Fishing for Men

“Fishing for Men”

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We are looking at the first miracle in the gospel of Luke; and the first of six miracles that Jesus performed connected to the Sea of Galilee.

When Jesus performed a miracle it was not just to entertain people, or to impress people. His miracles demonstrated he was God in human flesh; and as God demons, diseases, and death were subject to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus controlled everything on the land and in the sea; donkeys, roosters, and fish did what He said!

Jesus miracles demonstrated he was more than a man; he was God!

Jesus miracles also had a message in them; the message in this miracle is Jesus calls us to become fishers for men.

Jesus is calling his first disciples; many of His disciples where from around the Sea of Galilee. At least 6 of Jesus 12 disciples were fishermen.

In these verses Jesus calls his first disciples; Peter is the first disciple Jesus calls and the main character in the story, along with Himself. Jesus performs this miracle to teach us about catching people.

A disciple of Jesus is someone who follows Jesus; and following Jesus means reaching people with the gospel.

Every one of us who are “saved fish”; have been pulled out of the dangerous waters of sin and death by God’s grace; we want to see others saved, delivered, and rescued from sin and death.

What Jesus called Peter, to do; fish for men, is what He has called us to do!

We are going to learn in this miraculous catch of fish; what it takes to be a fisher of men.

#1 to be a fisher of men you must:

1. Hear the Heart of Jesus!

V:1-4a.

Can you picture this beautiful day by the lake; Jesus is standing with the lake to his back; He has backed up to the edge of the water and people keep pressing in around him to hear Him preach. I can picture Jesus feet already in the water, as people keep pressing him into the water. So he says to Peter, who has just finished up an all-night, unsuccessful fishing trip, and is washing his nets, can I borrow your boat for a floating pulpit.

He gets into Peter’s boat, pushes out a little from the shore and taught the people from the boat.

Peter was sitting in the boat as Jesus was preaching; Peter was hearing the heart of Jesus as He taught the Bible. To be a fisher of men we must hear the heart of our Savior.

If you listen to the heart of Jesus you will hear Him say:

· My Mission is to seek and save the lost.

-“he said to them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent…

Jesus was the send one, send on the mission of dying on the Cross to reconcile men to God.

The good news of salvation is the message that Jesus preached. He said on many occasions that he had come to die for the sins of the world that people might experience forgiveness of sin. The gospel is the good news that Jesus died for guilty sinners, and rose from the grave; that through faith in Him, you can be forgiven of your sin!

In preaching the word of God from Peter’s boat, Jesus is teaching Peter that to be His disciple, means to hear and know the heart of Jesus.

The heart of Jesus is that people might be saved!

For people to be saved they must hear the gospel and believe in Jesus to be saved.

The focus of Jesus, is to become the focus of His disciples; fishing for men. The heart of Jesus is for us to join his mission in preaching the word of God, and sharing the gospel, that people might be delivered, rescued, saved from sin and death.

You cannot read the Bible, listen to teaching or preaching very long without encountering the heart of Jesus; for lost people being saved!

The key verse in the gospel of Luke is:

-“For the Son of Man is calm to seek and to save the lost”

The parables in , illustrate that Jesus is the good Shepherd seeking for the lost sheep, he’s like the woman who seeking the lost coin, he is like the father seeking for the prodigal son.

The heart of Jesus is a heart of love for the unsaved! If we are going to be fishers of men, we must let our hearts be touched with what touches Jesus heart; the lost condition of sinners on their way to hell! The Bible says that God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

If you could place your ear against the heart of Jesus; you would hear his heart beating, none to perish, all to be saved, none to perish all to be saved!

There is no question what Jesus has called us to do if we’re listening! Jesus said I must preach the gospel; and if we hear the heart of Jesus; we will say, I must share the gospel!

The first thing necessary to be a fisher of men; is to: Hear the heart of Jesus!

#2 to be a fisher of men you must:

2. Obey the Word of Jesus!

V:4b-7.

When Jesus had finished preaching; he told Peter, V:4-“launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a catch”.

When Jesus is on board the boat of your life, He becomes the captain, He tells us what to do, and we are to obey! And when we obey, great things happen!

