Romans: Law, Obedience, and Sanctification: Holiness and Obedience

How Do You View Yourself?

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: New Testament Studies

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2024-07-20

Synopsis: In this sermon, Pastor John Weaver examines the biblical view of self-image, contrasting it with modern self-esteem teachings. Using Luke 5:1-11, he shows how Peter's encounter with Jesus' miraculous catch of fish led him to confess his sinfulness rather than boast. Weaver argues that a proper view of oneself comes from seeing God's holiness, which reveals our own sin and unworthiness. He emphasizes that the closer we draw to Christ, the more we recognize our need for Him, leading to humility, gratitude, and wholehearted service.

[John Weaver] All right, let's open our Bibles, if you would please, to the book of Luke, chapter 5. And we're going to read the first 11 verses. Luke, chapter 5, beginning there with verse 1. The title of the message is, How Do You View Yourself? So look, if you would, Luke chapter five, verse one. He came to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret and two ships standing by the lake. But the fishermen were going out of them and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's.

[John Weaver] and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people out of the ship.

[John Weaver] Now, when he left speaking, he said to Simon, launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught. Simon answering, said of him, Master, we've flown all the night and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, if I were, I would let down the net. When they had done this, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes in their net break. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them.

[John Weaver] And they came and filled both the ships, 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 draught of the fishes which they had taken, And so was also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon Peter, fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men. When they had brought their ships to land, they first took all and followed him.

[John Weaver] So think about this, if you would please. The title of the message is How Do You View Yourself? There is so much garbage that is being presented today as truth based upon what you and I would call self esteem or self image. And the truth of the matter is, a lot of people think that they have a low self image. And of course, when I was a child, we use that little poem sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.

[John Weaver] But that's really not true. Names do hurt, especially a child. And when you're telling a child constantly and consistently that he's stupid, that he's worthless, that he's no account, he's no good. I can understand how someone can grow up with a attitude that they are absolutely worthless as well. But the truth of the matter is most people today do not suffer from a lack of self-esteem. In fact, the problem today is most people are exceedingly proud and arrogant, and therefore a lot of money is to be made in this self-image and self-esteem program by telling everyone how beautiful they are, how successful they are, how wonderful they are, and they are the pinnacle of worth, even if it is not true. We're also told today that self-image is of the utmost importance.

[John Weaver] And I've known men that have actually destroyed a ministry and brought tragedy to themselves by seeking to put forth a certain image of themselves and of their work. I know one pastor particularly that led his church into debt, very deep debt, in order to build a humongous building, which they really did not need. And if you ever asked that pastor how in the world were things going and how was he doing, he had a stock answer, great and getting better. But the problem was things were not great and they were not getting better and they ended up losing the ministry, losing the building and it was sold basically to pagans as well. So I understand on the one hand a need in one sense the word for a correct and biblical self-esteem and self-image. But on the other hand, let me put out the point that it must be a biblical self-esteem, and it must be also a biblical self-image, or otherwise, it's nothing more than a hypocritical sham.

[John Weaver] Now, before I get to our text, I do want you to turn, if you would, to the book of Romans, chapter 12, I'm and look if you would please at verse 3 Romans chapter 12 and verse 3 because I want to deal with this passage in light of what I'm going to be teaching you today. So Romans chapter 12 in verse 3 the Apostle Paul writes and he says for I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly according as God has dealt to every man a measure of faith. Now, I want to just take the time and ask you to look at that verse again. He said, For I say through the grace of given unto me, to every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.

[John Weaver] Now, the word for more highly happens to be the Greek word, you prefer no, and you pair literally means above or beyond. And for now, basically means to think. So actually, what he's saying is that we're not to think of ourselves over that which we really are. We're not to estimate our abilities or capabilities, or that which they really are. In other words, when you and I, I think more highly of ourselves than we ought to, what we're doing is we're estimating our value and our worth to be far greater than it is and our abilities and our capabilities to be more and to be greater than they really are. So if you look back at verse three again in Romans chapter 12, he says, for I say through the grace given unto me, that every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, Now watch this, but to think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man, the measure of faith. Now, of course, when he says to think soberly, that has nothing to do with alcohol, that has nothing to do with being drunk or nothing to be doing with being not drunk.

[John Weaver] The word soberly there literally is the word, and it literally means to be in one's right mind. It means to be of a sound mind. It means to put a moderate estimate upon oneself and one's ability. Let me say this another way. It literally means to think wisely. So it tells us that we're not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought. But then we are to think soberly. We're to think wisely. We're to think with a sound mind.

[John Weaver] So the implication of this verse should be very clear. When we are thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought, we're crazy. We're out of our minds. We're not dealing with a sound mind. We're not dealing with a wise way of thinking. So he tells us that we need to think wisely and soberly. I tried to give an illustration this morning. We have a brother in our church by the name of Ed Wolf.

[John Weaver] And Ed sings exactly like I do, which is nil, none. And so I asked the people, I said, What would you think if I announced that this coming week, that Ed and I were going to make a trip to Nashville, Tennessee, and we were going to make a record and we were going to be singing as a duet, and we were going to try to make it a number one hit. And before I could even finish, Tom Davis, I think you're crazy. Well, that's exactly right. And you would be right to think we were crazy, because neither one of us could sing. So what I'm trying to point out is we would be overestimating ourselves, we'd be overestimating our abilities, our capabilities, because I can't sing and neither can Ed. And so to make a, an assessment like that of ourselves would be absolutely insane is what it amount to.

[John Weaver] So in today's estimate, Most people really and truly do not suffer from what you and I would call low self esteem. Most people are actually arrogant and proud and haughty. And thus they overestimate themselves. They do not think soberly. In fact, the truth of the matter is this. We have to know not only our abilities, we have to know not only our capabilities, we also have to know our limitations as well. And so God then is telling us in Romans chapter 12 in verse 3 that we must seriously and that we must soberly and we must script assess ourselves and our abilities and our capabilities as well. Because God has dealt to each one of us a certain measure of faith.

[John Weaver] That is, he's given us a gift. He's given us an ability. And like I pointed out earlier, mine is certainly not singing. Might as well music any stretch by any stretch of the imagination whatsoever So but God does indeed expect us to think soberly and view ourselves according to that now Let's go back to our text having shown you that verse the Luke chapter 5 in verse 1 And look at what is happening And

[John Weaver] it came to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear the Word of God He stood by the lake of Gennesaret So the Bible says the people were pressing upon him to hear the word of God. Now the word pressed, in verse one, is the important word. It is the word epikemi, and it literally means to lie upon, to be placed upon, and it also has reference to what you and I would call the pressure of a violent tempest. And so here our Lord is in a crowd and the crowd happens to be pressing upon him.

[John Weaver] And they are doing so in such a way that he can't function, that he really can't concentrate. And so it's stressful and it's very uncomfortable. And consequently, then he borrows a ship.

[John Weaver] Now, there were two ships there. One belonged to Peter and I guess the other belonged to James and John. So if you look in Luke chapter five, verse two, and saw two ships standing by the lake. But the fishermen were going out of them. They were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land.

[John Weaver] And he sat down and thought the people out of the ship. Now. I was thinking as I was preparing this message, the thought hit me. when our Lord borrowed this ship. Have you ever thought about the fact that while Jesus Christ was on the earth, he owned nothing? He owned absolutely nothing. In Luke 9, in verse 58, our Lord said, the foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, for the Son of Man had nowhere to lay his head.

[John Weaver] So he did not even own a place. You'll find he lived with his disciples. Wow. Then I thought about another old hymn. And I want to read that hymn to you. The title of the hymn was The Cross Was His Own. Listen to this. They borrowed a bed to lay his head when Christ the Lord came down. They barred the ass in the mountain pass for him to ride to town. But the crown that he wore and the cross that he bore was his own. The cross was his own. He barred the bread for the crowd he fed on the grassy mountain side. He barred the dish of broken fish with which he satisfied. But the crown that he wore, that thorny crown, and the cross that he bore were his own. The cross was his own. He borrowed the ship in which to sit to teach the multitude. He borrowed a nest in which to rest, but he had never a home so rude. But the crown that he wore, the cross that he bore, were his own.

[John Weaver] The cross was his own. He borrowed a room on the way to the tomb that Passover lamb to eat. They borrowed a cave for him, a grave, they borrowed a winding sheet. So the crown that he wore and the cross that he bore was his own. The cross was his own. So those two things basically really and truly belong to him.

[John Weaver] Now, before I get to the point of this message, there are a couple of principles I want to point out. Think about this question. Would you lend to the Lord Jesus Christ. Would you lend to the Lord Jesus Christ? You have to consider this fact that he owed nothing, he had no collateral, he had no job, he had no bank account, and he's just basically wandering from place to place preaching. I'm sure if Jesus Christ were here today on earth, it would be absolutely impossible for him to acquire a bank loan, although he created the world and owns everything in the world. Because, basically, he had nothing. So, my question is, would you lend to the Lord Jesus Christ? Which brings me to a second question, how in the world would you ever lend to the Lord Jesus Christ?

[John Weaver] Well, let me show you. I want you to hold Luke chapter five, but turn in your Bibles, first of all, to Psalm 112, And look at verse 5, Psalm 112, verse 5. Here's a general principle. We're going to look at a couple of other passages, but look at this one, Psalm 112 and verse 5. In this passage, the word of God simply says this. A good man showeth favor and lendeth.

[John Weaver] He will guide his affairs with discretion. But note this, a good man showeth favor Lendeth now turn right over if you would please the Proverbs chapter 19 and verse 17 Proverbs 19 and verse 17 Look at what the scripture says Proverbs 19 verse 17 he that hath pity upon the poor Lendeth unto the Lord And that which he hath given, will he pay him again? So think about this. He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord, and that which he hath given, will he pay him again? Now if you will turn to Luke chapter 6, the next chapter over from where we are, and look if you would please at verse 35. Luke chapter 6 and verse 35. Our Lord says, but love you your enemies and do good, And then he says this, and lend, hoping for nothing again.

[John Weaver] And your reward shall be great, and you shall be the children of the highest, for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Note, if you would, he is kind to the unthankful and to the evil. But note, if you would, the Bible says, and lend, hoping for nothing again. Let me just point something out to you. I remember years and years ago when Alice and I were at the university, and times were always tough.

[John Weaver] Sometimes we did not have much to eat. And even though I was working, and but I was in school, and it was still tough. And occasionally, my parents, of course, would send us some money or parents would send some money or someone somewhere would send some money. We would have a bonanza, so to speak, and we'd go out and buy all kinds of groceries because usually we ended up having to do without. But there was another couple that was from our local church that was in school there as well.

[John Weaver] They were in the same position that we were. We always laughed because it was a mutual thing that if our friends got rich, Then we got rich, and if we got rich, they got rich. In other words, we just shared whatever we had. We would loan each other whatever, whether it was money or whether it was groceries or whatever it is, and never ever expect anything back in return. You know, I think that's a wise thing to do.

[John Weaver] When our Lord said, listen to this again, but love you your enemies and do good and lend, hoping for nothing again. So if I win Steve 50 bucks, and I get it back, I'm blessed. But if I lend him 50 bucks, and he's unable to get it back, I'm still blessed. And if I don't expect to get it back, my feelings are not going to be hurt if I don't get it back. You follow what I'm saying? So the attitude that I basically took and still take is I give If it comes back, it's wonderful. If it doesn't come back, it's wonderful as well. It doesn't really bother me. So our Lord is saying the way to lend to him is by helping the poor and the needy.

[John Weaver] However, let me make this caveat. There is a huge difference between helping the biblical poor and needy and the lazy and the indolent. the lazy and the indolent, God forbids us to help them. Because the Bible says in second Thessalonians chapter three in verse 10, if any will not work, neither should he eat. So that's very simple. God says if someone's not going to work, let them starve, let them die out. That'll take care of the those who are so indolent and so worthless, they refuse to work. However, I would just imagine that most people, however lazy and indolent they are, before they starved to death, they would find something to do to earn some money to buy some food. So I'm just simply saying, God is saying either they'll be forced to work or they can certainly just simply die out. So there's a big difference in between helping the biblical poor and needy and helping those who are just too lazy to work. Here's a second principle that's tied to this passage, and I'm going to show it to you from the Bible.

[John Weaver] As Solomon said, we just read in Proverbs 19 in verse 17. He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord, and that which he has given him will he pay him again. So this principle can be summed up in two different ways. The first one is this. It's impossible to out give God. It's just impossible to out give God. In fact, the truth of the matter is everything we give him, he's already given us to begin with. But the second way to sum this up is to simply say that God will never, ever be any man's debtor. And God will always give us more than we ever loaned to him to begin with. He always repays more.

[John Weaver] So let me show you. Here's a good illustration in Luke chapter five. So what did he do in Luke chapter five? Well, first of all, he borrowed this ship. So look at it in verse three. And he entered in one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people out of the ship.

