Caught in the Nets of Grace

Well, thanks for having me. It's great to be here

in the Republic of Texas. I don't know what that means,

but I'm supposed to say it. We've had a great

week and just enjoying the hospitality of your church. So

thank you. It's been a full week, a good week.

I'm eager to get home to my wife, but not

before we open God's Word together. So let's do that.

You're in Luke five already. Let me read God's Word

to us, Luke five. We're gonna look at verse one

to eleven. Here now the word of God. On one occasion,

while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear

the word of God, he was standing by the lake

of Gennesserra, and he saw two boats by the lake,

but the fishermen had gone out of them and were

washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which

was Simon's, he asked them to put out a little

from the land, and he sat down and taught the

people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking,

he said to Simon, put out in to the deep

and let down your nets for a catch. And Simon answered, Master,

we toiled all night and took nothing, but at your word,

I will let down the nets. 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 help them, and they

came and filled both the boats, so that they began

to sink. But when Simon Peters 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 they had taken, and so also were James and

john sons of Zebede, who were partners with Simon, and

Jesus said to Simon, 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.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

I've been a pastor and preacher now for almost twenty

years in Canada. But I mean, you should have seen

me back then when I was a new preacher. Man,

I was so smart, so smart, so gifted. You would

have been really quite amazed. I know I was. I

was very impressed with myself. I had a lot going on.

I had convictions. Convictions are good. I had so many convictions.

I had convictions about things everyone needs to have convictions about.

I had extra convictions about things that only some people have.

So I had so many convictions. I knew, I knew

what was best. I knew what the problems were, and

I knew I could fix them. The only thing between

me and success was opportunity, at least in my mind,

and I deserved opportunity. And maybe as you're hearing that,

you're thinking, this guy is an arrogant punk, and I was,

But I think that many of us actually behave this way.

We would not put it in so many words, but

we feel quite important. We feel we're a pretty big deal.

We feel we have the answers. If only someone would

recognize and give me the opportunity to serve. We have gifts,

we have abilities. We can help God's church and advance

God's kingdom if only we had our shot. We need

a reality check. We need a reality check that when

the Bible, when we're reading the Bible and we see

and look to who it is that God calls, who

it is that he uses for his purposes, it is

not the impressive. It is not the talented, the proud,

the entitled. God does not use the best in the brightest.

He's not looking to draft talent for his team. I

love how Paul describes the Corinthians. What a reality check,

Firs Corinthians one for consider your calling, brothers. Not many

of you were wise according to worldly stay, and not

many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But

God chose what is foolish in the world to shame

the wise. God chose what is weak in the world,

to shame the strong. God chose what is low and

despised in the world, even things that are not to

bring to nothing, things that are so that no human

might boast in the presence of God. Who is the

one that God calls? Who is the type of person

that Jesus uses for his purposes? That's the question before

us before he uses us. See, here's the thing, before

he uses us, He prepares us. How Jesus humbles us

in order to prepare us for his purpose. Jesus humbles

us in order to prepare us for his purpose. Well,

in our passage today, Jesus is calling his first disciples.

He's been for a couple chapters in Luke. He's been

preaching in the synagogues around Galile's perform miracles. He's become

well known. But now he's going to call his first

disciples to join his mission. So we should pay close

attention to who and and how he calls. In our text,

we're going to see two ways that he humbles, and

then the results of that humbling. But let's jump in

to kind of set the scene verse one once again.

On one occasion, while the crowd is pressing in on

him to hear the word of God, he was standing

by the lake of Guinnessserat. He saw two boats by

the lake, but the fishermen could have gone out of

them and were 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. So interesting. The

crowds have gathered. The crowds have gathered to hear what

does it say verse one to hear the word of God?

