In the sermon 'Calling Fishermen' by Jason Dohm, the focus is on Luke 5:1-11, where Jesus calls his first disciples, Simon Peter, James, and John, following a miraculous catch of fish. Jesus, teaching by the Sea of Galilee, also known as Lake Gennesaret, gathers multitudes who come to hear the Word of God. The sermon emphasizes Jesus' authority over nature, sickness, and demonic powers, showcasing his divine nature through 'authenticating miracles' that validate his teachings. Peter's reaction, acknowledging his sinfulness and calling Jesus 'Lord,' mirrors biblical reactions to divine presence, such as Isaiah's and Job's. Jesus' calling of these fishermen is a pivotal moment, marking the beginning of their journey as disciples who will later spread the gospel worldwide. The sermon stresses the importance of obedience to Jesus' word, even when it contradicts personal experience or logic, highlighting the transformative power of faith.

The title of the message this morning is, Calling Fishermen. That's what Jesus is doing. He'll be calling the very first of the disciples who will then live with him night and day, week by week, month by month, for three and a half years. So this is really the beginning of that journey for these men. In last week's text, Jesus entered the house of Simon Peter.

They're coming from the synagogue. They go to Simon Peter's house. His mother-in-law is in the grasp of a high fever and so they they plead with Jesus on her behalf and he comes to the bedside and he rebukes the fever and it leaves her and immediately she gets up to serve so that you know that the healing is immediate and complete. People with high fevers don't get up and serve. They lay there and just feel miserable.

So she's no longer laying there and feeling miserable. She's serving them. When the sun goes down, the Sabbath is over, and all the travel restrictions associated with that are over. People bring the sick to Simon Peter's house. In Mark's account, it says the whole town came to the door.

There's the healing of everyone who comes with a sickness to be healed. Demons are cast out of many. The text ended with Jesus saying this to the crowd that wanted to keep him from leaving them. He said, I must preach the Kingdom of God to the other cities also because for this purpose I have been sent. So in one sense we can't blame them for wanting to keep hold of Jesus and make Him property of Capernaum.

But he can't do that because he's been sent to preach the truths of the kingdom far and wide. In this week's text, Jesus is still in the region of Galilee. He's still near Capernaum, that blue-collar fishing town on the Sea of Galilee, though this week it's going to be called the Lake of Gennesaret, but it's the same as the Sea of Galilee. But at this point, the Word is out about Jesus. He doesn't teach like the scribes, rabbis quoting rabbis.

He teaches with authority and not only does he teach with authority, he exercises authority over sicknesses and disease and even over demonic powers. And so people want to come see and people want to come hear. As the news travels, synagogues, these local locations for worship and instruction in the scriptures, which hold a couple hundred people at the most are no longer going to be able to contain the crowds that want to come and see Jesus and hear Jesus. The synagogue is going to be nowhere near enough to have the capacity to hold these crowds. So they're practically going to be pushing Jesus out into the waters as people come to see and hear.

So that's where we are. Let's pray. God, thank you for this text. It is wonderful to see in this text people, multitudes of people coming to hear the Word of God. I pray that you would give us a hunger for the word of God here too and that you would send us home well-fed with that word in Jesus' name.

Amen. Okay, let's begin in Luke chapter 5 verses 1 through 3. Follow along as I reread Luke chapter 5 verses 1 through 3. So it was as the multitude pressed about him to hear the word of God, that he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, and saw two boats standing by the lake, but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little from the land.

He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. In these three verses, Jesus teaches an outdoor multitude. Jesus is lakeside, the text says, the Lake of Gennesaret. We're more used to the Sea of Galilee, but sometimes it's called the Sea of Tiberias. In the Old Testament, it's most often called the Sea of Chynarath.

I bet you didn't know that, but in the Old Testament, often it's the Sea of Chynarath. So you have four names, Lake of Gennesaret, Sea of Galilee, Sea of Tiberius, Sea of Chinoiris. It's the same body of water, just has multiple names. It's a lake that is 13 miles in length from north to south. So if you're looking at a map of Israel, this is what you'll see, north to south.