[John Weaver] Now, watch out when he left speaking. That is, when he got through preaching, he said in the Simon launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draw. And Simon answered and said to him, Master, we've toiled all the night and we've taken nothing. Nevertheless, at my word, I will let down the net. And when they had done this, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes and their net break now.

[John Weaver] And they beckoned under their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came and filled both the ships so that they began to sink. So our Lord, then, after he uses Peter's ship, commands him to go out a little way and to throw down the nets and prepare for a large draw or a large haul. It would be a tremendous catch.

[John Weaver] Yeah, I almost smiled when I read verse five. When Simon answered, said of him, Master, I can hear this right now in my ears, Master, I You don't understand. We toil all the night. We've taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word, I'll let down the net. It seems if Peter was too tired, too sleepy and too discouraged to really have his heart in obeying the Lord Jesus Christ. But Peter then halfheartedly obeyed.

[John Weaver] And there was a great surprise. That great surprise was the fact that he enclosed this great multitude of fish so that the net began to break. So we had to summon then James and John and their ship. And when they got the fish into the ships, the ships were nearly sinking. They were so full of fish.

[John Weaver] Now think about this truth. Peter loaned his boat to our Lord for a few hours. And now our Lord has rewarded him and his partners with this tremendous catch, two shipfuls of fish. Now, I want you to think about this for a moment. Peter, James, and John had been blessed abundantly. This was the greatest catch, and their greatest prize, and probably their greatest profit that they had ever made in fishing. They have successfully now gotten their catch to the land.

[John Weaver] The ships had come limping in, so loaded down. And they have all this great catch. So here's my question. What in the world do you think was going through Peter's mind? What do you think went through the minds of James and John at this particular point? What would be in your mind if this was you and you were there? Can tell you I believe what the modern-day Christian would be thinking What would be going through our minds would be something like this praise the Lord we are rich Look at this great catch Or we could be saying something like well praise the Lord. We're now famous We've got more than anyone has ever called Or we could be thinking, Lord, thank you for your absolutely wonderful providence. That would be fine. How about this one? I know someone would come up with this. Oh, Lord, you can borrow my boat anytime. Well, of course, look at the reward for loaning the boat. It's astounding. Now, We could also come up, well, I'm blessed to the Lord in this great providence.

[John Weaver] I'm thankful. You know, those would have been standard responses. But I want to look at Peter's response. Look at Luke chapter five, verse eight. When Simon Peter saw it, when he saw this great, great catch, he fell down at Jesus's knees saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." And here's why he did it, for he was astonished. And all that were with him at the draught of the fishes which they had taken. Isn't that astounding? Peter did not say, Lord, thank you for this wonderful catch. Thank you for making us rich. Thank you for giving us this great blessing. No, no, no. He fell down at Jesus's knees saying depart from me Lord for I am a sinful man. What a confession, what an admission, and what a strange way of thanking the Lord for his wonderful providence.

[John Weaver] Now when the Bible says that he fell down at Jesus's knees, the Greek word actually is prospepto and it means to fall forward, to fall down, to fall prostrate at one's itself or one's person and in due homage and supplication. And so what Peter did basically was fall on his face and say, Lord, depart from me for I am a sinful man. Now, why would Peter say that?

[John Weaver] I want to give you two principles which we must learn from this. And if these principles sink into our hearts, they will inevitably change us. Why would Peter say, after this tremendous blessing, depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man? First, the more we see and understand the glory, power, and blessing of God, the more we perceive and understand our own sinfulness. Peter was blessed, but Peter was blessed in this instance in such a way that would be far above all of the others who received a similar blessing. Because Peter was blessed not only with this tremendous catch, but he was also blessed with a realization, a deeper realization of his own sinfulness and the greatness and the glory of Jesus Christ. because Jesus Christ is indeed God in the flesh.

[John Weaver] If you and I talk to our fellow believers, usually in the conversation we can come up with this, that most of our fellow believers think that, well, we're an all right kind of people. I mean, moral, we're upright, We try to be honest. We try to be righteous. But let me point something out. There's a vast difference between what we are in Jesus Christ and what we are in our own sinful nature. Difference between what we are in Christ and what we are in and of ourselves.

[John Weaver] So I want you to turn, hold in Luke 5, to the book of Romans chapter 7. Romans chapter 7, and I want you to notice what the Apostle Paul said, especially in verse 18. Romans 7 and verse 18. In this passage, the Apostle Paul said, for I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For the will is present with me, I want to do what's right, but how to perform that which is good I find not.

[John Weaver] It's not in me, it's what he's saying. I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. I am a sinner, I am sinful, I am weak, I am depraved.

[John Weaver] Now skip down to verse 24. He says, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord, so that with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Now Matthew Henry had a comment on verse 24. He said, and I'm quoting, it was as troublesome to Paul as if he had a dead body tied to him, which he must have carried about with him. This made him cry out, O wretched man that I am.

[John Weaver] And then he makes this observation. A man that had learned in every state to be content yet complains thus of his corrupt nature. So here's a question. Have you easily and readily seen and understand your own depravity and your own corruption of your flesh? I'm going to tell you very pointedly Your flesh does not love God. Your flesh does not want to do that which is right and holy. Your flesh does not wish to be obedient. Your flesh wishes basically just to please itself. You know the scripture says that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Here's why.

[John Weaver] If you look in Romans chapter 8, since you're almost there, Begin there with verse six. Look what the Bible says. For to be carnally minded or fleshly minded, he says, is death. But to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God. For it is not subject to the law of God, neither need envy. So then they that are in flesh cannot please God. So obviously our flesh then is at enmity with God. and it can never ever please God, so flesh and blood is not going to inherit the kingdom of God. Now John Gill and others have pointed out the fact in Romans 7 verse 24, when the Apostle Paul said, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

[John Weaver] That one of the ways that they punished a murderer when he was caught in a timely manner was they would tie him to the man that he murdered. They would tie the dead man and the living man together face to face, chest to chest, arm to arm, leg to leg, and leave. And so the dead man's worms and corruption would finally eat the living man alive and kill him, and so he'd be dying a horrible, agonizing death. And he's pointing out this is a picture of the Apostle Paul is giving when he says, Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this dead? He's talking about his sinfulness. He's talking about his depravity.

[John Weaver] And then Gil goes on to say this. He said it was like that punishment. They send us inflicted on criminals by fastening a living body to a putrid carcass and is emphatically called the body of this death. So Paul, then, is recognizing his own sinfulness. And that's exactly what Peter was doing when he said, depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man. In other words, Lord, this blessing is just a demonstration to me of how sinful I really, really am.

[John Weaver] Now, here's the point I'm trying to make. And I want you to think with me very carefully. The closer you come to God, the closer you come to the Lord Jesus Christ, the more you see his holiness and his righteousness. Inevitably, the more you're going to see your sinfulness, your wickedness, and your depravity. So if you'll turn back in your Bibles with me to the book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter six, you will see this pointed out very clearly. So look at Isaiah chapter six, and let's begin reading there with verse one. Isaiah chapter six, look in verse one.

[John Weaver] The scripture says, In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and his train filled the temple. That is in itself is a tremendous verse. He said, I saw the Lord sitting upon the throne high and lifted up in his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims. Each one had six wings. Between he covered his face. With twenty he covered his feet, with twenty he did fly, and one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. And the post of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Look carefully now.

[John Weaver] Then said I, woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. So he begins to cry, woe is me, I am undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

[John Weaver] When you see the one true and the living God as he is, you always see yourself as you are. Verse six, then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. And he laid it upon my mouth and said, Lo, this has touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

[John Weaver] Also, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I, Lord, send me. And he said, Go. So here's the call of Isaiah. But when Isaiah saw the Lord, he also saw himself. He saw his filthiness. He saw his sinfulness. He saw the filthiness and the sinfulness of the people that were around him. You cannot see the holiness of God without seeing and understanding your own sinfulness. There's not going to be any foolish pride in the presence of the Lord. So it's impossible to get close to our Lord without recognizing our own sinfulness. I wish you'd look back in your Bibles to Luke chapter 5, because here's the second principle.

[John Weaver] Because Peter, says in verse 8, depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man. But I want you to note it is connected with verse 9. For he was astonished at all that were with him at the draught or the catch of the fishes which they had taken. So here's a second truth. The more we see and understand the glory, power and blessing of God, the more we see and understand our own unworthiness.

[John Weaver] We do not deserve any of our Lord's blessings. We do not deserve life. We do not deserve help. We do not deserve happiness. We don't deserve family. We don't deserve food. We don't deserve rest. We don't deserve sleep. We don't deserve anything but justice and judgment. So we've reached the point in this land where our hearts are so absolutely hardened against God and His truth that many people actually think that they deserve better. There's a catchy phrase that is prominent today, go ahead, you deserve it.

[John Weaver] Oh, you know, the way we reason, well, let's see, I've driven an old car, I've driven an old truck for so long, I got 400,000 miles, I deserve a new truck. Really? I don't even deserve what I have. You see what I'm saying? We rationalize and we say that we deserve these things, when in reality, we do not deserve any things. When people say go ahead, you deserve it. No, 1000 times no. I don't want what I deserve. I want the blessing of God. I want the mercy of God.

[John Weaver] It's pride that thinks that we are worthy. It's pride that thinks that we deserve what we don't deserve. You remember what Jacob said in Genesis chapter 32. You remember he was going to meet Esau. He had already separated his family, separated some stock trying to appease Esau. And of course, there he wrestled with the angel there. But in Genesis chapter 32, he said Oh Lord God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac the Lord who said a son to me Return to thy country and thy kindred that will deal well with thee and then he says this I'm not worthy of the least of my mercies and of all the truth which thou hast shown unto me And when you stop and think about Jacob Yeah, he had four wives Look at all the children he had. Look at the cattle. Look at the sheep. Look at the wealth that he had. And here he is saying, Lord, I do not deserve the least of thy mercies and of all the truth which thou has shown unto me.

[John Weaver] The more you understand God's blessings, the more you understand your own unworthiness. Let me give you another illustration. We're right close to it. Look in Luke chapter seven, Luke chapter seven. And let's begin reading there with verse one. Luke chapter 7 and verse 1. Watch this. Here it is.

[John Weaver] Now, when he had ended all of his sayings in the audience of the people, he entered into Capernaum. And a certain centurion's servant, who was dear unto him, was sick and ready to die. And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying that he was worthy for whom he should do this.

[John Weaver] For he loveth our nation, and hath built us a synagogue. Then Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself, for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof. Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee, but saying a word, and my servant shall be healed.

[John Weaver] For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers. And I say unto one, go, and he goeth. To another, come, and he cometh. And to my servant, do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

[John Weaver] Now, interestingly, the friends of the centurion told Jesus Christ he is worthy. What do you love with our nation? He's built us a synagogue. Evidently, he was pretty well off. A Roman soldier. They said he's worthy. When our Lord started coming, he sent word to our Lord, said, Lord, I am not worthy that you should even under enter under my roof. I'm not worthy. Neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee. And Lord, you don't have to do this thing. You just speak the word and my servant will be healed. And what did our Lord say?

[John Weaver] I've not found so great a faith, no, not in Israel. So the friends said the centurion was worthy, but the centurion had a biblical understanding of himself. And he said, I am not worthy. I'm not. And our Lord said it took a great faith to acknowledge that and to acknowledge the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[John Weaver] Now, I want to spend the rest of my time on making some applications. The first one is this. The principles, I believe, are exceedingly clear. We must learn the closer that we get to the Lord Jesus Christ, And the more of his blessings we receive, the more we should perceive and understand his power, his righteousness, his holiness, his mercy, and his grace, which should demonstrate to us our own sinfulness, our great need of him, and at the same time, give us a very, very humble heart and attitude.

[John Weaver] Because we should be like Peter in this instance and recognize that we do not deserve the least of his mercies. Now, I titled this message, How Do You View Yourself? Do you view yourself worthy or unworthy? Do you view yourself righteous or unrighteous? Here's the point. Your view of yourself will affect your prayer life. Your view of yourself will also affect how you praise or do not praise the Lord Jesus Christ. The view of yourself will also affect how you worship or whether you do or not worship. It will affect.

[John Weaver] Let me give you a good illustration. We're in the book of Luke. So let's turn to Luke chapter 17. Look at this. Here's where most people are today. Here is where most Christians are today. Luke 17, let's begin reading there with verse 11. And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off.

[John Weaver] And they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said to them, go show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back with a loud voice, glorified God, and fell down on his face at his feet, just like Peter did, and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks.

[John Weaver] And he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? They're not found that return to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said to him, arise, go thy way, thy faith that made thee whole. So here's the question that you're going to be asked and you should be asking yourself. Are you the one leper that returned? Or are you like the nine who thought that you deserve to be healed? What I'm trying to make is your view of yourself. determines as to whether or not you really praise the Lord, whether you give him glory, whether you worship him or not. So, here's the second application. If you do not see yourself as sinful and undeserving, you're nowhere close to the Lord Jesus Christ. Because the closer you get to Jesus Christ, just like Peter did, you're going to find that you will have to confess that you indeed are a sinful man. The Bible says in 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 6 that we are to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt us in due time.

