Seeking once again the Lord's
help, I'd like you to turn with me to the chapter that we read
together, the Gospel according to John chapter six, and the
text you'll find in verse 20. But he said unto them, it is
I, be not afraid. The chapter that we have read
together, obviously is a very well-known part of the scripture
with the Lord Jesus Christ feeding the multitude that were before
him and recorded in two of the other Gospels also is the account
of the Lord Jesus ushering his disciples to go out onto the
sea while he went to pray and whilst they were in the middle
of the sea the storm came and the Lord Jesus Christ came walking
on the ocean to visit his disciples and the scripture says in the
other parts that he made out as though he would have passed
by them. They cried out for fear believing that he was a spirit
And in one of the accounts, the Apostle Peter asks the Lord Jesus
to walk on the water and he steps out of the boat and, you know,
as he takes his eyes off Christ and looks at the storm, the waves,
he begins to sink and the Lord Jesus saves him and he tells
him, you know, why is it that you are so afraid? Be of good
cheer. It is I. Be not afraid. And so the accounts are repeated
and we know that when scripture repeats an account it is because
it's pressing home the point that it's something that we need
to know to take notice of. It is something of great importance. It is something that we also
are going to struggle with and we know as those who are followers
of Christ will know that we struggle with fear. We struggle with doubt. We struggle with unbelief. We
struggle with trying to reason things out. Why is the pathway
so difficult? Why are things so seemingly working
against me? And so the scripture constantly
repeats the experiences of those who have gone before us so we
can take courage. Our faith can lay hold of the
accounts of scripture knowing that they have been brought through. They have been helped. The Lord
Jesus Christ appeared for them in their time of need. And although
he left them till the last minute, yet he was never late. He always
arrived just in time to deal with the situation. They never
went under, but they were sore afraid. They were brought to
their wits end to enable Christ to be glorified in his great
appearance and to question them. It is I be not afraid. As I was thinking of this really
it's the I that stood out to me. This I is what makes all
the difference. He doesn't just say don't be
afraid. He gives them a reason as to why they should not be
afraid and it is the I. I. The I makes all the difference.
The I draws the attention to the one who is speaking. No doubt,
as they were in the ship, they might have been trying to encourage
each other earlier on in the night and saying, you know, don't
be afraid. We've gone through storms like
this before. Don't be afraid. You know, we're sailors. We've
been sailing for years and years. Don't be afraid. Look at the
sky. Maybe the storm is going to break in a minute. But none
of those had any true long lasting effects because of who it was
that was saying it. But when the I, the Lord Jesus
Christ speaks, it is then it makes all the difference because
he is the great I am. He is the one who is far greater
than the storm itself. He walks to them walking on the
water and so it matters completely who is speaking especially in
a situation like that. He takes control as he says to
them it is I, all eyes are drawn to himself. And although they
don't realise who it is at first, yet when they come to that realisation
as to who it is, their fear should have subsided. For the one walking
on the water was the one who created the water itself, the
one who created the storm itself, the one who has the wind in his
hands, the waves are at his command. And so when they realise who
it is then their fear should subside. The scripture tells
us in the book of Job about God. In Job chapter 9 verse 8 it says he is speaking
about God, which alone spreadeth out the heavens and treadeth
upon the waves of the sea. He maketh our Turius, Orion and
Plodeus, chambers of the south, which are the star systems, which
doth great things past finding out, yea, and wonders without
number. Lo, he goeth by me, and lo, I see him not. He passes
on, also I perceive him not. And so as he's speaking about
God, he's speaking about the creation that God has created
and that God walks upon the He spreads out the heavens and he
treads upon the waves of the sea. If you consider who these
men are that are in the boat, they are Jews. Jews who have
been brought up under the teaching of the Old Testament. They would
have known the story of Job. They would have known the accounts
of the great deliverances of the scripture. And so as Christ
comes to them walking upon the sea, Their mind must have immediately
gone to these passages of scripture. It's only God who walks upon
the sea. No man is able to overcome nature
itself and to walk upon something that is impossible to walk upon. In Psalm 77 also it says that he leads his people
in the sea thy way is in the sea and thy paths in great waters
and thy footsteps are not known thou leadest thy people like
a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. And so the psalmist
understood that the workings of God, the leadings of God are
like pathways in the sea. They're impossible pathways,
they're ways that are beyond our understanding. And he is
above his creation. Therefore, he walks upon the
sea to his apostles. And so he was teaching them.
