Fishing with a Carpenter

[0:00] You can be turning to Luke chapter 5. Luke chapter 5. We'll be reading there in just a minute.! As you're turning there, some of you, this will be a revelation. To be honest, I'm not much of a fisherman.

[0:28] It's great when you can take your line and throw it in the water, and after three minutes, you see the bobber.

[0:40] Bobber. Yeah, this is kind of fisherman I am. Bobber. Boom! Disappears. And the pole bends over, and you know you're having fun because you're feeling this fish just fight against you.

[0:53] And you finally get the fish to land, and you pull it up, and you have a fish that, I mean, you're not a world record holder, but at least you're, you know, a stud.

[1:04] You've got some, you know, you've got a fish to be proud of. But that's not what happens to me, usually. Usually for me, it's something silently eats my bait. I don't know where it goes.

[1:21] Or I have the line in some spot that has never known fish. I have, if I have to entice something that I don't know is there to eat something I don't know if they even like, that's too much for me.

[1:42] Most of the time, fishing is not something for me. I don't know if Jesus liked to fish. We have no idea.

[1:56] But in this situation that we're going to look today, Jesus goes fishing with Peter, James, and John. And he uses this moment in glorious ways.

[2:08] It's just amazing. Follow along as I read the first 11 verses of chapter 5. On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats on the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were fishing their nets.

[2:36] I'm sorry, washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land, and he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

[2:49] And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. And Simon answered, Master, we've toiled all night and took nothing, but at your word I will let down the nets.

[3:07] And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their fish and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and to help them.

[3:20] And they came and filled both boats, so they began to sink. And when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.

[3:36] For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken. And so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simeon.

[3:48] And Jesus said to Simeon, Do not be afraid. From now on, you will be catching men. And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

[4:04] Let's pray together. Father, I thank you for what's related here. I thank you for the power that's demonstrated.

[4:15] I thank you for all that we have been impressed with through the ages as we look at this account. But I thank you more for what you've taught in this account.

[4:28] And how Jesus is glorious. I pray that you would be with us, that you would help us to see what's here. And Lord, that it would affect us like Peter.

[4:42] And Lord, that we'd be drawn to you. I pray that you'd work in hearts. In Jesus' name. Amen. So, the setting here, it says it's by the lake of Gennesaret.

[4:56] Jesus is preaching. And there are a lot of people who want to hear the word. Now, remember, you should notice, this is not in the synagogue, but remember that Jesus has been preaching in the synagogues every Sabbath day.

[5:15] But now, he's preaching outdoors. And as I mentioned, they're standing by the lake of Gennesaret. Now, it's the Sea of Galilee. It was the people in the area who liked to call it the lake of Gennesaret.

[5:34] It was a common or a local name for a section of the lake. There was a city alongside the Sea of Galilee called Gennesaret.

[5:46] And they called, the local people called the northwest corner of the Sea of Galilee, the lake of Gennesaret. And this town, Gennesaret, is just a little bit southwest of Capernaum where the events that we talked about last week took place.

[6:05] You know, his preaching in the synagogue, healing of Peter's mother-in-law, healing of lots of people. So, Jesus, when he said at the end of last week's account that I have other cities, he didn't actually go very far, but he is going to other places.

[6:26] And so, the people are gathered around him and he is preaching to them. Now, it mentions Peter, James, and John. They were fishermen.

[6:37] You know that. You've heard before that they were fishermen. We also know that Peter's brother, Andrew, is a fisherman. And so, there were four of them in total. Andrew is not mentioned in Luke's account.

[6:49] He is mentioned in other people's account of this situation. But, we're going to leave that fact to the side. And I'm convinced that there is a reason that Luke left Andrew's name off from this list.

[7:04] Because we're talking about Peter, James, and John. And as you go through the New Testament Gospels, you will find that those three are often the first mentioned or mentioned in an inner circle kind of way.

[7:18] And it's very interesting. Many of the things where these three men are mentioned among the things that are taught in those situations, what we see today will be the theme that these three men are involved in.

[7:36] I'm not going to give it away yet. But we're going to find these three men see evidence of the same thing throughout Jesus' ministry as a group, they see it.

[7:50] I think that's why Andrew is left out. So, these three men were fishermen. They had been all night awake fishing. We see that later in the story and we'll mention something about that in just a moment.

[8:03] They'd been awake all night fishing, normal practice, and they hadn't caught anything. And so, they landed their boats and were washing the nets in that area around Gennesaret.

[8:18] May have been their base of operations. They lived in Capernaum, but it may have been that this was just a good place to do this. We don't know. Or maybe Peter heard that Jesus was going to be preaching there and they decided that day to land in that area.

