These words were addressed by Simon Peter to the Lord on one occasion when the Saviour had manifested His Divinity by causing a miraculous draught of fishes. "And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon Him to hear the word of God, He stood by the lake of Gennesaret, and saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone 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 had left speaking, He said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto Him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at your word I will let down the net. And when they had done this, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net broke. 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." (Luke 5:1-7)
Peter said, when he saw the miracle, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." (Luke 5:8)
It was the expression of the natural feeling of the human heart, when made by the presence of God to realize its sinfulness. It is the feeling in the hearts of many today who are touched by the Spirit of God, and convicted of sin, and know not what to say.
But the Saviour did not depart from Peter, and in this there is encouragement for all sinners who feel their unworthiness in the sight of God. The fact that Peter realized that he was a sinful man, so far from being a reason for Christ's leaving him, was the very reason why Christ could not leave him.
He had come all the way from heaven to earth, at the sacrifice of all that He had, to be with sinners and to take them by the hand and lift them out of their fallen state. And therefore He could not then, and He cannot now, leave a man because he realizes that he is a sinner.
When we feel and acknowledge our unworthiness in His sight, so far from doing anything to drive Him from us, we are presenting to Him His own all-powerful reason for not leaving us to ourselves.
The Saviour does not stay where He is not wanted; but there is a vast difference between this petition of Peter's and that of the inhabitants of the country of the Gergesenes, who came and besought Him to depart out of their coasts.
There was no enmity in Peter's heart towards the Lord, no aversion to the Divine principles which shone out in Jesus' life. His aversion was all for himself. He asked the Lord to depart because he felt himself to be sinful and the Lord good--a state of mind exactly opposite to that of those who wish the Lord to depart because they feel themselves to be good and the Lord evil. It is this latter class of sinners from whom the Saviour departs, because they feel not their need of Him, and His grace cannot reach their hearts.
So when we feel our sinfulness and our need of Divine aid, we may come boldly to the throne of grace, presenting before God the reason He himself has furnished us, namely, our need of Him. Instead of feeling that the Lord will turn us away because of our wickedness, and destroy us with His judgments, we may feel the assurance of His own words, that: "The Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." (Luke 9:56)
And we may gather assurance from the fact, which the inspired word reveals, that it is for the glory of God that He should receive sinners; and that therefore in asking God to receive and pardon us, we are really asking Him to work for His own great glory.
We may read this thought in Paul's letter to the Ephesians. The apostle says, "But God, who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ (by grace you are saved); And has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace, in His kindness toward us, through Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:4-7)
And so now, in receiving the vilest sinners, the great Father is but preparing the way to manifest to the universe the exceeding riches of His grace through the ages of eternity,--that grace which reaches the lowest depths of sin, and lifts up from thence the helpless sinner to a place at His own right hand.
The great God has no word of discouragement for the sinner who feels his sinfulness. To all such He says, as He did to Peter, "Fear not." (Luke 5:10) "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9)--Present Truth, June 21, 1894--Timeline: IV-4 (The Call by the Sea)--Luke 5:1-8.