The Sea of Galilee is 13 miles from north to south and then seven miles across at its widest point from west to east. In the New Testament it's most often called the Sea of Galilee, but the Gospel of Luke is written to the most excellent theophilist. That doesn't sound like a Hebrew name. It isn't a Hebrew name. Probably written to a Gentile man.

Outside the New Testament, this body of water is almost never called the Sea of Galilee. So I'm guessing that's why this alternate name is used by Luke. It's often known outside the New Testament as the Lake of Gennesaret. Robert Stein in his commentary helps us understand why. He says the term Gennesaret refers to a fertile, heavily populated area at the northwest western corner of the Sea of Galilee.

So it's named after this fertile heavily populated area to the northwest of the Sea of Galilee. That's why it would be called Lake Gennesaret because of this fertile heavily populated region. Synagogues won't hold the multitudes that have heard about what Jesus has been doing in teaching. And so now, for the first time, the Gospel is preached outdoors. And it's going to be preached outdoors a lot for the rest of the Gospel of Luke.

The people are pressing about Him. If you've ever been a place where people are trying to get to one spot, and there's this sort of inward press that is what's happening here pressing Jesus back to the waterfront. Listen to Mark 3. Mark 3 is about a different instance. Mark 1 actually has an account of what we have in Luke 5, but in Mark 3 there's a very similar instance and here's what we read in Mark 3 verses 9 and 10.

It says, So Jesus told his disciples that a small boat should be kept ready for him because of the multitude, lest they should crush him, for he healed many, so that as many as had afflictions pressed about him to touch him. So this actually became a regular event. So that Jesus told his disciples keep a boat on hand because He told his disciples that a small boat should be kept ready for him because of the multitude, lest they should crush him." So these are the kinds of crowds that are coming and it becomes such a repeated thing that he actually has his disciples keep a boat on hand for the purpose. Why have the people come? The text tells us they have come to hear the Word of God.

Why are they expecting to hear the word of God when Jesus speaks because they have concluded what Nicodemus, the Pharisee and religious teacher and ruler, concluded. Listen to John chapter 3. So John chapter 3, you're very familiar, Nicodemus, this Pharisee and religious teacher and ruler, comes to Jesus by night, under cover of darkness, but he comes to Jesus. And we read this in John 3, verses 1 and 2. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him." So Jesus now has started to do these signs. He's healing the sick, all kinds of sicknesses and diseases, from the flu to late stage cancer, everyone who comes is healed, and to cast demons out of people, and Nicodemus concluded, and these multitudes have concluded the same thing. No one can do the things that we're seeing done unless they're sent by God. So when they come to hear Jesus, they're expecting to hear the words of God. You were sent by God to bring revelation of truth from God, and we know that so because the signs that you're doing no one can do unless they were sent by God.

We keep referring to Jesus' miracles as authenticating miracles. In other words, one of the great purposes of the Miracles is a stamp of authentication, a stamp of approval from heaven that lets you know that things being taught by Jesus aren't just the opinions of a man or made up stories from a man, but that he was sent by heaven to say these things and reveal these truths. They are authenticating miracles. You're probably going to be sick and tired of that phrase by the time we get to the end of the Gospel of Luke. And I have no apologies to offer.

There are two boats. They are by the lake. The fishermen aren't in them. They're empty boats. The fishermen are done fishing for now.

They're just doing the cleanup. They fished all night and now they're cleaning up and washing their nets. Jesus gets into one of the boats. It's Simon's boat. We were introduced to Simon last week.

Simon Peter or Peter, you can call him any of those. The gospels will eventually drop all the other names and just call him Peter, but for now it's Simon and then for a short period of time it will be Simon Peter, but we know him most often as Peter. Jesus asks Simon Peter to cast off and go just a little way so that he can get a little separation from the multitude and then use the boat as a place to actually give them the word of God. They've come to hear the word of God and he intends to give them a word of God. He needs a little separation from the multitude so he asked Peter to cast off just a little way and Simon Peter does that and Jesus sits down in the boat and teaches the multitude.

