The Son of Man // Calling of the Disciples [Luke 5:1-11] (Geoff Smith)

We Father, we thank you, we think you was wonderful time

we've had to bring our praise and our worship to you.

Lord, we thank you. That is part of our worship.

We thank you for the offerings that have been given.

Lord, you are the one who provides all that we have and

our offerings are just a small part of our worship.

Back to you, Lord, we thank you for those that distribute that

may it be used wisely, may be used for your glory and for your

Kingdom. Father, we thank you for our

Sunday school children. We thank you for the blessing

they are to us, the church and to our families.

Lord, we just pray your hand upon them as they go out to

Sunday school and also our team class Lord that you will work in

their hearts. Continue to draw them closer to

you. Let me thank you for the love

you have for them and Lord, may they know you each each of them

know you as their own personal Lord and Saviour at some point.

Father, we thank you for our Sunday School teachers.

We thank you for the diligence and bringing your word to our

children. Look, give them the words to say

in the words to Shia today. We pray and we thank you for

Jeff. We thank you for the message

you've laid on us heart. We thank you for the opportunity

we have to be able to sit under the word of God in law.

We just pray that our hearts will be open to that Lord, that

won't just be words that we hear, but words that change us

and we'll we'll draw us closer to you.

O Lord, we just pray for Jeff and bring him to your hand too.

So we thank you for this time and we committed into you now

and your hand in Jesus name, Amen.

I've got to say, you look a lot better from up here than you do

from the back. Pity.

It's not reciprocal, isn't it? It's a delight to be with you

always and I'm glad to be here in my condition.

I'm glad to be anywhere, but I'm particularly delighted to be

with you this morning if you have your Bibles with you.

Where? In the Gospel of Luke, page

1410. Don't you wish you'd bought a

better Bible? Matthew, Mark, Luke chapter 5

Luke 5 · chapter mention

and we're bringing our thinking to this important paragraph in

the Gospel of Luke. One day as Jesus was standing by

the lake of Guinness, Alright with the people crowding around

him and listening to the Word of God, he swore at the waters

edge. 2 boats. There's a reason, of course, why

there was a crowd pressing around Jesus, and you only have

to back up into chapter 4 to find the reason.

In verse 31, He went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee,

and on the Sabbath began to teach the people.

They were amazed at his teaching because His message had

authority. It wasn't the rabbis discussing

who said what and how Jesus was unfolding the word of God with

authority and declaring what it meant.

And the crowd was so impressed they pressed down toward him.

Have a look at chapter 4, verse 33.

In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil

spirit, and Jesus cast the evil spirit out.

If you have a look at verse 36, all the people were amazed and

said to each other, what is this teaching?

With authority and power? He gives orders to evil spirits

and they come out and then you go down to verse 38.

Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon.

Now Simon's mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever and

they asked Jesus to help her. So he bent over her and rebuked

the fever and it left her. She got up at once and began to

wait on them. And then you find in verse 40

onwards, further casting out of demons.

No wonder there's a crowd pressing around Jesus that the

nation hadn't seen this kind of action.

It was unique, to say the least. So we're back in Chapter 5.

He saw at the water's edge 1st 22 boats left there by the

fishermen who were washing their Nets.

He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and

asked him to put out a little from the shore.

Then he sent down and taught the people from the boat.

When he had finished speaking he said to Simon, put out into deep

water and let down the Nets for a catch.

Well, here's Simon Peters, response.

Master, we have worked hard all night and haven't caught

anything, but because you say so, I will let down the Nets.

Now Jesus is talking to him in the middle of the day.

Launch out into the deep and get ready for a catch.

And Peter comes back and says, Lord, we have been fishing all

night. And there's a reason why there

were fishing all night because at night the insects came out.

And when the insects came out, the fish came to the surface to

grab the insects so that they would be free from any other

predators in the lake. Now Jesus is telling them to do

something quite strange. He says don't go fishing at

night in the middle of the day. I'm telling you, go out into the

deep well in the middle of the day.