[8:32] We just don't know. But Peter, James, and John had landed their boats had pulled the nets out. After fishing all night, these nets had to be washed and sometimes mended.

[8:44] If they didn't catch anything, unless they caught it on a stick, they probably didn't have to mend any nets that night, that morning rather. But they were there washing their nets.

[8:56] And I want you to remember that Peter, this is not the first time he's heard Jesus. We've already made reference to this. I'll back up. Peter initially was a disciple of John the Baptist and don't know if he was there when John the Baptist baptized Jesus.

[9:15] We don't know. Nothing is said of that. He could have been witness to the events that John the Baptist witnessed and where John the Baptist declared this to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

[9:28] We don't know. But he is in that vine. He's been in that stream of work that's going on. So he'd been a disciple of John the Baptist. He had in our account what we've looked at.

[9:40] We know that he had been in the Capernaum synagogue when Jesus had preached and we know that he'd been there when this unclean demon had spoke out and tried to disrupt the service.

[9:53] And we would imagine that he witnessed it. We know this not because it says but because when it was done Peter asked Jesus to go to his house. So we kind of think like us.

[10:05] You know, you come to church, you sit through the sermon and when you're done maybe you say to someone hey, you know, come on over. Well, great thing to do. Encourage you to do that. Have people to your houses for lunch and get to know them better.

[10:17] And maybe that's what Peter did. Maybe Peter knew that his mother-in-law was homesick and wanted Jesus to come for that reason. We don't know. But that's where Peter had up close and personally first been in contact with Jesus.

[10:32] And of course Jesus did come over to the house. He rebuked the fever in his mother-in-law and she was able to get up. He saw that happen. As the sun went down it was the end of the Sabbath.

[10:45] Many were coming with the people that needed to be healed. And so Peter got to see all that happen where he was healing people. He was casting out more demons.

[10:56] He rebuked other demons as they tried to ruin Jesus' ministry by speaking out of turn. He had seen Jesus as a person who was possessed with authority.

[11:08] Now I want you to picture this. I think the passage here kind of hints towards this is what's going on. Peter has landed in the area. People begin to assemble listening to Jesus.

[11:22] And while while they're assembling and maybe Jesus has already begun preaching Peter has lifted the nets out of his boat and done what it has needed to be done to wash them.

[11:34] I think he was one of those people who kept his hands busy at least parts of the service while the preacher was preaching because he'd been up all night and it was time to clean the nets. So he may have been doing that while Jesus was preaching.

[11:49] the crowd is growing and it's a flat area there from what I understand where they would have met and as the crowd is growing they want to hear him.

[12:01] They want to hear him better. Maybe there's some commotion going around in the background. They just keep getting closer and closer until Jesus I would think is kind of like standing with his feet in the water and like you know I've got to do something here.

[12:14] And so he asks a favor of Peter. I need a better place a better vantage point to preach and so Luke mentions that Jesus gets into one of the boats which was Peter's and so he asks Peter when he gets in the boat we don't know I would guess at this point Peter's done washing his nets and has them back in the boat because there's no intervening time where they put the nets back in the boat before the next step comes along and so the nets are back there Peter I can picture Peter you know that tired oh you know I'm at the end of the day I've been up all night but he's wanting to hear Jesus preach and Jesus gets in his boat and and says can we push out a little bit so I can preach to these people and Jesus was willing to I'm sorry Peter was willing to accommodate Jesus and his request and provide that that good vantage point so that he was sitting in the boat and just out a little bit from the water which made for the for

[13:22] Jesus to be able to preach no one could get too close to him he could speak so everyone could hear and so for however long Jesus preached he sat in that boat with Peter and Peter had to have been listening the whole time and I think Peter did want to listen I think he'd seen some interesting things and and and Jesus' manner and and preaching captivated him and so when he's done Jesus turns to Peter and says something interesting he tells him to put out into the deep and let down your nets and in our way of thinking Jesus is saying hey you've I've used your boat I appreciate that and I don't want you to think I'm just gonna mooch off from you let me do you a favor let's go out and fish and I know you didn't catch anything last night so let me take you out show you where to fish I

[14:22] I kind of think that that's what what may have felt like of course that's not what Jesus was doing but I think that's what it might have felt like and so I think it's important at this point to understand some facts that you need to know that will help us understand Peter's reaction and will also help us to be people who get a better sense of of what God was doing so fishing fishing in that area fishing by net on the Sea of Galilee always happened at night if you fished with a net during the day the fish would see you coming and to swim away so they fished at night also fishing by net on the Sea of Galilee always happened in the shallow water if you have a net that goes down 10 feet and you fish in a lake at a spot where the water is 150 feet deep what good is your net it's no good you always

