in verses 30 and 31. But when he saw the wind boisterous,
he was afraid, and beginning to 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? It's wonderful for us really
to realise that in the Bible we have many illustrations in
a natural position and situation which direct us to the spiritual
side, the spiritual situation which all of us have to contend
with and to follow. And so here we have several accounts
in this 14th chapter of God, the Lord Jesus, instructing and
teaching and carrying out miracles. We've read about the feeding
of the 5,000, which of course was a very wonderful miracle,
one of course which was so evident And everybody could acknowledge
that this was not something which just happened by chance, but
it occurred because of what Jesus had done. And then also we come
And we find now that Jesus then, he was told the disciples to
get into the boat and go away. And we're told, and when he had
sent the multitude away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray. And when the evening was come,
he was there alone. But 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. That was wonderful, wasn't it,
to think? There was a person, a human person, but of course,
very God, who could do just that. And we're not surprised that
when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled,
saying, it is a spirit. And they cried out for fear.
Well, I'm sure we can understand that, because if we saw that
today, we would think the same thing as I'm sure. But Jesus
came straight away and spake and said, be of good cheer. It
is I, be not afraid. Well, there was no need to be
afraid if Jesus was there. And in reality, there's no need
for us to be afraid in our life today if Jesus is with us. Well, here we have the account
of Peter. Peter was always forward in saying
things and doing things and therefore he was the one that came and
said, Lord if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, come. So Peter heard
that word and therefore got out of the boat and began to walk
on the sea and to go to Jesus. Well, everything seemed fine.
Everything seemed OK and suitable. And he was doing what he'd asked
to happen. And then we see there was a change. And why did the change occur? Because what did Peter do? You may say, well it's very obvious
what he did. What he did was he took his eyes off Jesus. And he looked around. He looked
around him. And there were all these waves.
Boisterous waves. And what was the result? He was afraid. Well, that's not
surprising, is it? If we look around in a rough
sea, we can easily be afraid of what the effect is going to
be. So that was what Peter was. And when he saw the wind boisterous,
he was afraid. And because he was afraid previously,
what had happened Jesus had told him what to do. Come. He obeyed
that command and he went looking to Jesus with that faith to believe
that what Jesus had said to him was true. He could come. And
therefore, all the while he was blessed with that faith and to
look to Jesus, it was all right. But you see, when he took his
eyes off Jesus and looked around, he was afraid and began to sink. And then what happened? Well,
it's good to realize what did happen. He cried out. What did he cry out? He cried
out, Lord, save me. You may say, well, Peter, what
do you expect to happen? Well, Jesus knew what he would
do, and how kind and gracious Jesus was, because we're told,
Peter cried, Lord, save me, and immediately, immediately, Jesus
stretched forth his hand and caught him. and said unto him,
O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? Well, this
is a lesson for us all to realise that when God speaks and when
God directs us and gives us faith to believe, We should not then
be left to doubt what God has said and what we've been able
to do and to follow, just because things change and appear to be
very difficult. perhaps appeared to be impossible. And we know what happened. And
when Peter took his eyes off Jesus and looked around him,
what happened? He began to sink. He began to
sink into the sea. And in a spiritual sense, the
picture is very clear and it's very true. Because as we may
come and we may hear the words of Jesus speaking to us, there's
some very glorious words of invitation in the Word of God. We can read
in this same Gospel of Matthew where the Lord says, come unto