Jesus told Peter in:

V:3-“push out from the land…

V:4-“launch out into the deep…

V:4-“let down your nets for a catch…

Each time, Peter obeyed Jesus! He obeyed the first command which led to the second command; which led to a third command; which led to a miracle!

If Peter hadn’t obeyed the first command; he wouldn’t have gotten the second, or third command, or experienced the miracle!

Jesus had big things for Peter, as a fisher of men; but if Peter couldn’t obey the small things Jesus told him; then he would never experience the bigger things Jesus had in mind for him!

Peter gave Jesus the helm of the boat, Jesus became the captain; and Peter became the first mate!

If Peter was going to be a fisher of men; he had to learn to trust and obey the Word of Jesus.

If we’re going to be fishers of men, were going to have to obey the Word of Jesus!

If we’re going to reach the lost, we are going to have to take seriously the command of Jesus, to fish for men!

We’re going to have to leave the shore, and launch out into the deep. In other words we’ve got to go where the fish are!

When Jesus finished the sermon; he told Peter to launch out into the deep. We don’t hear a sermon just to be blessed, educated, stirred emotional, challenged and left in the same place. We hear the Word of God that we might be changed, to move us to obedience, to a deeper commitment to reach people with the gospel! Peter gets a chance to apply Jesus sermon to his life. For Peter it was time to move out of the shallow place and get into deep water!

Jesus doesn’t intend on you spending your life as a shallow-water Christian.

God doesn’t want Crossway Baptist Church to be a shallow-water church!

It is not God’s will for us to play it safe, stay in the shallow-water, where we can see the bottom, and stand up on her own.

God help us not to play it safe; let’s launch out into deep water; let’s have a spirit of faith, and adventure. God’s great work, requires great faith.

The life of miracles, with a boatload of fish doesn’t come hanging around in the shallows.

· We need to launch out in the depth of prayer.

· We need to launch out in the depth of giving.

· We launch out in the depths of witnessing.

For us to accomplish all that God wants us to accomplish we must refuse to do anything in a shallow way.

· We must never do missions in a shallow way.

· We must never give our money in a shallow way.

· We must never have a shortsighted, shallow vision.

· We must never make witnessing, evangelism a shallow thing.

We must launch out in the deep, we can’t catch fish, see people saved, God’s work done unless we launch out into the deep. Which means going where the fish are.

Unsaved people are not primarily in this church building this morning. We are to fish for lost people in the places they are found.

Lost people are found on your street, at the ballgame, at the mall, the gym, and at you work. The fish are in the deep waters of sin. We have to go where the fish are; we have to get the fish to the services were they will hear the gospel; as we can cast the gospel net.

Too many Christians are anchored to the pews; when we need to launch out into the deep for Jesus.

When Jesus climbs on board the boat of your life, and becomes the captain, He tells you to launch out into the deep water of witnessing for him! When Jesus tells Peter to launch out into the deep and let down his nets for a catch; Peter initially began to make some excuses. Maybe Peter is thinking what does a carpenter know about catching fish?

I know the right time, and the right place to fish; and this is not the time, and the deep water is not the place to fish. So Peter says:

V:5-“master we have fished hard all night…

Peter knew that the time to catch fish was at night, when the fish came into the shallow water. It was daytime, and the fish were the deep water; and their net would never reach where the fish were.

Peter was absolutely convinced; that they would catch no fish; it was the wrong time, and Jesus was asking them to fish in the wrong place-deep water!

Peter is thinking; I just finished washing my nets, and have been busy rolling them up to prepare to fish again tonight.We must never become so busy preparing to fish, talking about fishing, going to seminars on fishing that we never actually fish!

Life is busy; but meeting your neighbors and witnessing to them; joining your churches outreach efforts needs to be put in your schedule!

Peter was tired; he had fished hard all night; and he was disappointed because they had caught nothing!

We must remember that sharing the gospel, fishing for men, is hard work! And many times when we witness and share the gospel nobody gets saved, we don’t catch any fish, and it is easy to become discouraged. Nothing makes a fisherman more unhappy than fishing all night and catching nothing! You can imagine that Peter wasn’t in a very good mood.

