Following Jesus: My Decision To Follow Him Series

Foreword: Every person who follows Jesus as Lord and Savior has at least one thing in common with every believer: he or she made a decision to follow Him. The Gospels have several incidents where someone did just that. One of my favorites took place in Luke 5, and it was in a very unusual place!

Text: Luke 5:1-11, KJV: 1 And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, 2 And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. 3 And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. 4 Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. 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. 6 And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. 7 And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. 8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. 9 For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken: 10 And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. 11 And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.

Full disclosure, I have another message based on this text, which Sermon Central has approved and added to the list. This message is not intended to be an edit, or simply a re-write/re-submission of that message. Additionally, this message is based on, and edited from, a recent message preached at First Baptist Church of Chamois, MO.

Introduction: For any believer, the first step in his or her journey with Jesus is to decide to follow Him. Simon Peter’s story, told here, is just one example. Let’s see what happened:

1 The teaching by the shore

When this event took place, there were crowds pressing near Jesus so that they could hear the word of God. True, there was the reading of the Law and the Prophets every Sabbath in the synagogues—and this was still taking place years later when Paul and others visited synagogues while they were on missionary journeys. Acts 13-20 record several such encounters.

Yet, there’s something about this event that has left me puzzled, namely, what was so different when Jesus spoke and taught the Word. Matthew recorded that Jesus spoke like someone who had authority, and not like the scribes (Matt. 7:29). Whatever the difference, the people were hungry for the Word and Jesus was happy to teach them.

In fact, the people were coming so close to Jesus that He was almost being pushed into the Sea of Galilee (Luke calls it the “lake of Genneserat”). He was aware of this and noticed a pair of fishing boats (“ships”, KJV) there by the lake. One of these was Simon’s (Peter’s) and Jesus asked him to move the boat a little distance from the shore. Not only did this keep the Lord safe, physically, by keeping Him out of the water; this also gave Him a chance to address more people than He could while on the land.

And also note the courtesy Jesus extended to Simon. He didn’t demand Simon give Him the boat, nor even loan it to Him. Jesus simply asked if He could use the boat. Simon, already a disciple but maybe not actively following Jesus at this time, promptly gave Him the “okay” to borrow the boat.

Eventually the teaching ended, as Luke records Jesus “left speaking”. Now the Lord was going to reward Simon for the use of the boat with something he probably never forgot!

2 The trouble in the sea

Now that Jesus had finished His messages, He had one more request for Simon Peter. They were just a little ways away from the shore. Now, Jesus asked him to “launch out into the deep” water, in order to “let down the nets” and catch fish! After all, the Lord repays well for anything and any time we give to Him, and He was about to show Simon Peter something unusual.