What does he teach them? We don't get a single word of what he teaches them, but he teaches them the truths of the kingdom. By the way, there are at least two other distinct times that this exact thing happens in the gospel. So if this sounds very familiar, it is very familiar. It happens repeatedly in the Gospels.

Jesus has said, I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also because for this purpose I have been sent. That's exactly what he's doing in our text. He's preaching the kingdom of God in these other places. Only it's multitudes now, so Jesus is preaching outdoors. Back to Luke 1, next section, verses 4-7.

When Jesus had stopped speaking, he said to Simon, launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. But Simon answered and said to him, Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing. Nevertheless, at your word, I will let down the net." When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats so that they began to sink.

In these verses we have a net breaking, boat sinking, catch. So if you're taking notes on the handout by filling in blanks, Breaking and sinking fill in the two blanks. A net breaking, boat sinking catch. Jesus is done teaching. He stops speaking, turns to Simon Peter and says, launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.

You mean the nets we just washed up? They had just fished hard all night. He says, we toiled hard all night. We've been fishing hard all night. We didn't catch a thing.

In fishing, we call that getting skunked. Did you know that? That's the fishing term. You don't catch a thing, You got skunked. And then they had come in and cleaned up, probably, to go home and get some sleep.

They fished hard all night. Nothing clean up, go home, and sleep, probably, would have been the progression. Simon Peter recites the facts. We fished all night long, we toiled hard, we didn't catch a single fish, but He calls Jesus master. That's a good sign.

He also says this, nevertheless at your word I will let down the let down the net. Jesus's clear instructions fly in the face of the circumstances and Peter's experience and expertise as a professional fisherman. He's probably been part of a professional fishing endeavor, meaning this is what we do for a living, probably since he was a boy. Lots of experience, lots of expertise. He's in circumstances that are totally unfavorable to anything he knows from experience and his knowledge as a professional fisherman.

In this setting, freshwater fishing with nets on the Sea of Galilee, best practice is fishing at night in the shallows. Not during the day, but at night. Not in the deep, but in the shallows. Never, never, never fishing in the day in the deep. So what Jesus is saying to do is the exact opposite of what a professional fisherman knows to do.

Exact opposite. Leave it to a carpenter to suggest fishing in the day in the deep. Only this is no ordinary carpenter and Simon Peter has seen that with his own eyes. So last week his mother-in-law was completely immediately healed. She had been in the grasp of a high fever and a minute later, a second later, she's no longer just laying there feeling miserable.

She's totally able to get up and serve and then the town brings all their sick and everyone who is sick and is brought to Jesus is healed, no exceptions, and demons are cast out of many. So Peter knows this isn't an ordinary carpenter. Based on what Peter has already seen and experienced, he is already calling Jesus master. He is willing to hold Jesus' instructions in a place of supremacy over his own sense of the circumstances and his own professional experience and expertise. This is really important.

In this hand, he has his knowledge of the circumstances, day and you don't fish in the deep, and his professional experience and expertise probably started gaining that in boyhood and in this hand he has Jesus' instructions and he is willing to hold Jesus' instructions in supremacy over the circumstances and his own expertise and experience. Nevertheless, at your word, I will let down the net. I will ignore the circumstances, daytime in the deep, and ignore all of my expertise gained from boyhood and experience gained from boyhood, and I'll set all of that aside, nevertheless, forget all that stuff, and I'll hold in honor your instructions, master." They launch out into the deep, they let down the net, And when they did, they netted such a great number of fish that the net was at the break point. She's gonna blow! That net's gonna give way!

That net's going to give way. It's too much for their crew and their boat to handle, so they signal their partners, help! Come help! The partners bring the other boat. Now they're emptying the net into the boats.

The fish keep coming into the boats. The boats are both riding lower and lower into the water, and the fish keep coming and coming out of the net. Now both boats are on the verge of taking on water. This really is a net-breaking, boat-sinking catch of fish. What a reward for honoring what Jesus said over his own sense of things.

