That was a wonderful song selection.
Thank you for that. Turn with me if you would back
to Matthew 14. Matthew 14. Last Wednesday night we looked
at the first half of this account and this morning I'd like for
us to look at the other half of the account. Let's read these
verses again. Let's read them one more time
beginning in verse 22. In straightway Jesus constrained
His disciples to get into a ship and to go before Him unto the
other side while he sent the multitudes away. And when he
had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart
to pray. And when the evening was come,
he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst
of the sea, tossed with the waves, for the wind was contrary. And
in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them walking
on the sea. And when the disciples saw him
walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit. And they cried out for fear.
But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid. And Peter
answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto
thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter
was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go
to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous,
he was afraid. 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? And when they were
come into 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." This is a very well-known account
from the Scripture. The Lord came to His disciples walking on water. walking on
water. If that doesn't show us that
our Lord is sovereignly above everything that man is subject
to, nothing will. This is the God of all things,
including gravity. But our Lord came to His disciples
walking on water, At a moment when the wind and the waves were
so fierce, the disciples were being tossed all over the place.
I'm sure you've seen images and movies of a ship in a great storm
out in the middle of the ocean. And the rain is just, I'm talking
a great storm, the rain is blowing sideways. to the point that you
can't hardly see. When you're in a storm like that,
when you're in rain like that, you can't hardly see. And, you
know, a wave is up and a wave is down, and as our Lord is coming to
them, He's hard to see. And they can
see Him when the wave is down, But then they can't see Him when
the wave is up. They're getting flashes. And having never seen a man walk
on water before, they thought they were seeing
a ghost. They thought they were seeing a spirit. So in fear,
they start crying out, who's there? Top of their lungs crying
out, who are you? What do you want? And immediately they heard back
a voice that they knew very well. A voice that spoke immediate
comfort to them and said, be of good cheer. It is I. You know me. You know me. Be not afraid. Be not afraid. We have a little
dog. Our family has a little dog.
And every time I come into our house from the front door, usually
I come in through the garage. And every time I come in through
the front door, she goes berserk. Just barking, running, you know,
anxious, antsy. And as soon as I get the door
open, I start saying, Ellie, It's me. It's me. You know me. You know I'm not here to harm
you. You know I'm not here to break into your family's house.
It's me. I don't even say my name. I don't
open the door and say, Ellie, this is Gabe Stoniker. I don't tell her who I am. I
just say, it's me. And as soon as she hears my voice,
there's a great calm. Well, that's exactly what happened
here to the disciples. They couldn't see him. They didn't
know who he was. They were afraid. And they started
crying out. But as soon as they heard his
voice, be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid. They calmed down. The wind and
the waves didn't. And that was the point of last
Wednesday night's message. The wind and the waves didn't,
but they did. And Peter said, Lord, if it be
Thou, bid me come unto thee on the water." A man has to have
faith to say something like that. You realize what he's asking?
Is that a credit to Peter? No. Faith is not of ourselves.
That's the gift of God. It's the faith of Christ. He's
the author, the finisher, the doer, the worker, the performer,
the object. He's everything concerning faith.
But a man has to have faith to say, if that's you, Would you let me walk on water
just like you're walking on water? Does that give a little illustration
of what we're asking when we're saying, Lord, would you let me
be there with you where you are? That's my desire. If it be thou bid me come unto
thee on the water, let me come out there with you where you
are in that impossible place. The amazing thing is he didn't
say, Lord, if it be thou, come get into the ship with us. He wanted out of the ship. He said, Lord, if you're out
there, then I don't wanna be in this ship anymore. I would
feel safer being out there with you. Let me come out there with
you. And the Lord said to him, come. Amazing. It's amazing. The scripture says, ask and you'll
receive. If I could tell any of us something,
it would be this, ask and you'll receive. The scripture says, draw nigh
to God and He will draw nigh to you. Draw nigh to God. In a world where men and women
don't even think about God. Draw nigh to God and God Almighty
will draw nigh to you. Peter said, can I come out there? And the Lord said, absolutely. And Peter got out of the ship and walked on the water just
like the Lord did. The scripture says, as He is,
so are we in this world. Somebody will say, but yeah,
you don't foolishly believe that the Lord still performs miraculous
things for His people like that still today, do you? He performs miraculous things
for His people all the time. Generally, we're not aware of
it. But He does it all the time. Impossible things. Things that
to us seem so impossible. Things that we could never dream
of taking place. Abundantly above all that we
ask or think. He can take pennies and turn
it into a Taj Mahal if He wants to. So Peter said, can I come out
there with you? And the Lord said, yes you can.
