From Empty Hearts to Full Nets [Part 1]

Pastor author and Bible teacher Alan Wright the command of God is the promise of God.

Jesus would say things to people like a man who had an and in disabled and that Hannity is a stretch forth your hand. The man couldn't stretch with his hand. But when Jesus said, stretch forth your hand. He was able to Alan light used that will help you see your life in a whole fight I've been to Britt excited for you to hear the teaching today. In the series life of Peter is presented an old church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire broadcast how to make sure you know how to get our special resource. Right now he can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright industries so as you listen to today's message go deeper as we send you this special offer available today. Contact us at pastoralan.org that's pastor out.org or call 877-544-4860. More on this later in the program but now let's get started with today's teaching here is Alan Wright good news when Jesus gives you a command. It's a gift because a promise of its fulfillment is in the command elderly man lay dying in his bed at home. He lived a long long full life and he was growing weaker by the hour and he knew it in the family knew it, and there she was with very little energy. He smelled the most beautiful aroma wafting back into the bedroom's favorite smell of his wife's homemade chocolate chip cookies and he thought there is my beloved, after all these years is sort of one last gesture of her love she's bake some chocolate chip cookies. If only I could make it out there and have one of them a letter just smelling this aroma and to finally something in him, he just realize he could just muster up maybe just enough strength to crawl towards the kitchen to get one of those cookies and he strains out of bed.

He crawls to the kitchen and there to hold all over-the-counter hundreds of warm chocolate chip cookies he stretches out his hand and he reaches towards one of the cookies when all of a sudden slap he realized his wrist had been slapped and he looks up and there's is wife holding a spatula saying stay out of those there for the funeral for appropriate events are the way God is always enticing beautiful things in front of you, just waiting to slap your back as if somehow what Christianity is about and what being religious person is about as is about restraining yourself from all these things that otherwise would be desires of your heart and what happens is that if you come to Christ and you start understanding the gospel you start understanding that's not what it's about all that it's not about you following certain rules is not about God being eager to punish you and you realize that Jesus came to save not to condemn, and if you go deeper into understanding the new covenant of grace. Then you start understanding that we do not live under a covenant of law wherein we are trying to earn God's pleasure or favor, but you start understanding that we live under a covenant of grace and what that means is that God came and did for us what we could do for ourselves and Jesus live the righteous life that we couldn't live and so what God did through the cross of Jesus Christ was. He took your sin and mine and he imputed it or recommended or treated Jesus as if he had committed those sins and for anyone who trusts in Jesus the righteousness of Jesus is imputed is recommended to you is, it is God treating you as if you had lived the righteous life of Jesus and if you get this and you start getting the gospel then it causes a tremendous not only sense of peace about the forgiveness that you've experienced, but tremendous joy and so that's what every single week. I want to proclaim you is the message of the saving mercies of God in Jesus Christ. That's what the gospel is all about. And so that's that's what we preach and when you preach grace and when you talk about grace and when you talk about being under grace rather than under the law.

There are always going to be people in there be some here today that are either really skeptical or at least a little bit confused because you say, are you saying that there are no more rules. Are you saying that there's nothing that God is asking me to do other, no more commands. Is there not something that Jesus has to say to me about how I should live my life and the answer to all those questions is yes, God has commands for you.

And yes, this is here today and there's some very specific things that he would be saying to you, but what your to do with your life and yes your obedience absolutely matters, but in the new covenant. Something has shifted instead of your obedience being about you finding favor with God. Your obedience comes because you found favor with God and today we're going to continue in our study of Peter and look at three commands that Jesus gives to Peter early and Peter's disciple relationship with Jesus.

And I think it will illustrate to you what we mean by the commands of Jesus from a new covenant perspective and what's beautiful about this text is I think these are not just things Jesus is saying to Peter, I think you saying them to us as I want to invite you to Luke chapter 5 for one of the early stories is Peter's young disciple being called by Jesus and called to follow him and it's a miraculous account that later and later in the message on the return you there quickly to show you a very similar story that takes place after Jesus's resurrection and to see how much Peter has changed. This is Luke is chapter 5 and where verse one Luke five verse one on one occasion while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God.

He was standing by the lake of goodness arete and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen are going out of them and washing their nets. Goodness roots is another term for a portion of the of the Galilean Lake the Sea of Galilee.

So there they are the fishermen to go out and they were just washing their nets. In verse three. Getting into one of the boats which was Simon's. That's our Peter.

He asked him to put out a little from the land and he sat down and taught the people from the boats what Jesus is doing is just it's a very good means of communicating to a large crowd because overwater sound travels nicely and is able to just in the boat and just teach the people this way so that's really what was about a practical use of that boat verse four and when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch and Simon answered, Master, we toiled all night and took nothing but your word. I'll let down the nets and when they done this thing closed. A large number of fish and their nets were breaking.