Talk about a reward for setting aside your own sense of things in order to honor what Jesus has said. Verses 8-11. No, I'm not almost done. Follow along as I reread verses 8-11. 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 and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken. So also were James and John the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men." So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed him. In these verses we have the reaction and the call.

If you're taking notes, reaction and call fill in the two blanks. The reaction of these fishermen and Jesus' call on their lives. They're in the low riding boat, the edge of the boat close to the water line, and Simon Peter falls down at Jesus' knees because of what he just witnessed. Simon Peter, the professional fisherman, has never seen anything remotely like this. The reaction only makes sense if this is unlike anything the fishermen have ever seen.

If they've seen something sort of like this, the reaction makes no sense. So I'm arguing that it's implied in the text that these professional fishermen have never seen anything like this. Now things start to be very different from what I personally would have expected. I would have expected some hip-hip hurrays. Amazement I would have expected.

Joy I would have expected. Depart from me, I'm a sinful man. I would not have expected. Let's get some help from Robert Stein. He was very quotable this week.

Robert Stein says, some commentators have expressed surprise at Peter's response. Readers tend to expect a sense of awe and appreciation for the catch of fish rather than a confession of sinfulness. Yet if we understand this account not so much as a miracle or pronouncement story but rather as a theophany involving a call to service the response is very appropriate in a theophany a confession of one's sinfulness and the title Lord are most fitting." Okay, what's a theophany? God appearing, God coming on the scene. So Robert Stein is saying don't see this as just a miracle as in people of God have performed miracles from time to time throughout Scripture, but as God Himself showing up and someone reacting to that.

So Isaiah or Ezekiel or a prophet performs a miracle in the Old Testament, you don't really have this response. But in places where God shows up, you have this response. So think of it as a theophany. God showing up on the scene, and someone being very aware that they're in the presence of God, and not just as a miracle was done. Robert Stein has picked up on something.

Simon Peter had called Jesus master before. So he had seen some miracles, he calls him master, but now after the catch of fish, he calls Jesus Lord. So why is this significant? Because we've seen Lord used many times in these early chapters of Luke, and they were used indiscriminately of the God of the Old Testament and Jesus. Meaning sometimes this word is used of the God of the Old Testament and Jesus, meaning sometimes this word is used of the God of the Old Testament breaking into human history, and sometimes they're used of Jesus, and there's never any explanation.

They're just used willy-nilly, seemingly, meaning it could speak of God as easily as it could speak of Jesus. The angels spoke that way, Pointing us to the fact that Jesus is God. You can call Jesus Lord, you can call the Old Testament texts. When you look at the Greek translation of the Old Testament, This is the word that translates one of the names for God in the Old Testament. Listen to the literal definition of the Greek word that's translated Lord here.

He to whom a person or thing belongs about which he has the power of deciding. Lord, in the sense that I belong to you, and you have the power to dispose of me however you'd like. Understand what this word is communicating. It's been used in the early chapters of Luke alternately of the God of the Old Testament and of Jesus indiscriminately. It means you're Lord in the sense that I belong to you and you can do with me whatever you'd like.

Let me give you two texts of scripture that I think help us understand this. The first is Isaiah 6. You can turn to Isaiah 6. Very familiar text. As soon as I start, the minute I start reading it, you'll recognize it if you don't already.

Isaiah 6 verses 1 through 8. Isaiah 6 verses 1 through 8. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above it stood Sarah Fenn. Each one had six wings, with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, with two he flew.

One cried to another and said, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. The posts of the door were shaken by the voice of Him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. So I said, woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.

For my eyes have seen the king the Lord of hosts. Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar, and he touched my mouth with it and said, Behold, this has touched your lips. Your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is purged. Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us then I said here I am send me Peter encounters God Jesus is God and says, depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. Isaiah encounters God and he says, woe is me, for I am undone.