Come on out. So Peter got out there. and he
was walking to the Lord Jesus Christ. And as he came to Christ, as he walked straight to the
Lord Jesus Christ, that water was so sure and so stable under
his feet, he might as well have been walking on rock. looking to Christ created a path
so sure and so stable, he might as well have been walking on
rock, the rock, solid rock. But in the process of his walk,
you can read between some of these lines if you want to, he
was coming to Christ And in the process of his walk, he took his eyes off of Christ. And the moment he took his eyes
off of Christ, everything crumbled underneath his feet. And that's
where mankind has gone wrong. We have taken our eyes off of
Christ. We have taken our eyes off of
Christ. That's what man in his flesh
does. I put my name at the top of that
list. That's what flesh does. It takes its eyes off of Christ. That's where all spiritual error
comes from. There is a lot of spiritual error
out there. Everybody's not saved. Every
church is not preaching the truth. And it's scary. It's fearful. It's very fearful. There is so
much spiritual error out there. And this is where all of it comes
from. Taking our eyes off of Christ. What makes a religion a false
religion is this. This is it right here. It can
be summed up in this right here. It has taken its eyes off of
Christ and looked at something else, looked to something else. And it's as plain as the high
noon sun when it happens. a religion that is fixed on Christ,
a message that is fixed on Christ, a soul that is fixed on Christ,
looks to Christ, speaks of Christ, hears Christ,
glorifies Christ, To get sidetracked on anything but Christ is to
take our eyes off of Christ. That's what happened to Peter.
If we get honest, that's what happens to all of God's people
all the time. All the time. Something draws
our attention away from Christ. And the moment that happens,
we start going down. I have, it feels like almost
daily occurrences, I feel myself sinking down. You know what I'm
talking about? Something draws our attention
away from Christ. And it's God's mercy to use any
means necessary to bring our eyes back to Christ. If we belong
to Him, He will continually turn our eyes to the Lord Jesus. Turn us and we'll be turned.
He does it. But that's His goodness, that's
His mercy to all of His people. The wind and the waves were no
surprise to Peter. They didn't come up all of a
sudden. They were already there. In spite of the wind and the
waves, in faith, looking to Christ, Peter got out of that ship. But
as he was going, his fear of the wind and the waves became
more than his trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. And he went down
immediately. And he cried out to the Lord
in his distress, in his moment of trouble, he immediately, it
was an immediate thing. You've jumped into a pool of
water before, how long does it take to go under? How much time
do you have? He immediately cried out to the
Lord, and the Lord heard him, and the Lord saved him and lifted
him up. And the Lord said to Peter, O
thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? Why did you
doubt me? Why did you doubt me? And the
two of them walked back into the ship, and the moment they
stepped foot in the ship, the wind ceased, the waves were still,
and every soul in that ship looked at the Lord Jesus Christ and
said, of a truth, thou art the Son of God. I pray God will produce
that result in us. Do we know what that means? Thou art the Son of God. Do we know what that means? The
Lord Jesus Christ was not born after the Father. Neither of them were born at
all. You say, well, Christ was born in Bethlehem. Yes, he did
prepare himself a body in order to humble himself and come in
the likeness of sinful flesh. Yes, he did. But he did not begin
in that moment. He was not born into a beginning
moment like we are. He humbled Himself. In order to come to us and to
dwell with us, He humbled Himself. He is the High Priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek. What that means is He has no
beginning of days and no ending of days. The Father, the Son, and the
Spirit, they are all eternal. They're all eternal. So the Lord
Jesus Christ is not younger than the Father. He does not have less authority
than the Father. You know how it is, you deal
with somebody, you know there's a business or something, father
and son. Well, you have to talk to dad about that. He does not
have less authority than the Father. He does not have less wisdom
or understanding than the Father. He is not less God than the Father. He is not half God, half man
like most people see Him to be. That man is 100% Almighty God. He is not lower in rank than
the Father. Christ is absolutely on par equal
with the Father. So what does thou art the Son
of God mean? This is what it means. Of a truth,
you are the Redeemer. You are the Redeemer of the Godhead. You are the Savior of the Godhead. You are the one that the Godhead
designated to be the only mediator for sinners. The Father is the one who the
Godhead designated to be the elector of sinners. The chooser
of sinners. The chooser of who would be saved.