me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. A gracious and wonderful commandment
here Jesus says to Peter in this situation, come Come to me. And what a blessing it is that
God gives us these encouraging words for us in the day and age
still that we live in. But you see, what happened was
then Peter, Peter's faith, God gave him faith to believe. God gave him faith to understand
that he could walk on the water. And therefore he took the Lord
Jesus at his word. And it's good sometimes to just
remember that. You see, sometimes we look at
God's word, his gracious words, and we turn away from them. And
the temptation is to think, well, of course that word's not for
me. Well, we have God's word. And if God directs you and me
to his word in the Bible, we should not cast it from us. We should not think it's irrelevant. We should not think that it doesn't
apply to us. Because if we have come to Jesus
as Peter had, we should therefore believe his word. What a great
blessing it is to have faith to believe. You know, every single
one of us needs faith to believe. There's a number of accounts
in the Gospels where Jesus says, O ye of little faith, wherefore
dost thou doubt? We must remember the devil wants
you and me to doubt God's word. And he comes, you see, in those
same cunning way that he did to Adam and Eve with that question,
hath God said? And what did that do? That produced
doubt in Eve's mind and ended, of course, in disobeying God
and eating of that fruit. We have to be very aware in our
lives today that we don't listen to the subtlety of Satan. Satan
doesn't want you and me to believe God's word, to believe his gracious
and wonderful promises. And you will come and tell us,
well, that's not for you. That's impossible. That couldn't
be for you. Never listen to the devil. Always
listen to the word of God. Always listen to what he said
and obey his gracious words. That's why the Lord's given us
the scriptures to read. That's why he's given us accounts
like this to encourage us. to strengthen our faith. You see, it was an amazing situation,
really, when you think of it. There was Jesus walking on the
sea. They'd never seen anybody walk
on the sea before. And yet, Jesus told them it was,
here it was, and to be not afraid. And with that gracious words,
you see, Peter was able to ask the Lord, that he would bid him
come to him. And Jesus willingly, graciously
answered his request and said, come. And he did come. And he walked on the water until
he took his eyes off Jesus and looked around because he saw
then the seas were boisterous. And that's just so it is in our
life today. We take our eyes off Jesus. We take our eyes off the Word
of God. And we find, before we know it,
we have an evil heart of unbelief. Instead of believing God's Word,
we disbelieve it. We turn away from it. Our faith
seems to disappear. And yet we have so many wonderful
examples of faith, true living faith that God gave to men and
women, which is recorded so very clearly in the 11th chapter to
the Hebrews. And again, it's just important
to realize that the Lord speaks as we begin that chapter. and
tells us faith, what is faith? Faith is the substance, the substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We walk by faith and not by sight. Naturally, you and I want things
very tangible. Things perhaps that we can grasp
naturally with our hands perhaps. But no, faith is not like that.
God gives us faith to believe the evidence of things not seen
and then he goes on and tells us Through faith we understand
that the worlds were framed by the Word of God so that things
which are seen were not made by things which do appear. And he goes on through this 11th
chapter and it's worthwhile reading in the 11th chapter to the Hebrews
and just pondering the amazing faith that was given to many
people. And we're told, the hymn writer
tells us, Faith laughs at impossibilities and says it shall be done. Yes we tend to think well that's
of God. God is able to do far more exceeding
abundantly, above what we can ask or think. And when you think
of the cases which were shown as examples of the faith, you
know, you think of Abraham. We read the account of Abraham. Just think of it. There was Abraham
living comfortably, it would seem, in Ur of the Chaldees.
