What Happens When You Meet the God of Very God
Sermon Series: The Life of Jesus: From Creation to the Cradle to the Cross to the Crown
Sermon Title: What Happens When You Meet the God of Very God
Sermon Text: Luke 5: 1-11
Sermon Date: 5-22-2016
This passage in Luke can tell you everything you ever wanted to know about who Jesus is. In these 11 verses you can get the humanity of Christ and the deity of Christ at the same time.
It is very clear in these verses that He is human, that He is a man. He walks like a man and talks like a man and acts like a man and is accepted as human by all the people around Him.
Christ is the very essential character of God.
1. You see divine truth.
2. You see divine omniscience.
God knows everything that exists, everything that exists in the material world and everything that exists in the immaterial world.
3. You see divine power or omnipotence.
When you think about God you think of power, Almighty God, all powerful God. He hold everything in existence.
4. You see divine holiness.
5. And you see mercy
I. Teach and study the word of God Consistently, Verse 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."
They were listening to the word of God. This is a subjective genitive. An accurate translation is “they were listening to the word that comes from God.” What was he preaching? He was preaching the good news of the Gospel. He was preaching the same sermon He had just preached in the previous chapter.
It was the good news that the poor could be made spiritually rich. It was the good news that the prisoners of sin could be set free by forgiveness. It was good news that the spiritually blind could be given sight. It was the good news that the spiritually oppressed would be liberated to the glorious inheritance that God gives to His children. It was the good news of forgiveness, salvation and eternal life. And when Jesus preached it, it was coming from God. They were listening to the word that comes from God. Luke uses that same phrase in chapter 8 verse 11 and verse 21, and again in chapter 11 verse 28. This is the first time he uses it.
“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine,” 2 Timothy 4:2.
II. Obey the commands of Jesus Faithfully
4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.
A. We need to obey when we are struggling
There are times when the Lord asks us to do certain things that we may not want to do, however, we must come to the same place Peter came. We need to decide that regardless of how we feel about a certain matter, if the Lord has commanded it, then we will do it!
Some people say, "If your heart isn't in it, then you might as well not do it!" That is wrong thinking! You cannot trust your heart, Jer. 17:9! God will reward our obedience if we will go ahead and do what He has told us to do. When we obey in spite of our own objections, the heart will eventually follow our lead.
B. We need to obey when we are surrendered
III. Humble themselves Perpetually
8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord
Whoever he thought Jesus was when they first met, whoever he thought Jesus was at that second confirmation, whoever he thought Jesus was in the synagogue, and whoever he thought he was at home when He healed his mother-in-law, and whoever he thought he was when he...when he was teaching that day on the shore at the lake, now there are no doubts for this moment, anyway, that this is God because verse 8 says when he saw that he fell at Jesus' feet and this is...this is the prostration of a worshiper. But not just a worshiper, a worshiper who is frankly terrified because look at his words, "And he said, 'Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, oh Lord.'" This is that penitence that Jesus is after. This is that poor, prisoner, blind and oppressed, that Jesus said He had come to preach the gospel to in reciting the words of Isaiah 61. This is exactly the kind of attitude Jesus was looking for, not an attitude of confidence, not an attitude of self-satisfaction, not an attitude of religious achievement, not an attitude of self-righteousness, but an attitude of brokenness.
Deuteronomy 10:12-13
12 “Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the Lord’s commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?
IV. Treasure Christ above all Sacrificially
11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.
They immediately left all they had a followed Christ. In today's world, Christ may be in fact telling you to stop whatever you are doing and become a full time minister. More than likely what he telling you is stop following the world's wisdom, the world's way of doing things, the world's philosophy and be completely committed to me. Think like I think, do the things I do, have the attitude that I have. Want me more than you want anything else in the world. Basically Jesus is telling us all to "pick up our cross, to deny ourselves and follow Him" completely and without reservations.
Ask yourself these transformation questions in light of what we have just studied
- Do I truly seek to pattern my life after Jesus rather than after any cultural mirage or personal fantasy?
- Do I clothe myself in virtues that model Jesus, or do I dress myself in attitudes that reflect my culture?
- Do I truly desire to be the person God designed me to be—not my culture’s caricature of me or my idealistic version of me?
- Do I hunger to know Jesus more than I hunger for any other knowledge, status, or achievement?
- Am I willing to proclaim what God has done for me wherever I am and to whomever he places in my path?