[15:36] Peter always fished the fish at night would come up in the shallows and feed a little bit more safety in the dark and they would come up and that's where Peter would would meet them in the evening and he'd begin laying out his net and encircling areas of relatively shallow water an area where the net could reach the bottom so it would catch something and so what Jesus is saying it's like fishing with a carpenter you ever been in a situation where you have experience and somebody comes along and they think they're doing you this huge favor and they're going to tell you what they think would be the best thing for you to do and inside you're going the guy's a carpenter I don't know if he's ever been on a boat has he ever fished

[16:41] I've never seen him on the lake and so when you pay attention as I read the verse I think you may have caught there's a little bit of hesitancy I won't call it sarcasm but hesitancy in Peter's words and I think he's not super happy about what Jesus wants to do because his answer to Jesus when Jesus says let's go on into the deep and cast down the net he says master we've toiled all night and took nothing so what might Peter be thinking at that point Jesus says let's go fishing and Peter's I'm exhausted I've been up all night I've enjoyed hearing you preach but I usually go to bed two hours ago some of you night shift workers can appreciate this it's the middle of the day we won't be able to get close to any fish there's this little bit of

[17:44] I'm wasting my time it's going on there Jesus says let's go out into the deep and Peter's going we won't be able to reach any fish they'll all swim away they'll see us coming doesn't doesn't this carpenter know that fishermen fish by the shore Jesus says let your nets down doesn't Jesus know we just spent two hours washing those nets fixing those nets putting them back in the boat try to have them ready for first thing tonight when we go fishing doesn't he know that if we do what he says we're already two hours past our bedtime and if we do what he says we'll have waste the time that he thinks he's going to help us and I'll have to redo this and I won't get any sleep at all today now that's sanctified illustration okay all we know is that

[18:56] Peter wasn't the happiest but he reluctantly obeys though he sees all this as inconvenient and fruitless he respects Jesus master we toiled all night and took nothing but at your word I will let down the nets and he says he ordered he doesn't say this he says they let down the net so we know that he orders his crew probably not very many but a few a couple of people in the boat with him and he orders his crew to let down the net it took more than one person to handle this net and it's not only Peter but I imagine all the guys on that crew are sitting there going why is he doing this why is he putting us through this Peter you should have spoke up it's just work that's coming to nothing sometimes our Lord's commands don't make sense to us sometimes where God leads us doesn't make any sense to us and we sometimes get this same mentality as Peter don't you know God

[20:18] I've already this or I've already that don't you know that in these circumstances that won't work do you obey God's word when it doesn't seem to make sense to you when God says do this do you do it Peter didn't yet fully realize who Jesus was but he was willing to honor his command even at this point let me rephrase that when it comes to us we may not fully realize what God is doing in fact often we do not realize what God is doing there's a lot a lot there's going to be a lot in this life that we don't understand and a lot of situations that we just can't see how obeying God in this circumstance makes any sense but when the word of God speaks we're to be people who say yes Lord

[21:20] I don't understand but you are good and you are wise and you have given yourself for me I'm going to listen like we see here in the end God does know what he's doing and we should trust him and what happens next is something Peter didn't expect verses 6 and 7 and when they had done this they enclosed a large number of fish and their nets were breaking they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and to help them and they came and filled both boats so that they began to sink I would have loved to have seen Peter's face they dropped the net they circled the fish and you know like that instant when the bobber goes down you go something's there and as they tug at the net something's there and he's like oh

[22:34] I guess I shouldn't have thought the way I did and he brings the net closer and he already can see this is not a usual catch of fish the bible says the net is bursting with fish doesn't say that the net breaks but maybe a couple of those things Peter's going oh that was a string we got to be careful with this we could lose it all but at this point I believe Peter really had no idea what he was facing he had a net pulled up to his boat and could see there were a lot of fish but he had no concept of what it really was and so the way the text reads it's the idea that they're beginning to haul the fish from the net into the boat and they're beginning to look around and say we need more room and so he calls to the other people and they come help handle the net and they come and help get the fish so that this net doesn't break and I believe it's here where