And what happened? God came and called him to go
out into a place which he should, after he received for inheritance,
and he obeyed. And he went out not knowing whether
he went. Naturally, we would think, what
a foolish man. Fancy doing that. Going to a
place or not knowing where you were going. but just to leave
your hometown and go out. Well, the wonderful thing was
God was with him. Abraham obeyed God. Abraham was blessed with that
living faith and so we're told by faith he sojourned he lived
in the land of promise as in a strange country dwelling in
a tabernacle with Isaac and Jacob the heirs with him of the same
promise and this is a secret for he looked for a city which
hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. And that, of
course, is a spiritual city, a spiritual foundation. And it
would be good for us if we set our hearts and our affections
upon things above. on the celestial city. What a
wonderful blessing that is. And so you could go on, I won't
go through it now, this 11th chapter to the Hebrews, but it's
worthwhile just going through and meditating upon all the examples. And of course it concludes with
a wonderful statement about, it sums up really, and he tells
us, and what should I more say? For the time would fail me, to
tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Japheth,
and of David also, and of Samuel, and of the prophets, who through
faith subdued kingdoms." Impossible situations. Naturally. But the things which are impossible
with men, are possible with God. Remember that. It's very important. Nothing is impossible with our
God. And so, who through faith subdued
kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the
mouth of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the
edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong. Waxed valiants
in fight, turned to fight the armies of the aliens. Women received
their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting
deliverance, not promised an easy life, my friends on this
earth. We always hope we will have an easy life. We're not
promised it. The word tells us so clearly, through much tribulation,
you and I shall enter the kingdom, where they might obtain a better
resurrection. And others had trial of cruel
mockings and scourging, shame moreover, of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn
asunder, were tempted, were slain with a sword. They wandered about
in sheepskins, goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. Who were these people? Who were
these people? Well, we're told, of whom the
world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and
in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth, and these
all All of these people, having obtained a good report through
faith, received not the promise, God having provided some better
thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. Well, what a blessing it is when
God gives you and me faith to do what? To do His will. To do His will. It's good for
us to come to God and to pray that he would direct us as to
what his will is for us. It's very easy to make assumptions. It's very easy to plan our life. And yet, what a blessing it is
if God gives us faith to believe. That means to come to our God,
praying that he will provide for us, that he will direct us,
that he will guide us. And God is faithful and God will
hear and God will answer. It really is summed up in this.
We are to be found looking unto Jesus. We are to keep our eyes
upon Jesus and see where he leads and how he teaches. and how he
instructs we read that in the 107th psalm
those wonderful words he led them forth by the right way and
what was the purpose he led them forth by the right way that they
might go to a city of habitation brought safely in their case
the Israelites into Canaan at last it wasn't an easy journey
it was a difficult journey but God was faithful and God brought
them there they wandered about but God was with them and that's
the important thing isn't it for you and me that God is with
us that God is with us to have that wonderful confirmation we
are being led in the right way and what that means is committing
ourself to God we're very fond of making conditions we're very
fond of directing God what he's got to do for us the blessing
is to be directed of God what we should do I sometimes say
We have plans and we want God to work to those plans. But God has a plan and you and
I will walk and work to those plans. Now we may not want to
do that, we may not like to do it, but we have to remember this. God has told us, as for God,
his way is perfect. And what we need to remember
is that you and I are on this earth as pilgrims and strangers. This earth, to the people of
God, is not their home. It's very easy to try and settle
down in this life. The fact is, we are traveling
through life. And what a blessing if we are
traveling home to God. Hymn writer says, in the way
the fathers trod and they are happy now and we soon their happiness
shall see. Well what a blessing it is to
be given faith to do that which God directs us in. And so you
see if we turn away from that it's likely that we'll be like
Peter We'll begin to sink. We'll begin to sink. Things aren't
working out as I thought they would. Doesn't seem to be that
way. It's a different way, different
path. And we begin to sink. Well, what was the case in hand
here with Peter? He began to sink. And don't be
surprised sometimes, If we begin to sink, if things don't seem
to be working out, things will be going the opposite way. What
did Peter do? Did he give up? Did he sink? No. What did he do? He cried
out. He cried out to the Saviour. Simple wasn't a long prayer. Lord, save me. Lord, save me. And that can be
applied to many positions in our life. To be saved, perhaps,
from doing certain things, from going in a certain way. Lord,
save me. It was an earnest prayer. It
was a necessary prayer. If the Lord hadn't stretched
out his hand and saved him, he would have drowned. Well, what
a mercy then, to realise here, he cries out, Lord save me. And you see, when we have an
urgent need, And when I say that I mean this,
when we do have a need, not when we think we have a need, sometimes
we think we've got an urgent need and really it's not very
urgent and perhaps we haven't committed our way to the Lord
and therefore things aren't going right because we haven't done
that. But if we come and commit our way unto the Lord, praying
that He will direct us, that He will guide us, What a mercy
it is to have a great God to go to. God is able to do far
more, exceeding abundantly, than we can ask or think. And this
has two ways, really. First of all, with regard to
our spiritual life. And what a great, wonderful blessing
it is. If perhaps we may think we're
sinking, you may say, what does that mean? It means this. When
God shows to us that we've disobeyed his law, we've disobeyed his
will, yes, we've been very stubborn and very hard-hearted, and perhaps
God is dealing with us, and we realize that we haven't obeyed
God, we find ourselves in a barren way, our souls aren't healthy,
our souls are sad, and we're far off from God. Well what a
mercy then in that condition to be found crying out just like
this, Lord save me, save me from myself, save me from my sins. Save me from doing those things
which are contrary to thy way and in opposite direction to
thy will for me. Save me. And to think that it
has an effect and that has relationship to our never-dying soul to be
saved. That's a vital thing, isn't it?
