The Book of Luke: Launch Out Into the Deep (Luke 5:1-11)
We’re there in Luke Chapter 5. What we found in these verses is the calling of Peter, James and John. They are already follower to an extent but they are called into full time ministry here. This is a fishing story with the purpose and application of catching men. Luke 5:10 “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.”. The purpose of this story is to drive home the point that they would catch men.
Luke 5:1 “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,”. This lake is another name for the “Sea of Galilee”. Luke 5:2 “2 And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets.”. It is morning time and people are gathered to hear the Word of God. The reason why the fisherman were washing their nets is because they had been working all night. They realized the best time to fish would be through the night. They are getting ready to finish their day.
Point 1 – The Inconvenience of Peter
Luke 5:3 “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.”. What Jesus is basically doing is using the boat of platform while the people are along the beach and he is preaching to them. He is basically using the water as an amplifier to preach to a large crowd. However, this is inconveniencing Peter. The fishermen are not in their ships.
I’m here to tell you today that if you will be used by God then you are going to be inconvenienced. God wants to use you even if it is just a little. Peter is not preaching or conducting music but he is just providing a ship. He is being inconvenienced by Jesus. Jesus wants to use everyone even if it is just a little.
Luke 5:3 “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.”. I want you to notice the type of person that Peter is. Jesus is asking Peter to make himself available. Like any follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, we would say sure thing. If Jesus was here today and asked us to do a favor, I believe most of would say yes. However, after Jesus asks for the request of using Peter a little bit, he asks for a bigger request of “launching into the deep.
In January we asked you to thrust out a little when we asked you to read the New Testament in the month of January. However, now we are asking you to launch out into the deep and read the Old Testament. We ask people to volunteer sometimes and people are willing to go soulwinning for special events. Maybe now you need to “launch out in the deep” and be a part of soulwinning on a weekly basis even if there is no special event. Once you start coming regularly as a silent partner then we will ask you to launch out into the deep even more and memorize the verses and become a speaker.
You see, most of us are willing to be inconvenienced a little bit. However, when God asks us to “launch into the deep”, that is when most of the excuses start to come. Luke 5:5 “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.”. Peter says that they have worked all night long and got nothing. Peter is basically saying that he already put in effort but he doesn’t want to be inconvenienced any more. How willing are you to be inconvenienced by your Lord and Savior? People are often willing to donate some money to Church but are you ready and willing to “launch out into the deep” and start tithing? Maybe you come to Church once a week. How about you “launch out into the deep” and become faithful to all of the services.
Luke 17:7-8 “7 But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? 8 And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?”. What Jesus is saying is that if you have an employee who is doing what you tell him to do, are you going to stop and serve him instead? Of course he won’t but will say “Serve me.”. Luke 17:9 “9 Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. 10 So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.”.
Doesn’t the Bible command you to tithe and go soulwinning and be faithful to Church services? When you do everything that God asks you to do, you only did what God commanded you. God is saying “Am I supposed to thank you when you do what I told you to do?”. We are basically unprofitable servants. This means that we haven’t gone above and beyond what God asks. When Jesus asks us to “launch out into the deep”, that is our duty to obey him. Romans 12:1 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”.
We have a wrong understanding of who we are and who God is. Psalm 24:1 says “The earth is the Lord‘s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” Did you know that everyone and everything on earth belongs to God. If you are saved, you definitely belong to God. When God asks us to “launch out into the deep”, the only answer is “Yes”.
Not only do we see the inconvenience of Peter but also the incertitude of Peter. Luke 5:5 “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.”. I want to remind you that Peter was a professional fisherman. He wasn’t just doing this as a hobby. Jesus by human standards was a carpenter by trade. Mark 6:3 “3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.”. Jesus was trained as a carpenter. Peter was a professional fisherman. He could easily feel like he knew what he was talking about but Jesus didn’t know what he was talking about. He is basically saying “You are going to tell me how to do my job?”.
Did you ever notice that God asks us to do things that are counter intuitive. He wants us to do things that don’t make logical sense. There is always a logical explanation to not do what he says. We need to remember that God knows what he is talking about. Proverbs 3:5 “5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.”. God tells us to have faith in him and not to trust in ourselves. We often don’t do what God says because we lack the faith. Proverbs 3:6 “6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”.
Peter is basically saying that he already washed the nets and it won’t catch anything. If he does it again then they will just have to wash it again. Peter has a bad attitude but he does make a good statement. Luke 5:5 “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.”. Peter says he will do it according to the word of Jesus.
I’m going to make a few statements and it might sound repetitive. I want to remind you that my goal is not to preach to be heard but to preach to be repeated. I’ve made this statement over the last several weeks “We ought to build our lives on the Bible.”. When God asks us to step out in faith, whether it makes sense or not, our response should be “At thy word”. We ought to build our lives on the Bible.
