You turn your song, and Tim,
you come preach to us. Well, it's good to be back again
tonight. Paul had some pizza. And if you fall asleep, I won't
wake you up. And if I fall asleep, you all
don't wake me up either. Just leave and surprise me. Matthew chapter 14. Let's get
a little warm. I'm going to take off my coat
if you don't mind. Begin reading in verse 22. We'll
read through verse 23, a very familiar portion of scripture. Verse 22 says, in a straight
way, this is after the Lord had fed the 5,000 with some few fishes
and loaves. The straightway Jesus constrained
his disciples to get into a ship and go before him unto the other
side where he had sent the multitude away, or while he sent the multitude
away. And when he had sent the multitudes
away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray. And when the evening
was come, he was there alone. The ship was now in the midst
of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary. And
in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them walking
on the sea. And when the disciples saw him
walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, Is it a spirit?
And they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spoke unto
them, saying, Be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said,
Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he
said, Come. And when Peter was come down
out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But
when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid. He began to sink
and he cried, Save me, Lord. And immediately Jesus stretched
forth his hand and caught him and said unto him, O thou of
little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they were
coming to the ship, the wind ceased. And they were in the
ship, came and worshipped him. saying of a truth, Thou art the
Son of God. What prompted this message was
a conversation I had with my brother Myron during my last
visit to see my mom in Winston-Salem. We were talking about the world
in general and there was so much going on that it was hard to
think sometimes all the chaos that surrounds us opinion, anger,
abound. Things were changing at a breakneck
pace. The changes will continue and
what we see today will be a little bit different tomorrow from the
same people. And the changes, whether political, social, religious,
or whatever, will not be changes for the better. You can count
on that. Things, according to our Lord
Jesus Christ, will wax worse and worse. and the love many,
according to the Lord Jesus Christ, will wax cold. Time and tide
are like a great juggernaut careening apace toward the deadly prefaces
of prolific depravity. And we will be aware more than
ever because of the devices that report news or opinion at the
moment when it happens. We don't miss anything today.
Those who cry for transparency find more than ever. All they see is public airing
of dirty laundry, causing men and women to glory in their shame. Words like integrity and honor
and duty have been sacrificed on the so-called altar of carnal
acceptance. Makes you long for a day when
sin and debauchery were things thought to be worthy to be hidden
from the public eye under the guise of being honest. Men and
women put their depravity on public display. Said, I know
I'm a criminal. I know I'm a murderer. But at
least I'm honest about it. They used the law to defend themselves. Now my brother and I, during
this conversation, both agreed that this present age, it's hard
to concentrate. It's hard to be fixed on something
worthwhile. It is what the Lord called in
the parable of the sower, the cares of the world. Paul called it the sin that so
easily doth beset us and hinders us from looking to the prize,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we who believe know that
these things take our eyes off Christ. And sad to say we are
so easily overwhelmed by these things. My brother Myron spent
four years in the Coast Guard of the United States. And his
first tour was an icebreaker in the Arctic Circle. And the
rest of his time he was spent on boats off the coast of Carolinas. They were rescue boats. They
often had to go out in really stormy seas with the waves that
towered over the boats. And when they were on deck amid
these towering torrents, the standing order was always the
same to the men on the deck. The standing order was this,
eyes in the boat. Eyes in the boat. This meant
that they were not to look at the roiling seas, but keep their
eyes within the parameters of the vessel. Specifically, they
were to look at the helmsman who sat at the head of the boat,
stationed forward in the boat to keep it pointed in the right
direction and toward the waves. That one man was he who would
guide the men through the storm. So the captain said, eyes on
the boat, men. Eyes on the boat. There's safety there. Don't look
away from the helmsman. Keep your eyes on the boat because
to look away is to see the peril that you're really in. To see
the waves rising up. And as he explained this to me,
I was fascinated and I thought of this episode of the life of
Simon Peter. It's what I thought about. Who is Simon Peter? He was a chosen apostle, a disciple
of the Lord. And he was one of the inner circle
that was always around where the Lord was. He loved the Lord. He said it three times when the
Lord asked him three times. He finally said, you know I love
you because you know all things. He declared the Lord to be the
son of the living God when nobody else was wondering who he was. He said he's the only one who
had the words of eternal life. To whom shall we go? He said
to Christ. Thou hast the words of eternal life. He was the one
whom the Lord gave the commission to feed his sheep. You love me?
