Well, good morning. I wish that
I could tell you how honored I am to be asked to come and
how much that we have looked forward to coming and being able
to worship with you. It's a great honor, and I've
looked forward to it with much anticipation. If you would, open
your Bibles to Matthew chapter 14. Matthew 14. And before we begin looking at
God's word, let's bow in prayer. Our father, which art in heaven,
holy and reverend is your matchless name. And father, we bow humbly
before your throne of grace, daring only come into the presence
of the thrice holy God in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. And father, how thankful we are
for him. the Savior who loved us and gave himself for us, how
thankful we are that in him we can come before your throne,
accepted and be heard, that you've given us a place to come to find
mercy and grace to help in time of need. And Father, I pray this
morning that you would give us a spirit of worship, that you
would speak to us through your word, enable us to learn more
of Christ our Savior, to worship you in spirit and in truth. And
Father, we dare not sin against you in forgetting to pray for
your people. We pray especially for the Pruitt
family at this difficult time, that you comfort their hearts
as only you can, and that you be with them. Father, how thankful
we are for a good hope through grace. But in this flesh, we
are such a poor and a needy people. How we need you every hour, and
especially in these difficult difficult hours. Father, we pray
for grace. We pray for the fulfillment of
your promise that you'd not leave or forsake your people. Comfort
the hearts of your people, we pray. Now, Father, bless us as
we look into your word. Enable us to learn more of Christ
our Savior. It's in his blessed name we pray
and give thanks. Amen. All right, here in Matthew
14, the Lord had just fed the 5,000. with five loaves and two
fishes. And you think what a miracle
that that was. The Lord Jesus showed himself
as God. He took that boy's lunch and
started breaking it and handing it out, and he created matter. He created matter. After everyone
had eaten all they wanted, they gathered up 12 baskets full of
food. It started out just a sack lunch.
He created matter. And the disciples saw all that.
What a mountaintop experience that was. Can you imagine? And
our text begins in verse 22, and straightway, immediately
after this mountaintop experience, the Lord sends his disciples
off into a storm in a little old boat and he sent him there
alone. Now why'd he do that? Well, I'm
sure the Lord had many reasons for doing what he did, but there's
three lessons from this that I will hope that we can learn
this morning. And the first one is this. The
Lord sent the storm. Look at verse 24. But the ship
was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind
was contrary. Now the Lord is in complete control
of the weather. He sent the storm, he's the one
that started it, and by his power he stops the storm. Now hold
your place there, look at Mark chapter four. Do you remember
there's another time the disciples were in the midst of the stormy,
stormy sea. In Mark four, verse 37. And there arose a great storm
of wind, and the waves beat into the ship so that it was now full,
And he, the Lord, was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep
on a pillow. And they awake him and saying
to him, master, carest thou not we perish? And he arose and rebuked
the wind and said unto the sea, peace be still. And the wind
ceased and there was a great calm. And he said unto them,
why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?
And they feared exceedingly saying one to another, what manner of
man is this? that even the wind and the sea
obey him. The storm starts at the word
of the Lord, and the storm stops at the word of the Lord. He's
in complete control of the weather. He sends rain where it'll rain.
He withholds the rain where he withholds it. He sends snow where
it'll snow. And there's desert where the
Lord withholds the rain and the snow. Now the same thing, I'm
not just talking about the weather this morning, the same thing
is true of the storms of our life. The storms of the believer's
life, the trials that we endure, do not come by accident. They
come where and when the Lord sends them. Who was responsible
for Job's trial? Satan wasn't in control of that,
was he? Not in any way. The Lord's the one who started
the trial. He was in control of it. The Lord brought Job up
to Satan. Have you considered my servant
Job? That's how that whole trial started. The Lord set it in motion.
The Lord was the one who was in control of the heat of the
trial. Satan could only go as far as
the Lord allowed him to go. The Lord was in control of the
heat of it. And the Lord brought it to an end. And Satan could
do nothing to keep it going. The Lord brought it to an end.
The Lord was in control of this thing. And the same thing is
true of every trial of every one of his people. And you wonder,
why does the Lord do that? This is so painful. It's so dark
and frightening. Doesn't he love me? I'd rather
be on the mountaintop. That's what we'd want. But you
know what? Go up there high enough in the mountain, you know what
you'll find? Nothing's growing. Nothing grows up there. But down
there in the valley, everything is lush because the valley gets
all the rain. The valley gets all the storms.
