One day, as the crowds pressed round Him to hear the Word of God, Jesus came to the Lake of Gennesaret and saw two boats drawn up on the shore.  Now one of these belonged to a man named Simon Peter, who was at the water’s edge washing his nets.  Jesus entered into this boat and asked Simon to push it off from the land a little.  Then He sat down and taught the people from the boat.  And when He had done speaking to them He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught of fishes.”  Simon, answering Him, said, “Master, we have toiled all through the night and have taken nothing, but as you wish it I will let down the net again.”  And they let down the net into the sea, but it enclosed so great a multitude of fishes that they could not draw them up; and the net brake.  Then Simon beckoned to his partners, James and John, who were in the other boat, that they should come and help them.  And they came and filled both boats with the fishes, so that they began to sink.

When Simon Peter saw it he fell down before Jesus, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”  For he and all that were with him were astonished at the marvellous draught of fishes which they had taken.  And Jesus said unto Simon, “Fear not, Simon Peter; from henceforth thou shalt be a fisher of men.”  Meaning that he was to go about winning souls for God, instead of being a fisherman.

And when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all they had and followed Christ.

[Illustration:  The wonderful draught of fishes.]

THE HOUSE BUILT UPON THE SAND.

What a foolish man the builder of the house shown in our picture must have been!  Of course, when the wind blew and the waves dashed against his house, it would fall.  Look how the sea has washed the foundation away, and how the roof is falling in!  And the people; see how they are fleeing to save their lives!  And all this calamity because he built his house upon the sand.  But the other house, shown in the distance:  how firmly that stands!  What a bold front it offers to the waves, and how safely it resists the fury of the storm.  Its foundations are sure, because they rest upon the solid rock.

Jesus had been teaching the people.  He had taught them many wonderful truths, which you will find written in the fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters of Matthew; and in closing He said, “Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man who built his house upon a rock.  And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock.  And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man which built his house upon the sand.  And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”  The lesson Jesus sought to impress upon the people by this parable was, that it is not enough simply to hear what He says.  Many will do that; but it is only those who remember Christ’s commandments and keep them, whose work will stand when the time of trial comes.