Complete Surrender
Peter Luke 5:1-11
Illustration: Don’t Argue With A Lighthouse
There was an officer in the navy who had always dreamed of commanding a battleship. He finally achieved that dream and was given commission of the newest and proudest ship in the fleet. One stormy night, as the ship plowed through the seas, the captain was on duty on the bridge when off to the port he spotted a strange light rapidly closing with his own vessel. Immediately he ordered the signalman to flash the message to the unidentified craft, "Alter your course ten degrees to the south."
Only a moment had passed before the reply came: "Alter your course ten degrees to the north."
Determined that his ship would take a backseat to no other, the captain snapped out the order to be sent: "Alter course ten degrees--I am the CAPTAIN!"
The response beamed back, "Alter your course ten degrees--I am Seaman Third Class Jones."
Now infuriated, the captain grabbed the signal light with his own hands and fired off: "Alter course, I am a battleship."
The reply came back. "Alter your course, I am a lighthouse."
No matter how big or important any of us think we are, God’s Word stands forth as an unchanging beacon. All other courses must be altered to His.
SOURCE: James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) p. 208.
This morning, we are going to talk about another man in a boat that needed to surrender. If you would turn your Bibles to Luke Chapter 5. Surrender is not a popular word in our society. It carries with it all kinds of negative meanings and usually associated with defeat or loss. We think of Grant surrendering to Lee. Oh did I say that wrong, I forget that you folks out here have a different version of that historical event…… I think of General Cornwallis surrendering to the American forces to end revolutionary war. Anytime surrender takes place, a winner and a loser are defined. But, like all things, that is a very simplistic way of looking at things. Sometimes those who surrender are really the winners. No that sounds confusing doesn’t it? Well, let’s look at our illustration again. The captain of the battleship eventually surrendered to the lighthouse. By surrendering to the higher unmovable authority, he secured the safety and survival of his battleship. He ended up a winner by surrender. The topic I would like to discuss this morning is complete surrender to Christ, our unshakeable, lighthouse. I want us to talk about the areas of our lives that we need to surrender to Him.
Luke 5
1And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret,
2And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets.
3And 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.
4Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.
5And 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.
6And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake.
7And 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.
8When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.
9For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken:
10And 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.
11And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.
Let me give you a little background about Peter before we dive into our text. Peter had already met Jesus once. His business partners had introduced Christ as the Messiah! I guess Peter was not impressed because he went back to fishing. He was not interested in following this Jesus. I am sure that a lot of preachers in his day proclaimed to be the messiah. John was only a young kid, only 17-18 years old. Peter was older, “wiser.” He didn’t buy into every scam that came his way, no he was sticking to what he knew best, and that was fishing.
That is where we find Peter at the beginning of our passage. Peter had been out fishing all night and had caught nothing. He and his partners were sitting on the shore next to their boats, cleaning their nets. I am sure that they were looking forward to finishing so that they could go home and get some rest. That is when Jesus led a multitude of people right up to the sea shore and began teaching them with Peter’s boat and nets as the back drop.
I want you to notice that Jesus came to Peter. Although he was teaching a multitude of people, I believe his primary goal of that day of ministry was to find Peter and to have Peter come to a place of surrender.
The point I am trying to make is this, We need to present ourselves to Christ as we are. Peter was dirty. He had been fishing all night. He was covered in bait, sweat, and any other stinky fishing accessory you can think of. He was not dressed to meet God. When Christ asked him to borrow his boat so that he could preach to the multitude, Peter did not say, “well, let me go home and get washed up first.” No, He surrendered and obeyed. This is important. So many people go around life trying to clean every thing up before they meet with God. I will surrender, I will give up to God, I will ask Him into my life, as soon as I quit smoking, stop cussing, stop looking at pornography, stop having that affair. I want to clean up first, then I will get right with God. That is not how it works! You will not find that technique in John 3:16:
16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Not whosoever believeth in him should not perish if he first cleans himself up and then presents himself to God……
The Bible says in 1 John 1:9 that
9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
There is nothing that we can do to earn God’s love. There is nothing that we can do to deserve it. He gives it freely, all he asks is that we surrender to Him and reap the benefits of being conquered by the King of Creation.
We need to present ourselves to Christ as we are.
We take up our story with Jesus teaching the multitude. The crowd is getting to big and they are pressing against Jesus and he needs some breathing room. He asks Peter to let him use his boat. So Peter allows it, and Christ finishes His teaching sitting on the boat just of the shoreline. Once the teaching is completed I think that the crowd did not want to leave and Christ wanted a rest, so he asks Peter to run the sail up and cast out into deeper waters.