I am a man of unclean lips. I live among a people of unclean lips. My eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Why this reaction that people have again and again when they come into the presence of God. I think the full answer is you'd have to be there to understand.

There is something about being in the immediate presence of God that shifts your perspective of what God is like and what you're like and you can see for the very first time the breadth of that chasm or at least get some sense of the breadth of that chasm between a Sinner even though that sinner is a holy man in comparison. Isaiah is a holy man, but he finds out, oh I'm not really a holy man. No man is holy. I'm a man of unclean lips. I'm undone.

So to really fully understand what Isaiah experienced and why he reacted that way and what Peter experienced and why he acted that way, you'd have to be there and experience God in the immediate like they did. This is not false humility or play acting in any way. This is not Isaiah or Peter saying, I should act humble now if this is God. This is a visceral reaction to being in the holiness of the presence of God. Once that sense of sinfulness and unworthiness has been dealt with, the angel purifies Isaiah with a coal from the altar and Jesus deals with Peter and tells him not to be afraid.

The person is ready to be sent on a mission. And then maybe a very costly mission. It was very costly for Isaiah Because God knew the people weren't going to listen. Isaiah had to say these things, but the people wouldn't listen. It was costly for Peter.

Church history says ultimately it cost Peter his life. Another text, Job 42. Another theophany. Another instance of God breaking into human history and a man coming into his immediate presence and having this reaction. Job 42 is filled with men bloviating.

What's bloviating? Just talking endlessly about things they don't really know about. Chapter after chapter after chapter of bloviating. That can be about homeschool mothers, that can be a vocabulary word this week. To bloviate.

Job 42, God shows up. We have a theophany. And here's Job's reaction in Job 42, verses 5 and 6. I have heard of you, God, by the hearing of the ear. Now my eyes see you.

Therefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes." Nothing in all the chapters leading up to this left you thinking, Job hates himself because of his sinfulness. In a lot of it, he's holding to his integrity. He's holding to his sense of personal integrity. Now God shows up and his perspective radically changes and he says, I hate myself, I'm so sorry, I repent. And That's exactly what's happening in our text.

What is happening in our text happened to Isaiah in Isaiah 6 and happened to Job in Job 42, when God showed up. And then all your thoughts about yourself are swept away as you realize how holy God actually is. How other God actually is. How pure one is when they're all light and no darkness. It's 1 John.

God is light and no darkness at all. All of the fishermen were astonished at the catch of fish, including James and John, but Peter seems to be experiencing something more. The ESV study Bible has this note, Jesus's miracle demonstrates that he is Lord of the sea and all that is in it. It is occurring to Peter that Jesus is the Lord of the sea and all that is in it. Peter is the one who seems to have been given a sense of that.

We're just in chapter 5, just getting started in Luke. Jesus' public ministry is just beginning, but already Jesus has exercised authority over demonic powers, exercised authority over every sickness and disease, exercise authority, now over the creation order. Meaning schools of fish are now obeying Him. How do you get a school of fish to obey you? Jesus notes, J.C.

Ryle says this, the fish of the sea are as much obedient to his will as the frogs and the flies and the lice and the locusts in the plagues of Egypt. All are his servants and all obey his commands. J.C. Ryle wants to point you back to the Exodus and the plagues that God accomplished at a national level. How do you get all those frogs to show up?

God knows. How do you get all those flies to show up? God knows. How do you get all those lice to show up? God knows.

How do you get all those locusts to show up. God knows how do you get these fish to show up at this exact time at this exact place. Jesus knows. All are His servants. All obey his commands.

Fish, frogs, lice, flies, locusts. The wind and the waves in chapter 8. Jesus speaks, do not be afraid. Simon Peter in the presence of the perfectly holy God is afraid. Jesus says, don't be afraid, You don't need to be afraid.

From now on, you will catch men. Going forward, these fishermen, these business partners, Simon Peter and His brother Andrew, Andrew is not even mentioned in Luke chapter 5, but he is in Matthew chapter 4, which is the parallel text of Matthew that Andrew's mentioned there. James and his brother John, these two sets of brothers, will be going for a different kind of catch. People. Our text says from now on you will catch men.

