Turning Failure into Success

Luke chapter 5, beginning at verse 1 and concluding with verse 11. And it came to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret and saw two boats standing by the lake, but the fishermen were gone out of them and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him that he would thrust out a little from the land.

And he sat down and taught the people out of the boat. Now when he had ceased speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draft. And Simon answering, said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing.

Nevertheless, at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fish, and their net broke. And they beckoned unto their partners who were in the other boat that they should come and help them.

And they came and filled both the boats, so 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, O Lord. For he was astonished at all that were with him at the catch of the fish which they had taken.

And so were also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not, for henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all, and followed him.

And because they did follow him, we have the gospel today. Simon Peter was a tired man. He had fished all night, and he had caught nothing.

Peter and Andrew and James and John were busy with their nets. They were saved men. Some weeks before, they had come to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior, and yet they had fished all night and caught nothing.

They were failures. I wonder if when they came back to shore that morning with nothing, if someone didn't perhaps say, Oh, you're believing in that Jesus of Nazareth. Is that what he does to you? He makes a failure out of you? Up till now, you used to catch fish.

Why, Simon, you were one of the finest fishermen here on this lake. Is that what has happened? Christians here talk like that. Oh, you've trusted Jesus Christ.

How come you're having business problems? How come there's sickness in your family? Doesn't it make any difference when you trust him? And so it was one of those days. You've had those days when you've fished all night and you've caught nothing. You have worked hard, and the very thing you were working for just did not materialize, and there you were, tired, discouraged, a failure.

And then Jesus came on the scene, and that makes all the difference in the world. When the Lord Jesus Christ shows up, he turns failure into success. He did this at the wedding feast in Cana.

Everything was failing until Jesus showed up, and he made it into a success. And he can do that for us today. This passage in Luke 5, verses 1 through 11, deals with this whole matter of turning our lives over to the Lord.

After all, that is what makes failure into success. Now, not everybody listening to my voice is going to be called into full-time Christian service, as were these men. But each of us is called into full-time Christian living.

We are commanded in the word of God to follow in his steps. And suppose Peter and Andrew and James and John had not followed. Suppose that day they had not listened to his call.

Look at all they would have missed. Somebody here today is perhaps resisting the call of God. But oh, my friend, you don't know what you are missing.

You see, the Lord Jesus Christ steps into our lives, and he says, I want you to follow me and walk into a life of miracle. Now Peter, you think you know how to catch fish, but all night long you've tried, you didn't catch anything. Peter, I want you to follow me, because I want to lead you into a life of one miracle after another.

And that's what happened. One miracle after another, because they were following the Lord. And you say, well, Pastor Wiersbe, I'd like very much to have that kind of a life.

I've had my failures, I've had my disappointments, what should I do? Well there are three instructions for us to follow. And if we obey these three instructions, the Lord is going to do something for us. Once again, he may not call you into full-time Christian service.

I'd be happy if he would, but he may not. He may keep you at your typewriter or your steering wheel or whatever it is you're doing, and use you right where you are to see miracles happen. He wants to move into your kitchen and do miracles there.

He wants to move into your apartment and do miracles there. He wants to get on the highway in your truck. He wants to move into your office.

He wants to come to your classroom. But if you and I want to experience God's miracle working in our lives, there are three instructions that we have to obey. Instruction number one, thrust out a little.

That's a very simple thing. I don't like the water, I don't like boats, but I think I would have no problem obeying that commandment. Now just thrust out a little.

Here was a vast congregation of people who wanted to hear the word of God, and the Lord Jesus was being pressed into the water. And so he steps into Simon's boat and says, thrust out a little. Just a small insignificant act, but it was the beginning of a life of miracle.

Have you ever noticed how often God takes an insignificant act and makes something big out of it? Back in the book of Genesis, Abraham's servant was out looking for a wife for Isaac. There's not a girl here today who wouldn't have enjoyed marrying Isaac. He was the richest man in his day.

And the servant said, now Lord, I don't know where to find Isaac a wife. You'll have to guide me. And just then Rachel came along.

And oh, I tell you what God began to do with an insignificant act, just an insignificant act. I think of David. One day David's father called him and said, son, your brothers are up at the front fighting with King Saul.

Take them some food. Here's a care package. And David could have been like the teenagers of our day and said, dad, I'm busy.