And I think I'd rather have all sunny days, so I wasn't afraid
of severe thunderstorms rolling through. But you know, if the
Lord never sent us any storms, if he never sent us any trials,
we would be spiritually as dry as the Sahara Desert. And we
would, that's right. If the Lord never sent us any
storms, it's a shameful bit, so. We'd be so self-righteous,
we would be so self-confident, we'd be so full of ourselves,
nobody could stand to be around us if the Lord didn't humble
us, if he didn't send us trials, if he didn't teach us. The Lord
sends us trials to teach us how dependent we are upon him and
to keep us needy. You who believe, I'm gonna ask
you a question. How did you first come to Christ? You came as a
poor and needy sinner, didn't you? Trials teach us continue
the same way, as a poor and a needy sinner. And when the Lord removes
all earthly, visible support, the believer's left with one
option. I've got to rely completely upon the Lord by faith. And then
you know what trials teach us? Trials teach us the Lord's faithful. If your only option is to depend
upon the Lord, you're in a good place. The Lord's faithful, and
you can just wait on him. He sent the storm. God hears
the second thing. This is confusing to the natural
mind. The Lord sent his disciples right
into that storm he sent. Look at verse 22. And straightway,
immediately after this great miracle, straightway, Jesus constrained
his disciples to get into a ship and to go before him under the
other side while he sent the multitudes away. And they went,
and you know the story, they went off into the storm. Now
why did the disciples find themselves, this is a strong storm, gale
force winds, high waves going over this ship. Why did the disciples
find themselves there? The Lord sent them there, didn't
he? They're there on purpose. The Lord knew the storm was coming.
I mean, this wasn't a miscalculation of the weather forecast. The
Lord knew it was coming. He sent it. And he allowed his disciples,
not just allowed, he sent them right into the midst of this
severe storm. And the same thing is true for
all of God's children. If you are a child of God, the
Lord's gonna prepare a storm and he's gonna send you into
it. The Lord sends his people into these trials. He is the
perfect father, the perfect parent. You know, we parents, we want
to keep our children out of harm's way. I remember our girls were
growing up. I didn't want them to get hurt.
I didn't want them to be in situations where people at school were mean
to them and just all these things, you know, we just want to protect
our children. I look at playgrounds today, children's playgrounds.
And they're nothing like playgrounds was when I was a child. I think
these kids can't have no fun. Because parents are just, they
don't let them go on these gigantic slides and these big old monkey
bars. Yeah, you can fall through and bust your head. I guess parents
didn't care when I was a child. Just, you know, fall through.
I'll teach you. I mean, they just protect the
children. They don't want their children
to have any pain whatsoever. But not the Lord, no. He sends his children into the
storm, into the painful trial for this reason, to strengthen
their faith in him, to strengthen their dependence upon him so
they learn more of him. And trials are hard, hard business. They're hard on you physically.
They're hard on you emotionally. They're hard on you spiritually. And you know what makes them
so hard? You feel all alone. You think the Lord sent me here
and I'm alone. I can't see him. I can't find
him. I'm all alone. The disciples there and there,
they said the wind and the waves were contrary to them. These
are experienced sailors. With all their experience, they
could not get themselves to shore. They couldn't get themselves
to safety. No matter how hard they rode, no matter what they
did, they could not get themselves out of this storm. Look at John
chapter six. Now that was hard enough. I'll
tell you what made this trial so hard is the Lord was not with
them. This is John's account here in
John six, 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. Oh, it was so dark. It was so
dark. And I don't believe just because,
I don't think John's just talking about the sun setting there.
It was so dark because the Lord was not come to them. And for
a child of God, There's nothing more miserable than that. I know
the Lord's there. I know he's everywhere. But if
I can't get a sense of him, I can't see him, I can't hear him, I
cry and the heavens seem as brass, that's the most miserable experience
for a child of God. Now why would the Lord do that
to those disciples? He said, I love you. He said,
you're my friends. I love you. I love you so much,
I'll die for you. I'll lay down my life for you.