The fish are right at the bottom.

It's only at night they come to the surface for the insects.

And Peter can't figure this and he looks at Jesus and says, now

look here, you're a Carpenter, you stay with the tools.

I'll look after the fish, but Peter has known a thing or two

about Jesus. This is not his first encounter

with Christ. In fact, it's probably the third

encounter Peter has had with the Lord Jesus.

And he says, nevertheless, at your word I will let down the

Nets. We are in verse 6.

When they had done so, they caught such a large number of

fish that their Nets began to break.

So they signalled their partner in the other boat to come and

help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that

they began to sink. The miracles of Jesus are never

in the half measure. And so he tells them, launch out

into the deep and suddenly they've got so many fish that

number one, according to verse 6, the net to breaking number 2,

they need to call their partners to come and help.

And #3 when they do come and help and load the fish into the

boat, both boats begin to sink. Some fishing trip you will find

Christians telling you this kind of thing happens on the white

matter and when they do remember that Bible verse.

All men are liars, especially fishermen.

When Jesus fed the 5000 men, besides women and children, with

the five loaves and two fish, there were 12 basketfuls left

over. Those baskets were the size of a

basket a man could fit in, and when they left Paul over the

wall to escape, he got into a basket big enough to hold a man.

12 of them left over and then when he fed the 4000 there were

7 basketfuls left over. Now, what's the significance of

this miracle? Have you noticed the miracles of

Jesus are quite narrow and defined in their purpose?

Jesus isn't running around and grabbing a a blow fly, wiggling

his nose and turning it into an A380.

Now could he have done that? Of course he could have done

that. He's God in human flesh.

But he didn't. He didn't grab a donkey up one

of the little lanes in Nazareth and turn it into a red hot

Lamborghini. Now could he have done that?

Of course he could have done that.

But the miracles of Jesus are not random acts of power.

They are miracles with a message.

This is the second episode in the ministry of Jesus where he

turns a them to to a large amount of fish.

Second one is in John chapter 21, and the reason this becomes

John 21 · chapter mention

a miracle is because back in the prophecy of Ezekiel chapter 47,

Ezekiel 47 · chapter mention

when Messiah comes, there's gonna be so many fish in the

waters of Israel that the fishermen will be camping along

the the lake and along the river Jordan and down into the Dead

Sea and it will be alive with marine life.

That's why Peter suddenly says goodnight nurse.

Not in the text, but he meant to say that, and because now he

sees this huge number of fish. It would have been a miracle

just to get a dozen, but you've got the Nets breaking and two

boats virtually sinking with this huge number of fish.

And any Jew who saw a miracle like that would be racing back

into the prophecy of Ezekiel and say this must be the Messiah,

that this must be the one who can change things.

This must be the one who can bring in the prophesied Kingdom.

And that's why all the miracles of Jesus have to do with the

features of the coming Kingdom. When Christ returns to earth, no

one will be hungry. Can that man remove famine?

Can he remove hunger? You, Betty, can look what he can

do with five loaves and two fish.

But can he change the climate? You bet he can.

He stands up in a boat and says to the wind and the hurricane,

Sit down and be quiet and be still, and immediately the wind

stops. But, but can he extend life?

You bet he can. He can heal.

He can even bring the dead back to life.

But can he get rid of evil? That's what's plaguing our

planet. Can he deal with the devil?

You bet your bottom dollar he can.

One exorcism after another. Who is this prophet from

Nazareth? He is the Messiah.

And now Peter sees this. His mind has gone back to

Ezekiel chapter 47 and the idyllic situation that the Lord

Ezekiel 47 · chapter mention

is going to create when he establishes his Kingdom.

And he falls down on his knees either in the boat or on the

shore. If it's in the boat, who would

have been a wobbly fool because all of the mullet would have

been underneath his knees and maybe he waited till on the

shore and he falls at the feet of Jesus and says depart from

me. I am a sinful man.

I know who you are. You are the Messiah.

You are the Son of God and I'm a sinful individual.

