Luke 5:1-111And 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. (Luke 5:1‑11)
The events recorded in our first chapter evidently precede by some apace of time what we find here. Although a man be converted, he does not, alas! always begin to follow the Lord. It would appear to have been so in Peter’s case. Whether he accompanied the Lord in any of His journeyings between John 1 and Luke 5 we know not; at any rate, if he did so, he had resiled, gone back into the old groove, and was settling down to life, just as before the Lord first met him. This is often noticed in the history of young converts, unless the work of conviction of sin in their souls has been deep, and the sense of deliverance correspondingly great; then immediate devotedness to the Lord is usually apparent.
For a time, then, we hear no more of Peter, he had evidently gone back to his earthly calling; but now we turn to the next eventful day in his history. We find it in Luke 5, where you get what I may call his CONSECRATION. In this chapter he sets out to follow Jesus; yes, forsakes all, and follows Him; and it is a happy moment for us when we forsake all and follow Jesus. The Lord goes down to Peter in the very midst of his business. He Himself was, as ever, going on with His mission of grace, and mercy to souls, and in order to more advantageously speak to the multitudes, who were thronging to hear Him, He uses Peter’s boat as a pulpit.
It must have been a lovely and impressive scene. One can picture the panorama, and the blessed Lord’s appearance, as the Spirit says, “It came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret.” A multitude in such a place can easily be accounted for. The scene is laid in one of the most populous parts of Palestine. Looking landward from the lake, far away to the right lay Capernaum, His “own city”; while Chorazin, Bethsaida, Magdala and Tiberias, in close contiguity, successively dot the western shore of the deep blue lake, whose waters are sparkling beneath the beams of the morning sun. The fishing fleet has made for its port — Bethsaida (which means, the house of fish). There Peter, in partnership with James and John, and probably his own brother Andrew, was carrying on a considerable business, as “hired servants” remain to Zebedee, when these four have all followed the Lord’s call (see Mark 1:10-2010And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: 11And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 12And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. 13And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him. 14Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. 16Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. 17And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. 18And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him. 19And when he had gone a little further thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets. 20And straightway he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him. (Mark 1:10‑20)). All is therefore stir and activity in the things that concern human life when the Lord appears on the scene.
The language here used by Luke makes one incline to think that the occasion may have been the same as that recorded by Matthew, where he says, “And great multitudes were gathered together unto Him, so that He went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore” (Matt 13:2). Be this as it may, the Lord’s action is significant, as “He entered 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” (Luke 5:33And 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. (Luke 5:3)).
The Lord’s object in this step is plain. He desired that those to whom He spoke might easily hear Him. He was a model preacher in every way, whether matter, manner, or method be considered. All who preach should seek only to imitate Him. Did they, I believe all listeners would hear, and more be profited.
We are not informed of the subject of the Lord’s discourse by Luke, but if the suggestion be correct that Matthew 13 supplies this information, what wondrous tidings of God’s activity in grace fell on the ears of landsmen, and fisher-folk, alike that day Further, I am inclined to think that the ministry which Peter heard that morning — as, dropping his net-mending, he listened to the Lord — had much to do with what followed. The Son of Man, as the Sower, was bounteously scattering the seed. He tells us “the seed is the word of God.” The soil is the heart of man, and into Peter’s heart that day fell seed that brought forth eventually fruit a hundredfold. The effect of God’s Word is ever far-reaching, though the fruit may be slow of appearing.
His sermon over, the Lord now turns to Peter personally, with intent to richly bless him.
In John 1 He sought to teach Peter one lesson, namely this, “Peter, you belong to Me,” though evidently Peter did not then fully learn it. Now He teaches him another lesson, namely, “Peter, you, and all that you have, belong to Me.” He had stepped into Peter’s boat, without asking for it, because it belonged to Him; and now He says, “Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draft.” He will not be beholden to any man, so He is going to pay Peter for the use of his boat. Peter says, “Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless, at thy word I will let down the net.” Peter obeys, for he knows now something of who He is who speaks, and, as a result, finds that he never had taken such a haul of fish in all his days.
His answer is at once a confession of failure, and of faith. Failure as regards his own efforts, and faith in the One who now bids him lower his nets. Daylight is not the time when fish enter a net, hence the man who would catch them goes out by night. Reason would have said, If there were none to be got last night, there are sure to be none caught in broad daylight. But reason is of no avail in nearing God. Faith alone understands Him; and “the obedience of faith,” as well as its confidence, is manifest in the utterance, “Nevertheless, at thy word I will let down the net.”
