Good evening. Let's open the
service by standing and singing out of the spiral bound hymnal.
We'll do hymn number 32. All children of wrath, in bondage
and sin We helplessly lay, condemned and unclean God's law in its
infinite justice and wrath Demanded we suffer an eternal death But
long before time had ever begun, One stood in our place, God's
glorious Son. He offered himself to go live
among men And gave his own life to atone for our sin The Great
Substitute, behold He has come The price has been paid, the
work is all done Christ took on Himself the great load of
our sin He poured out His blood and he could away sin. God's justice and law are now
satisfied, and all who believe have been justified. Through faith in the blood of
the lamb, we are free from sin's condemnation, eternally free. Good evening. Let's open our Bibles to Revelation
chapter 21. Revelation 21. Like the last line of that hymn,
we are eternally free. We are free in Christ from eternity
past to eternity future, always justified before God in Him. Our Our sin is real and committed
in time, but in eternity, we are perfect in Christ and always
have been. There's our hope. I want to try
to bring a message from John chapter six tonight on the miracle
of our Lord walking on the water. And in light of that, I'd like
for us to look at this passage of Scripture in Revelation 21.
The sea, as you know in the Bible, is a picture of separation, which
is what our sin does. Our sin separates us from God. And it is a picture of trouble,
turbulence. And so, Here's John now, having
been given a vision on the Isle of Patmos of our life and glory
and the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven. And he said,
I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and
the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea. And
I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God
out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men
and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people. And
God himself shall be with them and be their God. And God shall
wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more
death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more
pain, for the former things are passed away. And he that sat
upon the throne said, behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, write, for
these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, it is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. And I will give unto him that
is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. Freely. Why do you spend money for that
which satisfies not? the free grace of God in the
finished work of Christ. I forgot to mention Sunday, that
last Sunday was the church in Pennsylvania, Oley Grace Church,
where the Hickmans went. It was their first Sunday in
their new building, and it was a very good day for them. we
want to remember to pray for them. So let's pray together. Our heavenly father, we thank you for the hope of
our calling. We thank you, Lord, that though we find ourselves
so caught up with and distracted by the things of this world,
that we're able to come aside and we're able to read your word and to call upon
you, Lord, to show us mercy and give us your spirit and deliver
us, Lord, for a period of time from the world in which we live
and enable us in this hour to set our affections on things
above, not on the things of the earth, or that we would have
a good hope in that day when there will be no more sea, when
tears will all be wiped away and there'll be no more death
and no more crying. Lord, what great hope, what great
hope we have and that hope is founded on and based on your precious promises. And so, Lord, we pray for your
spirit to give us the faith to believe all that you've said.
We pray for the church in Ole and we ask, Lord, that you would
bless them and cause your word to have free course and give
Caleb boldness and knit their hearts together as you grow them
in grace and in the knowledge of Christ. For it's in his name
we pray, amen. Let's go in the hardback hymnal
here and we'll sing 212 and we'll stand again. What can wash away my sin? of Jesus. What can make me whole
again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. How precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. For my pardon, this I seek, Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. For my cleansing, this my plea,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. Nothing can for sin atone, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. Not a good that I have done,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. Oh, no other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. I have a special now with me
and my brother in from Lexington here. The sands of time are sinking,
the dawn of heaven breaks, the summer morn I ? Sigh for the
fair sweet morn awakes ? ? Dark, dark hath been the midnight ?