So the Greek word there is anthropos. There's nothing gender specific about it. It just means people. It's a fine translation at times. Sometimes we use the word men in a non-gender specific way.

But just so you know, there's nothing gender specific about it. It just means from now on you'll catch people, humans. And the labors will be difficult but superabundant. In Acts chapter 2, post-resurrection, the day of Pentecost, Peter preaches, and 3, 000 souls are added. Talk about the nets breaking and the boats sinking.

The figurative nets of the church are breaking in Acts chapter 2 and the figurative boats of the church are sinking in Acts chapter 2. And they're just getting started in Acts chapter 2. These are men who are going to turn the world upside down. When the boats are on land, They forsake all and follow Jesus. They leave everything and they follow Jesus.

That needs to be followed down the track. I have another opportunity coming up, so just to let you know, I'm aware of the opportunity. I'll take the opportunity later when Matthew was called later in the chapter. They become Jesus's disciples. That word literally Jesus' disciples.

That word literally means a learner, a pupil, a student. You be the teacher, I'll be the learner. You be the leader, I'll be the follower. Jesus is beginning to assemble the twelve men who would be with him constantly for three and a half years. And then eleven of them would be sent out into the world.

They would make it to Europe, India, Asia Minor, of course Israel, Turn the world upside down. They aren't what most people would expect. Where are the scholars? Nope, just fishermen. Just fishermen so far.

We'll pick up a tax collector by the end of the chapter. Okay, one last stop. Turn to John chapter 21. John chapter 21. I need to go back.

We finished John four years ago. I need to go back and look at my sermon on this text to see how much I made this connection. It didn't really land or at least it didn't stick with me. It has landed so hard with me this time. The connection between Luke chapter 5 and what we're studying in John chapter 21.

I'll read John chapter 21 verses 1 through 11. This is after Jesus died and rose again. After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias or the Lake of Gennesaret or the Sea of Galilee or the Sea of Chintarith. And In this way he showed himself. Simon Peter, Thomas called the twin, Nathaniel of Cana and Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, B.

James and John, and two others of the disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, I'm going fishing. They said to him, we're going with you also. They went out and immediately got into the boat and that night they caught nothing. I bet they were fishing in the shallows.

But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore, yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Then Jesus said to them, Children, have you any food? They answered him, no. And he said to them, cast the net on the right side of the boat and you will find some. So they cast and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish.

Therefore, that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, It is the Lord! Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment for he had removed it and plunged into the sea. But the other disciples came in the little boat, for they were not far from land, but about 200 cubits, dragging the net with fish. Then as soon as they had come to land, they saw fire and coals there, and fish laid on it and bred. Jesus said to them, Bring some of the fish which you have just caught.

Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land full of large fish, 153, and although there were so many, the net was not broken. This was a post-resurrection appearance of Jesus to the disciples. And what made it such an irrefutable evidence that it really was the resurrected, alive forevermore Jesus. They've been here before. This thing that they had never experienced anything like it before and never since now happens all again.

It's almost like an exact replay. What does that mean about our text in Luke 5? That one of the things happening in Luke chapter 5 is that God is setting up something very important three and a half years in advance. He's setting up irrefutable proof of his identity after his resurrection, but he's setting it up three and a half years before he's going to do it. He is the God who declares the end from the beginning and does whatever He pleases.

That's the words that you find in Isaiah 46. He declares the end from the beginning. He wants to prove something irrefutably three years from now. He might be setting it up today. And we have no idea, but he sees it all.

It's all already woven together in his own mind. Applications I'll give you three. In other words, what should we do with this? Shouldn't we do something with text or scripture? Let's just learn and go home.

No, let's do something with it. Number one, if you trust your sense of things over the Word of God, you will rationalize yourself out of obedience on many or most occasions." That's a long sentence. Let me give it to you again. If you trust your sense of things over the Word of God, you will rationalize yourself out of obedience on many or most occasions. But fish are caught at night in the shallows, Jesus.

