The Wonder of Jesus

Turn in your Bibles, friends, to Luke's Gospel in chapter 5. We'll be in verses 1 through 11. This familiar passage of Scripture is full of the wonder of Jesus. And that's the title of my message today, friends, The Wonder of Jesus.

Let me read this passage to us at this time. Here now is the Word of God, and may the Spirit of the Lord be pleased to attend the reading of His Holy Word. And it came to pass that as the people pressed upon Him to hear the Word of God, He stood by the lake of Genesaret, and saw two ships standing by the lake, but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets.

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. Let me pause here, friends, to say Peter and Andrew, James and John shared a successful fishing partnership with a fleet of fishing boats.

They'd labored all night at their trade and came up empty. They came up empty because they were empty of what really mattered in life, and that is eternal life with Christ Jesus. A lot of men labor with a successful business, yet theirs empty as well, for to be without Christ is a very empty life indeed.

Well, let's get back to our text. Now, when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have told all the night and have taken nothing.

Nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down the net. Let me pause again, friends, to say Jesus is always looking at his followers for that step of faith. Peter dropped that net here by faith, and by faith, he would one day step out onto the water to walk in the supernatural with his master.

And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes in their net break. 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 that they began to sink.

When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, depart from me, for I am a sinful man. Oh, Lord. I will stop again to say that when we encounter the Christ of the gospel, something dramatic happens.

We fall under conviction of sin and realize how unworthy we are to have such mercy and grace given to such unworthy sinners. For he was astonished, and all that were with him at the drought of the fishes, which they had taken. 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. And when they had brought their ships and land, they forsook all and followed him. I will stop there.

The wonder of Jesus is seen in the story of the catch of fish. But the real wonder of Jesus goes even deeper than a catch of fish, friends. For he took a sinful man like Simon Peter and saved him, changed him, trained him, and used him for the spread of the gospel and for his glory.

That was the real miracle. And the wonder of Jesus is that he took a sinner like me and saved me and changed me and trained me. And he asked me before you today, friends, as his ambassador for his glory.

And the wonder of Jesus is that he saved a sinner like you and changed you and trained you to be useful for him, for his glory. Well, as that little band of men stood on the seashore that day with their fishing nets full of fishes, and in astonishment and wonder of Jesus, they had no idea how much their lives were set to change. And as Jesus looked at Peter and spoke to him, that Peter would from that point no longer be employed catching fish, but he would catch men.

Jesus knew all that Peter would pass through from that day to the last day of Peter's life in Christ, that Peter would join him in a supernatural walk of faith out on the water, that Peter would eventually deny him and then meet on that seashore again after Christ's resurrection to reinforce his love for his master again. That Peter would become a pillar of the church and his epistles would be read by millions of believers all across the globe in ages to come, that Peter would be greatly used to Jesus, that he would be arrested and imprisoned for Jesus, that he would eventually and ultimately die for his faith in Jesus, being crucified like his master, only upside down tradition tells us. When Jesus looked at Peter that day of his calling, Jesus knew all those things that Peter would have to pass through in life for him.

And do you know what, friend? When Jesus looks at you today, he knows what is ahead of you, that you will ultimately pass through for him and his glory until the day they lay your body in a casket and lower it into the ground. The wonder of Jesus is that it is a wonder why he'd save a sinner like me. He's a wonderful savior.

He's full of wonder and perfection and goodness and glory. Let us live our lives like his disciples who marveled in astonishment and his wonder day by day. Let the wonder of Jesus stir us.

It both stirs me and strengthens me, for Jesus is wonderful. Let us pray.