Jesus' words are the word of God. And nearby there's

some fishermen. They're washing their nets after a night of fishing,

and Jesus climbs into Simon's boat and Jesus, he knows

Simon he was look for. He healed Simon's mother in law,

and Jesus asked him to put out the boat to

preach from the boat. And this would have been a

significantly sighed boat, about twenty five feet long, about maybe

a crew of five. But then look what he does

when he finishes preaching verse four. 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 toiled all night and took nothing,

but at your word, I will let down the nets.

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

help them, and they came and filled both boats. So

they began to sink. Jesus turns to Simon and tells

him to go out into the deep part of the

lake and let down his nets for a catch. Now,

maybe you don't recognize that this is a strange thing

to say. Three things you need to know about Galilean fishing.

Number One, you don't fish during the day, as the

fish can see the nets and avoid them. Number Two,

you don't fish in the deep, you fish along the shore.

And number three, you don't take fishing advice from a carpenter.

These professional fishermen doing this their whole life. They fished

all night and caught nothing. They're tired, probably discouraged. They're

cleaning up for the day after failing. You know, I

can't imagine they're excited to get back out there and

do everything you're not supposed to do as a fisherman.

They know they won't catch anything. They'll just have to

clean their nets all over again. Look at Simon's response,

though in verse five, it kind of has two voices

to it. Simon the fisherman says, we toiled all night

and took nothing. But Simon also respects Jesus. He's listened

to him teach, he's seen him heal and rescue people.

Simon the fisherman is saying no, but Simon the new believer,

the young disciple, says, Okay, at your word, we'll do it.

It's isn't it kind of strange that Simon had fished

all night and caught nothing. I mean, I was thinking

about that, like, how often do professional fishermen too? But

oates working all night catch nothing. But Jesus is the

Word made flesh, the sustainer of all things, the agent

of creation. Before he calls Simon, he needs Simon to

learn something essential. As I said, two ways, he humbles us.

Here's the first thing we must learn. Number one, I

am unable and he is able. I am unable and

he is able. Ruined by our sin, our default operating

system is wired for self sufficiency. But to be of

any use in the Kingdom of God, we must see

that I am unable and he is able. And so

Jesus humbles us in order to prepare us for his purpose. So,

before Jesus calls Simon, he has him experience the worst

day of his fishing career. This is not a coincidence.

This is the sovereign grace of God. He brings him

to an all time discouraging low. Have you ever felt

like this? Have you ever kind of surveyed your life

and felt useless, felt empty, felt like a failure, discouraged,

ready to give up? What's the point? Everything I'm doing

is falling on its face. This is the moment, This

is the moment you are most ready for the grace

and call of Jesus. It is in our weakness, our failure,

our neediness, that he meets us with his grace so

powerfully and works most clearly. Simon needs to see his

own inadequacy, his own inability, because that's the critical starting

point for meaningful ministry. I'm unable and he is able.

I can't do it. I'm weak and he is strong.

And so on Simon's worst day, at his emptiest moment,

the place of failure, Jesus shows up to t each

him and show him powerful grace that changes everything. And

so Simon obeys Jesus word. They go out into the deep,

put down their nets, and instantly they catch such a

large number of fish their nets are breaking. They have

to signal for help from James and John. I think

that shows how little faith Simon had. If you knew

what was coming, they would have been ready. They weren't right,

and so they get over here. Didn't see this coming.

We thought we were just wasting our time. As they

filled their nets, there's so many fish. Those boats are

beginning to sink. Just it is unbelievable. Massive catches, the

biggest haul that any of them had ever seen in

their lives. Fishermen, of course, are famous for making up crazy,

exaggerated stories of the fish they caught or almost caught.

But this is wilder and bigger than any story they

ever heard, and it's important for us to see here.

It's not about the fish. This is not about the fish.

Jesus isn't trying to make Simon's small business a success.

He's teaching him a critic lesson that he will need

for the rest of his ministry and life. I am

unable and he is able. He's preparing him for discipleship

and ministry. See Christian discipleship is so counterintuitive. At school,

at work, wherever you're you're investing the majority of your

time those kind of places. What you need to do

is you depend on your smarts, your skills, your experience,

and your abilities. You depend on what you have to succeed.