It was a lesson that he was putting them through, showing them who
he was, showing them that though I am your teacher, you call me
rabbi, yet I am the creator of heaven and earth. All things
were created by me and without me was nothing made. And I'm
able to walk upon the sea. to you and so we're showing them
he is God and how often in our lives there are those storms
that come up and we're filled with fear but God has not lost
control Christ has not lost control, for he has placed us into the
storm. He has placed us into the pathway
to prove himself to us, that he is indeed over all the things,
to reveal something of himself to us, that we may see him in
a greater way. Surely after this event the apostles
looked at Christ in a completely different way. The scripture
tells us that after the feeding of the 5,000 that their hearts
were still hard. It's just they took it in their
stride. It had no lasting effect. Oh
well, Jesus has just fed all of these people but it just went
over their heads. so he gives them something else
to consider. He comes to them walking on the
water, proving to them that it is him, that he is over his creation,
able to walk upon the sea. In one of the other storms that
the apostles went through, And the Lord Jesus was asleep in
the back part of the boat. He spoke to the storm. And he said, peace be still in
Mark chapter four. And the wind ceased and there
was a great calm. And he said to them, why are
you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? And they feared exceedingly and
said one to another, what manner of man is this that even the
wind and the sea obey him? And so this lesson that they
had been brought into caused them to question what type of
man is it before us? What man is able to speak to
the wind and to the sea? What man is able just to say,
peace, be still, and the whole situation completely changes
in a moment? It's only God. For it is the
God-man, God revealed to us, manifested in the flesh, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And it's the same God-man who
says, it is I, don't be afraid. And so it was a lesson that they
were going through and everything that the Lord puts his people
through, it is a lesson for them to reveal themselves and to reveal
himself. to make us realise how frail
and fearful we are without him and how to reveal to us how great
a friend we have in Christ. And so it matters who it is that
is speaking. He doesn't just say, don't be
afraid. He says, it is I. Don't be afraid. in Isaiah chapter 40 verse 22
it says, or verse 21, have you not heard Have you not known? Have you
not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have
you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he that sits
upon the circle of the earth and the inhabitants thereof are
as grasshoppers that stretches out the heavens as a curtain
and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in. So he sits before them that he
walks upon the ocean and he reveals himself to them as God and as
we look at the greatness of God and we see that he sits upon
the circle of the earth that he is far greater than his creation. that he spreads out his heavens
as a curtain as a man spreads out a tent to dwell in. Those
of you who watch those There's programs where they send
those spaceships and up into space, those telescopes and they
reveal to us the vast expanse of space and the stars and the
solar systems and the galaxies. And they say they are without
number. And they take pictures of these
beautiful gas plumes and planets they seem to us beyond our comprehension
vast and yet it says that God spreads them out like a man puts
up a tent. Those of you who've been camping
recently you know it takes you a couple of hours to put out
a tent and pack it up. Something quite easy and quick
that God spreads out the heavens as a man opens a curtain. So as this man, the Lord Jesus
Christ, walks to them on the sea, they are seeing the God-man,
the man who created the sea, in control of the sea and in
control of the elements of the world and the one who spread
out the space as a curtain. And he comes to them and he stoops
down to their level and he asks them, or he tells them that it's
me, do not be afraid. And throughout the scripture
we have the Lord Jesus Christ revealing himself to various
people. He tells them who he is. He shows
them the miracles that he has done. He introduces himself as
the the Son of God. In John chapter
9 is one I was thinking of with the blind man. You see this blind
man had been thrown out of the temple and the Lord Jesus Christ had
healed him. And the Jews were not happy with
what had taken place and so they throw him out of the temple and
he didn't know who it was who had healed him. And Jesus asked him a question
in verse 35 when Jesus heard that they had cast him out. And
when he had found him, he said unto him, Does thou believe in
the Son of God? And he answered and said, Who
is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said unto him,
Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.