I've got things to do. But he didn't. He said, yes, father, I'll do what you want me to do.

An insignificant act. And yet he showed up at the front with a care package for his brothers. And there was Goliath.

And David said, who's that big mouth? I dare him to defy the God of Israel. And David took his slingshot and some stones. And that was it.

But it all started with picking up the lunch. A little boy went to follow the Lord Jesus and he had his lunch and 5,000 people were hungry. A very insignificant act.

But oh, what a difference it made. Now God comes to you and says, here's something I want you to do. I want you just to thrust out a little from the land.

He's not asking you to do some great heroic thing, just a little thing thrust out a little from the land. Peter, give me the boat. Peter said, all right, Lord, you can have the boat.

And he got into the boat and he began to preach. Now do you know why the Lord Jesus did this? Well, for two reasons. Number one, people who can't obey in little things will have a hard time obeying in big things.

Did you know that? People who don't know how to take care of their allowance when they're getting it from their parents will one day never know how to take care of their income. Number two, people who obey in little things will obey in big things. And secondly, he wanted Peter to sit there and listen to the word of God.

Peter was too busy. He'd been fishing all night and now he was taking care of his nets to go back out again. And Peter was just too busy.

He was doing what Martha was doing. He was just too busy. And Jesus said, Peter, I want you to sit here and calm down for a while and listen to me preach.

You know why? You know what preaching does for people if they'll listen? Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. He was going to enroll Peter in the school of faith. From now on, Peter, you're going to be following me.

You don't know this yet. But I want you to sit here and listen to my word. You know, sometimes God has to say to you, thrust out a little, take some time, turn off the radio, turn off the TV, lay down the magazine, and just take some time to listen to my word because faith comes by the word of God.

Some Christians are too busy. They haven't got time to sit and listen to Jesus speak. Now my friend, is there some little thing in your life that God has asked you to do and you haven't done it? I'm not talking about a big thing, going to the mission field.

I'm talking about a little thing. There's some little area where he has said, thrust out a little, give me the boat. And you've said, no Lord, I can't take time for that.

Oh, if Peter had said that, what he would have missed. And if you're saying that, oh, what you're missing. That's instruction number one, thrust out a little.

Give me the boat. Now whatever it is that the Lord's asking you to do, that little thing, do it. Now this will lead to the second instruction.

Our Lord Jesus has been teaching from the boat and he's finished his message and here comes instruction number two, launch out into the deep. Now that's something different. Peter thrust out a little.

Give me the boat. Here it is, Lord. Launch out into the deep.

Give me the nets. Lord, are you trying to take over? Yes. Isn't it marvelous how the Lord takes over gradually? The Lord doesn't swoop down upon people and say, I want.

Well, sometimes he does. He swooped down upon Saul of Tarsus. That was a very special occasion.

But usually it's in gradual stages. He says, now launch out into the deep. I want your nets.

My friend, the Lord wants you to go deeper. It's really no fun staying in the shallow water. I remember when I was a youngster, I lived just two blocks away from a park where they had a beautiful swimming pool.

You'd never believe this because today I don't like to go in swimming. But back when I was a youngster, my friends and I used to spend all day at the Washington Park swimming pool. We'd go at nine o'clock when it opened up and we'd stay till they threw us out.

And I would enjoy being in the water, although I'm not a very good swimmer. But I had a friend who used to go with me who always stayed in two feet of water. We'd be out splashing around and swimming around, playing tag.

We weren't supposed to do that, but we'd do it. And here'd be my friend back in what we called the baby water. And he was splashing himself in two feet of water, you see.

Well, some Christians are this way. The Lord says to you, I want you to go deeper. Don't be hugging the shore.

Don't be staying so close to where you started. Go out deeper. He wants us to go a little bit deeper in our fellowship with him.

Into the love of Jesus, deeper and deeper I go. He wants us to go deeper in our faith. He wants us to go deeper in our love.

He wants us to go deeper in our obedience to him. He wants us to get out of the baby water out into the deep. And so he says to the apostle Peter, who didn't even know he was going to be an apostle, launch out into the deep.

Now, Peter could have argued. I think if I had been there, I would have argued. Peter could have said, now, Lord, you're a carpenter.

I'm a fisherman. And I know something about fishing. And I'll tell you two things about fishing.