A man said to his wife when she came in from shopping, and hadn’t bought anything. He said, why do you call it shopping, you never buy anything. She said, why do you call it fishing, you never catch anything.

There is a price to pay to win souls! Tess’s father loved to fish; he would say, you can’t catch fish sitting on the couch.

He would say, “If you want to catch fish, you’ve got to fish”

To win people to Jesus it will cost your time, convenience, and tears. I’m sure the last thing Peter wanted to do was go back out and fish, since he was convinced there weren’t going to catch anything anyway.

But Peter had enough respect for Jesus to obey him.

V:5-“nevertheless at your word I will let down the net”.

Peter did not let down the net because of his emotions- he didn’t feel like it, he was tired, wet, and hungry. We don’t witness, and share the gospel based on our emotions; because sometimes we are weak, afraid, tired, and uncertain.

We must never use the excuse that now is not the right time; if Jesus prompts your heart to share the gospel with someone; it is the right time!

V:5-“nevertheless at the word I will let down the net”

Witnessing, letting down the net to reach people with the gospel is a matter of obedience to the word of God!

“At thy word” The world was created, miracles are done, lives are changed, we never fail when we obey the Word of God!

Peter obeyed the word of Jesus, and he let down the net for catch.

You can’t catch fish unless you put the net in the water! You must cast the gospel net, share the gospel, and tell your story of what Jesus has done for you if people are going to be saved!

God has commanded every one of us to let down the net of the gospel. And Peter obeyed the word of Jesus; if we’re going to be a fisher of men; we must obey the Word of Jesus. Witnessing comes down to obedience to the word of God!

One of the biggest hindrances to our sharing the gospel, is our pride; what are people going to think about me. Somebody will laugh at me, make fun of me.

Peter’s obedience to Jesus to fish in the middle of the day, may have been laughed at by other fishermen. But the laughing stopped with the boat full of fish pulled up to the dock. When you obey the Lord Jesus your life will always experience miracles! Obedience to the word of God is always plus’s in your life; never minus’s.

The five greatest words of the Christian life are found in V:5-“at your word I will”

At your word- I will be faithful to church.

At your word-I will spend time in prayer.

At your word-I will read the Bible.

At your word-I will tithe and give.

At your word-I will tell people about Jesus.

Our responsibility is to obey and let down the net; and Jesus will fill it. But we will never, never, never experienced any miracles if we do not obey Jesus, and let down the nets!

I want to notice something:

V:4-“Jesus told Peter to launch out into the deep to let down your nets… Plural

V:5-“Peter said ,I will let down the net… singular.

We will have to wait we get to heaven to ask Peter, why he only let down one net instead of several nets.

But I know this; the more nets you put into the water, the more fish you can catch.

The more people from Crossway Baptist Church that are given their testimony, and sharing the gospel; the more people will hear and be saved! Imagine what would happen if we doubled the number of people going out on GROW evangelism.

We’re trying to put as many gospel nets in the water as we can at Crossway.

Discipleship is not just knowing; it is obeying!

Look what happens when Peter obeys the word of Jesus, and puts the net in the water.

V:6-7-Read.

Can you imagine the excitement as the nets began to feel with fish, and the water is churning as fish are flopping in the net? As they began to pull in the net, the weight of the fish was so great that the boat begins to sink. This was the catch of a lifetime, this was the greatest fishing trip of Peter’s life.

Can you see Peter frantically making hand signals to his fishing partners; James and John to come over and help them get the fish in the two boats? Catching fish for Jesus takes all of us working together to get the fish in the boat.

To be a fisher of men, we must obey Jesus!

#3 to be a fisher of men we must:

3. Recognize the Power of Jesus!

V:8-10.

V:9-“Peter, James and John were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken”.

They know that what just happened was supernatural; and beyond human explanation.

They were amazed, astonished, stunned! They recognize that Jesus is God; all-knowing, all-powerful and Holy. Peter recognizes that Jesus controls nature; he has total dominion over the land and sea. Jesus is teaching Peter and us that he is the last Adam.