J.C. Ryle says this. We are meant to learn the blessing of ready, unhesitating obedience to every plain command of Christ. The path of duty may sometimes be hard and disagreeable. You might have to get out the nets that you just washed up.

The wisdom of the course we propose to follow may not be apparent to the world, but none of these things must move us. We are not to confer with flesh and blood. We are to go straight forward when Jesus says go and do a thing boldly, unflinchingly, and decidingly when Jesus says Do it. We are to walk by faith and not by sight, and believe that what we see not now to be right and reasonable, we shall see hereafter. So acting, we shall never find in the long run that we are losers.

So acting, we shall find sooner or later that we reap a great reward." Do you ever stop to wonder what great rewards have bypassed me because I wouldn't simply obey? You can't know the answer to the question. We never think of that. What good things might God have brought into my life if I just simply obeyed? But I talked myself out of it.

I rationalized my way out of it. That's my question. To what extent is it true that a lack of fruitfulness in different areas of our lives is traceable to a lack of simple obedience. I wish I was more fruitful in this area of my life. Maybe you should double down, triple down, quadruple down on simple obedience.

Maybe you've rationalized your way out of fruitfulness. Number two, Jesus saved sinners to make disciples who make disciples. Jesus saved sinners To make disciples who make disciples. Jesus saves sinners to make disciples who make disciples. David Garland says this in his commentary, Jesus does not flee sinners, but seeks them.

He does not simply offer sinners forgiveness, but recruits them to gain other sinners. So Peter is actually asking Jesus to depart from him because of his sense of unworthiness and his sense of great sinfulness in the presence of Jesus who's none of that. Jesus doesn't flee sinners and he doesn't flee Peter. He says, don't be afraid. Was Peter wrong in his assessment?

Was he worthy? No, no, no. His sense of unworthiness and his sense of sinfulness in the presence of Jesus Christ was dead on. Jesus didn't despise him, and Jesus didn't do what was asked of him. Depart.

No, I'm not departing. Don't be afraid. I'll make you catch men. I'll make you my disciple, to make other disciples. In the end, of course, it is only Jesus who makes disciples.

But the point is that we are not intended to be the termination point for the grace of God. The grace of God is for us, but it's not just for us. He wants it to extend to us and extend from us. How did the gospel get to you? From someone who Jesus made a disciple in order to disciples and so the word of God made it to me.

This is our Lord's Supper Meditation, So this is a double dip. The person and work of Jesus spans the chasm between sinners and the perfectly righteous God. Peter begins with this sense that this righteous God, he should have nothing to do with this righteous God. Because he's nothing like this righteous God. But it's the person and work of Jesus that spans this gap.

It wasn't that his analysis was wrong, his analysis was dead on. He's not worthy and he is very sinful, but the person and work of Jesus spans that gap at chasm. Listen to J.C. Ryle. I'll end with this because it's a barn burner.

Out of Christ, God is a consuming fire. Out of Christ, God is a consuming fire. If you come to God outside of Christ, you'll be consumed by his goodness. You'll be burnt up by his goodness. In Christ he is a reconciled father.

Without Christ the strictest moralist may well tremble as he looks forward to his end. I hope you believe that. That Without Christ, the strictest moralist, the most precise, scrupulous person who you know or who has ever lived, may well tremble at the future prospects. Because when they get in the presence of God they won't feel scrupulous. They won't feel like they've been careful over their lives at all.

Through Christ the chief of sinners may approach God with confidence and feel perfect peace. You see the difference? The chief of sinners. Paul looks back on his life as Saul, And he says, I'm the chief of sinners. But the chief of sinners may approach God with confidence and feel perfect peace.

The person and work of Jesus Christ has bridged that gap. The gap is real. Don't get it wrong. The gap is real. The person in work of Christ bridges chasm.

Let's pray. God, thank you for who Jesus is and what He has done for sinners. Thank you that in Christ we can approach you with confidence and in perfect peace. Thank you in Jesus' name, Amen.