Oh, Lord, save me. It's not something which is unknown
to a believer. In fact, every true believer
comes, I believe, to this position and cries out, Lord, save me. Indeed, we have a very, perhaps
a slightly longer statement. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Lord, save me. You see, this
Peter was brought to this position. So he had to look to Jesus. No
one else could save him naturally. No one else. My friends, no one
else can save you and me spiritually. But what a blessing if we pray
to God, Lord, save me. You see, when we really come
to a place of desperation, when we are sinking, No one can save
us spiritually. And we come to Jesus and we cry
out, Lord, save me. And what happened? Jesus immediately stretched forth
his hand and caught him. He knew he was sinking. He caught
him. What a mercy it is if God hears
your prayer and my prayer and catches us. Perhaps we feel we've sinned
against light and knowledge. Perhaps we recognize we've disobeyed
God. We haven't done His will. And now we find we're sinking.
Well, just remember, we have a God who is merciful, a God
who hears and answers prayer. This was a cry. And I really think it's a wonderful
consideration to recognise here was a man who cried. And as I've said sometimes, I'm
sure you know, when a baby wants something, he can't speak, or
she can't speak, doesn't know how to. What do they do when
they want attention? They cry. What does a child of
God do when he wants attention, or she wants attention? She cries
to God. Lord, save me. We go to the right place. Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ. He looks upon us. He knows where
we are. He knows we're sinking. And he's
the only one that can save us. What a blessing if God has brought
you and me to that position. So we have had to cry out, Lord
save me. No one else can save him. No
one else can save us when we're in that time of need. But it's
a great favour to come there and to cry out, Lord, save me. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Well, that's a good place, isn't
it? Do you know what the Lord said to that person that cried
out, I tell you, that man went down to his house justified rather
than the other. It wasn't because of anything
good he'd done, because God had given him faith to pray that
prayer. What a mercy then. We have such
a wonderful statement here and therefore sometimes we may feel
that God comes to us just like he did here to this man, Peter. He caught him and what happened
was he spoke to him and he said, O thou of little faith, wherefore
didst thou doubt? We need words like that to direct
us, because we do possess, naturally, an evil heart of unbelief. We tend to think, well, God won't
hear and answer such a prayer. God does hear and answer prayers,
and we should remember We have a God who is a prayer hearing
and a prayer answering God. And as we come to God, in this
way, Lord save me, there's an urgency and it's good when God
brings you and me to a place of urgency. It's not then just
a casual prayer. You don't just say, oh, well,
I prayed to God. You won't just take an attitude
like that. When you have a real need, you'll
come like this, Lord, save me. Save me from making a mistake. Save me from going the wrong
way. Save me from my own desires. Save me from my sinful nature. Yes, it covers so many situations. So many situations. Lord, save
me. But it is when you and I are
really brought there, and this prayer comes from our heart,
not from our head. It comes from our hearts. That means it's real. That means
there's reality in it. That means it's between our soul
and God. And it's not something which
we just want to leave and pass off because we are praying from
our heart, Lord save me. And what a blessing it is. God
hears these prayers. He hears these prayers and immediately
Immediately Jesus stretched for his hand and caught him. Safe in the arms of Jesus. Oh, what a blessed place that
is. I can do all things through Christ
that strengthens me. How true that is. How wonderful
it is. God blesses us in that way and
gives us faith. You see, then we jump out of
this condition. When the Lord said, thou little
faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? We do doubt, but what a blessing
when God gives us faith to believe and that doubt is taken away. And we pray in faith, nothing
doubting. We cry in faith, nothing doubting. And we believe that God will
hear and answer our prayers. And so Peter was saved. Peter was saved. And what a wonderful