Depart from me. This is too much for me to

handle. It's interesting with Peter,

isn't it? And one moment he sang, depart

from me, and the next minute he leaves his Nets and the fishing

business and follows Christ. We're back into chapter 5, verse

8. When Simon saw this, he fell at

Jesus knees and said, Go away from me, Lord, I am a sinful

man. For he and all his companions

were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken.

And so with James and John, the sons of Zebedee Simon's

partners, we're not to think that Simon Peter and these boys

were just on a vacation. These were merchant fishermen

who were in a a good business and they were partners and their

business was very successful. Then Jesus said to Simon, don't

be afraid, from now on you will catch men.

And this is anticipating the vital move that Peter will have

in the church and Acts chapter 23000 individuals on one day

will come to faith in Christ through Peter.

You're not going to be catching these fish anymore.

You're going to be a Fisher of men.

It anticipates not only Acts chapter 2, but Acts chapter 10

Acts 2 · chapter mention Acts 10 · chapter mention

when Peter leads Cornelius to faith in Christ and opens the

door of the gospel to the whole Gentile world.

Peter has a strategic role to play.

And then it says in verse 11, So they pulled their boats up on

shore, left everything and followed him.

And this is where my message begins.

They left everything and followed him.

Tuck that thought away for a moment.

I want to think with you through the implications of this

passage. This morning Peter and his

contemporaries left everything and followed Christ.

Back in the day, you know, if someone became a Christian, they

would talk about being saved. My grandfather was a drunk.

He used to drink up large at the Criterion Hotel in Otahu.

None is way home one night after the 6:00 swill.

Those of you old enough will remember the pubs all closed at

six about 5:45. You gotta Rev up from the barman

saying you better drink up, we're about to close.

Then after six, my grandpa would be staggering back home to his

wife and children, and the Baptist Church were having an

opener on the corner, and the old man leaned against the

lampost a bit the worse for wear.

And he heard the gospel and he got saved, and he went home to

tell his wife that he got saved. And she thought that was a

really strong brew, but it was true.

And in the morning he was still saved.

And he had this insatiable hunger for the Bible.

He got saved. Well, it wasn't too long before

he led my grandma to Christ and her four daughters to Christ,

one of whom was my mum. And we grew up under the sound

of the good news of Jesus Christ.

He got saved. It's a good word, that word you

know. It's a good word, for by grace

you have been saved. Not of words, lest any man

should boast, Titus says. Not according to our own works.

He saved us. It's a good New Testament word.

If your house is burning and and and you're in danger of dying

and a fireman bursts in through the door and grabs you and takes

you outside, well you just got saved.

If you're drowning in the White Shadow River and someone sees

you and and throws in a a a rope and you grab it, they pull you

to shore and you've been saved, it's a good word.

You're going to the wall. Financially things are

absolutely hopeless and the good friend steps in with the fat

chequebook and he saves you at the last moment.

Isn't it a good word? And the Bible tells us we need

to be saved. Saved from the holy wrath of God

upon sin. We need to be saved not just

from the consequences of sin, but from God Himself, who is so

holy He cannot tolerate sin. And the Bible is very clear

about the dreadful day of judgement that is to come.

Yeah, we used to be talking about getting saved.

I remember going to the Century Plaza to watch Sound of Music

down in Queen Street when I was a youngster and the lady came

along and there was an empty seat next to me.

She said, is this seat saved? I said no, but I am and, and,

and she took off the other side of the theatre.

We used to talk about being safe and then that got a bit

embarrassing, you know, a bit fundamentalist.

So in the early 60's the lingo changed.

Have you been converted? Ohh, you're going to be

converted. Billy Graham helped us with that

one. So we left being saved back in

the dark days of fundamentalism and we got with neo

evangelicalism and we started talking about being converted.

Then when we got to the 70s, things moved again and we talked

about have you made a commitment to Jesus Christ?

And that's the way the gospel was presented.

You need to commit your life to Jesus Christ.

