ÒCome, follow me,Ó Jesus said, Òand I will make you fishers of men.Ó
[Matthew 4:19]__________________________________________________________
© Copyright 2013 by Tony Capoccia. This updated file may be freely copied,
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Verses quoted, unless otherwise noted, are taken from the
HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION,
©1984 by the New York Bible Society, used by
permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.
__________________________________________________________
When Christ calls us by his grace we must not only remember
what we are, but we must also think of what he can make
us into.
Jesus said, ÒFollow me, and I will make you.Ó We must repent of what we
have been, and rejoice in what we may become. It is not ÒFollow me, because of
what you already are.Ó It is not ÒFollow me, because you may make something of
yourselves;Ó but, rather, ÒFollow me, because of what I will make you.Ó Truly,
I might say of each one of us, as soon as we are converted, ÒÉwhat we will be
has not yet been made known...Ó [1 John 3:2]. It did not seem a likely thing
that lowly fishermen would develop into apostles; that men so skillful with the
fishing net would be quite as much at home in preaching sermons and instructing
converts. One would have said, ÒHow can these things be? You cannot make
founders of churches out of peasants of Galilee.Ó That is exactly what Christ
did; and when we are humbled in the sight of God by a sense of our own
unworthiness, we can feel encouraged to follow Jesus because of what he can
make us into. What said the woman of a sorrowful spirit when she lifted up her
song? ÒHe raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
he seats them with princesÉÓ [1 Samuel 2:8] We cannot know what God may make of
us in the new creation. Who could have imagined all the beautiful things that
came out from darkness and chaos by that one command, ÒLet there be light?Ó And
who can tell what lovely displays of everything that is divinely pleasing may
yet appear from a personÕs formerly dark life, when GodÕs grace has said to them,
ÒLet there be light?Ó Oh, you who presently see in yourselves nothing that is
desirable, come and follow Christ for the sake of what he can make out of you.
DonÕt you hear his sweet voice calling to you, and saying, ÒFollow me, and I
will make you fishers of men?Ó
Note, next, that we are not yet
made everything that we will be, nor everything that we
should desire to be, when we were first fished for and caught. This is what the
grace of God does for us at first; but it is not all. We are like the fishes,
making sin to be our element; and the good Lord comes, and with the gospel net
he catches us, and he delivers us from the life and love of sin. But he has not
done for us all that he can do, nor all that we would wish him to do, when he
has done this; for it is another and a greater miracle to make us who were fish
to become fishers—to make the saved ones saviors—to make the
convert into a converter—the receiver of the gospel into an imparter of
that same gospel to other people.
I think I can say to every one of you—If you are already saved, then the
work is only half done until you are active in bringing others to Christ. You
are as yet only half formed into the image of your Lord. You have not attained
to the full development of the Christ-like life in you unless you have begun in
some feeble way to tell to others of the grace of God: and I trust that you
will find no rest to the sole of your foot until you have been the means of
leading many to that blessed Savior who is your confidence and your hope. His
word is—ÒFollow me,Ó not merely that you may be saved, nor even that you
may be sanctified; but, ÒFollow me, and I will make you fishers of men.Ó Be
following Christ with that intent and aim; and fear that you are not perfectly
following him, unless in some degree he is making use of you to be fishers of
men.
The fact is, that every one of us must be about the business of a catching men
and women for Christ. If Christ has caught us, we must catch others. If we have
been apprehended of him, we must be his sheriffs, to apprehend rebels for him.
Let us ask Christ to give us grace to go fishing, and have the ability to cast
our nets that we may capture a great multitude of fishes. Oh that the Holy Spirit
may raise up from among us some master-fishers, who will sail their boats in
many seas, and surround great schools of fish!
My teaching at this time will be very
simple, but I hope it will be highly practical; for my longing is that none of
you, that loves the Lord, would be reluctant to fish for him.
May
it be that all the members of this church, and all the Christians that hear or
read this sermon are fruitful in winning the lost for Christ! The fact is, the
day we live in is very dark. The heavens are lowering with heavy thunderclouds.
