Bible Truth #128 - Luke 5:1-11

Luke 5:1-11
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.

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.

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;

10  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.

You know the story. This is NOT a parable but a living example that God had Luke, perhaps the most intelligent and likely the most educated man of the Gospel writers, to record for posterity. The first thing that I’d like to ask is, did the fish have anything to do with their being “caught” by the net? I hope you will agree with me that the fish had NOTHING whatsoever to do with their being caught. The apostles had been fishing all night long and as fish are wont to do, they did their best to avoid the net. Why? Because it’s their NATURE. They do NOT want to be caught. They flee strange things. This is no different than sheep belonging to one shepherd will never follow another shepherd, they run from a stranger (John 10:5).

There is an old cliche’ fisherman use when they come back from an outing with an empty stringer - “That’s why it’s called fishing and not catching.” Notice what the Lord says next, “...let your nets down for a catch.” The Lord of the Universe said to let down their nets FOR A CATCH. Peter, along with most Christians who read this, frequently overlook the word catch. Jesus wasn’t sending them out fishing, He was sending them out for a CATCH. The Lord was about to work His will and put fish in the net.

Peter couldn’t resist stating the obvious - We’ve been hard at work all night long and haven’t caught a thing. BUT...

What then happened? It should be obvious to every believer that GOD drew the fish into the net. Unless of course you say this was a freak occurrence and that God was not at work here. If that’s the case, we’re discussing the wrong topic.

Now, let’s continue - were ALL fish drawn into the net? NO, I’m certain that the Lake of Gennesaret was not emptied of fish.

Was every fish God wanted, drawn into the net? Well, because He is a sovereign God and always gets His way, YES. Every single fish God chose for the purpose of this life example was drawn into the net. Of those God chose for capture, not one “escaped” or chose not to be drawn, i.e. resisted.

I believe Jesus clearly teaches the fish weren’t given a choice, they were compelled into the net (Luke 14:23, Bible Truth #87). After getting all the fish into the boats, Peter recognized he was in the presence of Holiness and fell to his knees. Jesus then told him not to fear, in the same way he caught fish, he will now catch men.

This example must be literally applied to Peter’s (and our) Christian witness. In the same way fish avoid nets, LOST men will avoid Truth, they love the darkness because their deeds are evil (John 3:19) and they HATE the Light and Truth (John 3:20) - it’s their NATURE. That is why unless God has changed their heart, lost men will change the subject or do whatever they can to get away from our attempt to witness just as fish avoid a net. And yes, some try harder than others. Some politely listen to our testimony while others slam the door in our face. And as the fish were compelled into the net, so is the irresistible Grace of God toward His Elect who are not yet saved - once God quickens the dead spirit in a man and makes a man a believer (John 6:29) he WILL come to Christ (John 6:37).

Our job as fishers of men is to simply cast the nets and then pull them back in, NOT draw the fish into it. THAT is God’s work (John 6:44). That is also why Jesus told the apostles to go into all the world and teach all nations. He didn’t say go and make believers, He said to go and teach all nations and baptize them (Matthew 28:19-20). Are we to teach the lost? Of course not. We are not to teach the lost any more than we are to baptize them. More on the Great Commission in a future Bible Truth.

And by the way, even IF the fish made a “free will” decision to go into the net, wouldn’t that mean that God changed their nature FIRST? :)