LUKE 5:1-11

PETER’S BOAT

 

Read Luke 5:1-11

While waiting in a cemetery to conduct a funeral service, Charles Simeon walked among the graves, looking at the epitaphs. He found one that arrested him.

When from the dust of death I rise,
To claim my mansion in the skies,
E’en then shall this be all my plea--
“Jesus hath lived and died for me.”

He was so impressed with that gospel message that he looked for someone in the cemetery with whom he might share it. He saw a young woman, obviously distressed, and called her over to read the epitaph. He took her address and visited her the next day. The home was a scene of poverty and squalor. The woman’s old mother was dying of asthma, and two little children, very dirty, were trying to warm themselves by a small fire. Simeon prayed with the family, visited them again, and found assistance for them.

Later, the young woman told Simeon that she had been in the cemetery five hours and was contemplating suicide when he called her to read the epitaph. Because of his concern she trusted Christ and the family situation was changed.

Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching & Preachers, W. Wiersbe, p. 217, http://www.bible.org/illus/a/a-104.htm#TopOfPage

God uses
what you have
to fill a need which
you never could have filled.

God uses
where you are
to take you where
you never could have gone.

God uses
what you can do
to accomplish what
you never could have done.

God uses
who you are
to let you become who
you never could have been.

Philip Clarke Brewer Holy Sweat, Tim Hansel, 1987, Word Books Publisher, p. 25 . http://www.bible.org/illus/a/a-104.htm#TopOfPage

God used an epitaph in a cemetery and a concerned minister.

As the poem by Philip Clarke Brewer told us, God can use you.

I know that God can use you because you are like Peter’s boat mentioned in Luke 5:1-11.

Peter’s boat was the scene of the miracle of a miraculous catch of fish.

 

This was not the first time that Peter had met Jesus.

There are at least two other previous instances of Peter meeting Jesus.

 

Peter’s brother, Andrew, was a disciple of John the Baptist.

Andrew was present when John the Baptist identified Jesus as “the lamb of, which taketh away the sins of the world”.

 

John 1:40-42 - One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. [41] He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. [42] And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.

 

The original call of Jesus to Peter, Andrew, James and John is mentioned in Matthew 4:18-20.     

 

And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. [19] And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. [20] And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.

 

The disciples appeared to follow Jesus on a part time basis, and then went back to their fishing. It is at the end of a long night of fishing that Peter’s boat comes into focus, and we see how we should be useable like Peter’s boat.

 

LIKE PETER’S BOAT

YOUR HEART SHOULD BE A CHAPEL

 

Vss. 1-3 – Jesus was teaching by the Sea of Galilee.

                 The crowds were very large and pressing upon him.

Nearby Peter, Andrew, James, and John were doing what fishermen did after a long night of fishing. They were washing out their nets and then setting them into the sun to dry.

 

Jesus requested use of the boat. So Peter thrust out a little from land and Jesus sat in the boat and taught the people.

The hills surrounding the lake helped make the area a natural amphitheatre.

 

The minute Jesus entered that boat it was not the same.

Jesus entered the boat and the boat became a chapel.

It was the residence, at least temporarily of God the Son.

 

The minute Jesus entered your life when you were saved you were no longer the same.

 

2 Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

 

You became new in many ways when you trusted Jesus as Savior.  A key way is that your heart became a chapel or a temple.  It is a place where God dwells.   

 

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 - What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? [20] For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

 

Because God dwells inside of me my body should be a place where He is worshipped.  God should receive my reverence, my praise, my thanksgiving and my prayers.   

 

Psalm 89:1 - I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.

 

Psalm 89:7 - God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.

 

Psalm 103:1-2 - Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. [2] Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:

 

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 - Rejoice evermore. [17] Pray without ceasing. [18] In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

 

When someone is present it is rude to ignore him.

How rude are we to God when we, as Christians, go about ignoring His presence hours or days on end?   

 

You can be assured that when Jesus was in the boat, Peter did not ignore him!

 

Our hearts are His chapel!  Oh how much happier we would be if we practiced what we sing:

I come to the garden alone,

While the dew is still on the roses;

And the voice I hear, falling on my ear,

The Son of God discloses.

 

He speaks, and the sound of his voice is so sweet

The birds hush their singing;

And the melody that He gave to me

Within my heart is ringing.

 

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,

And He tells me I am His own,

And the joy we share, As we tarry there,

None other has ever known. C. Austin Miles

 

LIKE PETER’S BOAT

YOUR HEART SHOULD BE A CHAPEL

YOUR HEART SHOULD BE A CLASSROOM

 

Vs. 3 – Jesus taught the people.

The Teacher was present.  Class was in session!

 

Did you know that like Peter’s boat, you have a resident teacher?

It is God, the Holy Spirit.

 

John 16:12-14 - I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. [13] Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

[14] He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

 

How does God teach us?

First of all, He uses his Word.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 - All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: [17] That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

 

Secondly God teaches us through the preaching of His Word.

2 Timothy 4:2 - Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

 

Thirdly God uses us to teach each other.

We teach others when we share Scripture.

We teach others when we share our experiences.

 

Finally, God teaches us through experience.

We learn to trust God through our trials.

We learn to do what is right when God chooses to correct us for what we have done wrong.   

   

Have you ever tried to teach someone who didn’t want to learn?  It’s almost impossible, isn’t it?

We, as Christians should be those who want to learn.

2 Timothy 2:15 - Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Proverbs 3:11-12 - My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction: [12] For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

 

Wade Prime, who will be with us next week, was such a person. Wade came from a liberal church, but was saved.

He started coming to Village Bible Church and constantly learned and spent time with me in various ways.  Wade ended up being a pastor. 

 

That doesn’t mean that you will be a pastor if you learn, but you will mature so that you will be useable!     