No greater love hath a man than this. He laid down his life for
his friends. I love you. Then why? Why'd he leave him
all alone? Where was he? What was he doing
all this time? We'll look back in our text,
verse 23. John or Matthew 14, verse 23. 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. See, all this time, while the
disciples were alone in the midst of this raging sea, you know
what the Lord was doing? He was praying. He was there
interceding for his children. Mark says in his account of this,
from where the Lord was on the shore, he saw them. Now, they didn't see him, but
he saw them. He saw them rowing and toiling, and he was there
alone, praying. Now, isn't it comforting to know
that your way is not hid from the Lord? No, he knows. He knows. He sees me, and he
understands what I'm going through, because he's a man, too. He took
on him flesh. He became a man. So not only
could he be the substitute for his people, but he had compassion
on us. He knows what it is to suffer.
I tell you this, you know, we gripe and complain. I think I'm
all alone. Nobody was ever alone like the
Savior was alone at Calvary. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? The father forsook the son. for
the sin of his people, so that he'd never forsake you who believe
him. Never. We might not see him. We might
not get a sense of him. But if you trust Christ, he's
not forsaken you. No, sir, because he forsook your
substitute. The Lord has always seen his
people. He saw his people before creation
in eternity. He saw them in divine election.
He saw them after creation, lost in Adam. He saw them lost and
stumbling around their own darkness of unbelief. And he sees them
in trouble, in trial. When they're toiling and failing
to deliver themselves, he sees his people. And he always, always
sees his people in love. And he never stops making intercession
for them with the Father. He ever liveth to make intercession
for them. And Christ, our intercessor,
100% of the time receives what he asks of the Father. Not because
the Father's given him a favor. Because Christ is pleading his
precious blood. And the Father always says, I'm
satisfied. I'm satisfied with that. It's
the blood of Christ that redeems us from our sins. It's the blood
of Christ applied to the heart in the new birth that gives us
spiritual life. And it's the blood of Christ
that comforts God's people. I can't tell you how many of
our pastor brethren have sent me a note, called, and said,
I hope the Lord gives you a word of comfort for God's people this
morning. Well, this is what we're gonna
preach to comfort God's people, it's the blood. It's the blood. Cry unto her, her warfare's accomplished. The blood's been shed, the blood's
been shed. There's no comfort for this world
outside of Christ, but there's comfort for God's people because
Christ both died and rose again and ascended on high for those
people to accomplish their eternal redemption. You know, the master is never
far from his children. We may not see him, but he's
not far. Brother Henry always used to
use the illustration of the master refiner. He got some gold, got
a chunk of gold, but now it's got some dross in it. Got to
burn off some of this dross. And that master refiner, he knows
just how hot to make the fire. And he knows just how long to
leave that gold in the fire, to burn off the dross, to make
it precious. Well, he's got the gold in the
fire. He's not wandering off doing something else and forgets
about it. No, he's right there controlling
it every second of the time it's in the fire. The Lord sent a
storm. The Lord sent his people directly
into the storm. And here's the third thing. The
Lord came walking to his disciples on the storm. He sent the storm. He sent them into it, and he
came walking to them upon the storm, verse 25. And in the fourth
watch of the night, Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. Now the Lord was in control of
this storm. He was walking to his disciples on it. He wasn't
fighting through it. He wasn't flying over it. He
was walking to them on the water. Now the Lord Jesus is a real
man. and a real man was walking on the water. He just strolling
on it. I remember being a boy at the
pool. I spent as much time in the swimming
pool as I can when I was a boy. And I often tried to step off
that edge of the pool and walk on the water. Never one time
did I take a step, not once. The Lord did. And he wasn't doing
a party trick, displaying his power. He was walking to his
people upon the storm to come to them when they were so tired
and so afraid. In trials, in our weak faith,
our flesh, when we look at things through the eyes of the flesh,
we always skew them and don't view things right. The disciples
should have been overjoyed to see the Lord walking to them
upon the water. And they were afraid. Verse 26,
and when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were
troubled, saying, it's a spirit. And they cried out for fear.
They cried out for fear, but the Lord kept coming to them,
didn't he? He didn't say, well, y'all, what are you doing? In
turn, walk away. No, he kept walking to them.