Number one, you don't get a lot of fish out in the deep. You get them closer to shore. And that's true with the Sea of Galilee.

And number two, you don't catch fish in the daytime. You catch them at night. And so I've got a little more expertise than you have.

Now had Peter said that, our Lord would have looked at him and smiled and said, guess who made the fish? Guess who made this lake? Peter, don't tell me what an expert you are. You know, the Lord has more trouble with the experts. That's what crucified him.

The experts came up. And they said, we read this in the law, but you say this. He said, oh, you're not reading the law correctly.

The stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner. You experts, you experts who know the Old Testament law, you're rejecting your very Messiah. He had a lot of trouble with the experts.

And you know so much about what you should do, and I know so much about what I should do. And so we tell him, and he listens. He says, look, would you launch out into the deep? That's my second instruction.

Or Peter could have said, now, Lord, we fished all night. We caught nothing. Don't you realize that our experience is telling us don't go out? Now he did say we fished all night and caught nothing.

He didn't say our experience tells us not to go out. That's what he meant, though. You see, you and I can use our past experience one of two ways, either to draw us closer to the Lord or to get us away from the Lord.

People come and say, oh, I've got a problem. Well, I've tried that. Our experience sometimes can get in our way.

Now, the Lord is not locked into our experience. I don't care how many nights you've been fishing, Peter. He says, launch out into the deep.

So Peter could have pled his experience, or he could have pled his expertise. He could have pled his reputation. People were on the shore watching and listening, a great multitude of people.

And they heard Jesus say, Simon, launch out into the deep. And they looked at each other and smiled and said, you know, he's a marvelous preacher, but he knows nothing about fishing. And Peter could have looked around at that multitude.

And here were Andrew and James and John and there were other fishermen there. That was the main occupation in Capernaum, fishing. And Peter could have said, Lord, they're watching.

I mean, you know, if I go out there and I come back empty handed, my reputation, I'll have to give back the trophy that I won last year. You see, every time the Lord comes to us and wants us to make a further step of commitment, we argue with him and how foolish we are. We're so foolish because the Lord said to him, launch out into the deep.

That's a commandment. Let down your net for a catch of fish. Along with the commandment, he gave a promise.

Peter, you've been listening to my word. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Now, will you believe my word? You see, Peter is telling us here what faith really is.

Now, many people don't know what faith is. Oh, if you ask them, they'll quote Hebrews 11. Then you say, what does that mean? I don't know.

It's more fun to quote a Bible verse and not know what it means. What is faith? Is faith believing in spite of evidence? No. All the evidence was against Peter.

He'd fished all night and caught nothing. It was daytime. They were going to go out into the deep.

All the evidence was against. Faith is not believing in spite of evidence. Faith is obeying in spite of consequence.

Because Peter said, we fished all night and caught nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down the net. That's faith.

Nevertheless, at thy word. Lord, it looks as though business is not going very far. But I'm going to obey your word by faith.

Lord, it looks like we're having family difficulties. But I'm going to obey your word by faith. Faith means obeying God and not trying to second guess him.

Faith is a matter of the will. Nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down the net. Now, let me explain to you what the Lord was doing.

Peter didn't know this. When the Lord asks you to thrust out a little, give me the boat, launch out into the deep, give me the nets, he is gradually introducing you into a life of trusting him. You see, the Lord teaches you to trust him in the occupation that he's given you.

He didn't call Peter out into the field to sow seed. He didn't call Peter into the carpenter shop to saw wood. He said, Peter, you're a fisherman.

If I can't teach you to trust me in your own occupation, you'll never be able to trust me, because that's the thing you think you know the best. You see, he was enrolling Peter in the school of faith. Let me show you how it happened.

This was the kindergarten course of faith. Peter was in the boat in the daytime, calm as it could be, and Jesus was with him in the boat. That's the kindergarten course.

But the next time they had a little lesson on faith, Peter was in the boat, Jesus was in the boat asleep, and it was night, and it was stormy. Remember that? And Jesus was sleeping through the storm, and the disciples were scared, even though four of them were fishermen. And they went and awakened him and said, Lord, don't you care that we're perishing? And Jesus stood up and said, where's your faith? Do you remember, Peter, when the lake was calm and the sun was shining and I was with you in the boat? Everything worked out, yeah? Well, okay, the lake is stormy.