Feed my sheep. He was the one who led the charge
at Pentecost and the first to personally take the gospel to
the Gentiles when he went down to Cornelius' house. after the
Lord had hung down a sheet with a bunch of beasts on it and said,
eat. And Peter said, oh, no, I can't
do that. The Lord said, don't call unclean what I've made clean. And he was preparing to go down
to an unclean Gentile and carry the gospel to him. In the text, the Lord has just
fed 5,000 with fishes and a few loaves. And John's account said
that they wanted to make Christ their king. So he sent the disciples
on to the sea and told them that after he had dispersed the crowd,
he would join them. And he dispersed the crowd as
crowds are often dispersed. Actually, almost always dispersed
by speaking the truth. They came to him and said, we
want to make you king. He said, that's not going to
happen. And so they said, well, you know this fish and loaves
thing. Could you teach us how to do
that? Could you teach us how to do the works of God? and he
told the truth this is the work of God and this is the work of
God that you believe on him whom he has sent this is the work
of God and that dispersed the crowd the disciples had no idea
had no idea I wouldn't have had an idea that Jesus Christ was
going to walk to them on the water the words of our context
tells us a great deal about Simon Peter and because he is a sinner
saved by grace and I'm so glad he's in the scriptures because
he's always seems to be messing up on things and always being
kind of you know bold in the wrong places I'm glad he's there
but because he's a sinner saved by grace it tells us a great
deal about ourselves this is a story about us our Lord had
retreated to the mountain to pray and the disciples had set
sail on the sea soon the disciples were in a quandary. Their little
bark was being tossed about by great waves in what the Lord
called contrary winds in verse 24. That word contrary is used
a lot in scripture. When our Lord went to the cross
of Calvary, He nailed what was contrary to us on the cross.
He says that in Colossians chapter 2. It says this, and blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us which was
contrary to us and took it out of the way and nailing it to
the cross and having spoiled principalities and powers you
made show of them openly triumphing over them in it. And what that's
talking about was contrary to us. The law is contrary to us. It ain't never been for us. It's
always been against us. As the old fella said, it's against
us. It was contrary to us. And the Lord took care of the
law that day. He fulfilled the law. and kept
the law. He fulfilled it in this sense.
The word fulfill means to end, to end, to be done with, to set
aside. He fulfilled the law and he kept
the law the way everyone will keep the law and the only way
you'll keep the law and the only area in which you'll keep the
law. How will you keep the law? By being good? Too late for that. There's none good, no, not one.
By being righteous? Too late for that. There is none
righteous, no not one. There's not a just man on earth
that doeth good and sinneth not. How you gonna keep the law? Same
way I'm gonna keep it. I'm gonna die. That's how we
keep the law. We obey the law by dying. Because
the soul that sinneth it shall die. That's what the law says. What the law says, it says to
them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and
the whole world become guilty before God. If you're guilty
you gotta die. That's why Jesus Christ died in the room instead
of his people. To account that death is ours by imputation.
When he died, we died. We kept the law. We kept the
law. We obeyed the law. We were obedient
even unto death because he was obedient even unto death. Law
is contrary to us. That's one of the winds that
sometimes kicks up around us. Religion likes to talk about
it. Religion likes to put people under it. Religion likes to draw
the law into the gospel. It don't work. It don't work. You're either saved by grace
or you're lost altogether. And the law ain't gonna help
you if you're saved by grace and it certainly ain't gonna help
you if you're lost. It's the law. Contrary to us. These are
the contrary winds that rock our boat sometimes. Also, scripture
says that the flesh is contrary to the spirit. Contrary. we have this two principles of
life in us Paul called them laws laws of life in Christ Jesus
and the law of sin and death and what they are these two principles
of life are the flesh and spirit if you're a child of God if you're
not a child of God you're not going to know what I'm talking
about so you can just say well he's not talking to me okay it's alright
but if you're a child of God you know what I'm talking about
you have the flesh you have the flesh and the spirit and they're
always contrary to each other Paul said they're so contrary
to each other that we can't do what we would And I think that
works both ways. We would love to be good people.
And we try our best to do what's right, to be honest, to have
some integrity in this world, to deal honestly with people.
We try our best. We don't succeed. But we want
to be good. Paul said, this is the principle
he described in Romans chapter 7 at the very end in verse 25.
He says, so this is my life with my mind, my heart. My intent, I serve the law of
God but with my flesh. I serve the law of sin and death
and that's our existence. The law is contrary to us and
the flesh is contrary to the spirit so we can't do what we
would and sometimes when we desire to go astray the spirit keeps
us from going astray. So we can't do what we would
either way, in the flesh or the spirit, because they're contrary.