Men often dream of what storms may soon shake this city, and the whole social
fabric of this land, even to a general breaking up of society. The night is
becoming so dark that the stars may seem to fall like damaged fruit from the
tree. The times are evil. Now, if never before, every glow-worm or firefly must
show its spark. You with the tiniest candle must take it out from under the
bushel, and set it on a candlestick, where it can be seen.
We need all of you. Lot was a poor creature. He was a very, very wretched kind
of believer; but still, he might have been a great blessing to Sodom had he only
pleaded for the people there, as he should have done. And the weak Christians
of our day, as I fear many are, need to be prayed for, for we need every one of
these truly converted souls, in these evil days—Oh, let us pray that each
one of them may glorify the Lord. I pray that every righteous man and woman, irritated
as they are with the conversations of the wicked, may be more persistent in
prayer than they has ever been, and draw near to their God, and get more
spiritual life, that they might be a blessing to the people perishing all around
them. I address you, therefore, at this time, first of all to dwell on this
thought. Oh, that the Spirit of God may make each one of you feel your personal
responsibility!
Here for believers in Christ, in the order
of their usefulness, three things from our text:
1. First,
something for believers to
do—Follow Jesus. Jesus
said, ÒFollow me.Ó
2. Secondly,
something to be done by
their great Lord and Master: Jesus said, ÒÉI will make you fishers of men.Ó You
will not grow into fishers by yourselves, but this is what Jesus will do for
you if you will just follow him.
3. Lastly,
we find a good illustration, from our great Master;
for he often spoke to the people with a parable. He presents us with an
illustration of what Christians should be—fishers of men. We may
get some useful hints out of it, and I pray the Holy Spirit to bless them to
us.
I.
First, I will take it for granted that every believer here wants to be useful to
Jesus. If they do not, I would question whether they could be a true believer
in Christ. Well, if you want to be really useful, here is SOMETHING FOR YOU
TO DO TO THAT END: ÒFollow Jesus, and He will make you fishers of
men.Ó
A young man asked, ÒWhat is the best way
to become an effective preacher?Ó One
person answers, Ògo to seminary.Ó ÒBut Christ says, ÒYoung man,
follow me,
and I will make you a fisher of men.Ó How is a person to be
useful? ÒAttend a training-class,Ó one says. ThatÕs true, but there is a much better answer than
that—ÒFollow Jesus, and he will make you fishers of men.Ó The great training
school for Christian workers has Christ at its teacher; and he is at its head,
not only as a tutor, but as a leader: we are not only to learn of him in study,
but to follow him in action. ÒFollow me, and I will make you fishers of
men.Ó The direction is very distinct and plain, and I believe that it is
exclusive, so that no one can become a fisherman by any other process. This
process may appear to be very simple; but assuredly it is most effective. The
Lord Jesus Christ, who knew all about fishing for men, was himself the Absolute
Ruler of the rule, ÒFollow me, if you want to be fishers of men. If you want to
be useful, follow in my steps.Ó
1. I understand this, first, in this
sense: be separated unto Christ.
These
men were to leave their pursuits; they were to leave their companions; they
were, in fact, to quit the world, that their one business might be, in their
MasterÕs name, to be fishers of men. We are not all called to leave our
daily business, or to quit our families. That might be rather running away from
the fishery than working at it in GodÕs name. But we are called most distinctly
to come out from among the ungodly, and to be separate, and not to touch the
unclean thing. We cannot be fishers of men if we remain among men in the same
element with them.
Fish will not be fishers. The sinner will not convert the sinner. The ungodly
man will not convert the ungodly man; and, what is more to the point, the
worldly Christian will not convert the world. If you are of the world, no doubt
the world will love you as its own; but you cannot save the world. If you walk
in darkness, and belong to the kingdom of darkness, you cannot remove the
darkness. If you march with the armies of the wicked one, you cannot defeat
them. I believe that one reason why the church of the Living God at this
present moment has so little influence over the world is because the world has
so much influence over the church.