? But day spring is at hand ? ? And glory, glory dwelleth ? in Emmanuel's
land. O Christ, he is the fountain,
the deep, sweet well of love. The streams on earth I've tasted
More deep I'll drink above There to an ocean fullness His mercy
doth expand O I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved's
mine. He brings a poor vile sinner
into his house of wine. I stand upon His merit, I know
no other stand, Not even where glory dwelleth, In Emmanuel's
land. The bride eyes not her garment,
but her dear bridegroom's face. I will not gaze at glory, but
on my king of grace. Not at the crown he gives, but
on his pierced hand. The Lamb is all the glory of
Emmanuel's land. Thank you, man. That was a blessing. We are so prone to lose sight
of Emmanuel's land, the hope that we have in Christ and We
come here to this place so that we can be reminded of who we
are and what we have in Christ, to set our affections on things
above, to look on those things which are not seen, remembering
that the things which are seen are temporal. Those things which
are not seen are eternal. If you then be risen with Christ,
Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God. Set your affections on things
above, not on the things of the earth, for you are dead, and
your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our
life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. We need to be reminded of that,
don't we? Every day, every day. And what a special thing it is
to be able to come here and be able to open God's word and join
our hearts together and being reminded of who we are and where
we're going. I've titled this message, Safely
to the Other Side. safely to the other side. If you'd like to open your Bibles
with me to John chapter 6, we've been looking on Wednesday nights
at the seven miracles that our Lord performs, John closes his
gospel. We remember when he said many
other signs, many other things did Jesus that are not recorded
in this book. But these seven, these seven
miracles have been recorded that you might believe that Jesus
is the Christ and that believing you might have life through his
name. So the Lord's given us these miracles to give us hope
in our faith. And we saw last Wednesday night
the feeding of the 5,000 and the sufficiency of the Lord Jesus
Christ for our every need. And now beginning in verse 15
in John chapter six. And when Jesus therefore perceived
that they would come and take him by force to make him a king,
he departed again into a mountain himself alone. The Lord is still departing himself
from anyone that thinks that they can make him king or that
they can make him anything for that matter. He will withdraw
himself from any man that gets the idea that he can obligate
God by something that he does. The Lord is king and he departs
to a mountain. And that's always a place where
the Lord meets with his father and has that sweet fellowship. He's not looking for the affirmation
of men. Todd and I were talking about
this preacher who's a Calvinist, and the logo of his ministry
is making Jesus famous. How blasphemous is that? Making
Jesus famous. He's not looking for a following.
He's not looking for men's approval. And as soon as men think that
they can obligate him or twist his arm or do something to persuade,
he just withdraws himself. Now, conversely, the opposite
is true. Those who have nothing to obligate
God with, who come before Him just for His grace and for His
mercy, looking to the Lord Jesus Christ for the only reason why
God would have any interest in them at all, Those are the ones
that he reveals himself to. The Lord in this very chapter
says to these people who wanted to make him king, towards the
end, after he speaks of his body being meat indeed, and his blood
being drink indeed, and unless you eat of my body and drink
of my blood, there's no life in you. And they concluded by
saying, this is a hard say, who can hear it? And, uh, and, and
the Lord, the Lord said to them, um, look, look over at the end
of, at the end of chapter six, look at verse 60. Many, therefore,
of his disciples, when they heard this said, this is a hard saying. Who can hear it? And when Jesus
knew in himself that his disciples, now these aren't, this word disciple
is used as a follower, not as his apostles or as the believers
that are hanging on his every word. These are just men that
are following him. He's going to say to them, you're
following me, not because you saw the miracle and understood
the meaning of it, but because you can have your bellies full.