miracle was to occur. Peter didn't expect to see what
Jesus was going to do. but you see we're told and when
they would come into the boat the ship rather the wind ceased
the wind ceased you may be in the midst of a storm a spiritual
storm, a natural storm in your life but what a blessing when
you're able to commit your way unto the Lord and that which
was boisterous Tempestuous becomes a calm, becomes a calm. Yes, the waves cease, the roughness
ceases, and you can go in the strength of the Lord God. His strength, His support, what
a comfort that is. I will go in the strength of
the Lord God, I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of
thine only. To be able to testify then of
what God has done, that he's brought peace, that he's made
the way where there is no way. He made the way for Peter, didn't
he? He saved him. Well, we have a
great God, a God who is able today to do far more exceedingly
abundantly than you and I can ask. or even think. The things
which are impossible with men are possible with God. How often
we fail to recognise the power of God. We have an almighty God. We have an all-powerful God.
Nothing is impossible with God. yes he's able to do that which
we can't do and so what a blessing therefore if we read an account
like this this morning and this strengthens our faith strengthens
our faith and we can say yes well here was here was Peter
Peter looked all around What a mercy then if we don't look
all around. If we find ourselves looking
to Jesus again, just going to the Hebrews again and realising
what the Lord says in the twelfth chapter. You can read the eleventh
and you can go on and read the twelfth, it's worth reading it,
following on, because he says, Wherefore, seeing we also are
encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, Let us
lie aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset
us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. We all have a race. What are
we to do? Looking unto Jesus. Looking unto
Jesus. Sometimes we forget, don't we? we're so such great sinners we
forget but what a mercy to be reminded and the words are very
beautiful looking unto Jesus the author the one who's begun
a work of grace in your heart and my heart the author again
it's good just to ponder and look into our hearts and say
well Is Jesus my author of my faith? Has he given me
that faith to believe? Has he given me that faith to
trust? Has he given me that faith to
cast all my burdens upon the Lord? Well, says the word, looking
unto Jesus, the author Now then, it doesn't stop there. If there's
a beginning, a true beginning, there will be an end. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and the finisher of our faith. God has given you faith to believe. He's given you faith to trust
in him. He won't suddenly stop. He won't
suddenly say, well you're by yourself now, on you go. He has said, I will never leave
thee, nor forsake thee. Therefore we may boldly say,
the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man can
do unto me. And it's this verse that goes
on, it's worth just recognizing the wonderful truth because if
you and I are looking unto Jesus, what does it mean? It means the
Holy Spirit would direct us to what Jesus has done. And he tells
us this, who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the
cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand
of the throne of God. Four, consider Him. That's what we should do. Consider
Him. If we're downcast, if we feel
far off, if we feel perhaps out of the way, consider Him. Look to Jesus. that endured such
contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and
faint in your minds." Well, you know, the devil will tell you,
well, you better give up. You better give up. You're sinking.
You better give up. Well, not at all. You and I are
to cry to God if we feel we're sinking. We fear it's going away
from us. We're to come, just like this
wonderful statement we have here in this 14th chapter of Matthew,
and realise, as we may feel, we're sinking. To cry out, Lord,
save me. Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched
forth his hand and caught him. How condescending of our God
to hear our cry and to catch us from sinking perhaps in despair. It's a merciful God. And so immediately Jesus stretched
forth his hand and caught him and said unto him, O thou little
faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? Well, may we be delivered from
doubting and put all our trust in a crucified Saviour.