Nowadays we hear Nominal and Liberal Christians insisting that they may do this
and they may do that—things which their Puritan forefathers would rather
have died at the stake than have tolerated. They claim that they can live like the
world, and my sad answer to them, when they crave for this liberty, is, ÒDo it
if you dare. It may not do you much more harm, for you are so bad already. Your
cravings show how rotten your hearts really are. If you have a hungering after
such dog food, go, you dogs, and eat the garbage. Worldly pleasures are fit
food for mere pretenders and hypocrites. If you were GodÕs children you would hate
the very thought of the worldÕs evil pleasures, and your question would not be,
ÔHow far may we be like the world?Õ but your one cry would be, ÔHow far can we
get away from the world? How much can we come out from it?ÕÒ Your desire should
be to become very strict in your separation from sin, in such a time as this,
than to ask, ÒHow can I make myself like other men, and act as they do?Ó Brethren,
the use of the church in the world is that it should be like salt in the midst
of rotting; but if the salt has lost its savor, what is the good of it? If it
were possible for salt itself to go bad, then it could only increase and
heighten the over all rotting taking place. The worst day the world ever saw
was when the sons of God were joined with the daughters of men. Then came the
flood; for the only barrier against a flood of vengeance on this world is the
separation of the saint from the sinner. Your duty as a Christian is to stand firm
in your own place and stand out for God, hating even the clothing stained by
the corrupted flesh, resolving like one of our forefathers said, ÒLet others do
as they will, but as for us and our house, we will serve the Lord.Ó
Come, you children of God, you must stand with your Lord outside the camp.
Jesus calls to you today, and says, ÒFollow me.Ó Was Jesus found at the
theater? Did he frequent the sporting events or the racetracks? Do you think
that Jesus was seen in any of the places of amusement and entertainment of the elite
of his day? No, He was not. He was Òholy, innocent, undefiled, and separate
from sinners.Ó Yet, in one sense no one mixed with sinners so completely as he
did when, like a physician, he went among them healing his patients; but in
another sense there was a gulf fixed between the men of the world and the
Savior, which he never attempted to cross, and which they could not cross to
defile him.
The first lesson which the church has
to learn is this: Follow Jesus into the separated state, and he will make you
fishers of men. Unless you take up your cross and protest against an ungodly
world, you cannot hope that the holy Jesus will make you fishers of men.
2. A second meaning of our text is very
obviously this: live with Christ, and then you will be made
fishers of men.
These
disciples whom Christ called were to come and live with him. They were to be
associated with him every day. They were to listen to him publicly teach the eternal
gospel, and in addition they were to receive special clarifications, in private,
of the Word which he had spoken. They were to be his personal servants and his close
friends. They were to watch his miracles and hear his prayers; and, better
still, they were to be with him, and become one with him in his holy work. They
were allowed to sit at the table with him, and even to have their feet washed
by him. Many of them fulfilled that word, ÒWhere you live, I will live:Ó they
were with him in his afflictions and persecutions. They witnessed his secret
agonies; they saw his many tears; they noted the passion and the compassion of
his soul, and thus, in time, they caught his spirit, and so they learned to be
fishers of men.
At JesusÕ feet we must learn the art and mystery of soul-winning, to live with
Christ is the best education for usefulness. It is a great advantage to any Christian
to be associated with a Christian minister whose heart is on fire. The best
training for a young man is that which a group of pastors, in the 17th
century, gave, in which each elderly pastor had a young man with him who walked
with him whenever he went up the mountainside to preach, and lived in the house
with him, and listened to his prayers and observed his daily holiness. This was
a fine instruction, was it not? But it will not compare with that of the
apostles who lived with Jesus himself, and were his daily companions. Unparalleled
was the training of the twelve. No wonder that they became what they were with
such a heavenly tutor to saturate them with his own spirit! And now today his
bodily presence is not among us; but his spiritual power is perhaps more fully
known to us than it was to those apostles in those two or three years of the
LordÕs earthly presence. There are some of us to whom he is intimately near. We
know more about him than we do about our dearest earthly friends. We have never
been quite able to totally understand our dearest friendÕs heart in all its twists
and turns, but we know the heart of the Jesus Christ. We have leaned our head
upon his chest, and have enjoyed fellowship with him such as we could not have had
with any of our own friends and relatives. This is the surest way of learning
how to do good. Live with Jesus, follow Jesus, and he will make you fishers of
men.