It's night, but I'm still in the boat. But you're sleeping. He that keepeth Israel never slumbers or sleeps.

My Father is watching over you. That was the grade school course in faith. Anybody can trust the Lord in the boat, on a calm sea, when the sun is shining, and He's right there.

It takes a little more faith to trust Him when it's night and stormy and it looks like He's asleep. Then the Lord tried him out in the high school course in faith, because that night, Jesus wasn't even in the boat. Remember that? He said, men, I'll see you on the other side.

The way they went. And a storm came, and He was up on the mountain praying for them. They are rowing for all their worth.

It's night, it's stormy, and Jesus is not in the boat. Then when He does show up, they don't believe it's Jesus. It's a ghost.

But then He said, Peter, I want to move you into the graduate school of faith. Let's try it without the boat. Lord, if it be thou bid me come on the waters.

And Jesus said, come. And Peter got out of that boat, and he walked on the water. And don't you criticize him.

You've never done it. And then he got his eyes off the Lord and began to sink. At least he knew he was sinking.

I know some Christians who are drowning and don't know it. And he cried out and said, Lord, save me. Where's your faith? Why did you doubt? And he saved him.

Now, I wonder what level I'm in in the school of faith. Launch out into the deep. It won't do any good, Lord, but at your word, I'll do it.

Peter didn't realize that when he launched out into the deep, he was taking another step forward to one day walking on the water. If you can't trust the Lord in the calm sea, you'll never trust him in the stormy sea. If you can't trust him when the sun is shining, you'll never trust him when the night is upon you.

If you can't trust him when he's right there talking to you, how will you ever trust him when it seems like he's not paying any attention? And so instruction number two, launch out into the deep. You've given me the boat, now give me the nets. And of course, you saw the result of it.

They caught a great catch of fish. And this is always what happens. When we obey the Lord, even though the circumstances seem against us, he always turns failure into success.

But this leads to the third instruction. Thrust out a little, give me the boat. Launch out into the deep, give me the net.

Step out and follow me, give me the man. I've got the fishing boat, I've got the fishing nets. I want the fisherman.

And he got him. Peter didn't make the greatest catch that morning, Jesus did. He caught himself four magnificent disciples, Peter and Andrew and James and John.

He said, Peter, you've been catching living fish. And when you get them, they die. I'm gonna send you out to catch dead fish.

And when you catch them, they're gonna have life. You just caught a great host of fish. Your nets began to break.

Peter, one of these days, you're gonna cast out the gospel net and you'll get 3,000 of them in one haul. And you know, Peter, every time you've gone fishing and you've brought your fish back to shore, you've had to sit down and sort them out, the good, the bad, the good, the bad. I'm sending you out to catch all bad fish.

But when you catch them, they'll be good. And you know why they had to sort their fish out? Because a tax collector came along. Matthew would have come along and said, let's see how many fish you caught.

He'd calculate it up. You owe the government so much money. They taxed the catch.

But Jesus said, Peter, when you catch fish, I want you to know something. No taxes on those fish. I've already paid for them.

Now, he didn't say to Matthew, follow me, I'll make you a fisher of men, because Matthew was a publican. He deals with a man according to his vocation. Peter, you've been catching living fish and killing them.

I'm gonna send you out to catch dead fish that they might have life. Did you ever ask yourself, why did Jesus call four fishermen? One third of the apostolic band were men who were fishermen. Did you ever ask yourself the question why? Now, these men did not fish for a vacation.

They fished for a vocation. This was their work. This was a matter of life or death with them.

Why did he call fishermen? Because fishermen have the characteristics that Jesus wants to see in our lives. They're patient. I wouldn't have fished all night.

I would have thrown those nets out two or three times and said, okay, men, let's go home. I wouldn't spend 10 minutes fishing if I could get out of it. But they fished all night.

They had patience. And if you're gonna go out and catch people for the Lord, you better have patience. They had determination.

They weren't quitters. They were mending their nets and cleaning their nets. You know why? To go back out fishing again.

Oh, I've seen the saints of God go visiting and have a door slammed in their face. I'll never go visiting again. They try to help somebody find the Lord, you know, and they get their face slapped or something.

Well, I'll never do it again. You know, the saints of God are the biggest quitters. And Jesus said, I wanna have four fishermen.