That's the only interest you have. Only interest you have
is your temporal, physical comforts in this world. And people still
using God to that end, aren't they? And look at verse 66, and from
that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more
with him. Then said Jesus unto the 12, will you go away also? And this is where Peter said,
to whom shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal
life. Lord, we know who you are. We're sure that you're the Christ,
the son of the living God. And verse 70, and Jesus answered,
have the reason why you differ? The reason why you differ is
because I have chosen you. That's why you differ. And so
he gets all the credit for that, doesn't he? He gets all the glory
for whatever interest we have in him and in his work is because
he put it in our hearts. Who maketh thee to differ? What
do you have that you've not received? A man can receive nothing except
to be given to him from heaven. Here's our hope, brethren. We're
trying to make him king. The majority of what the world
calls Christianity speaks of making Jesus Lord. He withdraws
himself from people like that. Those who would say, as these
apostles said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Who else are we
going to listen to? No one else has the truth. We're certain that you're the
son of God. You're the Christ that should
come into the world. We believe you. And the Lord said, because
I've chosen you. This is the same event that Matthew
tells us about Peter getting out of the boat and walking on
the water. when the disciples saw the Lord and Peter said,
Lord bid me to come unto thee. And Peter gets out and then the
wind and the waves and Peter starts looking away from Christ
as we so are prone to do. And he begins to sink in the
water and he cries, Lord, save me. And immediately the Lord
reached down and delivered him. But John seems to have a different
different emphasis in in the message that he's He's telling
us. Also, Matthew tells us something
that John doesn't tell us, in that after the feeding of the
5,000, the Lord, according to Matthew, constrained the disciples,
the apostles, to go down and to get into a ship and to go
over to Capernaum and that he would meet them there. He constrained
them, he commanded them. Aren't you thankful? Not only
has the Lord chosen us, but he constrains us. He didn't constrain
anybody else, but he constrains us and he keeps
constraining us to believe, to trust, to rely upon him. And as quick as we are to look
away, he is faithful. He is faithful to bring us back. And so he constrained, he told
the, he put them in the boat and he sent the storm. Look at, we're in our text at
verse 16. And when even was now come, his
disciples went down into the sea and entered into a ship and
went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark and Jesus
was not come to them. And the sea arose by reason of
a great wind and blew. The way of the Lord is through
the sea. The sea is a picture of your
experience and my experience as believers in this world. And
a great part of the consternation that we experience, the conflict
that we have, is that though we're not of this world, we're
attracted to the things of this world, the securities of this
world, the pleasures of this world. And that's the very cause of the
conflict that we have, isn't it? We're so much like Rebecca,
Lord, why am I thus? Well, because there's two nations
in you. There's two nations in you. They're warring one with
the other. It's our two natures. This is
the turbulence that every believer... What I want you to see right
now is that when we speak of the wind and the waves of the
sea, yes, there are some hard times that the Lord ordains for
His children. There are difficult circumstances,
and the most difficult trials are yet to come. They're yet
to come for each one of us. The last enemy has not yet been
destroyed. And that's going to be a great
trial. And yet the Lord walks on the water. He walks on the
sea and he gives grace to the humble in their time of need. And so, Verse 19, and so when they had
rowed about five and 20 or 30 furlongs, that's about three
miles, I checked that. So these men in a boat, in a
rowboat, rowing about three miles, they see Jesus walking on the
sea and drawing nigh unto the ship, and they were afraid. And he said unto them, it is
I. Now, We see this several times in
the New Testament, where the English translation doesn't give
the accurate definition of what the Lord's saying here. It's
ego, I, me. It is, I am. He didn't really
say it is I, he said ego, I, me. He said, I am. I am. And we know where that
comes from. From the Bernie Bush, when Moses
asked the Lord, tell me your name. And he said, I am that
I am. I'm the eternal, self-existent,
independent, creator and sustainer of all of life. I am. I'm not
like you at all. And the Lord uses those seven
I am's in the gospel of John. I am the bread of life. I am
the resurrection and the life. And we know our Lord is identifying
himself with Jehovah, the God of Israel. So these disciples
knew when he said, Ego I me, he said, they knew this is the
Lord. This is the glorious I am. This is our God. And he said, be not afraid. And
what I am says, be not afraid. We have reason not to be afraid. 365 times in the New Testament,
the Bible says, fear not. One for every day. Isn't that
our problem? You know, we don't believe God
as we ought. We doubt. We fear. And here's a Lord coming to his
disciples in the midst of a storm, on the sea of life, saying to
them, I am, be not afraid. And they willingly received him
into the ship, and immediately the ship was
at the land with that they went. The meaning I want to draw out
of this miracle can be read in Psalm 66, if you'd like to turn
there with me in your Bible. Psalm 66, verse 12. Thou hast caused men
to ride over our heads. We went through fire and through
water. but thou broughtest us out into
a wealthy place." Through all the trials, all the
troubles, all the turbulences, all the daily, all the daily
troubles that we have in this world with our own flesh, And
with our worldly desires and with our struggles with Satan
and with all these things, the Lord walks on the water. Jeremiah chapter 29, verse 11,
for I know the thoughts that I think toward you, sayeth the
Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil. to give you an expected
end. Now that word expected is the
word hope. To bring to fruition the fullness
of your hope. What is our hope? What is our
hope? Who is our hope? To see him as
he is, to be made like him. He's our hope. Immediately. As soon as they received him
willingly into the ship, immediately they were on the other side. The promise of our God is that
he will deliver us safely. to the other side. You have your
Bibles open there in Psalm 66. Let's read a couple more verses.