At once it is filled to breakage, and Simon’s partners have to be summoned to help to secure the catch, two ships filled to the gunwale, “so that they began to sink,” being the result. Thoroughly “astonished” thereat, and awakened thereby to a sense of hit; sin, Peter “fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” He saw now not two boatloads of fish, but the Godhead glory of the Son of Man, the Messiah, the more than Man, Son of God. He saw the application of Psalm 8:4-84What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? 5For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. 6Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: 7All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; 8The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. (Psalm 8:4‑8) to his Master as the fish obey Him. He is convicted about his sin, his guilt. He had never had the truth of his sinful state raised before. He had to learn what he was. He had learned something of what Jesus was in John 1, and something more of what He was in this scene. Now he had to learn his own good-for-nothingness, his guiltiness; but he felt too, I cannot do without Thee, O Lord, and he gets as close as he can to Jesus’ knees, while he says, “Depart from me: for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
The experience in the soul which this passage in Peter’s history illustrates is most important. In John 1 no question of Peter’s guilty state had been raised. There it was simply the absoluteness of sovereign grace blessing him. Here the Lord purposely lets the question of his state as a sinner be raised. His conscience is profoundly aroused. His heart had been attracted in John 1 by the grace of the Lord’s person; here a ray of divine glory from that same person illumines the dark chambers of that heart. The effect is electric. All his life is flung into deepest shade. “Sinful” he judged himself to be all along the line, but chiefly, I opine, in that he had not followed the Lord from the time when He first spoke to him.
There is a real and deep work of grace here. He is spiritually convicted — morally broken up, and brought in self-judgment on his face before the Lord. He is joining company with Job, as he says, “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye meth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5-65I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. 6Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. (Job 42:5‑6)). He is side by side, morally, with Isaiah, as he exclaims, “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seem the King, the Lord of Hosts” (Isa. 6:55Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. (Isaiah 6:5)).
The stalwart fisherman of Galileo joins the patriarch, and the prophet, in the unspeakably blessed pathway of deep self-judgment, and self-repudiation, as out of the depths of a broken heart he cries, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
The importance of this process in the soul cannot be over-estimated. In the lack of it is found the secret of so much of the slipshod profession that abounds around us. The seed gets no deep root in unbroken ground. The deeper the furrow produced by the plowshare of conviction, the deeper the root, and the more abundant the fruit in later days. One longs to see more of this sort of work where the gospel is proclaimed. Only where deep, genuine, Holy Spirit-wrought repentance, and self-judgment are produced, will there be the gladsome hundred-fold harvest which the Lord so delights to garner.
May I inquire, my reader, what you know of all this? If you have never passed through something akin to this, I think it is high time you carefully, and prayerfully examined the foundations of your soul’s relationship with God. John Bunyan said, “When religion goes in silver slippers, there are plenty found to put them on.” This witness is true. Profession of Christ is easy enough nowadays. Possession of Christ is another thing altogether, and I doubt if any heart really possesses Him until, like Peter, it feels that it is utterly unfit for Him.
Peter felt he was utterly unfit to be near Him, yet he could not do without Him. His actions and his words are strangely contradictory. “He fell down at Jesus’ knees,” — that is, got as close to Him as he could — and then said, “Depart from me, O Lord.” I do not believe he thought the Lord would depart from him, but nevertheless he was morally right in his utterance. He felt profoundly how unfit he was for Jesus, but could not do without Him, and so it has been with every divinely-awakened soul from that day to this.
Jesus sweetly calms his troubled conscience, as He says unto him, “Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men.” His troubled soul is sweetly calmed by the Lord’s own blessed ministry, “Fear not”; and to every troubled soul, in this our day, He says now, “Fear not.”
“ And when they had brought their ships to laud, they forsook all, and followed him.” No doubt most people would have thought Peter a most improvident man — would have said he had better go to market with his fish first; but Peter, heeding the call “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matt. 4:1919And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. (Matthew 4:19); Mark 1:1717And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. (Mark 1:17)), gave up all that had hitherto entranced him, in the day when it was most bright and prosperous. He had a heart to be for the Lord, and the Lord only. Christ eclipsed everything in his soul, and he leaves all to be near that Saviour, to be His companion, and His servant, as He passes through this scene. Happy choice, blessed submission of faith, and answer of affection
We are not all called, as Peter was here, to abandon an earthly calling to follow the Lord, but the principle is the same. When grace is known, and peace and joy fill the heart, as the fruit of hearing the divine words, “Fear not” — which always come to the soul after honest confession — then to follow the Lord fully is the only safe and right path, for the new-born soul. We must make a clean break with the world if we are going to have the enjoyment of the Lord’s favor. Out-and-out decision for Christ is of the last possible importance.
Peter turned his back upon his world when it was most attractive, and he most successful in it. This is particularly fine. Many a man has turned to the Lord when all has gone dead against him, and his earthly history has been, so to speak, a huge failure. Peter consecrated himself to the Lord, and His service when everything was most flourishing, and all combined to keep him where his heart had hitherto found all its springs of joy. The fact is, an eclipse had occurred. He has been introduced really to the Lord of glory, and from that moment everything else was hidden from has view, and paled into utter insignificance, compared with the blessedness of being in the company of, and near to the One who had said to him, “Follow me.”
Now, my reader, if Jesus says to you today, “Follow thou me,” what will you say? Let your answer be, “Lord, from this day forth my heart is Thine!” The Lord grant it.