And he said, Lord, I believe. and he worshipped him. So he
introduces himself not as it is I but he introduces himself
as the son of God. Do you believe on the son of
God? And he says I don't know who
he is. Who is he Lord that I might believe
in him? believe on him. You know how
many people saw the Lord Jesus Christ and the miracles that
he did and they followed him just because of the miracles
that he did and they believed that their life would be greatly
benefited by having somebody like him around who would be
able to divide loaves and to do miracles to help people out
and yet they didn't really want to believe upon him. They didn't
really want their life to be altered by his teachings. And
so they rejected him because of what he said. But this man,
he says, I don't know who the son of God is. But he was willing
to be pointed in that right direction. He was willing to know who the
I was. Who is he that I might believe
on him? And Jesus says, you have both
seen him. and it is he that talketh with thee. In other words, it's
me. I am the one who has just healed
you. I am the son of God and he worshipped
him. That is the response to someone
who sees the Lord Jesus Christ as to who he is. It is to fall
down and to worship him. Remember that it's only God who
can receive worship. If we worship anything else,
it is an idol. Yet we can fall down and worship
the Lord Jesus Christ because he is God manifested to us in
the flesh as our Great High Priest, as our Lamb of God. And you remember
the lady who was at the well. She said, I know that Messiah
is going to come who is called the Christ. Jesus said unto her,
I that speak unto thee am he. I. And so the I makes all the
difference. It points the person to the one
who is speaking and it's the one who makes all the difference
in the lives of these apostles. It was the Lord Jesus Christ
who was coming to them. God walking to them on the water. And they knew him and they recognised
him as their teacher, as their saviour and as their God. You
see they were afraid. They were afraid of the storm.
There was a great wind that blew. They were one and a half miles
out to sea and they were afraid of the storm. But Christ was
greater than the storm. And in each of our lives as we
are afraid of providential things that take place, as things that
take us by surprise, things that seem to be swamping us and we
become fearful of how everything is going to work out. Yet our
fear is because we have lost sight of Christ and the sovereign
rule of God. And do not think I am exempt.
I don't walk above all of these things. I'm in the same boat
as you. Full of fear. Full of doubt. Wondering when
things are going to change. Wondering how things are going
to work out. Lose sight of Christ. Look at
self. Look at providential things.
And you wonder. You try and reason and work out
everything. Can you forget that Christ is
there walking upon the water in control of all things. The
great I am. And it's him as he speaks, it's
I. I am in control. I am ruling over all things.
So there's no reason to be afraid. They were afraid. There are different
types of fear, aren't there? Some fear is good. It's right
to be afraid of a storm because you might drown. But it is right
to be afraid of a lion. It's right to be afraid when
crossing a road. There's a fear that we have when
we have lost sight of God. That is a wrong fear. It is a
doubtful fear. And this is this fear that Christ
is rebuking them for. They had a right to be afraid
because nobody wants to die. They don't want to drown in the
ocean. But then Christ comes and says to them, it is I that
fear should be removed knowing that he is with them but also
they were afraid if we read the other gospels of Christ himself
they thought he was a spirit and they were afraid of him and
it's like it's like a hidden Christ Christ was hidden from
their view they didn't recognize him And often our lives can be
like that. That we cannot recognise the
footsteps of our saviour. We cannot recognise his handprints
in our lives. We cannot recognise his guidance
or direction and we're filled with fear. It's like he is hidden
from us. In Isaiah it says, they that
walk in the darkness having no light. It's like we grope in
the darkness, wondering where Christ is, wondering what his
purposes are. And we're filled with fear in
the Gospel of Luke when those men walk to Emmaus in chapter
24. In verse 13 it says, and behold,
two of them went the same day to a village called Emmaus, which
was from Jerusalem about three score furlongs. And as they talked
together of all of these things which had happened, and it came
to pass that while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus
himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were holden
that they should not know him. And he said unto them, what manner
of communications are these that you have one with another and
as you walk and are sad? And so Christ was with them,
but they couldn't see him. They couldn't see who he was.