Back up with me to verse 10. For thou, O God, has proved us. Thou hast tried us as silver
is tried. This is the reason why he sends
the storms. This is the reason why he commands
us to go down and get in the boat and sends us off alone into
the sea. To prove us, to try us. And he's
not, he's showing us our inability. He's bringing us to that place
where we are afraid and we have to have him in the boat with
us. And as soon as he gets in the boat with us, all is well,
all is well. I'm safe. We're already at the
other side. Look at verse 11. Thou broughtest
us into the net. Thou laidest afflictions upon
our loins. Lord, you sent these things.
Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads. We went through
fire and through the waters, but thou broughtest us out into
a wealthy place. I will go into thy house with
burnt offerings. I will pay thee my vows. Oh Lord, we just come and worship
you. Psalm 29 verse 10 says, the Lord
sitteth upon the flood. Again, we're not talking about
just the great trials and troubles, we're talking about the daily
walk of faith that we each have to experience in this world.
and our fears and our worldly desires and all the things that
Lord... The Lord sitteth upon the flood.
The Lord sitteth king forever. The Lord will give strength unto
his people. The Lord will bless his people
with peace. He will give strength. He will
bless them with peace. He sends us out into the world
and tries us with the troubles of this world and the trials
of our flesh in order to cause us again and again and again
to cry out, Lord save us. We're not bothered much as we
ought to be by the separation that our sin causes between us
and God. The Lord Jesus Christ was separated
ultimately, infinitely from his father. He cried from the cross,
my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? So that we would
not be forsaken, so that our sin would not separate us from
our God. We look now through a glass darkly,
but then face to face. Sometimes the Lord sends us so
far out into the sea that we can't see land. We lose sight
of our destination. Sometimes we feel as if we're
in a raft all by ourselves. And as has been said many times,
water, water everywhere, not a drop to drink. That's our experience
sometimes in this walk of faith. The Lord's trying us in this
world, but here's the good news. He walks upon the flood. The
way of the Lord is through the sea. He's not... He created the storm. He created
the sea. He commanded the disciples to
get in the boat. He sent them out. He let them row for three
miles until they came to the end of themselves. Sometimes
like David, Our sin is ever before us. Oftentimes like Adam, the
sin and the shame of our sin causes us to hide from God. He
lets us row out there in that turbulent sea for a period of
time. He's trying us. He's proven us. He sends a wind
against us. I said, well, I don't feel like
I pass the test very often. The test is not that you become
sinless or that you become better at handling the trials. The test is that you see your
dependence upon him and you flee to him. That's the test. Like Jacob, we often think everything
is against me. And the Lord lets us row that
boat out there in the dark of that sea, fearing for our very
lives. Sometimes we come to the conclusion
that Peter came to. I've just, I've sinned too grievously. The Lord can't use me anymore. I go fishing. I'm just gonna,
I'm just gonna give up. We have those thoughts occasionally.