-“teaches that the first Adam was to have dominion over the fish of the sea.

In the first Adam, all of became sinners, and lost total dominion. But Jesus the second Adam, demonstrated his total dominion over the fish, and told them to get into the net.

His omnipotent power brought the fish to the right spot, at the right time.

Imagine the excitement in the fish world; when they got word that the “master of the sea” needs fish in the net; hundreds of fish rushed into the net at Jesus command. Jesus has dominion over fish; and as we pray and witness Jesus has dominion over people.

We cannot catch people, deliver people; but Jesus can!

V:8-“When Peter saw it… This great miraculous catch of fish he fell down and Jesus feet and said, depart from me; for I am a sinful man, oh Lord”.

Peter knew he was in the presence of holy God; and when you get in the presence of holy God, and see who he is; you become aware of who you are! Peter recognize the power of Jesus; and realized that he was unworthy to even be in the same boat as Jesus.

When we see Jesus, we see our own unworthiness.

Isaiah saw the Lord and cried, woe is me.

Job saw the Lord and said, I repent in dust and ashes.

Peter falls down in the boat among all those fish and worships Jesus and repents of his sin.

Peter admitting his sinfulness; is what prepared him for greater usefulness.

Our sinful, guilty heart wants to push Jesus away. But rather than pushing them away, you need to ask him to forgive you of your sin.

Peter recognizing the power of Jesus, and humbling himself is what prepared him to be a fisher of men. He learned that day that he was not the great fisherman; Jesus is the great fisherman!

When they caught this great multitude of fish; Peter didn’t stand up and say to John, I told you I knew were the fish were; it was my new X24 Zy1

fish-finder from Bass Pro. No! Peter recognized it was the power of Jesus! It is Jesus that brings a fish in the net; we cast the net, but Jesus catches sinners.

We let down the net, He finds the fish; and He gets the glory!

You want to say to Peter; you think a boat-load of fish is a great miracle Peter?

· Wait until you see Jesus dies on the cross, be buried, and rise from the dead!

· Wait until you preach the gospel on the day of Pentecost, and 3000 fish get caught in the gospel net and the church is born!

#4 to be a fisher of men we must:

4. Answer the Call of Jesus!

V:10-11-“Jesus said unto Simon, fear not; from now on you shall catch men. And when they had brought their ships to the land, they forsook all, and follow him”.

Jesus tells Peter don’t be afraid God is going to use you. Follow your repentance by becoming a fisher of men. True disciples tell people about Jesus! Jesus is calling Peter to be his disciple, a fisher of men; and now Peter must answer the call!

Peter was to make fishing for men the priority of his lives. And anything that would keep him from fishing for men was to be forsaken.

Jesus said to Peter from now on, this is your calling, this is the direction that I have for your life. From this time forward you will be involved in reaching people with the gospel.

V:10-“Catch men”

The word catch means to take alive; to catch men alive. This is where fishing for fish, and fishing for men are different. Fish are caught for death and the fish fryer. Men are caught to be rescued from death and damnation.

Jesus calls us to be fisherman who rescue people from the deep-sea of sin and bring them safely into the boat of salvation.

We could call this spiritual catch and release; because people who are “caught” by the gospel or release from their sins. When we fish for men, and they get saved, they live forever! Jesus performed the miraculous catch of fish, and then called Peter to join him and fishing for men. Jesus is calling us as His disciples; to be a fishers of men! We are called to cast a wide net by inviting our neighbors to church, and Bible Fellowship, talking to our family about spiritual things, giving our money to God’s work, and sharing the gospel in every way we can.

In the same way a fisherman keeps casting his nets, we are called to keep sharing the gospel!

Will you today, place your ear against the heart of Jesus, and hear His heart for people to be saved? Will you acknowledge that He is calling you to be a fisher of men, and will you obey? Will you answer His call to fish for men, to be a witness? Will you make it a priority, and launch out and began to let down your net, testimony and start sharing the gospel with others?

Jesus is calling us to be fishers of men; will you answer the call, and start witnessing and sharing the gospel, and fishing for men?