When we got into the 90s, thanks to Bill Hybels, we talked about

becoming a follower of Christ. Now I wonder if you can see the

change in the language. We've gone from being saved to

being converted to making a commitment to becoming a

follower. I don't know if you've got the

drift, but we've moved from God doing something to rescue us to

us now making a commitment to God.

Can you see the shift? And we've got over being saved.

And so when people read Luke chapter 5 verses 1 to 11, they

Luke 5:1–11

get to verse 11 and Peter left the Nets and the boats and the

family. He left everything and he

followed Christ and we think at that point Peter got saved.

But Peter came to a saving knowledge of Christ a lot

earlier. He he in John chapter 1, his

John 1 · chapter mention

brother Andrew brought him to Christ.

Now if you read John chapter 1, you find out what was involved

John 1 · chapter mention

in Andrew's pilgrimage to faith. He believed in the word that

John the Baptist had spoken. He believed what John the

Baptist said about Messiah being the Lamb of God.

He believed that Jesus was the Messiah.

And John tells us these things are written that you might

believe that Jesus is the Messiah and believing you might

have life in his name. So I have a hunch that when

Andrew got saved through faith in Messiah, he led his own

brother to the Lord in the same way that he came to faith in

Messiah. So I think Peter was a saved man

way long before this, but he's growing in his understanding of

the Lord Jesus. And now after this miracle

continent, continent, right back to his Ezekiel chapter 47 and

Ezekiel 47 · chapter mention

the vision of marine life in the coming Kingdom.

And then he sees this amazing miracle that Jesus did.

He says, wow, see, now, now I'm I'm totally convinced.

Back in the day, everyone was a disciple of someone you know.

Moses had disciples back in the day.

Back in the day, the Pharisees had disciples.

Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting.

Some people came and asked Jesus.

How is it that John's disciples and the disciples of the

Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?

Three lots of disciples, John's disciples, the Pharisees

disciples, and Jesus disciples. What does it mean to be a

disciple? It means to be a follower means

to be a student, means to you're learning from whoever you are

following. And for some that was John the

Baptist, for others it was the Pharisees, and for others it was

Jesus. John the Baptist had disciples,

and you know what? Jesus had disciples.

And the two of them stopped following John the Baptist and

followed the Lord Jesus instead. There is a confusion today over

what it means to be saved and what it means to be a disciple.

It's a serious confusion. Here's something scary.

You can munch on it while you have your lunch.

He called the 12 disciples to him and gave them authority to

drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.

These are the names of the 12 apostles.

Go to the end after listing all the apostles.

Look who's in there. Judas is scarier.

Who betrayed him could not nurse.

He was a disciple then Jesus replied, Have I not chosen you

the 12 yet? One of you is a devil.

He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the

12, was to later betray him. See, here's the deal.

You can be Judas and not be saved but still be a disciple.

And it seems to me from that text that Judas had the same

power that the apostles had to heal and to do miracles, but he

wasn't saved. He was the son of Perdition, the

son of the devil. Was he a follower of Jesus?

Yes. What did it mean to follow

Jesus? Well, he was an itinerant

teacher. See you and I've got it wrong.

We keep loading following with all this moral conformity to

Christ. Now, back in the day, to be a

follower of Jesus meant you had to leave your father and mother,

you had to leave your wife and your children.

You had to leave your brother and sister and follow Jesus

because next day he was going to be in a different village, and

the day after that he'd be in a different town.

He was an itinerant teacher, and so you followed him from place

to place to place. That's what it meant to follow

Christ. It wasn't spiritual conformity.

It was just you were moving geographical location to keep

listening to the teacher. You were a student.

You were a follower. When you look at the New

Testament, there are three kinds of disciples.

There are the curious ones and they're following Jesus.

And when they saw him with the five loaves and the two fish and

they all felt they'd been to Maccas for the afternoon and got

a free dinner, well, they kept following.

Then when Jesus said, listen, I'm up to you guys, you're

following me for a free feed. But I tell you, unless you eat

my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you.

And they said, we're out of here.