The Lord let us row out there until we cry, Lord save me. Oftentimes our circumstances
are like Job's and all we have is the miserable comforter of
our conscience accusing us, accusing us by the law. And of course, The accuser of
the brethren's happy to take advantage of that, isn't he? In the midst of the storm, the
Lord comes walking on the water and says, I am, I am, be not
afraid. And immediately they willingly
received him into the boat and immediately they were on the
other side. You see, we can be on the other side even before
we get to the other side. Isn't that the purpose of the
storms? To settle our hearts. That's
what we just read in Colossians chapter three, set your affections
on things above, not on the things of the earth. where Christ is
seated at the right hand of God. And so in these storms, getting
safe to the other side, yes, the Lord's not going to allow
one of His sheep to be lost, not a single one. Every single
one that God the Father chose in the covenant of grace, every
single one the Lord Jesus Christ atoned for and redeemed, He's
not gonna lose one. He said, I'll not leave you nor
forsake you. But in the midst of this world,
I'm going to constrain you to go down to the sea at night,
get into a ship, row out into the water where you can't see
land, and I'm going to send a storm. And you're going to be afraid.
This is every believer's experience. then I'm going to come walking
on the water, I'm going to say, be not afraid. I am. I am. I'm your salvation. Turn with me to 1 Peter chapter
5. This is not, you know, sometimes we feel as if, well, nobody really
knows what I'm going through. Nobody experiences this daily
struggle like I do with my doubts and fears and my sin and my unbelief. Brethren, this is every believer's
experience. Listen to what the Lord tells
us in 1 Peter chapter five. We'll begin reading verse six.
Humble yourselves, therefore, unto the mighty hand of God,
that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon
him, for he careth for you. That's the reason for the trials. That's the reason for the testing.
That's the reason for the troubles. That's the reason for the turbulence
of the sea, to humble us, to cause us to see, Lord, I can't
do this. And it calls us to cast our care
upon him, believing that he cares for us. Be sober, be vigilant,
because your adversary the devil has a roaring lion walking about
seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist steadfastly in the
faith, in the faith. It doesn't mean you grit your
teeth and you make new commitments and you pull yourself up and
you say, well, I'm going to do better and I'm going to try harder
and I'm going to work harder. No, it'd be in the faith. What
is it to resist the devil in the faith is to look to Christ,
the author and the finisher of our faith in our time of need
and find a help in our time of need. Knowing, look at the rest
of verse nine, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished
in your brethren that are in the world. Every believer in every generation
has these afflictions and they are for the purpose of accomplishing
something. They're for the purpose of accomplishing
something. That's what Hebrews chapter 11
is all about. And then when we get to Hebrews
chapter 12, seeing that you are compassed about with such a gray
cloud of witnesses. And none of the sins of those
Old Testament saints is mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11. They're
covered by the blood of Christ. It's how God sees these believers. That's how God sees every believer.
He sees them in faith, in faith. And seeing that we are compassed
about with such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside
the weight and the sin which does so easily beset us. What
is that? It's the sin of unbelief. Let us run the race with patience. looking unto Jesus, who is the
author and the finisher of our faith, who for the hope that
was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame. What is it that brought Christ
faithful? He believed. He looked for the
hope that was set before him. That's what Hebrews chapter 12
tells us. These trials come from our Heavenly
Father every day. Again, yes, from time to time
as the Lord sees fit, he sends difficult things. But this is
every believer's daily experience. Walking by faith and not by sight. Living in a body of death. living in a world that is completely
contrary to everything we believe. And the real consternation for
the child of God is that though we hate it, we love it. Though
we despise these things, we're drawn to them and we're attracted
to them. That's our C. That's our turbulence. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Look at verse 16. For which cause we faint not,
though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed
day by day. our light affliction now I can't
tell you that your afflictions are light and you can't tell
me that my afflictions are light let us let us never be so presumptuous
as to as to try to make light of one another's afflictions
but if God says they're light that's a whole nother story in
it For our light afflictions, which
is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things
which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things
which are seen are temporal, and the things which are not
seen are eternal. The more we look at these temporal
things, Spoke to a brother just a couple of days before the Lord
took him home, arrested with cancer. Spoke to him on the phone
this few years ago. And he said to me, he said, Greg,
I've seen all this world I want to see. Ready to go home. And what the Lord is telling
us in this miracle is this as well. If he can do the greater,
can he not do the lesser? Now, simple illustration to that
is if a man can pick up 500 pounds, he can very easily pick up one
pound. If the Lord Jesus Christ is capable of satisfying the
demands of God's law and justifying us in the sight of a holy God,
saving us, Converting us, causing us to willingly receive him into
the boat. If he's capable of successfully
getting us to the other side, is he not capable of meeting
our daily needs? Whatever they might be. Turn with me in Isaiah 43, and
we'll close. Isaiah 43. Now, in Isaiah chapter 28, the
Lord speaks to those who make a covenant with death. They say,
with death, we've made a covenant, and with hell, we're in agreement.
