1st July 2026

1st July 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read (Luke 5:1-11 focus v8-10a)


Message (Alan Burke)


You’ve heard that while I like fishing, I’m not a very good fisherman. I’ve had no success in years. Now let’s think of what has just happened. These lads had an unsuccessful night on the boat. They were tired and dejected, mending their nets. It’s not like when I fish that I’m just trying to get some headspace. No, their livelihood depended on the success or failure of their night’s fishing. Then Jesus comes along, tells Peter to put the nets out, and they have the catch of their lives. So abundant is the catch that nothing can compare to it. With their nets breaking, there would have been frantic scenes as they signalled to others to come and help them. James and John came to their aid in the other boat. So these two boats, measuring eight metres long, about twenty-six feet, and two and a half metres wide, about eight feet, were so filled with fish that they began to sink. The success of the catch almost brought with it disaster as the catch was so great that they began to sink with several tons of fish on board. This was like winning the lottery for these fishermen. 


Yet Jesus had revealed his glory to them in the miracle that they had witnessed, and then, with the initial shock and busyness of getting the fish on board, Peter turns to Jesus, and look what we are told again in v8: When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” Peter had witnessed the majesty of Jesus, and Peter wanted Jesus to go away. It is the response of a sinful man who has encountered the living God and come face to face with his glory. Let’s think about this, because it might seem strange to us, but if your sin has ever found you out, you’ve been caught red-handed or have done something that you know was sinful, what you want more than anything else is to be free from that guilt and shame. Well, here Peter was confronted with not a single act but who he was by his nature; he, like you and I, are altogether sinful. We are not as sinful as we could be but altogether sinful, every part of us, for we are part of Adam’s fallen race.


His immediate response is comparable to that of Isaiah when he “saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up” (Isaiah 6:1). His first thought was not adoration but fear. Isaiah felt such awareness of his own sin that he cried, “Woe is me!” (Isaiah 6:5) before the Holy God. In the book of Revelation, John, when he came before the LORD, and when John saw him, he fell at his feet as though dead. Re 1:17. In the presence of the living God, any pretence of self-righteousness is stripped away; our sin is exposed for what it is. For those who come to know their need, who call on him, trust in him, he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins (1 Jn 2:2). Through his death, he offered himself as the sacrifice for our sin, that turns the wrath of God against us into favour, for he is the sacrifice for sin that we need, the saviour that we need, so that we might know forgiveness through his life and death. It means that our sin has been dealt with; we have nothing to fear and will know only the favourable presence of God for all eternity. Do not miss the wonder of who this Jesus is that Peter encountered that day, whom he wanted to depart, for he is the one through whom our sin has been forgiven, for the grace of God has provided a way that we who are sinners might be justly forgiven and welcomed into his presence, all through the one that Peter encountered that day, who exposed his sin.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q1 What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.