what they were familiar with. These nets weren't designed for this catch. These boats weren't designed for this. We're told the nets broke. That doesn't mean that they absolutely tore and the fish escaped, but rather the fibers in the nets, they could hear them breaking. They brought in so many fish that they had to call for a second boat. And then the second boat and the first boat together both begun to sink. This was overwhelming. This was terrifying. The power of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I believe the purpose we're showing this here is to take our attention to those, the response of those who hear them, and particularly to that of the disciples. is really to introduce us to the disciples. We've seen, as we've studied through this gospel, who Jesus Christ is. He is the Son of God. He is the one who is from everlasting, and yet his condescension to be born under the law in all the poverty, to live amongst us, to stand with sinners, to be counted as though he were a sinner. We've been introduced to who he is and what he is, but now we're being introduced to something about his disciples. So the first point is the power of Jesus Christ, and the second point is the people of Jesus Christ. Because we're told in verse eight, when Simon Peter saw it, when he saw the great catch of fish, he fell down at Jesus' knees saying, depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. That's the principle thing that we're shown about the disciples, about the people of the Lord, that they're sinners. This man is taken with an overwhelming sense of his own unworthiness. He fell down upon his knees. There's a parallel, really, with what we have in the prophet Isaiah. You remember the prophet Isaiah at the beginning of his ministry, that he saw a vision of the Lord in the temple and the greatness of the Lord. And we're told of the angels that surrounded the Lord upon the throne. And the angels veiled their faces, crying, holy, holy, holy. And Isaiah fell in terror and said, I'm not worthy. Peter says, depart from me, O Lord. And maybe you can understand how such a vision would have such an impact upon Isaiah. And maybe you wonder slightly why a catch of fish would have such an impact upon Peter. Well, it's not the fish particularly. It is the fish, we're told, when he saw it, when he saw the great catch of fish, that he fell down at Jesus' feet. But it wasn't the catch of fish so much as it was the realization that this one who knows the depths of the sea also knows the depths of the heart. He falls to his knees and he confesses, he says, I'm a sinful man, oh Lord. Do you know the sin that Peter was most conscious of? It was the sin of unbelief. It was the sin of arrogance and pride. You see, what had happened in the preceding verses, when the Lord said to Simon, at the end of his preaching, he said, launch out into the deep and let down your net to catch fish. Simon answered and said, Master, We've toiled all the night and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down the net." You see, Simon had complied. He'd done as he was asked to do. He'd complied, but he hadn't acted with conviction. In fact, Even in the way he was speaking, he was already preparing his excuses. He was saying, I've fished all night. There's no fish to be had. But I'll do what you say. We'll do it your way. Well, that's OK. But he knew better. He was a fisherman. He understood what was going on. He knew better. And so he lets down the net, singular. Our Lord said, let down your nets, plural. He goes through the motions. He complies with what's required of him, but he doesn't believe. This is a man who's acting in faith and confidence. He doesn't contradict our Lord, There's an implied criticism. There's an implied objection. No enthusiasm, no expectation. You might say it's a formalism. It's not faith. It's mechanical. He's going through emotions. I wonder if you know anything about that, friends. Formalism, not faith. Mechanical compliance. Going through the motions. Perhaps that describes your approach to church this morning. Here you are, and that's good. But really, are you here expectantly? Are you here enthusiastically? Are you here full of faith, knowing that we gather in the presence of God with the word of life? Or are you just doing what you do because that's what you're expected to do, because that's what you always do? Peter falls at his knees in the presence of the Lord as he realizes how foolish he has been. This revelation of the power of the Lord shakes him to his core because he's confronted with himself. There's a tragic irony. The people pressed upon our Lord to hear him speak. There was an excitement and an expectation in the multitude. And yet there's Peter, one of the disciples, and he knows better. Luke doesn't emphasize this, but if you compare the four gospel accounts, you see that Simon Peter, Simon Peter, he was first called to be a disciple, not at the shores of the lake, but by the River Jordan. He'd been a disciple of John the Baptist first. And when Jesus was baptized, John says to his disciples, this is the Lamb of God. And they began to follow Jesus. So you read about that in the gospel of John. And then in the gospel of Matthew and Mark, we're told of another time when the Lord came to these men who were fishermen, and they were fishing, or they had been fishing, and he says, follow me. I will make you fishers of men. In chapter four, you remember, our Lord went to Simon's home, and he healed his mother-in-law, who was sick with a great fever. So here's a man, and he is a follower of the Lord. He is a man, and he has committed himself to follow the Lord. Here is a man, and he knows the Lord. He's seen his power. He's heard his word. And yet, when it comes to