They don't know how to quit. They've got determination. Anybody can quit.

They had patience and determination and courage. It takes courage to be out there in that water. That storm that they went through was a satanically inspired storm.

That's why they were so scared. They'd never seen one like that before. It takes courage to go out and serve the Lord.

You don't know what the devil's going to throw at you. Fishermen are able to take disappointment without quitting. And you know something else I notice about these fishermen? They knew how to work together.

When Peter saw how many fish they had caught, he called for his partners. Fishermen know how to work together. They aren't out just to get for themselves.

They got their partners in on it. And if there's one thing that kills the work of God, it is some omniscient person who gets a hold of something in the church and nobody else can touch it. This is God, I'm gonna run this Sunday school class.

I'm going to run this thing. Fishermen aren't like that. There's partnership.

Partnership. A real fisherman is always looking for somebody else to get in on the catch. And when he hears about a good thing, he shares it.

Anybody here today who's defending a little kingdom of your own and there's no room for partnership, then you aren't one of the Lord's fishermen. Fishermen know how to work together. What happened? When Peter caught all these fish, he was convicted.

Isn't that amazing? Now, I would have said, depart from me, oh Lord, I'm a sinful man, because I fished all night and caught nothing. Failure always makes me feel guilty. But it wasn't failure that made Peter feel this way, it was success.

Here is a great man who when he is successful is so humbled, he says, depart from me, Lord, I'm a sinful man. What's he saying? Oh Lord, forgive me for doubting you. You know more about fish than I do.

You know more about boats than I do. You know more about nets than I do. Lord, get away from me.

You haven't got any reason for paying any attention to me. And at that point, Jesus said, aha, now I can use this guy. Now I can use him.

He's not the boss, I'm the boss. He's not the know-it-all. You see, the Lord Jesus doesn't go around looking for failures to keep them failures.

He goes around looking for failures to make them a success. But success starts in the human heart. I am a sinful man, oh Lord.

Isaiah had the same experience. Isaiah went into the house of God and he saw the Lord. And the Lord said, who am I gonna send? Who will go for me? And Isaiah said, yes, but I'm a man of sinful lips.

God said, I'll cleanse you, go. And Peter said to the Lord Jesus, get away from me. And Jesus said, I know how you feel, Peter.

You don't feel capable, you don't feel worthy. That's all right, I can bless you. Follow me.

Step out and give me the fishermen. And he did. And he called Andrew and James and John and this quartet of fishermen left everything.

And if you'll read the gospels, you'll discover that they had servants. They were pretty well off. Don't get the idea fishermen were poor people.

Some of them were rather wealthy. And they left the whole thing, left the boats and the nets and they followed the Lord Jesus. And they began to walk into one miracle after another.

I wonder, my friend, at which of these instructions are we? Thrust out a little, give me the boat. Do it. Is there some little thing that God has asked you to do and you won't do it? You're robbing yourself.

Launch out into the deep, give me the nets. Has God asked you to take a step of faith, a leap of faith and believe his promise? Then do it. Is God saying to somebody here, step out, follow me, give me the fishermen? I want you.

And you're resisting him, don't resist him. Oh, if Peter had stopped, what he would have missed. Oh, my friend, don't stop.

If he says thrust out a little, obey him. Launch out into the deep, obey him. Step out and follow me, obey him.

I'm not worthy, neither was Peter. But Jesus said, don't be afraid. Isn't it great to walk into the future with Jesus saying, don't be afraid, nothing to be afraid of.

Follow me and I'll make you. Simon, I'll take that sand and make you a rock. I will make you fishers of men.

Now, he may not call you from your vocation. He may call you in your vocation. He may say, I want you to start using your office, your truck, your home to catch people.

It's all right, do it. Because the greatest experience in all the world is just to walk into the future following the Lord Jesus Christ. Launching out into the deep, stepping out and letting him make you.

We give thanks, our Father, that the future is in good hands. That as we follow the Lord Jesus Christ, we go from miracle to miracle, from grace to grace, from glory to glory. Oh, how exciting it is.

I pray for those who have never trusted the Savior, Lord, that they might come today and trust him. I ask, Father, for those of us who are your people that we will not resist your call. Here we are, Lord.

Do what you want to with us and in us and through us for Jesus' sake. Amen.