 

LIKE PETER’S BOAT

YOUR HEART SHOULD BE A CHAPEL

YOUR HEART SHOULD BE A CLASSROOM

YOUR LIFE SHOULD HAVE A CAPTAIN

 

Vs. 4 – Did you ever have someone who knew nothing about your job, tell you how to do your job?

 

Peter would have thought that Jesus knew nothing about fishing.  Jesus was a carpenter.

 

Jesus wanted Peter to go fishing when they had labored all night and caught nothing. The fish were not around.

Jesus wanted Peter to go fishing in the broad daylight, when nighttime would have been better.

Jesus wanted Peter to fish out in the deep, when it was customary to fish along the shore.

Peter would have had to load the big, heavy, wet nets back into his boat and go out for fish after having fished all night.

He was probably very tired, if not exhausted!

 

Luke 5:5 - And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.

 

Did Peter feel like fishing? No.

Did Peter think it was wise to fish?  No.

Was Peter afraid at being laughed at for fishing at such an unusual time and place? Perhaps.

Did Peter understand what Jesus was doing? No.   

 

Why did Peter concede to do it?

The moment that Jesus entered Peter’s boat, Jesus became captain.

Peter recognized him as Master and did as He was told.

 

My friend Jesus wants to be more than a guest in your life.

He wants to be Lord of your life!

He wants to call the shots!

He wants to tell you what to do.

 

I have a friend named Dan Krodel.

For several years Dan was the youth pastor at a church near us in Northville, New York.

Dan was also a member of the local first aid squad.

He ended up being the head of the squad.

He said that he ran the squad as a “benevolent dictatorship”.

There had to be someone who would lead and make the decisions. Democracy did not work.  He was kind, but he was in charge.

 

My friend Jesus wants to run a benevolent dictatorship in your life.

He wants to tell you what to do and when to do it.

He wants your obedience.

He wants your submission to His authority.

He wants to be boss.

He wants to be “Lord of all”.  And, as someone has said, “If Jesus isn’t Lord of all, He isn’t Lord at all!”

 

John 13:13 - Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.

 

·        God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him. - Andrew Murray

·        There is not an inch of any sphere of life of which Jesus Christ the Lord does not say, “Mine.” - Abraham Kuyper, quoted in The Devil’s Gauntlet, by Os Guiness.

·        Jesus Christ is not valued at all until He is valued above all. - Augustine

·        On the tombstone of an old Cavalier soldier who lost his life and property in battle for the royalist cause: “He served King Charles with a constant, dangerous and expensive loyalty.” - B. Larsen, Luke, p. 59

·        A wife who is 85% faithful to her husband is not faithful at all. There is no such thing as part-time loyalty to Jesus Christ. - Vance Havner

 

LIKE PETER’S BOAT

YOUR HEART SHOULD BE A CHAPEL

YOUR HEART SHOULD BE A CLASSROOM

YOUR LIFE SHOULD HAVE A CAPTAIN

YOUR LIFE SHOULD BE A CHANNEL

 

Vss. 5-7 – Peter’s boat became the channel or means of a great miracle.

 

Vs. 8 – Peter was amazed and convicted.  He realized what a sinner he was and that he did not deserve to be in Jesus’ presence.

 

When God works miracles in our lives, we will be equally astonished and will realize how much we don’t deserve them.

For we, too are sinful men and women.

 

Vs. 9-10 – Jesus now tells Peter something phenomenal and wonderful!  From that point on Peter would not fish for fish.

He would fish for men.

 

And I understand that the wording here means to catch them alive. It is like capturing for animals for a circus or zoo.

Peter, Andrew, James and John would all be those who would become the channel through which God would work to bring men and women to Himself and to lead them to life!

 

And so it is today.  We are God’s channels who are to bring men and women to Jesus.  We are the ones who are to tell the Good News of Jesus’ death burial and resurrection.

 

Mark 16:15 - And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

 

Bruce Larson tells of sharing a cab with a friend of his, Harold Hill.  This was in Bermuda and they had to drive from one end of the island to the other. “Harold sat in front with the driver talking the whole time about Jesus – the miracles, the excitement, the adventure. The cabby just kept driving, grunting occasionally.”  When they arrive at the airport Harold said to the cabbie, ‘Friend, can you think of any reason why you shouldn’t turn you life over to Jesus?  The cabby couldn’t. So he did! Bruce Larson, The Communicator’s Commentary, Volume 3, Luke, (Word Books, Waco, Texas, 1983) p.105

 

Harold Hill brought the cabbie back alive!

LIKE PETER’S BOAT

YOUR HEART SHOULD BE A CHAPEL

YOUR HEART SHOULD BE A CLASSROOM

YOUR LIFE SHOULD HAVE A CAPTAIN

YOUR LIFE SHOULD BE A CHANNEL

YOUR LIFE SHOULD BE A CAST-OFF

 

Luke 5:11 - And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.

 

The boat was left behind.   

Peter and the others left all to follow Jesus.

In their case the fishing boats needed to be forsaken.

 

You may not have to leave your job in order to follow Jesus.

But your life is to be such that you are willing to leave behind whatever is necessary in order to follow Jesus.

 

Luke 9:23-24 - And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. [24] For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

 

Luke 14:26-27 - If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. [27] And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

If anything or anybody is more important to you than doing the will of the Lord Jesus, than it needs to be cast off just like Peter’s boat.

   

LIKE PETER’S BOAT

YOUR HEART SHOULD BE A CHAPEL

YOUR HEART SHOULD BE A CLASSROOM

YOUR LIFE SHOULD HAVE A CAPTAIN

YOUR LIFE SHOULD BE A CHANNEL

YOUR LIFE SHOULD BE A CAST-OFF