I love the water. There are few places that are more peaceful for me that to be on the water in a boat. But Keep in mind, Peter had been on that sea all night. He is ready for some rest. He is being really polite to this “Messiah.” He allowed him to use his boat as a pulpit, he is giving him a free pleasure cruise, and his patients were running thin. What we see next is almost funny, although not funny to Peter.
Christ asks Peter to let down his nets for a catch! The nets that Peter had just finished washing. The nets that if he let them down again, he would have to wash them again! Peter was tired, ready to go home. He had to draw the line somewhere.
Have you ever felt that way? I am talking to you Christian! Have you ever got tired of serving the Lord? You have offered and offered and offered and seen no results and now you are just tired!
Peter replies like this, “Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing:”
Now remember, Christ in the eyes of Peter was just a preacher. Peter was a fisherman. He knew how to fish, he had been doing it all his life. He was a good fisherman, he had a successful business running. But anyone who has ever fished can tell you, sometimes the fish just don’t bite! SO for Christ to tell Peter how to fish or where to put down the nets must have seemed absurd!
Do not Pause when God gives instructions.
Many times God give us instructions about what we are to do in this life. And many times those instructions do not make sense. Joy and I were talking about that early this week. In our life of ministry there have been many times where the clear instructions of God simply did not make sense. But, when we choose to obey, we always are the better for it.
At this point I believe that Jesus looked in the eyes of Peter with the loving eyes of God. Peter then says, “nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.”
This was a huge surrender for Peter. This act of letting down his nets went against everything he knew as a fisherman. He knew that it was going to keep him up for hours more with no rest. But he choose to surrender all of his knowledge of fishing, all of his personal rights to rest, and his claim as captain to make decisions. He let down the nets.
Surrender must precede the blessings that God has for you.
Peter discovered in the next moments what happens when you surrender your life over to God. The scripture says that immediately the nets were full. They caught so many fish that the boat began to sink. They called for the other boats to join them and the catch was so large that it nearly sank those boats as well.
I love to fish. I have been fishing more times than I can count. Of all the times I have ever been fishing, I have never had the fear of catching so many fish that my boat would sink. What a site that must have been. I would have loved to see the look on Peter’s face when he saw the line go taught on the net and then as the boat started to tilt under the weight of the fish they were trying to draw in.
God cannot bless you unless you surrender to Him. This is not a prosperity Gospel message. This is simply the Gospel truth. God cannot give you the blessings that He has designed for your life until you have surrendered to living in accordance to His plan and His will. Your complete surrender will yield a complete blessing on the part of the Savior.
As an experience fisherman who has fished all his life, Peter recognizes that this catch is miraculous. He has never seen anything like it, and realizes that Jesus must be the Messiah, as no one else could command the fish in the sea to fill up those nets. He turned to Christ, “…fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
Peter does 2 things here that are very important. First, he acknowledges that he is a sinner, and second he recognizes that Christ is the Messiah and is his Master. Once Peter has fully surrendered his life to Christ, Jesus is able to complete his plan for Peter. He calls Peter to a great mission that just fishing for “fish.” He calls him and his partners to become fishers of “men.”
Peter’s complete and unconditional surrender to Christ is a picture for us all. Notice verse 11.
And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.
Complete surrender involved giving up the things that they are used to. Things that were holding them back from completing God’s mission.
God will not reveal your Purpose until you completely surrender to Him.
What do you need to give up to follow Christ? Maybe you have never acknowledged Him as master, or boss. Maybe you are still trying to decide what all this “being Christian” is all about. It is time for you surrender you life of sin to Jesus. If you ask him to forgive you, He will!
Maybe you have been a Christian for 2 years, 5 years, 15 years, 50 Years. But have something in your life that you need to surrender to Christ this morning. Maybe it is a sin, a hobby, a career, a friend, or a child.
You see surrender entails recognition of Christ as Lord and Savior, Complete repentance of sin, and a willingness to do whatever God wants you to do. So we must learn to surrender over to him anything and everything that would keep us from accomplishing that Goal.
For Peter He first had to surrender his boat for Jesus to use as a Pulpit.
Second, He surrendered of his time to take Jesus on a “pleasure Cruise.”
Third he had to surrender his pride and let down the nets as Jesus asked.
Lastly he had to surrender his life to his new king.
Are you willing to surrender this morning? Will you yield to the Light of the Word and allow Him to direct your life, or will you be like the stubborn captain of that Destroyer, and crash into the rocks of sin and despair.