this, he knows better. Do you know why he knows better or he thought he knew better? It's because he's a fisherman. It's because this is where he's strong. This is what he's good at. How easy it is to think that there are areas of our lives where we know better than God. How easy it is to go through the motion and to forget the power and authority of God. You know, this passage isn't so much about an initial call. It's not so much about conversion, you would say, but rather, consecration. This is about our Lord calling his disciples to a greater commitment, a greater following, a greater service. And how does that happen? Well, there's a twofold aspect. There's the revelation of the Lord's power, but there's the revelation of oneself. Peter looks at these fish and he sees himself. not himself as the fisherman, but himself as the fool who thought he knew better than God." What a gentle, generous rebuke. Commercially, he's hit the jackpot, but that's not what he's interested in. Rather, there's gentle, generous rebuke. The majesty of the Lord reveals the smallness and the hardness of his own heart. And he falls on his knees. He doesn't depart from the Lord. Peter doesn't depart. He says, Lord, depart from me. He's not wanting the Lord to depart, but what he's saying is, I'm not worthy. I can't stand in your presence. There's a change. In verse 5, when the Lord said, let down your necks for a catch, he said, Master, we have toiled all night. In verse 8, when he saw the catch, he fell down at Jesus' knees saying, depart from me for I'm a sinful man, O Lord. And there's a big difference between these terms, master and Lord. Jesus was the master, he was the teacher, but he was a teacher in his own distinct areas. Whereas Peter had his own distinct areas, fishing being one of them. But now he confesses Lord, Lord over all. Now, the account we have here, of course, is unique to Simon Peter and his friends who were with him, James and John. But there are enduring principles. This isn't provided simply for your information. This is given for your instruction. In fact, you might say that this is an inquiry, really. The question is, and what of you? when you consider the power of the Lord? Do you submit to Him? Do you follow humbly, obediently, cheerfully? Do you come expectantly and enthusiastically? Are you faithful or is it a formality? Is it more compliance? Because these men were sent to be fishers of men. But they were sent really as the church. It's not simply these men as individuals, but this is the Lord dealing with His church. These individuals are the disciples who will be the apostles. And the Lord sends His church out. This foreshadows the Great Commission to be fishers of men. Think of the words of the Great Commission. There's a revelation of the greatness of God or a declaration of the greatness of God, just as there's a declaration or revelation here through the catch of fish. And then there's the instruction to go. All power is given unto me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. So as we're speaking here about the people of the Lord Jesus Christ, what I want you to notice most of all, that the people of the Lord Jesus Christ are those who are sinners. Sinners, called, commissioned, but still sinners. and sent out while they're still sinners. Peter falls to his knees and he says, depart from me, for I'm a sinful man. And the Lord says to this sinful man, go and be a fisher of men. He doesn't say you're not a sinner. He doesn't say, you're right, you're a sinner, don't go. But the Lord says to this self-consciously sinful man, go out and be a fisher of men. Just as he says to the disciples with the Great Commission at the end of the Gospel account, those men who are conscious of their inability, he says, all power is given to me, so therefore you go. Not all power is given to you. His power, His people, and His people to go forth according to His power. There's still a lot to be done in Peter. And you know from the gospel account how many of his flaws are highlighted. That self-confidence. He's impetuous, isn't he? He speaks and thinks afterwards. He gets himself into trouble. He means well, but he doesn't do well. There's not much to be done in him. And yet, what great things are done through him. An apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, a mighty preacher of the gospel. Now friends, don't fear to commit yourself and all your brokenness to the Lord. For the Lord is able to take that which is broken and to use it mightily. To take earthen vessels, jars of clay and to fill them with treasure. but we have the power of Jesus Christ and we have the people of Jesus Christ. The thirdly, I want you to notice the promise of Jesus Christ. Verse 10, Jesus said unto Simon, fear not for or from henceforth thou shalt catch men. It's a promise. Fear not, for henceforth thou shalt catch men. What's the clear implication? It is this, that the Lord will give success, that the Lord will bless the labors, that the Lord will bring in a catch, a harvest. There will be those who shall be brought in to the gospel net, just as surely as these fish were caught when the net was let down. So when the gospel is proclaimed, there will be men and women and boys and girls who are brought to see and to trust in Jesus Christ to come to God. to cry out seeking for mercy and finding mercy, who will be born again, who will be transformed through the renewing of their minds. And perhaps, even in the most unlikely places, contrary to all expectation, through the prophet Zechariah, The Lord says, not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit. Not by might, not by the might of man, not by the power of the people, but by my Spirit. The might and the power of God himself, the one