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.
But Simon didn’t see it that way, did he? I admit, he was tired after working all night (that’s when they went fishing in those days), then washing the nets before Jesus asked to borrow his boat. And then, Simon must have tried hard to stay awake while Jesus was teaching while standing in the boat. So, we can be a little patient with Simon Peter at this stage, can't we?
My guess is that Jesus asked this favor of Simon while they were still close to the shore. That may be one reason why Simon’s reply was so brief and abrupt. He said, “Master (we could say, “Skipper” or “Captain”, a term of recognition that Jesus was of a higher rank), we worked all night and didn’t catch anything (and You, Jesus, could have seen the proof from the empty nets I was washing!), but, if You say so, I’ll do it; I’ll let down the nets.” And, I suppose, they soon went off towards the “deep” waters of the Lake/Sea.
Something that some of us don’t know is just how large the Lake/Sea really is. By some estimates, this body of water is about six to ten miles long and ten or so miles wide. The deepest part of the lake is 150-200 feet deep (when I mentioned this, a young person in the congregation exclaimed, “that’s deep!” I replied, “Yes it is!”). Oddly enough, some of the commentators mention that the best fishing was close to the shore so Simon, being a professional fisherman, might well be skeptical of what Jesus had to say. One of Martin Luther’s sermons had a snippet where Luther quoted Peter as saying, “Now, look here, Master, you know about carpentry but I know the fish!” It might be interesting to know just what Peter was thinking at that moment.
Well, they got to “the spot”, and Simon Peter let down the nets. Note the plural, that there were at least two of the nets. My guess is that there was one net on each side of the boat. Remember, Peter was tired after being up nearly 18-24 hours, and he had no idea how long he and Jesus (did others come with them? Luke says “they” let down the nets) would be out on the water.
He was in for a big surprise! We’re not told how long the nets were in the water but it seems that very quickly the nets began to fill. Luke says “they (probably the nets)” enclosed a “great multitude of fishes, and their net (began to) brake [sic]”. This could easily mean the nets were so full of fish (who knows what kind?) that the nets began to snap from the load!
This made Peter startled, at least, so he and someone else (“they”, verse 7) beckoned or made some kind of signal to their partners, James and John most likely. They, the partners, came out to where Peter’s boat was, at the moment, to help with the catch. And they, too, were in for a tremendous surprise!
Both of the ships were so full of fish they began to sink!
Remember, they’re a good ways away from the shore, not so far that the other boats or fishermen could still see the signals, but probably too far away to risk swimming to the beach. Years later, Peter would swim 100 yards or so from another boat to the shore (see John 21) but there’s no indication he was going to do that at this time.
Now we have one of the most graphic scenes in the Bible. The boats are filling with fish, maybe with water as well; the boats are beginning to sink—and since these boats weren’t very deep, maybe just a few feet in depth—it wouldn’t take long for them to visit the Lake’s bottom! While all this is going on, Simon, maybe in desperation, says a brief prayer:
“Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”
Peter was astonished, Luke says, and I can think of a few reasons why: first, he knew that a boatload or two of fish, especially in the daytime; and far out on the water, was nearly impossible, but—here it was! Second, he was probably exhausted, humanly speaking, and he may have been at the point of his limits. Finally, he and Jesus, plus the others in his boat plus those of his partners were all headed to the bottom of the deep blue sea, sea, sea, to quote a popular song! He didn’t realize, though, that he was in the safest place in the world.
He was with Jesus. And where He is, He will keep us safe.
The next step was to head back to shore. My guess is that they never rowed so fast in their lives to find solid land!
But even more important, besides reaching land, Peter had reached a decision.
3 The decision by the disciple
We’ll never know this side of Heaven just what caused Simon to reach this once-and-for-all decision. True, he had responded to Jesus earlier (see Mark 1) but perhaps he was on a “leave of absence”—Luke 4 has the story of how his mother-in-law was sick but Jesus healed her. My guess, and it’s only a guess, is that Peter was feeling sad or depressed or guilty and had returned to fishing if only to take his mind off what he might have done. Again, this is only a guess; but we do know that Jesus still remembered him and kindly asked if He could borrow Simon’s boat.
But now, after the double miracles, the boatloads of fish and the (speedy?) return to the beach had to have some kind of impact on Peter. While they were still in the boat, Jesus had replied to Simon’s prayer, such as it was, with a word of peace “Fear not” or, it could be said, “Stop being afraid! You’ll be catching men after this is over (paraphrased).”
They’re at the shore, and one of the first things, if not the first, was that they brought the boats to land. Standard procedure, perhaps; there is no record of any docks, piers, platforms, or anything like that. There must have been some people close by and they probably were amazed to see just what happened next.
And what happened was this: Simon and the others “forsook all, and followed Him’! This means they left the boats, the nets, the fish (probably let them go swimming again!) and everything, and all for one reason:
They decided to follow the Lord! Peter could have easily sung the hymn, “I Have Decided To Follow Jesus” and meant every word of it. True, there were times he sinned, and there were times he didn’t do the right thing. The same could be said of us, couldn’t it. But her realized that he had to make a decision—fish, or follow?—and he decided to follow Jesus.
I trust you have made that decision, first to confess your sins and receive the incredible gift of salvation. It’s free for the asking! Then, I sincerely hope each one of us, once and for all, can say “I have decided to follow Jesus”—and mean it, from the depth of the heart. This is one of the most important decisions any of us can make. Please make that decision—today!
Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV).