It was like there was somebody there but they didn't recognise
that it was the Lord Jesus Christ. He talked with them. They sensed
something in their heart but they couldn't put two and two
together as to why they were feeling such a way until he was
revealed to them right at the very end in the breaking of bread
and their eyes were opened and they knew him. And how often
that can be the case that that great I am the Lord Jesus Christ
is with us yet our eyes are holden we don't see him we don't sense
him and we walk in fear and although we read the word and it's like
there's no effect there's no comfort there's no strength we become discouraged and downcast
but then he comes He always comes. He always appears just at the
right time when you're about to give up or when you've come
to wit's end. He suddenly appears and blesses
you with a word of encouragement that it is I. I am in control. Do not be afraid. He opened up
their eyes and they saw him. They realised they had been blessed
by the word and that Christ had always been with them, just that
they hadn't seen him. We continue on in that chapter.
We have the Lord Jesus when he appears
to the apostles again after he is resurrected and he appears
to them in the room. in verse 36 and it says, and
they spoke, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and said
unto them, peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted
and supposed that they had seen a spirit. Again, look at the
accounts of Matthew and Mark. They thought Jesus was a spirit
when he was walking to them on the water and they were afraid
and terrified. They didn't recognize him. He
was hidden from them. And again he says, they thought
he was a spirit. And he said unto them, why are
you troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold,
my hands and my feet, it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit
hath not flesh and bones as you see me. Again, it is I. Not a
ghost, not a spirit, but the risen Lord Jesus Christ, a physical
body. I have flesh and bones. Handle
me and see for yourself. It is I. And so the I makes all
the difference. It changes the situation completely
because the one who is speaking is the one who is in complete
control of everything and is able to do far more than they
can ask or think. And so this great I, the I am
the Lord Jesus Christ speaks to them and tells them, don't
be afraid. And they willingly receive him
into the ship. And immediately, immediately the ship was at the
land where they went. Another miracle. toiling and
rowing in the middle of the sea wondering how are they going
to, they can't go backwards, they can't go forwards, they're
stuck, they're going to sink. Christ appears, he gets into
the boat and immediately they're at their destination. And he tells them, don't be afraid. May this word be an encouragement
then to each of us this night, those who are struggling in providential
things, those who are struggling in the things of life and do
not know which way to turn. Think of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is I. Walks across the water to his
apostles and is able to help each of us in our present situation.
In our sin, he's able to save. In our suffering, he's able to
elevate and to lift us up and to walk with us. In our providential
difficulties when we're filled with doubts and fears, he's able
to come walking on the water and to bring us out completely
in a moment, in an instant. Because it is I. I am. Do not
be afraid. May the Lord bless his word.
Amen. Closing hymn for service is hymn
number 181 from Hymns of Worship. The sands of time are sinking,
the dawn of heaven breaks, the summer morn I've sighed 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. Hymn number 181 from Hymns of
Worship for tune 583. The dark hath been the midnight
of day's praise at hand, and glory, glory, glory in Emmanuel's
hand. and journey, thy servants pertwee. The Lamb, in excellent harmony,
doth call Mount Zion's saviors The streams on earth are tasty,
but deep are drinkable. Their jubilation fullness, His
mercy doth extend. ? While I stood with His blood. ? ? I'll bless the hand that
died, and I'll bless the heart that bled. ? ? When truth and glory dwell
in Him, ? and glory, but on my King of
grace. Not on the crown he gives it,
but on his blessed head. The Lamb is born. of the man of man. I rest, O God, whose heaven gave
storm and wind and tide. that leans upon his God. Amid the shades of evening, while
sings thy stingring sound, I have the glory dawning from Emmanuel's Almighty God, we do thank Thee
for Thy Word and for Thy beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And
we thank Thee, O Lord, that there is nothing that is beyond Thy
control, nothing too deep and nothing too big in our lives
that Thou art not able to walk upon and to bring to a peace. and to bring us to our desired
haven. We pray then, Lord, that Thou wouldst bless Thy own word
to us and comfort our hearts, and do dismiss us with Thy blessing. And now may the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father, with the fellowship
and the communion of the Holy Spirit, do rest and abide with
us each now and for evermore. Amen.