[John Weaver] You remember our Lord himself said, whosoever exalts himself shall be humbled and whosoever humbles himself shall be exalted. So when we come to the Lord with pride, He's not going to hear us, and if he does, he's going to cast us down. The Lord is never, ever going to turn away a humble and contrite spirit. So, if you do not see yourself as sinful and undeserving, you're not close to the Lord Jesus Christ at all.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to go back to Luke chapter 5, because I want to make one last application. And I want you to watch this one very carefully. So if you look in Luke chapter five, verse 10 and 11, the Bible says, so was also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men.

[John Weaver] And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all and followed him." I don't know about you, but this is absolutely astounding to me. Peter, James, and John are now at the height of their career. They are now at the height of their economic greatness. They own their ships. And now they have the greatest catch of a lifetime. And look what the Bible says. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all and followed him. They walked away from the greatest catch of their life. They walked away from the greatest monetary prize of their life. They walked away from their family. They walked away from everything to follow Jesus Christ. Amazing.

[John Weaver] I'm just simply pointing out the fact most people today would have never done that. Our arguments are, well, number one, you know, I have to live. I have to make a living. I've got to do something. It's not that just they're simply walking away from a job, they're walking away from the greatest catch and prize in their entire lives. And our Lord just simply said, follow me and I'll make you futures of men. It's time we realized that what Peter, James, and John did was this.

[John Weaver] They counted the service of Jesus Christ greater treasure than anything and everything that they owned. and they were willing to sacrifice all to serve Him. And when you stop and think about this, everything we have He gave us, our abilities, our capabilities, what little money we have, what little possessions we have, Everything we have he gave us. And you never ever can out give God and he's not going to be any man's debtor. And whatever you sacrifice for him, whatever you lend him, he's always going to pay you back more than you sacrifice. We have to understand, the closer we get to the Lord Jesus Christ, the more we're going to see our sinfulness, the more we're going to see our unworthiness.

[John Weaver] And if we're not seeing those things in our lives, if we're not acknowledging the fact that we are sinners and we are sinful, we have a wrong view of ourselves. We can see ourselves for what we are, But we must also see ourselves for what we are in Jesus Christ. And like I said, there's a vast difference because in Jesus Christ, we're absolutely forgiven. We're absolutely perfect. We're absolutely righteous. But in and of ourselves. We can say like Peter.

[John Weaver] Depart from me, Lord, for I am a simple man. I don't deserve this. That was what he was saying. I recognize I'm a sinner. I recognize I'm unworthy. And all I did was loan you my boat for a few hours and Lord, look what you've done. Your view of yourself determines how you serve the Lord, how you worship him, how you praise him, and how you pray.

[John Weaver] Father, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ today that you would help us, that you would speak to us and help us, Lord, to soberly assess our lives, and soberly assess our abilities and our capabilities, and enable us not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought. Enable us, Father, to see our sinfulness. Because, Lord, the more we see our sinfulness, the more we know that we need Thee.

[John Weaver] For Thou hast said, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And you also said, Father, they that behold need not a position, but they that are sick. So, Lord, the more we see ourselves as sinners, the more we realize how desperately we need thee. And Lord, the more you bless us, the more we see how unworthy we are to receive your blessings because we are sinners. Help us, Father. to have a biblical view of ourselves as we are in and of ourselves, as well as have a biblical view of ourselves as we are in Jesus Christ. And may we praise Thee, Father, for Your love and grace and mercy.

[John Weaver] In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

[John Weaver] so so

How Do You View Yourself?

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	dVlU5m2-pBk
Subject	New Testament Studies
Course	Romans: Law, Obedience, and Sanctification: Holiness and Obedience
Genre	Sermon
Date	2024-07-20
Dictation Name
Book	Book 135: Romans: Law, Obedience, and Sanctification - Volume 2 — Chapter 38
Source Timed Segments	78

Formatted Transcript

Opening

All right, let's open our Bibles, if you would please, to the book of Luke, chapter 5. And we're going to read the first 11 verses. Luke, chapter 5, beginning there with verse 1. The title of the message is, How Do You View Yourself? So look, if you would, Luke chapter five, verse one. He came to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret and two ships standing by the lake. But the fishermen were going out of them and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's.

and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people out of the ship. Now, when he left speaking, he said to Simon, launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught. Simon answering, said of him, Master, we've flown all the night and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, if I were, I would let down the net. When they had done this, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes in their net break. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them.

And they came and filled both the ships, 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 draught of the fishes which they had taken, And so was also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon Peter, fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men. When they had brought their ships to land, they first took all and followed him.

Introduction: The Problem with Modern Self-Esteem

Weaver critiques the modern emphasis on self-esteem, arguing that most people today are proud and arrogant rather than suffering from low self-image. He warns against building a false image that leads to destruction.

So think about this, if you would please. The title of the message is How Do You View Yourself? There is so much garbage that is being presented today as truth based upon what you and I would call self esteem or self image. And the truth of the matter is, a lot of people think that they have a low self image. And of course, when I was a child, we use that little poem sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.

But that's really not true. Names do hurt, especially a child. And when you're telling a child constantly and consistently that he's stupid, that he's worthless, that he's no account, he's no good. I can understand how someone can grow up with a attitude that they are absolutely worthless as well. But the truth of the matter is most people today do not suffer from a lack of self-esteem. In fact, the problem today is most people are exceedingly proud and arrogant, and therefore a lot of money is to be made in this self-image and self-esteem program by telling everyone how beautiful they are, how successful they are, how wonderful they are, and they are the pinnacle of worth, even if it is not true. We're also told today that self-image is of the utmost importance.

And I've known men that have actually destroyed a ministry and brought tragedy to themselves by seeking to put forth a certain image of themselves and of their work. I know one pastor particularly that led his church into debt, very deep debt, in order to build a humongous building, which they really did not need. And if you ever asked that pastor how in the world were things going and how was he doing, he had a stock answer, great and getting better. But the problem was things were not great and they were not getting better and they ended up losing the ministry, losing the building and it was sold basically to pagans as well. So I understand on the one hand a need in one sense the word for a correct and biblical self-esteem and self-image. But on the other hand, let me put out the point that it must be a biblical self-esteem, and it must be also a biblical self-image, or otherwise, it's nothing more than a hypocritical sham.

Biblical Self-Assessment: Romans 12:3

Paul commands believers not to think of themselves more highly than they ought, but to think soberly—with a sound mind—according to the measure of faith God has given. Overestimating oneself is a form of insanity.

Now, before I get to our text, I do want you to turn, if you would, to the book of Romans, chapter 12, I'm and look if you would please at verse 3 Romans chapter 12 and verse 3 because I want to deal with this passage in light of what I'm going to be teaching you today. So Romans chapter 12 in verse 3 the Apostle Paul writes and he says for I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly according as God has dealt to every man a measure of faith. Now, I want to just take the time and ask you to look at that verse again. He said, For I say through the grace of given unto me, to every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.

Now, the word for more highly happens to be the Greek word, you prefer no, and you pair literally means above or beyond. And for now, basically means to think. So actually, what he's saying is that we're not to think of ourselves over that which we really are. We're not to estimate our abilities or capabilities, or that which they really are. In other words, when you and I, I think more highly of ourselves than we ought to, what we're doing is we're estimating our value and our worth to be far greater than it is and our abilities and our capabilities to be more and to be greater than they really are. So if you look back at verse three again in Romans chapter 12, he says, for I say through the grace given unto me, that every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, Now watch this, but to think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man, the measure of faith. Now, of course, when he says to think soberly, that has nothing to do with alcohol, that has nothing to do with being drunk or nothing to be doing with being not drunk.

The word soberly there literally is the word, and it literally means to be in one's right mind. It means to be of a sound mind. It means to put a moderate estimate upon oneself and one's ability. Let me say this another way. It literally means to think wisely. So it tells us that we're not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought. But then we are to think soberly. We're to think wisely. We're to think with a sound mind.

So the implication of this verse should be very clear. When we are thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought, we're crazy. We're out of our minds. We're not dealing with a sound mind. We're not dealing with a wise way of thinking. So he tells us that we need to think wisely and soberly. I tried to give an illustration this morning. We have a brother in our church by the name of Ed Wolf.

And Ed sings exactly like I do, which is nil, none. And so I asked the people, I said, What would you think if I announced that this coming week, that Ed and I were going to make a trip to Nashville, Tennessee, and we were going to make a record and we were going to be singing as a duet, and we were going to try to make it a number one hit. And before I could even finish, Tom Davis, I think you're crazy. Well, that's exactly right. And you would be right to think we were crazy, because neither one of us could sing. So what I'm trying to point out is we would be overestimating ourselves, we'd be overestimating our abilities, our capabilities, because I can't sing and neither can Ed. And so to make a, an assessment like that of ourselves would be absolutely insane is what it amount to.

So in today's estimate, Most people really and truly do not suffer from what you and I would call low self esteem. Most people are actually arrogant and proud and haughty. And thus they overestimate themselves. They do not think soberly. In fact, the truth of the matter is this. We have to know not only our abilities, we have to know not only our capabilities, we also have to know our limitations as well. And so God then is telling us in Romans chapter 12 in verse 3 that we must seriously and that we must soberly and we must script assess ourselves and our abilities and our capabilities as well. Because God has dealt to each one of us a certain measure of faith.

That is, he's given us a gift. He's given us an ability. And like I pointed out earlier, mine is certainly not singing. Might as well music any stretch by any stretch of the imagination whatsoever But God does indeed expect us to think soberly and view ourselves according to that now Let's go back to our text having shown you that verse the Luke chapter 5 in verse 1 And look at what is happening And

Jesus Borrows Peter's Boat (Luke 5:1-3)

Jesus, owning nothing, borrows Peter's ship to teach the crowd. Weaver reflects on Christ's poverty and introduces the principle of lending to the Lord by helping the poor.

it came to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear the Word of God He stood by the lake of Gennesaret So the Bible says the people were pressing upon him to hear the word of God. Now the word pressed, in verse one, is the important word. It is the word epikemi, and it literally means to lie upon, to be placed upon, and it also has reference to what you and I would call the pressure of a violent tempest. And so here our Lord is in a crowd and the crowd happens to be pressing upon him. And they are doing so in such a way that he can't function, that he really can't concentrate. And so it's stressful and it's very uncomfortable. And consequently, then he borrows a ship.

Now, there were two ships there. One belonged to Peter and I guess the other belonged to James and John. So if you look in Luke chapter five, verse two, and saw two ships standing by the lake. But the fishermen were going out of them. They were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down and thought the people out of the ship. Now. I was thinking as I was preparing this message, the thought hit me. when our Lord borrowed this ship. Have you ever thought about the fact that while Jesus Christ was on the earth, he owned nothing? He owned absolutely nothing. In Luke 9, in verse 58, our Lord said, the foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, for the Son of Man had nowhere to lay his head.

So he did not even own a place. You'll find he lived with his disciples. Wow. Then I thought about another old hymn. And I want to read that hymn to you. The title of the hymn was The Cross Was His Own. Listen to this. They borrowed a bed to lay his head when Christ the Lord came down. They barred the ass in the mountain pass for him to ride to town. But the crown that he wore and the cross that he bore was his own. The cross was his own. He barred the bread for the crowd he fed on the grassy mountain side. He barred the dish of broken fish with which he satisfied. But the crown that he wore, that thorny crown, and the cross that he bore were his own. The cross was his own. He borrowed the ship in which to sit to teach the multitude. He borrowed a nest in which to rest, but he had never a home so rude. But the crown that he wore, the cross that he bore, were his own.

The cross was his own. He borrowed a room on the way to the tomb that Passover lamb to eat. They borrowed a cave for him, a grave, they borrowed a winding sheet. So the crown that he wore and the cross that he bore was his own. The cross was his own. So those two things basically really and truly belong to him.

Now, before I get to the point of this message, there are a couple of principles I want to point out. Think about this question. Would you lend to the Lord Jesus Christ. Would you lend to the Lord Jesus Christ? You have to consider this fact that he owed nothing, he had no collateral, he had no job, he had no bank account, and he's just basically wandering from place to place preaching. I'm sure if Jesus Christ were here today on earth, it would be absolutely impossible for him to acquire a bank loan, although he created the world and owns everything in the world. Because, basically, he had nothing. So, my question is, would you lend to the Lord Jesus Christ? Which brings me to a second question, how in the world would you ever lend to the Lord Jesus Christ?

The Principle of Lending to the Lord

Scripture teaches that showing favor to the poor is lending to the Lord, who repays abundantly. Weaver distinguishes between helping the truly needy and enabling laziness.