Watch
how he does the work, and therefore learn how to do it yourself. A Christian
man should be an apprentice to Jesus to learn the trade of a Savior. We can
never save men by offering a redemption, for we have none to present; but we can learn how to save men and
women by warning them to flee from the wrath to come, and setting
before them the one great effective remedy. Watch how Jesus saves, and you will
learn how it is done: You cannot learn it any other way. Live in fellowship
with Christ, and people will notice that you have a certain demeanor about you,
that seems to make you very capable to teach and to win souls.
3. A third meaning, however, must be
given to this ÒFollow me,Ó and it is this: ÒObey me, and then
you will know what to do to save men.Ó
We
must not talk about our fellowship with Christ, or our being separated from the
world unto him, unless we make him our Master and Lord in everything. Some preachers
are not true to all of their convictions, so how can they look for a blessing?
A Christian who wants to useful to the Lord, ought to be very particular as to
every point of obedience to his Master. I have no doubt whatever that God
blesses our churches even when they are somewhat flawed, for his mercy endures
forever. When there is a measure of error in the teaching, and a measure of
mistake in the practice, he may still consent to use the ministry, for he is
very gracious. But a large measure of blessing must necessarily be withheld
from all teaching, which is knowingly or glaringly faulty. God can set his seal
upon the truth that is in it, but he cannot set his seal upon the error that is
in it. Out of mistakes about Christian ordinances and other things, especially
errors in heart and spirit, there may come evils, which we never looked for.
Such evils may even now be influential on the present age, and may work worse damage
on future generations. If we desire as fishers of men to be largely used of God
we must copy our Lord Jesus in everything, and obey him in every point. Failure
in obedience may lead to failure in success. Each one of us, if he would wish
to see his child saved, or his Sunday-School class blessed, or his congregation
converted, must be careful that, he is a clean instrument of the Lord. Anything
we do that grieves the Spirit of God must take away from us some part of our
power for good. The Lord is very gracious and compassionate; but yet he is a
jealous God. He is sometimes sternly jealous towards his people who are knowingly
neglecting obedience to certain of his commands, or are in associations, which
are not clean in his sight. He will hinder their work, weaken their strength,
and humble them until they finally say, ÒMy Lord, I will follow you after all.
I will do what you call me to do, or else you will not accept me.Ó The Lord
said to his disciples, ÒGo into all the world and preach the good news to all
creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be savedÓ [Mark 16:15]. Now, we
must get back to apostolic practice and to apostolic teaching: we must lay
aside the commandments of men and the impulses of our own brains, and we must
do what Christ tells us, as Christ tells us, and because Christ tells us.
Definitely and distinctly, we must take the place of servants; and if we will
not do that, we cannot expect our Lord to work with us and through us. Let us
be determined that, as true as the compass needle is to the north pole, so true
will we be, as far as our light goes, to the command of our Lord and Master.
Jesus says—ÒFollow me, and I will make you fishers of men.Ó By this
teaching he seems to say—ÒIf you go ahead of me, or fall back behind me,
and you cast the net; you will catch nothing. However, when you do as I command
you, you will cast your net on the right side of the boat, and you will find a
great catch.Ó
4. Again, I think that there is a great lesson in my text to those who preach their own thoughts instead of preaching the thoughts of
Christ.
These
disciples were to follow Christ that they might listen to him, hear what he had
to say, drink in his teaching, and then go and teach what he had taught
them. Their Lord says, ÒWhat I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight;
what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofsÓ [Matthew 10:27]. If
they will be faithful messengers of ChristÕs message, he will make them Òfishers
of men.Ó But you know the proud method nowadays is this: ÒI am not going to
preach this old, old gospel, this musty Puritan doctrine. I will sit down in my
study, and burn the midnight oil, and invent a new theory; then I will come out
with my brand new thought, and blaze away with it.Ó
Many are not following Christ, but following themselves, and of them the Lord
may well say, ÒYou will see whose word will stand, mine or theirs.Ó Others are
wickedly discreet, and judge that certain truths, which are clearly GodÕs word,
had better be kept back. They say, ÒYou must not be harsh, but must preach friendly
things. To talk about the punishment of sin, to speak of eternal punishment,
why, these are unfashionable doctrines. It may be that they are taught in the
Word of God, but they do not suit the intellect of this age. We must trim them
down.Ó
Brothers in Christ, I will have no part of their wickedness. Will you? Our
enlightened age believed that they have discovered certain things not taught in
the Bible. Evolution may be clearly contrary to the teaching of Genesis, but
that doesnÕt matter to them. They are not going to be believers of Scripture,
but original thinkers. This is the arrogant ambition of the age we live in. Note
this, in proportion as the modern theology is preached the depravity of this
generation will increase. To a great degree I attribute the looseness of our
age to the carelessness of the doctrine preached by its teachers. From the
pulpit they have taught the people that sin is a small thing. From the pulpit
these traitors to God and to his Christ have taught the people that there is
no hell to be feared. A little, little hell, perhaps, there may be; but
justified punishment for sin is made nothing of. The precious atoning sacrifice
of Christ has been derided and misrepresented by those who were pledged to
preach it. They have given the people the name of the gospel, but the gospel
itself has evaporated in their hands.