But in our spiritual work, it's not like that. In

our spiritual work and the work of the Kingdom of God,

you don't bring your abilities. You bring your inabilities, you

bring your weakness, you bring your failure, you bring your emptiness,

you bring your need. Because the person who knows their

inadequacy will look to the adequacy of Christ. The person

who knows their weakness will depend on the power of Christ.

And in our spiritual work, that's where the power is.

Remember what Paul said two Corinthians twelve. When I am weak,

then I'm strong. Paul's like, I'm proud of my weakness.

My weakness is where Christ is strongest. The weaker I am,

the stronger he is. Here's Paul's math. My inability plus

Christ's ability equals great power. My insufficiency and weakness is

a critical component of this winning formula. My weakness plus

his strength great power. See the great enemy of kingdom work,

then is pride. The proud have no use for Jesus.

There's no prayer, there's no dependence, no neediness. The proud

will never know the strength and sufficiency of Jesus because

they don't need him, and so Christ doesn't use them.

So in order to prepare us, Jesus will humble us.

And only then are we ready for our weakness to

be matched up with his strength. So we must learn

the critical truth. I am unable and He is able.

And so let me ask you this, Where in your

life is there weakness? Limitation, emptiness? We have two paths

before us. Either you can do everything in your power

to hide that cover that overcome it in your strength,

hide it out of you, or are you ready to

embrace your weakness and run to Christ for his strength.

There's a second truth that Simon learns, and so us,

a second way that Jesus humbles us. Number two, I

am unworthy and he is holy. We have to learn this.

I am unworthy and he is holy. Let's pick up

the text again, verse eight, where we see this but

when Simon Peter saw it, the great catch a fish,

he fell down at jesus knees, saying, depart from me,

for I am a sinful man, Oh Lord. For he

and all who are with him were astonished at the

catch of fish they had seen. And so also were

James and john sons of Zebedee, who are partners with Simon.

When Simon sees the fish, the boat's sinking with this catch,

he reflects for a moment. He has to like think

for a moment, and then he gets it. We didn't

just get lucky. We didn't earn this, we didn't do this.

This is the powerful, miraculous grace of a sovereign God.

And so there's this huge shift in Simon as he

sees the boats, and he sees Jesus. The first change

I noticed in Simon is in his language before the

catch verse five. What is he called Jesus Master? He

knows Jesus as a well known teacher from his neighborhood,

from the area he had healed his mother in law.

He's a rabbi, a man worthy of respect, and that's

what that title is, ile of respect. But look what

he calls Jesus in verse eight. Lord. Now lord can

mean something like master or sir. But Luke has set

us up for how this word gets used. Thirty times

so far in the Gospel of Luke, in the first

five chapters, or just the four chapters leading this, this

word lord has been used, and every single time it

is in reference to God. Luke has set us up

so that when we hear this word on Simon Peter's lips,

we have a category for what it means, because it

always references the sovereign God in the first four chapters.

So when Simon says it, we understand what he's getting at.

And so Simon is recognizing Jesus as the sovereign Lord

of the universe. Something has fundamentally shifted in his heart,

he saw Jesus as master, teacher, respected rabbi, someone to respect,

someone to listen to. But now he sees him as

his Lord and his God. And finding himself face to

face with his Lord, what does he say, depart from me,

I am a sinful man, O Lord. Simon is suddenly,

in that moment, aware of the glory and holiness of

Jesus and seeing his holy presence. He is suddenly deeply

aware of his own sin, his own unworthiness, and he

knows this is dangerous for a sinner like himself to

be in the presence of the Holy God. Here's the truth.

When you see God clearly, you then finally see yourself rightly.