Well, let me show you. I want you to hold Luke chapter five, but turn in your Bibles, first of all, to Psalm 112, And look at verse 5, Psalm 112, verse 5. Here's a general principle. We're going to look at a couple of other passages, but look at this one, Psalm 112 and verse 5. In this passage, the word of God simply says this. A good man showeth favor and lendeth. He will guide his affairs with discretion. But note this, a good man showeth favor Lendeth now turn right over if you would please the Proverbs chapter 19 and verse 17 Proverbs 19 and verse 17 Look at what the scripture says Proverbs 19 verse 17 he that hath pity upon the poor Lendeth unto the Lord And that which he hath given, will he pay him again? So think about this. He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord, and that which he hath given, will he pay him again? Now if you will turn to Luke chapter 6, the next chapter over from where we are, and look if you would please at verse 35. Luke chapter 6 and verse 35. Our Lord says, but love you your enemies and do good, And then he says this, and lend, hoping for nothing again.

And your reward shall be great, and you shall be the children of the highest, for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Note, if you would, he is kind to the unthankful and to the evil. But note, if you would, the Bible says, and lend, hoping for nothing again. Let me just point something out to you. I remember years and years ago when Alice and I were at the university, and times were always tough. Sometimes we did not have much to eat. And even though I was working, and but I was in school, and it was still tough. And occasionally, my parents, of course, would send us some money or parents would send some money or someone somewhere would send some money. We would have a bonanza, so to speak, and we'd go out and buy all kinds of groceries because usually we ended up having to do without. But there was another couple that was from our local church that was in school there as well.

They were in the same position that we were. We always laughed because it was a mutual thing that if our friends got rich, Then we got rich, and if we got rich, they got rich. In other words, we just shared whatever we had. We would loan each other whatever, whether it was money or whether it was groceries or whatever it is, and never ever expect anything back in return. You know, I think that's a wise thing to do.

When our Lord said, listen to this again, but love you your enemies and do good and lend, hoping for nothing again. So if I win Steve 50 bucks, and I get it back, I'm blessed. But if I lend him 50 bucks, and he's unable to get it back, I'm still blessed. And if I don't expect to get it back, my feelings are not going to be hurt if I don't get it back. You follow what I'm saying? So the attitude that I basically took and still take is I give If it comes back, it's wonderful. If it doesn't come back, it's wonderful as well. It doesn't really bother me. So our Lord is saying the way to lend to him is by helping the poor and the needy.

However, let me make this caveat. There is a huge difference between helping the biblical poor and needy and the lazy and the indolent. the lazy and the indolent, God forbids us to help them. Because the Bible says in second Thessalonians chapter three in verse 10, if any will not work, neither should he eat. So that's very simple. God says if someone's not going to work, let them starve, let them die out. That'll take care of the those who are so indolent and so worthless, they refuse to work. However, I would just imagine that most people, however lazy and indolent they are, before they starved to death, they would find something to do to earn some money to buy some food. So I'm just simply saying, God is saying either they'll be forced to work or they can certainly just simply die out. So there's a big difference in between helping the biblical poor and needy and helping those who are just too lazy to work. Here's a second principle that's tied to this passage, and I'm going to show it to you from the Bible.

As Solomon said, we just read in Proverbs 19 in verse 17. He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord, and that which he has given him will he pay him again. So this principle can be summed up in two different ways. The first one is this. It's impossible to out give God. It's just impossible to out give God. In fact, the truth of the matter is everything we give him, he's already given us to begin with. But the second way to sum this up is to simply say that God will never, ever be any man's debtor. And God will always give us more than we ever loaned to him to begin with. He always repays more.

The Miraculous Catch and Peter's Response (Luke 5:4-9)

After a night of catching nothing, Peter obeys Jesus' command and nets a massive haul. Instead of celebrating, Peter falls at Jesus' knees, confessing his sinfulness and unworthiness.

So let me show you. Here's a good illustration in Luke chapter five. So what did he do in Luke chapter five? Well, first of all, he borrowed this ship. So look at it in verse three. And he entered in one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people out of the ship.

Now, watch out when he left speaking. That is, when he got through preaching, he said in the Simon launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draw. And Simon answered and said to him, Master, we've toiled all the night and we've taken nothing. Nevertheless, at my word, I will let down the net. And when they had done this, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes and their net break now. And they beckoned under their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came and filled both the ships so that they began to sink. So our Lord, then, after he uses Peter's ship, commands him to go out a little way and to throw down the nets and prepare for a large draw or a large haul. It would be a tremendous catch.

Yeah, I almost smiled when I read verse five. When Simon answered, said of him, Master, I can hear this right now in my ears, Master, I You don't understand. We toil all the night. We've taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word, I'll let down the net. It seems if Peter was too tired, too sleepy and too discouraged to really have his heart in obeying the Lord Jesus Christ. But Peter then halfheartedly obeyed.

And there was a great surprise. That great surprise was the fact that he enclosed this great multitude of fish so that the net began to break. So we had to summon then James and John and their ship. And when they got the fish into the ships, the ships were nearly sinking. They were so full of fish.

Now think about this truth. Peter loaned his boat to our Lord for a few hours. And now our Lord has rewarded him and his partners with this tremendous catch, two shipfuls of fish. Now, I want you to think about this for a moment. Peter, James, and John had been blessed abundantly. This was the greatest catch, and their greatest prize, and probably their greatest profit that they had ever made in fishing. They have successfully now gotten their catch to the land.

The ships had come limping in, so loaded down. And they have all this great catch. So here's my question. What in the world do you think was going through Peter's mind? What do you think went through the minds of James and John at this particular point? What would be in your mind if this was you and you were there? Can tell you I believe what the modern-day Christian would be thinking What would be going through our minds would be something like this praise the Lord we are rich Look at this great catch Or we could be saying something like well praise the Lord. We're now famous We've got more than anyone has ever called Or we could be thinking, Lord, thank you for your absolutely wonderful providence. That would be fine. How about this one? I know someone would come up with this. Oh, Lord, you can borrow my boat anytime. Well, of course, look at the reward for loaning the boat. It's astounding. Now, We could also come up, well, I'm blessed to the Lord in this great providence.

I'm thankful. You know, those would have been standard responses. But I want to look at Peter's response. Look at Luke chapter five, verse eight. When Simon Peter saw it, when he saw this great, great catch, he fell down at Jesus's knees saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." And here's why he did it, for he was astonished. And all that were with him at the draught of the fishes which they had taken. Isn't that astounding? Peter did not say, Lord, thank you for this wonderful catch. Thank you for making us rich. Thank you for giving us this great blessing. No, no, no. He fell down at Jesus's knees saying depart from me Lord for I am a sinful man. What a confession, what an admission, and what a strange way of thanking the Lord for his wonderful providence.

Now when the Bible says that he fell down at Jesus's knees, the Greek word actually is prospepto and it means to fall forward, to fall down, to fall prostrate at one's itself or one's person and in due homage and supplication. And so what Peter did basically was fall on his face and say, Lord, depart from me for I am a sinful man. Now, why would Peter say that?

Principle 1: Seeing God's Glory Reveals Our Sinfulness

The more we perceive God's power and holiness, the more we understand our own depravity. Weaver cites Isaiah 6 and Romans 7 to show that closeness to God exposes our sin.

I want to give you two principles which we must learn from this. And if these principles sink into our hearts, they will inevitably change us. Why would Peter say, after this tremendous blessing, depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man? First, the more we see and understand the glory, power, and blessing of God, the more we perceive and understand our own sinfulness. Peter was blessed, but Peter was blessed in this instance in such a way that would be far above all of the others who received a similar blessing. Because Peter was blessed not only with this tremendous catch, but he was also blessed with a realization, a deeper realization of his own sinfulness and the greatness and the glory of Jesus Christ. because Jesus Christ is indeed God in the flesh.

If you and I talk to our fellow believers, usually in the conversation we can come up with this, that most of our fellow believers think that, well, we're an all right kind of people. I mean, moral, we're upright, We try to be honest. We try to be righteous. But let me point something out. There's a vast difference between what we are in Jesus Christ and what we are in our own sinful nature. Difference between what we are in Christ and what we are in and of ourselves.

So I want you to turn, hold in Luke 5, to the book of Romans chapter 7. Romans chapter 7, and I want you to notice what the Apostle Paul said, especially in verse 18. Romans 7 and verse 18. In this passage, the Apostle Paul said, for I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For the will is present with me, I want to do what's right, but how to perform that which is good I find not. It's not in me, it's what he's saying. I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. I am a sinner, I am sinful, I am weak, I am depraved.

Now skip down to verse 24. He says, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord, so that with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Now Matthew Henry had a comment on verse 24. He said, and I'm quoting, it was as troublesome to Paul as if he had a dead body tied to him, which he must have carried about with him. This made him cry out, O wretched man that I am. And then he makes this observation. A man that had learned in every state to be content yet complains thus of his corrupt nature. So here's a question. Have you easily and readily seen and understand your own depravity and your own corruption of your flesh? I'm going to tell you very pointedly Your flesh does not love God. Your flesh does not want to do that which is right and holy. Your flesh does not wish to be obedient. Your flesh wishes basically just to please itself. You know the scripture says that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Here's why.

If you look in Romans chapter 8, since you're almost there, Begin there with verse six. Look what the Bible says. For to be carnally minded or fleshly minded, he says, is death. But to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God. For it is not subject to the law of God, neither need envy. So then they that are in flesh cannot please God. So obviously our flesh then is at enmity with God. and it can never ever please God, so flesh and blood is not going to inherit the kingdom of God. Now John Gill and others have pointed out the fact in Romans 7 verse 24, when the Apostle Paul said, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

That one of the ways that they punished a murderer when he was caught in a timely manner was they would tie him to the man that he murdered. They would tie the dead man and the living man together face to face, chest to chest, arm to arm, leg to leg, and leave. And so the dead man's worms and corruption would finally eat the living man alive and kill him, and so he'd be dying a horrible, agonizing death. And he's pointing out this is a picture of the Apostle Paul is giving when he says, Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this dead? He's talking about his sinfulness. He's talking about his depravity. And then Gil goes on to say this. He said it was like that punishment. They send us inflicted on criminals by fastening a living body to a putrid carcass and is emphatically called the body of this death. So Paul, then, is recognizing his own sinfulness. And that's exactly what Peter was doing when he said, depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man. In other words, Lord, this blessing is just a demonstration to me of how sinful I really, really am.

Now, here's the point I'm trying to make. And I want you to think with me very carefully. The closer you come to God, the closer you come to the Lord Jesus Christ, the more you see his holiness and his righteousness. Inevitably, the more you're going to see your sinfulness, your wickedness, and your depravity. So if you'll turn back in your Bibles with me to the book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter six, you will see this pointed out very clearly. So look at Isaiah chapter six, and let's begin reading there with verse one. Isaiah chapter six, look in verse one.

The scripture says, In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and his train filled the temple. That is in itself is a tremendous verse. He said, I saw the Lord sitting upon the throne high and lifted up in his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims. Each one had six wings. Between he covered his face. With twenty he covered his feet, with twenty he did fly, and one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. And the post of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Look carefully now.

Then said I, woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. So he begins to cry, woe is me, I am undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

When you see the one true and the living God as he is, you always see yourself as you are. Verse six, then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. And he laid it upon my mouth and said, Lo, this has touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Also, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I, Lord, send me. And he said, Go. So here's the call of Isaiah. But when Isaiah saw the Lord, he also saw himself. He saw his filthiness. He saw his sinfulness. He saw the filthiness and the sinfulness of the people that were around him. You cannot see the holiness of God without seeing and understanding your own sinfulness. There's not going to be any foolish pride in the presence of the Lord. So it's impossible to get close to our Lord without recognizing our own sinfulness. I wish you'd look back in your Bibles to Luke chapter 5, because here's the second principle.

Because Peter, says in verse 8, depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man. But I want you to note it is connected with verse 9. For he was astonished at all that were with him at the draught or the catch of the fishes which they had taken. So here's a second truth. The more we see and understand the glory, power and blessing of God, the more we see and understand our own unworthiness.

Principle 2: Seeing God's Blessings Reveals Our Unworthiness

God's blessings highlight our undeserving state. Like Jacob and the centurion, we must acknowledge we are not worthy of the least of His mercies. Pride makes us think we deserve more.

We do not deserve any of our Lord's blessings. We do not deserve life. We do not deserve help. We do not deserve happiness. We don't deserve family. We don't deserve food. We don't deserve rest. We don't deserve sleep. We don't deserve anything but justice and judgment. So we've reached the point in this land where our hearts are so absolutely hardened against God and His truth that many people actually think that they deserve better. There's a catchy phrase that is prominent today, go ahead, you deserve it.

Oh, you know, the way we reason, well, let's see, I've driven an old car, I've driven an old truck for so long, I got 400,000 miles, I deserve a new truck. Really? I don't even deserve what I have. You see what I'm saying? We rationalize and we say that we deserve these things, when in reality, we do not deserve any things. When people say go ahead, you deserve it. No, 1000 times no. I don't want what I deserve. I want the blessing of God. I want the mercy of God.