From
hundreds of pulpits the gospel has disappeared; and still the preachers take
the position and name of ChristÕs ministers. Well, and what comes of it? Why,
their congregations grow thinner and thinner; and so it must be. Jesus says, ÒFollow
me, I will make you fishers of men;Ó but if you go your own way, with
your own net, you will make nothing of it, and the Lord promises you no help in
it. The LordÕs directions makes himself our leader and example. It is, ÒFollow me,
follow me. Preach my gospel. Preach what I preached. Teach what I
taught, and keep to that.Ó Do this, and he will make you fishers of men; but if
you do not do this, you will fish in vain.
5. I close this part of my discourse by
saying that we will not be fishers of men unless we follow Christ in one
other respect; and that is, by endeavoring, in all points, to imitate his holiness.
Holiness
is the greatest real power that can be possessed by men or women. We may preach
the truth, but we must also live the truth. God forbid that we should preach
anything else; but it will be all in vain, unless there is a life at the back
of the testimony. An unholy preacher may even render truth contemptible. In
proportion as any of us draw back from a living a zealous sanctification we will
draw back from the place of power. Our power lies in this word, ÒFollow me.Ó Be
like Jesus.
In
all things endeavor to think, and speak, and act as Jesus did, and he will make
you fishers of men. This will require self-denial. We must daily take up the
cross. This may require willingness to give up our reputation—readiness
to be thought fools, idiots, and the like, as men are apt to call those who are
keeping close to their Master. There must be the cheerful resigning of
everything that looks like honor and personal glory, in order that we may be completely
ChristÕs, and glorify his name. We must live his life and be ready to die his
death, if need be. O brothers and sisters, if we do this and follow Jesus,
putting our feet into the footprints of his pierced feet, he will make us
fishers of men. If it should so please him that we should even die without
having gathered many souls to the cross, we will speak from our graves. In some
way or other the Lord will make a holy life to be an influential life. It is
not possible that a life, which can be described as following Christ, should be
an unsuccessful one in the sight of the Most High. ÒFollow me,Ó and there is an
ÒI willÓ such as God can never draw back from: ÒFollow me, and I will make you
fishers of men.Ó
Thus much on the first point. There is
something for us to do: we are graciously called to follow Jesus. Holy Spirit,
lead us to do it.
II. But secondly, and briefly, there is
SOMETHING FOR THE LORD TO DO.
1. When his dear servants are following him, he says, ÒI will make you fishers
of men;Ó and be it never forgotten that
it is he that makes us follow him; so that if
the following of Christ be the step to being made a fisher of men, yet this he
gives us. ÔIt is all of his Spirit. I have talked about catching his spirit,
and abiding in him, and obeying him, and listening to him, and copying him; but
none of these things are we capable of apart from his working them all in us. ÒÉyour
fruitfulness comes from meÓ [Hosea 14:8], is a text which we must not for a
moment forget. So, then, if we do follow him, it is he that makes us follow
him; and so he makes us fishers of men.
2. But, further, if we follow Christ he
will make us fishers of men by all our experience.
