Do you ever beat yourself up over your past failures? When you look back over the last week or month of your life, do you see your success or do you hone in on your failures? Because we are human beings, there is going to be times when we experience failure. Do you find yourself not even motivated to try again because of your past failure? Failure is simply defined as, ‘not measuring up to a standard’.

Today, I want you to understand that you are not a failure. God doesn’t make failures, He makes people. If you failed one time that doesn’t doom you to fail for rest of your life. If you fall short one time of the standard, two times, ten times, that doesn’t make you a failure. Because if it did then we all are hopelessly damaged. There is nothing in you that is so damaged that can’t be fixed, you’ve not messed up that many times that you can’t try again. If you’ve ever felt like a failure, I want to tell you, that is not God speaking to you. If you’ve made anybody feel like a failure, then I pray that conviction of God right upon you at this moment. If you’ve treated somebody in such a way that they are a failure, you’ve not been an agent of God to them, you’ve been an agent of destruction to them. There are many people who are scared away into their adulthood because somebody convinced them that they are a failure, they’re undesirable, they’re broken, that nobody wanted them, and they live with that for the rest of their life.

But, here is the issue- I am not a failure but I’ve failed. I’ve fallen short of standards time and time again. That’s why Paul writes in Romans 3:23, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” Everyone of us have fallen short of God’s standard, each one of us.

Failure is an inevitable part of our lives, we’ve all done it, we’ve all fallen short of standards. How do we move on from here? Luke chapter 5 get us a clear picture of an event, when Jesus enters the scene of somebody’s life who’ve failed and how He helped them to move forward from that event. Luke 5:1-11, “Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the people from the boat. When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.” When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; so, they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men.’ When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.”

Where we see only failures, Jesus see opportunity (verses 1-3). Jesus see things much differently then I and you do. Peter and other fishermen worked all night and there was nothing in their fishnet, and when Jesus enters in the scene in the morning, it was not the beginning of their workday, it was the end of their work night. When Jesus was walking from there, He saw some fishermen. It could’ve easily say that He saw some unsuccessful fishermen with broken down boats, empty bellies and no paychecks. What did Jesus see, He saw three things, He saw two boats and He saw fishermen. He didn’t see defeated people, He didn’t see failed people but He saw fishermen. Jesus sees things differently then you do. Jesus walked into the scene and it was a scene of failure, but Jesus never brought it up. He saw capable fishermen, boats that work, nets that work. What things are in your life that really are working and why have you forgotten about them? Jesus saw a fisherman, but Peter saw a failure. If Jesus enters into your scene today, what evidence of your failure does God see today? Do you have a lower confidence then you used to? Do you have trouble looking people in the eyes because you are embarrassed of your own failure, whether they see it or not? Have you given up of trying and taking initiative? Every time when your mind resets, do you go back to mistake in your past that you asked God to cover over a million times, but you can’t let go off it. What evidence of your failure are you carrying? We carry things which God doesn’t want us to carry. He doesn’t want you to carry your mistakes for the rest of your life. He wants you to take some action and move beyond and move forward.

When I want to quit Jesus invites me to try again His way (verses 4-7). Jesus tells them to push out for deep water and let your nets deep down for a catch. He didn’t even reference their previous failure but just asked them to throw their net for a catch. He invites them to try again but a little bit differently. We all are going to fail, and we’ve failed. It’s not just the matter of trying again, it’s the matter of trying Jesus’ way. You can live with a whole bunch of mistakes in your life and not do it God’s way and you can try and try and try everything you think you need do, to get the results you want to get, to meet up to the standards. If you don’t do it God’s way and if it is just your effort, then there is no guarantee. God asked Peter to do something differently. What we see here is that Peter is taking complete responsibility and saying we worked all night and caught zero fish, he didn’t make any excuse for his failure (fishnet was bad, weather was bad, etc.). Before you can ever move beyond your mistakes and failures, the first thing you need to do is to take responsibility for it, it’s not anybody else’s fault. You got to own responsibility for your mistake without passing the blame on others. Until you take responsibility for your part we can’t move any further down the road and making a solution either. When I come to have a relationship with Jesus, I can’t just say, I accept forgiveness and I want haven please. I have to accept the responsibility that I am a sinner and until I take responsibility for it, I can’t move down the road and have solution for it. Peter accepts the responsibility for what went on. Acceptance plus willingness equals hope that is the formula to move forward from any failure. Peter accepted it and here is his response, “We fished all night, we caught nothing but because you say so I will try again.” What you wish if God invites you to try it again today?

When I receive grace, Jesus awaits my response (verse 8): After catching full net of fishes, Peter’s reaction is little different. He said, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.” What was going on in his mind after this huge catch of fish, he had nothing before, now he has abundance, his reaction is fearful and heightened awareness of his sinfulness. Peter realized that this man is not some ordinary man, he knew deep in His heart that if Jesus knew the secret of where the fishes are then He surely knows about his sinful nature also. He says, “I am a sinful man.” He was having a hard time accepting “Grace”. Grace means getting something which you don’t deserve, Peter knew He didn’t deserve it. Each one of us has been given grace, we been given opportunity for another chance, we been given an invitation to move beyond our failure, we been given an invitation to have relationship with God. We don’t deserve it, but grace demands a response, you either accept it or reject it. Those are your two options. God is giving you grace today. He has given us all grace, He has given us something which we don’t deserve, that’s another chance, that’s the opportunity for a new life, that’s the blood of Jesus to cover over my sins, I don’t deserve any of those, but God chose to give it.

Peter had an opportunity to accept it or reject it and he said, “depart from me, I am a sinful man.” Jesus’ first few words back to him are, “Don’t be afraid.” Don’t be afraid of success, don’t be afraid of what lies ahead, don’t be afraid to try again, don’t be afraid to live it in the past, don’t be afraid to embrace a new identity. God never intended you to embrace that identity, he didn’t intend Peter to be struggling with his worth as a fisherman. He didn’t intend Peter to spend rest of his life hesitating to take great opportunities God puts in front of him, He wanted him to embrace that. He gave Him grace so that he would accept it. What are you doing with the grace that God is offering you, are you accepting it? Are you rejecting it? What evidence of your failure would Jesus see if He walks into your life today? What are the things you wish He would invite you to try again? Your moving beyond your failure requires some action on your part. Moving forward requires moving. Some of you have got some failures in your life, you need to let go it and move on from there. If there are some issue which you need to let go, if it is a sin, then the invitation is repent, receive forgiveness and receive God’s grace. If it’s a mistake or a failure in your own life and you already asked God for forgiveness, He’s moved on, it’s time for you to catch up. How did Peter responded to Grace, he left everything there and followed Jesus, he left it all there, what did that boat represent, it represented his past, it represented what he used to do, he left a guaranteed something he could have for following a man who gave him success and another chance.

Are you willing to leave behind your identity, your mistakes and your failures and follow the man who gave you grace? You need to pick that stuff back up and go back to it or you follow Jesus, that’s your option. Peter lived very amazing next three year after that, he followed Jesus. Today there is an invitation for you to leave your failure, your mistakes, your past, right where they are and follow the Man who gives you Grace. Jesus invites you to accept your failures, your sins and your mistakes and then accept forgiveness and Grace from Him, and you will walk in a life of new hope.