It's pride that thinks that we are worthy. It's pride that thinks that we deserve what we don't deserve. You remember what Jacob said in Genesis chapter 32. You remember he was going to meet Esau. He had already separated his family, separated some stock trying to appease Esau. And of course, there he wrestled with the angel there. But in Genesis chapter 32, he said Oh Lord God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac the Lord who said a son to me Return to thy country and thy kindred that will deal well with thee and then he says this I'm not worthy of the least of my mercies and of all the truth which thou hast shown unto me And when you stop and think about Jacob Yeah, he had four wives Look at all the children he had. Look at the cattle. Look at the sheep. Look at the wealth that he had. And here he is saying, Lord, I do not deserve the least of thy mercies and of all the truth which thou has shown unto me.

The more you understand God's blessings, the more you understand your own unworthiness. Let me give you another illustration. We're right close to it. Look in Luke chapter seven, Luke chapter seven. And let's begin reading there with verse one. Luke chapter 7 and verse 1. Watch this. Here it is.

Now, when he had ended all of his sayings in the audience of the people, he entered into Capernaum. And a certain centurion's servant, who was dear unto him, was sick and ready to die. And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying that he was worthy for whom he should do this. For he loveth our nation, and hath built us a synagogue. Then Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself, for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof. Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee, but saying a word, and my servant shall be healed.

For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers. And I say unto one, go, and he goeth. To another, come, and he cometh. And to my servant, do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

Now, interestingly, the friends of the centurion told Jesus Christ he is worthy. What do you love with our nation? He's built us a synagogue. Evidently, he was pretty well off. A Roman soldier. They said he's worthy. When our Lord started coming, he sent word to our Lord, said, Lord, I am not worthy that you should even under enter under my roof. I'm not worthy. Neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee. And Lord, you don't have to do this thing. You just speak the word and my servant will be healed. And what did our Lord say?

I've not found so great a faith, no, not in Israel. So the friends said the centurion was worthy, but the centurion had a biblical understanding of himself. And he said, I am not worthy. I'm not. And our Lord said it took a great faith to acknowledge that and to acknowledge the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, I want to spend the rest of my time on making some applications. The first one is this. The principles, I believe, are exceedingly clear. We must learn the closer that we get to the Lord Jesus Christ, And the more of his blessings we receive, the more we should perceive and understand his power, his righteousness, his holiness, his mercy, and his grace, which should demonstrate to us our own sinfulness, our great need of him, and at the same time, give us a very, very humble heart and attitude.

Applications: How Self-View Affects Worship and Service

Our view of ourselves determines our prayer, praise, and worship. The one leper who returned to give thanks exemplifies a right self-view. If we don't see our sin, we are far from Christ.

Because we should be like Peter in this instance and recognize that we do not deserve the least of his mercies. Now, I titled this message, How Do You View Yourself? Do you view yourself worthy or unworthy? Do you view yourself righteous or unrighteous? Here's the point. Your view of yourself will affect your prayer life. Your view of yourself will also affect how you praise or do not praise the Lord Jesus Christ. The view of yourself will also affect how you worship or whether you do or not worship. It will affect.

Let me give you a good illustration. We're in the book of Luke. So let's turn to Luke chapter 17. Look at this. Here's where most people are today. Here is where most Christians are today. Luke 17, let's begin reading there with verse 11. And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off.

And they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said to them, go show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back with a loud voice, glorified God, and fell down on his face at his feet, just like Peter did, and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? They're not found that return to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said to him, arise, go thy way, thy faith that made thee whole. So here's the question that you're going to be asked and you should be asking yourself. Are you the one leper that returned? Or are you like the nine who thought that you deserve to be healed? What I'm trying to make is your view of yourself. determines as to whether or not you really praise the Lord, whether you give him glory, whether you worship him or not. So, here's the second application. If you do not see yourself as sinful and undeserving, you're nowhere close to the Lord Jesus Christ. Because the closer you get to Jesus Christ, just like Peter did, you're going to find that you will have to confess that you indeed are a sinful man. The Bible says in 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 6 that we are to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt us in due time.

You remember our Lord himself said, whosoever exalts himself shall be humbled and whosoever humbles himself shall be exalted. So when we come to the Lord with pride, He's not going to hear us, and if he does, he's going to cast us down. The Lord is never, ever going to turn away a humble and contrite spirit. So, if you do not see yourself as sinful and undeserving, you're not close to the Lord Jesus Christ at all.

Now, I want you to go back to Luke chapter 5, because I want to make one last application. And I want you to watch this one very carefully. So if you look in Luke chapter five, verse 10 and 11, the Bible says, so was also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men.

Forsaking All to Follow Christ (Luke 5:10-11)

At the height of their career, Peter, James, and John left everything to follow Jesus. They counted His service greater than all earthly treasure, trusting God's repayment.

And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all and followed him." I don't know about you, but this is absolutely astounding to me. Peter, James, and John are now at the height of their career. They are now at the height of their economic greatness. They own their ships. And now they have the greatest catch of a lifetime. And look what the Bible says. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all and followed him. They walked away from the greatest catch of their life. They walked away from the greatest monetary prize of their life. They walked away from their family. They walked away from everything to follow Jesus Christ. Amazing.

I'm just simply pointing out the fact most people today would have never done that. Our arguments are, well, number one, you know, I have to live. I have to make a living. I've got to do something. It's not that just they're simply walking away from a job, they're walking away from the greatest catch and prize in their entire lives. And our Lord just simply said, follow me and I'll make you futures of men. It's time we realized that what Peter, James, and John did was this.

They counted the service of Jesus Christ greater treasure than anything and everything that they owned. and they were willing to sacrifice all to serve Him. And when you stop and think about this, everything we have He gave us, our abilities, our capabilities, what little money we have, what little possessions we have, Everything we have he gave us. And you never ever can out give God and he's not going to be any man's debtor. And whatever you sacrifice for him, whatever you lend him, he's always going to pay you back more than you sacrifice. We have to understand, the closer we get to the Lord Jesus Christ, the more we're going to see our sinfulness, the more we're going to see our unworthiness.

Conclusion: A Biblical View of Self

We must see ourselves as sinners in ourselves but righteous in Christ. A humble, sober self-assessment leads to greater dependence on God and faithful service.

And if we're not seeing those things in our lives, if we're not acknowledging the fact that we are sinners and we are sinful, we have a wrong view of ourselves. We can see ourselves for what we are, But we must also see ourselves for what we are in Jesus Christ. And like I said, there's a vast difference because in Jesus Christ, we're absolutely forgiven. We're absolutely perfect. We're absolutely righteous. But in and of ourselves. We can say like Peter.

Depart from me, Lord, for I am a simple man. I don't deserve this. That was what he was saying. I recognize I'm a sinner. I recognize I'm unworthy. And all I did was loan you my boat for a few hours and Lord, look what you've done. Your view of yourself determines how you serve the Lord, how you worship him, how you praise him, and how you pray.

Father, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ today that you would help us, that you would speak to us and help us, Lord, to soberly assess our lives, and soberly assess our abilities and our capabilities, and enable us not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought. Enable us, Father, to see our sinfulness. Because, Lord, the more we see our sinfulness, the more we know that we need Thee. For Thou hast said, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And you also said, Father, they that behold need not a position, but they that are sick. So, Lord, the more we see ourselves as sinners, the more we realize how desperately we need thee. And Lord, the more you bless us, the more we see how unworthy we are to receive your blessings because we are sinners. Help us, Father. to have a biblical view of ourselves as we are in and of ourselves, as well as have a biblical view of ourselves as we are in Jesus Christ. And may we praise Thee, Father, for Your love and grace and mercy.

In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

Biblical Self-Image vs. Worldly Self-Esteem

Summary: Modern self-esteem teachings promote pride and arrogance, while Scripture calls for a sober, humble assessment of oneself in light of God's holiness.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'Most people today do not suffer from a lack of self-esteem. In fact, the problem today is most people are exceedingly proud and arrogant.'

The Revelation of Sin Through God's Holiness

Summary: Encountering God's glory and blessings inevitably exposes human sinfulness and unworthiness, as seen in Peter, Isaiah, and Paul.

Evidence: Weaver explains, 'The more we see and understand the glory, power and blessing of God, the more we perceive and understand our own sinfulness.'

Humility and Unworthiness Before God

Summary: True faith acknowledges our complete unworthiness of God's mercies, leading to humility and gratitude rather than entitlement.

Evidence: Weaver cites Jacob: 'I am not worthy of the least of my mercies,' and the centurion: 'I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof.'

Lending to the Lord Through Helping the Poor

Summary: God repays abundantly those who give to the needy, but we must distinguish between the truly poor and the lazy.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Proverbs 19:17: 'He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord,' and explains the principle.

Total Surrender to Christ

Summary: Like the disciples who forsook all to follow Jesus, believers must count Christ's service as greater treasure than any earthly possession.

Evidence: Weaver notes, 'They forsook all and followed him... They counted the service of Jesus Christ greater treasure than anything and everything that they owned.'

Key Arguments

Pride is the Real Problem, Not Low Self-Esteem

Summary: Most people overestimate their worth and abilities, which is a form of insanity according to Romans 12:3.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'When we are thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought, we're crazy. We're out of our minds.'

God's Blessings Should Lead to Humility, Not Pride

Summary: Peter's response to the miraculous catch was not boasting but confession of sin, demonstrating that divine blessing reveals our unworthiness.

Evidence: Weaver points out, 'Peter did not say, Lord, thank you for this wonderful catch... He fell down at Jesus's knees saying depart from me Lord for I am a sinful man.'

Closeness to God Exposes Sin

Summary: The nearer we draw to Christ, the more we see His holiness and our own depravity, as illustrated by Isaiah's vision.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'When you see the one true and the living God as he is, you always see yourself as you are.'

A Right Self-View Affects Worship and Service

Summary: Seeing ourselves as sinful and undeserving leads to genuine praise, while pride results in ingratitude, like the nine lepers.

Evidence: Weaver asks, 'Are you the one leper that returned? Or are you like the nine who thought that you deserve to be healed?'

God Repays Sacrificial Giving

Summary: Lending to the Lord by helping the poor results in divine repayment beyond what we give, as seen in Peter's catch.

Evidence: Weaver explains, 'Peter loaned his boat to our Lord for a few hours. And now our Lord has rewarded him and his partners with this tremendous catch.'

Scripture References

Luke 5:1-11

Context: The main text: Jesus calls Peter, James, and John after the miraculous catch of fish.

Romans 12:3

Context: Paul's command to think soberly and not more highly of oneself than one ought.

Luke 9:58

Context: Jesus had nowhere to lay his head, illustrating his poverty.

Psalm 112:5

Context: A good man shows favor and lends.

Proverbs 19:17

Context: He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and He will repay.

Luke 6:35

Context: Love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return.

2 Thessalonians 3:10

Context: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.

Romans 7:18, 24

Context: Paul acknowledges that in his flesh dwells no good thing and cries out as a wretched man.

Romans 8:6-8

Context: The carnal mind is enmity against God and cannot please Him.

Isaiah 6:1-8

Context: Isaiah's vision of God's holiness leads him to confess his uncleanness.

Genesis 32:10

Context: Jacob confesses he is not worthy of the least of God's mercies.

Luke 7:1-9

Context: The centurion declares his unworthiness, and Jesus marvels at his faith.

Luke 17:11-19

Context: The healing of ten lepers; only one returns to give thanks.

1 Peter 5:6

Context: Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you.

Historical References

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Romans 7:24

Context: Henry compares Paul's struggle with sin to having a dead body tied to him.

John Gill's Commentary on Romans 7:24

Context: Gill describes the ancient punishment of tying a murderer to the corpse of his victim.

Hymn: 'The Cross Was His Own'

Context: Weaver quotes a hymn about Jesus borrowing things during His earthly ministry but owning the cross.

Important Quotes

When we are thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought, we're crazy. We're out of our minds.

Significance: Emphasizes that prideful self-assessment is irrational and contrary to sound thinking.

Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.

Significance: Peter's response to the miracle, showing that divine blessing led him to confess his sinfulness rather than boast.

The more we see and understand the glory, power and blessing of God, the more we perceive and understand our own sinfulness.

Significance: A key principle of the sermon: closeness to God reveals our sin.

They forsook all and followed him.

Significance: The disciples' radical response to Jesus' call, leaving their greatest catch to serve Him.

Your view of yourself determines how you serve the Lord, how you worship him, how you praise him, and how you pray.

Significance: The practical application: self-view directly impacts spiritual life.

Discussion Questions

How does the modern emphasis on self-esteem conflict with the biblical call to think soberly about ourselves?

Context: Weaver critiques the self-esteem movement and contrasts it with Romans 12:3.

Why did Peter respond to the miraculous catch by confessing his sinfulness instead of celebrating?

Context: Peter's reaction in Luke 5:8-9 is the central example of the sermon.

In what ways does seeing God's holiness expose our own sin? Can you share a personal experience?

