06-19-2022 – “Respect, Reverence, and Response Toward Christ”
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June 12, 2022 (full sermon notes)
“Respect, Reverence, and Response Toward Christ”
Luke 5:1-11
Read Luke 5:1-3…
1 Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of
God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret;
2 and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them
and were washing their nets.
3 And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way
from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the people from the boat.
The phrase at the beginning of verse 1, “Now it happened,” is a means of indicating
that a period of time has passed since the events occurring in Capernaum, as recorded
in the previous chapter, i.e., preaching, teaching, healing,
and casting out demons.
Jesus “was standing by the lake of Gennesaret” [meaning, garden of the prince,
named for the fertile plain on the NW side of the lake]. It was more commonly
known as the Sea of Galilee, although it had several names; in fact,
John the apostle
(John 6:1;
1 After these things Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias).
John 21:1)
1 After these things Jesus manifested Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias,
and He manifested Himself in this way.
calls it Sea of Galilee and Sea of Tiberias, being named for the city of Tiberias
(on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee) that was founded by Herod Antipas
and named after Emperor Tiberias
(cf. Luke 3:1).
1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor
of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region
of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene,
Note: The Sea of Galilee is actually a freshwater lake that is formed by the
Jordan River from the north, the headwaters of which begin near Mount Hermon
[9200’], and eventually run south into the Dead Sea, after passing
through the Sea of Galilee [13 miles wide, 7.5 miles long, and at 700’ below sea
level, it is the world's lowest freshwater lake]. It was an excellent
source for fishing, and still is, with over 30 species of fish.
It is no wonder that the crowds continue to follow Jesus throughout Galilee,
for the kingdom of God has come down to earth in the person of Jesus Christ.
There were around three million people living in the region of Galilee
at the time of Christ, according to the Jewish historian Josephus.
And so, the crowd in today’s passage is pressing in to get closer to Jesus, to hear
His marvelous words, “the word of God.” When Jesus spoke, it was as if God was
speaking, and in fact, God was speaking in and through His Son.
Jesus, in fulfillment of
Isaiah 61:1-2
1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
Because the LORD has anointed me
To bring good news to the afflicted;
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to captives
And freedom to prisoners;
2 To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
[cf Luke 4:18-19],
18 “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME,
BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR.
HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES,
AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND,
TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED,
19 TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.”
had brought the kingdom of God to earth and was proclaiming the good
news of the gospel, i.e., those spiritually captive to sin were released, those
spiritually blind were given sight, those spiritually poor were made rich,
and those spiritually oppressed were comforted and elevated.
John 5:24,
24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me,
has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
John 7:16,
16 So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me.
John 8:31-32,
31 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word,
then you are truly disciples of Mine;
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
Notice again in
Luke 5:2,
2 and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them
and were washing their nets.
as the people are pressing in around Jesus, He sees two fishing boats near the
waters edge. There are other similar occurrences where, because of a growing
crowd, Jesus uses a boat to separate Himself from them.
Mark 3:9-10,
9 And He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the crowd,
so that they would not crowd Him;
10 for He had healed many, with the result that all those who had afflictions pressed
around Him in order to touch Him.
(Mark 4:1),
1 He began to teach again by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him
that He got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea
on the land.
In Luke 5:3,
3 And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little
way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the people from the boat.
we are told that the boat belonged to Simon, used in his fishing business.
These fishing boats common to the Sea of Galilee were large enough to hold
Jesus and the Twelve, as we are told in several passages
(cf. Matthew 8:23-24;
23 When He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him.
24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered
with the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep.
Matthew 14:22-33;
22 Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other
side, while He sent the crowds away.
23 After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray;
and when it was evening, He was there alone.
24 But the boat was already a long distance from the land, battered by the waves; for the
wind was contrary.
25 And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea.
26 When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!”
And they cried out in fear.