[23:41] Peter begins to see the scope of what's really happening they've been bringing the fish out of the net into the boat so that they can take them to land and they filled one boat and some point probably before this point but at some point the other boat arrives and they fill that boat and they fill those boats to where the sides are just above the water and a good wave comes and there's water in the boat now to appreciate a little bit of what Peter sees you need to know a little bit about fishing boats at the time now this is from archaeology actually there have been a few mostly intact fishing boats that have been recovered from the floor of the Sea of Galilee so the average fishing boat at that time was roughly 23 feet long and 6 foot wide and with it had a small crew in each boat they would have had to have a ton and a half of fish in each boat for those boats to sink to that level and for a better perspective for us that's several pickup loads of fish that's a lot of fish and though this is an amazing situation the amount of fish is not the point of this passage it's what God does in

[25:32] Peter it's in Peter's reaction and his realization that Luke is pointing all this to the pressure is not resolved the next statement points to the fact that the pressure is very much you know in a story you're always building to the point where the pressure is unbearable or something has to be resolved and something resolves that and then the story relaxes the story is not relaxing the story is still building because Peter is beginning to realize something and he reacts at this point Peter is overwhelmed literally he is overwhelmed verse 9 for he and all who are with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken this is not just a good day fishing this is not just an amazing day fishing this is a miracle this is beyond what any of them would have ever

[26:36] I don't I would guess that they would have never dreamed that anyone more than one boat would have been full from a net full of fish and so this is God doing something amazing Peter didn't see that is something God allowed Jesus to prophesy because up to this point they had looked at Jesus as a prophet he heard God's voice and spoke with authority and I think right now Peter's beginning to say this is not a prophecy prophecy this is what Jesus who is God did there's a difference Elijah could say there's going to be rain and there's rain Jesus did not say there's going to be fish and it's going to be in this spot he took them out he filled the nets he filled the nets he filled the excuse me he filled the net with fish so much so but it was just to the point that the nets wouldn't break he filled the nets so full that two bolts could hardly hold the catch without sinking

[28:04] Jesus does this to show Peter James and John but especially Peter that he's God I would have loved to have been there for that moment I mean I know if I was I would be in the position of Peter if I really understood what was going on but the joy I just picture this joy on Jesus face revealing himself to Peter but Luke is careful to include Peter's reaction but when Simon Peter saw it he fell down at Jesus knees saying depart from me for I am a sinful man oh Lord Peter's reaction is the reaction of a person who's seen God you don't hear angels presence do this

[29:08] God it's God's presence Isaiah 6 5 and I said woe is me for I am lost for I am a man of unclean lips and dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the king lord of hosts you can go to the book of revelation and see the same kind of situation where John before God fell at his face as though dead in the presence of God this is Peter beginning to realize that Jesus is not just a prophet he's the son of God and Peter looks at Jesus differently from that day forward up to this point Peter addressed Jesus I'm sorry people addressed Jesus as master and teacher which is the equivalent of rabbi Peter addresses Jesus as Lord and though

[30:12] I'm not sure I'm sure he didn't understand much of all that how that fit together Peter now saw Jesus as divine you say how do you know that Luke 9 18 to 20 now it happened that as he was praying alone the disciples were with him and he asked them who do the crowd say that I am and they answered John the Baptist and others say Elijah and others that one of the prophets have old has risen then he said to them but who do you say that I am and Peter answered and Peter answered the Christ of God and it's plainer that's Luke but it's plainer in the book of Matthew Simon Peter replied you are the Christ the son of the living God and Jesus answered him blessed are you Simon Barjona for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my father is in who is in heaven but we're not to the peak of the story because we still have

[31:21] Peter on his face at Jesus knees in agony he has just said depart from me Lord I am a sinful man and he's feeling the weight of his own sin as he's in the presence of God he knows the attitude he's had toward Jesus as Jesus said go on into the deep and let down the nets he knows the kind of life he's just like us he knows what's hidden in his heart and he's there on his face before God in agony he knows he can't be in God's presence what happens now what do you do in a situation where you're in the presence of God you know your sin and there's no escape even in that position being on your face before God for all eternity is too good for sinners to be in that torment is too good for sinners like us but before we go on do you see

[32:27] Jesus as the true son of God does his glory and authority and power terrify you does his holiness make you want to run from his presence and hide there's a sense in which it should I mean bold presence of God in our own sinful state how could any one of us lived we all deserve the eternal wrath of God and we know it but look what comes in the second half of verse 10 I'll read all of verse 10 Jesus said to Simon do not be afraid from now on you will catch men here's

[33:31] Peter on his face at the knees of Jesus feels his sin knows the weight of it I can't be in the presence of God you should depart from me I can't live here I can't be here I'm not worthy to be here and Jesus says do not be afraid now how could he just say don't be afraid I mean he's not going to become un God Peter does have sin that needs to be dealt with Jesus comforts Peter because he's the one who has all authority and he's the one whose holiness makes us fall on our face before God but he's the one who has come to provide for our sin he could look at