Context: Weaver uses Isaiah 6 and Romans 7 to illustrate this principle.

How can we distinguish between helping the truly poor and enabling laziness, as Weaver discusses?

Context: Weaver references 2 Thessalonians 3:10 and the principle of lending to the Lord.

What does it mean to 'forsake all' to follow Christ in our contemporary context?

Context: The disciples left their greatest catch; Weaver challenges modern believers to count Christ as greater treasure.

How does our view of ourselves affect our prayer life, worship, and service?

Context: Weaver states that self-view determines these aspects of spiritual life.

Applications

Practice Sober Self-Assessment

Summary: Regularly evaluate your abilities and worth according to God's Word, not worldly standards, to avoid pride.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'We must seriously and soberly and scripturally assess ourselves and our abilities.'

Respond to Blessings with Humility

Summary: When God blesses you, let it drive you to acknowledge your unworthiness and dependence on Him, like Peter.

Evidence: Weaver notes, 'The more you understand God's blessings, the more you understand your own unworthiness.'

Give to the Needy as Lending to the Lord

Summary: Help the truly poor with a generous heart, trusting God to repay, but do not support laziness.

Evidence: Weaver explains, 'He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord.'

Cultivate a Heart of Gratitude

Summary: Be like the one leper who returned to give thanks, recognizing that all good comes from God's mercy.

Evidence: Weaver contrasts the thankful leper with the nine who did not return.

Prioritize Christ Above All

Summary: Count serving Jesus as greater treasure than career success or possessions, willing to forsake all for Him.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'They counted the service of Jesus Christ greater treasure than anything and everything that they owned.'

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T06:53:17Z

Clean Transcript

How Do You View Yourself?