who works through the weakest of instruments. perhaps even in the most unexpected places, perhaps even more so from the unexpected places. Do you see that in the history of the church? Because of course, as the apostles went with the gospel following the resurrection, They were rejected. They went to the Jewish people, first and foremost, to those who were anticipating Messiah coming, and they told them Messiah had come and fulfilled all righteousness, and they drove them out. And so instead they spoke to the Gentiles. They spoke to the Gentiles. They went to the heathens, the barbarians, those who knew nothing, to the ends of the earth. And what did we see? You see, the Lord is built and is building his church, generation after generation. The promise of the Lord Jesus Christ is that of an abundant fullness. Remember how it was spoken to Abraham. He was told to look up and to see the stars in the sky in the night. He was told, descendants who would be greater than that number, or greater than the number of the grains of sand upon the seashore. I wasn't physical descendants, but rather it's speaking about spiritual descendants, it's speaking about the people of God, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Fear not, for henceforth thou shalt catch men. Therefore, you and I, we should be optimistic. We should be expectant. There should be no cold formality about our worship and service for God. There should be nothing thoughtlessly mechanical. It says in Psalm 127, except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. But the Lord is building the house, and the Lord is watching the city. And so we are to labor enthusiastically, expectantly. The Lord sends out his church, and that means you, That means you, all you who trust in Him, all you are called to follow Him, are sent out by Him to be His servants in His world, to make known His gospel. And He will bless the ministry of His church. That doesn't mean that every sermon will bring conversions. That doesn't mean that every congregation will see increase. But what it means is that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. And every believer has a part in that great ministry, in that great work. And I can't put it all together and say exactly the significance of everything that's given to you to do is, but I know this, that we have a revelation here of the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're showing the people of the Lord Jesus Christ, unable in and of themselves, foolish and failing. And yet we have the promise of the Lord Jesus Christ that through these people, He will exercise His power and He will bring in this great number. He will save. He will deliver. Yes, there may be times when it doesn't look promising, when you're out in the deep water and the sun is shining brightly, and everyone knows there's no fish to be caught. There may be times when it doesn't look promising, when no one goes to church anymore, and everyone thinks you're foolish for doing so, and people mock and scoff, and all the voices of all the great people of the earth have no time for the things of God. but he says to you and he says to me, go out with my word. He says, follow me. He says, honor me, serve me, trust me, cry out to me. You know, the Lord may work despite you, but wouldn't you rather be part of what the Lord is doing? The Lord is not dependent upon you, but don't you want to be involved in what God is doing? You don't want to be passed by. You don't want to be left behind. Do you know cold compliance is but a step from non-compliance? It's a great danger. that if you slip into formality and just go through the motions, before you know it, you'll stop doing that even. It's not enough just to go through the motions. You must remind yourself who he is and what he's doing. Yes, in the midst of that, you're often showing yourself, and that may bring you to despair. That may discourage you greatly. but confess that reality, but concentrate upon who He is. Depart from me for I'm a sinful man, O Lord. That's who He is, He's the Lord, your Lord and my Lord, the Lord who knows what He's doing. You know, impossible work is possible because of who Jesus is. Impossible work is possible because of who Jesus is. The power of Jesus Christ, the people of Jesus Christ, and the promise of Jesus Christ. And after the resurrection, on the shores of this same lake, Our Lord stood and called again to the disciples out on the boat, and again gave the disciples a great catch of fish. It overwhelmed them. Saint Peter couldn't wait to bring the boat back, but he jumped out of the boat. He came to the shore where Jesus was. You see His grace and His mercy, His patience. How many times were they called? They were called there when they were with John the Baptist. They were called that time that Matthew and Mark records as Jesus was walking past as they were washing their nets. They're called again at this point after this great catch of fish. They're called then at the end after the resurrection. of our Lord. I don't know how many times you've been called today, but here He is in mercy calling you again. He's calling you to consider who He is and to follow Him, not to waste your life, not to squander your life, but to live with purpose. to live with purpose because of His promise. And one day, in the mercy of God, we will look back and we will rejoice at all that God has done in this world and know that by His grace and in His mercy, He made us a part of that. We were made a part of that, that our lives were brought to have eternal purpose. What rejoicing there will be in that, in His wisdom and in His mercy. What shared joy, what triumph, what glory. Don't squander your life, but rather forsake all and follow Him. Amen. Let's pray.