27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”
28 Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”
29 And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus.
30 But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”
31 Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him,
“You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
32 When they got into the boat, the wind stopped.
33 And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are certainly God’s Son!”
Mark 6:31-32;
31 And He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.”
(For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.)
32 They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves.
Mark 8:10).
10 And immediately He entered the boat with His disciples and came to the district of
Dalmanutha.
So, Jesus get’s into Simon’s boat and asks him to put off shore a bit to get away
from the crowd. This would also allow the people to see Him better, and it is
believed that the acoustics would have been much better for the crowd to
hear Him, as His voice would bounce off the flat surface of the water.
Jesus now sits down and begins to teach the people the meaning of the things
He has been preaching. As I mentioned, when we studied
Luke 4:20,
20 And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in
the synagogue were fixed on Him.
rabbis normally stood to read the Scripture, then they would sit down to teach
or explain its meaning.
Read Luke 5:4-7…
4 When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let
down your nets for a catch.”
5 Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will
do as You say and let down the nets.”
6 When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to
break;
7 so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And
they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink.
Jesus finishes teaching, then tells Simon to take the boat into deeper water and
let down the nets.
There were several methods of fishing used on the lake.
Line, hook, and bait were used to catch one fish at a time.
A circular one-man net carried over the shoulder, thrown over a school of fish
or a large fish, weights helped the net sink around the fish; a cord attached to the
center of the net was pulled causing the net to close around t
he fish, like a sack.
A large net (dragnet) was used to cover a large area of water from bottom to
surface, with floats on the top and weights on the bottom allowing the net to
be slowly pulled toward the boat and then into the boat or dragged
back to the shore, where the catch could be sorted.
Notice Simon’s response to the Lord in verse 5, “Master [Lit. commander or chief;
this is a title of respect for one in authority, not a recognition of Christ’s deity], we
worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as
You say and let down the nets.”
It would appear that, as soon as they got the nets set in the water, they began to
fill with fish, “a great quantity of fish,” and this was happening in the middle of
the day, the worst time to try and catch fish.
This was a most amazing catch, and so Simon calls to John and James to bring
their boat over alongside his so that the fish can be off loaded into two boats,
notice it says (verse 7), “they filled both of the boats, so that they
began to sink.” This is no doubt, the largest catch ever to happen on the lake,
and the nets were starting to come apart under the great quantity of fish.
This is interesting, at the very beginning of the relationship between Jesus
and His first four disciples (Andrew, Simon, James, John), all of whom were
fisherman, Jesus gives a display of His omnipotence and omniscience;
He is the Creator of all things, including fish, and He knows exactly where the
fish are in the lake.
In one of the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus, at the Sea of Galilees,
Jesus again allows Peter and six other fisherman disciples to experience a
display of His omnipotence and omniscience
(see John 21:3-11).
3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will also come
with you.” They went out and got into the boat; and that night they caught nothing.
4 But when the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did
not know that it was Jesus.
5 So Jesus said to them, “Children, you do not have any fish, do you?” They answered
Him, “No.”
6 And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat and you will
find a catch.” So they cast, and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great
number of fish.
7 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord.” So when
Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put his outer garment on (for he was stripped
for work), and threw himself into the sea.
8 But the other disciples came in the little boat, for they were not far from the land, but
about one hundred yards away, dragging the net full of fish.
9 So when they got out on the land, they saw a charcoal fire already laid and fish placed
on it, and bread.
10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish which you have now caught.”
11 Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three;
and although there were so many, the net was not torn.
Read Luke 5:8-10a…
8 But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me
Lord, for I am a sinful man!”
9 For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish
which they had taken;
10a and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners
with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men.”
Simon falls down at Jesus’ feet, ,saying, “Go away from me Lord, for
I am a sinful man!” Peter realizes that nothing like this miraculous catch
of fish could happen by itself; this was not a coincidence; only God could
do such a thing, which meant that Peter was in the presence of God,
Immanuel [God with us].