I
am sure that the man who is really consecrated to bless others will be helped
in this by all that he feels, especially by his afflictions. I often feel very
grateful to God that I have undergone fearful depression of spirits. I know the
borders of despair, and the horrible brink of that gulf of darkness into which
my feet have almost gone; but hundreds of times I have been able to give a
helpful grip to brethren and sisters who have come into that same condition,
which grip I could never have given if I had not known their deep despondency.
So
I believe that the darkest and most dreadful experience of a child of God will
help him to be a fisher of men if he will but follow Christ. Keep close to your
Lord and he will make every step a blessing to you. If God in providence should
make you rich, he will allow you to speak to those ignorant and wicked rich who
so much abound in this city, and so often are the cause of its worst sin. And
if the Lord is pleased to let you be very poor you can go down and talk to
those wicked and ignorant poor people who so often are the cause of sin in this
city, and so greatly need the gospel. The winds of providence will move you to where
you can fish for men and women. The wheels of providence are full of eyes, and
all those eyes will look this way to help us to be winners of souls. You will
often be surprised to find how God has been in a house that you visit: before
you get there, his hand has been at work in its rooms. When you wish to speak
to some particular individual, GodÕs providence has been dealing with that
individual to make him ready for just that word which you could say, but which
nobody else but you could say.
Oh, be you following Christ, and you will find that he will, by every
experience through which you are passing, make you fishers of men.
3. Further than that, if you will
follow him he will make you fishers of men by distinct warnings of impending
dangers in your own heart.
The Holy Spirit warns us of many impending dangers, which are not noticed by
Christians when they are in an indifferent condition; but when the heart is
right with God and living in communion with God, we feel a sacred sensitivity,
so that we do not need the Lord to shout, but his faintest whisper is heard. No,
he doesnÕt even have to whisper, and yet we hear Him.
Oh,
how many willful Christians there are who must be controlled tightly with the bit
and bridle, and receive a lash of the whip every now and then! But the
Christian who follows his Lord will be tenderly guided. I do not say that the
Spirit of God will say to you, ÒGo to that chariot,Ó or that you will hear a
word in your ear; but yet in your soul, as distinctly as the Holy Spirit said
to Philip, ÒGo to that chariot and stay near itÓ [Acts 8:29], you will hear the
LordÕs will. As soon as you see an individual, the thought will cross your
mind, ÒGo and speak to that person.Ó Every opportunity of usefulness will be a
call to you. If you are ready, the door will open before you, and you will hear
a voice behind you saying, ÒThis is the way; walk in it.Ó If you have the grace
to run in the right way you will never be long without an inkling as to what
the right way is. That right way will lead you to river or sea, where you can
cast your net, and be a fisher of men.
4. Then, too, I believe that the
Lord meant by this that he would give his followers the Holy Spirit.
They were to follow him, and then, when they had seen him ascend into the
clouds, to the holy place of the Most High, they were to stay in Jerusalem for
a little while, and the Holy Spirit would come upon them and clothe them with power
from on high [Luke 24:49]. This word was spoken to Peter and Andrew; and you
know how it was fulfilled to Peter. What a multitude of fish he brought to land
the first time he threw his net in the power of the Holy Spirit! [John 21:6]. ÒFollow
me, and I will make you fishers of men.Ó
Brothers and sisters, we have no conception of what God could do through this congregation
of believers gathered in our Church tonight. If right now, we were to be filled
with the Holy Spirit, there are enough of us here, to evangelize our entire
city. There are enough here to be the means of the salvation of the world. Let
us seek a blessing; and if we seek it let us hear his guiding voice, ÒFollow
me, and I will make you fishers of men.Ó
You
men and women that sit before me today, you are sitting by the shore of a great
sea of human life swarming with the souls of men and women. You live in the
midst of millions; but if you will follow Jesus, and be faithful to him, and
true to him, and do what he commands you to do, he will make you fishers of
men.
