May it please almighty God to
bless us together this morning as we meditate in his word. Let
us turn to the Gospel of Matthew and chapter 14 and reading verse
31. The Gospel of Matthew chapter
14 and reading verse 31. And immediately Jesus stretched
forth his hand and caught him. and said unto him, O thou of
little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?' The word of God is very comprehensive
in all the things that it contains and all the instruction that
it gives to the Church of God and the many wonderful illustrations
which it contains to direct us to the wonderful blessing of
receiving living faith and being amongst those who do indeed walk
by faith, which we are told we are to walk by faith not by sight,
and what a blessing it is that God does give faith to believe. And in these little accounts
here, we see the Apostle Peter being spoken to by the Lord and
speaking really words which all of us need to take on board when
he says, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? It's one of those evil sins which
come upon us to doubt the Word of God. And really doubting means
unbelief. And that emanates from our sinful
heart. We're told the evil heart of
unbelief. Now that really was what the
Apostle here was suffering from. A heart of unbelief. And we see in this account what
occurred. The Lord came and appeared to
the disciples, they were on a ship, and they were in a situation
where the ship was being tossed with waves, but the wind was
contrary, and Jesus came to them walking on the sea. And of course
was a most amazing thing in itself. And when the disciples saw Jesus
walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, it is a spirit. And they cried out for fear.
Now, we can appreciate, I'm sure, the situation which we would
be in if we were in a like and similar situation. We would no
doubt fear and wonder what was occurring. But then, straightway,
Jesus speak unto them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I, be
not afraid." Now the very clear position is that Jesus thus revealed
himself to the disciples that it was the Lord himself. And then just running on the
account, as we have here, Peter said, Lord, If it be thou, we see therefore
immediately in Peter's mind and heart there was that doubt. It was unbelief. Because he says,
if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. Now first
of all, That being the first word the Lord had spoken to telling
them, it is I, be not afraid. And now, secondly, the Lord comes
and speaks to Peter, and he said, come, bid me come unto thee on
the water. And the Lord comes and says very
graciously, come. So there's therefore two very
positive words from the Lord to Peter. And we would think,
well now surely Peter having first of all had that doubt,
surely that would now be dispersed because you desired and sought
the Lord would speak and say come. And now the Lord has answered
that request and said come. And we should think, surely there
will be no more problem. These two confirmations would
surely indicate to Peter that everything would be good and
right. And we are therefore told, when
Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water
to go to Jesus. So initially, we see there was
that favored position of God answering his request and Telling
him to come and he did come But then there was a change And what
occurred? Well, it's very simple, isn't
it? Here was Peter walking in the water Clearly looking at
Jesus and now there's a change and what does he do and He looks
around and what does he see? The wind boisterous and therefore
suddenly he becomes afraid. He'd lost sight of Jesus and
he was afraid and therefore he began to sink. Now we see a cry,
a cry of desperation. He cries out, Lord, save me. Now we observe the wonderful
mercy, the wonderful love of the Lord Jesus. Immediately,
immediately. He cried out, Lord, save me. Immediately, Jesus stretched
forth his hand. Now sometimes we may perhaps
have passed through similar situations in our spiritual life. Not obviously
in the same way of actually being able to walk upon the sea. But
nonetheless, in our lives we may have perhaps heard Jesus
speaking. What a blessing that is. to hear
the words of Jesus. Like this perhaps we may have
wondered our situation, we may have been fearful because of
the difficulty of our path and the evil of our own heart and
the sinfulness of our nature and therefore we may have been
fearful But then, you see, to have heard the Lord saying, as
he appeared to us, be of good cheer, it is I be not afraid. Let us not forget and let us
take it to heart that we have today the same Lord Jesus risen
from the dead, seated on the throne in glory. The same Jesus
that looks upon us today as he did upon his disciples all those
years ago when they were in that boisterous situation on the sea
in their boat. The Lord was mindful of them
and the Lord is mindful of his people today. We should not forget
that. We should be encouraged therefore
by an account like this to lay it alongside our life today. and realize that we come to the
same almighty God. And as we may therefore have
come and hear such words, be of good cheer, it is I, be not
afraid. Well, what happened? Peter, of course, doubted, doubted
the truth of the words of Jesus, doubted that it was Jesus. and how easily we can fall into
the same situation. Let us never forget we have a
difficult journey. We have much opposition. The
devil is always trying to make us disbelieve the truth of God. These words be of good cheer. Jesus here was revealing himself
to his disciples. It is I it is I. And if the Lord has come and
touched our hearts and given us to believe that it is the
Lord Jesus Christ and then you see the devil will do all he
can to discourage us and if possible to bring us into that situation
where we then lose our faith and believing and turn away from
Almighty God. And so here we have the Lord