The best way to see yourself rightly is not to

search your heart, not to look in, but to look

to God. It's as we behold God and his breath,

taking glory, his utter holiness, his unmatched grace, his radiant

splendor and power and might. It's as we behold Him

that then we see ourselves rightly. As John Kelvin said,

no one attains clear knowledge of self unless he has

first gazed upon the face of the Lord. That's what

Simon's living in this moment, and Simon's words here really

echo back to the prophet Isaiah. In Isaiah six right,

Isaiah suddenly sees a vision of the Lord in his temple,

his immense holiness bursting forth and overwhelming everything, and at

a glimpse of the hem of the government of the

Glorious Holy Lord, Isaiah is just undone, and he says,

woe is me, for I am lost. 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, seeing God clearly,

he sees himself rightly. And then what happens. God meets

Isaiah with divine reassurance. God does not say to Isaiah,

easy there, bud, it's not that bad. You're not that sinful.

You're not a bad person. You're not a bad person. Right,

don't feel bad. He doesn't comfort him with platitudes. Sometimes

it's perfectly right to feel bad. Sometimes you ought to

feel bad, And Isaiah was not wrong to feel bad

as he recognized my sin and his holiness. Instead of

comforting him for his bad feelings, what does he do?

He An angel brings the burning coal from the altar

and touches Isaiah's unclean lips, announcing your guilt is taken

away and your sin atone. For God reassures Isaiah, not

with empty platitudes or feelings. Look in your heart. He

reassures him with atonement, the covering of Yes, you're sinful,

and I'm going to cover your sin. See. God exposes us,

but he doesn't leave us there he exposed. He cracks

us open and exposes us so that he will cover

us and then send us. God says, whom shall I

send and who will go for us? To which Isaiah

is now covered by the blood forgiven a tone cleansed.

Now he's able to say, here, am I send me?

Like he did with Isaiah, the Lord God is intervening

in the same way in Simon's life. Like Isaiah, Simon

realizes that he's in the presence of the Holy God

and he is undone. He suddenly has such clarity about

God's the holiness of Jesus the Sovereign Lord, and his

own unworthiness. And this is not a bad thing. It

is a critical thing if anyone is going to be

a disciple of Jesus. As Isaiah sixty six says, but

this is the one to whom I will look, he

who is humble and contrite and spirit and trembles at

my word. Now, some of us might be pretty unclear

on this. Yes, we think far too little of God

and far too highly of ourselves. And you need to

see the glory and holiness of God in such a

way that it will change your life forever, so that

you never see yourself the same. If we're going to

be a disciple of Jesus, if we're going to be

useful for Christian ministry, we must be humbled and we

must learn I'm unworthy, but He is holy. This is

an essential starting place for Christian living and for any ministry.

But we're not done. The third thing is there's the results.

What happens once Peter Simon has learned these lessons and

seeing these two truths, well, the result once humbled is

number three. I leave everything for he is worth it.

I leave everything for he is worth it. Take a

look at the second half of verse ten, and Jesus

said to Simon, 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 go.

Jesus responds to Simon's confession and his contrition, not with rejection,

not with judgment, not with punishment, but welcome. Do not

be afraid. Fact is, every human is an unworthy sinner.

It's those who recognize that, who feel the weight of

their own unworthiness. Those are the ones that Jesus calls, saves,

and then sends builds his kingdom through. There's this pattern

in the Gospels that we can recognize. Every person who

comes to Jesus declaring their need, their unworthiness, who confesses

their sin, every one of them, they find grace and

welcome and forgiveness and even purpose and mission. They're never rejected,

never sent away empty, never cast out. But but every

person who who comes to Jesus declaring their righteousness, highlighting

their good deeds, bringing their resume with them, claiming their position,

every one of them are sent away empty. Those who

think they are worthy are furthest from the Kingdom of God.

Those who recognize their unworthiness are nearest. Here's the truth.