The Spirit is the one who the Godhead designated to be the
caller and the quickener. of all of those chosen sinners.
And the Son is the One who the Godhead designated to be the
sacrifice for sinners, the offering for sinners, the substitute for
sinners, the One who would humble Himself and come down and take
the place, bear the sin, shed the blood, pay the price, and
lift His people out of their despair. out of their ruin, out
of their destruction, and restore them back to peace and safety
with God. It's to say, we know and are sure you are the only
one who's able to do that. Man cannot pull himself out of
ruin. Man cannot pay his own price. Man cannot redeem himself back
to God. Man cannot even play a part in
it. Man is dead in trespasses and sins. And there has to be
somebody who can do it for man or it's not going to be done.
You're the son of God. Thou art the Son of God. You're
the only one who's able to do this. You're the only one who
willingly became the servant of the Godhead in order to perform
and finish the work of the Godhead. Of a truth, thou art the Son
of God. Now if God ever reveals that
to a sinner, the fact that there is one man, not two, not me and
him, But one man, one name whereby we must be saved, if God ever
truly reveals that, a sinner will spend the rest of his days
on this unstable, sinking, ruining, dying world that we live in,
crying this right here. Lord, save me. I don't know how to do this.
I've been thinking about this a lot, but I just want to tell
us all to take a minute and go into your heart and get along
with God and cry this to Him. This is the cry of salvation. This is the cry of salvation. Lord, oh, what it means to say
Lord. Do you mind if I take about five,
10 days to just talk about what it means to say Lord? Rather than going around saying
I got saved, I, Lord. You know, Peter realized something
very quickly. Lord, I'm crying to you. This is directed to you. What
is worship directed to? Well, it's directed to the music
program. It's directed to our good feeling. It's directed to
the uplifting. It's directed to the, Lord, At that moment, this was
between Peter and the Lord. I acknowledge you for who you are.
This is what he was saying in a fraction of a second. I understand
who you are. I acknowledge who you are. God, who is Jesus Christ? God. That's what the word Lord
means. The One in whose hands all of
this is. Peter was saying it's in your
hands. It's not in my hands, it's in your hands. This is not
in my hands, this is in your hands. Peter in this moment is realizing
everything he is not and everything he cannot do. All of his lack,
all of his need, and he sees his only hope right there. There's
one hope of deliverance. Oh, the mercy of God that would
reveal that to a sinner. Lord, you're the sovereign. You're the ruler. You're the
owner. You're the controller. But Lord,
you're the savior. Lord, you're the savior. I'm
pleading your name for your name's sake. Call your name Jesus because
of what it means. I'm pleading your name, I'm crying
your name. Lord, save. Salvation's of the Lord,
that's what Peter cried. Salvation's of the Lord. You're the only one who has a
right to redeem me right now. Rescue me, please rescue me.