then hearing Peter's desire when he called and said, Lord, if
it be thou, if it be thou, bid me come. he wanted a further
encouragement. Sometimes, perhaps, if the Lord
has spoken to our souls, we may doubt, we may need some encouragement,
encouragement from the Lord. And then when the Lord does give
us some encouragement, like he did to Peter, when he said, come,
come, Come to me. There are many words, you know,
in the Word of God, like that, encouraging words, to come to
the Lord Jesus. As we may have come crying to
Him, praying to Him, and He does say, come. Well, we must realize
that that's the last thing the devil wants you and me to do,
to come to the Lord. to come casting all our care
upon Him. He doesn't want that to happen
at all, therefore don't be surprised if we have those wrong thoughts,
just like Peter did, wrong thoughts. And then, instead of keeping
our eyes upon Jesus, having our faith fixed upon Him, we then
look around and see all the difficulties that are confronting us. or the
opposition that there is. And therefore, what do we do?
We back down. And we look around. And we find ourselves distressed. And what has occurred? Unbelief. Unbelief. Well, my friends, if
God has spoken to us, come. Perhaps his glorious words, come
unto me. Come unto me. There's no greater
word of encouragement to a needy soul, to hear the word of God
spoken to our hearts, come unto me. And Peter heard those words and he
came, but he looked all around and he saw then the boisterous
sea, but He was brought then to that position of exceeding
need. Exceeding need. Bless God when
you and I are brought into a time like that. Because he'd begun
to sink. Begun to sink. You may say, begun
perhaps to give up. Begun to look around. for help elsewhere, but brought
to that real condition, that real cry, and it's a great blessing
when the Holy Spirit brings us to such a simple cry and a simple
prayer, just like that, Lord save me. There was nowhere else,
nowhere else to go to, was there? There it was sinking. the sea,
all the boisterous waves around him. Put it in that in context
for our lives today. We may feel that we're sinking. We may feel that we're losing
our hold upon the things of God. We may seem that perhaps there
appears to be no hope. And yet there is that, as it
were, last cry from our hearts. Here was the urgent cry from
Peter, wasn't it? Lord, save me. Three simple words. Three very important words. And three words which the Lord
answered. And so, when the Holy Spirit
brings us to a position like that, where we are face to face
with perhaps desolation, perhaps sinking, perhaps no hope, and
yet one last cry perhaps, comes from our heart. And what is it? Lord, save me. And what does the Lord do in
those times of desperation? Well, we're told. Immediately. Immediately. That's wonderful,
isn't it? Peter didn't deserve it, did
he? He'd been told to come, the Lord had said who he was, and
now he begins to sink. Now he cries out, Lord, save
me. The Lord loves Peter. What a blessing, therefore, if
we have the evidence that the Lord loves us. And so the Lord
said, Caiman, immediately. He stretched forth his hand and
caught him. We can think of that glorious
word, can't we? Underneath are the everlasting arms. We cannot sink. We cannot fail because underneath are the everlasting arms and
those, my friends, are the arms of God and they don't fail. They cannot fail because they
are the arms of Almighty God. And so immediately Jesus stretched
forth his hands and caught him. Now then, what happened then? Peter was to receive a rebuke. My friend, sometimes you and
I need perhaps a rebuke because we've been relying on ourselves. We've been relying on our own
abilities, and we've taken our eyes off Jesus. We looked all
around, and we've seen perhaps what appears to be the impossible
situation. Naturally, it was an impossible
situation. He was walking on the sea. How
could that happen? Naturally, it could not. And
it's the same with regard to our spiritual state. Naturally,
we cannot know the blessing of eternal life ourselves. And if
we are depending upon what you and I have done, we shall sink. And that's why the Lord here
speaks these words to the Apostle Peter. And he rebukes him and
says, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And it would appear from those
words, didst thou doubt, that now, now, being received by the
Lord, having been saved by the Lord, there was not doubt. What a mercy when God comes and
brings us into that position where he gives us that faith
then to not doubt the great and glorious work of God. Now Peter
was therefore rebuked in this way and therefore the Lord said,
O thou little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? Now Peter therefore
was rebuked in that situation and we can Recognized that he
was then able to To write some of the things that he did in
his epistle and how great and wonderful they were in the first
chapter He tells us who are kept by the power of God through faith
under salvation Ready to be revealed in the last time. So what is
he telling us? He's telling us this that that
the faith that he received was by the power of God. And that's
a wonderful thought, isn't it? To think that if we possess faith,
it's the faith which we've been given by the power of God, which
overcomes the evil heart of unbelief. And therefore he tells us who
are kept by the power of God through faith, God-given faith,
through faith, under salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. And we might just think of that
faith which the Apostle refers to in the 11th chapter to the Hebrews, where he speaks
these great and wonderful truths. And he says, for without faith
it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is a reward of them that diligently
seek him." Now, wonderfully, it is that God does give faith
to believe. Because you and I cannot produce
faith ourselves. It's the faith of Almighty God.