Do
not say, ÒWho will save this city?Ó The weakest will be strong enough. Samson,
with a fresh jawbone of a donkey, taken up from the earth where it was lying
bleaching in the sun, killed a thousand Philistines [Judges 15:15-16]. Do not
fear, nor be dismayed. Let your responsibilities drive you closer to your
Master. Let the shock of the prevailing sins of our land make you look into his
dear face who long ago wept over Jerusalem, and now weeps over our cities. Take
hold of Christ, and never let him go. By the strong and mighty impulses of the
divine life within you, quickened and brought to maturity by the Holy Spirit of
God, learn this lesson from your LordÕs own mouth: ÒFollow me, and I will make
you fishers of men.Ó
You
are not fit for such a task, but he will make you fit. You cannot do it by
yourselves, but he will make you do it. You do not know how to spread the nets
and draw schools of fish to shore, but he will teach you. Only follow him, and
he will make you fishers of men.
I wish that I could somehow say this as with a voice of thunder, that the whole
church of God on earth might hear it. I wish I could write it in stars diagonally
across the sky, ÒJesus said, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.Ó If
you forget the edict, the promise will never be yours. If you follow some other
track, or imitate some other leader, you will fish in vain. God grant us to
believe fully that Jesus can do great things in us, and then do great things by
us for the good of all those around us!
III. The last point you might study in
your private meditations with much benefit. We have here AN ILLUSTRATION FULL
OF INSTRUCTION. I will give you a few thoughts which you can
use. ÒI will make you fishers of men.Ó You have been fishers of fish:
if you follow me, I will make you fishers of men.
1. A fisher is a person who is very
dependent, and needs to have faith.
He cannot see the fish. One who fishes in the sea must go and throw in the
net, as it were, at an uncertain possibility. Fishing is an act of faith. I
have often seen in the Mediterranean men go with their boats and enclose acres
of sea with vast nets; and yet, when they have drawn the net to shore, they
have not had even a whole handful of fish. A few wretched silvery nothings have
made up the whole catch. Yet they have gone again and thrown the great net
several times a day, hopefully expecting something to come of it.
Nobody is so dependent upon God as a minister of God. Oh, this fishing from the
ChurchÕs pulpit! What a work of
faith! I cannot tell that a soul will be brought to God by it. I cannot judge
whether my sermon will be suitable to the persons who are here, except that I
do believe that God will guide me in the throwing of the net. I expect him to
work salvation, and I depend upon him for it. I love this complete dependence,
and if I could be offered a certain amount of preaching power, by which I could
save sinners, which should be entirely at my own disposal, I would beg the Lord
not to let me have it, for it is far more delightful to be entirely dependent
upon him at all times. It is a blessed thing to be weak if Christ becomes more
fully your strength. Go to work, you who would be fishers of men, and yet feel
your insufficiency. You that have no strength, attempt this divine work. Your
MasterÕs strength will be seen when your own strength is gone. A fisherman is a
dependent person, he must look up for success every time he puts the net down;
but still he is a person of faith, and therefore he throws in the net joyfully.
2. A fisherman who makes his living by fishing
is a diligent and persevering man.
The
fishers are up at dawn. At daybreak our fishermen are fishing, and they
continue fishing till late in the afternoon. As long as hands can work men will
fish. May the Lord Jesus make us hard working, persevering, unwearied fishers
of men! ÒSow your seed in the morning, and at evening time do not let your
hands be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or thatÉÓ
[Ecclesiastes 11:6].
3. The skillful fisherman is intelligent
and watchful.
It
looks very easy, I dare say, to be a fisherman, but you would find that it was
no childÕs play if you were to take a real part in it. There is an art in it,
from the mending of the net right on to the pulling it to shore. How diligent
the fisherman must be to prevent the fish from leaping out of the net! I heard
a great noise one night in the sea, as if a giant was beating some huge drum;
and I looked out, and I saw that the fishermen were beating the water to drive
the fish into the net, or to keep them from leaping out of it, while the net
was being closed around them. Ah, yes! And you and I will often have to be
watching the corners of the gospel net lest sinners who are almost caught
should make their escape. They are very crafty, these fish, and they use this
craftiness in endeavoring to avoid salvation. We will have to be always at our
business, and to exercise all our faculties, and more than our own intellects,
if we are to be successful fishers of men.
4. The fisherman is a very hard
working person.
