Luke 5:1-11
Fishermen have a reputation of telling exaggerated fishing stories
A Plaque reads: “The only time a fisherman tells the truth is When he calls another fisherman a liar.” One fisherman says he caught a fish so big that when he took a picture of it, the picture itself weighed11pounds,Fishing/Stories/True/False?
True fishing Story: Peter, fishing with Jesus, let his net down one time and caught almost four tons of fish.
Catch This Biblical principle: There is a parable in every miracle Jesus performed, and there is a miracle in every parable Jesus tells.
In this miracle, Jesus calls Peter to be a fisher of men.
This is the first of five miracles that is recorded which Christ performed which involved the Sea of Galilee.
The Sea of Galilee is called by three names in the New Testament. It is called the Lake of.
Gennesaret, the Sea of Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee This sea is about 13 miles by 7 miles and the Jordan River flows through it.
Peter and his fishing companions – probably James, John, and Andrew – had fished all night and the KJV says they had “taken nothing.” The words mean, “not even one.”
They did not have even one single fish to show for their whole night of fishing.
The fishermen were tired, exhausted, dejected, and probably in a bad mood.
Luke points out that the men were now “washing their nets.”
After a fishing trip they would bring their 100 foot nets (Sagenene Nets) to shore, wash them, mend them, fold them, and put them back into the boat so they would dry and they could use them the next day.
Jesus had been teaching the people. The crowd continues to grow and Luke says “pressed upon Him to hear the word of God.”
The people keep getting closer and closer to Jesus until He finds Himself backed up to the edge of the water. It is then that Jesus sees two boats that Peter and his company own.
He asks Peter if He can borrow his boat and use it as a floating pulpit.
The lake acted as a sound system or sounding board. All could hear without Jesus raising His voice very much. Now Jesus has finished teaching the crowd, but instead of going back to shore,
Jesus tells Peter to head out for the deep water. Jesus has finished His teaching to the crowd; now He wants to use this time to teach a Lesson to Peter and his fishing partners. Most of the lessons that we will learn will be in the deep things of life.
The Lesson: Try One More Time & This Time Try It With Jesus Luke 5:4-5
What has happened? Peter and his friends had fished all night and had caught nothing. Now the Lord was sending him back to the same place –
the place of his failure and fruitlessness.
God does this in our lives. God back where you failed and learn what you did wrong. It is like God is saying you know that place of failure you were doing it your way let’s go back and do it my way.
God always wants us to learn. There’s an important truth here: God often prepares us for his call by allowing us to endure personal failure. Until we sense our need for Him, we will not be ready to follow Him.
Why did Peter fail? Why didn’t the Lord allow Peter to catch fish the night before? There were plenty of fish in the sea as we’ll see in a moment.
Peter failed because the Lord wanted to teach him a much needed lesson: “Without Him you can do nothing.” John 15:5; With Him you can do everything!” Philippians 4:13
The Lesson of God Deep!
“Let down your nets for a draught (a good catch of fish, a huge haul) – the promise.
It’s not as if Jesus is saying, “Let’s go out into the deep water, put down the nets, and we’ll see what happens.” Jesus is promising that if Peter will obey, he will catch fish.
We can learn some useful truths :
- God never gives us useless commands – though they may seem useless.
- God intends to bless those who obey Him without hesitation.
- God’s greatest miracles require our cooperation.
Have you ever had to do something that you didn’t want to do – maybe a dirty job nobody wanted to do?
“If your heart isn’t in it, then you might as well not do it.” That’s wrongs thinking. Sometimes you can’t trust your heart. The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9
God will always rewards your obedience if you will go ahead and do what He told you to do.
We should serve God from the heart. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. (Ephesians 6:6), but when the heart doesn’t cooperate, obey God anyway.
Questioning but Going Ahead: 5:5-9
Peter is not the hero here . “Lord, we’ve fished all night and caught nothing, but at your word – just because you told me to – I’m going to be faithful and do what you asked me to do.”