This was overwhelming to Peter, and no doubt to James and John as
well (cf. verse 10) all that had happened in the last two days: the marvelous
teaching of Jesus at the synagogue on the Sabbath, along with casting a
demon out of the man; then there were all the people being healed by Jesus,
one of whom was Simon’s mother-in-law; and now Jesus gives Simon,
Andrew, James and John, the largest catch of fish anyone had ever seen,
and this takes place in brood daylight, when the common practice on
the Sea of Galilee was to fish at night.
Simon is feeling unworthy to be in the presence of God the Son,
for he is very aware of his own sinfulness, like the repentant tax
collector in
Luke 18:10-13,
10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other
a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that
I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’
13 But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to
lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful
to me, the sinner!’
Read Luke 5:10b-11…
10b and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with
Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear, from now on you will be
catching men.”
11 When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.
God in Christ is both holy and righteous, and therefore He must judge
sin, and we are all sinners
(Romans 3:23),
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,.”
None of us are good, let alone righteous
(Romans 3:10-12),
10 as it is written,
“THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;
11 THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS,
THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;
12 ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS;
THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD,
THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”
God loves us so much, even though we deserve death
(Romans 6:23a),
23a For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in
Christ Jesus our Lord.
But God grants us forgiveness for sin and eternal life
(Romans 6:23b),
23b For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in
Christ Jesus our Lord.
Only Jesus can set us free from sin’s penalty, because He alone was able
to take upon Himself our punishment for sin
(Romans 5:8),
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us.
God’s Son offered Himself as full payment for all sins, for all people,
for all time
(Hebrews 10:12,
12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE
RIGHT HAND OF GOD,
Hebrews 10:14,
14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
Hebrews 10:16-18),
16 “THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THEM
AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD:
I WILL PUT MY LAWS UPON THEIR HEART,
AND ON THEIR MIND I WILL WRITE THEM,”
He then says,
17 “AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS
I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE.”
18 Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.
“He [Jesus], having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the
right hand of God,” “For by one offering He has perfected for all time those
who are sanctified.” “This is the covenant that I will make with them after
those days, says the Lord: ‘I will put My laws upon their heart, and on their mind
I will write them,’ He then says, ‘And their sins and their lawless
deeds
I will remember no more.’ Now where there is forgiveness of these things,
there is no longer any offering for sin,”
(Romans 8:1),
1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Jesus came to proclaim the good news of salvation, i.e., the forgiveness for sins
committed on this earth and the hope of eternal life in heaven with God. Jesus c
ame to set us free from sin’s curse and condemnation, to provide
all we need for this life and the life to come
(2Peter 1:2-4),
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;
3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and
godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that
by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that is in the world by lust.
When Simon realized that he, a sinful man, was in the very presence of
the Holy and Righteous God of Creation
(Revelation 1:8),
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” [the First and the Last] says the Lord God,
“who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Simon was afraid. But Jesus said to him, “Do not fear, from now on you
will be catching men.” Simon Peter, James, and John spent their lives catching
fish that would ultimately die; but since meeting Christ, and
believing in Him, they would spend the rest of their lives fishing for the
souls of men, women and children of age, so that they might live forever
with God.”
Look again at
Luke 5:11,
11 When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.
it says they gave up everything to follow Christ.
Gave up everything? Really? Like the consequences of sin’s curse?
Eternal condemnation in the Lake of Fire and Brimstone, where there
will be darkness and loneliness, pain and weeping, torment, and the gnashing
of teeth forever and ever.
So, to follow Christ, you have to give all of that up in order to receive
forgiveness for all your sins and eternal life, in order to live with God
in a new and perfect universe, where there will be new heavens and a
new earth.
Revelation 21:1-5,
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth
passed away, and there is no longer any sea.
2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made
ready as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is
among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God
Himself will be among them,
4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any
death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
5 And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”
And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.”
Pastor Mike Hale