LUKE 5:1-11 “A FISHING TRIP TO REMEMBER” – PART 1
A) When I was a little younger, me and my brother, Wayne, would go to
Lake Murray.
* Wayne worked with a guy that owned a pontoon boat and he would let him
use it a lot.
B) We would go down, get on the pontoon boat and fish all night long .......
* We would catch crappie like crazy ... Gars ... I’d go home with a mess of fish
C) When I was in Kinston, Donald Taylor would take me fishing at Trent
River every Tuesday.
* We would eat Vienna sausages and cheese crackers and drink cokes. (Fly rod)
* There were times when we caught stringers full of fish, and other times when
we didn’t catch much at all.
D) Of course, we would always talk about “the one that got away.”
* Those fishing trips are worth remembering now because they were such a
good time.
E) In our text, we read about some fellows who had been on a fishing trip
they would have liked to have forgotten about.
* They didn’t talk about the one that got away, because they had all gotten away
* Then Jesus showed up and He took them on “A Fishing Trip To Remember”
F) Today, I would like to point out a few elements of this passage that speak
to the church – God has a word to say to our hearts this morning.
* Just as He did for those fishermen; He wants to take us on a fishing trip too.
* Not one of those kinds where you drown a bunch of worms, feed the fish and
donate blood to the mosquitoes and come home empty handed.
G) Jesus wants to take us on “A Fishing Trip To Remember.”
* Consider three elements of this passage with me today .......
(1) CONSIDER THE VESSEL – v.1-3
A) First: It Was A Place Of Intimacy – v.3.
* Up until then, Peter’s boat had been a place of toil, labor, and frustration.
* It was a vessel used to make a meager living – But, when Jesus climbed on board,
that boat became a place of personal closeness, intimacy, and fellowship.
* It was a place where all who were on board could be close to Jesus Christ.
B) That’s exactly what the church is, or at least what the church ought to be.
* This building is just a block and wood structure sitting beside the road until the
people of God enter.
C) But when this building is occupied by those who know Jesus Christ .......
* This structure becomes a place of closeness, a place of intimacy and a place of
fellowship with the Lord Jesus.
D) There isn’t too much special about this place when it’s empty, but when
the saints come marching in, it becomes a real precious place.
* What makes this place so special when the children of God gather in?
* Think about this:
E) It is special because of who shows up here.
* The Redeemer is here – Matt. 18:20 .......
F) Not only is the Redeemer here, but the redeemed are here.
* Isa. 51:11 “Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with
singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain
gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.”
G) It is special because of what we do here.
* The Sovereign God is praised; the Son of God is preached; the Saints of God
are perfected.
H) It is special because of what we find here.
* There is food for our souls ... Freedom from our setbacks ... And fellowship with
the saints.
* Thank God for the church – It’s an oasis in the desert of this world.
I) It’s a light in the darkness – It’s a place of refuge and revival for weary
hearts – It’s a place of hope and help.
* May the Lord help us to never take the church for granted, but may we ever love
the church; support the church; pray for the church and defend the church.
SECOND: IT WAS A PLACE OF INSTRUCTION – v. 1; 3
A) Jesus turned that humble vessel into a pulpit from which He preached
the Word of God.
* Those on board and those within hearing distance were given the privilege of
hearing Christ instruct them in the things of the Lord.
B) Again, that is a picture of the church – When we come to this place,
we should find it to be a place of instruction for souls.
* From the opening, to the preaching time, the Word of God should be the focus,
and instruction in righteousness should be our goal and our commitment.
* Biblical teaching should be the distinguishing characteristic of every true church.
C) The preaching time is not a time for some man to get up and try to work
up the crowd.
* Preaching is about getting into the Word of God and of exposing the truth
contained within it.
D) Preaching is not about how loud you can yell or how long you can preach,
or about how much you shout.
* Preaching is about declaring the whole counsel of the Word of God.
* Here is what God says to the preacher of the Word in 2 Tim. 4:2 “Preach the word;
be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering
and doctrine.”
E) The church is to be a place of instruction.
* That is why you need to come with a Bible, a notebook, and a pen.
F) You should come ready to listen, and clean in your heart, hungry for God
to teach you His truth.
* Sadly, for many, church has stopped being a place where the saints are edified
and has become a place where the services are endured.