2nd Peter 1:19 “19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:”. Whenever the Bible tells us to do something with marriage, health, finances, work, turning the other cheek or whatever…we would do well to take heed. Our theme ought to be “Nevertheless at thy word”. We ought to build our lives on the Bible. We ought to build our ministry on the Bible.
Luke 5:1 “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,”. Notice the people are pressing on him to hear God’s word. What was the ministry of Jesus based on? It was based on the word of God. It wasn’t based on the miracles or casting out devils or feeding. It was based on the word of God. We are not just trying to build our lives on the Bible but also build our ministry on the Bible. I love the fact that this Church is build on 1 thing – The preaching of the word of God. I think it’s great we have a choir and orchestra but the truth is that people don’t show up to this Church based on our music ministry. We have a lot of people that are very successful at our Church. They come here for the word of God. This isn’t a Church with a mini-sermonette. People show up here and they can hear the word of God preached.
Isaiah 55:11 “11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”. God promises that his word will not return void. I don’t know what you need but I do know that we all need the word of God. The right answer is always “nevertheless at thy word.”.
We saw the inconvenience to Peter, the incertitude of Peter and the instructions to Peter. I want you to notice the insubordination of Peter. Peter makes the right statement and does the wrong thing. Notice Luke 5:2 “2 And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets.”. Luke 5:4 “4 Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.”. They had multiple nets and Jesus told him to let them down. Luke 5:5 “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.”.
Peter was told to let down the “nets” but he only let down 1 “net”. Peter didn’t want to do the work to put down all of the nets and wash them again. Peter was willing to let down 1 net only. He was not willing to go all in. This is partial obedience. Partial obedience is disobedience. Luke 5:6 “6 And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake.”. The net ends up braking. Why is that? Because Jesus asked for “nets”. Jesus knew there would be a multitude of fish and they needed the “nets”.
Sometimes people come to us and ask for counseling. We show them what the Bible says and people decide to do some of it. They decide to let down the “net” as opposed to “nets”. Go ahead and let your net brake. Partial obedience is not obedience at all. Don’t treat Church like a buffet where you take the things you want and discard what you don’t want then it won’t work. If Jesus says “nets” then you better let down the “nets”. We don’t know better than God. Just do what he says. Luke 5:7 “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.”. God wanted to give them a big increase but they were not ready for it. Isaiah 54:2 “2 Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;”. He is talking about having a bigger place to reach.
We saw the inconvenience to Peter, the incertitude of Peter, the instructions to Peter, the insubordination of Peter and the inadequacy of Peter.
Luke 5:8 “8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”. Peter became very aware of his own inadequacy. We need to have a high view of God. Peter respected Jesus but Peter thought he was the expert. At the end, Peter has gotten a high view of Jesus. What we need is a high view of God.
Isaiah 6:1 “In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.”. No matter who sits in the White House or in power, the Lord is in control. We need to realize that the Lord is “high and lifted up”. When we realize that, we will have a humble view of self. Isaiah 6:5 “5 Then 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 saw the real King, the LORD of hosts.
What is wrong with Churches in America today is that they don’t have a high view of God. They wouldn’t show up to Church with sandals and allow garbage in their Churches if they realize that the Lord is high and lifted up. If we had a high view of God, we wouldn’t skip our Bible reading or prayer time. Since Peter didn’t have a high view of God, he only let down 1 net. Developing a high view of God results in a humble view of self.
Let me show you the last one in Luke 5. Let’s see the involvement of Peter. Luke 5:10 “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.”. Jesus tells Peter that he will be a soulwinner. Luke 5:11 “11 And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.”. This is the greatest catch they ever had in their career and on that day they forsook all and followed Jesus. Jesus involved them in the ministry of reconciliation.
God wanted to involve Peter, James and John. Jesus is bringing his group of disciples together. As much as Jesus wants to involve them, he also wants to involve us. I’m thankful that yesterday morning at our soulwinning time, we had 100 soulwinners show up to go out, knock doors and catch men. For some of you, this is the only Church you’ve known. 100 soulwinners on a Saturday is not a normal thing. At most Churches they don’t have that many soulwinners show up. Would to God that on a regular Saturday we have 200 soulwinners or 500 soulwinners show up. What if one day we had 1,000 soulwinners show up on a Saturday morning. God wants to involve you.
Matthew 4:19 “19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”. God wants you to follow him and be a soulwinner. Jesus needed help from some people. He needed people to get involved. If you are on the shore, thrust out a little bit. Help us to reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Let’s pray.