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

All right, let's open our Bibles, if you would please, to the book of Luke, chapter 5. And we're going to read the first 11 verses. Luke, chapter 5, beginning there with verse 1. The title of the message is, How Do You View Yourself? So look, if you would, Luke chapter five, verse one. He came to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret and two ships standing by the lake. But the fishermen were going out of them and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's.
#1 | 0:00 to 0:58 | cleaned
and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people out of the ship.
#2 | 0:59 to 1:05 | cleaned
Now, when he left speaking, he said to Simon, launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught. Simon answering, said of him, Master, we've flown all the night and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, if I were, I would let down the net. When they had done this, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes in their net break. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them.
#3 | 1:06 to 1:33 | cleaned
And they came and filled both the ships, 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 draught of the fishes which they had taken, And so was also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon Peter, fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men. When they had brought their ships to land, they first took all and followed him.
#4 | 1:34 to 2:07 | cleaned
So think about this, if you would please. The title of the message is How Do You View Yourself? There is so much garbage that is being presented today as truth based upon what you and I would call self esteem or self image. And the truth of the matter is, a lot of people think that they have a low self image. And of course, when I was a child, we use that little poem sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.
#5 | 2:08 to 2:44 | cleaned
But that's really not true. Names do hurt, especially a child. And when you're telling a child constantly and consistently that he's stupid, that he's worthless, that he's no account, he's no good. I can understand how someone can grow up with a attitude that they are absolutely worthless as well. But the truth of the matter is most people today do not suffer from a lack of self-esteem. In fact, the problem today is most people are exceedingly proud and arrogant, and therefore a lot of money is to be made in this self-image and self-esteem program by telling everyone how beautiful they are, how successful they are, how wonderful they are, and they are the pinnacle of worth, even if it is not true. We're also told today that self-image is of the utmost importance.
#6 | 2:45 to 3:42 | cleaned
And I've known men that have actually destroyed a ministry and brought tragedy to themselves by seeking to put forth a certain image of themselves and of their work. I know one pastor particularly that led his church into debt, very deep debt, in order to build a humongous building, which they really did not need. And if you ever asked that pastor how in the world were things going and how was he doing, he had a stock answer, great and getting better. But the problem was things were not great and they were not getting better and they ended up losing the ministry, losing the building and it was sold basically to pagans as well. So I understand on the one hand a need in one sense the word for a correct and biblical self-esteem and self-image. But on the other hand, let me put out the point that it must be a biblical self-esteem, and it must be also a biblical self-image, or otherwise, it's nothing more than a hypocritical sham.
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Now, before I get to our text, I do want you to turn, if you would, to the book of Romans, chapter 12, I'm and look if you would please at verse 3 Romans chapter 12 and verse 3 because I want to deal with this passage in light of what I'm going to be teaching you today. So Romans chapter 12 in verse 3 the Apostle Paul writes and he says for I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly according as God has dealt to every man a measure of faith. Now, I want to just take the time and ask you to look at that verse again. He said, For I say through the grace of given unto me, to every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.
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Now, the word for more highly happens to be the Greek word, you prefer no, and you pair literally means above or beyond. And for now, basically means to think. So actually, what he's saying is that we're not to think of ourselves over that which we really are. We're not to estimate our abilities or capabilities, or that which they really are. In other words, when you and I, I think more highly of ourselves than we ought to, what we're doing is we're estimating our value and our worth to be far greater than it is and our abilities and our capabilities to be more and to be greater than they really are. So if you look back at verse three again in Romans chapter 12, he says, for I say through the grace given unto me, that every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, Now watch this, but to think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man, the measure of faith. Now, of course, when he says to think soberly, that has nothing to do with alcohol, that has nothing to do with being drunk or nothing to be doing with being not drunk.
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The word soberly there literally is the word, and it literally means to be in one's right mind. It means to be of a sound mind. It means to put a moderate estimate upon oneself and one's ability. Let me say this another way. It literally means to think wisely. So it tells us that we're not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought. But then we are to think soberly. We're to think wisely. We're to think with a sound mind.
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So the implication of this verse should be very clear. When we are thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought, we're crazy. We're out of our minds. We're not dealing with a sound mind. We're not dealing with a wise way of thinking. So he tells us that we need to think wisely and soberly. I tried to give an illustration this morning. We have a brother in our church by the name of Ed Wolf.
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And Ed sings exactly like I do, which is nil, none. And so I asked the people, I said, What would you think if I announced that this coming week, that Ed and I were going to make a trip to Nashville, Tennessee, and we were going to make a record and we were going to be singing as a duet, and we were going to try to make it a number one hit. And before I could even finish, Tom Davis, I think you're crazy. Well, that's exactly right. And you would be right to think we were crazy, because neither one of us could sing. So what I'm trying to point out is we would be overestimating ourselves, we'd be overestimating our abilities, our capabilities, because I can't sing and neither can Ed. And so to make a, an assessment like that of ourselves would be absolutely insane is what it amount to.
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So in today's estimate, Most people really and truly do not suffer from what you and I would call low self esteem. Most people are actually arrogant and proud and haughty. And thus they overestimate themselves. They do not think soberly. In fact, the truth of the matter is this. We have to know not only our abilities, we have to know not only our capabilities, we also have to know our limitations as well. And so God then is telling us in Romans chapter 12 in verse 3 that we must seriously and that we must soberly and we must script assess ourselves and our abilities and our capabilities as well. Because God has dealt to each one of us a certain measure of faith.
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That is, he's given us a gift. He's given us an ability. And like I pointed out earlier, mine is certainly not singing. Might as well music any stretch by any stretch of the imagination whatsoever But God does indeed expect us to think soberly and view ourselves according to that now Let's go back to our text having shown you that verse the Luke chapter 5 in verse 1 And look at what is happening And
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it came to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear the Word of God He stood by the lake of Gennesaret So the Bible says the people were pressing upon him to hear the word of God. Now the word pressed, in verse one, is the important word. It is the word epikemi, and it literally means to lie upon, to be placed upon, and it also has reference to what you and I would call the pressure of a violent tempest. And so here our Lord is in a crowd and the crowd happens to be pressing upon him.
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And they are doing so in such a way that he can't function, that he really can't concentrate. And so it's stressful and it's very uncomfortable. And consequently, then he borrows a ship.
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Now, there were two ships there. One belonged to Peter and I guess the other belonged to James and John. So if you look in Luke chapter five, verse two, and saw two ships standing by the lake. But the fishermen were going out of them. They were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land.
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And he sat down and thought the people out of the ship. Now. I was thinking as I was preparing this message, the thought hit me. when our Lord borrowed this ship. Have you ever thought about the fact that while Jesus Christ was on the earth, he owned nothing? He owned absolutely nothing. In Luke 9, in verse 58, our Lord said, the foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, for the Son of Man had nowhere to lay his head.
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So he did not even own a place. You'll find he lived with his disciples. Wow. Then I thought about another old hymn. And I want to read that hymn to you. The title of the hymn was The Cross Was His Own. Listen to this. They borrowed a bed to lay his head when Christ the Lord came down. They barred the ass in the mountain pass for him to ride to town. But the crown that he wore and the cross that he bore was his own. The cross was his own. He barred the bread for the crowd he fed on the grassy mountain side. He barred the dish of broken fish with which he satisfied. But the crown that he wore, that thorny crown, and the cross that he bore were his own. The cross was his own. He borrowed the ship in which to sit to teach the multitude. He borrowed a nest in which to rest, but he had never a home so rude. But the crown that he wore, the cross that he bore, were his own.
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The cross was his own. He borrowed a room on the way to the tomb that Passover lamb to eat. They borrowed a cave for him, a grave, they borrowed a winding sheet. So the crown that he wore and the cross that he bore was his own. The cross was his own. So those two things basically really and truly belong to him.
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Now, before I get to the point of this message, there are a couple of principles I want to point out. Think about this question. Would you lend to the Lord Jesus Christ. Would you lend to the Lord Jesus Christ? You have to consider this fact that he owed nothing, he had no collateral, he had no job, he had no bank account, and he's just basically wandering from place to place preaching. I'm sure if Jesus Christ were here today on earth, it would be absolutely impossible for him to acquire a bank loan, although he created the world and owns everything in the world. Because, basically, he had nothing. So, my question is, would you lend to the Lord Jesus Christ? Which brings me to a second question, how in the world would you ever lend to the Lord Jesus Christ?
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Well, let me show you. I want you to hold Luke chapter five, but turn in your Bibles, first of all, to Psalm 112, And look at verse 5, Psalm 112, verse 5. Here's a general principle. We're going to look at a couple of other passages, but look at this one, Psalm 112 and verse 5. In this passage, the word of God simply says this. A good man showeth favor and lendeth.
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He will guide his affairs with discretion. But note this, a good man showeth favor Lendeth now turn right over if you would please the Proverbs chapter 19 and verse 17 Proverbs 19 and verse 17 Look at what the scripture says Proverbs 19 verse 17 he that hath pity upon the poor Lendeth unto the Lord And that which he hath given, will he pay him again? So think about this. He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord, and that which he hath given, will he pay him again? Now if you will turn to Luke chapter 6, the next chapter over from where we are, and look if you would please at verse 35. Luke chapter 6 and verse 35. Our Lord says, but love you your enemies and do good, And then he says this, and lend, hoping for nothing again.
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And your reward shall be great, and you shall be the children of the highest, for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Note, if you would, he is kind to the unthankful and to the evil. But note, if you would, the Bible says, and lend, hoping for nothing again. Let me just point something out to you. I remember years and years ago when Alice and I were at the university, and times were always tough.
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Sometimes we did not have much to eat. And even though I was working, and but I was in school, and it was still tough. And occasionally, my parents, of course, would send us some money or parents would send some money or someone somewhere would send some money. We would have a bonanza, so to speak, and we'd go out and buy all kinds of groceries because usually we ended up having to do without. But there was another couple that was from our local church that was in school there as well.
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They were in the same position that we were. We always laughed because it was a mutual thing that if our friends got rich, Then we got rich, and if we got rich, they got rich. In other words, we just shared whatever we had. We would loan each other whatever, whether it was money or whether it was groceries or whatever it is, and never ever expect anything back in return. You know, I think that's a wise thing to do.
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When our Lord said, listen to this again, but love you your enemies and do good and lend, hoping for nothing again. So if I win Steve 50 bucks, and I get it back, I'm blessed. But if I lend him 50 bucks, and he's unable to get it back, I'm still blessed. And if I don't expect to get it back, my feelings are not going to be hurt if I don't get it back. You follow what I'm saying? So the attitude that I basically took and still take is I give If it comes back, it's wonderful. If it doesn't come back, it's wonderful as well. It doesn't really bother me. So our Lord is saying the way to lend to him is by helping the poor and the needy.
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However, let me make this caveat. There is a huge difference between helping the biblical poor and needy and the lazy and the indolent. the lazy and the indolent, God forbids us to help them. Because the Bible says in second Thessalonians chapter three in verse 10, if any will not work, neither should he eat. So that's very simple. God says if someone's not going to work, let them starve, let them die out. That'll take care of the those who are so indolent and so worthless, they refuse to work. However, I would just imagine that most people, however lazy and indolent they are, before they starved to death, they would find something to do to earn some money to buy some food. So I'm just simply saying, God is saying either they'll be forced to work or they can certainly just simply die out. So there's a big difference in between helping the biblical poor and needy and helping those who are just too lazy to work. Here's a second principle that's tied to this passage, and I'm going to show it to you from the Bible.
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As Solomon said, we just read in Proverbs 19 in verse 17. He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord, and that which he has given him will he pay him again. So this principle can be summed up in two different ways. The first one is this. It's impossible to out give God. It's just impossible to out give God. In fact, the truth of the matter is everything we give him, he's already given us to begin with. But the second way to sum this up is to simply say that God will never, ever be any man's debtor. And God will always give us more than we ever loaned to him to begin with. He always repays more.
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So let me show you. Here's a good illustration in Luke chapter five. So what did he do in Luke chapter five? Well, first of all, he borrowed this ship. So look at it in verse three. And he entered in one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people out of the ship.
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Now, watch out when he left speaking. That is, when he got through preaching, he said in the Simon launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draw. And Simon answered and said to him, Master, we've toiled all the night and we've taken nothing. Nevertheless, at my word, I will let down the net. And when they had done this, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes and their net break now.
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And they beckoned under their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came and filled both the ships so that they began to sink. So our Lord, then, after he uses Peter's ship, commands him to go out a little way and to throw down the nets and prepare for a large draw or a large haul. It would be a tremendous catch.
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Yeah, I almost smiled when I read verse five. When Simon answered, said of him, Master, I can hear this right now in my ears, Master, I You don't understand. We toil all the night. We've taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word, I'll let down the net. It seems if Peter was too tired, too sleepy and too discouraged to really have his heart in obeying the Lord Jesus Christ. But Peter then halfheartedly obeyed.
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And there was a great surprise. That great surprise was the fact that he enclosed this great multitude of fish so that the net began to break. So we had to summon then James and John and their ship. And when they got the fish into the ships, the ships were nearly sinking. They were so full of fish.
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Now think about this truth. Peter loaned his boat to our Lord for a few hours. And now our Lord has rewarded him and his partners with this tremendous catch, two shipfuls of fish. Now, I want you to think about this for a moment. Peter, James, and John had been blessed abundantly. This was the greatest catch, and their greatest prize, and probably their greatest profit that they had ever made in fishing. They have successfully now gotten their catch to the land.
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The ships had come limping in, so loaded down. And they have all this great catch. So here's my question. What in the world do you think was going through Peter's mind? What do you think went through the minds of James and John at this particular point? What would be in your mind if this was you and you were there? Can tell you I believe what the modern-day Christian would be thinking What would be going through our minds would be something like this praise the Lord we are rich Look at this great catch Or we could be saying something like well praise the Lord. We're now famous We've got more than anyone has ever called Or we could be thinking, Lord, thank you for your absolutely wonderful providence. That would be fine. How about this one? I know someone would come up with this. Oh, Lord, you can borrow my boat anytime. Well, of course, look at the reward for loaning the boat. It's astounding. Now, We could also come up, well, I'm blessed to the Lord in this great providence.
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I'm thankful. You know, those would have been standard responses. But I want to look at Peter's response. Look at Luke chapter five, verse eight. When Simon Peter saw it, when he saw this great, great catch, he fell down at Jesus's knees saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." And here's why he did it, for he was astonished. And all that were with him at the draught of the fishes which they had taken. Isn't that astounding? Peter did not say, Lord, thank you for this wonderful catch. Thank you for making us rich. Thank you for giving us this great blessing. No, no, no. He fell down at Jesus's knees saying depart from me Lord for I am a sinful man. What a confession, what an admission, and what a strange way of thanking the Lord for his wonderful providence.
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Now when the Bible says that he fell down at Jesus's knees, the Greek word actually is prospepto and it means to fall forward, to fall down, to fall prostrate at one's itself or one's person and in due homage and supplication. And so what Peter did basically was fall on his face and say, Lord, depart from me for I am a sinful man. Now, why would Peter say that?
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I want to give you two principles which we must learn from this. And if these principles sink into our hearts, they will inevitably change us. Why would Peter say, after this tremendous blessing, depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man? First, the more we see and understand the glory, power, and blessing of God, the more we perceive and understand our own sinfulness. Peter was blessed, but Peter was blessed in this instance in such a way that would be far above all of the others who received a similar blessing. Because Peter was blessed not only with this tremendous catch, but he was also blessed with a realization, a deeper realization of his own sinfulness and the greatness and the glory of Jesus Christ. because Jesus Christ is indeed God in the flesh.
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If you and I talk to our fellow believers, usually in the conversation we can come up with this, that most of our fellow believers think that, well, we're an all right kind of people. I mean, moral, we're upright, We try to be honest. We try to be righteous. But let me point something out. There's a vast difference between what we are in Jesus Christ and what we are in our own sinful nature. Difference between what we are in Christ and what we are in and of ourselves.
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So I want you to turn, hold in Luke 5, to the book of Romans chapter 7. Romans chapter 7, and I want you to notice what the Apostle Paul said, especially in verse 18. Romans 7 and verse 18. In this passage, the Apostle Paul said, for I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For the will is present with me, I want to do what's right, but how to perform that which is good I find not.
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It's not in me, it's what he's saying. I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. I am a sinner, I am sinful, I am weak, I am depraved.
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Now skip down to verse 24. He says, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord, so that with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Now Matthew Henry had a comment on verse 24. He said, and I'm quoting, it was as troublesome to Paul as if he had a dead body tied to him, which he must have carried about with him. This made him cry out, O wretched man that I am.
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And then he makes this observation. A man that had learned in every state to be content yet complains thus of his corrupt nature. So here's a question. Have you easily and readily seen and understand your own depravity and your own corruption of your flesh? I'm going to tell you very pointedly Your flesh does not love God. Your flesh does not want to do that which is right and holy. Your flesh does not wish to be obedient. Your flesh wishes basically just to please itself. You know the scripture says that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Here's why.
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If you look in Romans chapter 8, since you're almost there, Begin there with verse six. Look what the Bible says. For to be carnally minded or fleshly minded, he says, is death. But to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God. For it is not subject to the law of God, neither need envy. So then they that are in flesh cannot please God. So obviously our flesh then is at enmity with God. and it can never ever please God, so flesh and blood is not going to inherit the kingdom of God. Now John Gill and others have pointed out the fact in Romans 7 verse 24, when the Apostle Paul said, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
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That one of the ways that they punished a murderer when he was caught in a timely manner was they would tie him to the man that he murdered. They would tie the dead man and the living man together face to face, chest to chest, arm to arm, leg to leg, and leave. And so the dead man's worms and corruption would finally eat the living man alive and kill him, and so he'd be dying a horrible, agonizing death. And he's pointing out this is a picture of the Apostle Paul is giving when he says, Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this dead? He's talking about his sinfulness. He's talking about his depravity.
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And then Gil goes on to say this. He said it was like that punishment. They send us inflicted on criminals by fastening a living body to a putrid carcass and is emphatically called the body of this death. So Paul, then, is recognizing his own sinfulness. And that's exactly what Peter was doing when he said, depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man. In other words, Lord, this blessing is just a demonstration to me of how sinful I really, really am.
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Now, here's the point I'm trying to make. And I want you to think with me very carefully. The closer you come to God, the closer you come to the Lord Jesus Christ, the more you see his holiness and his righteousness. Inevitably, the more you're going to see your sinfulness, your wickedness, and your depravity. So if you'll turn back in your Bibles with me to the book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter six, you will see this pointed out very clearly. So look at Isaiah chapter six, and let's begin reading there with verse one. Isaiah chapter six, look in verse one.
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The scripture says, In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and his train filled the temple. That is in itself is a tremendous verse. He said, I saw the Lord sitting upon the throne high and lifted up in his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims. Each one had six wings. Between he covered his face. With twenty he covered his feet, with twenty he did fly, and one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. And the post of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Look carefully now.
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Then said I, woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. So he begins to cry, woe is me, I am undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.
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When you see the one true and the living God as he is, you always see yourself as you are. Verse six, then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. And he laid it upon my mouth and said, Lo, this has touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
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Also, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I, Lord, send me. And he said, Go. So here's the call of Isaiah. But when Isaiah saw the Lord, he also saw himself. He saw his filthiness. He saw his sinfulness. He saw the filthiness and the sinfulness of the people that were around him. You cannot see the holiness of God without seeing and understanding your own sinfulness. There's not going to be any foolish pride in the presence of the Lord. So it's impossible to get close to our Lord without recognizing our own sinfulness. I wish you'd look back in your Bibles to Luke chapter 5, because here's the second principle.
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Because Peter, says in verse 8, depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man. But I want you to note it is connected with verse 9. For he was astonished at all that were with him at the draught or the catch of the fishes which they had taken. So here's a second truth. The more we see and understand the glory, power and blessing of God, the more we see and understand our own unworthiness.
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We do not deserve any of our Lord's blessings. We do not deserve life. We do not deserve help. We do not deserve happiness. We don't deserve family. We don't deserve food. We don't deserve rest. We don't deserve sleep. We don't deserve anything but justice and judgment. So we've reached the point in this land where our hearts are so absolutely hardened against God and His truth that many people actually think that they deserve better. There's a catchy phrase that is prominent today, go ahead, you deserve it.
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Oh, you know, the way we reason, well, let's see, I've driven an old car, I've driven an old truck for so long, I got 400,000 miles, I deserve a new truck. Really? I don't even deserve what I have. You see what I'm saying? We rationalize and we say that we deserve these things, when in reality, we do not deserve any things. When people say go ahead, you deserve it. No, 1000 times no. I don't want what I deserve. I want the blessing of God. I want the mercy of God.
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It's pride that thinks that we are worthy. It's pride that thinks that we deserve what we don't deserve. You remember what Jacob said in Genesis chapter 32. You remember he was going to meet Esau. He had already separated his family, separated some stock trying to appease Esau. And of course, there he wrestled with the angel there. But in Genesis chapter 32, he said Oh Lord God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac the Lord who said a son to me Return to thy country and thy kindred that will deal well with thee and then he says this I'm not worthy of the least of my mercies and of all the truth which thou hast shown unto me And when you stop and think about Jacob Yeah, he had four wives Look at all the children he had. Look at the cattle. Look at the sheep. Look at the wealth that he had. And here he is saying, Lord, I do not deserve the least of thy mercies and of all the truth which thou has shown unto me.
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The more you understand God's blessings, the more you understand your own unworthiness. Let me give you another illustration. We're right close to it. Look in Luke chapter seven, Luke chapter seven. And let's begin reading there with verse one. Luke chapter 7 and verse 1. Watch this. Here it is.
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Now, when he had ended all of his sayings in the audience of the people, he entered into Capernaum. And a certain centurion's servant, who was dear unto him, was sick and ready to die. And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying that he was worthy for whom he should do this.
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For he loveth our nation, and hath built us a synagogue. Then Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself, for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof. Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee, but saying a word, and my servant shall be healed.
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For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers. And I say unto one, go, and he goeth. To another, come, and he cometh. And to my servant, do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
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Now, interestingly, the friends of the centurion told Jesus Christ he is worthy. What do you love with our nation? He's built us a synagogue. Evidently, he was pretty well off. A Roman soldier. They said he's worthy. When our Lord started coming, he sent word to our Lord, said, Lord, I am not worthy that you should even under enter under my roof. I'm not worthy. Neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee. And Lord, you don't have to do this thing. You just speak the word and my servant will be healed. And what did our Lord say?
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I've not found so great a faith, no, not in Israel. So the friends said the centurion was worthy, but the centurion had a biblical understanding of himself. And he said, I am not worthy. I'm not. And our Lord said it took a great faith to acknowledge that and to acknowledge the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Now, I want to spend the rest of my time on making some applications. The first one is this. The principles, I believe, are exceedingly clear. We must learn the closer that we get to the Lord Jesus Christ, And the more of his blessings we receive, the more we should perceive and understand his power, his righteousness, his holiness, his mercy, and his grace, which should demonstrate to us our own sinfulness, our great need of him, and at the same time, give us a very, very humble heart and attitude.
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Because we should be like Peter in this instance and recognize that we do not deserve the least of his mercies. Now, I titled this message, How Do You View Yourself? Do you view yourself worthy or unworthy? Do you view yourself righteous or unrighteous? Here's the point. Your view of yourself will affect your prayer life. Your view of yourself will also affect how you praise or do not praise the Lord Jesus Christ. The view of yourself will also affect how you worship or whether you do or not worship. It will affect.
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Let me give you a good illustration. We're in the book of Luke. So let's turn to Luke chapter 17. Look at this. Here's where most people are today. Here is where most Christians are today. Luke 17, let's begin reading there with verse 11. And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off.
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And they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said to them, go show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back with a loud voice, glorified God, and fell down on his face at his feet, just like Peter did, and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks.
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And he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? They're not found that return to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said to him, arise, go thy way, thy faith that made thee whole. So here's the question that you're going to be asked and you should be asking yourself. Are you the one leper that returned? Or are you like the nine who thought that you deserve to be healed? What I'm trying to make is your view of yourself. determines as to whether or not you really praise the Lord, whether you give him glory, whether you worship him or not. So, here's the second application. If you do not see yourself as sinful and undeserving, you're nowhere close to the Lord Jesus Christ. Because the closer you get to Jesus Christ, just like Peter did, you're going to find that you will have to confess that you indeed are a sinful man. The Bible says in 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 6 that we are to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt us in due time.
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You remember our Lord himself said, whosoever exalts himself shall be humbled and whosoever humbles himself shall be exalted. So when we come to the Lord with pride, He's not going to hear us, and if he does, he's going to cast us down. The Lord is never, ever going to turn away a humble and contrite spirit. So, if you do not see yourself as sinful and undeserving, you're not close to the Lord Jesus Christ at all.
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Now, I want you to go back to Luke chapter 5, because I want to make one last application. And I want you to watch this one very carefully. So if you look in Luke chapter five, verse 10 and 11, the Bible says, so was also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men.
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And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all and followed him." I don't know about you, but this is absolutely astounding to me. Peter, James, and John are now at the height of their career. They are now at the height of their economic greatness. They own their ships. And now they have the greatest catch of a lifetime. And look what the Bible says. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all and followed him. They walked away from the greatest catch of their life. They walked away from the greatest monetary prize of their life. They walked away from their family. They walked away from everything to follow Jesus Christ. Amazing.
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I'm just simply pointing out the fact most people today would have never done that. Our arguments are, well, number one, you know, I have to live. I have to make a living. I've got to do something. It's not that just they're simply walking away from a job, they're walking away from the greatest catch and prize in their entire lives. And our Lord just simply said, follow me and I'll make you futures of men. It's time we realized that what Peter, James, and John did was this.
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They counted the service of Jesus Christ greater treasure than anything and everything that they owned. and they were willing to sacrifice all to serve Him. And when you stop and think about this, everything we have He gave us, our abilities, our capabilities, what little money we have, what little possessions we have, Everything we have he gave us. And you never ever can out give God and he's not going to be any man's debtor. And whatever you sacrifice for him, whatever you lend him, he's always going to pay you back more than you sacrifice. We have to understand, the closer we get to the Lord Jesus Christ, the more we're going to see our sinfulness, the more we're going to see our unworthiness.
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And if we're not seeing those things in our lives, if we're not acknowledging the fact that we are sinners and we are sinful, we have a wrong view of ourselves. We can see ourselves for what we are, But we must also see ourselves for what we are in Jesus Christ. And like I said, there's a vast difference because in Jesus Christ, we're absolutely forgiven. We're absolutely perfect. We're absolutely righteous. But in and of ourselves. We can say like Peter.
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Depart from me, Lord, for I am a simple man. I don't deserve this. That was what he was saying. I recognize I'm a sinner. I recognize I'm unworthy. And all I did was loan you my boat for a few hours and Lord, look what you've done. Your view of yourself determines how you serve the Lord, how you worship him, how you praise him, and how you pray.
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Father, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ today that you would help us, that you would speak to us and help us, Lord, to soberly assess our lives, and soberly assess our abilities and our capabilities, and enable us not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought. Enable us, Father, to see our sinfulness. Because, Lord, the more we see our sinfulness, the more we know that we need Thee.
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For Thou hast said, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And you also said, Father, they that behold need not a position, but they that are sick. So, Lord, the more we see ourselves as sinners, the more we realize how desperately we need thee. And Lord, the more you bless us, the more we see how unworthy we are to receive your blessings because we are sinners. Help us, Father. to have a biblical view of ourselves as we are in and of ourselves, as well as have a biblical view of ourselves as we are in Jesus Christ. And may we praise Thee, Father, for Your love and grace and mercy.
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In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
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so so
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T16:18:21Z