This is this is too much. We're out of here now.

They were disciples. They were following, but when he

said that, they drew back and they didn't follow anymore.

They remained curious. Then you have people who are

disciples who are convinced, and these are the people who are

absolutely convinced that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the

living God. Then you have people who are

committed. Unless you hate your father and

mother, your brother and sister, your wife and your children, and

leave them behind and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.

Unless you take up your cross and follow me, you cannot be my

disciple. And that's the truth that Jesus

unloads later in the Gospel of Luke in chapter 14.

Let me help you a little more by making some comparisons.

Now someone's going to have to read because discipleship means

following, right? I can hardly see it.

The colours are too light. But when you're talking about

salvation, you're talking about trusting.

These are two different things and disciple follows.

A believer trusts in discipleship.

Jesus is the teacher in salvation.

Jesus is the Saviour, but can you really have Jesus as a

teacher and not as a Saviour? You bet your life you can look

at the people who had Jesus as a teacher and then turned back and

followed him no more. These are two different things.

Discipleship is a process. Salvation happens in a moment of

time. You know John chapter 5 says you

John 5 · chapter mention

pass from death to life. That happens instantaneously.

You, you, you're here. 1 moment you come to faith and next

moment you're here. You, you're born of the flesh.

Here you're born of the Spirit. And it happens instantaneously

in a moment when you trust Jesus Christ to be your personal

Saviour from sin. And that's where the transaction

happens. See, we've got caught up in

this. Ohh.

You gotta follow, you gotta follow.

You gotta you gotta become a, a, a proper follower.

Back in the day when we were singing hymns before we got into

the nursery rhymes that were thankfully emerging from OHH.

Happy day that fixed my choice on thee, my saviour and my God.

I can remember as a teenager singing this song.

You know you forget all the sermons in your life but you

never forget the songs. They keep coming back.

Tis done, the great transactions done.

I am my Lords, and he is mine. It's a pity we don't sing that

stuff now, because we would understand there is a moment,

there is a transaction that takes place when I pass from

darkness into light, that salvation.

Now, discipleship is a process, and that can be a lifelong

process. Salvation happens in an instant.

Discipleship is about learning. It's about getting an education.

It's about listening. Salvation is about being saved.

It's not about getting an education.

It's about taking Christ to be our Saviour.

Discipleship will cost you, cost you your wife, cost you your

children, cost you your business, cost you the fishing

boats, cost you the Nets, cost you all the income from those

fish that Jesus miraculously put into your boat.

You have to leave it all behind. It's going to cost, but

salvation is a free gift. The wages of sin is death, but

the free gift of God is eternal life.

And they're beautiful. You can't buy it, you know.

It's a free gift. I was visiting my cardiologist

on Friday. He he's a wonderful man.

He's kept me alive for the last 15 years and I celebrated.

I took him to Fat Angus Burgers, dripping with the best fat in

the world from Waikato Farms. And not really where we got

talking. And he said, now how old are

you? So I fessed up.

I said I'm 29. He said how old are you?

I said I'm 72. Ohh, you don't look 72.

He wanted me to return the favour but I didn't.

I just be quiet, he said. How are you enjoying retirement?

I said, what's retirement? I'm not retired, he said.

What kind of work are you doing? I said I'm involved with the

church. I'm a I'm in teaching and, and

Christian education and I'm ohh, well that's good.

You see, he said. I'm not really looking forward

to retirement, I said. Why is that?

He said. Well, for you, you're working

your way to heaven, and for me, I'm just working for money.

I said well don't let it phase you, we can swap.

I said, Doctor Patel, you're a Hindu.

I'm gonna leave the working to get to heaven to you.

I've already been shouted a free trip.

I'm going gratis first class. Someone has already paid for the

trip. He didn't know quite what to do

with that. But salvation is a free gift.

You receive it in a moment, the moment you trust Christ to be

your personal Saviour. Discipleship is about getting

knowledge. Salvation is about obtaining

life. Discipleship is about taking up

our cross. Salvation is about His cross.