Deliver me. Redeem me. Lord, save me. Not just sinners, me. I'm the sinner. I'm the sinner. I'm the one who has sunk all
the way down in the depths of my sin. Yes, I see sinners, but
I'm the chief. I don't have little petty sins,
Lord. I'm drowning in them. Lord, save me. What fervent sincerity
is in those three little words. If God ever reveals the things
of Christ to a sinner, that sinner will spend the rest of his days
crying, Lord, this is so. That sinner will get alone with
God Almighty and will forever the rest of his days on this
earth cry, Lord, save me. Save me. Every soul in flesh. There's going to come a point
when our souls will not be in flesh anymore. Earthly flesh. Every soul in flesh is in the
same condition Peter was in. Some know it, some don't. One man made the statement that
every soul in flesh is hanging over the mouth of hell by a spider's
web and they don't even know it. That's a dangerous condition. Ask the Lord to reveal your condition
to you. Like I'm speaking to all three
sections here, front to back, ask the Lord to reveal your condition
to you. You know, we make it out like
we're the ones in the ship looking at Peter going, poor Peter, bless
his heart. Ask the Lord to reveal your condition
to you. And when he does, let's all cry,
Lord, save me. Save me. Let's cry it today. Let's cry it tomorrow. Let's
cry it the rest of our days on this earth. Every soul who cries
that to him, and I'm talking about an absolute desperate need,
not lip service. Desperate need. Sincerity of
the heart. Every soul will have this response
given to their cry. Verse 31 says and immediately. Jesus stretched forth His hand
and caught him. For the child of God, sinking
in despair is not a one-time thing. As long as we're in this
flesh, we're going to need His deliverance from all of the sin
that's dragging us down. And you just cry these three
little words. Every time you need Him, Lord, save me. It is that simple, that impossible, unless God puts that cry in us. But if He does, Lord, save me. Oh, the simplicity that there
is in Christ. Lord, save me. Every time you'll
have the same response Peter had. Immediately he will stretch
forth his hand and he'll lift you out. The wind and the waves
may not cease. Everything around you, you may
still feel like wind and waves are all around you. But immediately, He'll stretch
forth His hand and He'll deliver you. How do we know that? How
can we be so sure? Just listen to this. Isaiah 9, 17 talks about the
sin and rebellion of God's people against Him. And the stiffness
of their neck and the hardness of their heart. But this is what
it says. It says, But thou art a God ready
to pardon. Gracious and merciful, slow to
anger, and of great kindness, it says, and He forsook them
not. Oh, they were so rebellious and
stiff-necked and hard-hearted. He didn't forsake them. He was
ready, ready to save them. Isaiah 38, 20 says, the Lord
was ready to save me. Therefore will we sing my songs
to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house
of the Lord." Oh, how simple to cry. Even a little child can
cry this. Children. Even children can cry this. Lord,
save me. Those are three simple words,
but I will tell you this. It'll take the power of God to
make a person cry that. I mean, really cry it from the
soul. If we're going to cry that, God is going to have to reveal
to us that we're lost. One dear preacher from many years
ago made the statement, I'm not trying to get men saved, I'm
trying to get men lost. That's where this starts. If
God does this, He's going to reveal to you that you're lost
and you're going to say, I didn't know I was lost. God's going to have to reveal
to us that we're sinners and we're going to say, I didn't
know I was a sinner. Not really. God's gonna have to reveal to
us that we're sinking in despair. And men and women will not know
that until God reveals it to them. But if He does, if He does,
we will cry, He will answer, and we'll be saved. If He does,
if He starts the work, He'll finish it. Oh, what good comfort
that is. If he starts the work and puts
something in here that cries, I'm going down, I'm going down,
I'm going down, I need you, I need you now. If he starts the work,
he has already finished the work. And there's such comfort in that.
May God reveal our condition to us, reveal our need to us,
reveal Christ to us. Lord, save us. Right.