THIRD: IT WAS A PLACE OF IRRITATION – v.5
A) Peter is obviously irritated because he and the other fishermen there had
fished all night and caught nothing.
* These men were tired; they were frustrated, and they were defeated.
* They had done everything in their power to be successful, and they had failed.
B) v.2 tells us that the fishermen weren’t even in their boats, but they were
on the shore washing their nets.
* They were engaged in good work and in busy work; but they weren’t
accomplishing the greatest work ... That is, catching fish.
* That boat that day had become a place of irritation.
C) Does that ever sound like the church to you? – Do you ever get frustrated?
* Do you ever get irritated? ... Do you ever just get tired?
* I mean, we come here week after week ... We sing, we pray, we preach, we testify,
we shout, and we go home.
D) We come again at the next appointed time and do it all over again.
* We are busy, and we are doing a good thing; but it seems like something is missing.
* What could it be? ... Oh yeah – We aren’t catching any fish.
E) Now, Peter and those other men knew how to fish.
* They were professionals, but they still struck out that night.
* We know how to fish around here, don’t we?
F) We have the right bait – We have the right tackle .......
* And we know where the fish are, but we just can’t seem to get them in our boat.
* And sometimes, it is frustrating ... Wouldn’t you agree?
(2) CONSIDER THE VOYAGE – v.4-5
A) First: A Command – v. 4.
* Jesus issues a two-fold command to Peter and the men in the boat .......
* He tells them to “Launch out and let down.”
B) A couple of observations need to be made here.
* One: There was nothing wrong with the vessel.
* The boat was seaworthy, and Jesus ordered them to take it out into deeper water.
C) By the way, there’s nothing wrong with the church this morning.
* Despite the howling of the critics from without and from within .......
* When the church operates according to the instructions given to us in the operator’s
manual, the church is a thing of great power and great wonder.
D) There’s nothing wrong with the vessel.
* The waters are rough ... Some of the crew is seasick, and others are frustrated,
but the Old Ship of Zion is running true this morning.
* Regardless of the fault you may wish to find with the church, it is the ONLY boat
afloat – And you don’t fix a leaky vessel from the outside.
TWO: THE VESSEL NEEDED TO GO WHERE THE FISH WERE
A) Jesus knew that the fish were not where the boat was.
* If those men expected to catch any fish, they would have to go where the fish
were swimming .......
* And during the heat of the day, that meant moving out into deeper waters.
B) The fish were not in the shallow waters, and they certainly were not in
the boat – They were out there in the deep.
* The same is true when we speak of reaching lost people with the gospel.
C) We are casting our nets, but we are fishing too near the shore.
* The fish are out there in the deep waters of the world and if we’re going to throw
the net over them, we are going to have to get out there where they are.
D) We can pray and ask God to save souls; but until we go to where the souls are,
we will see very few saved.
* Listen to what Jesus said in Mark 16:15 “Go ye into all the world, and preach the
gospel to every creature.”
E) The operative word there is “Go.”
* We cannot fish until we go to where the fish are waiting.
* I will finish this up tonight in the evening service.
CLOSE
A) Why Don’t People Go Fishing?
* They don’t know how – Some have never been.
* They don’t want to – Indifferent, unconcerned.
B) They don’t like fish – Smell or eat.
* They are afraid of the water – Fear.
* They might run the fish off for everyone else.
C) The two main reasons that people don’t catch fish are:
* They don’t know how ... They don’t see any need to fish.
D) The two main reasons that people don’t share their faith are:
* They don’t know how ... They don’t see the need.
* We need to learn how to fish ... Then we need to see the need, then GO fish.
E) Recently on the Andy Griffith show they had a story about the first day
of the fishing season.
* Everybody was getting out their equipment and talking about the big day.
* Along came Howard, the town ‘jinx’ and nobody wanted to go with him because
he would ruin the fishing for everyone else.
F) The end result was that soft-hearted Andy gave in and took Howard
with him.
* Guess who caught the biggest fish in the lake that everyone had been trying to
catch for years? ... Howard.
G) Maybe you’re afraid that you might make a mistake and scare someone off
if you witness to them.
* My reply is this, “Which Hell are you going to send them to, the second Hell or the
third Hell?”
* I think it’s time we quit making excuses and start letting down our nets into the
deeper water ... We got to GO into the deep and cast out our nets.