And he comforted their hearts with the most comforting words
a child of God can hear. And this is the title of the
lesson. Be of good cheer, it is I. Verse 27, but straightway
Jesus spake unto them saying, be of good cheer, it is I. Be not afraid, be not afraid. That's all the believer needs
to hear to be comforted. It is I. It is I who loved you
and gave myself for you. It is I who called you. It is
I who will keep you. It is I, your Savior, your Lord,
your Master. It is I, the eternal God, come
to you on the storm, on the storm. And if I ever hear the Lord say,
be of good cheer, I'll be of good cheer. And isn't
this interesting? How many times have you heard
your pastor say, faith cometh by hearing? The disciples saw
the Lord and were afraid. Faith didn't come by sight, did
it? When they heard him say, it is I. Oh, their hearts were
thrilled. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. But you'll notice this now, even
being with the Lord there, hearing him and seeing him, do you know
that didn't immediately end the storm, did it? It's still stormy. You know the only difference?
They heard the Lord, the only difference. And seeing the Lord
and hearing the Lord speak to them, hearing the Lord say, be
of good cheer, that gave Peter so much confidence in that storm. You know what Peter did? Lord,
I'm gonna walk on, I'm gonna come to you on the water. Look
at verse 28. And Peter answered him and said,
Lord, if it be thou bid me come unto thee on the water. And the
Lord said, come. And when Peter was come down
out of that ship, he walked on the water. Everybody talks about
Peter walking on the water, but now listen, this is so important. He walked on the water to go
to Jesus. He's walking to the master. Suddenly
the storm didn't matter. Suddenly the waves didn't matter.
Everything was fine. As long as Peter looked to the
Lord. And when he looked to the Lord, he walked on water. But
Peter's problem began right where my problem and your problem begins
today. Our problem begins when we start looking at the trouble.
We start looking at the heartache. We start looking at the darkness.
We start looking at the storm. Why would we ever take our eyes
off of Christ? When we do, that's when our trouble
begins. We start to sink just like Peter
did. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid. And
beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately,
Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto
him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? Now,
you know, the Lord didn't forsake Peter for his little faith and
say, I'm just gonna let you drown. Peter, I'm tired of you. I'm
tired of all your missteps. I'm tired of your weak faith.
I'm tired of your big mouth. Immediately, the Lord stretched
forth his hand and saved him, which is not exactly my subject
this morning, but it does beg a question I'd like to ask you.
Have you ever cried, Lord, save me? Peter did, didn't he? And immediately,
the Lord stretched out his hand and caught him in safety. Someone
asked me recently, can our faith be too small? Now, our faith
should not be small. Our faith should never be weak
because our Savior is so strong and so great. Our faith should
be weak. I'm not making excuse for small faith now, but now
you listen to me. Our faith cannot be too small
if our faith is in Christ. If it's in him, it's the object
of our faith. And spiritually, if we've got
faith in Christ, it's just the size of a mustard seed. If we've
got faith in Christ, we can spiritually walk on water and move mountains
by faith. So the first thing, hearing the
Lord in this trial, gave confidence, didn't it? Gave confidence. And
the second thing that happens when we see, we hear Christ,
is soon the trial will end. Seeing him is what will bring
an end to it. Verse 32, and when they were coming to the ship,
the wind ceased. Then they that were in the ship came and worshiped
him, saying, of a truth, thou art the son of God. I look over
in the book of John again, chapter six. Here's John's account of
this, John chapter six. Verse 20. But he saith unto them, it is
I, be not afraid. Then they willingly received
him into the ship, and immediately, The ship was at the land whether
they win. The trial will be over when we
have the presence of the Lord. And in every trial, God's people
will have the fulfillment of this promise. I will never leave
you nor forsake you. I believe William Cowper may
have had this passage in mind when he wrote this song, and
I'll read it to you in closing. He wrote, God moves in a mysterious
way, his wonders to perform. He plants his footstep in the
sea and rides upon the storm. Deep and unfathomable minds of
never failing skill, he treasures up his bright designs and works
his sovereign will. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage
take. The clouds you so much dread
are big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head. Judge not the Lord by feeble
sense, but trust him for his grace. Behind a frowning profitance,
he hides a smiling face. His purposes will ripen fast,
unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste,
but sweet will be the flower. Blind unbelief is sure to err,
and scan his work in vain. God is his own interpreter, and
he will make it plain. You keep looking to him, you
keep calling on him, he'll make it plain. All right, Lord bless
you.