And when the overflowing scourge shall come, You see, this turbulent
sea not only represents the trials and troubles that every believer
has in this world and the hope of knowing that our Lord walks
on the water. He walks on the water. He's not
troubled by the water. He troubled the water and he's
walking right on it. And he's saying to his children,
I am, be not afraid. But this sea, which we read of
in Revelation 21, when John saw the new Jerusalem come down from
heaven, then there was no more sea, is also a picture of judgment. Just like those who people said
in chapter 28 of Isaiah, well, when the overflowing scourge
comes, we're gonna be fine. They're like the people in the
day of Noah. That deluge was God's judgment against the world,
and Noah warned them. For 120 years, he preached to
them and warned them. There's a flood coming. Well,
it's never rained before. We're not worried about that. And God said, I'm gonna disannul
their covenant, the covenant that they've made with death.
And when the overflowing scourge comes, when the floods come,
when the wrath of God comes, they will be swept away. Now
look at Isaiah chapter 43. Isaiah 43. Yet now here, O Jacob,
my servant and Israel whom I have chosen. Thus saith the Lord that
made thee and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee.
Fear not, O Jacob, my servant, and thou Jeshurun. I'm sorry, I'm reading for chapter
43. go back to chapter 40. I was reading 44, 43 verse one,
but now sayeth the Lord that created thee, O Jacob. That's
why I was confused because it starts out the same way. And
he that formed thee, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed
thee. I have called thee by my name, thou art mine. When thou
passeth through the waters, I will be with thee. And through the
rivers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through
the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the fire kindle
upon thee." I'm the Lord. Here's what the Lord is telling
us. I walk upon the waters. This overflowing scourge, When
the greatest trial that we have yet to come comes, the Lord's
gonna divide that water. He's gonna open that sea. He's
gonna allow us to walk upon dry ground. He's gonna give grace
to the humble. He walks on the water. And the child of God willingly
receives him into the boat. and immediately they're on the
other side. You know, I may be wrong on this. If I am, someone correct me.
I can't think of a believer. Believers died in a lot of different
ways in the Bible. I can't think of one that drowned. Except in a type, Jonah. And because Jonah was cast into
the sea and swallowed by that whale, therefore the sea became
calm and the men on the ship were all saved. We know who that Jonah is. As
Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of the whale,
so the son of God. spent three days and three nights
in the earth. And by his resurrection, we have
the hope of knowing that he walks on the water. The trials and
troubles, whether they be daily, routine issues of the believer's
struggle with the walk of faith, or whether it be a great big
trial that God sends even unto death, our Lord walks upon the
water The way of the Lord is through the sea. And he says,
I am. Be not afraid. Be not afraid. Our heavenly father, thank you
for your word. And thank you for the record
of this wonderful miracle that reminds us of who you are and
what you've done for us. Blessed to our hearts and our
souls, we ask it in Christ's name, amen. 40, number 40, let's stand together,
number 40.