therefore with faith it is possible to please him. Without faith
it is impossible. He gives faith, living faith,
so that as we walk by faith that is well pleasing to Almighty
God. And he says, and that he is a
rewarder, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
him. Now we are sometimes brought
to exceedingly trying situations, which Peter was here, as he was
begun to sink. And then you see, what does he
do? He cries out, Lord, save me. And that was a diligent prayer,
wasn't it? That was a needful prayer. That
wasn't just a form of words. In those times of great need,
we are delivered from just a formal prayer. Nothing wrong with formal
prayers. But here was a prayer of need. Lord, save me. And what a blessing
it is when the Holy Spirit brings us right down so that we have
no hope anywhere else, but we cry out to God, Lord, save me. And the Lord did. And therefore
the Apostle Peter is able then to carry on in this first chapter,
in this first epistle. He tells us then, kept by the
power of God, and he says, wherein ye greatly rejoice. We do rejoice
when God gives us faith to believe. We do rejoice, and we rejoice
before God, and we rejoice with God. Wherein ye greatly rejoice,
though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through
manifold temptations. And the clear position here is
that we should not expect that once having been blessed with
that overcoming faith, that everything will be plain sailing, that we
won't evermore go through difficult and boisterous times. The Apostle
tells us here, through manifold, that means many temptations,
many temptations. But what's the benefit? This
is the benefit, that the trial of your faith, the trial of your
faith. So let us all recognize that
we will come into times of trial, trial testing our faith, whether
it is of God or not. You see, Peter was brought into
a very great trial when he began to sink. But then he cried out
to God, Lord, save me. And that's the the blessed outcome
of the work of the Holy Spirit to cause us then to revert to
the Saviour. We may perhaps have wandered
on and taken our eyes off the Saviour and got ourselves into
deep water, or found ourselves far off, found ourselves lukewarm,
found ourselves carnal, found ourselves worldly-minded. Bless
God when by His Spirit He brings us to that time of need when
we cry out, Lord save me. Peter had been blessed, hadn't
he, with walking with the Lord. He'd known the Lord. He'd been
with Him and seen His miracles. He still came to this time when
he had to cry out, Lord save me. The Lord then immediately,
immediately stretched forth his hand, grabbed hold of him, saved
him. So the apostle, to that the trial
of your faith, the trial of your faith. It will be tested, but
it's good that it is, because what it means is, that then we
are blessed with true faith, not relying upon ourselves. We
so easily find that we reflect upon what we're doing and we
rely upon our own abilities, we rely upon our own strength,
we rely upon, as you may think, our own salvation which we produced. No, God will have the honour
and God will have the glory and we will have to acknowledge it
is all of grace. the free and merited favour of
God, that He has come and revealed to our faith that He is the only
one who can save our souls. Lord, save me. Blessing, isn't
it, when the Lord causes us to come down and then to go up. We come down and then we look
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's by faith. Then we view
the suffering Saviour. By faith then we view the Lord
Jesus Christ dying upon Calvary's cross to atone for our sins and
we see then that in that great salvation our need has been met. The Lord has heard our cry, save
Lord, save me. Don't forget, real religion is
and must be very personal. It is between our soul, your
soul, my soul and God. No one else intervenes. God will deal. And so we're told
here, he says, your faith, my faith, your faith being much
more precious than a gold that perisheth, though it be tried
with fire, might be found under praise and honor and glory at
the appearing of Jesus Christ. What a mercy isn't it to have
our faith tested, to pass through the fire and to lose that which
is of the flesh and to have that remain which is of the work of
the Holy Spirit of God. And of course we read in Zechariah
that he'll bring A third part through the fire. That means,
listen, that means you and I have to lose two thirds of perhaps
that which we thought emanated from God. But we don't lose that
which the Lord has done for us. That which is real. That which
is by His Spirit. And so these testing times occur.