They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them and they came and filled both about so they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus's knees, saying, depart from me, for I am a sinful man, oh Lord, for he is older with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they take it and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who partners with Simon and Jesus said to Simon. Do not be afraid. From now on you will be catching men and when they brought their boats to land they left everything and they followed him first John chapter 5 verse three is a precious summary pretty much everything I want to say today John right. This is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome was years ago that friend and mentor Dudley Hall in a teaching sits on that it really changed my whole under standing of the commands of God when he said the command of God is full of the promise of God through Jesus would say things people like a man who had an arthritic condition in his hand and was disabled and that Hannity say stretch forth your hand.

The man couldn't stretch with his hand. But when Jesus said, stretch forth your hand. He was able to stretch with his hand. Jesus went once to the tomb of a dead man and said Lazarus, come out dead people can't come out. But when Jesus issues a command he's able to come out. If Jesus breathed on his disciples and said receive the Holy Spirit. They were able to be filled with the presence of God which they could not do on their own. If Jesus said be healed, then you are healed. So Jesus says love your neighbor.

He's telling you to do something that is impossible to do to love your neighbor as yourself. I can't do it but he tells you to do it that in that command is the very power of the promise being fulfilled is a revolutionary way to understand how we live in relationship to God and our obedience absolutely matters at every point, but our salvation is not relying upon our obedience as it was in an old covenant that talent right will have more teaching moment from today's important series pressures always find hard to say no way that shall disappoint someone one thing in any relationship in paradise. They were naked and felt no shame entered the world they became anxious and with a nine question like this painting. There is only one solution. The grace of God that lifts our shame six me on exposing shame and share is an individual or any snobbery series is sure to bring healing and hope are ministries this man think that digital master class but is instead. Thanks for your partnership in a world separate shame. It's time to let God's grace to shame Misty Banks from Allen Wright ministries, 877-544-4860 877-544-4861 come to our website past Rowan.org today's teaching now continues here once again is Alan Wright and old covenant, God said to Moses to tell the people that if you will obey me and fully keep all these commands I give you today then you will be my treasured people, a holy nation of priests, and you will be blessed to be given a promised land. But if you do not obey then you place yourself into God's displeasure and you put yourself under person you are far from God. And so the blessing of God in the old covenant was in that sense dependent upon the obedience of the people.

The law was a gift from God because it was part of God's revelation to them about how they should live in about who God really is.

But the problem was that people could not keep the law. They said they were going to keep the law. We will do everything the Lord is said to the people got but they could. They were quick to beef fearful they are quick to be idolatrous.

There were quick to disobey. And so it is every one of us can understand that. And when you come into the New Testament start reading the exhortations of the New Testament and you realize that the commands of Jesus. If you think of keeping them yourself there so hard.

How can you understand how is it that we are already blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ, having nothing to do with our own righteousness. And yet at the same time our obedience matters in every way, and it is up revolutionary thought to change your way of thinking and see that the commands of God are not burdensome and God has some commands for you today that are life-giving or life-changing. And as you hear them in your heart hears them. There is the empowerment of God to do the very thing that God says so we come to this marvelous story of Peter and his fisherman buddies that fish all night long and they toil, they produce nothing and there there empty boats there on the shore.

Tired and exhausted, washing their nets. And Jesus is once again being pressed down by this huge crowd as was customary everywhere he went and looking for an effective way to teach the egos to get into one of the boats and the boat that he chooses to get into is Simon Peter's boat to be chosen by God is to say that you are chosen to be used by God and this is a wonderful picture of chosen this. There's an empty boat and Jesus goes and gets into it. It's the blessing of being a being chosen for service of being chosen to be used by Jesus himself, and I like the FICA taxes. Jesus got down into the boat. I linger on that this this weekend several times of seeing the images it takes. As he got down into the boat, he just went into that empty, unproductive boat to get into it and I just keep hearing the Lord saying to all of us in one way or another, whatever that place is in you that is most empty and unproductive that part of you that maybe even right now you despise that part of you that you feel like this got you most frustrated that part of you that you might most want to shut Jesus out of he was the common get down into it, he is essentially coming to Peter and say I want to get into and use the most valuable thing that you have. That was his boat and it's a tricky thing in life when it comes to sharing whatever is most valuable is there something is not very valuable to you.

