Published by admin on 12 Aug 2016 at 06:00 am
FISHERS OF MEN
The Lord Jesus told His disciples that if they would follow Him, He would make them fishers of men. Have you ever given careful consideration to that statement? Here is the passage in Matthew 4:
Mat 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Mat 4:18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
Mat 4:19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
Mat 4:20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.
Mat 4:21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.
Mat 4:22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.
Mat 4:23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
Mat 4:24 And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.
Mat 4:25 And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.
We see something very important here: Christ Jesus said, FOLLOW ME, and they dropped everything they were doing and followed Him. Now, consider your own experience with Him, if you are His follower; did YOU drop everything and follow Him, or did you just kind of include Him into your life and activities and continue what you were already doing? This is a very telling question you need to ask yourself, for it not only defines your life in the here-and-now, but WHERE you will spend eternity. What you did then is not nearly as important as what you are doing right NOW. You may have at the time dropped what you were doing and followed Him, but what about TODAY? Are you still putting that “FOLLOW ME” at the top of your life list? You know, nobody gets as excited about the start of the race as they do about the finish. The important thing is that you FINISH your race in Christ Jesus, for those who start with Him and fall away will NOT inherit everlasting life, only those who FINISH with Him.
So, let’s say you are currently living your life in Christ Jesus, what is your daily agenda? Do you wake up and say, “Let’s see, what am I going to do today?”, or do you say, “What do YOU want me to do today, LORD?” Big difference, you see, because it tells who you are living for; self or God.
Now, I’m going to get down to the nitty-gritty. If we claim Christ Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we should be actively winning souls for Him. If we love Him, we will be doing His work, for His first sermon, He taught, REPENT, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. Why is REPENTANCE so important? Because unless you stop what you’re doing and do it God’s way, you cannot enter the Kingdom of heaven. The disciples demonstrated repentance when Jesus said FOLLOW ME. They stopped attending to their own agenda, and left it behind and followed Him. What if they had said, “I will follow you after work, when I have more free time.” First off, they would never have been accepted as His disciples. Dropping YOUR agenda is absolutely required for being a disciple, a follower of Christ Jesus. It can be no other way, it’s His way or no way, and there is no in-between. The Lord Jesus required their full-time attention. Do you seriously think He would require any less from you?
I think that is the reason for this particular passage of scripture:
Mat 7:19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Mat 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Mat 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Think about what He said there; MANY will say to Him in that day, LORD, LORD, but they won’t be accepted into His kingdom. They said they did many mighty works in His name, and cast out devils, yet HE NEVER KNEW THEM!! How can that be? I’ll tell you how that can be; they only included God as an accessory to their lives, not as their priority for living. That word MANY interprets “the majority of”. Friend, that is SCARY! There are not going to be MANY saved, but FEW. Do you want to be saved earnestly enough to give God the absolute first place in your life? If not, you will be among the MANY. It isn’t God’s choice, it’s entirely YOUR choice.
Now, just for a moment, think of this scenario which will happen in the judgment: It is written in
Mat 25:31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
Mat 25:32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
Mat 25:33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Mat 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
BUT, now, suppose one or more of the “GOATS”, who did not know Jesus points to you and says, “You knew Jesus and never told me about Him, so I never got saved. Why didn’t you tell me about Him? I would have believed if only you had told me! But now I’m lost forever.” Do you want to be the one accused of knowing Jesus, but not telling people about Him? I certainly do not!
Jesus warned this:
Luk 11:32 The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
You are not responsible for anyone’s decision whether to receive Christ Jesus or not, but you ARE responsible, if you are His, to preach the Gospel. And if you don’t, in the judgment, those who are lost that you knew in this life will accuse you for not warning them to repent. Now that may “go against your religion”, but that’s a clear fact from the Bible. Your only excuse in that day for not being a soul-winner will be if you can say, “I never knew Him”. And of course, that will get you the same judgment as the lost.
If being a FISHER OF MEN is not your number one priority, then you really don’t have the heart of God in you. Is there any hope for you then? That’s up to you: God is not willing that ANY should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That word “all” includes YOU. Even if you are admitting you haven’t been a fisher of men up to this point, you can still repent and get busy doing the work of the Kingdom of heaven. After all, if you want to be in His Kingdom, then it stands to reason you would want to do the things which please Him, right? It’s all about YOUR response to God’s love.
As long as you have life in you, you can be doing His work, but none of have a guarantee of our next heartbeat. Wouldn’t it be a shame to get to that last heartbeat MEANING to win souls for Jesus, but you somehow just never got around to it? What a tragic waste of your soul. Don’t be one of the MANY. Be one of the FEW who love God enough to win souls for Him. Be a FISHER OF MEN. There is no closed season, and you can catch as many as you like, there is no limit. So, why not go fishing right now? You have the bait, which is the Kingdom of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Go fill your boat to overflowing with fish. Don’t worry, it won’t sink. And you’ll make God smile.
Duane Finnie on 13 Aug 2016 at 9:23 am #
Thank you very much for the reminder .
God bless you and you ministry .
Duane Finnie