with fire, tried with fire. Real religion is put through
the fire. There is a real testing time.
Peter's religion was put through the fire, wasn't it? Yes, he
jumped overboard. Everything seemed nice and smooth.
And then he began to sink. Oh, there was a difference. Then
there was a real need. And there was then the cry from
his heart to the saviour. cried to the heart from the Saviour,
Lord, save me. And so the Apostle tells us,
with fire might be found unto praise and honour and glory at
the appearing of Jesus Christ. And then he goes on and speaks
a very important truth, whom having not seen, ye love. Physically, we do not see the
Lord Jesus Christ. So what do we see? By faith,
we look to the Lord Jesus Christ. By faith. Having not seen, ye
love. Why should we love the Lord Jesus
Christ? Well, a number of reasons, but
one of the reasons is, if we're like Peter, he cried out, Lord,
save me. The Lord's heard our cry and
he's put forth his hand and saved us, put forth his hand and touched
us perhaps. You know, in the last verse in
this chapter we read, this 14th of Matthew, And we read, the
people came that they might but touch the hem of his garment,
just have a little touch. And as many as touched were made
perfectly whole. My friends, if the Savior comes
and we're blessed with a touch, we're able then to stretch out
our arm of faith and to touch the hem of his garment. virtue
will pass to us and so having not seen ye love in whom though
ye now see him not yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory. Religious spiritual blessings
between the soul and God with the evidence that the Lord has
heard our prayer and the Lord has taken us and drawn us to
himself. Surely there is this rejoicing
with joy unspeakable because it is not a natural joy which
passes and fades away. a spiritual eternal joy because
it's based on eternal blessings, it's based on eternal revelation. So the Lord only gives this living
faith to those whom he has loved with an everlasting love and
therefore be encouraged in our lives if we have been blessed
with this living faith, because the Apostle goes on to say, receiving
the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. And that of course is the great
and glorious outcome, isn't it? Of the blessing of God-given
faith, the salvation of our souls, the eternal salvation, endless
happiness, endless joy, endless blessing, and to be with the
Savior eternally. And so we read, of which salvation
the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied
of the grace that should come unto you. Well, my friends, this
morning, oh, bless God, if you and I have the evidence that
this grace of God has come unto us, And this grace of God has
come to us perhaps in this way, like it was with the Apostle
Peter when he cried out, Lord, save me. And the Lord stretched
forth his hand and took him and caught him. O thou little faith,
wherefore didst thou doubt? Well, you and I need to analyse
our own heart, don't we? before God. It's a searching
word, isn't it? O thou of little faith, wherefore
didst thou doubt? It's a sin to doubt the work
of God. It's a sin to doubt God's work
in our heart. To question whether it emanates
from God. Because that which he has done
for us, if that which he has done has brought light and life
into our soul, and you, by the grace of God, would have the
evidence within whether that is so, then when the devil comes
and says, well of course that was just of your own making,
What it was not of your making if the light from heaven has
shone into your heart and revealed Jesus to your soul. That is not
of the flesh. That is not that which you have
done. The devil would never reveal Jesus to your soul. Remember
that. He would never. The last thing
he wants to occur. And so, if the Holy Spirit has
revealed Jesus to your soul, rejoice with joy unspeakable
for the great blessing which it is, because the Lord has given
that faith to believe the great truth of Almighty God. What a favour then, when perhaps
we need, perhaps our spiritual eyes to be opened to observe
and to realise the great blessing which it is when the Lord does
come and opens our eyes. Now the Apostle Peter leads us
on to the blessing which that is. And this is what he says,
searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ
which was in them did signify when it testified beforehand
the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow." The blessing of this faith, God-given
faith, leads us to view a suffering Saviour. It views us to have some little
understanding of the great cost of our salvation. And it is as
we see what the Saviour endured, what the Saviour suffered on
our behalf, that we then bow down and worship the ever-living
and true God. And it is His grace and it is
faith to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ did come in this
sinful world to suffer and to bleed and to die for me personally. What a wonderful thing it is.