We've got to recognize pride. Pride keeps more people from

Jesus than sin does. Right. Pride, that's the enemy, That's

what's in our way. So look at Simon Peter. We

kind of expect Jesus to reject Peter and send him packing,

but instead Jesus reassures him and then commissions him. You've

spent your life catching fish. That's been your purpose, your life,

your identity, or everything. From now on new mission, you're

catching men. Look at the backwards math of the Kingdom

of God. My inability plus my unworthiness makes me quickly

suited for God's purposes. Jesus humbles us in order to

prepare us for his purpose, and so Jesus gives Simon

a whole new purpose, a new mission, a new calling,

a new life. When they get back to shore, everything

is changed. Simon James John they leave everything and follow him,

for he is worth it. Think about that, on their

best day, their best day of fishing. Ever, at the

height of their success, they just hit the mother load.

At their moment is of greatest success, they walk away

from it all. They leave everything to follow him. Simon's

life has been changed forever. He now gets it. I'm

unable and he is able. I'm unworthy and he is holy.

And yet he welcomes me, and yet he forgives me

and Yet he calls me, knowing what he knows about me.

Yet he still calls me. And so I will leave

everything because he is worth it. Leaves his massive catch,

his boats, his net, his business, his livelihood, his security,

his identity, his purpose. He walks away from it all

because when Jesus meets us with grace, everything changes. Everything

Simon has been caught in the nets of grace, and

nothing will be the same ever again. Sometimes we resist

following Jesus. We resist his calling. Maybe there's a certain

obedience that God's just put before us, and yet we're like, oh,

that's gonna right. We avoid sharing our faith, knowing that

make maybe received with great resistance, may not go well.

We resist when God calls us to sacrifice for his kingdom.

It's like I know I should, But we hesitate and delay,

even though the obedience that we're called to is sit

and rate in front of us, and we wait and

we resist. We don't feel worthy, we don't feel ready,

we don't feel able. I don't know what to say,

I don't know how to do it. I don't know

how it will turn out. Look, if you wait until

you are perfectly capable of making a difference, in Jesus' kingdom,

you will never obey. Never. And that's totally backwards anyway,

because Jesus always and only works through the incapable and

unworthy to advance his purposes in kingdom. He's not looking

for heroes and superstars. He's not looking for the talented

to draft them onto his team. He's calling the incapable

to look to him, to trust him, to rely on him.

He's working his power in our weakness, never in our strength, right,

He's working through our inability, not our capability. So if

you're waiting for the day that you are capable, you

are waiting for the day you are unqualified. You'll never

You'll never get there. Mature discipleship, though, when we have

clarity on this, we embrace this. Mature disciples know weakness

is the way I'm willing to embrace more and more

of my inability and his ability. I'm more and more

willing to confess my sin, my own unworthiness, and see

his holiness. I'm willing to leave everything in following him

because he is worth it. Now, as we go through

the Gospels, you can think of Simon's life, right, and

he has his ups and downs moments of incredible faith

and courage, and moments of pride and foolishness and doubt.

But then I think of this story. I imagine Peter

and James and John looking standing together on the day

of Pentecost a few years later, the Holy Spirit working

so powerfully through their weakness in a way that they

could never have imagined. And I wonder if while three

thousand people were being baptized on that day, confessing their

sin in recions response to Peter's message his Gospel sermon,

I wonder if Peter and James and John ever remembered

back to the day when their boats almost sank with

that thousands of fish. The God who had taken incapable,

unworthy men and nearly sunk their boats with thousands of

fish from the waters of Galilee, took the same men,

working through their inability and weakness, to fill the waters

of Jerusalem with thousands of men and women caught in

the nets of grace. Did Peter have flashbacks as he

saw them all coming to be baptized. Did he remember

the fish that day and how Jesus humbled them and

then called them? Let me ask you this as we wrap,

where are you still hanging on, still hanging on to pride,

believing that you are capable and you were able on

your own. Why am I not getting the shot that

I deserve? Are you still thinking far too highly of

yourself and too lowly of Jesus? Do you need to

see have a renewed vision of the holiness of God

and get a spiritual reality check? And what is he

calling you to leave behind? What is he calling you

to reprioritize. Let's bring these things to the Lord in

prayer right now.