This is the contrary winds that rock our boat, the boisterous
winds and waves that make us fearful, make us fearful. Also,
the strange winds of doctrine are contrary winds. They come
down the pike. And I'm not talking about crazy,
far-out doctrine like some of this. I'm talking about within
the realm of those who love the Lord, those who seek His way,
and those who believe the gospel of God's grace, sometimes doctrines
pop up, men's ideas and thoughts pop up, and they rock the boat.
These are contrary things. Contrary things. And we are subject
to them. We are subject to them. The Lord
was not with them. They were by themselves. They
couldn't see Christ. The elements were making them
afraid, so afraid that they even cried out. Even when the Lord
was present with them, they became afraid in troubled seas. You remember when they went to
the ship, all of them together with the Lord, and the Lord was
sleeping. and the waves begin to toss them about and they say,
Master, carest thou not that we perish? Wake up! Why would
they want to wake him up? They want him to wake up because
they was afraid! And he stood up and said, Peace,
be still, and the sea became like mirrored glass. They were
afraid. We're often afraid. How do I
know? Because so often in scripture
our Lord says, Fear not. Be not afraid. Things can throw
us off. Things can get us off. Get our
mind off the way it should be. Why? Why were they afraid? They were looking outside the
boat. They were looking at the waves. They were feeling the wind. The trouble around them caused
them to fear for their life. They were afraid. Even when the
Lord was present with them, they were afraid. When they saw Christ
walking on the sea, they were afraid. They were afraid. They thought he might have been
a ghost or something, a specter, an apparition. They didn't know
what... Maybe they thought he was the
Grim Reaper coming to finish the work. They didn't... I don't
know what they thought, but they were afraid. They were afraid. Maybe they thought their time
was done. But what this tells us is that
if the elements are contrary to us, and contrary enough, what
we see may not be what we think we see at all. because we're
looking at the wrong place. We may cry out in fear when in
truth it's the Lord that's in control of all things and we
know that. So why do we fear? Because though
we are believers, we are so full of unbelief. It's such a part
of our existence. Shall there be trouble in the
city and the Lord not be in it? And the Lord not do it? It says
in Matthew and Amos chapter 3. the Lord's in control of all
things. He that walks on the waves, holds the winds in his
hands, and counts the mountains in a balance, and controls the
spirit. The Lord told them, be of good
cheer. Now think about the situation.
They're in a boat. It's being tossed to and fro.
The winds are conjuring. The waves are still rolling.
And our Lord said, be of good cheer. It's me. Be not afraid. Oh, if we could see Him. And
when we see him, I think about this often. This is a world of
chaos. And I get ticked off just like
you do about what's going on. I get upset, I get worrisome,
and sometimes I think some of the awfulest things. It's a tough
world we live in. And I think, when am I happy?
When am I at peace? When am I full of joy when I'm
doing what we're doing right here? The rest of the week, It's
nip and tuck all the way. It's waves rolling over the bow
all the way. But in these moments, these great,
sweet moments, when we hear someone preach the gospel of God's grace
and tell us who Jesus Christ is and what He's done for His
people, oh, it settles the soul. Anybody here afraid tonight?
Any of you even thinking about what's going on outside these
doors? No, we're thinking about what's being said, what's being
taught. That's what we're thinking. We're thinking about our Lord.
And when your eyes are fixed on Him, everything's alright.
Everything's alright. Would to God we could do that
and we'd walk outside these doors. But the waves toss us about.
Though the words of Simon Peter may be construed as doubtful.
When he said in verse 28, he said to Peter, Answer, Lord,
if it be Thou, bid me come unto Thee. Now some might say, well,
he was doubtful whether it was the Lord. I'll tell you this,
if it had been a specter or a ghost or an apparition and had lied
to him, he'd still step out of that boat. He would have stepped out of
the boat because he believed it was Jesus Christ out there.
He just wanted to make sure. He believed it was the Lord,
else he would have remained in the boat. Think about that. He
stepped out, it says, onto the water. Stepped out on the water. I've never tried that. I don't
think I could. I might in some creeks where
I know the rocks are and it might look like I'm walking on water,
but I'm not. He stepped out onto the water, not into the water.