As Peter goes on, unto whom it was revealed. Bless God if the
Holy Spirit has revealed these truths to you and me by faith
and we're given that faith to look and to see, and to observe
the blessed Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, unto whom it was
revealed that not unto themselves, but unto us, a diminution of
things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached
the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven,
which things the angels desired to look unto. Wherefore gird
up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for
the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of
Jesus Christ." It's a wonderful gospel, isn't it? It's a glorious
truth, isn't it? Let us rejoice, therefore, in
what God has done and rejoice in such an account as this, to
be able to lay aside our little life alongside this and appreciate,
therefore, the position that Peter was in and yet to be able
to find in our hearts the evidence that the Lord has given us faith
to look to the Lord Jesus Christ and therefore to heed perhaps
the rebuke of such a statement like this, O thou little faith,
wherefore didst thou doubt? Didst thou doubt? It's a solemn
thing, isn't it, to doubt the Word of God. It's a solemn thing
to doubt His work in our heart. It's a solemn thing to pretend
that perhaps the Lord hasn't spoken, perhaps the Lord hasn't
appeared. I believe many people are in
darkness because they take that attitude and they doubt the Word
of God and they doubt the truth of God and they doubt the Lord
has spoken to them and they're listening to the devil. And it may be, of course, because
blessed with the wonderful power of God in our hearts, it makes us do that which perhaps
we thought we would never be able to do, and take up our cross
every day and follow this great and glorious Saviour. this great
and glorious Saviour who heard the Apostle Peter's cry, who
responded immediately. That gracious Saviour who perhaps
heard our cry, Lord, save me. And it may be the cry is this,
Lord, save me from an evil heart of unbelief. Save me from that. to realise the Lord immediately
hears our prayer and gives us faith to believe in the great
salvation the Lord Jesus Christ has brought to us. Well, save me immediately, immediately. The Lord caught him and said
unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? We have many natural cases in
the Word of God where the Lord appeared to his people and gave
them great faith. My friends, the Lord has not
changed. The Lord is the same. yesterday
and today and forever. And there are many words of encouragement
in the Word of God to turn us away from ourselves. The Lord
Jesus on so many occasions spoke encouraging words to the children
of God, to the people of God, to encourage them. And in the
eighth chapter of this same gospel, the Lord said, and the disciples
came unto him and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us, we perish.
You remember he was in a boat another occasion. And the Lord
said, why are ye fearful? O ye of little faith. Then he
arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great
calm. But the men marveled, saying,
what manner of man is this? that even the winds and the sea
obey him." My friends, the devil is a vanquished foe. Don't forget
that. The Lord Jesus is conquered.
The devil is no longer that one who thinks that he can control
all things. He knows he cannot. He tries to. My friends, let
us be found then with this living faith, looking unto the Saviour
the Lord Jesus Christ, and not therefore turning ourselves away
from him, but relying on what he has done. Again, the Lord
spoke to his disciples on that Sermon on the Mount, and he said,
Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do
they reap, nor gather into barns which your Heavenly Father feedeth
them. Are you not much better than they? Which of you, by taking
thought, can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye
thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field,
how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin. And yet
I say unto you, that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed
like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothed
the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast
into the oven, should he not much more clothe you, O ye of
little faith. And I mean that applies to our
natural life and it also applies to our spiritual life. This great
God clothes us naturally. This great God clothes all his
people spiritually with that robe of righteousness which we
couldn't produce ourselves. It is so valuable. Without it,
we perish. With it, we enter into heaven
at last. Oh, you little faith. Well, my
friends, may the Lord give us faith then, living faith to believe. And as we read together this
little account, perhaps we come to this place, desperation, Lord,
save me. and are found, the Lord then
immediately stretched out his hand and caught us, and yet said
to us, O thou little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? Let us cast
away all those seeds of doubt, and ever be found, looking unto
Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. Amen.