Look back at what Jesus told Peter to do: “Let down your nets” (plural). Peter said, “I will let down THE NET- Singular. ”
Peter said this with disgust and a little sarcasm: “I’ll do it, but I don’t want to. I’m going to obey, , easiest way I can. Don’t think I’m going to unfold all these nets I’ve just washed. I’m not because nothing is going to happen anyway.”
The word “master” in verse 5 is not the usual word for Master used to address Jesus as the master Teacher; the one with authority. It is the word for “ship’s captain” and again it is said with a hint of disgust.
Peter is saying: “Listen, I’m the expert in boats and fishing. You are a carpenter. What does a carpenter know about fishing? About as much as a fisherman knows about carpentry!”
Peter was saying to himself, “It’s the wrong time to catch fish. Fishing in the deep is best done at night. Night time is the best; It is the Wrong place … day time you fish in shallow waters.
It is like Peter is making a point, I’ll let down a SINGLE net.”
What will Peter do?
Here is a Beautiful Truth:vv.6-9 God Works Many Times in the Midst of our Doubts.
Peter began to pull the net back into the boat as he did all night long. Suddenly the net stopped. “Oh, great! Now I’m hung on some rock!”
The fish transferred through the net into his hands. There’s always the element of surprise.
Peter kept pulling until he could see fish – hundreds of them – thousands! His net was under such strain until it began to break. He needed help. Quickly he called for James and John and Andrew. Together they hauled the huge catch into two boats and the boats were about to sink. The average fishing boat of that day was seven and a half feet wide and twenty-seven feet long.
Each could hold more than two tons of fish. That would mean the catch was about four tons – with one drop of one net!
Peter’s response is surprising. I would have expected Peter to say something like. “Wow, Lord, this is great. Look at all these fish! I want you in my boat every time I go fishing.”
Instead, Peter falls to his knees in the slimy pile of fish and says, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
V.5. Peter calls Jesus a ship’s captain; In vs.8 he calls Jesus “lord”, which means “boss.”
Peter repents! Why? He did what Jesus asked him to do and the results were greater than he could have imagined – except that Peter knew that his heart was not right and he knew that Jesus knew it, too.
Peter said, “Depart from me, Lord.” But I can tell you that Peter was grateful that Jesus didn’t.
Jesus is not leaving us.
Concluding Thoughts :9-10
Peter had been catching live fish and watching them die. Now, he would catch spiritually dead men and watch them come alive! “You will catch men alive!”
On the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2, Peter threw the Gospel net out and pulled in 3,000 men of all races and languages .In Acts 10, Peter goes to the house of Cornelius and introduced the Gentiles to Christ. What a fisher of men he became!
I will Follow Jesus: v.11; “They forsook all and followed Jesus.” That means Peter and the others abandoned the record catch of fish. What price would they have brought down at the fist market?
- He left his boats, his nets, his livelihood, and followed Jesus into an unknown future.
- For Peter it meant leaving behind the old life. Letting go of all that would hinder his walk with Christ.
And he followed Jesus: The word “follow” means “to walk the same road.” That’s what a disciple does – he walks the same road as Jesus.
Are You Hooked by Jesus! When we are hooked by Jesus, your life with be filled with purpose and direction.
Satan has a net. It is a net of pain, suffering, death eternal.
Jesus wants to rescue you from Satan’s net. 2 Tim. 2:26
When we hook a fish, they struggle to get loose. I’ve seen that when the Lord tries to hook us. Don’t struggle. Let Him catch you.
He wants us to be fishers of people . We catch them; He cleans them.
What nets do you need to drop? Drop it! Drop it! Don’t Pick It Up! Don’t Pick it up! Net of Bitterness; Resentment; Revenge: Anger; Bad Habit; An Addiction. Why do people go through recovery some every day or each week? Because when they go to recovery they realize that they dropped that addiction those feelings. Don’t Pick It Up! I Peter 5:17 Casting…Release one time