Being a fisherman is not an easy calling. He does not sit in an armchair and
catch fish. He often has to go out in harsh weather. If a farmer worries about the
clouds he will never sow, likewise, a fisherman that worries about the clouds
will never fish. If we never do any work for Christ except when we feel up to it,
then we will not do much. If we feel that we will not pray because we cannot
pray, we will never pray, and if we say, ÒI will not preach today because I do
not feel that I could preach,Ó we will never preach any preaching that is worth
the preaching. We must be always at it, until we wear ourselves out, throwing
our whole soul into the work in all circumstances, for ChristÕs sake.
5. The fisherman is a daring man.
He
tempts the boisterous sea. A little brine in his face does not hurt him; he has
been wet through a thousand times, it is nothing to him. He never expected when
he became a deep-sea fisherman that he was going to sleep in the lap of comfort.
So the true minister of Christ who fishes for souls will never mind a little
risk. He will be bound to do or say many a thing that is very unpopular; and
some Christian people may even judge his words to be too severe. He must do and
say that which is for the good of souls. It is not his to entertain a question
as to what others will think of his doctrine, or of him; but in the name of the
Almighty God he must feel, ÒIf the sea thunders and crashes, still at my MasterÕs
command I will let down the net.Ó
6. Now, in the last place, the man whom
Christ makes a fisher of men is successful.
ÒBut,Ó
one says, ÒI have always heard that ChristÕs ministers are to be faithful, but
that they cannot be sure of being successful.Ó Yes, I have heard that saying
too, and in one way I know it is true, but in another way I have my doubts
about it. He that is faithful is, in GodÕs way and in GodÕs judgment, more or
less successful.
For
instance, here is a brother who says that he is faithful. Of course, I must
believe him, yet I never heard of a sinner being saved under his ministry.
Indeed, I would think that the safest place for a person to be in if he did not
want to be saved would be under this gentlemanÕs ministry, because he does not
preach anything that is likely to arouse, impress, or convince anybody. This
brother is Òfaithful:Ó so he says.
So
likewise, if any person in the world said to you, ÒI am a fisherman, but I have
never caught anything,Ó you would wonder how he could be called a fisherman. A
farmer who never grew any wheat, or any other crop—is he a farmer? When
Jesus Christ says, ÒFollow me, and I will make you fishers of men,Ó he means,
that you will, really catch men and women—that you really, will save
some; for he that never did catch any fish is not a fisherman. He that never
saved a sinner after years of work is not a minister of Christ. If the result
of his life work is nothing, he made a mistake when he undertook it. Go with
the fire of God in your hand and fling it among the straw, and the straw will
burn. You can be sure of that. Go and scatter the good seed: it may not all
fall in fertile places, but some of it will. You can be sure of that. Go and
let your light shine, and someoneÕs eye will se the light. You must, you will
succeed. But remember this is the LordÕs word—ÓFollow me, and I will make
you fishers of men.Ó Keep close to Jesus, and do as Jesus did, in his spirit,
and he will make you fishers of men.
Conclusion
Perhaps I speak to an attentive hearer who is not converted at all.
Friend, I have the same thing to say to you. You may also follow Christ, and
then he can use you, even you. I donÕt know but that he has brought you to this
place that you may be saved, and that in years to come he may make you speak
for his name and glory. Remember how he called Saul of Tarsus, and made him the
apostle to the Gentiles. Recovered poachers make the best gamekeepers; and
saved sinners make the most capable preachers.
Oh,
that you would run away from your old master, Satan, tonight, without giving
him a minuteÕs notice; for if you give him any notice, he will hold on to you. Rush
to Jesus, and say, ÒHere I am a poor runaway slave! My Lord, I bear the shackles
still upon my wrists. Will you set me free, and make me your own?Ó Remember, it
is written, ÒÉwhoever comes to me I will never drive awayÓ [John 6:37]. Never did
a runaway slave come to Christ in the middle of the night without Jesus taking
him in; and he never gave one up back to his old master. If Jesus makes you
free you will be free indeed. Quickly flee to Jesus. May the Holy Spirit help
you, and he will in time make you a winner of others to his praise! God bless
you. Amen.
Added
to Bible Bulletin BoardÕs ÒSpurgeon CollectionÓ by:
Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
Box 199
Middletown, Delaware USA, 19709
Websites: www.biblebb.com and www.gospelgems.com
Email: tony@biblebb.com
Online since 1986