It's easy to share their something is very valuable is very difficult to share. I was on a white jumped in my mind is think about what are the viable things that that point in my life. I just had a hard time sharing and some you this to be a quite a revelation to picture me in this, but when I was in college I had a motorcycle, I had little motorcycle. I did and then I got married and I wasn't allowed to have a motorcycle anymore. You just get married, have kids again afforded the same way and so you just have to eliminate some of the risks that Peter live it out and that I did. By the came in very handy as a student in Chapel Hill where there are no parking places whatsoever and I ride my little motorcycle around and I just remember whatever reason, it wasn't that expensive. Whatever but is just roommate first asked if he could borrow my motorcycle and I just didn't want to but I had to get over eventually.

Just like okay you can use the website but nobody else can is almost like what you feel that way. Is there something you don't want to share is bottom line is this. I'm afraid that when you bring it back.

It won't be as good as it was, it was when I gave it to another online is there something that you have that you don't want someone to use is because you're afraid it might get returned to you and worse shape then how you if there's something in your life that you don't want Jesus to use it must be you think that he can return it to you and worse shape than when he takes it this way will so in the first place. Jesus say I want to take the most treasured thing in your life. Peter use it but is also to me symbolically rich in this way, if the empty is thing he has is the most unproductive. He has been toiling all night.

The boat is symbolically empty.

It's about should have fish in it, but it's empty and there washing their nets.

So Jesus likes to use the most treasured thing in your life and I'll tell you for sure he likes to use the empty is thing in your life and I've seen it over and over them own life, and countless countless other disciples is at the empty as times in your life when you been least successful in your most needy God comes and fills your life and using that it must be because blessed are those that hunger and thirst for they will be filled is not one thing you can do to earn God's love. Not one thing he already loves you perfectly to be love perfectly means you can't add to God's love and you can't take away from it. Nothing that you do nothing, whether for good or for bad can add to or diminish the love of God for you and Jesus Christ. Nothing we live in that drink that in Bree that it's okay if nothing can change that in God is already utterly 100% for you at every point. The only real thing that changes is the way in which I hunger and I thirst for him. These fishermen had they been successful and had a boatload of fish they might still embedded C catching my might still been on the land busy with their fish, but instead ironically, this boat was far more valuable empty than it ever could have been full for the Lord of the universe had use of it and Peter devoid of productivity and tired and frustrated. B. Jesus uses boat and when Jesus asked to use the boat or did name so much as it is got in the boat. He gave a command take me a little bit from the shore, Peter doesn't realize what's going to happen and there's no earth shattering faith from Peter. Here he just obeys he's not even expecting a miracle in return. He just says yes.

When Jesus says I have need of your boat and mark this well because there is an aspect to obedience in the Christian life where there many times.

Jesus just tells you to do something and you really have no real idea why you still need to do that. And yet, in the love of God, there is obedience and in a revolutionary new way of understanding the exhortations and commands of God in the covenant of grace. What you realize is that if God is giving you a command is going to be for your good. So that's the first commandment let me out here in the boat to teach and then the second command assessed put out into the deep and let not your nets for a catch, put out into the deep and let not your nets for a catch is not put out into the deep and try to catch some fish is put out into the deep and catch a bunch of the command is go deep and catch a bunch Allen right and sometimes it seems a little far-fetched, but when it's God directing you know you can trust working to learn more about this from empty hearts to full nets in the conclusion of this message. In our next program stick with this right now though Allen's back here in the studio with more on this additional insight for your life in a final word pressures always find it hard to say no very natural despite someone one thing in any relationship in paradise. They were negative and felt no shame and entered the world they became anxious and driven nine question like there is only one solution. Grace of God that lifts our shame, and in the six-week master class.

Pastor Alan exposes the shame and share is an individual or in a snobbery series is sure to bring healing and hope our night ministries. This man thinking that digital master class but is instead. Thanks for your partnership in a world separate shame. It's time to let God's grace to shame, we are happy to see Misty in our night ministries, 877-544-4860 877-544-4861 come to our website past Rowan.org so Alan yeah I feel like I God is leading me in a direction. It feels crazy and certainly compared to the world standards. It is, it's an absolute bizarre thing.

So how did Peter find security in this. How did he find the boldness to follow Jesus and some crazy ways but I think it's almost like with Peter he sees that okay I'll let down nets betting what is most foolish thing I've ever gone and I just think that so often when you just go ahead and take Jesus at his word and take a step of obedience on his command.

When you find out is that the commands of God are not burdensome. They are gifts have to were learning today is that God's promises all wrapped up in his command. In fact, if you really can't understand grace get hold the gospel when you realize is that it was his greatest gift you could ever get is a command from God.

So instead of figuring it all life of pharisaical legalism. What we can learn in the gospel of grace is that yet we are set right you will live under a law, but when God tells us to do something while you opportunity ahead. Today's good news message is a listener supported production Allen right ministries