How Do You View Yourself?

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

In this sermon, Pastor John Weaver examines the biblical view of self-image, contrasting it with modern self-esteem teachings. Using Luke 5:1-11, he shows how Peter's encounter with Jesus' miraculous catch of fish led him to confess his sinfulness rather than boast. Weaver argues that a proper view of oneself comes from seeing God's holiness, which reveals our own sin and unworthiness. He emphasizes that the closer we draw to Christ, the more we recognize our need for Him, leading to humility, gratitude, and wholehearted service.

Opening

Introduction: The Problem with Modern Self-Esteem

Biblical Self-Assessment: Romans 12:3

Jesus Borrows Peter's Boat (Luke 5:1-3)

Jesus, owning nothing, borrows Peter's ship to teach the crowd. Weaver reflects on Christ's poverty and introduces the principle of lending to the Lord by helping the poor.

The Principle of Lending to the Lord

Scripture teaches that showing favor to the poor is lending to the Lord, who repays abundantly. Weaver distinguishes between helping the truly needy and enabling laziness.

The Miraculous Catch and Peter's Response (Luke 5:4-9)

After a night of catching nothing, Peter obeys Jesus' command and nets a massive haul. Instead of celebrating, Peter falls at Jesus' knees, confessing his sinfulness and unworthiness.

Principle 1: Seeing God's Glory Reveals Our Sinfulness

The more we perceive God's power and holiness, the more we understand our own depravity. Weaver cites Isaiah 6 and Romans 7 to show that closeness to God exposes our sin.

Principle 2: Seeing God's Blessings Reveals Our Unworthiness

God's blessings highlight our undeserving state. Like Jacob and the centurion, we must acknowledge we are not worthy of the least of His mercies. Pride makes us think we deserve more.

Applications: How Self-View Affects Worship and Service

Our view of ourselves determines our prayer, praise, and worship. The one leper who returned to give thanks exemplifies a right self-view. If we don't see our sin, we are far from Christ.

Forsaking All to Follow Christ (Luke 5:10-11)

At the height of their career, Peter, James, and John left everything to follow Jesus. They counted His service greater than all earthly treasure, trusting God's repayment.

Conclusion: A Biblical View of Self

We must see ourselves as sinners in ourselves but righteous in Christ. A humble, sober self-assessment leads to greater dependence on God and faithful service.

In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

How Do You View Yourself?

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	dVlU5m2-pBk
Subject	New Testament Studies
Course	Romans: Law, Obedience, and Sanctification: Holiness and Obedience
Genre	Sermon
Date	2024-07-20
Dictation Name
Book	Book 135: Romans: Law, Obedience, and Sanctification - Volume 2 — Chapter 38
Source Timed Segments	78

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction: The Problem with Modern Self-Esteem: Weaver critiques the modern emphasis on self-esteem, arguing that most people today are proud and arrogant rather than suffering from low self-image. He warns against building a false image that leads to destruction.
Biblical Self-Assessment: Romans 12:3: Paul commands believers not to think of themselves more highly than they ought, but to think soberly—with a sound mind—according to the measure of faith God has given. Overestimating oneself is a form of insanity.
Jesus Borrows Peter's Boat (Luke 5:1-3): Jesus, owning nothing, borrows Peter's ship to teach the crowd. Weaver reflects on Christ's poverty and introduces the principle of lending to the Lord by helping the poor.
The Principle of Lending to the Lord: Scripture teaches that showing favor to the poor is lending to the Lord, who repays abundantly. Weaver distinguishes between helping the truly needy and enabling laziness.
The Miraculous Catch and Peter's Response (Luke 5:4-9): After a night of catching nothing, Peter obeys Jesus' command and nets a massive haul. Instead of celebrating, Peter falls at Jesus' knees, confessing his sinfulness and unworthiness.
Principle 1: Seeing God's Glory Reveals Our Sinfulness: The more we perceive God's power and holiness, the more we understand our own depravity. Weaver cites Isaiah 6 and Romans 7 to show that closeness to God exposes our sin.
Principle 2: Seeing God's Blessings Reveals Our Unworthiness: God's blessings highlight our undeserving state. Like Jacob and the centurion, we must acknowledge we are not worthy of the least of His mercies. Pride makes us think we deserve more.
Applications: How Self-View Affects Worship and Service: Our view of ourselves determines our prayer, praise, and worship. The one leper who returned to give thanks exemplifies a right self-view. If we don't see our sin, we are far from Christ.
Forsaking All to Follow Christ (Luke 5:10-11): At the height of their career, Peter, James, and John left everything to follow Jesus. They counted His service greater than all earthly treasure, trusting God's repayment.
Conclusion: A Biblical View of Self: We must see ourselves as sinners in ourselves but righteous in Christ. A humble, sober self-assessment leads to greater dependence on God and faithful service.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

Pride is the Real Problem, Not Low Self-Esteem

Most people overestimate their worth and abilities, which is a form of insanity according to Romans 12:3.

Weaver says, 'When we are thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought, we're crazy. We're out of our minds.'

God's Blessings Should Lead to Humility, Not Pride

Peter's response to the miraculous catch was not boasting but confession of sin, demonstrating that divine blessing reveals our unworthiness.

Weaver points out, 'Peter did not say, Lord, thank you for this wonderful catch... He fell down at Jesus's knees saying depart from me Lord for I am a sinful man.'

Closeness to God Exposes Sin

The nearer we draw to Christ, the more we see His holiness and our own depravity, as illustrated by Isaiah's vision.

Weaver states, 'When you see the one true and the living God as he is, you always see yourself as you are.'

A Right Self-View Affects Worship and Service

Seeing ourselves as sinful and undeserving leads to genuine praise, while pride results in ingratitude, like the nine lepers.

Weaver asks, 'Are you the one leper that returned? Or are you like the nine who thought that you deserve to be healed?'

God Repays Sacrificial Giving

Lending to the Lord by helping the poor results in divine repayment beyond what we give, as seen in Peter's catch.

Weaver explains, 'Peter loaned his boat to our Lord for a few hours. And now our Lord has rewarded him and his partners with this tremendous catch.'

Scripture References

Luke 5:1-11: The main text: Jesus calls Peter, James, and John after the miraculous catch of fish.
Romans 12:3: Paul's command to think soberly and not more highly of oneself than one ought.
Luke 9:58: Jesus had nowhere to lay his head, illustrating his poverty.
Psalm 112:5: A good man shows favor and lends.
Proverbs 19:17: He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and He will repay.
Luke 6:35: Love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return.
2 Thessalonians 3:10: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.
Romans 7:18, 24: Paul acknowledges that in his flesh dwells no good thing and cries out as a wretched man.
Romans 8:6-8: The carnal mind is enmity against God and cannot please Him.
Isaiah 6:1-8: Isaiah's vision of God's holiness leads him to confess his uncleanness.
Genesis 32:10: Jacob confesses he is not worthy of the least of God's mercies.
Luke 7:1-9: The centurion declares his unworthiness, and Jesus marvels at his faith.
Luke 17:11-19: The healing of ten lepers; only one returns to give thanks.
1 Peter 5:6: Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you.

Historical References

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Romans 7:24: Henry compares Paul's struggle with sin to having a dead body tied to him.
John Gill's Commentary on Romans 7:24: Gill describes the ancient punishment of tying a murderer to the corpse of his victim.
Hymn: 'The Cross Was His Own': Weaver quotes a hymn about Jesus borrowing things during His earthly ministry but owning the cross.

Important Quotes

When we are thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought, we're crazy. We're out of our minds.

Emphasizes that prideful self-assessment is irrational and contrary to sound thinking.

Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.

Peter's response to the miracle, showing that divine blessing led him to confess his sinfulness rather than boast.

The more we see and understand the glory, power and blessing of God, the more we perceive and understand our own sinfulness.

A key principle of the sermon: closeness to God reveals our sin.

They forsook all and followed him.

The disciples' radical response to Jesus' call, leaving their greatest catch to serve Him.

Your view of yourself determines how you serve the Lord, how you worship him, how you praise him, and how you pray.

The practical application: self-view directly impacts spiritual life.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

How does the modern emphasis on self-esteem conflict with the biblical call to think soberly about ourselves?

[Context]

Weaver critiques the self-esteem movement and contrasts it with Romans 12:3.

[Question]

Why did Peter respond to the miraculous catch by confessing his sinfulness instead of celebrating?

[Context]

Peter's reaction in Luke 5:8-9 is the central example of the sermon.

[Question]

In what ways does seeing God's holiness expose our own sin? Can you share a personal experience?

[Context]

Weaver uses Isaiah 6 and Romans 7 to illustrate this principle.

[Question]

How can we distinguish between helping the truly poor and enabling laziness, as Weaver discusses?

[Context]

Weaver references 2 Thessalonians 3:10 and the principle of lending to the Lord.

[Question]

What does it mean to 'forsake all' to follow Christ in our contemporary context?

[Context]

The disciples left their greatest catch; Weaver challenges modern believers to count Christ as greater treasure.

[Question]

How does our view of ourselves affect our prayer life, worship, and service?

[Context]

Weaver states that self-view determines these aspects of spiritual life.

Applications

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T06:53:17Z