It says he stepped out on the water when the Lord said, come,
come. But just as Simon Peter was a
man of faith, he was also a man, a human being. And though the
sea had become solid footing for him like a concrete path,
a true foundation for him he took his eyes off Christ and
he saw the waves rolling about him and felt the bluster of the
wind buffeting him and he slipped from his moorings and began to
sink into the deep his doubt emerged when he turned his eyes
from the only object of faith and that's when our trouble begins
doesn't it? let's be honest with your eyes
on Christ you don't have any troubles I think it was Spurgeon
who said the knowledge of Christ, the doctrine of Christ is like
an inebriant, a heavenly cordial from heaven by which we get inebriated
and for the time we see him we forget everything else. All our
troubles go away. And that's the truth. And that's
the truth. He took his eyes off Christ and
began to sing. What a picture this paints. How
full of faith and courage we are when we see Christ. How sure
we are of His sovereignty when we hear the Gospel preached and
the Spirit assures our soul. And how true it is when we are
buffeted by the doctrines of human wisdom and the torrents
of the world's chaos lapse at our feet. We begin to sink when
we look at those things. Always the case. Have you ever
noticed that the things of the world never lift you up? they never lift you up they always
bring you down what can we do? shall we apply to the law? no
it's contrary to it shall we apply to the impotence
of the flesh? no that's contrary to it we do that though don't
we? it seems the last thing we do
is look at Christ in our situations. You know it's true. You know
what I'm talking about. You get in trouble, you get in
a fix, you automatically begin to think of ways to fix it. Don't you? That's our nature. And to whom do we apply? Ourselves. We apply ourselves to fix it.
So we apply to the flesh to fix the flesh that will never work.
Look to Christ. Look to Christ. The wisdom of the world is great.
Marvelous, wondrous thing. We talk about it often. We talked
about it this week. How medicine is, what medicine
can do today. I was a boy. I remember getting
the smallpox vaccination. Well, I was seven, I think, when
I got my vaccination. Still got the scar on my arm.
We got rid of smallpox. They used to kill people like
flies. I remember taking sugar cubes with the polio vaccine.
let them dissolve in my mouth so I wouldn't get polio, so I
wouldn't end up in an iron lung. That was a fearful thing, an
iron lung. The wisdom of the world's great, but it won't get
you out of trouble with God. It can't. The waves get big enough
you can apply to the wisdom of the world to undo our downward
plunge, but we're still sinking. That's the case of Peter in our
case also. Eyes in the boat. Eyes on the helmsman. He's the
one taking care of us. He cried, Lord, save me. Lord, save me. How many times have we cried
that? Not just a one time thing that
happened way back when and we start our road to salvation.
Deliverance is an everyday thing. Lord, save me. from this mess. Save me from the mess I got myself
in. Save me from turning my eyes
away from you. Lord, save me. This is the hue
and cry of the believer throughout his life as he sinks in the mire
from which he was once so wondrously lifted. How frail our frame. How small our faith. How quick
our doubt. I thank the Lord that salvation
is by grace in grace alone. And when we see Him and call
on Him, He never says no. Immediately, He stretches forth
His hand and saves us and delivers us over and over and over again. Looking to Him is all that will
keep us afloat. Peter, if he had looked at Christ,
kept looking at Christ, he would have walked all the way to Christ
and he would have walked back to the boat hand in hand. Look into
Christ is the only thing that keeps us afloat. And when we're
distracted by the waves and the contrary winds catch our attention,
we begin to sink. We will say, and I say tonight,
Lord save me. Lord save me. That's what happens
when the gospel is preached and we hear it again and again and
again. You know it. You may not be theologically
correcting people's notions, but we get saved again. Hearing
the gospel is being saved again. Have you heard the gospel? Are you looking to Christ? If
you're not, you're sinking. You're sinking. That old song
says, I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore,
very terribly stained within, sinking to rise no more. But
the master of the sea heard my despairing cry, and from the
waters lifted me. Now safe am I." We used to sing
that. The old hymn says this, Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face
at the things of the world. the contrary waves, the boisterous
winds, the things of the world will go strangely dim in the
eyes of His glory and grace. You know this is true. How full
of unbelief are we? We know this is true. We experience
it over and over again. I'm thankful that we have places
to go to hear the gospel and men to stand and tell us the
truth about what God has done for us because as soon as we
leave this place, this world is coming after us. headlong. And it's going to rock our boat. You know it's true. God give
us faith to look to the prize. To look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Because when I see Him, when
we see Him, we're at peace. Right now, you couldn't shake
me at all. You couldn't shake me at all.
I don't know what I could say thirty minutes from now when
I walk out these doors. I don't know. But right now, everything's
fine in here. All's right with the world. God
bless you. Keep your eyes on the boat.