[34:33] Peter who just realized that Jesus is the son of God and and know that Peter is terrified because of his sin and say do not be afraid because he came for the very point of dying for Peter and all that Peter said and all that Peter done and all that you have said and all that you have done were placed on him and he can say to you do not be afraid he's not ignoring your sin he's offering forgiveness for your sin there are a whole lot of people who wouldn't take that but Peter did and Peter could survive in that situation because he was trusting in the one who would deal with his sin friend have you seen Jesus for who he is you can't have any hope if you don't know what you really are the

[35:40] Bible explains we don't have to have a vision a literal coming down of Jesus standing in our midst for us to have a sense of knowing who we are in fact he won't do that for most people since this happened but the word of God is plain it speaks boldly of what we're like if you want that comfort if you want your sins paid for if you've seen who you are and what you are and you've seen who he is and how you cannot be in his presence because you are unclean and unfit to be in his presence then go to him because he forgives sins He's paid for the sin thrust your hope on him he is the only hope Christian isn't this just a beautiful picture our

[36:41] Lord has showed this man his need and then showed this man that he himself is going to offer himself for his need and we need to remember that every day because just like Peter didn't stop sinning at this point neither will we we in our pastoral prayer tried to talk about how we've sinned and that is true we still struggle in sin we still commit the things we wish we never do but we bring that to Christ because he took all that sin upon himself and he died in our place and he gives us his righteousness and we can be in his presence and so this is such a glorious picture we still struggle with sin but we have a savior who has all authority and whose presence would make us fall on our face before him because of our sin but he's died!

[37:53] in his presence we still honor we still worship but we're safe we're so safe that we as children of God can go into the very presence of God and ask for grace in times where we need help and then finally verse 11 and when they had all when they had brought their boats to land they left everything and followed him after what these fishermen had seen not necessarily the huge catch of fish but rather that this man was the son of God willing to give his life for them was it any wonder that they were willing to leave everything and follow this man see a lot of the world would have said ha it's my opportunity just have to have Jesus in the boat every time I fish well I won't have

[38:53] Jesus in the boat I'll carry a Bible or I'll say the Lord's prayer every time before I go to fish no the amazing thing was they saw God for who he was what about you these disciples left everything and followed Jesus now God isn't always necessarily calling you to give up your business although he might but he is calling his people to live their lives completely for him now that's not hard if you've seen who you really are and who he really is and what he's really done in fact that is our reasonable service Romans 1 talks about if you have been spared from eternal hell wouldn't you want to serve the one who done that for you I encourage you to do that consider this one who revealed himself as a son of

[39:58] God to Peter in a way that just fit Peter I we can go on let me pray thank you father for your wonder we can praise you for so many things or as we come to this passage the care the tenderness the patience of Jesus is amazing that's just talking about him putting up with Peter until he went out to catch the fish father the wonder of the holiness of the son of God coming to be our savior thank you that you reveal yourself to your people through your word I pray that you would help us to be people are quick to run to you quick to rest in you quick to remember what Jesus has done for us and

[41:01] I pray that you would help us to live lives where we're willing to serve you with everything and father it is our heart's desire also that more and more people in our church outside of our church would hear of the wonder of Christ that the young people the grownups who have been here and heard the word preached would today see we're not just talking about a good man we're talking about the God man and what he's done for us and I pray that you would draw them to yourself they would come to rest in you we pray in Jesus name amen we're going to sing hymn 45 now unto Jehovah sons of the mighty and it's just a hymn full of praise and worship for Christ and who he's done and what he's done so let's sing hymn 45 now unto Jehovah ye sons of the mighty!

[41:56] Let's stand as we sing unto Jehovah ye sons of the mighty all glory and strength and will be good of Lord ascribe to him glory and render him honor in beauty of holiness worship the Lord in beauty of holiness worship the Lord the voice of Jehovah comes down on the waters in the blood of the glory does die the over the waves of the white flowing waters Jehovah has seen his in

[42:59] Roman on high Jehovah as king is in throne on high the voice of Jehovah is mighty is mighty the voice of Jehovah in fantasy speaks the voice of Jehovah the seers is breaking Jehovah the seers of Lebanon!

[43:35] Praise! Jehovah the seers of Lebanon praise! Each one in his temple his glory proclaiming he sat on the flood he is king on his throne Jehovah all strength to his people in pocket Jehovah with peace ever blessed in his own Jehovah with peace ever blessed in his own Now receive this benediction the Lord bless you and keep you the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace don't forget after our Lord's supper service we'll be taking a picture

[44:36] Lord bless you