Listen to the words of an old theologian.

PPT Forsyth It's not about the sacrifice we make.

It's about the sacrifice we trust.

That's why we've taken communion this morning.

Our internal wellbeing does not depend on our performance, it

depends on the shed blood of the Lord Jesus who on the cross took

the punishment for our sin. Discipleship is about the work

we do. Salvation happens through faith

alone. Can you see the difference?

It's a big difference, isn't it? So you can be a disciple and not

be saved, and you can be saved and not be a disciple.

You know that those are those arid, dry moments in your

Christian experience where you're going nowhere.

Are you saved? You bet your bottom dollar saved

by the blood of Jesus Christ. But are you a disciple?

You're not following, you're not going, You're not even moving.

So you can be saved and not be a disciple, and you can be a

disciple and not be saved. So I have two questions for you.

Have you been saved? You said.

Well, why else would I be in church?

Or let me tell you, you can be in church and not be safe.

You say, how in the world do I get saved by receiving Christ as

your personal saviour, by ceasing all of your human hope

on your own ability and casting all of your trust entirely on

the person of Jesus. You say, how in the world do I

do that? Do you know?

It's really simple. We try and make it so

complicated, but it's so simple. You ladies out there, you, you

got a beautician? Well, probably not, but have you

got a hairdresser? You say I've got a hairdresser.

How did you get your hairdresser?

Well, you know, I rocked down the road and I rocked up to the

salon and I said I need someone who can fix this, can you do it?

And they said yes. And you were so impressed.

You keep going back there time and time and time again.

You got yourself a hairdresser? Have you got yourself a doctor?

See here. He's an important person in my

life. I rock up to the surgery and I

say to my GP will you be my GP? And the GP says yes I will.

And I got myself a GP. I've got myself a mechanic up at

West Auto. I have a mechanic and when

something needs doing to my car I go to that mechanic.

I don't wander around Auckland looking for a mechanic, I've

already got one. I sat down with him one day and

said can I rely on you to be my mechanic?

Will you commit yourself to servicing my vehicle and and

working repairs? Yes, I will see how simple it

is. Have you got a personal trainer

at the gym? I haven't, but you might have

one. My doctor the other day said do

you have regular exercise? I said I go to the fridge 39

times a day, what else do you want?

He said, Do you snack at night? I said yes, I do.

He said you gotta stop that. I said.

Then why did they put a light in the refrigerator?

That's from midnight Snow. But I've got a GP.

Have you got a mortgage broker? Yes, I have.

How did you get them? You got on the phone and said

will you be my mortgage? But now listen, out of all the

religious leaders in the world, have you ever gone to Jesus

Christ and said, I want you to be my saviour?

See, that's that's the moment when the great transaction is

done. And he says, why else do you

think I died? I've been waiting for you all

this time. Come on home.

And as many as received him, to them he gave the right to be

called the children of God. But are you a disciple?

See, Peter got saved a long time ago, but now he's following from

one town to another to another, and he's committed himself to

learning from the Master to be saved as wonderful.

To be a disciple is so refreshing because you keep on

growing and growing and learning and learning.

There's a world of difference between the two.

If you're here this morning and you've been hanging around

church forever but you haven't been saved, take a moment and

say Lord Jesus, I've got a banker, I've got a personal

trainer, I've got a mechanic, I've got a hairdresser, but I

haven't gotta save you. I'm coming to you.

I'm asking you, I'm depending on you.

I'm receiving you to be my saviour.

Now, for those of us that are stagnating in the wilderness,

don't you think it's time to follow and to be a disciple, to

be a learner? You know, the big trouble is a

lot of us Christians don't go far enough for the fun.

We're hanging around in the shallows and we're bored to

tears, but we won't make the commitment to go deeper, to go

further, to take it seriously, to get into your Bible in depth

and grow so that the Christian life becomes an adventure.

Father, by the gracious ministry of Your Spirit, illuminate our

hearts to the Word You have given us.

In Jesus name we pray, Amen.